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THE
EARTH AND MAN:
LECTURES ON
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.
r..VI K rBOF. OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AMD HISTORY, AT NEUCHATEL, BWITZBRLAMD
TRANSLATED FROM TBS FRENCH, BY
C. C. FELTON,
PROFESSOR IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
Our Earth is a star among the stars ; and should not we, who are on it, prepa.
by it foi the contemplation of the Universe and its Author? CARL RITTBR
SIXTEENTH THOUSAND.
BOSTON:
G U L D AND LINCOLN
NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY.
CINCINNATI : QEO. 8. BLANCHARP.
1871.
fintorncl according to Act of Congress, in the yew 1S-19,
By GOULD, KENDALL <k LINCOLN,
la the Clerk's office of the District Court of :h District of MuMchtwav.
To C. FELTON, ESQ ,
Professor in Harvard University, Cambridgs.
MY DEAR SIR,
It is to your friendship that I owe the idea and tht possibility
of publishing this little work in a language not my c urn. With
rare kindness, and a disinterestedness still more rare, you aave placed
at my disposal your hours of leisure and your skilful and inde-
fatigable pen. The book is yours already, att] I but renew your tide
lo it by begging you to accept this DEDICATION, as a testimony of
my heart-felt gratitude, and at the same time as a souvenir of ii
long but pleasant hours of labor which you ha T e so kindly sha ed
with me to the last.
THE AUTHOR
?HEFACE.
THE leiatiiis* *. *<\.,;ned in the volume here offered to the pub-
lic were delivers, fry invitation, in French, between the 17th of
January and the 24th of February, of the present year. One
of the halls of the Lowell Institute, in Boston, was placed, for
that purpose, at the author's disposal, by the liberality of the Trus-
tee, John A. Lowell, Esq. They were spoken with the help
Dnly of a few notes, and were not intended, at the time, for the
press. But the publication having been desired by some friends,
and requested by the editors of the Boston Daily Traveller, for
the columns of that excellent journal, the author determined to
write out, the next morning, the lecture of the evening before
These rapid pages, translated, from day to day, by Mr. C. C Fel-
ton, Professor in Harvard University, are collected and reprinted
in the present volume. Neither time nor circumstances have per-
mitted any important alterations ; the only material additions are
found in the first lecture, the last part of which did not appear In
the journal, and, at the beginning of the eighth, the portion which
treats of the marine currents. This subject, although announced
in the programme of the course, it was found necessary, for want
of time, to pass over in silence. As to the rest, the lectures have
retained their original cast, notwithstanding the incongruity which
sometimes happens, of bringing several different subjects into the
tame discourse.
6 PREKA.CB.
This brief history of the present book will place the reader in
a position to form a just opinion of the work, and perhaps will
induce him to extend to it some indulgence.
It will, moreover, be readily understood, that oral instructioc
is naturally clothed in forms appropriate to itself, which are not
those of a systematic and didactic exposition, such as is required
by a book intended only for reading, or for the silent study of
the closet. In the opinion of the author, it should bring out it
strong relief, even by venturing a dash of the pencil somewhat
bold, the essential traits of the subject, hi order to fix and deepen
the impression, while the secondary features are thrown into the
shade. Truth, far from losing by this mode, will gain the advan-
taffe of being grasped in a manner at once more distinct and
more correct. For nothing is less indispensable to true science,
may the reader of these pages find it so, than the scholastic
and doctoral robe, which is too often unnecessarily worn.
This little work is not, then, a treatise on the subject indicated
by its title. The author would wish to consider this unforeseen
publication only as the forerunner of a more complete work, the
materials of which, gradually collected during long years of study,
and still daily accumulating, he hopes to arrange, and work out
more at leisure, if not in the same form, at least in the same
spirit. However, he is confident that the man of science will find,
in this first sketch, the traces of serious and matured studies.
Numerous quotations and references were incompatible with
the form of these discourses. The facts, properly so called, are
drawn from the common domain of science ; and as to the results
that have been deduced from their combination, the author wil-
lingly leaves to men versed in the subject the task of distinguish-
ing those which may be regarded as constituting a progress in
knowledge of the creation, and of its relations to man.
There are, however, three names so closely connected with tho
history of the science to which this volume is devoted, and with
the past studies of the author, that he feels bound to mention
them here Humboldt, Hitter, and Steffens, are the three great
PREFACE. 7
minds who have breathed a new life into the science :>f the phys-
ical and moral world. The scientific life of the author opened
under the full radiance of the light they spread around them, and
it is with a sentiment of filial piety that he delights to recall this
connection, and to render to them his public homage.
Notwithstanding the praiseworthy care the publishers of this
volume have taken to provide it with the maps and drawings
necessary to understand the text, the reader will perhaps desire
more. He will find them in the Physical Atlas of Berghaus, the
most excellent, and almost the only work of the kind, or in the
English publications based on it, by Johnston of Edinburgh, by
A. Petermann of London, and others. The explanatory pages
give the information necessary for the plates that accompany these
sheets. For their execution on stone, the author deems himself
happy in having been able to avail himself of the talents of an
artist so able and obliging as M. Sonrel.
Besides Prof. Felton, who has read all the proof-sheets, the
author returns his sincere acknowledgments to Professors Agas-
siz, Peirce, and Gray, who have had the goodness to -revise por
tions of them.
Few subjects seem more worthy to occupy thoughtful minds,
than the contemplation of the grand harmonies of nature and
history. The spectacle of the good and the beautiful in nature,
reflecting everywhere the idea of the Creator, calms and refreshes
the soul. The view of the hand of Providence, guiding the chariot
of human destinies, reassures and strengthens our faith. May
these unpretending sheets, launched upon the sea of publicity,
reach those who feel the need of both, and by them be kincllj
received.
< 1 **BRiDsi MASS., 3/aj 1, 1849
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
THE marked favor with which the public, here and abroad,*
have received this essay, imposed on the author the duty of care-
fully revising it. But the time of its first appearance is so recent,
that no important alterations are to be made. Except a few addi-
tions of facts quite recently acquired for science, particularly in
the paragraph relating to the sub-marine relief of the basin of the
oceans, the work has remained, in substance, what it was. Not
so with the translation. The translator, exercising a severer crit-
icism than the reader upon his own work, has carefully revised,
improved, and corrected it ; and the author seizes this occasion
to repeat his thanks for this fresh endeavor to render these sheets
more worthy of the public approbation.
If there is any reward worthy of desire to him who communi-
cates his thoughts to his fellow-men, it is that of meeting, hi the
midst of throngs preoccupied with so many diversified cares, an echo
and sympathy. This gratification has not been wanting to the
author, and he recalls with gratitude the numerous testimonies he
has received from so many quarters. He finds in these mani-
festations an encouragement to continue his work, and to prepare
a second volume, on the Historical Development of Humanity,
which he considers as the necessary complement to the present.
CAMBRIDGE, July, 1850.
* This volume has been republished in London, by Bentley, and an editior.
fn French is about to appear at Paris. 'A mutilated edition, called "revised,'-
has also been published by E. Gover, Sen., London, in which many passages,
amounting to over thirty pages of the original edition, and essential to the con-
tinuity of the argument, or containing conclusions, have been suppressed ;
additions have been inserted expressing views not advanced by the author ;
alterations have been made, in exceedingly bad English, all without the least
intimation in the preface. Against the two first, the author protests ; agains!
4ie last,- the translator.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLAIES AND FIGURES
PLATE I. PHYSICAL MAP OF THE WORLD.
THIS map, in Mercator's projection, is intended to enable the eye tc
seize at a glance the great physical features of the surface of the globe.
To this end, each particular is indicated by a different color. The
color of the ocean forms a ground which clearly defines and brings out
the characteristic forms of the continents. The bands of white lines
which cross them indicate the course of the marine currents, according
to the Physical Map of Berghaus. The arrows mark their direction.
In the continents, three colors distinguish the three principal forms of
relief from each other. The green tint marks the low lands ; the
white, the more elevated parts and the table lands ; the brown, the
systems of mountains, the borders of the table lands, and the slopes in
general. It is easy thus to form by a single glance an idea of the
general features of relief of the different countries of the earth. The
dotted lines which cross the map are, beginning at the top, the Arctic
circle, the tropic of Cancer, and the tropic of Capricorn. The entirely
straight line is the Equator. The latitudes are marked in the margin
by a line for every 15. The longitudes in the same way, by 15 East
and West from the meridian of Paris. The two winding lines in the
northern half of the map are the isothermal lines of zero Centigrade
or 32 Fahrenheit, and of 15 Centigrade or 59 Fahrenheit. All the
places situated on these lines, having the same mean annual temjrera-
lure, set in a clear light the difference of climate between the opposite
toasts of the continents, while referring it to the true causes. Eveiy
setter has been omitted from this little map, which is intended to be a
physical picture, and to speak to the eye. The scale, moreover,
scarcely allowed their insertion, and the great features which it repre
wuls are so well known that tV-re is no need of naming them.
[0 EXPLANATION.
PLATES II. AND III. (pp. 60, 61.)
These plates contain a series of ideal profile: intended to illastra*
the general laws of relief of the continents. 1 ne profiles comprise
sach a transverse zone rather than a simple line, which often would
have answered but imperfectly the proposed end. The relation of the
heights to the horizdntal distances would have to be magnified about
one hundred times. The numbers placed in the margin, indicate the
heights in thousands of feet. The letters placed at the top of the verti
cal dotted lines, are the initials of the names of the principal points
contained in the tables ; when the same initial is repeated, the second
in the order of the table is marked thus : (). The profiles of the massive
and entire parts of the continents, comprising the plains and table
lands, are distinguished from the heights which surround them, or the
mountain chains, by a particular line, by different hatchings, and
deeper shading. The peaks, which are merely indicated above the
base line, without being connected, are either mountains situated
outside of the zone, followed by the profile, as the Carpathian and
Mont-Blanc, in Europe, Plate II. profile 5 ; or volcanic peaks, isolated,
not affecting the general relief, as the Erdschich, in Asia Minor, Plate
fl. profile 4 ; the Ararat, in Armenia, Plate III. profile 1. Plate II.
wofile 3 ; the St. Elias, in North America.
Plate II. comprises 7 profiles across the three principal continents of
he Old "World, in the direction from north to south. In profile 1,
Extern Asia, and profile 6, Africa, the line of horizontal distances
>eing too considerable to be taken into the frame, the profiles are inter-
rupted to indicate that one portion of the horizontal line has been
suppr ssed. In the profile of Eastern Asia the portion omitted is
almos equal to the less section. In Africa it is much larger still.
Plate III. comprises the profiles of the New World, from east to
west. No. 2, passing along the line of the Antilles, is necessarily
broken. But the gradual increase of the reliefs and their disposition
prove tint this line ought to be considered in reality continuous,
although at some points it is covered by the waters of the ocean. The
profiles are arranged in the plates in such a manner as to show, at
once, in the vertical line, the increase of the reliefs fiom west tc east
in the Old World, and from nTrth to south in the New World The
text itself mikes further ex pla atior vnnectssary.
EXPLANATION 11
PLATE IV. MAI OF THE DISTRIBUTION CF RAIN.
This map, tate*. from the Physical Atlas of Berghaus, shcirs the
distribution of rain on the surface of the globe. The deeper the co,or,
the greater is the quantity of rain-water indicated ; the deserts are left
in white. North and south of the tropics, which are marked by dotted
Lines, are the regions of continuous, but not abundant rains. Between
the tropics, the region of periodical and copious rains. A little north
of the Equator a deeper shaded strip indicates the region of calms,
whsre daily thunder storms cause almost throughout the year the faL
of a considerable quantity of water.
PLATES V. AND VI.,
Intended to illustrate the law of the degeneration of the human type
in leaving the central region of "Western Asia, comprise 16 portraits
all drawn from nature, and taken from the plates of the " Anima
Kingdom " of Cuvier, wherever a different source is not indicated.
PLATE V. First Series. From the central regions of "Western Asia
to the extremity of Africa, through Arabia and the eastern coast.
No. 1. A Circassian, belonging to the suite of the Persian Ambas-
sador ; drawn from the life, at Paris, in 1823, by M. A. Colin.
No. 2. An Arab of Algiers, of the Mozabite tribe ; drawn from life,
under the direction of Mr. Milne Edwards, by A. Lordon.
No. 3. A negro of Mozambique, on the south-east coast of Africa ,
drawn from life, in Brazil, by Rugendas.
No. 4. Joshua Makoniane, an old Bassouto warrior, a convert tj
Christianity, drawn from life by Mr. Maeder, of the French Mission U
South Africa. Journal des Missions Evangeliques de Paris, Vol. XX.
Second Series. From Europe to tropical Africa, by the western coast.
No. 5. Portrait of Captain Cook, painted by Dauce, in the gallery
jf the Naval Hospital at Greenwich. Geographical Almanac of
Berghaus.
No. 6. A Cabyle of Flissa, in Algeria ; drawn from life by A
Lordon.
No. 7. Senegal Chief, after an unpublished drawing by an officei ia
the expedition of Captain Laplace.
No. 8. A Negro of Congo ; drawn from nature by Rugendas, Voyag*
Pittoresque au BresL.
PLATE VI. First Series.
No. 1. Mongolian type portrait of one of the Siamese twins see
U, Europe in 1830, after i drawing made from nature, at Paris.
12 EXPLANATION.
No. 2. Malay, belonging to the group of the Kout. usoff Smolensky
from a plate in the work of Choris, Voyage du Rurick.
No. 3. New Holland. Portrait of Onrou-Mare, a warrior of the tribe
of the Gwea-Gul, from the Atlas du Voyage aux Torres Australes.
No. 4. A woman of Van Diemen, from 1' Atlas de 1' Astrolabe.
Second Series. America, from the sources of the Missouri to Terra
del Fuego ; and the Polar variety.
No. 5. Oto Indian, portrait taken from the Travels of Prince Mat
hnilian of Neuwied.
ND. 6. Coroado Indian, from the banks of the Rio Xipoto, one of
the tributaries of the Rio Pomba, in tropical South America, after a
portrait published by Spix and Martius.
No. 7. An inhabitant of Terra del Fuego ; Univers Pittoresque.
No. 8. Inhabitant of the Aleutian Islands, after Choris ; Voyage of
Kotzebue.
Fig. 1. page 43. Land Hemisphere, and Water Hemisphere.
Fig. 2. page 106. Europe at the Silurian Epoch.
Fig. 3. page 108. America at the Coal Epoch.
Fig. 4. page 111. Europe at the Tertiary Epoch.
These three last maps, intended to show the gradual increase of the
dry lands, do not so much indicate the real contours of the lands exist-
ing at those epochs, this would be impossible, as the portions
which have not since been covered by the waters of the ocean. The
white portions are the only dry land. All the portions in ruled hues
are under water; but the existing contours of the continents are repre-
sented by means of a lighter shade, as a point of comparison. The
maps Fig. 2, and Fig. 4, have been constructed after the geologicq.1
maps of Elie de Beaumont, (in Beant geologic,) Boue, and Dechen ;
the map Fig. 3, after the geological map of the United States, by Mr,
James Hall, completed by that of Sir Charles Lyell and the geological
map of the world, by Boue.
CONTENTS.
LECTURE T
Subject of the coirse What should be understood by Chjograjh.;
Definition of Physical Geography The life of the globe Impor-
tance of the geographical forms of contour and relief, and of theii
relative situation The Earth as the theatre of human societies
Different parts performed by the continents in history Asia, Europe,
America Inquiry into the analogies of the general forms of the
continents 19
LECTURE II.
Recapitulation Vertical dimensions or forms of relief Difficul-
ties presented by their study Usefulness of profiles Great influence
of differences of height Elevations in mass, and linear elevations
Importance of the former Labors of Humboldt and Ritter on this
subject Examination of the general features of relief of the conti-
nents - A great common law embracing them all. . 40
*2
j 4 CONTENTS.
LECTURE III.
Distribution of the table lands, the mountains, and the plains .a die
different continents ; the Old World that of plateaus, the New World
that of plains The basin of the oceans j this inquiry completes the
study of the plastic forms of the earth's crust Division and char-
acteristics of the oceans ; their contours and their depth Comparison
ol the latter with the mean elevation of the continents Conclusions
Necessity of considering the physiology of the continental fcnns
Point of view which should be taken Law of the development of
life. ,'v:- 73
LECTURE IV.
Recapitulation Is the law of development applicable to the whole
globe, considered as an individual ? Origin of the Earth, according to
the hypotheses of Laplace and Herschell Gradual formation of tht
continents Europe at the Silurian epoch North America at tht
Carboniferous epoch Character of inferiority of the organized beings
which correspond to these ancient formations Europe at the Tertiary
epoch Greater diversity and perfection of the organized beings
Distinction of the three epochs ; the insular, the maritime, and the
continental The formula of development the same for the entire
globe and for the organized beings Consequences The law of
differences and the law of contrasts The three grand terrestrial
contrasts 10
LECTURE V.
The North-east or Continental hemisphere, and the South-west or
Oceanic hemisphere Land and water Differences in the forms cf
their surfaces Continental climate and sea climate Their different
influences upon the vegetation and organized beings The oceanic
the inferior element ; the terrestrial element the superior Blending
of the two natures Transportation of the waters of the ocean into the
continents The atmosphere the mediator between them. . US
CONTENTS. 15
LECTURE VI.
Ths study of the distribution of the rains supposes that of the
rinds Difference 01 temperature the principal cause of the winds
Theory of the general winds The winds of the tropical regions
Trade winds of the Pacific Ocean Trade winds of the Atlantic
The monsoons of the Indian seas The winds of the temperate
regions Two general currents; the return trade wind, or equatorial
*ind, and the polar currents The conflicts of the two, and the
variable winds Lateral displacement of the currents, and their influ-
ence upon the temperature, the productions of the soil, and commerce
The law of the rotation of the winds The atmospheric water
felling back into rain Circumstances favorable to the precipitation
.of vapors The rains of the tropical zone The rains in the region
of the monsoons Annual quantity of the rain-water under the
tropics Distribution and annual quantity of the rain in the temperate
regions 132
LECTURE Vli.
Modifications of the general laws of distribution of the rains
Decrease of the quantity of rain waters and of rainy days, from the
sea-board towards the inlands Numerous exceptions, and their
causes Influence of the mountains and the table lands in the twc
worlds Distribution of rain in South America ; in North America ;
in Africa; in Europe; in Asia; in Australia Special hygrometrical
character of each continent Difference between the Old and the
New World, corresponding to the nature of their relief Mixture of
the continental and the oceanic element Influence on organize*
oeings - Superiority of the zone of contact, or the maritime zone. *.6(J
1 6 CONTENTS
LECTURE VIII-
The marine consents The motion of the seas due to other causei
than that of the continental waters Various causes of the marine
currents Differences of temperature the principal, acting indirectly
ly the winds, directly by the unequal density of the waters Coinci-
dence between the great atmospheric currents and the marine currents
System of general currents The Equatorial current and the Polar
currents The currents of the Pacific Ocean ; of the Indian Ocean ;
of the Atlantic Ocean Contrast of the Old World and the New
Disposition of their continental masses Consequences The Old
World the Continental; the New the Oceanic The first essentially
temperate, the second tropical Special character of the New World
Its structure more simple Abundance of its waters Vegetation
predominates on the Animal World Incomplete development of
the higher animals Influence on the indigenous man Conclu-
sions -.-... 186
LECTURE IX.
Geographical characteristics of the Old World The Continent of
Asia-Europe Comparison of its structure with that of America
The continental climate prevailing in the Old World Consequences
Vegetation less abundant Preponderance of the animal world
The Old Wo^d the country of the higher and historical races
Reciprocal action of the two worlds by means of man Establish-
ment of the man of the Old World in the New Historical America
compared vith Europe Alliance of the two worlds ; solution of the
ecntrast . 2W
CONTENTS. 17
LECTURE X.
Contrast of the three continents of the North and the three conti
nents of the South Physical characteristics of the two groups ; the
Corner more articulated, more consolidated, more similar; the latter
more entire, more isolated, more different These differences and
analogies reproduced in the vegetation and the animal world The
three continents of the North temperate ; the three of the South
t -epical Superiority of the tropical climate in nature Gradual
increase of life, of the variety and improvement of the types of organ-
ized beings, in proportion to the warmth, from the poles to the equa-
torial regions Man alone forms an exception Law of the dis-
tribution of the human races Geographical centre of mankind
marked by the race of the highest perfection Gradual degeneracy
of the human type towards the southern extremities of the continents
The geographical distribution of the races of man and the animals
lounded upon a different principle Advantage of the temperate
climate for the improvement of man. ' .""'' . . . 240
LECTURE XI.
The continents of the North considered as the theatre of history
Asia-Europe ; contrast of the North and South ; its influence in
nistory; conflict of the barbarous nations of the North with the
civiized nations of the South Contrast of the East and West
Eastern Asia a continent by itself and complete ; its nature ; the
Mongolian race belongs peculiarly to it ; character of its civilization
- Superiority of the Hindoo civilization ; reason why these nations
have remained stationary Western Asia and Europe; the country
of the .rnly historical races Western Asia ; physical description ; its
historical character : Europe the best organized for the development
of man and of societies ; America future to which it is destined by
its physical nature. 272
2*
18 CONTENTS.
LECTURE XII.
Geographical march of history Asia the cradle of civilization
Common character of the primitive nations Powerful influence >f
nature The human race in its infancy lives under authority, whicc
becomes slavery Civilization passes to Europe Greece ; period of
youth ; emancipation, and intellectual and moral development ; action
on the East and West ; the Greek the teacher of the world Rome ;
her work political and social Inability of the Ancient World to
attain the end of humanity Coming of Christ ; his doctrines new in
a historical point of view The Germanic Christian world begins
their application Civilization passes to the North, and embraces
all Europe ; its different phases Europe owes it to the rest of the
world Discovery of America Universal inroad of the civilized
nations Social work begun at the same time America must finish
H The people of the future ; by what signs recognized Conclu-
sions Foreseen solution of the contrast of the three Northern conti-
nents and the three Southern Duties of the privileged races towards
the Inferior A few words upon the method pursued Science and
Wth. . . . 2<5
THE
EAETH AND MAN.
LECTURE I.
Subject of the course What should be understood by Geography
Definition of Physical Geography The life of the globe Impor-
tance of the geographical forms of contour and relief, and of their
relative situation The Earth as the theatre of human societies
Different parts performed by the continents in history Asia, Eu-
rope, America Inquiry into the analogies of the general forms of
the continents.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
In asking your attention to a few scientific discourses,
in a language not your own, I have not disguised from
myself that this circumstance is perhaps a source of
embarrassment for some of you, as it certainly is for me.
In the communion of mind with mind, in the mutual
interchange of ideas, the first condition necessary foi
establishing between him who speaks and those that
hear, the sympathetic harmony which makes its charm,
is, that the word shall reach the understanding without
obstacle and without effort.
In my favor you havf made the sacrifice of your lan-
g'lage. I need not tdl you, that, on my part,, I will dc
20 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
all in my power to render that sacrifice less irksome , and
I shall always be desirous of giving to those who will
do me the favor to ask it, all the explanations which
they can require.
The subject to which I propose to call your attention,
is Comparative Physical Geography, considered in its
relations to the history and the destinies of mankind.
But the term geography has been applied to such dif-
ferent things, the use, the misuse rather to which it htis
been subjected, has rendered it so elastic and ill-defined,
that, in order to prevent misconception, I must first of
ail explain to you what I understand by Geography.
If, preserving the etymological sense of the word
geography, we should, with many authors, undertake to
limit this study to a simple description of the surface of
the globe and of the beings which are found there, we
must at once renounce the idea of calling it by the name
of science, in the lofty sense of this word. To describe,
without rising to the causes, or descending to the con-
sequences, is no more science, than merely and simply
to relate a fact of which one has been a witness. The
geographer, who thus understands his study, seems to
make as little of geography as the chronicler of history.
It would be easy to show that even the power of
describing well ought to be denied him ; for if he re-
nounces the study of the laws which have presided ovei
the creation, over the disposition of the terrestrial indi-
viduals in their different orders : if he will take no ac-
count of those which have given birth to the phenomena
that he wishes to describe, soon, overwhelmed beneath
the mass of details, of whose relative value he is igno-
INTRODUCTION. r 41
rant, without a guide and without a rule to make a
judicnus choice in the midst of this infinite variety of
partial observations, he remains incapable of mastering
them, of grouping them in such a manner as to bring
prominently forward those which must give character to
the whole, and thus dooms himself to a barren confusion
at least ; happy, if, in place of a faithful picture of na-
ture, he does not finally profess to give us, as such 3 the
strangest caricature.
No ! Geography and I regret here that usage for-
bids me to employ the most suitable word, Geology, to
designate the general science of which I speak Geog-
raphy ought to be something different from a mere
description. It should not only describe, it should com-
pare, it should interpret, it should rise to the how a,nd
the wherefore of the phenomena which it describes. It
is not enough for it coldly to anatomize the globe, by
merely taking cognizance of the arrangement of the
various parts which constitute it. It must endeavor to
seize those incessant mutual actions of tho different por-
tions of physical nature upon each other, of inorganic
nature upon organized beings, upon man in particular,
and upon the successive development of human societies,
in a word, studying the reciprocal action of all these
forces, the perpetua* play of which constitutes what might
be called the lif of the globe, it should, if I may venture
to say so, inquire into its physiology. To understand
it in any other way, is to deprive geography of its vital
principle; is to make it a collection of partial, unmean-
ing facts j is to faster, upon it forever that character of
drvness, for which it has <=o often and so justly been
22 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
reproached. For what is dryness in a science, excep 4
the absence of those principles, of those ideas, of those
general results, by whbh well-constituted minds are
nurtured ?
Physical geography, therefore, ought to be, not only
the description of our earth, but the physical science of
the globe, or the science of the general phenomena of
the present life of the globe, in reference to their connec-
tion and their mutual dependence.
This is the geography of Humboldt and of Ritter.
But I speak of the life of the globe, of the physiology
of the great terrestrial forms ! These terms may per-
haps seem here to be misapplied.
I ask your permission to justify them, for I cannot fina
better, to express what appears to me to be the truth.
Far from me the idea of attempting to assimilate this
general life of the inorganic nature of the globe to the
individual life of the plant or the animal, as some
unwise philosophers have done. I know well the wide
distance which separates inorganic from organized
nature. I will even go further than is ordinarily done,
and I will say that there is an impassable chasm be-
tween the mineral and the plant, between the plant and
the animal, an impassable chasm between the animal
and the man. But this nature, represented as dead,
and contrasted in common language with living- nature,
because it has not the same life with the anin.al or
the plant, is it then bereft of all life? If it has
not life, we must acknowledge that it has at least the
appearances of life. Has it not motion in the water
'.vhich streams s*icl gushes over the surface of the con-
INTRODUCTION. 2-3
linents, or which tosses in the bosom of the seas? in
the winds which course with terrible rapidity and sweep
the soil that we tread under our feet, covering it with
ruins? Has it not its sympathies and antipathies
in those mysterious elective affinities of the different
molecules of matter which chemistry investigates ? Has
it not the powerful attractions of bodies to each other,
which govern the motions of the stars scattered in the
immensity of space, and keep them in an admirable
harmony ? Do we not see, and always with a secret
astonishment, the magnetic needle agitated at the ap-
proach of a particle of iron, and leaping under the fire
of the Northern light ? Place any material body what-
soever by the side of another, do they not immediately
enter into relations of interchange, of molecular attrac-
tion, of electricity, of magnetism ? The disturbance of
the equilibrium at one point induces another elsewhere,
and the movement is propagated to infinity. And what
will it be, if we rise to the contemplation of all the
phenomena of this order together, exhibited by a vast
country, by an entire continent ?
Thus, in inorganic nature likewise, all is acting, all
is changing, all is undergoing transformation. Doubt-
less this is not the life of the organized being, the life of
the animal ; but is not this assemblage of phenomena
also a life ? If, taking life in its most simple aspect, we
define it as a mutual exchange of relations, we cannot
refuse this name to those lively actions and reactions, to
that perpetual play of the forces of matter, of which we
are every day the witnesses Yes, gentlemen, it is indeed
life, but undoubtedly in a very inferior order of things.
24 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
It is life; the thousand voices of nature which make
themselves heard around us, and which in so many
ways betray that incessant and prodigious activity,
proclaim it so loudly that we cannot shut our ears to
their language.
This general life, this physical and chemical life, be-
longs to all matter. It is the basis of the existence of
all superior beings, not as the source, but as the condi
tion. It is in the plant, it is in the animal ; only here it
is subservient to a principle of higher life of a sniritual
nature, of a principle of unity, the mysterious force of
which, referring all to a centre, modifies it, controls it
and organizes it, for the benefit of an individual.
Now it is precisely this internal principle of unity
belonging to organized nature, which is wanting in in-
dividuals of inorganic nature ; and that is the difference.
In inorganic nature, the bodies are only simple ag-
gregations of parts, homogeneous or heterogeneous, and
differing among themselves, the combination of which
seems to be accidental. Nevertheless, to say nothing of
the law that assigns to each species of mineral a par-
ticular form of crystallization, we see that every aggrega-
tion, fortuitous in appearance, may constitute a whole,
with limits, and a determinate form, which, without
having anything of absolute necessity, gives to it, how-
ever, the first lineaments of individuality. Such are the
various geographical regions, the islands, the peninsulas,
the continents ; the Antilles, for example, England, Italy,
Asia, Europe, North America. Each of these terrestrial
masses, considered as a whole, as an individual, has a
particular disposition of its parts, of the forms wliich
INTRODUCTION. 25
belong only t it, a situation relatively to the rays of the
sun, and with respect to the seas or the neighboring
masses, not found identically repeated in any other.
All those various causes excite and combine, in a
manner infinitely varied, the play of the physical forces
inherent in the matter composing them, and secure to
each a climate, a vegetation, and animal life; in a
word, an assemblage of physical characters and func-
tions peculiar to it, and really giving it something of
individuality.
It is in this sense that we shall speak of the great
geographical individuals, that we shall be able to define
them, to indicate their characters, to mark their differ-
ences ; in a word, to apply to them that comparative
study, without which there is no true science. But let
us not forget that these individuals have the cause of
their existence, not within, like organized beings, but
without, in the very circumstances of their aggregation.
Hence, gentlemen, the great importance of external
form ; the importance of the geographical forms of con-
tour, of relief of the terrestrial surface ; of the relations
of size, of extent, of relative position. In considering
them simply in a geological point of view, it may appear
quite accidental that such a plain should or should not
have risen from the bosom of the waters ; that such a
mountain rises at this place or that ; that such a con-
tinent should be cut up into peninsulas, or piled into a
compact mass, accompanied by, or deprived of, islands.
When, finally, we reflect, that a depression of a few
hundred feet, which would make no change in the
essential forms of the solid mass of the globe, would
3
26 COMPJI RATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
cause a great part of Asia and of Europe to disappeoi
beneath the water of the oceans, and would reduce
America to a few large islands, we might be led to the
conclusion that the external shape of the continents haf
but an inconsiderable importance.
But, in physics, neither of these circumstances is
unimportant. Simple examples, without further dem-
onstration, will be sufficient to set this in a clear light.
Is the question of the forms of contour? Nothing
characterizes Europe better than the variety of its
indentations, of its peninsulas, of its islands. Suppose,
for a moment, that beautiful Italy, Greece with its
entire Archipelago, were added to the central mass of
the continent, and augmented Germany or Russia by the
number of square miles they contain ; this change of
form would not give us another Germany, but we should
have an Italy and a Greece the less. Unite with the
body of Europe all its islands and peninsulas into one
compact mass, and instead of this continent, so rich in
various elements, you will have a New Holland with
all its uniformity.
Do we look to the forms of relief, of height ? Is it a
matter of indifference whether an entire country is lifted
into the dry and cold regions of the atmosphere, like the
central table land of Asia, or is placed on the level of
the ocean 1 See, under the same sky, the warm and fer-
tile plains of Hindoostan, adorned with the brilliant vege-
tation of the tropics, and the cold and desert plateaus of
Upper Tubet ; compare the burning region of Vera Cruz
and its fevers, with the lofty plains of Mexico and its
uerpetual spring ; the immense forests of the Amazon,
INTRODUCTION. 27
v nere vegetation puts forth all its splendors, and the
desoiate paramos of the summits of the Andes, and you
nave the answer.
And the relative position? Do not the three penin-
sulas of the south of Europe owe to their position their
mild and soft climate, their lovely landscape, their numei-
ous relations, and their common life ? Is it not to their
situation that the two great peninsulas of India are in-
debted for their rich niture, and the conspicuous part
one of them, at least, has played in all ages 1 Place them
on the north of their continents, Italy and Greece become
Scandinavia, and India a Kamtschatka.
All Europe is indebted for its temperate atmosphere to
its position relatively to the great marine and atmos-
pheric currents, and to the vicinity of the burning regions
of Africa. Place it at the east of Asia, it will be only a
frozen peninsula.
Suppose the Andes, transferred to the eastern coast oi
South America, hindered the trade wind from bearing
the vapors of the ocean into the interior of the continent,
and the plains of the Amazon and of Paraguay would
be nothing but a desert.
In the same manner, if the Rocky Mountains bordeied
the eastern coast of North America, and closed against
t.ie nations of the East and of Europe the entrance to
the rich valley of the Mississippi; or if this immense
chain extended from east to west across the northern
pait of this continent, and barred the passage of the polar
winds, which now rush unobstructed over these vast
plains let us say even less : if, preserving all the great
pr jsent features of this continent, we suppose only thai
28 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL LEOGKAPHY.
the interior plains 'were slightly inclined towards the
north, and that the Mississippi emptied into the Frozen
Ocean, who does not see that, in these various cases, the
relations of warmth and moisture, the climate, in a word
and with it the vegetation and the animal world, would
undergo the most important modifications, and that these
changes of form and of relative position would have an
influence greater still upon the destinies of human socie-
ties, both in the present and in the future 7
It would be easy to multiply examples ; but I do not
wish to anticipate the results that will be brought out
by the more exact study of these phenomena, which we
are about to undertake. It is enough for me to have
opened a view of the important part performed by all
these physical circumstances, and the necessity of study-
ing them with the most scrupulous care.
Let us not, then, despise the study of these outward
forms, the influence of which is so evident. They are
everything in this class of things.
We shall see all the great phenomena of the physical
and individual life of the continents, and their functions
in the great whole, flowing from the forms and the rela-
tive situation of the great terrestrial masses, placed undei
the influence of the general forces of nature.
But, gentlemen, it is not enough to have seized, in this
point of view, entirely physical as yet, the functions of
the great masses of the continents. They have others,
still more important, which, if rightly understood, ought
to be considered as the final end for which they have
received the ; r existence. T) understand and appreciate
ihem a* their full value, to study them in their true point
INTRODUCTION.
tti view, we must rise to a higher position. We must
elevate ourselves to the moral world to understand the
physical world; the physical world has no meaning
except by and for the morai world.
It is, in fact, the universal law of all that exists in
finite, nature, not to have, in itself, either the reason or
the entire aim of its own existence. Every being exists,
not only for itself, but forms necessarily a portion of a
great whole, of which the plan and the idea go infinitely
beyond it, and in which it is destined to play a part.
Thus inorganic nature exists, not. only for itself, but
to serve as a basis for the life of the plant and the
animal ; and in their service it performs functions of a
kind greatly superior to those assigned to it by the laws
which are purely physical and chemical. In the same
manner, all nature, our globe, admirable as is its arrange-
ment, is not the final end of creation j. but it is the
condition of the existence of man. It answers as an
instrument by which his education is accomplished, and
performs, in his service, functions more exalted and more
noble than its own nature, and for which it was made.
The superior being then solicits, so to speak, the creation
of the inferior being, and associates it to his own func-
tions; and it is correct to say that inorganic nature is
made for organized nature, and the whole globe for man,
an both are made for God, the origin and end of all
Ihings.
Science thus comprehends the whole of created things,
as a vast harmony, all the parts of which are closely con-
rected together, and presuppose each other.
"Uonsidered in this point of view, the earth, and all it
3*
30 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
contains, the continents in particular, with the whole of
their organized nature, all the forms they present, acquire
a new meaning and a new aspect.
It is as the abode of man, and the theatre for the
action of human societies ; it is as the means of the edu-
cation of entire humanity, that we shall have to considei
them, to appreciate the value of each of the physica.
characters which distinguish them.
The first glance we throw upon the two-fold domain
of nature and of history, is enough to show that the parts
performed by the different countries of the globe, in the
progress of civilization, present very great differences.
The three continents of the South, Australia, Africa, I
except Egypt, which scarcely belongs to it, and South
America, have not seen the birth of either of the great
forms of civilization which have exercised an influence
on the progress of the race. Down to times very near
our own, the scene of history has hardly passed the
boundaries of Asia and of Europe. Upon these two
continents of the Ancient World, all the interests of the
great drama, in which we are at once actors and spec-
tators, is concentrated. Another continent, that of North
America, has just been added, and is preparing itself to
play a part of the first importance.
In the earliest ages of the world, Asia shines alone. It
is at once the cradle of civilization, and that of the na-
tions which are the only representatives of culture, and
wliic'h are carrying it, in our days, to the extremities of
the world. Its gigantic proportions, the almost infinite
diversity of its soil, its central situation, would render it
suitable to be the cor.traent of the germs^ and the root
INTRODUCTION. 31
of that immense tree which is now bearing .such beiu-
tiful fruits.
But Asia has yielded to Europe the sceptre of civili-
zation for two thousand years. At the present day,
Europe is still unquestionably the first of the civilizing
continents. Nowhere on the surface of our planet has
the mind of man risen to a sublimer height; nowhere
has man known so well how to subdue nature, and to
make her the instrument of intelligence. The nations
of Europe, to whom we all belong, represent not only
lift highest intellectual growth which the human race
has attained at any epoch, but they rule already over
nearly every part of the globe, and are preparing to push
their conquests further still. Here, evidently, is the
central point, the focus where all the noblest powers of
humanity, in a prodigious activity, are concentrating
themselves. This part of the world is, then, the first in
power, the luminous side of our planet, the full-grown
flower of the terrestrial globe.
And yet what a contrast between this moral grandeur
and the material greatness of this, the smallest of the
continents ! Nothing in it strikes us at the first glance.
Europe does not astonish us by those vast areas which
the neighboring continent of Asia embraces. Its loftiest
mountains scarcely reach to half the height of the Hima-
laya and the Andes. Its plateaus, those of Bavaria and
Spain, hai-ily deserve the name, by the side of those of
Tubet and of Mexico. Its peninsulas, what are they in
comparison with India ana Arabia, each of which forms
a world by itself? Its seas, the Mediterranean and its
gulfs, are far from having the proportions of the vasi
32 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
ocean which bathes the Asiatic peninsulas. N> where
those great rivers, those immense streams, that watei
the boundless plains of Asia and America, and are their
pride. Nowhere those virgin forests, which cover im-
mense regions, and make them impenetrable to man;
none of those deserts, whose startling and terrible aspect,
under other climes, appalls us by their immensity. We
see there neither the exuberant fruitfulness of the tropi-
cal regions, nor the vast frozen tracts of Siberia ; we feel
there neither the overwhelming heats of the equator, nor
those extremes of cold which annihilate all organic life.
In the productions of organized nature, the same mod-
esty still. The plants, the trees, do not attain to the
height and growth which astonish us in the regions of
the tropics. Neither the flowers, nor the insects, nor the
birds, show that variety and brilliancy of colors, which
distinguish the corolla of the flowers, and the plumage
of the birds, bathed incessantly in the waves of light of
the equatorial sun. All the tints are softened and tem-
pered down.
How reconcile this apparent inferiority with the bril-
liant part Europe has performed among the other con-
tinents ? This coincidence between the development of
humanity in Europe, and the physical nature of this
continent, can it have been only an accident? Or may
this part of the world have concealed, under such modest
appearances, some real superiorities, which have ren-
dered it more suitable than any other to play so distin-
guished a part in th j history of the world 1 This is a
problem, stated by the great facts I am pointing out, the
soluticn of which we must seek by study.
INTRODUCTION. 33
But a tnird continent, unknown in the history of
ancient days. North America, has also entered th<5 list ;
and is advancing with giant steps ; for it has not to re-
commence the work of civilization Civilization is trans-
ported thither ready made. The old nations ^ Europe,
exhausted by the difficulties of every kind which oppose
their march, turn with hope their wearied eyes towards
this new world, for them the land of the future. Men
of all languages, of every country, are bringing hither
the most various elements, and preparing the germs of
the richest growth. The simplicity and the grandeur
of its forms, the extent of the spaces over which it rules,
seem to have prepared it to become the abode of the
most vast and powerful association of men that has ever
existed on the surface of the globe. The fertility of its
soil ; its position, in the midst of the oceans, between the
extremes of Europe and of Asia, facilitating commerce
with these two worlds ; the proximity of the rich tropi-
cal countries of Central and South America, towards
which, as by a natural descent, it is borne by the waters
of the majestic Mississippi, and of its thousand tributary
streams ; all these advantages seem to promise its labor
and activity a prosperity without example. It belongs
not to man to read in the future the decrees of Provi-
dence. But science may attempt to comprehend the
purposes of God, as to the destinies of nations, by exam-
ining with care the theatre, seemingly arranged by Him
i>r the realization of the new social order, towards which
humanity is tending wtf hope. For the order of nature
is a foreshadowing of that which is to be.
Such, gent emen, are the great problems our study
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
fays before us. We shall endeavor to solve them by
studying, first, the characteristic forms of the continents,
the influence of these forms on the physical life of the
globe; then, the historical development of humanity.
We sha.. have succeeded, if we may have shown to you,
1. That the forms, the arrangement, and the distri-
bution, of the terrestrial masses on the surface of the
globe, accidental in appearance, yet reveal a plan which
we are enabled to understand by the evolutions of
history.
2. That the continents are made for human societies,
as the body is made for the soul.
3. That each of the northern or historical continents
is peculiarly adapted, by its nature, to perform a special
part corresponding to the wants of humanity in one of
the great phases of its history.
Thus, nature and history, the earth and man, stand
in the closest relations to each other, and form only one
grand harmony.
Gentlemen, I may treat this beautiful subject inade-
quately ; but I have a deep conviction that it is worthy
to occupy your leisure, as it will occupy for a long time
to come, if I am not mistaken, the most exalted minds,
and those most ripened for elevated researches. For
nim who can embrace with a glance the great harmo-
nies of nature and of history, there is here the most
admirable plan to study; there are the past and future
destinies of fe nations to decipher, traced in ineffaceable
characters by the finger a.' Him who governs the world.
Admirable order of the Supreme Intelligence and Good-
uess, which has arranged all for the great purpose of
FIGURE OF THE CONTINENTS 35
the education of man, and the realization J>f the plans
of Mercy for his sako !
Be pleased always to remember, in my favor more
than for yourselves, that the path of science is ofter dim-
cult and beset with rugged cliffs. The traveller doubt-
less gathers many flowers on the way. But the tree of
Science, which bears the noblest fruits, is placed high up
on precipitous rocks. It holds out to our view these
precious fruits from afar. Happy he who by his efforts
may pluck one of them, even were it the humblest. He
values it, then, by what it has cost him. I have made
the, attempt, and this fruit I offer to you. In default of
beauty, may you find therein the savor that I have tasted
myself.
After what we have just said of the importance of the
geographical forms of the crust of the globe, you will not
be surprised, gentlemen, that these very forms of contour
and relief, although so far entirely outside, and the
arrangement of the great terrestrial masses, are to be the
first subject to occupy our attention.
Each of these masses is a solid, of which we are not
able to ascertain the configuration, except by considering
it at once in its horizontal dimensions and in its vertical
dimensions; that is, in its extent and in its contours;
then in the varieties of relief which its surface presents.
It is in this twofold point of view, and that of then
relative situation, that we must first of all study them.
The contours of the continents, as they are shown by
the maps before your eyes, are nothing else than tho
delineation of the line of contact between the lands and
36 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHIC
the horizontal surface of the oceans. This line is a true
curve of level, the sinuosities of which depend entirely
upon the plastic forms of the continent itself. It would
change its form completely by the relative depression or
elevation of the seas. Such as it is, it presents us an
almost infinite variety of bends, in and out, which at the
first glance seem perfectly irregular and accidental. Yet
a more attentive study, and a comparison of the charac-
teristic figures of the continents, enable us to perceive
certain features of resemblance and a general disposition
of their parts, which seem to indicate, as we shall see
by-and-by, the existence of a common law which must
have presided over their formation.
These grand analogies, and these characteristic differ-
ences of form and grouping, simple and evident as they
appear to us when they have once been pointed out to
our attention, have nevertheless been discovered only by
degrees, and in succession, by the most eminent minds.
Lord Bacon, the restorer of the physical sciences, first
opened the way by remarking that the southern extremi-
ties of the two worlds terminate in a point, turned to-
wards the Southern Ocean, while they go on widening
towards the north.
After him, Reinhold Forster, the learned and judicious
companion of Captain Cook in his second voyage round
the world, took up this observation and developed it to a
much greater extent. He points out substantially three
analogies, three coincidences in the structure of the
continents.
The first is that the southern points of all the con-
tinents are high and rocky, and seem to be the extremi-
FIGURE OF THE CONTINENTS. 37
ues of mountain belts, which come from far in the
interior, and breaK off abruptly, without transition, at
the shore of the ocean. Thus America, which terminates
in the rocky precipices of Cape Horn, the last represen-
tatives of the already broken chain of the Andes; thus
Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, with its high plateaus
and its Table Mountain, which rises from the bosom of
the ocean to a height of more than 4,000 feet; thus Asia
with the peninsula of the Deccan, which sends out the
chain of the Ghauts to form the high rocks of Cape
Comorin; Australia, lastly, whose southern extremity
presents, at Cape Southeast, of Van Diemen's Land, the
same abrupt and massive nature.
A second analogy is, that the continents have, east of
the southern points, a large island, or a group of islands
more or less considerable. America has the Falkland
Islands; Africa, Madagascar and the volcanic islands
which surround it ; Asia has Ceylon ; and Australia, the
*wo great islands of New Zealand.
A third peculiarity of configuration, common to these
same parts of the world, is a deep bend of their western
side towards the interior of the continent. On this side
their flanks are as if hollowed into a vast gulf. In
America, the concave summit of this inflection is in-
dicated by the position of Arica, at the foot of the high
Cordillera of Bolivia. In Africa, the Gulf of Guinea
expresses more strongly still this characteristic feature.
It is more feebly marked in Asia by the Gulf of Cam
baye, and the Indo-Persian Sea; it reappears fully in
Australia, where the Gulf of Nuyts occupies almost the
whole southern side.
4
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Forster did not stop here. Seeking to explain to him-
self these remarkable coincidences in the structure of
the great terrestrial masses, he arrived at the conclusion
that the> were due to a single cause, and that this cause
was a great cataclysm coming from the south-west
The waters of the ocean, dashing violently against
the barrier the continents opposed to them, ground
away their sides with fury, scooped out the deep gulf
open towards the south-west, swept off all the movable
earth from the southern side, and left nothing standing
but those rocky points, that formed only the skeleton.
The islands on the east would be only the accumulated
ruins of this great catastrophe, or the pieces of the conti-
nent protected from total destruction by the jutting poinv
which received the first shock.
This hypothesis, bold as it is ingenious, was admitted
by several of the most distinguished contemporaries of
Forster. Pallas, among others, the celebrated northern
traveller, inclines to receive this general cataclysm from
the south-west, which seems to him to explain the great
geological phenomena he had observed in the north of
Asia. He attributes to it the hollowing out of the deer,
gulfs which cut into the south of Europe and of Asia,
and the formation of the great plains on the north, of
those of Siberia, in particular.
The whole ground, according to him, would be com-
posed of earth torn from the southern countries-, trans-
-wrted by the waves of the ocean, and by them deposited
ui these places, after their fury had been spent upon the
Himalaya, or the great table land of Asia. It is thus
that he explains the presence in Siberia of fossil ele
FIG j RE OF THE CONTINENTS. 39
phants and of mammoths, and a multitude of other
animals and plants which live at the present day only
under the sky of the tropics. He remarked, moreover,
in support of t.iis hypothesis, that the disproportion ex-
isting between the extent of the part of Asia situated
south of the Himalaya, compared with that of the vast
plains which flank the north of the central mass of the
continent, seems to indicate that a great portion of these
southern regions has been carried away by this great
flood. Pallas, lastly, applies the same observation to
America, the western part of which is reduced to a
narrow strip, while the region east of the Andes makes
almost the whole of the continent.
Seductive as this idea is at the first glance, it is
scarcely necessary to say that all that modern geology
has taught upon the structure of the mountains, their
rise, and the composition of the soil, forbid us to adopt
it. It dates from a period when the mind, struck for the
first time with the revolutions of the globe, of which it
saw the traces everywhere, found no force sufficiently
powerful to bring them about, and when water, in par-
ticular, seemed the only agent that could be resorted
to for their explanation. Nevertheless, it has the merit
of binding together, and of fixing, in a precise manner,
certain great facts, the existence of which is incon-
testable
At a later period Humboldt also shows that he J s
hatching those general phenomena of the configuration
Df the continents, seemingly destined to reveal the secret
of their formation. He first calls our attention to the
singulir parallelism existing between the two side*
40 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of tie Atlantic. The salient angles of the one cor-
respond to the reentering angles of the other: Cape Si
Roque in America, to the Gulf of Guinea ; the head-land
of Africa, of which Cape Yerd is the extreme point, to
the Gulf of Mexico, so that this ocean takes the form of
a great valley, like those the mountainous countries pre-
sent in such numbers.
Steffens pushed the study of these analogies 01 the
structure of the continents further still, and the picture
which he gives us of them opens several new views
upon the subject. He remarks, first, that the; lands ex-
pand and come together towards the north, while they
separate and narrow down to points in the sor.th. Now
this tendency is marked, not only in the principal masses
of the continents, but also in all the important, peninsulas
which detach themselves from it. Greenland, Cali-
fornia, Florida, in America ; Scandinavia, Spain, Italy,
wid Greece, in Europe; the two Indies, Corea, Karn-
tschatka, in Asia, all have their points turwxl towards
the south.
Passing to the grouping of the contiuunts among
themselves, this learned man brings to our view the fact
that these great terrestrial masses are grovip,ed two by
two, in three double worlds, of which the two component
parts are united together by an isthmus, or by a chain
of islands ; moreover, on one side of the isthmus is found
an archipelago, on the opposite side a peninsula.
The purest type of this grouping of the c( ntinents is
America. Its two halves, North America and South
Am3rica, are nearly equal in size, and similar in form;
ihsy form, so to speak, an equilibrium. The isthmus
FIGURE OF THE CONTINENTS. 41
whu.h unites them is long and narrow. The archipelago
on the east, that of he Antilles, is considerable; the
peninsula on the west, California, without being greatly
extended, is clearly outlined.
The two other double worlds are less regular, less
symmetrical. First, the component continents are of
unequal size; then the two northern continents are
united, and, as it were, joined back to back. Steffens
divides them by a line passing through the Caucasus,
and coming out upon the Persian Gulf. He thus recom-
bines with Europe a part of Western Asia and Arabia,
and gives Africa for its corresponding continent. They
are united by the Isthmus of Suez, the shortest and most
northern of all. The peninsula found on the east is
Arabia, which is of considerable size; the archipelago
on the west is that of Greece, which is comparatively of
small importance.
This relation is evidently, gentlemen, as you will
agree, a forced one. But it seems to me that it would
be easy to reestablish the analogy, so far as the irregu-
larity of structure in the European continent permits, by
considering Italy and Sicily, which almost touch Africa,
by Cape Bon, as the true isthmus. The archipelago is
then found on the east, according to the rule, and the
jjoninsula, Spain, on the west.
The third double world, Asia- Australia, is more nor-
mal ; it approaches nearer the type. The isthmus
which unites them is broken, it is true. But that long,
continuous chain of islands, stretching without deviation
from the peninsula of Malacca, by Sumatra, Java, and
the other islands of the Sonde, to New Holland, offers
4*
42 COMPARATIVE PHYSICA 3EOGRAPHY.
so striking an analogy and parallelism to the isthmus
which unites the two Americas, that, before Steffenf,
Ebel and Lamark had already pointed it out. The
great archipelago of Borneo, Celebes, and of the Moluc-
cas, corresponds to that of the Antilles; the peninsula
of India, to California.
