The child and nature; or, Geography teaching with sand modelling

Preface

Geography spans a lifetime ; but as a common-school study, it consists of a natural sequence of subjects beginning in the primary grades and unfolding along the entire course. Every branch in the advanced work springs from a root in the elementary, and it is this unity of growth which alone merits the name of science.

The series of relations which link man to the mother earth can be properly traced only by considering the land masses, not as mere areas, but as solid forms, possessing not only length and breadth, but also the very important dimension of height. By this term is meant, not the mere location of plateaus and mountain ranges, but the varying elevation of the whole land surface above the sea- level, resulting in continental slopes. Is it not the threefold extension, or- rather the relation of elevation to area, which conditions the distribution of life? and is it not the dimension of height alone, which divides the surface into the great slopes that form the river-basins, determine rainfall and drainage, distribute soil as food for plants, and thus prepare the earth to become the home of man? Any system of

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IV

PREFACE.

geography, therefore, which omits the study of the great slopes of the earth, lacks a very essential element. The aim of this work is, —

1. To grade and apportion the subject-matter of natural geography to the successive stages of development of the child's mind, and rid the study of its myriads of worthless details.

2. To direct attention to the laws of mind-growth which condition methods of teaching, and to suggest devices for stimulating and directing mental energy.

3. To review the literature of geography, and indicate lines of study for teachers.

It is sincerely hoped that what is here given will prove suggestive of something far better, and that the seal of individuality will be stamped on every teacher's own work. Let no man's ideal be slavishly followed, lest it become an idol ; but use only what seems best fitted to stimulate a growing ideal.

In preparing this subject, much important geographical information was obtained from the excellent works of Eitter, Guyot, Humboldt, Wallace, Johnston, Huxley, Maury, and others ; and grateful acknowledgment is now made them.

This book is sent out with the hope that it may lighten the work of teachers, and make the school-days of childhood happier and more profitable.

ALEX E. FRYE.

Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 1, 1888.

Appendix

Graded Course of Study 201

Teachers' Library of Geography 206

Supplementary Readers for Children 209

Library of Travel 211

" Natuke, the old nurse, took The child upon her knee, Saying i 1 Here is a story-book Thy Father has written for thee.:

Come, wander with me,' she said,

'Into regions yet untrod; And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God.'

"4 And he wandered away and away With Nature, the dear old nurse, Who sang to him night and day The rhymes of the universe.

" And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail, She would sing a more wonderful song, Or tell a more marvellous tale."

Longfellow to Agassiz viii

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INTRODUCTION.

Chapter I. Short History Of Geography

The "nest places" of civilization were the fertile valleys and peninsulas about the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf. In early times the natural surroundings of mountains and deserts shut out invasion of hostile tribes, while the many arms of the sea fostered commercial intercourse. Nature produced abundantly the necessaries of life, and at a very early period these great garden spots became the homes of the classic nations. Here we must look for the first records of geography. Here the sailor, the traveller, the soldier, brought together their accounts of foreign lands, people, winds, ocean currents, and apparent motions of the heavenly bodies ; and gradually from these centres of learning the clouds of ignorance were rolled back.

The early history of every science must be an account of the gathering of the facts from which its laws are deduced. The mass of knowledge thus accumulated does not constitute the science. Not until some master-mind comprehends the uuity in all, correlates the parts, and reveals the laws, is

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the science unfolded. The world has had many recorders, but few geographers. The early attempts to advance the study to a science met with but partial success, owing to insufficient data. Not until the great Humboldt had given to the world his "Cosmos," could the master-mind of Carl Ritter gather up the almost countless threads of past research, and weave them into the beautiful science of geography.

This sketch, with its series of maps, is intended to indicate in a general way the growth of geographical knowledge among civilized nations, and thus suggest a system of elementary study ; for the elements of all sciences should lead along the lines of original investigation and discovery. Incidentally, the rise and decline of a few of the great empires may be noticed, together with the important historical events which have influenced exploration and discovery.

The first little map (p. 3) pictures the world as known to Homer about 900 B.C. Greece is represented in the middle of a great round plain, surrounded by the river Ocean. It is difficult to trace the history of discovery before this time, as the records are not authentic. It is believed, however, that during the "heroic age," the Argonauts explored the Black Sea, and that, a little later, the siege of Troy made known the countries of Asia Minor.

During several centuries before the time of Homer, the hardy Phoenician sailors had explored the islands and coasts of the great sea, planting colonies, and carrying on an extensive commerce. In the south, Egypt had already passed the most splendid period of her history (1500-1200 B.C.) ; but Ethiopia was still one of the most powerful states of the known world.

