t is always bitter cold at the top of some of these
mountains because they reach so high. Even in summer they are capped
with snow. Nowhere in the world can more magnificent scenery be found.

West of the Rocky Mountains is the Pacific Mountain System.

Gold and silver are mined in the Western Highlands. In the wild parts of
the forests, where no people live, deer, wolves and bears may be found.

7

The low land between the mountains we call _plains_ or _valleys_. There
is a Great Central Plain which reaches from the Eastern Highlands to the
Western Highlands. There are many rivers in this valley. The Mississippi
and the Missouri Rivers are the largest.

8

You remember how rivers make rainfall and fertile soil. The Great
Central Plain has some of the best farm land in the world. In the
northern cold part hardly anything grows, but in the central part great
quantities of corn, grain, fruits and vegetables are raised. In the
south the plantations or farms raise sugar cane, cotton, tobacco, rice
and coffee.

[Illustration: SHEEP ON THE PLAINS.]

On the western plains great herds of thousands of sheep and cattle are
raised.

In the Great Central Plain are hundreds of cities where the farm
products are sold. Here, too, the farmers buy the farm tools and
machinery which they need. In the city mills the wheat is ground into
flour and the logs from the forests are sawed into planks or made into
furniture. The cattle and sheep are killed and the meat prepared for our
use.

9

East of the central part of the Great Central Plain are five of the
largest lakes in the world. When you are in a boat in the middle of any
one of them you cannot see the land on any side. They are called the
Great Lakes. Their names are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and
Ontario. They are all joined together, and from the last a large river
runs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has the same name as the gulf.

There are many other smaller lakes in North America where the land is
low and the water from the rivers and streams fills up the hollows.
Nearly all have fresh water like the rivers. A very few, like Great Salt
Lake, contain salt water.

CHAPTER V

COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA

1

North America contains several different countries. Each is under a
separate government. These countries are United States, British America,
Danish America, Mexico and Central America. Each country has its own
ruler and its own laws. Eac