potamus," and the rhinoceros; and the fiercest and most formidable beasts of prey; as the lion, the tiger, the leopard, the panther, the ounce, the hyena; and the jaguar, and puma or cougar of South America. Some of the animals, however, peculiar to those regions, are not only harmless and beautiful, but in the highest degree useful to man; as the zebra, the giraffe or camelopard, the antelope, the camel, and the dromedary; and in the new world, the lama and the vicuna.

REPTILES of the most enormous size, as the boa constrictor, and of the most venomous nature, as the cobra da copella, are natives of the torrid regions.

The LIZARD tribe are equally gigantic and formidable; as the cro codile of Africa, the alligator and cayman of America, and the gavial of India.

The whole tribe of QUADRUMANA; as baboons, apes, and monkeys, belong to those climes.

The BIRDS of those regions have usually the most brilliant and beautiful plumage; and some of them rival quadrupeds in size and strength; as the ostrich, the cassowary, and the condor.

Even the INSECTS in those regions are formidable, from their number and destructive powers. Locusts, and even flies, often lay waste countries, and drive nations before them.

The seas in those climates abound in FISH, most of which shine with brilliant and beautiful colours; and some of them, as the shark, display the ferocity of the wild beasts of the forests. The SHELL-FISH are larger and much more brilliant than those of the more temperate climes.

TEMPERATE REGIONS.

In the temperate zones the animal tribes diminish in number, size, and ferocity. The beasts of prey are chiefly the wolf, the wild boar, and the wild cat. Domestic animals, however, as the ox, and the horse, are reared in great perfection in these regions.

The REPTILE tribes gradually diminish in the temperate regions, and, as we approach the frigid zone, they disappear altogether.

POLAR REGIONS.

In approaching the 60th degree of latitude, the animals of the temperate regions become small and stunted; and a little beyond this their place is supplied by a new creation of animals; as the elk, the rein-deer, the moose-deer, the martin, the sable, the ermine, &c. But in approaching the polar or frozen regions, fierce and formidable animals are found, as the white bear, the walrus, and other monsters of the deep. See note, page 186.

a Some of these animals seem confined to particular parts of the torrid zone, and some of them are found a considerable way beyond it, but with diminished size and ferocity. Thus, the hippopotamus seems peculiar to the rivers of Africa, and the two-horned rhinoceros to the southern part of the same continent. Africa is also the peculiar abode of the royal lion; those which are found in India, and some other parts of Asia, are much smaller, and nearly destitute of a mane. The royal tiger is peculiar to India, though it sometimes strays as far northward as Chinese Tartary.

MINERALS.

The distribution of minerals does not, like that of animals and vegetables, depend upon climate; hence, they are found in every part of the globe; and, it is remarkable, that those which are the most useful to man are the most widely distributed, and found in the greatest abundance. It is also remarkable that those portions of the earth which are found to be unfit for the support of animal and vegetable life, are usually rich in mineral treasures. Gold, the most precious of all the metals, is found in all the great divisions of the globe.a

Till the gold fields in California, Australia, and British Columbia were discovered, Mexico and Peru produced gold in far greater abundance than any other countries in the world. Brazil also produces large quantities of gold, both from alluvial sands and mines. Africa furnishes large quantities of gold. It is found chiefly in the sands of the rivers in Western Africa or Guinea, and in countries about the Gold Coast. It is also found on the coast of Zanguebar, and among the mountains of Mozambique.

Gold is found in many parts of Europe, but nowhere in large quantities. Alluvial gold has been found in Ireland, Scotland, and several countries of Europe; and the sands of the Danube, the Tagus, the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Garonne, contain small quantities of it. The mines of Kremnitz, in Hungary, were usually considered the most important; but the subsequently discovered mines in the Ural Mountains are far more productive. See page 138. Gold is also found in Siberia or Northern Asia; and in the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, &c.

Platina is a very scarce metal. It is usually found in connexion with gold; as in the gold washings of South America, and in the Ural Mountains, from which the principal supplies of it are obtained.

Silver, as well as gold, is found in unequalled abundance in Mexico and South America, particularly in Peru, Chili, and Buenos Ayres. It is usually found in ores, but frequently pure, and in large masses.

The most valuable silver mines in Europe are those of Schemnitz and Kremnitz, in the Austrian dominions. The mines of Kongsberg, in Norway, have produced large masses of pure silver. It is also found, but in small quantities, in several other countries of Europe.

