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XXIV.

CLIMATE.

1. The climate of a country is the general condition of its atmosphere in regard to heat and moisture.

2. Climate depends upon distance from the Equator, elevation above the sea level, the prevailing winds and ocean currents, and distance from the sea.

3. The Frigid Zones have an intensely cold climate. 4. The low plains in and near the Torrid Zone are very hot. If they are open to the ocean winds, their climate is moist; if not, it is dry.

5. The high plateaus within and near the tropics have a mild, spring-like climate.

6. The high mountains in the same regions have their tops covered with perpetual snow.

The lower limit of perpetual snow is called the snow-line; it is of less and less elevation towards the poles.

7. Winds and ocean currents mod

ify climate.

The winds have by far the more marked effect.

When a warm ocean wind strikes the sides of a high mountain chain, it passes up the slope, growing colder and gradually losing its moisture in rain or snow as it ascends, and at last passes over the range and down the opposite slope as a cold and dry wind. The warm and moist Return Trade

Winds of the Atlantic blow upon Western Europe, and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream reach its shores; in the same latitude, the shores of Greenland and Labrador are washed by the icy waters of the arctic currents and swept by the polar winds. The one region has a mild climate, and is occupied by the most enlightened nations of the world; the others are frozen wastes, sparsely inhabited by degraded savages and a few European traders.

The sun is vertical to a place when it is directly over that place. This can happen only in the Torrid Zone.

As the sun passes from one tropic to the other, the parts of the zone over which it is vertical have their greatest heat, and consequently their greatest evaporation. In those regions which are open to the Trade Winds, a heavy thunder-storm begins early in the afternoon, and continues until near sunset; the sky then becomes cloudless until the next day about the same hour. After some weeks, the sun being no longer vertical, the rains become less frequent, and at last cease for months, till the sun again returns.

The only seasons of the Torrid Zone are the wet season while under the rain-belt, and the dry season during its absence. Places near the Equator have therefore two rainy seasons and two dry seasons; other parts of the Torrid Zone have one rainy season and one much longer dry season.

The heat and moisture of the tropical rain-belt produce the most luxuriant vegetation in the world.

A great belt of deserts stretches across the Old World from the Atlantic nearly to the Pacific Ocean: it is caused by the absence of rain-bearing winds.

These rains of the Torrid Zone are called periodical rains; the more irregular ones of the Temperate Zones are called variable rains.

8. The rain-fall of a country is the quantity of water that falls upon it as rain or snow.

In the Torrid Zone the average annual fall is about 100 inches, but in some places in that zone it is four or five times as much. In the Temperate Zones it is from 35 to 40 inches, or little more than one third as much as in the Torrid Zone. In the Frigid Zones it is much less.

The rainfall usually diminishes as the distance from the sea increases.

9. The tropical rain-belt is a broad movable belt of rain extending around the world. It is about 1000 miles wide from north to south.

Questions (I.)-1. What is climate?-2. Upon what does it depend?-3. What is the climate of the Frigid Zones ?-4. Of the low plains in the Torrid Zone? When is it moist? When dry?-5. Of the high plateaus in that zone?-6. Of the high mountains?-7. What effect have winds and ocean currents? Which have the greater effect? -8. What is the rain-fall of a country?-9. The tropical rain-belt? How wide is it?

(II.)-6. What is the snow-line? How does its height vary?-7. Describe the effects of high mountains upon ocean winds. What two principal causes modif" the climate of Western Europe? Of Greenland and Labrador? What are the effects?— 8. What is the average annual rain-fall in the Torrid Zone? In the Temperate Zones ? In the Frigid Zones? What effect has distance from the sea?-9. When is a place said to have a vertical sun? In what zone can this occur? How does it affect the heat? The evaporation? Describe the tropical rains. Which are the only seasons in the Torrid Zone? What seasons at the Equator? In other parts of that zone? What effects do the heat and moisture produce? Where is the great belt of deserts? By what is it caused? What are periodical rains? Variable rains? Where do they occur?

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XXV.

RACES OF MEN.

