GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF OUR GLOBE. 
471 
side, with, its great indentation forming the Gulf of Mexico, 
it will be seen how perfectly the African coast line fits into 
it, and further, that the eastern side of the same continent 
running up the Red Sea, also tallies with the other, which, 
to say the least, presents a singular appearance of agree- 
ment, but when the search is pursued and other similar lines 
are detected, then it will strike the observer that they have 
not been produced by chance, but must be attributed to 
some cause, which equally acts on the entire surface of our 
globe. Similar lines can be traced on either side of the 
Australian continent, which may be followed through Asia ; 
and another fragmentary one is to be found running to the 
north, along the western coast of New Zealand, by New 
Caledonia, the Philippines, Japan, and Kamschatka, and to 
the south by the Auckland, Campbells, and Macquarie Isles, 
to Mount Erebus ; and even another line might yet be seen 
beyond this, so that fully eight similar ones may be made out. 
These then may be regarded as so many continental waves 
of upheavements with a central curve, which probably is to 
be attributed to the swelling out at the equator, and the 
whole to the earth's diurnal revolution. 
Of these lines, it is to be remarked, that there are several 
peculiar features belonging to them : — ■ 
1. In them are found the loftiest mountain ranges and 
peaks of our planet, which form the crests of those land- waves. 
2. The ocean attains its greatest depth on their western 
sides, from which they abruptly rise, and gradually slope to 
the eastern, as in the Prairies and Pampas of America, so 
that the greatest depression is at the eastern termination of 
their plane of upheavement. 
3. That all those lines are auriferous, abounding in metals 
and precious stones. Africa has always been remarkable 
as a grand gold field, so that a large portion of its shores 
acquired the name of “ The Gold Coast." Spain, in former 
days, supplied the world with the precious metal, and the 
British Isles are well known to be auriferous. Of the 
American, Australian, and New Zealand lines, nothing need 
be said, as they are the grand gold fields of the present day, 
