Comparative Physical Geography; or the earth in relation to man ... Translated from the French by C. C. Felton, etc

Front matter

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE RUPERT AND THE CAVALIERS. By Eltot Wartiurtos. Numerous sine Portraits. 3 vols., Svo.. 42s. THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. By the Author of "Hochelaga." 2 vols., 8vo., 2Ss. CORRESPONDENCE OF SCHILLER WITH KORNER. From the German. By Leonard Simpson. 3 vols., 31s. Cd. THE FAIRFAX CORRESPONDENCE .- Memoiks of Chaelfs the First. — Part II. The Great Civil War. By Robert Bell. 4 vols., Svo , 60s. Either Part may be had separately. A HISTORY OF THE ROYAL NAVY. By Sir Harris Nicolas, G.C.M.G. 2 vols., 8vo„ 2Ss. A HISTORY OF THE JESUITS, froji the Foundation of their Society, Isy Andrew Steinmetz. 3 vols., Svo., 45s. LOUIS XIV., and the Court or France in the Sevknteenth Citntury. By Miss Julia Pakdoe. Third Edition. 3 vols., Svo., 42s. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA THE CATHOLICS OF SPAIN. |By W. H. Prescott.

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Preface

. Tke lectures contained in the volume here offered to the public were delivered, by 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 Trustee, John A. Lowell, Esq. They were spoken with the help only 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 my friend, Mr. C. C. Felton, Professor in Harvard University, are collected and reprinted in the present volume.

Neither time nor circumstances have permitted 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 sound 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 a

PREFACE.

. happens, of bringing several different subjects into the same discourse. 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 instruction 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 in strong relief, even by venturing a dash of the pencil somewhat bold, the essential traits of the subject, in 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 advantage 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

PREFACE.

. 5 author willingly leaves to men versed in the subject the task of distinguishing those which may be regarded as constitutin g a progress in knowledge of the creation, and of its relations to man. There are, however, three names so closely connected with the 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, Ritter, and Steffens, are the three great minds who have breathed a new life into the science of the physical 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 connexion, 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 publication based on it, by Prof. Johnston at Edin burgh. 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 Mr. Sonrel, Before sending these last lines to the press, it seems proper to add to what has ;been said at p. 75 on the depth of the ocean along the coast of the United States, some new information of great interest, just furnished by the report of Prof. Bache, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey, which the author was not aware of at the moment of writing. Among the operations of the year 1848, there is a thermometrical sounding, taken off Cape Hatteras, which indicates a depth of

PREFACE.

. 3300 fathoms, or 19,800 feet. This depth leaves far behind it all that has ever been previously established in these quarters, and singularly confirms the conclusions, stated at the close of this topic, upon the abrupt change of the general slopes of the sub-marine relief at a certain distance from the shores of the ocean. Besides Prof.'Felton, who has read all the proof-sheets, the author returns his sincere acknowledgments to Professors Agassiz, Peirce, and Gray, who have had the goodness to revise portions 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 re freshes 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 kindly received. Cambridge, Mass., May 1, 1849. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES AND FIGURES. PLATE I. — Phtsical Map op the World. This map, in Mercator's projection, is intended to enable the eye to seize at a glance the great physical features of the surface of the globe To this end, each particular is indicated by a different colour. The colour 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 colours distinguish the three prin cipal 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 dea 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 Capri corn. The entirely straight line is the Equator. The latitudes are marked in the margin by a line for every 15 deg. The longitudes in the same way, by 15 deg. 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 deg. Fahrenheit, and of 15 deg Centigrade, or 59 deg.

Fahrenheit. All the places situated on these lines, having the same mean annual temperature, set in a clear Ugh the difference of climate between the opposite coasts of the continents while referring it to the true causes. Every letter 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 in sertion, and the great features which it represents are so well known that there is no need of naming them. EXPLANATION. PLATES II. and ni. (pp. 52, 53.) These plates contain a series of ideal profiles intended to illustrate the general laws of relief of the continents. The profiles comprise each 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 horizontal distances would have to be magnified about one hundred times.

