northern extremity of North America to Cape Horn will fall short of the former by an extent of about 2000 miles. Looking at the outline of the continents, we see the coast of the old world, excepting Africa, indented perpetually by considerable bays, gulfs, and inland seas, while the whole western and the south-eastern sides of the new world are remarkably smooth, and present no example of a great inland sea. A mutual adaptation appears in the configuration of the coast lines of the continents between which the Atlantic rolls; and, if joined together, the eastern projection of South America seems as though it would fit into the indentation of Central Africa, while the projection of Western Africa appears adapted to fill up the indentation of Central America. The impression naturally made by this peculiarity of outline is, that the two continents once formed an undivided territory, which some tremendous convulsion rent in twain, and put asunder.

Besides the great continents, there are smaller portions of land surrounded by water in their neighbourhood, or dispersed over the ocean. These are classed as islands, a group of which is called an archipelago, a word of doubtful origin, but first applied to the islands of the Ægean Sea, and perhaps a corruption of Egean connected with pelagus, the sea. The continents are in reality vast islands, and New Holland, ranked as an island, is considered, by some geographers, as entitled to be regarded a continent, on account of its extent. The Pacific Ocean has several large families of islands, to which distinct names have been given. Those nearest the Asian coast, extending to 10° south latitude and 130° east longitude, form one great division, styled the Indian Archipelago. New Holland, New Zealand, the New Hebrides and adjacent islands, form another division, under the name of Australia or southern lands. The remaining islands east of the Philippines and New Zealand are classed together, forming the Polynesia of the English, and the Oceanica of the French. Those clusters of islands which are found in the vicinity of the main land have frequently all the appearance of having been once connected with it, and separated by some great inundation of the ocean which submerged the levels and slighter elevations. A great number of islands are simple accretions of sand deposited by the ocean in the course of ages. Others are coral formations, or the work of submarine volcanic action; while many are undoubtedly the summits of chains of mountains rooted in the mysterious bed of the deep, often in continuity with mountain chains on shore. There are some examples of small patches of rock, peeping above the surface of the ocean, at a considerable distance from the coast, which are evidently the peaks of independent submarine mountains. Rockall in the Atlantic is a specimen of this class, perhaps without a parallel in all its circumstances. It lies 290 miles away from the mainland of Scotland, 260 from the north coast of Ireland, and 184 from any other land, and is nothing but a block of granite, seventy feet high, and a hundred yards in circumference, apparently from a distance floating on the waves. There is scarcely another instance to be found in the wide realm of the ocean of an isle so small and so solitary.

CHAPTER II.

HIGH LANDS OF THE EARTH.

N taking a rapid survey of the extraordinary lineaments that characterise the external appearance of the globe, and constitute its superficies, it is natural to commence with the surface diversities of the land regions, and with those that immediately arrest the eye, and powerfully interest the mind. These are the elevations. They appear under the various forms of gentle slopes, bold hills, and majestic eminences which tower above the clouds, and seem to claim a sovereign authority over the territory in which they are situate. The term mountain is used with a very equivocal meaning, being applied alike to single eminences and to an entire group. It denominates, also, in one country, elevations which in another district abounding with those of a superior class would be regarded as mere hillocks. It has been proposed to confine the term to eminences ranging a thousand feet and upwards above the general surface land, and to regard those which are below that standard as simple hills or slopes. The slighter acclivities, whether crowned with grove and forest, whether planted with vegetable productions by the cultivating hand of man, or left to the natural grasses, form the most pleasing features of the soil; while the loftier projections of the superficies, stamped with an air of dignity, and indicating an upheaving power of irresistible might in their construction, present to the eye a thousand imposing combinations. Fringed with the dark green pine, and spotted with the lighter mosses with naked heads, as if in reverence of an invisible Superior-the mountains captivate while impressing the imagination. They are specimens of the fine arts of Nature, the gems of continents, wonderful examples of the diverse forms by which the ideas of Beauty, Majesty, and Power may be expressed.

