into North and South: it received its name from the Spaniards, who first navigated it, and who, having experienced in it during their first voyages calm and gentle weather, fancied that it was the same all over; but, although the part within the Tropics may occasionally justify the appellation they gave it, yet there are as severe tempests met with in the Pacific as in any other sea. It was also called the South Sea from the situation it appeared to have with respect to its first discoverers. 27. To the S. of these three lies the Southern Ocean, which extends completely round the globe, to the Antarctic Circle. The Antarctic Ocean lies between this last and the South Pole, and the Arctic Ocean between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole; these two are sometimes called the Frozen Oceans, from the excessive cold to which they are subject. 28. THE PRINCIPAL CHAINS OF MOUNTAINS in the world are, 1. in Europe: the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Balkan, the Carpathians, the Fiell, and the Ourai M3. 2. In Asia are: Mt. Caucasus, Mt. Libanus, Mt. Taurus or Ramadan Oglu, the Hindoo Coosh, the Ghauts, the Altai Ms., and the Himaleh the highest known mountains in the world. 3. In Africa are: Mt. Atlas, the Ms. of Kong, Gebel Kumri or the Ms. of the Moon, which are supposed to traverse the continent from East to West, and the Ms. of Lupata. 4. In America there is one great ridge which extends through its Western part, from the shores of the North Polar Sea to C. Horn: it is called the Rocky or Stony Mountains in North America, and the Andes or the Cordillera (i. e. Range) of the Andes in South America. The Alleghany and Blue M3. in the United States are likewise worthy of mention. The most elevated known mountain of the world, though 26,462 feet high, is considerably less than one-fifteen hundredth part of the diameter of the Earth. 29. THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS in the world are, 1. in Europe, the Tagus or Tajo, the Loire, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Dniepr, and the Don. 2. In Asia are the Volga, the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Jihon, the Indus, the Ganges, the Burrampooter, the Irrawaddy, the Cambodia, the Whang-Hai or HoangHo, the Irtish, the Enisei, the Lena, the Amoor, and the Yang-tse-Kiang, the last being the longest river in the Eastern Hemisphere, and the second largest in the whole world. 3. In Africa are: the Nile, the Djyr, the Nigir or Quolla, the Senegal, the Congo, the Zambeze, and the Orange R. 4. In America are: the St. Lawrence, the Columbia, the Missouri, the Mississippi (the longest river in the world), the Orinoco, the Amazon, and the Rio de la Plata. 30. The CHIEF PROMONTORIES in the world are: in Europe, the North Cape in Sweden, the Northernmost point of the continent; C. Clear, the South Western extremity of Ireland; C. Finisterra and Gibraltar in Spain; and Cape Matapan in Greece. In Asia are: East Cape, the Eastern extremity of the continent; C. Musseldom and Ras-el-Had in Arabia; C. Comorin, the Southernmost point of India; and Romania Pt. at the extremity of Malacca. In Africa are: C. Bon, C. Spartel, C. Verde, the C. of Good Hope, and C. Guardafui. America are: C. Prince of Wales, its Westernmost point, C. Horn its Southern extremity, C. S. Roque, and C. Cod. In 31. The largest islands in the world are: in Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, and Nova Zembla: in Asia, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea, Australia (the largest island in the world, being nine-tenths as large as all Europe), New Zeeland, and Nipon or Japan: in Africa, Madagascar: in America, Iceland, Newfoundland, Cuba, St. Domingo, and Terra del Fuego. 32. The size of these, and some other islands will be best seen by the following SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL ISLANDS 33. The following table will give a general idea of the respective sizes of the principal lakes and inland seas in the world: SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL LAKES AND INLAND SEAS OF THE WORLD. 1. EUROPE is bounded on the N. by the Arctic Ocean, and on the W. by the Atlantic: on the S. it is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea, and from Asia on the East by the Archipelago, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Rivers Don and Volga, and the Oural Mountains. Though it is by far the smallest of the four quarters of the globe, it is superior to them all in the genius, power, and learning, of its inhabitants, whose number is nearly double that of Africa and America taken together. 2. THE PRINCIPAL MOUNTAINS of Europe are the Pyrenees, separating Spain from France, and stretching across the Isthmus which divides the two countries, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The loftiest range of mountains in the whole continent is that of the Alps: it divides Italy from France, and sweeping round from the Mediterranean, through Switzerland and the Tyrol, traverses Turkey, where it assumes the name of Balkan, Hæmus, or Emineh, and terminates on the shores of the Black Sea. The chain of the Apennines traverses the whole of Italy, from the foot of the Alps on the borders of France, and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, to the Southernmost point of the country opposite the Island of Sicily. The chain of the Pindus or Agrafa is a branch of the Hamus or Balkan; it runs through the middle of Macedonia and Greece, and terminates in C. Colonna, to the S. of Athens. 3. The ancient Hercynian Mountains are now known by several distinct appellations, such as the Erz, Giant Mountains, &c.; they stretch right across Germany, in an Eastern direction, from the banks of the Rhine to the springs of the Vistula, where they assume the name of the Carpathians. Here they divide into two branches; one of these, called the Bastarnic Alps, strikes Southward through Hungary (which kingdom it partly separates from Turkey), and crossing the Danube joins M'. Hæmus; the other trends Eastward, through Galicia and the Southern part of Russia, to the banks of the R. Dniepr and the shores of the Sea of Azov. 4. The rugged chain of mountains, called Fiell or Koelen, runs North and South through the whole of Scandinavia, parallel with its Western coast, and separates Sweden from Norway. 5. The Oural Mountains, the great natural barrier of the continent towards the N. E., stretch from the shores of the Frozen Ocean, in a Southern direction, to the head of the Caspian Sea. |