THE HUMAN SPECIES. 85 



AMERICA. 



AMERICA, stretching from the Arctic to the Antarctic 

 Circle, has the great chain of cardinating mountains in 

 the same direction, with indications of far more awful 

 convulsions than are remarked on the old continent ; 

 for here the nutations of the great ridge, instead of 

 influencing the continent, like the Himalayas, with a 

 gradual action upon their abutting planes, have snapped 

 near the fulcrum of its western side, nearly two-thirds 

 of the whole length, from Terra del Fuego to California, 

 and sunk that portion of the continent in such deep 

 sea for many degrees seaward, that scarcely an island 

 remains above water. Freed, it would seem, from the 

 adhesion of the broad surface, as naturally belonging 

 to this side as on the other, and to counterbalance it, 

 as is the case in Asia, the Andes, in their whole extent 

 in the vicinity of the ocean, retain volcanic activity in 

 full force, and consequently heave up, at the present 

 time, as perseveringly as at the remotest periods. They 

 continue to rise with every great shock of an earth- 

 quake, perhaps affecting the whole height of the moun- 

 tains, but certainly the western or maritime side, where 

 successive stages may be traced to a great elevation ; 

 and rocky heads, lines of beaches, and shoaling waters, 

 become more and more evident ; as if nature laboured, 

 to recover from the deep, a portion of long-lost terres- 



