96 VOLCANOES j EARTH QUAKESe 



ber of volcanoes, about forty, which are there 

 crowded together. All these fire-mountains follow 

 the various bends of the Cordilleras, in an almost 

 unbroken row. They all probably lie over a vast 

 cleft torn by the underground forces, of which they 

 form the outlets to the atmosphere. 



The row of Mexican volcanoes, — amongst which 

 the lofty cone of Colima, the ever burning Popo- 

 catepetl, seventeen thousand feet in height, and 

 Orizaba, but little less in height, are universally 

 known, — does not follow the line of the Cordilleras, 

 but runs across the narrow part of the continent, 

 from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. 



On the peninsula of California, $nd, farther to 

 the north, along the west coast of North America, 

 several volcanoes are known, some of which are 

 still smoking, and some perhaps extinct. The chain 

 stretches through the peninsula of Aliaska to the 

 Aleutian Islands; and the active volcanoes of 

 these islands seem to show that there is a con- 

 nexion with the numerous and mighty fire- 

 mountains of Kamschatka. These latter run in 

 two rows, side by side, from 57° north latitude, 

 down to the southern point of the peninsula, from 

 which the line stretches on over the chain of the 

 Kurile Islands, and of those of Japan, and thus 

 encompasses the whole east coast of Asia, through 

 the volcanic ranges of the Philippine Islands, 

 of the Moluccas, and of the Sunda Islands, with 