1. The number of inhabitants upon the earth is estimated at about 1450 millions.

2. They are divided into five great races-the Caucasian, the Mongol, the Ethiopian, the Malay, and the American or Indian.

3. The Caucasian or white race is the most widely spread. It occupies Western Asia, Europe, Northern Africa, and large parts of North and South America and Australia.

It is the most restless, intelligent, and powerful of the races, and includes all the great historic nations.

4. The Mongol or yellow race is found chiefly in Eastern and Northern Asia.

5. The Ethiopian or black race is found chiefly in Central and Southern Africa.

6. The Malay or brown race inhabits Southeastern Asia and most of the islands of the Great Archipelago and the Pacific.

7. The American or red race inhabits portions of the American Continents from Cape Horn to the Arctic Ocean.

The Caucasian and Mongol races are about equal in numbers. Together they constitute more than four fifths of the whole human family. The Ethiopian race comprises about one seventh, the Malay about one twenty-fifth, and the American about one one-hundredth of mankind.

Questions (I.)—1. What is the number of inhabitants upon the earth?-2. Into how many races are they divided? What are they?-3. Which is most widely spread? What regions does it occupy?-4. Where is the Mongol or yellow race found?-5. The Ethiopian or black race?-6. The Malay or brown race?-7. The American or red race?

(II.)-3. For what is the Caucasian race distinguished?-7. What part of mankind is comprised in each race?

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

XXVI.

CONDITIONS OF SOCIETY.

1. Nations and tribes may be divided, in respect to their social condition, into five classes: savage, barbarous, half civilized, civilized, and enlightened.

2. Savages are those who live in tribes, and obtain their food by hunting and fishing.

3. Barbarians are those who possess flocks and herds, and practice a rude agriculture.

Those who live in tents, like the Bedouin Arabs, are called nomads.

chiefly upon agriculture, have made considerable advance in the mechanic arts, and have towns and cities.

5. Civilized nations are those that engage in commerce, practice the art of writing, and have made considerable progress in knowledge and morality.

6. Enlightened nations are those civilized nations that possess a thorough division of labor, have established general systems of education, and have made the greatest progress in knowledge and morality.

Many nations are partly in two or more of these classes.
The enlightened and civilized nations are nearly all Caucasian.

Questions (I.)—1. Into how many classes may nations be divided in respect to social condition? What are they?-2. What are savages?-3. What are barbarians? 4. What are half-civilized nations?-5. What are civilized nations?-6. What are enlightened nations?

(II.) 3. What are nomads? Name some nomads.-6. Does each nation belong exclusively to one of these classes? To which race do most of the civilized and enlightened nations belong?

XXVII. GOVERNMENT.

1. The principal forms of government are the republican and the monarchical.

2. A republic is a country governed by men who are chosen by the people. The chief magistrate is usually called a president.

Nearly all the governments of the New World are republican.

3. A monarchy is a country in which one person succeeds to the chief power by inheritance, and holds it for life.

Nearly all the governments of the Old World are monarchical. An unlimited monarchy or despotism is one in which the will of the monarch is the supreme law.

A limited monarchy is one in which the power of the ruler is limited by a system of laws called a constitution.

4. A kingdom is a country governed by a king or queen.

5. An empire is a monarchy, usually of great extent. Most empires are unlimited monarchies.

The sovereign is called an emperor, sultan, shah, czar, or mikado. 6. The capital of a country is the seat of its govern

ment.

7. The metropolis is the largest city.

1. The surface of North America is naturally divided into four parts: the Western Highland, the Eastern Highland, the Low Central Plain, and the Atlantic Plain.

2. The Western Highland, or Great Plateau Belt, extends from the Arctic Ocean to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges are on its western border, and the Rocky Mountains divide it into two nearly equal parts.

These ranges are the highest in North America, and reach their greatest elevation, about 14,000 to 15,000 feet, in the broad, middle region of the table-land; the table-land itself is quite low in the north, but rises gradually to nearly 8000 feet in the plateau of Mexico. At the ends of this highland are many volcanoes. Of these, St. Elias in the north and Popocatepetl in the south are the highest peaks on the continent.

