Their summits stand out gaunt and lonely in an unbroken solitude.
The surface on the whole is hilly and is partly occupied by offshoots of the Thuringian Forest; the highest summits are found in the eastern half, where the Kieferle reaches 2849 ft.
The descent from the summits of the range into the plain is somewhat less abrupt on the western than it is on the eastern side, and between the foot of the mountains and the Strait of Malacca the largest known alluvial deposits of tin are situated.
Its outline is very irregular; from the centre of the town, at the junction of several ridges, parts of it extend for a considerable distance along their summits, being divided from one another by deep valleys.
This is the highest point in the northern Apennines, and belongs to a group of summits of nearly equal altitude; the range which is continued thence between Tuscany and what are now known as the Emilian provinces presents a continuous ridge from the mountains at the head of the Val di Mugello (due north of Florence) to the point where they are traversed by the celebrated Furlo Pass.
