178 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



(the French name for meadows) and savannas (from 

 the Spanish sdbana, a sheet). These plains are treeless 

 but fertile, the prairie grass growing upon them to the 

 height of ten or twelve feet, and covering spaces to the 

 eye like limitless seas of vegetation. Many thousands 

 of square miles of the same lowlands are covered by 

 the forests or backwoods of North America, and the 

 whole plain, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, exceeds Europe in size. 



There are three distinctive river plains in South 

 America. (1.) The Llanos (Spanish, level fields), or 

 plains of the Orinoco. These are grassy flats, covering 

 150,000 square miles, between the equator and 10 north 

 latitude. So level are the llanos that, at 500 miles from 

 the ocean, the ascent generally is not more than 200 feet, 

 with a few exceptional cases, such as Bolivar, 200 miles 

 inland and 300 feet in elevation. The greater part of 

 the region is inundated in the wet season, to which 

 is due its peculiar character. As the water disappears 

 in the dry season, it is followed by a rapid growth of 

 grass, which in turn becomes parched and very combus- 

 tible, and conflagrations occur over thousands of miles. 



(2.) The Selvas (Latin silva, Spanish selva, a wood). The 

 selvas, or woody plains of the Amazon, cover nearly the 

 whole drainage area of that river, an extent of 2,000,000 

 square miles. The selvas are the largest forests in the 

 world. Favoured with abundant moisture and tropical 

 heat, the trees attain dimensions unseen elsewhere, their 

 height reaching generally from one hundred to two 

 hundred feet. The rankest profusion of climbing plants, 

 which are the growth of a soil, the rich produce of 

 centuries of vegetable decay, twine round the trunks to 

 the top, and, reaching over, interlace the trees, and, 

 combined with the thick undergrowth, constitute a wall 

 of vegetation impregnable except to the constant strokes 

 of the hatchet. 



(3.) The Pampas is the native name for the treeless 

 plains of the basin of La Plata. These are generally 

 dry, but covered with grass. There are, however, ex- 

 tensive tracts of a different character. In the north- 

 west thistles take the place of grass, and grow of 

 amazing magnitude and number. There are also sandy 

 and saline deserts. Las Salinas, a salt desert in the 

 north, is 30,000 square miles in extent. The pampas are 

 rerdant where watered by the affluents of the La Plata, 

 but arid and withered out of reach of these streams. 

 "Near the Andes the plains become boggy. Humboldt 

 speaks of these terrestrial expanses as more awe-inspir- 

 ing than the highest mountains. There is nothing in the 

 landscape to soften the feelings of sadness and gloom, 

 where everything seems silent and motionless; and 

 during thirty days' journey the plain appears to ascend 

 to the sky, and the vast and profound solitude looks like 

 an ocean covered with sea-weeds. 

 . Mineral Produce. 



The geological structure of America is eminently 

 favourable for mineral deposits. The whole length of the 

 great mountain ridge, from the British territories in the 

 north to the point where the Andes leave the mainland 

 and form the Patagonian archipelago, is more or less 

 metalliferous. The same may be said of the hilly parts 

 of Canada, and also of the Alleghany region of the United 

 States, but not of the "West Indies. Besides the Andes, 

 properly so called, the adjoining territory of Venezuela 

 is rich in metals, and the mountainous parts of Brazil 

 are similar. The minerals of South America are more 

 restricted as to locality than those of North America ; 

 the immense woody plains of the Amazon, without a 

 hill and without stone or mineral, separate the western 

 metalliferous regions from the eastern. They consist 

 especially of gold and silver, which have been sought to 

 the neglect of the common useful metals, although these 

 last are probably more profitable to work. 



North America. Gold, silver, tin, quicksilver, copper, 

 lead, and iron are found in North America. Mexico is 

 rich in gold, the gold-bearing strata extending southward 

 through Central America into Guatemala, and north- 

 wards into the richest gold-fields of the continent, those 

 of California. Gold is found in smaller quantities in 

 the United States, chiefly within the high grounds of 

 the Alleghanies or Appalachian region. Mexico alone 

 produces silver, tin, and quicksilver. Mines of copper 

 and lead exist in Mexico, the United States, and Camida. 

 Iron is produced in the same countries, and also in 

 Guatemala. Plumbago is abundant in Canada, and is 

 found in the United States, where likewise a great 

 quantity of zinc exists. The produce of the quicksilver 

 mines of California surpasses that of all others, and 

 regulates the price of this valuable metal in every market 

 of the world. Its essential use in separating gold from 

 the quartz, in which this last metal is embedded, has 

 stimulated the working of the mines in recent years. 



Next to the metals, the chief mineral produce is coal. 

 The coal-fields of the United States are the largest 

 known, embracing an area more than double that of 

 Great Britain. These immense deposits lie chiefly 

 within the western slopes of the Alleghany region 

 Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Yirginia West in the 

 peninsular tract of country between the great lake basins 

 of Michigan, Huron, and Erie (state of Michigan), and 

 in the region extending across the lower Missouri and 

 Arkansas rivers, including the diversified tract of the 

 Ozark mountains. These vast stores of coal are, how- 

 ever, but little worked, and the produce of the United 

 States is nothing like that of Great Britain, and in- 

 deed hardly exceeds the yield of the little kingdom of 

 Bekrinm. 



In Canada, the vast Laurentian and Silurian deposits 

 forming the chief part of the river valley of the St, 

 Lawrence oppose the occurrence of coal, but New Bruns- 

 wick and Nova Scotia, both now included in Canada, 

 have workable coal-fields. On the other side of the 

 Continent, coal of excellent quality is procured in the- 

 adjacent Vancouver's Island, and is wrought to a con- 

 siderable extent. 



If wanting in coal, Canada has other rich mineral 

 resources. The shores of Lakes Huron and Superior 

 yield abundance of copper, and possess besides, lead, 

 plumbago, and other ores ; petroleum, or mineral oil, 

 obtained recently in enormous quantities from tho 

 carboniferous area of the United States, and from that 

 portion of Upper Canada lying between Lakes Huron 

 and Erie, must be added to this brief survey of tho 

 New World. 



Salt is common in many parts of the North American 

 continent. Some fine specimens of marble are quarried 

 in Canada, and in the United States, where also slato 

 and asbestos are found. 



West Indies. The TOCKS composing the larger and 

 smaller islands differ respectively in their geological 

 character, and therefore in their mineral produce. In 

 the small islands of volcanic origin, metallic lodes or 

 ores are rare, although Porto Rico produces gold. 

 Copper and iron are found in Cuba, and lead in Jamaica. 

 Almost all the metals are believed to be represented in 

 St. Domingo, together with coal, porphyry, and numerous 

 other minerals, although not many are wrought. 



South America. The metals of South America are the 

 same as those of North America; but only one lead 

 mine, an argentiferous galena, has yet been discovered 

 that of Carupano, Venezuela; in Columbia is found 

 the infusible and rare metal platinum, which is unknown 

 in the northern continent. 'Peru is the principal metalli- 

 ferous region, its produce being gold, silver, and copper, 

 in common with other districts, and mercury and tin 

 peculiar to itself. Gold is supplied by Columbia, Vene- 



