^ IDEOGRAPH Y FOR BURMA 128 STANDARD .M67 1921 + t BY G. MORRISON, LL.B. FOR TWENTY YEARS EXAMINER IN GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS % MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON CORKfELL'UNWEErr. LIBR/iRY ITHAGA, NY. 14853 ^. "J i-^ ^ -■» T; ,.' SI , t* > 'i » John M. Echols Co.lbction on- Southeast Asia BCROCH LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 087 830 125 MMii^2 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924087830125 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA STANDARD ^QJULAO^ JI<.CVW, J-«^ BY C. MORRISON, LL.B. FOR TWENTY YEARS EXAMINER IN GEOORAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS Sa^t OL- it J^6^ Se^vO<3^ oM^^V gcoCQj MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1 92 1 COPYRIGHT CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE Introduction. What we have learned 3 I. Africa — Position, Outline and Relief 5 II. Climate 7 III. Rivers 8 IV. Vegetation 10 V. British Africa 13 VI. British Africa [continuRd) 15 VII. British Africa (continued) 16 VIII. British Africa (continued) - 19 IX. French, Portuguese and former German Africa ?1 X. The Congo Free State and Independent Africa 23 XI. The People of Africa 24' XII. The New World ; North and South America 25 XIII. North America 26 XIV. Rivers of North America 29 XV. North America (continued) 30 XVI. British North America 33 XVII. The Gulp Provinces — Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime Pro- vinces OF Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island 35 XVIII. The St. Lawrence and Lake Provinces of Canada — Quebec and Ontario 36 XIX. The Prairie Provinces of Canad.-i — Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta 38 XX. The Pacific Province — British Columbia. Northern Canada - 40 XXI. The United States 44 XXII. Resources and Towns of the Central Plain 45 XXIII. Towns of the Western High Land and Pacific Slope 47 XXIV. Mexico - 4g XXV. Central America : The States of the Isthmus - gn XXVI. The Islands of the West Indies g., XXVII. South America - , XXVIII. South America (continued) ,. . XXIX. South America (continued) -„ XXX. The Voyage (continued) -x nn GLASGOW : I'lilNTED AT THE UNIVERSITY I'RESS BV ROHERT MACLKHOSE AND CO. LTD, INTRODUCTION What we have learned. In Standard VI. we have to study the geography of the world. Before we go on to do this, suppose we let our memory go back to see how much geography we have already learned and how we have learned it. In Standard III. we learned about our province 'of Burma, its rivers and plains and mountains and hills ; its towns and where they are ; its crops and the season when they are grown and reaped. Then in Standard IV. wa did the same thing with India. We read about its rivers and plains and hills, the Himalayas and their snows, the sea-shores with their fishermen and the sea- ports like Calcutta, Chittagong, Bombay, Madras and Karachi, where ships and steamers come from all parts of the world. We also learned that India is only part of a large Continent called Eurasia which is made up of Europe and Asia. In Standard V. we went on to study the geography of Eurasia in the same way — how it is made up of mountains and table-lands, plains and river valleys and sea-coasts and how the people living in these different kinds of country live lives suited to their soil and climate. The World. Now in Standard VI. we go farther. We know that Eurasia is only part of the world and we mkht make* another step and go on to study Africa, or Australia, or the New World which we call North and South America. But, instead of making a step like that, let us first make a big jump all at once and^ think of the world. The world, as we know, is a huge ball or globe turning round and round and* moving in a great circle round the sun once a year. This globe is not always clear. Parts of it are covered with mist and cloud which float quite close to its surface. These mists and rain-clouds are always moving about here and there. The wind drives them from place to place over the surface of the sea and land. The Ocean. Now, when we look at a map or round model of the earth, the first thing we notice is that most of the surface is taken up with water. This water we call the ocean. This ocean is really one. No doubt we give different names to different parts of it. There are names also for each of the smallest parts, such as seas and gulfs, and straits, but all these are really bits of one great water. This water is not reaUy divided off into different parts. From any one part of the water we can get to any other part without crossing land. But it is different with the divisions of the land. These are called continents and the smaller divisions are called islands. They are separate divisions as we can see. To get from one to the other, e.g., from Asia to America or to Australia, we must cross the ocean or part of it. We can thus say that the water joins the different parts of the land on the surface of the earth. Just as we can learn the geography of our district or province better if we learn to ride a horse or a bicycle, or if we travel great distances quickly in trains, so men have learned the geography of the world by learning to make use of the ocean. By learning to build and steer ships and steamers man has found out a great deal about the tides and currents of the ocean. But he has learned a great deal about the land too. His ships have taken him to new and unknown parts of the world which he could never have reached without being able to pass along the pathway of the great water. The ocean is thus the great joiner. It joins the different land parts of the world and makes them into one world. If man could not cross the sea, then America would be one world, Australia would be another, Eurasia another, and even Africa would be really another. Each island would be a small world of its own. The best way for people in one part of the world to learn about the rest of it is to cross the great ocean and learn about these far distant lands. One good way to learn the geography of the world is to read the voyages of the great dis- coverers like Columbus who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and discovered America. Our Sea Empire. Great Britain, we know, is the greatest sea-nation in the world. She has more ships and seamen than any other nation. But Great Britain is not only a nation of sailors and merchants. She is also a great ruler. She has undertaken the responsibility of ruling large parts of the world, besides the small islands where A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA her own people live. When we speak of the British Empire we mean all the separate parts of the world which Great Britain has undertaken to rule. Now, ruling an Empire does not mean fightiag and killing or conquering. Some nations have been great fighters and conquerors but very bad rulers. Eor example, in Eurasia we read about the Turkish Empire. The Turks are one of the bravest and best fighting nations in the world. But no one would say that the Turkish Empire is well ruled. So too, the Chinese Empire is a very large Empire, but it is not well ruled. The Spaniards conquered a large part of America but they could not rule it well. Spain has now lost her American Empire. Even Great Britain once lost a large part of her former Empire in America, because her King and his ministers at that time made a great mistake about how that part of the Empire should be ruled. Germany has recently lost some of her Empire because she did not rule wisely but cruelly. What does good ruling mean ? It means giving the people peace and helping them in every way to know more, and live more happily. The British Empire, therefore, means the joining together under one rule of different and distant parts of the world and helping the people of these different parts to live in peace and to learn how they can improve their lives and make them more useful and happy. India, we know, is an important part of the British Empire and in this book we learn something about the other parts. But we must never forget that the ocean is the thing which joins this Empire together. If other nations could prevent the different parts of the Empire from communicating as they liked across the ocean, then the Empire would be broken up into different parts and it would no longer be an Empire at all. The joining together of different parts of the world in one Empire helps all the different parts. Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, we know, are other parts of this Empire. They, like India and Burma, are aU helped by beiaig joined together under one rule. Unlike the Chinese, the Turkish or the Russian Empire, our Empire is a Sea Empire. It is not joined together by land but by salt water. In the Great War when Great Britain helped France to drive out the Germans who had invaded that country and Belgium, destroyed towns and villages and ill- treated the inhabitants, all the other parts of the Empire sent soldiers to fight for her. They came from India and Burma, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, I^^w- foundland and South Africa. Most of these troops had to be carried over thousands of miles of ocean to reach the battlefields of France. We now go on to learn about the Continents of Africa, North and South America, and the parts of them that belong to the British Empire. To do this we must study not only the maps in this book but large school maps and a good atlas. CHAPTER I Africa— Position, Outline and Relief The map shows us that at two points Africa nearly touches Europe ; at the western end of the Mediter- ranean Sea where the two continents are separated by the narrow strait of Gibraltar, and further east, where Africa juts out towards the island of Sicily. Again, Africa is separated from Asia by the narrow Eed Sea. At its southern end this sea narrows to a strait which, on account of its dangerous currents, is called Bab-el- Mandeb, or the Gate of Tears. At the northern end of the Red Sea the two continents arp joined by a narrow, flat, sandy isthmus. In modern days this isthmus is cut by a splendid canal by which large ocean steamers can sail from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Map Study. 1. Shape. Let us look at a physical map of Africa and see what we can tell about its shape. It has a huge round shoulder pushed out to the Atlantic and a short sharp horn to the Indian Ocean,, with a long, broad, blunt peninsula pointing south. Its coast- line on its northern Mediterranean shores, on the Atlantic on the west, and the Indian Ocean on the east, is much less broken than the outline of Asia or Europe. It has no deep gulfs and no well marked peninsulas. In the north is the Gulf of Tripoli and in the west we see the wide Gulf of Guinea. There is only one large island off the coast. The other islands are small and not near the coast. , 2. Relief: The Table-land of Africa. Africa is unlike Eurasia in outline. It is also unlike Eurasia in build. In Eurasia the high land stretches right across Asia and Europe. But Africa is quite different ; it has very few great mountain ranges. All the other continents have wide low lands. Africa has none. Even its low lying coast-strips are very narro.w. We can easily remember its build by saying it is a great table-land. If you look carefully at a physical map of Africa you will see that this table-land comes quite close to the sea nearly everywhere. Its edge near the coast is higher than the inland parts. The rivers have to break through a rocky rim before entering the sea. Again, the map shows that the table-land is higher in the southern half of Africa than in the northern half. If we draw a line from the middle of the Red Sea to the Fig. 1.— Keliej? map oe Aeeioa. 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 GEO'.'iE PHIUIPS SON Gulf of Guinea we can say that all Africa south of this line (except the Congo basin) is a high table-land. The %' 30° Long. East 40° of Greenwich 50° Emeiy Walker Ltd. sc. F:G. 2.— PHySlCAl MAT OF ArElOA.JSHOWINGjHlGHLANDS, LOWLANDS, LAKES, AND ElVEKS. RELIEF: THE TABLE-LAND OF 5.FRICA part north of this is a lower table-land except the Atlas Mountains in the north-west. Again, if we draw a line from the middle of the Red Sea to the southern end of Africa, we get the line of a band of high ground. This is not a range of mountains like the Himalayas. It is just the part of the table-land which has been most raised. In the part of the band nearest the Red Sea, we see the great blocks of Abys- sinian mountains. At the other end this band of high land follows the line of the coast and is called the Drakensberg or Dragon's mountains. Near the middle of the band we see the high peaks of Kilimanjaro, Kenia and Ruwenzori. These are the highest peaks in Africa. Though quite close to the equator they are covered with snow. This great band of high land seems to have been raised and bent and cracked into rifts and valleys. It has two great narrow valleys in it where parts of the continent have sunk down. The eastern valley stretches southwards from the Abyssinian mountains and the map shows it is partly filled by a string of narrow lakes. The western valley is also narrow and runs parallel to it. It contains the lakes Albert Nyanza, Edward Nyanza, and Tanganyika. Farther south, these valleys come together in Lake Nyasa. In a hollow between these two narrow valleys lies the largest lake in Africa — Victoria Nyanza. The peaks of Kenia, Kilimanjaro and Ruwenzori rise from the edges of these valleys. They are old volcanoes and the whole of this band of high land has been bent and cracked into its present shape by underground heat. One peak south of Lake Edward Nyanza is still an active volcano. The Abyssinian Mountains in the north are also vol- canic. The part of Africa which lies north of our line drawn from the middle of the Red Sea to the Gulf of Guinea is also a table-land, but this table-land is much lower than that which fills up the whole of the south of Africa. One high part stretches in a slant across the middle of it, and is called the Tibesti High Land ; another stretches along the north coast of the Gulf of Guinea and forces the Niger to make a big bend inland. Right in the north-western corner of Africa, facing Spain, we see a long range of mountains. These are the Atlas Mountains. They really consist of two parallel ranges with a table- land in the middle. Just near the middle of the great northern table-land of Africa the surface sinks. There we notice Lake Chad lying in a slight hoUow with small rivers flowing into it. Lake Chad is thus a centre of inland drainage like the Caspian Sea. CHAPTER II Climate Heat and Rainfall. We have seen that Africa is quite unlike Asia or Europe in shape and build. Its climate is also quite different. No part of Europe or Asia," not even the tip of the Malay Peninsula, touches the equator. But a great part of Africa stretches far south of the equator. What can we tell from this ? In the first place, as no part of Africa is very far from the equator, no part of it will be very cold, and most of it will be very hot. Snow only falls on the tops of the highest mountains. As a rule, the heat increases as we go south to the equator from the north, and as we go north to it from the south. In the second place, as Africa is a huge table-land the heat will not be so great as it would be if it were a low flat plain, like the delta of the Irrawaddy or like Bengal. But on the low-ljdng, narrow coast-strips near the equator the heat is very great and the climate very feverish. But the most important part of the cUmate of Africa, as of India or of Burma, is the rainfall. Look at the rainfall map. In the north of Africa, right across the Continent westwards from the Red Sea, scarcely any rain falls except in the high Atlas Mountains. The heat in this broad belt is very great. Even the little rain that does fall is soon sucked up by the sun. The map shows you that not a single river rises in this dry region. In the south-west corner of Africa there is also a very dry area. But the whole of the centre of Africa receives much rain especially the parts inland from the GuH of Guinea. We know that in our province and in India the rain comes in the hot months. The same thing happens in Africa. But we must remember that, as Africa lies on both sides of the equator, there are really two hot seasons. In our hot months there is hot weather with much rain in those parts of Africa that A* GEOGRAPttY FOR BURMA lie just nortli of the equator. In our cold season there is great heat in those parts of Africa just south of the Otter 80 I ..' 40"lo go' mil m" to 40 YZAunder W EmeryWalkarLtd.i Afi-ows show the direction of pt-evailing winds FiQ. 3. — Kainfall Map or Afeica. equator and then much rain falls there too. In this way we see that much rain falls on the broad belt across the middle of Africa. We also see that rain is more spread over the southern half of Africa than in the northern half. The reason is that, in the southern half, Africa has water on both sides and gets rain from the winds blowing into it across the ocean. The northern half, however, has the great land mass of Eurasia in the north and east. Thus the winds that blow from Eurasia, as they come from the land and not from the sea, are dry winds, not rain winds. We have learnt that the whole of the south-west part of Asia, facing Africa, is high, dry table-land. No wind blowing from this dry table-land into Africa can bring it any rain. Sea-Cureents. a warm sea-current flows between Madagascar Island and the mainland southwards along the eastern coast of South Africa, and a cold sea-current flows northward along its western shores. Winds blowing over warm water carry off more rain than winds blowing over cold water. This is one reason why the coast of Natal is warmer and wetter than the desert coast on the Atlantic side. CPIAPTER III Rivers From the shape of Africa and its rainfall and climate, we go on to study its rivers. What can we tell about these rivers ? We may be sure that all the large rivers will rise in the belt of heavy rainfall. Africa has few rivers for its size. The largest are the Nile, Congo, Niger and Zambesi. Notice that all these rivers rise, and are fed by tributaries which rise, in the heavy rain-belt. The large rivers of Africa, like the small ones, have to enter the sea over or through the edge of the table-land. This edge is formed of bars and terraces of rock. Therefore the rivers are here full of rapids or waterfalls which make them very difficult to navigate. 1. The. Nile. The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world. It rises in the Victoria Nyanza, the huge round lake lyiiig in a hollow of the table-land. It then flows westwards into the narrow rift valley over several waterfalls. In this valley it enters the Albert Nyanza. The Albert Nyanza is itself fed by another river coming from the Edward Nyanza farther up the valley. Leaving the Albert Nyanza at its northern point the Nile again descends many rapids till it reaches a level plain. There its current becomes so slow that it is often choked by great masses of grass and weed, the home of hippopotami. Soon after, its only large left-bank tributary joins it. The map shows us three important right-bank feeders. These flow from the High Land of Abyssinia which receives good rain during om- wet season (fig. 14). The Blue Nile and the Atbara are the names of two of these.-^ The Atbara is the last tributary the main river receives.. The Nile has to pass over the next 1600 miles to the sea without any help. It loses much of its water by the heat of the sun and the thirsty sand through which it flows. Jast as it nears the sea the river splits up into a fertile delta like many of our Indian and Burmese rivers. Between Khartum, where the Blue Nile joins it, and the delta the Nile flows in a narrow valley in the ' The main river which has a regular flow of water all the year round is often called the White, or Clear, Nile. THE CONGO desert table-land, with bare rocky hills rising on both sides. It has to pass over no less than six cataracts on its way to the sea. Between these calaracts the river is navigable for sailing boats and small shallow steamers. Fig. 4. — One op the CiiAKAOTS oB the Nile. 2. The Congo. If the Nile is one of the longest, the Congo is one of the fullest rivers of the world. We can see this from the map which shows that its whole basin is in the rain-belt. Notice that it crosses the equator twice. Like the Nile it has its sources in two of the lakes of the high table-land — Bangweolo and Tanganyika. But it is unlike the Nile in almost every other way. It does not flow through a desert, but through the part of Africa which receives heavy rain all the year round. Therefore, as the map shows, it has many and large feeders on both banks. Some of these are as large as our Irrawaddy. Its course is not along a straight narrow valley between hills but over a wide shallow hollow in the table-land. Into this hollow is .drained the rainfall of a very rainy area. But, like all African rivers, the Congo has to cut through the rim of the table-land before reaching the coast. Here we find, as usual, furious cataracts which prevent navigation from the sea. Above these cataracts, however, boats and G.B. VI. fairly large steamers can easily ascend the broad river and many of its feeders. 3. The Niger. The Niger rises in the inner edge of the table-land, not far from the sea. But it is forced by the slope to flow away from the coast north-eastwards round a part of the table-land, till it finds an opening down into the flat coast at the head of the Gulf of Guinea. About 200 miles from its mouth, it receives its chief feeder, the Benue. The Niger is next to the Congo in the volume of its waters. A smaller sister of the Niger rises in the same high land but flows north-west- wards into the Atlantic. It is the Senegal. 