GEOGRAPHY. 53 



XV. 49. The Canary Islands, with 200,000 inhabitants. Only seven 

 out of the twenty islands are inhabited: L Canaria, pop. 45,000, cap. 

 Ciudad de las Palmas. 2. Tenerifie, pop. 85,000, cap. Santa Cruz. 3. 

 Fuertaventura, pop. 15,000, cap. St. Maria de Betancuria. 4. Palma, pop. 

 25,000, cap. Santa Cruz. 5. Lancerota, pop. 16,000, cap. Teguisa. 6. 

 Ferro, pop. 4,000, cap. Valverde, noted as having the first meridian of' 

 some nations passing -2-° east of it. 7. Gomera, pop. 10,000, cap. S. 

 Sebastian. 



The colonies of Spain are : 1. In Africa, the Presidios (Ceuta, pop. 7,000, 

 opposite Gibraltar, Pefion de Velez, Alhucemas, Melilla, and the Zapharine 

 Islands) and the Guinea Islands, together including 17,000 inhabitants. 2. 

 In America, the captain-generalship of Havana, embracing Cuba, Porto 

 Rico, and some of the Virgin Islands, with 1,000,000 inhabitants. 3. In 

 Asia and Australia, the captain-generalship of the Philippines, including 

 part of Luzon or Manilla, pop. 1,800,000 : the Bissay, the Babuya, and 

 Basch Islands, part of Magindanao, and the Marian group, all together with 

 2,700,000 inhabitants. 



3. France {Plate 22). 



France lies between 42^ 30' and 51° 10' N. lat., and between 8° 20' east 

 and 4° 40' west longitude from Greenwich. Its area is about 205,000 

 English square miles, or above 130 millions of acres. The greatest length 

 is thus about 595 miles, and the greatest breadth 550. It is bounded on the 

 north-east by Belgium and Germany, to the east by Germany, Switzerland, 

 and Italy, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea and by Spain, and to the 

 west and north-west by the Atlantic Ocean. 



To the south and east of France, the surface is high land, the moderately 

 elevated mountains of the interior sloping off towards the north and west : 

 to the north-west and south-west, low lands prevail. The chief mountain 

 systems are the Pyrenees in the south, from which the Black Mountains 

 proceed nearly north ; in the east we find the Maritime Alps and the 

 Cottian Alps, with the Jura, the Vosges, and the Ardennes ; and in the 

 interior are situated the central mountains of France, including the 

 Cevennes, the Foretz, the mountains of Auvergne, Charolais, &:c. The 

 most conspicuous plains are those of the Seine and Loire, the plateaus of 

 Auvergne and Langres, the Landes in the south-west, and the Crau in 

 Provence. 



France is exceedingly rich in streams of water, 6000 rivers being 

 enumerated by French geographers, 133 of them navigable. Three large 

 streams, the Loire, Garonne, and Seine, are included entirely within her 

 limits, w*hile the Rhone, Scheldt, the Maas, and the Moselle, are shared with 

 Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. 1. The Rhone, coming from the 

 Valais, takes up the Saone with the Doubs, the Ain, the Isere, the Drome, 

 the Durance, the Ardeche, and others, finally separating into four arms 

 inclosing a delta, and emptying into the Mediterranean. 2. The Garonne, 



53 



