ill! 



36 PHYSIOGRAPHIC GEOLOGY. 



The large Feejee group lies near the intersection of the three Pacific chains; 

 and hence its numerous islands do not conform to either one, though the larger 

 islands approximate most nearly to the last in direction. 



36. (2.) Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. — The trend of the Pacific 

 Ocean as a whole corresponds with that of its central chain of 

 islands, and very nearly with the mean trend of the whole. It is a 

 vast channel, elongated to the northwest. The range of heights along 

 northeastern Australia runs from the eastern coast northwesterly, 

 by the head of the great gulf (Carpentaria) on the north ; and the 

 opposite side of the ocean along North America, or its bordering 

 mountain-chain, has a similar mean trend. A straight line drawn 

 from northern Japan through the eastern Paumotus to a point a 

 little south of Cape Horn may be called the axis of the ocean. 

 This axial line is nearly half the circumference of the sphere, and 

 the transverse diameter of the ocean full one-fourth the circum- 

 ference : so that the facts relating to the Pacific chains must have 

 a universal importance. 

 1 1! The North Atlantic Ocean trends to the northeast, — or at right angles, 



nearly, to the Pacific : this is the course of the coasts, and therefore 

 of the channel. Taking the trend of the southeast coast of South 

 America as the criterion, the South Atlantic conforms in direction to 

 the North Atlantic. 



The Asiatic coast of the Pacific has the direction of the north- 

 easterly system. The course is not a nearly straight line, like the 

 corresponding eastern coast of North America, but consists of a 

 series of curves, which series is repeated in the outline of the Asiatic 

 coast and in the mountains of the country back. Moreover, the 

 curves meet one another at right angles. 



The last one, which is 1800 miles long, commences in Formosa, and 

 extends along by Luzon, Palawan, and western Borneo, to Sumatra, 

 and terminates at right angles with Sumatra ; and another furcation 

 of it passes by eastern Borneo or Celebes, and terminates at right 

 angles with Java and the islands just east (fig. 28). The rectangu- 

 larity of the intersections is thus preserved ; and the curve of the 

 Australasian chain has in this way determined the triangular form 

 of Borneo. 



The Aleutian Islands (range No. 1) make a curve across from America to 

 Kam chatka, in length 1000 miles. The Kamtchatka range (No. 2) commences 

 at right angles with the termination of the Aleutian, and bends around till it 

 strikes Japan at a right angle. The Japan range (No. 3) commences north in 

 Saghalien, and curves around to Corea. The Loochoo range (No. 4) leaves Japan 

 in at a right angle, and curves around to Formosa. The Formosa range (No. 5) is 



explained above. There is apparently a repetition of the Formosa system in 

 the Ladrones near longitude 145° E. 