4. The Zambesi. The Zambesi is a smaller river than the Nile, or the Congo. It flows through a part of Africa which receives less rain than the Congo. This rain falls in our cold weather. During the rest of the year the Zambesi shrinks to a small river. Notice that most of its water comes from the wetter region on its left bank. As tire Zambesi has to cut through the high rim of the table-land before reaching the sea, it has deep and narrow gorges and swift rapids at this point. The Zambesi forms a delta at its mouth, smaller than that of the Nile or the Niger. The delta mouths are, however, difficult to navigate owing to bars of sand. About haH way between its source and its delta the Zambesi falls over a ledge of rock, 350 feet high, into a narrow trough. PiQ. 5. — The Viotoeu Fails. Photo. Prof. Cole. These are the Victoria Falls. They are one of the most wonderful sights in Africa. The most important tribu- tary of the Zambesi is the Shire, which comes from Lake Nyasa. It thus gives a navigable waterway up to the lake and far up-country. a2 10 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA 5. Other Rivers. The Limpopo or Crocodile Eiver is like the Niger and Congo in following a curved course. The river rises in the dry belt and, except during the rains, the upper parts are little more than a string of pools of stagnant water. The Orange River flows into the Atlantic. It is a long river and on the map it looks important, but it is not so. With its chief feeder the Vaal, it rises in the Drakensberg mountains, where a good deal of rain falls. But its course is through the dry belt and desert of South Africa. Here it receives ho feeders. For this reason it becomes smaller as it goes on, like the Indus, and it is useless for navigation. 6. Inland Drainage. In a table-land like Africa we must expect to find rivers draining into hollows with no outlet to the sea. The chief of these is Lake Chad, already mentioned, into which, during the wet season, fairly long rivers flow and swell,, the lake to a large size. In the dry,, season it shrinks to a marsh. ■ CHAPTER IV Vegetation The position, shape, climate and rainfall of Africa tell us something about its vegetation. It has no great ranges of mountains, like the Himalayas, crossing it, so that we do not find sudden changes from one kind of country to another, as we do when we cross ATLANTIC OCEAN BmBrrWiiIkiirJ.td.oa Fig. 8. — Vegetation Map op afkica. the Himalayas from the warm, moist, fertile plains of Bengal to the dry barren uplands of Tibet. No part of Africa is very far from the equator. Nowhere, except on the tops of the highest mountains, do we find ice and snow as we do in the north of Europe and Asia. 1. The Mediterranean Coast. In the north, along the shores of the Mediterranean, the climate is very dry and the little rain that comes falls in our cold season. This rain comes from the Atlantic, and chiefly falls in the high region of the Atlas Mountains. On the slopes facing the damp sea breezes there are forests of cork and oak trees. Behind these slopes olive trees and some palms, which do not require much rain, flourish. In the drier upland parts a kind of grass called esparto grows luxuriantly. This grass is much used in makiag paper, and large ship-loads of it are sent 'to England and other countries for this purpose. In the cultivated parts olives, figs, vines and almonds are grown, as well as wheat, barley, maize and a little rice where irrigation can be had from the hill streams. The eastern end of the high Atlas table-land produces the finest olives and the country inland the finest dates in the world. The rest pf the Mediterranean coast of Africa has a very small rainfall and the map shows us there are no rivers except the Nile in the eastern corner. Inland from the coast the land is barren and stony. It gets worse as we go away from the sea. 2. The Sahara. As soon as we pass inland from the Mediterranean Sea we come to the Great Sahara. This vast, hot, dry desert stretches southwards about half-way from the Mediterranean to the equator, and from the Atlantic on the west to the hot red rocks of the Red Sea coast on the east. It is about twice the size of India. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world. The reason for this desert is simply the want of water. Only very little rain falls, and even that little is soon sucked up by the fierce sun. The map shows us there are no rivers, not even small ones, which have water enough THE OASES OF THE SAHARA to reach the sea, except the Nile. During our cold season the winds blow out from the Sahara just as they blow out from the dry high lands of Asia. In our wet season the rain clouds from the oceans cannot reach this desert. 11 spots of coolness and fertility watered by springs in the midst of the dry, hot, barren desert. If it were not for these oases no one could cross the Sahara at all. But, with their help, it is possible for the Arab camel-drivers, who know where to find them. They are like stepping- stones*across the dry pathless desert. In these oases grow date trees, a little grass for the goats and camels and sometimes a little grain. Dates are the chief food of the people. Without the date-palm life on the Sahara Fig. 7. — Crossing the Sahaka Desekt. As most of the Sahara is so far from the sea the days are very hot and the nights are often cold. This sudden change from heat to cold splits up the rocks just as coolies in Burma and India break up rocks and large stones by first roasting them in fire and then suddenly pouring cold water on them. This work has been going on in the Sahara for thousands and thousands of years. The rocks of the Sahara table-land are thus constantly being split up and powdered into sand. The strong Fig. 8. — Oases 6f the Sahaka. (Each dot marks a place where water occurs and where flourishing palms and shade the pools.) wind blows the sand about and this sand also helps to rub down more rocks. When a storm comes on the air is -full of sand. 3. The Oases of the Sahara. You remember the oases in the dry parts of Asia. They are little green Fia. 9. — Ckossing a Steeam in the Congo Forest. would be hardly possible. The Arabs of the desert measure their wealth by their dates and camels. 4. The Kalahari Desert. In the south-west of Africa there is another region where little or no rain falls. It is called the Kalahari Desert. No one dares to travel over this desert unless he knows where the few springs and water holes are to be found. A few flocks and herds find enough pasture to Uve. 5. The Heavy Rain -belt. This region stretches across Africa from the shores of the Gulf of Guinea to the line of the great lakes. Its centre is the basin of the Congo. This region is very hot and very wet and resembles Burma in the monsoon season. Great heat and rain produce thick forests. The wide African forests are one of the most wonderful things in the world. The trees are so thick and they are laced together by so many flowering creepers that it is impossible to make one's way through them except axe in hand. Every tree and plant has to fight with its neighbours for light. The creepers use the large trees on which to climb up to the sunlight. The forest is thus a surround 12 A GEOGRAPHY mass of thick foliage and matted undergrowth. The sunlight cannot reach the ground and there it is ahnost dark. Palms, especially the oil-palm, are very common. The coconut prefers the sea-coast regions. Trees producing ebony and mahogany, gum and nuts are among the most useful. Several of the creepers yield india-rubber. Owing to the thickness of the forests there are few large animals, but animals such as r^^^^. f^'^-Z i ^ ''^ ^ * ^ "^ "^ fcj^ ^^^ . j l ^ tVmrf direction Winter^Raiiis^^^^^^ °" "■' »""•■ Wind direction in Winter. o L n i Desert ^^ Desert Sahara Desert *^ S auan It ah „ „. Summer Rams ,. < Monsoon Forest Savannah Rai„s ^„j, Constant Rains /^S- EJ?fe Emery Walker sc- Fig. 10. — SUMMAHY Map op Africa. the man-like apes and the gorilla, which can move about among the branches and live on fruits, are very common. Myriads of insects fly about among the leaves. The people dwell in small clearings in the forest and in villages along the banks of the rivers. They live on plantains and forest fruits, grow small patches of maize, rice and sweet potatoes and keep a few cattle. The only way of penetrating these forests is by boats along the rivers. 6. The Grass-lands. We have now visited the very dry and the very wet parts of Africa. The rest of the continent is made up of grass-land. The parts of the FOR BURMA • grass-land next the northern and southern edges of the forest country of course receive more rain than the rest. Here the grass grows more plentifully and there are many groves of trees especially on the banks of the rivers. This grass country round the forest regions is called Savannah. It resembles the dry zone of Burma. Grass eating animals such as antelopes, elephants, buffaloes, zebras and giraffes wander in herds over the slopes covered with long grass, and lions and leopards lurk for them in the thickets round the water-courses. The rivers and swamps are the home of the rhinoceros and hippo- potamus. Crocodiles bask on the mud banks and the air is full of water-fowl. As we get away from the wet ^ ^/ n4 Ml M ym ^^^^^^^P ^^^^W ii^?^^ffl| ^S tt M Fig. 11.— Zebeas in the Savannah Lakds or Aprioa. forest belt and nearer to the dry deserts, rain falls for only a very short season. There is not enough moisture for trees except on the banks of the rivers. We- pass from the savannah lands into steppe and scrub lands. Here the only plant which thrives is grass. It grows in tufts. There is not enough food for many animals. The wingless ostrich, which can scour great distances in search of food, and live on almost any green plant finds here a suitable home. This poor scrub land merges into the desert of Sahara in the north and the Kalahari desert in the south. The part of' Africa south of the Zambesi and inside the rim of the Drakensberg Mountains is a high grassy table-land. It is called the High Veldt by the Dutch farmers who live there. Veldt means " open field." As we shall see, almost the whole of South Africa is a pasture land. EGYPT AND '1»HE ANGLO-EGYPTtAN SUDAN 1^ CHAPTER V British Africa Let us go over the map of Africa again and notice the parts which are ruled by the different nations of Europe. The most important are part of the same Empire as India. On a wall map these partes are usually marked red. One block stretches south from the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea on both sides of the Nile nearly up as far as the sources of the river. The north part of this block is Egypt and the south part is the Egyptian Sudan. Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan extend for more than 1800 miles Ptiotu. J. lioyar, Faria. Fig. 12. — PujtpiNQ Watek ikom the Niib. southwards from the Nile delta. Far in the south we are quite close to the equator and there is great heat and plenty of .raih in the wet season. There is, therefore, plenty of grass and forest and plenty of fertile land ready to cultivate. Farther north, where the White or clear, and the Blue or muddy, Niles meet, the long narrow valley of ihe Nile begins. Here there is less rain. Khartum stands at the junction of these two rivers. North of Khartum less and less rain falls as we descend the river towards its delta. The country on both sides is a hot, dry desert. No feeders help the Nile here. The delta is, however, near enough to the Medi- terranean to receive a little rain. The whole of this country is the land of the Nile. On the map trace its course again from Lake Victoria Nyanza to the sea. Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan look large countries. And so they are. But the only really important part of them is the narrow strip of fertile land on the Nile banks. The Nile never runs dry, for it rises in the equatorial belt of heavy rain. It floods the country close to its banks every year, because in our monsoon season its Abyssinian feeders are filled with the rain that falls on the mountains there. These floods, have made Egypt. Eegularly every yeser, the river overflows, fertilizes the thirsty soil and deposits a coating of rich mud on the fields. The British have built great dams across the river. The canals of Lower and Middle Egypt can thus be filled and crops grown. We, who live in a well watered country, know how this supply of water must increase the crops grown in the Nile valley. Crops of Egypt. Egypt was for hundreds of years the country from which the people living on the shores of the Mediterranean received their chief supply of wheat. This grain is still one of the most important crops. So is millet. In recent years cotton has been widely planted in the fertile soil so that Egypt is now one of the largest suppliers of cotton. In the delta-lands, rice and sugar cane are also grown but not of course so largely as in the hotter deltas of India and Burma. The date-palm, which thrives best with its " feet in water and its head in the fire," flourishes well on the Nile banks and in the oases of the desert. Rain destroys its fruit. Oranges, lemons, vines and water-melons are cultivated in the Nile valley. Towns of Egypt and the Sudan. As' we should expect, all the large towns are on the river or its delta. Cairo is the capital. It is about half the size of Calcutta, and is the largest town in Africa. It stands at the head of the Nile delta, and is a great Mohammedan city full of mosques. Its streets are crowded with a mixed popula- tion. In the cold season its hotels are filled with visitors who come to its dry climate to escape from the fogs and rain of Europe, and to visit the old temples and pjrramids of Eg3rpt. Alexandria, at one of the mouths of the Nile, u A GEOGRAPHY FOU BURMA English Miles 9 TOO 30O 400 600 Land above 6000 feet. I I Sea leiiel to 6000 feet- l__J Principal Rallmays.. Fig. 13. — Map of East Afkica and Eqypt. is the principal sea-port of Egypt and trades with the other sea-ports of the Mediterranean. Its name tells us it was built by Alexander the Great. On a good map look out Assiout, Aswan, Wadi Haifa, Dongola and Berber. They are the chief trade towns on the Nile. Khartum, like Patna or Allahabad, has a fine situation. Here the two Niles meet. It is the centre and capital of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Khartum is bound to become a large trading town for it is the meeting place of trade on these two rivers. It is also the centre of a large fertile savannah country stretching south. There are two towns in Egypt, not on the Nile, but on the Suez Canal. Port Said is at the Mediterranean end and Suez at the Red Sea end. Port Said is built on a strip of desert with the Mediterranean on one side, and the canal on the other. The desert stretches inland on all sides, but it is a very busy town full of ware- houses and shipping offices. Here, too, are large stores of coal brought from England and other coal-producing countries. Every vessel entering or leaving the canal stops for a few hours at Port Said to take on board the coal which will feed its engines across the Indian Ocean to Bombay or across the Mediterranean to Genoa, Marseilles, Gibraltar or London. Suez is also a stopping place but not nearly so important. The Nile is the only water-way of Egypt. Small steamers and saiUng vessels can use it in the long intervals between the cataracts for hundreds of miles right up to Khartum. The Nile valley is also the route followed by the chief railway. Lines join Alexandria and Port Said with Cairo. From Cairo the main line runs up the Nile valley to Aswan. It will be continued up the river to Wadi Haifa from which the Sudan railway runs to Khartum and a little beyond it. From Berber you can see a branch line goes to Port Sudan, a harbour on the Red Sea. Long ages ago Egypt was the home of an ancient civilization. Everyone has heard of the Kings of Egypt, who lived thousands of years before Christ, and of the great temples and pyramids they built when Europe was quite uncivilized. Till within recent years Egypt was not well governed. In 1882 a revolt broke out against the Turkish ruler of Egypt. The French were unwilling to take part in quelling the revolt. So the British determined to do so. The revolt was quelled and Britain has since been responsible for the govern- ment of Egypt. This is very important for Great illLLUriLIUO iijlf Etnery Vilkcr Ltd. sc Plioto Undcrwuod It Undcrwoi Fig. 14. — The Kuartcm Bkidge over the Blue Nile. (The river is in flood for the photograph was taken in August.) BRITISH EAST AFRICA : MAP STUDY 15 Britain. She is, as you know, the greatest sea-nation in the world with more steamers and sea-trade than any other country. Now, the Suez Canal, the greatest water-way in the world, which joins the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and is the sea-gateway to India, passes through Egypt. So it is very important for Britain to have control of the government of the country through which the canal passes. After the Turks joined Germany in the Great War, Egypt was made a British Protectorate, with a Government of its own. CHAPTER VI British Africa (continued) British East Africa : Map Study. If we sail round the great horn of Africa from the Red Sea we pass the unimportant province of British Somaliland and the rocky island of Socotra and come to another part of the Continent which is under the rule of Great Britain. This is British East Africa. It stretches right inland from the sea up to the sources of the Nile. It touches the Victoria, Albert and Edward Lakes, and contains Lake Eudolf. The far inland part, touching the lakes, is Uganda. As the map shows, the equator passes through the country. ' In 1920 British East Africa including the island of Zanzibar was made a Crown Colony to be called Kenya Colony after the high mountain that stands near its centre. The capital is Nairobi in Uganda. From Mombasa harbour we can travel inland by train across the grassy table-land past the capital, Nairobi, to a harbour on Lake Victoria. Here we find steamers trading with other harbours on the lake. From Mombasa it is not a long voyage to Zanzibar island, where we find a good harbour. The island exports large quantities of cloves. It lies off the coast of the country formerly called German East Africa and now named Tanganyika Territory, which stretches inland from the coast and touches Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa. From its harbour, Dar es Salaam, we can traypl straight inland by a railway across the table-land through grass-lands and forests to a harbour' on Tanganyika Lake. On the table-land are ranges of mountains. Some of them are old (See Figs. 13 and 15.) J:gngT3|s^East: Boundary of British Soutli Africa sliouinilius:-^^^ J3 Principal Railways 1 1 1 1 1 EmeryWdlkcI i-td. sc. Fig. 15. — Map of South Africa showing Railways and Towns. 