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abode. Strange to say, they found no inhabitants on that side of the lake; but game, hippopotami, buffaloes, elephants, antelopes, and crocodiles, are numerous. Returning to their chief central station in Unyanyembe, Speke left his invalid companion, in order to reach the great lake Victoria Nyanza, the position of which had been pointed out to him by the Arabs, who asserted that it was much longer and larger than Tanganyika, from which it lies in a north-easterly direction, and at a distance of 240 m. In his journey across the intervening mountains, Captain Speke, accompanied by his faithful Biluchis, passed through the populous district in which the chief iron-works of the country are carried on-the native blacksmiths smelting the iron with charcoal. Lake Nyanza is situated under the equator, its southern extremity being in lat. 2° 50′ S. It is upwards of 300 m. long, about 90 in. broad in its widest part, and at an elevation of 3553 ft. above the ocean-level. It is studded with numerous islands, which strongly reminded Captain Speke of the Grecian Archipelago, and which were precisely similar in form to the tops of the hills that studded the plains intervening between this lake and Tanganyika. The waters are sweet and good, and the people on its banks drink no other. The lake receives a multitude of rivers from all sides save its northern extremity, where, according to the testimony of the natives, it discharges its surplus waters by the river Kivira, which flows northwards, and which is confidently believed by Captain Speke to be the White Nile.* If by subsequent travels other explorers shall demonstrate the accuracy of this opinion, to him must be awarded the honour of having solved the greatest geographical problem of ancient or modern times. And not only is the main source of the Nile apparently thus discovered, but we are at the same time supplied with the key that shall unlock the kindred mystery connected with that river-viz., its periodical inundations, on which, for ages, so much fruitless conjecture has been expended. The rainy season in the region immediately S. of Lake Nyanza commences on the 15th November, and ends on the 15th May, during which period of six months the rain falls in an almost continuous downpour, overflooding all the rivers which, over an extensive area of country, send their waters into its basin. The Nile begins to rise in Egypt about the summer solstice, and attains its greatest height about the autumnal equinox. Making due allowance for the time required to fill so enormous a reservoir as Lake Nyanza, and for the great length of the journey which its waters must traverse before they arrive in Egypt, there appears no real discrepancy between the respective seasons of the two phenomena-the rainy season under the equator, and the rise of the Nile in Lower Egypt.

* The honour of ascertaining the exact state of the fact is due to Sir Samuel Baker, who, in 1865, traced the White Nile to its efflux from Lake Albert Nyanza, into which the river flows by the Somerset river from the northern extremity of Lake Victoria Nyanza. This indefatigable traveller, however, speaks in very modest terms of his discovery: "I do not claim for myself any honour as the discoverer of a source, as I believe the mighty Nile may have a thousand sources. The birthplace of that great river is the vast rock-basin of the Albert Nyanza. In those profound depths, bosomed in the mountain-range of equatorial Africa, in a region of ten months' rainfall, every drop of water, from the passing shower to the roaring mountain-torrent, is stored in that great reservoir of nature. So vast is its volume of waters that no single stream appears to influence its level. Even the great river from the Victoria lake enters the great reservoir absorbed without a perceptible current. I will not enter upon vain theories of a connection between this lake and the Tanganyika, nor indulge in any wild hypothesis that may mislead the public, but merely wish to lay before the world the simple and straightforward narrative of my expedition for the benefit of geographical science."-Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,' vol. x. p. 22.

NORTH AMERICA.

1. Position and Boundaries. Including Greenland and Central America, this large division of the globe is bounded on the N. by the Arctic Ocean; on the W. and S. by the Pacific; and on the E. by the Isthmus of Panama, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. It extends from the 7th to about the 82d degree of N. lat., and from the 20th to the 168th degree of W. lon., thus embracing 75° of lat. and 148° of lon.

North America lies wholly within the northern hemisphere, having its southern extremity within seven degrees of the equator, and its northern within about the same number from the north pole. Of the six great continents of the globe it is the third in size, and the fourth as regards population.