The numbers placed in the margin indicate the heights in thousands effect. The letters placed at the top of the ver tical 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 profile of the massive and entire parts of the continents, comprising the plains and table lands, are distinguished from the heights which surmount 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 out side 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 H., profile 4; the Ararat in Armenia, Plate III., profile 1.

Plate H., profile 3 ; the St. Elias, in North America. Plate II. comprises seven profiles across the three principal conti nents of the Old World, in the direction from north to south. In pro file 1, Eastern Asia, and profile 6, Africa, the line of horizontal distances being too considerable to be taken into the frame, the profiles are interrupted to indicate that one portion of the horizontal line has been suppressed. In the profile of Eastern Asia, the portion omitted is almost 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, and not from north to south, as the title erroneously indicates. No. 2, passing along the line of the Antilles, is necessarily broken. But the gradual increase of the reliefs and their disposition prove that 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 from west to east in the Old World, and from north to south in the New World. The text itself makes further explanation unnecessary. PLATE IV. — Map op the Disteibution of Rain. This map, taken from the Physical Atlas of Berghaus, shows the distribution of rain on the surface of the globe. The deeper the colour, EXPLANATION. 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, where daily thunder-storms cause almost throughout the year the fall 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 sixteen portraits, all drawn from nature, and taken from the plates of the "Animal 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 to Christianity; drawn from life by Mr. Maeder ofthe French Mission to 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 of tl e Naval Hospital at Greenwich. Geographical Almanack 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 officer in the expedition of Captain Laplace. No. 8. A Negro of Congo; drawn from nature by Rugendas, Voyage Pittoresque au Bresil. Plate VI. First Series. No. 1. Mongolian type, portrait of one ofthe Siamese twins, seen in Europe in 1830, after a drawing made from nature, at Paris. No. 2. Malay, belonging to the group of the Koutousoff 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 ofthe Gwea-Gul, from the Atlas du Voyage aux Terres Australes. EXPLANATION. No. 4. A woman of Van Diemen, from L' 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 Maxi milian of Neuwied. No. 6. Coroado Indian, from the banks of the Rio Xipoto, one of the Rio Pomba, in tropical South America, aster 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 37. Land Hemisphere, and Water Hemisphere. Fig. 2, page 92. Europe at the Silurian Epoch. Fig. 3, page 94. America at the Coal Epoch.

Fig. 4, page 96. 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 existing 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 lines are under water ; but the existing contours of the continents are represented by means of a lighter shade, as a point of comparison. The maps Fig. 2 and Fig. 4, have been constructed after the geological maps of Elie de Beaumont (in Beuant Geologie), Bou<j, et Dechen ; the map Fig. 3, aster the geological map ofthe United States, by Mr. James Hall, completed by that of Sir Charles Lyell and the geological map of the world, by Boue.

CONTENTS. LECTURE I. Subject of the course — What should be understood by Geography — Definition of Physical Geography — The life of the globe — Importance 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, Europe, America — Inquiry into the analogies of the general forms of the continents 15 LECTURE H. Recapitulation — Vertical dimensions or Forms of Relief — Difficulties presented by their study — Usefulness of Profiles — Great influence of differences of height — Elevations in mass, and linear elevations — Importance of the former — Labours of Humboldt and Ritter on this subject— Examination of the general features of relief of the continents— A great common law embracing them all 42 LECTURE HL Distribution of the table 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 completes the study of the plastic forms of the earth's crust — Division and characteristics of the oceans; their contours and their depth — Comparison ofthe latter with the mean elevation of the continents — Conclusions — Necessity of considering the physiology of the continental forms— Point of view which should be taken — Law of the development of life ... 64 LECTURE IV.

Recapitulation — Is the Law of Development applicable to the whole globe, considered as an individual ? — Origin of the Earth according to the hypothesis of Laplace and Herschell — Gradual formation of the continents — Europe at the Silurian epoch — CONTENTS. North America at the Carboniferous epoch — Character of in feriority of the organised beings which correspond to these ancient formations — Europe at the Tertiary epoch — Greater diversity and perfection of the organised 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 organised beings — Consequences — The law of differences and the law of contrasts — The three grand terrestrial contrasts ; 86 LECTURE V The North-east or Continental hemisphere, and the South-west or Oceanic hemisphere — Land and Water — Differences in the forms of their surfaces — Continental climate and Sea climate — Their different influences upon the vegetation and organised 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 102 LECTURE VI.