Here the disproportion between the two continents, as
to their extent, is pushed to the extreme. Asia-Aus-
tralia presents the union of the greatest and the smallest
of the terrestrial masses.
These three double worlds exhaust the possible com-
binations of relations between their component conti-
nents. In America., that of the north and that of the
south are equal in form and in power ; there is- a sym-
metry. In the two others they are unequal. In Europe-
Africa, the northern continent is the smallest. In Asia-
Australia, it is the continent of the south.
These views of Steffens, even without being justified
by a physical theory of the phenomena, are not the less
of high interest, and lead us to consider tne grouping of
the continents under a point of view of the application
of which we shall by-and-by see the utility.
But none of the authors who occupied themselves
with these questions of configuration and of grouping of
the terrestrial spaces, has done so in a manner more
happy, and more fruitful in important results, than Carl
Ritter.
This founder of historical geography, in the higli sense
that should be attached to the word, this learned scholar,
who has exalted geography to the rank of a philosophica.
scimcs b'' *.he spirit he hag breathed into it, p.ppiied him
FIGUR2 OF THE CONTINENTS.
43
self chiefl} to investigating what are the fundamental
conditions of the form of the surface of the globe most
favorable to the progress of man and of human societies.
This novel point of view led him to the discovery of
relations un perceived until then. We proceed to take
cognizance of the principal of them, but at present in a
manner wholly external. The signification of these
groupings and of these forms will become manifest in
the course of our studies.
Ritter showed not only that the lands are more numer-
ous in the northern portion of the earth than in the
southern, but that, if we draw a great circle at once
through the coast of Peru and the south of Asia, the
Land Hemisphere.
Water Hemisphere.
surface of the globe is found to be divided into two
hemispheres, the one containing the most extensive
terrestrial masses, those nearest together and most im-
portant ; while we behold, in the other, only vast oceans,
in which float here and there the peninsular extrem-
ities of the principal lands, narrowed and dispersed,
and Australia, the smallest and most isolated of the con-
tinents. One 's th'^n the Continental or Land hemi-
44 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
sphere, the other is the Oceanic or Water hemisphere
(See Fig. 1.)
The second general fact, with regard to the grouping
of the lands is that of their combination in two great
masses, the (Xd World and the New World, the forms
and structure of which make a striking contrast, and
give them a marked character of originality.
Thus the direction of their greatest extension is the
inverse in the two worlds. The principal mass of the
Ancient World, Asia-Europe, stretches from east to
west over one half of the circumference of the globe-
while its width is vastly less, and occupies, even in Asia,
only a part of the space which separates the equator
from the pole. In Europe it is not equal to the sixth
part of the earth's circumference. In America, on the
contrary, the greatest length extends from the north to
the south. It embraces more than one third of the
circumference of the globe, and its width, which is very
variable, never exceeds a fifth of this amount.
The most remarkable consequence of this arrange-
ment, is, that Asia-Europe extends through similai
climatic zones, while America traverses nearly all the
climatic zones of the earth, and presents in this relation
a much greater variety of phenomena.
The most important of these geographical relations of
configuration, that which Ritter was the first to bring
prominently forward, and the whole value of which he
has explained with rare felicity, is the difference exist-
ing between the different continents with regard to the
extension cf the line of their contours. Some are deepl
indented, f irnished wit.i peninsulas, gulfs, inland seas
FIG RE OF THE CONTINENTS. 45
wJ.ich give to th3 line of their coasts a great length.
Others present a mass more compact, more undivided ;
their trunk is, as it were, deprived of members, and the
line of the coasts, simple and without numerous inflec-
tions, is comparatively much shorter.
Considered under this aspect, the three principal con-
tinents of the Old World form a remarkable contrast.
Africa is far the most simple in its forms. Its mass,
nearly round or ellipsoidal, is concentrated upon itself.
It thrusts into the ocean nc important peninsula, nor
anywhere lets into its bosom the waters of the sea.
It seems to close itself against every influence from
without. Thus the extension of the line of its coasts
is only 14,000 geographical miles, of 60 to the degree,
for a surface of 8,720,000 square miles ; so that Africa
has only one mile of coast for 623 miles of surface.
Asia, although bathed on three sides only by the
ocean, is rich, especially on its eastern and southern
coasts, in large peninsulas, as Arabia and the two Indies,
Corea, Kamtschatka. Whole countries push out into
the ocean, as Mandchouria and China. Nevertheless,
the extent of this continent is such, that, in spite of the
depth of the indentations, there yet remains at its centre
a greatly preponderating mass of undivided land, which
commands the maritime regions as the body commands
the limbs. Asia is indebted to this configuration for a
line of coast of 30,800 miles ; it is doable that of Africaj
which is, nevertheless, only one third smaller. Asia.,
Jieref re, possesses a mile of coast to 459 square miles
of surface.
Of all the continents, Europe is the one whose forma
46
COMPAr&TIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of contour are most varied. Its principal mass is deeply
eut in all parts by the ocean and by inland seas, and
seems almost on the point of resolving itself into penin-
sulas. These peninsulas themselves, as Greece, Scandi-
navia, repeat to infinity the phenomena of articulation
and indentation of coasts, which are characteristic of the
entire continent. The inland seas and the portions of
the ocean its outer limits enclose, form nearly half
of its surface. The line of its shores is thus carried
to the extent of 17,200 miles, an enormous proportion
compared with its small size; for it is 3,200 miles more
than Africa, which is nevertheless three times greater.
Europe enjoys one mile of coast for every 156 square
miles of surface. Thus it is the continent most open to
the sea, for foreign connections, at the same time that it
is the most individualized, and the richest in local and
independent districts.
In this regard there is, as we see, a sensible gradation
between the three principal continents of the Old World
Africa is the most simple ; it is a body without mem-
bers, a tree without branches. Asia is a mighty trunk
the numerous members of which, however, make only a
fifth of its mass. In Europe, the members overrule the
principal body, the branches cover the trunk; the pen-
insulas form almost a third of its entire surface. Africa
is closed to the ocean; Asia opens only its margins-
Europe surrenders to it entirely, and is the most acces-
sible of all the continents.
America repeats the same contrasts, although in a less
decided manner. North America, like Europe, is more
indented than South America, the configuration of
FIGURE OF THE CONTINENTS.
47
which, in the exterior at least, reminds us of the forms
of Africa, and the uniformity of its contours. The two
continents of the New World are more alike. Never-
theless, the lire of the shores is much more extended in
North than in South America. It is 24,000 miles in the
former, or one mile of coast to 228 square miles of sur-
face ; ia the latter, it is 13,600 miles, or a mile of crast
for 376 miles of surface.
The following table represents these differences of
configuration of the continents by numerical propor-
tions. The mile here employed is the geographical
niiie, of 60 to the degree. It is the only one we shall
make use of in the course of these lectures.
1
Countries.
Surface in square
miles of CO to a
Length of line
Square miles
for 1 mile of
degree.
coast.
Europe .....
2,688,000
17,200
156
14,128,000
30,800
459
8,720,000
14,000
623
Australia, ....
2,208,000
7,600
290
North America, . .
5,472,000
24,000
228
South America, . .
5,136,000
13,600
376
It is to Ritter, moreover, as well as to Humboldt, that
science is indebted for the appreciation of the value of
the relations of size, of relative position of each of the
continents, the influence of which, in nature and in
histo r v, will appear constantly greater the further we
advance hi our inquiries.
The exposition we have just made has shown us at
once differences and analogies in the forms and di
48 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
position of the continental or land masses. The differ
ences prove that each continent, or each group of con-
tinents, has a character peculiar to itself, and in some
sort individual. The analogies lead us to suspect the
existence of a general law ; they disclose an arrange-
ment which cannot be without a purpose; now, this
purpose it will be our duty to seek to comprehend, ii
we would attain to the true understanding of this pan
01 Creation.
LECTURE I!.
Recapitulation Vertical dimensions or forms of relief DifficuUit
p resented by their study Usefulness of profiles Great influent*
of differences of height Elevations in mass, and linear elevations -
Importance of the former Labors of Humboldt and Ritter on thit
subject Examination of the general features of relief of the con-
tinents A great common law embracing them all.
LADIES ANT GENTLEMEN :
The conclusion of the preceding lecture was devoted
to a simple examination of the most prominent forms
which the continents present to us, and such as the line
of contact of the lands with the horizontal surface of the
oceans exhibits to the eye. In this first review, we have
followed, step by step, in their discoveries, the men of
science who were the first to point them out. We
have recognized, with Lord Bacon and Forster, the
tapering form of the southern points of the continents,
their gulfs on the west, and their islands on the east ;
with Pallas, the situation of the great plains in the north
of the Old World, and the east of the New ; with Hum-
boldt, the winding forms and parallel shores of the
gruat oceanic valley bearing the name of the Atlantic ;
with StefTens, the enlargement of all the lands towards
the north, and the characteristic grouping of the con-
tinents in three double worlds. Ritter, finally, has
shown us how almost all the lands are combined in one
hemisphere, which may be contrasted as a continenta?
5
50 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
hemisphere with the other, which is almost entirely
covered with water ; how the lands, in their turn, are
grouped in two principal masses, in two worlds, the (Xd
and the New, differing in extent, in forms of contour,
in structure, and in direction. This learned man, above
all, teaches us to consider the forms of the continents in
a light entirely new, by drawing our attention to one of
the most characteristic features, and, as we shall see,
one of the most important, which had escaped all the
geographers before him; and that is the considerable
difference the various continents present with regard to
the greater or smaller number of indentations of their
coasts, and of the lesser or greater extent of the line of
their shores, of their more or less gradual contact with
the waters of the seas and of the oceans.
All these characteristic differences, their gradation,
and, above all, the numerous analogies the forms and
the grouping of the great terrestrial masses present, have
appeared to disclose a symmetrical arrangement, and,
as it were, an organization of the continental masses,
owing, doubtless, to a physical law, none the less real
on account of its being as yet unknown to science.
We shall have occasion hereafter to estimate the value
and the influence of these relations, which we have
merely stated. But to complete our preparatory study,
it is not enough to have taken cognizance of these
horizontal forms. We must further make ourselves
acquainted with the vertical configuration of the surface,
also, of the continents bathed by the atmosphere; that is
to say, it is necessary to grasp the most essential features
of their relief, so intimately, combined with the varieties
RELIEF OF THE CONTINENTS. 51
of their horizontal forms, and moulding in such varoui
manners the different countries of the globe. It is only
after having considered the continents under this second
point of view, that we shall have the elements neces-
sary to understand the great phenomena of the life of
the globe.
But a great difficulty of this study is, that the eye
cannot distinguish the elevations on the maps, as well
as the contours ; besides, physical maps are still want-
ing for a great part of the earth, and have only been
made by nations the most advanced in civilization. In
this regard, America deserves to have one of her own 5
and every friend of science should lend the aid of hi.
good wishes to the accomplishment of so desirable a
result.
To remedy these difficulties, we must avail ourselves
of profiles. You will easily understand what a profile
is, by casting a glance at the plaster model before you,
representing one of the most rugged and broken parts
of the Swiss Jura. If, cutting it perpendicularly in its
length, you place yourselves in front of the section, the
line formed by the edge of the surface will present you
a profile of the kind which we shall make use of. It
would be of the highest interest to preserve, in these
sections, the true proportion between the heights and the
horizontal extent, such as it is in nature ; but it is not
possible to do so without making use of drawings on a
very large scale, and when it is intended to represent
only a very small portion of the terrestrial surface. If,
however, we were to make transverse sections of an
entire continent, the extent of the horizontal dimensions.
52 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
compared witi that of the vertical'dimensions, would be
so great that the latter would become imperceptible to the
eye. We are, therefore, obliged to enlarge the scale of
heights a certain number of times, in order to render
them sufficiently distinct ; and this has been done in
the numerous profiles that are here exhibited. (See
plates ii. and m.) You will understand the necessity
of this disproportion, if you consider the fact that the
loftiest mountain of the globe is only six miles high,
while the diameter of the earth is nearly eight thousand
miles ; so that, representing it in its true proportions, the
Dhavalagiri, with its 28,000 feet, would be raised only a
twelfth of an inch on a globe ten feet in diameter.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to draw from this
fact the conclusion that the knowledge and study of these
forms, so insignificant in appearance, have but a slight
importance. This element, on the contrary, is so essen-
tial, that an elevation of level of 350 feet, for example,
which is only that of many of our public edifices, is
sufficient to diminish the mean temperature of a place
by one degree of Fahrenheit ; that is to say, the effect
is the same as if the place were situated sixty miles
further south. A few thousand feet of height, which
are nothing to the mass of the globe, change entirely the
aspect and the character of a country. The excellent
vineyards bordering the banks of the Swiss lakes
become impossible at 1,000 feet, at 500 even, above their
present level; and the tillage, the occupations of the
inhabitants, take here a quite different character. A
thousand feet higher still, and the rigor of the climate no
'onger permi ,d ;he fruit trees to flourish ; the pastures
RELIEF OF THE CONTINENTS. 53
are the only wealth of the mountaineer, for whom indus-
try ceases to be a resource. Higher still, vegetation
disappears, with it the animals, and soon, instead of the
smiling pictures of the plain and the lower valleys, suc-
ceeds the spectacle of the majestic but desolated regions
ol eternal ice and snow, where the sound and animation
y life give place to the silence of death.
In truth, all the life of the globe is spread on the sur-
face, and the whole space comprised between the bed of
the oceans and the regions of the atmosphere, habitable
for organized beings, forms only a thin pellicle round the
enormous mass of our planet.
The physical position of a place, a? I would call its
altitude, or its elevation in the atmosphere above the
level of the seas, is, then, the necessary complement of
its geographical position. In considering only places
situated in a region of small extent, this element is even
far the most important to know.
Although the forms of relief are infinitely varied, it
seems to me that we may refer them to two great classes,
admitting of numerous modifications.
1. The elevations in mass, and by great surfaces,
which are called plains, or lowlands, when they are ele-
vated only a little above the level of the oceans, and
plateaus, or table lands, when their elevation is more
considerable, and presents a solid platform, a basis of
groat thickness.
2. The inear elevations and the chains of mountains,
which are distributed over the surface and on the bor-
ders of the plains and of the table lands, or moie rarely
in isolated groups.
5*
64 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Of these tbree forms, those which strike us most at
the first glance, are the mountains ; and so the geogra-
phers have occupied themselves with these in the first
place. Buache, of the French Academy, in the middle
of the last century, was the first who attempted to com-
prise in a systematic order the whole of the mountains of
the earth ; but he was too often obliged to supply by imag-
ination the want of positive knowledge ; and I mention
here his essay on the connection of the mountains of the
globe, only to point out the first step that was taken in
this path. After him, Buffon made the important observa-
tion, that the principal mountain chains of the Old World
follow the direction of the parallels, and those of the
New World, the direction of the meridians ; and that
the secondary chains follow the inverse in both.
This predilection for the mountains lasted a long time ;
we may say that it still prevails in geology. Although
the upheaval of the great surfaces, horizontal or slightly
inclined, the elevation of entire continents, may be per-
haps a more essential fact in the physical history of our
globe, than that of a chain of mountains ; nevertheless,
geology has scarcely occupied itself except with the
latter, and seems almost ready to admit that the upheaval
of mountain chains is the principal fact, and that of the
large surfaces and of the plateaus the accompaniment.
This is not the place to discuss this great question, but
we are bound to say, that, at all events, in physical
geography we cannot be of this opinion.
Although the word plateau was introduced into science
by B lache, the importance of these elevations in mass
in physical geography was not recognized in reality
before the time of Alexander Humboldt. He was the
F.ELIEF <TF THE CONTINENTS. 55
first to bring prominently out, by his barometrical sec-
tions, the remarkable forms of the plateau of Mexico ;
and of the high valleys of the Andes. No one of the
great physical consequences connected with this struc-
ture escaped his penetrating sagacity. After him it
was not allowed to neglect the important element of
the altitudes, and this great truth remained an acqui-
sition to science.
Carl Ritter soon after applied these principles to the
study of all the continents. Drawing from the treasures
of his vast erudition, he availed himself of all the docu-
ments scattered over thousands of volumes, to give us a
true image of the structure of the continents. He distin-
guished with greater precision the high plateaus of Cen-
tral Asia and of Western Asia from the low lands which
surround them; he exhibited the contrast between the
high lands of Southern Africa, and the low plains of the
Nile and of Sahara. Each of the countries of the Old
World under this new light appeared to our eyes for the
first time in its true form, as those of the New World
had been revealed by Humboldt.
For a long time still we shall have to persevere in this
path which genius has opened, in order to complete by
observation the work so happily begun. But have we
not another step to take? Shall we not find here, in
the midst of this infioite variety of forms of relief, some
of those grand analogies which have struck us in the
study of the horizontal forms, some of those general
facts which authorize us to admit for the elevations,
a so, some great common law around which the partic-
ular facts arrange themselves?
We shall endeavor to solve this important question
66 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
not, gentlemen, by any hyf othesis, but by the combina-
tion and exposition of the facts recognized in science.
For this purpose I may oft3n be obliged to quote figures;
but even figures have their eloquence. These,, for greater
convenience, I shall express in round numbers, as it will
sufficiently answer the end I propose.
The examination of the general reliefs of the great
masses of dry land on the surface of the globe, leads us,
in fact, to the recognition of certain great analogies,
certain great laws of relief, which apply, whether to cer-
tain groups of continents, or to all the continents taken
together, or to the whole earth. I shall point out, one
after another, these general facts, supporting them by
examples; and, with the aid of the profiles you have
before you, I hope to make clear to you the general law
which appears to me to follow from them.
I. All the continents rise gradually from the shores of
ihe seas towards the interior, to a line of highest eleva-
tion of the masses, and of the peaks surmounting them,
to a maximum of swell.
This fact appears trivial in the stating, because it
seems so much according to the nature of things. But
it is not so for him who knows the geological history of
our continents and the revolutions their surface has
undergone. The question is asked, why we should
not have, in the interior of vast continents like Asia or
America, some great depression, the bed of which shculd
be sunk below the surface of the oceans. And in fact
this circumstance is not absolutely wanting to our con-
tinents ; we may cite, as a case of the kind, the great
nollow, the bottom of which is occupied by the Caspian
Sea. It is known th t the surface of this sea. and even of
KEL1EF OV THE CONTINENTS. 67
a great part of the surrounding countries, is below the
common level of the oceans ; f irther, its hasis presents
in its southern parts considerable depths. The valley
of the Jordan and Dead Sea, together with its lakes and
the river, is almost entirely below the level of the Medi-
terranean. The recent measurements of Bertou, of
Russegger, and of several others, among whom I will
mention, as the most recent of these bold explorers, an
American, Lieut. Lynch, have proved that the level of
the Dead Sea is about 1,300 feet below the level of the
oceans, and that its depth descends at least as much
more. What masks these depressions, moreover, is the
water filling them, the surface of which must be
considered as forming a part of that of the continents.
Besides the three largest of the lakes of Canada, several
of the lakes of the Italian Alps, the bed of which sinks
below the level of the sea, would appear as similar
excavations. We may say the same of the midland
seas bordering the European continent on the north and ,
on the south.
2. In all the continents, the line of greatest elevation
in the summit of ascent is placed out of the centre, on
one of the sides, at an unequal distance from the shores
of the seas. From this fact result two slopes, unequal in
length and in inclination. This is analogous to what
in mountains, is called the slope and the counter slope.
The length of these two inclined planes estimated
approximately and in round numbers, is nearly as fol-
lows, in the different transverse sections of the continents
represented by the profles which we have before us
(See plates n. and m.)
68
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The first column indicates the length, in geographical
iniles, of the long slope ; the second, that of the short one.
OLD WORLD. North to South
LENGTH
IN MILKS.
Northern
Slope.
Southern
Slope.
1. EASTERN ASIA.
The section begins at the Frozen Ocean, at
the mouth of the Jenisei, and terminates in
the plains of the Ganges. The culminating
region is that of the table lands of Tubet
and of the Dhavalagiri, which divides this
2,600
400
2. WESTERN ASIA.
From Lake Aral and the plains of the Caspian
Sea to the Persian Gulf ; culminating point,
the coast chain of the Persian Gulf, . . .
3. WESTERN ASIA.
From the plains of Georgia to those of the
Euphrates ; culminating point, the high
900
260
100
80
4. ASIA MINOR.
From the northern to the southern coast, nearlj
on the meridian of Cyprus ; culminating
300
50
5 CENTRAL EUROPE.
From the shores of the Baltic to the plains of
Lombard}- ; culminating point, the Tyrolian
450
100
6. AFRICA.
Ficm he mouth of the Nile to the Cape of
Good Hope ; culminating point, probably
the high plateaus between the sources of
the Zambeze and of the Orange river, . .
3,300
600
RELIEF OF TIE CONTINENTS.
NEW WORLD.
63
LENCJTH i
x M"-w.
Esitfrn
Slop*.
Weitern
Slope.
From Washington to the Bay of St. Francisco ;
culminating point, the central chain of the
1,600
800
2. CENTRAL AMERICA.
From Porto Rico, through Mexico, to the Pa-
cific Ocean the line slightly broken to
take in the Great Antilles ; culminating
2,000
300
3. SOUTH AMERICA.
From the mouth of the Amazon, through the
table land of Peru, to the Pacific Ocean ;
culminating point, the Chimborago, . . .
4. SOUTH AMERICA.
From the coasts of Brazil, north to Rio Janei-
ro, through the Lake of Titicaca, to the Pa-
cific ; culminating point, the Nevado de
1,850
1,600
7t
200
We see, by this table, that one of the general slopes
of the continents is always, if we take the mean, at
least four or five times as large as the other.
3. This law of increase of reliefs is common to the
mass elevations, and to the linear elevations; that is,
the height of the low lands and of the table lands
increases at the same time with the absolute elevation
of Ihe mountains. There is a proportional gradation.
This law is exhibited by the following table, con-
taining the principal elements I have used in construct-
ng the profiles. As they are intended to set in a cleai
64
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGR kPHY.
light the most general features of the relief of the con-
tinents, these profiles do not always follow an exactly
straight line, but they sometimes embrace rather a
transverse zone. For the same reason I merely indi-
cate, without taking them into the view, several lofty
volcanic peaks, isolated like the Ararat, the Erdshish of
Asia Minor, which, considered in relation to the general
relief of the countries where they are found, are but
accidents, and cause only a local modification. They
are marked in the tables by an asterisk.
The first column contains the height of the plateaus,
the second that of the loftiest corresponding peaks,- both
in English feet. In plates n. and ra. they are both indi-
cated by their initials.
OLD WORLD. North to South.
1. EASTERN ASIA.
Coast of the Frozen Ocean, mouth of the Je-
Low IMs and
Table lands.
Highest
Mountains.
380
11,000
18,000
21,0001
28,070
Plains of Siberia, Barnaul, foot of the Altai
1,300
2,000?
5,000 \
11,000
14,000
Plateau of Tubet,
250
500 ?
2. WESTERN ASIA..
Lake Aral, plains of the Caspian Sea, . . .
1
RELIEF OF THE CONTINENTS.
65
Low I'di and
Table lands.
HigfcMt
Mountain*.
4 500
2,000
4,400
4500
9 000
o
o
3. WESTERN ASIA.
1 160
7 000
2 800
17 000
10 000
5 400
Djudid Dagh,
12,000
350
200?
4. ASIA MINOR.
5,000
Black Sea,
o
5,000
1,200
3,000
13,000
10,000
o
10,000
5. CENTRAL EUROPE.
The coast of the Baltic Sea,
100
3,700
3,20f
9,500
800
Table land of Bavaria, foot of the Alps, . . .
2,100
12800
200
6*
66
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
6. AFRICA.
Mediterranean Sea, mouth of the Nile, . . .
Low I'ds and
Table lands.
Hilheit
Mountaini.
1,200
5,000
11,000?
9,000
5,OCO
2,700
The same law exists in the grsat peninsulas of Asia
whose basis is a table land, and which are almost small
continents, as India and Arabia. In those of Europe,
which are smaller and more irregular, the law is not
expressed; yet the Taygetus in Greece, the Sierra
Nevada in Spain, I should add Etna in Sicily, were it
not an isolated volcano, belong to the highest summits
of the three peninsulas.
7. INDIA-DECCAN.
Low I'd* and
Table lands.
Higheit
Mountains.
800
5 000
Table land of Deccan, Punah,
1,800
2,700
8 800
7 500
300
500
8. ARABIA.
o
o
2 000*
5 000
6 600
o
RELIEF OF THE CONTINENTS.
67
NEW WORLD. East to West.
1. NORTH AMERICA.
Low I'di and
Table lands.
Mourn^n..
300
6,000
500
800
Foot of the Rocky Mountains, F. St. Vrain, .
5,000
12,000
Plateau of Inner California,
6 000
13,500
4 300
14,000
*St. Elias Peak,
17,800
40
o
o
2. CENTRAL AMERICA.
3,500 ?
Hai'ti,
5,000?
7,000
7,500
7 500
13 000
19,000
3 000
9,000
o
o
3. SOUTH AMERICA.
o
o
4 000
8 400
1,000?
19 500
9,000
21,300
o
I
i
(
68
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGK &.PHY.
4. SOUTH AMERICA.
Low IMs and
Table lands.
H.'heit
Mouotaini.
2,000
e,ooo
1,000?
25,s: :
12,800
18,300
The simultaneous increase of the plateaus and of the
higher peaks cannot, then, be doubted, and the preced-
Jig figures make all comments unnecessary. The
inspection of the profiles permits us also to deduce the
following general facts :
4. In the Old World, the long slopes are turned
towards the north, and the short slopes towards the
south. In the New World, the gentle slopes descend
towards the east, and the short and rapid slopes towards
the west. Thus, in this respect, each of the two worlds
has a law peculiar to itself.
5. In each of the two worlds, the two laws exert their
influence. In the Old World, though the principal slope
is towards the north, we observe still a gradual decrease
of th>3 reliefs from east to west ; in the same manner, in
the New World, the principal slope is from the west to
the east, but it may be seen that the reliefs go on gradu-
ally increasing from north to south, as in the Old World.
In these two secondary directions of the reliefs, we
liscover the law of the unequal slopes ; in the Old World,
RELIEF
THE CONTINENTS.
b9
the *ong slope descends to the west, the short slope to
the east ; in the New World, the long slope is to tha
noi th, the short to the south.
1. ASIA - EUROPE from East to West.
Low I'di and
Table landi.
HigUtt
MouaUiii*.
28,000
20,000
17,800
10,000
15,800
11,200
15,000
12,000
3,000
13,500
17,000
21,400
25,300
Table lands of Tubet,
14,000
7,000
4,000
3,000
2,300
1,700
2. AFRICA from East to West.
7,000
4,000?
2,000?
3. AMERICA from North to South.
6,000
7,500
8,500
9,500
12,500
70 COMPARATIVE PHI 3ICAL GEOGRAPHY.
6. Generally speaking, the reliefs go on increasing
from the poles to the tropical regions. The highest
elevations, however, are not placed at the equator, but
in the neighborhood of the Tropic of Cancer, in the Old
World, (Himalaya, 27 north lat.,) and near the Tropic
of Capricorn, in the New World, (Nevado de Sorata,
18 south lat.)
I notice here one of the great compensations, one of
the great harmonies, of nature. The effect of this law
of arrangement is, to temper the burning heats of these
regions, and to give them such a variety of climate as
seems not to belong to these countries of the globe. K
this order were reversed, and the elevation of the lam
went on increasing towards the north, the most civilize'
half of the globe, at the present day, would be a frozen
and uninhabited desert.
7. In fine, a common law combines in a single great
fact all we have just said upon the general reliefs of the
continent ; it may be thus expressed :
All the long and gentle slopes descend towards the
Atlantic and towards the Frozen Ocean, which is only a
dependence of it; all the short and rapid slopes, or
counter-slopes, are directed towards the Pacific Ocean
and towards the Indian Ocean, which is its continuation.
In this point of view, these two great oceans appear
as two basins of different geological character.
The Pacific Ocean seems an immense basin which
has sunk down, and whose high and ragged edges pre-
sent on all sides the abrupt terminations of the conti-
nents. It is on this great line of fractures, on the borders
and all round this ocean, as has been pointed out by Mr.
von Buch and other scientific men, that we behold the
RE1 F OF THE CONTINENTS. 71
groat majority of the active volcanoes of our globe
arranged like an immense burning crown. If we add to
this feature the multitude of volcanic islands scattered
over the ocean, we comprehend the idea, expressed by
Steffens, that the vast basin occupies the place of a ccn-
tinent of the early ages, uniting the two worlds, but sunk
and submerged at presen , under the deep waters of the
ocean, in consequence of one of the latest great revolu-
tions of our globe.
The Atlantic Ocean, on the contrary, would be a
oimple depression, somewhat in the form of a trough,
owing, perhaps, to a lateral pressure, and partly to the
tilting motion which lifted up the lands in the neighbor-
hood of the Pacific. Hence, its narrower breadth, the
valley form, the absence of numerous islands in the
interior of its basin, and the descent of all the neighbor-
ing continents by gentle slopes. Nevertheless, if we
suppose the lateral force that pressed it in to have been
very strong, we may conceive that this valley has a
great depth.
Thus, then, gentlemen, a great law, a general b;.y ;
unites all the various systems of mountains and '.A
plateaus that cover the surface of our globe, and
arranges them in a vast and regular system of slopes
and counter-slopes. Considered with reference to the
present state of geology, this result is astonishing. The
study of the relative ages of the different systems of
elevations, teaches us that each of tlv,m ha'.* existed a
long time separate' y. One appeared in one country at a
given epoch, anot ler in another. The continents are
unly formed, so to speak, by pie-' ^meal, in the train of
the geological epochs; and, nevertheless, the definitive
T2 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
result makes a whole, composed of parts subordinated to
each other in a certain system, which might be called
an organism in this order of things.
This is not the moment to press the consequences of
so remarkable a fact. It is enough for me to havo
pointed it out to your attention.
I will add only, that the geological researches place
leyond a doubt the existence of an intimate relation
between the height of the mountains and of the plateaus,
and the epoch of their appearance above the surface of
the oceans. The most ancient chains of mountains are
the least elevated ; while the colossal grandeurs of the
Andes and the Himalaya bear the traces of an upheaval
comparatively very recent. In America, from the coasts
of Brazil to the high table lands of Bolivia, and from the
.Atlantic shores to the Rocky Mountains; in Europe,
from the mountains of Scandinavia to the summit of the
Alps, we meet with upheavirigs successively less ancient.
In the two worlds the continental masses have then
become greater in the lapse of the ages, not by chance,
but in two determinate directions; that is, in a geo-
graphical order, from the north to the south of the Old
World, and from the east to the west in the New ; and
I think we may hence infer, that from the moment when
the oldest lands we know emerged, the continents have
had a tendency to form themselves on the spot where
they now are.
We see that here, as elsewhere, all is done with order
and measure, and according to a plan which we shall
have a right to believe was foreseen and intended, when
we shall have studied all the consequences of this
f raent of the continental masses.
LECTUKE ill.
Attribution of the talk lands, the mountains, and the plains in the
different continents; the Old World that of plateaus, the New
World that of plains The basin of the oceans ; this inquiry com-
pletes the study of the plastic forms of the earth's crust Division
and characteristics of the oceans ; their contours and their depth
Comparison of the latter with the mean elevation of the continents
Conclusions Necessity of considering the physiology of the canti
nental forms Point of view which should be taken Law of the
development of life.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
In our last lecture we carried our examination into
the general forms of relief of the continents. Our inves-
tigation has permitted us to establish the existence of
a great common law of slopes and counter-slopes, of
increase and decrease of reliefs. The entire continents,
as well as the mountains, have two principal unequal
slopes ; the long and gentle slopes descend towards the
Atlantic and Frozen Ocean, the short and steep slopes
towards the Pacific Ocean.
To finish this subject, it remains to say a word upon
the distribution of the table lands, of the mountains, and
of the plains in the different continents.
The distribution of these three great forms of relief
is it uniform or not ? Or are there not some character-
istic differences, to be pointed out in this regai J, between
the continents ? Does not the form of the elevated table
lands prevail in one part of i?:e world, the form of the
7
I COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GE^GRAPHF.
plains in another, the form of the mountains, fin ally, in
yet a third 1 If we call to mind the important influence
each of these forms exerts on the climate, the produc-
tions, and on the conditions of existence, and growth
of the nations, we shall regard this question as one of
(hose which most concern our subject.
Considered in this point of view, the continents pre-
sent, in reality, remarkable differences.
The Old World, as we have learned from the study
of its reliefs, is that of table lands and mountains. No
continent exhibits plateaus so elevated, so numerous, so
extensive, as Asia and Africa. Instead of one or two
chains of mountains, like the Andes, Central Asia is
traversed by four immense chains, .supporting vast table
lands of from 5,000 to 14,000 feet in elevation, and the
loftiest mountains of the globe.
The extent of this elevated region is more than 2,400
miles long, by 1,500 miles broad. The principal mass
of Western Asia is nothing but a plateau, from three to
six thousand feet in height. Africa, south of Sahara,
seems to be only an enormous pile of uplifted lands. It
has been calculated that the mountains and plateaus of
Asia cover five sevenths of its surface, while the plains
occupy only two sevenths. In Africa, the high regions
form two thirds of the continent, the plains only one third.
If I call the Old World the world of plateaus, it is
not because great plains are wanting there. The whole
north of Europe and of Asia is merely a boundless plain,
and from the shores of Holland, through Germany,
Russia, the Steppes of the Caspian and Siberia, the
raveller may cross the Ancient World fom the Atlau-
DISTRIBUTION OF PLAS'lvO FORMS. 75
tic to the Pacific Ocean, for a distance of more than six
thousand miles, without encountering an eminence af
more than a few hundred feet in height. In Africa,
also, the plains of Sahara extend 2,500 miles in length,
by 1 ; 000 in breadth. But the situation of these plains
of the Old World under the frozen sky of the north, and
under the fires of the tropics, together with the nature
of their soil, takes from them all their importance. The
one is a frozen waste, a Siberia; the other a burning
desert; and neither the one nor the other is called tc
play an essential part, nor do they impress upon their
respective continents their essential character.
The New World, on the other hand, is the world of
plains. They form two thirds of its surface ; the pla-
teaus and the mountains, only one third. The high
lands form only a narrow band, crowded upon the west-
ern coast of the two continents. Almost the whole East
runs into immense plains, covering it, one might say,
from pole to pole. From the Frozen Ocean to the Gulf
of Mexico, over an extent of nearly 2,400 miles, we
cross only insignificant heights. From the llanos of the
Orinoco to the banks of La Plata, we traverse more than
three thousand miles of low plains, slightly interrupted
by the somewhat more elevated regions of western Bra-
zil; they are prolonged even to. the Pampas of Pata-
gonia, 600 miles further south, to the southern extrem-
ity of America. The length of the rich plains watered
by the Mataflor., in the direction of the current, is nearly
1,600 miles ; and what are the plains of the Amazon and
the Mississippi, compared with those of Siberia and
Sahara ? A. happy climate, a rich and fertile soil. , a
6 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
wonderful vegetation, prodigious resources they have
all that makes the prosperity of a country , who does
not see that here is the character of America, here lies
the future of the New World, while the countries of
mountains and pi iteaus seem destined to play only a
secondary part ?
Even in this regard the two worlds have each its own
character, and form a great contrast ; so that we may
say that, in one of the hemispheres, the plateaus and
the mountains predominate, while, in the other, the
plains give the important and essential feature of relief.
Finally, if we were seeking for a continent where the
form of mountains, without plateaus at their base, should
be the characteristic feature, it would be necessary to
name Europe,.comprehending in it only Western Europe
without Russia ; that is, historical Europe, the true
Europe after all. This continent, with Russia, has
three fourths of plains to one fourth of mountainous
country ; but, leaving out Russia, it is quite otherwise.
Traverse Europe from one end to the other, whether over
its central mass or its peninsulas, you will find every-
where its soil modified, cut in all directions by chains
of mountains intersecting each other. In all this part
of the continent, the largest existing plain, that of
Northern Germany and Poland, is only six hundred
miles long by two hundred broad. It is the extremity
of the great Asiatic plains in the north. The other
plains, as those of France, of Hungary, of Lombardy,
are smaller in extent, arid do not deprive this part of the
continent of the mountainous character essentially be-
longing to it
THE OCEANS. 77
We have now considered the configuration of the
general forms of the continents ; let us not forget that
this is only one half of the plastic forms of the earth's
crust. There is another, which, though hidden from
our sight, is none the less entitled to our interest. It is
me basin of the oceans.
The positive forms of the lands which we have
studied determine negatively for the oceans, whether
horizontally or vertically, certain forms no less char-
acteristic. We ought, then, to examine the character
of the ocean basins, in the two-fold relation of the forms
and the indentations of their shores, and of their
depth. But the time presses, and I must be brief; lim-
iting myself to the essential facts, I shall omit all that
does not touch directly upon my subject.
The continents determine the general outlines of the
great ocean basins. The indentations of their coasts
give the articulation of the shores of the oceans; the
islands, by their disposition, by their less or greater fre-
quency, furnish what else is wanting to complete their
character ; the one is the counterpart of the other ; they
are the same forms, but in an inverse order.
Two great oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic, cor-
responding to the two worlds, surround, on almost all
sides, the principal terrestrial masses. We may detach
from the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, which, though
belonging to it, has some special characteristics ; and
separate from the Atlantic, the Northern Frozen Ocean,
Me position of which gives it a particular physiognomy.
A.S to the great Southern Sea, we may consider it less
as in o ean by itself than as a common reservoir, whence
7*
78 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
issue, so to speak, all the seas of the globe, to make
their way into the lands.
The Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, corre-
spond tc tb.e three double worlds which we have distin-
guished, following StefFens, and separate them from one
another. Each of them, also, is divided into a northern
and a southern basin, except the Indian Ocean, which,
on this account, is only a half ocean.
The general forms of the contours of these three
oceans have, as a common feature, a wide opening to-
wards the south, and are narrowed to a point on the
north, just the reverse of the continents. Each of these
has, meantime, a lorm peculiar to itself. The Pacific
Ocean is an oval, wide open on the south, the sides
coming nearer and nearer together towards the north,
so as to leave, between America and Asia, only the
narrow passage of Behrings' Straits, by which it com-
municates with the Frozen Ocean.
The Indian Ocean has the form of a triangle, with
the vertex turned to the north ; the Atlantic that of a
valley with nearly parallel sides, which, narrowed for
a moment, then broadens into the Frozen Ocean.
The oceans differ, moreover, in the mode of articu-
lation of their shores. These indentations have very
various forms, which I will classify, for the moment,
tinder three species: the gulfs, like that of Bengal ; the
land-locked seas, isolated from the rest of the ocean by
peninsulas and chains of islands, like the Sea of Japan,
the Sea of Okhotsk ; the inland seas, surrounded on all
sides by the land, in a continvious manrer, like theMed-
iterranear and the Baltic.
THE OCEANS. 79
Considered with reference to the indentations, the
three oceans lave their own respective characters, and
we find that in each, one of these three forms Dredoru-
inates.
The Pacific Ocean is that of the land-locked or closed
seas ; for there are no less than five of considerable size
along the coast of Asia : the Sea of Behring, closed in
by the peninsula of Aljaska, and the chain of the
Aleutian Islands; the Sea of Okhotsk, enclosed by the
peninsula of Kamtschatka, and the series of the Kurile
Islands ; the Sea of Japan, shut in by the island chain
of this name ; the northern Chinese Sea, locked by the
islands of Lieu-Khieu and Formosa; the Southern Sea
of China, locked by the Philippines, Borneo, and the
peninsula of Indo-China. We may almost call the
Vermilion Sea, or Gulf of California, an inland sea, it
being the only indentation of this ocean somewhat
marked, on the American coast.
The Indian Ocean is that of gulfs ; for the two great
Gulfs of Bengal and the Persian Sea impress upon it its
character. It pushes, besides, into the interior two mid-
land seas, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, which detach
the peninsula of Arabia from the rest of the continent.
The Atlantic Ocean is that of inland seas. No one
advances further into the lands, piercing into the very
heart of the Old World and the New. There are, at
least, four mediterraneans, without taking into the
account the Poiar seas ; two on the European side, the
Mediterranean, properly so called, divided into three
great basins; the Eastern, the Western, the Black Sea,
not to mention several others of small size, and the
80 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPI V.
. Baltic ; two on the coasts of the New World, the Gult
of Mexico and Hudson's Bay. Neither is the form of
and-locked seas wanting here also ; the Northern Ocean,
on the coasts of the Old World, the Caribbean Sea in
Central America, closed by the peninsula of Yucatan
add the chain of the greater and lesser Antilles; the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, locked by the peninsula of Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland, are the proof. The great
gulfs are represented by those of Guinea and of Biscay.
The Atlantic Ocean is, then, the most articulated, the
most indented of the oceans, and that which, by its
blending with the lands, approaches the nearest to the
character of the inland seas. It is, if I may venture to
say so, the most maritime of the oceans, as the Pacific
is the most truly oceanic.
The islands, finally, are one of the most interesting
characteristics of the oceans. There are two species to
be distinguished: the continental islands, which their
proximity, their size, their geographical character, their
forming a line with the mountain chains of the firm
land, prove to be a dependence of the continents; and
the pelagic, or oceanic islands, dispersed singly, or in
groups, at a distance from the lands, over the vast sur-
face of the ocean, of small dimensions, and always of
a volcanic or coralline character.
The Pacific Ocean is far the richest in islands, whemer
continental or pelagic. The Indian archipelago and
lhat of New Holland is the largest continental archi-
pelago existing on the surface of the globe; and the
thousands of pelagic islands with which the centre of
'his ocean ir studded, 'have nowhere else their parallel.
THE OCEANS. 8l
The Atlantic Ocean possesses still, in the group of the
Antilles, the British Isles, and those of the Mediter-
ranean, continental archipelagos of great importance-
but the pelagic islands are poorly represented there bv
the groips of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, Cape
Verd, St. Helena, and some other small islands lost in
the midst of the ocean.
The Indian Ocean is scanty in both. Madagascar and
Ceylon, one by a main-land, represent the continental
islands. Here and there a few volcanic islands, as
Mauritius and Bourbon, represent the pelagic.
Each ocean, therefore, differs from the others, in some
peculiarities of character ; and we readily conceive how
these circumstances may modify their importance, with
regard to the facility or the difficulty they may bring
into the relations of exchange which commerce estab-
lishes among all the nations of the world.
-t
Let us now see what is known of the vertical dimen-
sions, or of the configuration of their basin.
The basin of the oceans is depressed below the face
of their waters, as the continents are elevated in the
atmosphere above the same surface level. It may, then,
be said, that we know not one half of the reliefs of the
solid crust of our globe, for more than two thirds are
concealed from our observation by the seas that cover
tham. It would, nevertheless, be of the highest interest
for geology, as, well as for the physics of the globe, to
ascertain the forms, the depth, and the nature of the
bottom of the oceans. But though we have numerous
soundi 'gs ?xecuter 'n the neighl orhood of the shores, to
82 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
meet the wants jf navigation, we have only a very few
in the interior, and in the deep:st parts of the oceans
Th3se operations require a consumption of time, and an
amount of labor, which will always render them rare.
Recourse has been had to hypotheses, while waiting for
positive information on the subject.
In th3 neighborhood of the continents, the seas are
jften shallow, and their bottom seems to be only the
continuation, by gentle slopes, of the relief of the con-
tinents that border them. Thus the Baltic Sea has
a depth of only 120 feet between the coasts of Germany
and those of Sweden ; scarcely a twentieth part of that
of Lago Maggiore, in the Italian Alps; further north, it
becomes deeper. The Adriatic, between Yenice and
Trieste, has a depth of only 130 feet. In these two
cases, we see that the bed is only the continuation of
the gentle inclination of the plains of Northern Germany
and of Friuli. It is the same with the Northern Sea,
and with those which wash the British Islands. Here is
found a submarine plateau, which serves as a common
basis for the coasts of France and the British Islands ;
ruwhere does it sink lower than 600 feet, and frequently
it rises much higher. Between France and England,
the greatest depth does not exceed 300 feet but at the
edge of the plateau, south-west of Ireland, for example,
the depth suddenly sinks to more than 2,000 feet ; we
may say that here the basin of the Atlantic reaJy
begiis.
The soas if. the south of Europe are distinguished
from the precoding by their much greater depths. The
'-asin of the Mediterranean may be called a basin broken
THE OCEANS. Si
through, an I fallen in, resembling on a sinaL scale what
the Pacific Ocean is on a large one. All the short and
abrupt slopes of the lands surrounding It fall rap'dly
towards the interior. The western basin, in particular
seems to be very deep ; it is isolated from the Atlantic,
by a submarine ridge or neck, which, in the narrowest
part of the Strait of Gibraltar, is not more than 1,000
feet below the surface. But a little further towards the
east, the depth falls suddenly to 3,000 feet ; and at the
south of the coast of Spain, and of the Sierra Nevada,
a depth of nearly 6,000 has been ascertained by Captain
Smith. Captain Berard indicates still greater depths
on the coast of Algeria. If we may believe Marsigli,
and if he has not made some mistake in the statement,
there has been found in the prolongation of the Pyre-
nees, the enormous depth of 9,000 feet. Not far from
Cape Asmara, on the north-west of Sardinia, the plum-
met has been sunk, without touching bottom, at a depth
of nearly 5,000 feet.
Between Sicily and the coast of Africa, at Cape Bon,
a second neck, from 50 to 500 feet in depth, separates
the western from the eastern basin of the Mediterranean.
The latter seems to be less deep than the former ; never-
theless, depths of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet have been
determined in the neighborhood of the Ionian Islands,
and the southern coast of Asia Minor.
The Black Sea seems to partake of the character of
a sunk basin. The Russian maps give it more than
3,000 feet south of the Crimea, and 2,500 on the coast
of Abkhasie. The Caspian Sea, placed on the limits
of the northern plains, and o. the tabte land of Persia,
84 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
is composed of two basins. The northern part, as fa
as the Caucasus, is shallow; it is the continuation ct
the low plains of the Volga, and of the Oural. This limit
passed, the depth rapidly increases towards the basis of
the high chain of the Demavend.
Thus, in the European seas, the depth increases with
the elevation of the surrounding lands.
The line of the islands and the peninsulas forming
along the eastern coast of Asia the numerous locked
seas we have already named, seems to indicate the
ancient border of a continent. Within this line these
seas have only an inconsiderable depth. The seas
which bathe the archipelago of the Sunda Islands, and
of Southern China, scarcely anywhere reach the depth
of 300 feet. Further north, we find scarcely four 01
five hundred feet, even at a distance of more than 100
miles from the coasts. The deeps of the ocean begin
only outside of the line of the islands.
Since Dampier, it has often been said that the sea is
always deep at the foot of high and steep shores, and
shallow at the edge of low coasts. The facts just
cited prove that this observation, correct in many
cases, has only a relative value, and does not hold
good universally. Those shallow seas of Eastern Asia
are edged in great part by very high lands. The
massive point of the soufti of Africa ends witr. abrupt
coasts, and yet it is necessary to go out more than 100
miles before finding 600 feet of water. According to
this rule, we should expect to find no greater depth of
sea than at the western foot of the lofty Andes, the
declivities of which sweep down so suddenly into the
THE OCEANS. 85
Pacific Oceai; and nevertheless, under the parallel of
Lima, this ocean has only 000 feet, more than forty miles
from the coast. On the other hand, the low plains of
the Landes of Bordeaux, on the coast of France, lying
along the Gulf of Biscay, look out upon a sea, the bottom
of which, at a shor: distance, sinks already lower than
c thousand feet.
In Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, 300 miles
from the coast of the United States, and 100 miles north
of Yucatan, has a depth of only 600 feet ; it is, perhaps,
a submarine continuation of the plains of Mississippi.
Beyond the line of the Antilles, on the contrary, in the vol-
canic basin of the Caribbean Sea, Captain Sabine indi-
cates a temperature taken at 6,000 feet below the surface.
With regard to the depths of the open sea, they are
still but little known ; we have, however, some very
interesting measurements in the Atlantic Ocean. I cite
the most remarkable :
Captains Scoresby and Parry found the basin of the
Polar seas very deep, but unequal. Scoresby did not
touch bottom, at the 76th degree of north latitude, with a
sounding line of 7,200 feet in length. Captain J. Ross
went beyond 6,000, in Baffin's Bay. Science is indebted
to the skilful direction of the United States Coast Survey,
for a great number of very instructive soundings on the
American side of the middle part of the Atlantic. One
ol the ablest of those engaged in this service, Captain
Charles H. Davis, U. S. N., whose labors have contrib-
uted so much to a better knowledge of the true conforma-
tion of the submarine portion of the United States coasts
dropped the lead 7,800 fe.'t, about 250 miles south of
86 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Nantuck?t; Lieutenant G. Ba.che, 13.000 feet, 34 N. L.
The report of Professor A. D. Bache, Superintendent of
the Survey, mentions, among the operations of 1848, a
thermometrical sounding, taken by the late Lieutenant
R. Bache, off Cape Hatteras, giving a depth of 3,300
fathoms, or 19,800 feet, without reaching the bottom.
This depth, which left far behind all hitherto ascertained
in these quarters, has very recently been surpassed by a
sounding executed by Lieutenant Walsh, U. S. N., under
the direction of Lieutenant M. F. Maury,* director of the
Observatory at Washington. On the 15th of November,
1849, east of the Bermudas, 31 59' north latitude, and
58 43' 25" west longitude from Greenwich, in the
immediate neighborhood of the position assigned to the
rocks called the False Bermudas, the weather being calm
and beautiful, Lieutenant Walsh, U. S. N., sunk the lead
to the depth of 5,700 fathoms, or 34,200 feet, without
touching bottom. The breaking of the line alone pre-
vented him from reaching a greater depth still, for all
the circumstances seemed eminently favorable. This
depth, which exceeds by 6,600 feet the deepest of
the celebrated measurements of Captain J. C. Ross,
is the greatest ever ascertained, and reveals, beneath
the tranquil surface of the ocean, abysms which we
hardly ventured to suspect. The southern basin of the
Atlantic seems to have its share of these immense depths,
a. though some indications have g:ven rise to the belief
* For the opportunity of making known, this remarkable fact, I am
indebted to the kindness of this scientific gentleman, whose zea for the
study of the phenomena of the sea, and the services he has rem ered tc
navigation, by the tudy of the winds and currents, are uui "ersal y
<n<twn.
: THE OCEANS. 87
n the exisl mce of high bottoms, separating this Ijasin
from that of the north. Captain J. C. Ross found 16,000
feet iii depth, west of Cape of Good Hope, and 27,600,
without touching bottom, west of St. Helena. The firs/
of these measurements equals the height of Mt. Bjianc,
and the second almost reaches that of the Dhavala-Giri ,
but it would be necessary to add Mt. Washington, with its
6,000 feet, to the height of this giant of terrestrial sum-
mits, to attain a height equal to the sounding of Lieut.
Walsh. Thus the greatest known sea depth, added to
the elevation of the highest mountain of the globe, gives
us over 62,000 feet for the thickness of the layer of our
globe, upon which our investigations have supplied some
information.
Dr. Young, relying upon deductions drawn chiefly
Irom the theory of the tides, thought himself justified in
assigning about 15.000 feet to the Atlantic, and about
20,000 feet to the Pacific. D'Aubuisson believes them
not to exceed from 9,000 to 12,000 feet. Now we see
that the actual measurements leave these estimates fai
behind.
Laplace, guided by theoretical considerations with
regard to the general form of the globe, admitted that
the mean depth of the seas is a quantity of the same
order with the mean elevation of the continents ; which,
ho says, does not surpass a thousand metres, or 3,000
feot. But the beautiful researches of Humboldt have
[roved that this estimate of the mean relief of the con-
tinents is far too high. He has sought to determine its
t:ue value, and has found, as the most probable result,
tie following numbers for the different continents:
88 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Mean e'.o ratio*.
Europe, 671 feet.
