CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



temperate zone, diversified by a happy blending of 

 mountain and plain, marked by no geographical 

 feature on a scale so large as to give to its surface 

 the character of monotony, and surrounded and 

 intersected by seas which greatly influence its cli- 

 mate affords, in proportion to its area, a habitat 

 to a more varied and highly developed existence 

 than any other quarter. Asia, situated partly 

 within the torrid, temperate, and frozen zones, 

 and presenting an area almost five times that of 

 Europe, exhibits every species of geographical 

 diversity. With such a variety of character, it is 

 impossible to treat of it as a whole, and conse- 

 quently geographers divide it into five well-marked 

 regions namely, Central Asia, consisting of a 

 series of ascending plateaux, diversified by moun- 

 tain-ridges of stupendous height, and intersected 

 by narrow valleys ; Northern, including the whole 

 of the continent north of the Altai Mountains a 

 flattish region traversed by large rivers, bleak and 

 barren, suffering under an intense cold, thinly 

 peopled, and almost physically incapable of im- 

 provement ; Eastern upon the whole a low-lying 

 and somewhat arid region, though traversed by 

 several of the largest rivers in the world, and 

 occasionally diversified by spurs from the central 

 table-heights ; Southern, including the two penin- 

 sular projections of India within and without the 

 Ganges decidedly the finest region of the conti- 

 nent, diversified by minor hill-ranges and well- 

 watered valleys, enjoying a high, though not an 

 oppressive temperature, having only a rainy season 

 for its winter, and, except during long drought, 

 presenting in every district an unfailing verdure ; 

 and, lastly, Western Asia from the Indus west- 

 ward and north to the Caspian which, with a few 

 minor exceptions, may be said to consist of high 

 sandy plains, studded with salt-lakes, very inade- 

 quately watered by rivers, and on the whole a 

 hot and arid region. A continent marked by such 

 a diversity of surface and climate, presents an 

 appropriate field for the exhibition of almost every 

 form of vitality known in the other continents; 

 and thus has belief ever pointed to it as the cradle 

 of organic existence. Africa, the next great divi- 

 sion of the Old World, is almost entirely insular, 

 the isthmus connecting it with Asia being only 

 seventy-two miles across, of no great elevation 

 above the sea-level, and even in part occupied by 

 lakes and salt-marshes. It is only a few years 

 ago that little was known regarding the physical 

 construction of Africa beyond a limited strip 

 around the coast, and a few tracks across the 

 Great Desert of the north. Thanks to the adven- 

 turous explorations of recent travellers, we now 

 have a tolerable notion of its general features. 

 One of these features is an almost continuous 

 range of mountains girdling the continent round, 

 leaving a belt of lowlands of from 50 to 300 miles 

 broad between them and the coast. In the tri- 

 angular part of the continent, south of Cape 

 Guardafui and the Gulf of Guinea, the interior 

 consists of an elevated plateau variegated by 

 mountain tracks, river-valleys, and depressions 

 containing great lakes j the whole abounding in 

 multiform vegetable and animal life. North of 

 this plateau the interior consists of the compara- 

 tively low-lying and fertile track known as Nigritia 

 and the Great Desert or Sahara. The isolation 

 of Africa, its intertropical position, and its general 

 configuration, must stamp it with vital peculi- 



M 



arities ; and yet its connection with Asia on the. 

 one hand, and its proximity to Europe on the 

 other, offer numerous facilities to the interchange 

 of vegetable and animal species. Thus the south- 

 ern and northern sea-board of the Mediterranean, 

 present many similar forms ; and the Flora and 

 Fauna of Egypt and Nubia are identical in many 

 instances with those of the adjoining tracts of 

 Arabia. 



Turning now to the New World, we find also- 

 the two Americas so slenderly attached by the 

 narrow rocky Isthmus of Panama, which at one 

 part is little more than eighteen miles across, that 

 they may safely be regarded as separate and dis- 

 tinct continents. This separation is rendered still 

 more decided by the irregular character of the 

 isthmus and the adjoining high table-land of 

 Mexico, which form an almost impassable barrier 

 to the migration either of animal or of vegetable 

 races. South America lies chiefly within the 

 tropics, a third part or less stretching southward 

 into the temperate zone ; its superficies is broadly 

 marked by mountain and plain, exhibiting along 

 the entire western coast a flat arid region, from 50 

 to 100 miles in breadth ; then rising boldly up into 

 the Andes, which stretch along its whole length, 

 and present a rugged irregular region of variable 

 breadth ; and ultimately falling away to the north 

 and east in the llanos of the Orinoco, the plains of 

 the Amazon, and the pampas of La Plata. Nor 

 are its physical features more broadly marked 

 than the plants and animals by which it is peopled, 

 these exhibiting typical peculiarities only next in 

 degree above those of the somewhat anomalous 

 continent of Australia. The problem of the north- 

 west passage being now solved, Greenland and a 

 number of islands lying west of it might be con- 

 veniently erected into a new geographical division. 

 Following, however, the usual course of including 

 these regions, the area of the known continent of 

 North America may be stated at 8,200,000 square 

 miles the great mass of which lies within the 

 northern temperate zone. The general physical 

 characteristics of the continent are remarkable for 

 the magnitude of the scale upon which they are 

 presented the plains, lakes, and rivers being 

 superior to those of all other countries. Though 

 lying chiefly within the temperate zone, its south- 

 ern and northern regions are respectively placed 

 under tropical and arctic influences ; and thus it 

 presents in some measure the threefold variety of 

 Fauna and Flora which characterises the greater 

 continent of Asia. This greater diversity of climate 

 renders it less peculiar in its living forms than the 

 sister continent, at the same time that its prox- 

 imity to Asia being separated by Behring's Strait, 

 which is only thirty-six miles broad renders the 

 immigration of Old- World species by no means 

 improbable. 



In estimating the comparative adaptability of a 

 land as the habitation for man, an important ele- 

 ment is the extent of its coast-line compared with 

 its area. The more irregular the shape of the 

 land, and the more it is broken into by gulfs and 

 bays, the more are the inland parts brought into 

 proximity to the great highway of intercourse and 

 civilisation. Europe is so indented with seas and 

 gulfs, that it has a coast-line of 20,000 miles, while 

 the same area might be contained in a regular 

 figure of 6000 miles' circuit. Had it had an outline 

 of this kind, it would hardly have been, as it is, 



