as large as Ireland; is a plateau with
terraces descending to the sea on each side, and rich in all kinds of
tropical vegetation; consists of seven political divisions: Guatemala,
San Salvador, British Honduras, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mosquitia, and Costa
Rica.

AMERICA, NORTH, is 4560 m. in length, contains over 81/2 millions sq.
m., is less than half the size of Asia, consists of a plain in the centre
throughout its length, a high range of mountains, the Rocky, on the W.,
and a lower range, the Appalachian, on the E., parallel with the coast,
which is largely indented with gulfs, bays, and seas; has a magnificent
system of rivers, large lakes, the largest in the world, a rich fauna and
flora, and an exhaustless wealth of minerals; was discovered by Columbus
in 1492, and has now a population of 80 millions, of which a fourth are
negroes, aborigines, and half-caste; the divisions are British North
America, United States, Mexico, Central American Republics, British
Honduras, the West Indian Republics, and the Spanish, British, French,
and Dutch West Indies.

AMERICA, RUSSIAN, now called Alaska; belongs by purchase to the
United States.

AMERICA, SOUTH, lies in great part within the Tropics, and consists
of a high mountain range on the west, and a long plain with minor ranges
extending therefrom eastward; the coast is but little indented, but the
Amazon and the Plate Rivers make up for the defect of seaboard; abounds
in extensive plains, which go under the names of Llanos, Selvas, and
Pampas, while the river system is the vastest and most serviceable in the
globe; the vegetable and mineral wealth of the continent is great, and it
can match the world for the rich plumage of its birds and the number and
splendour of its insect tribes.

AMERICA, SPANISH, the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, till lately
belonging to Spain, though the designation is often applied to all the
countries in N. America where Spanish is the spoken language.

AMERICAN FABIUS, George Washington.

AMERICAN INDIANS, a race with a red or copper-coloured skin, coarse
black straight hair, high cheek-bones, black deep-set eyes, and tall
erect figure, limited to America, and seems for most part fast dying out;
to be found still as far south as Patagonia, the Patagonians being of the
race.

AMERI`GO-VESPUC`CI, a Florentine navigator, who, under the auspices
first of Spain, and afterwards of Portugal, four times visited the New
World, jus