Asia, 1,151 "
North America, :' 748 "
. South America, 1,132 "
He consequently places the mean elevation of the con-
tinental lands at 1,008 feet above the level of the ocean.
Now this number is evidently too low to express the
mean depth of the oceans.
It has seemed to me that it would not be uninteresting
to compare the depths observed in the Southern Atlantic,
with what would be found by supposing that the general
planes of inclination of the opposite continents of Africa
and America were prolonged until they met under the
surface of the ocean. Professor B. Peirce has had the
kindness to make the calculation, which gives the follow-
ing result. Taking as points of departure for Africa, the
table lands of Southern Africa, at the foot of the Lupata,
and estimating their height at 5,000 feet ; and for Amer-
ica, the table lands of Bolivia, estimated at 12,000 ; the
planes which pass through the respective coasts of these
continents intersect each other at a distance of nearly a
thousand miles from the coast of America; that is, a
third of the way across the Atlantic, and 7,600 feet
below the surface of the oceans. If the points of de-
parture were taken at the summit of the Lupata, at
. .,000 feet, and of the Andes, at 24,000, the depth would
be about 15,000 feet, which perhaps is not far from the
mean depth of this part of the great oceanic valley. But
we see that other causes depress the level, in some parts,
to depths twice as great. The basins are not, therefore,
mere continuations of the general relief of the continents,
THE OCEANS. 89
and this is oth srwise shown by their conformation. On
leaving the grsater part of the shores, the submarine
ground descends slowly, in a proportion sufficiently
analogous to the general slopes presented by the ground
above water on the continents. But, at a point more or
leas distant from the shore, the slopes abruptly change,
the depths suddenly increase, and often become ten times
as great at a short distance. I will cite, as examples, the
very exact lines of soundings traced perpendicularly to
the coast, at several points, between New Jersey and Block
Islind, at the eastern extremity of Long Island, under
tha direction of Professor A. D. Bache, for which I am
indebted to his kindness. In all the sections, we see the
ground descend slowly, gradually, and without great
variations, to the distance of 80 or 100 miles from the
shore, where the depth scarcely reaches from four to five
hundred feet. Beyond this distance, the depth invari-
ably increases so x rapidly, that it is sufficient to proceed
ten miles further to find three or four thousand feet.
The first part is about five feet a mile; the second,
more than four hundred.
It is the same with nearly all the grand banks, or high
bottoms under water. That of Newfoundland, that of
Las Lagullas at the southern point of Africa, all termi-
nate, towards ;he depths of the ocean, in abrupt descents,
along a great part of their extent. The bottom of the
sea, near the coast, and the great banks, present them-
selves as high plateaus, compared with the bottom of the
oceans. . But differences of level, amounting to 10,000
tee over a horizontal SDace of ten miles ; of 20,000 feet,
as be ;ween the sea of Cape Hatteras and the shore ; of
ft*
90 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY,
34,000 feet, as between the sea of Bermudas and the
neighboring continent, reveal to us forms of relief of such
a magnitude that we" seek in vain for their parallel in
the most elevated terrestrial masses. Neither the broad
table lands of Mexico, or of California, nor those of
Bolivia, or of the Himalaya, which after all are only
local swellings, offer proportions approaching those we
have just stated in the submarine relief of the basin of the
oceans. I must here stop from pursuing this interesting
question of comparative physical geography, which at
present I barely touch upon. We must wait for still
more numerous facts, in order to attempt its complete
solution. Let me add, that it would be worthy of an
enlightened government, like that of the United States,
to bestow on science a regular section across the middle
regions of the northern Atlantic basin, that grand
highway of the nations, travelled by thousands of ships.
Three or four hundred soundings, penetrating to the
bottom of its abysses, would be enough to give us a
tolerable idea of the forms of this basin, and would,
doubtless, correct many false ideas imposed upon us by
the limited views of geology we have gained upon our
continents. Many of the scientific expeditions of modern
times have had an aim, and have accomplished results
less useful to science, and have cost sums vastly greater,
than would be necessary to furnish science with such
important information.
What the measurements above indicated have settled,
may be thus summed up :
The seas in the neighborhood of the continents are
ordinarily of but little depth, and seem to indicate a con-
THE OCEANS. 9i
tinuatio i of the relief of the continents. But at a certain
distance from the shores, the sounding gives suddenly
great depths, and this abrupt transition seems to indicate
the submarine border of the proper basin of the oceans.
Certain interior seas, like the Mediterranean and
Caribbean, are deeper than would be expected from
their proximity to the lands, and seem to be sunken
basins, the form of which is connected with the vol-
canic phenomena often displayed over their whole ex-
tent, but chiefly on their margins; that is, on the
principal line of fractures.
The interior of the basin of the oceans is unequal,
generally deeper than towards the borders. The greatest
observed depths are found in the middle region of the
Atlantic. They equal, or surpass, by several thousand
feet, the elevation of the highest mountains of the globe,
and are found, like them, in the neighborhood of both
tropics.
The mean depth of the basin of the ocean seems to be
much more considerable than the mean elevation of the
continents above their surface, and appears to increase
with the relief of the neighboring continents.
We have thus finished our survey of the great forms
of the terrestrial surface. We have examined them as
the anatomist would examine the body of an animal,
This was the first step to take, the necessary conditior.
of our study. But this knowledge cannot be sufficient
We must now see these great organs in operation; w
must see them in life, acting and reacting upon eacn
other ; we nmsf; commence the physiology of the contir
nental forms.
92 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
But we will not plunge into the infinite details thai
might be embraced in our subject. We shall continue
to study the great features, the prominent traits, which
will offer themselves to our notice.
After having recognized great terrestrial individuals,
presenting, by their forms and their disposition, an
assemblage of characters peculiar to them alone, we have
to inquire if, in virtue of these forms themselves, and of
this particular position, each of these individuals has not
a peculiar physical life, manifesting itself, in the main,
by a climate, a vegetation, an animal world, and, rela-
tively to human societies, by special functions which
belong to no other. We shall endeavor to discover if
there is not here, also, a general law, which gives us the
key to all these partial phenomena, helping to group
them, and to grasp, in the true point of view, the col-
lective manifestations of the life of our planet, whether
in nature, or in the history of man.
But to this end, gentlemen, in order to place you in
the point of view from which I would have you con-
sider with me the phenomena of the life of the globe, I
cannot avoid the necessity of carrying you for a moment
into a world somewhat different from the world of
'brms wherein we have thus far moved, and to appeal
to the eyes of your mind, rather than to those which
have, up to the present moment, been fixed upon these
maps.
In fact, nothing less is necessary than to say to you,
in as few words as possible, to prove to you, if it can be
done, that there is a law of life and of growth, which,
if taken in its most general formula, in its rhythm, is
THE LAW OF LIFE. 93
ftp^ IL-able to all that andergoes the process of develop-
ment.
All life, as we have said, gentlemen, in its most sim-
ple formula, may be defined as a mutual exchange of
relations.
An exchange supposes at least two elements, two
bodies, two individuals, a duality and a difference, an
inequality between them, in virtue of which the ex-
change is established.
There is. then, at the foundation of all the phenom
ena of life, a difference between two or more individ-
uals, calling out an action and reaction of one upon
the other, the incessant alternation of which constitutes
the movement we call life, and whicn gives birth
to all the phenomena we consider as its manifesta-
tion.
Let us endeavor, first, to detect this law in inorganic
nature.
This lamp that gives us light, the gas that burns
jefore our eyes, what else is it than one of those phe-
nomena of inorganic life, the result of the mutual
and repeated action of two heterogeneous bodies upon
each other 7 We have, on the one side, the hydro-
gen gas, conducted by this pipe, and brought into tht
presence of oxygen contained in the air. These are two
bodies considered as simple, but having different prep-
3rties. Place them in contact, under suitable condition*
of temperature, and the mutual action immediately
commences; they combine with an activity which be-
comes visible to the senses by the rapid development of
heat and light; and in this continuous, vital movement
94 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
their differences are extinguished, or rather combine and
harmonize in a new body, a product, the end of all
this activity, in which the antagonism of the primitive
elements has ceased. This new body is water; it
is a liquid, and no longer a gas ; it is a body, all the
physical properties of which are different from those
that compose it, which, as you know, play very differ-
ent parts throughout nature. This same gas that serves
to light us, contains also carbon; this also combines
with oxygen to form a new body of carbonic acid gas,
the properties of which are all special in it.
Each of these new products may, in turn, enter into
relations of exchange with others, and pass as an ele-
mentary body into a new combination, the result of
which will be a body composed of four simple elementSj
but endowed, as such, with entirely different qualities,
belonging to it alone. It may, in turn, become one of the
elements composing a multitude of bodies ; and it is thus
that the sixty elements our chemical means have not
enabled us to decompose, which chemists call simple
bodies, supply nature with materials sufficient for the
immeasurable variety of all the compound bodies that
exist.
What do wa see, finally, in all this physical and
chemical process ? A primitive difference between two
lubstances, an action and reaction of one upon the other,
wid their combination in a new body, which may, in its
turn, perform the same part. I mark, gentlemen, these
phases of the phenomenon going on. at the present
moment^ under our eyes.
Without coming into combination, a difference between
THE LAW OF LIFE. 95
two bodies excites none the less a vital movement
Place nea each other a plate of zinc and a j ate of cop-
per; these two enter immediately into an interchange
of positive and negative electricity, and give birth to
those powerful electrical and magnetic currents which
modern industry puts to such admirable use. I say,
further, place side by side two plates of the same metal,
bnt unequally heated, and there is established between
them an interchange of temperature, and of electrical
currents of the same nature. Thus everywhere a simple
difference, be it of matter, be it of condition, be it of
position, excites a manifestation of vital forces, a mutual
exchange between the bodies, each giving to the other
what the other does not possess. To multiply these
differences, to increase their variety, is to render the
actions and reactions more frequent, is to extend and to
intensify life.
But let us pass to organized nature. It would be
easy to demonstrate, gentlemen, that the law we have
just recognized is also that which governs the growth
of the vegetable; but I would, rather trace it in
the animal world, wherein it is expressed still more
clearly.
Let us see, first, how nature proceeds in the forma -
lion of the organic individual, the animal. No one has
shown it better than my learned friend,* whom I ne? ri
not name in this place. Thanks to him, these facts
Itave become familiar to you ; I shall need ocly to recall
them to your minds.
I begin with the animal considered in itself as an
* Professor Agassiz.
96 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
individual. In a liquid animal matter, without precise
form, homogeneous, at least in appearance, a mass is
outlined which takes determinate contours, and is distin-
guished from the rest ; it is the egg. Soon, in the inte-
rior of the egg, the elements separate, diverging tenden-
cies are established; the matter accumulates 'and con-
centrates itself upon certain points; these accumulations
assume more distinct forms and more specific charac-
ters ; we see organs traced, a head, an eye, a heart, an
alimentary canal. But this diversification does not go
on indefinitely. Under the influence of a special force,
all these diverse tendencies are drawn together towards a
single end ; these distinct organs are united and coordi-
nated in one whole, and perform their functions in the
interest and for the service of the individual command-
ing them.
What, then, has been the course pursued here by
nature ?
The point of departure is a unit, but a homogeneous
unit, without internal differences; a chaotic unit, if 1
may venture to say so ; for what is a chaos but this
absence of organization in a mass, all the parts of which
are alike ?
The progress ; it is diversity, the establishment of dif-
fe-ences, the giving to forms and functions their special
o.h iracters.
The end ; it is a new unit, the organic or harmonic
unit, if you please; for all the individual organs are no!,
fortuitously assembled, but have each of them their
place and their functions marked out.
The totality of these evolutions is what is ordinarily
-dllei development.
THE LAW OF LIFE. 9
The progress, we say, is diversification it is the vari-
ety of organs and of functions. What, tnen, is the con-
dition of a greater amount of .ife, of a richer life, of a
completer growth for the animal ? Is it not the multi-
plicity and the variety of the special organs, which are
B o many different means whereby the individual may
[lace himself in relation with the external world, may
receive the most varied impressions from it, and, so to
speak, may taste it in all its forms, and may act upon it
in turn? What an immense distance between the life
of the polype, which is only a digestive tube, and that
of the superior animals; above all, of man, endowed
with so many exquisite senses, for whom the world of
nature, as well as the world of ideas, is open on all
sides, awakening and drawing forth, in a thousand
various ways, all the living forces wherewith God has
endowed him !
And what we here say of organic individuals is it
not true of societies of individuals, and particularly of
human societies ? Is it not evident that the same law
of development is applicable to them? Here, again,
homogeneousness, uniformity, is the elementary state,
the savage state. Diversity, variety of elements, which
nil for and multiply exchanges; the almost infinite
specialization of the functions corresponding to the
various talents bestowed on every man by Providence,
and only called into action and brought to light by
the thousand wants of a society as complicated as 3urs.
these have, in all times, been the sign of a social
state arrived at a high degree of improvement.
Oou'd we, indeed, conceive tht possibility of this mul-
a
98 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
titude of industrial talents that have their tirth in the
wants of luxury, and are revealed by the thousand ele-
-*i nothings displayed in our dra whig-rooms, among
*e Indians of the Rocky Mountains, sheltered by the
w branches which form their wretched huts? The
commercial life, which creates the prosperity of the
foremost nations of the globe, is it possible among a
people whose ambition is limited to hunting in the neigh-
boring wild the animal that ^s to furnish food for the
day ? Could we hope to see the wonders of architecture
unfolded among a people who have no public edifices
but the overhanging foliage of their forests ? Had Ra-
phael been born among them, would he ever have given
lis admirable masterpieces to the world? And the
recious treasures of intelligence and of lofty thoughts
Contained in our libraries, where would they be, if
mman societies had preserved the simplicity a false
philosophy has called the simplicity of nature, but in
reality the most opposed to the true nature of man ?
No, gentlemen, it is the exchange of products by the
commerce of the world, that makes the material lifo
and prosperity of the nations. It is the exchange of
'houghts, by the pen and by speech, that sets in mo-
ion the progress of intelligence. It is tre interchange
Df the sentiments and affections, that makes the moral
life and secures the happiness of man.
Thus, gentlemen, all life is mutual, is exchange. In
individuals, as well as in societies, that which excites
life, that which is the condition of life, is difference.
The progress of development is diversity; the errid is
the harmonious unity allowing all differences, all indi-
THE LAW OF LIFE. 99
ridualities to exist, but coordinating and subjecting them
to a superior aim. ,
Every being, every individual, necessarily forms a
part of a greater organism than itself, out of which we
cannot conceive its existence, and in which it has a
special part to act. By performing these functions, it
rises to the highest degree of perfection its own nature
is capable of attaining. Unhappy he who isolates him-
self, and refuses to enter into those relations of inter-
course with others which assure to him a superior life.
He deprives himself voluntarily of the nutritive sap
intended to give him vigor, and, like a branch torn from
the vine, dries up and perishes in his egoism.
All is order, all is harmony in the universe, because
the whole universe is a thought of God ; and it appears
as a combination of organisms, each of which is only an
integral part ol one still more sublime. God alone con-
tains them al', without making a part of any.
LECTURE IV.
RecapituliU\n Is tte law of development applicable to the
globe, con. idered as an individual? Origin of the Earth according
to the hyfotl.esis of Laplace and Herschel! Gradual formation of
the continents Europe at the Silurian epoch North America at the
Carboniferous epoch Character of inferiority of the organized
beings which correspond to these ancient formations -Europe at the
Tertiary epoch Greater diversity and perfection of the organized
beings Distinction of the three epochs , the insular, the maritime,
and the continental The formula of development the same for the
mtire globe and for the organized beings Consequences The IO.M,
rf differences and the law of contrasts The three grand terrestrial
contrasts.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
We have recognized, in the life of all that develops
itself, three successive states, three grand phases, three
evolutions, identically repeated in every order of exist-
ence; a chaos, where all is confounded together; a
development, where all is separating ; a unity, where
all is biniing itself together and organizing. We have
observed that here is the law of phenomenal life, the
formula of development, whether in inorganic nature or
in organized nature.
The differences are the condition of development ; the
mutual exchanges, which are the consequence of these
differences / waken and manifest life.
The grea : ?r the diversity of organs, me more
ORIGIN OF THE GLOBE. 101
active and the superior in its nature is the life of the
individual.
The greater the variety of individualities and relations
in a society of individuals, the greater also is the sum of
life, the more universal is the development, the more
complete, and of a more elevated order.
But it is necessary, not only that life should unfold
itself in all its richness by diversity, but that it exhibit
itself in its utility, in its beauty, in its goodness, by
harmony.
Thus we recognize the proof of the old proverb,
" variety in unity is perfection."
If such is the law of life in all beings, it ought
equally to be the law of life of our entire globe, collec-
tively considered, as a single individual. It is the inves-
tigation of this question I am going to attempt this
evening.
The investigation, in order to be complete, would pre-
suppose a perfect knowledge of the origin of our globe.
But who is ignorant that in this respect we are yet in
the world of suppositions? Nevertheless, the brilliant
hypotheses of Laplace and Herschell on the primi-
tive formation of our planet, and the results, better
founded, perhaps, geology gives us, upon the history
of the successive changes the surface has undergone,
permit us, if I do not deceive myself, to detect with
certainty the great phases of development we wish
ic ascertain. I am aware of the objections that may
be made to both the one and the other ; but it seems
to me that they bear more upon the details, than upon
the fundamental facts, and that in astronomy, as in
9*
102 COMPARATITfi PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
geology, certain great truths are none the less gained
for our knowledge. Now it is precisely these general
facts that proclaim, in a language perfectly clear, the
reality of the law of development we have endeav-
ored to illustrate by the preceding examples.
Laplace, Herschell, and most other modern astrono-
mers agree in considering the assemblage of stars that
form, at present, our solar system, as having been at
the first confounded in one celestial body, resembling
one of those mysterious nebulae we see floating in the
celestial spaces. This nebula would have a solid and
luminous nucleus or core, if we ascend no further
in this history than the point to which we are led by
the hypothesis of Laplace. But if, by the help of the
analogies drawn from the celestial bodies collectively, we
scale still higher, with Herschell, towards the probable
origin of the world, we shall be able to conceive it as
being entirely gaseous, and even as forming a part of
the general matter, spread uniformly throughout space.
A gaseous mass, uniform, or rather formless for the
property of gas is indefinite expansion an obscure
mass, where nothing is determined, this is chaos, this is
the inorganic state, here is the point of departure.
But soon the development begins. A principle of
concentration, gravitation, counterbalances the un-
limited expansion of the gaseous matter, brings the
molecules nearer together, and groups them in a sphe-
roidal mass. This approximation allows the molecules,
different in nature, to act upon each other according to
their chemical affinities ; the process of life commences,
and its ear ?st manifestation is light and heat. The
ORIGIN OF THE GLOBE. 103
nebulj. is detached from the general mass under the
form :1* a luminous spheroid, traced in the obscurity
of the heavens. This is the first step in the process
of formation.
This gaseous spheroid then resolves itself into local
agglomerations, which, while concentrating each in
itself, under the influence of gravitation and chemical
combinations, separate from each other in distinct
spheres. Whether this phenomenon is effected, as
Laplace imagines, by the successive separation and
agglomeration of concentric layers of the solar atmos-
phere, or in virtue of some organic law, still unknown,
is of little importance here. The fact of the separation
of the different bodies of our solar system into a number
of spheres, planets, and satellites, is not less certain, and
constitutes one of the essential and incontestable phases
of its development.
Let us leave the other stars, elder and younger brothers
jf the earth, and follow henceforth the ulterior changes
our own globe undergoes.
The gradual concentration, and perhaps certain
changes of temperature, permit successively the com-
bination of a multitude of different bodies; arid the
result, as far as regards the general forms, of all this
mighty chemical and physical life, is to present matter,
no more under a single form, gas, but under the three
forms of gaseous, liquid, and solid matter. These three
elements ranging themselves in the order of their den-
uity, the globe is composed of a solid mass at the
cei *Te, snveloped firt by a liquid, and secondly by a
104 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
gaseous covering the ocean, and the primeval atmos-
phere.
At the surface, meantime and it is the history of
this surface which it concerns us most to know for our
study two elements only are in contact, the air and
water. The winds and the marine currents, owing to
the unequal distribution of the solar heat, doubtless
exist; but the differences of temperature being very
inconsiderable between one place and another, they
must be languid, and, besides, they are perfectly regular
and uniform ; for no land disturbs, the equilibrium of
the temperature of the atmosphere due to this general
cause, or interrupts or breaks the course of the currents.
On account of a density of the atmosphere probably
greater, and perhaps of a higher degree of heat in the
slobe itself, the temperature is more uniform from one
end of the globe to the other. The rains, if the state of
the atmosphere permits their existence, are useless, for
there is no land to receive them, and to render them
subservient to life. In this state of things, organic life
is nevertheless possible. Plants and animals live in the
bosom of the ocean ; but the earliest fossiliferous strata,
which doubtless represent this epoch, contain none of
either, except a few types but little varied, and all be-
longing to the lowest grade in the scale of organized
beings. It is the dawh of life, the infancy of the vege-
table and animal kingdom.
A new dilference is now added, aid marks a new
progress. In the train of internal movements, or rather,
by the effect of a simple cooling of the globe, the tlrrd
GRADUAL FORMATION OF THE CONTINENTS. 103
eleme .t, the solid, the earth, quitting the place its
weight had assigned to it, rises from the bed of this
boundless ocean ; it lifts itself above the level of the
waters, cuts the surface, puts itself in contact with the
atmosphere, from which it had been separated by the
whole thickness of the primeval ocean, and warms
itself in the life-giving rays of the sun.
This fact of the appearance of the firm earth above
the waters of the oceans, is an immense step in the rise
and growth of the life of the globe. The three forms
of matter react henceforth upon each other; the atmos-
phere, the seas, and the lands, absorbing the solar heat
in an unequal manner, the ancient equilibrium is de-
stroyed; the winds, the currents, are modified in their
march ; the climates are more varied ; the rains become
useful, and henceforth water and fertilize the land.
Finally, a new element renders the appearance of a
greatly superior organic life possible, and becomes the
seat of a vegetation, and an animal world of a very
different degree of perfection from that which existed
before. It is a victory gained by higher life over matter,
which it compels to serve a more exalted end.
But geology demonstrates ,at in the earliest ages of
the epoch of organic life on the earth, the organic epoch,
as I would fain call it, the firm lands are reduced to
a few ielands only, scattered over the bosom cf the
oceans
" Apparent rari imntco in gurgite vasto."
Everywhere the beginnings are modest. The plac*
ol the ^utrre continents is not yet marked, except by
106
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
a few scattered stripe-, forming here and there a few
archipelagos. It is the \nsular epoch comprising all the
earliest ages of geology You will see this by the two
maps before you; the ne represents Europe at the
Silurian epoch, the most ancient of the fossiliferous
strata, and the other,- North America at the Coal epoch,
which, although a little more recent, belongs almost to
the same age. (See Figs. 2 and 3.)
Europe at the Silurian Epoch.
It is doubtless hardly necessary io state that such
maps can only be approximations. They indicate sub-
GRAFTAL FORMATION OF TI^E CONTINENTS. 1(17
stantially those of the present dry lands which already
existed at that time, and which have not been covered
by the waters of the ocear. since those ancient epochs,
except, perhaps, in tbe diluvian. But imperfect as are
the data of geology, in this regard, the fact of the gradual
increase of the dry lands is none the less placed beyond a
doubt.
The largest domain, then, above the surface of the
water, in the regions of the future continent of Europe,
was Scandinavia, and a -part of Russia. England and
Scotland are only marked by a few islands along the
existing western coast ; Ireland, by a few others, placed
at the corners of the present island. All France is repre-
sented merely by an island, corresponding to the central
table land of Auvergne, and by some strips of land in
Vendee, in Brittany, and in Calvados. In Germany 3
Bohemia forming a great island, the Harz, and the
plateau of the Lower Rhine ; small portions of the
Vosges, and of the Black Forest, and some low lands on
the spot occupied by the Alps, between Toulon, Milan
and Tyrol, compose an archipelago which is to become
the centre of the continent. All the regions of the So^jth.
except, perhaps, a few small portions of Spain and of
Turkey, do not yet exist.
North America, at the epoch when the coal deposits
are formed, is, in like manner, made up of a few islands
only, analogous to Scandinavia, but less numerous, less
parcelled rut than we find them in Europe at the same
period. A 'arge island occupies all the present north-"
east of the iontinent, wit the region of the Alleghanies
nd the Apalachian, and a.l the region north-west of the
108
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY,
Valley of the Mississippi, and forms a species ot small
continent, in the interior of which are three large inland
seas, or three large swamps, where the plants are vege-
tating that compose the great coal deposits of the present
day. A similar sea doubtless lay between Nova Scotia
and Newfoundland, bordered, perhaps, by lands which
have disappeared beneath the waves. All the great belt
of low lands along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of
Mexico, including Florida, did not exist; the ocean
formed a deep gulf, running up the Valley of the Missis-
sippi one half its length.
Fig. 3.
America at the Coal Epoch.
The vast plains west of the Mississippi, the Rocky
GRADUAL FORMATION OF THE CONTINENTS. 109
Mountains, the table lands and the high snow-capped
chains from California to the Frozen Ocean, were still
al the bottom of the sea.
This augmentation of the number of the islands, their
r.lustering in archipelagos, is cerfainly a progress; there
is still, however, but little variety ; the mountains are
few in number, and slightly elevated; the valleys traced
bi.t indistinctly or not at all ; the slopes imperfectly
determined ; extensive low and swampy regions indicate
still the preponderance of the watery element. A thicker
and denser atmosphere equalizes the temperatures. One
species of climate alone, tl e maritime or insular climate,
moist, without extremes, reigns over land and sea. No
great continents, none of those elevated masses which
give to climate extreme and variable temperatures, and
the character of dryness ; none of all those varied forms
of vegetation which show themselves later under its
influences.
The organiz' d beings corresponding to this physical
condition of the surface of the globe, show with thf
utmost clearness this character of uniformity and inferi
ority. From one extremity of the earth to the other, th
Trilobites of the Silurian epoch are found identical in
their species, at once in America, in Europe, in Africa,
and in New Holland The vegetables, accumulated in
the coal beds, are the same at the poles and the equator.
The types of organized beings are not only few in
number, but they all still belong to those which mark
the inferior degrees of animal life ; and in each class,
from the radiates to the fishes, the highest beings of
this primitive creation, the prevailing forms are those
10
110 COMP1RATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGR IPHY.
that Characterize the embryo in the early perio Is o it*
development. Such are the numerous Crinoids, .he
Brachiopods, the Trilobites ; and, in the fishes, the '
Ganoids of the Silurian epoch. Such are still the g rat
Entomostraca of the carboniferous epoch, and in the
vegetables the gigantic ferns, the horse-tails, (Eqiase-
taceae,) the palm trees, and the coniferous trees, the
accumulated remains of which compose the immense
beds of coal, provident nature has deposited for the
present and future wants of human industry. The
two first of these vegetable types belong to the inferior
order of the cryptogamous plants ; the third to that of the
monocotyledons; the fourth, the coniferous, is scarcely
placed higher.
We must abstain from pursuing here in its details the
admirable history of the surface of our earth, and of
the new beings which successively appear; this is the
business of geology. Let us say, only, that one ot the
most beautiful of these results is the demonstration tfiat
the diversity of terrestrial forms, the variety of the tvpes
and species of organized beings, become always greater
and greater. Every new revolution is a new progress ;
we see one elevation added to another ; one surface after
another emerging to increase the existing dry lands ; one
chain of mountains after another appearing and binding
together the hitherto separate islands. The terrestria.
masses enlarge in number and size ; tl eir contours ary
more varied, their surfaces more broken up.
Let us cast our eyes upon this chart, representing
Europe at the commencement of the Tertiary ep>ch.
Comparing i with the map of the Silurian epoch, we
GRADUAL FORMATION OF THE CONTINSKTS. ill
shall be able to form an idea of the change that has been
wrought. (See Fig. 4.)
Fig. 4.
Europe at the Tertiary Epoch.
Not only the number of the lands has been multiplied,
but everywhere the primitive islands have been enlarged
and consolidated. The centre of the continent, Germany
and France, constitutes already a considerable collective
region, unbroken save by a few interior basins. . The
British Isles form already two or three large islands,
and the eastern part of England only is wanting. The
three penrasulas jf the south are clearly traced; Italy
112 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
only is still exposed along its coast to the encroachments
of the sea ; Scandinavia continues to form a large soli-
tary island ; the mountains are more elevated ; the Pyre-
nees, the Appenines, a small part of the Alps, already
mark out the great features of relief which characterize
the contin3nt
During the tertiary epoch, the variety of physical cir-
cumstances is still increasing; a multitude of isolated
basins, like those of Paris, of London, of Oeningen,
assume a special physiognomy, and have their separate
faunas. The natural physical regions are determined,
and take their distinctive character. The climates are
diversified with all the physical circumstances of a
country, and are reflected in the ever-increasing diver-
sity of animal and vegetable genera and species.
Meantime, this movement of specialization is not going
to extremes. The masses of earth, while becoming more
numerous, more various, more diversified in shape, ere
grouping themselves more and more; the contours of
the continents are getting better defined; the tertiary
basins are filling and drying up. The water of the seas
disappearing from the interior, the atmospheric waters,
which run on the surface, supply their place, scoop out
their valleys, make the slopes regular, equalize the soil
by spreading over it their precious alluvium. The dilu-
vial torrents and the immense glaciers, contemporaneous
with this epoch, complete the shaping of the soil and the
preparing of this fertile loam, which will richly repay
the toil of the laborer. The earth is ready to receive its
ord.
It is thus, by a process of admirable simplicity, this
GRADUAL FORMATION OF THE CONTINENTS. 113
diversity of successive elevations is combined into a few
great units, a few continents ; these in turn are grouped
in two worlds and form an organism, with some of the
features of which we have already become acquainted.
This same progress is confirmed by palaeontology,
through all the successive ages of nature. Tht variety
and the perfection of the types and species keep pace
with the increasing diversity of the lands and the seas,
and all the physical circumstances which serve as the
basis and the condition for the life of plant and animal.
In the insular or oceanic epoch, that of the palaeozoic
strata, we have seen animals entirely marine prevailing,
and forming the inferior and embryonic types of the four
divisions of the animal kingdom ; it is the reign of the
fishes, if we take the vertebrates as the type of develop-
ment. During the formation of the secondary strata,
which I would call the maritime epoch, on account
of the great land-locked seas that characterize it, the
huge reptiles, the monstrous Saurians of the Jurassic
Avaters, are the prevailing form, and by their amphibious
habits mark at once their more elevated position in the
animal scale, and the increasing force of the land
element. The numbers of living genera and species are
much greater than at the palaeozoic epoch, but the same
types are still uniformly spread over vast spaces.
The tertiary epoch, which I would call the continental
epoch, beholds the appearance of the superior animals,
the mammifers, the life of which is almost exclusively
attached to the solid land. The continental element
triumphs ; all the faunas become localized ; each country
of the globe has its appropriate animals ; the variety of
10*
114 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
animal and vegetable species grows almost to infinity.
But the unity reappears with the creation of man, who
combines in his physical nature all the perfections of the
animal, and who is the end of all this long progression
of organized beings.
If we caa; a glance back upon the way we have
Just passed over, do we not, gentlemen, recognize a
striking analogy between this successive formation, first
>f our solar system, then of the continents and the
jeings inhabiting them, and the formation of the ani-
mal in the egg? Is there not here the same law that
we have recognized everywhere else ? Do we not see,
first, a homogeneous fluid, then the appearance of ele-
mentary organs at several points ; finally, their definitive
combination in an organic whole? Yes, gentlemen,
there is between the two series of facts all the difference
of organic and inorganic nature ; but the formula of
development is the same.
The consequences of this fact are numerous ; let us
point out the most important, those which are chiefly
useful for our subject.
1. The law of development is applicable to the land,
and to the continental forms.
2. In this order of facts, as elsewhere, the condition
of a more active life is a greater variety of forms of
nature, of relative situations ; in a word, of more varied
contrasts.
3. Then other things being equal, we may consider,
in advance, those continents as the best endowed, the
best organized, the best prepared for the development of
human societies, which present the most varied contours,
THE LA.W OF CONTRASTS. 115
the most diversified forms, the most numerous contrasts,
and the best characterized natural regions. There is
here the same relation as between the inferior animal
without special organs, and the supeior animal ~'<chly
furnished with special organs.
4. The result of all these differences of forms, of
climate, of vegetation, of all the internal and external
contrasts, considered in each of the great terrestrial
masses, in each continent, is to impress upon every one
a special character, a peculiar life, so that they appear
as so many individuals, differing from each other, and
designed to enter into relations of intercourse and of
reciprocal influence.
5. Considered under various aspects, in the point of
view of their analogies and their differences, the great
terrestrial masses are combined in groups of continents,
according to characteristics of the same nature. Now
these groups, compared together, present an assemblage
of distinct and opposite characters, and seem to form
great contrasts, two by two. Thus the two continents
of America have, notw thstanding the immense differ-
ences between them, cei tain common characters, bind-
ing them into a natural group, distinguished, as such,
from the Old World, with its three or four continents.
It is the same with the three continents of the north,
compared with the three continents of the south.
Terrestrial life, if I may say so, is then developed
mi jer the influence of a law which we might name the
law of differences ; and in the general phenomena of the
life of the globe, all partial differences being combined
116 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
into grard differences, opposed two to two, we may caL
it the law of contrasts.
It is, then, under the form of great contrasts, the sources
of a multitude of vital actions, that we shall henceforth
con-ider the continental masses. Now, let us point out
the three most important of them.
1. The contrast of the continental hemisphere, and the
oceanic nemisphere, or land and water.
2. Of the Old World and of the New World.
3. Of the three northern continents and the three
southern continents.
In studying the globe in this point of view, we shall
see it under a new light. I know I am stepping a little
Diit of the beaten paths. This is not, believe me, gentle-
men, the result of a passing momentary glance, but of
patient studies in detail, in the realm of nature and of
history. We shall have the pledge that it is not without
value, when we trace in each of these contrasts all
the great analogies and differences we have thus far
shown, each in its place, in its true light, and with the
just portion of influence they are respectively entitled
to have.
But in setting forth these contrasts, this antagonism
of one half the globe against the other, let us hasten to
say that there is nothing hostile in the conflict; for it
tends to life, not to death. True victory is not to crush
an opponent, but to make him a friend. We suspect
then in advance, the law of life declares it, we sus-
pect, in advance, that all these oppositions resolve them-
selves into a grand harmony, wherein each continent
has its part to perform, while all live at the same time a
THE LAW OF CONTRASTS. 117
common life. But to arrive at this final result, nature
alone is not sufficient ; there is needed something more
than a physical tie between all these parts of the world ;
there is needed a mora. bond; a soul is wanting to this
body to set its organs in action. Now, it is man, it
is human societies, that alone can animate the great
frame, bind together all the parts, and render perfect
that orgaj Ism which is the end and aim of the
procession of existenc 3 upon this earth.
LECTURE V.
Tke not h-ea\-. or continental hemisphere, and the south-west m
cceanic hemisphere Land and water Differences in the furtnt
of their surfaces Continental climate and sea climate Their
different influences upon the vegetation and organized beings'
The oceanic the inferior element : the terrestrial element the superior
Blending of the two natures Transportation of the waters of
the ocean into the continents The atmosphere the mediator between
them.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
We have explained the reasons that have led us to
conceive the general phenomena of the life of the globe
as taking their source in certain great contrasts, of
which we have especially distinguished three : the con-
tinental hemisphere opposed to the oceanic; the Old
World to the New ; the three northern continents to the
three southern.
We shall this evening commence the investigation of
the first, comparing the terrestrial element with the
oceanic element, in order to ascertain the special charac-
ter of both. We shall then inquire by what means, and
to what extent, they enter into relations combining and
modifying reciprocally their nature. We shall see,
finally, but only by-and-by, the happy and important
effects of the con act and blending of the land and the
*rater.
LAND AND WATER. 119
In speaking of the distribution of the lands en the
surface of the globe, we have already said that the most
characteristic and general tra t in this respect is their
prevailing concentration in one hemisphere alone, sc that
the whole world is divided into two great regions; cne
over which the ocean reigns, the other which the terres-
trial masses command by their number, their size, and
their connection. Now, the equator divides the globe
into a northern and a southern hemisphere, very differ-
ent, in this respect, from each other. But if, with Ritter,
we draw a great circle, passing at once over the western
coast of Peru and the peninsula of Malacca, at the south-
ern extremity of Asia, the contrast is more complete still,
(See Fig. 1,) and the globe is cut into a north-eastern
hemisphere, (if we take the Old World for the eastern,)
comprising five of the continents, and the largest. ; and
a south-western hemisphere, where we see hardly any-
thing but oceans, and, in the midst, floating solitary,
the most insular of the continents, Australia. The
southern point of America and the islands of the Pacific
Ocean are the only lands which, with this continent,
represent the continental element in this oceanic world.
Thus, one of the sides of our planet is the humid, aque-
ous side ; the other is the terrestrial side.
Let us trace, meantime, the characters which distin-
guish these two elements, in the point of view of ph/3-
ical geography, beginning with the exterior forms.
By its very nature, the liquid element has no form
peculiai to itself, except the spherical form of the drop
of water. Upon a globe luce the earth, the waters of
the ocean appear to oar eve as a plain uniform surface,
120 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
which we are even accustomed to consider a constant
level, to which we may refer, as to a fixed plane, all the
elevations of the firm earth. Their movable molecules
undergo all the forms that are impressed upon them by
the solid forms with which they come in contact, not
preserving any shape after the contact has ceased. All
the indentations of the shores of the oceans belong, as
we have said, to the continents which they bathe with
their waters. On the surface, none of those diversities
of relief, enlivening and varying, to infinity, the aspects
and the physiognomy of the continents; none of those
high mountain ridges, from the summit of which the
eye embraces at a glance a portion of our globe as
vast as the range of vision. We speak of the senti-
ment of the infinite which the ocean awakens in the
soul of the voyager ; but the infinite, it must be con-
fessed, exists only in our imagination, for it is limited
to a circular surface of twenty or thirty miles radius.
In spite of the proverbial inconstancy and mobility of
this element, in spite of the varied movements of its bil-
lows, originating in the conflict with the atmosphere, we
must acknowledge, gentlemen, that the strongest and
most universal sentiment which, on the whole, it in-
spires in the man who trusts himself to the waves, is
that of a despairing monotony. 1 wish for no other
proof of this than the feverish impatience that seizes
r.pon even the mariner himself in the midst of a long
calm, and the thrill of joy the first cry of land, raised
by the sailor on the watch at the mast-head, excites
in the hearts of all. Thus the life of the seaman, so
poetically sung, has it not one aspect alone, which is
LAND AND WATER. 121
nearly the same, over ani over again, from one end
rf the world to the other 1
A difference no less important, between the seas and
the lands, is that of the climate. It is owing substan-
tially to the peculiar physical properties of the water
and the soil of the continents. Water has a great
capacity for heat, but a feeble conducting power ; it
grc ws warm but slowly in the rays of the sun. The
evaporation being considerable, produces a cooling, which
tempers further the heat received at the surface. Finally,
the cooler particles of the lower layers, set in motion by
the waves and the currents, incessantly fill the place of
those of the superficial layer, and prevent it from rising
to a high temperature.
It is the same with the cooling. The superficial layer
growing cool, whether by the absence of the sun, or by
contact with a colder atmosphere, the cooled molecules
become more heavy, fall lower, and give way to the
warmer molecules of the inferior strata. This motion is
incessantly repeated, and singularly retards the process
of cooling.
Thus the heating and cooling are 'less sensible and
more slow, and do not reach the extremes. The air
itself, by its perpetual contact, shares hi the uniformity
of temperature which belongs to the surface of the
waters, and which, combined with the abundance of
vapors that saturate the atmosphere, gives to the sea
climate its true character.
It is quite different with the surface of the soil, whose
particles are fixed. The soil rapidly absorbs the solar
rays; the surface layer is the more heated, since it
11
122 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAIHY.
cannot be displaced, as in the water, by another, and it
soon attains an elevated temperature. But, for the same
reason, the ground easily loses heat by radiation, whether
during the nights or the clear days ; and the loss is so
much the greater, as the radiation is favored by the
inequality of the surface, and the transparency of an
atmosphere more dry and less charged with clouds
The lands removed from the influence cf the oceans
have, then, a climate characterized by the extremes of
cold and heat, by more violent changes, and a drier
atmosphere. These are the essential features of the
continental climate. If the former is constant, the latter
is excessive.
If we now observe the manner in which sea and
land are affected with regard to their temperature when
near each other, and receiving the same quantity of
heat from the sun, we notice that the sea is colder than
the land during the day, and warmer during the night.
In the same way, taking the different seasons of the
year, in summer the sea is colder than the land, in win-
ter it is warmer. It preserves the mean temperatures,
while the land experiences the extremes. It tends to
soften all the differences, to establish uniformity of cli-
mate.
A comparison by examples, as far as possible, of the
climate of the pelagic islands, subjected to the influence
of the surrounding ocean, with the climate of places in
the interior of the lands, will bring this difference prcm-
mently out. I purposely choose places situated, two by
two, in similar latitudes, and successively in latitudes
more and more near to the tropics. I ask your per-
LAND AND SEA CLIMATE.
123
mission to cite the numbers in degrees of the centigrade
scale, which it would be very ^desirable to adopt uni-
formly, at least in matters of science, if not in the com-
mon usage of daily life. Nevertl \eless, for the sake of
clearness, I will add the corresponding value in degrees
of Fahrenheit. The differences, which are here the im-
portant thing, are found in two separate columns.
Let us first compare the climate of the Faroe islands,
situated in the midst of the Atlantic, with that of Peters-
burg, and, if you please, of Yakutsk, in the depths of
Siberia ; and, to form an idea of the extent of the ther-
mometrical variations each of these climates under-
goes, let us establish the difference between the mean
temperature of summer and winter, in each of them.
These three localities are situated in the high lati
tudes, between 60 and 62 north lat.
Faroe, . . 1 C ' nt '
( Fahr:
Winter.
Su.,
Difference
deg. Cent.
Difference,
deg. Fab.
3.6
38.5
12.2
54.0
8.6
15.5
(Cent.
Pah,.
-8.7
16.3
16.0
60.8
24.7
i4.5
Yakutsk, . [ Cent>
( Fahr.
-38.9
-38.0
17.2
63.0
56.1
101.0
We see, by the rapid increase of the differences, how
the variations augment, in proportion as we advance
into the interior of the continents.
If we corrpare the mean of the coldest with that of
tne nottest month in the same places, the proportion
becomes still more sensible.
124
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Coldest Month.
Hottest Month.
Difference
deg. Cent.
Difference,
deg. Fahr.
( Cent.
Faroe, . . <
( Fahr.
2.7
36.8
12.8
55
10.1
182
C Cent.
Petersburg, <
' Fahr.
-10.3
13.5
16.9
62.4
27.2
48.9
Yakutsk, . \
( Fahr.
-40.5
-40.9
20.3
63.5
60.8
108.5
The extremes of temperature differ even more, just
as was to be expected. The highest degree of heat
observed at Faroe is only 13.5 Cent., or 56.3 Fahr.,
and it freezes but little there, while the meteorologi-
cal annals of Petersburg indicate heats of 33.4, and
cold of -34.0 ; that is, extremes 67.4 Cent, or 121 Fahr.
apart. It is at once the cold of the poles, and the heat
of the tropics. At Yakutsk the mercury remains frozen
often for whole weeks, implying a continued cold of at
least 40 Fahr. below zero.
Finally, the variations in the same day follow the
same relative course ; while at Faroe they are scarcely a
few degrees, it is not unusal to see, at Petersburg, vio-
lent changes of from 30 to 40 Fahr. in the same day.
In the lat. of 50 to 52 N., we find, at Penzance, on
the south-west coast of England, and Barnaul, at the
foot of the Altai, in Siberia, the following temperatures :
Winter.
8umm e,
Difference,
deg. Cent.
Difference,
deg. Fahr.
( Cent.
Fjiizance, . <
( Fahr.
7.0
44.6
15.8
60.4
8.8
15.8
1
( Cent.
Barnaul, . <
( Fahr.
-14.1
6.
16.6
61.9
30.7
55.3
L
LAND AND SEA CLIMATE.
125
The differences, as we see, are still considerable, but
less than between Faroe and Yakutsk.
Nearer the tropics, the climate of Madeira, compared
with that of Cairo, in lat. 32 and 30 N., indicates 9
similar proportion.
. Cent.
Madeira, . j ffja
Winter.
Summer.
Difference,
deg. Cent.
Difference,
deg. Fahr.
16.3
61.3
21.1
70.0
4.8
8.7
C Cent.
Cairo, . . . | Fabr
14.7
58.5
29.2
84.6
14.5
26.1
The differences between the seasons become less in the
two localities respectively ; but the influence of the ocean
and the continent is always very marked. The differ-
ence between the extreme temperature, at Madeira only
from 12 to 15 C. or 20 to 27 F., is in Egypt 31 G
or 56 F.
In the Sahara, ice has been known to form by the
intensity of the radiation, and the heat to rise, by the
wind of the desert, to the enormous height of 118 F., or
48 C.
I will only cite one example more, and it shall be
taken from the coasts of America, between 31 and 32*
N. latitude.
( CenJ
Bermudas. <
( Fabr.
Winter.
Summer.
Difference.
deg. Cent.
Diffarenc*.
dog. Fahr.
15.1
59.2
24.0
75.2
8.9
10*
( Cent.
Natchez . )
1 Fahr.
10.0
50.0
25.4
77.7
15.4
27.7
11*
126 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
If the climate of Natchez is less extreme, it is because
this place is too near the ocean.
We see, by these tables, how great is the influence of
the sea upon the distribution of the temperature in the
different seasons of the year, and in the course of the
day. It tends to bring the extremes together, and to
maintain at all times an equality of temperature.
The sea climate is then equal, uniform, moist ; the sky
often cloudy and rainy in the high latitudes. The land
climate is excessive, unequal, with violent changes, dry ;
the sky is usually clear.
The astronomical climate, caused by the latitude, is
then greatly modified by the presence or absence of the
seas ; and the distribution of heat through the year, for
any place whatever, depends essentially on its proximity
to, or distance from, the oceans, and the relative fre-
quency of the winds that blow from them.
Who does not see the powerful influence such dif-
ferences in the climatic conditions must exercise on
all organized beings, and on vegetation in particular?
While, in green Ireland, the myrtle grows in the open air,
as in Portugal, without having to dread the cold of win-
ter, the summer sUn of this same climate does not suc-
ceed in perfectly ripening the plums and the pears,
whicn grow very well in the same latitude on the conti-
nent. On the coasts of Cornwall, shrubs as delicate as the
laurel or the camelia. are green through the whole year
in the gardens, in a latitude at which, in the interior of
the continents, trees the most tenacious of life can alone
brave the rig )r of the winters., But, on the other hand, the
u ill?, clrnate of England cannot ripen the grape, almost
AND SEA CLIMATE. 127
Jinde the same parallel where grow still the delicious
wines of the Rhine. At Astracan, on the northern
shore of the Caspian, Humboldt says, the grapes and
fruits of every kind are as beautiful and luscious as in
the Canaries and in Italy; the wines have all the
fire of those of the South of Europe, while in the same
latitude, at the mouth of the Loire, the vine hardly
flourishes at all. And yet, to a summer capable of ripen-
ing the southern fruits, succeeds a winter so severe, that
the vine-dresser must bury the stock of his vines several
feet beneath the earth, if he would not see them killed
every year by the cold. Who does not remember that a
part of the Russian army, despatched for the conquest
of Khovaresmia, perished under the snows, and by the
colds of 20 below zero of Fahrenheit, in a country
situated under the same parallel as the Azores, where
reigns a perpetual spring, and where, in the midst of
winter, the vegetation and the flowers display their most
brilliant colors? It is there that the camel, the inhabit-
ant of burning deserts, and the reindeer of the frozen
regions, meet together, and nature seems to have com-
bined the contrasts of the climate of the poles and of
the tropics.
The oceanic climate, considered in the islands truly
pelagic, favors the growth of an abundant vegetation,
with large and numerous leaves, but little varied. The
flora of the oceanic islands, whether from this cause or
others pertaining to the mode of dissemination of the
plants, is ocanty in species. The animul world is still
more limited; all the large animal* the lion, the ele-
phant, the rhinoceros, are wanting; the continents
128 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
islands form an exception, we conceive, because they are
much more closely united to the continent than to the
ocean.
On man himself the influence of this moist and soft
climate makes itself felt, by a relaxation of the tissues,
by a want of tonic excitement. The insular Polyne-
sians, as those of Tahiti and others, always exhibit the
mild, facile and careless character which seems to be
necessarily the result of such a climate.
The continental climate does not give to the vegeta
tion an appearance of such exuberance, but the variety
of the soil, the frequency of alternations of plains, of
table lands, of mountains, of valleys, of different ex-
posures, secures to it an almost infinite variety of differ-
ent species and forms. The dryer and warmer air
concentrates the vegetable saps, elaborates them better,
so to speak, and gives them that strong and aromatic
character which the plants of the oceanic islands rarely
possess. The animal is more vigorous and larger there,
the species more numerous, the types more varied. The
lion, the tiger, the elephant, all the kings of the brute
creation, have never lived elsewhere than under the sky
of the continents, or of the continental islands. Man
himself is more animated, more active, more intelligent,
endowed with a stronger will ; in a word, life is more
intense, and raised to a higher degree, by the variety and
the movement impressed upon it by the contrasts that
form the very esssence of the nature of this climate.
Thus we have two opposite worlds revealed to us,
different in their form, their climate, and the organized
beings belonging to them. The one, in the main, tends
LAN1) AND WATER. 129
to uniformity, the other to variety. But please to remark,
gentlemen, they are not only different from each other,
but they stand, moreover, in the relation of supeiior
and infeiior.
The terrestrial element has for its portion an infinite
variety of the forms of relief, of climate ; it is the seat
of a more varied life ; thje birthplace and the habitual
ibode of all the superior beings, from the vegetable up to
nan. The ocean has uniformity for its characteristic ;
it is the domain of the inferior beings, from the polype
to the fish and the amphibious animal. Thus we have
seen, in the geological development of the surface of oui
globe, the oceanic element first prevailing, as the less
perfect. The oceanic epoch is the embryonic epoch ; the
insular epoch, analogous to the present oceanic world
and its climate, is the second step in the physical life of
the globe; the continental epoch, or the present epoch,
alone carries it to the highest degree of development.
And yet the ocean much surpasses the continents in
extent ; it occupies more than two thirds of the surface
of the globe. But this even is a sign of inferiority ; for
mass and number, as we see in all the kingdoms of
nature, never belong to the superior being.
At present, gentlemen, we know, in their characters
and in iheir contrast, the continental hemisphere and the
oceanic hemisphere; the land and the water. Two
diFerer t element^ are confronted ; they cannot remain
indiffei ^nt ; they must act and react, and impart their
wealth to each other. We are so much in the habit
of seeing these two elements, the dry and the moist,
pervading and penetrating one another, that we have
130 Ci-MPARATTVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
some difficulty in figuring to ourselves a state of things
wheroin the two spheres would be total strangers. We
forget that it is to the ocean we owe those beneficent
rains, which refresh and vivify all nature ; those springs,
which quench our thirst; those streams and rivers,
which fertilize our valleys and our plains, and serve
as highways for the commerce of the nations; those
lakes, which spread so many charms over the countries
encompassing their borders ; we scarcely dream that if
the ocean ceased to send to the continents the supply of
water necessary to their daily life, the parched and arid
earth would soon see all the organized beings that live
upon its surface perish in pain and anguish. Desert and
death would succeed to life, and at a single stroke the
globe would return to the embryonic state of the tril-
obites, by the extinction of the superior classes of beings.
In fact, all the continental waters come to us from
the ocean. If they are fresh and sweet, it is because
they have passed through the great laboratory of nature,
by a simple process of distillation, which is the first fact
i hat we ought to point out.
