Porto Rico, French in Haiti and most of the French possessions, English in Jamaica and the other islands belonging to Britain, except in Trinidad and St Lucia, where French is spoken. The Roman Catholic is the most prevalent religion, but Episcopacy is established in the British colonies. The negroes and mixed races in the several islands generally speak the language and profess the religion of the white race dominant in each. In Trinidad, however, there exists a Mohammedan negro community, the only one in connection with the western world.

Education and Government.-Education is at a very low ebb in the West Indies, not excepting the British possessions, most of the opulent persons in which send their children to be educated in the mother country. Codrington College, in Barbadoes, is a thriving institution, and the most important educational establishment in the Archipelago. Haiti was formerly held partly by France and partly by Spain; but about the beginning of the present century an insurrection of the black population took place, which resulted in their complete independence. There are now two native governments, both republican: one named Dominica, consisting of the Spanish part of the island; and the other Haiti, of the French part. Cuba and Porto Rico are each governed by a CaptainGeneral appointed by the Spanish Crown. The government of the French possessions is conducted by a Governor and Colonial Council of French residents; that of the Dutch is vested in a Stadtholder, assisted by a Civil and Military Council. The government of Jamaica is vested in a Governor and a Council of 12 members, half of whom are nominated by the Crown, and a Legislative Assembly. The Bahamas, Bermudas, and each of the other British islands, have a representative government constituted after the model of that of Jamaica.

Industry and Commerce.-The cultivation of the soil is entirely performed by the negro population, who alone are capable of enduring the intense heat of the lower grounds. The amount of sugar and other articles of export from the British West Indies is greatly less than it was prior to the emancipation of the blacks, and very many of the planters, formerly employing slave labour, have been ruined. The principal causes that have led to this disastrous result are the unwillingness of the free negroes to engage actively in agricultural labour, and the low price of sugar, arising from the unequal competition of the slaveholding planters of Cuba and Porto Rico. The Exports from the British islands to the home country consist chiefly of sugar, cotton, spirits, cacao, coffee, logwood, pimento, guano, ginger, sponge, and arrowroot; while the Imports from Great Britain comprise apparel, arms, leather, iron, cotton, woollen, and linen cloth, drugs, soap, candles, hardware, rice, beer, and wine. Total Exports to Great Britain, in 1869, amounted to £5,020,992, and the Imports from Britain to £2,345,358. The Spanish islands in the same year exported to the United Kingdom goods to the value of £4,823,331, the principal articles being unrefined sugar, tobacco, and cigars; while we, in turn, exported to them £1,088,006 worth.

The BERMUDAS or SOMERS ISLANDS, 580 m. E. of South Carolina, and about 900 m. N.E. of the Bahamas, consist of a group of about 300 small islets and rocks belonging to Britain, lat. 32° 20′ N.; lon. 64° 50′ W. The largest, named Long Island, is only 180 ft. above the sea, while most of the others are

scarcely raised above the water. Area, about 24 sq. m.; pop. in 1863, 11,796.

They are of coralline formation, contain neither springs nor streams; but the soil is fertile, climate mild and salubrious, and the fruits of both tropical and temperate regions are raised in great abundance. The culture of the orange is extending, and the arrowroot is considered of excellent quality. More than half of the inhabitants are blacks and people of mixed colour. Hamilton, the cap., situated on Long Island, and St George, on an island of the same name, are the only towns in the group. The Bermudas are chiefly serviceable as a naval station and penal settlement. On the island Ireland, which is strongly fortified, and one of the most important naval stations in the British colonies, an extensive dockyard has been constructed calculated to be of great importance to Britain in the event of a war with the United States. They were discovered by Juan Bermudez, a Spanish navigator, in 1522; the first settlement was made on them in 1609, since which they have remained in the possession of England.

SOUTH AMERICA.

1. Boundaries.-N., the Caribbean Sea; W., Central America and the Pacific Ocean; S., the Antarctic Ocean; E. and N.E., the Atlantic. Lat. 12° 28′ N.-55° 55′ S.; lon. 35° 20′-83° W.

It thus embraces 68° of lat., and nearly 48° of lon. Point Gallinas, its northern extremity, is on the same parallel with Capes Roxo and Guardafui in Africa, the cities Aden, Madras, and Bangkok in Asia, and Leon in Central America; while its central point (lat. 22° S., lon. 58° W.) is in the same latitude with Lake Ngami in S. Africa, N.W. Cape in Australia, and Tarija in Bolivia. It forms the southern continent of the New World, as Africa does of the Old, and is connected with the northern continent by the Isthmus of Panamá and the Archipelago of the Antilles. The shape approximates to a right-angled triangle, with the right angle situated near Parahyba in Brazil. The extreme length is about 4800 m., and the maximum breadth about 3000 m. The coast-line is estimated at upwards of 12,000 m., being only one-half of that of N. America; but this deficiency of seaboard is in a great measure compensated for by the great number of large rivers, which are in general navigable nearly to their sources.

