251 



AMERICA. 



AMERICA. 



282 



was first visited by Cabot before a single Englishman had effectually 

 settled in the country. 



For the progress of discovery on the north-west shores of America, 

 the English accounts of Cooke, Clarke, Meares, and Vancouver, and 

 the narratives of the Russians, Behringand Tshirikow, may be referred 

 to. The journey of Samuel Hearne to the Coppermine River, from 

 Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean in latitude 72, which terminated 

 in 1772, was important in showing the fallacy of the supposition that 

 was entertained of the extension of the continent in an unbroken 

 mass towards the pole, Hearne having been the first to reach the shore 

 of the Arctic Ocean. In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie reached the 

 Arctic Ocean, latitude 09, and in another expedition crossed to the 

 Pacific by land, being the first person who had penetrated from 

 sea to sea across the mass of the continent. After this there 

 was another pause in the annals of discovery, until in 1818 

 the British government dispatched Captain Ross in search of the 

 North-West Passage, who entered Lancaster Sound, and reached 

 latitude 78 north, but returned under circumstances of disappoint- 

 ment In 1819 the Admiralty dispatched Lieutenant Parry in the same 

 direction, and his success was so brilliant that he reached 30 degrees 

 of longitude farther west than any former navigator, discovered the 

 North Georgian Islands, and numerous new lands and bays, and 

 completely established the fact of the existence of the Polar Sea. 

 Captains Parry and Lyon undertook another voyage in 1821, and 

 wintered on Melville Island, without further success. Captain Parry 

 made a third expedition in 1824, wintering in Prince Regent's 

 Inlet, but lost one of his ships, and was upon the whole unsuccessful. 

 The land expedition of Lieutenant Franklin and Dr. Richardson, in 

 1820, to the Arctic Sea, and the second expedition in 1825 to the 

 mouth of Mackenzie River, and thence by sea towards the north-west 

 extremity of the continent, made some addition to our knowledge of 

 the coast of this Polar Sea, and also extended our information as to 

 the climate and productions of these arctic regions. The object of 

 Captain Beechey's voyage to Behring's Straits in 1825 was to meet 

 the expedition of Franklin, but this object was not effected ; he 

 returned without further discovery than the addition by survey 

 of a new and extensive line of coast on the northern limits of 

 America. 



Captain (now Sir John) Ross undertook a second voyage in search 

 of a North- West Passage, during the years 1829 to 1833, but with no 

 better success than in his first undertaking; he was forced to pass 

 four successive winters in the dreary regions of Boothia Felix, and 

 emerged with his crew from the icy seas when the hope of return had 

 almost been universally abandoned at home. In this expedition, which 

 waa entirely a private one, and had been fitted out through the 

 munificence of Sir Felix Booth, a London distiller, some additions 

 were made to our stock of geographical knowledge by the explo- 

 ration of Prince Regent's Inlet, the Gulf of Boothia, and the country 

 to the west of these seas, which was found to be continuous from 

 Barrow's Strait to the American continent; thus proving the im- 

 possibility of a passage to the westward in that direction. The 

 position of the magnetic north pole was likewise one of the discoveries 

 made. Commander (now Sir George) Back was sent out on a land- 

 journey in search of the preceding expedition in 1833 ; he traced the 

 river named after him. Having returned in 1835, he was again 

 appointed the commander of an expedition in 1836, which was 

 destined to proceed to Wager River and Repulse Bay. This waa a 

 most disastrous voyage, tha expedition having to pass the winter in 

 the ships tossed about in the ice ; no geographical results were gained. 

 During the years 1836 to 1839, Dease and Simpson, two officers of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, surveyed a considerable bine of the northern 

 shores of the American continent, leaving only the southern part of 

 Boothia Gulf, of the entire coast line, unexplored. This latter portion 

 was surveyed by Dr. Rae in 1848. In 1845 one further attempt was 

 undertaken to solve the 300 years' problem of the North-West 

 Passage, when the expedition under Sir John Franklin waa dis- 

 patched to Lancaster Sound. Nothing has been heard of it since, nor 

 have any of the numerous expeditions sent out in search of it been 

 attended with success. 



The most important of the expeditions at present engaged in the 

 search of Sir John Franklin and his crew sailed in 1852, under 

 the command of Sir Edward Belcher. In 1851 the Prince Albert, a 

 ship of only 90 tons burden, was equipped at the expense of Lady 

 Franklin, and sailed from England, May 22, under the command of 

 Captain Kennedy, formerly an officer in the employment of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company. The Prince Albert returned October 7, 

 1852, after having passed the winter in Regent's Inlet. During the 

 winter Captain Kennedy and Lieutenant Bellot (of the French navy) 

 with six seamen made a sledge-expedition over North Somerset, which 

 was ascertained to be an inland. Captain Kennedy brought home dis- 

 patches from Sir Edward Belcher, and communicated the gratifying 

 intelligence that Sir Edward had sailed up Wellington Channel, 

 which was unencumbered with ice. The Isabel screw-steamer has 

 also returned since the Prince Albert, and Captain Inglefield states 

 that no ice had been seen in Wellington Channel up to September 5, 

 when he left it. 



