18 



OUTLINES OF GEOLOGY. 



Another system is to be found in Europe, composed of the 

 Norwegian Alps, the mountains of Scotland, Wetmoreland 

 and Wales, and which, falling in elevation, may be traced 

 into Cornwall and Brittany. 



36. The new continent, like the old, presents the appear- 

 ance of a great plain, bounded on one side by a continuous 

 system of mountains. This great plain is divided into two 

 parts by the Carribean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, which also 

 give the continent the form of two peninsulas, united by a 

 narrow isthmus. In the northern peninsula, the great plain 

 includes the vast basins of Mackenzie's River, and the 

 Mississippi; in the southern, those of the Orinoko, Amazons, 

 and La Plata. It is limited by the ocean in Labrador, Florida, 

 and at the mouths of the last named rivers. In other parts 

 it is bounded to the east by mountains. 



Beginning at the southern extremity of the continent, the 

 system of mountains which bounds this plain on the west 

 comprises but a single ridge, whose height does not at first 

 exceed 6 or 7000 feet. In lat. 37° south it rises to 16,000 

 feet, in the Peak of Antucos. Between the 20 ih and 14th 

 degree of south latitude, the system divides into two distinct 

 chains, enclosing a great table land, in which is situated 

 Lake Titicaca ; and here we find the loftiest summits, Sorata 

 and Illimani. The two chains again unite and form but one, 

 until they reach the 8th degree of south latitude, when they 

 fork and enclose the table lands of Quito and Santa Fe. 

 The eastern chain of these two ridges terminates abruptly 

 in the Carribean Sea ; the western sinks into mountains of 

 moderate elevation at the Isthmus of Panana, but speedily 

 assumes greater dimensions, dividing again into two chains, 

 which enclose the great table lands of Mexico. Thence it 

 is to be traced northward, under the name of the Rocky 

 Mountains, until it terminates on the shores of the frozen 

 ocean. The most lofty parts, which are well known, of this 



