'552 



Andes) and by the series of the volcanoes of 

 Guatimala. The basin of the West Indies 

 forms, as we have already observed, a Medi- 

 terranean ivith several issues, the influence of 

 which on the political destinies of the New 

 Continent depends at the same time on its 

 central position and the great fertility of its 

 islands. The issues of the basin, of which 

 the four largest* are 75 miles broad, are all 

 on the eastern side, open towards Europe, 

 and agitated by the current of the tropics. 

 In the same manner as we recognize in our 

 Mediterranean, the vestiges of three ancient 

 basins by the proximity of Rhodes, Scarpento, 

 Candia, and Cerigo, as well as by that of 

 Cape Sorello of Sicily, the island of Pantela- 

 ria and Cape Bon of Africa ; in the same 

 manner the basin of the West Indies, which 

 surpasses the Mediterranean in extent, seems 

 to present the remains of ancient dykes that 

 join-f Cape Catoche of Yucutan, to Cape 



* Between Tabago and Grenada ; the isle Saint Martin 

 and the Virgin Isles, Porto Rico and Saint Domingo, and 

 between the Small Bank of Bahama and Cape Canaveral of 

 Florida. 



f I do not pretend that this hypothesis of the rupture and 

 the ancient continuity of lands can be extended to the eastern 

 foot of the basin of the West Indies, that is, to the series of 

 volcanic islands in a line from Trinidad to Portorico. See 



the information I gave, Vol. iv, p. 36, &c. 