2. Area and Population. The aggregate area of the different states, as exhibited in the following table, is 7,028,206 sq. m., and the aggregate population, 27,170,932. South America is the fourth continent of the globe in point of size, and the fifth as regards population. The area is double that of Europe, while the population is not nearly equal to that of the British Isles. This continent is distinguished from all the others by its gorgeous vegetation, a result caused by its tropical heat and abundant irrigation, and by the prodigious variety of its lower forms of animal life.

3. Political Divisions.-The continent embraces 33 different

states; but if we regard the Granadian and Argentine Confederations as forming one state each, the number will be reduced to 14. With the exception of Brazil and Guiana, all the states of S. America have adopted the republican form of government; and it is a remarkable fact, that while all the colonial possessions of Portugal contained in this continent have been kept entire in the form of an empire, enjoying the blessings of a stable government, those of Spain have fallen asunder into numerous republics, which are in a state of chronic disaffection.

4. Surface.—The Andes, a vast mountain-chain, with its plateaux and declivities, stretch along the western coast from the Isthmus of Panamá to Cape Horn, dividing the continent into two unequal slopes, and covering nearly a sixth part of the entire area.

The remainder of the surface consists, for the most part, of three immense plains, watered respectively by the Orinoco, Marañon, and Paraná. The first of these, named the Llanos, is bounded on the N. by the eastern chain of the Columbian Andes, and on the S. by the Parimé and Pacaraima Mountains, which separate it from the basin of the Amazon. It is one of the most level portions of the earth's surface, having, at a distance of 450 m. from the ocean, an elevation of only 192 ft. The basins of the Marañon and Paraná, lying south of it, are enclosed between the Andes on the west and the Brazilian mountains on the east. The former of these is the largest river-basin in the world, having an area of a million and a half sq. m. It is separated from the Orinoco by a waterparting so low that the Rio Negro, one of its principal tributaries, sends off a branch, named the Casiquiari, to meet the Orinoco-the two basins thus merging into one another; while the Madeira, another of its tributaries, rises only a few miles distant from the head-waters of the Paraguay, which finds its way southward to the Paraná, both affluents being navi

gable to their sources. These three vast river-basins are thus virtually interlocked, and a mighty circle of inland navigation, which is without a parallel in any other part of the globe, is established by natural means.

5. Isthmus, Peninsulas, and Capes.-Isthmus of Panamá, uniting Southern with Central America; Peninsula of Paraguana, N. W. of Venezuela; Peninsulas of Tres Montes and St Josef, on the W. and E. sides of Patagonia; Cape St Francisco, W. of Ecuador; Blanco and Aguja Point, N.W. of Peru; Froward, the most S. point of the American continent; Horn, the southernmost extremity of the New World, S. of Tierra del Fuego; Corrientes and St Antonio, E. of Buenos Ayres; Sta Maria, E. of Uruguay; Frio, St Thomé, and St Roque, E. of Brazil; Branco, the most easterly point of America; Do Norte, N. of Brazil; Point Gallinas, N. E. of New Granada, the northernmost point of South America.

6. Islands.-The Galapagos, W. of Ecuador; Chincha Islands, W. of Peru; Juan Fernandez, W. of Chilé; Chilöe, Wellington, and Madre de Dios Archipelago, W. of Patagonia; Tierra del Fuego, S. of Patagonia; Falkland Isles and South Georgia, S. E. of Patagonia; Margarita, Tortuga, Buen Ayre, and Curaçoa, N. of Venezuela.