1(] A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA volcanoes. ' About half-way to Lake Victoria from the coast rises KiUmanjaro, the highest peak in the whole of Africa. South Africa : Map Study. Sailing far south we come to the great belt of British territory which takes up the centre of the peninsula of Africa. It stretches northwards to the three 'lakes ; Tanganyika, Nyasa and Mweru. We enter it from the sea in the south. At Fig. 1G. — MonNTAiN Soenbky on the Sotjih East Coast of Afhioa. once we see how different it is from Egypt, the land we entered from the north. There is here no river or valley to help us. The rivers do not run north and south, but east and west. We have learned that the southern half of Africa is a great table-land. This table-land in the south is fenced off from the sea by a great range of mountains running close to, and parallel to the coast. If we look inland from the sea we see a great range of mountains facing us. They are really the high and steep edge of the table-land. If we go inland from Cape Town by the railway we have to chmb up two steep steps. If we try to get inland from Natal the climb is even steeper. Look at Durban on the map. If we take the train up- country from this town we have to climb 2000 feet in the first thirty miles. ' Thus the high edge of the table- land in the south is very difficult to climb. It is a barrier to people entering it from the sea. The railways have to be cut along the steep sides of the hills. These things show us how very difficult it is to go far up- country in South Africa. Without railways, South Africa would be almost cut off from the sea altogether. The Pasture Lands of South Africa. Now what kind of country do we find when we reach the table-land? We saw it is fenced off from the sea by mountains just as the Deccan t)f India is fenced off from the sea and the rain clouds by the Western Ghats. The table-land, there- fore, receives little rain. After the rains the grass and flowers spring up quickly, but for the long months o! the dry season there is nothing but dried up grass to be seen and a few bushes. There are very few trees except on the banks of the rivers and on the slopes of the mountains. The whole of this great tract from the sea in the south ' to the banks of the Zambesi in the north is, therefore, a pasture country. It feeds cattle, sheep, goats and horses. As the grass is very thin, except during the rains, the farms are widely separated from each other to allow the cattle, goats and sheep to find sufficient pasture. Every farmer must keep and ride horses, if he is to visit every part of his large farm. Many of the farmers keep ostriches. They are reared from eggs and kept on large farms like sheep. Their feathers are very valuable and are much used as ornaments in Europe. The land grows a little grain. In suitable parts wheat and maize are raised. South Africa, like the Deccan, suffers from want of rain ; irrigation is very difficult. . In the south, on the slopes facing the sea, there are many vineyards. Wine is made and largely exported, but it is not so fine as the wine of France or Spain. South Africa being a pasture country sends to other countries wool, hides, skins, and tallow — also, ostrich feathers. On the low-lying coast-strip of Natal facing the Indian Ocean it is different. Here there is a good rainfall and sugar-cane, tobacco, and plantains grow well. CHAPTER VII British Africa (continued) The Union of South Africa: Map Study. Now let us look at the map a little more in detail. The part of the British Empire in this region of the world is divided into two main divisions by the Lim- popo River. North of this river lies the great land of Rhodesia. To the south stretches the Union of South THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 17 Africa. It is made up of the four provinces of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Orange Free State, the Trans- vaal and South-West Africa. Notice that the Cape of Good Hope, South- West Africa and Natal touch the sea all along the south end of Africa. The other two pro- vinces have no coast-line. The Cape of Good Hope. This proyjnce takes up the whole of the southern side of Africa, as far north as the Orange River. The map shows us a range of high mountains, the Drakensberg, running parallel with the southern and eastern coast. But before we can reach this range from the sea we have, as it were, to climb up two steps, over two lower ranges. When we reach the highest ranges we see the table-land of Africa stretch- ing away in front of us. This table-land here slopes to the west, as we can see by the flow of the Orange River and its feeders. On our way up to the main range we should pass many small, short rivers. But as, during most of the year, South Africa receives no heavy rain, these rivers are generally dry water courses just like the short rivers of Southern India. They are, there- fore, quite useless for navigation. The province is a country of dry pasture lands. Natal. Natal is a much smaller province and lies between the sea and the high Drakensberg Mountains. It has been called the " Garden of South Africa." The narrow coast strip gets more rain than the inland parts. Here crops of rice, sugar, plantains, tobacco and pine- apples are grown. If we go inland, we reach the high table-land in two steps. On the first step, or terrace, the climate is very mild and delightful. Here we find fruits which grow in Europe, such as apples and peaches. The grain crops are also those of Europe. When we go beyond this we come to the high table-land. Here there is splendid pasture for sheep and cattle but there is not enough rain for much cultivation. The Orange Free State is part of the great table- land of Africa. The surface is nearly flat with many small flat-topped rocky hills. You must remember the land here is over 4000 feet high and much higher than the Deccan of India. For eight months of the year very little rain falls and the ground is dry and parched and grows only a little grass. Thus the Orange Free State is also a pasture country. The Transvaal is, like the Orange province, a part of the African table-land. This table-land is bare , and dry and covered with thin grass and a few thorny bushgs. But on the banks of the Limpopo the surface is much lower and the climate is much hotter. The country here is marshy and unhealthy, with long grass and thick forests. The breeding of cattle is the chief business of tie Boers or Dutch farmers. Towns — Seaports. In a pastoral country like South Africa we do not expect to find many towns. The natives of the country, chiefly Kaffirs and Zulus, live in rude huts in country villages. Four of the chief towns lie on the coast — Cape Town, Port Mizabeth, East London and Durban. Look them out on the map. These are the chief sea-ports of the country. On the coast of Fig. 17. — Drakensberg Mountains. South Africa few of the harbours are naturally good. The river mouths are useless for navigation as they are blocked by sand bars. Cape Town is the capital of the Union and the chief harbour. The town lies on a bay called Table Bay, and faces north. Before the Suez Canal was made. Cape Town was an important stopping place on the sea-route to India or Burma. It is still important. Cape Town is the chief port for the trade of South Africa. From it are sent out the wool,, ostrich feathers, hides, skins and wine produced far up-country, besides the gold, copper ore and diamonds dug out of the mines. From England and Europe come manufactured goods A3 18 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA such as cotton and woollen cloth. Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban, further along the coast, are other ports for this trade. Fig. 18. — Physical Map of Soitth Africa. Inland Towns. A railway from the coast runs inland through Grahamstown. The line from Durban runs through Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Natal. Further inland it enters Ladysmith shortly before crossing the Drakensberg Mountains into^he Orange Free State. Bloemfontein is the capital of the Orange Free State and lies near its centre. It is a small town and market of a pastoral country. Pretoria is the capital, of the Transvaal. But, besides these up-country towns which are the centres of pastoral districts, there are one or two others important for another reason. South Africa is famous for minerals but these are only mined as yet in a few places. The Transvaal is. very rich in gold mines. Along a ridge of hills called the Rand the rocks containing the gold run for miles under the surface and the gold is very evenly spread through these rocks. Since the discovery of gold on the Rand a large town has sprung up on the spot with as many inhabitants as Rangoon. This is Johannesburg, the largest gold-mining town in the world. Another important mining centre is Kimberley — the greatest diamond-mining centre in the world. In Natal there are large fields of coal. The coal is worked in mines near the village of Newcastle. It is said that Natal has as much coal as IJngland. South- West Africa. This territory, which formerly belonged to Germany, is now under the Union of South Africa. It lies along the Atlantic coast north of the Orange River. This is the dry part of South-West Africa. Even the coast is here covered with sand. Inland, when we reach the table-land, we find ourselves on the borders of the Kalahari Desert. Very little rain falls anywhere. From Walfish Bay, the chief port, a railway runs inland. But the provinces of South Africa depend'', less on ^ their gold or their diamonds or on their coal than on their pastures. The people ' earn their living by breeding cattle, sheep and ostriches. With the help of irrigations^ works much of the land could be cultivated. There are not, as there are in India, many' large towns and there are very few manu- factures. The native tribes of the coiintry are backward. There are very few. good roads'. In a country with few roads and no navigable rivers, railways are necessary. From the sea-ports lines run inland. .The main line from Cape Town climbs over the mountains to the table-land. After crossing the Orange River it reaches Kimberley and then goes on northward. One line branches off to Bloemfontein and here it meets the line joining Johannesburg and Pretoria with Port Elizabeth. Emery Wilker Ltd, sc> RHODESIA : MAP STUDY 19 CHAPTER VIII British Africa (continued) Rhodesia : Map Study. Beyond the Limpopo we come, as we saw, to another large area of British territory. The part to the west is the Bechuanaland Protectorate, containing the Kalahari Desert. The rest to the north stretches across the Zambesi and touches the lakes Mweru, Tanganyika, and Nyasa. This is Ehodesia. Rhodesia is divided into two parts — Southern and Fig. 19. — The Veldt of South Africa. Northern. Southern Rhodesia is the part lying between the Limpopo and the Zambesi rivers. It consists of a high table-land with grassy hills. It is drained into the Limpopo in the south and into the Zambesi in the north. We must remember we are here getting nearer the equator and the rainfall is therefore greater than in the Tr^nsvaefl. On the banks of the two rivers there are dense forests. On the high table-land the soil is fertile. It is a splendid pasture country for cattle. Bulawayo and Salisbury are the chief towns. How can you reach them by railway from the coast ? British Central Africa : Map Study. North of the Zambesi, we come to another vast territory forming part of the British Empire. This is British Central Africa. The north-west part is sometimes called North-west Rhodesia, the north-east part North-east Rhodesia and the strip to the west and south of Lake Nyasa, Nyasa- land. We can remember its northern border by noticing it is formed by a line joining lakes Mweru, Tanganyika and Nyasa. This territory is a table-land hke the rest of inland Africa. The usual route to reach the country is from Chinde, a small sea-port on the Zambesi delta. Small steamers and boats can go up the river all the year round, as far as its confluence with the Shire. They can then ascend the Shire half-way up its course to Lake Nyasa. Here there are great rapids and the boats and steamers must stop. But a railway has now been built from this spot to Blantyre. Blantyre is up among the hills. It is the chief centre of the missionaries who teach the people and try to civilize them. On the lakes there are several steamers. The Cape to Cairo Railway. Cecil Rhodes, who spent most of his life in South Africa, formed in 1889 the idea of having a railway to join Cape Town and Cairo. This line would pftss through British Territory for almost its entire length and would join together the chief parts of the Empire in Africa. At that time the railway was only made from Cape Tftwn as far as Kimberley. But by Rhodes' energy it was continued up as far as Buluwayo. From Buluwayo the line strikes north-westwards to the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, a distance of nearly 300 miles. At one point of this line great beds of coal have been discovered. Coal is the food of railway engines. Till then fuel had to be brought from the Transvaal, 1500 miles away. The Zambesi is crossed by a bridge quite close to the Falls. From the Falls the line goes nearly northward through North- West Rhodesia. The line passes close to the river whidivflows out of Lake Bangweolo into Lake Mweru. This river is the head waters of the great Congo. Thus a water route from the railway can be made down the Congo to the west coast. Soon the railway will reach Tanganyika, on which there are already steamers, and a line joins a lake port on its eastern shore with Dar-es-Salam, a sea-port on the Indian Ocean. The 20 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA northern end of Lake Tanganyika is only 250 miles from Victoria Nyanza, the chief source of the Nile. English Miles o loo 200 300 400 500 S a h a r a r j^- Great Desert fh S p 5 h . e r e W.ilker A Cockerell sc. FiQ. 20. — Basin of the Niqek. The line will probably be taken down this valley to meet the railway from Cairo which has already reached some 200 miles south of Khartum. British West Africa : Map Study. The map shows several portions of Africa on or near the Gulf of Guinea, which are governed by Great Britain. We can study them together. In the first place, they all lie in the hot rainy belt of Africa. They are therefore covered with swamp, jungle and forest. The inhabitants are negroes and are all very backward. They live chiefly on the wild fruits of the forest, by hunting and fishing, and, if they cultivate fields, they only grow enough for their own igants. There are no manufactures. The heat and damp make these West African Colonies very unhealthy, especially near the low, flat, marshy shores. Only a very few Europeans venture to live here. They are chiefly merchants and traders in the coast towns who import the manufactured goods of Europe. They send in exchange the wild products which are brought to the coast by boats down the many small rivers and along the creeks. These wild products are palm-oil, wild rubber, nuts, bees-wax, African timber and a little gold dust. The Guinea coast is the chief market for palm-oil in the world. The delta streams of thg^iger are thus sometimes called " The oil-rivers." iP%reat deal of cocoa is also exported. Gambia, Sierra Leone and Gold Coas1#^ Gambia is a small colony consisting of a narrow strip along both sides of the Gambia river. Though much of the low country is swampy, Gambia is not so unhealthy as the rest of British West Africa. There is only one town of any importance. This is Bathurst at the mouth of the river. Sailing southwards from Gambia we reach Sierra Leone, which means. Lion's Mountain. The heavy rainfall produces many rivers, which form water- ways up through the forests of the country. Freetown is the only town of any importance, and it is the only good harbour on this part of the coast. Proceeding eastwards along the shores of the Gulf of Guinea we reach the colony known as the Gold Coast. In former days, before the discovery of gold;fields in California, Australia, South Africa and India, this was one of the chief gold-producing districts in the world. The many small rivers wash down from the mountains the gold dust from which the country takes its name. Accra on the coast is the capital and chief trading centre. Nigeria. Nigeria is divided into Northern and Southern Nigeria. Southern Nigeria is the country which stretches over and behind the delta of the Niger. The whole of the coast is a net- work of creeks and backwaters like those of Malabar or the west coast of Burma. Southern Nigeria is the most unhealthy part of Africa. The hot Fig. 21. — Bbaoh on the Gold Coast. sun and heavy rainfall produce dense forests. The most useful tree is the oil-palm. The Niger delta produces the best palm-oil in all Africa. Ground nuts and rubber are other products. The negro population is dense and there THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN AFRICA 21 are many large villages. Lagos stands on a small island on a lagoon about a mile from the sea. It is tlie largest town and has one of the best harbours on the west coast of Africa. A railway has been built to connect the town with Northern Nigeria. Northern Nigeria is the interior ,part stretching inland as far as Lake Chad. This region is much higher, drier, and therefore more healthy than the low-lying coast and delta. The country is fertile but the negroes only grow enough crops to supply their own wants. Besides palm-oil the tribes collect rubber, gum, fibres, oil- seeds, and spices and sell them to European traders. Northern Nigeria now grows large quantities of cotton and along with Egypt is one of the chief sources of this product in Africa. Kano, a very busy trading city .and the largest town in Northern Nigeria, is' one of the most important markets of Africa. The people weave cloth from cotton grown round about and dye it. This cloth is sold in all the villages of the Sudan. At Kano the trade of the desert meets the trade of the savannah and forest lands of the south. Across the desert come camels laden with dates and salt ; from the grass- lands herds of cattle and flocks of sheep ; from the south come baskets of kola-nuts. St. Helena and Ascension are volcanic islands in the Atlantic. Steamers touch at them on the way from London to Cape Town. Mauritius, a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, produces sugar, cultivated by coolies from India. Its, port, St. Louis, is visited by steamers sailing between Colombo and Cape Town. The British Empire in Africa. The map shows that about one-quarter of the Continent belongs to, or is under the protection of, the British Empire. This has been enlarged by the annexation of some of the territory formerly belonging to Germany. Egypt on account of its position is the most important because it contains the Suez Canal, which is one of the highways of the Empire's trade. Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan produce much cotton and this crop is sure to be more widely grown. The exports of wheat and dates are*less important. The irrigation works on the Nile are helping cultivation very much. British East Central Africa and Tanganyika Land are at present but little developed but here, too, the cultivation of cotton will be increased. Nigeria is sure to become another im- portant centre of cotton cultivation. Rubber, palm-oil, and mahogany are other products. The Union of South Africa and Rhodesia are important because in the upland parts and in the south the climate is cool enough to allow Europeans to settle and make the land their home. At present the cTiief products of South Africa are those of its pastures, e.g. wool and mohair, hides and ostrich feathers. The Cape of Good Hope exports some fruit and wine. The region also produces much gold and coal, a little copper and, of comrse, many diamonds from the Kimberley mines. Cape Town, owing to its position, is one of the most important sea-ports in the Empire. We now go on to study the parts of Africa which are under the rule of other European nations. CHAPTER IX French, Portuguese and former German Africa French Africa : BJap Study. If we cut out the British colonies on the Gulf of Guinea, we can roughly say that the French rule over the whole of the round shoulder of Africa which stretches out into the Atlantic. French West Africa includes almost the whole of the Sahara Desert and contains the upper and middle course of the Niger. On this river stands the old city of Tim- buktu, which, like Kano, is the meeting place of trade routes. Caravans of camels come across the Sahara from Algiers and Morocco. Boats and small steamers can reach the town from up and down the Niger. The town is thus the centre of a large trade. Arab traders bring dates, gum, ostrich feathers and salt across the desert. Up the river come forest products as well as cotton cloth, knives and tea from the trading towns on the Guinea Coast. The French have built a railway joinfliPa port on the Niger with a port on the Senegal. French Equatorial Africa is a territory with its base on the L«iwer Guinea Coast north of the Congo. As we have already learned, the country is chiefly taken up with dense forest yielding palm-oil, rubber and ivory. The people are very backward. Most of them are savages. 22 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA The French, by the Peace Treaty after the Great War, acquired from Germany the neighbouring territory of Kamerun with its port Duala, and the coast and most of the hinterland of Togoland. iFrciichI EUWad » '4,,'// _; Tripoli or S^pyt '■^«''Rl\ •• '■ ElGoleao /7 i? 'ort.H.™. K^^jj^f'^ V ?./ J^ a v.Ghadams •^-siyr ^ vC A .« j.S^r■ ^\ _..-' TRIPOLI Turkish) Ghadames Pre Oasis TimmT^o ^''•■-H.^'?' J Oasia English Milcr, lOO 200 300 (^CO Sa har q^i^^^f^G n e^^'i^x,^ ese]rt Walker & Cockerell sc. Fig. 22. — Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco. Algeria and Tunis. But France also rules over a part of the Mediterranean coast of Africa. Her colonies of Algeria and Tunis take up a large part of the Atlas Region. They have a temperate climate like the south F r fe n c h Sphere; English Miles 100 200 joQ 400 500 KftMERUNy5 Kilndj^ Waiket SiCgOereWx. riQ. 23.— BASIN OF THE CONGO. improved this part of Africa by making harbours, railways, roads and irrigation works, and by bringing good government among the people. The chief town is Algiers on the coast. It is one of the chief ports on the Mediterranean. Steamers trade between it and Marseilles. To the French also belongs the large island of Madagascar 260 miles off the south-east coast. Madagascar is like its continent in many ways. It consists of a high table-land in the centre with ranges of Europe but very little rain falls except in the cold" rainy season. The hills are covered with forests. A few grain crops are grown, but where there is no irriga- tion there is always danger of drought. France has FIG. 24.— GiKAiTEs ON East Afrioan savannah. of hills. All around the coast is dense forest. Palms, bamboos, baobabs and tamarinds are the chief trees. Portuguese Africa. Angola. The Portuguese were the first European nation to explore the coasts of Africa. We should, therefore, expect large portions of the continent to be under Portuguese rule. Much the most important of these is Angola, a country facing the Atlantic south of the Congo. Its build is just the same as most parts of Africa. There ^s a narrow low-lying coast-strip and behind this we climb a mountain barrier to the table-land of the interior. Here coffee is grown. Loanda, the capital, and Benguela are sea-ports. . From them a railway runs inland for many miles. They export coffee, rubber, wax, palm-oil, and hides. Portuguese East Africa, facing the Indian Ocean opposite Madagascar is another large colony. It is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Zambesi. Owing to the heat and the heavy rainfall coming from the Indian Ocean the country is fertile, and there are ITALIAN AFRICA 23 many dense forests. We should notice three ports on on the coast which are important as inlets to the interior. (See fig. 15.) Chinde on a mouth of the Zambesi delta is the inlet for trade up the river and up the Shire to Blantyre, and the coimtry round Lake Nyasa. Beira at the mouth of another river, is another port from which a railway runs inland to Salisbury and Buluwayo. These you •remember are stations on the great Cape to Cairo railway. In the south the safe harbour of Lorenzo Marques is the sea end of a railway to Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. Thus a large part of the trade to these ports comes from Britain, and goes to British markets far inland.