The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028031064 Cornell University Library D 907.R91 3 1924 028 031 064 STANFORD'S COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL BASED ON HELLWALD's ' DIE ERDE UND IHRE VOLKER.' EUROPE BY F. AV. RUDLER, F.G.S., and GEO. G. CJilSHOLM, B.Sc. EDITED BY SIR ANDREW C. RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S. ETHNOLOGICAL APPENDIX BY A. H. KEANE, M.A.I. MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS, S.W. 18'85 cC A. 3 ^LGf Printed by Edward Stanford, jj Charing^ Cross, London, S. W. STANFOED'S COMPENDIUM OF GEOaRAPHY AND TRAVEL FOR GENERAL READING BASED ON HBLLWALD'S ' DIE ERDE UND IHEE VOLKEE ' Tkamslated by A- H. KEANE, M.A.I. IA\ V I'- '^•'^" PHYSICAL JVIAP or THE MK DITERRAIXEA Jjontlon: .l'MTfa_rd Suuiioxdi. 55, Cliaxio^ Cxoss. PUYS 10 AL M A F O F ill K M E DlTKllR Al^ KAN ' '■ „■- i /■'*<' t*30 Lt pari If ■T^StromboU.r: •. S''' 1* t» J^iua. \T ^fef ■«< L \ Gozpi •ami fj^,,^^^ '^liuz _ ... , ^^^ ' Ziaosa. d'fta Ti cc/ia3 ZampeSusa. -.IZO 230 -1 JE]^ 2^0 ' -xlirv* sol ^ .: //^ st'^:^"^:*^ I J!;V 329 )» 450 551 PHYSICAL MAI^ OF EUROPE EUKOPE. PAET L PHYSICAL DESCEIPTION. CHAPTEE I. INTEODUCTION. 1. Situation, Boundaries, and Outline. It is the course of history rather than the nature of its geographical features that has caused the portion of the earth's surface to which the name of Europe is given to be regarded as a separate division of the land, with the rank of a continent. Historical developments, and the resultant social and political contrasts between it and the adjoining continents, have made this point of view so inevitable that it would be impossible to degrade Europe from its continental rank. The mere fact that this division of the globe con- tains on the whole a much denser population than any- other of the great divisions — upwards of 80 as against less than 5 per square mile in Asia — is one that implies reasons sufficient for considering it by itself, as a distinct rival of the other land-masses holding the dignity of con- tinents. Yet when we regard it strictly from a geographi- cal point of view, it is important to bear in mind that Europe is, after aU, only a peninsula of Asia. Physical 2 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. configuration, climate, the character of the vegetable and animal life, are all circumstances that bring the continuity of Europe and Asia so much into prominence, that it has sometimes been found useful to adopt the term Eurasia as a designation for Europe and Asia combined. For the reasons just indicated, there is always some- thing more or less arbitrary in fixing the boundaries between Europe and Asia ; and usually these boundaries are the result of a compromise between physical and politi- cal considerations. In the north-east the Ural Mountains seem to form a sufficiently satisfactory physical boun- dary; but we must note that this boundary is trans- gressed by the governments of Perm and Orenburg, which belong politically to Eussia in Europe. Farther to the south the Ural Eiver is regularly taken as the boundary : yet this is in disregard of the entire similarity of physical features and ethnological characteristics on the two sides of what is really an unimportant river. In fact, while the Ural Mountains and the Ural Eiver con- stitute a convenient line of demarcation between the two continents, it is important to observe that a better phy- sical boundary is presented by that area of depression which is shown on our orographical map as beginning in the south-east to the west of the Caspian Sea, and which is continued on the other side of the higher ground at the southern end of the Urals, northwards through Siberia at a higher level along the valleys of the Tobol and the Obi, considerably to the east of the Ural Mountains. It is highly probable that at one time the whole of this area was invaded by the sea, and Europe thus completely severed from the Asiatic continent. In the extreme south-east the water-parting of the Caucasus Mountains is usually taken as the boundary between Asia and Europe ; but, for both political and physical reasons, it is much more convenient to adopt as EUEOPE COAST LINE. 3 the dividing-line that depression which is traversed by the Manich, a tributary of the Don. It is this that will be assumed as the boundary in the present work, as it is also in the volume on Asia, in which will be found an account of the whole of the Lieutenancy of the Caucasus. While Europe is, next to Australia, the smallest of the primary divisions of the earth, no other great section of the globe can compare with it either in the variety of its configuration or in the relative extent of its outlines. It has been estimated by Strelbitsky that the coast-line of the European continent, exclusive of the islands, measures as much as 47,790 miles, which gives a ratio of 1 mile of coast to about 75 square miles of area. The advantages which this structure presents as a means of facilitating commercial intercourse hardly need to be pointed out; but it is a no less important con- sideration that the varied outline of Europe, together with its diversity of surface, has given rise to several centres of civilisation, independently developed in their physi- cal seclusion from intervening regions. For nowhere else do we meet with such marked peninsular formations, no vast uninterrupted tracts of land occurring anywhere except in the east. And these very eastern regions are aU comprised within the limits of one political State — the vast empire of the Eussian Slavs; while all the other European nations are crowded together in what remains of the continent. 2. European Seas — Physical History of the Mediterranean, etc. As a consequence of the varied outline of Europe, and of its situation with regard to Asia and Africa, it has both on the north and on the south a number of land- 4 COMPENDroM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TKAVEL. locked or nearly land-locked seas. In the south there is the Mediterranean, with its gulfs and communicating seas ; in the north, the Baltic and its gulfs, and the more open North Sea. The Mediterranean, — from the most ancient times a mighty high-road of civilisation in the strictest sense, the ■water-way between the nations dwelling on its shores, north and south, east and west, now also part of the great highway between Europe and Eastern Asia, — is of all these the most important. No other sea, indeed, has hitherto played a more briUiant or more weighty part in the history of mankind. It was the "Great Sea" of the sacred writers. By the ancient Eomans it was sometimes familiarly termed Mare Nostrum, " Our Sea," and sometimes Mare Internum, "the Inner Sea," to distinguish it from the great ocean that lay outside "the pillars of Hercules," or the two rocks on opposite sides of the Strait of Gib- raltar. Some of the names of its different parts still speak of the history of the peoples on its shores. The Ionian Sea points back to the time when the islands on the south-west of the Balkan Peninsula were settled by Ionian Greeks ; while the Tyrrhenian Sea still preserves the Greek name of Etruria. The term Adriatic even indicates something of the physical history which the sea has passed through within the memory of man, for it is derived from the town of Adria or Hadria, which, when the name was given, stood upon its shores, but now lies several miles inland. But the more remote physical history of this basin is a matter of still greater interest, and worthy of a careful examination. Let any one consider Europe and Asia as a whole, and he will find that the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmora, and the Mediterranean, lie in a western continuation of the great area of inland drainage of Central Asia, which, from THE MEDITEKEANEAN. 5 the confines of Europe on the west shore of the Caspian Sea, extends eastwards for a distance of about 3000 miles. In this immense area the Caspian, the Sea of Aral, Lake Balkhash, and all the numerous minor lakes, are salt, with the exception of those from whence minor rivers flow into lower lakes, in which case the upper lakes having outlets are fresh, and those into which they discharge themselves are salt, the latter having no outflowing streams by which to get rid of their surplus waters. Lake Baikal, which is fresh, is quite outside of this area. The reason of the saline quality of these lakes is obvious ; for all rivers hold salts in solution, generally insensible to the taste, but appreciable to the analyses of the chemist ; and, as lakes which do not discharge their water by outflowing rivers can get rid of it only by means of solar evaporation, the result is that the salts by degrees get more or less con- centrated, reaching in rare cases almost to the point of complete saturation. The surface of the Caspian Sea is 8 3 "6 feet below the level of the Black Sea. In the north it is extremely shallow, but towards the south it deepens, and its extreme depth is about 500 fathoms, or 3000 feet. The shallow and brackish Sea of Azof flows through the Strait of Kertch into the Black Sea, the efi&ux of its waters being constantly repaired by the influx of the river Don. The Black Sea flows through the river-like Bosporus into the Sea of Marmora, and the average loss of water which passes by this channel into the Mediter- ranean is more or less maintained by the influx of the Danube, the Dniester, and the Dnieper, which, in con- junction with the inflow from the Sea of Azof, have so far freshened the water of the Black Sea that its mol- luscan fauna, of Mediterranean type, is in some cases strangely distorted in form. The Black Sea is at least 6000 feet deep where deepest; while the Sea of Marmora, 6 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. which discharges its waters into the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles, is 3360 feet in depth. Southward and westward of the Black Sea lies the Mediterranean, the largest sheet of inland water in the world. Its length is about 2300 mUes, and when critic- ally examined it resolves itself into three distinct basins, each of great depth. The eastern basin lies between the coasts of Syria and Sicily, and is about 1200 miles long, nearly the whole being more than 5000 feet deep, while its profoundest depths range from 9600 to 10,980 feet between Africa and Asia Minor, and reach their maxi- mum of 13,020 feet half-way across between the G-ulf of Sidra and the mouth of the Adriatic. The middle basin lies south of Sicily, and is about 200 mQes iu length, the whole being over 2000 feet deep, while its greatest depth between Malta and Pan- tellaria, as given by Admiral Spratt, is 4200 feet. The western Mediterranean basin, where more than 5000 feet in depth, is about 980 miles ia length. Where deepest, near the African coast, opposite the mouth of the Eiver Kebir, the depth is 9162 feet; between Marseilles and Minorca 9258 feet; and between Majorca and Algiers 9342 feet. Taking a sinuous line of soundiags at the mouth of the Mediterranean between Cape Plata ia Spain and Cape Spartel ia Africa, the average depth is from 600 to 780 feet for at least three-quarters of the way, while the greatest depth is 996 feet. In studying the history of this comparatively shallow outlet of the Mediterranean, we find that there is geo- logical evidence tending to show that it has been subject to various oscillations. At a recent period in the earth's history — probably during one of those interglacial epis- odes when a mild climate intervened between periods of Arctic severity — the outlet was closed. An isthmus of THE MEDITEKEANEAN. 7 land then connected Europe and Africa at this point, allowing of the passage into Europe of various African mammals (the Hhinoceros leptorhinus, African lynx, spotted hyaena, etc.), whose remains have been found in fissures and caves in the limestone rock of which Gibraltar is mainly composed Subsec[uently this isthmus was again submerged, and with it the rock of Gibraltar, to the depth of at least 700 feet, and then again there followed a re- elevation, which probably at one time reached such a height as to permit of a second immigration into Europe of African mammals. The question thus arises, What effects have these oscillations of the relative levels of land and sea produced on the history of the Mediterranean ? If we consider the relation of the three Mediterranean basins and their soundings to the closing of that sea by upheaval of the above-named opening, it becomes obvious that, had the upheaval been sufficient also to uplift the comparatively shallow area between Sicily and Tunis, that which is now one long inland sea must then have presented the spectacle of three large salt lakes, compar- able in their nature to the Caspian, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Marmora, the whole being then, even more obviously than now, a mere western prolongation of the area of inland drainage of Central Asia. The eastern lake between the coasts of Syria and Sicily must have covered an area much more than twice as large as the present Caspian Sea, and south of the present coast of Sicily lay the second lake-basin, which, as shown by Admiral Spratt, somewhat resembled, both in form and size, the Sea of Marmora. Like that sea or salt lake, it also communicated with the more eastern lake by a narrow gorge 1740 feet deep where shallowest, and comparable to the Bosporus, through which the water of the Black Sea now flows as a rapid salt river to the 8 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Sea of Marmora; while at its north-western end it com- municated by a long narrow channel with the western basin that lies between Italy and the Strait of Gibraltar. This channel, which is now 1270 feet deep where shallowest, is aptly compared by Admiral Spratt to the salt stream of the Dardanelles, for they are much the same in length and breadth, and iu each case the sound- ings rapidly deepen outside their two ends. It thus appears that at a certain period of its history the Mediterranean area of depression was occupied by three great salt lakes, which communicated with each other by narrow river-like channels ; and present sound- ings seem to indicate that a similar narrow and not very deep gorge for a time connected the western lake with the Atlantic Ocean. Under these circumstances it is hard to determiue whether the waters of the Mediterranean area were then Salter or fresher than they are now. That they were not fresh we may be certain ; but, if a river current ran from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, it may be that, like the Black Sea now, these inland Mediterranean lakes were gradually freshening, unless solar evaporation of the broad land-locked waters helped to keep them salt, or even to make them salter than the Atlantic Ocean, which, indeed, the Mediterranean is now, in spite of the influx of such great rivers as the Don, the Dnieper, the Bug, the Dniester, the Danube, the Nile, the Po, the Ehone, and the Ebro, aided by all the other minor rivers that, from the west of Italy and from France and Spain, pour their waters into the great inland sea. If an amount of water equal to that of aU these rivers now flowed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic, the Mediterranean would of necessity gradually become fresh- ened ; but their freshening effect is more than counter- balanced by the mighty river-like rush of Atlantic water THE MEDITEEEANEAN. 9 which pours through the Straits, the influx of which is due to the immense amount of evaporation that is con- stantly going on from the surface of the great continental sea. One result of this is, that the present Mediterranean is somewhat more salt than the Atlantic, for the latter, according to Bischoff, contains 2-6 73 parts of common salt by weight in 100 parts of water, while, according to William Kamsay, the Mediterranean contains 2'946 parts, and the proportion of pure water in the Atlantic to all the substances held in solution is greater by '243 than in the Mediterranean. This difference is accompanied by a difference in specific gravity which leads to the superficial inflowing current being partially counterbalanced by a deep-sea outflowing current across the submarine ridge that shuts off the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. It is no doubt in consequence of this counter -current that a higher specific gravity is found at a depth of 350 fathoms than at the surface west of the ridge (1'0285 as agaiast 1'0270); but there is more direct evidence of the exist- ence of such a current in the fact that in 1712 a ship that foundered between Tangier and Tarifa was cast ashore a few days later about 5 leagues farther to the west. At the eastern end of the basin these conditions are reversed. From the Black Sea, where the influx of fresh water is in excess, there is an outflowing surface- current through the Bosporus, but, as shown by the explorations of the Shearwater in October 1872, a strong inflowing deep-sea current.^ Another result of the same steady inflow from the Atlantic is that the Mediterranean does not share in the Atlantic tides. The great inland sea is not, however, absolutely tideless, as has often been asserted. It has tides of its own, though small ones. At few places on 1 0. Pesohel's Ph/yaische Erdkwnde, ii. 104-5. 10 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. its shores does the height of the tide exceed 2 feet, though near Venice it sometimes reaches 3 feet. At the Island of Zante it is no more than 6 inches.^ Such is a brief account of the past history and pre- sent state of the Mediterranean area; but something remains to be said respecting the physical origin of the inland basin in which its waters lie. When we examine a geological map of Europe and the north coast of Africa, we observe that the Mediterranean area on the north side of the sea consists to a great extent of Miocene or Middle Tertiary and Pliocene or Upper Ter- tiary strata, and the same is the case with the land around the Sea of Marmora and the Black Sea, the Crimea, the shores of the Sea of Azof, and part of the west coast of the Caspian. Where Pliocene beds form the coasts they often merely conceal Miocene strata that underlie them. In like manner the Balearic Isles, Corsica and Sardinia, Gozo and Malta, also contain Miocene strata ; Malta and Grozo being entirely formed of these, while Cyprus, Candia, and parts of Greece are partly formed of the same kind of rocks. In like manner the north of Africa at and near the sea between Tunis and Tangier, largely consists of Miocene formations, which form part of the mountain district south of Oran and Algiers, and extend to the flanks of the farther Atlas. Considering that on the mainland of the Mediter- ranean region the Miocene strata are fragmentary, and that the same is also the case in the islands (this frag- mentary condition being the result of time and wide- spread denudation), it is not too much to assume that a very great part of that area was once occupied by Miocene rocks, which, before the Mediterranean came into individual existence, formed a long and broad flat-lying ■■ K. E. A. von Hoff, GeschicMe der natiirlichen Verandenmgen der Erddberfliiche, Gotha, 1834, vol. iii. p. 256 (cited by Peschel). THE MEDITERRANEAN. 11 land, of which Malta and parts of the other Mediter- ranean islands survive as fragments. By and by a gradual sinking of this vast area began, apparently simul- taneously with that of the subsidence of the Asiatic area of inland drainage (first explained by Pallas), of which, as already stated, the Mediterranean area is a western prolongation. It is now a widely-accepted canon in geology that when on a great scale parts of the surface of the earth are depressed, other portions are upheaved, often more or less parallel to the areas of depression ; and these effects beiug due to shrinkage of the earth's crust, mountain chains have been upheaved at various periods throughout all known geological time. It is for this reason that the strata of all great mountain chains are extremely contorted, the beds, once horizontal, having been, by intense lateral pressure, forced into a smaller space than they originally occupied when flat, just as plaited layers of cloth occupy less space than the same layers when flattened out. It is a fact well known to geologists, that after the close of the Eocene or Lower Tertiary Epoch, the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Carpathian Mountains, underwent one of those last and greatest upheavals, which raised them into chains of the first European magnitude. The Miocene epoch of the European area was a period of repose, except for the occurrence here and there of ordinary volcanic phenomena, accompanied by minor oscillations of the level of the land in relation to the sea. But in the area under review this epoch was brought to an end by a renewed upheaval of the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Caucasus, and other mountain regions already named. So important was this event, that the thick flat -lying consolidated Miocene rocks which flanked the bases of the older Alps on both sides were, together with these mountains, heaved 12 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. in places thousands of feet above their former level. Even at the pl'esent day they axe found on the Eigi, for example, at the height of nearly 6000 feet above sea-level; but when we remember how much they must have since lost by degradation, we must conclude that the Alps and the other mountain ranges mentioned, must, at the beginning of post-Miocene times, have been prodi- giously higher than they now are; and the amount of depression that the Mediterranean area underwent must have been commensurate, so to speak, with the great height to which the Alps, the Pyrenees, and other moun- tain ranges were upheaved in post-Miocene times. The same kind of minor Miocene mountains adhere to the flanks of the Pyrenees and the Caucasus, and also to the other mountain regions already named, including the Atlas south of the Mediterranean ; and indeed these remarks are equally applicable to the Himalayan range, which, after a prodigious upheaval in post-Eocene times, underwent, like the Alps, a second and post-Miocene ele- vation of great amount, as witnessed by the Siwalik hills on the southern flanks of the chain. These facts easily lead us to the consideration of the gradual sinking of the great Asiatic area of inland drain- age, which was the cause, or rather the complement, of the last great upheaval of the Himalayan range. A consequence of this depression of the land was, that an old Asiatic Mediterranean was formed in a basin, the relics of which still remain in the vast area of inland drainage, the proximate limits of which, from the Black and Caspian Seas eastward, have been insisted on by Sir Eoderiek Murehison, in his work on Bussia and the Ural Mountains. In Uke manner, and if possible even more obviously in the opinion of some authorities, the gradual sinking of the Mediterranean area by degrees produced, first, the three great and deep inland salt lakes THE MEDITERRANEAN. 13 already described, and afterwards, by further depression of the area, a vast inland sea, which, in time, by the submersion of the Strait of Gibraltar, admitted the inward rush of the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Finally, it may be pointed out that the deep-sea fauna of the Mediterranean has apparently been influenced by the physical history and by some of the present physi- cal conditions just described. That fauna is surprisingly scanty, though recent explorations have shown that it is not quite so scanty as was at one time believed to be the case : they have proved also that the deep-sea forms of the Mediterranean are the same as, or aUied to, those of the abyssal regions of the open ocean. Among other forms, the crab Willemcesia and the silicious sponge Syalonema, both characteristic of the depths of the ocean, have now been dredged up from the bottom of the Mediterranean.^ The poverty of the Mediterranean deep-sea fauna generally has been accounted for by supposing that it is due to the want of free oxygen in the depths of that sea. In the open ocean it has been shown that the surface polar waters, after getting oxygenated through their contact with the atmosphere, gradually sink in lower latitudes to the bottom, and then creep along the bottom towards the equator. But the situation of the Mediterranean is such as to exclude these abyssal waters. The submarine ridge at its mouth would probably in itself be sufficient to exclude them, but they are all the more effectually kept out by the effluent current that passes over the top of that ridge. The access of such abyssal oceanic forms as are found within it may possibly date from the periods when the bed of the Mediterranean was greatly depressed below its present level. 1 See La Scoperfa di ima Fauna ahissaU nel Mediterromeo, by Professor Enrico H. Giglioli: Rome, 1881. 14 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AKD TEAVEL. 3. The Western Coast — The North Sea. An arm of the Atlantic, forming the English Channel {La Manche, or " the sleeve," as the French call it, from its shape), divides the northern coast of France from the great group of the British Isles. These, however, once formed a part of the European mainland, from which they have been separated within a comparatively modem geological era. As shown on the river-basins map, they lie in very shallow waters coveriag a submarine plain which stretches on the one hand to the west of Ire- land, and thence southwards through the Bay of Biscay to the neighbourhood of the Iberian coast, and, on the other hand, far across the North Sea. An inspection of that map will show that an elevation to so moderate an extent as 100 fathoms would be sufficient to obliterate the Eng- lish Channel, St. George's Channel, and the whole of the North Sea, save a narrow strip of deep water running round the south-western extremity of Norway, as well as to ex- tend the French coast a considerable distance to the west. Were it possible to drain the North Sea or German Ocean, its bottom would present the appearance of a steppe with gentle undulating lulls no larger than moderate-sized dunes. It was only subsequent to the glacial period, to which a more detailed reference will be made in a future paragraph, that the North Sea, by denudation and sub- sidence of an old plain, roUed in, and thus severed Great Britain from the mainland. Even in historic times the North Sea ' has been at work modifying the outlines of the coast, and the work is still going on. The east coast of England annually suffers considerable waste by the action of the weather and the sea, and on the mainland of Europe the DoUart was formed ia Friesland on January 12, 1277; and the thirteenth century likewise wit- nessed the irruption of the Zuider Zee. THE BALTIC. 15 On the other hand, it is not to be forgotten that a process of an opposite kind is likewise going on, though at a much slower rate. The whole area of the North Sea is being gradually filled up by the deposition of sediment. It has been pointed out that even the colour of the water shows that there is much more matter of a sedimentary nature always to be found in the waters of the North Sea than in those of the Atlantic : this is due not only to the fact that the former is by much the shallower, but also to this, that there is no escape in the latter for the tidal wave. The tides from the Atlantic enter the North Sea both by the Strait of Dover on the south, and by the wider opening on the north. Towards the southern end of the sea the two branches of the wave meet, the high tide of the northern branch filling up the depression of the low tide of the southern, and vice versd, so that at this part of the sea scarcely any tide is observable. Both tides are checked, and the arrest of the water promotes deposition. The Dogger Bank is a result of this process, and the shifting sands farther to the south are likewise due in part to the same cause, though the original forma- tion of the Goodwin Sands is said to have been due to the submergence of an island within historical times. 4. The Baltic. The North, or, as the Danes call it, the West Sea, repeats on a small scale the part played in the south of Europe by the Atlantic Ocean, inasmuch as it communi- cates, like it, towards the east with a true though less important inland sea. This inland sea is the Baltic,^ the 1 The origin of this word is doubtful. It is generally supposed to be derived from Baltia, the ancient name of an island off the coast of Scythia, perhaps Zealand. "With the term Baltic the name of the Belts is probably connected. 