From numerous dislocations in the strata, the Alps appear to have been heaved up by many violent and repeated convulsions, separated by intervals of repose, and different parts of the chain have been raised at different times; for example, the Maritime Alps and the south-western part of the Jura mountains were raised previously to the formation of the chalk: but the tertiary period appears to have been that of the greatest commotions; for nearly two-thirds of the lands of Europe have risen since the beginning of that epoch, and those that existed then acquired additional height, though some sank below their original level. During that time the Alps acquired an additional elevation of between 2000 and 3000 feet; Mont Blanc then attained its present altitude; the Apennines rose 1000 or 2000 feet higher; and the Carpathians seem to have gained an accession of height since the seas were inhabited by the existing species of animals.[25] CHAPTER III. The High Lands of the Great Continent (_continued_)—The Caucasus—The Western Asiatic Table-Land and its Mountains. THE Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora form but a small break in the mighty girdle of the old continent, which again appears in immense table-lands, passing through the centre of Asia, of such magnitude that they occupy nearly two-fifths of the continent. Here everything is on a much grander scale than in Europe: the table-lands rise above the mean height of the European mountains, and the mountains themselves that gird and traverse them surpass those of every other country in altitude. The most barren deserts are here to be met with, as well as the most luxuriant productions of animal and vegetable life. The earliest records of the human race are found in this cradle of civilization, and monuments still remain which show the skill and power of those nations which have passed away, but whose moral influence is still visible in their descendants. Customs, manners, and even prejudices, carry us back to times beyond the record of history, or even of tradition; while the magnitude with which the natural world is here developed evinces the tremendous forces that must have been in action at epochs immeasurably anterior to the existence of man. The gigantic mass of high land which extends for 6000 miles between the Mediterranean and the Pacific is 2000 miles broad at its eastern extremity, 700 to 1000 in the middle, and somewhat less at its termination. Colossal mountains and elevated terraces form the edges of the lofty plains. Between the 47th and 68th eastern meridians, where the low plains of Hindostan and Bokara press upon the table-land and reduce its width to 700 or 1000 miles, it is divided into two parts by an enormous knot of mountains formed by the meeting of the Hindoo Coosh, the Himalaya, the Tsung-lin, and the transverse ranges of the Beloot Tagh, or Cloudy Mountains: these two parts differ in height, form, and magnitude.