The study of the distribution of the rains supposes that of the winds — Difference of 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 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 into rain — Circumstances favourable to the precipitation of vapours — 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 115 LECTURE VH.

Modifications of the general laws of distribution of the rains — Decrease of the quantity of rain waters and rainy days, from the seaboard towards the inlands — Numerous exceptions and their causes— Influence of the mountains and the table lands in the two worlds — Distribution of rain in South America; in CONTEXTS. 13 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 organised beings — Superiority of the zone of contact, or the maritime zone 141 LECTURE VHI. The marine currents — The motion of the seas due to other causes than that of the continental waters — Various causes of the marine currents — Differences of temperature the principal, acting indirectly by the winds, directly by the unequal density ot the waters — Coincidence 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 — Conclusions 164 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 World the country of the higher and historical races — Reciprocal actioD of the two worlds by means of man — Establishment of the man of the Old World in the New — Historical America compared with Europe — Alliance of the two worlds ; solution of the contrast 194 LECTURE X. Contrast of the three continents of the North and the three continents of the South — Physical characteristics of the two groups ; the former 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 tropical — Superiority of the tropical climate in nature— Gradual increase of life, of the variety and improve- CONTE ment of the types of organised 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 geographical distribution of the races of man and the animals founded upon a different principle — Advantage of the temperate climate for the improvement of man 213 LECTURE XI.

The continents of the North considered as the theatre of history — Asia-Europe ; contrast of the North and South ; its influence in history, conflict of the barbarous nations of the North with the civilised 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 civilisation — Superiority of the Hindoo civilisation ; 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 organised for the development of man and of societies ; America — Future to which it is destined by its physical nature . . . 242 LECTURE XII.

Geographical march of history — Asia the cradle of civilisation — Common character of the primitive nations — Powerful influence of nature — The human race in its infancy lives under authority, which becomes slavery — Civilisation 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 — Coining of Christ; his doctrines new in a historical point of view — The Germanic Christian world begins their application — Civilisation 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 civilised nations — Social work begun at the same time — America must finish it — The people of the future ; by what signs recognised — Conclusions — Foreseen solution of the contrast of the three Northern continents and the three Southern — Duties of the privileged races towards the inferior — A few words upon the method pursued — Science and faith THE EARTH AND MAN.

LECTURE I. Subject of the course — What should be understood by Geography — Definition of Physical Geography — The life of the globe— Importance 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, Europe, 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 em barrassment for some of you, as it certainly is for me. In the communion of mind with mind, in the mutual inter change of ideas, the first condition necessary for establish ing between him who speaks and those that hear, the sympathetic harmony which makes its charm, is, that the word shaU reach the understanding without obstacle and without effort.

In my savour you have made the sacrifice of your lan guage. I need not tell you, that on my part I will do aU in my power to render that sacrifice less irksome; and I shall always be desirous of giving to those who will do me the favour to ask it all the explanations which they can require. The subject to which I propose to caU your attention is Comparative Physical Geography, considered in its rela tions to the history and the destinies of mankind. But the term geography has been applied to such different things, the use, the misuse to which it has been subjected, has rendered it so elastic and ill-defined, that, in order to prevent misconception, I must first of all explain to you what I understand by Geography. If, preserving the etymological sense of the word geo graphy, we should, with many authors, undertake to limit this study to a simple description ofthe surface ofthe 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 consequences, 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 tlie power of describing well ought to be denied him; for if he renounces the study of the laws which have presided over the creation, over the disposition of the terrestrial individuals in their different orders ; if he will take no account of those which have given birth to the phenomena that he wishes to describe, soon, over whelmed beneath the mass of details, of whose relative value he is ignorant, without a guide and without a rule to make a judicious 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 pro minently forward those which must give character to the