America displays, not in its central but on its western coast, the greatest chain of mountains on the globe, flanked by plateaus of great elevation, but of superficial area quite out of proportion to the length of the mountain chain, and to the extent of the lowlands of both the northern and the southern divisions. And while in Africa the regions of depression are in the north, and in Asia around the great central plateau system, in the Americas, both North and South, they are thrown into the eastern portion. Australia, in perfect contrast again, is, with the exception of its southeastern corner, a vast tract of unbroken lowland. No diversity is possible there, no change in the condition of life, but a ceaseless uniformity of monotonous but prodigal gifts. Is not the imposing grandeur of these harmonious, provisional arrangements for the use of man calculated to fill the soul with admiring wonder, and to lead us to suspect, above all this display of cause and effect, above all this working out of a manifestly preconceived plan, the existence of a great and active Being, who has planned and executed it all with higher ends and a loftier purpose than to satisfy the mere earthly life of man? Primeval Formation of Plateaus and Mountains. To enter upon a discussion of the manner in which plateaus and mountains were formed, would make it necessary to resort to such judgments as we could draw from their external appearance and their internal structure. The rapid progress of geology does indeed afford us many probabilities thoroughly grounded. A few of these may have been briefly indicated in connection with some elevated regions, where the massiveness is striking, and where the axis of elevation is prolonged to a considerable extent. In such cases the influence exerted on the world is more evident than it could be elsewhere. _Origin of Plateaus._