^ The Cape Verde and Madeira Islands belong to the Portuguese. The Canary Islands belong to Spain. Italian Africa. Italy governs three detached parts of the continent. Tripoli on the north coast, a strip along the southern shore of the Eed Sea and another strip south of the horn of Africa. Former German Africa. During the Great War the Germans lost their African colonies. They treated the people in their colonies very crueUy. By the Peace , Treaty at the end of the war Great Britain and France became agents for the government of these colonies. German East Africa and Souths West Africa were handed over to Great Britain. Togoland, on the Guinea coast, was divided, France getting the whole of the coast with its harbours and railways, as well as nearly all Kamerun, the country stretching up from the hot, damp coast of the Gulf of Guinea north-eastwards to Lake Chad. A railway line is being built from Benguela straight eastwards to meet the Cape to Cairo line. When finished, it will hnk Benguela on the Atlantic coast with Beira on the Indian Ocean through Buluwayo. CHAPTER X The Congo Free State' and Independent Africa The vast country of the Congo Basin is now called the Congo Free State or Belgian Congo. As the river is in the heavy rain-belt, it and its feeders carry an immense volume of water to the sea. In 1885, the European nations declared the Congo State to be independent and the King of the Belgians was proclaimed its ruler. We have already learned that the whole coimtry is covered with a dense forest. The forests are full of oil-palms, rubber, teak and ebony trees and ivory is got by hunt- ing elephants. These forest products are taken down the rivers to Leopoldville. Here the rapids of the river begin. So they are put on railway trucks which take them past the rapids down to a spot where steamers can come up the Congo, and ship them for Belgium and England. Though the hot, damp climate breeds all kinds of fever, the State is thickly populated by tribes of negroes. These tribes are uncivilized, some of them have no religion at all, and many are cannibals. Independent Africa. The two chief parts of Africa which are not ruled by European nations are Abyssinia and Morocco. Look at Abyssinia on the map. It con- sists of a high table-land, with a steep slope to the hot and sandy Red Sea coast and a gentle slope westwards to the valley of the Nile. Morocco is governed by a Sultan, but is imder the pro- tection of France. It occupies the western end of the Atlas region which we have already studied. Morocco might be a rich and prosperous country but the govern- ment is very bad. Bribes can do anything. There are no railways or proper roads. The Sultan has three capitals at the foot of the mountains. Morocco and Fez are two of them. Tangier is the largest sea-port. It exports fruits such as oranges and a kind of dressed leather called " morocco." The Atlantic coast has no goo4 harbours. Mogador is the chief port. Liberia, bordering Sierra Leone, is a negro republic. 24 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA CHAPTER XI The People of Africa The People of Africa. By far the greatest part of Africa is inhabited by the negro race. Few people in our proviace have ever seen a negro. Sometimes one or two may be met near the docks in Rangoon. They are engaged as firemen on board some of the steamers. Once you have seen a true negro you can always recognise one. He has a long and narrow skull, a broad and very flat nose, thick projecting lips and short, woolly, curly black hair. His skin is black. But just as Englishmen, Spaniards and Sikhs, who are members of the same race, differ among th'femselves, so do the various groups of the negroes. The Sudan means " the land of the black men," and, as we saw, it stretches from the Atlantic to the Red Sea and from the Sahara in the north to the Gulf of Guinea and the great lakes in the south. The Sudan is the home of the true negro. To the south of the Sudan, between the great lakes and the Cape, there are various tribes belonging to the Bantu divisiop of the negro race. The Zulus and KafHrs who inhabit South Africa are Bantus. Their skins are not so black as the true negro ;s and their faces are not so greatly different in look from those of other people. The Bush- men live in the south-west of Africa. They are very small and very uncivilized. Here and there in the great Congo basin are tribes of dwarfs or Pygmies whose tallest men are not more than four feet six inches in height. The negroes of Africa can scarcely be said to have any religion at all. They worship devils and ghosts. A few have become Christians. In the north of Africa there are two divisions of the white race. The Arabs and the Egyptians belong to them. These races are supposed to have come over from Asia in early times. They are Mohammedans. There are very few Europeans in Africa, though the countries of Europe rule almost the whole* Continent. The climate does not suit the European. Only in the far south, in the cool shores and table-lands of South Africa, can he find a home. Here many of the farmers are of Dutch blood. . On the east ► coast of Africa there are a few people from India. Parsee, Mohammedan and Hindu merchants from India are to be found in all the sea-ports along the coast. In Natal hundreds of Hindus earn their living as petty traders and merchants. * THE NEW WOHLP : NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA OK CHAPTER XII The New World : North and South America Look at a map of the world or a globe and notice where east corner. There the two Continents are separated North and South America lie. To reach them from by the Bering Straits. When you look at a map of Europe or Africa we should have to cross the Atlantic. North and South America you must remember that, EtOHCt PHILIPI SOI L FIG. 25 — North America : Relief. Fig 28. — South America; Relief. To reach them from Asia we should have to sail east- wards across the broad Pacific. We have already learned that Asia nearly touches North America in the north- 450 years ago, this great part of our world was quite unknown to the people of Europe, Asia and Africa. This New World, as we call it, was first discovered by a4 26 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA Columbus in 1492. Since those daj^s thousands of people from Europe, many from Africa, and a few from Asia have crossed the ocean and made this New World their home. North and South America Map Studies. I. Outline. The first thing the map teaches us is that the New World is divided up into two Continents of North and South America. They are joined together by the bridge of land or isthmus of Panama, in some places only thirty or forty miles wide. A canal has now been dug across it to allow ships to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The two Con- tinents are somewhat like each other in shape. Each has its broadest side facing north, and each tapers to a point in the south. But we cannot help noticing that North America has a much more broken coast-line, especially in the north and east. Its coast-line is not so broken as that of Europe, but it is more broken than that of Asia. South America has very few arms of the sea entering the land. What other Continent does it, therefore, most closely resemble ? II. Shape and Build. The Western High Land, the Eastern High Land, the Central Plains. You remember the high land of Asia stretched east and west, a little, to the south of the middle. In North and South America, however, the high land stretches in a different direction — north and south. The map shows us that great mountain ranges run, like a backbone, along the western or Pacific coast, through both Contin- ents. These ranges are called the Rocky Mountains in North America, and the Andes in South America. But the map also shows high lands running along the east coasts of both Continents. These high lands are not nearly so high as the mountains in the west. They are rather table-lands like the Deccan. Thus you see that, in build, the two Continents are not unlike each other. Each has a high mountainous region stretching along the west coast and leaving only a narrow strip between it and the Pacific. Again, on the Atlantic border each has a lower High Land region. In both Continents, between the mountainous High Land on the west and the lower High Land on the east, there stretch immense plains. These plains contain some of the most fertile soil in the world and. they are watered by great rivers. III. Rivers of North and South America. If we look at the map we see that the large rivers of both Continents match each other. In North America we see the great St. Lawrence flows eastwards to the Atlantic. In the same way, in South America the mighty Amazon flows from the slopes of the giant Andes eastwards. It is the largest river in the world. Some of its feeders are as large as the Irrawaddy or Salwin. The map shows you that half of the drainage of South America is carried to the sea in this splendid river. Then take the other pair of large rivers — the Mississippi in North America and the Plate River (Paraguay -Parana) in South America. You see they both flow nearly south- ward through great plains into the Atlantic. CHAPTER XIII North America North America : Map Studies. The Greater Coast Features and Seas. Name from the map the three great oceans that wash the shores of this Continent. Notice the chief inlets of the sea. In the north is Hudson Bay, almost shut in by the broad peninsula of Labrador. On the east lies the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the wide estuary of the river entering it. What is the name of the peninsula to the south of this gulf ? To the south of the Continent you see the large round Gulf of Mexico, pro- tected by the two jaw-like peninsulas of Florida and Yucatan. Out of these jaws stretches a tongue of islands the tip of which seems to lick the coast of South America. In the west is the long narrow Gulf of Cali- fornia, between the peninsula of Lower California and the mainland. Map Studies : Islands. (1) A large group of islands lies off the northern coast in the Arctic Ocean. Greenland is the largest. The whole of this island is covered with a thick sheet of ice. The edge of this ice is always slipping into the sea. Large lumps of it are broken off and float away. Those lumps are called icebergs. Some of them are many miles long and higher than any pagoda. The Emery Walker Ltd. Fia. 27. — Map of North amekioa. 2S A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA other islands are also useless to man. They are covered with ice and snow. (2) The large rugged island of Newfoundland lies across the gulf of the St. Lawrence. Do you see any other islands in this guU ? (3) Notice the chain of islands called the West Indies stretching in a curve from the peninsula of Yucatan to the coast of South America. Name from the map the two largest Emery Walker sr- Fig. 28 — North America : UELinr. of these islands. Unlike those of the frozen north they are warm and fertile. (4) On the west coast are some islands lying close to the mainland. They are separated from it by deep narrow arms of the sea, very suitable for sheltered harbours. The largest island is Vancouver. Map Studies : Build. We saw that the west of the Continent is filled up with a great region of high land. This high land stretches the whole length of the Continent from the far north-west, where America nearly touches Asia, to the isthmus in the south where North and South America meet. We call this region the Western High Land of North America. A good map shows this high land is broadest in the middle and is narrower in the north and in the south. It is so close to the west coast that only a narrow low coast strij) is left between it and the Pacific Ocean. The Eocky Mountains are the highest part of the Western High Land and they run north and south about the middle of it. On its western side the high land is fenced off from the Pacific coast by other ranges. In the' north they are called the Cascade Ranges. Farther south their names are the Sierra Nevada (Snow Mountains) and, still farther south, the Sierra Madre. In the Western High Land, between these outer ranges and the Rocky Mountains, there are wide, high table-lands. East of the Rocky Mountains the land slopes down to the great Central Plain. Though the Western High Land is broadest in the middle it is highest in the north and south. Away, far in the north, the map shows many high peaks. The highest is Mt. McKinley, which is nearly four miles high and only a mile lower than the highest of the Himalayas. Far in the south, -where the Continent becomes narrow, there are other high peaks. Orizaba and Popocatepetl are the highest. They are volcanoes. The Eastern High Land. The map shows there is also high land on the Atlantic side of North America. But this high land is much narrower and lower than the Western High Land. The highest peaks are here only about the height of the Western Ghats or the Yomas of Burma. This Eastern High Land is broken into two by the St. Lawrence River. South of this river the Eastern High Land stretches parallel to the coast. It is here called the Appalachian High ' Land (Alleghany Mountains)'. Notice that on the Atlantic coast there is a broad coast-strip between the high land and the sea. When colonists and settlers first came across from England they lived on this coast, and were for long prevented by the Eastern High Land from going westwards into the heart .of the Continent. A part of this coast is called New England. The Low Lands. Between the Western and the Eastern High Land stretches the great Low Land of North America. Look at it carefully on the map. You see the north part of it slopes very gently down to the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay in the north. Here it is broken up into many low-lying islands. In the south this low land borders the round-shaped Gulf of Mexico. RIVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 29 CHAPTER XIV Rivers of North America (See Figs. 27 and 28. ) Rivers of North America. From the shape of the Continent we can easily see how the rivers will flow. Some will flow from the mountains of the Western High Land westwards into the Pacific. Look at the map and you will see three — the Fraser, the Colombia and the Colorado. As these rivers flow down from the steep iiigh land into a narrow coast-strip they are of but little use for navigation. They cut their way over the table-land and between the mountains in deep gorges. One of the gorges of the Fraser River is so deep and narrow that the rays of the sun never reach it. The Colorado River also flows through a deep gorge. This gorge is one of the wonders of the world. It is over 200 miles long, and its walls of rock are in some places one mile high. Far in the north is another Pacific river — the Yukon. It is one of the longest rivers on the Continent, but it is so far noith that it is frozen for most of the year. Now look at the rivers flowing iuto the Atlantic Ocean from the Eastern High Land. There are several of them but they are not very long. The most important are the Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac. Trace them on the map. The last two form the deep inlet of Chesapeake Bay. Now, why are these rivers so important ? These rivers, short though they are, form the gateways across the Eastern High Land into the fertile central plain. Roads and railways have been made along their valleys. But, as yet, we have only learned some of the smaller rivers of North America. Where would you then expect the large rivers to be ? Surely in the wide central plain. If you look at the map you will see four large and hundreds of small rivers draining this plain. These rivers make North America the best watered Continent on the globe. Trace the Mackenzie River, which flows north into the Arctic Ocean. Notice how many large lakes feed it. Two of the largest are easily remembered —the Great Bear Lake and the Great Slave Lake. The great north-flowing rivers of Asia, the Ob, Yenisei and Lena, are, we learned, of but little use to man. In the same way, the Mackenzie being so far north, both it and its lakes are frozen for many months of the year. In the north part of the central plain about midway between the Atlantic and the Pacific, you see a large lake called Winnipeg. Notice that rivers drain into it from all sides. One of them is the Red River. The Fig 29.— The Colorado Canton or Gorge. others are larger but have long names. What is the name of the river which joins the lake with Hudson Bay? The next great drainage area is that of the St. Lawrence . Notice how five great lakes are the gathering places for the waters of this river. The lakes are named Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, and they are the most important lakes in the world. 30 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA "When the river leaves Lake Erie on its way to Lake Ontario it is called the Niagara. At first it flows gently over a broad level channel. But after a few miles the bed of the stream begins to slope down. Here rapids are formed in which the river boils and foams, rushing along at a tremendous pace. Just below the rapids the Fig. 30.— Xiaoaka Falls. clear green water of the great river leaps over a precipice 160 feet high into the seething gulf below. These are the famous Niagara Falls. Every year they are visited by thousands of sight-seers. . When the river issues from the last lake, Lake Ontario, it enters the final stage of its journey to the sea. Here it is a fine broad stream, in some places crowded with beautiful islands. This .last stage of its journey is no less than 600 miles in length. By the help of deep canals, which have been dug to join the river at points above and below the rapids and falls, it gives a magnificent waterway from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. Even large vessels can sail up the river through the lakes to the far end of Lake Superior. The last river basin of the Central Plain is the great Mississippi. This river drains both the Western High Land on its right bank and the Eastern High Land on its left. It reminds us of our own Irrawaddy. But we have only to look at a map of the world to see how much larger the Mississippi is. It is much the largest river in North America. It rises in a small lake not far from Lake Superior, and flows almost due southward through the middle of the Great Plain to the Gulf of Mexico. The first place we measure it at is the town of Minneapolis. It is already two miles broad. At St. Louis the Mississippi is joined by a river larger than itself. -This is the Missouri, which has found its way from the Western High Land along a course of 3000 miles. Notice how many large feeders the Missouri recei\'es before it joins the Mississippi. At the city of Cairo, the Ohio, the chief left bank feeder, comes in, draining the western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains. Trace and name from the map two large rivers that join the Mississippi south of Cairo. They flow from the Western High Land and are each about as large as the Irrawaddy. When nearly 300 miles from the sea the Mississippi, like the Ganges and the Irrawaddy, begins to split up into branches which form its delta. Here, for hundreds of miles along its banks, bunds have been built to keep the river in its proper channel. Nearly one hundred miles up the river from its mouth stands New Orleans. This town is the great sea-outlet for the wide and. fertile valley of the river. New Orleans is the largest cotton market in the world. ^ There is one very curious difference between the drainage of the Great Plain in the north and in the . south. The rivers of the north seem all to flow from, or through lakes. The map shows dozens of large lakes and there are hundreds of smaller ones. But, as the map shows, the rivers draining the south part of the Great Plain have no lakes. CHAPTER XV North America (continued) North America: Climate. You see that North America stretches from very near the north pole to near the equator. Some parts of the Continent are high lands and some low lands. Thus North America will have many different kinds of climate, just as Asia has, and for the same reasons. Its plants and animals will also vary much. In the far north and in Greenland the snow lies all the year round. Over a great part of the north the cold winter lasts from three to eight months. In the month of January water freezes over THE PLANTS AND CROPS OF NORTH AMERICA 31 the northern half of the Continent. In summer, however, all the Continent, except in the far north, is warm. We know, therefore, that most of North America has cold winters and warm or hot sunmiers. In the north part of North America the winds blow on to the land from the Pacific. They bring clouds which burst in rain. Heavy rains fall on that part of the Pacific coast which lies north of the head of the Gulf of California. It is in this rainy belt that the largest trees in America are found. In the same way, you remember, the best teak trees grow on the west coast of India and of Burma, facing the wet monsoon winds. There is one great difference between the build of Eurasia and of America. The mountains run, not east and west, but north and