2. Form, Coast-Line, and Extreme Points.-The general form of the continental portion is that of a scalene triangle, with the longest side fronting the Pacific, and the shortest the Atlantic. If a line be drawn from C. Prince of Wales in Behring Strait to C. Charles in Labrador, we have approximately the line of the Arctic coast, fronting the N.E. Then if we connect the extremities of this line with Acapulco in Mexico, we shall have the other two sides.

The mainland rarely extends farther north than the 70th parallel, being separated from the great American Archipelago by Hudson Strait, Fox Channel, Gulf of Boothia, Bellot Strait, Franklin Channel, Victoria Strait, Dease Strait, and Coronation Gulf; nor farther east than Cape Charles in Labrador, in lon. 55° 30′ W. Great Salt Lake, near the centre of this area, is on the same parallel of latitude with New York, Madrid, Rome, Constantinople, and Peking: and on the same meridian as Great Slave Lake, Cape San Lucas, and Easter Island in Polynesia. The extreme length, from the Isthmus of Panamá to Cape Lisburn, in Aliaska, is about 5600 m.; the extreme breadth, from Cape Canso, in Nova Scotia, to the mouth of the river Oregon, 3120 m. Murchison Promontory, in Boothia Felix, lat. 72°, is the most northern point of the continent; Cape Prince of Wales, in Behring Strait, lon. 168° W., the most western Mariato Point, in the Bay of Panamá, lat. 7° 11', the most southern; and Cape Charles, in Labrador, lon. 55° 40′ W., the most eastern. Including the larger indentations, the coast-line is estimated at about 24,000 m., or

1 m. of seaboard for every 365 m. of surface; while Europe has 1 for every 225 m. The Arctic and Atlantic coasts are nearly equal in length, and are alike in having each one great and many smaller indentations. The Pacific coast is much longer, and is unlike the others in having but few indentations, while its solitary inland sea (the G. of California) is narrow, and parallel to the coast.

3. Area and Population.-The area is still very uncertain, but, including Greenland, the West Indies, and Central America, it is estimated at 8,669,688 sq. m., or 2 times the size of Europe, and 70 times that of the British Isles. The population, according to the most recent census of the various states, amounts to 56,998,795, or a little more than a fifth part of the population of Europe, and giving rather more than six persons to each sq. m.

4. Political Divisions.-The total number of separate and independent states is about 76; but if we regard the United States, the Mexican Confederation, and the West Indies as one state each, the number will be reduced to eleven. The following table contains the name, position, area, population, capital, and other particulars of the different states:

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5. Surface. The surface of North America consists of three widely dissimilar regions—a western, an eastern, and a central. The first, or western, forms the great backbone of the continent, consisting of one enormous highland, extending without interruption from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the vicinity of Lake Nicaragua, and continued thence, though lower and less regular, to the Isthmus of Panama.

This plateau, which is of very moderate elevation in the north, increases in height as we advance southward, till, in the lat. of Acapulco, it reaches 8000 ft., and then descends rapidly towards the Isthmus of Panamá. It attains its greatest width about the 40th parallel, where its elevation is about 5000 feet. The plateau is fringed on either side and throughout its entire length by a gigantic mountain-range-that on the eastern side being called the Rocky Mountains, and that on the western the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. In general, the mountains attain their loftiest elevations where the plateau sustaining them has its greatest width; but at both ends of the high land are many volcanoes of great elevation -the peak of Popocatepetl, near Mexico, being the loftiest summit of the continent (see under "Mountains"). The Eastern or Atlantic highland is much narrower and shorter than the Western. It extends from Hudson Strait, in Labrador, to the G. of Mexico, is about 2500 m. long, with a breadth varying from 150 to 200 m., except in Labrador, where it exceeds 400 m. It lies opposite the middle portion of the great western highland, inclining towards it in the south-thus giving a triangular form to the continent. The St Lawrence divides it into two unequal parts-a northern and a southern-the latter being by far the longer, and supporting the loftier mountain-chain-viz., the Alleghany Mountains, which attain in Black Mountain a height of 6707 ft.