The sun, the great awakener of life, the king of
tiature, shoots his burning rays every day athwart the
face of the waters. He causes the invisible vapors to
rise, which, lighter than the air itself, unceasingly tend
to soar into the atmosphere, filling it and constituting
within it another aqueous atmosphere. In their ascend-
ing movement, they encounter the colder layers of the
higher regions of the atmosphere, which perform the part
of coolers. Thjy arc condensed in vesicles, that be-
jome visible under the form of clouds and fogs. Then
THE ATMOSPHERE T1IE MEDIATOR 13l
borne along by the winds whether invisible still, or in
the state of clouds, they spread themselves over the. con-
tinents, and fall in abundant rains upon the ground
which they fertilize. All the portion of the atmospheric
waters not expended for the benefit of the plants and of
the animals, nor carried off anew into the ? tiDosphere
by evaporation, returns by the springs and risers to Ilia
ocean, whence it came.
Thus the waters of the ocean, by this ever renewed
rotation, spread themselves over the lands; the two
elements combine, and become a source of life, far richer
and much superior to what either could have produced
by its own forces alone.
But we see the earth and the water, the continents
and the oceans, touch each other only at their margins
A more intimate action upon each other is not possible,
except by means of the most mobile of the elements,
the atmosphere, performing, in nature, the part of medi-
ator. The winds are the instruments of this impor-
tant work, the bearers of this wondrous water which
renovates unceasingly the face of the main-lands, and
sustains thehnbeauty. ^Unhappy the countries to which
they cannot come, still charged with some parts of their
precious burthen. The inhabitants of the desert can
alone tell us what price we should set upon the smallest
portion of this treasure.
To study the distribution of the rains and of the
moisture on thfc surface of the globe, is to ssludy the
course of the winds which are their carriers ; to this sub*
ject, then, we shall turn our attention.
LECTURE VI.
The study of the di-ibution of the rains suppt ses that of the winds
Difference of temperature the principal cause of t/ie winds Theory
of the general winds The winds of the tropical regions Trade
wind of the Pacific Ocean Trade wind of the Atlantic The
monsoons of the Indian seas The ivinds of the temperate regions
Two general currents; the return trade wind, or equatorial wind,
and the polar currents The conflicts of the two, and the variable
winds Lateral displacement of the currents, and their influence upon
the temperature, the productions of the soil, and commerce The law
of the rotation of the winds The atmospheric water falling back in
rain Circumstances favorable to the precipitation of vapors The
rains of the tropical zone The rains in the region of the monsoons
Annual quantity of the rain water under the tropics Distribution
and annual quantity of the rain in the temperate regions.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
After having ascertained the characters of the two
hemispheres, the oceanic and continental, \we have asked
ourselves how they acted upon each other, how the
moisture of the oceanic climate spread over the conti-
nents to fertilize them. We have seen that the atmcs-
phere alone could perform this part of mediator, and
that the vapors fly on the wings of the winds to the
very heart of the continents. To study the distribution
of the rail waters as one of the most essential features
of the climate of continents is, as we said, to engage in
studying first the movements of the atmosphere, and the
THE WINDS. 133
general system of the winds. This double study will
be the more important, as it is intimately connected
with the variations of the temperature, so that it will be
almost sufficient to give us an idea of the principa kinds
of climates presented by the different countries ;f the
g'obe.
If we knew only the winds that blow in our tem-
perate regio.is, we should almost despair of arriving at
the knowledge of any law regulating their course.
What is more fickle, more capricious, than the winds,
u hich suddenly change their direction, their force and
lemperature, without apparent cause, and inaccessible
to our means of observation 1 They are the symbols of
changeableness itself. But it is not so when we enter
upon the equatorial seas, where, from one end of the
year to the other, a gentle and regular wind blows from
the east to the west with great constancy, and carries
slowly and without violence the ships from the coasts of
the Old World to those of the New ; these are the trade
winds. We know the astonishment and alarm of the
companions of Columbus on noticing these winds, the
constant direction of which towards the west seemed to
render their return impossible. In the East Indian seas,
the winds blow six months from the north-east, and six
months from the south-west. These are the monsoons..
This regularity of the tropical winds indicates the ex-
istence of permanent causes, of which it is, perhaps,
possible to give some account. At any rate, the phe
nomenon takes a certain course, annually repeated, ol
which we ought to take cognizance; for, in case of
need, the knowledge of the flow of the atmospheric
12
134 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
currents, independently of their causes, may be sufficier
for our purpose.
The winds are the consequence of a disturbance cf
equilibrium in the layers of the atmosphere; and the
tendency of their motion is to restore the equilibrium
which has been destroyed; as soon as that is accom-
plished the movement ceases, and everything settles into
a calm.
The more we study the causes of these disturbances
of the atmospherical equilibrium, and of the winds, the
more we see that they are reduced, essentially, almost
entirely, to difference of temperature between neighbor-
ing places. Here, again, the law of differences is the
principle of movement, the condition of life.
One of the chief conditions of the equilibrium of
the atmosphere is, that any level layer of the atmosphere
should have the same density at all points. If this
condition is not fulfilled, the denser portions flow under
:he less dense, while the lighter rise to the top. Now,
this takes place when the different parts of the layer are
unequally heated. At the point of greater warmth the
air expands, becomes lighter; then, pressed by the
neighboring layers, which have remained colder and
heavier, it rises into the higher. The result of this
process is an ascending current, and lateral currents
rushing from all sides towards the spot where the tem-
perature is more elevated. Let us take an example in
nature, and see what passes on an island alone in the
midst of the ocean.
Let us remember that the land is heatod more readily
ban tie sea In proportion as the sun rises above the
THE WINDS. 135
horizon, the island becomes warmer than the neighbor-
ing sea. Their respective atmospheres participate in
the.se unequal temperatures, the fresh air of the sea
rushes from all directions under the form, of a sea
breeze, which makes itself felt along the whole coast,
and the warmer and lighter air of the island will ascend
into the atmosphere. During the night, it is the reverse.
The island loses heat by radiation, and cools quicker
than the sea. Its atmosphere, having become heavier,
runs into that of the sea, under the form of a land
breeze, and this interchange lasts until the temperature,
and consequently the density, of the two atmospheres
have again become the same. This is the phenomenon
observed almost daily on nearly all the seaboards.
What takes place here on a small scale in the space
of a day, passes on a great scale between an entire con-
tinent and the ocean from one season to another, be-
tween the tropical regions and the temperate and polar
regions in a permanent manner. Southern Africa is
fiercely heated by the rays of a summer sun, while the
seas of India and Asia experience the low temperature
of the winter. The temperature of the tropics is almost
always the same, and constantly higher than that of the
rest of the globe. To each of these differences of tern
perature, unequal in duration and amount, particular
atmospheric currents, which are their consequence,
correspond; to the difference of temperature between
day and night, the diurnal breezes, whether along the
coasts or in the interior of the continents, at the foot of
the mountains ; to the difference of temperature between
the ex^eme seasons, the monsoons, which one might
136 COMPARATIVE PHYSIC; L GEOGRAPHY.
call the season breezes ; to the difference of temperature
between the tropics and the poles, the trade \vinds,
which a.re the great annual breeze, and the constancy
of which is only the expression of the permanent
inequality of the distribution of solar heat between the
great atmospherical regions of our globe.
A moments reflection will enable us to see that these
differences of temperature, setting the whole atmos-
phere in motion, at last connect themselves essentially
with the geographical forms of our globe. It is the
spherical form which causes the unequal distribution
of the rays of the sun, and gives us the great zones of
temperature of the astronomical climate, the torrid,
temperate, and frozen zones. All the modifications
of the solar climate must be referred principally to the
geographical forms of the surface, to the distribution
and to the relative situation of the continents and the
seas.
The general or trade winds are the consequence oi
the general form of the globe; and their direction, &
we shall see by-and-by, is given by its rotatory motion
The monsoons and the breezes depend on the form ana
the relative situation of the lands and the seas, which
govern their intensity and direction. The variable
winds are due to the same causes, and to the conflict
between the general currents. The primary importance
of the geographical forms, which is here revealed at the
first glance, will become still mor evident in the course
of our study.
We saall commence our investigation with the trade
TRADE WINDS. 137
winds, which may be called primitive, of first import-
ance, and which embrace, so to speak, the entire atmo-
sphere. In order to unfold this subject, I shall present
the theory generally received by the most eminent me-
teorologists ; that proposed by Halley and Hadley. Not
that it is perhaps unassailable in the details, for we en-
counter many difficulties when we undertake to ac-
count by physical laws for the manner in which these
great compensations are effected ; but the foundations
of the hypothesis seem beyond a doubt, and the course
of the phenomenon it teaches us to understand is here
of the greatest importance.
Let us consider the entire atmosphere as only one of
those horizontal layers of air of which we have recently
spoken. We see that one of the principal conditions of
equilibrium of the molecules does not exist, since the
different parts of it are unequally heated. The regions
near the equator have a high temperature, and the heat
goes on gradually diminishing in proportion as we ad-
vance towards the poles. The atmosphere of the tropi-
cal zone is more dilated, and consequently lighter than
those of the temperate and polar regions. The height
of the barometer at the level of the ocean, which meas-
ures the weight of the atmosphere, is in fact less at the
equator than in the temperate regions. We have noticed
with surprise that the column of mercury, corrected
for the effect of the gravity, keeps at a mean of 758
millimetres in the tropics, while it is 761 in the middle
latitudes. This difference of three millimetres seems
to give the measure of the force which incessantly
,12*
138 COMPARATIVE ?HYt^CAL GEOGRAPHY.
impel? the air of the temperate regions towards the region
of the equator.
What is the consequence of this dynamic state of the
atmosphere 1 The denser air of the colder regions presses
that of the hot on two sides, the north and the south ;
the tropical atmosphere rises, and here two lower cur-
rents are established, from the poles to the equator, and
two superior currents, which conduct the air of the
equator towards the poles, to commence again the same
rotation. We ought, then, to find, in the northern hem-
isphere, a general wind coming from the north, and in
the southern hemisphere, a wind coming from the south.
But the motion of the rotation of the earth from the west
to the east exercises an influence upon the direction
of these currents, causing them to deviate from their
original direction. The speed of rotation, almost
nothing in the neighborhood of the poles, becomes
greater for any place in proportion to its proximity to
the equator. The masses of air rushing towards the
equator have then an acquired speed less than that of
the regions towards which they are directing themselves.
At each step they are obliged to assume a greater rapidity
of rotation ; but as, in virtue of the law of inertia, a
certain time is necessary for this to take place, they find
themselves at every step a little behindhand, that is, they
are a little further towards the west than would be the
case without this circumstance. These successive re-
tardations, accumulating, change little by little the dhec-
hon of the current from north to south of the no'.thern
hemisphere, intc a south-west direction ; and tht direction
oLtl.3 current from south to north of the southern
T : ADE WINDS. 139
sphere, into a north-west current. These two ^eueral
curren/s, of north-east and south-east, to cal' them,
according to the usage, by the places whence they
come, encountering each other in the tropical zone, com-
bine together, and there results a general current from
east to west, the great trade wind. The region where
the two currents meet is in a kind of equilibrium, and it
is marked by a zone of calms.
The same cause makes the upper currents, setting
from the equator towards the poles, swerve, but in the
opposite way. They airive successively in the higher
latitudes, with a velocity of rotation greater than
they find there, and are always a little in advance
of the earth's motion in each place ; that is, they swerve
always more and more to the east. There will then
result a current bearing to the north-east, or a south-west
wind, in the northern hemisphere, and a current bearing
to the south-east, or a north-west wind, in the southern
hemisphere.
The general course of the winds would doubtless show
itself in all its regularity if the surface of the globe pre-
sented only the uniform surface of the oceans. But the
presence of the continents and their disposition modify
the trade winds in many ways, and make the question
very complicated. Let us examine the principal of these
modifications, beginning with the trade wird of tho
tropical regions. In this zone the regularity is greater
and the disturbing causes are easier to detect.
The winds of the tropical regions might be reduced to
the great equatorial trade wind, blowing regularly from
east to west all round the globe, if the continents did
140 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
not oai its passage and disturb its course at numerous
points. The continental lands impede its march, and
cut it, so to speak, into several pieces. The trade
wind of the Pacific Ocean is arrested by Australia ; that
of the I idian Ocean by Africa ; that of the Atlantic is
stopped by America. We shall then rapidly examine
the courses of the trade wind in each of these oceans ;
for it is essentially at the surface of the ocean, where it
reigns supreme, that we can learn its true character.
The trade wind of the Pacific begins to make itself felt
at a certain distance from the western coasts of America,
and blows almost without interruption as far as the
roasts of Australia. The north-east current is regular
oetween 2 and 25 north latitude, which may be con-
sidered as the southern and northern limits. But in the
summer it rises a little further towards the north. It
was this constant and gentle wind that carried the first
navigator, Magalhaens, whose ship made the voyage
rund the world, across this vast ocean, and that gave
it the name of Pacific, which has been preserved to the
present day. It is by this line still, that the Spanish
galleons, laden with the gold of the New World, accom-
plished, during more than two centuries, their peacefa.
voyages from Acapulco to Manilla, sheltered at once
from the tempests and from the attacks of the nations
envious of so much wealth. The south-east current is
rs regular south of the equator, but the limits are less
Vnown ; it is found as far as the 21 of south latitude.
The region of calms is found in the space comprised
between the 2 north latitude and the 2 south, between
[he two cui rents at their meeting. Here the ascending
TRADE WINDS. 141
iurren seems to neutralize the horizontal; the air is
in a sort of factitious equilibrium, that the least acci-
dent violently disturbs. Thus, to a dead calm, suc-
ceed those sudden tempests, those violent squalls, those
whirlwinds, those tornadoes, as the Sparu'ards call them,
which are the terror of navigators. Thunder storms,
accompanied by showers, are of almost daily occurrence.
The trade wind of the Atlantic is already modified by
the position of this ocean lying between continents nearer
to each other. It is, as it were, transported bodily several
degrees towards the north. The northern limit of the
north-east current is precisely fixed by the numerous nav-
igators who traverse these seas ; it commences between
28 and 30 north latitude. Its southern limit is about
8 north latitude. The region of calms occupies, on
the average, the space comprised between the 3 and
8 of north latitude ; but its position varies with the
seasons ; in August it extends from 3 to 13 north lati-
tude ; in February, from 1 to 6 north latitude. The
south-east current always blows, then, beyond the equa-
tor to the north.
Humboldt attributes, apparently with reason, this
anomaly, on the one hand, to the direction of the coasts
of South America, which favors the extension of tlje
south-east trade wind, and of the warm waters of Jie
great equatorial current towards the north ; and, on the
other, to the cooling influence of the high mountains of
the continent, in the regions of the equator. The first
of these causes tends to heat the sea of the Antilles; the
seco id, to lower the temperature of the southern continent.
The .-esuli of this difference must be to determine a cur*
142 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
rent of air from the south, removing the limit of the
north-east trade wind further north. The thermal equa-
tor, or the line of the greatest mean heat, passes, in fact,
through the south of the sea of the Antilles.
The existence of the upper trade wind, coming from
the west, or of the return trade wind, which has often
been doubted, seems to be proved in this ocean by twr
facts, often cited and very conclusive. The volcano of
the island of St. Vincent, belonging to the lesser Antilles.
in one of its eruptions hurled a column of volcanic cinders
to a great height in the atmosphere ; the inhabitants of
the Barbadoes, situated east of St. Vincent, saw, with
astonishment, the cinders falling in abundance upon
their island. The 25th of February, 1835, the volcano
of Cosiguina, in Guatemala, threw into the air such a
quantity of cinders, that the light of the sun was dark-
ened during five days ; a few days after, they were seen
to cover the streets of Kingston, in Jamaica, situated
north-east of Guatemala. In these two cases it is evi-
dent that the cinders had reached the region of the upper
trade wind, and had been carried by it from west to east,
in the opposite direction to the lower trade wind. At
the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe, most travellers have
found a west wind, even when the north-east trade wind
prevailed on the seaboard.
The winds of the Indian Ocean experience still greater
perturbations than those of the other two oceuns of the
-ropics. If I have elsewhere called the Pacific the most
oceanic of the oceans, the Atlantic the most maritime, I
will call the Indian Ocean th * most mediterranean. It
THE MONSOONS. 143
: .s. m reality, only a half ocean, a great gull, jurrounded
on the sides by huge continental masses ; the mighty
Asia, with its peninsulas and its table 'ands, on the
north, Africa on the west, Australia on the east. Asia
prevents the oceanic trade wind of the north-east from
arriving there, and the influence of the lands and of the
vast plateaus remains greatly preponderant. Thus the
movements of the atmosphere depend upon the unequal
heating of the neighboring continents during the extreme
seasons of summer and winter, which are opposite in the
continents situated in the north and in the south. The
eastern trade wind in this way changes into a sort of
double semi-annual breeze, blowing regularly six months
in one direction, and six months in another ; this is called
monsoon, from the Arabic word mous&in, signifying sea-
son. It will be easy to understand this effect, if you call
to mind what we have said of the land and sea breezes,
that spring up on the islands and along the sea-shores.
While Africa, south of the equator, receives the ver-
tical rays of the southern summer sun in December,
January, and February, Southern Asia on the north of
the equator, and the neighboring seas, are feeling the
low temperatures of winter. The air rushes in from the
colder regions of the Indies and of Upper Asia towards
the warmer regions of Southern Africa, and the trade
wind is transformed into a north-easter, which blows as
long as this difference of temperature lasts. It is for
India the winter or north-east monsoon. The reverse
lakes place when India and Asia are heated by the
burning sun of the northern summer, and when Africa
is cooled by the southern winter. The ail blows towards
144 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
the places jvhere the temperature is more elevated ; it
is for India the summer or south-west monsoon.
Hence, in place of a constant current setting from
east to west, the relative position of the lands, combined
with the action of the earth's rotation, gives occasion to
two periodical winds ; the monsoon of the south-west,
blowing from April to October, during the northern sum-
mer, and the north-east monsoon, blowing from October
to April, during the southern summer. In the southern
part of the Indian Ocean, which is not under the influ-
ence of the lands, the south-east trade wind blows quite
regularly through the whole year.
The transition from one monsoon to another, depend-
ing upon the course of the sun, does not occur at the
same period in places situated under different latitudes ;
but the approach of this critical season is always
heralded by variable winds, succeeded by intervals of
calm, and by furious tempests and whirlwinds, proving
a general disturbance of the atmosphere.
The phenomenon of the monsoon, or the change of
winds according to the seasons, takes place in like man-
ner between the Indies and New Holland. But it is
less regular and less marked than the Indo- African
system we have just described. The seas of Southern
China and the great archipelago of Sunda and of the
Moluccas, by their position feeling at the same time the
influence of the trade wind of the great ocean, and of
the double system of the monsoons of the Indies and
Australia, it is easily conceived that we must" seek in this
circumstance the cause of the tempests and typhoons
which desolate this sea more than any other upon the
turface of the globe.
WINDS OF THE TEMPERATE REGIONS. 145
We see that the great trade wh.- does not exhibit its
normal manner, except in the Pacific Ocean, far from the
t and. It is driven towards the north in the valley of the
Atlantic, or is entirely broken up in the Indian Ocean.
The influence of the lands cannot be mistaken.
us pass to the winds of the temperate regions and
of the middle latitudes.
Here, as we have said, the regularity disappears by
degrees; the secondary influence assumes more impor-
tance still ; it is the theatre of the incessant conflict
between the polar winds and those of the tropics. They
blow alternately, without any well established rule, and
pass, often abruptly and without transition, from one
point of the horizon to another. If the equatorial
regions are those of the constant and perio Heal winds,
:,he temperate regions are those of the variable winds.
Nevertheless, when we compare the number of times
(he winds blow from each quarter of the horizon
during the course of a year, we discover that in the
northern hemisphere two directions tend to prevail over
all the others, and those are the winds from the west
and south-west, and from the east and south-east. It
is known that in the northern Atlantic the west winds
fireval 1 to such a degree that the average passage of the
packet ships from America to Europe is cnly from
twenty to twenty-three days, while from Europe to
A merica it is from thirty-five to forty.
It is generally agreed to consider these winds from the
south-west as having their origin in the return of the air
of the tropics. The upper trade wind cools in the high
ta
146 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL G^C"GRAPHY.
regions of the atmosphere, and descends ftgain to the ui-
face, reaching it about 30 N. latitude, or even still further
north, during the summer. In winter, the limit where
the winds from the north-east and south-west changfe
place, is marked by variable winds and calms, which
the navigators, coming from the north, ordinarily en-
counter before entering the region of the trade winds.
The long Atlantic valley is the grand rout ; of the winds
of the equator ; they spread themselves there without
obstacle, beyond the influence of the lands ; and the line
of the coasts of America, as the direction of the ocean
itself, coincides with that impressed on them by the
earth's rotation. They advance as far as the high iati
tudes of Norway, near the polar regions, and bathe al
the western coasts of Europe in their soft and humid air,
The northward inflection of the lines of mean equal
heat, or of the isothermal lines, which you see traced
on the map before you, (See plate i.,) shows us at a
glance the considerable influence of the winds upon the
temperature of the Atlantic, and of the western coasts
of the Old World. It is such, that in Europe some of
the cereal grains grow even at Cape North in the lati-
tude of Boothia Felix, about the coldest point ascertained
on the globe ; and that the brilliant cities of Stockholm
and of Petersburg flourish under the parallel of the
regions of eternal ice in Northern Labrador.
What I have just said of the return of the trade wii d
in the Atlantic, is true again for the Pacific Ocean. The
winds of the. west and south-west prevail in the middle
latitudes; they strike the western coasts of North Amer-
ica and carry thither the soft temperature belonging
WINDS OF THE TEMPERATE LEGIONS. 147
to them. Sitka, in Russian America, at 57 N. lat., has
the same average temperature with the shores of Lake
Ontario, 44 N. lat., but much milder winters ; the valley
of the Columbia, in Oregon, already displays the most
verdant prairies ; while, under the same latitude, Lake
Superior presents only snow and ice, and the whole
desolate aspect of an arctic region.
It is, then, to the normal direction of the return trad*
wind that we must refer the well-known phenomenon of
the higher temperature of the western shoies of the con-
tinents of the two worlds, compared to that of their
eastern sea-boards. But, for the same reason, this dif-
ference, though very great in the high latitudes, disap-
pears by degrees as we approach the tropics.
But the air of the polar countries, tending continually
to flow towards the warmer regions, gives birth to cur
rents, the normal direction of which is from north- eatt to
south-west, from the cause we have already explained.
These north-easterly currents follow, by preference, the
path of the continents, as the currents of the equator
follow that of the ocean. They have the cold tempera-
ture of the places whence they come, and unless high
mountain^ interpose an obstacle, they refresh the conti-
nental regions for a great distance. Cast a glance upon
this map of Europe, where the lines of equal mean tem-
perature are traced, (See plate i.,) and you will see them
strongly bending towards the south opposite to the broad
passage opened to the polar winds between the Caucasus
and the mountains of Transylvania; that is, afl the
borders of the Black Sea, the northern coast ol Asia
Mrior, the eastern coast of Greece, owe to them a lower
148 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
temperature than that found at the same latitude ni the
neighboring countries, sheltered against the attacks of
this icy Boreas, by hij-h chains of mountains.
The polar winds play equally a very important part
in the climate of North America. No other contir.ent
offers them a more open path from one end to the other
of its extent. From the borders of the Frozen Ocean,
to the subtropical regions as far as the Gulf of Mexico,
10 chain of mountains opposes their unobstructed
sweep: for thsy are all directed from the north to the
south. Almost no spot is sheltered from their sudden
and cold attacks. Nevertheless, owing to the disposi-
tion of the Atlantic coasts, retreating on the north-east,
and the south-west direction taken by all the cur-
rents of the north, the west and the south-west bear
the first shock. These polar winds, it seems, strike
obliquely against the mass of the Rocky Mountains, run
along their slopes, and, being guided and reflected by
this high chain, descend under the form of a north-west
wind into the valley of the Mississippi, accompanied by
cold and storms, and advance towards the Atlantic
coast. In this route they encounter the return trade
wind, the south-west current, which they take in flank ;
and I incline to think, that to this conflict are cwing
some of those tempestuous storms, revolving from east
to west, the course of which has been so well describee
by Mr. Redfield. Others, as the same learned man has
triumphantly demonstrated, have their origin in the
tropical seas.
If this conflict of the two currents of air often com-
mences at tl e south of the continent, and seems to ad-
WINDS OF THE TEMPERATE REGIONS. 149
tfance towards the north, it is by reason of its foini and
jf the disposition of its shores, approaching each other
towards the south and greatly diverging towards the
north. The western coast and the Rocky Mountains
trend thus to the north-west; the Atlantic coast to the
north-east. Now, supposing the mass of air, turned
aside by the Rocky Mountains, to advance from west
to east on a line nearly parallel to this chain, it first
strikes the Atlantic region in the south, then suc-
cessively reaches points more and more towards the
north.
This conflict of polar and equatorial winds, opposite
in character and direction, gives to our climate one
of its most characteristic features, that changeableness,
that extreme variety of temperature, of dryness, and of
moisture, of fair weather and of foul ; that uncertainty
of the seasons which always keeps the merchant and
the farmer in anxious suspense, between the hope of a
good harvest and the fear of a dearth.
Not only are the variations in the same- year consider-
able, but they are still more so from one year to another.
The system of these currents oscillates from east to
west, and changes place. The polar winds will prevail
in a country, and will endanger the crops by the pro-
longed dryness of their atmosphere ; while further east
or west the trade wind will spread fertility by its benefi-
cent rains. Or the opposite : the south winds acquire
such a preponderance, that the harvests perish by the
moisture, while at a somewhat greater distance, on the
limit of the same wind, nature lavishes all her treasures
upon the laborer. It has been remarked that a miici
13*
150 CO IPARATIVE PHYSICAL GIOGRiPH'Y.
winter in Eu;ope corresponds frequently to a severe
winter in America and Asia ; while the mildness of the
winter in America affords a presumption of a colder
winter 3n the other side of the Atlantic. The years
1816 a id 1817 were marked, as is known, in the history
of Euupe, by a general famine and distress. The wet
was such that the harvests failed entirely. But the
south-west wind, which blew without cessation ever
the western part of the continent, and drenched it in
its vapors, did not extend beyond Poland ; and it was
the South of Russia whose corn supported famished
Europe for many long months. Then was revealed
the commercial importance of these countries, hitherto
unknown, and constantly increasing since. Who does
not still remember the immense impulse given to the
commerce between Europe and America, by the drought
of 1846, which damaged the corn crop in Europe,
while America had an abundant harvest? These
examples alone tell us the important part played in the
life of the nations by those variations of the atmospheric
currents belonging to our temperate countries.
In the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere,
there are, properly speaking, only two normal winds,
that of the north-east and that of the south-west. The
winds blowing in other directions, are local winds, or
transition winds, from one of the general currents to the
other. Professor Dove has shown, that, in Europe at
least these winds succeed each other in an order always
the same, which he has called the law of rotation of
he winds. This will be easily understood if we
emember that in advancing along their course, the
DISTRIBUTE. .N OF THE RAINS. I5l
B3Uth-west wind tends always to become more west,
and the north-east more and more east ; we shall see
that the result of this disposition ought to be, wherevei
they meet each other and change places, a rotation
from west by north to east, and from east \ y south to
west. In the place of the conflict of the tW3 currents,
the wind will then blow successively from these differ
ent regions, and in this order, until it is established
in the direction of that one of the currents which has
overpowered the other. But no one of these transition
winds blows for any great length of time. In the
southern hemisphere the order of succession is the
reverse.
The course of the winds being explained, it will be
easy to understand the distribution of the rains on the
surface of the globe. v j
The winds sweep in all directions, as we have just
seen ; they carry with them into the places where they
go, the temperature and the moisture of the places
whence they come. A sea breeze will be always moist
and relatively temperate ; a land wind, dry and extreme,
whether in cold or in heat. The first, ordinarily, is the
herald of rain; the second, fair weather. It is the
atmosphere that brings nto connection the most dis
tant countries of the globe, with regard to temperature
and humidity, and softens all the differences by blending
opposite and extreme characters.
We have seen how the atmosphere is charged with
the vapors of the ocean, but we have not stated how it
happens that these vapors are condensed anew, to fall
152 , COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPI ST.
again in r?.in. This depends chiefly on a property of
the air, of which we must say a word.
A determinate volume of air, a cubic foot, for ex
tmple, at a given temperature, has the propeity of
receiving a certain quantity of vapor, of water in an
invisible state, or, as we call it, humidity. When it
contains all the humidity it is capable of receiving, it is
said to be saturated. If you increase the temperature.
it wiJi be able to hold more ; if, on the contrary, you
Io\v3r the temperature, you diminish its capacity for
vapor, anJ, in the given case, a part of the vapor would
be condensed and deposited in small drops of rain along
the outside of the vessel. The moist air here is like a
sponge filled with water ; reduce its volume by pressure,
there will run out a certain quantity of water ; in the
air laden with moisture the diminution of the tempera-
ture takes the place of pressure.
We can easily conceive the application of this prin-
ciple in meteorology.
A warm and moist wind, the south-west of the
Atlantic, for example, setting from the tropics, comes
in contact with the polder air of the temperate regions ;
its temperature is lowered ; it can no longer contain as
great a quantity of vapor. A portion of its humidity
is immediately condensed into clouds, then falls in rain.
Or the opposite ; a wind charged with clouds arrives
in a warmer and dryer air; comes, for example, from
the Mediterranean to the Sahara, as is the case during
three fourths of the year ; the burning air of the desert,
having a much greater capacity for vapor, dissipates
mstantly all these clouds, that break up, vanish, nnd
C STRIBUT1ON OF THE RAINS. 13d
disappoint the excited expectation of the traveller, who
hoped for refreshing rains.
Do the moist winds encounter an elevated obstacle, a
high chain of mountains, a plateau ? Forced to ascend
their slopes, high into the atmosphere, they find there a
colder air, which condenses their vapors, and the rain
flows down along the sides. The wind passes over to
the other side of the chain ; it arrives dry and cold,
deprived of all its moisture, without clouds. The same
wind thus brings rain on one side, and fair weather on
the other. This is what happens every day on the two
sides of the Scandinavian mountains.
It is even possible that an ascending current, if very
violent, may hurry the abundant vapors of the lower
layers to the more elevated layers of the atmosphere.
The vapors are afterwards condensed there, and fall
back in torrents of rain. Such at least is the explanation
Humboldt gives of the rains of the tropics.
Aided by these preliminary remarks, we are enabled
lo account for the general phenomena regarding the
distribution of rains, which I desire to explain to you.
We will therefore devote the remainder of our time this
evening to following out the general march of this
phenomenon in the tropical regions and the temperate
zones.
The temperature, the winds, and the rain, having an
mtinale connection each with the others, and playing
alternately thj3 part of cause and effect "he earth, in the
point }f view now under consideration, is divided, as in
the point o* view of temperature ? nd winds, into two
great zones the one, that of periodical rains, or of the
L54 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
tropical regions ; the other, that of continuous rains, o*
of the temperate regions.
In the equatorial regions, where the course of tempera-
tures and winds is regular, that of the rains is equally
so; and instead of seasons of temperature, which are
there unknown, the inhabitants draw the distinguishing
line between the dry and the rainy season.
Whenever the trade wind blows with its wonted regu-
larity, the sky preserves a constant serenity, and a deep
azure blue, especially when the sun is in the opposite
hemisphere ; the air is dry, and the atmosphere cloudless.
But in proportion as the sun approaches the zenith, the
trade wind grows irregular, the sky assumes a whitish
tint, it becomes overcast, clouds appear, sudden showers,
accompanied with fierce storms, ensue. They occur
more and more frequently, and turn -at length into floods
of rain, inundating the earth with torrents of water.
The air is at this time so damp that the inhabitants are
in an incessant vapor bath. The heat is heavy and
stifling ; the body becomes dull and enervated ; this is
the period of those endemical fevers that destroy so great
a number of the settlers who have come from the temper-
ate zones. But vegetation puts on a new freshness and
vigor; the desert itself becomes animated, and is over-
spread for a few months with enchanting verdure, whic 1
furnishes pasture to thousands of animals. Nevertheless,
ere long, the sun, in his annual progress, advances to
pour down his vertical rays upon other places ; the rains
diminish, the atmosphere becomes once more serene, the
trade wind resumes its regularity, and the heaven shuts
its windows once again until Ihe following season.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAINS. 15
Such is the normal course of the tropical rains. They
fa.... everywhere during the passage of the sun through
the zenith. The heat is then so violent that the ascend-
ing current neutralizes the horizontal trade wind. It
hu-Hes the vapors to the heights of the atmosphere, and
the upper limit of the trade wind, where they are. con-
densed and tall back in a deluge of rain. Now, as the
sun passes and repasses from one tropic to the other, it
follows that there is, in most intermediate places, a two-
fold rainy season, the two periods of rain being more or
less closely connected in point of time.
In India the course of the rain is not so regular ; it
depends entirely on the monsoons. The western coast
of Deccan, the coast of Malabar, has the season of the
rains during the monsoon of the south-west, which brings
thither the vapors of the ocean; that is, during the
northern summer. It has the dry season during the
monsoon of the north-east. During the winter, the mon-
soon of the south-west ascends the slopes of the western
Ghauts, and causes, in the heights, violent storms and
very abundant rains. Along the coast of Coromandel,
on the contrary, it is the north-east monsoon which con-
ducts the rains, with the vapors of the Sea of Bengal,
and the south-west monsoon brings the dryness. These
two coasts of the peninsula have then their seasons
reversed. One has the dry weather when the other has
rain, and reciprocally. The table land cf Deccan par-
takes of the two characters ; the fall of water is moro
variable, and there are often tvo periods of abundant
r.ins.
156 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
We see here that the relative position of the lands and
tl.e seas regulates the seasons.
The quantity of water that falls from the atmosphere
in the 'tropical regions during some months is enormous,
if we compare it with that which we are accustomed to
see wetting the soil of our own countries. It has teen
calculated, that, on the average, there fall annually in
the tropics of the Old World 77 inches of water, and 115
in tropical America. The mean for the equatorial region
would be 96 inches.
But the annual quantity of rain received in some local-
ities, and under the influence of certain circumstances, is
sometimes much more considerable. At Paramaribo, in
Dutch Guiana, it falls to the amount of 229 inches of
water, or 19 feet. At St. Louis de Maranhao, in Brazil,
276 inches have been received, or 23 feet. But the
greatest quantity ever observed is that of Mahabaleshwar,
in the western Ghauts, south of Bombay, at the height
of 4,200 feet ; it rises to the enormous number of 302
inches. A layer of 25 feet of water would have been
formed by the rain waters, if they had not gradually
run off.
These results are the more astonishing, as all this
water falls in the space of only a few months, and, so
to speak, at once. It has been seen to fall at Cayenne
21 inches in a single day. This is nearly as much as
falls during the whole year in the northern latitudes.
This is the reason why, notwithstanding the abundance
of the rains, the number of clear days is much more
considerable than in our climates. Even during the
rainy season, the sun shows himself nearly every day,
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAINS. 157
and many days pass tvithout a single drop of water
falling from the atmosphere.
We may conceive the prodigious effect such violent
showers must produce upon the rivers. Who does not
now understand the secret of the overflowings of the
Nile, once so mysterious, which are due to the cir-
cumstance that the region of its sources receives the
tropical rains )
Floods of forty feet rise and upwards are frequent at
this season in the great rivers of South America; the
llanos of the Orinoco are changed into an inland sea.
The Amazon inundates to a vast distance the plains it
flows through. The Paraguay forms lagoons, which,
like those of Xarayes, are more than three hundred
miles in length, and ooze away during the dry season.
The quantity of water contained in the tropical atmos-
phere in the condition of transparent gas, is always
considerable. It is in proportion to the heat, which,
being always very great, augments its capacity to a verj
high degree. Even under the most serene sky, the aL
is still abundantly provided with it. It is this invisible
water which, being absorbed by the plants, and taken
up by their large leaves, produces the vigorous vegeta-
tion, and causes the eternal verdure that fills us with
astonishment, under a sky devoid of rain, and cloudless
during more than half the year; while in our climates,
from the failure of rain for a few weeks only, we see ail
verdure languish, and all the flowers perish for the lack
of moisture.
The distribution of rains in the temperate regions
flers a jsrfect contrast to that of the tropics. Here,
14
f58 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL OEOGRAPUY.
throughout the whole year, the earth is watered by th
rains of heaven, although sometimes irregularly. But
these are variable, as are the winds and the tempera-
ture, and secondary circumstances have much influence
over them.
The further we recede from the tropics, the more do
we find that this periodical character disappears. But
we have few established facts as to the mode in which
the transition is made from one region to another. North
of the tropics we find winter rains, which doubtless are
caused by the meeting of the upper trade winds with
the north-easters. The strife of these gives birth to
heavy rain storms. It is so at Madeira and Lisbon.
Yet further north, Italy, and some portion of the Med-
iterranean, have spring and autumnal rains, which Dove
attributes to the transit of the south-west trade wind
before and after the solstice. In Germany, according to
the same authority, the same cause produces frequent
rains at the period of the solstice, or summer rains,
denoting the highest point attained by the trade wind
in those latitudes at the greatest decimation of the sun
towards the north.
But it must be admitted that the general charactei
of the rains of those regions, their periods, and their
frequency, appear especially to depend on a thousand
geographical features which influence them greatly.
The quantity of water held by the atmosphere of the
temperate regions is much smaller than that in the air
of the tropics, The vegetation, therefore, cannot endure
the waU of rain for any length of time, as I have
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAINS. 155
observed, and the quantity of rail, water falling in
them is also greatly inferior.
The mean is 34 inches in the Old World, and 39 in
temperate America, or 35 for the whole zone. There
are causes, however, to he pointed out hereafter, which
produce the fall of twice and even thrice that quantity
at certain points. The number of fair days is also far
smaller. But if these fruitful showers are not granted
to us with the same prodigality as in the tropical regions,
they are, at least, better distributed throughout the year,
in a manner more equal, more economical, and more
advantageous to vegetation and the requirements of alJ
organized beings.
LECTURE VII.
\Li>diJKatin,: . f the general laws of distribution of the rains De
crease of tht quantity of rain waters and of rainy days, from tht
seaboard touards the inlands Numerous exceptions and tkeir
causes Influence of the mountains and t/ie table lands in the two
worlds Distribution of rain in South America ; in North America ;
in Africa ; in Europe ; in Asia ; in Australia Special hygromet-
rical character of each- continent Difference between the Old and tJts
New World, corresponding to the nature of their relief Mixture
of the continental and the oceanic element Influejtce on organized
beings Superiority of the zone of contact, or the maritime zone.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
The investigation we attempted to make in the last
lecture, has convinced us of the intimate connection
existing between the temperatures and the winds,. and
between both and the 'distribution of rain over the
surface of the earth. In this last point of view we
have recognized the existence of a zone of periodical
jains, corresponding to the torrid regions of the equa-
tor, wherein the rains fall in abundance, arid within the
space of a few months ; and of two zones of continuous
rains corresponding to the temperate and cold regions, in
which they fall in smaller quantity, and are more uni-
formly distributed through the entire course of the year.
It remains for us, this evening, to give some account of
the numerous modifications these general laws are made
to undergo, by the extent of the continents, the forms
ot taeir relief, and their position relatively to the
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAINS. 16l
general winds which are th.3 dispensers of the rain
waters.
The map before us, on which it has been attempted
to express, by deeper or lighter tints, the relative abun-
dance of the rain that falls in each region of the globe,
indicates these zones in a very clear manner; it will
.;erve further to illustrate what remains to be said on
this subject. (See plate iv.)
The winds of the ocean striking the coasts of the con-
tinents, and moistening them with their waters, pene-
trate equally into the interior, transport thither the
-ripors with which they are charged, and spread life and
freshness on their path. But in proportion as they
advance on their continental journey, they become more
and more scant and sparing of these beneficent waters :
their provision is exhausted, and if the way is too
long, if the continent is too extended, they arrive at
its centre, as arid and parched as a land wind.
This first result appears so natural, that it seems
almost useless to exhibit it by figures. Nevertheless, we
will let direct observation speak, that the fact may not rest
vipon assertion alone. Here is the quantity of rain water
received annually in the different parts of the same con-
tinent, more or less remote from the seaboard. I add
Also the number of rainy days, to complete these obser-
vations. As far as possible, I choose countries situated
under similar latitudes, in order to render them capable
of a more rigorous comparison in this point of view ; for,
otherwise, the quantity of rain water diminishing in
proportion to th-3 distance from the torrid regions of the
equator, it woul 1 be easy to attribute incorrectly to the
14*
162
COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGKAPH1T.
distance i f om the seas a difference that might be only
the effect of a position more or less towards the north.
The n;ean quantity of rain received auring a year,
and the number of rainy days, are as follows, in the
countries situated between 45 and 50 N. lat. of the Ok 7
World:
Depth of Rain
in inches.
1
Number of
Rainy Days.
32
156
25
152
Eastern France *.
22
147
20
150
17
111
14
90
?
60
We see that, in leaving the coasts for the interior of
the continents, there is a gradual diminution of the
quantity of rain and of rainy days. If we penetrate to
the centre of the vast continent of Asia, we find the
dryness there almost absolute a desert.
In North America, the observations are as yet so few
and so recent, that it is impossible to deduce from them
/ery exact averages. Besides, as we shall soon see, this
continent being exposed at the same time to the winds
of th.3 Atlantic on the east, and to those of the Gulf of
Mexico on the south, receives rain waters from both
directions. This is especially true of the middle region,
situated west of the Alleghanies. In this way the
decrease, owing to the distance from the Atlantic, is dis-
guised by the additional rain water brought thHher by
the winds of the Gulf of Mexico. These various circum-
Bta.ices tend in a singular degree to render the distribu-
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAINS.
163
tion of the rains more uniform in this part of the conti-
nent. Nevertheless, the following numbers seem to
indicate that the influence of the continental position is
not annihilated.
The annual quantity of rain water between 41* and
43* north lat. is, at
Depth of Rate
in inchu.
38
36
30
Again, between lat. 38 and 40 north.
Depth of Rain
in inches.
Philadelphia, Pa., and Lambertville, N. J., . .
45
41
^2
We may say, then, that, in general, a country is the
better watered, the nearer it is to the seaboard; and,
from moist and verdant Ireland to the desert of Gobi,
we find all possible gradations between the extremes of
moisture and aridity.
This indubitable general law, however, undergoes
numerous modifications, which infinitely diversify the
nature of the climates in regard to tht r wetness or
drought, causing the most surprising anomalies.
On the shore of the Caribbean Sea, on the coast of
Venezuela, is situated the city of Cumana, which has
beo me celebrated in the annals of science by the
164 COMPARATIf J PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
f
researches made there by Humboldt. That city, in the
midst of the regions of the tropics, where the rams are
so abundant, in spite of its maritime position, receives
only 8 inches of water, while very near it, a little further
south-east, in Guyana, there is a fall of more than 20C
inches.
In this same South America, so plentifully watered,
we see on the opposite side, south-west of the Andes of
Bolivia, a long and narrow band destitute of rain,
stretching several hundred miles along the coast ; it is
the desert of Atacama. Not a drop of water comes to
i jfresh this thirsty land, though lying upon the sea-
,oast, and under the same latitude as the plains of
Upper Paraguay, which is inundated with rain.
The plateaus of Upper California are nearer the sea
than the centre of the valley of the Mississippi, and,
nevertheless, they are dry and parched, while the latter
is fertilized by copious rains.
Here are causes, then, which disturb the general law,
or rather which modify it in favor of variety of climates ;
these causes are the forms of relief of the soil, the
mountain chains and the plateaus, and their disposition
relative to the damp winds.
A wind loaded with vapor and clouds may pass over
vast continental plains, without dissolving into rain,
'recause the temperature in a plain may remain the
same through long spaces, or even be higher than
that of the sea wind crossing it. There is, then, no
cause of condensation of the vapors. We have an
example of this in the Etesian winds, which bear the
vapors of the Mediterranean into Sahara. They havo
THE AAINS, INFLUENCE CP MOUNTAINS. 165
no sooner passed the threshold of the desert, than the
dry and burnt air, as we have already said, dissipates
even the smallest cloud.
But it is not the same when the moist winds meet
e'jevated objects, chains of mountains, and high table
lands, in their transit. Forced to ascend along their
sides, they are uplifted into the colder regions of the
atmosphere ; they feel the pressure of the air, which is
less there, and the expansion of the gases composing
hem further increases the cooling; the air loses its
opacity for holding the same quantity of vapors as
.3fore. The latter are condensed into clouds, which
crown the summits of the mountains, and trail along
their sides; and they melt soon into abundant rains.
If the sea wind passes the chain, it descends on the
opposite side, dry and cold; it has lost all its marine
character.
The mountain chains are, then, the great condensers,
placed by nature here and there along the continents, to
rob the winds of their treasures, to serve as reservoirs
for the rain waters, and to distribute them afterwards, as
they are needed, over the surrounding plains. Their
wet and cloudy summits seem to be untiringly occupied
with this important work. From their sides flow num-
berless torrents ,and rivers, carrying in all directions
wealth and life. Every system of mountains cecomeb
the centre of a system of irrigation, of water courses,
which gives to its neighborhood a va.ue of primary
importance.
This power of condensation is expressed by the fact,
that in the heights of the mountains there falls mor*
166 COMP RATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
water than on tl.3 slopes, and at their foot there falls
more than in the neighboring plains. Further, the side
of the chain exposed to the sea winds receives a quantity
of rain much beyond that which falls on the opposite
side ; so that the great systems of mountains not only
divide the spaces, but separate different, and often c pj>o-
site, climates.
The examples of this action of mountain chains on,
lac condensation of the rains, are numerous in nature.
I have only an embarrassment jof choice. Nevertheless,
I am compelled to borrow them from the Old World,
because the exact observations I need are there more
numerous.
The Alps form a vast semicircle on the north of Italy,
wherein the warm and moist winds of the south-west,
coming from the Mediterranean and the ocean, pour
themselves as into a funnel. Before passing this lofty
barrier and the snow-capped summits, these winds lose
their vapors, which fall in copious rain on all the south-
ern slope of the chain. While 36 inches of water fall in
the plains of Lombardy, there falls an average of 58
inches at the very foot of the Alps. In the north-eas
comer, forming an angle, where the vapors accumulate
at. Tolmezzo, in the valley of the Tagliamento, a
quantity of 90 inches annually is -received, which
reminds us of that of the tfopical regions. Now, this
au.mber is u very constant one, for it is the average of
twenty-two years' observations. The northern foot of
the Alps hns only 35 inches.
Tb.3 Apennines repeat almost the same phencmenon.
They form an arch, the convexity of which is marked
THF RAINS, INFLUENCE OF MOUNTAINS. 167
by the curve of the Gulf of Genoa and the valley of the
Arno. The summits, which rise from 4,000 to 6,000
feet, arrest the winds cf the sea, and there fall at their
southern foot 64 inches of water, while only 26 inches
fall on the northern descent, in the plains south of the
Po. The same relation exists further south, between
the western and eastern slopes of the same chain; on
the former it rains 35 inches of water: on the lattei
only 27.
We have already quoted Scandinavia as giving one of
the most striking examples of this kind of phenomena.
The elevation and the length of that chain, its lofty
frozen table lands, which a long day's journey is hardly
sufficient to cross, are an insurmountable barrier to the
vapors brought thither on the Norwegian coast by the
south-west wind from the Atlantic. They are condensed
almost entirely upon the shores incessantly plunged in
drizzling fogs. At Bergen, a day of sunshine is a rarity,
in the midst of almost constant rains that darken the
atmosphere. Thus we have there a fall .of 82 inches of
water, an enormous quantity, especially for such high
latitudes. All the wester: i coast receives nearly as
much, and owes to the temperature of this wind, and to
the caloric disengaged by so active a condensation of
vapors, the remarkably soft and equable climate which
distinguishes it.- On the southern coast, and in Sweden,
there faL only 21 inches of water, and the same south-
west wind brings thither clear weather and cold. The
same wind carries rain on one side, and fair weather on
the other.
In the East Indies, we encounter the majestic chain
168 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of the Himalaya, the most massive and lofty on the
globe.
The winds of the tropics, passing over the plains of
the Ganges, reach it, water the southern slopes, fertilize
the inland valleys, and support the most wonderful ver-
dure, up to the limit of eternal snows. But beyond, the
table lands of the region of the sacred lakes and of Katchi
and Tangout, indicate by their drought that they are
deprived of this beneficent influence. Katmandoo, at
a third of the height, has 51 inches of rain ; Delhi, in the
plains of the Ganges, has only 23.
At the north-east angle of the Indo-Persian Sea, the
south-west trade wind accumulates its vapors on the
flanks of the Ghauts. The effect of this chain, which,
however, has no great elevation, is such, that, after the
following examples, we shall be able to dispense with
any more. At Bombay, on the west coast, the rain falls
80 inches ; 302 have been received at Mahabaleshwar,
on the mountains, at an elevation of 4,200 feet, as we
have already said ; this quantity is reduced to 26 inches
on the other side of the chain, at Darwar, on the table
land of Deccan.
But we have said that the plateaus also have a marked
effect upon the distribution of the rain waters. Their
borders act as the mountains, and their surface, heated
more than the layers of air of the same level, absorb the
little vapor which ascends to this height, without con-
densing it ; their extent, finally, and their elevation, tend
to impede the access of the oceanic vapors, and to in-
crease the drought. These differences are already marked
THE RAINS, INFLUENCE OF THE TABLE LANDS. 169
in plateaus so little elevated as Spain, whose central
plains are from 2,000 to 2,500 feet above the sea.
While the south-west coast of Portugal, Lisbon for
example. is watered with 27 inches of rain, the border
of the table land has only 11 inches ; and soon, quitting
l he verdant region of the seaboard, we ascend the arid
ylai ns of Estramadura, of La Mancha, and of Castile, at
Jhc centre of which, Madrid receives not more than 10
inches of rain water. No other place in Europe is sc
badly provided in this respect. And, nevertheless, side
by side with this minimum of rain, we find the greatest
quantity that has ever been made out on this continent.
At the western foot of the Sierra d'Estrella, which ad-
vances, like a spur, very far towards the coast, in the
valley of the Moridego, there has been received, it is
said, at Coimbra, the enormous quantity of 225 inches
of water. An error has been suspected in this measure,
taken in 1816 and 1817. Schouw has reduced it to 135
inches; Kaemtz, to 118; adopting the last number, there
is still a difference of more than 100 inches from Madrid,
situated under very nearly the same latitude, and on the
same peninsula.
If it is so with the table lands of the third order, as
' hat of Spain, what will be the case with those enormous
masses which form the body of eastern and western
Asia?
The fringe of snowy mountains surrounding them,
their distance from the oceans, the extent of their sur-
faces, their elevation in the atmosphere, all these
causes conspire to give them that character of aridity
which renders them almost an unbroken desert.
15
1 70 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The p. ateaus of southern Africa, those of Mexico and
of California, compared with the neighbc ring countries,
have equally an indisputable character of aridity. At
Vera Cruz, for example, there fall 62 inches oi water,
vhile in Mexico, and on the coast of the Paciific, the
. ...ntity seems to be considerably reduced.
If the influence of mountain chains and table lands
,o considerable in all the particular cases which we
have just examined, it ought to manifest itself en a
grand scale and in a certain connection, for each ct nti-
nent in particular, and for each of the two worlds. We
have previously ascertained a general law of the dis-
tribution of the reliefs ; there should be here a reflection
of this law ; and its importance should be revealed in
ihe distribution of the pluvial waters, and of the climate.
W proceed, then, to seek an explanation of the effect
that must be produced upon each continent by the
particular disposition of its chains of mountains, of its
plateaus and plains, relatively to the maritime winds>
bringing them the rains and tempering their climate.
Let us begin with the New World, the structure >f
which is more simple and easy to comprehend.
The fundamental features of the structure of Amer-
ca, I repeat here, are the long and lofty barrier of
ihe Andes, of the Rocky Mountains, extending almost
from one pole to the other, along the western coast of
the two continents ; then, on the east, vast plains, inter-
s|>ersed with some mountain ranges of slight elevation.
I^et us see what is the effect of this dispos tion on the
climate of both these co itinents
THE RAINS IN SOUTH AMERICA. -71
In Soi' ;h America, the principal body of wire* is
situated under the sky of the tropics, this disposition
secures to the continent a copious supply of moisture.