The high lands occur in isolation, or in groups, ridges, and chains. Groups of mountains have sometimes the appearance of elevations radiating from a central point where the height is the greatest, forming a kind of circular cluster; but clusters of very irregular form occur without any principal eminence. The most general arrangement of mountains is in chains and ridges-a ridge being simply an inferior chain. To this class those elevations belong which are so distributed as to form a kind of zone or band, the breadth bearing little proportion to the length; and whatever direction the zone may take, and whatever shape it may assume- that of a straight line, an angle, or a curve-it is said to constitute a chain. The term is not meant to signify an unbroken series of projections, answering to the appearance of a street in which the buildings, though diversified, are attached, but a series of parts, in many cases distinct, yet lying in the same general direction. Many chains consist of one grand central range, accompanied by two subordinate ranges of inferior elevation, one on each side, at a diverging distance from the main body, and sometimes closing up with it. Smaller chains frequently branch off from the main ridge in an angular direction, as the Apennines from the Alps, and minor branches shoot out from these, which are called spurs when their course is short. The highest points of a great chain are usually about the middle, as Chimboraço in the Andes, and Mont Blanc in the Alps; and the most elevated parts of a branch from the main ridge are at

the points of junction with the parent stem. The first-class chains have almost uniformly an abrupt descent on one side, and a gentler declivity on the other. This is the case with the Andes, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the mountains of Scandinavia, and the Ghauts of India. It was held by Berghaus that the western side of chains extending north and south is most abrupt, while it is the southern side that is so in the case of those running east and west. But the exceptions to this are numerous, and no general rule upon the point can be advanced, beyond one which applies to chains near the coast, which have their steepest sides fronting the ocean. Taurus, Atlas, and Lebanon present their most precipitous and craggy faces to the Mediterranean, and the Andes likewise to the Pacific. The great chains in general follow the direction in which the land of the continents where they are situated has its greatest extent. Thus the ranges, which, with only a few breaks, stretch from the south-west coast of Europe to the north-east coast of Asia, traverse the old world in the line of its maximum longitude; and the Andes of South America, continued by the Stony Mountains of the North, travel through the new world in the direction of its greatest length. The course of subordinate chains, also, as of the Apennines in Italy, the Dofrafeld in Norway and Sweden, and the Ghauts in Hindustan, corresponds with the general direction of these peninsulas.

The insulated mountains, or those which are apart from any group or chain, are not numerous. They are generally, though not always, either active or extinct volcanoes. The rock of Gibraltar, which rises up to the height of 1500 feet from the level beach of the Mediterranean, the Peak of Teneriffe, and Mount Egmont in New Zealand, are fine specimens of this class. The latter is an extinct volcano, and may be seen from a vast distance, ascending above the line of perpetual snow. The mountain is in shape a perfect cone, situated on a projecting headland, about twenty miles from the coast. The neighbourhood is one of the most fertile districts of New Zealand; and has been selected as the site of the settlement of New Plymouth, from whence the symmetrical form and white brow of Pouke-e-aupapa, the ancient name of Mount Egmont, forms a striking object.

The length of the principal chains has been computed as follows:

The contour of mountains exhibits almost every kind of variety, and their aspect changes as an observer extends his distance from them, lesser irregularities being lost in the general outline, and different colours becoming merged in a uniform shade. The appearance of solitary individual objects is generally conical; but others are circular, elliptical, or saddle-backed. The Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope has the shape of a gigantic altar. In the case of a number of contiguous mountains, their summits are often needle-shaped, or like the domes of Roman architecture. In many instances the entire mass resembles a vast wall, with battlements and towers, after the manner of an ancient fortress, and sometimes mountains appear piled upon each other, forming a succession of gigantic terraces. One of the most extraordinary mountains in its configuration is in the Mauritius, a volcanic region, and bears the name of Peter

Peter Botte Mountain.

Botte. The name is derived from an unfortunate adventurer, who, according to tradition, after reaching the summit, perished in the descent. An enormous mass, of a globular shape, forms the head of the mountain. It rests upon a pedestal of rock, of a conical form, upwards of three hundred feet high, and overhangs it by several feet. At the bottom of the pedestal, a narrow strip of land runs out, about six feet broad, and twenty yards long, on two sides of which a precipice goes down direct fifteen hundred feet to the plain, the other side being a very steep wooded gorge. The view from the narrow ledge, as may be imagined, is tremendous in the extreme, and the still ascending conical rock with its overhanging head seems secure enough from the

intrusion of man. The Peter Botte has been usually considered inaccessible. Many endeavours to reach the top have been made without success, but the enterprise was at length effected in the year 1832, by the skill and daring of a party of British officers, who, after surmounting the uppermost block, spent the night immediately under it.

