HYDEOGEAPHY OF SOUTH AMEEICA. 3 



Nevertheless, this difference in the relative proportion of indentations and 

 archipelagoes fringing the two continents does not possess the importance which 

 has been claimed for it. An abundance of islands and peninsulas does not neces- 

 sarily constitute an advantage in itself, and may even be a drawback. Every- 

 thing, in fact, depends on the special conditions presented by each of the geo- 

 graphical divisions. Thus the West Indies have become the " Jewel of the New 

 World," thanks to their happy position at the confluence of the oceanic currents 

 and in the forefront of the Caribbean Sea ; thanks also to their climate, to their 

 natural resources, and to the facilities of communication from port to port. 



But the snowy lands of the Far North, washed by the Frozen Ocean, remain 

 absolutely uninhabitable ; nor is it likely that they can ever attract any settlers. 

 They may at most continue to be visited by seekers for gold and peltries, or by a 

 few travellers anxious to study nature under its sternest aspects of dreariness 

 and desolation. On the other hand, the North American peninsulas, such as 

 Nova Scotia, South California, and even Florida, are far from possessing the 

 same economic value for intending immigrants as the mainland itself. 



River Systems. 



But in both continental divisions the marine inlets, offering points of easy 

 access to navigation, are increased ten or even a hundred fold by the network of 

 fluvial or lacustrine arteries ramifying throughout the interior. In this respect 

 the twin continents are equally favoured in comparison with the various sections 

 of the Old World. South America certainly lacks the vast fresh-water basins 

 characteristic of the North ; even Titicaca, its largest lake, although traversed by 

 small vessels, is an isolated basin in an upland depression of the Andes, uncon- 

 nected with any other lines of communication by water. But to the ramifying 

 system of the Mississippi, with its 17,000 or 18,000 miles of navigable highways, 

 South America may oppose the Amazons, largest river on the surface of the globe, 

 with a development of deep channels at least twice as extensive as that of the 

 Mississippi basin. 



To this vast network of inland waterways must be added the Orinoco basin, 

 which also abounds in navigable streams, and the River Plate system, which 

 includes the Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay, and which rivals the Mississippi 

 itself in the extent of its convergent watercourses. Moreover, South America 

 is distinguished amongst all the continents by the absence of clear parting-lines 

 between its great fluvial basins. To a certain extent all the hydrographie systems 

 from the Orinoco delta to the La Plata estuary may be said to be merged in a 

 single fluvial basin. 



So far as regards the Orinoco and the Amazons, the union is complete, thanks 

 to the ramifying waters of the upper Orinoco, which are discharged in one 

 direction southwards through the Cassiquiare, and in another straight to the 

 Atlantic and the Grulf of Paria, forcing their way at the Maipures and Atures 

 rapids over the rocky remains of eroded mountain barriers. 



Although between the Amazons and La Plata basins the communications are 