5ato in Lithuanian signifies "white," whence it has been suggested that the Baltic signifies the White Sea. 16 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. dimensions of wMch will be found in the statistical appendix. The Baltic is essentially a shallow sea. During the expedition of the Pomerania in 1871 the greatest depth found was 126 fathoms, a depth which was reached between the Island of Gotland and Vindau, on the coast of Kourland. Near the mouths of rivers which empty themselves into the Baltic the depth of water becomes greatly diminished by the accumulation of detritus, and many of the harbours are in constant danger of being silted up. As regards its physical conditions, the Baltic pre- sents in many points a contrast to the Mediterranean, the corresponding inland sea in the south. We have just seen that it is a shallow, while the Mediterranean is a deep sea. But, moreover, it will be remembered that in the Mediterranean evaporation preponderates over rainfall and river-discharge, and the water is consequently abnormally salt. Here, however, the reverse is the case. In consequence of the vast volumes of fresh water which are continually being poured into the Baltic, and the comparatively small amount of evaporation, the salinity is exceedingly low. As might be expected, the farther we penetrate into the Baltic the fresher is the water. Thus in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia the surface-water is almost sweet, while as we return south- wards it becomes more and more brackish, though even in the Belts the surface-water is not more than half as salt as the water of the JSTorth Sea. Further, just as in the Mediterranean, the preponderance of evaporation leads to an inflowing current from the Atlantic, so here the pre- ponderance of influx gives rise to an outflowing surface- current through the Belts into the Kattegat. Sometimes, it is true, the wind neutralises or even reverses this current; but under normal conditions it sets from the THE BALTIC. 17 Baltic outwards. Beneath this outflowiag current of light and comparatively fresh water there may, however, be detected a current of denser and Salter water which sets towards the Baltic, just as there is an outflowing current in deep water at the Atlantic mouth of the Mediterranean. This deep backflow naturally retards the freshening of the waters. But there is one point in which the two seas corre- spond. As in the Mediterranean, so in the Baltic, tidal influence is felt to only a very small extent. At Copen- hagen the difference of the tides is about 1 foot, while in the harbour of Wismar it does not exceed 3 or 4 inches ; and as we advance far into the inland sea it becomes almost inappreciable. It is notable, however, that the Baltic waters are subject to changes of level corre- sponding to barometric variations, and similar to the seiches of the Swiss lakes. As a consequence partly of the comparatively fresh character of the water, and partly of the shallowness of the sea, the surface of the Baltic is very readily frozen, and all its ports are ice-bound for at least a third of the year. During frosts of exceptional severity the entire surface of the Baltic has been frozen over. Thus in 1658 Charles X. of Sweden, returning from Poland to attack Frederick III. of Denmark, marched his army across the Belts; and in 1809 a Eussian force passed from Finland to Sweden across the frozen waters of the Gulf of Bothnia. 5. The Northern Islands and Seas. Though in no way geographically connected with Europe, still there are generally included in this division of the globe certain islands which are situated in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Eising from a sub- marine plateau in the Mid- Atlantic, between Norway and 18 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Iceland, and distant some 200 miles from the northern- most point of Scotland, are the Faroe Islands(m Danishi^dr- oer, that is, " sheep islands"), a group of twenty-five islands and islets, composed mainly of basaltic and other volcanic rocks, believed to be of Miocene age, and associated in two of the islands with beds of lignite or impure coal. A submarine ridge connects the Faroe Isles with the great volcanic island of Iceland, the last refuge of Norse legends, speech, and customs. This interesting island will be described when treating of Scandinavia. Against North Cape, the northernmost extremity of Europe, and along the shores of this arctic section of the continent, surges the Polar Sea or Arctic Ocean, which forms south- wards a vast bight known as the White Sea, nowhere more than 500 feet deep. The Polar Sea also washes the shores of several islands, including some of consider- able extent, such as Xaniskaia Zemlya and Kolgouef, two islands off the coast of Eussia, between the mouth of the Petchora and the White Sea ; while the group of Novaya Zemlya stretches northward as far as latitude 75°. This group may be described as a northern continuation of the Ural chain, an intermediate step being represented by the island of Waigatch, which is separated from the Eussian mainland only by the narrrow channel called Yougar Strait. North of Novaya Zemlya lies the archipelago of Franz- Joseph Land, discovered by Payer and Weyprecht in 1874. This group of islands includes the most northern land yet discovered in European seas, one part of the group, known as Petermann Land, extending beyond 83° N. latitude. Due north of Scandinavia, and therefore to the west of Franz-Joseph Land, is the archipelago of Spitsbergen, dis- covered by Barents as early as 1596. The other islands of the Polar Sea, which are usually regarded as northern satellites of the European continent, are of very slender EUROPE BELIEF. 19 interest. To the east of Spitzbergen are WicJie's Land and Giles' Zand; between Spitzbergen and the Scandi- navian mainland is Bear Island; and between Bear Island and Iceland there rises in mid-ocean the volcanic island of Jan Mayen. 6. Belief of Europe. Por a general idea of the relief of Europe the reader is referred to the physical map, and descriptive details will be found in the following chapters dealing with the divisions of the continent : hence in this place a brief notice will suiEce. A glance at the map will reveal the fact that the orographical features of Europe are no less diversified than are the outhnes of its coasts. It will be observed, also, that, with the exception of the dividing range between Europe and Asia in the north- east, the mountains are confined to the north-west and the south, and that in the south the prevailing direction of the chains is from east to west, just as in the corre- sponding latitudes of Asia. This latter circumstance, as we shall afterwards find, has an important effect on the climate and the distribution of animal and vegetable life on the continent. The highest and most important ranges of mountains in Europe, within the limits adopted for the continent in this volume, belong to the Alps, and of these it will be well to give here a short general account, inasmuch as this cannot appropriately be done in any of the subsequent chapters, none of which embraces the whole region traversed by them. These mountains cover a total area of about 90,000 square miles in the very heart of the continent, and just about midway between the Equator and the North Pole. They begin with the Maritime Alps, the lowest range in the group, between France and Italy, and sweep round first northwards and then eastwards through 20 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TRAVEL. Switzerland into Tyrol and the adjoining provinces of Austria, where the last spurs spread out like the leaves of a fan. They consist of many successive and parallel chains. Where broadest they extend over a stretch of about 170' miles. Their highest summits are in the middle ranges, those bounding the east and west part of the Ehone valley, where there are many peaks exceeding 13,000 feet in height. Their culminating point, as is known to everybody, is Mont Blanc in Savoy, which attains an elevation of 15,732 feet. A general character of the group is the extremely zigzag outline of the ridges owing to the great height to which the peaks rise above the average elevation of the chaias. While many sum- mits attain the altitude just indicated, it is a noteworthy fact that most of the passes are under 7000 feet in height.-' In this respect the Alps present a contrast to the Pyrenees, in which most of the passes are only slight notches in a remarkably regular ridge. The mean height of Europe was estimated by Hum- boldt to be 669 feet (204 metres). But according to the more recent calculations of Dr. Gustav Leipoldt,^ based on data not at Humboldt's command, the mean elevation of the European continent is not less than 973'8 feet (296-8 mfetres).^ ' It is a curious fact that the heights of the principal passes of the Alps leading into Italy are in most cases nearly the same. They are : Feet. Peet. Great St. Bernard . . 8120 St. Gothard . . 6936 Little St. Bernard . . 7200 Mont Cenis . .6848 Spliigen . . . 6945 Simplon . . . 6595 " Ueber die mittlere Hohe Europa's, 1874. ^ It may be interesting to give the following comparison of the mean heights of the several continents, expressed in round numhers : English Peet. Mitres. Europe . . . . 980 = 300 Asia .... 1650 = 500 Africa . America Australia 1970 = 600 1350 = 410 820 = 250 v„J .^mf- ^^-"-t rt"'/!' ^.ft >'>, 'v .-,. ^- - ''^fjS^^'^^-^ ,■■■ ■°v^ 5x\v vV .\ ■,'0 \ \ \ ^yfei^%(^'.' ^5^ -^ /Tx^ s'/r ^J/&v''"' i>.V «r«"" *,-■;"•!.;. i^'S'- '^' duaSa^sWstLt jGrk-aiiA ' Scale of Euilisli Milei Ei.^linl DO U>0 IM) VOO hirii'rr.is ,„,•„' F.'tah' r.,i„J„„ EUROPE EIVEES. 2 1 7. Siver Si/stems. Eegarding the rivers of Europe, it is first of all worthy of note that their course is for the most part determined in conformity to the general disposition of the mountain systems. The rivers, as a rule, do not cut through the mountains, but flow on different sides of them towards different seas. The Alps and the Carpathians send forth great streams to the north and south, and the Danube, the greatest of the European rivers m respect of volume, the second in point of length, flows between these two mountain systems. The Pyrenees form the water-parting between France and Spain, the Urals between Europe and Asia, and the Apennines and the highlands of Scandiaavia form those of their respective peninsulas. This arrange- ment of the rivers of Europe in obedience to the prevailing orographical features might be taken almost as a matter of course, yet it is a characteristic in which this continent contrasts more or less with all the others. In Asia the lofty ranges enclosiag the great central and western table- lands are everywhere pierced by the great continental rivers,^ and the same is the case with the rivers of the Eocky Mountain region in North America ; ^ while in the eastern part of the latter continent the principal streams, — the Potomac, the Susquehanna, and the Delaware, — in their passage to the Atlantic, cut right across the highest ranges of the Alleghanies. Africa is described by Living- stone as an elevated plateau somewhat depressed in the centre, with fissures for the escape of the rivers;^ and subsequent explorations have confirmed this description. Europe itself is not without minor exceptions to the rule just stated. . The Elbe has to pierce the Erzgebirge before 1 See vol. " Asia " in Stanford's Compendium, p. 10. = See vol. "North America," p. 43. 3 The Zambezi amd Us Tributaries, p. 5. 22 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. it reaches the ISTorth German plain. The Danube may justly be said to divide the Carpathians at the Iron Gate (see Balkan Peninsula), and the Transylvanian Car- pathians are also intersected by one or two of the great tributaries of that river, such as the Aluta. In our own island the rivers which drain the "Weald of Sussex and Kent, flownig northwards and southwards, cut through the chalk escarpments of the N'orth and South Downs. Other minor exceptions to the rule will be noted in the subsequent chapters, but Europe presents no exceptions on a scale corresponding to what is observed in Asia, America, and Africa ; and the Elbe is indeed the only European river of importance which traverses in its course a range of mountains of greater elevation than the water-parting of the district where it takes its rise. The facilities afforded to naAdgation by the rivers of Europe are of the highest importance, but they are of a different kind from those presented by the great rivers of Asia and America. The configTiration of the European continent does not allow of the development of rivers which can rival in magnitude and volume those of the land -masses just mentioned; and in the case of its longest rivers, the Volga and the Danube, there are special circumstances that deprive them of the value that they might otherwise have possessed as water-ways. The Volga, with its numerous important tributaries, has a very considerable length of inland navigation (see Russia), but, unfortunately for Eussia, empties itself into an inland sea, so that all the water-ways belonging to its system are cut off from direct communication with the outside world ; while the Danube, which itself begins to be navigable at TJkn in Bavaria, and is joined in its course by sixty navigable streams, has its lower course obstructed by a rocky barrier, difficult and dangerous to cross (see Austria, Hydrography). The chief importance EUROPE LAKES. 2 3 of the rivers of Europe in respect of their naAdgabUity is derived from the fact that the varied outline and configu- ration of the continent cause so many streams to reach the coast directly, thus giving access from many points at a longer or shorter distance inland. For purposes of irrigation the rivers of southern Europe are also of the highest importance. South of the parallel of 40° N. the perennial streams hecome fewer and fewer, giving place to those which dry up in summer, and in some parts streams that might otherwise flow perennially are prevented from reaching the sea in summer through having their water drawn off to feed irrigation canals. Such, for example, is frequently the case in the south-east of Spain, where the irrigation works of the Arabs are stiU ia a large measure main- tained. But the most fully-developed system of irrigation in Europe is to he found north of the limit mentioned in the vaUey of the Po, where the abundant waters brought down from the Alps by the tributaries of that river are utilised with the utmost skm. 8. Lakes and Fiords of Europe. Another striking feature of the hydrography of Europe is the large number of lakes dotted over its surface. The central Alps are fringed both on the north and south by series of lakes, those on the north having their surfaces at an elevation of from 1200 to 2000 feet above sea-level, while those on the south lie at a height of from 600 to 700 feet. In like manner in Scandinavia there is a stiU greater profusion of lakes, most of which lie in Sweden on the east side of the water-parting ; while all along the north and west coasts of Norway the mountains are penetrated by a vast number of fiords, long, steep-sided, and deep in their upper reaches, but comparatively 24 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. shallow at their mouths. This combination of fiord and lake scenery is in like manner well shown on the west coast and in the interior of the Highlands of Scotland, hut on a smaller scale, proportionate to the more limited area of the country and the lesser height of its mountains. In England there are no true fiords, but many lakes in the mountain regions of Cumberland and North Wales. The region between the White Sea and the Gulf of Koland is also, so to say, strewn broad-cast with lakes. It is certain that iu Europe and in North America the prevalence of lakes in the interior and of fiords on the coast is especially characteristic of high mountain regions, and indeed of all those territories that are, or have been, much affected by glacier-ice on a large scale. It is a fact familiar to geologists that on the southern side of the Alps vast sheets of glacier-ice passed down the valleys, and deposited their terminal moraines some- times far out in the valley of the Po. The same was the case on the northern side of the Alps, but on a still larger scale, for a vast glacier-sheet spread across the whole of the so-called Lowlands of Switzerland, so thick that it passed at least half-way across the range of the Jura, and far eastward to the neighbourhood of Linz, on the Danube ; while to the west broad and thick branches of glacier -ice passed from Mont Blanc towards the valley of the Ehone; and all down the Upper Ehone valley by G-eneva a glacier pushed on to where Lyons now stands, and there deposited a great terminal moraine. It has been shown by M. Alphonse Favre that the thick- ness of the Ehone glacier above the delta of the river where it enters the Lake of Geneva was in places more than 5000 feet, and perhaps even this is an under-estimate. The country between the higher Alps and the Jura is formed of Miocene strata, which to a great extent con- sist of sandstones and soft marls, whUe the Alps proper ETJEOPE LAKES. 25 are formed of older and harder rocks. The post-Miocene upheaval of the Alps being of much older date than the great Glacial Epoch, there is every reason to suppose that, by the influence of rain and rivers, the greater valleys of the moimtains had been to a very great ex- tent scooped out before the beginning of the gradual growth and increase of the Alpine glaciers. Therefore, when, by iacreasing severity of the climate, the glaciers grew in size and weight of ice, it is obvious that their erosive power must have been generally greatest ia the deeper valleys through which they flowed, and also in the country formed of Miocene rocks opposite these valleys across which the glaciers steadUy progressed. The obvious result follows, that in and beyond these valleys the eroding power of ice, thousands of feet ia thickness, was greatest, and the effect for a space was to scoop out broad and deep grooves or hollows, shallow at their upper ends, often deepest more or less towards the middle, and shallow towards their lower ends, where the ice began to thin, or where harder rocks that crossed the onward march of the heavy ice-stream proved more difficult of erosion. When, in course of time, the climate began to ameliorate, the glaciers by degrees retired into the interior valleys of the higher Alps, where, very much shrunken in size, many of them still remain. The result was, the flrst appearance on the south side of the Alps of such great lakes as Maggiore, Lugano, Como, and Garda, bounded by mountains on the north, west, and east, and by moraines and low rock-barriers on the south. The same conformation has been proved with regard to the large lakes of Switzerland that he be- tween the Alps and the Jura. For example, the Lake of Geneva, near its middle, is about 1000 feet deep; while towards Geneva it gradually shallows, and not far below the outflow of the Ehone solid rocks form 26 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the bed of the river only a few feet below the level of the surface of the lake. The same kind of reasoning shows that the lakes of Brienz and Thun are rock-bound. These originally formed one lake till separated by the growth of the delta that now forms broad alluvial meadows. It has also been shown that the lakes of Lucerne (1437 feet above the sea), Zug, the WaUen-see, Zurich, Constance, and Neuch§,tel, all lie in rock -basins produced by the erosive power of glacier-ice ; and high up among the Alps there are many minor lakes visibly bordered all round by glaciated rocks, such as the lake by the hotel at the Grimsel, the Todten-see higher up by the route to the valley of the Ehone, and the lakes of Sarnen and Lungem on the road across the Briinig between Lucerne and Meyringen.^ In like manner all, or almost all, the lakes of Sweden and Norway were scooped out by those great ancient glaciers that ploughed their way from the Scandinavian chain towards the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic, and the minor lakes of Norway farther north had the same origin. Furthermore, the great array of fiords that inter- sect the whole coast of Norway owe their peculiar con- figuration to the erosive power of glacier-ice, for each fiord is simply a deep vaUey prolonged from the main- land under the sea, and all of these valleys were once filled with glaciers sometimes thousands of feet in thick- ness. Also, when critically examined with the sounding- line, it is shown that such fiords are always shallow at their mouths, with deep interior basins towards their upper ends. Were the whole country and the adjoining sea-bottom heaved up sufficiently high, every or almost every fiord would present the spectacle of a steep-sided valley containing a deep lake, comparable to the valley 1 For details on this and allied subjects see " On the Glacial Origin of certain Lakes," etc., Quart. Jour. Oeol. Soc, 1862, vol. xviii. EUROPE LAKES. 2 7 of Loch Lomond in Scotland or to the lakes of Maggiore and Como, -which in part of their history may be aptly compared to Norwegian fiords.^ The lakes of Finland, according to Professor ISTorden- skjold, are not rock-bound basins, but of a kind common in the lowlands of many regions that have been sub- jected to glacial action. Whatever the precise cause may have been, the effect was to produce great tracts of irregular mounds of sand and gravel called asar (plural of as), so arranged that they are apt to enclose manj hollows, great and small, in which the inland waters accumulate — sometimes, as in Fialand, forming numerous lakes. However this may be, it is certain that some of these lakes are more than a hundred miles long, and are sur- rounded by land over 500 feet in height, and in their general outlines bear a strong resemblance to some of the rock-bound lakes of Sweden and Norway. Like that country, it is also certain that the whole of Finland was overwhelmed by the great Scandinavian ice-sheet, which, indeed, advanced at least three times over northern Ger- many as far as Altenburg and Dresden, as shown by Dr. Penck of Munich. Turning to the mountainous districts of Great Britain, the phenomena common in Sweden and Norway are repeated there. As in Scandinavia, so in the Highlands of Scotland, there are unnumbered lakes, great and small, and the same is the case amidst the mountains of Cum- berland and Westmoreland, of Wales, and of Ireland. In ^ All of these circumstancea regarding the lakes and fiords of Scandinavia were inferred and published by Professor Eamsay in 1862, and his inferences were afterwards strongly supported by Pro- fessor Amund Helland of Christiania in his admirable memoirs, "On the Ice-fiords of North Greenland, and on the Formation of Fiords, Lakes, and Cirques in Norway and Greenland," Journal of the Geol, Soc, 1877. 28 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEATEL. all these regions, too, we meet, as is well kaown, with the most unequivocal marks of former glaciation, and, in short, we find everywhere in Europe proofs of an inti- mate connection between the Glacial Epoch and the presence of a great number of lakes, large and small, and of fiords on rocky mountain coasts in certain northern latitudes. It may be remarked, moreover, by way of confirmation, that the same rule holds good in North America, where both lakes and fiords cease about latitude 42° ; wMle to the north (east of the Eocky Mountains) the whole country may be said to be sown broad-cast with lakes. 9. Geological History. In a previous section part of the geological history of southern Europe has been given in connection with the physical history of the Mediterranean basin, and it will now be well to complete that sketch by taking a rapid survey of the growth of the European continent.^ So far as the researches of geologists can reach, the oldest extensive land -area representing the European continent appears to have lain in the north and north- west, and probably stretched far towards the margin of the submarine plateau previously described, though now surviving only in the Archaean rocks of Finland, Scan- dinavia, the north-west of Scotland, and a few other widely-separated localities. To the south lay a shallow sea spreading over most of the European area, but prob- ably having islands in its midst. The bed of this sea slowly subsided, receiving as it sank the deposits that now form the Cambrian and Silurian rocks ; and this went on untU, in the region where Britain now lies, the 1 For part of the following sketch we are indebted to a paper by Dr. Arch. Geikie on "Geographical Evolution," Proc. Boy. Geogrwph. Soc, 1879, p. 422, republished in Geikie's Geological Sketches, 1882, p. 312. Rom 'Ni-ailiC ^L/iJ. "^^^^^ ■ ■'»,.,<, *« V % / Aihiviam & Dnlt ''^' ^'^/■^ /' Cretaceous / Jarassic or Ooiiiic W:i'/i/ i/ li!i l /i^ll!ihl l lil l E l i i l l ^ liiliL^- ,^ ,.o. riif''"'^"""' ,.^\..o' ^ ^aV. ' s, o Carbanifexous, £A* d/i/-* ujtts moj-k CoalMta^urc-s !Devan"ia"n SilunaTi & Cam.bria.n Ory.ql plVm f; ScllLBt3,etc. / Igneous Kocks: / Jtachyte, Basait elo- ^--,,^^^^ '^■^; -- ..J^^^^^;'^S5^^^?^>:^ Wy ~~-^^r':::f*"<>4 ^>c-^x::i^?t;g^ /MshorS^Ge»^J,a,„raB.' ^ dumber <^ ^ -C /T" ""'"Wl E-siish Channel i^^z.::::^'^^'^^^ IV^^ll...."" Bank'-"" 'V,,^^ ^..^. 'V, *'^' ,p, / <■<» C i^' •*" ,^.4.^Z ui^ ' ;-/'■; w /'/' f '! '-K ; W lgS^:' TTT3 R / * i'ert^olto . ' (icfr I ^^Jy'* ^ EUROPE G ElO LO G I CAL Scale of English jriles r — r ^ r ■ '■ >^=.:=i So o 50 lOO IfiO »0D ■sjt 46^ .''■r.j/t/rnfy bfOif' Jistni^ L.'tul-n. Lmiduii . F.d'W'iU'ii Sfiiui'ijrd, 35 CliHi-ia^^ Cross BUEOPE GEOLOGY. 2 9 acetmnilated. sediment attained a thickness of several miles. At the close of this period vast changes took place, which led to the first appearance of elevated ridges on the sites of the Alps, the mountains of Spain, and the highlands of Britain. The floor of the Silurian sea underwent violent contraction, by which its strata were thrown into undulations and folds, and considerable areas were forced above the surface of the water. Large basins of water were thus cut off from the ocean, and became gTadually converted into fresh-water lakes, the waters of which, however, were strongly impregnated with iron. These lakes are now represented by the deposits of the Old Eed Sandstone epoch, ia which the characteristic rock is a sandstone having each of its grains of sand coated with a thin pellicle of oxide of iron. From the position in which these deposits are found, and the nature of the remains contained ia them, it would seem that one of these large lakes extended right across the centre of Scotland almost to the western sea-board of Ireland; whUe another, to which the name of Orcadia has been given by Prof A. Geikie, extended from the west of the Moray Firth to the Sognefjord and Dalsfjord in Norway, and even perhaps into western Eussia. Meanwhile further changes were goiug on. While the most extensive area of high ground stiU. lay on the north-west, the southern parts of Europe came to be represented only by a number of islands. What are now the high grounds of Britain were then merely an island group. The elevated land of Bavaria and Bohemia like- wise stood out above the waters. The Spanish peninsula was an island of still larger size, and an irregular ridge stretched from the Mediterranean across the site of France towards what is now Brittany. As the shallow waters surrounding the islands and ridges became slowly silted up, great tracts of marsh were formed. Crypto- 30 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. gamic vegetation flourished in these marshes, and during a succession of slow depressions and upheavals much of this vegetation came to be buried under submarine mud. In this way the principal European coalfields, those of the Carboniferous era, took their birth. Movements of upheaval, ushering in the next era, led to the formation of great land-locked basins similar to those which had characterised the Old Eed Sandstone epoch, with this difference, however, that the basins of this later era were in many cases much more completely cut off from the sea than the earlier ones. Those having no outlets became salt, and many of the principal beds of rock-salt in Europe — such as those of Cheshire in Eng- land; those of Stassfurt, HaJle, and Sperenberg in Ger- many ; those of Hallein and Berchtesgaden in Bavaria ; and of the Salzkammergut in Austria — are relics of these old Permian and Triassic lakes. It may here be mentioned that it was previous to this era that the first and principal upheaval of the Ural Mountains took place. Silurian, Devonian, and Carboni- ferous rocks make up the bulk of these mountains on the flanks of their crystalline core ; but the Permian at their base are composed of the waste derived by denudation from these older strata. And it is likewise worthy of notice that during all the various disturbances that took place in the course of the development of the European continent, the greater part of the Eussian area escaped the violent contortions that affected most of the rest of Europe. Only in the Urals themselves and in the Crimea do we meet with those crumplings which are characteristic of chains of upheaval generally; it has, how- ever, recently been shovm by Prof. Karpinsky that some dislocation and disturbance are likewise apparent in a region in the south stretching from the Sandomir ridge in the south of Poland, through the governments of Kief and EUEOPE GEOLOGY. 31 Poltava, to the coal-basin of the Donetz, and thence to the Bogdo Hills in Astrakhan.