THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



CONTINUED. 



A remarkable feature in the Pacific Ocean, and 

 one that distinguishes it from every other sea, is the 

 immense assemblage of small islands with which it is 

 crowded, particularly in the portion situated between 

 the tropics. For about three thousand miles from 

 the coast of South America, the sea is almost entirely 

 free from islands ; but thence to the great isles of 

 India, an immense belt of Ocean, nearly five thou- 

 sand miles in length, and fifteen hundred in breadth, 

 is so studded with them as almost to be one con- 

 tinuous archipelago. The term Polynesia, by which 

 this division of the globe is now distinguished, is 

 compounded of two Greek words, signifying many 

 islands. Very few of these gems of the Ocean are 

 more than a few miles in extent, though Tahiti, and 

 some in the more western groups, are of rather larger 

 dimensions; while Hawaii, the largest island in 

 Polynesia, is about the size of Yorkshire. 



The isles, which in such vast numbers thus stud 

 the bosom of the Pacific, are of three distinct forms, 

 the Coral, the Crystal, and the Volcanic. Of these, 

 the first formation greatly predominates ; but the 

 largest islands are of the last description: of the 

 crystal formation but few specimens are known. 



Z (265) 