south. Therefore, the warm south winds easily bring heat and rain a great distance, even far into the northern part of the Continent. In consequence the Mississippi valley is full of rivers and is one of the largest and finest farming regions of the world. But, you will say, there are no mountains to stop the cold north winds too. That is true. Some- times these winds from the north do great damage in winter by causing frosts which keep back the growth ®f plants even as far south as the peninsula of Florida. Then the orange and lime trees suffer very greatly. Sea- Currents. The chmate of North America is greatly affected by sea-currents. A warm current (the Kuro Siwo or Japan current) or drift, helped by the westerly winds, coming across the North Pacific strikes the western coast of Canada. It then divides, part of it following the coast northwards and part passing southwards along the coast of California. This part of. the Continent is, therefore, warmed by heat coming from the Pacific, and the ports on this coast are never blocked with ice. On the Atlantic side of Canada it is quite different. A cold current (the Labrador current) flows southwards from the Arctic Ocean, bringing ice- bergs with it, and hugs the broken east coast of Canada. It causes its harbours to be bloclsed with ice in winter and cools the air in summer. Again, in the south, a warm current circles round the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, finds an exit between the peninsula of Florida and the island of Cuba, creeps along the Atlantic coast of the United States for some distance, and then sweeps across the ocean. Helped by the westerly winds, it carries much heat to the north-western shores of Europe. This is the Atlantic Drift or Gulf Stream. The Plants and Crops of North America. The vegetation of North America corresponds roughly with that of Asia. The far northern part of the Continent is bitterly cold. The large island of Greenland, we have already learned, is covered with a thick sheet of ice and snow. The same thing is true of the islands and coasts of the Arctic Ocean. In the whole of this area the ground is always frozen. During a few weeks in summer it thaws out for a foot or two below the surface. But no trees can grow, for their roots cannot pierce the frozen soil beneath the surface. There are a few plants which find a footing but they only rise an inch or two NORTH AMERICA Rainfall in Inches Oner SO 40- 80 20-40 10-20 Under 10 ■ Fig. 31. — The Rainfall of North America. above the ground. Only by thus keeping close to the earth can they escape the cold blasts of winter and find shelter beneath the snow. A few grasses and flowering plants grow rapidly and bear flowers and fruit during the short weeks of summer. This far northern Barren Land is the same as we found in Northern Asia. It is called Tundra. As we come south trees begin to appear. They are very scanty and stunted at first, but, farther south, they form great forests of pines and firs just as we saw in the forest belt of Northern Asia. At one time forests covered the whole of North America except the dry parts. Now many of them have been cut down to make room for fields and crops. South 32 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA of the pine forests we reach steppes or grass-lands just as we did in Asia. In America they are called prairies. In former times great herds of a kind of oxen called bison used to wander over these prairies. They were hunted by the Red Indians and afterwards by the colonists from Europe for their hides and flesh. Now they are almost all killed out. These prairies are almost treeless. Some parts of the south-west, inland from the ' a. SON, Lro, Fig. 32. — The Vegetation of Nokth America. Gulf of California, are so dry that only those plants which have prickly leaves and thick roots, like the cactus, can live. These parts are true deserts. Crops. The grass lands have now been ploughed for crops or used as pasture. Wheat grows as far south as half-way down the valley of the Mississippi. It is the chief crop of Canada which will become the greatest granary for wheat in the world. Millions of acres are sown with this crop round Lake Winnipeg, and in the north-west. South of the wheat belt we come to the maize lands. This plant is a native of America and is often called " Indian Corn," because the colonists from England and Europe found the Indians cultivating it. It is grown most largely in the country lying between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Oats are another large crop, grown in the land round the Great Lakes. Still farther south, in the country bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, is the great cotton area of North America. The warm climate produces large crops. Here most of the cotton used in the world is grown. American cotton is finer than Indian cotton and makes fiper cloth. The warm parts of North America also produce large crops of sugar and tobacco. The delta of the Mississippi and the island of Cuba, one of the West Indian Islands, grow most of the sugar. The Mississippi valley produces the largest crops of tobacco. Most of the tobacco smoked in pipes comes from America. In the island of Cuba the finest cigars are made. Animals. In the far north few animals are able to live. The reindeer lives on the moss which is almost the only plant that can grow in these parts. The white polar bear lives by fishing. Most of the animals of this cold region live in the sea because the water is warmer than the land. Whales, walruses, seals (on which the Eskimos and the polar bears live) are some of the commonest. Sea-birds breed in hundreds of thousands. Farther south, in the Rocky Mountains, grizzly bears, deer and wild goats and sheep are hunted. In the warm parts far south there are many animals very like those we have in Burnaa, such as monkeys, a kind of *iger called the jaguar, millions of brightly coloured birds such as parrots and humming birds, alligators, lizards, snakes and countless numbers of insects. In the central parts of North America the wild animals have almost all disappeared. A few of them are pre- served in special parks where hunting is forbidden. In place of these wild animals man has introduced others for his own use. On every farm are cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and poultry. People. America was inhabited for thousands of years before it was "visited , by European settlers. To the natives in the West Indies Columbus gave the name of Indians because be believed he had reached India. The European settlers on the mainland called, them Red Indians on account of their coppery brown skins. Those in the far north who live on meat and fish are called Eskimos. The Red Indians were scattered , over most of the Continent. Some of the Indians were true savages but many were half-civilized. They cultivated maize or Indian corn and tobacco, baked pottery, used weapons made of stone, and lived in villages. The huts of the villages were made of skins. The women culti- vated the crops while the men hunted the bison on the PEOPLE OF NORTH A:\IERICA 83 prairies and the bears in the forests or fished on the rivers and lakes. In the southern part of North America, especially in the table-land of Mexico, the Indians were much more civilized. They were not wanderers but farmers and knew how to make use of irrigation. The Red Indians were splendid hunters and brave fighters but they could not resist the European incomers. The chief reason for this was that they were always at war with one another. Now they have almost disappeared and their place has been taken by Europeans. These are chiefly of Spanish blood in the south, and of British blood in the centre and north. ' There are many people of French blood living on the banks of the St. Lawrence. In the south are several millions of negroes, the des- cendants of slaves brought over from Africa to work in the cotton and sugar plantations. CHAPTER XYI British North America (See Map on p. 42.) Map Studies. The map shows that British North America consists of the northern parts of the Continent except the cold peninsula of Alaska (which belongs to Labrador which are under a separate government. At present we study Canada and Newfoundland together. Boundaries. British North America is bounded on Principal Railuiays... Land above 3000 feet.. Sea leoel to 3000 feet... £cierrWAUxr LXCsz. Fig. 33.— Canada: Relief. the United States) and the ice-covered island of Green- land (belonging to Denmark). The Dominion of Canada comprises the 'whole of this vast territory, except the island of Newfoundland together with, the coast of the north by the Arctic Ocean and stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific except in the far north, where the meridian of 141° W. cuts off the Alaska Peninsula. On the south the boundary is the United States. Here 34 A GEOGRAPHY" FOR BURMA the boundary is partly natural and partly artificial. It can best be undersliood from the map. From the Pacific coast to the Lake of the Woods it follows the 49th parallel of latitude. AATien the boundary was fixed this part of the Continent was unknown and so natural frontiers could not be chosen. Size. The area of British North America is a little less than that of Europe and about twice that of the Indian Empire. For practical purposes, however, its area is smaller than that of India since large parts in the north are, as we learned, too cold for human settlement. Coast-line. 1. The Arctic coasts on the north form part of the cold Barren Lands which in Asia are called Tundras, and they are ice-bound all the year round. They are, therefore, practically harbourless and un- inhabited except by a few scattered colonies of Eskimos who live by hunting seals and other Arctic animals. Little is known of this coast or of its groups of islands. On the map they are almost blank and in places marked with dotted lines to show where parts are still unexplored. The few names we read on the map are those given to straits, sounds and islands in honour of the brave sea- captains who, sailing from other lands, have risked or lost their lives in exploring these ice-covered waters. 2. Hudson Bay, about half the size of the peninsula of India, in the north-east connected with the Atlantic by Hudson Strait, is the largest opening in the northern coast. This bay gave its name to a great trading Company, which was something . like the East India Company. At suitable spots this company built forts or factories just as the East India Company did. The chief trade was with the American Indians and Eskimos who exchanged the skins of white bears, foxes and other Arctic animals for blankets, knives and guns. 3. The Gtilf of St. Lawrence on the east, protected by the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton, and leading to the St. Lawrence estuary is the chief sea waterway of Canada. Its coasts and islands have many harbours. Unluckily the Labrador current here also blocks the rivers and harbours with ice for several months. 4. The West Coast. On the Pacific, Canada is more fortunate. Here, too, the coast is broken with long and deep openings into the land and with a fringe of protecting islands of which Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte group are the most important. But, owing to the warm Pacific Drift, these sounds and straits are free of ice all the year round. Hence there are several suitable spots for harbours. Lakes and Rivers. In one respect Canada is very difierent from India and Burma. Not only are the coasts, whether of the Arctic, Atlantic or Pacific, extremely broken up by-inlets of the sea, but the interior is every- where cut up by expanses of water large and small. The Great Lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, are said to contain more than half the fresh water on the world's surface. Superior alone is nearly one quarter of the area of Burma and it is the largest lake in the world. There are nine others over 100 miles riQ. 34— A FuK Tkadee's Station in North Canada. in length. The Great Lakes, which partly belong to Canada, form the greatest system of inland waterways in the world. They are connected with each other and with the St. Lawrence b"y canals and fairly large vessels can thus pass up to the farther end of Lake Superior from the Atlantic — a voyage of 3000 miles. The smaller lakes are also important waterways. Rivers. The drainage system of Canada is very simple. Into Hudson Bay, as to a centre, flow many rivers, some of them fairly large ; but all, except the Nelson, which drains Winnipeg and othgr lakes, are of very little use and very little known. • The Mackenzie, not quite twice as long as the Irrawaddy, is much less important, as during many months it is frozen. The Eraser flows across the table-land of the Western High Land by a zig-zag course into the Pacific behind Vancouver Island. Though not of much use for navi- gation owing to the steepness of its course, its valley is used by one of the railways to cross the Rockies. The St. Lawrence is the chief waterway. It allows big ocean steamers to go 1000 miles up into the heart of the country and, beyond this, smaller vessels can use it to enter the Great Lakes, thus connecting the Atlantic with a fresh-water area half the size of the Indian Empire. THE GULF PROVINCES 35 CHAPTEE XVII The Gulf Provinces— Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Map Studies. We enter Canada from the Atlantic side by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The triangular island of Newfoundland blocks the mouth of this gulf. Its Atlantic coasts are so broken that the island seems made up of bays and peninsulas. Only a narrow strait — Belle Isle — separates it from the equally broken coast of Labrador. The other coasts of the gulf are also broken. To the north, west and south, peninsulas face us. The huge peninsula and table-land of Labrador lies to the north. ' The one immediately to the west is the penin- sula of Gaspe, which is only part of the larger peninsula formed by the Atlantic coast and the St. Lawrence estuary parallel to it. Joined to this broad peninsula is the smaller hammer-shaped peninsula of Nova Scotia behind which the Atlantic sends a long arm called the Bay of Fundy. Separated from Nova Scotia by the narrow strait or Gut of Canso is Cape Breton Island, which is itself nearly cut in two by. an inlet. The Gulf of St. Lawrence contains many islands. This region is really the north-east end of the Eastern High Land of North Americp,. This High Land, as the map shows, stretches in a north-east and south-west direction. The St. Lawrence river and estuary is really a deep . crack or split across this line separating' the Appalachian part of' the Eastern High Land on its right or southern bank from the Laurentian table-land on its left. Owing to the nearness of the Atlantic the climate of these provinces is not so extreme as that of the central plains of Canada. The winters are indeed long and cold, but not nearly so cold as they are west of the Great Lakes. The summers, - though not so warm as in the far west are warm enough to grow the crops of temperate regions. The nearness' of the Atlantic gives a good rainfall and in winter the snow lies deep. The cold Labrador current is an important factor in the climate. It hugs the shores of Newfoundland and -in winter blocks its coasts and those of the gulf and estuary of the St. Lawrence with ice. The cool air over this current, meeting the warm moist air blowing in from the Gulf Stream, produces heavy fogs along the coasts. These are naturally a great drawback to navi- gation. Sometimes steamers are stopped for days by thick fog from attempting to enter the St. Lawrence estuary. This danapness and the good rainfall "favour the growth of forests and all the Gulf Provinces are, therefore, thickly clothed with them. . The commonest trees are cone-bearers such as spruces. j Land aboae 500 feet I I Sea leuel to 500 feet Fig. 35. — The Mabitime Pkovinci;s. Emery V«lkcr Ltd. sc. From what has been said we can make one or two general statements about the Gulf Provinces which it is important to remember. 1. The extremely brokeli coasts with sheltered bays naturally breed a race of sailors and fishermen. Most of the inhabitants live within sound or sight of the sea, and the chief towns as well as most villages are built round harbours along the coast or on the tidal waters of rivers. The coast waters are shallow and the Labrador current brings an abundance of fish food so that the narrow seas teem with fish. In fact, these provinces depend chiefly on fisheries for their wealth. 2. The immense forests are a second source of wealth. In the winter season when but little work can be done on the farms, bands of lumberers proceed to the forests, 36 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA wliere they fell the trees and drag them over the hardened smooth and slippery snow to the banks of the numerous rivers. There the trunks remain till summer when the snow and ice are gone and the rivers can carry them down to mills which saw them into logs or grind them to pulp for making paper. 3. Agriculture is not so important in these provinces as in the milder, ripening climate, and on the deeper and richer soil, of Western Canada. It is carried on chiefly in the sheltered valleys. "We shall see these points illustrated in the geography of each of the provinces. Newfoundland : Map Study. This rugged island is about one-sixth the size of Burma : its coasts are broken into hundreds of bays and peninsulas. The interior consists of forest-covered hills with numberless lakes and marshes in the hollows. The forests supply spruce logs for wood-pulp mills and paper mills. Owing to the influence of the icy Labrador current the climate is colder and wetter than that of the other provinces. Most of the island is indeed bleak and unsuited to agriculture, but in some of the sheltered valleys oats, barley and vegetables can be grown. But the New- foundlander looks, and has always looked, to the sea rather than to the land for his living. The chief fishing grounds are the famous Newfoundland Banks, a sub- merged mud-covered platform, less than 300 ft. bejow the surface of the sea and stretching for 300' miles into the Atlantic. This is the finest fishing ground for cod in the world. Millions and millions of these fish are caught here every season, salted and sent to all parts of the world. Seal fishing (for skins and oil) is another branch of the same industry. The seals are killed on the ice-floes brought down by the cold current along the Labrador coasts. Herring, salmon and lobster are also caught in large numbers. About '20 per cent, of the exports of Newfoundland are made up of fish in- some form or other. The well-known medicine cod- liver oil is one of them. St. John's on a magnificent sheltered harbour, on the Atlantic coast and on the edge of the Great Banks, is the capital and chief fishing centre. As St. John's is the nearest port in America to Great Britain it is thought that some day it may become the ocean terminus of a great trans- Atlantic route. • Nova Scotia : Map Study. This consists of a long and rather narrow peninsula and the rocky island of Cape Breton. It is like Newfoundland for its coasts are deeply indented and the interior is made up of low, forest-covered hills with lakes and marshes in the valleys. But here, too, the chief industry is fishing and for the same reasons. The chief towns and harbours are Halifax on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and Sydney in ^ Cape Breton. Halifax, owing to its position, is one of the most important towns in Canada. It is built round a magnificent, sheltered, arid ice-free harbour and is, therefore, one of the Atlantic sea-gates of Canada, especially in winter when the St. Lawrence ports are ' blocked vfith ice. The main Canadian lines run into it. One goes to Quebec and another to Montreal. New Brunswick is connected with the peninsula of Nova Scotia by a narrow neck of land. Its shores on the St. Lawrence gulf are ice-blocked in winter, but those along the warmer Bay of Fundy are free of ice all the year. Here, therefore,as we should expect, we find thechief harbour St. John. Tke largest river is the St. John flow- ing into an estuary on the Bay of Fundy. At the mouth of this estuarjr stands St. John town. Its harbour is deep, well sheltered and free from ice owing to the high tides of the Bay of Fundy and, like Halifax, it is a winter sea- gate of Canadian trade and, in that season, is her chief passenger trade port. The main line runs nearly straight westwards through a part of the United States to Montreal. CHAPTER XVIII The St. Lawrence and Lake Provinces- of Canada— Quebec and Ontario Map Study : Quebec. Leaving the Gulf Provinces behind we sail up the estuary of the St. Lawrence. The student should notice that we are sailing not west but south-west and away from the open ocean. The climate, therefore, becomes on the whole milder but more extreme. The winters, are, indeed, more severe but the summers are longer and much warmer. On our left we pass along the ends of the Appalachian chain. On the light we MONTREAL 37 see the edges of the great high land or plateau that stretches across half of Ganada from the rugged coast of Labrador to liake Winnipeg. Between these two high lands stretches the plain of the St. Lawrence— a Emery Wdlker J.td. ac Fi8. 