^ After the Triassie period in the geological history of Europe, subsidence oceuired to an extent far exceeding any that had yet taken place. It is true the highlands of the north-west of Britain still continued to remain as land; but it seems probable that most of the other parts of Europe that had been dry since the ridging up of the floor of the Silurian sea were now again submerged. The ISTorthern Alps were once more laid under water, and so also was at last a large part of the Iberian plateau. In this wide- spreading sea were formed those thousands of feet of lime- stone, shale, and sandstone that constitute the Jurassic system. A still greater amount of submergence distinguished the succeeding age, known as the Cretaceous. Yet the sea that covered so much of the European area at this period was probably a shallow sea, not exceeding a few hundred feet in depth. There appears to be reason to believe that there was a northern basin somewhat isolated from the open ocean of the southern region. In the northern basin was deposited the calcareous ooze which became converted into the white chalk of Eng- land, of the north of France, Belgium, Denmark, and Worth Germany; while contemporaneously there was formed in the open ocean of southern Europe the " hippurite lime- stone." Again during the Eocene epoch the European area seems to have been represented less by land than by water. A wide sea, indeed, appears to have occupied the greater part of Central Europe and of Asia ; and it was not till Eocene times were drawing to an end that the European continent began to assume somewhat of its present form. 1 Nature, vol. xxix. p. 461, citing Memoirs of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, vol. xiii. 32 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. It was then that the great mountain chains of the south — ^the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, and the Car- pathians, as well as the Caucasus — were upheaved to a considerable elevation, the upheaval being accompanied with violent contortions of the strata. The subsequent history of the European continent consists chiefly in minor modifications of the outline, the filling up of great internal lakes, and the raising of the mountains to a still higher level by secondary upheavals, as already indicated in the section dealing with the physical history of the Mediterranean. During Miocene times the lofty range of the Alps was flanked on the north by a great fresh- water lake ; and it is interesting to find that the remains disinterred from its ancient bed prove that Europe then supported a vegetation characteristic of a much warmer climate than it now enjoys. Date-palms, sequoias, Canary laurels, and evergreen oaks were then among its products; and it is still more remarkable that other vegetable remains of the same epoch show that an almost equally genial climate must have prevailed throughout the whole of the continent, even to the extreme north, and, indeed, far beyond the present northern confines of Europe. It was after the close of the next period — the Pliocene — towards the end of which the climate of Europe was getting gradually colder, that the Glacial Epoch referred to in the previous section occurred. The mountains of Scandinavia, the British Isles as far south as the Thames valley, the whole of the North German plain, with the intervening seas, and all the north - west of Eussia, were then covered with one vast sheet of ice in some places thousands of feet thick; and at the same time enormous glaciers descended from the Alps, while the other lofty ranges of Europe were all more or less glaciated. The effect of this state of things on the EUROPE GEOLOGY. 33 surface of Europe was not confined to the area in- vaded by ice. Withia that area it not only seems to have hollowed out lake-hasins in the manner already indicated, but it likewise overspread the surface, especi- ally in the hollows, with a covering of triturated earth known as boulder- clay — a deposit generally supposed to be derived from the underlying rocks by the grinding action of the moving mass of ice. But a large part of the richest soil of Europe beyond the limits of the glaciers and the great northern mgr de glace seems to have owed its origin to the same conditions. In all the river-basins of central Europe, in the Ehone valley, the valley of the Ehine and its tributaries, those of the Fulda, Werra, and Weser, iu the basin of the Elbe, the Hungarian flats watered by the Danube and its tributaries, and even in the higher valleys of the Carpathians, there is a deposit known as loss, "a yellow or pale grayish-brown, fine- grained, and more or less homogeneous, consistent, non- plastic loam, consisting of an intimate admixture of clay and carbonate of lime," found not only in the lower grounds, where it is thickest, but even at heights of 800 and 2000 feet, sometimes, it is even said, 3000 to 5000 feet.^ Everywhere these deposits form an exceed- ingly fertile soil Various theories have been advanced as to their origin ; but almost all who have inquired into the subject appear to be agreed that the material of which they are composed is the fine silt derived from the grind- ing action of glaciers ; and the most probable explanation of their distribution seems to be that this silt was spread over the surface of the land during the floods that must have overtaken the rivers at the annual melting of the snows and ice in the glacial summers, the higher deposits being thus laid down when the rivers flowed at higher levels, the lower ones at subsequent periods when the 1 Prof. J. Geikie, Prehistoric Europe, pp. 144, 146. D 34 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AJSID TEAVEL. rivers had worn their beds to greater depths. In the case of the rivers flowing northwards, the extent of the floods would naturally be increased by the fact that the rivers would be obstructed by the great ice -sheet that then overspread the land.^ Again, in Eussia, where loss is absent, there is an enormous area in the south covered by a rich soil known as chernozem, or " black earth," and a similar explanation would account for its presence in that region ; but, owing to the diEference of the configuration of the surface, and owing to the fact that the floods from the foot of the ice- sheet drained southwards, where there was no obstruction to their course, the chernozem was more evenly distri- buted, and never attained such a thickness as is some- times reached by the loss.^ 1 0. Climate. It is in studying the climate of Europe that it is most important to remember that this division of the earth is, after all, simply a peninsula of the great Eura- sian continent. It is only by so doing that we can dis- cern the correspondences and understand the differences between Europe and America. As part of the Eurasian continent Europe corresponds only to the western part of North America, and, like it, has its temperature greatly eq[ualised by its proximity to the sea. In the north-west it is considerably elevated through the influence of warm marine currents from the south-west. Hence, if we trace the isotherm of 32° Fahr. for the coldest month in the year, we find that it descends almost straight from north to south through the south-west of Norway to the heart of the continent, showing unmistakably how the proximity ^ Prof. J. Geikie, Prehistoric Europe, p. 239. 2 Ibid., p. 243. RAINFALL AND TEMPEJLVTUJtE 3LVP OF EUROPE SCALI OF EHGlISH miles Loijaou;EdMa,-.l StaiifoiiH , r>r. CKaimg CVi.ss SW EUROPE CLIMATE. 35 of the sea tends to keep up the winter temperature. It must always be remembered, however, that the direct effect of the sea is upon the winds that blow over its surface. It is the winds that are the direct carriers of temperature from the ocean to the land, and it is owing to the fact that in the parts of Europe referred to, as in the similarly situated parts of America, the prevailing winds are south-westerly, that these regions are so excep- tionally favoured in respect of temperature. In Europe, however, this favourable influence reaches to a higher latitude than in the western continent, inasmuch as the configuration of the North Atlantic Ocean has the effect of causing a greater body of warm water to be carried by currents to its shores. Applying the term temperate zone to the belt included between the annual isotherms of 32° and 68° Fahr. (0° and 20° C), Dr. Alex. Supan, of the University of Czernowitz, has found that the whole of Europe, except the extreme north of Eussia, is embraced by it; and dividing this zone into an equatorial, or southern, and a polar, or northern, section by the iso- thermal of 32° Eahr. for the coldest month of the year, though he thus assigns to the former a much larger pro- portion of Europe than of America, he has calculated that the proportion between these two sections in America and Eurasia is nearly the same.^ In consequence of the equalising influence of the North Atlantic Ocean, with its warm currents, upon the temperature, it foUows that, as ia America, so also in Europe, the extremes of temperature between summer and winter increase as we go eastwards. This is well illustrated by the following figures showing the mean temperature for the whole year, for the coldest and warmest months (January and July), and the difference between the last two, in a number of places situated ^ See Petermann's Mittheilungen Sept 1879. 36 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TRAVEL. ■within a degree of the same latitude (51^52-|-), hut in different longitudes : — Year. Jan. July. Difference. Greenwich . 49-7° F. 38-9° F. 62-6° F. 23-5° F. Berlia . . . 48-4 31-3 66-2 34-9 Warsaw (W. Russia) 44-9 24-1 65-5 41-4 Saratof (E. Russia) . 41-7 13-6 71-1 57-5 On this increasing range in the temperature as we go eastwards the Baltic has comparatively little counteract- ing influence, as is shown by the fact that at Arbroath, in Scotland, the mean range of temperature between the hottest and coldest months amounts to only 21-^° F., as against nearly 42° F. at Eiga, which is situated in approximately the same latitude. In the south of Europe, on the other hand, the Mediterranean Sea, owing to its greater size, has a markedly equalising influence upon climate, in proof of which the same data as those given above for Greenwich, Berlin, Warsaw, and Saratof are here furnished for four towns, all lying in nearly the same latitude (about 38° N.) in southern Europe : — ^ Year. Jan. July. Difference. Lisbon . . 60-1° F. 50-5° F. 70-1° P. 19-6° F. Muroia . . 62-6 48-7 78-9 30-2 Palermo . . 63-7 51-6 76-8 25-2 Athena . . 64'8 47-6 82-6 35-0 It wUl be observed that the mean temperature of the year and the temperature for July are lower at Lisbon than in all the towns mentioned on the Mediterranean, which shows that in southern Europe the influence of the Atlantic on temperature is a lowering one, unlike what is found in the north. The data furnished by other meteor- ological stations on the Atlantic seaboard of the Iberian peninsula confirm this observation, and the effect in ' Reduced from the C. to the P. scale from Fischer's Klima der Mittelmeerlander, p. 23. EUROPE CLIMATE. 3 7 question is to be explained, according to Fischer in the treatise just cited, as due to the existence of a cold current on the coast of Portugal. But it is not merely to the Mediterranean Sea that the countries on its shores owe the remarkahly uniform climate which they enjoy. Another clunatic advantage is derived from the fact, already referred to ia a previous section, that the mountains in the north of this region have a prevailing east and west direction, and, being almost continuous, act as a barrier to shut off the colder winds from the north. The benefit of this barrier is at once observable when we compare the temperature of places situated beyond its protection with that of those within it. Constantinople is nearly in the same latitude as Naples, but while the mean temperature for the year at the former city is under 57° Fahr., and for the month of January about 40° F., the corresponding temperatures in the latter are 62^° and 50°. The rivers of southern Russia are regularly frozen for a longer or shorter period every year, while on the southern slopes of the range of mountains that traverses the south-east of the Crimea the climate is greatly ameliorated, and the Mediterranean flora reappears as if by magic. The rain-chaxt of Europe presents the main general facts regarding the rainfall so far as they can be shown by such a method, but it will be worth while to devote a few sentences to the consideration of the meaning of the facts there portrayed. In doing so it is necessary to bear in mind that the moisture that falls as rain is mostly derived by evaporation from the ocean ; that in Europe such moisture is carried to the land mainly by south- westerly winds, the exact direction of which, however, is greatly affected by local features ; that the chief cause of condensation, or, in other words, the conversion of invis- ible vapour into clouds and rain, is a reduction of tempera- 38 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEATEL. ture ; and that hence, in the case of places at an eq[ual distance from the source of moistuie, the rainfall is sure to be greatest at the place where, and the time when, there is the greatest difference between the temperature above the land and that above the ocean whence the moisture is derived. These facts being kept in view, it wiU be readily understood why the rainfall, on the whole, diminishes from the west eastwards, and likewise why there are exceptions to this general rule. Everywhere mountains have the effect of condensing the moisture by forcing the vapour-charged air to ascend to higher and colder levels. The higher the mountains the more in- evitably will this effect be produced, and when the moun- tains run at right angles to the direction of the prevailing rain-bearing wind, like the Harz, the Bohmerwald, and the Eiesengebirge in Germany, they give rise to a heavy rainfall to the south-west, while the region to the north- east remains comparatively dry. Such being the effect of mountains, it is important to note that Europe enjoys a great advantage over the corresponding part of the New World — namely, the west of ]N"orth America, — ^in that it has no continuous range of high mountains near the coast to shut off the fertilising moisture from any great tract in the interior. The high mountains of Europe are for the most part in the heart of the continent, and, even where they are not so, do not run at right angles to the direction of the rain-bearing winds. Hence, though the mountains and hills of Great Britain and Scandinavia cause the west coasts of those countries to be much wetter than the eastern sides, yet they are neither sufficiently high nor so placed as to deprive the latter altogether of their share of moisture. The following figures^ illustrate in an interesting 1 Eeduced from Otto Kriimmel in Zeitschrift der Erdkunde, vol. xiiL, 1878. (Fractions disregarded). EXJEOPE- - CLIMATE. 39 maimer the difference between west and east coasts as regards rainfall, especially where mountains intervene : — West. Inches per year. East. Inches per year Qalway 52 Dublin 30 Skye . 103 Aberdeen 30 Penzance 42 London 25 Bergen 90 Ckristiania 22 Gbteborg 33 Stockholm . 16 Husum 30 Liibeek 23 As to the period when the rains occur, it wOl be observed, in the first place, that the map divides Europe into two great regions, — one in the north, in which the rains are pretty equally distributed over all seasons, and the other embracing the whole of the Mediterranean region, in which there is a decided preponderance of winter-rains, and characterised in the south by almost entirely rainless summers. This division of Europe, as regards rainfall, into two zones, the southern of which is called the sub-tropical zone (including not only the European, but also the Asiatic and African countries bordering on the Mediterranean), was originally based on the labours of the German meteorologist Dove, and is connected with the movements of the trade-wind region from season to season. It would be out of place here to enter iato details regarding these movements and the modifications of the winds in the countries round the Mediterranean consequent thereon ; it is enough to mention that the trade-wind region oscillates from north to south with the position of the sun in the heavens, advancing farthest to the north in summer when the sim stands highest, and retreating to the south in winter when the sun is low. The consequence of this oscilla- tion is that, while the whole of the northern zone is exposed all the year round to Atlantic winds from the south-west, the Mediterranean region is so chiefly iu 40 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. winter, being in summer drawn to some extent into the domain of the trade-wind blowing more or less from the north. To the ancient Greeks this summer trade-wind was known in the east of the Mediterranean, where it is most marked, as the Etesian — that is, annual wind ; but, though less steady and regular farther to the west, it can still be made out in Malta, Sicily, and Calabria, and in the south-east of Spain as far north as Murcia.^ This trade- wind is always dry, and accounts in a large measure for the rainlessness in summer of the region marked off on the map as having that character. This limit, it should be mentioned, is adopted from a map accompany- ing the treatise just referred to, and has been drawn so as to include all places with a smaller summer rainfall than 5 millimetres (2 inches). It wHl be observed that it includes fuUy the half of Spain, and that, in general, Spain is the least favoured country in Europe as regards rainfall ; but here it is only necessary to call attention to that fact, which will be more appropriately considered, along with various other special features of the rainfall of Europe in the chapters devoted to the different countries. We must not leave unnoticed, however, the indications given in our rain-chart as to the period of the year when the rains are most abundant even in the zone in which they are pretty equally distributed throughout the year. The chart shows that the autumn rains are most plentiful in the British Isles and Norway, in the west of Europe generally, and likewise in all mountainous regions. This is very easily explained in accordance with the general facts already mentioned with regard to the occurrence of rain. It is during the autumn months that the difference of temperature is greatest between the air above the land in the parts indicated and that above the water. Evapor- ■^ T. Fischer, Das Klima der Mittelmeerldnder, p. 19. ETJEOPE CLIMATE. 4 1 ation is still going on -with considerable rapidity in the Nortli Atlantic, but the land is already cooled and the atmosphere above less able to retain vapour in suspension. In the plains of eastern Europe, agaia, the heaviest rainfall occurs in summer. If the reader will refer to the Isothermal Chart he will see that in winter the isotherms in eastern Europe run from north-north-west to south-south-east. The consequence is that the equatorial rain-bearing winds, blowing at right angles to these lines, get more and more drained of their moisture as they advance. The number of days on which rain or snow falls in winter does not diminish greatly as far as the Urals, but the total quantity of the precipitation gets materially reduced. In summer, on the other hand, the moisture that is condensed in rain is not for the most part directly derived from the Atlantic, but is of local origin. The excessive heat of the sun leads to a great amount of local evaporation while the air is stUl, and when cold super- venes from any cause the moisture is again condensed in heavy showers accompanied by thunder and lightning.^ These rainfalls are accordingly less refreshing to the ground than those of western Europe, and are quite compatible with a considerable degree of drought, for they occur at intervals with great violence, and when they are past may leave the surface of the earth for weeks together exposed to the effects of a glaring sun by day and extreme cold by night. There are still certain local phenomena connected with the climate of Europe which it will be more con- venient to treat of here from a general point of view than to relegate to the chapters dealing with the various sec- tions of the Continent. These are the winds known as the mistral and hora, the fohn and the sirocco. The first two of these are essentially the same in ■'• Woeikof, IHe Atmosphdrische Circulation, p. 14. 42 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. character, though they are called by different names in the difierent localities in which they prevail. The mistral, that is, the magistral or masterful wiad, is a north- west wind which Mows on the coasts of the Mediterranean, from the mouth of the Ebro in Spaiu to the shores of the Gulf of Genoa, but is specially prevalent in the French portion of this area round Marseilles, and which deserves its name on account of the extreme violence by which it is generally characterised. In France it has been known to overturn railway trains, and the injury which it does to vegetation, and more particularly to trees, which it wiH sometimes almost entirely strip of their foliage,^ renders it, as an old proverb intimates, one of the most detested scourges of Provence. Its injurious properties are in- creased by the fact that it is always of a piercing icy coldness, like our east winds. Still its iafluence is not wholly a noxious one. It renews and purifies the air, the few valleys in the south-east of France which are wholly sheltered from it being mostly unhealthy ; and in spite of its coldness both Grisebach and Fischer are agreed in maintaining that it tends on the whole to increase the mildness of the climate in the region where it prevails, • at least wherever there is partial shelter from its direct action. It does so because it is always dry, and accom- panied by a cloudless sky, and thus promotes the warming of the son by the rays of the sun.^ The cause of this wind is the constant difference ia temperature between the plains on the coast, where the air is rapidly rarefied by the heat of the sun, and the snow-clad heights of the Cevennes and the Alps, and hence there is no season of the year quite free from this scourge, though it is generally most violent, at least in Provence, at the end of winter and ia the early spring. At Marseilles it blows on an ■■ Fischer, Klima der MiiielmeerlaTider, p. 34. ' Grisebaoli, Vegetation der Erde, i. 251 ; Fischer, Klima, etc., p. 35. EUROPE CLIMATE. 43 average 176 days in the year, sometimes contimiing for days together without interruption ; sometimes ceasing at night in order to return with equal violence the following day. At the mouth of the Ebro vaUey, where it goes by the name of cierzo (as at Narbonne it is called cers or cierce), it occurs chiefly in autumn and winter. The bora, the name of which is no doubt an abbrevi- ated form of horeas, the Latin and Greek for the north wind, is a wind of similar character which blows on the west coast of the Balkan peninsula, from Trieste to Albania. lake the mistral, it is always cold and dry, and is gener- ally accompanied by clear sunshine, though not so regu- larly as the former; but it is specially characterised by its liability to blow in repeated gusts, which gradually become less violent and less frequent as the bora dies away. In some cases it is due to precisely similar causes to those which give origin to the mistral, but more fre- quently it can be regarded as nothing else than a north wind which has been held back by the barrier of moun- tains, but blows over the plains with all the greater violence when it finds a gap through which it can make its escape (see Austeia, Karst Eegion). The sirocco is a wind of which various accounts have been given, and this appears to be due to the fact that the name is actually bestowed on winds of very different character and origin. Throughout Italy, on the south-east of France, and aU along the west coast of the Balkan peninsula, the name is applied to moist south-east, south, or south-west winds, which are in no way injurious, and have none of the characters for which the sirocco is pro- verbial. The true sirocco prevails chiefly in Malta and Sicily, though it may extend as far north as Eome, and is even a greater scourge to the regions visited by it than the mistral is to Provence. Like the mistral and the bora, it is violent and dry ; but in other respects it is a 44 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. complete contrast to these. Blowing from the south instead of from the north, it is not cold, hut on the con- trary characterised by scorching heat, which may amount even at midnight to about 95° Fahr.; and the sky instead of being clear is filled with a leaden-coloured haze, through which the rays of the sun can scarcely pierce. Under its breath the ground cracks, vegetation dries up and withers, the leaves of the trees, if it continues to blow for some days, roll up and drop off. Every chink gets filled with the fine dust which it carries. If it occurs at the time of blossoming of the vine or the olive the whole year's harvest may be lost. It is frequently said to be confined to the summer months, but this is incorrect. It may, in fact, occur at any season of the year, and it has the same characteristics in January as in July. Most commonly it blows in spring. As a rule, it lasts for three days, seldom longer, and it may not last more than a few hours. A wind on the south-east coast of Spain with precisely the same characteristics is known under the name of leveche. At Almeria it is specially frequent and violent, but it seldom extends so far west as Malaga. The solano, which also visits these regions, and is often confounded with the sirocco, is, in fact, a wind of a totally different character, being generally a moist east wind. The origin of the sirocco has been much disputed. Dove believed it to have its birth in the West Indian seas, whence he supposed that it travelled eastwards and north- wards with the general north-easterly air-current known as the anti-trade; but there is now a growing opinion in favour of the view that its true birthplace is in the Desert of Sahara, with which origin its most striking characters, its heat, its haze and dust, and its extreme dryness, are in obvious harmony. The fohn agrees with the sirocco in being a south wind ; it yields to none of the others abeady mentioned EUEOPE CLIMATE. 4 5 in the violence with which it sometimes blows. It pre- vails in the valleys opening to the north on the north side of the Alps, and, above all, ia that of the Eeuss. The town of Altorf in that valley has on several occasions been destroyed by conflagrations occasioned by its fury, and the law now req^uires that all fires in the town must be extinguished on its approach. But on the whole, the folm is a beneficent wind, and is welcomed in the valleys where its influence prevails. It blows chiefly during winter and spring, and being warm and dry, is known as " the great snow-melter," from the extraordinary effect it has ia clearing away the snow from the mountaia-sides. Professor Dufour has shown that in one case when the fohn raged for two days in the valley of the Eeuss and the continuation of that valley, ia the Lake of Lucerne, the temperature withia its domain was from 6° to 9° C. (11° to 16° F.) above the normal in northern Switzer- land. In the lower valley of the Inn, which is also affected by it, the cultivation of maize is rendered possible by the elevation of temperature due to its influence.^ Eegardiag the origin of this wind the same difference of opinion has obtained as with respect to that of the sirocco; but in this case there seems now to be little doubt that the birthplace of the wind is to be found far away ia the equatorial seas. The fohn is in fact only a part of the equatorial return current. Though dry ia the valleys dowa which it blows, it has a totally opposite character oa the opposite side of the mountaias which it has to climb before descendiag the valleys. Ia being forced up iato the higher regioas of the atmosphere on the southern slopes it loses all its moisture, and as it thereby gains the heat which was latent while the moist- ure was still in a state of vapour, it does not lose so much heat on the whole during the ascent as it gains on the ^ Supan, Statistik der unteren Lu/tstromungen, p. 82. 46 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TEAVEL. northern slopes during its descent. Hence both its great warmth and its great dryness and evaporating power.^ According to the calculations of Hann, it is cooled during the ascent at the rate of about -|^° C. in 100 mfetres (1° F. in 300 feet), but heated by compression during its descent at just double that rate. 11. Mora and Fauna. Both as regards the flora and the fauna Europe has the character of a pendnsula appended to Asia. This was clearly the case with respect to its chmate, and just as with the climate, so also with the vegetable and animal life, the barrier of mountains and highlands run- ning east and west forms a well-marked line of demar- cation. Considering the general aspect and the affinities of the European flora, Grisebach has assigned almost the whole of Europe to three great regions, each of which is continuous with portions of the same regions in Asia, the most southerly also with a portion in Africa. With respect to the general character of the fauna, again, "Wallace, following Sclater, refers the whole of Europe with the north of Africa to the Falcearctic Region, which includes also the whole of Asia north of the Himalayas, and this region is subdivided into two sub-regions, one comprising the countries round the Mediterranean, and the other all the rest of the continent. Looking more particularly first at the flora, we find that only a very small portion of the mainland of Europe in the north-east belongs to the true Arctic region in. which the characteristic vegetation is that of the mosses and lichens forming the toundras of north-eastern Eussia and northern Siberia. The rest of Europe north of the Alps, and the Pyrenees in the west, and north of the ■' See Heinrich Wild, Ueber FShn und Mszeit, Bern, 1868. EUROPE FLORA. 