THE WESTERN, OR NEW CONTINENT. 



vegetation seems to be maintained by the deposition of dew, for 

 it often happens that intervals of several years elapse without 

 rain, When rain does occur, however, it is periodic, and prevails 

 through three months. 



78. Vegetable productions. The natural vegetable pro- 

 ductions are neither considerable nor useful ; there is no species 

 of edible fruit. The trees composing the woods appear to be of 

 one uniform family, the foliage being scanty and almost shadow- 

 less. On the other hand, transplanted vegetation is easily natu- 

 ralised. Districts are found adapted to the cultivation of all sorts 

 of grain ; but, for the present, the most advantageous employment 

 of the soil is for pasturage. 



79. The indigenous animals are few, being mostly of the 

 family of marsupia, such as the opossum and kangaroo. The 

 most remarkable and anomalous of these animals is one called 

 the ornithorhynchus, which is a sort of connecting link between 

 birds and quadrupeds, having the bill and feet of a duck, and the 

 body and fur of a mole. 



80. Minerals Gold It is well known that gold in large 

 quantities is found in this region. It may be added, however, 

 that coal and iron also exist there in inexhaustible quantities, as 

 well as marble, lead, and copper. 



81. Aboriginal Tribes. The native tribes, which appear to 

 prevail in but limited numbers, are in the lowest state to which 

 nature can sink. They are generally nomadic, but sometimes 

 build rude villages, and subsist by fishing on the coast. 



So utterly degraded is their condition, moral and physical, that 

 many tribes are unprovided with clothing, practise cannibalism, 

 and are wholly destitute of social and religious ideas. 



THE WESTERN, OR NEW CONTINENT. 



82. Its extent and form. Like the great eastern continent, 

 the western is an oblong tract of land, the length of which inter- 

 sects the parallels of latitude obliquely, being directed first from 

 the S. S. E. to N. N. W. and then turning eastward in approach- 

 ing the pole. It extends from 50 S. lat. to the utmost limit of 

 polar discovery. 



83. Divisions South America. This continent consists of 

 two peninsulas, connected by a narrow tract of considerable 

 length. The southern peninsula resembles Africa in its general 

 outline, having a triangular form, with its base towards the 

 north, and its vertex to the south. It also resembles the African 

 continent in having coasts but little indented by bays or gulfs, 



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