Carpathian Mountains

Carpathian Mountains, the second great range of central Europe, extend in a great semi-circle over a space of 880 miles from Presburg on the Danube to Orsova on the same river. They form two great masses, one in Hungary to the NW., and one in Transylvania to the SE., with ranges of lower and wooded mountains between. The highest group of the Hungarian Carpathians is that of Tatra (see AUSTRIA), in the very north of Hungary; on the northern declivity small glaciers exist. Many of the Hungarian mountains are of limestone, while the mountains of Transylvania are mostly of primitive rocks. On the eastern and southern borders the latter reach their greatest height; Negoii, the culminating peak, has an elevation of 8517 feet. The range is generally clothed with wood to a height of 4000 feet, and with precipices, ravines, and volcanic cones, exhibits scenes of rare grandeur. See Crosse, Round about the Carpathians (1878); Muriel Dowie, A Girl in the Carpathians (1891).