47 steppe-region of Eussia in the east, is referred by Grise- bacli to what he calls the Forest Eegion of the Eastern Continent, which extends right across Asia in correspond- ing latitudes. Throughout this vast area the same general character stamps the vegetation; and the con- stituents of the flora, to a large extent the same through- out the whole area, vary so gradually that no sharp line can be drawn through any part of it. The whole area is fitted for the growth of forest trees such as are found in our islands, though the forests that formerly existed have in a great measure given way before the advance of cultivation. What is freq[uently known as the " Germanic flora," from the fact that Germany forms its centre in Europe, is the characteristic flora of the whole region. South of the Pyrenees and the Alps aR the countries bordering on the Mediterranean in Europe, Asia, and Africa, have at least ia their lower levels a flora of a very uniform aspect, and with different natural afiinities from those of the Germanic flora on the north. This is the region of the laurel and myrtle, the holly and holm- oak, the pistachio-nut, the carob or locust-tree, the caper and the dwarf-pahn, and among cultivated plants the orange and the oUve. So close is the agreement between the floras north and south of this great inland sea that this fact alone is enough to prove the recent land-connec- tion between the northern and southern shores spoken of in a previous section. M. Cosson, who made interesting investigations concerning the floras of the Barbary States and southern Europe, ascertained that out of 434 plants collected on the maritime district of the province of Constantine only thirty-two were not to be found on the southern coasts of Europe, and though a gradual change is observable in the Mediterranean flora from west to east, the same correspondence is maintained between the opposite shores at different parts. 48 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The general aspect of the Mediterranean flora is in accordance with the warmth and dryness of the climate in summer, and hence the most characteristic vegetation consists in the so-called maguis, that is, evergreen shrubs or small trees, such as most of those above mentioned, with thick leathery leaves adapted to retain moisture. How entirely this macLui form is the result of a climatic adaptation is shown by the fact that the twenty shrubs of the Mediterranean region resembling the oleander ia habit belong to fifteen genera, and these to fourteen differ- ent botanical families.^ Thorny and leafless shrubs and grasses (grasses like the esparto), all having the same jdrought-resisting power, are likewise abundant, especially on the tablelands of Spain. Some of the forms which are now among the most characteristic features of the vegetation of this region have been introduced by man within historical times, and have since run wild. The most notable of these perhaps are the cochineal-fig and the so-called American aloe, which were introduced from the tableland of Mexico in the sixteenth century ; and it must also be remembered that some of the cultivated fruits, for which the Mediter- ranean is now celebrated, such as those of the orange tribe and the date, are not of European origin, and in some cases took long to acclimatise. Even in PlLuy's time none of the orange tribe was cultivated in Italy. Vaia efforts were repeatedly made to introduce the citron, the cultivation of which did not succeed till the third century a.d. Lemons and oranges were established much later, though they are now successfully cultivated even in southern Tyrol. And it was with equal slowness that some other trees, such as the chestnut and the peach, which have now advanced much farther north than the Mediterranean, were brought to yield good fruit within that area. ^ Grisebach, Vegetation der Erde, i. 294. VEGETATION OF SOUTHERN EUEOPE. 49 The annual course of vegetation in the Mediterranean region is just as different in its general aspect from what we find in the north of Europe. The period of repose, which in our part of the continent falls in winter, occurs to the south of the 40th parallel of latitude, — the latitude of the middle of Spaia, the south of Italy, and the north of Greece, — in summer. The maquis are enabled by their leathery leaves to pass this period of repose ia full leaf without injury. N"ot till after the first heavy shower of rain in October does vegetation begiu to revive. The seeds of annual grasses and herbaceous plants begin to germinate, the parched ground becomes again covered with a delicate fresh green; the flowers begin to bloom afresh, and the evergreen trees and shrubs put forth young leaves. North of the parallel of 40° N. this autumn vegetation is brought to an end in the middle of December, but farther south it goes on all through our winter, and then too a whole host of true winter plants begin to bloom, though destined to vanish again in March. In this latter month begins the much richer, more luxuriant, and more varied spriag vegetation, which attains its climax in the month of April. Now the fruit- trees that shed their foliage become clothed again with leaves and covered with blossom ; now the orange groves scent the air for nules around. Orchids and all manner of bulbous plants, hlies, irises and numerous others, rock- roses, lavenders, crucifers, and Compositse appear in innumerable crowds and exhibit the most splendid variety of colour.^ The effect of the mountain barrier in marking off two different floras on the north and south is almost every- where very observable, but nowhere is the transition more sudden than where we pass from the highlands of south Germany to the plains of Hungary. The gradual ' Fischer, Klima der MUtelrmerlander, pp. 32, 33. E 50 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGBAPHY AND TRAVEL. rise in the land from north to south in Germany causes a remarkable uniformity in climate in that region, the rise of temperature due to a more southerly latitude being steadily counterbalanced by the lowering due to the increase of elevation. Hence also the flora remains strikingly constant in its constituent elements, but when we descend to the plains of Hungary, watered by the Danube and Theiss, the so-called pusstas, the scene is completely changed. The cHmate and vegetation are here different both from those of the north and those of the Mediterranean region in the south. Surrounded on all sides by mountaias, these plains are to a large extent deprived of moisture from whatever quarter the wind may blow, but being thus exposed directly to the rays of a burning sun, are as arid and parched as the tablelands of Spain. Here consequently the vegetation has the same aspect as in the steppes of southern Eussia, with which the pusstas of Hungary are referred by Grisebach to a separate region of vegetation extending eastwards into Asia along the southern frontier of the Forest Eegion. According to Grisebach this whole region is characterised by a climate too dry for the growth of forests, but there can be no doubt that he has exaggerated the summer drought of much of that part of Eussia and Eoumania within the line which he has drawn as the north-western limit of the region. This line runs from about 53° N. in the east to the Danube, where that river begins to form the boundary between Eoumania and Bul- garia, and it has been pointed out that even to the south of that limit the climate is in some parts sufficiently moist to support pretty extensive stretches of forest.^ Nevertheless it is undoubted that in this part of Eussia the climate be- comes drier and drier as we go eastwards, and that here as in the isolated pusstas of Hungary the vegetation has an 1 Woeikof, Die Atmosphdrische Circulation, pp. 18, 19. VEGETATION OF EASTERN EUROPE. 51 aspect quite peculiar. Nowhere does the vegetation form a continuous covering of any sort for the soil, and the principal vegetation consists of tall coarse grasses and shrubs. Here, as well as in the Mediterranean region, the spring is ushered in by the sudden appearance of a great variety of beautiful bulbous plants — narcissuses, tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, asphodels, etc. Though this steppe region, as regards its general aspect, is perhaps entitled to be ranked as forming a separate section of the European flora, it does not hold so isolated a position when considered with reference to the natural affinities of its constituent elements. When looked at from this point of view it is seen to be only a peculiar part of the Mediterranean flora, and to have entered on its European domain from the south, that is, from the eastern or Asiatic portion of the Mediterranean region. It is at any rate strikingly divergent in its natural affinities from the Eussian flora of the Forest Eegion immediately to the north, and these relations are explained by Engler as most probably due to the fact that the steppe flora immigrated from the south as the land, formerly submerged, gradually rose above the surface from the south northwards, so that the new land was settled by southern plants before the northern ones could gain access to it.-' Before leaving the consideration of the European flora, some attention should be given to the effects wrought on the distribution of vegetation by another recent event in the geological history of Europe — the Ice Age. The immediate effect of the Ice Age was of course to extinguish for the time the vegetation over the regions where the ice -sheets actually spread ; but it has had some other effects of a more lasting nature. By 1 Engler, Fersuch einer ETdvnckelwngsgesch'UMe der Pflamnenwelt, i 184-86. 52 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEATBL. lowering the temperature of the plains adjoining the ice- fields it permitted these plains to be occupied by plants capable of standing a severe climate. When more genial conditions returned, the plains were reoccupied by more vigorous competitors for subsistence, and the former occupants were driven up the mountains to find a refuge there, or compelled to retire northwards with the ice. Hence the scattered distribution of what are known as Arctic -Alpine plants, that is, such as are found only in the Arctic regions, and on Alpine heights between the tree- and the snow-limit on the mountains. Hence also the similarly scattered distribution of some other forms, which are not Arctic, but which could not now migrate across the plains by which their different seats are separated, or by which they are isolated from their nearest aEies. But there can be little doubt that another effect of the Ice age in Europe was whoUy to extinguish there certain forms which were present during the Pliocene Epoch. Such, for example, are the Canary laurel, the tulip-tree, and the magnolia, the last two of which are still found in America, in latitudes corresponding to those of Europe. In their extinction we see an effect not only of the Ice age, but also of the sea and mountain barriers in the south. In America such forms had, on the advent of glacial conditions, a way of escape southwards, whence they were afterwards able to return to their northern seats ; but ia Europe they were, so to speak, crushed up against the Pyrenees and the shores of the Mediterranean, and thus wholly destroyed. Eegarding the fauna of Europe little need be said. The prevailing forms of the sub -region constituted by central and northern Europe are weU known. Among mammals there are only two genera absolutely peculiar to it, the chamois {Bujpica'prd), inhabiting all the mountains of central Europe, and the aquatic insectivorous desmans, PERCENTAGE OF FIELD & GARDENLAND. PERCENTAGE OF WOODLAND. }■• Percentages of Woodland. (1) (2) (3) Sweden 40,0 Russia 40.0 Fiiilanfl Aoatria-Huugary .. .. 30.6 Bosnia LiiMembiirg Germany Eiimania, Servia, Montenegro Switzerland 19.0 Norway 18 Italy 16.0 Eelyiimi iQ.o France 14.0 Greece li.O Spain ('01ives3 p. c.j.. 7.0 Ketherhinds 7.0 Denraark fi.u British Isles England 4.0 Scotland 4.0 WaleB 2.5 Ireland . 1.5 87.6 88,0 57.1 80.0 1P.7 24.0 15.7 16.1 15.8 11,9 20.8 4.3 With Engl. I 1.6 Portugal(*Olives0.5p.c.) 1.8 5.0| 8.0 1. Compiled byW.Toploy.F.G.S., from tlu' Official Report on the Tenmo of Land in Foreign Countric-s, and the Appendix to the Agric. Statistics of tlit^ U. Ivingdom. fi. From Mever'sKonversation3-Lexikon (ith .Annual Supplement (1883-84). 3. BrftL'helli. Die Staatcn Europa's brUnu iyH3. PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL PRODUCTIVE SURFACE including Field and Gandenland .Woods, Meadows and Pastu res RATE OF INCREASE OF POPULATION Rate of Increase of Population since about 1860. ! .SV-' Sldtisik'Ol Appiindij, p. Ciy2. ) Below 3 per 1000 per ann. Franco Between 3&6 ,. ,, Spain 5ik7 ,, ,, Switzerland 7&9 „ „ Austria „ .. Belgium „ Italy Norway 9&11 „ ,, Germany .. ,, >, .. Greece , Netherlands , Scotland Above 11 per 1000 per ann. { ^^ Wales Denmark „ ,, ,, Portugal „ „ Russia •I .. .. Sema „ ,. Sweden NciTE. — The mean rate of increase per 1000 per annxim, 18G1— 1881, for the United Kingdom was 9.5. Eogland and Wales 13.U Scotland 10.10 Therowas a decrease in Ireland of 6.14 EUROPEAN FAUNA. 53 or musk-rats {Mygale), of which there are only two species, one inhabiting the rivers of south Eussia and the other those of the French Pyrenees. Almost confined to this sub-region are the Spalax or mole-rat, found in eastern Europe and western Siberia, and the saiga, a large-nosed antelope, with a similar distribution. The only genus of mammals peculiar to the Mediterranean sub-region found in Europe is the Dama or fallow-deer. Among the characteristic genera not found in the other sub-regions of the Palasarctie region, but found in Europe, are the Genetta (the civet), Herpestes (the ichneumon), the hysena, and porcupine. A wild sheep, Ovis Musimon, is still to be seen among the moimtains of Sardinia, Corsica, and the south-east of Spain. Bears, badgers, pigs, stags, fallow-deer, goats, polecats, and numerous other mammals found in north Africa, but not in the rest of that continent, all bear witness to the recent land connection with Europe already referred to in previous sections, and serve to justify the association of that strip of the African continent in the same sub-region with southern Europe and western Asia.-' The Ethnology of Europe will be specially dealt with in an appendix by Prof. Keane. ^ See Wallace, Distribution of Animals, chap. i. 54 COMPENDIUM OF aEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEK II. EEANOE. 1. Outline and General Belief of the Land. Feance, as depicted on our maps, presents the form of an irregular polygon, surrounded in part by oceanic and in part by land boundaries. In consequence of the coast- Hne being for the most part free from marked sinuosities, the seaboard is not large in proportion to the area of France, but this is abundantly compensated by the many navigable rivers and canals which intersect the country. Though not so rugged as its neighbours to the south and south-east, France is far from being on the whole a level plain, as is apt to be fancied by those whose know- ledge of the country is derived mainly from an acquaint- ance with the northern departments. It is in fact to a large extent a mountainous land. Almost all the west is composed of level or undulating tracts, the prin- cipal exception being presented by the rough hilly country, mostly under 1000 feet in height, which runs from east to west along the northern half of Brittany and the southern half of Normandy. But the plaias gradually ascend eastwards to a region of mountains and plateaux of considerable elevation. It is true that the highest sum- mits of France belong to the frontier ranges of the Alps and the Pyrenees, but in the very heart of the country there are many peaks higher than the highest in our own islands. These rise from a large plateau occupying THE LANDES. 55 almost all the south-east, and surrounded on the north, east, and south by the valleys of the Loire and Saone, the Ehone, and the Aude and Garonne. The Canal du Centre, connecting the Loire and Saone, indicates the lowest line of the depression that cuts it off on the north from another lower and less extensive plateau, and the Canal du Midi connecting the Aude and Garonne similarly marks out the depression severing it from the Pyrenees. On this plateau, which rises in some places abruptly, in other places in terraces from a level of about 1000 to one of about 3000 feet in height, we have the Cevennes, the mountains of Forez, and the mountains of Auvergne, the last being the highest of all, and crowning the most elevated part of the region. The northern plateau, to which belong the Faucilles, the Langres, and the Ardennes, is under 2000 feet in height. Its eastern boundary is formed by the Vosges. We will begin our more detailed description of the physical features of France with the level country in the west. 2. The Western Seahoard — The Landes. As far north as the mouth of the Garonne the coast follows a perfectly straight and monotonous line, broken only by the deep inlet forming the so-called Basin of Arcachon. It is probable that the growth of the sand-bar at the niouth of this sheet of water will eventually cut it off from the sea. The lowland country, watered by the streams which flow from the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, is mostly covered with superficial deposits of gravel, sand, and mud, with quagmires here and there of considerable extent. Between the Adour and the Garonne, from Bayonne to Bordeaux, the arid moors of the " Landes" extend along the ocean, whose shores are here skirted by elevated dunes. 56 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. These dimes stretch for nearly 70 miles along the coast, over a strip of country with a mean breadth of more than 4 miles. They vary in height from 100 to 160 feet, and slope seawards at an angle of 25°, and landwards at one of 50°. Being composed of loose sand, their outlines are continually shifting, according to the play of the winds. On the whole they have a tendency to encroach farther and farther on the interior. This encroachment appears to have begun within historical times. Montaigne, in the sixteenth century, notices it as a phenomenon of comparatively recent occurrence. It is in fact largely due to the ignorance and recklessness of the inhabitants, who did not discern the nature of the protection afforded by the forests which formerly existed on these coasts, but which they felled for the sake of the immediate profit. Within the present century, however, great improvement has been effected by reversing the process that led to the encroach- ment of sand. A forest of sea-pine, 7 miles in breadth, has been planted along a strip stretching from the Adour to the Gironde, and this forest serves as a barrier to pro- tect the region within. This inner region constitutes the Landes proper, a district which can scarcely be described as exhilarating. The wearied eye will often seek in vain for a resting-place, and discovers nothing but inter- minable plains, on which a few years ago there were scarcely any signs of human life, except where the weird figures of shepherds were to be seen flitting about perched on high stUts. Almost the whole region was a desert infected with malaria. But here also great improve- ments have been effected of late years. An engineer named Chambrelent having carefully surveyed the dis- trict, found that it had on an average a fall of 1 in 1000 to the sea, and then drew up a scheme for draining and fertilising it. In 1857 a law was passed by the French Parliament, obliging the communes interested to carry THE LANDES. 57 this scheme into effect, and this has now been done over a large area "with the most beneficial results. The country has been intersected by canals running in every direction ; millions on millions of trees have been planted ; the desert has disappeared ; the quagmires have been reduced in number and extent ; the Landescots, as the people are called, have less need to resort to the aid of stilts ; and the malaria has been banished. Villages have SCENE IN THE LAJJDES. arisen ia hundreds, and the communes have enriched themselves to such a degree that they have been enabled to construct excellent roads, build numerous schools, erect fountains, and provide everything that could conduce to the improvement of the people. The entire plain of the Landes has an extent of something like 5400 square miles. Between the dunes and the Landes stretches a chain of shallow lakes which have been cut off from the sea by the formation of the dunes, and which are known 58 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEAVEL. to the French as itangs. The largest of these in this district is the Etcmg de Oazau, which occupies an area of about 15,000 acres. North of the Gironde the French coast loses its mono- tonous outline, but it still remains low and bordered by dunes as far as the department of Finistfere in the west of Brittany. The dunes, however, are low, and serve only to cut off from the sea a fringe of saline marshes which were formerly a means of support for the inhabit- ants of those regions, but in consequence of the cheapen- ing of salt in modem times have become comparatively useless. In the west of Brittany the coast becomes rugged and dangerous, and something of the same character is continued along the north coast of Brittany and the Atlantic coast of Normandy (dep. Manche). The islands that skirt the coast between the Gironde and Normandy, — Ol^ron, Ehd, Yeu, and Noirmoutier, Belle Isle, Groix, Ouessant or Ushant off Brittany, and the Channel Islands off Normandy, — all have the same geological formation as the neighbouring parts of the mainland, from which they have beyond doubt been separated, Along the whole of the west coast indeed there is abundant proof that the land has suffered loss partly by subsidence and partly by marine erosion. Yet there has been in some places a compensatory gain in land wrested from the sea. The ancient Gulf of Poitou, for example, is now converted into arable and pasture land. 3. The Coast and Uplands of Brittany. The isolated highlands of Brittany, the ancient Armorica, consist mainly of Silurian rocks and of granite and gneiss, culminating in the rugged Monts d'Arr^e and de Menez (1312 feet). The parallel chaia of the Black Mountains (1070 feet) branches off at Mont Menebre BEITTAIIY; CHANNEL ISLANDS. 59 (1112 feet), from the last-mentioned range, and terminates in the headland of Crozon. The main ridge of the Monts d'Arr^e continues to skirt the north coast at a mean distance of 12 or 13 nules, its northern slopes heing steep and abrupt, while the southern spurs merge in an undulating hilly region. In the Bay of St. Michel, in the angle between Nor- mandy and Brittany, is the famous Mont St. Michel, which, like its namesake in Mounts Bay on the Cornish coast, is connected with the mainland at low water, but forms an island at high water. The resemblances between Brittany and Cornwall are indeed singularly close, extending to the geological structure, the mineral wealth, the megalithic monuments, and the ethnological characters of the in- habitants. Finist&re is the " Land's End," and near Quimper there is a French " Cornwall" or Cornouaille, the Comu or " horn" of the Welsh. It is worth noting that the tide ia some of the bays on the coast of Brittany, such as that of St. Malo, and of St. Michel, rises to an extraordinary height, reaching at times as much as 50 feet. The Channel Islands, occupying the large bay between Normandy and Brittany, consist of Jersey and Guernsey, the largest and most important of the archipelago, besides the romantic rock of Sark, and the strongly-fortified island of Alderney (the " Aurigny's Isle" of Macaulay's ballad of the Armada), together with many rocky islets too in- significant to require notice here. Although lying within sight of the French coast these islands form part of the British dominions. The work of destruction, by which they have been severed from the mainland, is even now going on, so perceptibly in some places that the Channel Islands must, in the distant future, disappear altogether. The separation from the mainland is very recent. In the 60 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. time of Julius Csesar the island of Jersey is said to have heen divided from the coast of Gaul by only a narrow strip of water, which could be crossed on a plank; and even at the present day a rise of about 10 fathoms (in some places only 5 fathoms) would bring the whole area between Cape La Hague and Treguier, on the north coast of Brittany, above the surface of the water, reuniting the Channel Islands to France.^ The total area of the Channel Islands is 73 square miles, of which Jersey occupies 45. 4. Normandy and the, North. To the east of the peninsula of Cotentin, which ter- minates northwards with Cape La Hague, and where is situated the formidable naval station of Cherbourg, the Baie de la Seine forms a broad bight in the coast-line, along which, at some 5 miles from the shore, runs the dangerous reef of the Calvados rocks (Bochers de Calvados) for a distance of about 25 nules, while in the eastern angle of the bay a deep estuary marks the mouth of the Seine. Along this picturesque coast lie the much- frequented watering-places of Trouville-sur-mer, Deau- ville, and Etretat. Normandy is one of those lands over which history and poetry have thrown a halo of beauty and romance. And yet the Normandy of to-day is not especially romantic, if we except, perhaps, the strips of rocky coast lashed by the Atlantic surf. The land, watered by the tranquil Seine, is pleasantly varied by undulating hUls and dales. Here are no frowning mountains, no exten- ^ The enoroachment of the sea on the coast of Brittany and on the Channel Islands has lately heen the subject of an interesting work, Les Mouvements dm Sol swr les Cites Occidentales de la France, et parti- culiirememt dans le Golfe Narmanno-BreUm, hy Alexandre Chivremont Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1882. NOETHERN FRANCE. 61 sive and sombre -woodlands ; all is light and cheerful, carefully tUled, and green and smooth, with few villages, but everywhere interspersed with shady little groves temptiagly inviting the wayfarer to explore their coy recesses. On a nearer approach we find an earthen wall, often planted with a double row of beech, maple, or alder-trees, concealing a large grassy sward planted with fruit-trees, amidst which graze a magnificent breed of cattle in close proximity to the neat, weU-constructed farmstead. The hUly woodland country of Calvados is known as the Norman Socage., while the high ground to the south forms the so-called "!N"orman Switzerland." Much of the coast of Normandy and north-eastern France consists of calcareous strata, of Jurassic and Cretaceous age, which are worn by marine action into sweeping outlines, giving to the coast-line a succession of flowing curves, well illustrated between Havre and Dieppe, and onwards from Upper Noimandy into the north-eastern departments. Passing from Upper Normandy into Picardy, the resemblance becomes more marked between the rocks of the French coast and those of the opposite coast of Britain. The Manche, or Channel, here narrows to the Pas de Calais, or Strait of Dover, which has been formed partly by marine erosion, and partly by subsidence of the land. The rocks of the "Weald of Kent and Sussex were evidently at one time continuous with those of the Bas Boulonnais ; but while there are great resemblances, there are also marked differences. Thus the occurrence of Carboniferous and Devonian rocks near Boulogne is not paralleled on the English side. Even the sub-wealden boring near Battle, although carried down to nearly 1000 feet, did not reach Palseozoic rocks, and lent no support to the notion that the coalfield of the Pas de Calais had a corresponding coal -bearing area within 62 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. moderate deptli in the extreme south-eastern angle of the English area. Along the coast of the department of Pas de Calais there has been considerable gaia of land at certain points, while elsewhere the sea has encroached. Deposits of sUt have been largely formed near the mouth of the Somme, and have also added new land near Cape Gris-Nez. The inhabitants of the seaboard of the north of France have not been slow in reclaiming land, and protecting it by- means of dykes, after the manner of the Dutch. 