Physical Geography

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Baldwin and Cradock, 1828

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Page 16 - ... invisible. These animals are of a great variety of shapes and sizes, and in such prodigious numbers, that, in a short time, the whole surface of the rock appears to be alive and in motion. The most common...
Page 11 - The lowest and most level parts of the earth, when penetrated to a very great depth, exhibit nothing but horizontal strata composed of various substances, and containing almost all of them innumerable marine productions. Similar strata, with the same kind of productions, compose the hills even to a great height. Sometimes the shells are so numerous as to constitute the entire body of the stratum. They are almost...
Page 16 - The examination of a coral reef during the different stages of one tide, is particularly interesting. When the tide has left it for some time it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and ragged ; but...
Page 32 - Scotland was divided into two provinces — the one on the north, and the other on...
Page 33 - ... they pass rapidly along the surface of the sea, and continue a quarter of an hour or more before they disappear. A notion has been entertained that they are very dangerous to shipping, owing to the descent, at the instant of their breaking, of a large body of water sufficient to sink a ship ; but this does not appear to be the case, for the water descends only in the form of heavy rain.
Page 52 - In the rainy season," says M. Humboldt, " the horses that wander in the savannah, and have not time to reach the rising grounds of the llanos, perish by hundreds amidst the overMowings of the rivers. The mares are seen, followed by their colts, swimming, during a, part of the day, to feed upon the grass, the tops of which alone wave above the waters. In this state they are pursued by the crocodiles ; and it is by no means uncommon to find the prints of the teeth of these...
Page 16 - Strait — I named it Half-way Island. It is scarcely more than a mile in circumference, but appears to be increasing both in elevation and extent. At no very distant period of time, it was one of those banks produced by the washing up of sand and broken coral, of which most reefs afford instances, and those of Torres
Page 9 - Many of the largest rivers mingle with the sea by means of a single outlet, while others (for instance, the Nile, the Ganges, the Volga, the Rhine, and the Orinoco), before their termination, divide into several branches.* This circumstance will depend upon the nature of the soil of the country through which a river runs; but it also frequently * The...
Page 21 - ... different parts of the ocean. The level is also continually being disturbed by the operation of the wind in particular regions. Independent, however, of these circumstances, it would appear that in gulfs and inland seas which have only a slight communication with the ocean, the level of the water is usually more elevated than in the latter. This seems to be more especially the case if the only openings of these gulfs are towards the east ; and it is attributed with reason to the accumulation...
Page 45 - The blacks and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters, furnished with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow, and thickens at its surface.

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