﻿Modern Attainments in Geology. 279 



completely reversed, the older above the more recent. It 

 stretches south-south-east to the pomt where the 

 Brahmaputra leaves the mountains. 



Against this abuts with sharp boundary the greatest of 

 these curves, which we shall call the Burmese. It runs, 

 defined by the course of the Irawady, in an almost 

 meridional direction from Central Asia, and its outer edge 

 runs from Cape Negrais, through the Andaman and the 

 Nicobar Islands, Sumatra and Java, to the Sunda Islands. 



A large number of more or less parallel or concentric 

 systems of folds occur in Central Asia along the outer 

 edges of the Burmese curve, the Himalayas, and the Salt 

 Range, and these mighty chains stretched one behind the 

 other, forming the highlands of inner Asia, appear, as far 

 as is known to-day, to be without exception folded to the 

 south, exactly as the curves just mentioned. These 

 southwardly folded chains of inner Asia terminate towards 

 the Pacific Ocean in separate arc-like ends, and in this 

 way form along the east coast of Asia those curious 

 curved series of islands which have frequently been 

 compared to flower garlands. 



The first of these arcs is formed by the Loo-choo 

 Islands, the second by Japan, in which in the centre 

 of the island of Hon-Schiu a great cross disturbance 

 or meeting of two curves occurs. The third arc is formed 

 by the Kuriles which run from Yesso to Kamtschatka ; 

 Kamtschatka consists partly of a continuation of the 

 Kuriles and partly of a second inner arc. With these 

 arcs, standing in such intimate connection with the east of 

 Asia, is connected as a broader, larger curve the series of 

 the Aleutians and the peninsula of Alaska. 



All these curves, beginning with the bend at Gibraltar, 

 that is with the portion lying in Spain, I say all these 

 curves from Gibraltar to Kamtschatka and the Aleutian 

 Islands are distinguished by being folded towards the 

 south. They produce with one another a curiously 