The plains of the east are open to the trade wind of the
Atlantic, which sweeps over them unobstructed, and
bears thither unceasingly the vapors of the ocean. The
secondary chains of Brazil and of the Guyanas, from
5,000 to 7,000, do not rise high enough into the atmos-
phere to arrest it; the only effect they have, is to
augment the falling showers, and to supply a more
complete irrigation. The Orinoco, and the lower trib-
utaries of the Amazon, the Tocaritiris, the San Fran-
cisco, and many others which flow from these two
systems, are there to tell us. But it is not the same
with the Andes. This chain, whose crests and sum-
mits lift themselves everywhere into the region of per-
petual snows, forms, by its elevation and continuity, an
invincible obstacle to all the moist winds of the east.
The vapors, having traversed the plateaus of Eastern
Brazil, without lingering there long, accumulate and
condense, and flow down their eastern slopes. All this
zone at the foot of the Andes is one of the best watered
in the globe. Thus we see issuing from hence those
immense streams ; the Maranon, the king of the rivers
of the earth, and all its tributaries, the Ucayale, the Rio
Purus, the Madera, and many others, to which nothing
is wanting but to flow through civilized countries, ir
Older to rival in importance the Nile, tte Ganges, and
the Mi ssissippi.
But on the other side of the Andes all is changed
Neither the trade wind nor its vapors arrive at the
172 COMPAhATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
western coast. Scarcely do the table lands of Peru aad
of Bolivia receive from them the latter benefits, by the
storms which burst out at the limit of the two atmos-
pheres. The coast of the Pacific Ocean, from Punta
Parina and Amatope to far beyond the tropic, from tho
equator to Chili, is scarcely ever refreshed by the rains
of the ocean. Deprived of the vapors of the Atlantic
by the chain of the Andes, these countries behold the
vapors of the Pacific flitting away with the trade
wind, and no accidental breeze brings them back.
Drought and the desert are their portion, and on the
border of the seas, in the very sight of the waves, they
are reduced to envy the neighboring countries of the
centre of the continent the gifts the ocean refuses
to themselves, while lavishing them upon the others.
Thus, under the same latitude, under the same tropical
heavens, where the phenomena meantime are so regular,
the two slopes of the Andes have a climate perfectly
opposite. In one of them, the richest vegetation ; in the
other, drought, and a parched soil, the nakedness of
which is poorly disguised by the light robe of a thinly
scattered vegetation. The Andes separate the two
climates by a sharply cut line, and testify strongly to
the importance of the part performed in climates by
the mountain chains, and their situation relathftly to
the general winds.
The northern and southern limits of this arid region
are not where one would expect to find them at the
first glance. The question is asked, why the same
causes do not hinder the rains from watering the coasts
of Pe'u, under ttie equator, and of New Granada. But,
THE RAINS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 173
besides that the depression of the Cordilleras towards
the north allows the trade wind to round it and to reach
the western side, let us remember that this part of the
coast corresponds nearly to the zone of calms, in which
the direct influence of the trade wind is nearly annihi-
lated, and where almost daily rain storms bring back to
the earth the vapors in the very places whence they
have risen. The influence of this latter circumstance
here neutralizes the action of the Andes.
It is not the same at the southern limit. Here, not
only the chain is continuous, but it forms, in the lofty
table lands of Southern Peru and of Bolivia, the broad-
est and the highest terrace of all the Andes, shutting
out all communication between the two sides. More-
over, we are here upon the limit of the tropic, and the
regions in the neighborhood are often scantily supplied
with rains, as we shall by-and-by understand. The
lower regular trade wind begins, in fact, to blow there,
and, as we know, the sky remains everywhere serene.
The upper, or return trade wind, does not yet fall
there ; so that the causes of the condensation of vapor
are wanting, and dryness of climate is the inevitable
consequence. It is only at a greater distance, where
the upper trade wind reaches the surface again, that the
conflict of the winds commences, and with it the rains.
On the co.ast of Bolivia, at the south of the Gulf of
Arica, the two arefying influences unite and cause an
almost absolute drought in the long desert of Atacama,
which borders the coast nearly to Chili. It is only in
the latter country where the return trade wind of the
15*
174 COMPARATt 7E PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
north-west makes itself felt, that the rains recommence
);y degrees to water the earth.
In the part of South America situated beyond the
epical regions, the relative position of the Andes and
of the plains on the east, produces an opposite effect
The vapors of the Pacific cannot penetrate there. The
return, or north-west trade wind, avoids the coast and
reenters the Atlantic Ocean, or, driven aside by the
Andes, comes back arefied and made continent?!,
across the plains of Paraguay and of the Pampas.
Hence the violent west wind, in Buenos Ayres, called
the Pampero, which carries to the coast only the
whirlwind of dust it has raised in the arid plains it
traverses in its course. The western coast, on the
contrary, receives, with the return trade wind of the
north-west, the vapors of the Pacific Ocean. Chili has
rains in winter at the moment when the north-west
reaches the neighboring regions of the tropics. More
to the south, the winds of the sea coming from these,
parts, add their contingent, and give all this southern
point of America the continuous rains belonging to the
cool, temperate regions. Terra del Fuego and Cape
Horn, at the confluence of all the sea winds, are
incessantly bathed by the rains or covered by the
snows; and the correctness of the not very flattering
description Forster gives us of that climate, has been
confirmed by all the navigators who have travelled
through that inhospitable region of fogs and tempests.
Thus, in South America, the position of the plains
and of the mountains, combined with the prevailing
direction of the sea winds, produces the copious moisture
THE RAINS IN NORTH AMERICA. 17&
of the tropical portion and the comparative dryness of
the temperate.
In North America, an analogous disposition of the
reliefs, a id of the atmospherical currents, would doubt-
less produce the same dryness as in the plains of La
Plata and the Pampas, if the deep cut of the Gulf of
Mexico did not open the whole south of the contineat
to the wet winds of the tropics. Instead of coming
from the interior of the continent, as in the temperate
regions of South America, the return trade wind, which
enters by this broad gate, comes directly from the seas,
and has lost nothing of its vapors. It waters copiously
along its course the whole Atlantic region and the west-
ern slope of the Alleghanies ; even the valley of the
Mississippi shares its benefits, although to a less degree
Towards the north, in the interior, the polar winds seem
to resume their empire, and the moisture lessens. Thus
North America is more favored with rains than could be
expected from its situation westward of the return winds
of the equator, and from its character as a large con*
tinent.
Along the western shore, from the coasts of Mexico
to 60 of north latitude, we find the same succession of
climates as in South America, in latitudes nearly cor-
responling. Between the tropics, in the rear of the
high ta ble lands of Mexico, where the trade wind of the
Atlantic does not come, drought reigns, as on the coast
of Peru. In the sub-tropical region, where the south-
west trade wind has still but little influence, the rains
are slight ; they are al nost none on the high table lands
^/6 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of California. Oregon, as well as Chili, has the wiiitei
rains, Indicating the return of the upper trade wind to
land ; they seem to penetrate even beyond the Rocky
Mountains, east of which the winter rains are frequent.
Here we find the sources of the Missouri. In the North,
finally, in Russian America, where the coast bends in
and forms a deep bay, the south-west winds strike the
coast, and produce the continuous and copious rains, the
temperate, equal climate, and the vegetation of the
coasts of Scotland and Norway.
The investigation we have just made of the distri-
bution of the rain in the two Americas shows the influ-
ence of the direction of the high chains, &.nd of their
position on the western coast. It is immense. Place
the Andes along the Atlantic, and the marine trade wind
is arrested and dried ; the table lands of Brazil, the end-
less plains of the Amazon, are nothing but a desert :
no more of that wealth of vegetation, of those virgin
forests, which now constitute their beauty ; South Amer-
ica loses its character.
Place the Rocky Mountains east of North America,
open the plains of the Mississippi to the south-west
winds of the Pacific, and the climate becomes softer,
more equal ; the plains are still better watered, perhaps ;
nature has certainly changed. But what would then
become of the present destinies, the entire future of this
continent, were it necessary to cross the desert table
lands of California, and their high mountain ranges, in
or ier to reach the Mississippi from the Atlantic coast?
What would become of its important relations with
Ine Old World, if America, averted from the civilized
THE RAIN6 IN THE OLD Wu^LD. 177
nation.?, looked only towards the Pacific Ocean and
China?
Tf we now direct our attention to the Old World,
we shall again find the same influence of the forms of
relief.
Tropical Africa, and the greatest part of the East
of this continent, present two regions very unequall7
supplied with rains. On the north of the equator, the
lands are less consolidated, the plateaus isolated from
each other. Abyssinia is far from Mandara, and that is
far from the Kong Mountains. The coast, from Cape
Guardafui to that of Zanguebar, is slightly elevated ; it
permits the east winds of the Indian Ocean to penetrate
the inland and to water all these parallels. The coasts
of Senegambia and of Guinea are in the region of calms
U the meeting of the two trade winds, and owe to this
circumstance their copious rains, their climate, moist
and fruitful, but treacherous and fatal to the man of the
North.
On the south of the equator the plateaus are con-
tinuous ; but instead of being in the West, as in Amer-
i ,a, the uplands are in the East ; the eastern coast rises,
ind probably reaches, in the chain of Lupata, the
loftiest elevation of this part of the continent. Then the
eastern coast arrests the vapors; there the rains are
everywhere abundant, from Cape Guardafui to Cape
of Good Hope, while the vast elevated plains stretching
troir. the west to the coasts of Congo, seem to exhibit, as
far as we know them, only sterility and drought under the
same latitude, where we see the plains of the Amazon
and of Brazil drenched every year by torrents of water.
178 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The contrast is complete ; and whence comes this diffeV-
ence, if not from the disposition of the reliefs in the two
continents ?
The region of Cape of Good Hope is watered on tho
south-east coast, during the summer, by the winds of the
Indian Ocean. But in the whole West the climate is dry
except at certain points, and the Atlantic sends it only a
few autumnal and winter rains.
The North, finally, Sahara, is closed towards the east
against the access of the winds ; its sub-tropical position
and the nature of its soil contribute further to cause the
deficiency of rain, making it one of the most vast and
complete deserts in the world.
Western Europe, by its position, by the absence of
high continuous chains along its seaboards, is open to
the equatorial winds of the Atlantic, which bring their
moisture thither all the year. The small extent of its
surface, the number of its inland seas, and of the deep
Days cutting into its mass, and leaving no place very far
from some maritime basin; all these circumstances secure
to it continued rains, mild climate, and that compara-
tively high temperature which belongs to it peculiarly.
The numerous mountain chains, the endless diversity of
soil, multiply the local condensations, as we have seen,
and divide the continent into climatic regions as mani-
fold as they are varied. Europe, alone, is without a
desert.
In tropical Asia the monsoons and mountain ranges
regulate the rains. The peninsula of India has the
r?.iny sr isons reversed on its two coasts; but its plen ifuJ
THE RAINS IN AUSTRALIA. 179
rains are reduced to a very small quantity on lie pla-
teaus of Deccan. All the region of Indo-China and of
the grt at Asiatic archipelago is one of the best watered
in the world. The conflict of the different winds, of
which all this space is the theatre, the variety of the
lands, so numerously scattered there, and the discon-
tinuity of the chains, which can nowhere arrest the
winds, are so many causes that secure to the whole of it
such copiousness of tropical rains.
The Himalaya and the lofty chains of China stop the
course of the ocean winds ; all beyond, towards the inte-
rior, is- a desert; it is the Gobi, the Tangout, and the
sandy seas of Turkestan.
Australia is as yet so little known that it is impossi-
ble to analyze its climate. Nevertheless, what we have
learned of late years concerning the configuration of its
relief, proves that the highest lands, as in Africa, are
placed on the eastern border of the continent. The
trade wind of the Pacific scarcely penetrates thither,
and that of the temperate regions shuns the coast
Furthermore, the southern half is, for the greater part,
in the sub-tropical region, and seems to be deficient in
mountains. Thus we may believe that the interior is a
desert. But the eastern coast, Botany Bay, and the
Australian Alps, are better watered than Swan River,
on the western coast, and the prosperity of the colonies
established on these two- shores, has, of necessity, beon
in proportion. The mean quantity of rain water which
falls in this part of the world is estimated at twenty-five
inches ; it is the most insular, and yet, owing to these
circums/ances, and to its rounded form, the most imper-
JSU COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
fectly watered of the continents. If what precedes did
not inform us of this, the aspect and the slender forms
of the vegetation, its attenuated leaves, which constitute
its characteristic, would be sufficient to convince us of
the fact.
Thus, gentlemen, if the general climates are given by
the latitude, that is, by the spherical form of the earth,
the special climates, characterized by the unequal distri-
bution of the temperatures and the rains, are the effect
of the grouping of the continents, and of the particular
disposition of their reliefs.
In the point of view now occupying us, each con-
tinent has its special character. South America is the
most humid of the tropical continents ; North America,
the best watered of the temperate continents, but the
rains are equally distributed ; Africa and Asia present
the absolute contrast of dry and moist in the zone of
the deserts touching upon the regions bathed by the
ains of the tropics ; temperate Asia is the dryest of the
lorthern continents. Europe combines the moisture of
he maritime climate with a great variety of contrasts ;
but they are all softened. Australia, finally, is the
Jryest and poorest of the continents.
The general law of the reliefs in the two worlds thus
manifests its influence. The New World is that of
plains, and th3 plains are open to the winds of the sea ;
its continenta- forms are less piled up and massive ; it is,
on the whole, the most humid. The Old World is that
of plateaus and of vast extents; drought is its por-
tion. It is enough to recall the influence these circum-
THE MARITIME ZONE.
utances of humidity or aridity exerc.se on the vegeta-
tion. the aspect, anC the organized beings of a country,
to foresee that these great differences between one
world and the other will be agair. reproduced in another
province.
We have taken a rapid view of the variety of the
phenomena to which the intermingling of the solid and
liquid elements, "of land and water, gives occasion. It
wo~: J be easy, by a more detailed examination, to in-
crease the number of these contrasts, of which I have
pointed out only the most general. But I have said
enough for a sketch of this vast subjsct, and to enable
you to take a glance at all the wealth of life that nature
unfolds by means so simple. I will add only one con-
sideration more, which will serve for a conclusion to
what we. 'lave thus far said of this great contrast of the
continental and oceanic hemispheres.
We have seen, gentlemen, that it is from the combi-
nation of the two elements that life is born, a higher
life than that belonging to either of them. It is neither
the oceanic climate, nor the continental climate, which
we shall proclaim as the foremost climate of the world ;
it is the combination of the two it is the maritime
climate. Here are allied the continental vigor and the
oceanic softness, in a fortunate union, mutually temper-
ing each other. Here the development is more irftense,
life more rich, more varied in all its forms. \nd when
to these causes we further add the advantage of a tropi-
cal temperature, the forms of nature are, as it were,
raised to their highest degree, and the wealth it brings
16
182 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
to light surpasses -ill elsewhere seen. I wiL te only a
single example : this will suffice.
Nowhere on the surface of the globe is the blending
of the continental and oceanic element so complete, and
on so great a scale, as in the East Indies, and in that
archipelago the greatest in the world which fills the
space comprised between the South of Asia and Austra-
lia, Peninsulas, which are worlds, as those of Deccan
and Indo-China ; islands, which are small continents,
like Borneo and Sumatra; a blending of chains and
plateaus, and of plains, as on the continent; and all
this cut up, bordered, or surrounded by seas in the most
diversified manner, bathed by the humid atmosphere of
the tropics, and exposed to the burning rays of a verti-
cal sun these are all the means of physical life which
nature can receive. And then, what mighty, what
admirable vegetation ! We see at the same time plants
with broad and numerous leaves, the excessive expan-
sion of which is always the proof of an exuberant
humidity; and those shrubs with concentrated and
elaborated gums, those spices, those aromata, that
bear witness to the dry and intense heat of the conti-
nent. There is the country of the mighty Banian, the
symbol of vegetable strength. There uplifts its head
the majestic Talipot palm, a single leaf whereof, six-
toon feet broad and forty feet round, is enough to give
shade to a score of men at once; and in the bosom
of those virgin forests grow the largest flowers in the
world, the Rafflesia, whose gigantic corolla alone
measures no less than three feet across. There grow
the cinnamon, the nutmeg, the popper, arid the cloves,
THE MARITIME ZONE- 183
which all civilized nations have fetched thence from
time immemorial.
Everything most grand and powerful of the produc-
tions cf the animal world is there encountered. The
rhinoceros, the huge royal tiger, the orang-outang, that
great .serious-looking ape, the most perfect of animals,
and that which seems to foreshadow in its structure the
complete configuration of the human body, are all inhab-
itants of those countries. If to these we add the mineral
wealth, the gold and the diamonds, abounding there, we
may pronounce these regions the most richly endowed
of the universe.
But let us raise ourselves above the limits of the
natural, into the regions of the historic world. Where
have we beheld all peoples and societies arrive at their
highest perfection, if not in Europe, that peninsular
continent, the most indented and most maritime of all
the continents? Where do we see barbarism reign
triumphant, if not in Africa and Australia, continents
shut off from all contact with the rest of the world, its
seas and its people, by their continuous and unindented
outlines? This is neither the time nor the place to
analyze the causes of this phenomenon ; I now merely
allude to the facts, intending to return to the subjec\
hereafter. But I will add, that it is not an isolated fact.
Call together your historical recollections, and cast youi
eyes upon this map of the world, and you will see thai
all the highly civilized peoples of the earth, with .he
exception of one or two primitive nations, have lived,
or still live, on the margins of seas or oceans.
TVe Chinese and the Hindoos unquestionably repre-
184 COMPAl A.TIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRA.. 4Y.
sent tl.i most advanced state of civilization in Orienlal
Asia. In Europe, to name Phoenicia, Asia Minor,
Greece and Rome, is to enumerate all the highly ex ti-
vated peoples of antiquity, and all have, as the theatre
of flisi: strifes and exploits, as well as for their connect-
ing link, the Mediterranean Sea. To come to a later
date, it is to the ocean that Spain and Portugal owe the
b-Lliant part they played, at the period when superb
discoveries doubled the extent of the historic world. At
this very hour, to conclude the might of England causes
itself to be felt from one lo the other extremity of the
world.
And in this new world of North America, now enter-
ing on its great career among the nations under so
happy auspices, is it not on the shores of the Atlantic
that life is developed in its most active, most intense,
and most exalted form ? Is this merely a chance conse-
quence of the accidental debarkation at that point of
the colonists of the Ancient World ? No, gentlemen,
brilliant as may be the prospects the West may aspire
to from the exuberance of its soil, life and action will
always point toward the coast, which can only derive
fresh accessions of prosperity from the prosperity of
the interior. The lifs of nations is in the commerce
of the world, not only in a material, but even more in
a moral point of view; and it is because America is
enthroned queen-like upon the two great oceans, that
she will be called to play a part as mediator between
the two extremities of the world, of which no one can
at this momei t conceive the magnificent extent.
This, then, s the resolution of the contrast between
THE MARITIME ZONE. 18
the continental and the oceanic world, as regards the
intermixture of their natures. It is in this region of
contact between the sea and the ocean that life i*
unfolded in its most intense and diversified form ; and,
both in point of nature and of history, the maritime
zone of every continent enjoys a superiority over all
others not to be questioned or disputed.
16*
LECTURE VilJ.
The marine cur re* t, The motion of the seas dtu to other causa than
that of the conttn ntal waters Various causes of tfie marine cur-
rents Differences of temperature the principal, acting indirectly by
the winds, directly by the unequal density of the waters Coincidence
between the great atmospJicric currents and the marine currents
System of general currents The Equatorial current and the Polar
currents The currents of the Pacific Ocean; of the Indian Ocean;
of the Atlantic Ocean Contrast of the Old World and the New
Disposition of their continental masses Consequences The Old
World the continental; the New the oceanic The first essentially
temperate, the second tropical Special character of the New World
Its structure more simple Abundance of its waters Vegetation
^predominates on the Animal World Incomplete development of the
i.igher animals Influence on the indigenous man Conclusions.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
Thus far we have been studying, in the grand con-
trast of land and water, the influence of the oceanic
element on the continental world, of the wet upon the
dry, more than that of the continents upon the oceans.
This was the right order, because the continental world
is much the more important. Nevertheless, we will
not leave the subject without saying, at least, a few
words upon the action the continents, in their turn,
exercise upon the oceans. Now, as this action of the
la-ids is essentially limi ,ed to regulating and modifying
the movements of the >ceanic waters, by their disposi-
THE MARINE CURRFN'xS. 187
tio. .y th: forms of their coasts, and their submarine
relit I it will be sufficient for our purpose to take cog-
nizaiee of the principal phenomena presented by the
marine currents, without entering upon details which
the shortness of the time allowed compels me to pass
over in silence.
The spectacle around us has accustomed us to see
the continental waters in mo don. We hear, without
astonishment, the streams murmur in the meadows, the
torrents roar in the mountains, and behold the rivers
flow majestically along their bed. The cause of this
motion of the water is familiar. We know that the
particles of this movable element, influenced by the
hidden power of gravitation, move and flow untiringly,
until they have reached the lowest place accessible to
them. If in their course they fall in with a basin
having no exit, they gather there and put themselves
into a state of equilibrium and repose, preserving
their horizontal surface and their immobility, until
driven from it by another force foreign to the first.
Such are our peaceful lakes, with pure and tranquil
waters, whose mirror reflects the mountains that adorn
their margin, the azure of the sky, and even the slightest
cloud floating in the atmosphere that bends over them.
But these basins, which here and there collect the
living waters of the continents, are only the image, on a
very small scale, of what the vast and deep basin of tho
oceans is for the whole of the waters of our planet.
All the water springs that furrow the continents
tend towards this common reservoir. Gushing from the
height of the table Ian Is, or the lofty summits of the
188 COMPARATIVE PRFSICAL GEOGRAPHY.'
mountains, they pour their waters first from fall to fall
headlong down the rapid slopes; they traverse, at a
more sober and measured pace, the long low plains
leading to the ocean, into which, as we behold their
slower and slower and more sluggish march, their waves
seem unwillingly to enter, as if conscipus that they were
io be confounded together, and lose their existence
t.ere. Here, in truth, ends the ephemeral life of the
rivers; their motion has ceased, they disappear in the
immensity of that vast abyss whence they had issued.
We are, then, inclined to look upon the basin of the
oceans as containing waters in a state of rest ; for the
cause which sets the river waters in motion exists no
longer; the differences of level are annulled. Yet let us
be cautious; all this may well be only a first appear-
ance. The very mobility of water, which prevents it
from reflecting permanent forms, and levels all ine-
qualities, renders it also accessible to the slightest
external influences, and several causes succeed in im-
pressing upon this element, passive in the highest
degree, the most varied motions.
The winds raise the waves of the ocean by an action
wholly mechanical, and produce only a superficial and
local agitation ; but when they blow constantly in the
same direction, they impart to the waters a transfer
motion in the direction of their own course. The sun
and moon pass over the surface of the seas, and the
entire muss of waters, obedient to the mighty attraction,
piles itse f up in a vast swell, whose summit follows the
course of the dominant luminary. These are the tides.
The unequal pressure of the atmosphere on the different
T.E MARINE CURRENTS. 189
points of the ocean, whence result differences of level,
and ; above all, the differences of temperature between
the tropical and the polar seas, to which correspond
different degrees of density, are so many more causes
disturbing the equilibrium of the oceanic waters, and
creating in their bosom various motions which continu-
ally tend to reestablish the equilibrium, but without
effecting it. Sometimes the superficial mass is trans-
ported from east to west, jis in the great equatorial
current; sometimes a deep and narrow band, a true
oceanic river, flowing rapidly through waters compara-
tively tranquil, as the Gulf Stream. Here the currents
meet and unite; there they are superposed, and the
upper and under currents run in opposite directions.
Everywhere is agitation; nowhere absolute rest, as
unknown to nature here as in all other quarters.
The greater part of the causes, to say nothing of
others more doubtful which it would be useless to
mention here, often act in concert to produce marine
currents ; but it would be difficult to assign to each of
them the exact portion of effect belonging to it. There
is one, however, which seems to control all the rest by
[is power and the constancy of its action, direct or
indirect, and that is the difference of temperature be-
tween the regions near the equator and those in the
neighborhood of the poles. Now, since the general
\vinds, as we ha.*e seen, owe their origin to this same
muse, we shall not be surprised to find a similarity, and.
in some cases, a remarkable coincidence, between the
march of the g:eat a tmospheric currents and that of the
general currents o, ? the ocean. For, not only do the
.50 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
winds act directly on the currents and sweep them
forward in their course, but the same forces drive them
both in a common direction; the same obstacles, the
continents, check their onward movement, and force
them to swerve, in a similar manner, from their original
direction. A knowledge of the one will facilitate the
understanding of the others.
The most general fact to be noted here is the existence
of the great equatorial current, as it has been agreed
to call it, which .seems a general transfer movement
}f the tropical waters from east to west all round the
globe, rather than a current properly so called. This
grand phenomenon did not escape the sagacity of
Columbus, who was also the first to discover it. " It
seems beyond a doubt," said he, after one of his earliest
voyages, " that the waters of the ocean move with the
heavens;" that is, in the direction of the apparent
course of the sun and stars. This great current is
analogous to the trade winds ; it has ever been thought
that these winds were the principal cause of it. But it
is too deep and rapid to admit of being explained by
their action alone.
The difference of temperature between the tropical
and polar seas, and the loss the seas of the warm
regions suffer from more active evaporation, would
be a still more profound and irresistible cause. The
colder and heavier waters of the polar regions per-
petually tend to flow towards the warm and lighter
waters of the 6 |iiator, and to displace them. The ex-
istence of thes polar currents is demonstrated by the
Bating masses o f ice which swept on by the waters
THc. EQUATORIAL CURRENT. 191
whence they had their being, accomplish every spring
long pilgrimages towards the warmer regions, and stray
even as far as the 40 of latitude. Like the atmospheric
currents setting from these same quarters, they occupy
the lower part of the domain of the oceans, while the
warm waters of the equator spread over their surface
Hence the astonishing spectacle of those majestic ice
bergs, of which only an eighth part is visible, while the
rest is sunk in the depths of the sea, continuing their
solemn progress southward, and, on meeting the Gulf
S^eam, moving on in a direction opposite to the course
of its waters, proving thus that the waters enveloping
their bases pursue without obstruction their southward
course. The polar currents, while advancing towards
the equatorial regions, gradually make a bend west-
ward, like the winds, under the influence of the earth's
rotation, ai.d at the meeting in the tropics are trans-
formed into a vast movement from east to west. Add to
this general tendency of the deep waters, the direct and
constant action of the trade winds upon their surface,
and that of the tides acting in the same direction,
and the cause of this phenomenon will appear to you,
if not fu-i/ explained, at least sufficiently accounted
for. bfQMA.
The grand equatorial current is still more disturbed
than the trade winds, by the continents arresting their
progress and causing the waters to flow back in very
different and often opposite directions to their oi.gi-
nal course. Each of the three great oceans forming a
separate basin, and presenting a collective combination
of physical circumstances which rrodify the march of
192 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
the oceanic currents in a peculiar manner, we proceed
to pass them in review successively, beginning with the
Pacific Ocean, whose system is more simple than that
of the two others. (See plate i.)
The Pacific Ocean, owing to its vast extent, gives
full and unimpeded sweep to the general currents in a
more regular manner than either of the others. The
Antarctic polar current, bent eastward by the prevailing
winds of these regions, strikes the western coast of
America between 50 and 40 south latitude. It divides
into two branches, of which one runs southward,
doubles Cape Horn, and carries its waters on to the
Atlantic. The second and principal passes along the
coast of Chili and Peru, cooling the climate by the low
temperature of the waters it bears, which are from 10*
to 12 Centigrade, or from 18 to 22 Fahrenheit colder
than the neighboring sea off Lima. The current, to
which it has been proposed, on good grounds, to give
the name of Humboldt, who was the first to prove its
origin and abnormal temperature, suddenly quits the
coast near the height of ?unta Parina, and goes on to
form the grand equatorial current.
This latter occupies a breadth of nearly 50 degrees on
the two sides of the equator, and passes beyond the trop-
ics, north and south. It follows its peaceful and
majestic course, unobstructed, with an average speed
of from 30 t3 35 miles a day, to the chain of islands
that fringe the continents of Asia and Australia. On
the north it reaches Formosa, and, running upon the
coast of China, turns off and moves to the north-east
lioug the shores of Japan. On the south, it is already
CURRENTS IN THE INDIAN OCE.iN. 193
disturbed by the monsoons, and loses its way in the
labyrinthine mazes of the grand Asiatic archipelago,
whose seas heave with the violent currents that add
further to the dangers of navigation in these stormy
'?eas.
In the northern part of this ocean, the west winds
reigmng there determine a drift current, which advances
to the American coasts and conducts the waters south-
ward along the shores of California, whence they
d mbtless reenter the equatorial current, to commence a
new circuit.
The polar currents seem to be almost nothing. The
bank or neck, which in all probability unites the
neighboring points of the continents of Asia and America
under the waters of Behring's Strait, hinders the under
currents coming from the pole from entering this basin,
while the warmer waters of the Pacific flow on the
surface into the Frozen Ocean.
In the Indian Ocean, the equatorial current, like the
trade wind, is broken. In the region of the monsoons,
or the northern region, the currents follow alternately
the direction of these periodical winds, and flow with
them six months in one direction, and six months in
another. But in the south, where the trade wind re-
tains its empire, the normal current holds its way,
aarrows as it approaches Madagascar, sweeps north of
that island, and, stemmed by the coast of Africa, enters
the channel of Mozambique.
Compressed into this narrow passage, it acquires the
enormous speed of four or five miles an hour, and, rein-
forced south of Madagascar by another branch, reache*
17
194 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
in its rapid course the Cape of Good Hope, and the
great Needle bank, las Lagullas, the borders of which
it follows at a distance from the coast. Here it divides.
One part encounters the current setting from the south
ern Atlantic, and with it reenters the Indian Ocean
The other branch doubles the Cape, enters the Atlantic,
and, flowing along the western coast of Africa, proceeds
to blend its waters with those of the equatorial current
of this third ocean.
The forms of the Atlantic Ocean, so characteristic,
the small breadth it presents in the region of the equator,
the deep windings of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf
of Mexico, wherein nearly all the tropical waters of
this ocean are accumulated, as in a receptacle having
no outlet, give to its currents an aspect both more
marked and less normal. The equatorial current does
not there assume its customary proportions, while the
return current, the Gulf Stream, is exhibited in a very
unusual manner. These are the two salient features
necessary to study first.
The equatorial current connects itself with the cur-
rent of the Cape of Good Hope issuing from the Indian
Ocean. Starting from the coasts of Southern Africa, it
soon extends both sides of the line, widens considerab y,
and flows across the ocean at the rate of two to three
miles an hour. Having reached the coasts of America
at Cape Rocca, it divides, one branch flowing south-
ward, along the coasts of Brazil, and, together with the
waters of the southern basin, resumes the route of the
cape and the Indian Ocean. The other and principal
branch takes a west-north-west direction, rolls its waters
GULF STREAM. 195
along the shores of Guyana, enters the Caribbean Sea
which Rennel calls a sea in motion, rather than a
current,' penetrates into the Gulf of Mexico, making its
circuit, and, passing before the mouths of the Mississippi,
arrives at the nairow passage between the point of
F'orida and the Island of Cuba, whence it comes forth
under another name.
In truth, the accumulated and moving waters of the
Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are the inex-
haustible source of that torrent of warm water, which,
under the name of the Gulf Stream, precipitates itself
over the breakers of Bahama, flows along the coast of
Florida, at a rate varying from two to five miles an
hour, according to the season, and keeps on its way, upon
a line parallel to the shore at a short distance from its
margin, until it passes beyond Cape Hatteras. The
Stream, hitherto narrow, deep, and rapid, meets in this
vicinity the cold waters from the north, and the sand
banks running along at a distance from the coasts as far
as the southern part of Newfoundland Repulsed by
these obstacles, it makes a sudden turn to the east,
becomes much broader, spreads over tht surface, and
holds henceforth its slackened course to the Azores,
whence it bends towards the south, in order to recom-
mence from the coasts of Africa the immense cycie of
its never-ending rotation.
These warm waters of the tropics advance northward
even beyond the limits we have just indicated. Driven
by the south-east winds prevailing in the northern Allan
tic, they proceed to bathe the coasts of the North of
Europe, the temperature of which they soften, and often
196 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
deposit on the lonely shores of Scotia id and Norway the
plants and seeds of the tropical regions, unanswer-
able witnesses of their distant course.
On seeing the narrow breadth of the Gulf Stream f rom
its origin to Cape Hatteras, one is led to ask how it can
be sufficient to cover with warm water the immense
surface it occupies from this point all the way to the
Azores. The beautiful explorations, executed under the
able direction of Professor Bache, Superintendent of the
Coast Survey, give the answer; for numerous thermo-
metrical soundings prove that off this cape the depth of
the current is such, that at 3,000 feet below the surface
it still presents nearly the same differences of tempera-
ture which distinguish it from the surrounding sea, and
clearly mark its limits. It is doubtless these deep waters
that appear at the surface when it bt comes broad ; for
as it loses in speed, the warm waters are free to ascend
and take the place assigned to them by their lesser
density, at the same time this very cause favors the
accumulation of the waters in the part of the current
where its progress is slackened. It only changes form,
and, in advancing, must lose in depth what it gains in
width.
The polar currents of the Atlantic are perceptible
chiefly on the coasts of America. Hudson's and Baffin's
Bay and the Sea of Greenland pour their waters and
their ice along the eastern coast of the continent, and
contribute, doubtless, to lower the temperature.
Such are the most salient features of the vast pic-
lure presented by the oscillations of the ocean waters.
AJ though we have merely touched upon the subject, we
OLD WORLD AND NEW WORLD. 197
Know alieady enough, I believe, to be convinced that, if
the causes of these mi vements flow, for the most pan,
from the general laws regulating the physical constitu-
tion of the globe, the r evolutions, and the special and
individual characters they assume in each ocean, are
an immediate result of the configuration and disposi-
tion of the terrestrial masses forming the basin of the
seas.
The great oceanic currents are one of the grandest
phenomena presented by the wise economy of nature.
Their extent, the prodigious length of their course, in
some nearly equal to the circumference of the globe, fiL
us with astonishment, and leave far behind everything
of this description to be seen in the water courses of the
continents. Owing to these permanent streams, the sea
waters mingle from pole to pole, and move with sleep-
less flow from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, and from
this to the Atlantic ; and this unending agitation pre-
serves their healthfulness and purity.
Like the winds, the currents tend to equalize differ-
ences, to soften extremes. The cold waters of the
Antarctic pole temper the scorching heats of the coast
of Peru ; the warm waters of the Gulf Stream lessen
the severity of the climate of Norway and the British
islands. Their importance is no less in the relations of
the people and the commerce of the nations. It is the
currents which, together with the winds, trace the great
^nes of communication upon the highways of the oceans,
favoring or obstructing the intercourse of one country
willi another, bringing near together places apparently
the most remote, separating others that seem to touch
17*
198 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
each other. Their importance in nature and history
cannot fail to impress the minds of all.
We abandon the ocean, and shall, henceforth, occupy
ourselves only with the continental masses. To study
them better in their analogies and their differences, to
detect their true character, we shall consider them suc-
cessively in their natural groups, under two different
points of view, which we have already indicated ; I
mean as the Old World and the New, then as the
Northern and Southern continents. Let us begin with
the contrast of the Old World and the New.
The most prominent feature of the arrangement of the
continents is, in fact, the grouping of the two Americas
hi one hemisphere, and that of the four others in another
hemisphere. This division of the continents into two
worlds is so evident from the first glance, and is at the
same time so convenient in practice, that it has passed
into common speech as one of those observations admit-
ting no contradiction.
But to bring out prominently the contrast of these
two worlds, they must be studied more in detail than we
have thus far done ; we must compare them, in order to
deduce, by the comparison itself, the special character
of each. This is what we are going to attempt. We
have already seen that they differ in the forms of their
relief and in their climate ; we shall further see that
these fundamental differences produce analogous effects
in the organized beings, and in the entire physical life of
each of the two worlds. Finally, we shall speak of the
nannnr in wh ; :h they acr upon each other, and seem, by
OLD WORLP AND NEW WORLD. 19ft
thoir very nature, destined not to live isolated, but tc
form together a single organism, a grand harmony.
During the whole of this study, please to remember,
gentlemen, we are in the realm of nature, and not
in that of history. The America we are seeking to un-
derstand is that which Columbus and his successors dis-
covered, still entirely a virgin world, centuries ago ; and
not the New World of history, we shall have to speak
of later, that has come to plant itself on that soil.
A general comparison of the two groups of continents
will call to mind some of the leading features we have
already become acquainted with, and add some others.
The Old World and the New World differ in the
groupings, and in the number and extent of the conti-
nents composing them ; in their astronomical situation,
with respect to the climatic zones ; in the general direc-
tion of their lands; in their interior structure. This
assemblage of opposite characters secures to each of
them a climate, a vegetation, and an animal kingdom,
peculiarly their own.
I say, first, in their groupings :
The Old World is composed of four comments. Set-
ting aside Australia, which is only an island in the midst
of the oceanic hemisphere, it numbers three, all very near
each other, aggregated, and forming an oval, compact
mass, whose extent far surpasses that of every other
terrestrial space. It presents a solid extent of land, the
most vast, the most unbroken, the least accessible in its
centre to the influences of the Ocean. The Old World
is preeminently the continental world.
The New World lias only fro continents, North Amer-
200 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
ica and South America, America and Columbia, as I
should like to call them to render justice where right
belongs if it were not forbidden to change names con-
secrated by long us age. These two continents are not
grouped in one mass, nor placed side by side, but sepa-
rated from each other, not touching upon their long
sides, but by their exterior angles, standing in line,
rather than grouped. They are situated in two opposite
Hemispheres, and thus more distant from each other,
ipparently, and less neighboring.
The result of this remarkable disposition is that nar-
row, lengthened, slender form we see in the New World.
No portion of the interior is very remote from the sea-
coasts; everywhere it gives access to the influences of
the ocean, in the midst of which it is placed, like a long
island. This form already, contrasted with that of the
Old World, gives to it its character. The New World is
essentially oceanic.
The astronomical position, relatively to the climatic
zone, is also not the same in the two worlds.
The Old World is, as it were, crowded back upon the
north of the equator ; it belongs, for the most part, to
the northern hemisphere and to the temperate zone. Of
the three principal continents composing it, the two
whose importance is by far the greatest, Europe and
Asia, are temperate. Asia penetrates the torrid regions
only by the southern peninsulas; Europe at no point;
Australia is sub-tropical ; Africa only is truly tropical.
Even if we take in the last two continents, more than
two thirds of the lands are situated in the temperate
regions, one third only in the equatorial regions. The
f Md World is the i essentially temperate.
WRECTION OF THE LANDS 201
In the New World the lands are distributed in a man-
ner nearly equal in the two zones and in the two hemi-
spheres. W3 find that the countries it includes, those
the most richly endowed, are situated under the sun
of the tropics. Compared with the Old World, the Now
World is thus essentially tropical
The general direction of the lands, or the direction in
which their length extends, is the inverse in the two
worlds. The Old World has its greatest prolongation
from east to west, in the line of the parallels ; the New
World from north to south, in the direction of the merid-
ians. Both have a length of about 7,500 miles, but the
breadth of the Old World is nearly double that of the
New. This disposition is of the greater consequence for
the distribution of the climates in each of them, since
this configuration coincides, as we have seen, with the
interior structure, with the direction of the principal
mountain chains, and of the table lands. From one end
to the other of the Old World, over a space of several
thousand miles, the migratory tribes are able to pursue
their adventurous roaming course by following, accord-
ing to their custom, the great features of relief of the
soil, without witnessing any change in the vegetation 01
the animals that surround them. They change place
but not climate, nor ways of life. This similarity of
climates over long spaces is, then, a property of the Old
World, and must have singularly favored the dispers-ion
of the primitive tribes.
In the New World, on the contrary, the zones of
similar climates are short ant* numerous; and if we
trave ovei the-h)le Imgth ot the two Americas, we
202 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
pass twice in succession through all the temperatures
from the frozen climate of the poles to that of the equator,
and Irom the burning climate of the equator to that of
the poles. This diversity of climate gives their char-
acter to the Americas.
Meantime, the interior structure modifies these climatic
le ations in the two worlds, in such a manner as to
correct the uniformity of climate in the Old by more
marked contrasts, and the too great diversity of the
New, by gentler and better graduated transitions. We
shall see this as we proceed to a closer examination of
the structure of the two Americas, which will particu-
larly occupy us this evening.
The maps we shall make use of in this inquiry,
these you see before you, require perhaps some explana-
tion. They are intended to enable the eye to take in
by a single glance the different elevations of relief; we
see here the low plains, the table lands, and the moun-
tains, each indicated by a particular color. (See plate i.)
I need not call your attention to the usefulness of substi-
tuting, in teaching geography, such physical maps, for
the flat and perfectly unmeaning charts found in the
common atlas.
What characterizes the interior structure of the New
World is its simplicity. In place of the variety of the
Old Wor.d, where, in spite of a few general features
common to both, each continent is, as it were, cast in
a separate mould, the two Americas seem absolutely
formed ;.pon the same plan. This plan may be sketched
out in a fevr lines. Two triangles, their vertices turned
*o the soutn, one situated north-west of the other ; the
STRUCTURE OF THE NEW WORLD. 203
long cord of the Rocky Mountains and of the Andes,
running the length of the extreme western coast, and
binding the two continents together ; great plains on the
east, forming the larger part of their surface ; a slightly
elevated chain along the Atlantic coast of both, .he Alle-
ghanies in North America, the Serra do Espinha^o and
the Serra do Mar of Brazil, in South America; finally, in
the centre, three short, transverse chains, that of Parime
in the Guyanas, that of Venezuela, and that of the great
Antilles, broken into a number of islands; these, in a
few words, are all the essential features of this vast
division of the world.
That which constitutes the richness of organization in
the continents, is the number and abundance of internal
contrasts calling out at once the activity of nature and
that of man. The Old World is full of them ; America
has only a small number, all tending to disappear by
reason of the structure itself.
Thus, in Asia and Europe, the line of the highest
lands, the continental axis, extending from the Him-
alaya to the Alps and the Pyrenees, divides these two
continents into two unequal parts, one north and one
south, opposite in climate, in vegetation, and even in
races. Scarcely anywhere is the transition from one to
ihe other gradual ; almost everywhere it is abrupt and
sudden. The table lands of Tubet and frigid Mongolia
touch ths tropical plains of China and of the Indies; tact
traveller who passes the Alps, abandons the severe land-
scapes and the firs of the North, to descend, by a single
day's journey, into the ever verdant gardens and the
orang' groves of fair Italy ; he exchanges the cold mists
204 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of the North for the sun of the South, and often eaves
on one side the snows and frosts of winter, to find on
the other the warm breath of spring, its verdure and its
flowers.
This striking contrast between the North and the
South, reflected in the character and history of all the
nations of Asia and Europe, is doubtless found in
America ; it is perhaps too well known in tnis
country. But in nature it is almost effaced; is soft-
ened down. It does not form a barrier; nowhere
presents an abrupt change; nowhere breaks the unity.
On account of the continued plains of the continent, we
seo the natural character of the North gradually melt
into that of the South. Between the shores of the
Frozen Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico lies the whole
distance from the icy regions to the tropics. But
it is only slowly, and over long spaces, that we pass
through the transition. From the treeless polar plains,
where flows the Mackenzie River, whose sole covering
is the mosses and the lichens, we pass only by degrees
to the coniferous forests of Lake Superior ; then to the
oaklands of Wisconsin ; the walnuts, hickories, and the
chestnuts of Ohio and Kentucky next appear ; further
souli, the magnolia and the palmetto already herald the
air of the tropics and the neighborhood of the Gulf of
Mexico. Two thousand four hundrei miles separate
the extremes of this scale of vegetation, which almost
touch each other in the Himalaya. /?; Qr
It is, moreover, to these vast plains, offering no
obstacles to the dissemination of the species, and to the
absence ol great chains from east to west, that we
CONTRAST OF EAST AND WEST. 2C5
undoubtedly owe the appearance, at the North, of plants
and animals that seem to belong only to the tropical
regions. Not without surprise, the European, landing
on these shores, sees the humming-bird, that diamond
of the tropics, glancing in the sun in a country which
winter clothes, during long months, in a thipk mantle
f>f snow and ice.
Ii is the same towards the South, where we see the
palm trees and the parrots of the tropics, here and there,
as far as the Pamias of Buenos Ayres, much beyond
their natural limits.
Thus the contrast between the North and the South
is softened, reduced ; but it is not annihilated ; it exists
on a great scale from one of the continents to the other ;
for North America is temperate, and South America is
tropical.
America is cut by the Andes into two parts, East and
West, as Asia and Europe are cut into two parts, North
and South. But this contrast likewise is almost neu-
tralized, as we shall soon understand.
The inequality is here carried to the extreme, to such
a reduction of one of the parts, that it loses its impoi-
tance, and, so to speak, its power of reaction. The
western coast, dry and barren, has not extent and
influence enough to enter upon an effective rivalry with
the vast countries of the East. Moreover, the diffculty
P communication renders the mutual action and the
intercourse between the countries situated at the foot of
(lie two inclinations, still more rare. Finally, the two
sides of the Andes, being under the same latitudes, havt.
the same, or -.early the same, climate, and differ merely
18
206 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPKY.
in t\ie degree of moisture or dryness falling to theii por-
tion. The West of the two Americas is only a narrow
strip, not to be compared with the great plains of t'e
East occupying nearly the entire continent, and giving
it its character.
America is then less rich in internal contrasts thai!
the Old World, but has more of unity, because it
is more simple. Undoubtedly, in this uniformity of
structure, in this absence of obstacles to a free circula-
tion from end to end of this world, we are to look for
one of the principal causes of that common character,
of that American physiognomy, which strikes us in aL
the organized beings of this continent, and which we
find again in man himself, in the Indian, all the tribes
of whom, from the banks of the Mackenzie River to
Patagonia, have the same coppery tint and a family
likeness in the features, impossible to mistake.
The climate of the New World, compared with that
of the Old, is distinguished by the abundance of pluvial
waters, in general, by a greater humidity. We have
seen in what manner this phenomenon is the conse-
quence of its narrow and lengthened form ; of the
opening of the great plains that is, of the two con-
tinents almost entire to the winds of the sea; of the
absence of high mountains in the East ; in a word, of
the configuration and general exposure of this part of
the globe. While the Old World, with its compact
figure, its vast plateaus, its high lands in the East,
receives only an average of 77 inches of water by the
year un?er the tropics, America receives 115 inchea
RIVERS OF AMERICA. 207
The temperate regions of Europe have 34 inches ; North
America, 39 inches.
Add to this abundance of water, the extent of plains
permitting the development of vast systems of water
courses, and you will understand the existence of
that innumerable multitude of rivers and lakes, which
are one of the most characteristic features of the
two Americas. Notwithstanding a much smaller ex-
tent than that of the Old World, the New possesses
the largest rivers on the earth ; the richest in waters,
those whose basins occupy the broadest areas. Where
can we find, on the surface of the globe, a river equal
to the mighty Marafion, that giant among the rivers
of the earth, gathering its waters from a surface of a
million and a half square miles, and bearing them to
the ocean, after a course of 3,000 miles ? This mighty
monarch receives in his progress the homage of tributa-
ries, each of which, by its greatness and the abundance
of its waters, would suffice for the wants of a whole
vast country. Such are the Ucayale, the Rio Purus,
the Rio Negro, above all the Madera, rivalling in
importance the river to which it yields the honor rt
giving a name to their united waters. The further it
advances in its majestic course, the more its proportions
increase ; and before arriving at the ocean, its broad
sheet, from the midd*le of which the eye cannot reach
the tanks, seems rather to be a fresh-water sea, flowing
sluggishly towards the ocean basin, than a river of the
continent. Far from its mouth ; the fresh and rruddy
waters of the Amazon are still distinguished at a glance
of the eye from the saline and limpid waves of the
208 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
ocean ; and the slime, borne along by their currents
goes to form, further north, a new soil on the shores of
the continent
In the other continent, th? Father of Waters, the
mighty Mississippi, the second ;f the rivers of the earth.
equals in length the Maranon itself; for its winding
course is 3,000 miles. But its basin covers only from
8 to 900,000 square miles. Who does not know the
importance of tributaries like the Missouri, which
wrongly gives up its name for that of its less powerful
brother ; like the Ohio, the Beautiful River, the stream
with transparent waters; like ths Arkansas, and so
many others composing that vast system of arteries
that vivify the whole West, and are destined to
assume daily a greater and greater importance 1 And
these immense rivers are not isolated. At the side
of the Maranon, the La Plata has a course of not
less than 1,900 miles, and more than a million of
square miles send into it their waters. At the side of
the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence has a course c\f
1,800 miles, and a basin of nearly a million of square
miles.
The Old World offers nothing similar. The great-
est of its rivers, the Yan-tse-Kiang in China, has a
course of only 2,500 miles. The Ganges and the
Nile are far from equalling it. The Volga, the great-
est of the rivers of Europe, exhibits a course of only
1,700 miles, and if it were necessary to enumerate
in America rivers like the Rhine, so celebrated, it
would be almost by the hundred that we sh >uld have
.o citd them.
THE NEW WORLD THE BJiST WATERED. 809
And what shall we say of the abundance of its lakes?
The group of the great lakes of Canada, so character-
istic of North America, nowhere finds a parallel. It
contains at once the largest lakes in the world, ancT
the greatest mass of fresh water united on the surface
of the continents. These vast fresh water seas,
together with the St. Lawrence, cover a surface of
nearly 100,000 square miles, and it has been calculated
that they contain almost one half of all the fresh waters
on the surface of our planet. They, too, are not alone,
and a glance of the eye at the map enables us to
perceive in the North a multitude of lakes but little
inferior in extent : the lake Athapescow, Winnipeg,
Slave Lake, the Great Bear, are worthy to figure
side by side with the lakes of Canada and of the St.
Lawrence.
The rivers and the lakes are the wealth, and justly
form the boast, of America. No continent possesses
so great a number, or those of such large extent, so
well supplied with water, so navigable. Not only do
they fertilize the rich countries they traverse, but they
are now, and will become still more so, the great high-
ways of commerce between all the parts of this vast
world ; we already see enough to hope everything of
Jie future.
Thus, gentlemen, the watery element reigns in the
New World; add to this, that half of its lands are
exposed to the rays of the tropical sun, but that, all the
conditions being equal, America is, on the whole, a little
less warm than the Old World, and we shall have the
essential features of its. climate. The oceanic climate
18*
210 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRa?HT.
this is what America owes to the fundamental forms
and the relative disposition of its lands ; while the Old
World is indebted to it for the preponderance of the dry
and continental climate.
Let us now follow out the consequences of these
physical circumstances upon the development of organic
beings, and the character of the New World will come
out in all its clearness.
The warm and the moist these are the most favor-
able conditions for the production of an exuberant
vegetation. Now, the vegetable covering is nowhere so
general, the vegetation so predominant, as in the two
Americas. Behold, under the same parallel, where
Africa presents only parched table lands, those bound-
less virgin forests of the basin of the Amazon, those
selvas, almost unbroken, over a length of more than
1,500 miles, forming the most gigantic wilderness of this
kind that exists in any continent. And what vigor,
what luxuriance of vegetation ! The palm trees, with
their slender forms, calling to mind that of America
itself, boldly uplift their heads 150 or 200 feet above
the ground, and domineer over all the other trees of
these wilds, by their height, by their number, and by
the majesty of their foliage. Innumerable shrubs and
trees of smaller height fill up the space that separates
their trunks; climbing plants woody-stemmed t Tining
lianos, infinitely varied, surrouid them both witk their
flexible branches, display their own flowers upon the
foliage, and combine them in a solid mass of vegetation,
impenetrable to man, which the axe alone can break
thro igh with succ )ss. On the bosom of their peaceful
THE VEGETATION IS PREDOMINANT. 211
waters swims the Victoria, the elegant rival of the
Rafflesia, that odorous and gigantic water lily, whose
white and rosy corola, fifteen inches in diameter, rises
with dazzling brilliancy from the midst of a train of
immense leaves, softly spread upon the waves, a single
one covering a space of six feet in width. The rivers
rolling their tranquil waters under verdurous domes, in
the bosom of these boundless wilds, are the only paths
nature has opened to the scattered inhabitants of these
rich solitudes. Elsewhere, in Mexico and Yucatan,
an invading vegetation permits not even the works of
man to endure; and the monuments of a civilization
comparatively ancient, which the antiquary goes to
investigate with care, are soon changed into a mountain
of verdure, or demolished, stone after stone, by the
plants piercing into their chinks, vigorously pushing
aside, and breaking with irresistible force, all the o>
stacles that oppose their rapid growth.