The Greek minstrel was acquainted with the countries bordering the eastern half of the Mediterranean, including Asia

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Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt ; but his knowledge does not appear to have extended to the great monarchies in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates.

The map (II.) of Herodotus (450 B.C.) shows a marked increase in geographical knowledge. The intervening period witnessed the establishment of large and flourishing colonies all around the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The Phoenicians, pushing boldly westward, had discovered England and Ireland, and had even sent their hardy sailors by way of the Red Sea to the Indies. The caravan trade had opened the eastern countries as far as India. Carthage had extended her sway westward to the Atlantic, and Rome was rapidly gaining the ascendancy in Italy. The three great Persian invasions of Greece, ending disastrously in the shipwreck off Mount Athos and the defeats at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea, marked the beginning of the decline of the Persian Empire. The " age of Pericles" had begun in Athens, and that city was at the height of her glory..

The "Father of History" had travelled through Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Lower Egypt, and Mesopotamia, which, with his own country, he has accurately described ; but he knew very little of the discoveries to the westward, and has not even mentioned the name of Rome. The known world was divided into Europe and Asia, around which he placed the Atlantic Sea. The far-away people of the North were called "Hyperboreans " (dwellers beyond the north wind), and the distant lands of the East were termed " Unknown Deserts."

The period of the map (III.) of Strabo is about the beginning of the Christian era. Geographical discovery had long before sounded the knell of mythology ; for the supposed

HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY.

dwelling-places of the gods had been explored, and their myths exploded. The victorious army of Alexander, after conquering the lands bordering the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and all Lower Egypt, had broken the power of the Persians, and lifted the veil from all India as far as the Ganges.

The latter part of the third century B.C. marks the date of the first glimmer of the dawning science. Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C.) of the school at Alexandria began to explore - the heavens for the key to mathematical geography, and is accredited with having been the first to discover the process, employed at the present time, of determining the magnitude of the earth by the measurement of an arc of a great circle. Nor was that all ; for, as Ritter has indicated in "Die Geschichte der Erdkunde," he also studied the relation of irregular coast-lines to continental areas, together with the effects of great natural features upon climate ; and used parallels and meridians in his maps to locate important places. Ancient records tell us that about this time also the first globe was made by Crates, so that this period may be truly said to have foreshadowed the work of nearly twenty centuries later.

Before A.D. 1, Rome had extended her sway, in the Punie wars, over Spain and the smaller possessions of Carthage ; subdued Algeria ; annexed all the Macedonian Empire west of Persia to her dominions ; and in Caesar's campaigns had conquered Gaul and invaded Britain. During this period, geographical knowledge advanced southward almost to the sources of the Nile, eastward to China, and northward to the Baltic Sea.

Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria (about A.D. 150) was the greatest geographer of ancient times. His maps con-

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tained all the important places of the known world, located by parallels and meridians. He computed the different altitudes of the sun in the various cities at the time of the equinoxes and solstices, from the proportion of an upright pole (gnomon) to its shadow ; and from these calculated the length of the longest day in each place, thus determining its distance from the equator. The meridians were, of course, the lines having mid-day at the same time.

His books of "Universal Geography," summing up the knowledge gained through travel, military expeditions, and the great survey of the Roman Empire, constitute the masterpiece of the age. His system of astronomy which fixed the earth in the centre of the universe, and revolved all the heavenly bodies around it from east to west, ruled the scientific world all through the Dark Ages, save when the ban of the church made it heresy to hold any belief at variance with that of a flat round earth whose centre was Jerusalem. Considering the period in which he lived, the labor performed by this great man stands almost without parallel in the annals of science.

The map on p. 3 (IV.) indicates a marked advance in geographical research. It also illustrates the odd belief that Asia and Africa joined in the south, inclosing the great sea of India. This probably arose from mistaking the large islands of the East Indies for a continuation of the mainland. The accuracy with which many of the mountains and rivers are drawn is evidence of a fair knowledge of relief as well as of location.

But little advancement was made in geography during the Dark Ages. It is claimed, however, that about the year 1000 A.D., the Greenland colonies sent out an expedition

HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY.

under Leif, son of Eric the Red, who discovered Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Martha's Vineyard. At the dawn of the new era, the discoveries of Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Magellan, completely overturned the Ptolemaic system, and forced the scientific world to adopt the theory of a solar system. It is asserted that Pythagoras of Samos taught the rotundity of the earth, and its position in the solar system ; but little notice was taken of this doctrine until it was revived by Copernicus, and still later by Galileo. Waldsee-Miiller, a German professor, was the first to publish a map of the New World, in which he gave it the name America, in honor of Americus Vespucius, whose journeys afforded the data for the map.

