118 
MINERAL GEOGRAPET. 
MINERAL GEOGRAPHY. 
60. By reason of its connexion with other interesting subjects of 
enquiry, the distribution of the rock formations, and of valuable 
mines, over the surface and through the crust—the Mineral Ge¬ 
ography of the earth, merits a place in a course of liberal study. 
But to the acquisition of this kind of knowledge, some acquaint¬ 
ance w’ith the principles of Geology is indispensable. It is of 
little use that we be informed that the rocks of a country, are 
granite, or sandstone, so long as we are ignorant w'hat those sub¬ 
stances are ; and what the characters are, which they impart to 
the scenery and the soil of the region where they prevail. The 
progress of nations in population, the arts, and wealth, have in 
all ages been greatly influenced ; and in many cases, the genius, 
character, and pursuits, of a people determined by the nature of the 
rocky strata beneath and around them. Civili'zation and refinement 
appear to have commenced on the tertiary formations. The fer¬ 
tile and easily cultivated alluvial plains of the Euphrates, and the 
Nile, were selected for permanent settlements by the early in¬ 
habitants of the earth, whilst the rugged and barren primitive 
and transition mountains, were visited only by hunters in pursuit 
of game. The Greeks would have made little progress in the 
arts of architecture, statuary, and painting, had the rocks of their 
country been granite, instead of marble. The relative position 
of Great Britain amongst the nations of Europe, in regard to 
wealth, and power, depends very much upon the geological cha¬ 
racter of the strata of that island, and especially the number, ex¬ 
tent, and riches, of her coal fields. 
tSfrica. The northern shore of Africa appears to be covered 
by secondary and tertiary deposits. The ridge of Atlas consists 
in part of primitive rocks, but their range and extent are not 
known. The substratum of the great desert of Sahara, is prin¬ 
cipally a red sandstone of unknown age. The succession of the 
geological formations that is met with as we descend the valley of 
Egypt, (granite, sandstone, and limestone,) has been already given 
(Sec. 35.) In Abyssinia, the predominant rocks appear to be 
gneiss, clay-slate, and the products of volcanos. A range of 
primitive mountains stretches across the continent near its broad¬ 
est part. Southern Africa is not characterized by the prevalence 
of rocks of any age, to the exclusion of others, but granite, slate, 
and sandstone, appear at the surface in succession, at moderate 
distances. A considerable quantity of gold is collected on both 
the eastern and western coasts, but with this exception, the val¬ 
uable minerals known to exist in Africa, are fewq and unimport¬ 
ant. Mineral coal has not yet been observed in any part of the 
continent. 
tQsia. The great central nucleus of southern Asia, the Him- 
maleh mountains, is granite, and sends off spurs of the same cha¬ 
racter in different directions ; as into Indostan, in the direction 
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