South America, and particularly the basin of the
Amazon, is the true kingdom of the palm trees; no-
where does this noble form of vegetation show itself
under a greater number of species. This is a sign of
the preponderating del Jopment of leaves over every
other part of the vegetable growth ; of that expansion
of foliage, of that leafoiess, peculiar to warm and
moist climates. America has no plants with slender,
shrunken leaves, like those of Africa and New Holland.
The Ericas, or heather, so common, so varied, so
chara teristic of the flora of the Cape of ^ood Hope, is
a form inknown to the New World. There is nothing
resembling tt.ose Metrosideri of Africa, those dry Myi-
212 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
ties (Eucalyptus) and willow-leaved acacias, whosa
flowers shine with the liveliest colors, but their nar-
row foliage, turned edgewise to the vertical sun, casts
no shadow. Everywhere, long and abundant leaves,
an intense verdure, a strong and well-nurtured vegeta-
tion, these^re what we find in tropical America.
North America, in spite of its more continental cli-
mate, shares no less in this character of the New World.
The beauty and extent of the vast forests that cover its
soil, the variety of the arborescent species composing^
them, the strong and lofty, stature of the trees growing
there, all these are too well known for me to stop to
describe them. It is because this continent adds to a
more abundant irrigation a soil slightly mountainous,
almost everywhere fertile, securing to it always an
equal moisture, a more abundant harvest of all the
vegetables useful to man.
Not only is the vegetation abundant in the Ne^
World, but it is universal, and this is a further charac-
teristic distinguishing it from the Old. We do not see
there those vast deserts, so common in the other con-
tinents, and occupying a considerable portion of their
surface. The deserts of California and that of Atacama
are exceptions, and, compared with those of Africa and
Asia, scarcely seem made for anything except to serve
as specimens. The llanos of Orinoco, which their geo-
logical nature dooms apparently to the fate of Sahara,
are CDpiously watered during the rainy season, and are
covered then with an admirable vegetation Life,
wliich seemed almost to slumber, almost extinguished,
springs u\- again n^ore beautiful and more vigorous,
ANIMAL LIFE OVERRULED. 213
To the powdered sand, swept along by the winds,
succeed rich pastures, where range a multitude of
indigenous animals, mingled with herds of horses, and
wild asses, coming from Europe; and thousands of
reptiles, buried in the watery slime during the dry
season, reappear, and fill again with life the temporary
rivers and lakes with \vhich these valleys are then over-
flowing. The pampas themselves are not without
vegetation, and support at all times numerous herds.
And who is ignorant that the endless prairies of the Mis-
sissippi and the Missouri produce every year an abun-
dant vegetation, on which feed the bisons and the other
wild tenants of the countries?
But what becomes of the animal in the peculiar
kingdom of vegetation? Blessings are divided; all
treasures belong not to one country alone. This luxu-
riant vegetation, it might be said, seems to stifle the
higher life, in the animal world. Animal life is, as it
were, overruled, enfeebled ; it does not occupy Jiere the
first rank, which is its due ; for it is dry heat, the con-
tinental element, that favors it.
From one end to the other of the animal scale, the
families that seem to give to these countries their
character, by the number of their species and by their
relative abundance, are those connecting themselves,
by their mode of life, with the aqueous, or with the veg-
etative element.
Hence, nothing is more splendid, more sparkling.
than the insect world in South America. The inex-
haustible variety of their species, the brilliancy of their
cclors, the size of their bodies, make them one of tho
214 COMPARATIVE PH\ 6ICAL GEOGRAPHY.
most beautiful ornaments of these regions. Here live
the Hercules beitle, the largest of the Coleoptera; and
those brilliant, broad-wingel butterflies, the Mene-
laiis, the Acbnis, the Achilles, whose varying colors
glitter in the sun like diamonds. But why be aston-
ished? The existence of this little animal world is
almost altogether dependent on the vegetation; the
wealth of the one must create the wealth of the other.
Among the vertebrates, no family is so largely repre-
sented as that of the reptiles, for moisture is their ele-
ment, and the rivers and temporary lagoons of the rainy
season are peopled with Caimans, the crocodiles of the
New World; the Iguanas, the most gigantic of the
lizards , the Basilisks and other species, which multiply
in the warm and sluggish waters. The forests harbor
in great numbers those serpents of every form and
figure, even to those monstrous boas, that are the
terror of the natives themselves. They seem to be at
home in this country.
But among the superior animals, development seems
to be arrested ; it is incomplete. The prevailing types
are at the same time the inferior types. Among the
birds, the stilt-plovers, inhabitants of the marshes and
the shores, of which the number of species far surpasses,
in America, that of any other continent. In the mam-
mifcra, the order of Edentata, the Armadillos, the Pan-
golins, the Ant-eaters, the Sloths, which characterize,
more than any other family, the fauna of South Amer-
ica, not only in the present epoch, but also in the
geological ages. And if we seek representatives of the
higher orders, v>. find them less numerous in species
INFLUENCE UPON MAN.
smaller in size ; in a word, far inferior to the correspond-
ing animals of the Old World; in the ordei of the
Pachyderms, instead of the elephant, the rhinoceros,
the hippopotamus, those giants of the Old World, the
feeble and harmless tapir and the pecari ; in the Rumi-
nants 4 instead of the camel and the dromedary, tho
lama of the Andes, which reach only half their size ;
instead of the lordly lion of Africa, and the ferocious
tiger of the islands of the Ganges, the ounce and the
jaguars of the forests of Brazil, which are scarcely more
than large cats. In the monkey ., finally, those with a
prehensile tail, peculiar to America, are reckoned among
the least perfect, the lowest of their order in the scale of
organization.
Not only are the superior animals ill represented on
this continent, but they have not the strength, nor the
indomitable courage, not the ferocity, nor the intelligence
of the similar creatures of the Old World. Tn all tropical
America especially, as we see, the whole animal king-
dom remains in an inferior condition. It is subjected to
the watery element, and to the vegetable world ; for in
those regions where vegetable life is the superior, animal
life stands but in the second degree.
North America, however, in consequence of her more
continental character, possesses some superior types,
which recall to mind, and perhaps equal, those of the
Old World. The majestic bison, the deer, the elk, and
the bear, give evidence of that same vigorous northern
nature which predominates in the temperate continents,
and of which, as we shall see, North America possesses
her share.
216 COMPARATIVE PHYSlL.iL GLOGRAPHY.
Man himself, the indigenous man 1 mean, bears in his
whole character the ineffaceable stamp of this peculiarly
vegetative nature. Living continually in the shadow of
those virgin forests which overspread the land he inhab-
its, his whole nature has been modified thereby. Tho
v r>ry copper hue of his complexion indicates that he lives
not, like the negro, beneath the scorching sunbeams.
His lymphatic temperament betrays the preponderance
in his nature of the vegetative element. The Indian is
of a melancholy, cold, and insensible race. " Foreign
to our hopes, our joys, our griefs," says a traveller, "it is
rarely that a tear moistens his eyes, or that a smile lights
up his features." The most barbarous tortures cannot
extort from him a single complaint, and his stoical indif-
ference is disturbed only by vengeance or jealousy. If he
sometimes exhibits a display of prodigious muscular force,
he is yet without endurance. Who knows not that when
the first invaders of the New World endeavored to com-
pel the inoffensive Indians, who had received them as
gods, to the rude labors of the mines and the cultiva-
tion of the soil, these men of the woods, incapable of
enduring fatigue, perished in agony by thousands? And
it was thereupon that the Europeans substituted for the
Indian the robust and vigorous native of the Old World,
the negro, who still, to this day, used as the instruments
of the white man's labor, endures, I had almost said,
gayly, a degree of toil equal to that which destroyed the
native of the country.
The social condition of the Indian tribes is tinctured,
in an equal degree, by the powerful influence of his
vegetative character. The Indian has continued the
CONCLUSION. . 217
j&an of the forest. He has seldon. elevated himself
Above the condition of the hunter, the lowest grade on
the scale of civilization. The exuberance of the soil has
never been of value to him ; for he asks not of the earth
his nourishment. He has never even ascended to the
rank of the pastoral man. With him no domestic
animals are maintained to feed him with their milk, or
clothe him with their fleeces, as they are by the nomadic
races of the Old World. From one to the other extrem-
it y of America, we find the same lamentable spectacle ;
the people of the elevated table lands of Mexico and
Peru are the only exception to this picture, and this
exception goes far to establish the influence of the vege-
tative and humid nature of the lower plains of America.
For if these nations do not exhibit the same character of
inferiority ; if they have raised themselves a little higher
hi the sphere of humanity, by the aid, perchance, of ele-
ments foreign to their own continent, it can be for no
other cause than that, living in those heights, those
aerial islands, above the influence of the hot and humid
atmosphere, they have been removed from the potency
of its action.
Such, gentlemen, is the order, the admirable connectior
of the phenomena ot nature with each other. The con-
formation and position of the New World give to it a hot
an ji watery climate ; this impresses its own character on
all the organized creation. Man himself, the one being
preeminently free, is liable to its influence, in proportion
as he neglects the exertion of those superior faculties
wherewith he is endowed for the conquest and subjuga-
19
218 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAi GEOGRAPHY.
tion of that, nature which was intended, not to govern,
but to serve him.
We may rest, then, in this conclusion, that, as compared
with the Old World, the New World is the humid side
of our planet, the oceanic, vegetative world, the passive
element awaiting the excitement of a livelier impulse
from without. Such is the America of Nature, such was
it before the arrival of the man of the Old World. Wa
know already, and we shall see bettei yet hereafter, ail
that his superior intelligence has been e .alr^l to effect in
the way of irr proving upon nature.
LEC'I URE IX.
Geographical characteristics of the Old World The continent of
Asia-Europe Comparison of its structure with that if America
The continental climate prevailing in the Old World Conse-
quences Vegetation less abundant Preponderance of the animal
world The Old World the country of the higher and historical
races Reciprocal action of the two worlds by means of man
Establishment of the man of the Old World in the New Histor-
ical America compared with Europe Alliance of the two worlds ;
solution of the contrast.
AND GENTLEMEN :
The comparison we have made between the Old
World and the New, and the detailed study of the first,
have enabled us, I think, to determine its true character,
the character assigned to it by its physical nature. The
character it owes to its more oceanic position, to the
abundance of the waters, to a more tropical situation,
to a more fertile soil, is the marked preponderance of
vegetable life over animal life. A vigorous vegetation,
abundant rather than delicate, immense forests, a soil
everywhere irrigated, everywhere productive these are
the wealth of America. Nature has given her all the
raw materials with liberality; has lavished upon her all
useful gifts.
But our globe would be incomplete, gentlemen, A f this
element were alone represented, if this were the only
world that existed. The comparative study we have
commenced has shown us already that this it> no f the
220 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
case ; the group of continents combined in the eastern
hemisphere has already appeared as possessing an
assemblage of characters, securing to it an entirely
different nature. One of the two worlds is by no means
a repetition of the other ; for the Author of all things is
too rich in his conceptions ever to repeat himself in his
works.
We know already a good number of the physical
characteristics of the Old World, an unknown world to
us no more. Nevertheless, it is well to recall them here,
in order to group them in a single picture, and to deduce
from them the essential and characteristic feature which
distinguishes it from America.
The number of the continents, double that of the
New World, their grouping in a more compact and solid
mass, make it already and preeminently the continental
world. It is a mighty oak, with stout and sturdy trunk,
while America is the slender and flexible palm tree, so
dear to this continent. The Old World if it is allow-
able to employ here comparisons of this nature calls to
mind the square and solid figure of man ; America, the
lithe shape and delicate form of woman.
The direction of the principal reliefs, the prolongation
of the Old World from east to west, and its more north-
ern position, cause it to belong rather to the temperate
zones than to the zone of the tropics, and give, thiough-
out its whole length, a more similar climate.
If America is distinguished by the simplicity of its
'nter'or structure, and by the consequent imity of char-
acter, the Old World, on the contrary, presents the variety
of stmctur* carried to its utmost limits. While America
THE OLD WORLD. 221
as we have seen, is constructed upon one and the same
plan in the two continents, the Old World has at least
three, as many as its separate masses; one for Asia and
Europe, one for Africa, a third for Australia ; for, in spite
of their resemblance in certain general features, common
to them, as the law of the reliefs has taught us, each of
these three continents has none the less its special struc-
ture, which is not the same in Australia as in Africa, nor
in Africa as in Asia-Europe.
The great mass of Asia-Europe, which may be well
called a single continent, of a triangular form, whose
western point is Europe Asia-Europe, by itself, forms
already the pendant of the two Americas. Like the New
World, it is divided into two parts by a long ridge of
heights, of mountain chains, and of table lands, forming
a line of the highest elevations, and the axis of this con-
tinent; the Himalaya, the Hindo-Khu, the Caucasus, the
Alps, the Pyrenees, are analogous to the long American
Cordilleras.
This ridge also divides the Old World into two unequal
parts, but is not placed on one of the edges of the conti-
nents, as in America. It is only a little out of the centre,
so that it divides the whole surface into two opposite
slopes, unequal certainly, but the narrower is neverthe-
less considerable. The northern slope is more vast : it
contain s all the greaf plains of /he North, but it is less
favored by the climate, and by the forms of tne soil.
The southern slope is less extended, but it enjoys a more
beautiful climate; nature is richer there; it is move
indented, more variously moulded ; it possesses all those
fine peninsulas, ti e two Indies, Arabia, Asia Minor,
19*
222 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Greece, 1 taly, Spain, which form the wealth of Asia and
Europe. Figure to yourselves the coasts of the Pacific,
furnished with a series of peninsulas of this description,
and you will have an idea of the augmentation of wea'tfc
that would result to America from such an addition.
We will point out still another difference.
While in America the plains are always situated on
the same side of the chain of the Andes, in Asia-Europe
the table lands and the plains are situated on the two
sides of the continental axis alternately. Thus, in East-
ern Asia, the great plateau of Tubet and Mongolia is on
the north, and the plains of the Ganges are on the south.
In Western Asia, on the contrary, the plateaus of
Afghanistan and Persia are on the south, the plains
of Tartary on the north. In Europe, a different situ-
ation still ; on the south of the Alps and the Pyrenees
are the peninsulas and their gulfs, the mountain chains
and their plateaus ; in general, countries more elevated,
but broken and dispersed ; on the north, are chains more
varied, lower; countries more continuous, less cut up,
and the great plains of the North of Germany. All
the combinations seem, if I may say so, to have been
exhausted.
This is not all yet. The axis of Asia-Europe, instead
of forming a continuous wall, without gap and without
breaks, like the Andes, is composed of several isolated
systems, independent of each other, often leaving wide
apanings between them. Sometimes it is a sea that
separates them; sometimes vast plains serve as high
roads to the invading nations, who pass from one side to
the other of this great Carrier, from the northern to the
ASIA -EUROPE, STRUCTURE. 223
southern world. Thus, the lofty chains of the Him-
alaya, and of Hindo-Khu, sink towards the west and
disappear, and no important ridge any longer separates
the inhabitants of the steppes of Lake Aral from tho
dweller on the table land of Iran. The Caucasus rues
abruptly from the level of the Caspian, and terminates
in the same way at the margin of the Black Sea ; and it
is only upon the high shore of this sea that the moun-
tains of Transylvania arid the Balkan again begin to
separate the northern from the southern world. This
break opens to the polar winds and the northern tribes
'he broad gate which has cost the south such, fierce
assaults. The Alps, finally, do not touch the Pyrenees,
and the Languedoc canal, uniting the Mediterranean
with the ocean, proves the importance of this communi-
cation between the two basins.
Let us add, finally, that a large number of chains,
parallel to this great line, and of others cutting it trans-
versely, Ifke the Bolor, the Ghauts of the Deccan, and
the numerous chains of Indo-China, the Lebanus, the
Oural, the Scandinavian Alps, to mention only the prin-
cipal, cut the soil in all directions, divide it into a multi-
tude of different basins, of natural regions, having their
several limits, their climate, their special character, and
we shall be convinced of the truth of the assertion, that
in the Old World, variety of structure is canied to the
extreme.
Thus, while America is distinguished by simplicity of
form? and unity of plan, the Old World has in turn a
diversity of reliefs, of combinations of mountain chains,
of p'-.teaus and of plan s, multiplying to infinity those
224 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOOR 1PHY.
differeric :s. those interior contrasts, wherewith America
is less richly provided, and which, as we know, are one
of the most powerful means of development.
The character of the climate of the Old World, taken
as a whole, is a result of all the general features of con-
figuration we have thus far ascertained. The vast
extent of this group of continents, the height and num-
ber of its table lands, the greater elevation of its eastern
regions, close it against the influences of the ocean,
scarcely holding its empire over the shores. If the
climate of the New World bears, in general, the oceanic
character, that of the Old World, on the other hand, is
dry, comparatively hot, extreme ; in a word, continental.
If the western hemisphere is the humid side of oui
globe, the eastern hemisphere is the arid side.
The character of the climate of the Old World is
reflected in the organic beings, as we might expect,
and it stamps, on the vegetation and the animal world,
a special impress, important to be noticed.
In the Old World the vegetation is less universal, less
plentiful, than in the two Americas. Nowhere on its
surface du we encounter virgin forests, whose extent can
be compared with the boundless selvas of the Amazon ;
they are found, doubtless, in the tropical regions of
Africa and tho Indies ; but they are rather local phenom-
ena, and do r<ot give their character to vast countries.
On the othtr hand, the Old World is the world of steppes
and deserts. Nowhere else are those dry and barren
plains so numerous, so extensive, so unbroken It is
enough to mention the boundless steppes of Russia and
Caucasus, of Sib ria and the Altai of Tartary and of
OLD WORLD, VEGETATION. 225
Turkestan; to r3call to mind the great zone of deserts
obliquely traversing the Old World in its greatest length,
from the shores }f the Atlantic, through Sahara, Arabia,
Eastern Persia, and Mongolia, to the Pacific Ocean, and
occupying all the central part of the lands of the three
continents united, to be convinced that the distinctive
character of the climate of the Old World is dryness.
The general forms and aspect of the plants them-
selves, at once declare the parsimony wherewith nature
has provided for them the moisture so essential to their
full development. Instead of expanding their surface
for evaporation and absorption, their leaves seem to
fold upon themselves, to concentrate themselves into a
smaller volume ; they have a tendency to approach the
linear shape, the pointed form we notice in the pines ;
they often become membranous, leathery ; or the plant
is covered with a soft down, with a nap, or even with
prickles, which are only leaves or branchlets, trans-
formed and hardened under the influence of a dry air.
Or, still further, they take those plump, fleshy, cylin-
drical forms, which seem struggling to contain the great-
est quantity of vegetable matter in the smallest possible
volume. Such is the flora of Southern Africa, with its
Stapelias, its juicy Mesembryanthems, its brilliant Aloes,
its delicate Mimosas, its Metrosideri, its heaths without
number. Such is that of Australia with its forests of
Eucalypti, its Banksias, and its Casuarinas, with then
loc.g and laked, pendant, thread-like branches. fSuch,
moreover, s the flora of the steppes and the deserts of
Arabia and Gobi, (for there, also, are still some scanty
repress' tatives of the vegetable world,) consisting en-
826 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHX.
tirely of plants of a dry and ligneous nature, often
c.othed with white down, or of gray hues, imitating tha
color of the dust 3f the desert. In all these countries
the forests are rare, of small extent, of little density; the
scattered trees are not invaded by those woody c.irr.cers
which elsewhere entangle and interweave them, anc
form those impenetrable masses of verdure which char-
acterize the tropical wilds of the New World. Thus,
in the vegetable kingdom of the Old World, there is
oftener a scarcity, oftener a sufficiency, but rarely an
abundance.
Nevertheless, because the vegetable does not reign
there by its mass, is this saying that it reaches a less
perfect organization? No, gentlemen, no such thing.
It is this dry and warm climate that produces the deli-
cate fruits of Persia and of Asia Minor, elaborates those
refined juices, those perfumes, those fine aromas of the
East, the fame of which was already established in the
remotest antiquity. These same regions of the Old
World have given us coffee from Arabia, and tea from the
uttermost Orient, so precious to all the civilized nations.
The East Indies and their archipelago^ as we have said,
under the influence of the vigor of the continent and the
moisture of the ocean, yield those concentrated products,
those strong spices, the nutmeg, the clove, the ginger,
there in its native CDuntry; the pepper, the cinnamon,
of whicL the whole world rr.akes use. It is these same
countrias that present us the largest leaves and flowers
known ; there, also, grows the Banyan tree, the symbol
of vegetable strength ; it is in Africa that the huge
Baobab unfolds itself -- the Adansonia, whose trunk
OLD WORLD, VEGETATION. 227
sometimes measures twenty-five feet in diameter. But,
gentlemen ; let us acknowledge it, these are the products
of favored spots ; the common rule, I do not speak of
quality, but of quantity, the general rule of the Old
World is economy, and not superfluity.
But if vegetation in the Old World seems reduced to
a subordinate place, it is not so with animal life ; this
TTC find here in its fulness, and varied to a degree the
New World knows nothing of. While it seems to be
impoverished and subdued in the dank atmosphere of
tropical America, it flourishes most of all in the dry, hot,
exciting climate of Africa and Asia.
America, as we have seen, is the domain of insects
and reptiles, which prosper in the humid and vegetative
element.
The Old World is the domain of the higher animals,
the Mammalia, the number of which, their variety, their
strength, and their size, give character to the animal
kingdom of these countries. As we have said, when
3omparing the animal kingdoms of the two worlds, not
only the representatives of the corresponding families
are larger and stronger in the Old World, but they
appear in more numerous genera and more varied
species, and even exhibit types entirely foreign to Amer-
ica, as the giraffe, the giant of the Ruminants.
The servants and companions of man, the horse, that
noble animal which he can neither forego for his wants
nor for his pleasures ; the ox, more useful still ; the dog,
his faithful friend, are gifts the Old World has bestowed
upon the New. Finally, the presence of the Chimpanzi
of Africa, and of the Orang-outang of the Indies, whose
228 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
figure comes the nearest to man's, proves that the devel-
opment of animal life readies here the utmost limits it
can attain, apart from man himself.
The animal kingdom, as we see, has, in the Old
World, the preponderance over the vegetable, as in the
New World the vegetable had over the animal. The
kind of enemies man encounters in the one and tne
other world, when he struggles with nature, already
tell us what is their character. In America, the over
flowing rivers and their lowlands ; the virgin forest, the
climbing plants and their impenetrable thickets ; the
poisonous reptiles, and the devouring insects multiplying
there, are his most formidable enemies. In Africa or in
Asia, it is thirst, the moving sands, and the burning
heat of the sun; it is the lion, the tiger, the hyena,
and all the ferocious inhabitants of the desert, that
menace his life and encompass him with ever-recurring
dangers.
Let us raise ourselves higher still, and pass into the
province of man himself. We find here the contrast
between the two worlds still more marked. Instead
of a single race, the copper-colored, dwelling in both
Americas, from Labrador to Cape Horn, four different
races, if not five, belong to the Old World, and testify
to the variety of its plastic forms, and to their powerfv
influence upon the organization of man.
The white race is distinguished above them all : the
most periect type of humanity ; the race best endowed
with the gifts of intelligence, and with the profound
moral and religious sentiment that brings man near to
Him of whom he is the earthly image. To this race
ANIMAL LIFE PREDOMINANT. 229
belong, without exception, ail the nations of high
civilization, the truly historical nations ; this still repre-
sents the highest degree of progress attained by man-
kind. After it, the Mongolian and Malayan races,
which might be called the spmi-historical nations, are
still superior in civilization to the copper-colored. If
we take even those races of the temperate regions of
(lie Old World, at the lowest degree of the social scele,
the nomadic tribes of the plateaus of Eastern Asia and
of the western steppes, they are still far superior to the
hunting tribes of the two Americas. There is even in
the tropical man of the Old World, in Africa at least,
a somewhat of native vigor of vital energy, manifested
by hvs sanguine temperament, by his gayety, by his
lively affections, and by his muscular strength, placing
him higher than the Indian of tropical America. His
social state, even, has made a step in advance. The
negro tribes of Congo and Soudan form real common-
wealths , they are acquainted with agriculture.
The density of the human population in the two
worlds speaks with still greater emphasis. Taking the
least uncertain numbers, we find that, while Europe
counts 89 inhabitants to the square mile, Asia 32. and
Africa 14, America has only 4 If we compare, then,
either the races of the two worlds, or the civilized
nations of Europe and of Asia, with those of the ancient
inhabitants of Mexico and Peru; or, finally, the least
cultivated tribes, the nomads and the negroes, with the
hunting Indians of North and South America, the ad-
vantage, in various respects, will remain with the Old
Wor'd.
20
230 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Thus the Old and the New World are distinguished
oy an assemblage of different and opposite character-
sties, making a separate type of each, and giving to
each a peculiar physical aspect. In one, the simplicity
of forms, the moist climate, the dominance of vegetation,
declare the passive element ; in the other, the variety of
forms, the dry and extreme climate, the animal world,
all proclaim the active element. They are opposed to
each other as the vegetable and the animal.
Furthermore, in this great contrast, as in that of land
and water, we find an inequality between the two
factors, considering them as we are now doing, with
respect to their physical nature ; one of the two worlds
appears to us as the superior, the other as the inferior.
The Old World holds the first rank by its mass,
by the number of its continents, by the variety and
richness of its structure, by its continental climate
opposed to the oceanic ; by the preponderance of animal
over vegetable life, by the number and superiority of its
races of men; finally, it is the primitive seat of high
civilization.
But these two parts of our planet are only the parts
of one organic whole. We see in advance and the
law we have so often traced out hi the course of our
studies confirms it we see hi advance, that two indi-
viduals so different from each other cannot be confronted
without entering into relations, without commencing a
life of interchanges, that will enrich them both. Thence,
by this mutual action of the two worlds, will be un-
folded all of the wealth of life, the germs whereof are
deposited in each; a grand unity will be constituted,
THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW. 231
vhich, embracing both, will raise them to the highest
degree of improvement Providence seems to have de-
creed for them by nature itself, but which they cannot
attain without each other's aid.
The inequality we have just established, is, then, an
additional souice of wealth, for it summons forth the
mutual actions, and hastens the solution of this great
contrast.
But how will this mutual action take place ? Physical
nature has exhausted its means of action for producing,
by the intervention of the atmosphere and the winds,
the mixture of land and sea. the diversity of climates
and of organized beings, making the two worlds two
distinct individuals ; it cannot go further ; it belongs
now to man, for whom they were made, to human
societies, to continue this work, to blend their t\vj
natures, and to establish between the two worlds the
permanent bond that is to unite them. In their action
upon the peoples and nations of the globe, all their
physical differences must be reflected, and may be ex-
pected to display their true importance.
/ America lies glutted with its vegetable wealth, un-\
worked, solitary. Its immense forests, its savannas,
every year cover its soil with their remains, which,
accumulated during the long ages of the world, fonn
that deep bed of vegetable mould, that precious soil,
awaiting only the hand of man to work out all the
wealth of its inexhaustible fertility. Meantime, the
human race of the New World, the Indian, the primi-
tive owner of these vast territories, shows himself in-
r.api ble or careless of the work ; never has he opened
232 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
the soil with his ploughshare. K demand the treasures
it encloses. Hunting is his livelihood ; war his holiday.
Upon a soil able to support millions cf men in plenty, a
few scattered inhabitants lead a wretched existence in
the bosom of the wilderness.
Side by side with so much unused wealth, cee the
Old World, exhausted by long cultivation, overloaded
with an exuberant population, full of spirit and life,
but to whom severe labor hardly gives subsistence for
the day; devoured by activity, but wanting resources
and space to expand itself; and you will perceive that
this state of things, that a disproportion so startling,
cannot long exist. The gifts God bestows on man He
requires should be employed, and He takes from him
who does not put it to use, the talent which has been
entrusted to him.
As the plant is made for the animal, as the vegetable
world is made for the animal world, America is made
for the man of the Old World. It is to the latter, as
the active principle, that the first onset belongs.
Everything in nature is admirably prepared for this
great work. The two worlds are looking face to face,
and are, as it were, inclining towards each other. The
Old World bends towards the New, and is ready to
pour out its tribes, whom a resistless descent c f tfie
reliefs seems to sweep towards the Atlantic. America
looks towards the Old World ; all its slopes and its long
plains sweep down to the AtlantL, towards Europe. It
seems to wait with open and eager arms the beneficent
influence of the man of the Old World. No barrier
imposes their progress: the Andes and he Rocky
ALLIANCE OF TI:E TWO WORLDS. 233
Mo in tains, banished to the 3ther shore of the continent,
will place no obstacle in their path. Soon the moment
will come.
Th</ man of the Old World sets out upon his way
Leaving the highlands of Asia, he descends from station
to station towards Europe. Each of his steps is marked
by a new civilization superior to the preceding, by a
greater power of development. Arrived at the Atlantic,
he pauses on the shore of this unknown ocean, the
bounds of wln'ch he knows not, and turns upon his foot-
prints for an instant. Under the influence of the soil
of Europe, so richly organized, he works out slowly the
numerous germs wherewith he is endowed. After this
long and teeming repose, his faculties are reawakened,
he is reanimated. At the close of the fifteenth century,
an unaccustomed movement agitates and vexes him
from one end of the continent to the other. He has
tilled the impoverished soil, and yet the number of his
offspring increases. He turns his looks at once towards
the east and the west, and sets out in search of new
countries. His horizon enlarges; his activity preys
upon him ; he breaks his bounds.
Then recommences his adventurous career west-
ward, as in the earliest ages. His intelligence has
grown, and with it his power and hardihood. Under
(he guidance of the genius Df the age, he attacks
this dreaded ocean, o. which, to this timt,, he knows
only the margin. He abandons himself to the winds
and the currents, which bear him gently towards the
coasts of America. He is enraptured as he treads the
ihrre of this land of wonders, still more adorned in
20*
234 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY.
his eyes by all the fascinations his ardent imagination
ends it.
The European establishes himself little by little upon
this new land ; he gets a foot-hold but slowly ; for, to
his shame be it said, the thirst . for gold seems tho
only motive urging him thither; for gold, that facti-
tious, cheating, transitory wealth, which in the long
run impoverishes him who has it, because it puts hi*
faculties asleep ; that gold, fatal to Spain, the abun-
dant possession of which was the signal of her decline.
To make a fortune rapidly, by all possible means,
and to return to Europe to enjoy it, this was the aim
of the earJest colonists. These are not the true labor-
ers in the great work that is beginning; these are
only the trappers; these are not the civilizers of the
New World ; not to thorn shall it be given to be its true
possessors.
Meantime new bands from beyond the seas soon
discover that the real wealth of America lies in the fer-
tility of the soil. Then begin the interchanges. The
European plants, in this still virgin land, the useful
vegetables he brings from the Old World, the sugar-
cane, the coffee, the cotton, the spices, the cereal grains,
more precious still, and draws therefrom abundant
harvests. The Neav World gives to Europe, in ex-
change, the cocoa, the vanilla, the quinquina, the potato,
above all, alone worth all the rest. The domestic
animals, which are wanting in America, follow the
footsteps of the colonists thither ; the horse, the ass, the
DX the swine, all these useful companions of man, that
act s important a part in the domestic economy of
ALLIANCE OF THE TWO WORLDS. 235
civilized nations, henceforth enrich this second half of
the ear:h.
For a long time America is a daughter of the Old
World, in her minority; and nevertheless, the colonial
system already reacts profoundly upon the development
of the European nations. During the three centuries
following the discovery, the questions connected with
the commerce of the world and the possession of the
colonies grow every moment in importance. Every
day brings with it the establishment of new colonies,
and augments and reinforces those already existing. A
local life makes no delay in displaying itself on this
fresh soil. Whole peoples take root and increase with
rapidity in the midst of that nature which yields them
everything in abundance. They ask no more help
from the mother country ; they are in a condition to
furnish it to her ; the consciousness of strength gnrvs
with their prosperity.
Bitt the hour of independence has struck ; the fruit
is ripe; it drops from the tree. The sons of the Old
World have adopted America for their country ; she has
become their beloved mother. A naerica takes her posi
tion face to face with Europe, not as a minor, but as A
full-aged daughter free, for it is her right. She throws
herself alone, and on her own account, released from
guardianship, with demeanor more open, more frank,
more rapid, into the career of civilization. Now com-
mences a new antagonism, more serious, more vast in
its proportions. The two worlds treat as power witn
power for two free and independent beings look upon
each other. But, gentlemen, they are not enemies
236 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
they are too wel adapted, too truly made for each
other; they have too much need of each other; they
are too much the jomplemerit of each other, not to unito
for their common interest. Their differences will only
serve to excite a more active life, a more extensive and
lasting interchange of all that each can give in abun-
dance to its rival.
Here, in fact, we find all the elements, all the condi-
tions, of a well-assorted union, a true marriage. Is there
not between the peoples of the two worlds a common
basis, an essential, indissoluble tie, which they are not
at liberty to Dreak ? Are they not all the children of a
common mother-race ? the offspring of the same civiliza-
tion, the Worshippers of the same one God and Saviour 1
And yet there is an individual difference of character
between them, arising essentially from the special work
to which each seems to have been called as to an
appointed task. For the American, this task is to work
the virgin soil, and the wealth of the land Providence
has granted to him, for his own benefit and that of the
whole world. For this is the first work to be done, that
whereon the futurity of America depends. He is accom-
plishing it who does not know? with a fiery activ-
ity. He has not too much of all the resources of
industry the Old World and his own experience place
at his disposal, to subdue and fashion at his pleasure
this still somewhat savage nature.
Agriculture here already assumes proportions un-
known everywhere else. Commerce, whose business
s help ng the world to share the wealth of its soil, is
carried on uy 3n the rmst magnificent scale, and cannot
ALL ANCE Ol THK TWO WORLDS. 237
but become still more extend 3d. From the very centre
of the oceans where she reposes, America sends her
ships and her merchandise to the ends of the earth.
Steam will soon join the shores of the Atlantic and
the Pacific, and place the United States on the great
highway from Europe to China. Thus the American
displays in every way a spirit of enterprise that goes
even to the length of audacity. Nothing daunts him,
nothing seems impossible to his activity. Every brain
is teeming with the most gigantic projects, which find
always an echo and support. There is certainly some-
thing of grandeur in the spectacle of the youthful vigor
the inhabitant of the New -World displays, of the intel-
ligent energy with which he does his work. Whatever
be its object were it even not the most exalted
still such energy is worthy of admiration.
The work of Europe, her special task, at the present
moment, is not the same; for her position is altogether
different. Without doubt, industry, commerce, agricul-
ture, employ a large part of her activity ; but the exer-
cise of these arts is not the predominant and characteris-
tic feature of that ancient society. Other cares occupy
her. The desire to know, rather than to possess ; reflec-
tion, more than action ; science, more than its applica-
tion; movement an^ activity in the intellectual and
moral world, rathei than in the material world ; - -
these are what distinguish the Old World and us
inciet.it 3 vilization.
Thus it is there that the high philosophical, mora.,
social questions are treatsd, which so profoundly tasK
the present age : it is thei 3 that the thousand ideas, tne
238 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
thousand diveise systems in all the branches of human
science, whose variety seems an inextricable cc nfusion to
the eyes of the mind that does not master them, bud and
blossom. The European is the man of ripened age, who
reflects ipon men and things, analyzes the causes, and
seeks to understand the lessons of the spectacle the
world presents. The American is the young man, full
of fire and energy, surrendering himself entirely to his
activity, and drawing from life the practical shrewdness
and the sound sense experience gives. While the Euro-
pean discusses and reasons, the American acts and
executes.
But, gentlemen, who does not see what there is exclu-
sive in these two tendencies ? Who does not understand
to how many mutual wants these differences must give
birth 1 how many exchanges of every kind they must
stimulate? what activity, what fulness of life and of
growth for both, what perfection of both will be the
result of these intimate relations? Distressed Europe
seemed unable to live longer without emptying its popu-
'ation into the lap of America. America cannot fulfil
her destinies unless wrought out and brought into use
oy the intelligent races of the Old World. When this
work, now just commencing, shall have been finished,
then only shall we know all the importance of America
to tne entire race of man ; all the importance of the
reactions it is summoned to exercise upon the Old
World.
The Old World is the world of germs ; the New, the
fruitful bosom giving them increase. Europe thinks
Amerb? acts. All these differences, calling for and com-
SOLUTION OF THE CONTRAST. 239
pleting each other, are they not the promise that this
contrast of the Old World and the New will soon also
je resolved into a grand and beautiful harmony that
shall embrace the whole earth 1
Yes, gentlemen, the futurity and the prosperity of
mankind depend on the union of the two worlds. The
bridals have been solemnized. We have witnessed
the first interview, the preliminaries, the betrothal,
the espousal, so fortunate for both. We already see
enough to authorize us to cherish the fairest hopes,
and to expect with confidence their real nation.
LECTURE X.
Contrast of the three continents of the North and the three continent
of the South Physical characteristics of the two groups ; the for-
mer more articulated, more consolidated, more similar ; the latter more
entire, more isolated, more different These differences and analogies
reproduced in the vegetation and the animal world The three con-
tinents of the North temperate ; the three of the South tropical
Superiority of the tropical climate in nature Gradual increase of
life, of the variety and improvement of the types of organized beings,
in proportion to the warmth, from the poles to the equatorial regions
Man alone forms an exception Law of the distribution of the
human races Geographical centre of mankind marked by the race
of the highest perfection Gradual degeneracy of the human type
towards the southern extremities of the continents The geographies
distribution of the races of man and the animals founded upon a differ-
ent principle Advantage of the temperate climate for the improve-
ment of man.
t>ADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
We have considered the whole of the terrestrial
masses, as grouped in two great individuals, the Old
and the New World, which have exhibited themselves as
possessing each a special character, particular advan-
tages, but completing each other, and forming, as it
were, two halves of one great organization. The union
of these two worlds, the resources of which have been
drawn out by the most intelligent and active races, by
the most advanced societies, is the condition, and must
become the means of a progress of the human race,
much superior to what it would have been in each of
NORTHERN WORLD AND SOUTHERN WORLD. 241
fhe two worlds isolated from each uther. It is at least
the hope given us by the law of the resolution of the con-
trasts into a more perfect harmonious unity, which is the
natural product of all normal development. All that
passes under our eyes at the present day, this life of
interchanges between the two worlds, so active, so pow-
fiiful, so progressive, is a proof that we are adv?rxrig
irresistioly tr so desirable a result.
We have now to -.onsider our continents only under
one remaining aspect, under a third point of view, which
[ hope will disclose to us some of the hidden influences
they seem to exercise upon the life of man ; or rather,
which will enable us to observe one of those admirable
harmonies of nature and history, arranged by the Creator
himself for the improvement of this privileged being, for
whom all nature seems made.
This third contrast, we have said, is that of the north-
ern and of the southern hemisphere, or rather of the
three continents of the North and the three continents of
the South. We have considered the earth as divided into
an Eastern World and a Western World ; we shall now
see it distributed into a Northern World and a Southern
World.
1 recall this curious disposition of the continental
masses I pointed out, at our first interview, according to
Steffens, which consists in this, that each northern con-
tinent has south of it a southern continent, more or less
connected with it, whether materially by an isthmus or
a chain of islands and an archipelago, or by the prox-
imity of theii extreme lands. The two continents, thv
brought near together, make always a pair, the inc'ivid-
21
242 COMPARATIVE. PHYSIC.vL GOGRAP'IY.
uals being at once connected and opposite in nature,
Such are the two Americas, a perfect type of the
kind ; such, again, are Europe and Africa, Asia arid
Australia.
This arrangement, then, gives us three continents ic
the North, and three in the South. Now, combining in
this point of view the prevailing features of their phys-
i ;al configuration, of their situation and of their climate,
I would show you :
1. That the continents composing each of the two
groups have common characters, the three in the North
resembling each other, and the three in the South pre-
senting equally strong analogies.
2. That these characters are different and opposed in
the two groups, and constitute a contrast.
3. That this dissimilar nature assigns to the one a
very different part from the others in the progress of
human society.
Let us see, first, how they are distinguished by theii
general forms and by their configuration.
The continents of the North are more outspreac,
more extended, and, taken together, much more vast
They embrace all the plains of the arctic and temperate
regions, the most considerab.e and the most continuous
on the surface of the globe, and forming a great circular
zone of low lands around the Frozen Ocean. Tho
southern continents are more contracted, more narrowed
and pointed, and, in the whole, less extensive. While
the three first embrace a surface of 22 1 millions of
square miles, the last comprise only 16J millions.
The continents of the North are more indented, more
THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN C( NTINENTS. 243
articulated ; their contours are more varied. Gulfs ai>d
inland seas cut very deep into the mass of their lands,
and detach from the principal trunk a multitude of
peninsulas, which, like so many different organs and
memb3is, are prepared for a life, in some sort, inde-
pendent. A great number of continental islands are
scattered along their shores, and are a new source oi
wealth to them. The plastic forms of the soil are still
more varied. We have already seen that, in this re-
spect, Europe and Asia present the most complicated
structure, and the relative situations of the mountain
chains and of their plateaus and their plains, exhaust,
so to speak, all the possible combinations.
The southern continents, on the other hand, are
massive, entire, without indentations, without inland
seas or deep inlets, scanty in articulations of every kind,
and in islands. They are trunks without members,
bodies without organs, and the simplicity of their inte-
rior structure answers to the poverty of their exterior
forms.
These differences are carried to the extreme in the
Old World, where the rich border of peninsulas which
deck the South of Asia and of Europe, hanging like th(
ample folds or the fringes of a royal robe, form a strik
ing contrast to the mean and naked lines of Africa and
Australia. In the New World, where this contrast is
softened, by reason of the unity of plan we hare clearly
made out, the northern continent meantime pot sesses by
itself the few peninsulas which detach themselves from
its coasts, Yucatan, Florida, Nova Scotia, Labrador.
California and the peninsula of Aliaska.
244 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GKOGRAPH*.
Already, then, by the forms of their contouis and ol
their relief, the continents of the North are more jpen to
maritime life, to the life of commerce : they aie* more
richly organized ; they are better made to stimulate im-
provement.
The relative situations of the continents of the tvi o
groups are equally dissimilar.
The northern continents are brought nearer together,
more consolidated. United, they form the central mass
of all the lands of the globe, whence the others appeal
to radiate in all directions, losing themselves as they
taper off in the ocean. For this reason, they have a
more continental character. Owing to this greater
nearness, to the facility of communication between one
continent and another, to the analogy of their climate,
which we shall speak of by-and-by, the three northern
continents have a mutual relationship not to be mis-
taken. From the shores of the Pacific Ocean, along
the coast of temperate Asia, even to the western ex-
tremity of Europe, the vegetation presents the same
aspect, the same general physiognomy. The European
traveller finds, from one end to the other of this im-
mense space, the pine forests, the oaks, the elms, the
maples his eye has been accustomed to from infancy.
In the Himalaya, the Caucasus, or the Balkan, he
bs-iolds again with delight those humble but graceful
forms of the flora he has become acquainted with in
th3 Alps and t'.ie Pyrenees. If he crosses the Atlantic,
whit surprises him at the first glance is, not the nov-
elty of the vegetable forms which he was perhaps ex-
. ecting after a voyage of thirty-five hundred miles ; it
THE NORTHERN WORLD MOKE ALIKE. 245
is the resemblance of physiognomy and aspect, so great
that, in the bosom of the vast forests of Ohio or Canada,
he might almost believe he had not quitted the soil of
Europe. Nevertheless, we hasten to say, this resem-
blance is not identity. The eye of the botanist, even
that of the simple observer, would soon perceive that,
if the types remain the same, the species aie different.
If they are almost always analogous, they are seldom
identical.
In the animal world, the same analogy brill. Noth-
ing is more alike, at the first view, for example, than
those thousands of coleopterous insects, which inhabit
the two worlds. The same air, the same look in the
corresponding species. It is a singular fact, observed
also in the vegetative kingdom, and still a mystery,
that a given genus, in Europe composed of a determi-
nate number of species, is found again in America, with
an almost equal number of corresponding species, with
the same particularities of forms repeated, even to the
design and to the same disposition of colors. And yet,
to the trained eye of the naturalist, every American
species constitutes one very distinct from the analogous
species of the European continent. What takes place
with regard to the genera and species is further true of
certain families and tribes. The examples of this are
numerous, and I would cite them but for the fear of
offending your ears by names which would appear bar-
barous. Rela ions of the same kind exist between the
vertebrates, between the fishes, between the birds of the
two worlds, and it is to these deceptive resemblances
that the confnsion of species and the mistakes of syn-
21*
246 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
onvms are owing, so numerous in American zoology,
and so hurtful to its progress. The mammalia, finally,
make no exception to this law. The reindeer is com-
mon to the polar regions of the three continents; the
bison reminds one of the wild bull and the ox of Europe
and of Asia; the bears, also, are but slightly different
from those of the Old World; the e]k and certain kinds
of stags are so similar, that the zoologist is still in doubt
whether they constitute different species or not.
Thus the resemblance of the organized beings in the
three continents of the North is one of their distinctive
characters ; and this character is due to the circumstance
that, in proportion as the species change with the longi-
tude, their place is taken generally, not by new types,
but by analogous species. Doubtless the similarity of
climate is one of the most active causes of this resem-
blance ; for the variety of the genera, the differences
between the species of the three continents, augment
according to the elevation of temperature ; but this is not
enough to explain the fact entirely ; we shall see that
the continents of the South, under similar latitudes and
in similar temperatures, offer types of animals and of
vegetation very different in^each of them.
The continents of the South are more remote from
>?ach other than the foregoing. Broad oceans separate
them even to isolation. Scarcely any communication
:s possible between lands so distant ; at all events, they
are only indirect. Shut up in themselves, incapable of
reacting upon each other and of modifying their respec-
tive natures, the3 continents are excluded from all
.ownrinity of life. What is there astonishing, then, in
THE SOUTHERN CONTINENTS MORE UNLIKE. 247
eeing their diiferences carried to an extreme, then
characters exaggerated 1
The organized beings of the two kingdoms in these
Jiree continents have, in reality, almost ceased to pos-
jess anything in common. Not only the species that
characterize their floras and their faunas are different,
but they are no longer analogous, and the prevailing
forms, the grand types, are partly quite different. This
is true, above all, of their southern extremities, of thei
points, more isolated still than the central or northern
parts. In Australia, it is the gigantic Myrtacetie, the
flaring Eucalypti, so varied ; the Melaleucas, the numer-
ous species of which compose the greater part of the
trees of the forests ; it is the graceful Mimosas, and their
Acacias with leaf-like branches ; it is the meagre Casua-
rinas, and still other forms whose stunted foliage betrays
the dryness of the soil, that give a particular physiog-
nomy to the whole aspect of nature. Marsupials of
huge size, the kangaroos, and other analogous animals,
gambol in these forests and in the vast savannas; in the
marshes, the Ornithorhynchus, unknown to every other
continent, whose shapeless type brings to mind the
earliest ages of the world, and seems not to belong to
the existing epoch.
In Southern Africa, other forms are found, aiuther
nature. With the pale foliage of the Proteacea;, are
blended the Stapelias, the aloes, with their pulp) leaves
and their brilliant corollas ; the Irideae, with their bold
bearing and splendid colors ; the geraniums : the heaths,
above all, the numberless species of which astonish the
eye by their variety, as much as they chaim it by thei
248 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
modest grace. In place o.' the jumping kangaroos, herds
of nimble gazelles and graceful antelof es wander over
the vast plains of the high regions of Africa. The
hyena, the panther, the lion, strangers to Australia, and
witnesses to a stronger and nobler nature; the giraffe,
wrf.uch Africa alone possesses; all, in a word, assume
another aspect and a peculiar stamp.
If we pass now to South America, the animated world
changes its physiognomy still again. The preponderance
and the variety of its palm trees ; in the richest regions,
the cactus, whose heavy form contrasts with the daz-
zling colors of the flowers ; then the clumsy armadillos,
the tapirs, the ant-eaters, the long-tailed apes, and so
many other animals characteristic of this continent,
which we have already named ; all this has nothing to
remind us of Africa.
Thus, between the three southern continents there is
no community; out of 437 genera of the Australian
flora, scarcely 80 are met with in Africa ; no analogous
species, substitutes for each other ; none of those social
plants covering whole provinces in Europe, Asia, and
North America, and giving them a like character. The
280 species of heath of the Cape occupy a space scarcely
so extensive as is occupied in the North of Europe by the
common heather (Erica vulgaris) alone, so extensively
growing in its barren regions. Thus, in the North,
we have combination, association, resemblance; in the
South, separation, isolation, dissimilarity.
But if the northern continents are evidently favored
by their lorms and then: grouping, is it the same also
<ritb thei r climate?
DIFFERENCE OF CLIMATE.
The astro.n :>mical situation of these two groups is, in
reality, quite different. In consequence of the general
arrangement of the lands, crowding them in a mass
towards the North, the three continents of the North are
situated almost entirely in the temperate zone, in the
middle latitudes. North America and Europe are 3n-
tirely in the temperate and frozen zones ; Asia is so with
respect to its principal mass, and touches the tropical
regions only by its southern extremity. Thus it is seven
parts temperate and cold for one tropical.
The southern continents, on the contrary, expose their
principal and most important mass to the rays of the
equatorial sun. Africa has four parts out of five in the
tropical zone, and the fifth is situated in the warm tem-
perate, and moreover is divided into two narrow belts,
separated on the north and the south of the body of the
continent. South America has five parts out of six in
the tropics, and the sixth part, temperate, is composed
only of the southern point, the poorest in all respects,
which cannot claim to stamp its character. Australia,
finally, belongs three "fifths only to the torrid zone;
nevertheless, it should be said that the other two fifths,
situated in the warm temperate zone, give it its distinc-
tive physiognomy, so that we have called it the sub-
tropical continent.
Thus, taken as a whole, and in their prevailing char-
acter, the three northern continents are temperate, the
three southern continents are tropical. C~0"*+ %
Which ai3 the most favored? which are those we
consider superior to the others?
The answer would be easy, if the existence of the
250 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
continents had no other definite end than the exhibition
of the whole physical life of nature. But let us not
forget that they are to serve a much higher end still ;
they are to serve the development of man, and of human
societies. It is in this two-fold point of view that we
!>ught to consider them.
In the order of nature, and at the first approach, we
sannot deny to the tropical continents a marked superi-
ority. The most powerful spring of physical life, the
most active source, surpassing all the others, is the heat
of that life-giving orb the ancient poets sang, and the
nations of the world, forgetting the only true Creator
of all things, adored as the parent of Nature. But by
reason of the spherical form of the earth, each district
of the surface receives an unequal portion. Slanting,
scattered, and feeble in the regions neighboring the
poles, the beams of the sun assume more strength, and
fall thicker in the middle regions ; in those of the equator
only, they gain all their intensity, all their splendor.
Now, in this same proportion, we see the development
of life increase in energy and variety, from the poles to
the equator.
What do we, in reality, see in the polar and frozen
countries of the North of our continent? During the
greatest part of the year, life seems almost extinguished
by the rigorous cold of a perpetual winter. A colorless
and stunted vegetation, a few creeping shrubs, none of
those stately forests, which everywhere make the orna-
ment of the landscape; endless plains covered with
mosses and ~chens, composed of only a few species,
notwithstanding the immense number of their ind;-
PROGRESS WITH INCREASE OF HEAT. 251
victuals. This is the flora of the cold regions. The
preponderance of the cryptogamous plants, that is, of the
inferior forms of vegetation, the small number of the
genera and the species, the absence or scarcity of
arborescent vegetation, give it that character of poverty
and uniformity which strikes us in these desolated lands.
