472 
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF OUR GLOBE. 
and are now attracting multitudes from every land to dig 
tlie precious ore.* 
4. Nearly all the active known volcanoes are found in 
them, which, being the grand fissures of the earth's crust, 
account for their presence ; whatever may be the evils 
occasioned by them, they are more than counterbalanced by 
the benefits they confer, as being the grand safety-valves of 
the globe ; when in activity there are seldom any bad earth- 
quakes, but when in a state of quiescence, then severe shocks 
are more likely to occur. 
5. Volcanic action is the strongest and most generally 
felt in those lines, and is the grand cause of the elevations 
and depressions of the earth's crust. 
6. In the different epochs of the earth's early history, and 
during the grand convulsions which have shattered its crust, 
destroyed animal and vegetable life on its surface, those lines 
have been the great means of preserving portions of former 
existences from extinction. It has chiefly been where they 
have the least elevation that those ancient forms have been 
lost, whilst the highest mountain ranges retained large por- 
tions of each pre-existing fauna and flora. 
The great length and elevation of the Andes with the 
Cordilleras, reaching from the polar regions of the north, 
render them the most remarkable mountain ranges in the 
world, their lofty peaks being only exceeded by those of the 
Himalaya ; those in New Zealand extend through the entire 
length of the Middle Island, and a large portion of the 
other ; they may be traced from Mounts Erebus and Terror 
at the south pole, to the eastern termination of Asia by the 
peninsular of Kamschatka. 
The Australian line has the blue mountains extending 
through that insular continent, reaching to Tasmania in 
* A return of the quantity and value of gold exported from New Zealand, 
from the ist April 1857 to 31st March 1864 : — 
Auckland - - 6,905 ozs., value - £ 21,844 
Nelson - - ^ 63,275 ,, ,, - 245,191 
Dunedin and Bluff r > 33 653 ,, ,, - 5,160,156 
Since these returns, the Auckland lines have become more prolific than all the 
rest put together. 