5. The Mediterranean Seaboard. Mediterranean France is divided into two distinct sections — one to the east and the other to the west of the mouths of the Ehone. The eastern section presents bold cliffs along the coast, and in the character of its flora is essentially African. Distinct from the Maritime Alps on the extreme east of France are the mountains of the Moors, with the chain of Esterel at the back, forming a conspicuous feature in the geography of Provence. Some of the most famous winter resorts are situated on this coast, such as Mentone, Mce, the little independent principality of Monaco, Cannes, and the Islands of Hyferes. Immediately west of Marseilles begin to appear the remarkable lagoons and marshes, forming a prominent feature of the entire Mediterranean seaboard as far as the Pyrenees. They lie between the mouths of the streams here reaching the coast, the H^rault, Orb, Aude, Ogly, Tet, and Tech, and occur most frequently on the large island, 554 square miles in extent, formed by the two branches of the Ehone and the coast-Hne. Here lies the extensive marsh of Valcar^s, imparting a Dutch-like aspect to this perfectly flat district, over which graze herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and a breed of half-wild CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF FRANCE. 63 horses. Near Marseilles is the Etang de Bern, an inland sea formed by an arm of the Mediterranean, from which it is separated only hy a rocky ridge. Along the right or western bank of the Lower Ehone as far as the Pyrenees, and westwards to the Garonne, extends the fruitful province of Languedoc, which is intersected by the chain of the Cevennes, and presents for the most part a low and sandy beach, quite unlike the bold cliffs of Provence. 6. The. Central Highlands. The Cevennes form the south-eastern boundary of the central highlands of France. In the more compre- hensive sense of the term they include several mountain ranges and groups, beginning in the south-west with the Black Mountains, which rise to nearly 4000 feet in height, and comprising in their general north -easterly course the Monts de VEspinouse, Monts Garrigv^ (with which the Cevennes proper begin), and the volcanic district of Mont Mezenc (upwards of 5500 feet), where the Cevennes proper may be said to terminate. The series is continued northwards by the Monts du Lyonnais and Monts du Charolais, the latter of which descend to the depression occupied by the Canal du Centre. On the east these mountains sink abruptly down to the Ehone valley, and on the south-west the central plateau descends with equal abruptness to the basin of the Gironde, but on the north it merges more gradually with the plains. From the mountains of Auvergne, Cantal, Haute Loire, Forez, and Limousin, composing this great table- land, some spurs stretch northwards into Burgundy and southwards into the department of Lozfere. In the interior the plateau appears divided principally by two 64 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL. deep valleys, that of the Upper Loire, and the longer and hroader basin of the AUier, which flows from the southern end of the Margaride Chain, not far from La Bastide, in the department of Lozfere, and falls into the Loire at Nevers. The mass of old crystalline rocks, such as granite, gneiss, and mica-schists, mainly composing the central plateau, is split by the intervening valleys of these rivers into three mountain ridges. In that between the Ehone and the Loire we have the coal-measures of St. Etienne on the north, while farther south it forms the base of the igneous group in the neighbourhood of Privas, as well as of the huge trachyte mass culminating with Mont Mizenc, south of Le Puy. On the tableland between the Loire and the AUier lies the grand series of extinct volcanoes stretching from Pradelles to Paulhaguet; whUe in the Forez range farther north, the plateau is broken by the mighty mass of the Puy de Montoncel (4240 feet) between Eoanne and Thiers. Lastly, west of the Allier, and skirted southwards by the Lot flowing from the east, lies the long granite ridge of Mont Margaride. This chain stretches in a north-westerly direction, and is flanked on the west by the volcanic mass of La Guiolle, on the north by the enormous basalt and trachyte Plomb du Cantal, and still farther north by the Mont Bore (not Mont d'Or, as it is often written by false analogy with C6te d'Or), which is separated only by a narrow strip of exposed granite from the Plomb du Cantal. 7. The Old Volcanoes of Central France. During that period of geological history known as the Miocene age, the highlands of central France were the scene of volcanic activity on a gigantic scale ; and this activity probably continued with more or less later- ■A O 5 D a G n n n 31 ^ □ n D I OLD VOLCANOES OF CENTRAL FEANCE. 65 mission down to a comparatively recent date. Eelics of these old volcanoes may still be seen, not only in thick beds of ejected matter and wide -spread sheets of bas- altic lava, but in the volcanic cones themselves, which, notwithstanding the wear to which they have been incessantly exposed since their formation, still retain to a great extent their origiaal shape and characteristic structure. The best known and perhaps the most interesting of these volcanic centres is that of Auvergne, where, in the neighbourhood of Clermont, a chain of about seventy conical hills, known locally as ;puys, stretches in a north and south direction for a distance of about 20 miles. These hills rise from the great central platform of granitic and gneissose rocks, which is in places covered with fresh- water strata of considerable thickness representing the sediments of ancient lakes, associated with volcanic mat- ter locally interstratified. The chain of puys runs be- tween the valley of the Sioule on the east, and that of the Allier on the west; the latter spreading out as a wide and fertile plain known as the limagne. Built up mainly of scoriae and ashes, with blocks of lava, they present in many cases well-preserved craters, while in others the brim of the crater has been broken down on one side, in consequence of the weight of the extruded lava having burst through its lip. From these breaches in the craters, streams of lava may still be traced. These fields of lava, either bare or but partly clothed with brushwood, are known to the Auvergnats as cheires. At Volvic the old lava is largely quarried as a building stone. By far the largest of these volcanic hills is the famous Fuy de Dome in the centre of the chain. Formed of a peculiar trachytic rock known from this locality as domite, it rises as a rounded mass having a height of F 66 COMPENDrUM OF GBOGEAPHY AOT3 TEAVEL. 4805 feet above sea-level, and an elevation above its base of 1600 feet. Sheets of basalt, representing old currents of lava, are widely spread over the Limagne, and have been worn through in places so as to leave isolated hills with characteristic flat tops. Such, for example, is the broad plateau of Gergovia, 2440 feet high, to the south-east of Clermont — ^famous as the site of the old capital of the Averni, where Vercingetorix so long withstood the legions of Julius Caesar. To the south of the chain of the Puy de D6me is the noble volcanic mass of Mont Bore — the old Mans Bwriam/m — which derives its name from a local stream caUed Le Bore. Its form is that of an irregular depressed cone, with seven or eight rocky peaks, but with no regular crater. The highest point is the Fie de Saney, a pyrami- dal mass of trachyte rearing its summit to an altitude of 6180 feet. This height is, however, nearly equalled by some of the neighbouring peaks, such as that of Puy Ferrand. Sulphur and alum are worked in the volcanic rocks of Mont Dore, and the neighbourhood abounds in thermal and mineral springs. The greater portion of the department of the Cantal is formed of a volcanic mass, resembling in many respects that of Mont Dore, and presenting the form of a flat cone with gently-sloping sides, furrowed by numerous radiat- ing valleys. This gigantic cone, with a circumference of about 95 naUes, had probably but one principal crater. The highest point is the Plomh du Cantal, 6025 feet high, whence flowed enormous currents of basaltic lava. It is believed that the volcanoes of Mont Dore and of Cantal may have been in eruption at the same period. The thermal waters of Ohaudes-Aigues flow to the south of the Cantal, from which they are separated by the valley of the Truyfere ; while still farther south, in the OLD VOLCANOES OF CENTRAL FEAKCE. 67 department of Aveyron, is the smaU volcanic district of Atibrac. IN THE VAIiEY OF MONT DOOB. The granitic range of the Montagnes de la Margaride — an offshoot of the Cevennes — divides the Cantal from the volcanic region of the Haute Loire and Ard^che. Here the culminating point is on Mont Mizerw, at an altitude of 5755 feet. This mountain is a mass of phonolite, or clinkstone, rising from a platform of granitic and Jurassic rocks between the Loire and the Ehone. Currents of basaltic and phonolitic lavas have spread over a wide area in the old provinces of the Velay and Vivarais. The sources of the Loire gush forth from the foot of a volcanic hiU in the Haut Vivarais known as Le Gerhier des Jones. Eelics of the old igneous action are 68 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. found as far south as Jaujae, a volcanic hill with chestnut- covered slopes ; while the Hills of Coiron, trending on- wards to the Ehone valley, consist of granite capped by a sheet of basalt. Between the Loire on the east and the Allier on the west the volcanic rocks form a series of heights stretch- ing from PradelLes to the neighbourhood of Le Puy, the capital of Haute Loire. Around Le Puy, especially at La Denise, are some interesting brecciated deposits consisting of volcanic mat- ter in intimate association with the remains of the hyaena, rhinoceros, elephant, and other mammalia of Pleistocene or perhaps Pliocene age. With these were found, according to M. Aymard, two human skeletons, the authenticity of which has, however, been the subject of considerable debate. It has been supposed that "the fossil man of Denise " must have witnessed the latest eruptions of the French volcanoes, and have fallen a victim to their activity.^ 8. The North-EasUrn Highlands. The highlands of the north-east are of much less height than those of the central plateau. They begia in the south with the Montac/nes de la Cdte d'Or, which stretch north-eastwards from the depression between the Sa6ne and Loire to the sources of the Seine, terminating and culminating in Mont Tasselot (3215 feet). They are thickly covered with vineyards on their eastern slopes towards the Saone valley, and fall gently west- wards to the Arroux, a tributary of the Loire, separating 1 For details ou the volcanoes of France the reader may consult the classical work of the late Mr. Poulett Scrope, T7m Geology and Extinct Volcanoes of Central France (Murray, 1858), and the more extensive work of M. Henri Le Coq, Zes tpoques g(ologigues de VAuvergne (Paris, 1867). NOETH-EASTEEN HIGHLANDS OF FRANCE. 69 them from the Morvan Sills, a granitic mass reaching an elevation of 2950 feet. The C6te d'Or is followed by the plateau of Langres, an upland plain or tableland extending in the same direction between the sources of the Seine on the west and the Mouse on the east. Above a mean elevation of about 1600 feet there rise nothing but gently-undulating hills, whose northern slopes between the Seine and the Marne are mostly bare, with a bleak climate, unpro- ductive soil, and indigent inhabitants. On the east, where rises the Meuse, this tableland is connected with the Monts de la Faucille a flat -topped mountain ridge broken by gentle undulations, throwing off short steep spurs down to the lower Saone valley, while its long northern offshoots stretch away on both sides of the Meuse. These latter mountains, after encirling the sources of the Sa6ne, terminate at those of the Moselle in the Ballon d'Alsace, one of the principal heights of the Vosges (see Geemant). Of their northern offshoots the chief is the long low ridge which runs along the left bank of the Meuse as far as the, 5 0th parallel of latitude, there merging in the Ardennes at the frontier of Belgium. This ridge at first bears no distinctive name, but in its more northern part, where it forms the boundary between Champagne and Lorraine, it is known as the Forest of Argonne. Its eastern slopes sink pretty abruptly down to the Meuse valley, but on the west they descend to- wards Champagne in gentle undulations. On the east side of the basin enclosing the northern tributaries of the Ehone the elevations are higher than on the west; but they belong to ranges (the Vosges and the Jura) which lie for the most part beyond the frontiers of France (see Germany and Switzeeland). The south-eastern frontiers of France are formed by the Pennine, the Graian, the Cottian, and the Maritime 70 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. Alps. In Savoy, just within the French frontier, stands Mont Blanc, the culminating point of the Alps and of Europe, rising as it does to the height of 15,732 feet. Several other summits (Monte Viso, Pelvoux, the AiguiUe of Medje, etc.), exceed 12,000 feet in height, but as we approach the sea the average elevation declines. The principal passes in this section of the Alps are those over the Little St. Bernard on the south side of Mont Blanc, which was used in the time of the Eomans; that across Mont Cenis, which was afterwards the great highway be- tween France and Italy till it was superseded by the Alpine tunnel that takes its name from it, but which really passes under the Pass of Fr^jus, some miles dis- tant; and the Pass of Mont Gen^vre, now practicable for carriages, and believed by some to have been the one used by Hannibal in crossing the Alps into Italy at the head of his army. The railway tunnel above referred to connects Bardonn^che in France with Modane in Italy, and has a total length of 40,092 feet. Though less in average height than the Alps of Switzerland, the Alps forming the boundary between France and Switzerland present in many places scenes of the wildest description, the very embodiment of rugged desolation. 9. Biver Systems of France. One point of interest regarding the great rivers of France, is that they are all of post-Miocene date. As stated in the introduction, the Pyrenees and the central highlands of Europe all underwent a post -Miocene up- heaval, and in France this had the effect of giving to the horizontal Secondary and Tertiary plains that tilt to the north and west which determined the direction of flow of most of the great rivers. The basin of the Ehone was cut off on the east at the same time by the elevation FRANCE EIVEES. 7 1 of the plateau of Langres, the mountains of Charolais and the Cevennes ; and, moreover, in Miocene times a large lake occupied the region now drained by this river after leaving the Lake of Geneva, the last relic of that older and larger lake. With respect to the present features of the hydrography, it is natural to compare the river-systems of France with those of the Iberian peninsula. The com- parison is at once suggested by the fact that in both cases most of the great rivers flow in nearly parallel courses westwards to the Atlantic. The water-parting in both cases runs on the whole from north to south, and nearer the east than the west, but in both cases it leaves one great river on the east side to flow into the Mediterranean. These are the most obvious points of agreement between the river-systems north and south of the Pyrenees, but when we examine the subject more closely we find very important points of difference. In the first place the configuration of the country north of the Pyrenees allows of the development of a much larger central basin relatively to the length of the river draining it. The Tagus, which may be called the middle river in the Iberian peninsula, is a few miles longer than the Loire, which holds the same position in France, but its basin is about one-third smaller than that of the French river (see river-basins map). This fact in itself would naturally give the French stream a superiority as regards the volume of its water, but in this respect, as weU as in respect of the facilities afforded to navigation, aU the French rivers of the west excel those of the southern peninsula. The former advantage is due to the fact that they drain areas of higher rainfall, and the latter is in part a direct consequence of the former, partly a result of the difference in the configuration of the land. Taking these rivers in detail, and beginning in the south-west, we meet first with the Adour, a river which 72 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEAVEL. rises in the department of Upper Pyrenees, passes in the upper part of its course the village of Bagnferes de Bigorre, celebrated for its hot baths, becomes navigable about 80 miles from its mouth, and after traversing the southern fertile part of the department of Landes enters the Bay of Biscay below Bayonne. Next comes the much more important river, the Garonne, which, rising ia Spanish territory in the high valley of Aran, enters France through a deep defile cut in rocks of marble near St. B^at. Above Bordeaux it receives many tributaries, both on the right and left, the former (Ari^ge, Tarn, Lot, etc.) being the most important, while a little below the town just named it receives the most notable of all its tributaries, the Dordogne, which, after descending from the mountauis of Auvergne and traversing the iatervening plain, unites with the Garonne to form the large estuary of the Gironde — a tidal basin into which it is estimated that as much as 265,000 tons of water is carried at every tide. It is studded with numerous islands and ever -shifting sandbanks, while its shores suffer from con- tinued marine erosion. The Loire, the ancient Liger, rises on Mont Mfoene in the Cevennes, only about 30 miles distant from the Ehone. In the upper part of its course it flows, like the twin-stream the Allier, in a more or less northerly direction across the central plateau of France, both streams pre- senting examples of fluviatUe erosion of the most impres- sive and instructive kind.^ At Eoanne, about one-fourth ^ " Striking as are tlie proofs of erosion in the country of the Limagne, they fall far short of these in the Haute Loire. To be actually realised, such a scene must he visited in person. No amount of verbal description, not even the most careful drawings, will convey a full sense of the magni- tude of the changes to one who is acquainted only with a glaciated country such as Britain. The first impression received from a landscape like that round Le Puy is rather one of utter bewilderment. The upsetting of all one's previous estimates of the power of rain and rivers is sudden and THE LOIRE. 73 of its entire length from its head, it becomes navigable. At Nevers, a Httle above the point where the two main head-waters, the Allier and the Upper Loire, unite, the latter cuts its way through traps and Jurassic rocks bounding the plateau, and thenceforwards flows through a lower country, though not an unbroken plain. On the north bank especially it is skirted by low hUIs, such as the hills of Morvan and the tableland of OrManais. In this middle part of its course it traverses some of the most beautiful scenery in France — a region occupied by old castles and modern ch§,teaux, by pastures and vine- yards, forests and cornfields. Below Organs, however, the river is liable to overflow its banks, to guard against which it has been provided as far as Angers with em- bankments. But these do not always prove sufficient, and in exceptional seasons (as in 1866) disastrous floods stOl devastate the surrounding region. Unlike the Garonne, the Loire receives most of its chief tributaries (Cher, Indre, Vienne, Sfevre Nantaise, etc., besides the Allier) on the left bank, the only important affluent on the right being that formed by the union of the Mayenne from Brittany, and the Sarthe and Loir from Maine and Poitou. A little to the south of the Loire, near Nantes, is a large sheet of fresh water in a granite basin known as the Lac de Grand lAeu. This lake stands to the Loire in the same relation as the Neusiedler See in Hungary to the Danube, being alternately a feeder and a recipient complete. It is not without an eflfort, and after having analysed the scene, feature by feature, that the geologist can take it all in. But when he has done so, his views of the effects of subaerial disintegration become permanently altered, and he quits the district with a rooted conviction that there is almost no amount of waste and erosion of the solid frame- work of the land which may not be brought about in time by the com- bined influence of springs, frost, rain, and rivers." — Geikie, Geological Sketches, p. 121. 74 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. of its overflow, according to the height of the main stream. Near the mouth of the Loire is a large peat- bog known as the Grande Bri&re, which is probably an old lake silted up. The Seine in its meanderiog course forms the third great river basin of western France, lying between the basLQS of the Loire and the Meuse. It rises on the northern slope of the Hmestone hills of the C6te d'Or, at an elevation of 1463 feet; some of its tributary- streams, however, draw their waters from remoter sources among the granitic and other crystalline rocks of the Morvan. It becomes navigable at Mery below Troyes, about 350 miles from its mouth. At Paris the Seine receives the Marne — a river of greater length though of less volume — which also takes its origin on the plateau of Langres. The Lower Seine ia its siuuous course washes the old city of Eouen, below which its bed is greatly obstructed by sandbanks, rmtil it gains the sea at Havre. Coming now to the only great river on the east side of the water-parting, the Bhone, we find in many points a close parallelism between it and the Ebro, the corre- sponding river in the Iberian peninsula. It is true that they flow in different directions, but they agree in being confined by high mountains to a comparatively narrow basin, that of the Ehone in France being bounded, like that of the Ebro in Spain, on the one hand by a lofty frontier chain, on the other hand by the central plateau. They agree, also, in that the basins widen out towards the lower part of their course by the retirement of the limit of the plateau from the coast, and likewise in that the rapidity of their current offers in both cases considerable obstacles to navigation. In the case of the Ehone, how- ever, this difficulty is chiefly felt in ascending the stream, for below Lyons it can be navigated with ease downwards THE EHONE AND SA6nE. 75 by large vessels as far as Aries, where the navigation is continued by means of canals to the sea, in order to avoid the rapidly-shifting sandbanks that impede the course of the stream where it traverses the delta. Above Lyons the navigation is continued for about 170 miles up the Sa6ne, the chief tributary of the Ehone on its right bank. Look- ing at the map and observing the fact that the lower part of this affluent is continued in a straight liae southwards by the lower course of the Ehone one might be apt to regard it as the true head-stream of the maia river, but the difference in the current establishes the true identity of the main stream. The Sadne is the river which many will remember from their school-days as that mentioned by Caesar, under the name of the Arar, as flowing with incredible slowness, whereas the " arrowy Ehone " pre- serves its impetuosity from its source to its mouth. In the 200 miles from its junction with the Sa6ne to its mouth it falls altogether 532 feet, giving an average of 32 inches to the mile. The tributaries which it receives on the left from the Alps, and on the right from the central plateau (that is, below the influx of the Sa6ne), are all mountain torrents liable to great floods during rainy periods, but diminishing greatly in times of drought. Those on the left, the Arve, Is^re, Dr6me, and Durance, then dwindle away almost entirely, but those on the right are more constant, being fed by springs originating in the limestone caves of the Cevennes. Fortunately the floods to which those on both banks are liable never occur at the same time, for the slopes on either side of the Ehone basin are in each case protected from the winds which bring heavy rains to the other side. The waters of the Durance in its lower part are largely made use of by means of canals for irrigation, lOce those of the east of Spain. The region north of the Ehone, watered by its great tributary the Sa6ne, with its feeder the 76 COMPENDIDM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Doubs, and by the Ain, presents a marked contrast to the narrow valley traversed in furious haste by the Ehone itself. All to the west of the Ain, that is, to the west of the Jura, is a fertile alluvial plain forming the old proviace of Burgundy. 1 0. The Geology of France. A great plateau of granitic and gneissose rocks, skirted by crystaUine schists, occupies the centre of France. Eocks of similar character also crop up in the north- western departments, the greater part of the peninsula of Brittany being formed of granitic and schistose formations. Southwards from Morbihan the same rocks are continued iuto La Vendue, where they constitute the heights of the Yend^an Bocage. On the eastern side of France granites again come to the surface and form the heart of the Vosges Mountains. The peculiar dome-shaped hallons of the Vosges are mostly granitic bosses. With these granites are gneissose rocks and crystalline schists, the former being notable for containing in many places intercalated masses of saccharoidal limestone. In the Alpine districts of the south-eastern departments old crystalline rocks are also to be found — especially in the massives of Mont Blanc and of the Oisans ; while farther to the west, in the department of the Var, similar rocks form the hUls of Les Maures and L'EstreUe. The lower Palaeozoic strata — comprising the Cambrian and Silurian series — occur principally in Brittany and Normandy. From near Alenqon on the east they stretch to the neighbourhood of Brest on the west ; while in a north and south direction they extend from Cherbourg to Angers. At Angers the Cambrian slates are worked for roofing purposes. One of the best known localities for Silurian fossils is N^hou (Manche). Devonian rocks FEANCE GEOLOGY. 7 7 form a fringe round part of tlie Silurian area, and they occur also in the Pas-de-Calais and on the north-eastern frontier, whence they extend into Belgium. Some of the Pyrenean marbles are clearly of Devonian age. Unfortunately for France the Carboniferous formation is not extensively developed. The Carboniferous limestone is found only in small patches around the central plateau and in the neighbourhood of the Palaeozoic area of Brittany. Its presence beneath the Wealden rocks of northern France has been proved by boring ; and a small patch of the limestone, in nearly vertical beds, crops up in the Boulonnais. The principal coalfields will be noticed in the next section of this chapter. In the neighbourhood of the Vosges is a fine develop- ment of the red sandstone known as the Orts des Vosges, believed to be of Permian age. Strata referred to the Trias are found in the departments of Calvados and La Manche, on the flanks of the Ardennes, near the granite of the Cote d'Or, in Provence, and in the Pyrenean region. The Triassic beds consist of Gr^s higarri (Bunter), and of marnes irisies (Keuper), separated by an equivalent of the German Muschelkalk. The Jurassic strata — including the Lias and the Oolites — are very largely developed. Not only do they occur in the Jura, whence they took their name, but they are found in the Alpine districts of the south-eastern departments, on the flanks of the Pyrenees, round the skirts of the Paleozoic districts of the north-west, and in the Bas Boulonnais. They also form a broad zone stretching across France in a double curve; from the Ardennes to La EocheUe they trend ia a direction from KE. to S.W., and thence turning south-eastwards they pass from La Eochelle to MontpeUier. In many parts of their course the Oolitic rocks are quarried for building purposes. The famous Caen stone of Normandy — so 78 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AJND TEAVEL. largely used by mediaeval architects even in this country — is obtained from beds equivalent to our Bath Oolite. Cretaceous strata follow for the most part the out- crop of the Jurassic rocks. They form the greater portion of Normandy and Picardy; they are largely developed in the basin of the Loire, or of Touraine ; and they are exposed on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the south of Prance the chalk forms a hard limestone, rich in the peculiar molluscs known as Hippv/rites or Budistes. On the contrary, the chalk of northern Prance is a soft earthy limestone, resembling in physical characters, as also in its fossils, the ordinary type of English chalk : indeed, the upper Cretaceous rocks of England, Belgium, and northern Prance appear to have been deposited in a marine area, cut off from the Cretaceous seas of southern Europe, and known as the Anglo-Parisian basin. Eocene rocks cover the Cretaceous strata to a very large extent. They are extensively developed in northern France, occupying the greater part of the basins of the Seine and the Loire, and they are also largely represented in the basin of the Garonne, stretching indeed over all the south-western part of Prance. The Sables de Bracheux of the Paris basin are equivalent to our Thanet Sands ; but it is notable that no representative of the London clay is found in the Parisian area. The post -Tertiary deposits, known as "diluvium," compose a large part of the soil of Prance. They occur along the north-eastern shores from Dunkirk to Calais, they are found in the Landes in the south-west, and they occupy many of the river valleys throughout the country. 