The long and mountainous isthmus of Central America may be regarded as a continuation of this plateau belt.

3. The Eastern Highland extends from Labrador nearly to the Gulf of Mexico. Its mountains are the low ranges of the Appalachian system.

The highest peaks are from 6000 to 6700 feet in elevation. It has very little table-land.

4. The Atlantic Plain is the strip of low land between the Appalachian Mountains and the ocean.

5. The Low Central Plain lies between the two highlands, and extends from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

It is crossed nearly midway by a low swell called the Height of Land, which divides it into two gentle and opposite slopes: the

northern slope is the Arctic Plain; nearly all of the other slope, or Southern Plain, lies in the basin or valley of the Mississippi. Questions (I.)-1. How is the surface of North America naturally divided? Name them.-2. Where is the Western Highland? What and where are its principal mountains?-3. Where is the Eastern Highland? What mountains has it?-4. Where is the Atlantic Plain?-5. The Low Central Plain?

(II.)-2. Which are the highest ranges in North America? Where is their greatest elevation? How high are they? Describe the table-land. Where are volcanoes found? Name two. For what remarkable? What is said of Central America?-3. How high are the highest peaks of the Appalachian system? Has the Eastern Highland any table-land?-5. By what is the Low Central Plain divided? Into what? What name has each? In what basin is the southern slope?

XXX.

CLIMATE, VEGETATION, AND ANIMALS.

1. The West Indies, Central America, and a large part of Mexico have a tropical or constantly warm climate.

The season of tropical rains lasts many weeks, the rest of the year being dry.

The vegetation is luxuriant-coffee, sugar, corn, cotton, and tobacco are extensively cultivated, and the banana, pine-apple, lemon, orange, and other tropical fruits are produced with little labor. European grains are grown on the plateaus. The forests abound in mahogany, rose-wood, and palm-trees.

2. The northern third of the continent has a very cold climate, excepting a strip along the western coast.

The Polar Current passes along the eastern coast to Newfoundland.
Ice nearly closes the broad entrance to Baffin Bay, and Hudson
Bay is open only about six weeks in the year.

The western coasts, from Alaska to the Columbia River, have a

XXVIII.

QUESTIONS ON THE MAP.

Outlines. What three oceans wash the shores of North America? What great island northeast of the continent? What archipelago between them? What is the general direction of the Arctic coast? What great bay breaks this coast? What island at its entrance? What strait? What bay south? What island near the eastern point of the continent? What gulf and strait cut it off? What is the general direction of the Atlantic coast? What two peninsulas partly enclose the Gulf of Mexico? What strait and what channel lead to that gulf? What island at the entrance? In what archipelago? What ocean current passes through these waters? What is the general direction of the Pacific coast? What peninsula near its northern extremity? What peninsula and gulf break the southwest shore? What long isthmus connects North and South America? Between what smaller isthmuses does it extend?

High Surface. What two great highlands in North America? Which is the greater? What is its general direction? At what ocean does it end on the north? At what isthmus on the south? (Tehuantepec.) What mountains near its western border? What high plain forms its eastern part? What mountains separate this plain from the rest of the highland? What high plateau in the southern part of the highland? What plateau basin near the centre? In what direction does the Eastern Highland extend? What mountain system does it contain? Near which coast of North America are there volcanoes? Near what river is the central group? Where is the greatest group? Where the northern? Name one in each group. What volcano in Iceland?

Lowlands and Drainage.-What plain between the two highlands? What ocean north of it? What gulf south? What name is given to its northern portion? What name to its southern portion? What low swell of land separates the Southern from the Arctic Plain? What low plateau north of the Arctic Plain? What rivers drain the Arctic Plain? What lakes connected with them? What river drains the greater part of the Southern Plain? Name its four chief branches?

What chain of lakes in the Southern Plain? What river drains them? What lowland plain between the Eastern Highland and the Atlantic Ocean? Name the chief rivers which drain the Western Highland.