The mountains of Oceania rise over flat expanses of sea, desert, and jungle. As the only points to break the monotony of a horizontal world, their vertical shapes, silhouetted against the sky, excite the imagination. Emerging from the deserts of central Australia, monoliths of ancient stone evoke visions of a primordial world that existed at the beginning of time. Elsewhere, in moister regions of Oceania, green crags and peaks of volcanic rock burst forth from the Pacific, streaming with vegetation, the symbol of life. Fuming in the sky, the cones and clouds of erupting volcanoes make visibly manifest the awesome power of the sacred. Far off over sea and jungle, at the limits of sight, alpine peaks with glaciers gleaming in the mist stir the spirit with glimpses of strange and unexpected beauty.