Mr. Petermann has lately drawn public attention to the great sea 

 between Spitzbergeu and Nova Zembla, and has strongly urged the 



propriety of sending a steamer to investigate that route, as not only 

 affording a possibility of meeting with Sir John Franklin and his crew, 

 but also a probability of its becoming a valuable whale-fishery. 



The discovery of gold in California has resulted in many excellent 

 surveys and explorations in the western regions of North America, 

 while the north-western part has also become better known through 

 the Russian and English settlers, so that altogether a vast amount of 

 geographical knowledge of the interior of North America has been 

 gained in the last ten years. 



Respecting the surveys of the American coast, Sir Francis Beaufort, 

 in a return to the House of Commons, thus stated their progress iu 

 1848 : " From the equator to Cape Horn, and from thence round to 

 the river Plata, on the eastern side of America, all that is immediately 

 wanted has been already achieved by the splendid survey of Captain 

 Fitzroy. 



" Some parts of the great empire of Brazil we owe to the labours of 

 Baron de Roussin and of other French officer;! ; but there is much yet 

 to be done on that coast between the Plata and the Amazon rivers, 

 and again along Guyana and Venezuela up to the mouth of the 

 Orinoco. 



" The shores of the mainland between Trinidad Island and the 

 Gulf of Mexico have been charted and published by the Admiralty ; 

 but many of the West India Islands are still wanting to complete a 

 wholesome knowledge of those seas. 



" The United States are carrying on an elaborate survey of their 

 own coasts, and to the northward of them; a part of the Bay of 

 Fundy has been done by ourselves, as well as all the shores of Nova 

 Scotia, Canada, and Newfoundland; and when these surveys are 

 finished, we shall only want to complete the eastern coast of America, 

 those of Labrador, and of Hudson's Bay, which, being in our possession, 

 ought to appear on our charts with some degree of truth." 



Since 1848 Captain Kellett in H.M.S. Herald, has continued the 

 survey of the western coasts from the equator northward, along 

 Central America, Mexico, part of California, and other regions, and 

 has thus completed the entire western coast-line of America. The 

 Americans advance steadily with the surveys of their coasts. 



Phytical C/eograpky. The external form of America presents in 

 many respects a contrast to that of the old continent. Viewed as an 

 entire region, it has a lengthened figure, of which the greater diameter 

 is inclined to the equator : the whole continent is the longest con- 

 tinuous mass of land that the globe presents, stretching from the 

 Northern Icy Ocean into the cold regions of the south. The result of 

 this disposition is, that no portion of the interior of the New World 

 is very remote from the sea-coasts ; everywhere it gives access to the 

 influence of the ocean, in the midst of which it is placed, like a long 

 island. This form, contrasted with that of the Old World gives to it 

 its character. The New World is essentially oceanic. This continent 

 ia composed of two great peninsulas united by a long isthmus, which, 

 whether we consider its form, or the primitive rocks of which it is 

 composed, bears no resemblance to the isthmus between Africa and 

 Asia. The expression ' New Continent,' which is often applied to 

 America, does not refer to the comparative ages of the two continents, 

 or the time of their supposed appearance above the ocean, but to the 

 chronological order of our knowledge. 



The northern extremities of America are bounded by that part of 

 the Polar Sea which has sometimes been distinguished as the Western 

 or American Polar Sea. On the east, America is washed by the 

 Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Pacific. Its length from 80 

 N. lat. to 55 S. hit. exceeds 9000 miles, but it cannot be accurately 

 stated ; its greatest breadth is between Cape St. Roque in Brazil, and 

 Cape Parina in Peru, where it is upwards of 3250 miles wide. The 

 narrowest part is the Isthmus of Panama, which is only 28 miles wide. 

 The area of the continent of America has been somewhat varioup'y 

 stated. The most recent and trustworthy estimate, that of the 

 'American Almanack' for 1853, makes the area of America and its 

 dependencies, not including the West India Islands, amount to 

 14,155,332 square miles; and the population to 53,755,935. About 

 one-half of the population are whites, the other half native Indians, 

 negroes, and mixed races. The most southern point is Cape Horn, 

 near the island of Tierra del Fuego. The two great portions which 

 are called North and South America are divided by the Gulf of 

 Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and united in 9 N. lat. by the 

 Isthmus of Panama. North America comprehends all that part of 

 the New World which lies north of the Isthmus of Panama, and 

 extends to the polar regions. Its eastern extremity on the coast of 

 Labrador is in 55 W. long., and its western, on Behriug'a Straits, in 

 about 168 W. long. 



North A merica, Coast-Line. The breadth of the continent of North 

 America diminishes southward to the Isthmus of Panama from 60 

 N. lat. The extent of coast is very great, owing to its form : the 

 length of coast from Hudson's Straits to the Florida Channel is about 

 4800 miles ; and measured from the Florida Channel to Panama 

 about 4500 miles. The whole length on the Pacific side to Behring's 

 Straits (including the Gulf of California) has been roughly given at 

 10,500 miles. The area of North America is stated to be rather 

 greater than that of South America. 



The coast of North America is more indented by seas and large 

 inlets on the eastern than on the western side. On the east side, 



