The Atlantic shores of North America, though con siderably indented, are yet inferior in extent to those of Western Europe. The shores of eastern Greenland, being constantly bathed by the cold Arctic current, are generally ice bound. Its western shores are more broken, and somewhat higher. The coasts of the Hudson Bay Territory and Labrador are low, barren, and inhospitable, the few forts or villages being either Moravian Mission stations or depots for furs. Passing the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is ice-bound during the winter, the coast of the United States is on the whole level, and in some parts marshy. There are several good harbours, but the only large indenta tions from Nova Scotia to Florida are the Bays of Fundy, Delaware, and Chesapeake. The shores of the Gulf of Mexico are generally low and sandy, and off Texas fringed by long narrow islands, enclosing numerous lagoons. The delta of the Mississippi is flat and swampy, and yellow fever is prevalent at certain times of the year. The eastern coasts of Central America are in some parts low and sandy, but generally they slope more or less abruptly from the central mountain chain, which is continued along the Isthmus of Panama into the Andean system of South America. The coasts of Venezuela, Guiana, and Brazil are in general low and unbroken, but occasionally bold and rocky. There are several good harbours,
but only two large indentations—the Gulf of Venezuela lead ing into Lake Maracaybo, and the Gulf of Ririe, From the latter to Cape Corrientes the only considerable openings are the estuaries of the Amazon and the La Plata. The east coast of Patagonia is more broken, but there are scarcely any good harbours. The shores of the island-group of Tierra del Fuego are generally bold and rugged.
Viewing the Atlantic as a whole, therefore, we find that its southern division is remarkably free from islands, and has a limited., because unindented, coastline; while the North Atlantic contains several groups of large islands, and is so deeply indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and other inlets, that it has an enormously greater extent of coast. Of the four continental land-masses forming the eastern and western boundaries of the Atlantic, the shores of Europe and North America, but more especially the former, are the most irregu lar, and consequently the most extensive, while those of South America and Africa are remarkably regular and unbroken. On the whole, the irregularity and development of the Atlantic coast-line is such that it exceeds in length the total extent of the coasts of all the other oceans taken together.