36. — Railway Eoutes from Quebec and Montreal to Winnipeg. long narrow, low-lying fertile valley. ThLs is the most important part of Quebec. Oats, barley, hay and a little wheat are the chief crops. Though the winter is severe the warm, dry summers ripen corn and fruit to perfection! Apple and pear orchards are seen everywhere and the rich pastures contain many dairy farms which export large quantities of butter arid cheese to Great Britain and Europe. Canadian cheese is, indeed, one of the commonest articles of food in England and Scotland. Lum- bering- is one of the leading industries of Quebec province. The immense forests of pine, spruce and larch on the land on eitjier side of the river afEprd an almost limitless supply of timber and the numerous immense area stretching east of the Ottawa river, St. James Bay and Hudson Bay and north of the St. Lawrence, has an area nearly as large as Burma and the six largest provinces of India put together. The chief towns are, as we should expect, sea-ports on the' St. Lawrence. Two of them are of special importance — Quebec and Montreal. Quebec, the capital of the province, owes its importance to its harbour, which is one of the best in North America and is deep enough to hold the largest vessels. It is, how- ever, blocked by ice for five months in winter. It is the chief centre of the timber trade. The logs are floated down the river in rafts and are here sawn into planks or made into furniture and exported. Every furniture-maker and carpenter in Great Britain uses Canadian pine. Montreal is the largest city and the chief sea-port of Canada. The map shows how its position gives it importance. At Montreal the cargoes of the largest ocean-going steamers must be transferred to smaller vessels. It stands at the gateway of the greatest system of fresh water navigation in the world. No position could be more favourable for trade. But the Fig. 37.«— Quebec, on its River. (By courtesy of the C.P.E.) rivers and waterfalls are of the greatest use in floating the timber to the mills and in driving the mills themselves. The province of Quebec, which now includes the city is- the meeting place of other natural routes as well. The Ottawa river and valley make it the gate- way of boat and railway traffic up that river. Then, on the other side of the St. Lawrence, a natural 38 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA depression connects it by water and rail with New York, the largest city of the United States. The position of Montreal has thus made it the meeting place of the out-going and in-coming sea trade of the Dominion and the centre from which it is distributed by rail, river and canal. Ontario : Map Study. Leaving Montreal and con- tinuing our voyage up the St. Lawrence we soon find ourselves in Ontario. It includes the whole of the Lake Peninsula between the Huron, Erie and Ontario Lakes on the one side and the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers on the other. Long ages ago Ontario was, like the rest of Canada, covered by the thick ice sheet and the whole of the St. Lawrence valley was blocked by an immense dam of ice so that the lake area was much wider and deeper than it is now. The Lake Peninsula was the part of the floor of an immense lake and was covered with the till or rock waste produced by the ice. When the dam in the St. Lawrence estuary melted away, much of the lake water escaped, the level of the lakes was naturally lowered, and all the peninsula became dry land. But its deposits of till remained, so that its soil is now very fertile. It is the most fully cultivated and thickly populated part of Canada, The original forest has long been cleared and the land is entirely devoted to the cultivation of corn, the grow- ing of fruit and the breeding of cattle and horses. Oats, barley and wheat are widely grown. The soil and climate are particularly well suited to the growth of fruits such as grapes, apples and peaches. The farmers export much of the Canadian butter and cheese so well known in England. The rest of the province consists of the rocky plateau in the north. It is* a forest land, and lumbering is here, therefore, the chief industry. Towns. Owing to its fertile lake peninsula, Ontario, though a smaller province than Quebec, has a larger population, and contains several towns. These towns are the markets for the farms and pastures round about, exporting their crops, fruit, butter and cheese and manu- facturing or importing the machines, tools and clothing they need. The largest of them share in the great traffic of the lakes and river and in their fisheries. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, where the Dominion Parliament sits, is finely situated on the high south bank of the Ottawa river just where great falls stop navigation up-stream, but yield plenty of water-power for mills. It is, accordingly, the chief lumber centre of Canada, where timber, floated down the river from the forests, is sawn or pulped. This water-power is also used to drive match-mills, flour-mills and to provide electric light for the city and to drive the engines on its electric railways. On the main railway line (the Canadian Pacific), across the peninsula joining Montreal with Detroit and Chicago (in the United States) lie the other chief towns of the province^Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton and London. Kingston stands on the best harbour on Ontario Lake. Toronto, the capital of Ontario province, has a good harbour near the west end of the lake. From its position it is an important centre of trade and from it railway lines branch out all over the peninsula. Fort William and Port Arthur, close together on the western end of Lake Superior, are growing rapidly. They are important on account of their position at the head of lake navigation and because they are the natural gate- ways of the wheat crops of the western prairies. These crops are brought to them by rail and shipped on board lake steamers bound for lake ports or even down the St. Lawrence and across the Atlantic. Sudbury has the richest nickel mines in the world and produces more than the rest of the world put together. When we handle an anna coin we may be pretty sure it came from Sudbury. At Cobalt very rich silver mines have recently been discovered and they have helped Canada to take the third place (next after Mexico and the United States) among silver- producing countries. CHAPTEE XIX (See Map on p. 42.) The Prairie Provinces of Canada— Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Map Studies. When we reach the Lake of the Woods, west of Lake Superior, we leave behind the rocky, forest- covered plateau of the Lake Provinces and enter a new knd. This is the Central Plain of Canada which stretches westwards to the Rocky Mountains, and is taken up by the three Prairie Provinces. These three provinces are THE SOIL 39 the great corn-lands of Canada to which in recent years has flowed an enormous stream of settlers from Europe and the United States. In the first ten years of this century their population was doubled. - \ m. ■■l^llpi'^ Ipp Phuto. Uudcruood anl Uoderwood. Fig. 38. — REAPING WHEAT WITH MACHINES ON THE PKAIKIES. (Note the distant view across the level Prairie.) The Soil. The reason for this immigration is the fertility of the soil. It can be cultivated year after year without manure and is particularly suited to the growth of wheat. An expert who has examined it says, " The first foot of soil in the three provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta is their greatest natural heritage. It is worth more than all the mines in the mountains from Alaska toMexico and more than all, the ■ forests from the United States boundary to the Arctic Sea." • Then, again, there are no dense forests to clear away, no wild animals or fever "to dread, the Canadian Government offers farm-lands free to suitable settlers and the railways help new-comers in every way. These Prairie Provinces form the greatest corn-growing region in the world — wider than that of Russia and richer than those of India, Egjrpt or the Argentine. The Climate, as well as the soil, helps the fertility. The winters in a region so far from the sea are, of course, very cold — " zero cold " — and milk is sold in solid lumps. — ^but to Europeans they are very bracing. The hard frost seals up the moisture in the ground and makes the soil very crumbly and easy to plough when the spring comes. The rainfall is small — much smaller than in any part of Burma — but most of it falls in summer just when the farmer needs it to fill the ears of his corn. The air is dry and this exactly suits the growth of wheat. Lastly, owing to the distance from the equator, the sun in summer shines for many hours in the day, eighteen or .twenty out of the twenty-four — and this ripens the wheat crops perfectly. There are no damp fogs here to spoil them. Manitoba : Map Study. A large part of this province is taken up with the lakes of Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, Manitoba and several smaller ones connected with them by rivers. The whole of the vast rolling plain of Manitoba was once the floor of an ancient fresh-water sea of which these lakes are parts. The Red River valley in the south is another part of this old lake bottom and is one of the most fertile wheat areas in the world. For miles and miles in all directions we see rich farmlands, and wheat, barley, oats and flax are the chief crops. In such a new country we can expect but few towns. Winnipeg is the only large city, but it is quite unlike our old slow-growing towns. Twenty years ago it had only 200 inhabitants : now it has nearly 200,000. What is the reason of this rapid growth ? Look at its position and you will understand. In the first place, you see it lies on the fertile Red River valley. Secondly, it is just at the gateway leading to the vast fertile lands of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. All this area is becoming more populous every day and its production and trade are increasing. Its vast harvests going east pass through Winnipeg. The city is also by its position Fig. 39. — A Pass in the Eookt Mountains (By courtesy of the C.P.E.) one of the most important railway centres in America. Every railway is forced to pass, as through a gate, across the narrow belt between the southern boundary and 40 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA Lake Winnipeg. There is no room anywhere else. Winnipeg lies just on this narrow belt. The two main lines across Canada and over a score of other lines meet in the town. Fig. 40. — A Mountain, Rivek and Railway Station in the Rocky Mountains. Saskatchewan : Map Study. This province, like Manitoba, is strewn with lakes but they are much smaller. Although as yet only a fraction of its land is cultivated, Saskatchewan is among the chief of American wheat-producing states. Wheat, oats, barley and flax are again the principal crops. There are but few towns. Regina and Moose Jaw lie on the main line (C.P.R.) to the Pacific and are growing farming centres and markets. Alberta : Map Study. Alberta occupies the highest part of the C^tnadian plains, and, as we can see by the flow of the rivers it slopes gently down to the east and north. We are now in sight of the snowy peaks of the Rockies. ^» Like the other prairie provinces Alberta is covered with a deep, black, fertile soil ; farms are everywhere and wheat, barley and oats are the main crops. Southern Alberta lying close under the rain-screen of the Rockies was for long thought to be too dry for wheat farming, and was therefore given over to cattle-breeding. The warm, moist winds blowing inland from the Pacific lose their moisture in crossing these ranges and sweep down the eastern slopes as dry breezes called Chinook winds. When they blow they raise the temperature quickly and lick up the snow so that cattle and horses can pass the winter out of doors without having to be fed with grain or even hay. In recent years, however, it has been found that by making irrigation tanks on the slopes of the Rockies good crops of wheat can be grown even in the driest districts. As we should expect, the population is, as yet, very thin. Alberta, though able to support a large number of farmers, has at present fewer inhabitants than Rangoon. Edmonton, in the centre of the cultivated part of the province, is the chief town. Calgary, ''' close to the foot of the Rockies,- is another farming centre. It is on the main C.P.R. route over the Rockies by the Kicking Horse Pass, to Vancouver. Medicine Hat, farther east, is another farming and cattle breeding centre. Near it are enormous fields of natural gas, which is used to light the streets and houses an^ to drive all kinds of engines. CHAPTER XX The Pacific Province— British Columbia. Northern Canada Map Study. When we leave Alberta and climb the crest of the Rocky Mountains, we are in British Columbia and have left the flat prairies behind. We find ourselves in an entirely new land. Instead of wide plains we see range after range of magnificent mountains. Their sides slope steeply down to deep valleys, their shoulders are clad with dense forests of splendid trees and their tops are covered with glaciers and snow-fields, which feed the rivers and lakes at their feet. Fortunately there are several passes in the barrier of the Rockies through which railways enter the province from the east. Behind the Rockies there is a deep and narrow trough running, north and south, the whole length of the province. In this trough the Fraser river flows for part of its course. Crossing- this trough we come to two other ranges which stretch for a long distance northwards and are as difiicult to climb as the lofty Rockies themselves. Beyond these ranges we THE CLIMATE 41 ?"■•"- ■■ - ^' • '.'■.'■ ' =V -.^' ■■pp^-^ ''■■■Kx^S^M^)' V ^ ■^^^"^^n^F"^^ ' ■- '" ' ''■''■'■ ■ '"-y' "■','S:liri' "'^iS'^S^j^:^^^.. i,^^^' 1 1 1^:.:.^ Fig. 41. — The East Side op Mt. Kobson, in the Kocky Mountains. Ifote the glaciers above and below the gorge', (By courtesy of the C.P.R.) reach the table-land of Columbia occupying the centre of the province. Seaward from this table-land stretches the Cascade, or Coast Range, rising to the same height as the highest mountains of Burma and form- ing the western edge of Canada. British Columbia is thus made up of ranges of mountains running nearly parallel with a table-land in the middle and a fiord coast on the Pacific. The .Climate, too, is very different from that of the Prairie Provinces : it is very like that of Western Europe. The warm Pacific Drift and the prevailing westerly winds carry clouds full of moisture in from the ocean. These are blown up the narrow valleys and strike the sides of the mountains far inland. The coast and .the highest ranges thus receive plenty of rain. Vegetation. The damp winds favour the growth of forests and grass. The trees are, of course, different from the teak and other trees of Burma and of other hot countries. They are chiefly of the cone- bearing family. The Douglas fir, growing as high as 300 feet, is found on Vancouver Island and the slopes of the Coast Range. The wood of these trees is not so hard or so heavy as teak, but it is easier to work. But at present the* chief wealth of the province consists in its minerals. The mountains in the interior yield gold and silver, lead and copper. Rich coal mines are worked near the Crow's Nest Pass in Vancouver Island and in Queen Charlotte Island farther north. Vancouver has thus become the chief market for coal on the Pacific coast. This is enough to make it an important sea-port. Fisheries are very important — both in the rivers and the sea. Immense shoals of salmon run up the rivers from the sea. They are caught in large numbers, canned and sent abroad. You can buy canned Canadian saLmOn in Rangoon shops. 'Many kinds of sea fish are also caught and ships are sent to the seal fishing among the islands to the north. Towns. Although Columbia has so many forests, mines and fisheries, the country is at present only beginning to be developed. The total population is not much more than that of Rangoon city. What Columbia wants more than anything else, is people. It depends on railways how fast Columbia will fill up with settlers from Europe. With sxxch a small population we do not expect to find large towns. Victoria, the capital, stands on a good sheltered harbour in the south end of Vancouver Island. Close to it is Esquimalt, which has a finer harbour. Vancouver, the chief city and sea-port, stands on a long inlet on the mainland a little north of the mouth BmBij W*lk*r l.td. > riG. 42.— Map op the Dominion op Canada showing Vegetation. iiiiiniijjiii no. 43. — Gknekal Mat of the Dominion or Canapa, NORTHERN CANADA iS of the Fraser river. Its splendidly sheltered, ice-free harbour is one of the finest in the world. It has thus become the chief Pacific sea-port of Canada and itg gateway for sea trade across the Atlantic to Eastern Asia. The main trans-continental railways of the Dominion end here and from it radiate the steam-ship routes to Japan, China, Australia and the Pacific ports of North and South America. New Westminster, a few miles up the Eraser river, is the centre of the salmon-catching industry of that river. Northern Canada— Yukon and the North-West Territories : Map Study. The rest of Canada though very large — ^larger than the Indian Empire — is, on account of its climate, of little value and the total population is less than 50,000. Yukon is drained by two rivers which, in Alaska, join to form the Yukon river. The climate is very severe and extremely cold in winter, when the thermometer falls far below zero and every lake and river is frozen for several months. The North-West Territories, as the map shows, occupy the large area between Yukon and Hudson Bay and include the groups of islands to the far north. They are covered with lakes and marshes. The northern districts form parts of the Tundra or Barren Lands which only grow enough moss for herds of caribou — a kind of deer. The rest of the territories lies in the Forest Belt, the trees being stunted in the north but larger and more valuable farther south. Unlike southern Canada these territories can never be thickly settled. Study carefully the map on p. 42 and notice the chief railway lines of Canada and the chief towns you would pass travelling from Halifax or St. John to Vancouver. ■n A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA CHAPTER XXI The United States (See Map, Fig. 27, p. 27.) Its Size and Importance. We now come to the part of North America occupied by the United States. The geography of- this country is of interest to us because no other presents greater contrasts to India and Burma. Burma was a grandmother before the United States was born. Four hundred years after the Empire of Pagan had vanished, its history had only just begun, but no part .of the world has had a greater history since. In fact, when we study the geography of America we can only clearly understand it if we remember we are really trying to learn what kind of land this is which, 300 years ago, was almost entirely unexplored and is now the home of a large part of the human race. The Atlantic Coast Plain New England : Map Study. . This was the first part of the United States to be settled by colonists from Great Britain, for it was the part nearest to their old home, and its broken coasts offered good, sheltered sites for harbours. A large proportion of the people win their living on the sea, either as sailors or fishermen. The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are near and the coasts teem with fish of many kinds. , Chief Towns; Boston is the largest sea-port, and is second to New York among the sea-ports of the United States. It has a fine harbour protected by several small islands and in consequence is an important gateway of trade. Portland is another large sea-port with a fine harbour. Like Halifax and St. John, it is one of the winter sea-gates of Canada when the St. Lawrence is frozen, being the terminus of one of the trans-continental lines across that country through Montreal. The Atlantic Coast Plain. Map Study : Relief, Climate and Products. In New England the rugged table-land comes down quite close to the coast but, when we go south and cross the Hudson, the coast plain widens and stretches between the Eastern High Land and the Atlantic as far as the low- lying peninsula of Florida. The climate of this coast- plain becomes warmer as we go south partly because we are getting nearer the equator and partly because we are getting farther from the cold Labrador current and nearer to the warm Gulf Stream. The region also receives a good rainfall from storms sweeping in from the Atlantic. The coast plain is, therefore, fertile — much more so than the coast of New England. The crops vary with the climate — oats and wheat in the north, maize in the middle and cotton in the south. Tobacco is also an important crop in the south. There are extensive forests on the slopes of the Appalachians and plenty of iron, coal and oil in the country behind them, so that every town on this coast-plain is engaged in many kinds of manufactures. Trace the course of the Hudson, Delaware, Susque- hana, Potamac and James. These rivers cross the Appalachians and serve as gateways to the interior. We should, therefore, expect to find the largest towns on the sea-coast opposite to these gateways. The map shows us three. New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. New York is the largest city of the United States. In the first place it has an excellent and large harbour, protected by Long Island, so that vessels are sheltered from Atlantic storms. This harbour is practically the nearest point of the Continent to the ports of northern Europe and through it passes more than half of the foreign trade of the United States. In the second place the Hudson river, which is really a narrow salt water estuary, stretches northwards inland from the city and forms the only deep-water passage across