About 1556 a Flemish mathematician named Mercator constructed the first map of the whole world, upon the projection which bears his name. Such is the chart used by navigators to-day, and no invention before or since, except the mariner's compass, has given such impetus to ocean travel. The sailor can now mark the shortest routes by straight lines, whereas before he was obliged to use complicated curves. The principal use of a Mercator's map is to indicate directions. The comparative areas of the continents and oceans are much more accurately represented by another projection, known as the spherical, first used by Philippe de la Hire (1640-1718). This distorts the hemispheres a little near the edges, but is superior to Mercator's in preserving the proportions of the great natural divisions. Other plans have been devised ; but these two, or slight modifications of them, are generally used in representing the whole or any large portion of the globe. The conical projection is employed in mapping small sections only.

The opening of the present century marks a new era in

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the history of geography. The scientific researches of Humboldt, followed by the skilful unfolding of the study by Ritter, soon placed it on ''an equal footing with the sister sciences." The journey of Humboldt (1801-1805), which won for him the title of " Scientific Discoverer of America," and his later travels through Central Asia, are too well known to need repetition here. He was the first to teach geographers to indicate climate belts by means of isotherms ; to divide the world into natural regions, basing the divisions upon natural features, for showing the distribution of life ; to group the plants in a few great geographical families, and refer them to climatic conditions. We are, moreover, indebted to him for the first accurate descriptions of the basin of the Orinoco, the plateau of the Andes, Mexico, and Cuba ; all of which are based upon personal observation and investigation.

He was also the first to discover the value of studying plateau masses in their influence upon drainage ; and his cross-section of Mexico, from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, was the first cross-section of a continent ever made. His journey to Central Asia was followed by the first accurate description of the plateau portion of that continent, and later by his estimate of the average elevation of the continents above the sea. To him belongs the honor of the discovery of the individuality of the earth, which is the foundation of comparative geography. In such a sketch as this we can only glance at the chief features of his life work for geography, although every department of science was stimulated by his discoveries. It may be truly said of him, that under his touch chaos became cosmos.

It is difficult to decide which merits the higher honor, the man whose researches and generalizations lay the foundation

HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY.

of a science, or the master-mind which adds the superstructure. They are one, and the names of Humboldt and Ritter must ever be placed side by side on the titlepage of geography.

" The individuality of the earth " became the " watchword of the new science." From the mere location of a mountain range to the great movements of nations, all became a series of living relations. Ritter's intellect was a touchstone to nature, and geography became " The Science of the Earth in Relation to Nature and the History of Man." To him the earth was "the theatre of human actions;" and the great migrations of nations over its surface or across its stage were the direct outgrowth of their own inner natures, influenced by their natural surroundings. He thus became the founder of the true philosophy of history which places it " within the domain of nature," and refers its laws to geographical relations. The trends of the great mountain systems, the comparative areas of highlands and lowlands, the proportions of continental surfaces to coast lines, the disposition of land and water areas, were studied in their influence upon climate, the distribution of life, and the intellectual development of the races.

The lives and works of these two noble men should be familiar to every child. To their marvellous powers of observation and generalization, we are indebted for the study of natural science in the public schools. Every geography, every map, every history, bears the impress of their great geniuses. One day, at least, each year should bring to the children the stories of their early lives, travels, discoveries, and the influence of their work upon our own daily happiness in school. As if the destinies of these great men were bound up in each other, they passed away at almost the same time, — Humboldt in May, and Ritter in October, of the same

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year, 1859, — bequeathing to the world the fruit of their labor which will ever associate their names in the memory of a grateful people.

Nor should we forget our own Arnold Guyot who has labored so faithfully to introduce this science in America. The most illustrious representative of Ritter's work, he has not only stimulated the better teaching of geography, but his personal research has given him high rank in the world of science. By his recent death, the teaching profession lost its ablest exponent of comparative geography.

Much remains to be done. The science is still in its infancy, and the steps by which the minds of children can rise to its generalizations have not yet been designed. The great lines of observation are as yet merely indicated. But societies are being organized to promote geographical research. Teachers are rapidly awakening to the necessity of basing their work upon a more rational method than the mere memorizing of isolated details, and the movement seems destined to sweep all over our land. Hasten the day when the minds of our little children, instead of being warped and narrowed by dependence upon the generalizations and beliefs of others, may rise into full and natural activity by original investigation and independence of thought. Then, like Ritter, may they " find truth not in a single phase of truth, but in the union of all truth."

THE GLOBE BELIEF.

CHAPTER IT.