Silver, is also found in several parts of Siberia, and in China, and Japan. Scarcely any silver has been found in Africa; but scarcely any mining attempts have been made there.

a It is usually found in a perfectly pure state, either in small masses, or in grains or gold dust; and more than the half of the whole quantity obtained is found in alluvial soils, near the base of great mountain ranges, or in the sands of rivers. The remainder is extracted from mines. In the gold fields of Australia, it is often found in large lumps or masses which they call nuggets.

b The celebrated Potosi mines were accidentally discovered by an Indian. In climbing up the mountain, he caught hold of a small bush, which giving way, presented to view, under its roots, large masses of silver. Huantaya in Peru, and Guanaxuato in Mexico, are the most productive mines. The latter has a vein of silver ore 180 feet wide and 1,600 feet deep.

Iron, the most useful of all the metals, is the most widely, and the most abundantly distributed. It is found in almost every country in the world, but more extensively in the temperate than in the tropical regions. The principal ores are the magnetic ore and iron-stone of mountainous regions; and the bog-iron, and iron earth, of alluvial districts. The most extensive iron mines in the world are in Great Britain. France has also very extensive iron mines. Sweden contains large mines of magnetic iron stone, which produces the best bariron. In Swedish Lapland, at Gellivara, there is a mountain of ironore three miles in length. Norway and Russia have also extensive iron mines. Elba contains one of the most ancient mines of iron, the ore of which is remarkable for the beautiful play of its colours.a In the United States, particularly along the Alleghanies, there are numerous and inexhaustible beds of iron-ore.

Copper ranks next to iron in utility. It is found in most regions of the globe, and often in pure metallic masses. England has the most extensive copper mines in the world. In Cornwall, in particular, this metal is most abundant. There are also considerable mines in Norway, Sweden, Austria, and Russia; but England produces as much as all the rest of Europe. Copper is also found in Siberia and Chinese Tartary. Japan produces copper of superior excellence. This metal

is also found in Morocco, Nigritia, and in Southern Africa. It is also found in the southern part of South America, and in the northern extremity of North America, about the mouth of the Coppermine River. It is also found in large quantities in Australia; the Burra-Burra mines being about the richest in the world.

Zinc, the metal which is combined with copper to form brass, is found in many countries in considerable quantities.

Lead is found more or less in almost every country. In Peru, and the Ural Mountains, it is very rare, though other metals are abundant. It is found in large quantities in the British Islands, and is very abundant in Spain. There are also considerable mines of this metal in France, Austria, and Germany; but Great Britain and Spain supply, in nearly equal proportions, about six-sevenths of all the lead produced in Europe.

The lead mines in Missouri, near the Mississippi, are said to be the richest in the world. The ore is found abundantly, a foot or two from the surface, in detached masses, weighing from one to 1,800 pounds.

Tin is found in few countries. The most extensive, and the most ancient mines in the world, are in Cornwall in England. The mountains of Saxony, Bohemia, and Galicia in Spain, supply considerable quantities; but England yields about twelve-thirteenths of all the tin produced in Europe.

Tin is found in Mexico and Chili, but in small quantities. It is also found in India, Malacca, Japan, Sumatra, and particularly in the island of Banca, in the neighbourhood of Sumatra.

Mercury or quicksilver, is found in several parts of the globe, but only in small and detached portions. The principal mines are in Idria in Hungary. There are also mines at Almaden, near Cordova in Spain, Deuxponts in Germany, and Guenca Velica in Peru. Mercury is also found in Mexico, New Grenada, and China.

a Insula inexhaustis chalybum generosa metallis.-Eneid, x. 174.

Cobalt, which is chiefly used for giving a blue colour to glass and porcelain, is procured principally from Germany.

Arsenic is found in most of the mining districts of Europe; but it is chiefly obtained from Germany, and the countries on the Mediterranean. Some of its ores form brilliant colours for the painter.

Antimony and bismuth are brittle metals. They are combined with lead to form the metal of which printing types are made. They are also principally obtained from Germany.

The other metals described by the mineralogists, as manganese, nickel, &c., are of less importance.

COMBUSTIBLE OR INFLAMMABLE MINERALS.

Coal, of all the mineral treasures, is perhaps the most important. It is found in the greatest abundance in England and Scotland. It is also found in Belgium, Prussia, and France. See pages 232 and 248. Ccal is also found in great abundance in many parts of America, as in Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Pennsylvania, &c. Humboldt found coal at a very great elevation in the Andes. Coal is also found in large quantities in China, Australia, &c.

