CHAPTER XVIII.                           197

trary, the latter stretches still more southward in the
shape of large and small islands which fill the ocean.
In this southern region land and water dispute with
each other their position, so that in one place the con¬
tinent protrudes into the sea, whilst in another the sea
penetrates deeply into the continent.

The continent protrudes far into the sea in the west¬
ern half of the earth, and extends its shores far into
the south. On the plains of this continent live the
western negroes, whence the slaves are brought; and
there are the Mountains of the Moon, and on them are
the Sources of the Nile. On its coast, and the islands
before the coast, live the various tribes of the Zanj.
There are several bays or gulfs which penetrate into
the continent on this western half of the earth—the
bay of Berbera, that of Klysma (the Red Sea), aud that
of Persia (the Persian Gulf); and between these gulfs
the western continent protrudes more or less into the
ocean.

In the eastern half of the earth the sea penetrates as
deeply into the northern continent as the continent in
the western half protrudes into the southern sea, and
in many places it has formed bays and estuaries which
run far into the continent—bays being parts of the sea,
estuaries being the outlets of rivers towards the sea.
This sea is mostly called from some island in it or
from the coast which borders it. Here, however, we
are concerned only with that part of the sea which
is bordered by the continent of India, and therefore is
called the Indian Ocean.

As to the orographic configuration of the inhabitable Theorogra-

1 -I    •            •                                 f   ,              •                        I    •        iM       ii       phic system

world, imagine a range ot towering mountains like the of Asia and
vertebrae of a pine stretching through the middle lati¬
tude of the earth, and in longitude from east to west,
passing through China, Tibet, the country of the Turks,
Kabul, Badhakhshan, Tokharistan, Bamiyan, Elghor,
Khurasan, Media, Adharbaijan, Armenia, the Roman
 

Eurojie.