the Eastern High Land. The tide reaches 150 miles up, as far as Albany, and at this point the Mohawk valley meets it from the west. Along this valley the Erie Canal has been dug (and railways followed later). This canal extends westward to Buffalo on Lake Erie, and in this way New York is connected by water with the Great Lakes, the greatest system of inland navigation in the world. From New York railways have been built inland in many directions. Philadelphia has a good deep water harbour and it BALTIMORE 45 is near to, and easily reached from, the coal-fields inland. It is, therefore, an important coal-shipping port. The easily obtained coal and iron make it also a great manu- facturing centre, railway trucks, machinery, and ships being three of its chief products. ' Baltimore is built round a good harbour on Chesapeake Bay. Like Philadelphia it has easy access to the coal and iron fields across the Appalachians. In short, it is a great sea outlet and a manufacturing town. Washington, the capital of the United States, where Congress sits. is quite unlike these busy manufacturing cities. It is the seat of Government with many public buildings and ofiices. The people of the United States have been careful to make their capital as beautiful as possible. ^ Architects from India have visited it in order to obtain ideas for New Delhi. Charleston and Savannah ship cotton grown in the 'cotton belt behind them and yellow pine from the sandy soils. They also, like Kangoon, clean rice in rice miUs. CHAPTER XXII Resources and Towns of the Central Plain (See Map, Fig. 27, p. 27.) Inland from the coastal plain stretches the Appala- chian High Land consisting of long ridges running north- east and south-west with long valleys between. These valleys are fertile and contain many small towns and villages., Beyond the ridges we reach the Appalachian plateau which slopes gradually inland down to the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi. We are now in the wide plains of the Central Low Land which fill up the middle of the Continent. We have already learned how fertile these plains are and the reasons for this fertility. But these central low lands besides being very fertile also produce large supplies of the minerals of which man stands most in need. On these plains or on their borders more coal and iron is mined than in all the rest of the world put together. Coal is found in almost all parts. Petroleum and natural gas, which are much used as fuel, are also found most plentifully in the Ohio valley. The United States is very fortunate in having iron deposits near its coal-fields, especially in the southern Appalachian region of which Birmingham is the centre. But the richest iron region in America and in the world, lies round the western end of Lake Superior, where millions of tons of iron ore are mined every year. Here, in certain parts, the surface of the earth seems to be made up of iron. As we should expect, with these large supphes of raw materials of all kinds there are large manufactures and every town is engaged in this work' more . or less. The population is growing denser every year and there are many large towns scattered all over the Central Plains. They are, however, chiefly to be found on spots most convenient for trade, i.e. on the Great Lakes, on the chief rivers and on the sea-coasts. Towns on the Great Lakes. Duluth and Superior are twin cities at the head of lake navigation with a fine harbour. Owing to their _position at the outlet of the fertile prairies of the north-west, especially the Red River valley, they ship enormous quantities of wheat down the lakes either to be ground in the mills of cities in the eastern states or for transhipment to Europe. They both stand at the outlet of the richest iron mines in America and here, therefore, are enormous docks, where more than half a million tons of iron ore are shipped- every week to towns on the Ohio valley coal- field where it is smelted and manufactured. On the other' hand, as no coal is found in their district these towns receive by water, and distribute by rail, enormous quantities of coal. Milwaukee is another distribiiting centre with a fine harbour on Lake Michigan. Detroit is a French word meaning " strait " and its position on the map shows why it got this name. Owing to this posi- tion 8,11 the water traffic between the upper and lower lakes, passes through it. The city is the chief centre for the making of Ford motor-cars, many of them being yearly sent to India and Burma. Cleveland is another large lake-port and railway-centre. Its traffic in coal and iron is enormous and it is the largest ore market in the world. A large industry is the building of iron -vessels for traffic on the lakes. Buffalo is another large distributing centre for the manufactured goods of the east and the raw products of the west. •"'46 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA 'It slaughters cattle, packs meat, makes all kinds of •iron goods, soap, flour, furniture and clothing. But of all the lake cities Chicago is much the most important. Next to New York it is the largest city in America and has more inhabitants than Rangoon, Calcutta and Bombay put together. " Chicago is the -1 1 « i - : i^ts t£i- 1 1 ill J J ■ ■ - -j ; ^^^^^MK^' gJIBK^ -'iiiiii^^ff ^s^^^rc^immm ^HB Hl^^^^^^KM^Hflli^Bi!i!l=ifli 1 fmt |g MiO— 1l^> ^r,T:^3?S3 Sf^SS W^f"- ' ■ :■ ■"■ ■, Phi'to. Brown 3"os. N.Y. Fig. 44. — Chicago : Tail Buildings on the Shoke of Lake Michigan. greatest railway centre, the greatest grain market, the greatest live-stock market and meat-packing centre and the greatest lumber market in the world." The map shows how its position has favoured its growth from a village in less than a life time. In the first place, it stands on the lake system of waterways just at the point where -that system reaches farthest south and nearest the centre of the fertile plains, so that it is the easiest outlet for their products. In the second place, owing to the shape and position of Lake Michigan, railways connecting the east and the north-west had to pass round its southern end and through the city. The best known business of Chicago is in connection with meat. Train-loads of cattle, pigs and sheep are brought in from the prairie farms every day to the slaughtering yards. The meat (beef, mutton and pork) is packed in ice and sent off to the great cities of the east or cooked and canned for export to all parts of the world. River Cities. On the Ohio. Pittsburg stands at the junction of three rivers which form the Ohio and in the midst of the most productive coal-field, oil and gas wells in America. Iron is brought from the mines round about and from the Lake Superior field. It, therefore, ranks first among the cities of America for the manu- facture of all kinds of iron and steel goods and it is the centre of the most important iron, steel, pottery and glass manufacturing district on the continent. Cincinnati is another large manufacturing town favoured b}' the river and the neighbourhood of coal mines. On the Mississippi. Minneapolis and St. Paul stand nearly opposite one another at the Falls of St. Anthony which is the limit of navigation on the Mississippi. The falls are used as \Yater power to drive immense wheat- grinding mills, one of which is the largest in the world. Whole train loads of wheat are turned into flour every day. It is easy to understand the reasons for the importance of St. Louis. It stands in the very middle of the great drainage basin of the Mississippi, the richest part of the Continent, near the confluences of its two largest tributaries. Its central position, on a navigable river flowing from north to south, makes it an important market for the wheat of the north, the maize of the centre, the cotton and tobacco of the south and the cattle of the west. Besides being a market it is also a manufacturing city. It is the chief manufacturer of tobacco in America. On the Missouri. Omaha and Kansas City. These towns lie in the midst of a fertile grain-growing country and on the edge of the drier ranching country of the Great Plains farther west. Many railway lines meet in them. On the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans may be compared with Calcutta or Rangoon. The cities stand each at the head of a low, flat delta, some miles up from the mouth of a river which drains a very large and fertile valley at a spot which ocean vessels can reach though Fic. 45. — The Mississippi. (Note the river steamers. They arc hke those on the Irrawaddy.) they cannot venture much farther up. Like the Hugli, and the Rangoon river, the Mississippi at its delta has to be constantly dredged to keep a fairway open for these vessels. Just like Rangoon, New Orleans is the sea gateway of its broad valley. After the harvest season of the south and west its wharves and neighbouring ON THE GULF OF MEXICO 47 streets are crowded witli raw produce waiting to be shipped abroad — sugar, molasses, rice, wheat, oats, maize, tobacco, pork and meat and, above all else, cotton. New Orleans is the chief cotton sea-port of' the world, one-third of the cotton crop of the United" States being shipped from it. CHAPTER XXIII Towns of the Western High Land and Pacific Slope {See Map, Fig. 27, p. 27.) We have already learned that the western table-lands and mountains are very dry. Some parts, such as Colorado are desert. The rivers, as the map shows, are few and water is everywhere a difficulty. There are forests on the highest slopes facing the Pacific and some pasture in the valleys, but on the table-lands farming is impossible without irrigation. The mountains keep off the rain-clouds. We cannot, therefore, expect to find many towns in this region. But though the surface of the ground is not fertile there is a great wealth of minerals buried beneath it in different parts — gold, silver, copper, lead, mercury and coa,l. In fact, the valleys and table-lands of the Kockies are riow the richest mining region of the world. The few towns we find must be situated either near irrigated lands or round mines. A good map will show the following towns marked. Butte, Virginia City, Leadville, Helena and Cripple Creek. They have all grown up round mining camps. Denver and Salt Lake City are different. Denver lies high up on the edge of the Rockies in the midst of a very dry district. But by using the water of a mountain river to feed canals a large area has been irrigated and good crops of grain, vegetables and lucerne are grown, just as is done near so many rivers in India. It smelts the ores sent to it from the mining camps. Salt Lake City, lying in the midst of the Great Basin near Salt Lake, is another town which depends on irrigation. We .might call it an oasis-town. On the Pacific Coast. There are one or two towns which should be looked out on the map — San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma. San Francisco is much the most important of these. The coast has here sunk and allowed the sea to pierce the coast range by a narrow opening and fill up part of the low-lying valley behind. This opening is called The Golden Gate. San Francisco is the best harbour and most important sea-port on the Pacific coast. Fuel is obtained from oil-wells farther south. From its position San Francisco is also favoured for its large trade with China, Japan and the islands of the Pacific. Portland stands about ' 100 miles up -the Columbia river (on a tributary) and can be reached by ocean-going vessels. It is the outlet of a well-watered fertile valley where wheat is grown and sheep are bred, with forested mountain slopes behind. On Puget Sound are two sheltered harbours, Seattle and Tacoma. Like Portland they grind the wheat of the inland valleys and saw the timber brought down from the magnificent forests of the mountains behind : the rest they export. Alaska. Owing to its position the climate of Alaska is not pleasant, the winters being long and very cold and the summers short and cool. But along the Pacific coast, owing to the prevailing damp westerly winds, the climate is less severe. The peninsula of Alaska ends in a long chain of islands — ^many of which are volcanoes. As in other far northern lands, the population is very thin and the few inhabitants look to the sea rather than to the land for their livelihood. Fishing is, therefore, the chief industry. Whales and many kinds of seals (especially the fur seal which supplies the soft fur much used for winter cloaks in cold countries) are hunted. In recent years there has been a great " rush " of miners to the gold-mines of the interior. These are only a few of the most important of the towns, there are a hundred others. We must remember that in the United States there are 100 millions of people. 48 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA CHAPTER XXIV Mexico Map Study. Mexico is the thick thigh-like part of the long tapering isthmus connecting North and South America. It is almost exactly half the size of India, and as tht Tropic of Cancer passes across the middle of it, its position on the globe corresponds to that of Northern India or of Burma. Besides this thick part of the main- land, it also includes the long, narrow, hilly peninsula of Lower California stretching southwards into the Pacific nii^lish Miles o spioo goo 300 400 500 Aboue 3000 feet . eoo to 3000 feet... Sea level to 600 ft..\. FlO. 46. — tHE TABLE-LAND OF MEXICO. EmGr/WdlkerLtd.s and the low, short, blunt peninsula of Yucatan jutting northward into the Gulf of Mexico and forming -one of its jaws. Relief. We have already learned the relief of Mexico. It is an extension southwards of the Western High Land of North America and consists of a plateau of an average height above sea-level of 6000 feet, flanked on its Pacific side by the Western Sierra Madre and on its Atlantic side by the Eastern Sierra Madre. The southern end of this plateau is blocked up by a high belt of volcanoes, stretching from sea to sea across the narrow isthmus of Tehuantepec. Beyond this, the level sinks to the low flat peninsula of Yucatan. The highest peaks of the volcanic belt are Orizaba, Popocatepetl and Colima, all over 17,000 feet or twice the height of the highest summits of Burma. Most of these volcanoes are dead or dormant, but Colima is still active. Near these volcanoes earthquakes often occur. The plateau is highest at its southern or volcano end. The coast- strips between these steep flanking ranges and the sea remind us of the Malabar coast or part of the coasts of Burma. Climate and Vegetation. We can best under- stand these by comparing Mexico with Burma. The Tropic of Cancer crosses the middle of Mexico just as it crosses the middle of Burma. The heat on the low coast-lands is, therefore, much the same as on our own. On the southern coasts the rainfall is like that on our coast-strips and falls in the hot season (May to October). The rainfall is heaviest in the south and decreases as we go north. Northern Mexico, including the peninsula of Lower California, being outside the rain belt, is very dry and many parts of it are desert. The main part of Mexico being a lofty plateau, twice as high as the Indian Deccan with flanking ranges twice as high as the Eastern and Western Ghats, its climate is that of the Deccan — only much exaggerated. There is enough pasture to feed cattle and sheep on ranches. But where no irrigation is possible the plants are those of arid regions such as cactuses. The heat on the plateau, owing to the elevation, is less than in most parts of the Deccan or Burma and corresponds to that of Maymyo. Here, too, though the days are hot the nights are cold. Snow even falls occasionally. On the low coast-lands, however, say from sea-level to 3000 feet we have a climate and vegetation like that of the Arakan coast. The sun is very hot, the rainfall is heavy and the air is always damp. Thick jungles cover the low-lying tracts and in the clearings crops of sugar-cane, rice, plantains, oranges and limes are grown and the back- waters are lined with cocoanut groves. In the forests mahogany, ebony, rubber, wild fig trees and dye woods grow wild. Minerals. Mexico depends more on her minerals than on agriculture and mining has for centuries been the chief occupation of the people. It was the silver mines of the country that led the Spaniards to conquer it. MEXICO CITY 49 Mexico is still the chief sUver-producing country in the world. Gold, platinum, mercury, sulphur (in the volcanoes) and precious stones are also plentiful. Towns. The towns are, as we should expect, either sea-ports on the coastal plain or mining centres on the plateau. Mexico City, the capital, is much the largest with more people than Eangoon. It owes its importance to its -position in a fertile valley. It is connected by rail with the United States and with ports on the Pacific and Gulf coasts. Vera Cruz and Tampico are the chief Mexican sea-ports on the shallow Gulf coast with artifigial harbours. A line of railway runs across the narrow peninsula of Tehuantepec with a port at either end. Vera Cruz has most of the foreign trade. Study carefully Figs. 31, 32 and 46, and notice how much of Mexico is a semi-desert tableland. 50 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA CHAPTER XXV Central America : The States of the Isthmus Map Study : Relief. Central America, as the map shows, consists of a long isthmus, thicker in the north where it broadens out to the peninsula of Yucatan and Honduras and narrower in the south where, at the Isthmus of Panama, it is only a little more than thirty miles across. Central America is full of mountains — Fig. 47. — Looks on the Panama Canal. (By courtesy of the B.M.S.P. Co. the highest ranges being in the thicker part of the isthmus. A long and lofty yoma of beautiful peaks of volcanoes, many of them active, runs along the Pacific coast. The soft ashes vomited out by them have in some places filled up the valleys and in others have been swept down by the rivers to the coastal plains. This has made these districts very fertile. But near the volcanoes earthquakes are common and whole towns have been destroyed by them from time to time. Between the mountains, which run roughly east and west, are deep hollows or depressions and these form low passages joining the two oceans. Some of them contain lakes. The total area of the states of Central America is about the same as that of Burma. Climate and Productions. We can form a good idea of this region, if we imagine it as Burma or as ten Ceylons placed end to end. The position, relief, climate and productions of the isthmus are much the same as those of that island (except that there are no volfcanoes in Ceylon). The rivers are naturally short and they flow in deep gorges. The climate is hot and moist on the low-lying coasts, but cooler and drier on the highest slopes. Just as Ceylon receives most rain on the coast and on the ranges facing the south-west monsoon, so the isthmus is wetter on the Atlantic side facing the cloud-bearing winds. On the Pacific side the winds blow from the land and they are, therefore, dry. The coasts are fringed with lagoons with cocoa-nut palms growing on their banks. Inland from them stretch thick jungles and, where these have been cleared, we find fields of rice and sugar-cane and cacao trees. As we climb the slopes inland we pass through dense forests, fed by the heavy rains, full of palms, rubber-trees, mahogany, and dye-woods. In the interior, away from the reach of the rain-winds, the climate is drier and we come to pasture lands. Here, on the fertile and volcanic soil, coffee plantations are seen and maize and beans are the chief food crops. People and Towns. But though Ceylon is only one- tenth of the area of the isthmus, its population (4^ millions) is more than the total of all Central America." The people are mostly Central Americanlndians, Spaniards and half-breeds and, as most of them are uneducated, there are no manufactures. Most of the six independent republics have short railways joining sea-ports to inland towns. In Guatemala, the most northern of the states, * a railway has been built from the Atlantic coast to the capital and then on to a small port on the Pacific, The Pacific state of Salvador has a short line joining its coast and its capital. The chief towns of Nicaragua are round its lakes. These lakes lie in a depression. It was at one time proposed to make a waterway for ocean- steamers across the isthmus here. The route is longer than that taken by the Panama Canal, but the lakes and a river flowing out of them could have been used. But, on the other hand, the canal would have had to pass through a belt of active volcanoes and the earth- quakes would have been sure to destroy it. So the BRITISH HONDURAS 51 engineers chose the more difficult route. In Costa Rica a railway runs from an Atlantic port up to the capital, San Jose, and then down to a port on the a port on the Atlantic and Panama, the capital, on the Pacific. British Honduras, a small colony, stretches along part Land above 3000 feet... Sea level to 3000 feet... Br. = British Fig. i8. — Map oi? Cbntrai America and the West Indies. EmerrWAlfcei Ltd. Ea Pacific. The most important state is Panama, on account of the great ship canal which now. joins the most important oceans of the world. Even before this xanal was dug there was a railway, carrying much traffic, across this narrow neck between Colon of the coast of Honduras Bay. Its chief sea-port is Belize. It ships plantains and coco-nuts from the coast and mahogany and logwood felled in the upland forests and floated down to the coast by flooded rivers in the rainy season. Compare Figs. 31, 32 and 48 and notice that Central America gets plenty of rain and that it has therefore many tropical