AMERICA. 



America consists of several divisions, the central part being the 

 United States, the north-eastern British America, the north- 

 western angle near Behring Strait, Russian America, and the part 

 forming the southern point, Mexico. 



88. Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The large inlet of the 

 ocean enclosed between the northern coast of South America, the 

 southern coast of North America, and the eastern coast of Mexico 

 and Central America, consists of the Gulf of Mexico and the 

 Caribbean Sea, its eastern part, sprinkled with the West Indian 

 islands, forming an archipelago. 



89. Relation between the coasts of Old and New Continent. 

 It has been observed by Humboldt, that on comparing the eastern 

 coast of South America with the western coast of Africa, the 

 same correspondence is observed between them as is usually seen 

 in the opposite sides of a valley or ravine ; from which he argues 

 that the bottom of the Atlantic, which flows between these conti- 

 nents, ought to be regarded as an extensive valley, the sides of 

 which, rising to an elevation above the level of the water which 

 fills it, form the coasts of the two continents. Thus the concavity 

 on the African coast, called the Gulf of Guinea, has a correspond- 

 ing convexity on the South American coast forming the territory 

 of Brazil, and the convexity at the north-western corner of 

 Africa, of which the coast of Morocco forms a part, corresponds 

 with the opposite concavity formed by the Caribbean Sea and the 

 Gulf of Mexico. So that if the two continents were moved 

 towards each other, and brought into contact, their coasts would 

 fit into each other, like the dove-tailed edges of carpentry. The 

 Atlantic, following the course of this submarine valley, entering 

 between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, flows first in a 

 northerly direction, a little towards the east, next, after passing 

 the Gulf of Guinea, in a north-westerly direction, and finally, 

 after passing the north-western coast of America, in a north- 

 easterly direction. 



90. The relief of the western continent is characterised by a 

 continuous ridge of considerable elevation, which traverses it longi- 

 tudinally from its northern to its southern limit, lying much 

 nearer to the western than to the eastern coast. 



91. Chippewayan and Rocky Mountains. The part of this 

 ridge or mountain-chain which traverses North America, com- 

 mencing at the Frozen Ocean, is called in its northern division 

 the Chippewayan range, and in its southern division by the better 

 known name of the Rocky Mountains. 



92. Cordilleras and Andes. After passing along Central Ame- 

 rica, this ridge takes the name of the Cordilleras and Andes, 

 and rising to much greater heights, and throwing up vast peaks 



151 



