Continents, Mountain Chains, Migrations and Civilization. 427 



insulas on the Arctic Sea, generally from south to north. Thus 

 nearly all of them run north and south. 



With regard to mountain chains, the primary mountains 

 also run generally north and south, and the secondary moun- 

 tains accompany them in the same direction. In America we 

 observe an alpiue chain extending from the stony moun- 

 tains to the Andes and continuing to Cape Horn*. This im- 

 mense chain inclines westward, in its middle and northern 

 part; and the opposite chains of Asia incline, on the contrary, 

 eastward ; but the tendency of these, like other great moun- 

 tain chains, is evidently north and south. The Jablonnoy and 

 Stanovoy mountains, joined by those east of the Lena, and 

 forming the first of these chains, traverse the east of Asiatic 

 Russia from north to south. The Ural mountains, forming 

 the second of these chains, and running similarly north and 

 south, separate Asiatic from European Russia. These may 

 be regarded as continued eastward, as the Stanovoy are west- 

 ward, toward the Altai' mountains, whence descend the chains 

 which traverse Mongolia, Thibet and Hindoostan to the 

 very extremity of India. In these, the great mountain chains 

 of Asia, there is much irregularity ; but if we regard the 

 whole as thus stretching from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean, 

 their direction is evidently north and south; and that which 

 is true of the whole, is of course true of the greater number 

 of parts, in which the long courses north and south of the 

 Jablonnoy and of the Stanovoy mountains, of those east of the 

 Lena, of the Ural mountains, of the Belor Tagh and of the 

 Soliman mountains, and of the Ghauts, are very remarkablef. 

 In the remainder of the Old World there are no mountain 

 chains so vast as these; but in Europe the Finnish and Nor- 

 wegian mountains, those of Iilyria, the Apennines, the Ce- 

 vennes and the Vosges, and the British mountains, all run 

 north and south ; and in Africa the littoral chain of the Red 

 Sea, and the Lupata chain, stretching apparently from Cape 

 Guardafui to the Cape of Good Hope, have a similar direc- 

 tion. 



Such being the prevailing direction of mountain chains, 

 corresponding with that of continents and islands, and of 

 peninsulas, namely, north and south, it is evident that their 

 sides, aspects or faces are as generally turned either eastward 

 or westward. 



As, however, while this is the case, the strata which com- 



* The Allegany and Brazilian mountains have similar directions, 

 f The Syrian and Arabian mountains have similar directions. 



3 I 2 



