2 MEXICO, CENTEAL AI^IEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



The northernmost of these basins, that is, the Gulf of Mexico, which develops 

 an immense oval contour line between the peninsulas of Florida and Yucatan, is 

 limited southwards b}' the long island of Cuba, and communicates with the neigh- 

 bouring waters only through two passages with an average breadth of 120 miles. 

 The southern basin, that is, the Caribbean Sea, is of less regular form, presenting 

 between the Lesser Antilles and the Mosquito Coast a broad open expanse, which 

 is again subdivided towards the north-west by two almost completely submerged 

 ridges, indicated here and there by reefs and sandbanks. On one of these ridges 

 stands the Grand Cayman Chain, while the other connects the Tiburon peninsula 

 in Haiti through Jamaica with Cape Gracias à Dios. Thus the West Indies are 

 attached to Central America by three transverse hills which might be called those 

 of Cuba, of Cayman and Jamaica; all three begin at the chain of islands sweeping 

 round from Grenada and the Grenadines to Puerto Rico, almost presenting the 

 appearance of being three branches thrown off from a single stem. 



All these lines of islands and peninsulas, which are interconnected in various 

 directions between the northern and southern continents, give evidence of cosmic 

 forces acting over vast expanses of the terrestrial crust. Nevertheless their 

 somewhat symmetrical arrangement in intersecting curves is no proof that the 

 upheaved lands were at any time continuous, or that the now partly submerged 

 ridges themselves are the remains of isthmuses formerly stretching from continent 

 to continent. On the contrary numerous indications drawn from the distribution 

 of the animal and vegetable species seem to justify naturalists in concluding that 

 certain contiguous islands have never formed continuous land during the geological 

 record. Cases in point are the Bahamas and the Antilles, which by their natural 

 history are more intimately connected with the distant Central America than with 

 Georgia and the Carolinas. In the same way Florida belongs rather to the West 

 Indies than to the mainland of which it now forms part, while the Bermudas, lost 

 amid the Atlantic waters, are connected with the Antilles by the Gulf Stream. 



The American Mediterranean lands, although lying almost entirely within the 

 tropics, are perfectly accessible to man for all purposes of permanent settlement. 

 In this respect they present an absolute contrast with the vast regions of Africa 

 situated under the same latitude. In the Old World the desert, which begins 

 with the Sahara, and which is continued across Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Turkestan, 

 and Mongolia, comprises millions of square miles, whereas in Cejitral America 

 arid spaces are of limited extent, and in fact occupy that part of Mexico which 

 lies north of the tropic of Cancer. Thanks to the humidity of the atmosphere 

 and the moderating action of the marine waters, tropical America is almost every- 

 where clothed with a rich vegetation. In some places are developed almost 

 impenetrable forests forming a continuous mass of dense verdure, and wherever 

 clearings are effected, economic crops may be raised in superabundance. 



The white race has even succeeded in perpetuating itself in the Antilles, 

 notably in Cuba and Puerto Pico, adapting itself to the climate sufficiently to 

 cultivate the land and engage in industrial pursuits. 



In Mexico and in Central America the mean elevation of the plateaux, offering 