11. The Minerals of France. In the north of Prance a great deal of coal has of late years been obtained from the western part of the great FEAITCE MINERA.LS. 7 9 rranco-Belgian coalfield, which stretches as a long and narrow trough from Aix-la-Chapelle to Calais, a distance of more than 200 miles. The carboniferous strata in the north-eastern departments are in part concealed beneath newer strata. A patch of coal at Hardinghen, near Boulogne, has been cut off as a distinct basin by means of a fault which brings the Devonian rocks to the surface near Marquise. Around the central plateau of crystalline rocks are several small and irregular coal basins — the most important being that of St. Etienne and Eive de Gier, to the south of Lyons. Another field, in the department of Sa6ne-et-Loire, yields thick beds of coal in the neighbourhood of Creuzot. Still farther to the south is the coalfield of Alais, in the departments of Ard^che and Gard. Anthracite occurs on the flanks of the Alps, and has been worked in the department of Is^re. Lignite, or brown coal, is an object of exploitation in the neighbour- hood of Marseilles, and near Dax in the Pyrenees. Of ircm ores the most important deposits are those of brown haematite worked in Oolitic rocks, principally in the department of Meurthe-et-MoseUe. The other metallic minerals of Trance are not of great importance. Lead ores occur at Pontgibaud, in the Puy-de-Dome, where a fine argentiferous galena is worked. Tin ore occurs in Brittany, a country of which the geo- logical structure resembles that of CornwalL Copper was formerly worked at Chessy, near Lyons, where the ores occurred at the junction of Triassic and Liassic strata with mica-schists. The mines were notable for yielding fine crystals of blue carbonate of copper, which was termed Chessylite, from its occurrence at this locality. ^ Gold is found in many of the streams flowing from 1. For a recent description of the principal mineral deposits of Europe, see Mr. J. A. Phillips's " Ore Deposits," 1884. 80 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Cevennes. The richest auriferous sands appear to be those of the Ehone, and for a long period the washing of these deposits formed a recognised branch of industry. At La G-ardette (Iske) an actual vein of gold quartz has been worked. Important deposits of phosphate of lime have of late years been opened up in the south of France, principally in the departments of the Lot, Aveyron, and Tarn-et- Garonne. Clays of fine quality are supplied to the porcelain factory of Sevres from St. Trieux, near Limoges, where the decomposing granite yields a pure kaolin. The French hurr-stoTies, largely used as mill-stones, are siliceous rocks with a cavernous texture, found princi- pally at La Fertd-sous-Jouarre. Salt is produced on a large scale, partly from the mines of Dax in the Pyrenees, but principally from the salt-pans round the coast. Mineral and thermal springs abound in Auvergne, in the Pyrenees, in the Alps, and in the Vosges. 12. Climate, Flora, and Fauna. The chief differences between the climate of France and that of Britain consist in the higher temperature due to its lower latitude, and the less degree of humidity, owing to the generally level character of the west. The average annual rainfall of the whole country is computed at 30 "3 inches. On its seaboard France shares in the benefit of the equalising effect on temperature of the ocean with its warm currents and warm winds ; but as we go eastwards we discover on a small scale the same pheno- menon as is met with in Europe generally, an increase in the extremes of heat and cold in summer and wiuter. At Brest in Brittany the mean temperature of summer is 62'2° Fahr., that of winter 44'8°, showing a difference of FRANCE CLIMATE. 81 17-4°, while at Nancy, in nearly the same latitude on the eastern frontier, the summer temperature is 65-1°, the winter 35-2°, showing a difference of nearly 30°. The winter of Brittany and Normandy is actually milder than that of MontpeUier near the shores of the Mediterranean, and in consequence of those mild winters many exotic plants flourish in the open air in Brittany which do not succeed elsewhere at so high a latitude. Camellias are grown in the open air throughout Brittany, and several varieties of bamboo from Japan and China are grown in the botanic gardens at Brest, where also the Yucca gloriosa attains in the open air a height of 10 feet. A striking illustration of the difference of climate between west and east is furnished by the distribution of the cultivation of the vine. For its successful growth the vine demands a warm summer, though it can stand a tolerably severe winter, and this requisite degree of summer heat it finds in the south-west, in the valley of the Garonne, as well as in the south-east on certain parts of the Mediter- ranean, but in the north of the country only on the eastern side, namely, in the district watered by the Saone and Doubs (Burgundy), and in the departments of Marne and Aube (Champagne). The central plateau of France has a remarkably bleak climate, cold northerly winds prevailing here aU the year round, and as this is combined with a sterile soil, the aspect of vegetation is less inviting here than in any other part of the country. An account of the mistral or cold wind of Provence has already been given in the general Intro- duction, but we must here note more particularly the very remarkable effect it has upon vegetation. In the narrow valley -bottom of Donzke, between Mont^Hmart and Orange, where its influence begins to be felt, we see a sudden transition from the vegetation of northern Europe to that of the Mediterranean region. It is here G 82 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGBAPHY AND TEAVEL. that the cultivation of the olive begins, and in the smaU triangle between Orange, Nice, and Perpignan there grow as many as 600 plants which are met with nowhere else in ^i:::;^ OLIVE TEEE. Prance.^ This sudden change in the aspect of the vegeta- tion is without doubt due to the dry air and bright sun- shine which the mistral, so much dreaded and disliked for its violence and its cold, nevertheless brings with it. On the mean temperature of the air the mistral must, how- ever, exert a lowering influence, for in this part of France we do not meet with the same increase in the summer temperature from west to east as we do farther north. Bordeaux, at the head of the Gironde, has the same ^ Grisebacli, Vegetation der Erde, i. 250. FRA.NCE FLORA. 83 summer temperature (71° Fahr.) as Orange, in nearly the same latitude, at the head of the triangle just mentioned. France produces magnificent wines, corn, fruits, and cattle. Its flora, combining that of central Europe and the Mediterranean, is exceptionally rich. The country is usually divided into a corn-zone in the north, a maize- zone in the centre, and a chestnut- fig- and oil-zone in the south. The highland flora of the Alps and Pyrenees it shares with the other Alpiae lands. Its fauna agrees on the whole with that of central and southern Europe, the only difference being that more cattle and sheep are found in the north of France, whilst the stock of horses is scarcely equal to its requirements. The wolf and the wild boar have not yet been extirpated (indeed the wolf is, for hunting purposes, partly preserved in Brittany) ; and in the south bees producing the famous Narbonne honey, and stiU more the silkworm, are extensively reared. The sea yields fish ia great abundance, including the tunny, herring, and sardines. 13. The Strait of Dover and the projected Tunnel. The continental section of western Europe is severed from the British Isles by the English Channel, or La Manche, which at its narrowest point, the Strait of Dover, is no more than 22 miles wide. The greatest depth of the strait is less than 180 feet. It is not surprising, considering its narrowness and shallowness, that schemes should have been proposed to span the strait by means of a bridf'e or to drive a tunnel beneath its bed. The late M. Thom4 de Gamond, a French engineer, proposed a few years ago to tunnel from Folkestone to Cape Grisnez, passing under the shoal in mid -channel called "The 84 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. Varne/' where a ventilating shaft could be readily sunk. On the Folkestone side the tunnel would start from the Lower Greensand, or beds immediately below the Gault ; somewhere between the Kentish coast and the Varne it would probably pierce the Wealden rocks ; it would then enter the Portland series, or Upper Oolites, and would continue in the underlying Kimeridge beds to the French coast, where the cliffs consist of Portland rocks resting on Kimeridge clay. It is obvious that by passing in this way through strata of varying physical characters much water might be encountered, for the porous beds would be charged to a greater or less extent with water, which would be tapped by the timnel. Indeed, Thom6 de Gamond's scheme presented such formidable engineering difficulties that it was ultimately abandoned. The other schemes which have lately been promin- ently before the public propose to avoid these difficulties by passing wholly through the chalk. This thick lime- stone appears to pass evenly across the bed of the Channel, and the tunnel might be driven from end to end through practically the same rock. The scheme of the Channel Tuimel Company, with which Sir John Hawkshaw's name has so long been associated, would commence the tunnel at Dover, passing beneath the shore -line to Fan Hole, about 2 miles to the north, and thence striking out under the sea until the French coast was reached near Sangatte. The sea-tunnel would thus have a length of about 20§ miles, measured from low water to low water, and this would be practically the shortest possible line. A geological survey, specially undertaken for Sir J. Hawkshaw in 1865, showed the identity of the strata on the opposite coasts, and a marine survey shortly after- wards determined the continuity of the upper Cretaceous beds across the bed of the Channel. To test the thickness THE PROJECTED CHANNEL TUNNEL. 85 of the lower chalk, borings were executed at St. Margaret's Bay, 4 miles east of Dover, and at Ferme Mouron, 2i miles west of Calais. It is believed that the tunnel might be carried from end to end through this chalk. It is a rock not so permeable as the upper chalk ; and though it might be charged with water, it is believed that it would not discharge this water into the tunnel to any great extent except through fissures. A rival scheme has been proposed by the South- Eastem Eailway Company, and in 1880 experimental works were actively commenced. Shafts were sunk be- tween Folkestone and Dover — one in the neighbourhood of Abbot's Cliff, another near Shakespeare's Cliff, — and headings were driven in the chalk marl, or lower part of the gray chalk. This rock, being more clayey than the beds above it, is less permeable to water; and it is believed that by driving the tunnel wholly in the chalk marl the difficulties arising from an influx of water would be greatly diminished, if not altogether avoided. These lower beds of the gray chalk are also less fissured than the overlying rocks. On the other hand, a tunnel which should start, as proposed, from a point between Folkestone and Abbot's Cliff, passing beneath the shore -Line near Shakespeare's Cliff, and reaching the French coast near Sangatte, would be considerably longer than that follow- ing the route previously described. Among other suggestions for the formation of a tunnel may be mentioned that of Professor Prestwich, who pro- posed to carry the shafts down to such a depth as to reach the Palseozoic rocks on each side, and to drive the tunnel entirely through these old strata. Considerations of political and military expediency have not favoured the prosecution of the Channel Tunnel schemes; but so far as the geological structure of the ground under the Strait of Dover is concerned, there can 86 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. be no question that the formation of a submarine tunnel is perfectly practicable to the engineer.^ ^ On the geological possibility of a Channel Tunnel, see a paper " On the Geological Conditions affecting the construction of a Tunnel between France and England," by Professor Prestwich, F.R.S., Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. xxxvii. p. 110, 1874; "On the Geology of the Straits of Dover," by W. Topley, F.G.S., Quarterly Journal of Science, 1872; "The Channel Tunnel," by W. Topley, F.G.S., F(yp. Se. Rev., vol. xiii. p. 394, 1874; "The Channel Tunnel," by J. Clarke Hawkshaw, M.A., British Association Report, 1883 (Southampton Meeting, 1882), p. 404; " On the Geology of the Channel Tunnel," by Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., lUd., p. 542; "On the Proposed Channel Tunnels in their Geological Aspects," by C. E. de Ranee, F.G.S., IHd., p. 544; and "On the Synclinal Structure of the Straits of Dover," by W. Topley, F.G.S., Ibid., p. 546. GERMANY. §7 CHAPTEE III. GEEMANT, THE NETHERLANDS, AND DENMARK. 1. Situatixm and General Relief of the Land. Germany is composed of a niimber of states in the middle of Europe, stretchiag through about 1 7 degrees of latitude and 8-^ of longitude. On the north it borders on the sea, except at its junction with Denmark ; on the south and south-east it is separated for the most part by pretty well-marked physical features from Switzerland and Austria, as also, in part, on the south-west from Prance ; but both on the east and on the west the frontiers have been determined almost solely by political events. The surface of the whole region now under considera- tion may be described in the most general terms as elevated in the south, while in the north and east it pre- sents the aspect of a vast and almost uninterrupted plain. The elevated region is made up of hiUs, mountains, and tablelands, with intervening valleys of greater or less ex- tent. The range farthest to the north is the Harz, nearly in the middle of the empire, near lat. 52° N., or about the same latitude as that of London. From this range the boundary of the elevated region runs south-westwards to the south of Belgium, and south-eastwards to the frontier between Silesia and Bohemia. In the region of the plain the principal elevation is formed by the Teutoburger Wald in the west. The more detailed description of the re- lief of the land may be fitly commenced in the south-west. 88 COMPENDIUM 01 GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. 2. Ths South-west of Germany — The Vosges — The Hvm- riick and Mfel — The Black Forest— The SwcAian Tableland. The Vosges form a mountain chain stretching for a distance of 175 miles in a north-easterly direction, from Belfort to the junction of the Nahe with the Ehine at Mainz. The whole stands out clearly from the sur- rounding land, although varying in height and physical aspect to such an extent that two distinct groups may be detected. The mass of the Upper Vosges, where crystal- line rocks prevail, presents rounded crests of considerable altitude, the highest of which is the Great or Sulzer Belchen (ballon), 4700 feet, whereas the lower chain of the Vosges, farther north, consists exclusively of longi- tudinal sandstone plateaus. The Upper Vosges reach from the BaUon d'Alsace as far as the parallel of Strasburg, forming for the most part the boundary between Prance and Germany in this quarter, and on the German side they slope rather abruptly down to the vaUey of the Ehine, which is bounded on the other side by the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Compared with the climate of France — that is, of western Europe — that of the Vosges, which is covered in its upper parts with forests, seems extremely rigid, and more like that of Germany and the continent. In fact, we are here already in central Europe. The vine flourishes in favourable spots as high as 1300-1700 feet above the sea, wheat up to 1900, and potatoes up to 3800 feet. North-west of the Vosges we still pass through a hilly or mountainous region, whence the Ehine, after turning westwards at Mayence, and north-west through a remarkable gorge at Bingen, receives on the left first the Nahe and then the Moselle. The range of hills lying THE BLACK FOREST. 89 between these two rivers is known as the Hunsrilck, which hegins above Saarburg and advances close up to the Ehine, receiving in succession the local names of Hoch- wcdd, Idarwald, and Soonwald. Its highest point is the Erbeskopf, about 2500 feet in height. North of the Moselle, again, lies the old volcanic area of the Mfel, stretching westwards through Belgium to the Meuse, a region in which a tableland of Devonian slates is studded with extinct volcanoes of mid-Tertiary times. Turning to the right bank of the Ehine, we find the Schwarzwald, or Black Forest, rising over against the Vosges, and presenting such a close correspondence to these in inner structure, as scarcely to leave any doubt that they originally formed one connected mass. The Schwarzwald, from Sacktngen to the borders of Pforzheim, skirted west and south by the Ehine, extends north and south for a distance of 87 miles, with a breadth varying from 25 to 44 miles, everywhere almost imperceptibly merging in the Triassic plateau of northern Wtirtemberg, so that here it becomes very difficult to draw a hard-and-fast line between the two. It wiQ, however, be best to draw it where the New Eed Sandstone is supplanted by the Muschelkalk, for here ends the dark pine forest whence the range takes its name, and is again succeeded by exten- sive arable lands. The highest summits are in the south, where this highland region culminates in the Feldberg, 4904 feet, and where there are several other elevations exceeding 4000 feet in height. Many of these are famed alike for their glorious prospects and for the great variety of their alpine flora. Still going eastwards, we come to where the Swabian and Franconian Jura, traversing Wiirtemberg and part of Bavaria in a south-west to north-east direction, form the north-western boundary of the Swaho- Bavarian plateau, which may be regarded as the gradual northerly slope of 90 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGBAPHY AND TEAVEL. the Alps, and hence as a continuation of the northern plateau of Switzerland. Its southern boundary in Ger- many is formed by the Noric Alps, separating Bavaria from Tyrol, and containing many peaks between 4000 and 8000 feet in height, while the culminating peak, the Zugspitze, rises to an elevation of 9750 feet. Its north- eastern botmdary is formed by the BoJumerwald, on the frontier of Bohemia, where Mont Arber rises to the height of 4825 feet. The plateau thus lying between the Alps and the Jura has an average height to the south of the Danube of about 1600 feet, and is furrowed by numerous streams flowing mostly parallel to each other from the Alps to the right bank of the Danube. Such are the lUer, the Lech with the Wertach, the Isar with the Ammer or Amber, the Inn with the Salza. The valleys, or rather the deep troughs, excavated by these streams, follow close on one another from west to east, the distance between them amounting to no more than a tenth, and often much less than a tenth, of their whole course. This rough, and in general little productive region, is mostly covered with extensive peat-bogs and morasses ; and is further charac- terised by a series of lakes, such as Lakes Ammer, Wtirm or Starnberg, Simm, and Chiem. These lakes, all of them as monotonous as the landscape itself, are not to be con- founded with a second and smaller series lying beyond them on the projecting spurs of the Alps, amongst which the loveliest are Lakes Tegern and Schlier. Those in the lowlands are easily distinguished by their greater size and by their form, mostly stretching in a northerly direction ; while the farther we penetrate into the Alps the rounder become the lakes, as, for instance. Lakes Staffel, Kochel, and Walchen. Corresponding to the southern or Alpine tributaries of the Danube are the numerous streams flowing from the THE SWABIAN JUEA. 91 Jura southwards to its left bank. Such are the Lauter, Blau, and Brenz, from the Swabian Jura, the Woernitz and Altmuehl, bursting through the Franconian Jura in Bavaria, and the Nab and Eegen, traversing the Upper Palatine plateau. The outward aspect of the German Jura is no more attractive than is that of the Swiss and French. The Swabian Jura, or Swabian Alps, as they are also named, in Wiirtemberg, fully deserve the name of " rugged " (rauhe), by which they are called, consisting of a rocky limestone plateau from 15 to 30 miles broad, full of caverns, but with few streams, with leafy woods and pasturages, and flanked by a number of truncated cones. Its rude climate has earned the name of the Wiirtemberg Siberia for the district of Mtinsingen on the bare Swabian hills, which are here swept by bitter north winds. No more favour- ably circumstanced is the Franconian Jura with its steep sides sloping in a north-westerly direction towards the domain of the Neckar. Following these slopes we are again taken westwards to the region lying north of the Black Forest. South and west of the Neckar valley this region is an undulating, cultivated, hilly district about 1650 feet above sea level, while to the north, between the Neckar and the Main, rises the pleasant Odenwald, with the Katzenbuckel (2322 feet), a densely -peopled district, with truncated cones and open dales, spreading from the north of the grand- duchy of Baden over all the south-eastern portion of the grand-duchy of Hesse. On the right bank of the Main, between Lohr and Aschaffenburg, again rises a flat, many-coned frowning mountain mass, the Spessart or Spechtswald, culminating in the Geiersberg (2025 feet). It is covered by unbroken forests, so that wherever high and favourably situated spots afford a distant prospect over crests and cones and into 92 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. the deep-lying valleys, the eye, whichever way it turns, beholds literally nothing but sky and woodland. Ee- nowned for their beeches, which here cover an enormous extent, and still more for their oak-trees, which tower in unparalleled magnificence, these forests always make a deep impression on the visitor, and aU the more so, since one may wander about for hours together without anywhere seeing a hamlet or even a single house. In the valleys alone are to be found a few scattered settle- ments. 3. Middle and Eastern Parts of the Highland Region. The Main being regarded by the Germans as forming the boundary between upper, or south, and lower, or north Germany, the district just described belongs to the latter, the highlands of which, forming middle Germany, embrace the whole area extending from the right bank of the Ehine, between Bingen and Cologne, eastwards through Westphalia, Hesse, and Thuringia, to Saxony. With the other ranges of middle Germany the Spessart is closely connected, being separated only by the vaUey of the Kinzig, a tributary of the Main, from the Vogelgebirge in Hesse on the north. This, again, is flanked on the south-west by the Taurnts between the Main and Lahn, on the east by the Shongebirge, which in their turn are severed only by the lovely valley of the Werra from the Thuringian mountains. It is the Taunus whose western extremity (the Niederwald) forms the right bank of the Ehine at the gorge of Bingen already referred to ; and here is the Eheingau, famous for its magnificent vintages. The whole range is remarkable for the superb forests on its gently-rounded cones, for the exuberant vegetation at its southern foot, and for its abundant mineral springs — Homburg, Wiesbaden, Schlangenbad, Schwalbach, Soden, THE VOGELGEBIEGE AND THUEINGIAN FOREST. 93 Selters, in some respects Ems also, besides Geilnau and FacMngen. Its Mghest point is the Great Peldberg, 2773 feet above the sea. Parallel with the Lahn flows the Sieg, another affluent of the Ehine, and between them rises the Westerwald, whose north-western end, the so-caUed Siebengebirge, a number of volcanic cones grouped closely together, rises hard by the Ehiue at Konigswiuter. Of the seven more prominent peaks, the most noteworthy are the Drachenfels (1066 feet) and the Oelberg (1520 feet). StiU farther north, between the Sieg and the Euhr, lies another hilly district, the Sauerland or Silderland. The Vogelgebirge mentioned above as lying immedi- ately to the north of the Spessart form the southern part of an undulating plateau, which in this quarter culminates iu the Vogelsberg (2400 feet), said to be the largest mass of basalt ia the world, and ia the north is the broad grass-clad summit of the Meissner (about 2490 feet). Beech, maple, and pine woods, varied with open heaths and marshy meadows, cover these hilly districts, whose bleak climate and long winters have acquired for them the name of the " Hessian Siberia." The rugged and generally cloud-capped Bhongehirge, a swampy plateau, 2000 feet high, serves to connect the Vogelsberg with the Thiiringerwald, or Thuringian Forest. The latter, begianing east of the Werra, consists of a narrow chain stretching for about 150 miles in a north-westerly direction, and separating the valley of the Elbe from that of the Werra and the Main. Its highest points are the Schneekopf (3200 feet), Ingelsberg (3150 feet), and the Beerberg (3225 feet), and the aspect of this well-wooded region, though pleasant, can scarcely be called grand. The south-eastern section of the Thuringian Forest is called the Frankenwald, and attains a considerable 94 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. breadth, while its northern extremity is narrower and sinks in regular terraces towards the southern foot of the B.an. From the Thuringian Porest this celebrated mountain mass is, however, separated by the valley of the Unstrutt, and as on the north it overlooks the great northern plain, it stands quite isolated. It is partly to this conspicuous position that the Harz owes the celebrity which it enjoys out of all proportion to its extent and elevation. It con- sists of a series of parallel ridges with the same general direction as the Thuringian Forest and the Teutoburger Wald, namely, south-east to north-west, with a total length of about 50, and a breadth of about 16 miles. The highest summit is the Brocken or Blocksberg (3740 feet). The lower slopes are in general richly clad with forests, but the higher parts, which are frequently enveloped in mists, are just as remarkable for their bareness and the wildness of their features. From very early times the mountains have been famous for their mines, and the wild legendary tales of the Harz miners have likewise contributed greatly to give to these mountains their peculiar celebrity. Passing eastwards from the Thuringian Forest we get into gently -undulating, and, for the most part, fertUe country, with isolated hills and mountain groups here and there, until we come to the Fichtelgehirge, a curiously- isolated mountain range, partly in Saxony, but chiefly in the north-east of Bavaria. It is separated by depressions from the Bohmerwald on the south, the Thilringerwald on the north-west, and the ErzgeUrge on the east, and is situated so centrally that it sends its waters to three great rivers, the Ehine, the Elbe, and the Danube, and hence to two widely separated seas. Its culmiQating summits are the Schneeberg and Ochsenkopf, respectively 3480 and 3378 feet in height. To the north-east of it lies the bleak plateau of Voigtland, mainly in the south- GEKMANY THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS. 95 west Of Saxony. In the corresponding corner of eastern baxony lies the hilly region of Upper Lusatia, which has several summits above 2000 feet in height, though none above 2500 ; and between these two there stretches on ON THE EHOOKEN, the southern frontier of Saxony the chain of the Erz^e- birge ; but as these mountains, as well as the Biesev^e- Urge on the Silesian frontier, belong more properly to Bohemia than Germany, we reserve our detailed descrip- tion of them for the chapter on Austria. 96 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The only other prominent features which remain to be mentioned as belonging to the German highland region are Glatz and the Svdetic ranges, running parallel to the Eiesengebirge in the south-west of Prussian Silesia. Neither of them attains any great elevation, and the highest summit of the latter, the Altvater, is beyond the German frontier. 