VALUE OF STUDYING CONTINENTAL SLOPES.

The life of the earth springs from its slopes.

Wherever we examine the land surface, we find that it consists of slopes. It may be the almost imperceptible rise in the prairies or marine plains leading to the high plateaus, or even the abrupt mountain sides ; but travel where we may, we shall find the surface everywhere changing its leveL Slope is the unit of relief, and in its multiple combinations limits every form that gives variety to landscapes. Its simplest limitations are the hill and valley, and all other land forms are but modifications of these common types.

The surface of the globe consists, in general, of two immense slopes, the upper edges of which meet along the great continental water-partings, extending in the form of a loop or horseshoe from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope (see map on p. 13) ; and the lower edges of which mark the line of deepest channels in the sea.

Within this great globe water-parting, the slope is very gradual, its lower half only being covered with the waters of the Atlantic ; but without, it descends very abruptly, thus allowing the Pacific to flow in nearly to the foot of the primary highlands. For this reason, the Atlantic has a much larger basin but correspondingly smaller bed.

These great slopes are so related to the wind-belts that

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the trade-winds with their monsoons are forced to precipitate rains alternately upon the broad plains of the eastern and western hemispheres, within and a little beyond the tropics ; while the return trades perform a similar work for the slopes in the temperate zones. The globe relief, therefore, determines the rainfall and general direction of drainage ; but the plan for collecting the water into basins, and for giving the exact direction to rivers is found in the continent. This is accomplished by placing secondary highlands upon the long slopes.

Thus, Fig. 1 is a cross section of the globe relief, and Fig. 2, of the continent. Each secondary highland sends

Fig. 1. tig. 2.

back a slope toward the primary, and the line along which their lower edges meet becomes the bed of the river which then follows the general slope to the sea.

To illustrate, let us examine the surfaces of the continents :

In South America, for example, we find on the west the plateau of the Andes, — a portion of the globe water-parting. From this, the long slope stretches to the Atlantic, the short one to the Pacific. Its position within the tropics opens its great plain to the moist trade-winds as far south as the mouth of La Plata. Hence the heavy rainfall east of the Andes, and the long strip of rainless coast on the west. South of 30° S., the return trades bring copious rains to Chili, but leave Patagonia on the east a sandy plateau. The fertile strip of Pacific coast near the equator results from the land and sea breezes in the belt of calms, and from a light

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Primary Highland of trie World.

monsoon from Central America. The wet and dry seasons of the Orinoco result from the alternate north and south positions of the sun, whose heat turns the trade-winds here into monsoons.

Along the eastern coast, on the long slope, there is a secondary highland broken into two parts, Brazil and Guiana, which turn the water into three great basins, Orinoco, Amazon and La Plata, and thus determine the individuality of the continent. Every basin has three slopes ; and here each pair of highlands furnishes the two whose place of meeting locates the river-bed, while the great plateau causes all these great rivers to flow eastward to the Atlantic.

Any change in the position of the primary highland would produce a corresponding change in rainfall and drainage.

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Transfer the Ancles to the eastern coast, and the great forest of the Amazon would give place to a second Sahara. Stretch the western plateau of North America east and west across the southern part of the United States, and it would shut out the moist Gulf-winds that now sweep up the Mississippi valley. Place the Alps north and south along the west coast of Europe, and they would not only intercept the moist south-west winds flowing in from the Gulf Stream, but such an arrangement would also remove the great rain-condenser of the southern slopes, and let in upon those historic peninsulas the cold north wind. Alter the position of the plateau of Abyssinia, and the Nile and Congo would disappear. It is thus seen that primary highlands, to be of greatest value to a continent, must be placed along its lee side, so as to admit the moist winds to its great plains. A large part of the moisture is then precipitated by lightning, cold currents of air, and other causes, upon the lower as well as the upper portions of the slopes.

Likewise any change in the location of secondary highlands may turn the waters of a continent, with their load of rich silt, toward the equator or toward the poles ; to produce like the Mississippi, or lie waste like the Mackenzie. Remove the low height of land across Central Russia, and that country would lose its great natural highway of commerce down the Volga to the Orient. A slight elevation would turn the Nile into the Congo basin, and give back to the desert the little strip of fertile land which the river has worked so many centuries to redeem, and which has exerted such influence in history. Join the table-lands of Brazil and Guiana, and the drainage of all Central South America would be modified.

Thus, while the general rainfall results from the simple

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plan of placing the great plateaus across the wind circuits, the wonderful variety in continental drainage is determined by the relative positions of primary and secondary slopes. The lesser highlands tend also to equalize the distribution of rain upon the different parts of the long slopes, and prevent ocean-currents from washing away alluvial plains in process of formation.