The Third Region, or great Central Plain, extends from the Alleghànies to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It is triangular in forin, broad at the north and narrow at the south, and embraces several of the largest lakes and riverbasins in the world. A crescent-shaped water-parting about the parallel of 48°, and of about 1500 ft. in elevation, divides it into two great slopes -a northern and a southern. The former has an average elevation of from 500 to 700 ft., Lake Superior, in the south, being only 627 ft. above the sea, and the basin of the Saskatchewan not much higher. The southern slope mainly consists of the huge basin of the Mississippi, the highest part of which does not exceed 850 ft., while its average height is only about 500 ft.

6. Peninsulas and Isthmuses.-The principal peninsulas are, Labrador and Nova Scotia on the E. side of British America; Florida, bet. the Atlantic and G. of Mexico; Yucatan, bet. G. of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea; Lower California, separating the Pacific Ocean from the G. of California; Aliaska, separating the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Kamtchatka. Isthmus of Chignecto, 8 m. wide, connecting Nova Scotia with the continent; Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 130 m. wide, separating the G. of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean; Isthmus of Panama, 30 m. wide, connecting Central with South America. The remaining isthmuses have no distinctive

names.

7. Capes and Islands.-Farewell, S. of Greenland; Chudleigh

and Charles, the N.E. and S. E. extremities of Labrador; Race, S. E. of Newfoundland; Sable, S. W. of Nova Scotia; Anne and Cod guard the entrance of Massachusetts Bay; Hatteras, E. of North Carolina; Sable, S. of Florida; Catoche, N.E. of Yucatan ; Gracios a Dios, E. of Honduras; Corrientes, W. of Mexico; St Lucas, S. of Lower California; Concepcion, Mendocino, Blanco, and Flattery, W. of the United States; Newenham, Romanzoff, Prince of Wales and Lisburne on the W. coast, and Icy Cape and Point Barrow on the N. coast of Alaska; C. Bathurst and Murchison Promontory in Hudson Bay Territory. The islands of North America may be conveniently arranged under three heads, corresponding with the three oceans in which they are respectively situated.

In the Arctic Ocean.-Greenland, N.E. of British America, from which it is separated by the Greenland Sea, Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, South Sound, and Kennedy Channel; the Parry group, including Grinnell Land or Ellesmere (lat. 76° 30′—81° 30′), North Devon, Cornwallis, and Melville Island, W. of Northern Greenland; Banks Land, Prince Albert Land, Prince of Wales I., N. Somerset, and Cockburn I., between the Parry Is. and the mainland. In the Atlantic.-Newfoundland, Anticosti, Prince Edward I., and Cape Breton, S. of Labrador; Long Island, S. E. of New York; the Bermudas, 580 m. E. of South Carolina; the West Indies, between Florida and South America, and embracing two minor groups-viz., the Bahamas, S. E. of Florida, and the Antilles, S. of the Bahamas, separating the Atlantic from the Caribbean Sea. In the Pacific. -Vancouver I. and Queen Charlotte I., W. of British America; Prince of Wales I., Sitka, Kodiac, and Aleutian Archipelago, S. of Alaska; Clark I., in Behring Strait.

8. Seas, Bays, and Straits.-Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, between Greenland and the North American Archipelago; Hudson Strait, between Labrador and the Archipelago; Hudson Bay or Sea, W. of Labrador; Fox Channel, Gulf of Boothia, Bellot Strait, Victoria Strait, Coronation Gulf, and Prince Albert Sound, between the mainland and the Archipelago; Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, and Melville Sound, separating the Parry group from the southern part of the Archipelago; Strait of Belleisle, between Labrador and Newfoundland; Gulf of St Lawrence, between Newfoundland and New Brunswick; Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia and Maryland; Gulf of Mexico, between Mexico and the United States; Yucatan Channel, between Yucatan and Cuba; Caribbean Sea, between Central America and the West Indies; Bay of Panamá, S. W. of Central America; Gulf of California, W. of Mexico; Strait of Juan de Fuca, between United States and Vancouver I.; Queen Charlotte Sound, between Vancouver and British Columbia; Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay, S. of Alaska; Behring Strait, between Alaska and Siberia.

9. Mountains. The mountains of North America arrange themselves into two grand systems-an eastern and a western-which

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