forests. A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA CHAPTER XXVI The Islands of the West Indies (See Fig. 48.) Map Study : Position and Size. The map shows these islands stretch into the Atlantic like a great bow or breakwater enclosing the Caribbean Sea. They form a kind of chain or broken bridge joining the three Americas, North, Central and South. These islands differ much in size and formation. Some, like Cuba, are much larger than Ceylon, but most are quite small. Some are clearly the tops of sunken ranges of mountains, some have been upheaved from the sea by volcanic forces while some of the smaller ones have been built up from the lime in the ocean by the coral polyps. Their total area is less than half that of Burma. These islands can be divided into three groups : (1) The Bahamas to the north : (2) The Greater Antilles consisting of Cuba, Haiti, Porto Eico and Jamaica, and (3) The Lesser Antilles. Climate. Owing to their position they receive much the same heat as Burma or Ceylon. Being islands they receive plenty of rain. It comes chiefly from the Atlantic. But they are often visited by hurricanes. This is a West Indian word meaning stormy winds. These hurricanes blow in from the Atlantic, sweep over the islands and usually tmn away north-eastwards along the Atlantic coast of North America. They destroy crops, uproot trees, blow down buildings and wreck ships. Vegetation. The hot sun, good rainfall and volcanic soil make the islands very fertile. The plants are very like those of Burma and Ceylon. On the low-lying coasts there are groves of coco-nut palms. The hills inland are covered with forests where mahogany and other good timber trees are felled. For hundreds of years these islands have supphed sugar and tobacco to Europe. Havana, in Cuba, makes the finest cigars in the world, quite different from Burmese cheroots. The cacao tree grows on the lower lands, just as it does in Ceylon, and there are coffee plantations on the hill slopes. The West Indies now also export to Europe and the United States large quantities of plantains, oranges and pine- apples in vessels specially fitted to keep them fresh during the voyage. In every village in England West Indian plantains may be bought in the shops. Minerals. Cuba has a few copper, iron and coal mines, but there are none in the other islands. In the British island W Trinidad, off the coast of Sotlfth America, is a wonderful lake of pitch. A man can walk on the surface without falling through it. The pitch is largely exported in blocks to Europe. To what uses is it put ? ■LwlS^mB^w^%ffllm^'''^<^MW 1 m ^Plnl m ^^H H ^^S9^ 1 ^^^ % ^^1 K^i^-^gf rf ^.i BMil Fia. 49. — Bamboo Geove— Twnidad. (By courtesy ol the E.M.S.P. Co.) Cuba, the largest island, is Very fertile and exports ship-loads of sugar-cane, tobacco, cocoa, plantains, oranges and pine-apples. The chief port is Havana and the sea-trade is mostly with the United States. It is now an independent republic. Haiti and Porto Rico produce the same crops as Cuba. Haiti is divided into two negro republics. Porto Eico belongs to the United States. Jamaica, which forms part of the British Empire, has a climate and crops very like Cuba. Sugar is the chief. But sugar-cane is not grown so largely as it used to be before sugar began to be made in Europe from beet. Coco-nuts, oranges and plantains grow on the low coast- lands, coffee on the hill-slopes and mahogany and log- wood in the forests of the mountains inland. The chief town and seaport is Kingston. The map shows it will OTHER BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN THE WEST INDIES 53 become more important when the Panama canal is fully used. It is only two days' voyage distant from it. Other British Possessions in the West Indies. A good map shows these are the Bermudas, the Bahamas, Antigua, Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, Tobago and Trinidad. The other islands belong to France and HoUaird. The People. Since the discovery of the islands by Columbus the original inhabitants of the West Indies have almost disappeared. They were cruelly treated by their Spanish conquerors. For many years before the slave-trade was abolished ship-loads of negro slaves from Africa were brought to work in the sugar plantations. There is now a large mixed population of half-Spanish, half-African blood. The number of pure Europeans on the islands is very small. From India a good many eooUes and their famiUes have emigrated to Jamaica and Trinidad to work on the sugar and tobacco estates and to set up as petty traders in the villages. 54 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA CHAPTER XXVII South America Map Studies. The outline of tliis Continent is very- easy to draw and to remember. On all sides it is SOUTH AMERICA statute Miles G£0R{3E.PHILIP A 90N,LT0. FiQ. 50.— The Hiqh Laud and Low Land pp South America. surrounded by the sea. In the north it is joined to Central America by the narrow curved bridge of the isthmus of Panama. Notice that neither on the Pacific nor the Atlantic coast do we see any large inlets of the sea. Unlike North America, Asia and Europe, South America has no peninsulas and only a few islands at its southern end. The largest of these is called Tierra del Fuego, which, in Spanish, means " The Land of Fire." The long, narrow and winding Strait of Magellan between it and the main-land is called after a bold Spanish voyager who first sailed through it. Look at a map of the world or at a globe and notice that South America stretches much farther south than Africa or Australia. Here the climate is therefore much colder than in any part of these Continents."' Build. We have already learned something of, ' the build of South America. It has high land in . the west, stretching the whole length of the Continent, low lands in the centre and high land in the east. 1. The Western High Land. The Western High Land of South America i» higher than that of North America. It consists of the Andes. These mountains are not everywhere a single chain. In the north they form three parallel ranges, with valleys between. Down two of these flow the Magdalena river and its feeder, the Cauca. Opposite the point where you see the inward bend in the west coast the ranges separate from each other. Here the Andes are 500 miles across. Between the ranges are high table-lands. On one of them you see a large lake marked. South of this the ranges come together again and run to the south-most point as a single range. At the place where the Andes are broadest they are also highest. Sorata is one of the highest peaks. It is equal in height to all but the highest of the Himalayas. In the north, opposite the round bend of the coast, are two high volcanoes Cotopaxi and Chimborazo. The former is still alive but. the latter is dead and has ice-fields round 'its mouth. In the southern half you see a dead volcano, Aconcagua, the highest point of the New World. In the far south the coastal range has sunk. Its hills now form a fringe of islands and its valleys 70° Long. West 6o of Or■- \ :;-;-vv'-, '«::..- y^ vKj. Fig. 55. — CoTOPAXi. (By courtesy of the E.M.S.P. Co.) at the foot of the Andes, which tower nearly three miles above it. The houses are only one storey high, as earthquakes often occur. Returning to the coast and saihng south-westwards we find our way blocked by the narrow and hilly isthmus of Panama. But we can cross this by rail from a sea- port on the Atlantic to another on the Pacific. The fine is only some fifty miles long. We can also go by the canal recently dug across the isthmus which joins the town of Colon on the Caribbead Sea and Panama on the Pacific. This canal is about 50 miles long, but, unlike the Suez Canal, it is not cut through sand but across rocky and hilly ground. It has, therefore, locks on it. Anyone who looks at a map of the world can see what a saving in distance, in time, in coal and therefore in money this canal will effect in the case of steamers sailing between Pacific and Atlantic ports. The Pacific end of the Une and of the canal is Panama, an old Spanish sea-port. CO A GEOGRAPHY VOtl BURMA CHAPTER XXX The Voyage (continued) (See Fig. 51, p. 55.) From Panama we take another steamer to continue our voyage. A three day's sail along the coast takes us to the sea-port of Guayaquil. On our way we cross the equator and all along the coast we see the slopes and the distant snow-peaks of the giant Andes. Many of the peaks are volcanoes. Where there are volcanoes, earthquakes are common. We are now in the country of Ecuador, which is the Spanish word for equator. Fig. 56. — A Bailwat up the Slopes of the Andes in Peru. To reach the capital, Quito, we have to climb 9000 feet by railway and mule-back. On the way we pass through dense forests of palms, plantains, india-rubber, cacao and oranges. The mule is the only animal that can be trusted to climb up the steep mountain paths. We ride through coffee and sugar plantations. As we rise higher, it becomes too cold for forests and we reach slopes of coarse grass on which large herds of sheep graze. Quito is one of the highest cities in the world. It stands on a table-land. All round it are giant peaks covered with snow. Some of them are volcanoes. Quito stands on the equator, but, owing to its height, it has a very pleasant climate all the year round. Descending to the coast again we sail southwards, along the shores of Peru. Here we come to the dry part of the western coast of South America.. In some places it does not rain for twenty years at a stretch. Cultivation on this coast can only be carried on by irrigation fed by streams which come down from the melted snows of the mountains. Here cotton, sugar- cane and rice, as well as grapes, tobacco and plantains are raised. The inland slopes produce cocoa and coffee. The western slopes of the Andes are here almost rainless, but the wet mists allow grass to grow, which feeds herds of cattle and sheep. Alpacas and vicunas are .also bred, producing a fine silky wool. But on the rainy eastern' side of the Andes dense forests cover the slopes and go down into the valleys of the Amazon feeders. Here any number of cinchona and rubber trees grow. Three days' voyage from Guayaquil lands us in Oallao, a fine harbour, and a short journey across the dry coast plain brings us to Lima. A boy in Lima may be old enough to go to school before he sees his first shower of rain. The people get all their water from streams flowing from the distant snows of the Andes. In the mountains of Peru are many mines of copper and silver. To reach them we take train from Lima once more up the Andes to Pasco. It was the silver mines that attracted the Spanish conquerors in former times. They are said to have found so much silver in Peru that they shod their horses with it. We could also visit the interior of Peru by landing* at Mollendo, 500 miles south of Callao. From Mollendo we can climb the Andes by another steep mountain railway. It is one of the most wonderful in the world. The line is carried by zig-zag paths along narrow ledges of rock, through tunnels and across great gorges till we reach the high table-land and see the clouds far below us. On we go over the table-land till we reach Lake Titicaca. All around are the lofty snow-capped peaks of the Andes. On the lake are several islands. If we sail across the lake in one of the steamers which carry passengers we enter the country of Bolivia. Not far from the end of the lake is La Paz, its largest city. So rich did the Spaniards find this country that they called it " The Land of Gold." There are still mines of tin, copper, silver and gold, but they are difficult to work. From La Paz we need not return the way we came from the coast. On a good map you can see a railway running A VOYAGE ALONG THE COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA 61 south to a sea-port, Antofagasta, in the country of Chile. On the way we should pass near Potosi, where are the most famous silver-mines in the world. They were dis- covered 300 years ago and enough silver has been dug from them to give every man, woman and child in the world a solid silver bangle. temcry Walker Ltd. sc. Fia. 57. — CHIEF RAIIWAYS ACROSS THE PLAINS FKOM BUENOS AIRES. We are now in Chile, one of the best governed republics in South America. You see it consists of a long narrow strip of coast stretching right down the southern half of the Continent. This coast is nearly twice as long as that of Burma. The warm northern part will, there- fore, be quite a different country from the cold coasts of the south. At Antofagasta we are in the midst of a hopeless desert, for we are still in the rainless part of the Pacific coast. This desert of Atacama stretches along the coast and inland for hundreds of miles into Peru in the north and Argentina in the east. But the harbour of Antofagasta is a very busy one, for, from it is exported some of the richest mineral wealth of the world. In the desert are found rich deposits of a kind of saltpetre whicli is exported in ship-loads to Europe. There it is used as a manure. Chile also sends abroad ship-loads of another kind of manure. Off the coast are many small islands. On these islands millions of sea-birds have made their home for hundreds of years. Their dung covers the rocks and islands to the depth of many feet. It is called guano and makes splendid manure. The presence of nitrate and guano is a proof that this part of Chili is very dry. If it were a wet country like Burma the heavy rain would wash them away. Three or four days' voyage down the coast brings us to Valparaiso, which has the finest harbour on the Pacific coast next to San Francisco. We are no longer in the barren part of northern Chile. We have left the dry, rainless part of the Pacific coast behind. Valparaiso means the " Valley of Gardens." Here we are far south enough to receive the wet westerly winds from the Pacific. A low fertile valley lies between the Andes and a low range of coast hills. Here wheat, Indian corn, tobacco, grapes and other fruits are largely cultivated. In the south are fine forests fed by the wet west winds. These forests are very valuable. We could now continue our voyage down the west coast of Chile and round by Cape Horn. As we went south we should find the weather getting colder and colder and the shores more and more barren. There is only pasture for sheep. The map shows the coast is here broken into islands like the coast of Norway. We should then reach the Strait of Magellan separating the mainland from the group of islands which form the end of the Continent. This strait is 400 miles long and EmcryWalker Ltd. sc. Fib. 58. — Maqet.i.am Strait and part op the Broken Coast op South Ameripa. is one of the chief waterways of the world for steamers. The land on both sides of the strait is very mountainous, and the peaks are covered with snow. Fogs often occur. Only a few savages live on the barren rocky shore. The captains of sailing ships usually prefer going round Cape Horn Island, What is the reason for this ■? 62 A GEOGRAPHY FOR BURMA Instead of coasting round the cold, rocky and barren shores of southern Chile let us take a short cut across the Continent. We can now do this, for a railway has recently been made joining Valparaiso with the sea-port English Miles 3 100 2O0 3CO 400 500 Above 1000 feet I Sea level to 1000 feet • Railitjaqs l7r«"-vWal1ter Ltd. sc. Fig. 59. — The Hilly Table-land and Coasi or S.E_. Brazil.. of Buenos Aires. A six hours' journey takes us to Santiago, the capital of Chile, and a large- modern city like Valparaiso. From Santiago we once more climb the steep slopes of the Andes and cross them by a long tunnel under a pass 10,000 feet above sea-level, close to Mf. Aconcagua. We are now in Argentina. We have left the narrow coastland and steep rugged mountains of the west behind and have entered the great plains of South America. At first we pass through dry land fit only for pasture, because the wet west winds cannot bring rain over the Andes. But, as we go east, the soil gets more rain and becomes more fertile. Rich grass-lands and cultivated fields are seen for miles and miles as far as the eye can reach. Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, the countries which occupy the basin of the Plate river, make up the richest agricultural part of South America. The flat, treeless, grassy plains which stretch from the Atlantic westwards to the foot of the Andes are called pampas. Here great herds of cattle, sheep and horses are bred. Plenty of rain falls, there are many rivers and the soil is very fertile, so that large crops of wheat, maize and linseed are grown. The map shows what an advantage these countries have over those on the Pacific coast. Here the land is nearly flat and railways can easily be made. The basin 'of the main river is a perfect net-work of railways. On the Pacific coast on the other hand only a few lines have been made and that with great difficulty, leading from the coast up the steep valleys and slopes of the Andes. The railways have helped the cultivation of the soil, and the rearing of cattle. By their means the farmers easily send their cattle and crops to the sea-ports for export. Ships loaded with wool, hides, mutton, beef," tallow and butter are constantly leaving these sea-ports for Europe. Large flocks of sheep are bred all over the pampas, but especially in Patagonia. Argentina;" sends more food to Great Britain than any other.' country in the world. The rivers, as they flow through a flat country, also help its trade.' River steamers can sail from the sea up-country for nearly - 2000 miles. Rosario, nearly 200 miles from the sea up the Parana, can take in the largest steamers from Europe. Asuncion, the chief town of Paraguay; though 1000 miles from the sea, is only 250 feet above its level. It is, therefore, an important river port. The two^ chief sea-ports are Buenos Aires and Monte Video on either side of the Plate Estuary. Buenos Aires is the most important city in SouthAmerica and has more than twice as many people as Rangoon. Its position at the entrance to wide fertile plains, to which it is joined by steamers on the rivers and railways running in all directions, makes it so important. The valley behind it is very much longer and wider than that of the Irrawaddy. The climate of the country is cool enough for Europeans and many settlers have crossed the Atlantic to make this land their home. There are few manufactures* On the Uruguay river are two towns, Fray Bentos and Paysandu, where beef-juice and beef are prepared and sent abroad in tins. To make this beef 1500 head of,^ cattle are slaughtered every day from January to June. The breeders of the cattle sometimes pay as much as 50,000 rupees for a bull from England., The last country of South America we learn abouf is the largest— Brazil. It takes up about half the Continent and is about twipe the size of India. The greater part of Brazil consists of the Amazon basin. In the basil} of this mighty river and its -wide-spread feeders the land is low and flat. The chief business of the forest tribes is collecting rubber and forest produce, and taking them down-Stream .to meet the steamers from the coast which sail up to fetch them. A large part of Brazil is taken up, as the map shows, with the Eastern High Lands. Here the A VOYAGE ALONG THE COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA 63 heat is not so great and there is much more tillage. Tobacco, cotton and sugar are grown and herds of goats and sheep are grazed for their skins and wool. The most important parts of Brazil are, however, the southern regions. Here the climate is much cooler. ... Fig. 60. — Aerial Ropeway. The StraAK Loae, Rio de Janeiro. On the high land near the coast much coffee is grown. Brazil produces about three-quarters of all the coffee in the world. It is exported from Santos and Rio de ' Jaineiro, two sea-ports on this coast. In the extreme south of Brazil we reach again the pampas country, and cattle-rearing is here important. All the chief towns of Brazil are either river ports or sea-ports. The largest vessels can reach Manaos far up the Amazon. It is a rubber port. But the chief centre of the Amazon rubber trade is Para, a town on one of its mouths. On the map you can read the names of other ports on the Atlantic — Recife or Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Santos. The largest of these is Eio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, with a population nearly as large as Calcutta. It is built on the shores of a fine bay, and it is a busy port, trading with all parts of the world. From these ports railways run a short way up-country. We have now gone over the map of South America. You have learned what a fertile Continent it is. But, iu spite of its fertility, it is very backward. Large parts of the interior are unexplored. With the exception of the European settlers the people are but httle educated. In spite of its fertihty, too. South America has few inhabitants for its size. They number only about thirty-five millions, which is less than the population of Bengal, and only about three times that of Burma. There are scarcely any manufactures. The exports are chiefly those of the forests, mountains, pastures, fields and mines. Except on the flat pampas lands in the south, there are only a few short railways leading up from the sea- ports of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In many ways South America is thus very different from North America. Fio. 61. — Santos Hakeoue, BeaziI;. — Steamees waitinq eoe Cargoes opCowee. (By courtesy of the Royal Mail Steamship Company.) Principal Railways.. 1 = Orange Free State lo' Meridian of 0° Greenwich ^ 30° Long. East 40°ofG Emery Walker Ltd.'sc.