Sulphur is most abundant in volcanic countries; and seems to be an important part of the fuel which feeds their fires. It exudes from the earth in volcanic districts, as in the Solfa Terra of Naples, and is principally found in the craters of extinct volcanoes. Sicily, Naples, and Iceland, abound with it. It is also found in Spain, and in some of the West India Islands, as Guadaloupe, Martinique, and Montserrat. It is also often collected in considerable quantities from sulphureous springs.

Amber is found frequently in alluvial districts; but it is procured almost entirely from the coasts of Prussia.

The other inflammable minerals, as naptha,a petroleum or mineral oil, and bitumen or mineral pitch, are found in many parts of the world. They are used for lamps, for medical purposes, for varnish, and, anciently, for cement.

SALINE MINERALS.

Salt is a mineral of the utmost importance to man, and is found in every part of the world in great abundance. The ocean itself is an inexhaustible mine of salt, from which in warm countries (as in the Cape Verde Islands), it is formed by the heat of the sun, and in colder regions, by means of artificial heat. In Cheshire in England, there is an extensive bed of salt, from 60 to 90 feet thick. In France, Germany, and Hungary, there are also extensive mines; but those of Wie.

a

Naptha is bitumen in its purest state. It is a whitish transparent fluid. Petroleum is bitumen in an oily or less pure state; and aspha tum is bitumen in a pitchy or hardened state. Baku, near the Cas pian Sea, is celebrated for its bituminous springs. The soil, for several miles round, so abounds with naptha and petroleum, that wells dug in the sand yield large quantities daily. And in Burmah, near Rangoon, there are petroleum springs which furnish, it is stated, about 10,000 hogsheads annually for commerce. Petroleum is also found in

Modena and Parma in Italy. It has recently been found in the United States in great abundance. Asphaltum is found floating on the surface of the Dead Sea in large quantities; and the Pitch Lake in the Island of Trinidad, is often covered over with it like a crust.

litzka, near Cracow in Poland, are the most extensive and the most celebrated in the world.

There is a valuable salt mine near Carrickfergus, county Antrim. Salt sometimes forms mountains, as at Cardonna, near Montserrat, in Spain. In Moldavia, in Turkey, there is also a mountain of salt; and in Hindostan there is a range of hills entirely composed of salt; extending across the Indus, through Cabul. There are also large plains incrusted or covered with salt, in many parts of the earth, as in Abyssinia, the Sahara, Persia, the Desert of Atacama, Siberia, &c. See page 144.

Salt or brine springs are also numerous in many parts of the world. They are formed by passing through beds of salt.

Nitre is found in large quantities in several of the plains of Spain, Hungary, Russia, and Persia. It is also found in the earth of calcareous caves, in India, Java, Naples, &c.

Borax, a salt used in soldering metals, is found in lakes and caverns in Tibet, Persia, Hungary, &c.

Sal ammoniac is found principally in the neighbourhood of volcanoes; as in Iceland, Naples, Sicily, and the Lipari Isles.

Soda or barilla is obtained from the ashes of marine plants. It is procured principally from Spain and other countries on the Mediterranean. It is also found in beds, as in La Plata. Soda is also called natron. See page 149.

Nitrate of soda, a valuable salt used as a manure, is obtained in Peru.

The following TABLE, which exhibits at one view the chief productions and EXPORTS of the principal countries in the world, illustrates the GENERAL PRINCIPLES just laid down.

Principal Exports.

Palm oil, gold-dust, ivory, timber, cocoa-nuts, ginger, gum-copal.

Coffee, gums, drugs.

Argentine Confede- Wool, hides, tallow, jerked-beef, horns, horse

hair, ostrich feathers.

Cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, pepper, ginger
Gold, copper, wool, tallow, wheat.

Wheat, hemp, tallow, olive-oil, wine, mercury.
Grain, fruits, wool, ostrich feathers, ivory, mad-
der, morocco-leather, wax, indigo.

Coal, wheat, woollen-cloth, linen, lace, carpets. Cotton, woollen and linen goods, metallic goods, machinery, coals, earthenware, glass, firearms, salt.

Cotton, sugar, coffee, tobacco, tapioca, Brazilnuts, hides, horns, diamonds.

Wool, wine, copper, ostrich feathers, gold, diamonds, sugar, cotton, coffee, hides, horns. Wheat, pine-wood, bacon and hams, beef, furs, ashes, petroleum, cheese, butter, apples. Wines, fruits, silk, ashes.