The position of the plateaus, by locating rainfall and giving direction to drainage, also regulates the distribution of soil. Water is the great leveller. Falling upon the mountain sides and the slopes farther down, it immediately begins its work of disintegrating the rocks, and grinding still finer the pebbles and sand, while it tends to sweep all before it into the valleys. As the water deposits this rock material in the order of weight, beginning with the heaviest, we may readily understand why the finest and richest deposits have been made in the lower courses of rivers, and how the soil has been carefully graded throughout the river-basins of the globe. Thus we find that slope, as determined by the placing of the highlands, is nature's means of supplying the food which water prepares and distributes for vegetation.

The distribution of life over the globe is, of course, greatly influenced by temperature, as well as by soil and moisture. But while the spherical form of the earth tends to establish great belts of temperature, varying only with their distances from the equator, the relative positions and elevations of the natural features determine the many modifications that characterize portions of the surface in the same latitude. Chief among these modifiers is the arrangement of the great slopes.

The gradual elevation from the Arctic coast to the plateau of Thibet gives to Central and Northern Asia a temperature

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far below that of the corresponding latitudes in the other continents ; and the same highland, with its desert belt, influences the flow of the warm monsoons to India. The Alps which in former years were a greater barrier than distance would have been between the tropical and temperate belts, have now, by means of the mountain-tunnels and passes, placed side by side the sunny fruit-lands of the South, and the colder grain-fields of Middle Europe. These mountains, aided by the Gulf Stream and the Sahara, also give to Italy a tropical climate in the same latitude that witnesses in Chili great glaciers winding toward the sea. Mexico and the northern Andes serve to illustrate how a perpetual springtime may exist within the great tropical heat-belt.

Slopes then influence the distribution of vegetation, and through it the animal life, in various wa}rs ; e.g., by precipitating moisture, supplying soil and modifying temperature. To slope, in connection with the zones of heat resulting from the form of the earth, is mainly due the arrangement of plant life in great natural regions. In travelling northward from the equator, we pass successively through belts of tropical forests with their valuable woods and fruits ; cotton, rice and canes ; cereals and temperate fruit ; pine forests ; and finally into the frozen regions about the pole.

But on every side we see the influence of relief. By climbing a high plateau and mountain-range within the tropics, we may witness the same order of production as in our longer journey to the north. Again, in the same latitude, deserts and grazing-tracts often alternate with rich agricultural lands ; and the reason for these modifications may be generally traced to the relative positions and elevations of the highlands.

The animals are quite as dependent as the plants upon the

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continental slopes. Any feature affecting the distribution of food must prove an aid or a barrier to their dispersal. The oceans are, of course, the greatest limitations, and in one instance, Australia, have effectually cut off great families from the rest of the earth. Next in effect are the great plateaus and deserts. In the western hemisphere, the highlands of Mexico separate the families of the North and South. In the eastern, the cold table-land of Thibet and the desert plateaus of Sahara and Arabia set apart the fauna common to Northern and Western Asia, all Europe and Northern Africa, from that of India and also of tropical Africa. The great Sahara sea (of sand) is a much more formidable barrier than the Mediterranean.

In the natural regions thus marked out, the range of smaller groups of animals is also limited by lesser elevations. On our own continent, for example, according to Wallace, the western plateau has a group distinct from that in the western valley reaching from California to British Columbia ; and also from that in the broad valley of the Mississippi. The height of land which parts the north and south drainage separates also the fauna of British America from that of the United States. The same influence of physical conditions is likewise observable in the other continents. We are thus led to the conclusion that a knowledge of the great slopes of the earth is essential to the intelligent study of the distribution of life.

Commercial intercourse is largely based upon the differences in production of the various parts of the earth, and its overland routes of trade are generally located by physical features. For how many centuries have the caravan routes from the Mediterranean countries to India converged upon the famous passes of the Suliman Mountains? The lower

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cataract of the Nile, being the head of river navigation, has for a long period been a centre of caravan-trade with Central Africa. The remarkable valley of the Hudson and Mohawk through the Appalachian highlands led to the construction of the Erie Canal, and became the highway between East and West. Later, the railroad took advantage of the same natural feature. Then other passes were found over the mountains farther south, and new routes were followed. In the beautiful Keystone State there is scarcely a stream whose work of ages in carving those wonderful water and wind gaps has not already influenced the location of one or more lines of railroad. Even the vast western highlands opened that the two oceans might be joined by great trunk lines. The directions of nature's greatest inland highways, the rivers and lakes, are the sheer result of relief.