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Show 154 STEPPES AND DESERTS. (4t) p. 40.-u Os~',ris and Typhon." On the conflict between two races of men, the Arabian pastoral people in Lower Egypt, and the agricultural race in Upper Egypt who were in a more advanced state of civilization; on the fair-haired Prince Baby or Typhon, who founded Pelusium; and on the darkcomplexioned Dionysos or Osiris, see Zocga's ancient, and now for the most part abandoned views, in his great work uDe Origine et Usn Obeliscorum," p. 577. (45) p. 40.-u The uowndary of a pa1·tial European, cultivation." In the Capitania General de Caracas, as generally everywhere on the eastern shores of America, the cultivation introduced by Europeans, and their presence and influence, are limited to a narrow strip of country along the coast. In Mexico, New Granada, and Quito, on the other hand, European civilization has penetrated deep into the interior of the country, and advanced up the ridges of the Cordilleras. There existed in these last named regions a considerable degree of settled and civilized life previous to the arrival of the Spaniards; and they have followed this civilization wherever they found it, regardless whether its seat was near or at a distance from the sea coast. They retained and enlarged the ancient cities, of which they either mutilated the old significant Indian names, or gave them new names, as, for example, of Christian saints. (46) p. 41.-" JJ1assive, leaden-colored granite roclcs." In the Orinoco, and more especially at the Cataracts of Maypurcs and Atures, all blocks of granite, and even white pieces of quartz, whenever they are touched by the water of the river, acquire a grayish-black coating which scarcely penetrates a hundredth of a line below the surface of the rock. The appearance produced is that of basalt, or fossils colored with graphite. The crust appears to contain manganese and carbon ; I say appears, for the phenomenon has not yet been thoroughly examined. Something similar was remarked by Rozier on the syenite rocks of the Nile, near Syene and Philre; by the unfortunate Captain Tuckey on the rocky banks of the Congo; and by Sir Robert Schomburgk on the Berbice. (Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoko, s. 212.) On the |