The animal kingdom, thanks to greater freedom of loco-
motion, is better represented; but the small number
of types and the preponderance of marine animals, st 1
keep up a character of inferiority not to be misunder-
stood.
In the temperate zone, the number of genera and
species is more than doubled ; the superior types acquire
a fuller development and more importance. In the vege-
tation, the preponderance of the phanerogamous plants,
the beauty of the forests, the appearance of evergreen
trees, are the signs of an immense progress. Meantime,
the soft tints, the modest forms, the winter sleep, still in-
terrupting the life of vegetation during long months, tell
us that the triumph of life is not yet complete. The
same progress goes on in animal life ; the land animals
prevail ; the animal species become more numerous and
more diverse.
But it is in the hot region of the tropics that the life
of nature displays its fullest energy, its greatest diversity
its most dazzling splendors. We have already seen wha:
it can produce in those favored countries of India and
the Indian archipelago, where all the conditions seem
brought together to secure to physical life its richest
development. The cryptogamous plants attain, in the
arborescent ferns, the proportions of our forest treea
252 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The grasses, which we only know in our climates unctaf
the humble forms they put on in our fields and pastures,
rise into the elegant and majestic bamboo, to the height
of 60 to 70 feet, and become real trees, whose hard and
hollow trunks serve for the construction of public edi-
fices, as well as for that of private houses. There, the
ontire forests seem double in height, and of a density
unknown in our climates. A single tree is a garden,
wherein a hundred different plants intertwine their
branches, and display their brilliant flowers on a ground
of verdure, where the varied hues and forms of their
leaves are blended together. The number of the species,
the beauty of the -types, are not less astonishing. While,
in America, the temperate zones of the two hemispheres
furnish scarcely more than four thousand species of
plants, the tropical region of this same continent has
already made known more than thirteen thousand ; so
that probably the comparatively narrow zone of the
tropics contains much more than half of the vegetable
species living on the surface of our continents.
The animal kingdom is no less developed, as we
already know, in this privileged zone. The boundless
variety of species, the vivacity of the colors, the diver-
sity of the shades, strike us in the insects and the birds.
We admire the lofty stature and the strength of those
great pachyderms that people its forests and its rivers ;
the force and vigor of the ferocious inhabitants of the
deserts of Africa and the Ganges. It is true, gentlemen ;
here Nature triumphs ; here she displays herself in all
hei brilliancy.
Such is the law in' the physical worid. Nature goes
n adding perfection to perfecron, from the polar regions
PROGRESS WITH INCREASE Ol HEAT. 253
to the temperate zones, from the temperate zones to the
region of the greatest heat. Animal life grows in strength
and development ; the types are improved ; intelligence
increases; the forms approach the human figure; the
orang-ou iang already stands erect upon his feet ; trained
np by man, he has been seen to sit at his table and to
eat with him ; the negro of the woods, deceived by these
appearances, regards him as a degenerated brother, who
holds his tongue only from a desire to get rid of work.
Evidently the development of the animal here touches
upon its highest expression.
This ascending series will then risejx) its termination
in man, who, in his figure, is the crowning excellence of
the whole animal world, and the realization of its very
idea ; and the tropical man also will be the highest, the
purest type of humanity, and, physically speaking, the
most beautiful of his species. All zoology, all nature,
gentlemen, authorize us to draw this conclusion, and, for
my part, I have no hesitation in believing that il would
be so if man had no other rank upon this earth and no
other functions than those assigned him by his physical
nature.
No, indeed, gentlemen, it is no such thing. Who does
not know that man makes here a wonderful exception ?
Par from exhibiting that harmonious outline, those noble
and elevated forms, all those perfections the chisel of a
Phidias or a Praxiteles has combined upon a single
head, the tropical man displays only those unfortunate
figures which seem to approach ever neare r and nearer
the animal, and which betray the instincts of the brute
those figures which we always behold with, I know nol
22
254 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
whai of secret uneasiness, that woulu threaten to grow
into disgust, were not the feeling lost in j.ity still more
profound, and in the charity of a Christian heart. Even
in that India, where physical life attains the utmost
limits known to our earth, the indigenous man is a
black ; the white race history compels us to believe it
has descended thither from the temperate regions of
Western Asia.
If the distribution of the human races on the surface
of tho globe does not follow the law of the rest of nature,
what, then, is the law that regulates it? Or, indeed, is
there some great, fact which may prove to be a rule in
this seeming confusion ?
Much has been said, gentlemen, much has been
written, on this important question of the human rac^s
one of the most difficult and the most delicate the
science of nature and history can propose to itself. I
am not going to discuss it here ; but what I desire is, to
establish, in this province also, a great general fact,
which, as it seems to me, has not been sufficiently
insisted on, and to which has not been attributed the
importance-it deserves. This fact is the following:
While all the types of animals and of plants go on
decreasing in perfection, from the equatorial to the polar
regions, in proportion to the temperatures, man presents
to our view his purest, his most perfect type, at the very
centre of the temperate continents, at the centre of Asia-
Europe, in the regions of Iran, of Armenia, and of the
Caucasus ; and, departing from this geographical centre
in the three grand directions of the lands, the types
ap adually lose the beauty of their forms in proportiou
DISTRIBUTION OF RACES. 255
to theii distance, even to the extreme point? of the
southern continents, where we find the most deformed
and degenerate races, and the lowest in the scale of
humanity.
Please to cast a glance upon this series of drawings,
portraits taken from nature, from individuals who seemed
to have the most characteristic features of their respec-
tive races, and you will be convinced that the fact exists.
(See plates v. and vi.)
Let us take for a type of the central region of Western
Asia, this head of a Caucasian. What strikes us imme-
diately is the regularity of the features, the grace of the
lines, the perfect harmony of all the figure. The head
is oval; no part is too prominent beyond the others;
nothing salient nor angular disturbs the softness of the
lines that round it. The face is divided into three equal
parts by the line of the eyes and that of the mouth.
The eyes are large, well cut, not too near the nose nor
too far from it ; their axis is placed on a single straight
line, at right angles with the line of the nose. The
facial angle is 90 degrees. The stature is tall, lithe,
well proportioned ; the shoulders neither too broad nor
too narrow. The length of the extended arms is equal
to the whole height of the body ; in one word, all the
proportions reveal the perfect harmony which is the
essence of beauty. Such is the type of the white race
the Caucasian, as it has been agreed to call it the
most pure, the most perfect type of humanity.
In proportion as we depart from the geographical
centre of the races of man, the regularity diminishes,
the harmony of the proportions disappears. Let us
256 COMPAR .TIYE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
follow them first in the direction of Europe and of
'Africa.
Although the European may be considered as making
a part of this central race, his features have less of regu-
larity, of symmetry ; but more animation, more mobility,
more life, more expression. In him, beauty is less phys-
ical and more moral.
If we pass into Africa, we meet the Arab, who,
whether in his own country or in Algeria, shows already
a forehead slightly retreating, a head lengthened out of
proportion. The Galla of Abyssinia is almost black,
his long hair begins to crisp, his lips are often thick.
The CafTre has the woolly hair and thick lips of the
negro. The Hottentot, lastly, so struck the first colo-
nists of the Cape by his ugliness, that he served for a
long time as a symbol to express the most degraded
state of humanity. On the other coast of Africa, more
remote from Asia, the degeneracy of form is still more
rapid. The Berbers of the Atlas still evidently belong
to the Caucasian race; but their prolonged head, a
tendency in the mouth to pouting, the spare and meagre
forms, a deeper color, already herald a marked degen-
eration. The Fellatahs of Soudan, and still more the
inhabitants of Senegal, bring us to the pure type of the
Congo negro. In the latter, the retreating forehead, the
prominent mouth, the thick lips, the flat nose, the woolly
head, the strongly developed hind-head, announce tha
prepondt ranee of the sensual and physical appetites
CN er the nobler faculties of the intellect. At the extrem-
ity of Africa, the miserable Bushmen are still lower
than the Hottentots; and, placed by the side of th
DISTRIBUTION OF KACES. 261
Caucasian, mike us see how immense the distance
which separates them.
If, turn ; ng towards Eastern Asia, we direct our looks
as far as the extremity of Australia, the decreasing
beauty of the form is not less perceptible, not less grad-
ual. The Mongolian, with his prominent cheek-bones,
his eyes compressed, wide apart, and elevated at their
outer comers, his triangular figure, his squab and square
form, is wanting in harmony throughout his entire per-
son. The Malays seem to have sprung from a mixture
of the Mongolian with White race, which often improves
the type. The Papoo of New Guinea, in spite of the
blackness of his skin, still preserves some advantages
of form ; but the South Australian, with his gaunt body,
his lean members, his bending knees, his hump back,
his projecting jaws, presents the most melancholy assem-
blage the human figure can offer. These portraits of
an Australian warrior and of a native woman of Van
Diemen's Land, show the last degree to which ugliness
can go in this being, created so perfect, and destined to
be the lord of all the world.
In the third direction, that of America, the same law
makes itself felt. This face of an Oto Indian chief
would have still some advantages, if the prominence of
the cheek-bones, a slight elevation of the outer angle
of the eyes, and the size of the jaw, did not clearly
betray a less perfect nature. In the South American
Indian, all these defects are still more exaggeiated, and
give to the races of the South, compared with those of
the North, a very marked character of infe:*iori*y
Vinally, at the extreme point of the continent, and in
262 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPH1.
Terra del Fuego, live the Pecherays, the most misshapen
the farthest from any culture, the most wretched, c<f all
the inhabitants of the New World.
It would be still the same in advancing towards the
poles. Passing the Finns, we arrive at the Laplanders :
through the Mongolians, we reach the Tongoos, the
Samoiedes of Siberia, and the Esquimaux of North
America.
Thus, in all directions, in proportion as we remove
from the geographical seat of the most beautiful human
type, the degeneration becomes greater, the debasement
of the form more complete. Does not this surprising
coincidence seem to designate those Caucasian regions
as the cradle of man, the point of departure for the
tribes of the earth 1
It results from this remarkable distribution of the
races of man, that the continents of the North, forming
the central mass of the lands, are inhabited by the finest
races, and present the most perfect types; while the
continents of the South, forming the extreme and far-
sundered points of the lands, are exclusively occupied
by the inferior races, and the most imperfect representa-
tives of human nature. This contrast is more decided
in the Old World than in the New ; nevertheless, in tho
latter, notwithstanding the inferiority of the copper-
colored race, we have seen that the man of the Northern
race, the Indian of Missouri, has a marked superiority
over the Indian of the South, over the Botocudes, the
Guaranis, and the Pecherays of South America.
The degree of culture of the nations bears a proportion
to the nobleness of their race. The races of the northern
DISTRIBUTION OF RAufiS.
continents of the Old World alone are civilized; the
southern continents have remained savage. In America,
the civilized Aztecs of Mexico have come from the North.
The ancient civilization of the Quichuas, at the summits
of the Andes of Peru, scarcely seems itself indigenous
to South America. It belongs elsewhere by its elevated
position ; it belongs to the temperate zone.
Now these differences between the North and the
South are not of yesterday, nor to-day. If we consult
the memorials of these tribes, without written history,
bounded and scanty as they are, it might seem that
it has been the same from a time ascending beyond all
our traditions, if we except the Bible. No indication
brings to light in these tropical continents the existence,
at another epoch, of a purer type, of a more perfect race
of men, than the inferior form we there meet with at
the present day. The annals of the tribes in no part of
these continents, record either the birth or the progress
of a civilization which has contributed to the brilliant
development of the present condition of man. Man has
'here always remained at the bottom of the scale of
culture; while, from the earliest days of the world,
history marks out the temperate continents as the seat
of the refined communities. As there is a temperate
hemisphere and a tropical hemisphere, we may, in the
same manner, say there is a civilized hemisphere, ai.d a
savage hemisphere. *&VI&
The distribution of man over the surface of the globe,
and that of the other organized beings, are not then
founded on the same principle. There is a particuiai
law which presides over the distribution of the human
264 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
races and of civilized communities, taken at their cradle
in their infancy ; a different law from that which gov
ems the distribution of plants and animals.
In the latter, the degree of perfection of the types is
proportional to the intensity of heat, and of the other
agents stimulating the display of material life. The
law is of a physical order.
In man, the degree of perfection of the types is in pro-
portion to the degree of intellectual and moral improve-
ment. The law is of a moral order
Thus the geographical march of the perfection of
the species, from the poles to the equator, is suddenly
broken when man appears, to recommence on a plan
wholly new.
This difference between the two laws has its principle
in the profound difference existing between the nature
and destination of these distinct beings. The plant and
the animal are not reqm .d to become a different thing
from what they already are at the moment of their
birth. Their idea, as the philosophers would say, is
realized in its fulness by the fact alone of their material
appearance, and of their physical organization. The
end of their existence is attained, for they are only of a
physical nature. But with man it is quite otherwise.
Man, created in the image of God, is of a free and
moral nature. The physical man, however admirable
may be his organization, is not the true man ; he is not
311 aim, but a means; he is not an end, like the animal,
but a beginning. There is another, new-bom, but
destined to grow up in him, and to unfold the morai
ind religious nature until he attain the perfect stature
CAUSE OF DIFFERENCE. 265
vf his master and pattern, who is Chijst. It is the
intellectual and the moral man, the spiritual man.
The law of development, if I may say so, is the law
of man, the law of the human race, and of human
societies ; now, the free and moral being cannot unfold
his nature without education ; he cannot grow to matu-
lity, except by the exercise of the faculties he has
received as his inheritance.
Here is the reason, gentlemen, that the Creator has
placed the cradle of mankind in the midst of the conti-
nents of the North, so well made, by their forms, by
their structure, by their climate, as we shall soon see, to
stimulate and hasten individual development and that
of human societies ; and not at the centre of the tropical
regions, whose balmy, but enervating and treacherous,
atmosphere would perhaps have lulled him to sleep the
sleep of death in his very cradle.
Have we not the sad picture of what might have
become of man, if he had had for his birth-place only
the warm regions of the earth, in the wretched condition
in which our unfortunate brethren of the inferior races
still live, wandering to the furthest extremities of the
tropical climates ?
The fact of the gradual modification of the human
types as we depart from a central race, seems to me to
fstablish between all the varieties of mankind, however
lemote they may otherwise appear from the most perfect
I ype, a bond of union, which, after having been estab-
lished, science is not at liberty to pass over in silence,
without taking into account. Now, if we consider the
question of the formation of the races in the point of
23
266 COMPARATIVE PHYSICA-, GEOQR4.PHY.
view ire have just assumed, perhaps we shul see
this field, once so dark, illuminated by seme gleams of
light.
However, before proceeding further, let us set forth
one fact more, no less undeniable ; for, in speaking of
man, we must not forget there are always two sides te
consider ; the one physical, the other moral.
Western Asia is not only the geographical centre of
the human race, but it is, moreover, the spiritual centre ;
it is the cradle of man's moral nature. Was it not th<>re
that those divine teachings were proclaimed, which the
most cultivated communities in the world regard as
their dearest treasure, and every man who loves the
true, acknowledges to be Truth itself? Was it not
there that the chosen people lived, to whom they wer* 1
given in trust to preserve for the world until the time
appointed by the Supreme Wisdom ? Was it not there
that the Saviour of all the members of the human
family appeared, and the gospel of grace and liberty
was preached, in the lowly valleys of Judea that
gospel which recognized neither Jew, nor Greek, nor
Gentile, nor barbarian, and which invites all the races
of the earth to salvation, without distinction ? Is it not
from the height of the sacred mount where He died
upon the cross for all, that Christ bids every human
soul, whatever be the ephemeral form of its earthly
covering, to a spiritual union which he will consummate
in his glory? And these great facts, gentlemen, in-
teresting to every human being, these facts whose
blessed consequences surround us on all sides at the
present day, belong not te the number of those that iiny
IMPROVEMENT 1 , THE LA .V OF I.IAN. 267
historical unbelief can ever striKe out of the annals of
mankind. Nor are they of secondary importance,
considered merely in the results already accomplished ;
for who will maintain that, even in the future, man
will ever witness an event more important for him
than the appearance of the Saviour, and the proclama-
tion of the universal gospel, destined to unite all men,
anji at the same time to bind them all to their common
Creator 1
Now, if man came from the hands of the divine
Author of his being, pure and noble, it was in those
privileged countries where God placed his cradle, in the
focus of spiritual light, that he had the best chance to
keep himself such. But how has he fallen elsewhere
so low? It is because he was free, of a perfectible
nature, and consequently capable also of falling. In the
path of development, not to advance is to go back ; it is
impossible to remain stationary. The animal does not
degenerate, because the form of his existence is neces-
sary ; he is not required to add anything. But man, who
should grow in perfection by the constant extrcise of the
higher faculties of his nature, by struggling against the
evil inclinations of a perverted will, man descends ever-
more, and proceeds from fall to fall, if he neglects those
divine gifts, and abandons himself to the low instil .cts
of his animal nature. He goes down to the life of the
brate, whose form and semblance he takes. And what
will conae to pass if, separated from his God, and forget-
ting Hun, he voluntarily stops the sources of the higher
life, and moral life? Remote from the focus of tradition
whee he might renew the temper of his faith, no
268 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
remains unarmed in combat with that mighty nature
that subjugates him ; he yields in the struggle, and ;
vanquished, bears soon upon his figure the ineffaceable
mark of bondage. Thus, perhaps, might one, I do not
say explain, but conceive, the incontestable influence of
each continent, and each region of the earth, on. the
physical forms, the character and the temperament of
the man who dwells in it, and the degeneracy of his
type in proportion as he is removed from the place
of his origin, and the focus of his religious traditions.
Renouncing moral liberty, which exists only in good-
ness, man gives to nature power over himself, submits
co it, and thus are traced and distinguished, a race of
Eastern Asia, an African race, an Australian race, a
Polynesian race, an American race. We must con-
fess, however, it is not granted to follow out, either in
nature or in history, the steps of this transformation;
a transformation that could only have taken place,
at the time when the human race in their infancy
had still the flexible and plastic nature of the child;
and we must repeat, the origin of the human races is
a fact beyond our observation and anterior to all history,
an 1, like all other origins, is screened by an impenetra-
ble veil.
Since man is made to acquire the full possession and
mastery of his facult es by toil, and by the exercise of
all his energies, no climate could so well minister to his
progress in this work as the climate of the temperate
continents. It is easy to understand this.
An excessive heat enfeebles man ; it invites to repose
and inaction. In the tropical regions the power of life
ACTION OF CLIIUATE UPON MAN. 269
in nature is carried to its highest degree; thus with the
tropical man, the life of the body overmasters that of
the soul ; the physical instincts of our nature, those of
the higher faculties; passion, sentiment, imagination,
predominate over intellect and reason ; the passive facul-
ties over the active faculties. A nature too rich, too
prodigal of her gifts, does not compel man to snatch
from her his daily bread by his daily toil. A regular
climate, the absence of a dormant season, render fore-
thought of little use to him. Nothing invites him to
that struggle of intelligence against nature, which
raises the forces of man to so high a pitch, but which
would seem here to be hopeless. Thus he never
dreams of resisting this all-powerful physical nature ;
he is conquered by her ; he submits to the yoke, and
becomes again the animal man, in proportion as he
abandons himself to these influences, forgetful of his
high moral destination.
In the temperate climates all is activity, movement.
The alternations of heat and cold, the changes of the
seasons, a fresher and more bracing air, incite man to a
constant struggle, to forethought, to the vigorous em-
ployment of all his faculties. A more economical
nature yields nothing, except to the sweat of his biow :
every gift on her part is a recompense for effort on his.
Less mighty, less gigantesque, even while challuiging
man to the conflict, she leaves him the hope of victory ;
and if she does not show herself prodigal, she grants
to his active and intelligent labor more than his
necessities req ire ; she allows him ease and leisure,
which give hin scope to cultivate all the ofty faculties
23*
27ft COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of his higher- nature. Here, physical nature is not
tyiant, but a useful helper; the active faculties, ths
unders'anding and the reason, rule over the instincts ana
the passive faculties ; the soul over the body ; man over
nature.
In the frozen regions man also contends with nature,
bat \\rth a niggardly and severe nature; it is a des-
perata struggle, a struggle for lift and death. Witb
difficulty, by force of toil, he succeeds in providing a
miserable support, which saves him from dying of hun-
ger and hardship during the tedious winters of that
climate. No higher culture is possible under such
unfavorable conditions.
The man of the tropical regions is the son of a
wealthy house. In the midst of the surrounding abun-
dance, labor too often seems to him useless ; to abandon
himself to his inclinations is a more easy and agreeable
pastime. A slave of his passions, an unfaithful servant,
he leaves his faculties, the talent God has endowed
him with, uncultivated and unused. The work of
improvement with him is a failure.
The man of the polar regions is the beggar, over-
whelmed with suffering, who, too happy if he but gain
i/is daily bread, has no leisure to think of anything
liore exalted.
The man of the temperate regions, finally, is the
.nan born in ease, in the golden mean, the most favored
Df all conditions. Invited to labor by everything around
aim, he soon finds, in the exercise of all his faculties, at
ince progress and well-being.
Thus, if the tropica continents have the wealth of
ACTION OF CLIMATE UPON MAN. 271
nature, the temperate continents are the most perfectly
organized for the development of man. They are
opposed to each other, as the body and the soul, as the
inferior races and the superior races, as savage man
anu. civilized man, as nature and history. This con-
trast, so marked, cannot remain an open one ; it must
be resolved. The history of the development of human
societies will give us the solution, or at least will permit
113 to ottain a glimpse of the truth.
LECTURE XI
the corJinent of the North considered as the theatre of
Asia-Euroj!- contrast of the North and South; its influence in
history ; co iflict of the barbarous nations of the North with the civil-
ized nations of the South Contrast of the East and West
Eastern Asia a continent by itself and complete; its nature; the
Mongolian race belongs peculiarly to it; character of its civilization
Superiority of the Hindoo civilization ; reason why these nations
have remained stationary Western Asia and Europe ; the country
of the truly historical races Western Asia ; physical description ,
its historical character; Europe the best organized for the devel-
opment of man and of societies ; America future to which it is des-
tined by its physical nature.
1 -DIES AND GENTLEMEN :
The result of the comparison we have made between
tl.e northern continents and the southern continents, in
their most general characteristics, has convinced us, if
I do not deceive myself, that what distinguishes the
former is, not the wealth of nature and the abundance
of physical life, but the aptitude which their structure,
their situation, and their climate, give them, to minister
to the development of man, and to become thus the seat
of a life much superior to that of nature. The three
continents of the North, with their more perfect races,
their civilized people, have appeared as the historical
continents, which form a marked contrast to those of
the South, w'th their inferior races and their savage
tribes.
ASIA-EUROPE, THEATRE OF HISTORY. 273
Since his h the salient and distinguishing feature,
securing to them decidedly the first place, we shal
this evening proceed to study them more in detail as tht
theatre 3f history.
We know beforehand, gentlemen, that the condit on
oi an active, complete development is the multiplicity
of the contrasts, of the differences, springs of action
and reaction, of mutual exchanges exciting and mani-
festing life under a thousand diverse forms. To this
principle corresponds, in the organization of the animal,
the greater number of its special organs ; in the conti-
nents, the variety of the plastic forms of the soil, the
localization of the strongly characterized physical dis-
tricts, the nature of which stamps upon the peopl<
inhabiting them a special seal, and makes them so man]
complicated but distinct individuals.
The various combinations of grouping, of situation
with regard to each other, placing them in a permaneni
relation of friendship or hostility, of sympathy or oi
antipathy, of peace or of war, of interchange of relig-
ions, of manners, of civilization, complete this work,
and give that impulse, that progressive movement, which
is the trait whereby the historical nations are -ecog-
nized.
We may, then, expect to see the great facts of the life
of the nations connect themselves essentially with these
differences of soil and climate, with these contrasts, that
nature/ herself presents in the interior of the continents,
aid whose influence on the social development of man
although variable according to the times, is no less evi-
dent in all the periods of his history.
274 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Let us commence our inquiry with the true theatre ol
history with Asia-Europe.
We have already had occasion to call attention to the
unity Df plan exhibited in this great triangular mass,
which authorizes us to consider it as forming, in a nat-
ural pcint of view, a single continent, whose subdivisions
bear the imprint of only secondary differences. We
have also indicated, as the most remarkable trait of its
structure, that great dorsal ridge, composed of systems
Df the loftiest mountains, traversing it from one end to
the other in the direction of the length, which may even
be regarded as the axis of the continent. It is, in fact,
on the two sides of this long line of more than 5,000
miles, on the north and south of the Himalaya, of the
Caucasus, of the Balkan, the Alps, and the Pyrenees,
that the high lands of the interior of the continent
extend. It splits Asia-Europe into two portions, unequal
in size, and differing from each other in their configura-
tion and their climate. On the south, the areas are less
vast ; the lands are more indented, more detached on
the whole, perhaps, more elevated; it is the maritime
zone of peninsulas. On the north, the great plains pre-
vail; the peninsulas are rare, or of slight importance,
the ground less varied.
But what chiefly distinguishes one of the two parts
from the other, what gives to each a peculiar nature, is
Jie climate. Those lofty barriers we have just named
almost everywhere separate the climates, as well as the
ureas. The gradual elevation of the terraces towards
the south, up to this ridge of the continent, by pvolong-
ng in th? southern direction the frosts of the north,
CONTRAST OF NORTH AND SOUTH. 275
augments still further, ia Eastern Asia and in Euiope,
the different 3 of temperature between their sides, a:?d
renders it more sensible. Thus, almost everywhere, the
transition is abrupt, the two natures wide apart. These
high ridges arrest at once the icy winds of the poles,
and the softened breezes of the south, and separate their
domains. The Italian of our days, like the Roman of
former times, boasts of his blue sky and his mild climate,
and speaks with an ill-concealed contempt of the frosts
and the ice of the countries beyond the Alps.
To the father of the Grecian poets, to Homer, who
knows only the Ionian sky, the countries beyond the
Haemus are the regions of darkness, where rugged
Boreas reigns supreme. At the northern foot of the
Caucasus, the dry steppes of the Manytsch are swept
by the frozen winds of the north ; on the south, the
warm and fertile plains of Georgia and of Imereth, feel
no longer their assaults. In Eastern Asia, finally, the
contrast is pushed to an extreme. The traveller, cross-
ing the lofty chain of the Himalaya, passes suddenly
from the polar climate of the high table lands of Tubet,
to the tropical heats and the rich nature of the plains oi
the Indus and the Ganges. Yet, as we have said, this
great wall, which separates the North from the South,
is rent at several points. Between the Hindo-Khu and
'he Caucasus, the depressed edge of the table lane of
KJiorasan, between the Caucasus and the Balkan, the
p.ains of the Black Sea and of the Danube, open wide
their gates to the winds and to the nations of the shores
of the Caspian and the Volga. Between the Pyrenees
and the Alps, the climates and the peoples of the South
penetrate into the North.
276 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Thus two opposite regions are confronted, one on the
North, in the cool temperate zone, with its vast steppes
and desert table-lands, its rigorous climates, its intense
colds, its dry and starveling nature; the other on the
South, in the warm temperate zone, with its beautiftu
peninsulas, its fertile plains, its blue heavens and its soft
climate, its delicate fruits, its trees always green, it?
lovely and smiling nature.
The contrast of these two natures cannot fail to hav>
-: great influence on the peoples of the two regions. I '
it repeated, from the history of the very earliest ages, ir
th3 most remarkable manner. In the North the ark'
tab. 3 lands, the steppes, and the forests, condemn mar;
to the life of shepherds and hunters; the peoples are
nomadic and barbarous. In the South, the fruitful
plains and a more facile nature invite the peoples to
agriculture ; they form fixed establishments and become
civilized. Thus in the very interior of the historical con-
tinent we find a civilized and a barbarous world, placed
side by side.
Two worlds so different cannot remain in contaci
without reacting upon each other. The conflict begins,
one might say, with history itself, and continues through-
out its entire duration ; there is scarcely one of the great
evolutions, particularly in Asia, not connected with this
incessant action and reaction of the North upon the
South, and of the South upon the North, of the bar-
barian world upon the civilized world. At all periods
we see torrents of barbarous nations of the North issuing
from their borders and flooding the regions of civilization
with their destroying waves. Like the boisterous and
CONTRAST OF NORTH AN1J SOUTH. 277
icy winds of the regions they inhabit, they corns sud-
denly as the tempest, and overturn everything in theii
way; nothing resists their rage. But as after the storrn
nature assumes a new strength, so the civilized naftons,
enervated by too long prosperity, are restored to life and
youth by the mixture of these rough but vigorous chil-
dren of the North. Such is the spectacle preser ted by
the history of the great monarchies of Asia and of their
dynasties ; that of Europe is scarcely less fertile in strug-
gles of this kind. Some examples, which I proceed to
recall to your memory, will be enough to convince you
of the powerful influence of this contrast.
As far as the memorials of history ascend, it exhibits,
on the table land of Iran and in the neighboring plains
of Bactriana, one of the earliest civilized nations, the
ancient people of Zend. The Zendavesta, the sacred
book of their legislator, displays everywhere deep traces
:>f the conflict of Iran, of the southern region, of the light
of civilization the Good with the Turan, the coun-
tries of the North, the darkness, the barbarous peoples
'he Evil. Who can say that even the idea of this dual-
sm of Good and Evil which is the very foundation
>f the religious philosophy of Zoroaster, is not, to a cer-
.ain extent, the result of the hostile relations between two
countries so completely different ? Six centuries before
Christ, the barbarous Scythians come down from the
North, sweep like a whirlwind through the same gate of
the Khorasan upon the plateau of Iran, overrun the
flourishing kingdom of Media, and spread themselves as
far as Egypt. A whole generation was necessary to re-
store to Cyaxares his crown, and to efface the traces of
24
278 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL t iOGRAPHY.
this rudt attack. In the eleventh century of our era, (he
Seldjouks Turks, descend from the heights of Bolor and
Turkestan, invade firs I Eastern Persia, overturn the
power of the Gaznevide Sultans, put an ond to that of
the Caliphs, and lord it. over Western Asia. But noth-
ing equals the tremendous shock caused through the
whole of Asia by the invasion of the Mongolians. Issu-
ing from their steppes and their deserts, under the con-
duct of the daring Gengis-Khan, the hero of his nation,
their ferocious hordes extend like a devastating torrent
from one end of Asia to another. Nothing withstands
their onset; even Europe itself is threatened by these
barbarians ; all Russia is subjected, and scarcely can the
assembled warriors of Germany drive them back from
;heir frontiers, and save the nascent civilization of the
West. China herself beholds a succession of conquerors
establish in the North a brilliant empire, and for the first
time the two Asias are subject to one and the same
dominant people. India alone had been spared; she
yields before a fresh invasion, and Sultan Babur who
already is no more a barbarian founds, at the begin-
ning of the sixteenth century, the mighty Mongolian
Empire, which, in spite of its vicissitudes, has existed
down to our days, and has yielded only to the power of
the nations of civilized Europe. The histcry of China,
lastly, is crowded with the struggles of the civilized peo-
ple of the plain with the roving tribes of the neighbor-
ing table lands, and the last of these invasions, so
frequent, that of the Manchou Tartars, -has given
to China its presenl rulers.
In Europe, the war of the North against the South,
CONTRAST OF NOKTH AND SOUTH. 279
though seemingly not so I6ng continued, ib not less
serious. Six centuries before our era, bands of Celts,
enticed by the attractions of the fertile countries of the
South, set forth from Gaul, under the lead of Bellovese
and Sigovese, cross the Alps, and proceed to establish
themselves in the smiling plains of the Po. Other bands
follow them thither, and found a new Gaul beyond the
Alps. These impetuous children of the North soon press
upon Etruria; and Rome, having drawn upon herself
their anger, suffers the penalty of her rashness. About
390 B. C., the city was burnt, and the future mistress of
the world well nigh perished in her cradle, by the strong
hand of the very men of the North whom she was des-
tined afterwards to subject to her laws. A century
later, these same Gauls, finding Rome victorious and
Italy shut against them, rush upon enervated Greece,
give her up to pillage, and, profaning the sacred temple
at Delphi, announce the fall of Hellas, and the last days
of her glory and her liberty. Another troop of these
bold adventurers cut their way into Asia Minor ; they
maintain themselves there, objects of terror in the land
that bears their name, to the very moment when the
power of Rome forced all the nations to bow beneath
her iron yoke.
A century before the birth of our Saviour, the men of
I he North are again in motion. The Cimbri and the
Teutons appear at th3 gates of Italy, and spread terror
even to Rome herself. Forty years have scarce rolled
away when Rome, in her turn, assails the Northern
World. Caesar marches to conquer the Gauls, formerly
so terrible, and in the course of the ages, they are won
280 COMPAUAT1VE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
to civilization. Thus, by the third gate which opens
the wall of separatioi , the Southern World penetrates
into that of the North.
But a still more earnest struggle then commences.
The Germans have preserved their -alive energy, and
are still free. Rome is declining, and, little by litlle.
the sources of life in that immense body are drying up
T.ie weaker it grows, the more the men of the North
press upon the mighty colossus, whose head is still of
iron, though its feet are of clay. It falls, for its own
happiness and that of humanity ; a new sap the fresh
vitality of the Northmen is to circulate through it :
and soon shall it be born again, full of strength and life.
You see, gentlemen, from the beginning to the end of
history, the contrast of these two natures exercises it:i
mighty influence. The struggle between the peoples of
the two worlds is constant. In Asia it may be again
renewed, for nature there is unconquerable, and the con-
trast still exists. In Europe, the coarse struggle of brute
strength of the early days has ended, since, culture hav-
ing passed into the North, conquerors and conquered,
civilized men and barbarians, have melted down into
one and the same people, to rise to a civilization far
superior to the preceding. But we behold it reappear,
less material but not less evident, between the free and
intelligent thinker, and the Protestant of the North, and
the artistic, impassioned, superstitious, Catholic man of
the South.
Let us pass now to a second feature of the structure
of th continent Asia-Europe, which has almost <is
much veight as that we have just discussed.
CONTRAST OF NORTH AND SOUTH. 281
Long chains extending from the north to the south,
a the direction of the meridians, the Bolor and Mt. Soli-
man, cut at right angles the great east- west axis. The
Bolor forms the western margin of the high central pla-
teau ; the Soliman, the eastern margin of the table land
o! Iran ; the one on the north, the other on the south ;
-so that these two solid masses touch each other at
their opposite angles, south-west and north-east. The
remarkable point where these high ranges intersect, and
the table land and the plains, lying outspread at their
feet, touch each other, is the Hindo-Khu. These feat-
ures of relief sever the continent into two parts, of
almost equal extent, but of very unequal importance :
Eastern Asia on the one side, and Western Asia and
Europe on the other the Mongolian races, and the
White races.
This separation is so deeply marked in nature and in
the nations, that even the ancients, with the practical
sense belonging to them, made a division of Asia infra
Imaum, and Asia extra Imaum ; that is, Asia this side
and Asia beyond the Bolor and the Hindo-Khu; as they
also divided the North and the South into Scythia
Nomadic Asia. and Asia proper, or civilized Asi^
Eastern Asia forms, in fact, a continent by itself
a lane. A vast pile of highlands, a plateau in the form
01* a trapezium, occupies the entire centre, and forms the
principal mass. It seems to invade everything; *t is the
prominent feature, and gives a distinctive physiognomy
to the continent. It is surrounded on all sides by lofty
ranges capped with snow, which seem, like tovering
"ampartS; to guard it from attack, and to isolate V }U
* 24*
282 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
every side. On the south the Himalaya, on the west
the Bolor, on the north the Altai, on the east the Khin-
gan, and the Yun-Ling, form an almost unbroken
enclosure, whose detached summits belong to the lof-
tiest mountains of the earth. A small number of
natural entrances lead to the interior, or give an exit
from it. The only gate that offers some facility is Zun-
gary, between the Thian-Shan and the Altai ; every-
where else, high and frozen passes.
The interior of this vast "enclosure is cut by numerous
chains, the highest of which those of the Kuenlun on
the south, and of the Thian-Shan on the north are
parallel to the Himalaya and the Altai, and divide the
ground into several basins, or high bottoms. In all this
extent, no fertile and easily cultivated plain; every-
where stretch the steppes, a dry and cold desert, or
seas of drifting sand. Nevertheless, a considerable
depression in Eastern Turkestan, where the Tarim
flows, and whose bottom is marked by Lake' Lop,
allows the cultivation of the vine and the cotton tree at
the foot of the Thian-Shan ; but this is an exception.
Apart from some privileged localities, nature here per-
mits no regular tillage, and dooms the tribes of these
regions to the life of shepherds and herdsmen, the
nomadic life.
Around this central mass, towards the four winds of
heaven, extend at its feet broad and low plains, watered
by the rivers pouring down from its heights, which
tank among the largest in the world. On the north is
the most extensive but the least important, the frozen
wid bamn plain of Siberia, with the streams of th
KASTERN ASIA. !483
Obi, tie J3nisey, the Lena; on the east the low
country of China, where meet and unite the two giant
rivers of the Old World those two twin rivers, which,
born in the same cradle, flow on to die in the same
ocean. On the south, the plain of Hindoostan. moist-
ened by the fresh and abundant waters of the Himalaya,
ard the sacred streams of the Indus and the Ganges ;
on ths west, finally, the plain of Turan, with the two
rivers of Gihon and Sihon, and its salt seas, to which
Western Asia already lays claim. In these plains,
with fruitful alluvial soil, and on the banks of these
blessed rivers, were developed the earliest, almost the
only, civilized nations belonging to this continent. But
the warm and maritime region of the East and the
South, connected with the rich peninsulas of India, is
by far the most favored of all. China and India, there-
fore, have given birth to the two great cultivated nations
of Eastern Asia.
Nevertheless, as the great central ridge swerves
obliquely towards the sputh, this warm and fortunate
region forms only a narrow strip, not to be compared
in extent with the cold, and sterile, and barbarous
world of the North. This predominates, and decides its
character.
Such are the distinctive features of Eastern Asia.
W hat strikes us, in this world of the remotest East, is
its gigantic proportions. The loftiest mountains of the
earth, the most massive table lands, the most extensive
plains, peninsulas which are small continents, rivers
that hava no rivals in the Old World, give it a char-
acter of grandeu and majesty not elsewhere to be found.
284 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
But, it is easily understood, nowhere are the differences
also so strongly drawn, so huge, so invincible. No-
where is the contrast between the high lands and the
low lands, between the heat and the cold, between the
moisture and the dryness, abundance and sterility,
presented on so vast a scale. See, by the side of the
low, burning, and productive plains of Hindoostan, ten
or fifteen thousand feet higher up, the cold and arid
highland plain of Tubet and Tangout ; by the side of
China and its populous cities, the elevated deserts and
the tents of the nomads of Mongolia. The differences
are everywhere pushed to their utmost limit.
Furthermore and this characteristic completes the
picture the communications from one region to another
are always difficult. One thoroughfare alone, the valley
of the Peschawer, leads from Persia to India, and has
been the highway of all the conquerors, from Alexandei
to Babur and to the English. No practicable road for
armies or for regular commerce unites India and China :
the peninsulas communicate only by sea. The passes
of the Himalaya are at an elevation of from ten to
eighteen thousand feet ; those of the Bolor are frozen in
the middle of summer. At all times, the passage of the
plateau is a difficult and tedious undertaking, and at
certain points almost impossible.
Eastern Asia is, then, preeminently, the country
of contrasts, of isolated and strongly characterized
regions ; for each forms a world apart, and is sufficient
into itself.
What must be the effect of this strong and massive
EASTERN ASIA. 285
nati re upon the nations who live under its influence,
history "will inform us.
As Eastern Asia has a physical nature belonging
especially to itself, so it has a particular race of men
the Mongolian race. We have already pointed out the
external characteristics of the Mongolian family. With
it, the melancholic temperament seems to prevail; the
intellect, moderate in range, exercises itself upon the
details, but never rises to the general ideas or high
speculations of science and philosophy. Ingenious,
inventive, full of sagacity for the useful arts and the
conveniences of life, the Mongolian, nevertheless, is
incompetent to generalize their application. Wholly
turned to the things of earth, the world of ideas, the
spiritual world, seems closed against him. His entire
philosophy and religion are reduced to a code of social
morals limited to the expression of those principles of
human conscience, without the observance of which
society is impossible.
The principal seat of the Mongolian race is the
central table land of Asia. The roaming life and the
patriarchal form of their societies are the necessary
consequence of the sterile and arid nature of the regions
they inhabit. In this social state, the relations and the
ties which unite the individuals of the same nation are
imposed by kindred, by birth ; that is, by nature. As-
sociation is compulsory, not of free consent, as in more
improved societies. Thus, the greater part of Eastern
Asia seems doomed to remain in this inferior sta te of
mlture; for the whole North Siberia and it* vasf
286 COMPARATIVE PHYISCAL GEOGRAPHY.
areas --is scarcely more suited to favor the unfolding of
a superior nature.
Nevertheless, in Lie warm and maritime zone, in the
fertile and happy plains of China and India, along
those rivers which support life and abundance on their
banks, nations, invited by so many advantages, estab-
lish themselves and fix their dwelling-places. Their
number soon augments ; they demand their support
from the soil, which an easy tillage yields them in
abundance. They become husbandmen ; cultivated so-
cieties are formed ; civilization rises to a height unknown
to the tribes of the table land.
The Chinese, of Mongolian race, preserves, even in
his civilization, the character as well as the social prin-
ciple stamped upon his race by nature the patriarchal
form. The whole nation is a large family ; the Em-
peror is the father of the family, whose absolute, des-
potic, but benevolent power governs all things by his
will alone. China, then, in the order of civilized
nations, is the purest representative of Eastern Asia,
and shows to what point the patriarchal principle of
the earliest communities is compatible with a higher
cultivation.
In Iniia, the nations of the white race, sprung from
the West, have founded a civilization wholly different,
the character of which is explained at once by the
primitive qualities of the race and the climate.
Endowed with a higher intelligence, vith a power oi
generalization, with a profound religious sentiment, the
Hindoo is the opposite of the Chinese; for him the
iiirisi'ble world, i-'iknown to the Chinese, a^ne seems to
EASTERN rVILIZATION. 287
exist. But the influence of the climate of the tropics
gives to the intuitive faculties an exaggerated preponder-
ance over the active faculties. The real, positive world
disappears from his eyes. Thus, in his literature, so
rich in works of high philosophy, of poetry and religion,
we seek in vain for the annals of his history, cr any
treatise on science, any of those collections of observa-
tions so numerous among the Chinese. In spite of these
defects the Hindoo civilization, compared to that of
China, bears a character of superiority, which betiays
its noble origin. It is the civilization of the western
races transported and placed under the influence of the
East.
But there is one characteristic common to all these
civilizations of the uttermost East, deserving our par-
ticular attention. Born in the earliest ages of the world,
(for without admitting far from it the fabulous an-
tiquity their own traditions assign them, we may regard
them as belonging to the most ancient in the world,)
they seem to grow rapidly at first, and at the remotest
period recorded by history they have already acquired
the degree of development and all the leading features
that distinguish them at the present day. Nearly
fifteen hundred years before Christ others say two
thousand India already possessed the Vedas those
religious and philosophical works, which already suj>-
pose a high culture and its accompanying social state.
Alexander finds it flourishing and brilliant still, but
little changed ; the description the historians of his con-
quests have left, is true of modern India when invaded
by the Englis i. As much may be said of China, whose
888 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GKOGRAFHY.
existing condition seems to present the same essei tial
features we know it to have possessed from a time long
before our era. Thus, these nations offer the astonishing
spectacle of civilized communities remaining perfectly
stationary. Three thousand years of existence have
made no essential change in their condition, have taught
them nothing, have brought about no real progress, have
developed none of those great ideas, which effect a com-
plete transformation in the life of nations. They are, as
it were, stereotyped.
What, then, nas been wanting to these peoples, that
they have not been favored with a further progress?
Why do they all stop short in the career they have
entered upon in so brilliant a manner even the Hin-
doos of noble race of the race eminently progressive 1
What has been wanting to the corrmiunities of East-
ern Asia, gentlemen, is Che possibility of actions and
reactions upon each other, more intimate, more perma-
nent ; it is the possibility of a common life.
These nations are too isolated by nature, too opposite
in race and character, to be able to blend in one com-
mon civilization. The Hindoos are separated from
China by the snowy terraces of the Himalaya, and of
the Yun-Nan; from Western Asia, by the high table
lands of Caboul. These forms of relief are too huge ;
the contrasts resulting from them are too violent ; they
are unconquerable by man. Meantime, each of these
rich districts may suffice, of itself alone, for a beautiful
career of improvement, but each of these peoples fur-
nishes but a single type. In their isolation, their excel-
lences, as wdl'as their defects, run into excess; nothing
WESTERN ASIA AND EUROPE. 289
tempers or corrects them ; their character is more iuli-
vidual. Sucii is the strength of these civilizations, that
clouds of conquerors are successively absorbed, without
modifying them, almost without leaving a trace behind.
But individuality is here carried to egoism. Oi tiis
very isolation which causes their inferiority, ?>nd kills
all progress, they make a conservative princif le. The
Hindoo cannot leave his country except by sea; the
Vedas forbid it under pain of pollution. Japan and
China obstinately close their borders- against all the
nations of Europe, and it is only at the cannon's mouth
that the English have opened the gates so long shut,
and forced them to the life of interchange which will
restore them to progress and vitality. Thus, while
erything around them is advancing, India and China
nave remained stationary. For it is not given to one
people alone, any more than to one individual alone, to
run through the whole compass of the scale of human
progress, by themselves and without the aid of their
brethren. Eastern Asia is, then, the continent of ex-
treme contrasts and of isolated regions ; of races essen-
tially Mongolian ; of stationary civilizations ; of the
semi-historical nations. It is not there that the work
of the development of humanity can be achieved.
The second half of the Old World, in the temperate
region, Western Asia and Europe, forms another whole,
wherein we are able to point out several common char-
acteristics. Besides the division into a North and a
Sou tli, on the two sides of the continental axis, the most
salient feature is the long table land of Iran, stretching
uninterruptediy from India to the extremity of Asia
25
290 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GE.<JRAPH\.
Minor, and even irolonging itself, without losing ita
nature, across the peninsulas of the Mediterranean, as
far as Spain.
From one end of these regions to the other, natuio
wears a character of uniformity. Everywhere the same
cretaceous and Jurassic limestone deposits form tho
greater part of the ground ; everywhere volcanoes rise
from the earth, and shake it with their convulsions.
The climate, also, is alike ; for in Asia a more southern
latitude is counterbalanced by a greater elevation of the
plateaus. The flora is analogous ; the cultivated plants,
the fruits, the domestic animals, are the same, with the
exception of the camel of the desert, useless to Europe.
Finally, the white Caucasian race, the most noble, the
most intellectual of the human species, and all the nations
of progressive civilization, dwell there. If we add Egypt
and the vicinage of the Atlas, which belong to the Medi-
terranean, it is the true theatre of history, in the proper
meaning of that word.
Nevertheless, in spite of this real community of char-
acteristics, it is easy to detect, in Western Asia and
Europe, certain differences not less important, that force
us to consider them still as two distinct continents.
In Europe, in the southern zone, the plateau loses its
continuity, and splits into peninsulas. In the northern
zone, the arid steppes and the deserts are changed
beyond the Oural into a fertile soil, more elevated, well
watered, covered with forests, and susceptible of cul iva-
tion. The areas become gradually smaller, and tho
whole continent is only a great peninsula, of which the
headland turning towards tne west juts out into fr*
WESTERN ASIA. 291
ocean. The north-east direction of tne contkental axis
crowding ;he lands further north, and the influence of
the ocean, give it a wetter and more temperate climate.
Let us further examine these two portions of Asia-
Europe, considered in the historical point of view.
Western Asia is placed in the middle portion of the
continent Asia-Europe, between the two extremes. Like
Eastern Asia, it has for its centre and prominent feat-
ure, a table land encircled with mountains, the plateau
of Iran and of Asia Minor; but it is narrower, more
elongated. The mountain chains are less elevated, less
continuous. The mountains of Kurdistan and of the
Taurus, which edge it on the south, attain a height of
ten or twelve thousand feet only at a few points. The
higher mountains, as the Ararat, are isolated, or form
a chain, detached from the mass, like the Caucasus.
We have already said that the north-east side is low
and entirely open. The deep valley of Peschawer cuts
its eastern side, and opens a passage towards India.
Not only is this plateau more accessible than that ot
Eastern Asia, by reason of these forms of relief, but
very different from the latter, which is far from any
ocean, it is bathed at its very feet, on the four corners,
by inland seas, that are so many new outlets. On the
south, the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Medi-
terranean; on the north, the Caspian and the BlacK
Sea.
Low and fertile plains, watered by twin streams,
si retch at the foot of the table land of Iran. On the
south, the plain of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the
un Dualled fertility whereof ceases with the rich allu-
292 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
vial lands of those rivers; on the north, the no ess
happy plains of Bactriana, watered by the Gihon and
the Si-hon. Beyond these lifegiving rivers, the steppes
of the deserts establish their empire,
The climate of Western Asia no longer offers these
extreme contrasts which strike us in Eastern Asia. The
plateau is on the south of the central ridge, and not on
the north, and enjoys a favored climate. It is less dry,
more fertile ; the desert there is less continuous ; these
southern plains are not under the tropics ; the difference
between the plain arid the table land is softened.
The true Western Asia, the Asia of history, is reduced
thus to a plateau flanked by two plains. Add the Soris-
tan, which connects it with Egypt and this last-men-
tioned country, and you will have all the great coun-
tries of civilization at the centre of this continent: on
the north, the riomads of the steppes of the Caspian ; on
the south, the nomads of Arabia and its deserts form the
natural limits of the civilized world of these countries.
Compared- with the East, the areas are less vast, the
reliefs less elevated, the nature less continental not-
withstanding its more central- position the contrasts
less strongly pronounced, the whole more accessible.
Here, as we have said, is the original country of the
white race, the most perfect in body and mind, if we
take tradition for our guide, and follow step by step the
inarch of the primitive nations, as we ascend to their
of departure, they irresistibly lead us to the very
of this plateau. Now, in this central part also,
u* upper Armenia and in Persia, if you remember, we
finilthe purest type of the hi-torical nations. Thence
CONTRAST OF EAST AND WEST. 293
ure behold them descend into the arable plains, and
jpread towards all the quarters of the horizon. The
indent people of Assyria and Babylonia pass down the
Euphrates and the Tigris into the plains of th South,
and there unfold, perhaps the most ancient of all human
civilization. First, the Zend nation dwells along the
Araxes, then, by the road of the plateau, proceeds to
found, in the plains of the Oxus, one of the most remark-
able and the most mysterious of the primitive commu-
nities of Asia. A branch of the same people, or a kin-
dred people the intimate connection of their language
confirms it comes down into India, and there puts forth
that brilliant and flourishing civilization of the Brah
mins, of which we have already spoken. Arabia and
the North of Africa receive their inhabitants by Soris-
tan ; South Europe, perhaps, by the same routes, through
Asia Minor ; the North, finally, through the Caucasus,
whence issue, in succession, the Celts, the Germans, and
many other tribes, who hold 'in reserve their native
vigor for the future destinies of this continent. There
then is the cradle of the white race at least of the
historical people if it is not that of all mankind.
The civilizations of Western Asia also, as well as
those of Eastern Asia, spring up hi the alluvial plains
which are easily tilled, and alike connect themselves
with the great rivers, and not, as in Europe, with the
seas. The plains of Babylonia and c.f Bactriana are
continental, and not maritime, like India and China.
The contrasts of nature are still strong y expressed, but
yet less so than in the East. There at. still va t spaces,
aud 'onseq 'ently vast sta J s. The religio f. ihe polit-
294 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
ical an 1 social condition of the people, still betray the
influence of a nature man has not yet succeeded in
overmastering.
