THE WESTERN WORLD 



iavt Jirst. 

 NORTH AMERICA 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. — PHYSICAL FEATURES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



HE continent of America, if the stony records of tlie 

 Past are read aright, claims to be the oldest instead 

 of the newest portion of the globe.* Bowing to 

 this opinion of geologists till they see cause to express a 

 different one, we will, in consequence, commence our survey 

 of the world and its inhabitants with the Western Hemisphere. 

 From the multitude of objects which crowd upon us, we can 

 examine only a few of the most interesting minutely ; at 

 others we can merely give a cursory glance ; while many we 

 must pass by altogether, — our object being to obtain a general 

 and retainable knowledge of the physical features of the Earth, 

 the vegetation which clothes its surface, the races of men who 



* According to some geologists, Labrador was the first part of our globe's surface to become 

 dry land. 