The Galapagos-so called by the Spaniards because they abound in tortoises are a group of islands situated under the equator, 750 m. W. of Ecuador. They are thirteen in number, are all volcanic, generally sterile, and uninhabited. The flora and fauna are to a large extent peculiar, especially the birds and reptiles. The Chincha Islands, with their rich deposits of excellent guano, constitute a mine of wealth to the Peruvian Government. Juan Fernandez is famous as having been the residence of Alexander Selkirk, whose adventures suggested the well-known tale of 'Robinson Crusoe.' Tierra del Fuego ("land of fire"), so named from the volcanoes with which it abounds, consists of a cluster of islands off the S. coast of Patagonia, from which it is separated by the Strait of Magellan. Some of the islands are level and pretty well wooded, producing birches and evergreens. The inhabitants, who subsist by fishing and hunting, are among the lowest in the scale of humanity. Falkland Isles, a group of about two hundred small islands, belonging to Great Britain, in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 300 m. N. E. of Tierra del Fuego; area, 4741 sq. m.; pop. 662, consisting chiefly of British colonists from Buenos Ayres. Vessels passing round Cape Horn, and whaling-ships frequenting the South Seas, are here supplied with provisions and fresh water. South Georgia, about 1000 m. E. of Tierra del Fuego, is a bleak and barren region traversed by lofty mountains which are constantly covered with snow-the heat of summer being sufficient only to melt the snow on the low grounds of the N. E. side. The neighbouring seas abound with seals, and sea-fowl in great numbers frequent the coasts.

7. Bays, Gulfs, and Straits.—Bay of Panamá and Gulf of Guayaquil, W. of Colombia; Strait of Magellan, between Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego; Gulfs of St George and San Matias, E. of Patagonia; Estuary of Rio de la Plata, between Buenos Ayres and Uruguay; All Saints' Bay, E. of Brazil; Rio Pará and Estuary of the

Amazon, N.E. of Brazil; Gulfs of Venezuela and Darien, N. of Colombia.

8. Mountain-Systems.-This continent is traversed in the direction of its greatest length by the Andes (Span., Cordillera de los Andes), in some respects the most magnificent chain of mountains on the earth's surface.

Commencing at the Isthmus of Panamá and the Caribbean Sea, it extends along the Pacific coast of the continent to its southern extremity, being a total length of about 4500 m., with a breadth varying from 40 to 400 m. Though greatly inferior in elevation to the Himalaya, it far surpasses the latter in length and in the extent of surface which it occupies. In some places the chain forms only one ridge, as between Cape Horn and the 20th degree of S. latitude, while in others there are two or more parallel ridges, supporting between them highly-elevated table-lands. In general they present a very steep slope towards the Pacific coast, to which they maintain a parallel direction at an average distance of from 20 to 160 m. No other chain on the earth's surface can vie with the Andes in the number and grandeur of its volcanoes. The number of active craters is reckoned at 24, and of dormant ones, 32. Proceeding from N. to S. the following are the loftiest summits-those distinguished by an asterisk being active volcanoes:-1. THE ANDES OF QUITO, extending in three parallel ranges from the Caribbean Sea to the 5th degree of S. latitude. They embrace the table-land of Quito, 9600 ft. in elevation, and flanked by some of the most majestic volcanoes in existence. *Tolima, in central chain, lat. 5° N., 18,020 ft.; *Pichinca, on the equator, 15,936 ft.; *Antisana, S.E. of Quito, 19,137 ft.; *Cotopaxi, S.S. E. of Quito, 18,875 ft.; Chimborazo, 21,424 ft. Height of snow-line, 15,800 ft. 2. ANDES OF PERU, extending in three parallel ranges from lat. 5° to 14° S.-the western range being the loftiest: Knot of Huanuco, 11,800 ft.; Nevada de Sasaguanca, N.E. of Lima, 17,904 ft. 3. ANDES OF BOLIVIA, forming the central and most elevated portion of the system, extend in two gigantic longitudinal ridges from lat. 14° to 21° S.: Sorata or Ancohuma (lat. 15° 30′ S.), 24,812 ft. high, the loftiest summit of the Andes and of the New World; Chuquibamba, 15 m. N.W. Arequipa, 21,000 ft.; Illimani, 21,150 ft.; Cochabamba, 17,073 ft.; Cerro de Potosi, 16,152 ft. Height of snow-line, 18,000 ft. 4. ANDES OF CHILE, extending in one mighty ridge from lat. 21° to 42° S., though of inferior average elevation to the Andes of Bolivia, contain Aconcagua, 23,910 ft., till very recently regarded as the culminating point of the entire chain; *Volcano of Chillan, 16,000 ft. Height of snow-line in the S., 8600 ft. For the other mountain-ranges of South America, see under "Colombia," "Guiana," and "Brazil."

9. River-Basins and Capitals.-With exception of the Desaguadero, which flows from Lake Titicaca, in the Basin of Continental Streams, all the rivers of South America belong to one or other of three oceanic basins-those of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean Sea. The rivers flowing into the Pacific are mere mountain torrents; the Magdalena is the only one of importance that finds its way to the Caribbean Sea; but those inclining to the Atlantic comprise the most gigantic rivers on the earth's surface. Of these, by far the largest is the Amazon or Maranon, whose direct length is 2100 m., and including its windings, nearly 4000 m. It is navigable for