PYRENEES, piee-nez. A high mountain chain of Europe extending from the southeast corner of the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean. The Cantabrian Mountains of the north coast of Spain are a continuation of the Pyrenees, so that the entire mountain system extends from Cape Creus in the Mediterranean to Cape Torifiana on the northwest coast of Spain, a dis tance of 630 miles; but the name Pyrenees is ap plied only to that part of the system which forms the boundary between France and Spain, and which has an east and west extension of about 2S0 miles. The mountains, with an area of over 20,000 square miles, form the water parting be tween the rivers of France and Spain, and are an effective barrier between the two countries. Un like the Alps,which have a number of passes prac ticable for wagon roads, the Pyrenees are a true sierra whose saw-like ridges are notched only a lit tle below the level of the peaks, so that the few passes are not practicable for wagons. The high ways that start as roads merge into mule paths and are valueless for commerce. The two rail roads between France and Spain cross the low coastal strips at the extremities of the moun tains, and are thus greatly deflected from direct routes, so that most of the commerce between the two countries is carried by sea. Thus while the Alps oppose no great obstacle to commerce, the Pyrenees are a barrier to it.
The Pyrenees were upheaved above the sea during the latter part of the Eocene epoch, when a large part of Europe was buried under the ocean. Granite forms the kernel of the mountain system, and is overlaid by masses of chalk and sandstone. The culmination of the mountains is only 11,168 feet above sea level ; and, owing to the far extending southern slope which falls gently to the plain of Spain, the mean height of the mountain mass is only about 3500 feet.
Contrary to earlier opinion, the mountains do not form a continuous chain or two chains, as has often been asserted, between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The later investigations of the French Alpine Club modify this view. The surveys, especially on the Spanish side, seem to show that no continuous line forms the culminat ing portion of the Pyrenees, but that this back bone of the mountains is a series of broken chains •which do not coincide with the water parting between France and Spain, but cross this divide obliquely. Some of these broken chains extend from northwest to southeast, and others intersect them from southwest to north east, so that by alternately digressing from one of these directions to the other the irregular crest of the Pyrenees acquires its general direction, which from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean is 9° south of due east.
The northern slopes of the Pyrenees are shorter and much steeper than those on the southern or Spanish side. Few mountain chains exhibit a more regular succession of increasing altitudes than the Pyrenees summits from the Atlantic to and through the Central or High Pyrenees.
In the west near the ocean the summits are only 2000 to 3000 feet high. Farther east the peaks become more and more alpine till the Pie du Midi d'Ossau (9465 feet) is seen rising above all its western neighbors. The central regions of the mountains, extending about 150 miles. are next reached, and the Pie d'Enfer (10,109), Balaitous (10,313), Vignemale (10,820), Mont Perdu (10,994), Pic des Posets (11,047), and Maladetta, or the Pie d'Anethou (11,16S), rapidly succeed one another, all in the region of the High Pyrenees. The mountains to the east of the culminating summits are abruptly reduced in elevation, and only two, Montcalm and Pie d'Estats, approach the height of the Central or. High Pyrenees. The Eastern Pyrenees in their three high summits (Pie Carlitte, Puigmal, and Canigou) and the High Pyrenees rise into the region of permanent snow. The snow line is nearly 1000 feet higher than in the Alps, while the general level of the mountains is considerably lower. Most of the highest summits are on the boundary crest, but the culminating point of the Maladetta is in Spain. The extent of the snow fields and glaciers is therefore insig nificant as compared with that of the Alps. The entire area of glaciers is estimated at 13 square miles, the largest glaciers being on the Maladetta (1760 acres) and on the Mont Perdu group (1472 acres). Under these circumstances the mountain climber gives much less attention to weather and snow conditions than in Switzerland. While the Pyrenees have great beauty and grandeur, they have not vied with the Alps as a field for climb ers. This is partly explained by the fact that most tourists prefer mountains which may be easily reached from comfortable hotels with highly skilled and painstaking mountain guides. One of their most attractive spots, easily reached from several French resorts, is the Cirque de Gavarnie. Along the northern slope of the Pyre nees are a number of famous watering-places, in cluding Bagneres-de-Bigorre and Bagneres-de Luchon. The little Republic of Andorra (q.v.) lies among the Eastern Pyrenees on the southern slope. The two most famous passes of the Pyre nean range are the Col de Portus or Perthus (traversed by Hannibal), in the east, and the pass of Roneesvalles, in the west.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Cenac-Moncaut, Ristoire rles Bibliography. Cenac-Moncaut, Ristoire rles Pyre??Ccs (5 vols., Paris, 1853-55) ; Perret, Les Pyrr'n(.es franeaises (Paris, 1881-84) ; Bois and Bonier, Les (Orleans, 1884) ; Baring-Gould, In Troubadour. Land (New York, 1897) ; Hugo, The Alps and Pyrenees (London, 1898) ; Curzon, "Une bibliographic de l'alpinisme pyreneen," in Bibliographic Moderne, vol. iv. (Paris, 1900).