THE LAND. 281 



This line has been termed the " parallel of the diaphragm of 

 Dicearchus ;" and the exactness of its geographical position, 

 which I have made the subject of discussion in another work, 

 may well excite our astonishment. ( 337 ) Strabo, guided no 

 doubt by the views of Eratosthenes, appears to have been so 

 fully persuaded that the 36th parallel of latitude, as the line 

 of greatest extent of the then known world, had some inti- 

 mate connection with the form of the earth, that he places 

 under it, between Iberia and the coast of Thine, the land of 

 which he divined the existence. ( 338 ) 



We have noticed the great inequality in the extent of 

 dry land in the two hemispheres, whether we divide the 

 sphere at the Equator or at the Meridian of Teneriffe; 

 the two great insular masses, or continents, eastern and 

 western, old and new, present also some striking contrasts, 

 and at the same time some analogies, deserving of notice. 

 Their major axes are in opposite directions; the eastern, 

 or old, continent, extending, in its greatest dimension, 

 from east to west, or more precisely from north-east to 

 south-west; whilst the western continent extends from 

 north to south, or more exactly from N.N.W. to S.S.E. 

 On the other hand, both continents are terminated towards 

 the north by a line coinciding nearly with the 70th 

 parallel ; and to the south they both run into pyramidal 

 points, having submarine prolongations which are indi- 

 cated by islands and shoals : such are, the Archipelago of 

 iTierra del Fuego, the Lagullas bank south of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and Van Diemen Island, separated from New 

 Holland by Bass's Straits. The northern part of Asia 

 passes beyond the above-mentioned (70th) parallel towards 

 Cape Taimura (78 16' according to Krusenstern), and 

 falls short of it from the mouth of the larger Tschukotschia 



