GENERAL FEATURES OF THE EARTH. 13 



(4.) General view of the land. — (a.) Position of the land. — The 

 land of the globe has been stated to lie with its mass to the north, 

 about the pole, and to narrow as it extends southward into the 

 waters of the Southern hemisphere. The mean southern limit of the 

 continental lands is the parallel of 45°, or just half-way from the 

 equator to the south pole. 



South America reaches only to 56° S. (Cape Horn being in 55° 58'), which is the 

 latitude of Edinburgh or northern Labrador; Africa to 34° 51' (Cape of Good Hope), 

 nearly the latitude of the southern boundary of Tennessee, and 60 miles nearer the * 

 equator than Gibraltar; Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) to 43|° S., nearly the latitude 

 of Boston and northern Portugal. 



(b.) Distribution. — The independent continental areas are three in 

 number : America, one ; Europe, Asia, and Africa, a second ; Aus- 

 tralia, the third. Through the East India Islands, Australia is ap- 

 proximately connected with Asia, nearly as South America with North 

 America through the West Indies ; and, regarding it as thus united, 

 the great masses of land will be but two, — the American, or Oc- 

 cidental, and Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, or the Oriental. 



These great masses of land are divided across from east to west by 

 seas or archipelagoes. The West Indies, Mediterranean, Red Sea, 

 and East Indies, with the connecting oceans, make a nearly com- 

 plete band of water around the globe, as Professor Guyot observes, 

 subdividing the Occident and Orient into north and south divisions, 

 Cutting across 37 miles at the Isthmus of Darien, where at the lowest 

 pass the greatest height above mean tide-level does not exceed 660 

 feet, as has been done at the Isthmus of Suez, where the summit-level 

 is only 40 feet above the sea, the girth of water would be unbroken. 



America is thus divided into North and South America. The 

 oriental lands have one great area on the north, comprising Eu- 

 rope and Asia combined, aud on the south (1) Africa, separated 

 from Europe by the Mediterranean, and (2) Australia, separated from 

 Asia by the East India seas. Thus the narrow Occident has one 

 southern prolongation, and the wide Orient two. It is to be noted 

 that the East and West Indies are very similar in form and position 

 (see chart) ; and also that South America is situated with reference to 

 North America very nearly as Australia is to Asia. 



The Orient is thus equivalent to two Occidents in which the north- 

 ern areas coalesce, — Europe and Africa one, Asia and Australia the 

 other ; so that there are really three doublets in the system of con- 

 tinental lands. Moreover, Europe and Asia have a semi-marine region 

 between them ; for the Caspian and Aral are salt seas, and they lie in 

 a depression of the continent of great extent, — the Aral being near 

 the level of the ocean, and the Caspian 80 to 100 feet below it. 



