East West Silk Torrent

In consequence of the similar direction of the mountain ranges of North America, their great length, and the nature ofthe country between them, nearly all the water that is shed from the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and nearly all that comes from the western slope of the Alleghanies, finds its outlet, through the Mississippi River, to the Gulf of Mexico.

The surface of Hungary presents very diversified regions and climates. The north-west, north, and north-east parts are traversed by the Carpathian Mountains, between which and the east and south-east, extends a vast plain, containing anarea of about 20,000 square miles. In this region there are extensive marshes.

Its surface is mostly level, and belongs to the great European plain, which extends from North-western France eastward to the Uralian Mountains. The coasts are low, requiring dykes to protect them from the sea.

The surface of Asia Minor is mountainous, with high tableland in the interior, and rich plains along the sea-coast. In Armenia the surface is a succession of high mountain-chains and elevated valleys; in Mesopotamia much of the land is desert; and in Syria the western part is mountainous and the eastern an elevated plain.

The surface of Hindostan consists of a vast plain in the north, and of high plateaux, bordered by mountain chains, in the centre and south. The west, or Malabar coast, is high and bold, and the east, or Coromandel coast, is low and sandy.

The merchants bring from Soudan gold, ivory, slaves, ostrich feathers, &c., and take, in return, European manufactures. The westerly caravan route is from Timbuctoo on the south, toTatta, and thence to Fez, in Morocco, on the north. Another route is from Lake Tsad to Mourzouk; and one still farther east, extends from Wara in Darfur, to Siout, in Egypt.

To the west of the route between Timbuctoo and Fez, live the Moors, and to the east of it are the Tooareeks. The Moors of the Desert are represented as being very different from the Moors who inhabit the towns in the Barbary States. As no portion of their territory is fit for cultivation, they depend on the produce of their herds. They do not live in fixed habitations, but in tents, which they remove from one place to another, to find sufficient herbage for their flocks.

The entire region extends from Sahara on the north toabout the sixth parallel of north latitude on the south, and from Kordofan on the east to Senegambia on the west. Its states are Houssa, Bournou, Kanem, Bergoo, Darfur, Begharmi, Adamana, Yarriba, and Bambarra.

The western part is traversed by ridges of the Andes, and in the east are extensiveplains. The coast district is a sterile desert. The great plateau, where lake Titicaca is situated, is 12,000 feet above the level of the Pacific.

Lofty table-lands extend along the western coast, from which the country descends in terraces. In the east areextensive plains and low flats. There are numerous volcanoes, many of them in an active state, along the line of the Pacific coast.

The Blue Mountains traverse the island from east to west. On the south side the shores are abrupt, while on the north the land is undulating. It is well watered, and the coasts contain excellent harbours.

Hayti formerly belonged to France and Spain; the former holding the western, or Haytien part of the island, and the latter the eastern, or Dominican. It is now divided into two independent states, and governed by free blacks.

This state is naturally divided into three distinct physical sections; the eastern, or seaward section, consisting for the most part of a low, level, and sandy plain, abounding in marshes, and interspersed here and there with shallow lakes; the middle section, which is hilly, or gently undulating; and the western section, a mountainous region forming an elevated table-land.

Numerous ranges of hills give to a part of the surface an undulating and diversified character. In the north the land is hilly and broken; in the eastern and central parts it is a kind of table-land, descending towards the Mississippi, sometimes approaching close to the river's brink and overhanging it in precipices of from one to two hundred feet in height. In the south for about 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico it is mostly level, covered with pine forests, interspersed with cypress swamps, prairies, and a few low hills. The general slope of the state is south-west.

The surface is low, level, and marshy in the east, for the distance of about a hundred miles, undulating in the interior, and mountainous in the west. In some parts there are extensive prairies, but much of the land is well wooded.

On the margin of the rivers the soil is very fertile; in other parts it is sterile. The climate is healthy and temperate in the west; in the east and south it is moist and unhealthy. The staple productions are cotton, Indian corn, and live stock. The chief mineral resources are coal, iron, copper, lead, zinc, gypsum, manganese, and salt. Hot springs are numerous along the Washita River. Arkansas is still the abode of numerous wild animals, such as deer, elks, bears, and wolves.

The Atlantic Slope extends from the ocean, part being a level country for some 50 or 100 miles inland; there it begins to rise, and gradually increases in elevation till it terminates in the Alleghenies, which separate the waters that flow westwardly to the Mississippi from those which flow eastwardly to the Atlantic.

The soil is fertile, and in the eastern and north-western parts is adapted to grazing. The climate is similar to that of Rhode Island. Though subject to sudden changes, yet it is remarkably salubrious. Vegetation commences earlier in the spring than in most of the New England states.

New York presents a variety of surface. The Adirondack Mountains on the north-east separate the waters which flow into Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, from those which flow into Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. South of the valley of the Mohawk, are the Catskill and Shawangunk Mountains, separating the rivers which flow southwardly to Delaware and Chesapeake. Bays, from the streams which empty into the Hudson. The western section of the state, beyond the central group of lakes, rises gradually from Lake Ontario till it attains its greatest elevation near the border of Pennsylvania. Lake Chautauque is about 2,000 feet above the level of the sea.

The fertile districts are the valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk, and the western sections of the state. In the northern part of New York the winter is long and severe, in the south-east the cold and heat are modified by sea air, and in the west by the proximity of the great lakes.

A ridge or chain of hills, nowhere exceeding 300 feet in height, traverses the island from east to west. The surface north of the ridge is considerably broken, while on the south side it forms a gently sloping plain to the Atlantic.

The great Alleghanian Chain, which passes through this state in several distinct ridges, divides the state into three regions; viz., the eastern, or Atlantic slope; the great western table-land, declining toward the Ohio; and the mountainous region of the centre.

The surface is diversified. Eastward of the central part, the land rises into an irregular ridge, which serves to separatethe waters that empty into the lakes on the east from those which flow into Lake Michigan on the west. The lake coast of Michigan is more than 1,000 miles in length.

A portion of the state is traversed by mountain ranges. The valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin extends from north to south about 500 miles, with an average breadth of about sixty miles. This valley is bounded on the east by the Sierra Nevada, and on the west by the Coast Range of mountains. On the western slope of the former are the gold mines of California. 2b1af7f3a8