those of America were also sufficiently civilized to assimilate
new ideas, a stray ship or two was blown by the trade-winds
across the Atlantic. That hypothetical voyage was the precursor
of the great journey of Columbus. Without the tradewinds this
historic discoverer never could have found the West Indies.
Suppose that a strong west wind had blown him backward on his
course when his men were mutinous. Suppose that he had been
forced to beat against head winds week after week. Is there one
chance in a thousand that even his indomitable spirit could have
kept his craft headed steadily into the west? But because there
were the trade-winds to bring him, the way was opened for the
energetic people of Europe to possess the new continent. Thus the
greatest stream of immigration commenced to flow, and the New
World began to take on a European aspect.



CHAPTER II. THE FORM OF THE CONTINENT

America forms the longest and straightest bone in the earth's
skeleton. The skeleton consists of six great bones, which may be
said to form a spheroidal tetrahedron, or pyramid with a
triangular base, for when a globe with a fairly rigid surface
collapses because of shrinkage, it tends to assume this form.
That is what has happened to the earth. Geologists tell us that
during the thousand million years, more or less, since geological
history began, the earth has grown cooler and hence has
contracted. Moreover some of the chemical compounds of the
interior have been transformed into other compounds which occupy
less space. For these reasons the earth appears to have