VII. ference is there between the winding, or the abrupt outlines BOOK of our mountains, and the regularity of geometrical figures? What an abuse has been made of the appellations pyramidal, conical, and others of a similar kind? How often has the term crystallization been employed to conceal the insignificance of a shallow remark. This famous word, like the sword of Alexander, has enabled many to cut knots which they knew not how to untie. In the cabinets, almost every thing is crystallized; in nature, almost every thing is irregular in its figure. Even those objects which strike the eye most, are very difficult to be reduced under general terms. We commonly designate all elevations of land, that are the least prolonged, by the general name of chains. But it is certain that mountains more frequently form groups than chains; and even the most conspicuous chains are often composed only of a series of groups. Again, the same mass of mountains, which when seen on one side, appears to form a chain, is merely the declivity of a plain, more or less elevated. Travellers often give the name of mountains to the steep and lofty banks of rivers. It were endless to enumerate all the errors introduced by the mania of systematizing. There was a time when every black stone was considered as a volcanic production, and every circular pit as the mouth of a volcano. state of observations. The other departments of natural geography are equally Imperfect enveloped in darkness. What shall we say of that system of hydrology which is almost destitute of any information as to either the levels or the depths of seas? The direct observations upon climates, are somewhat more numerous, at the same time we must acknowledge, that our thermometers do not indicate the latent heat, the influence of which is so great and so universal; and, besides this, even the best observations upon climate often lose half their value from want of an exact description of the surface of the country. The common systems of Botanical geography, by simply copying the "Flora" of each country, are as incomplete as they are useless. It is necessary to distinguish the VII. BOOK elevation of the land, the quality of the soil, and many other local circumstances. If it appears more easy to determine the geographical relations subsisting between the different races of animals, now actually inhabiting the earth, what an abyss do we discover, when we attempt to examine the fossil remains of those genera which are now extinct, but which must once have peopled our planet? What revolutions have taken place! what mountains have been dissipated, what rocks decomposed! how many valleys have been filled up, how many lakes emptied of their contents, what inroads have the seas made upon the continent; what volcanic irruptions, what contests among the elements, slow or rapid, destructive or creative, must have preceded the actual state of our globe, a state which every where presents only the ancient ruins of an edifice, of the primitive proportions of which we are completely ignorant. Physical geography makes us feel the limits of our powers. We have ascertained the dimensions of the sun. We know the laws of gravity upon the surface of Jupiter. We have measured the elevation of the mountains of the moon: even the erratic comets seem to submit to the calculations of our astronomers. But the interior of that very earth upon which we walk, baffles our researches. We have never penetrated one two thousandth part of the diameter of the globe. Nay, even the very surface of the earth is not known to us throughout its whole extent. We shall perhaps forever remain ignorant of the secrets which the two polar regions contain. Let us then endeavour to resist the seduction of systems, and detail with clearness, and above all with fidelity, the limited number of facts, which observation has collected, and which have passed the ordeal of sound investigation. Physical divisions of When we cast our eyes over a map of the world, we perthe globe. Ceive, that the surface of the globe is divided into large masses of land, which we call continents, and great cavities, filled with water, which we term seas. As, in the parts seas, &c. covered with water, we observe small masses of land Continents, whose surfaces rise above it, which we name islands, so are there upon the continents small detached spots covered with water, which we call lakes. An island differs from a continent only in its dimensions; and in fact, we give the name of continent to certain portions of land, only because we have for a long time remained ignorant, whether a ship could sail round them, and because some physical circumstances have hitherto prevented such a voyage.* BOOK VII. ranean seas, gulfs, Many portions of the land and of the sea extend reciprocal- MediterBy the one into the other. If the sea penetrate into the interior of any continent, it forms there a mediterranean or in- &c. land sea, surrounded almost on all sides by land, and having only a narrow opening into the ocean. If the extent of such seas be less, and the openings larger, they are called gulfs or bays, two terms which geographical writers have wished to distinguish,† but which customary language more frequently confounds. The still smaller portions of sea, surrounded as it were by land, and which afford a shelter for ships, are called ports, creeks, or roads. The first term means a secure asylum; the second is applied to places or ports of much smaller size, and which, when improved or completed by artificial aid, are styled harbours, and the roads afford only a temporary anchorage and security from certain winds. If, on the other hand, parts of the continents shoot into the seas, and are connected with the main land by only a small portion of their circumference, they are named peninsulas, whose figures often correspond with those Peninsuof gulfs and inland seas. When such masses of land are attached to the continent by a greater extent of line than one-fourth of their circumference, they are not considered as peninsulas. Arabia, for example, seems to deserve this name, but the custom of applying it equally to the advanced part of India, west of the Ganges, offends against exact description. It is thus, that nature sports with our * Kant, Géographie Physique, ii. part. 1, p. 67. Edit. de Vollmer. + Fleurieu, Introduction au Voyage de Marchant. las, &c. VII. BOOK classifications. If the projections of land reach but a little way into the sea, they are called capes, promontories, or simply points. A natural canal communicating with the sea at both ends, and confined by two opposite shores, is called a strait: the reverse is an isthmus, that is, a tongue of land running between two seas, and by which two greater masses of land are united. Many other terms of a similar kind, being used only locally, will be defined as we employ them in the course of our work. Ancient Divisions of the world. Let us now consider the surface of the globe under one general point of view. We perceive, that it consists of one vast ocean, in which a great number of islands are placed, whose size varies from that of the most colossal to the most minute. Two of these islands are termed continents; that which is inhabited by the oldest civilized nations is called the old continent, and contains three divisions of the world, continent. namely, Asia, Europe, and Africa, while the whole of the new continent is comprised under the name of America, though nature has divided it into two distinct peninsulas, New conti- one of which ought in strict historical justice to be called Columbia. In the midst of the most extensive mass of waters is placed New Holland, which many geographers call a third continent; although it is perhaps more correct to consider it as by far the largest island in existence. When we find a considerable number of islands grouped together, we give the name of archipelago to the whole. The vast archipelago which extends to the east of the ancient continent, and in the centre of which New Holland rises majestically, seems worthy of being considered as a new division of the world, which we shall distinguish by the name of Oceanic. nent. The ocean. There is upon our globe, properly speaking, only one sea, one continuous fluid spread round the land, and which probably extends from one pole to the other, covering nearly three-fourths of the surface of the earth. All the gulfs, all the inland seas form only portions detached but not entirely separated from that universal sea, which we call VII. the ocean. It is only for the sake of greater convenience BOOK that we distinguish different parts of that ocean under the name of seas. But this arbitrary and incomplete division is at the same time the occasion of ambiguity, and varies among different nations. We adopt the following classification, the Classificasimplicity and justness of which, can be easily verified by means of an artificial globe. tion of seas. |