GEOGRAPHY. 



65 



quite obvious that the extent of the land cannot 

 be leas than one-fourth of the area of the globe, 

 and must, therefore, comprehend at least 50 

 millions of square miles. And if a large arc 

 tic continent, eleven hundred leagues in length, 

 exist around the North Pole, as some French 

 philosophers infer from Captain Parry s late 

 discoveries* the quantity of land on the terra 

 queous globe will be much greater than what has 

 been now stated. 



GENERAL DIVISIONS OF THE EARTH. 

 The surface of the earth is divided, from north 

 to south, by two bands of earth, and two of water. 

 The first band of earth is the ancient or East 

 ern Continent, comprehending Europe, Asia, 

 and Africa; the greatest length of which is 

 found to be in a line beginning on the east 

 point of the northern part of Tartary, and ex 

 tending from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, 

 which measures about 10,000 miles, in a direc 

 tion nearly from north-east to south-west ; but 

 if measured according to the meridians, or from 

 north to south, it extends only 7,500 miles, from 

 the northernmost cape in Lapland to the Cape of 

 Good Hope. This vast body of land contains 

 about 36 millions of square miles, forming nearly 

 one-fifth of the whole surface of the globe. The 

 other band of earth is what is commonly called 

 the New Continent, which comprehends North 

 and South America. Its greatest length lies in 

 a line beginning at the mouth of the river Plata, 

 passing through the island of Jamaica, and ter 

 minating beyond Hudson s Bay ; and it measures 

 about 8,000 miles. This body of land contains 

 about 14 millions of square miles, or somewhat 

 more than a third of the old continent. 



It may not be improper here to remark, that 

 the two lines now mentioned, which measure 

 the greatest lengths of the two continents, divide 

 them into two equal parts, so that an equal por 

 tion of land lies on each ide of these lines, and 

 that each of these line* has an inclination of 

 about 30 degrees to tSe equator, but in opposite 

 directions ; that of the old continent extending 

 from the north-east to the south-west, and that 

 of the new continent from the north-west to the 

 south-east ; and that they both terminate at the 

 same degree, of northern and southern latitude. 

 It may also be noticed, that the old and new 

 continents are almost opposite to each other, and 

 that the old is more extensive to the north of the 

 equator, and the new more extensive to the 

 south. The centre of the old continent is in the 

 17th degree of north latitude, and the centre of 

 the new in the 17th degree of south latitude ; so 

 that the^ seem to be made to counterbalance 

 each other, in order to preserve the equability 

 of the diurnal rotation of the earth. There is 

 also a singular connexion between the two con 

 tinents, namely, that if they were divided into 



two parts, all four would be surrounded by the 

 sea, were it not for the two small necks of land 

 called the isthmuses of Suez and Panama.f 



Between the two continents now mentioned, lie 

 two immense bands of water, termed the Pacific 

 and the Atlantic oceans, whose greatest length 

 likewise in a direction from north to south. 



Besides the two bands of earth to which I 

 have adverted, many extensive portions of lard 

 are dispersed through the ocean, which covers 

 the remaining part of the earth s surface ; par 

 ticularly the extensive regions of New Holland, 

 which occupy a space nearly as large as the 

 whole of Europe, and the arctic continent, 

 which probably exists within the northern polar 

 regions, and which some French writers pro 

 pose to designate by the name of JJoreosia, is in 

 all probability, of equal extent. There are also 

 the extensive islands of New Guinea, Borneo, 

 Madagascar, Sumatra, iJapan, Great Britain, 

 New Zealand, Ceylon, Iceland, Cuba, Java, 

 and thousands of others, of different dimensions, 

 scattered through the Pacific, the Indian, and 

 the Atlantic oceans, and which form a very 

 considerable portion of the habitable regions of 

 the globe. 



GENERAL FEATURES OF THE EARTH S 

 SURFACE. In taking a general survey of the 

 external features of the earth, the most prominent 

 objects that strike the eye are those huge eleva 

 tions which rise above the level of its general sur 

 face, termed HILLS AND MOUNTAINS. These 

 are distributed, in various forms and sizes, 

 through every portion of the continents and 

 islands ; and, running into immense chains, form 

 a sort of connecting band to the other portion of 

 the earth s surface. The largest mountains are 

 generally formed into immense chains, which 

 extend, in nearly the same direction, for several 

 hundreds, and even thousands of miles. It has 

 been observed by some philosophers, that the 

 most lofty mountains form two immense ridges, 

 or belts, which, with some interruptions, extend 

 around the whole globe, in nearly the same direc 

 tion. One of these ridges lies between the 45th 

 and 55th degree of north latitude. Beginning 

 on the western shores of France and Spain, it 

 extends eastward, including the Alps and the 

 Pyrenees, in Europe, the Uralian and Altaic 

 mountains, in Asia extending from thence to 

 the shores of Kamschatka, and after a short in 

 terruption from the sea, they rise again on the 

 western coast of America, and terminate at 

 Canada, near the eastern shore. It is supposed 

 that the chain is continued completely round the 

 globe, through the space that is covered by the 

 Atlantic ocean, and that the Azores, and other 

 islands in that direction, are the only summits that 

 are visible, till we come to the British isles, 

 The other ridge runs along the Southern hemi- 



See Monthly Magazine, April, 1823, p. 259. 



t See Buffon s Natural History, vol. L. 



