10 



very inconsiderable elevations which separate 

 the Canadian lakes from the rivers that flow 

 into the Missisippi. More than two thirds of 

 this basin are covered with water. It is bor- 

 dered by two ranges of active volcanoes ; to the 

 east, in the Caribbee islands, between the lati- 

 tudes of 13° and 16°; and to the west in the 

 Cordilleras of Nicaragua, Guatimala, and Mexi- 

 co, between 11° and 20°. When we reflect, that 

 the great earthquake at Lisbon, of the 1st of 

 November, 1755, was felt almost at the same 

 moment on the coasts of Sweden, at lake Ontario, 

 and at the island of Martinico, it will not ap- 

 pear too daring to suppose, that all this basin of 

 the West Indies, from Cumana and Caraccas 

 as far as the plains of Louisiania, may be simul- 

 taneously agitated by commotions proceeding 

 from the same centre of action. 



An opinion very generally prevails on the 

 coasts of Terra Firma, that earthquakes become 

 more frequent, when electric explosions have 

 been very rare during some years. It is thought 



Mountains ; but nations almost of the same name, very dis- 

 tant from each other, and speaking different languages, the 

 Chippeways of the sources of the Missisippi, and the Che- 

 pewyans of the Slave Lake, described by Pike and Mac- 

 kensie, may occasion those mountains to the south and south- 

 west of the great Canadian lakes, which lie east and west, to 

 be confounded with the Stony Mountains, whioh run north 

 and south. 



