Rico.

Thus it will be seen that, without taking account of the West Indian and
Mexican branches, a linear train of volcanoes and tracts shaken by
earthquakes may be traced from the island of Chiloe and opposite coast
to Mexico, or even perhaps to the mouth of the Colombia river--a
distance upon the whole as great as from the pole to the equator. In
regard to the western limits of the region, they lie deep beneath the
waves of the Pacific, and must continue unknown to us. On the east they
are not prolonged, except where they include the West Indian Islands, to
a great distance; for there seem to be no indications of volcanic
disturbances in Buenos Ayres, Brazil, and the United States of North
America.

[Illustration: Fig. 89.

MAP OF ACTIVE VOLCANOES AND ATOLLS of THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, and Part
of the adjoining PACIFIC OCEAN.]

_Volcanic region from the Aleutian Isles to the Moluccas and Isles of
Sunda._--On a scale which equals or surpasses that of the Andes, is
another line of volcanic action, which commences, on the north, with the
Aleutian Isles in Russian America, and extends, first in a westerly
direction for nearly 200 geographical miles, and then southwards, with
few interruptions, throughout a space of between sixty and seventy
degrees of latitude to the Moluccas, where it sends off a branch to the
southeast while the principal train continues westerly through Sumbawa
and Java to Sumatra, and then in a northwesterly direction to the Bay of
Bengal.[476] This volcanic line, observes Von Buch, may be said to
follow throughout its course the external border of the continent of
Asia; while the branch which has been alluded to as striking southeast
from the Moluccas, passes from New Guinea to New Zealand, conforming,
though somewhat rudely, to the outline of Australia.[477]

The connection, however, of the New Guinea volcanoes with the line in
Java (as laid down in Von Buch's map) is not clearly made out. By
consulting Darwin's map of coral reefs and active volcanoes,[478] the
reader will see that we might almost with equal propriety include the
Mariana and Bonin volcanoes in a band with New Guinea. Or if we allow so
much latitude in framing zones of volcanic action, we must also suppose
the New Hebrides, Solomon Isles, and New Ireland to constitute one line
(see map, fig. 39, p. 351).

The northern extremity of the volcanic region of Asia, as described by
Von Buch, is on the borders of Cook's Inlet, northea