On each continent, also, we see the same fact; for on the opposite sides of lofty and continuous mountain-ranges, and of great deserts, and sometimes even of large rivers, we find different productions; though as mountain chains, deserts, &c., are not as
impassable, or likely to have endured so long as the oceans separating continents, the differences are very inferior in degree to those characteristic of distinct continents.
"Nor shall I admit that it is
impassable before I have followed its entire circle and stand again upon this spot, defeated.
Had the last great fight of the English navy been that of the First of June, for instance, had there been no Nelson's victories, it would have been wellnigh
impassable. The great Admiral's slight and passion-worn figure stands at the parting of the ways.
Having provided everything necessary for our journey, such as Arabian habits, and red caps, calicoes, and other trifles to make presents of to the inhabitants, and taking leave of our friends, as men going to a speedy death, for we were not insensible of the dangers we were likely to encounter, amongst horrid deserts,
impassable mountains, and barbarous nations, we left Goa on the 26th day of January in the year 1624, in a Portuguese galliot that was ordered to set us ashore at Pate, where we landed without any disaster in eleven days, together with a young Abyssin, whom we made use of as our interpreter.
Penney--the head of the Egyptian medical service, who, in a small steamer, penetrated one degree beyond Gondokoro, and then came back to die of exhaustion at Karthoum--nor Miani, the Venetian, who, turning the cataracts below Gondokoro, reached the second parallel-- nor the Maltese trader, Andrea Debono, who pushed his journey up the Nile still farther--could work their way beyond the apparently
impassable limit.
The mud was
impassable along the roads; two mills were carried away, and the weather got worse and worse.
Another hour or two's snow can hardly make the road
impassable; and we are two carriages; if one is blown over in the bleak part of the common field there will be the other at hand.
The barrier betwixt him- self and brother he considered
impassable.
"My last supplication of all, is this; and with it, I will relieve you of a visitor with whom I well know you have nothing in unison, and between whom and you there is an
impassable space.
The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the north-east by a ridge of mountains thirty miles high, which are altogether
impassable, by reason of the volcanoes upon the tops: neither do the most learned know what sort of mortals inhabit beyond those mountains, or whether they be inhabited at all.
Occasionally the monotony of this vast wilderness is interrupted by mountainous belts of sand and limestone, broken into confused masses; with precipitous cliffs and yawning ravines, looking like the ruins of a world; or is traversed by lofty and barren ridges of rock, almost
impassable, like those denominated the Black Hills.
A thaw had set in, it was muddy and cold, the ice on the river broke, and the roads became
impassable. For days neither provisions for the men nor fodder for the horses had been issued.