-The civilizat'Dns are still local, and each has its special
principle; and yet there is no more of isolation. The
accessible nature of all these regions, as we have seen,
makes contact easy, and facilitates their action upon
each other ; a blending is possible, and it takes place.
The formation of great monarchies, embracing the
whole of Western Asia, from India to Asia Minor, from
the steppes of Turan to the deserts of Arabia, is a fact
renewed at every period of their history. Assyria,
Babylonia, Persia, reunite successively under the do-
minion of the same conqueror all these various nations.
But no one knew so well as Alexander how to break
down all the fences that kept them apart. The lofty
idea which reigned in the mind of that great conqueror,
that of fusing together the East and the West, carried
with it the ruin of. the special civilizations of the East
md the universal communication of Hellenic culture,
which should combine them in one spirit, and drew the
whole of that part of the world into the progressive
n ovement Greece herself had impressed on the countries
cf the West.
Egypt, alone, in her isolation, represents, up to a cer-
tain point, the nature of Eastern Asia. Yet she, too,
vas compelled to yield to the social and progressive
spirit of Greece, which soon brought her into the circle
>f relations with the nations of the West.
Thus the people and the civilizations of Western Asia
urere ^aved from the isolation and egoism so fatal
FITTED FOR IMPROVEMENT OF MAN.
to-China and o India. They perished in appearance,
but it was only to sow among the very nations who
were their conquerors, the prolific seeds of a fairer
growth, whereof the future should gather the fruits.
Europe, in her turn, has a character quite special,
whose principal features we have already pointed out.
Although constructed upon the same fundamental plan
w-th the Iwo Asias, it is only the peninsular head-
land of all this continent. Her 3 , are uo more of those
gigantesque forms of Eastern Asia, no more of those
boundless spaces, no more of those obstacles against
which the forces of man are powerless, of those contrasts
that sunder the opposite natures, even to incompatibil-
ity. The areas contract and shrink ; the plateaus and
*he mountains are lowered ; the continent opens on ?U
sides. None of those mortal deserts to cross, none ol
those impassable mountain chains, which imprison the
nations. From the foot of Italy to the head of Cape
North, from the coasts of the Atlantic to the shores of
the Caspian, there is no obstacle a little art may not
overcome without much effort. The whole continent
k< more accessible ; it seems more wieldy, better fashioned
for man.
And yet, gentlemen, all the contrasts of both Asias
exist, but they are softened, tempered. There is a
Northern World, and a Southern World, but they are
less different, less hostile; their climates are more alike.
Instead of (he tropical plains of India, we find there tho
fields of Lombardy ; instead of tL.e Himalaya, the Alps:
ins ead 3f the p ateaus of Tubet, those of Bavaria. The
contrasts arf even more varied more numerous still
296 'JOMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The table land of the South is broken up into peninsulas
and islands ; Greece and its archipelago, Italy and its
isles, Spain and its sierras, are so many new individuals,
exciting each other reciprocally to animation. The
ground is everywhere cut and crossed by chains "of
mountains, moulded in a thousand fashions, in such
a way as to present, within the smallest possible
space, the greatest number of districts physically inde-
pendent.
Add to all these advantages that of a temperate cli-
mate, rather cold than hot, requiring of men more labor
and effort, and you will be satisfied that nature is no-
where better suited to lift man by the exertion of his
powers to the grandeur of his destination.
Nevertheless, the earliest civilized societies do not
spring up in Europe; she is too far removed from
the cradle of the nations, and the beginnings are
less easy there. But these first difficulties once over-
come, civilization grows and prospers with a vigor
unknown to Asia. In Asia it is in the great plains,
on the banks of the rivers, that civilization first shows
itself. In Europe, it is on the peninsulas and the margin
of the seas.
Europe is thus the most favored continent, considered
with respect to the education of man, and the wise
discipline it exercises upon him. More than any other
it calls into full play his latent forces, which cannot
appear and display themselves, except by their own
activity. Nowhere can man better learn to subdue
nature, and make her minister to his ends. No con-
tinent is more fitted, by the multiplicity of the physica'
AMERICA. 297
it presents, to bring into being, and to raise up
so many different nations and peoples.
But it is not alone for the individual education o
each people that Europe excels; it is still more ad-
mirably adapted than any other continent to favoi
the common relations of the countries with each other,
to increase their reciprocal influence, to stimulate them
to mutual intercourse. The smallness of the areas,
the near neighborhood, the midland seas thick strown
with islands, the permeability of the entire continent
pardon me the word everything conspires to estab-
lish between the European nations that community
of life and of civilization which forms one of the
most essential and precious characteristics of their
social state.
America, finally, the third continent of the North,
presents itself to us under an aspect entirely different.
We are already acquainted with its structure, founded
jn a plan widely departing from that of Asia-Europe ;
we know that its characteristic is simplicity, unity.
Add to this feature its vast extents, its fruitful plains,
its numberless rivers, the prodigious facility of com-
munication, nowhere impeded by serious obstacles, its
oceanic position, finally, and we shall see that it is
made, not to gi'.re birth and growth to a new civiliza-
tion, but to receive one ready-made, and to furnish forth
for man, whose education the Old World- has completed
the most magnificent theatre the scene most worthy
of Ir.s activity. It is here that all the peoples of Eurorxj
may meet together, with room enough to move in
may commingle their efforts and their gifts, and carry
B98 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
out, upon a scale of grandeur hitherto unknowL, the
life-giving principle of modern times the principle of
free association.
The internal corltrasts which assisted the development
of the nations in their infancy and youth, exist not
here. ; they would be useless. They are reduced to two
general contrasts, which will preserve their importance ;
the sea-shore and midland on the one side, and the
North and the South on the other. The last will be fur-
ther softened down, when slavery, that fatal heritage of
another age, which the Union stills drags after it, as the
convict drags his chain and ball, shall have disap-
peared from this free soil, freed in the name of liberty and
Christian brotherhood, as it has disappeared from the
fundamental principles of its law.
Thus America also seems invited, by its physical
nature and by its position, to { lay a part in the history
of humanity, very different in leed from that of Asia
and Europe, 1 Tit not .ess glorio s, not less useful to all
mankind.
LECTURE XI...
Geographical march of history Asia the cradle of eiri/izajfic a
Common character of the primitive nations Powerful influence J
nature The human race in its infancy lives under authority, which
becomes slavery Civilization pauses to Europe Greece; period of
youth ; emancipation ind intellectual and moral development ; action
on the East and West; the Greek the teacher of the world Rome;
her work, political and social Inability of the Ancient World to
attain the end of humanity Coming of Christ; his doctrines new in
1 historical point of view The Germanic Christian world begins
their application Civilization passes to the North, and embraces all
Europe ; its different phases Europe owes it to the rest of the world
Discovery of America Universal inroad of the civilized nations
Social work begun at the same time America must finish it The
people of the future; by what signs recognized Conclusions Fore-
seen solution of the contrast of the three Nortfiern continents and tht
three Southern Duties of the privileged races towards the inferior
A few words upon the method pursued Science and faith.
LAUIES AND GENTLEMEN :
The examination we have made of the structure of
the northern continents, considered in respect of the
influence they exercise through their physical nature
upon the condition of human societies, enables us to
judge in advance that they are formed to act diflerent
parts in the education of mankind. It remains to be
seen whether the course of history will confirm these
anticipations. Now, if we find a real concordance, a
harmony Between these two orders of tacts, we may
300 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
fearlessly assert that these differences of physical organi
zation were intentional, and prepared for this end by
Him who controls the destinies of the world.
The first glance we cast upon the annals of the
nations, enables us to perceive a singular but incon-
testable fact, that the civilizations representing the
Highest degree of culture ever attained by man, at the
different periods of his history, do not succeed each
other in the same places, but pass from one country to
another, from one continent to another, following a
certain order. This order may be called the geograph-
ical march of history. We now proceed to set this forth
by a rapid review of the great phases through which
human societies have passed in their gradual improve-
ment.
Asia, the country of the superior races, Western Asia,
above all, the country of the white race, of the historical
race, is also the cradle of the earliest civilized commu-
nities whose existence is commemorated by history.
Tradition universally represents the earliest men
descending, it is true, from the high table lands of this
continent ; but it is in the low and fertile plains lying at
their feet, with which we are already acquainted, that
they unite themselves for the first time in national
bodies, in tribes, with fixed habitations; devoting them-
selves to husbandry, building cities, cultivating the arts ;
in a word, forming well-regulated societies. The tradi-
tions of the Chinese place the first progenitors of that
people on the high table land, whence the great rivers
flow; they make them advance, station by station, as
far as the shores of the oce.an. The people of the
ASIA, THE CRADLE OF^CIVlLIZAI ON. 30
*
Brahmins come down from the regions of the Hindo-
Khu, and from Cashmere, into the plains of the Indus
and the Ganges; Assyria and Bactriana receive their
inhabitants from the table lands of Armenia and Persia.
These alluvial plains, watered by their twin rivers,
\vure better formed than all other countries of the glole,
to render the first steps of man, an infant still, easy in
the career of civilized life. A rich soil, on which over-
flowing rivers spread every year a fruitful loam, as in
Egypt, and one where the plough is almost useless, so
movable and so easily tilled is it, a warm climate,
finally, secure to the inhabitants of these fortunate
regions plentiful harvests in return for light labor.
Nevertheless, the conflict with the river itself and with
the desert, which, on the banks of the Euphrates, as o .
those of the Nile ana the Indus, is ever threatening to
invade the cultivated lands, the necessity of irrigation,
the inconstancy of the seasons, keep forethought alive
and give birth to the useful arts and to the sciences of
observation. The abundance of resources, the absence
of every obstacle, of all separation between the different
parts of these vast plains, allow the aggregation of a
gieat number of men upon one and the same space,
and facilitate the formation of those mighty primitive
states which amaze us by the grandeur of their propor-
tions.
Each of them finds upon its own soil all that is neces-
sary for a brilliant exhibition of its resources. We see
those nations come rapidly forward and reach in the
remotest antiquity a degree of culture, of which the
temples and the monuments of Egypt arid of India, and
26
302 COMPARATIVE ^PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
the recently discovered palaces of Nineveh, are h *ing
and glorious witnesses.
Great nations, then, are separately formed in each of
these areas, circumscribed by nature within natural
imits. Each has its religion, its social principles, ita
civilization severally. But nature, as we have seen,
has separated them; little intercourse is established
between them ; the social principle on which they a re
founded is exhausted by the very formation of the social
state they enjoy, and is never renewed. A common
life is wanting to them ; they do not reciprocally share
with each other their riches. With them movement
is stopped; every thir? becomes stable and tends to
remain stationary.
Meantime, in spite ol the peculiar seal impressed on
each of these Oriental nations by the natural conditions
in the midst of which they live, they have, neverthe-
less, some grand characteristics common to all, some
family traits that betray the nature of the continent
and the period of human progress to which they be-
long, making them known on the one side as Asiatic,
and on the other side as primitive.
The causes of this phenomenon are at once of a moral
nature and of a physical nature.
Man is still in the period of infancy, and infancy must
needs be trained under the authority of a law which
guides his first steps. Even by virtue of an inward
nature, of a moral nature reflecting the divine image of
his Maker, he cannot grow up to complete development,
to his perfect stature, except by fulfilling the will of
Him who ?alls him to such lofty destinies. This wili
INFANCY OF MANKIND. 303
is tho supreme good; all that departs from it is evil.
Man created free must fulfil it freely, and with con-
sciousness of its excellence; but this very liberty, the
most infallible sign of the nobleness of his nature, con-
ceals the danger of a fearful fall. This liberty led the
men :>f the earliest times on to that pitch of wickedness
which rendered necessary the first great catastrophe of
the human race, that earliest great punishment ot tne
Flood, of which all nations, even the most barbuiuus,
have preserved an appalling memory. Above all things
it is the duty of man, if the work of his discipline is not
to stop short of its end, to learn his dependence upon the
Judge of good and of evil ; to learn that saving fear of
God which is the beginning of wisdom, and which alone
can regulate the employment of his liberty, and hinder
him from surrendering himself to the irregular inclina-
tions of his finite nature. Now, God had revealed
himself to man ; had made known to him his will, and
pointed out the path which he ought to have followed.
The Creator himself condescended to guide the steps ol
the creature upon the long journey he had to travel.
This is what the Bible tells us ; this is confirmed by
the vague memorials of all the primitive nations, whose
oldest traditions, those antecedent to the philosophica.
Theogonies prevalent at a later period, and giving them
their specific character, contain always some disfigured
fiagmeril of this divine history.
But man soon became unfaithful ; like a true prodigal
son, he abandoned the benevolent Father, under whose
protection he was living ; he cast off the yoke easy to
Inar; he forgot the living God who had been revealed
304 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
to him, and, submitting to the lower instincts of his
being, he fell under the power of nature.
Recall, meantime, to your minds, gentlemen, all thai
we have learned of the stupendous and massive forms
of that Oriental nature, of its insuperable contrasts, of
its climate, tropical in India and in a part of Chinu.
very hot still on the banks of the Euphrates and the
Nile; of that physical vigor which the Old World
displays upon all the points favored by the copiousness
of the waters, and you will understand that man, a
child still, brought into the presence of such a power,
must have felt himself, not merely a dependent, but
a slave. The river he looks to for the fertility of
the soil that feeds him the animal, the plant, that
minister to his wants the sun, above all, that bright orb
which reigns over nature, and in alternate march seems
to dispense either life or death at his will everything
becomes to him an object of worship. He acknowledges
the powers of nature as his gods, to whose mercy he feels
himself to be committed, and accepts for his supreme rule
the inflexible law that governs the heavenly bodies. He
is falling from the world of liberty into that of necessity.
After this, what reason is there to be astonished that
everything in those ancient civilizations bears the impress
3f the subjection of human liberty to the yoke of nature?
All the religions, however varied they may otherwise
appear, are the worship of the heavenly hosts. The
immutable, blind laws of necessity, regulating the courses
of the celestial bodies and the life of nature, these are
the gods of the early Eist; inflexible, despotic, unloving,
inexorab v.
MAN ENSLAVED BY NATURE. 303
There all science appears as traditional. Man attains
lot to the light by his own activity. The truth is not
the recompense of his efforts, of his progress, of the free
unfolding of his facul.ies. It is transmitted to him
already prepared from elsewhere.
In social life, casts, separated by insurmountable bar-
riers consecrated by religion itself; or, in the patriarchal
state, domestic relations, imposed by nature, restrain the
free movement of the human faculties.
In political life, absolute monarchy, the entire organi-
zation of which is only the earthly image of the great
Celestial Court of the Sun and his retinue, and of which
the chief, representative of the Deity himself, is clothed
with an unlimited power like him, and like him pro-
nounces irrevocable decrees.
Such are the features common to all the civilized com-
munities of the early East ; one people alone forms an
exception, poor and insignificant in appearance, but
great in its destinies; it is the Jewish people, the
people of God. In the midst of the defection of all the
nations, they received the glorious mission of preserving
in the world the knowledge of the only personal, living,
and true God. Placed under His law, they would have
been able to show, had they remained always faithful,
what man might have become under the paternal gov-
ernment of rfis Creator; but their history is scarcely
anything but that of disobedience and chastisement, and
it enables us the better to see that at this first period of
his development, man is under the law, and not under
tl % economy of grace and liberty.
D irir.g the long centuries of these fiist ages, man ha*
26*
306 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
therefore learned but one thing, that he depends on the
will of a master, but that master is an inexorable despot,
devoid }f love. He can only fear him; if he obeys him
it is as a slave ; he loves him not, nor adores him, if r
love presupposes liberty.
Man cannot, gentlemen, remain thus. A cry of liberty
makes itself heard ; it reechoes to the depths of that East
which groans in its chains ; it issues from the land of the
West, a land of emancipation and liberty; from that
Europe which in a thousand various ways allures man
to the free culture of his faculties. In a small corner of
the earth neighboring still to the East, but admirably
organized, in that small peninsula of Greece, where all
the varied contrasts of the whole continent seem to be
repeated in a narrow space, under a climate blessed of
Heaven, a new people arise, upon a new land, a free
people, a people of brethren. With them the period of
youth commences ; human consciousness awakes with
energy; man recovers himself; the slave bent beneath
his yoke springs up and holds his head erect. Th3
Greek, with his festivals, his songs, his poetry, seems t :
celebrate, in a perpetual hymn, the liberation of mar
from the mighty fetters of nature.
A new civilization is to be born ; all these riches of
poetry, of intellect, of reason, which are the heritage of
the human mind, display themselves without obstacle,
and expand in the sun of liberty. Who can describe all
there is of fresh and youthful energy in that people of
artists and phil Dsophers, whose efforts open to us a world
entirely new ? This is no longer the world of nature ; it
is that of the human soul. Everything, in fact, with th*
MAN LMANCIPATED IN GREECE SHH
Greek bears that eminently human charaUer which
betrays the preponderance of human personality and
the energy of individual character.
His religion is a deification of the faculties and affec
tions of man. In place ;>f the passionless, immcvabk
deities of Egypt and of gersia, his Olympus presents tht
animated spectacle of an assembly of human persons,
free and independent, presided over by the happy con-
queror of the elder gods of nature. Destiny, banished
almost beyond the confines of heaven, hardly reminds
us of those blind and deaf gods, those gods of necessity,
who reigned absolutely over all the East. When the
forces of nature, when the trees of the forests, the moun-
tains, the springs, and the rivers, .appear as objects of
worship, it is under the form of gods, of goddesses, and
of nymphs, endowed with all the affections, and subject
to all the weaknesses of common mortals.
Greek science is no longer merely traditional ; we see
its birth and its growth ; it is the production of the
efforts of the human soul; it is progressive; the Greek
no longer goes to the outer world of nature in search of
wisdom, but descends to the depths of human conscious-
ness. With Socrates and his school, philosophy has
passed from the realm of nature into the realm of n an ;
she has become a moral philosophy.
In the social life of the Greeks, no more castes, iif
tt.ore of those hard sacerdotal despotisms of the East
which, by regulating human existence in detail, hindei
its improvement; but communities of free and equal men
and the predominance of democracy, that is, of individ-
ual and lo".al life ; these are its characteristics.
308 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Such is the impulse the awakening of human person
ality impresses on this chosen people, that a few cen-
turies suffice to achieve the work of the most brilliant
display of the human mind, and of a culture leaving far
behind all the nations of the East. Among them all
the flowers of genius jloom together ; their poets, their
sculptors, their historians, their philosophers, have been,
down to our day, and will hereafter be, the guides and
the models of the man of taste and intelligence, in all
countries and in all ages. The Greek becomes the
teacher of the whole world. ,
The civilization of the Greeks is a conquest of man
too beautiful to remain confined within the narrow
limits of this petty country and inconsiderable people ; all
mankind must needs enjoy the benefit. The East,
having given so much to Greece during her infancy,
possessed the first rights in the achievements of her
maturity. The conquests of Alexander begin the work
of planting Grecian culture in the ancient soil of Asia,
in the bosom of those worn-out nations which seem
ready to perish in their weakness. A fresh sap flows
through them, and Western Asia, drawn forcibly into
the movement of the nations of the West, henceforth
takes her part in their progress and their vicissitudes,
Eastern Asia alone is untouched, and remains station-
ary. India and China, fossil remains of that ancient
Orient which perished under the blows of the Greeks,
subsist, as if to represent, down to the present moment,
the antique civilization of the first ages, and to show the
imbecility of its principle. At a later period, Rome
with 1' T rurh warriors, comes herself to seek for culturu
GREEK CIVILIZATION. 309
ard the arts on tht. soil of Greece ; and Gieece, conquered
by arms, still reigns v y her genius over her very con-
querors.
Nevertheless, gentlemen, :he Greek, who carried the
individual culture Df man to so high a pitch, knew not
how to establish the social relations on a solid basis, nor
to organize a national body, nor to combine the peoples
subjected tc his influence into a system of nations
strongly united together. I wish for no other proofs
than that terrible Peloponnesian war, that fratricidal
struggle, from which dates the decline of Greece, and
the lamentable history of the Empire of Alexander and
his successors. The Greek principle is individuality,
and not association, and this is still further determined
by the race, by the tribe ; that is, by nature, and not
oy voluntary agreement.
This political and social work is a new work, and is
entrusted to a new country and a new people. The
centre of the civilized world again changes place ; it
takes a step further towards the West ; its circumference
enlarges ; it embraces at once the South, the East, and
the West. Rome, more skilled in the arts of conquest,
and of establishing solid and durable political ties be-
tween the nations, combine in one and the same soda,
net-work all the civilized nations of the Ancient Woild.
The place she occupies in the very middle of the bas'm
of the Mediterranean, seems to foretell that she is
destined to become the met-opolis of all the cultivated
peoples who dwell upon its chores. This vast empire
recombines the various elements of all the foregoing
epochs iir one and the same civilization, and the Roman
310 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
world, having profited by all these advantages, offtrs
the spectacle of the most brilliant social epoch of which
the history of antiquity has anything to say.
And yet, in spite of all these advances, if we look
somewhat nearer, what inability to accomplish the aim
of humanity, what universal selfishness and corruption !
No common faith binds together the nations, aggre-
gated, rather than united. Rome exacts only one
worship, that of the Emperor, who personifies the state.
On all sides, conquerors and conquered still are found,
and in this land of liberty one half of the men are slaves
to the other. The Roman world, like all the rest, is to
perish by its own vices.
Thus far, as you see, gentlemen, man has attempted
to go his own way, growing up without God. He has
not, however, been abandoned, as his progress shows
but he has exhausted all the spells and conjurations this
procedure enabled him to try. He is convinced of his
weakness; doubt takes hold of h'm and devours him;
despair stands at his gate. Aii the literature of the
Roman Empire confirms this. He has passed from the
idolatry of nature to that of man ; from the idolatry of
man to that of society, represented by the head of the
state. He must return to the true God, or there is no
hope for him in the future.
It was then that the meek form of the Saviour
appeared upon the scene of the world. What comes
he to teach upon the earth ? He recalls man to the only
God. personal, free, full of love, merciful, the God of
eal/ation. He proclaims the equal wcrth of every
human soul, for he died for all. He gb^s unto men
COMING OF THE SAVIOUR. 311
that new commandment, " Love on. another as I have
loved you," for ye are all brethren, and children of the
same Father.
Thus, no more idolatry, no more servitude; for he
liberated man from the yoke of evil *hat restrains the
freedom of his moral being. No more thraldom; for
that is incompatible with the rights of his brethren and
with the love he owes them. No more national reli-
gions, opening between the nations abysses that noth-
ing can fill up. All the nations of the earth must unite
together in spirit, by the bonds of the same faith, under
the law of the same God. This is the lofty goal to
which henceforth all human societies ought to aim.
The world hears the unity and brotherhood of all human
kind proclaimed, without distinction of nation or of race
the true principle of humanity. This is the leaven
that is to leaven the whole lump ; it is upon this new
basis that humanity, recommencing its task, goes on to
build a new edifice.
But what people shall be charged with this immense
work? Shall it be that old Roman society, wholly
pagan still in its origin and in its forms, stained by
slavery and violence, condemned long since to perish for
its crimes ? That body whose sap is gone, whose princi-
ple of life is exhausted, whose work is finished, can
it be born again? No, gentlemen, it is glory enough foi
[ l w Roman world to have received and borne in its
bosom this precious seed of the future, and to have
shielded its earlier growth. The Church had her birth
there, but lie Christian world must needs bloom else-
where.
512 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The North is summoned in turn : the fierce Germans,
after five centuries of struggle, break down the old
empire, but adopt Christianity. In the midst of this
great and universal ruin, the Church alone remains
upright, and becomes the corner stone of the new edi-
fice. Civilization passes to the other side 'of the Alps,
where it establishes its centre. A still virgin country
a people full of youth and life, receive it ; it grows under
the influence of the Christian principle of unity and
brotherhood. A common faith unites all the members
of that society of the middle ages, so strangely broken
up; those nations, so different, so hostile to each other
in appearance, nevertheless look upon one another as
brothers, and form together the great family of Chris-
tianity. The circle of civilization soon widens, and
embraces all Europe in the same range of improve-
ment ; no people, however, takes part unless it shares
the common faith; but, from the day of its conversion,
also dates its entrance upon the path of progress.
Meantime, through many internal struggles, great
states are gradually forming, the modern nations appear;
full a thousand years have scarcely sufficed for these
protracted throes. Different in characters, opposite in
interests, long isolated from each other, these nations,
having grown to maturity, enter into reciprocal rela-
tions. These relations are hostile at first; but the
blending of so many various interests hastens their
progress ; bonds of intimacy are established ; a greater
community of interests, of ideas, of civilization in a word,
strengthens the craving for harmony, and the balance
of power in Europe becomes the aim of all high policy.
PROGRESS ND IMPROVEMENT. 313
This equilibrium of material forces is finally changed
n the nineteenth century into a European concert
Europe gives to the world, for the first time, the spec-
tacle of a family of states, so closely hound together
that they are only different members of the same body.
IN r> longer united by material ties alone, they are already
iwjund by spiritual ties. From the depths of Russia to
(he ends of England, from Sicily to Cape North, we
find the same religion at the basis of the social condition
of all nations. The old ideas are a common property ;
new ideas speed almost through this whole space with
the rapidity of thought, and reach, at the same time,
the understandings of all. The manners, customs, sen-
timents, become every day more alike; in all things,
community and intimacy are closer and closer. Nothing
that touches the smallest, the most remote of the mem-
bers of the great confederacy remains foreign or indiffer-
ent to the whole.
And yet the assimilation of the people of Europe stops
far short of confounding their distinctive qualities. Not
long since, the world saw them, with some surprise
perhaps, protesting against the complete fusion seem-
ingly about to annihilate their individual existence, and
threatening to carry them back to the chaos of a homo-
geneous unity. They have once again proclaimed the
|K>wer ,of historical ties, uniting the offspring of the same
]>cople, like friends of childhood, by a long community
of life, and the vitality of those elements of race which
boar witness to the original diversity of the gifts the
Creator has bestowed upon his children. Each of
(he great physical districts composing that continent, in
27
314 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL 'JEOGRAPHY.
reality sustains a people whose moral and intellectual
character, aptitudes, talents, differ as much as their
language from those of their brethr.&i. Each of t;..ese
nations plays, in the great drama of history, a specia*
part in accordance with its particular gifts, and ah
together form, in truth and reality, one of those rich
organic unities which we have recognized as being the
natural result of all regular and healthy growth.
This variety of elements and their reciprocal influ-
ence, joined to the community of action, which is the
distinctive feature of modern society, exalt the powers
of man to a degree hitherto unknown. Christian
Europe beholds, poetry, the arts, and the sublimest
sciences, successively flourish, as in the bright days of
pagan Greece ; but, enriched already with the spoils of
the past, culture is far more comprehensive, more varied,
more profound; for it is not only affluent with the wealth
of days gone by, but Christianity has placed it on the
solid foundation of truth. The spirit of investigation
ranges in all directions ; it adds to this brilliant crown
a new gem, the science of nature, growing with a
speed of which the Ancient World had not even a fore-
east. Unriddled by the spirit of man, nature has yielded
up to him her secrets ; her untiring forces are enlisted
in the service of intellect, which knows how to gt.ide
their action for its own purposes. Who sh ill describe
those thousand applications of the science of nature,
those inventions of the arts, each more marvellous than
the others, coming upon us with a daily surprise ; thoso
ingenious and mighty machines obeying wrhout pause
he orders of man, and under his watchful eye accom-
SPP.fiAD OF CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 315
pliehing, with the same ease, the most gigantic works
and the most delicate operations ? The ocean has lost
its terrors; with the help of steam the sailor braves
opposing winds and waves; the compass and the stars
conduct him with unerring precision to the end of his
voyage. Space is annihilated by railroads ; the word
of man, borne on the wings of electricity, outruns in its
course the sun himself; distances vanish, obstacles are
snoothed away. Man thus disposes at will with the
forces of nature, and the earth at last serves her master
Such is the spectacle presented by European civil-
ization. Looking upon it only under this brilliant
aspect, and in itself, the progress of man seems to be
almost touching its final goal. Nevertheless, the plan
traced by the Divine Founder of the Christian church
is much more vast ; the goal which He sets up is much
higher. These precious gifts of culture are not to
remain the exclusive property of a small number of
privileged men, nor of a single society, of one continen*
alone ; the Christian principle is broader ; it is universal
like the love of Christ. An important work remains,
then, to be done ; the work of diffusion and of propaga-
tion. This work is two-fold ; for it is a duty to extend
to the greatest possible number of the members of the
same community all the blessings of civilization, at tho
same time that it is a duty to help all the nations of the
?arth to enjoy them. The first is social; the second
pertains to humanity in general. To bring them both
about, European society must overpass its present boun-
daries.
Just as Greece, the model on a small scale of what all
316 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOOKAPHY.
Europe becomes on a large scale, imparted to the East
and to Rome the civilization which was the fruit of her
whole popular life, so Europe owes to the world both
her sciences and her culture, and the gospel, her most
priceless good. The realm of civilization, which has
been gradually enlarging, must increase still further ; it
must have no other limits than those of the great globe
itself.
A 1 was prepared in nature and history to invite the
society of Europe to take this glorious initiative, and to
facilitate the task.
The position of the European continent, in the midst
of the other continents, seems to destine it from the
beginning to this important part; its situation on the
shores of the ocean opens an easy access to the remotest
countries.
The ocean is, in fact, gentlemen, the grand highway
of the world; from the earliest ages the civilized nations
urged by a secret instinct of their coming destinies
seem tending unconsciously to gather themselves neai
its shores. Born on the banks of the great rivers of the
East, they cluster afterwards round the Mediterranean,
under the sway of Greece and Rome. The modern
world exchanges this theatre, henceforth too narrow,
for the basin of the oceans, and our ships sail over the
vast expanse of waters with more ease and security
than the triremes of Greece and Rome crossed their
inland seas.
The progress made by man in Europe also renderr
him capable of undertaking this work. In that conti-
aert, so trat, '<r.ble in shape, so well made, so nicely
SPREAD OF CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 3 7
adjusted to nis forces, he has learned to subdue nature
by intelligence, and has thrown off the yoke. The
child of the East has become a man in the land of the
West. Thus no obstacle dismays or arrests him; he
sets forth, and, like the Rome of other days, the Europe
of the present marches to the conquest of the world less
by arms than by her colonists, her commerce, her civil-
ization, and by the gospel, which she carries to all
nations.
The first land her ships encounter is the New World,
waiting, as we have seen, only for the active labors
of the Civilized races, to yield up to them all the treas-
ures that lay unused in its bosom. The European
nations bordering the Atlantic establish themselves there,
and divide it among them. In North America, the
people of the North of Europe the Anglo-Saxons, the
Germans, the French ; in South America, the Spanish
and the Portuguese. The contrast between the North
and South, mitigated in the temperate regions of th<
mother country, is reproduced in the New World more
strongly marked, and on a grander scale, between North
America, with its temperate climate, its Protestant and
progressive people, and South America, with its tropical
climate, its Catholic and stationary inhabitants. The
conquest of the New World was the fairest and the most
useful the European communities could have made,
both for themselves and for the accomplishment of theii
work. They are transported thither with all then
moans of action ; they get the mastery of nature with-
out exhausting efforts ; they strike their roots deep in a
rt cept" e soil almost untenanted ; and America, while
27*
318 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
preparing to make new advances in social science, is
already lab;ring in concert with Europe fcr the civil-
ization of the world, which will not be completed with-
out her.
But Europe stops not here. The ocean still opens
to hei the way to the maritime countries, the most
highly fa vo :ed regions in every continent. Africa and
Australia receive her cclonists, who plant in that soil,
rebellious to civilization, the habits and the manners of
our communities ; Asia herself, old and immovable Asia,
the symbol of stability, is shaken to her very founda-
tions. India beholds her political power crushed under
the arms and by the skill of England, while Christianity
ond the light of knowledge undermine the ancient Brah-
min edifice, threatening every day to bury beneath its
ruins that Old World which has survived more than
three thousand years. China, in her turn, is forced to
open her gates, and the ideas of Christianity and civili-
zation, together with the products of European industry,
are piercing, little by little, into that old sanctuai v of
superstition. Finally, there is not, in the bosom oi the
oceans, an island so distant but that, with the visits of
the ships from Christian lands, it receives some germs of
future improvement. The work is everywhere pre-
paring, or beginning to bear fruit ; and instead of one
of those invasions of barbarous hordes, which so often
terrified the world, plunging it again, for whole centu-
ries, into the darkness of ignorance, we gaze upon the
magnificent and consoling spectacle of a peaceful but
irresistible march of civilization, and of the light of
knowledge to the conquest of the whole earth.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 31$
Certainly these are admirable beginnings, the har-
bingers of a still more brilliant future. But here is
only a part of the work the Christian nations cf
moderr Europe appear summoned to execute. To this
spread of the blessings of civilization abroad, ought to
correspond, as we have said, a work of diffusion within
c/ivilized society itself; to the humanitary work, a social
work. The greatest possible number of the members,-
all, if it may be, each, according to the measure of hia
gifts and the position assigned him by Providence, ought
to share in the well-being, in the light of knowledge, in
the moral perfection, which are now the portion of but
a few. These advantages should, at least, be placed
within the reach of all those, who, by a wise activity,
the first condition of all progress, render themselves
worthy to receive such reward.
This progress, whereto at present all civilized society
aspires, this goal, towards which it is tending, instinc-
tively urged on by the very principle that constitutes its
life, is shown, as from afar, by that beautiful formula,
drawn from the gospel, but so shamefully perverted by
the false friends of progress, that one hardly dares
repeat it after them ; it is proclaimed in words that are
the motto of the present age Liberty, Equality, Fra
lernity. Yes, gentlemen, liberty to unfold all the living
forces, and all the good tendencies of man, but not his
evil tendencies ; the equality of rights lying in the moral
nature of man, but not that absolute, impossible equality
which is contrary to nature and the course of Provi-
dence, and annihilates all progress; that fraternity
which is the lav of the gospel, and substitutes, f or the
'.<,
320 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
se fishn iss that isolates and kills, the fraternal love, and
de /otion that unites and makes alive ; a free people, a
people of brethren ; unobstructed individual growth,
attended by all the advantages of social life ; diversity
in unity, this is the dream of the existing world, this
is the prayer expressed under every variety of form. I
say the dream of the existing world; for the perfect
realization of such an ideal is possible only in perfect
obedience to the divine law, in absolute goodness. In
this earthly state, man, the sinner, must content himself
with tending towards it, and drawing nearer every day.
Europe, gentlemen, has conceived the idea, and com-
menced the execution- of the work. If we cast a glance
back upon the phases of her progress, we see that each
step she has taken in culture is at the same time marked
by an amelioration in the state of the lower classes of
society. From epoch to epoch, instruction and well-
being become more and more universal. But historical
ties of every kind, ancient customs, acquired rights, as
much to be respected as any other rights of man, and,
above all, the want of resources and of room for an
ever-increasing population, are almost insurmountable
difficulties, seeming to indicate that the work begun
upon her soil is to be finished elsewhere. In Europe,
the present must take the past into account, and in hei
past, Europe has roots too deeply fixed to adapt herself
readily to all the exigencies of a new principle. Cut off
the roots of this tree, ancient, but still majestic, still
flowing with sap, and you take away its life. Cut from
it a shoot, set thai shoot in a fresh and virgin soil, .arid a
new t-ee, at nee strong ^nd flexible, will readily take
THE PEOPLF OF THE FUTURE. 32i
whatevtv form the skilful gardener shall desire to give it
Is not this what has been done for modern society by
Him who dresses the great garden of humanity ?
Yes, gentlemen, a new work is preparing, and a grave
question is propounded. To what people shall it belong
to carry out this work into reality ? The law of history
replies, to a new people. And to what continent ? The
geographical march of civilization tells us, to a new con-
tinent west of the Old World to America.
This conclusion may seem a bold one ; for the future
is still covered by a veil it were unwise to wish to
lift. Nevertheless, many signs seem to authorize this
anticipation. It is worth the trouble of marking their
existence, and of seeking to understand their language.
What is that new people, forming and growing upon
the land of the future 1
Is it a new race? No; for the ties of race imposed by
physical nature must disappear in that world of eman-
cipation and of liberty, to leave all its spontaneout
character to the activity of man.
Is it some particular nation of the Old World? No
for if one people seems to stamp the physiognomy, ye/
the historical nations of every language and of every
character are flowing thither, and blending together ir
one and the same nationality. The historical walls of
separation in the Old World have fallen at once, aid
without t struggle. The European, who sets foot on
American ground, with the purpose of making it his
coantry, throws aside, at the threshold, not his affections
nnd his memories, but his social and political past if
I may say it, takes a fresh sta~t, recommences a new
322 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
existence He is received, by those who have gone
thither before him, as a brother, entitled to the same
!mmunities they are themselves enjoying. The most
varied elements are gathering and harmonizing in this
American people, which is moulding itself as no other
ever did before, and which, more than any other people,
is preeminently the cosmopolite, by virtue of its very
constitution.
And what is the vital principle we find at the very
root of this nation ? It is the gospel. Not the gospel
disfigured and cramped by the iron fetters of a power-
ful hierarchical church, like that the Christian Ger-
manic world received while in its cradle, but the gos-
pel restored by the Reformation, with its life-giving
doctrines, and its regenerative power. Luther drew
the Bible forth from the dust of libraries, where it lay
forgotten, at the moment when Columbus discovered the
New World. Will any one believe that here was only
an accidental coincidence 1 More than this, gentlemen ;
for the first foundations were then laid of the edifice
rising at the present day before our eyes, the actual
construction of which, three centuries and a half later,
enables us to see the providential connection of the two
events.
The founders of social order in America are indeed
the true offspring of the Reformation, true Protestants.
The Bible is their code. Imbued with the principles
of cni! and religious liberty they find written in the
g^spef, and for which they have given up their former
countr - , they put them in practice in this land of their
shoice. They are all brethren, children of the same
THE PEOPLE OF THE FUTURE. 323
Father this is equality, independence, liberty. They
submit from the heart to their Divine Leader, and to his
IP.W ; this is the principle of order. Now the union of
these two terms is free obedience to the divine will,
which is the condition of a normal development, the
supreme end of the education of man.
These, you will agree, gentlemen, are the sublime
doctrines whence flow the religious, political, and social
forms that distinguish America at the present time, from
all the other countries on the globe. In religion, as in
politics, democracy ; the principle of free association per-
vading every part of public and private life ; the pre-
ponderance of the judicial element set above the state
itself, as the divine law is placed above human liberty ,
free obedience to the law, finally, rendering the means
of constraint almost superfluous, and guaranteeing at
once both security and liberty ; these are so many
Christian ideas that have been incorporated in society
so many blessings America will continue to enjoy in
proportion as she shall be faithful to the great principles
whence they emanate.
A last characteristic, finally, of the nation forming
on the soil of America, upon which we fix our atten-
tion, because it furnishes in fact the representative
of all modern progress, is the greater emancipation
from the dominion of nature. European society is
transported to the New World, with all the power of
modern arts and industry, which it applies without let
or hindrance upin a large scale. Man, the master, now
explores its vast territory. A perpetual movement, a
fever of hcomotion, rages from one end of the continent
324 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
to the other. The America uses things without allow-
ing himself to be taken ca tive by them. We behota
everywhere the free will of man overmastering nature,
which has lost the power of stamping him with a local
character, of separating the nation into distinct peoples.
Local country, which had so great sway in the Old
World, no longer exists, so to speak, beyond the limits
of the city, itself an association determined by man's free
will, and not by the force of external nature. The great
social country wins all interest, and all affection ; it
overmatches entirely geographical country.
Such are the principal lineaments that give to this
people a character peculiarly their own. By these feat-
ures we recognize the people of the future ; for all
the tendencies, struggling hard to find a vent in Euro-
pean society, are realized without effort here, because
they are the very foundations whereon all the socia.
relations rest. It is to this people, then, that the full
and entire development belongs in the course of the
epoch now beginning.
And what continent is better adapted than the Ameri-
can, to respond to the wants of humanity in this- phase
of its history 1
The nations of Europe might easily be drawn oul
and arrayed within its vast confines. Its fertile soil
secures prosperity to all, in exchange for their labor. Its
forest", its treasures of coal laid up in quantities surpass-
ing everything of the kind to be found in any part of
the globe,. prepare an inexh mstible support, and allow a
futura extension of industr ' to a degree and in proper
tions unknown elsewhere.
AMERICA THE SOCIAL WORLD. 323
The simplicity and unity of plan we have observed
n its coni guration. its extensive plains, navigable
rivers, the extreme facility of communications uni-
versally, with no serious obstacle lying in the way,
from one end to the other of the fruitful part of the con-
tinent, al. invite the inhabitants to frequent connection,
to never-ceasing intercourse and exchange, checidng
the formation of local nationalities, and favoring the
maintenance of a national unity, by the assimilation of
all the parts.
Thus we may, perhaps, foresee that the American
Unnn, already the most numerous association of men
that has eve: existed voluntarily united under the same
law, will be able hereafter to become, even within the
limits of its present confines, a true social world, tran-
scending in grandeur and unity the most impressive
spectacles of human greatness the history of past ages
holds up to our view.
Finally, the oceanic position of the American conti-
nent secures its commercial prosperity, and creates, at
the same time, the means of influence upon the world.
It commands the Atlantic by its ports, while Oregon and
California open the route of the Pacific Ocean and the
East. America, also, is so placed as to take an active
part in the grea* work of the civilization of the woild, so
admirably begu.. by Europe.
As Greece, then, gave the ancient world instnu tior.
and culture, so Europe instructs and refines the modern
world, a.nd all mankind; and as Rome wrought out the
social work of antiquity, America seems called to do the
{tame service for mixbrn times, and to build up in th*
28
326 - COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
New World the social state of which the Old World
dreamed.
But while Rome accomplished her task by brute
force, made a mere outside work, and brought about
only an imperfect fusion of the nations, America is doing
hers by persuasion. Drawing to her the free will of the
sons of all the races, she binds them by one faith, and is
thus preparing a true brotherhood of man. The one had
only gross material arms ; the other has spiritual arms.
Between the two lies the whole distance that separates
the heathen from the Christian world, and the progress
made during two thousand years.
And further, what is there in common between this
new social world of America and that world dreamed of
by the morbid imagination of frantic Utopians, who,
denying Christianity and its saving doctrines, renounce
the vital principle of modern societies ; who talk of
progress, but fetter individual liberty, which is its
sinew; of fraternity, as if man without God did not
always relapse into selfishness; and show, finally, by
their abortive attempts, both the corruption of the heart
of man, and his inability to do the work of reconstruct-
ing society, which Divine Providence, in its wisdom, has
reserved to itself?
The new society ought to receive entire the inheri-
tance of those which have gone before ; for nothing good
or beautiful should perish. It ought to be rooted in
that living faith which nourishes the nations and keeps
up in them tht freshness of life ; its instruments
should be the sciences and industry ; its ornaments,
literature and t* } fine arts ; its end, the happiness of
AMERICA THE SOCIAL WORLD. 327
all, by training them up to moral perfection, and by
spreading the gospel throughout the world, to the glory
of the Redeemer.
You see, gentlemen, this picture transports us into
the future. There stands the goal, and we are only
now at the starting point. But this lofty goal may
serve as a guiding star for the present, to preserve it
from losing its way. In what measure and through
what perils it shall be given to mankind, and to America
in particular, to attain it, is known to God alone, and
future ages will teach the issue to the world ; but what
we do know is, that it will be in proportion as man shall
be faithful to the law of his moral nature, which is the
divine law itself.
Asia, Europe, and North America, are the three
grand stages of humanity in its march through the
ages. Asia is the cradle where man passed his infancy,
under the authority of law, and where he learned his
dependence upon a sovereign master. Europe is the
school where his youth was trained, where he waxed in
strength and knowledge, grew to manhood, and learned
at once his liberty and his moral responsibility. Amer-
ica is the theatre of his activity during the period of
manhood ; the land where he applies and practises al'
he has .earned, brings into action all the forces he has
acquired, and where he is still to learn that the entire
development of his being. and his own happiness are
possible only by willing obedience to the laws of his
Maker.
Thus lives and prospers, under the protection of the
Di;'ine Husbandman, the great tree of humanity, which
328 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
is to overshadow the whole earth. It germinates ai.d
sends up its strong trunk in the ancient land of Asia.
Grafted with a nobler stalk, it snoots out new branches,
it biossoms in Europe. In America only, it seems des-
tined to bear all its fruits. In these three we behold at
once, as in a vast picture, the past, the present, and the
future.
We see, then, that at each great phasis of the history
of humanity the real work of the epoch is accomplished
on a different theatre, and the centre or principal nucleus
of civilized societies changes its place in the course of the
ages. But in pointing out the remarkable fact of this
successive displacement, let us not forget to state at the
same time another movement, a progressive movement
of extension, no less evident, and of almost equal impor-
tance. At first we behold the Orient shine alone ; but
soon the Occident ascends, and assumes the sceptre of
intellectual light, and Greece now draws with her into a
new progress the better portion of the East. Rome suc-
ceeds, and by her conquests removes the boundaries
of the civilized world, whereof Italy is the soul, to the
uttermost limits of the West. The North in succession is
aaded, and all Europe becomes in turn the centre of a
new world, which breaks the barriers seemingly imposed
on it by nature, to enlarge and expand itself beyond the
oceans. The establishment of European civilization in
the New World, which has more than doubled the terri-
toria. extent of the cultivated nations, prepares an epoch
of aggrandizement more rapid still. The two Americas,
situated between the other four continents, seem destined
to become, in theft mr? a new centre of action, or a
CONCLUSION. . 329
point of suppjrt for the establishment of easy and more
rapid relations with all the nations of the world, and the
irresistible logic of facts passing under our eyes, compels
us to believe that during the epoch which is preparing,
the boundaries of the domain of the civilized world can
only be those of the globe itself.
Before closing let us cast back a glance upon the
long way we have travelled over. The geographical
march of history must have convinced us, if I am not
mistaken,
1. That the three continents of the North are organ-
ized for the development of man, and that we may
rightfully name them preeminently the historical con-
tinents.
2. That each of these three continents, by virtue of its
very structure, and of its physical qualities, has a special
function in the education of mankind, and corresponds
to one of the periods of his development.
3. That in proportion as this development advances,
and civilization is perfected, and gains in intensity, the
physical domain it occupies gains in extent and the
number of cultivated nations increases.
4. That the entire physical creation corresponds to
the moral creation, and is only to be explained by it.
Such, it seems, is the result of the study we have
been making, of the relations between nature and
history. It is not, perhaps, without some surprise, that
we behold privileged continents and races, continents and
races almost unalterably smitten with a character of
inferiority. And yet, why be surprised at this 1 Is it
not the attribute of God to dispense his gifts to whom h
28*
330 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
will, and as he will I Do we not know that in every
organism there are needed divers members, clothed with
functions more or less exalted, but alike necessary 1
We shall see that this great contrast of the historical
continents and the continents of the inferior races seems
established by Providence as a standing invitation ad-
Jressed to man, bidding him unfold a new activity, and
exercise the virtue of self-devotion, one of the highest to
jvhich his moral nature can be called. For the law 01
XMitrasts in the order of nature is the law of love in the
noral order.
The three continents of the South, outcasts in appear-
ince, can they have been destined to an eternal
isolation, doomed never to participate in that higher life
of humanity, the sketch of which we have traced?
And shall those gifts nature bestows on them with
lavish hand, remain unused? No, gentlemen, such a
doom cannot be in the plans of God. But the races
inhabiting them are captives in the bonds of all power-
ful nature ; they will never break down the fences that
sunder them from us. It is for us, the favored races, to
go to them. Tropical nature cannot be conquered and
subdued, save by civilized men, armed with all the
might of discipline, intelligence, and of skilful industry.
It is, then, from the northern continents that those of the
south await their deliverance ; it is by the help of the
civilized men of the temperate continents that it shall be
vouchsafed to the man of the tropical lands to enter into
the movement of universal progress and improvement,
wherein mankind should share.
The pixileged races have duties to perform, pro
SOLUTION OF THE CONTRAST. 33J
p>rtion<id to the gifts they possess. To impart to
other nations the advantages constituting their own
glory, is the only way of legitimating the porsession of
them. We owe to the inferior races the blessings and
the comforts of civilization; we owe them the intel-
lectual development they are capable of; above all.
we owe them the gospel, which is our glory, and
\rill be their salvation ; and if we neglect to help them
partake in aL these blessings, God will some time call us
to a strict account.
In this way, alone, will ths inferior races be able
to come forth from the state of torpor and debasement
wherein they are plunged, and live the active life of the
higher races. Then shall commence, or rather shall
rise to its just proportions, the elaboration of the material
wealth of the tropical regions, for the benefit of the
whole world. The nations of the lower races, associ-
ated like brothers with the civilized man of the ancient
Christian societies, and directed by his intelligent activ-
ity, will be the chief instruments. The whole world,
so turned to use by man, will fulfil its destiny.
The three northern continents, however, seem made
to be the leaders ; the three southern, the aids. The
people of the temperate continents will always be the
men of intelligence, of activity, the brain of humanity,
if I may venture to say so ; the people of the tropical
continents will always be the hands, the workmen, tht
sons oftoil.
History seems to be advancing towards the realization
of these hopes, towards the solution of this greU con
Jrast. Each norther- continent has its southern conu-
332 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
nent near by, which seems more especially commended
to its guardianship and placed under its influence.
Africa is already European at both extremities ;
North America leans on South America, which is in-
debted to the example of the North for its own emanci-
pation and its own institutions. Asia is gradually
receiving into her b:som the Christian nations of
Europe, who are transforming her character, and be-
ginning thence to settle the destinies of Australia.
Lastly, the Christian missions are organizing upon a
larger and larger scale in the two leading maritime
countries of the globe, England and America, to whom
the dominion of the sea seems granted for this end ; and
by engrafting upon all the nations the vital principle of
civilized societies, without which no real community
can exist between them, are preparing and hastening the
true brotherhood, the spiritual brotherhood, of the whole
human race.
It is in this great union, foretold alike by the order of
nature and by the gospel, that every continent, as well
as every people, will have its special functions, and
that we shall find the solution and the definitive airn
of all the physical and historical contrasts we have
been studying. Everything in nature is arranged for
the accomplishment by man of the admirable designs of
Providence for the triumph of the good ; and if man
were faithful to his destination, the whole world would
appear as a sublime concert of nature and the nations,
blending their voices into a lofty harmony in praise of
the Creator.
We are touching upon the close of our course; we
FAITH AND SCIENCE. 335J
are far distant, indeed, from the point whence we started.
Nevertheless, we have arrived hither, I believe, by a
natural and r3gular path. Before we separate, gentle-
men, allow me to add a few words upon the spirit and
method that have animated and directed our studies.
All is life for him who is alive ; all is death for him
who is dead. All is spirit for him who is spirit ; all is
matter lor him who is nothing but matter. It is with
the whole life and the whole intellect that we should
study the work of Him who is life and intellect itself.
This work of the Supreme Intelligence can it be
otherwise than intelligent ? The work of Him who
is all life and all love must it not be living and full of
ove?
How should we not find in our earth itself the realiza-
.ion of an intelligent thought, of a thought of love to
man, who is the end and aim of all creation, and the
bright consummate flower of this admirable organiza-
tion?
Yes, certainly, it is so. Faith so teaches, inspir-
ing us with this sentiment, vague still, yet profound.
Science so teaches by a patient and long-continued
study, reserving this sublime view as the sweetest
reward for our labor. Faith, enlightened and ex-
pounded by science, the union of faith and science,
is living, harmonious knowledge, is perfected faith, for
it has become VISION.
I have sought, gentlemen, Jo introduce you to the
living knowledge of our globe, in the modest measure
it is given me to do it. In spite of the imperfec-
tion of this kn :wledge, of which I feel that I have only
334 COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
touched apon the margin, if you have followed me you
have had one more intellectual experience, and you
admire with me the Author of so fair a creation.
If your heart has felt the benevolent purposes that
have throughout presided over these arrangements, if it
is convinced that everything in nature and history is
ordained to guide us to happiness by lifting us up to
Him, then it is grateful, then it loves in turn.
If the heart admires and loves, it adores ; and that is
the only worship worthy of rational man, the only ser-
vice hi Maker asks and accepts at his hands.
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