4. T?ie North German Lowlands. The North German lowlands form part of the great plain that stretches right across Europe from the coasts of Belgium and HoUand. Its general slope, as might be supposed from the direction of the river courses, is from the south-east towards the north-west. The great rivers watering this region, taking them in their order from west to east, are the Scheldt, the Meuse, here called the Maas, the Ehine, the Ems, the Weser, the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. The four last named show a visible parallelism in their main course no less than in their principal bendings, and the same remarkable correspondence is observed in the flow of their tributaries. As already mentioned at the opening of the chapter, the Teutoburger Wald, a narrow and perfectly straight sandstone ridge, running north-west and south-east, between the Weser and the Ems in the west of Hanover, is the only considerable elevation in this plain, but there are other hills dotting the same part of the plain like so many islands. The coast of the west German lowlands on the North Sea is very low, and has in fact something of the same nature as that of Holland, of which it is a continuation, and the tendency shown by the rivers Ems, Weser, and Elbe to form wide estuaries in this part, a tendency which, NORTH GEEMAN PLAIN. 97 in the case of the Weser and Elbe, has converted the two inland towns of Bremen and Hamburg into real seaports, is characteristic. The background of this seaboard often consists of treeless plains, whose upper stretches are frequently capable of tillage, though ia many cases nothing but sandy wastes overgrown with heath and heather, whereas the lower and wet lands consist of fertile marshy ground or extensive peat moors. In such moors the region of the Ems is especially rich. Marshy formations occur also along the west coasts of Sleswig and Holstein, while ranges of hills are but seldom met ia the west German lowlands. The only lakes here formed are the little Diimmer See and Steinhuder Meer. The total area of these moors, the natural vegetation of which consists almost exclusively of heaths in the drier parts, and of Sphagnum acutifolium iu the bogs, is estimated at about 2340 square miles, two -thirds of which belong to the Prussian provinces of Hanover and Saxony, and the grand -duchy of Oldenburg, and the remainder to the adjoining part of the Netherlands (the Bourtang morass). Part of the area has been reclaimed for agriculture, principally iu the Dutch portion, where the first works were begun more than two hundred years ago, and where the best system of reclamation is still pursued.^ A very different aspect is presented by the old Slavonic domain of the now Teutonised eastern lowlands, forming between the Elbe and the Vistula the background of the Baltic Sea. Here the coast is everywhere higher than west of the Elbe, and is protected from the waves either by dunes or by steep shores rising as high as 520 feet above the sea level. The Baltic, being moreover an inland sea, but slightly affected by the tidal movement, is ia any case far less dangerous than the German Ocean. 1 See Auslomd, 1882, pp. 470, 483, 533. H 98 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. In fact, in the east, instead of being encroached upon, we find the seaboard contiaually advancing. At times, how- ever, this tendency of the seaboard to advance has been more than counter-balanced, not by the violence of the waves, but by the sinking of the land. The island of Eiigen is known to have been at one time part of the mainland, and it was only in 1510 that the Frische Haff, behind the Gulf of Danzig, was formed by an inroad of the sea, due to the same cause. Not improbably the Kurische Haff at the mouth of the Memel or Niemen was originally formed in the same way ; but the peculiar shape of these lagoons, characteristic of the German shores of the Baltic opposite the mouths of rivers, has another explanation. The peculiarity consists in the fact that shallow fresh -water basins are almost entirely cut off from the sea by low and narrow spits of land or chains of islands, called Nehrungen, which are coimected at one extremity with some promontory of the mainland. It is to the existence of this promontory that the Nehrung probably owes its existence. Protecting the bay beyond from the sweep of a marine current, the promontory causes the sediment to be deposited on the margin of the stiller water within, or along the line on which the current of the river counteracts that of the sea. The island of Eiigen on the coast of Pomerania is the gem of the Baltic islands, abounding in bays and inlets, and with the varied succession of its woods and glades, hills and dales, rocks and moors, dunes and pasture lands, presenting a pleasant contrast to the dreary mainland close by. Marshes and polders are unknown in the east Ger- man lowlands, which are on the other hand densely studded with bodies of still water. These countless lakes of all sizes are distributed principally over the plains of Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and east THE NETHERLANDS. 99 Prussia, and are most numerous in the two first-mentioned districts. Throughout their entire length the eastern lowlands are traversed by two ranges of hills — the Uralo-Baltic and the Uralo-Carpathian, both comiQg from the Sarmatian lowlands in the east of Europe. The first forms the water-parting of numerous inland and coast streams, its sandstone hills forming a broad ridge clothed with pine forests, while it is further distinguished by the lakes of east Prussia and Pomerania just mentioned, as well as by the frequent presence of erratic blocks or boulders, memorials of the Great Ice Age. The Danish peninsula of Jutland is merely a con- tinuation of the north German plain, with no elevation exceeding 550 feet in height; and the Danish islands have much the same character, though in general they are more fertile. The north and west of the peninsula is almost entirely a bleak sandy heath, and the whole of the west coast is bordered by rows of dunes, known as Klitten, and is rendered almost uninhabitable by drift sand. 5. The Netherlands. Under this term are included both Belgium and Hol- land, although, strictly speaking, the whole of Belgium does not belong to the Low Countries. Its south-eastern part, Namur, the southern part of Li^ge, and Luxemburg, together with the grand-duchy of Luxemburg, belong to the plateau of the Ardennes, and form a hiUy country, with one or two elevations exceeding 2000 feet in height. The whole of Belgium may be conceived as gradually sloping from this hilly region in the south-east towards the lowlands forming the background of the North Sea, and embracing the lower reaches of the Scheldt, the Pthine, and the Maas (or Meuse), the whole 100 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. valley of the Ems, and the Lower Weser and Elhe. All this seahoard is in a constant state of formation and dis- iategration, owing to the ceaseless action of the tides. The islands running in a long chain from the northern extremity of the peninsula of Holland to Jutland are nothing hut the remnants of a larger tract of land for- merly connecting them with the continent, hut which within historic times has heen swallowed up by the Zuider Zee, the DoUart, the Jahde, and the Sleswig archipelago. Amongst the Dutch islands at the entrance to the Zuider Zee, Texel is at once the largest, and, thanks to its cheeses, the best known. The central group, off the German coast of east Friesland and Oldenburg, includes the much frequented watering-places of Norderney, Bor- kum, and Wangeroge, which are the most considerable of the " North Sea Islands." Lastly, on the Sleswig coast, is the North Frisian group ; amongst them the solitary Sylt, thus described by Dr. Julius Eodenberg: "The easterly sea is calm and narrow. Oyer against us are the coasts of Jutland and north Sleswig ; at low water it is half dry land, the Watts, or flat sandbanks, emerging and shimmering like sHver dust in the sun, while the azure waters of the Wattenmeer coil round them like a many-folded blue ribbon. Small fishing-smacks sail to and fro, a wreath of smoke appears and then vanishes, as the steamer comes from Husum or Hoyer. Willow-trees with their bushy tufts mark their course ; they are hid from view on either side of the watts, and in and out glides the flat-bottomed boat ia the channels of the water. We never lose sight of the land ; when the mainland dis- appears on our right there emerge on our left the HaUig Isles, broad-stretching sand-flats whose central elevation bears three or four huts, perhaps one or two cattle-sheds or barns, for the gentle slopes afford a rich pasture, and the HaUig peasants own the finest of cattle. In winter. THE ZUIDEE ZEE. 101 when the wind blows and the billows roll, they sit often for weary months alone in their Hallig homes ; they see the mainland, but cannot get across, for then the boats are useless. Once or twice, when the tide is at its lowest, sturdy young fellows familiar with the dangerous paths venture to cross over, taking one ebb to go and returning with the next. These are the so-called ' Schlickldufer' or 'runners on the mud,' whose varied fates give the only seasoning of adventure to the monotonous life of the Watt banks and the Hallig islanders." ^ Between the North Frisian and the North Sea groups lies the British island of Seligoland, already half devoured by the sea, but stiU a famous watering-place, with a little town perched on a rugged cliff. Of the inlets along the seaboard of the west German lowlands the most considerable and noteworthy is the Zuider Zee. It was formed in the thirteenth century, when the sea burst in, separating Friesland from the pro- vince of Holland, which thenceforth assumed a peninsular character. This province is almost detached from the mainland by the Ij (pronounced I), a narrow arm of the Zuider Zee running east and west, and serving as a haven for Amsterdam. The narrow neck of land connecting them {Holland op zijn smalst) has, however, been cut through by a canal affording direct access to Amsterdam, opened on November 1, 1877, so that merchant vessels can now reach the heart of the city in two hours from the German Ocean.^ The shores of the North Sea are all low and protected from the overflowing of the ocean only by the so-called dunes or sand-hills, stretching in a long line from Calais to the Skager Back. These dunes, however, are often 1 Stilleben auf Sylt : Berlin, 1876. ^ F. C. Danvers, "The Port of Ymuiden,'' in the Quarterly Journal of Science for January 1877, pp. 41-47. 102 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEATEL. broken through, and are then replaced by artificial dams or dykes ; muddy sandbanks {watts) and saline marshes being often thus reclaimed from the sea, and converted into the fertile meadow lands, or polders, as they are OK THE COAST OF HELIGOLAITO. eaUed in Holland. Thus was drained the Haarlem Meer, and thus also has the gigantic plan been formed again to expel the Zuider Zee, and by the arts of peace to conquer a twelfth province for the kingdom of the JSTetherlands. GERMANY EIVEES. 103 6. Biver Systems. By far the most important of the German rivers are the Rhine and the Mhe. The former, affectionately called by the Germans " Father Ehine," constitutes the bound- ary between Switzerland and Germany from the Lake of Constance to Basel, and during this part of its course it flows in a rocky bed skirting the Swiss Jura on the left, and separating it from the Franconian Jura (Swabian Alps) and the crystalline masses of the Black Forest. At Schaffhausen it forms the celebrated falls, at which it plunges over a rock VO feet high, and lower down at Laufenburg and again at Hollenhacken rapids and catar- acts occur through the narrowing of its bed. At Basel the river turns northwards, and as far as Mayence winds over a long flat plain, making numerous loops enclosing many islands. In this part of its course floods take place azmually, and in consequence a considerable area on both sides was formerly marsh land; but since 1840 this evil has been greatly remedied by the construction of a navigation channel with high embankments, confining the stream to a bed 820 feet in width. At Mayence the river again turns westwards along the southern slopes of the Taunus, and at Biagen, where the navigation has been improved by the removal of rocks which formerly inter- rupted the course of the stream, it once more turns north- wards, entering a narrow and romantic defile, which it quits at Bonn to wind over the great North German plain. It is navigable for steamers without interruption as high as Mannheim almost the whole year round, and possesses several navigable tributaries. For the further improve- ment of its navigation considerable sums were voted by the states on its banks in 1880. The Neckar and Main on the right bank of the Ehine traverse scenes not unlike those traversed by the main stream below Bingen, wind- 104 COMPENDIUM OF GEO&EAPHY AND TRAVEL. ing amongst bolder or softer vine-clad hills often crowned by ruined castles. The former is navigable for barges below Cannstadt, and the latter for the last 200 miles of its course, but only in winter. The Moselle (or Mosel, as it is called by the Germans) on the left bank becomes navigable at Pont-S,-Mousson in the French department of Meurthe, but is really of little use for navigation on account of its extremely tortuous course. By means of canals the basin of the Ehine is con- nected with the basins of the Ehone and Sa6ne, Scheldt, Meuse, and Danube. The Ludwig's Canal, which effects the last-mentioned communication, must now be said to be of more historical interest than commercial importance. From very early times it was an object of desire to have these two great basins connected by water. The remains of works begun with this aim, and attributed to Charle- magne, can stiU be seen, but it was only in the present century that the canal was actually made. This canal follows the main valley of the Eegnitz, a tributary of the Main, crosses the water-parting at Neumarkt at the height of 1443 feet above sea level, and debouches into the Altmiihl, a tributary of the Danube. But now that it has been made, it has been to a large extent superseded by railways, and its traffic is stated to be decreasing every year. The Danube itself, which has its origin in two mountain streams rising in the Black Forest at the height of 2850 feet above sea level, becomes navigable at TJlm for vessels of 100 tons, and at Eegensburg (Eatisbon) for steamers. The Elbe, which rises in Bohemia, becomes navigable on crossing the German frontier, and is even of more con- sequence than the Ehine as a commercial highway. Hamburg, at the head of its estuary, is by far the most important of the German ports. A considerable contin- gent to the traffic of the Elbe is furnished by the system GEEMANT EIVEES. 105 of canals and navigable rivers connected with the Havel and Spree on its right hank — a system communicating with Berlin. The scenery on the banks of the Elbe is nowhere very interesting, except in the part above Dres- den where it and its numerous tributaries cut through the so-called " Saxon Switzerland," in which the sand- stone rocks have been weathered into highly remarkable and often fantastic, but very characteristic, forms. Of the other rivers that wiud in a more or less north- westerly direction over the German plaias the Vistula affords the greatest facilities for navigation. It is already navigable for large vessels when it crosses the German frontier. It flows, however, through a marshy region, now partly drained. Its delta, extending over an area of up- wards of 600 square miles, was formerly one great swamp, but has been converted into a fertile tract by the construction of embankments begun by the Teutonic knights in the thirteenth century. The Oder is a shallow and rapid stream on which large sums of money have been spent in endeavours to convert it into a navigable channeL This expenditure has at last proved, to a large extent, satisfactory. Works have now been going on for some years with the view of securing a depth of at least 1 m^tre (3 feet 3 inches) throughout the whole course between Eatibor, near the frontier of SUesia, and Schwedt, almost exactly 400 miles lower down, and these works are now for the most part completed. En The Ehine is navigable for vessels of 150 tons at Coire in the Grisons, but the most important of the navigable rivers of Switzerland is the Aar, the tributary of the Ehine, which, after traversing the Lakes of Brienz and Thun, winds across the Swiss plateau to join the main river about midway between the Lake of Constance and Basel The lakes of Switzerland, and the Alps in general, form a much more important hydrographical feature than the rivers. They are remarkable for their number, their size, their depth, and the beauty and grandeur of their scenery. As to their size, a misapprehension is often created by the fact that, from the smallness of the country, Switzerland, and therefore the Swiss lakes, are frequently represented on maps on an exceptionally large scale. Lake Leman, or the Lake of Geneva, the largest of all, has an area of about 220 square miles, or less than one-ninth of that of Lake Wener in Sweden. Both it and Lake Constance, or, in German, the Bodensee (208 square miles), belong partly to frontier countries, and Lake Neuoh^tel, the largest of the lakes belonging entirely to Switzerland, has 132 COMPENDIUM 01' GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. an area of only 93 square miles. The depth of many of the lakes is in fact a more noteworthy feature. The greatest depth of the Lake of Geneva is 1099 feet, which makes its bottom not much more than 100 feet above sea level, and the bottoms of the lakes on the southern side of the Alps are actually below the level of the sea (see Italy). The Swiss lakes afford excellent illustrations of the function of lakes as filters and regulators of rivers. They are nearly aU fed by rapid mountain torrents, which enter their upper ends thickly charged with sediment. This sediment is deposited when the rivers enter the lakes, and when they leave the lakes at the lower end they issue as clear streams. The turbidness of the Ehone as it enters the Lake of Geneva, and the remarkable limpidity of its blue waters when it quits that lake, are equally well known. As regulators of the rivers the Swiss lakes pro- tect nearly aU the lower valleys of Switzerland from disastrous floods. In time of flood the level of the lake gradually rises, and the fluctuations in volume of the lower course of the river are thus kept within moderate bounds. The Aar, however, even after leaving the Lake of Thun, is liable to have its volume greatly augmented at times in flowing over the Swiss plateau, which was in consequence formerly subject in certain parts to inun- dation ; but this evil has recently been remedied by the construction of a canal diverting the Aar into the Lake of Bienne, or Biel, and thus enabling that lake to serve as the regulator of the lower course of the river. The Swiss lakes likewise illustrate in a peculiarly striking manner the destiny of lakes to contract their limits and to become gradually obliterated. There is evidence to show that nearly all of them are now much smaller than they were formerly. The surface of the Lake of Geneva is estimated by J. Favre to have been SWITZERLAND LAKES. 133 nearly 250 feet higher than at present, and at that time the upper end of the lake would be at Martigny, where the Ehone suddenly turns to the north-west. According to Eiithneyer the Lake of Constance once reached to Bendern in the principality of Lichtenstein ; that of Brienz to Meyringen; the Bay of Uri, the upper arm of the Lake of Lucerne, (the Vierwaldstadtersee, or Lake of the Four Forest Cantons, as it is called by the Swiss), to Erstfeld, makiag the Bay of Uri twice as long as it now is; the Lake of Wallenstadt half-way to Sargans on the Ehine. Similar estimates are made for the lakes on the Italian side of the Alps, and in some cases the upper ends of these lakes are known to have been con- siderably higher even in the time of the Eomans.^ The reduction in size that has siace taken place is due principally to the lowering of the level of the outlet through the eroding action of the rivers draining them, but simultaneously with that the process already referred to, the deposition of alluvial matter at their upper ends, has led thus to the formation of deltas which are constantly increasing in extent. Through the operation of such causes several Alpine lakes have been entirely converted into dry land within historical times. The verdant valley of Urseren, which opens on the right from the pass of St. Gothard as one ascends from the south, is an example of an Alpine lake that has undergone this fate.^ Some of the Swiss lakes are remarkable for the differ- ences of level sometimes observed in different parts of them, in consequence of differences in atmospheric pres- sure. Such variations on the Lake of Geneva are known to the French as seiches, while on the Lake of Con- stance they are known to the Germans by the name of Bvssen. 1 Credner, Die Deltas, pp. 73, 74 : Gotha, 1878. 2 As to the origin of the Alpine lakes, see Inteodtjotion, p. 25, et seq. 134 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. 6. Geology and Minerals. The geological structure of Switzerland is extremely complicated. It will perhaps be most easily understood by regarding the plateau, stretching from south-west to north- east between the Lakes of Geneva and Constance, as an area of Tertiary (chiefly Miocene) deposits separating two moimtainous areas composed mainly of rocks of more ancient date. The mountains on the west, the Jura, give their name to the rocks of which they are composed, and which are here extensively developed. The eastern limit of these Jurassic strata is indicated approximately by the western shores of the Lakes of N'euchS.tel and Bienne, and by the lower course of the Aar. The mountains east of the plateau are mainly formed of gneiss and mica- schist, with patches of granite here and there, but in many places, and especially in the south-east (the Grisons), various slates are also largely developed. But between this crystalline and metamorphic core and the Tertiaries of the plateau, there are various sedimentary rocks which have shared in the upheaval that gave rise to the Alps. The lowest of these are Triassic rocks in the Grisons north of the Vorder-Ehein and in the canton of Glarus, and these are followed by Jurassic formations which stretch in a continuous belt from Lake Wallenstadt to the bend of the Ehone above the Lake of Geneva. Eeappearing farther west, there can be no doubt that these strata dip under the Tertiaries of the plateau to unite on the other side with the Jurassic rocks of the mountains of Jura. The same rocks, Triassic and Jurassic, are also found on the east of the slates of the Grisons among the Albula Mountains and in the Engadine. Cretaceous rocks succeed the western belt of Jurassic deposits, and these again are followed by lower and upper Tertiaries, the former, as late as the Miocene, having been upheaved, as SWITZERLAND GEOLOGY. 135 we have already seen, to great elevations (see Intro- duction, p. 12). A similar series of Secondary and Tertiary strata succeeds the central gneissic core also on the south side of the maia chains of the Alps — ^in Italy and in Austria; and as both on the north and south the rocks of which these strata are composed are mainly limestones, the name of "Limestone Alps" is frequently given, especially in Germany, to these outer portions of the range. Forma- tions of a different lithological structure are, however, also pretty extensively developed both in Switzerland and other parts of the domain of the Alps. In Switzerland, for example, there are two characteristic non-calcareous formations that deserve to be particularly mentioned. One of these is called flysch, and consists mostly of a group of dark-coloured slates, marls, and sandstones, overlying the Eocene, remarkably poor ia animal remains, but rich in relics of a fucoid vegetation. The other is the molasse, a term sometimes applied to the Miocene and Oligocene deposits of Switzerland generally, but in a more special sense restricted to a soft green sandstone occupying an ex- tensive area in the northern regions of the Alps. The nagelflue is a conglomerate belonging to the molasse group, and reaching a thickness of 2000 feet on the Eigi. But the most remarkable feature in the geological structure of Switzerland, and of the Alps generally, is one that cannot be shown on a map merely indicating the superficial outcrop of the strata. It consists in the ex- tent to which the strata on the flanks of the Alps have been folded, contorted, and inverted by the tremendous forces that led to the elevation of these mountains. The typical structure of the Alps is seen, for example, at St. Gothard, where what is known as the fan structure, due to the enormous lateral compression which accompanied the elevation of the Alps, is very well seen. There the 136 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AJTD TEAVEL. central core crops out at the sununit of the ridge, and the strata on each side of it, north and south, dip inwards towards the base of that core, so that when seen in sec- tion they would present the appearance of the blades of a fan radiating from a single point. ^ The minerals of Switzerland are far from abundant. The most widely diffused is iron ore, which is worked at various places. Salt is obtained at Bex, a little above the Lake of Geneva, from deposits of Jurassic age ; asphalt in the Val de Travers in the canton of Valais ; rnlphwr near Lake Thun. Argentiferous copper and lead ores were formerly worked in the Grisons. Mineral springs of great celebrity are pretty numerous, the most noted being those of Leuk (Loufeche) in the canton of Valais, Pfeffers in St. Gall, St. Moritz in the Engadine, and Baden and Schitiznach in Aargau. 7. Climate and Vegetable and Animal Life. The great differences in elevation in Switzerland necessarily cause great differences in the climate, and more especially in the temperature. At places situated north of the Alps, such as Zurich and Bern, the normal winter temperature is about 30° F., the summer tempera- ture from 50° to 64° or upwards; at Geneva the corre- sponding temperatures are as high as 33° and 66°. Some of the high-lying valleys, on the other hand, have a range of temperature which fully justifies the description that has been jocularly given of their climate, as one characterised by nine months' winter and three months' cold. This is especially the case with valleys that are open to the east and closed to the west, hke the little valley of Urseren between the Furka and the pass of St. 1 On the "Building of the Alps," see Prof. Bonney, Ifature, vol. 30, 1884, pp. ii, 65. SWITZEELAOT) CLIMATE AND FLORA. 137 Gothard, and the valley of the Engadine in the south of the Grisons. At Sils Maiia, in the upper part of the latter valley (5900 feet above sea level), the mean January temperature is 17-^° Fahr., the mean July temperature only 53°, and the mean of the whole year 34^°. In general the valleys have a severer winter than moun- tain peaks of equal elevation, the reason being that the colder and therefore heavier air steadily sinks down to the bottom of the hollows. One notable feature of the confined valleys of Switzerland, as weU as of other mountainous regions, is the prevalence of calms. The same is true even of isolated summits, such as the Eigi Kulm, which is protected on the south and east by still higher mountains; and, indeed, at the majority of Swiss stations the number of calms exceeds that of all the winds put together.^ In the higher valleys this condition is also accompanied by dry clear weather, especially in winter, and it is this circumstance that makes such cold places as Davos-Platz, iu one of the high valleys of the Grisons, a suitable resort for certain classes of invalids suffering from lung disease. Some of the valleys opening to the north, and especially the valley of the Eeuss, have a much warmer climate than the adjoining districts, in consequence of the prevalence of the fohn, an account of which is given in Chapter I. (pp. 44-5). The flora of the Alps is one of peculiar interest. Like all great ranges of high mountains, the Alps harbour a considerable number of plants found nowhere else, and of those which are found elsewhere the majority do not reappear in the plains and valleys beneath, but in distant mountains or in the Arctic Eegipns. Out of upwards of 800 species belonging to the Alps, but not to the adjoin- ing lowlands, nearly one-fourth are absolutely restricted to these mountains, and nearly a fifth are found also in 1 Dr. Alex. Supan, Statistik der unteren Luftslrome, p. 80. 