THE HUMAN SPECIES. 27 



hangs the southern shore of the Caspian, then succeeds 

 Western Caucasus and the mountain groups of Asia 

 Minor and the Crimea, anciently known by the names 

 of Taurus and Tauris ; this, crossing the Hellespont 

 about Constantinople, joins the Balkan to the Illyrian 

 range, and, with broken intervals, passes to the Car- 

 pathian and Alpine systems terminating in the Py- 

 renees ; and that recommencing west of the Sea of 

 Azoph proceeds north of the Euxine, forming the 

 Cymbric Chersonesus. 



From the culminating points of this central region, 

 to the shores of every sea, we find traditions, historical 

 records, and demonstrated facts, attesting changes of 

 surface and of level truly appalling several of them 

 having been converted, from physical realities, into 

 mythological fictions. In the north, the Arctic shore 

 has been, for ages, in a constant rising progress. Whole 

 regions have been submerged on the south and east of 

 Asia, particularly between the coasts of Malabar and 

 Ceylon ; and again, vast provinces have disappeared 

 in the Chinese and Japan Seas. 



Already, in remote times, volcanic activity, mani- 

 fested by upheaving of the earth, relieved the elevated 

 valleys of their lakes ; such as those of Cashmeer and 

 of Nepaul both events being recorded in the tradi- 

 tions of the people. That of the western Gobi escaped 

 by the upper Irtish, and the lake of Balcach was most 

 likely absorbed, or percolated through the sand in the 

 same direction. In the present era, percussions continue 

 to be frequent in Affghanistan and Caubul, sometimes 



