CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



is from 5000 to 9000 feet in general altitude. 2. 

 The maritime region between the Pacific Ocean 

 on the west and the ridge of mountains which 

 extends from Cape St Lucas in California north- 

 ward to Alaska. This ridge has a general eleva- 

 tion of 8000 or 10,000 feet, but rises near the 

 Columbia River in several peaks Mount Jeffer- 

 son, Mount Hood, Mount St Helen's to upwards 

 of 1 5,000 feet, and in Mount St Elias, to upwards of 

 17,000 feet 3. The elevated region which forms 

 a sort of table-land between the maritime chain 

 before mentioned on the west and the Rocky 

 Mountains on the east. In its southern portion, it 

 presents the arid salt plains of the Californian 

 desert ; between 40 and 45 north, it presents a 

 fertile region, with a mild and humid atmosphere ; 

 but beyond the last-mentioned parallel it is barren 

 and inhospitable. 4. The great central valley of 

 the Missouri and Mississippi, extending from the 

 Rocky Mountains on the west to the Alleghanies 

 on the east, and from the Gulf of Mexico north- 

 ward to the 45th or 5oth degree north lat. Be- 

 tween these parallels, runs in a waving line the 

 water-shed which divides the basins of the St 

 Lawrence and the Mississippi from those of the 

 streams that flow to Hudson Bay and the Arctic 

 Ocean. On the east side, this region is rich and 

 well wooded ; in the middle, it is bare prairie- 

 ground, but not unfertile ; towards the west, it is 

 dry, sandy, and almost a desert. The Rocky 

 Mountains, the greatest and most continuous of 

 the North American chains, rise from 8000 to 

 10,000, occasionally to 12,000, and between laL 

 52 and 53 north in Mount Hooker to 15,700 feet, 

 and in Mount Brown to 15,990 feet ; while the 

 Alleghanies reach their culminating point in 

 Mount Washington, 6428 feet, and have an aver- 

 age elevation of 2500 feet 5. The eastern declivi- 

 ties of the Alleghany Mountains and the maritime 

 region, extending to the shores of the Atlantic. 

 This is a region of natural forests, and of mixed 

 but rather poor soil 6. The great northern plain 

 beyond the 5oth parallel, a large part of which 

 is a bleak and desolate waste, overspread with 

 innumerable lakes, and having a very rigorous 

 climate. Yet much of it is excellent wheat-bear- 

 ing land, and more is suitable for pasture. 



The islands, peninsulas, promontories, and other 

 features which give diversity to the sea-coast, 

 appear to be most numerous in the north the 

 region of least importance, and with which we 

 are the least acquainted. Passing, therefore, the 

 islands in that quarter, the principal on the east 

 are Newfoundland, a large island lying at the 

 mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence ; Anticosti ; 

 Prince Edward Island ; and Cape Breton, all in 

 the same gulf ; and the West India Islands, to the 

 south-east of the continent On the west or 

 Pacific sea-board, the most important are 

 Vancouver's Island ; Queen Charlotte's Island, 

 Prince of Wales Island. The most striking penin- 

 sulas on the east or Atlantic side are Nova 

 Scotia, Florida, and Yucatan on the east and 

 south ; California and Alaska on the west. The 

 more prominent capes are Farewell, the southern- 

 most point of Greenland ; Capes Chudleigh and 

 Charles in Labrador ; Race in Newfoundland ; 

 Sable in Nova Scotia ; Cod, Hatteras, and Sable 

 in the United . States ; Catoche in Yucatan : on 

 the west or Pacific side St Lucas in California ; 

 Mendocino and Prince of Wales Cape in the 



United States : on the north side, jutting into the 

 Arctic Ocean, are Icy Cape, Point Barrow, and 

 Cape Bathurst. The principal isthmuses are 

 Chignecto, connecting Nova Scotia with the conti- 

 nent ; Tehuantepec in the south of Mexico, and 

 most important of all, the Isthmus of Darien or 

 Panama. Its breadth is less than 30 miles. 

 | Various routes for a ship-canal across it have been 

 discussed ; and the cutting of that promoted by 

 M. Lesseps was begun in 1883. A railway was 

 'opened in 1855, from Aspinwall in Navy Bay, 

 ; near Chagres, to Panama on the Pacific. The 

 ; length is 50 miles, and the summit-level only 250 

 ' feet. 



HYDROGRAPHY. 



The chief gulfs are Hudson Bay, between 

 Labrador and the Hudson Bay Territory, a large 

 inland sea, 800 miles long by 600 broad, frozen 

 for the greater part of the year, and girdled by 

 sterile desert shores ; its southern extremity, 

 known as James Bay, 250 miles long by 1 50 broad ; 

 while from its western side, a narrow arm, called 

 Chesterfield Inlet, stretches westward for 250 

 miles ; Hudson Strait, 500 miles in length, and only 

 about 80 miles at its narrowest part, connecting 

 Hudson Bay with the Atlantic ; Davis Strait and 

 Baffin Bay, between Greenland and the continent 

 of America, with its northern prolongation known 

 as Smith's Sound, through which Arctic naviga- 

 tors vainly try to pierce into the Polar Sea. The 

 highest latitude yet reached is 83 20' 26". From 

 the north-west end of Baffin Bay runs westward 

 a long channel, known in different parts by the 

 names of Lancaster Sound and Melville Sound, 

 and forming the famous ' North-west Passage,' 

 though as yet nobody has really managed to push 

 a ship through ; Belleisle Strait, separating New- 

 foundland from the mainland ; the Gulf of St 

 Lawrence ; the Bay of Fundy, between Nova 

 Scotia and the mainland, 180 miles long, and 

 about 35 in breadth, of dangerous navigation, 

 in consequence of fogs and the velocity of the 

 tide, which sometimes rises as high as 70 feet ; 

 Chesapeake Bay, a valuable inlet in the United 

 States, 200 miles in length, with a breadth 

 varying from 4 to 40 ; the large landlocked Gulf 

 of Mexico, with a basin of 800,000 square miles, 

 noted for its low alluvial shores, the high temper- 

 ature of its waters, and its currents (Gulf Stream), 

 which pass with great velocity through the narrow 

 Strait of Florida ; the Caribbean Sea, bounded 

 on the east and north by the West India Islands, 

 through which it communicates with the Atlantic 

 by numerous passages. On the west or Pacific 

 coast, the Gulf of California, penetrating north 

 for 700 miles, with a breadth varying from 40 to 

 170 miles, celebrated for its pearls ; and the 

 Strait of St Juan de Fuca, at the south of Van- 

 couver's Island, through the middle of which 

 (according to the decision of the German emperor, 

 1872) now runs the boundary between the United 

 States and British North America. 



The fresh-water lakes of North America are the 

 largest, and in many respects the most valuable, 

 in the world. The whole region between 42 and 

 67 north is so completely covered with them, 

 that geographers have styled it, by way of emi- 

 nence, the Region of Lakes. We can only men- 

 tion a few of the more important : i. Superior, 355 

 miles long by 160 broad, covering an area of 



