BASINS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 357 



Beries of the volcanos of Guatimala. The basin of the "W eet 

 Indies. form s, as we have already observed, a Mediterranean 

 with several issues, the influence of which on the political 

 destinies of the New Continent depends at once on its 

 central position and the great fertility of its islands. The 

 outlets of the basin, of which the four largest * are 75 miles 

 broad, are all on the eastern side, open towards Europe, and 

 agitated by the current of the tropics. In the same manner 

 as we recognize, in our Mediterranean, the vestiges of three 

 ancient basins by the proximity of Rhodes, Scarpanto, 

 Candia, and Cerigo, as well as by that of Cape Sorello of 

 Sicily, the island of Pantelaria and Cape Bon, in Africa; 

 so the basin of the West India Islands, which exceeds the 

 Mediterranean in extent, seems to present the remains of 

 ancient dykes which joint Cape Catoche of Yucatan to 

 Cape San Atonio of the island of Cuba; and that island 

 to Cape Tiburon of St. Domingo ; Jamaica, the Bank of La 

 Vibora, and the rock of Serranilla to Cape Gracias a Dios 

 on the Mosquito Shore. From this situation of the most 

 prominent islands and capes of the continent, there results 

 a division into three partial basins. The most northerly haa 

 long been distinguished by a particular denomination, thai 

 of the Gulf of Mexico ; the intermediary or central basin 

 may be called the Sea of Honduras, on account of the gulf 

 of that name which makes a part of it ; and the southern 

 basin, comprehended between the Caribbean Islands and the 

 coast of Venezuela, the isthmus of Panama, and the country 

 of the Mosquito Indians, would form the Caribbean Sea. 

 The modern volcanic rocks distributed on the two opposite 

 banks of the basin of the West Indies on the east and west, 

 but not on the north and south, is also a phenomenon worthy 

 of attention. In the Caribbean Islands, a group of volcanos, 

 partly extinct and partly burning, stretches from 12 to 18; 

 and in the Cordilleras of Guatimala and Mexico from lat. 9 to 



* Between Tobago and Grenada ; Saint Martin and the Virgin Isles ; 

 Porto Rico and Saint Domingo ; and between the Little Bank of Bahama 

 and Cape Caftaveral of Florida. 



f I do not pretend that this hypothesis of the rupture and the ancient 

 continuity of lands can be extended to the eastern foot of the basin of the 

 West Indies, that is, to the series of the volcanic islands in a line from 

 Trinidad to Porto Rico. 



