From where they stood it seemed as if the mountains had been set in one great hole in the ground, just close enough together so they would not touch, and that each mountain was supported by a rocky column beneath its base which extended far down in the black pit below.

From the land side it seemed impossible to get across the gulf or, succeeding in that, to gain a foothold on any of the whirling mountains.
"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked Button-Bright.
"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy.
"What, jump from here to that whirling hill ?" cried the Lion indignantly.

"I should say not! Even if I landed there and could hold on, what good would it do?
There's another spinning mountain beyond it, and perhaps still another beyond that.

I don't believe any living creature could jump from one mountain to another when both are whirling like tops and in different directions." "I propose we turn back," said the Wooden Sawhorse with a yawn of his chopped-out mouth as he stared with his knot eyes at the Merry-Go-Round Mountains.
"I agree with you," said the Woozy, wagging his square head.
"We should have taken the shepherd's advice," added Hank the Mule.
The others of the party, however they might be puzzled by the serious problem that confronted them, would not allow themselves to despair.
"If we once get over these mountains," said Button-Bright, "we could probably get along all right." "True enough," agreed Dorothy.

"So we must find some way, of course, to get past these whirligig hills.