tion, and is, in many places, rich, but in othercomprises saline deserts and extensive heaths. Several places are well wooded, but a great part of it consists of open pastures, denominated steppes. Beyond 60° the frost is so intense and continued, as to render cultivation very confined and precarious. A few stunted trees only are found, and near the northern confines of both Europe and Asia the ground is never thawed more than a few inches below the surface. The declivity of this plain, especially the Asiatic part of it, is so small, and the course of the rivers consequently so slow, that they are navigable almost to their sources during the short periods they are free from ice.

A third distinguishing feature in the physical aspect of the Old World, which must not be passed without a brief notice, is that immense zone of sandy deserts, which bounds a great portion of the mountainous region on the south. This stretches, almost without interruption, from the western coast of Africa to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and from about the 18th to the 31st degree of latitude: its breadth may, therefore, be estimated at 900 miles, and its length at 4500. A better idea of it, however, will be obtained by considering the African and Asiatic parts separately. Under this point of view, it will be found to extend across the former continent, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Red Sea, occupying a belt of about 13° in breadth. From this sea, it extends towards the north-east, in a triangular form, till it reaches the 50th parallel, and the 120th degree of east longitude. This wide space, however, includes several fertile tracts, or Oases; but the greater part of it is composed of arid sands, which are frequently drifted into ridges resembling the waves of the sea; and the whole extent in both continents may be estimated at six millions of square miles. Besides the wavy appearance of its surface, this region is characterised by burning and pestilen

tial winds, by an extraordinary aridity of the atmosphere, and by the want of rivers. If we except the Indus and the Oxus, scarcely a stream of any size pours its salutary treasures through this wide space, which is nearly double the size of Europe. The most extensive and unbroken tracts of sand are the great Sahara, in the western part of Africa, Arabia, and the wide region of Tibet; and it is by no means an improbable estimate to state, that threefourths of the whole space, included within the widest limits above specified, consist of irreclaim able deserts. In reference to the traveller crossing these, the poet observes,

-He, while a vault of flame

Smote on his brow, and scorched his gasping throat,
Day after day through sandy oceans toiled,
Where death-like silence brooded o'er the waste,
And boundless space seemed but a larger gravė;
No sign that ever foot the burning earth
Had tracked, or life inhaled the vapoury fire,
Save where some camel's bleaching ribs he past,
Or corse of long-lost pilgrim parched to stone.

GISIORNE.

On the southern borders of the great Sahara, a fertile region appears to cross the African continent, embracing the basins of the Niger, the Senegal, the Gambia, and the upper part of the Nile. Beyond this, a range of mountains rises behind the coast of Guinea, while either another group, or the eastern end of the same range, attains the elevation of perpetual snow in Abyssinia; and, if these join in the centre, they must form a zone of great height across the whole continent. South of this, little is known till we arrive at the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. If we examine the south and south-east of Asia, including India and China, and the intermediate countries, we shall find them composed of a series of mountains and vallies, formed by the ramifications of the great Himalayah chain, and several of these vallies spreading into marshy plains

A

before they reach the sea. The islands of the Indian Archipelago can only be considered as the summits of submarine mountains, or as small plateaux, similar to those which would be formed, if the ocean, were to overflow the adjacent parts of the continent. In casting a rapid glance over the wide regions of the New World, and taking the two grand parts separately, we immediately perceive that a magnificent ridge runs from north to south, throughout the whole extent of South America, but much nearer the western than the eastern coast. Its distance from the shore of the Pacific varies from about 50 to 150 miles, and its highest point is near the equator, where the towering summit of Chimborazo rises to the height of about 21,440 feet above the level of the sea. From this point the Andes decline both ways, and the medium elevation of Peru may be estimated at 12,000 feet. The most abrupt and steep flanks of these mountains are towards the west. Near the middle they are composed of two or three parallel ridges, separated by some of the most elevated and, delightful vallies on the surface of the globe. It is on one of these singular spots that the celebrated city of Quito stands. This valley enjoys a salubrious climate, and contains a concentrated population; and those who reside in that elevated, and, as it relates to the rest of the world, secluded spot, where the mercury in the barometer stands, with very little variation, at the level of 20 inches, gradually forget that every surrounding object, the towns crowded with inhabitants, the pastures with flocks and herds, the fields waving with luxuriant harvests, hang, as it were, suspended in the upper regions of the atmosphere, at the extraordinary height of 9000 feet above the level of the sea. The city of Quito, with its 70,000 inhabitants, stands at an elevation of 9510 feet. The principal transverse branches, which proceed from the Andes of South America, are on the eastern side. One of these runs

through the Caraccas, about the 8th or 9th degree of latitude; and in some places rises to the height of 7000 or 8000 feet. Another of these ridges separates Guiana from the basin of the Maranon, but it is of inferior height. A third projects from the Cor dilleras, about the 18th or 20th degree of south latitude, and spreads into a table land as it approaches the shore of the Atlantic. The height of this has not been ascertained, but the medium is supposed not to exceed 5000 or 6000 feet. Nearly all the level country in South America is on the east side of the Andes, and is divided into three vast plains, which constitute the basins of the three great rivers, the Orinoco, the Maranon, and the La Plata. In the first of these plains, the eye of the traveller is fatigued by the unvaried aspect of one boundless level, smooth as the bosom of a tranquil sea; without an object of any kind, above the height of a mole-hill, upon which the eye can rest, as a relief from the monotony of the scene; and it is on the banks of the rivers only that a tree can be found. This region is by no means a barren desert. After the annual rains, it is covered with luxuriant herbage, which' springs up with surprising rapidity; but, during the dry season, is as quickly reduced to dust, and disappears. The whole plain then presents the aspect of a parched desert, full of fissures, produced in the contracting soil by the powerful beams of a vertical Sun; and in these the alligator and the great serpent lie buried, amidst the dry mud, till they are awakened by the returning showers. These plains are generally_denominated Llanos, by the Spaniards; and the Pampas of La Plata, which stretch from about the 18th to the 40th degree of south latitude, are of a similar description; only the southern part, not being subject to the same periodical rains and droughts, do not experience such great or sudden changes from luxuriance to sterility; and from the barrenness, and almost the hardness, of the brick, to

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the fertility of the hot-bed. Between these, the vast basin of the Maranon, stretching from about 6° or 7° north, to 18° of south latitude, is one immense and almost unbroken forest, which even extends, on the east, to the 25th degree of latitude, and contains a surface of not less than 20,000 square leagues. This middle region is the most elevated, but all are so low, that, were the sea to rise 50 fathoms above its present level, it would wash the eastern base of the Andes, and thus submerge half of South America; for the eastern point of that continent is not less than 60° of longitude from the foot of these mountains. Both the Llanos and Pampas afford pasturage for myriads of cattle and horses, and are, in fact, similar to the great steppes in the southern part of Russia. There is, indeed, scarcely a spot that deserves the name of desert in South America, except a comparatively small tract on the coast of Peru, where rain never falls'.

North America, like the southern part of that continent, is distinguished by a great chain, which traverses it from north to south, nearly throughout its whole length, and, like the former, it is much nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic Ocean. These mountains ascend considerably above the line of perpetual snow, in the 46th degree of latitude; and are, therefore, not less than 8000 or 9000 feet in elevation. This range determines the declivities of the soil, and the courses of the rivers, over the greater part of the continent. On the western slope the descent is rapid, and the rivers, as far as they have yet been examined, descend immediately to the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern side, the country may be considered as one vast plain, till it meets the Alleghanies, not far from the shore of the Atlantic. Another ridge likewise intersects this space obliquely from north-west

I See Humboldt's Personal Narrative, vol, iv,