The internal structure of elevations, as well as their external shape, displays great diversities. In fact, their outward character has been determined in a great degree by the substances of which they are composed. The granite mountains are the loftiest upon the surface of the globe, and present the most rugged and broken aspect, with very precipitous sides. Those of gneiss and mica slate are not so wild and irregular, nor are their declivities so steep; and those composed of secondary formations-sandstone, limestone, and greywacke-are of inferior elevation compared with the former, and the declivities

arc more gentle. Humboldt has pointed out a striking difference between the great mountains of the eastern and western continents. Mont Blanc, and others of the higher Alps, lift their granite heads far above the clouds, and, with the Himalaya, form the loftiest points of the old world; but in America the newest floetztrap or whinstone, which in Europe appears only in low mountains, or at the foot of those of great magnitude, covers the mightiest heights of the Andes. Chimboraço and Antisana are crowned by vast walls of porphyry, rising to the height of six or seven thousand feet; while basalt, which in our continent has never been observed higher than four thousand feet, is, on the pinnacle of Pichinchae, seen rearing aloft its crested steeps, like towers amidst the sky. Other secondary formations, as limestone, with its accompaniment of petrified shells and coal, are also found at greater heights in the new than in the old world, though the disproportion is not so remarkable.

The most elevated European sites are found in the Alps, many of which have been reached by the foot of man, but not without great difficulty and peril, and in the attempt fatal accidents have repeatedly occurred. Mont Blanc, the centre and highest summit of the great Alpine range, an enormous mass of primitive rock, rises to the height of 15,732 feet above the sea level, and is visible at Dijon, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. The form of the mountain is pyramidal as seen from the north and south, but from the valley of Chamouni it resembles the back of a dromedary, on account of which Bosse de Dromedaire is one of its local titles. The extreme summit, a ridge nearly two hundred feet in length, was reached for the first time in August 1785, by Dr. Paccard and James Balma; and the year following, Saussure succeeded in the same enterprise, remaining five hours upon the top making scientific experiments. In the autumn of 1834, Dr. Barry ascended, passing by "chasms of unfathomable depth, towers of ice, caverns of almost crystal walls, splendid stalactites guarding the entrance." His principal guide had been up eight times before, the survivor of four swept away by an avalanche in Dr. Hamel's attempt in 1820. In the year 1804, the Archduke John offered a reward to whosoever reached the summit of the Ortler Spitz, the highest of the Rhætian Alps. A native of the Passayer, accompanied by two peasants, accomplished the enterprise, before considered impracticable, starting with the full moon at midnight. Travellers, naturalists, and the daring peasants of the country have scaled many of the other lofty Alpine peaks, and now the Jungfrau or Virgin Mountain, so called from its supposed inaccessibility, has had the foot of the Swiss hunter upon her brow. The highest parts of Africa, as at present known, are in Abyssinia, but fall below those of Europe, though very nearly equal to them. Some of the summits of the Atlas range are supposed to reach 12,000 feet, and the high lands of Ethiopia approximate to the loftiest of the Alps. Asia possesses in the Caucasus and eastern Taurus some very elevated positions. The culminating point of the latter, the Peak of Demawund, about forty miles from Teheran in Persia, was ascended by Mr. Taylor Thomson in the year 1837, who found its height, by barometric measurement, to be 14,300 feet above the level of the ocean. The snowcrowned head of the towering Kasibeck, situated towards the European extremity of the pass of the Caucasus from Russia into Georgia, is estimated by Professor Parrot at 2400 fathoms, or 14,000 feet, above the level of the Black Sea; but this is exceeded by Elbûrz, which attains the height of 16,700 feet, and the two peaks of the celebrated Ararat are still loftier. "These inaccessible summits," says Sir Robert Ker Porter, "have never been trodden by the foot of man since the days of Noah." Tourneforte was obliged to abandon the enterprise in the year 1700, after having endured great fatigue. At a more recent period, the pacha of Bayazeed fitted out an expedition, and built huts supplied with provisions at different stations; but his people suffered severely amid the snows and masses of ice, and returned without accomplishing their purpose. The state