The Cedar County advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Iowa) 1853-1856, 1856-01-12
Physical Structure 0. S. America.

The subject of the Physical Structure
Of the Continent OF Souta America, and
The design displayed ia Il Of adaptation TO
the forms OF lite there existing, was re-
Gently presented ID an association ia n.
York city, by Prof. Guyot. The PROBES
sor disseeted the continent as an anato.
mist would the human body, aud showed
in the clcarest manner, by tho aid Of
maps, The design and adaptation OF each
separate part. The exposition was ex-
cesd.ngiy interesting displaying as It dld,
the deslgn of the Creator, aud The use ol
mountains, rivers and pains. After
some introductory observations. designed
to show that the Creator has arranged
the great features OF nature with refer
ence to the de- eIopnent OF man, the lec-
tuner remarked that every continent has
It's especial character, designed TO give il
Individuality, aud 10 produce The very
torms Of lie winch We iId existing upon
II. Some continents are designed for
Ia ure, others for man. 10 illustrate let
Us tase South America, always an OBJECT
Of interest 10 scientific men, and letter
understood by them than North America,
ASIA or Africa. Tlls Is owing 10 the
simplicity and grandeur 9 lis features -
features which ILLUSTRATE a principle, or
| plan Of the Creator. is plan IS very
simple, having three prominent features.
tlist, a long chain OF mouGtalns, ayerag-
ing $4,000 feet In height, secondly, im-
mense vallies extending a distance OF 81
900 miles ana thirdly, extensive table
lands or plains, somewhat elevated above
the lowlands. These pampas predoni-
nate, and The continent Is cmpaancally
the 4 ltlnent oil Great Plains. Ba, an
other peculiar feature IS that the NOUN
! talns are all on the extreme western bor-
de.. Ii is oae-slded Continent. There
are two chains OF these mountains, the
Cordilleras and the Andes, with an ele-
waited valley between them. La crossing
from the Pacific we find the western
slopes dry and arid. No rains fall on
ly an occasional log gi.es moisture to the
scanly vegetation. Passing over the first
chain OF mountains we come 10 a descent
Of several thousand feet In this eleva-
tied valley there is daily rain, but no sum
mer, no winter, only perpetual round
oi bolsterous, uncomfortable weather Ink
that of March with US. There are ne
trees, only a coarse grass, aud lev ce.
reals, the oal y productions. Yet this j,
the reglon 0! the Incas, where all til,
great cities lie. Crossing the seconl
chain OF mountains, we tiud upon theil
eastern slopes extensive forests and de
shtlul climate. Going still farther down
we come to the tropical region, wher,
the vegetation Is exuberan. ,impenetrable
almost uneonquerabe, Two millions 0
square miles untouched by man, with 5,
dense growth that even wild animal
lost ia it. 1t is the predominant iea.ur,
. oil South America--the Continent OF veg
citation. And is very structure show
that it was design ned to give prominenc
to vegetable life. First, i, has the mos
extensive system oi rivers existing In lh
4 world. The Amazon drains a regio
! twice as large as that OF The MISSISSIPPI
!, and It's discharge is so enormous that il
fresh water may DO drawn from the ocea
hundreds Of miles from IFS mouth. I'll