Elements of Physical Geography: Together with a Treatise on the Physical Phenomena of the United States : Illustrated by One Hundred and Fifty Engravings and Thirteen Copper-plate Maps, Executed in the First Style of the Art |
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abounds Africa altitude animals annual Antarctic Antarctic Circle Arctic Circle Arctic Ocean Asia Atlantic Atlantic Ocean atmosphere Australia basin beautiful Cape caused Central chain climate climes clouds coast color depth descends Describe desert distance earth earthquake east Eastern elevation equator equatorial eruptions Europe extends feet high flows forests Give an account globe Gulf of Mexico Gulf Stream heat height Himalayas immense inches India islands Isles lakes land latitude latter length longitude Mexico miles long moisture monsoons nearly north latitude Northern Hemisphere numerous occur Pacific peaks plains plants plateau polar pole portion principal race rain ranges regions respecting rise rivers rocks Rocky Mountains salt sea-level shores Siberia snow South America southern species springs square miles Strait surface table-land temperature tides trees Tropic Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Capricorn United valley varying vast vegetation velocity volcanoes waves Western Continent winds zone
Popular passages
Page 75 - While sailing a little south of the Plata on one very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of the surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed by a milky train.
Page 13 - The roof is covered as with a canopy of gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most graceful foliage, flung in wild, irregular profusion over every portion of its surface. The effect is heightened by the contrast of the coal-black colour of these vegetables, with the light ground-work of the rock to which they are attached.
Page 91 - VIII.), the monsoons of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Central American monsoons of the Pacific, are, for the most part, formed of the northeast trade-winds, which are turned back to restore the equilibrium which the overheated plains of Africa, Utah, Texas, and New Mexico have disturbed.
Page 147 - ... aversions; the same inward convictions, the same sentiments of subjection to invisible powers ; and, more or less fully developed, of accountableness or responsibility to unseen avengers of wrong and agents of retributive justice, from whose tribunal men cannot even by death escape. We find everywhere the same susceptibility, though not always in the same degree of forwardness or ripeness of improvement, of admitting the cultivation of these universal endowments, of opening the eyes of the mind...
Page 147 - In a word, the same inward and mental nature is to be recognised in all the races of men. When we compare this fact with the observations which have been heretofore fully established, as to the specific instincts and separate psychical endowments of all the distinct tribes of sentient beings in the universe, we are entitled to draw confidently the CONCLUSION that all human races are of one species and one family.
Page 153 - It is an ocean of desert prairie, where the voice of man is seldom heard, and where no living being permanently resides. The almost total absence of water causes all animals to shun it : even the Indians do not venture to cross it except at two or three points, where they find a few small ponds of water. I was told in New Mexico that, many years since, the Mexicans marked out a route with stakes across this plain, where they found water ; and hence the name by which it is known throughout Mexico,...
Page 53 - But everywhere the most wonderful varieties of stalactites and crystals met our admiring view. At one time, we saw the guides lighting up some distant gallery far above our heads, which had all the appearance of verandahs adorned with Gothic tracery. At another, we came into what seemed the long-drawn aisles of a Gothic cathedral, brilliantly illuminated. The whimsical variety of forms surpasses all the powers of description. Here was a...
Page 8 - ... that the squares of the times of revolution of the planets about the sun are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances from the sun. This boy with no chance became one of the world's greatest astronomers. "When 1 found that I was black...
Page 147 - ... we are entitled to draw confidently the conclusion that all human races are of one species and one family.
Page 85 - From its magnitude, I should not doubt that instant destruction would be the fate of a dozen of our largest ships, were they drawn in at the same moment. The pilot says that several vessels have been sucked down, and that whales have also been destroyed. The first I think probable enough, but I rather doubt the latter.