336 The Realm of Nature CHAP. 



of attraction rather than repulsion, and take place toward, 

 and not from, a special region. The most potent magnet 

 is gold. This led the Spaniards to Mexico and South 

 America on the discovery of the new continent. In 1849 

 the discovery of gold in California caused a rush of fortune- 

 seekers from all parts of the world, and led to the very 

 rapid settlement of the Pacific coast of North America. 

 Victoria was the scene of a similar rush in 1850, and 

 tropical South Africa presents the same phenomenon, 

 though in a less intense form, at the present time. 

 Diamonds have had a like effect in attracting a large 

 population to Kimberley, in Cape Colony. In each case 

 many of the people attracted by the abundance of precious 

 and portable products remained after these ceased to be 

 readily available, in order to develop the agricultural 

 resources of the land. Coal-fields and regions where 

 petroleum or natural gas abound now rapidly attract a 

 large population, on account of the facilities afforded for 

 carrying on manufactures of every kind. Rich agricultural 

 lands such as those of Dakota and Manitoba also give rise 

 to concentration of population from all sides, when means 

 are provided by railways or rivers to carry the wheat or 

 other farm products to a profitable market. 



430. Geography takes account of the relations between 

 regions and races. Physiography is concerned with the 

 study of Man in relation to the Earth, while Geography 

 treats of the Earth in its relation to Man % The branch of 

 geography dealing with the useful or desirable things which 

 occur in or on the Earth's crust, and the effects which the 

 discovery, production, transport, and exchange of these 

 have on mankind, is known as Commercial Geography. 

 Communities of civilised people associated together under 

 one government form nations, and the definite region of 

 the Earth's surface occupied by a nation is called a country. 

 Countries have sometimes arisen from the centrifugal or 

 centripetal migration of peoples under natural influences ; 

 but more commonly their limits have acquired their present 

 position by the conquest or loss of territory in struggles 

 against neighbouring nations. Wars carried on by kings 



