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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

BY

GEORGE W. FITCH;

REVISED, WITH NOTES, ADDITIONS, AND AMENDMENTS,

BY

ALPHONSO J. ROBINSON.

ILLUSTRATED WITH

Numerous Maps and Engravings.

"Let me once understand the real geography of a country-its organic structure, if I may so call it; the form of its skeleton—that is, of its hills, the magnitude and
course of its veins and arteries-that is, of its streams and rivers; let me conceive of it as a whole, made up of connected parts: and then the position of man's dwellings
viewed in reference to these parts, becomes at once easily remembered, and lively and intelligible besides "
DR. ARNOLD

CHANGED TO QUARTO FORM,

WITH QUESTIONS ON THE MAPS,

AN ARTICLE ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES,

४

CHARLES CARROLL MORGAN.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY SHELDON

MURRAY STREET.

COMPANY,

HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-seven,

BY J. H. COLTON,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of New York.

DAVIES & KENT, Stereotypers and Electrotypers, 188 WILLIAM ST., N. Y.

PREFACE.

THE following pages have been prepared with a view of supplying the want of a treatise on Physical Geography, adapted to the use of Schools and Academies. It is rather a remarkable fact, that among the multitude and variety of school-books prepared for the schools in the United States, there is not one devoted exclusively to this science. The consequence is, that Physical Geography, as a separate study, is very rarely taught in our schools, and that all, or most of the knowledge acquired respecting it, is what is incidentally obtained in pursuing other kindred studies.

The Author has aimed to present none but well-authenticated facts, and accordingly he has consulted the latest and most reliable authorities. Among the works from which valuable information has been obtained are "LYELL'S PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY," "MILNER'S GALLERY OF NATURE," "MILNER'S GEOGRAPHY," "KAEMTZ'S METEOROLOGY," "HUGHES' OUTLINES OF GEOGRAPHY," and "SOMERVILLE'S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY." To A. D. Bache, Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, the Author is indebted for various Reports of the operations of that department, and for a Tide Table of the United States, which was specially prepared for this book.

The maps were compiled with the greatest care by Mr. George W. Colton, the aim being to exhibit the most remarkable and interesting features of Physical Geography, so far as they are capable of being represented to the eye.

It is proper to observe that, in the preparation of this treatise, no attempt at originality was made, but simply an effort to digest and arrange the more important facts in an intelligible style for learners. In many instances the Author has employed the phraseology of other writers, without always defacing the pages with quotation marks and references. Lengthened extracts, and those containing peculiar views of an author, are credited to their proper sources.

The Author can not refrain from expressing the hope that the book will meet the approbation of teachers, and excite in the minds of learners a desire for further attainments in this interesting department of science.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE QUARTO EDITION.

In order to accommodate in this work an increased number of maps (some of them on a large scale), and to admit the introduction of map questions on the same pages as the maps, or on the opposite pages, it has been changed to quarto form. In making this change, and in adding the map questions, however, no alteration has been made in the numbers of the paragraphs or descriptive Lessons. The references to the book, therefore, except for pages, will be found the same either in the duodecimo or quarto form.

It is believed that the above-mentioned additions much enhance the value of the work; since, by the more extensive use of maps, the subject is not only more perfectly illustrated, but a greater number of facts are taught through the medium of the eye, and thus are more clearly and durably impressed on the memory, while the student is oftener led to exercise his powers of observation and of philosophic deduction.

A carefully prepared chapter on the physical geography of the United States has been inserted in the Appendix, 1or the instruction of those who prefer seeking a knowledge of the subject in this connection. It embodies the results of the latest researches, and is one of the most complete essays on the natural character and resources of our country that has yet been published.

Many new pictorial illustrations, intended for instruction as well as embellishment, have also been inserted.

It is hoped the foregoing improvements will commend themselves to all who are interested in education, and will lead to

a more extensive use of the book in the higher grades of schools.