Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/416

 388 AMERICA noceros of the eastern continent are in Amer- j ica represented by the much smaller tapir ; the , camel and dromedary by the llama and vicuna ; j the lion and tiger by the jaguar and panther. | Of the carnivora the bear is the only species in America which exceeds its congeners in the other hemisphere, the grisly bear of Califor- nia being the largest of its species. The Amer- ican bison exceeds in size any others of its kin- dred, and the largest members of the deer family are natives of America. Among the carnivora native to America are the grisly, white, black, and brown bears; wolves and foxes of various species; the puma, jaguar, lynx, and wild cat. Of the marsupalia, there is every variety of the opossum ; of the ro- dentia, the beaver, hare, marmot, mouse, porcu- pine, and squirrel ; of the ruminantia, many varieties of deer, among which are the moose or elk and reindeer, the bison, musk ox, sheep, goat, and antelope. The quadrumana (apes) differ specifically from their congeners on the eastern continent ; all of them have long tails, and many prehensile tails, which is a peculiar- ity of American species. The horse and ox are introductions from Europe. Among the birds there are some species, as the wild turkey, toucan, and humming bird, peculiar to Amer- ica. There are eagles, and others of the same family, vultures (among them the great condor of the Andes), ravens, crows, and an immense variety of the smaller birds, few of them being identical with those bearing the same names in Europe and Asia. Serpents are numerous. Among these are the great boa and the rattle- snake, peculiar to America. Alligators swarm in the tropical and subtropical rivers; turtles in the tropical seas. The lakes and streams are prolific in fish, among which the salmon have a wide range. The cod fisheries of the banks of Newfoundland are unequalled in productive- ness. Some regions are infested with insects, especially mosquitoes. There is a native wild bee, but the common hive bee was introduced from Europe. The vegetable productions of America are very numerous. The pine, oak, and maple are characteristic of the temperate regions ; palms, of many species, of the tropical. In some parts of southern America the trees are so knotted together by twining plants as to ren- der the forests impenetrable to wild animals, except through narrow paths which they have constructed. Maize is the only important cereal native to the new world. Nearly all the fruits of the old world have been introduced into Amer- ica, where they flourish in their appropriate lati- tudes. The vine is a native, and within a few years its cultivation has received great atten- tion. We proceed to give more detailed state- ments under the general divisions of the conti- nent. I. NOBTH AMERICA extends from the arctic region southward to near lat. 15 N. It is bounded N. by the Arctic ocean, E. by the Atlantic and gulf of Mexico, 8. by the gulf and Central America, and W. by the Pacific. Its entire eastern coast line from Barrow strait to the southern extremity of Mexico, including the shores of Hudson bay and the gull' of Mexico, is about 13,000 m. ; the western coast, being less deeply indented, has a shore line of not more than 11,000 m. ; or 24,000 in all. Reclus, counting in the adjacent islands, gives the shore line of North America as 29,969 m. ; South America, 16,012; together about one third more than that of Asia, about three times that of Africa, and considerably more than twice that of Europe. To the maritime system of North America properly belong also the great lakes, or inland seas, which it is estimated con- tain a third of all the fresh water of the globe. North America has three main systems of moun- tains and watersheds, which divide it into four great hydrographical basins : 1, that which empties its waters into the Pacific ocean ; 2, into the Arctic ; 3, into the Atlantic ; 4, into the gulf of Mexico. Each of these great ba- sins is divided into two or more parts. The Rocky mountain range, skirting the Pacific coast, is a continuation of the Andes of South America. At the isthmus of Panama it sinks low, rarely attaining the height of 1,000 ft., with depressions of less than half that altitude. From the isthmus the range rises gradually, through Mexico and the United States, np to lat. 60 N., whei* it begins to sink into the Arc- tic basin. This/mountain range bears different names in different parts of its course. Through Mexico, where it forms a broad table land, it is known as the Mexican Cordilleras. It is only in the United States and the British possessions that it bears the specific name of Rocky mountains. The Spaniards designate the whole as the Sierra Mad re (Mother Range). Its general elevation is from 5,000 to 9,000 ft., with many summits much loftier. Among these are Orizaba and Popocatapetl in Mexico, which exceed 17,000 ft., and several in the United States and Brit- ish America of from 12,000 to 18,000 ft. Mt. St. Elias, about lat. 60 N., reaches or surpasses the height of 17,850 ft This range follows the shore line at various distances, the greatest deviation being about lat 40 N., where the Pacific slope of the Rocky mountains has a breadth of some 600 m., upon which are situ- ated the states of California and Oregon, and the territories of New Mexico and Utah. The Rocky mountain range is not a single ridge, but rather, like the Cordilleras of South Amer- ica, a parallel pair of ridges. Between the two lies the isolated basin of the Great Salt lake. As the Rocky mountains run so near to the coast of the Pacific, the rivers flowing from them, draining only a small area, are ne- cessarily small. The Columbia and Sacramen- to, flowing directly into the Pacific, and the Col- orado, flowing into the gulf of California, are the only ones of any considerable size. The Yukon, although flowing into Behring sea, a part of the Pacific ocean, belongs to a different hydro- graphical system. Skirting the Atlantic coast is the Appalachian range. Starting from the promontory of Gaspe, on the gulf of St. Law-