138 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. the Arctic Eegions, these being what are hence known as Arctic- Alpiae plants. Here as elsewhere the elevation of the mountains causes a gradual change in the aspect of the vegetation as we ascend. In the valleys at the hase the chestnut and the walnut grow freely even on the north side, while in the vaUeys opening to the south, towards the Mediter- ranean, we enter the zone occupied by these trees while stUl at a considerable elevation. As we ascend higher we come to the zone of the beech, maple, and other ordinary foliage trees reaching to about 4000 feet, and then the zone of firs and piues rising about 1000 feet higher. This zone is followed by one of Alpine shrubs, among which rhododendrons (Alpine roses, as they are locally called), heaths, and whortleberries are conspicuous, along with larches, and two species of pine, the dwarf- pine (Pinus joumilio), and the cembra-pine, remarkable for its edible seeds, the latter peculiar to this zone. The shrubs cease to grow at about the height of 7000 feet, but the Alpiae plants that cover the pastures intermingled with the shrubs ascend to the snow-line, and often beyond in places too steep to allow the snow to lie, and otherwise fit for vegetation. On the peaks of the Grisons Heer collected about 100 different species of flowering plants at stations above the snow-hmit, there situated at about 8500 feet; 24 species were observed by Martias upon the Grands Mulcts on Mont Blanc, at the height of from 9890 to 10,600 feet;^ and ia the month of August the sides of the Pizzo Centrale on the St. Gothard have been known to diffuse to a considerable distance the fragrance of the flowers with which they were covered in patches. One of the most admired but most retiring of tTiese snow-loviug plants is the celebrated* Edelweiss,^ ^ Grisebaot, Vegetation der Erde, i. 173-74. ' Chnaplialium leontopodium. SWITZERLAND FLOEA AND FAUNA. 139 which all Alpine tourists are so anxious to add to their souvenirs of the country. N"o belt of cryptogamic plants separates the flowering plants from the snow-line, since the moisture that gradually trickles from the edge of the snow and ice soon becomes sufficiently warmed to admit of the development of plants of higher organisation. The great variety of species to be found in many places withia a limited area on the Alps is very note- worthy. On various points on the slopes of single mountains it is not difficult to collect hundreds of different species, and even on stony and rocky slopes not well suited to vegetation, where accordingly the amount of bloom is very limited, the number of species that may be obtained is sometimes very considerable. Among the members of the Alpine fauna we need note particularly only the marmot, a peculiar rodent which inhabits burrows on the mountain-sides near the edge of the snow-line, and has a peculiar habit of sitting erect on its hind legs, on the watch against enemies, when it comes out of its burrow to enjoy the sunshine. 140 COMPENDrCTM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. CHAPTEE V. AtrSTEIA. 1. Extent and General Belief of the Land. The Austro-Hungarian monarcliy, lying to the south- east of Germany, extends over about 9° of latitude, and upwards of 16° of longitude. The greater part of the vast area forming this monarchy is mountain- ous. This description applies to almost all the territory on the west as far as the southern bend of the Danube, to Transylvania on the east, and a large part of Hungary and GaUcia on the north and north-east; but a very extensive plain is left in the middle of Hungary watered by the Danube and its great tributary the Theiss. 2. The Western Highland Region. Bohemia is that part of the Austrian dominions which has the greatest length of frontier on the side of Germany, from which, however, it is separated by three ranges of mountains, — ^the Bohmerwald on the south- west, the Erzgebirge on the north-west, and the Eiesenge- birge on the north-east. Its surface has the form of a rhomboidal plateau, the fourth side of which is formed by a range of low hills forming the boundary with Moravia. The general slope of the plateau is towards the north, whither it sends all its drainage to the Elbe, chiefly by the Moldau. Of the mountain boundaries of BOHEMIA, MOEAVIA, UPPER AND LOWER AUSTRIA. 141 the plateau the highest are the Eiesengebirge, which oontaia some peaks above 5000 feet in height, and hence have acquired their name, meaning " Giant-moun- tains." The next in height are those belonging to the opposite range in the south-west, the Bohmerwald, especially the southern portion, to which that name more properly belongs. Here extend several parallel chains of mountains connected by transverse ridges, and clothed with one vast forest of giant conifers. Some of the peaks rise to above 4500 feet in height. Towards the north these mountains sink in elevation, and gradually lose themselves in an elevated plateau. The Erzgebiige are less remarkable for their height — none of the summits reaching 4000 feet — than for their precipitous character, and for the rich ores {Hrze) which they contain, and to which they owe their name. Moravia, somewhat resembling Bohemia in shape, is likewise enclosed in a great measure by mountains, but towards the south it is open, and its general slope being opposite to that of Bohemia, the drainage passes south- wards by the March or Morava to the Danube. The Sudetes, on the north, belonging partly also to Germany and partly to Austrian Silesia, have some peaks above 5000 feet in height. Upper and Lower Austria, which are contiguous to Bohemia and Moravia, on the south, are much alike in their general character. They are both traversed from west to east by the Danube, and their northern portion is mainly hilly, but intersected by deep river beds. In the east the surface of Lower Austria gradually sinks down to the plain of the Marchfeld. South of the Danube both divisions are traversed by spurs of the Noric Alps, with summits between 6000 and 7000 feet in height (Schneeberg and Oetscher) in the upper, and others, from 8000 to 10,000 feet (Dachstein, Priel, etc.). 142 COMPENDroM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TEAYEI* ia the lower division. In the latter the less elevated range of the Wienerwald in advance of the Alps is richly clad with vineyards. In the south of upper Austria lies the Salzkammergut, a district which contains more lakes than any other part of the Austrian Alps, and which owes its name — meaning "Estate of salt-chamhers" — to the circumstance that it possesses enormous deposits of rock-salt. An entire mountain in this region, the Salz- herg, is composed of this mineral. On the borders of lower Austria and Styria the railway from Vienna to Trieste is carried across the Semring Alps in a series of curves with steep gradients, passing in the route through fifteen tunnels and across as many bridges. The total length of this Alpine railway is 2 5 miles. As we advance still farther southwards into Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Carinthia, and Camiola, we get into the heart of the Austrian Alps, by which these provinces are traversed. Tyrol is as much as Switzerland a land of lofty mountain peaks, snow-fields and avalanches, glaciers and mountain torrents, and is only second to Switzerland in the grandeur and picturesqueness of its scenery. The Alps enter it from the west in three parallel chains, but of these the middle one — the Oetzthaler Alps — is by far the most important, dividing Tyrol into a Twrthern half with a severe climate, and with a drainage belonging to the Danube, and a southern portion, which is drained by the Etsch (Adige) into the Adriatic, and possesses a climate resembling that of the northern valleys of Italy. Like them it is liable in summer to excessive heat. In the Hohe Tauern, a portion of the Oetzthaler chain, the Gross Glockner, the loftiest mountain in the Eastern Alps, attains the height of 12,460 feet, and the Gross Venediger, be- longing to the same division of the chain, in Salzburg, also exceeds 12,000 feet in height. The Tyrolese Alps are now pierced at two points by railway tunnels. A tunnel STYEIA, CAKINTHIA, OAENIOLA, CROATIA, 143 below the Brenner Pass in the Oetzthaler chain on the route from Innshruck to Botzen (Bolzano) has existed since 1867, and the piercing of one through the Arlberg in the north-west was completed in November 1883. The latter is neaxly 6^ miles in length, and accordingly the third longest of the railway tunnels of the world. In Styria, which is almost entirely mountainous, there are spurs of the Noric and the Carnian Alps with many summits of about 8000 feet in height. The whole drainage in this case belongs to the Danube. Carinthia, lying between the main chain of the Noric Alps (a con- tinuation of the Oetzthaler Alps in the north), and the Carnian Alps in the south, is, in general, mountainous and sterile ; so also is Carniola, which is traversed from north-west to south-east by the Julian Alps. Both provinces are among the most thinly-populated parts of the Austrian dominions. A low spur of the Alps, with few heights exceeding 3000 feet, and all richly wooded, traverses the northern part of the Croato- Slavonian province between the Drave and the Save. Towards the east it gradually sinks into rich undulating country, covered with orchards and vineyards, especially in the highly-cultivated district of Syrmia extending along the Drave in the east. Croatia and the adjoining territories on the south and west are much subject to earthquakes, the centre of the disturbed region being at Agram, which was greatly injured by an earthquake that occurred in November 1880. 3. Region of the Karst : its Grottoes and Dolinas. In the south of Carniola there begins a region known as the Karst, which is one of the most remarkable in Europe in respect of its physical features. By the term Karst, or, as it is called in the Italianised form of the word, Carso, 144 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. is more particularly understood the limestone stretching from the mouth of the Isonzo, in the Grdf of Trieste, to the Grulf of Quarnero in the Adriatic. It thus includes portions of Carniola and the so-called coast-land with the Adriatic peninsula of Istria; but in a wider sense the term is applied to the whole mountain range which forms the connection between the Alpine and Thraco-Illyrian mountain systems, and under the name of the Julian, and farther on of the Dinaric Alps is often regarded as form- ing an integral portion of the latter, as well as to many parts of the area belonging to Croatia and Dalmatia on both sides of that range. In its more limited application the Karst is a stony desert lying to the north and the south of Trieste, an expanse presenting a scene of utter desolation in striking contrast both to the verdant region from which one emerges upon it in coming from the north, and also to the richly -wooded coasts which here border the Adriatic. It is a region of limestone rocks thrown into wide folds, synclines and anticlines, the tops of which sometimes have the aspect of minor plateaux and sometimes of suc- cessive terraces. But the peculiar physical characters of the region are due to the way in which the rocks have been acted on by atmospheric agents. The rock is full of fissures and underground caverns. The rain that falls upon it does not trickle down to the lowest line in a valley and then flow away as a river, but disappears underground through the numerous fissures ; or if a river is formed, it remains above the ground only for a com- paratively short distance, and then disappears to continue its course as an underground stream tni it manages to escape again by some other fissure lower down. Fre- quently it does not do so till it reaches the coast, and sometimes it only re-emerges under the sea, giving rise to a submarine spring. In consequence of the great AUSTRIA — THE KAEST REGION. 145 amount of underground erosion that has thus taken place the ground has frequently given way, so that numerous trough-like depressions, called by the Slavonians dolinas, have been formed. There the water is able to linger for a longer period than on the surface, and hence the bottoms of these dolinas acquire a tolerably thick soil and a rich vegetation. Mostly, however, the dolinas are only large enough to accommodate a few trees at their bottom, although here and there such trough-like depres- sions occur of sufficient size to contain an entire village surrounded by fields and orchards. Of the caverns of this region, the most celebrated iS that of Adelsberg, at the foot of the Julian Alps. VIEW IN THE ADELSBERG CAVE. Not far from this cavern is the no less celebrated Lake of Zirknitz, which illustrates in a striking manner another consequence of the peculiar underground structure of this region. For a number of seasons together the L 146 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TEATEL. bed of tliis lake may remain quite dry and be used for cultivation, while at other times it is occupied by waters teeming with fish. On a smaller scale the same phenomenon is observed in numerous other lakes of the region, b-kes that are much smaller in size, and hence more rapidly and more frequently filled and emptied. The phenomenon is. due to the fact ■that the underground outlets for the superficial water are sometimes comparatively empty, sometimes overflow- ing. In the former case the fissures commimicating with these periodical lakes serve as channels to lead away the water, in the latter as vents to pour it on the plain. Another phenomenon of the same region is the lora, the violent wiad already described in the Introduction. It is partly in consequence of this wind that the desolate character of the region is maintained. It carries away almost every particle of soil which the unfavourable con- ditions of the surface allow to be formed ; it hurts vege- tation where vegetation is possible; and it absolutely prevents the growth of trees in every spot not sheltered from its fury. Such are the conditions which prevail throughout the Karst proper ; but similar conditions are found in many parts of the wider region above indicated, and for that reason the name has been extended to them also. These areas were not always in this condition. In the time of the Eomans the whole region was well wooded, and there are data to prove that the conversion of productive land into a stony desert began in certain parts only from 150 to 300 years ago. The presence of woods over large areas is an essential condition for the formation and pre- servation of a surface layer of soil, and the destruction of woods through fires, through the keeping of goats, which jdestroy the young trees, and in other ways, has now gone THE HUNGABIAN HIGHLANDS. 147 on for generations, resulting in the present condition of the district.^ 4. The Hungarian Highlands. Under this term are included all the mountains enclosing the Hungarian plains, with the exception of those belonging to the western provinces already described. Except in the region lying within the sharp angle formed by the Danube, where it makes its southward bend, they consist entirely of the Carpathians. But in that angle we have the last of the spurs of the Alps north of the Danube. The Bakony Wald, a low mountain range of about 2000 feet in height, a continuation of the Noric Alps, extends from south-west to north-east, right up to the point where the Danube turns to the south. It is richly clothed with forests, in which the oak and the beech predominate, and contains extensive and valuable quarries of marble. The Carpathians, the second great mountain range of central Europe, take their rise on the eastern frontier of Moravia, and hard by the Danube. They describe a semi- circle of about 880 miles in extent, starting at Pressburg and ending at Orsova, also on the Danube, and cover a total area of about 22,500 square miles. Flanked round about by lowland plains, they consist of two great moun- tainous areas — the North Hungarian and the Sieben- biirgen or Transylvanian highlands, connected together by the chain of the Carpathian Waldgebirge or "Wooded Moimtains. The Carpathians are far inferior to the Alps in height, no single peak reaching 10,000, and but few exceeding 6500 feet. The highest, the peak of Gerlsdorf in the Tatra group at the most northerly part of the curve, is ^ See Wesen imd TTrsachen der Verkwratvmg, by Prof. S. Fraiiges, Auslwnd, 1883, p. 767. 148 COMPENDIUM OP GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. no more than 8700 feet in height. Hence these moun- tains also lack the great glacier-filled valleys so charac- teristic of the Alps. On the other hand, volcanic masses, such as basalt, trachyte, etc., occur much more frequently. The two systems also differ in the absence of longitudinal valleys in the Carpathians, a feature so highly developed and so favourable to intercourse in the Alpine highlands. In different parts the Carpathians present very different physical features corresponding with differences in geo- logical structure. The wildly-weathered granite rocks of the Tatra, exhibiting scenes of savage grandeur unparal- leled elsewhere in Europe, save in the mountains of southern Spain, stand out in sharp contrast to the broad flat sandstone ridges of the Carpathian Waldgebirge. The North Hungarian Mountains fill the area in the north-west of Hungary, between the upper part of the Theiss and the Danube, before it turns to the south. From the extreme north and north-west they descend for the most part in a series of terraces towards the Hun- garian plains, rising here and there, however, into chains of greater or less length and elevation. Towards Galicia the descent of the Carpathians is more rapid. The numerous spurs which are here sent out laterally ter- minate on a wide plain forming part of the great plain of northern Europe. East and west of the Tatra the culminating line of the Carpathians goes by the name of the Bieskid Mountains. Over the Western Bieskids the Jablunkau Pass leads from Silesia into Hungary at a height of less than 2000 feet above sea level. The Eastern Bieskids are rather a broad, low mountainous region than a chain of mountains — a region with few mountaia peaks, but at the same time few mountain passes. ■ Going still farther east and south we come to the Waldgebirge, the extensive beech -forests of which have given the name of Bukowina, " land of beeches," to lli'r> 'h' i ,,'! r, ' i 'w tt' Wj I THE HUNGARIAN LOWLANDS. 149 the territory on the south-east of Galicia. In the Tran- sylvanian region the long ramifications proceeding from the central chain traverse the ■whole land, and are frequently intersected by tremendous chasms several thousand feet in depth. 5. The Hungarian Lowlands— The Pusstas. The Carpathians, with the eastern projections of the Alps, encircle the Hungarian lowlands, which are watered by the Danube, and its parallel tributary the, Theiss. These lowlands are divided into two sections — the upper Hungarian plains, above the great bend of the Danube at Waitzen, and the much larger lower Hungarian plains below that bend, and stretching north-eastwards between the North Hungarian and Transylvanian Mountains. The former lies north and south of the Danube, and is enclosed by two spurs of the Carpathians which meet two corresponding spurs of the Alps at Pressburg and Waitzen respectively — that is, at the entrance of the Danube into Hungary, and at its great bend. The latter is the portion watered by the great southern reach of the Danube and by the Theiss with their: tributaries, and is the region of the so-called "pusstas," a region that gives a correct idea of the steppes which form such a prominent feature of the western portion of the Asiatic continent. In the Hungarian plains nature is stripped of all her charms. The monotony of an interminable expanse, broken here and there by a few trees, or by the tower of some distant township shimmering in the glowing atmo- sphere, soon wearies the curious eye of the lonely way- farer, while a depressing -effect is produced on his spirits by the noiseless calm of the surrounding wastes. Yet in their still grandeur a certain poetry hovers over the pusstas, while the somewhat frequently-recurring phenx)- 150 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. menon of the fata morgana may even act as a stimulaiit to the stranger unfamiliar with such atmospheric effects. 6. Bivers and Lakes. By far the greater part of the Austrian empire belongs to the basin of the Danube. Bohemia, we have seen, forms part of the basin of the Elbe ; the small territory of Austrian Silesia belongs to that of the Oder; the greater part of Galicia to the basins of the Dniester and Vistula ; a very small portion of Hungary is drained by the Poprad into the Vistula ; the southern Tyrol is drained by the Etsch, or Adige, and a strip on the south-west like- wise sends its waters into the Adriatic ; but with these exceptions the whole territory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy drains into the Danube, — a river which forms the great main artery dividing the territory into two not very unequal portions. This great river, the largest in Europe in respect of its volume of water, enters the Austrian dominions as a navigable stream at the gorge of Passau, where it is joiaed on the right by the Inn. Till it leaves Austria proper its banks are pretty closely hemmed in by the Alps, and the river passes through a succession of narrow defiles. Between linz and Vienna it is said to rival, if not to surpass, the Ehine below Bingen as regards the picturesqueness of the scenery on its banks, and more particularly on the south, where it skirts a succession of smiling valleys overlooked by lofty mountains clad with sombre forests or mantles of snow and ice. During part of this course, between Grein and Diirrenstein, it passes through a narrow gorge obstructed by rocks and islets ; but below the latter point it spreads freely over a plain of great fertility. Soon after receiving the Morava on the left its bed is again constricted at Pressburg, where THE DAIfUBE. 151 it passes througli what is called the Carpathian Gate, between the Alps and Carpathians. It then breaks up into a number of branches, forming a labyrinth of islands known as Schutten, covering an area of about 600 square miles, terminating at Komorn ; but on emerging at Gran and Waitzen from this section of the Hungarian low- lands, it flows uninterruptedly southwards as a broad and, considering its volume, a rapid stream over a wide plain, till it is deflected to the west, where it receives the Drave on the right, on the frontiers of Hungary proper and Slavonia. At Belgrade, where it receives its other great tributary on the right bank, the Save, its channel is obstructed by rocks, and for sixty miles before entering Eoumania at what is known as the Iron Gate, the river passes through a series of difi&cult gorges, which form a sort of connecting link between the Carpathian system and the Servian highlands. The first of these defiles stretches from Golubatz almost to Dobra, its upper section being composed of Jurassic limestone walls with numer- ous caverns, while in the lower portion the steep banks and rocky shoals in the stream chiefly consist of crystal- line schists and granite. At Drenkova begins the second or Greben defile, the Upper KHssura, after which follow the rapids of Izlash, the Upper or Lesser Iron Gate (Gornje Demir Kapi), formed by the reefs of TachtaHa, and Izlash, and heretofore often confounded with the true Iron Gate below Orsova. There soon succeeds the mag- nificent scenery of the third and grandest gorge — the Kasan-Klause, or Lower KHssura. Lastly, at the Old Orsova we come upon the dangerous reefs of the Iron Gate properly so called. A rocky ledge about a mile in breadth, with tooth- like points projecting above the surface, lies athwart the stream, which, when the river is low, forms a fearful cataract of tumultuous seething waters. As far as the 152 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. flourishing Eoumanian town of Turnu-Severinu the wooded hills keep close to both hanks, after which they become rounder and lower, gradually receding farther and farther from the river. THE IRON GATE ON THE DANUBE. It has sometimes been surmised that the rocky goi'ge of the Iron Gates was once closed, and that the Danube burst its way through the pass. According to some authorities the great plains of Hungary between Belgrade and Pesth and Tokay were once covered by the waters of an enormous fresh-water lake, which may have occupied an area at least half as large- as the Adriatic Sea, if not even larger. If this were so, then the overflow of the water of the lake to the east may have gradually cut out the gorge of the Iron Gates, as iudeed it is deepening it by degrees even now. But there is another view of the case which requires PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE DANUBE. 153 investigation. The great plain of Hungary, through which the Danube and the Theiss flow from north to south, is filmost entirely bordered by Miocene strata, which pass under the vast alluvial flats, and only here and there rise through the alluvium in a few island -like patches. If the flat-lyiug scarped Miocene tablelands once spread across and covered the entire plain, then their present scarped forms on the borders of the plain are the result of denudation, by which the Miocene strata that once overspread the iatermediate space have been gradually removed. If so, this was the manner in which it was done. In old times the Danube and its afiluents flowed at a high level across the surface of this ancient plain, and began to cut out the gorge of the Iron Gates, and in proportion as it was deepened the sediment won from the Miocene strata was borne seawards, tUl at length, the gorge gradually beiag cut deeper, a vast area of the soft Miocene beds was worn away by the wandering Danube and Theiss, so low that the whole area from which they were removed was reduced to a vast lowland plaiu covered by the alluvia of these rivers, which even now cannot be easily restrained within what we call their legitimate channels. The case, on a larger scale, is parallel to that of the Ehine between Basel and Bingen, which began to scoop out its gorge at a time when the whole of that great plain was filled with Miocene strata, the surface of which was gradually lowered in proportion to the gradual deepening of the gorge, worked out by the river between Bingen and the Drachenfels. Within Austrian territory the Danube is navigable throughout its course for vessels of 100 tons. It is navigable for steamers to Eegensburg (Eatisbon), nearly 1500 miles above its mouth. The Save, the Drave, and the Theiss are Mkewise ascended by steamers, the first to Sissek, 370 miles above Belgrade, where it joins the 154 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Danube; the second to the mouth of the Mur, 150 miles above its union with the main stream ; and the third to Tokay, a distance of 475 miles from its mouth. Steamers also ascend some way up the Maros, one of the tributaries of the Theiss. The other navigable tributaries of the Danube, the March or Morava, the Waag, and the Inn, cannot be ascended by steamers, the first by reason of its shallowness, and the other two on account of the rapidity of their current. Nevertheless the figures above given show that even without these the system of the Danube admits of upwards of 2500 miles of steam navigation on its waters. Unfortunately, however, there are two serious hindrances to the navigation in the main stream itself. One of these is the obstruction at the Iron Gate just described which during the season of low water abso- lutely prevents the passage of merchant vessels ; and the other is the tract between Pressburg and Komom, or more precisely between Theben and Gonyo, where the main stream breaks up iuto numerous branches, which shift about from year to year among the alluvial Schutten. Until these obstacles are removed the navigation cannot attain the importance which it might acquire. As it is, the total tonnage of merchandise annually carried on the Danube, exclusive of the part of its course below Galatz in direct communication with the Black Sea, is only three- fifths of that borne by the waters of the Elbe.^ In another respect, too, the Danube is rather a hin- drance than an aid to communication, for its breadth and the momentum of its waters make it difficult to bridge it over ; and, with the exception of a bridge of boats at Neusatz or Peterwardein, between the mouths of the ^ See Laniranconi, TTtiber die Wasserstrassen Mitteleuropas und die Wichtigkeit der BeguUnmg des Bonavstrotnes, Pressburg, 1880; W. Gbtz, Das Donaugehiet mit RilcksicM auf seine Wasserstrassen, Stuttgart, 1882 ; and articles by tbe same in Auslamd, pp. 67, 148, 163, 1882. INUNDATIONS IN THE DANUBE BASIN. 155 Drave and Theiss, there is in fact no bridge across the Danube below Pest. Moreover, the main river and its great tributaries are often disastrous to the land in another way. The plains crossed by them, and more particularly the tracts border- ing on the Save and the Theiss, are very subject to inun- dations. In a large measure this is due to the obstructions in the bed of the main stream after it has passed Belgrade. An increase in the volume of water cannot be carried off with sufficient rapidity. A rise of 1 3 feet in the level of the Danube causes the Theiss to flow backwards as high as Szegediu, 87 miles above its influx into the main stream. Szegedin itself was in large part overwhelmed by an inundation in 1879. Efforts have been made to ward off such disasters by the erection of embankments. In the course of the Theiss, one of the most sinuous of European rivers, munerous cuts have been made to reduce the length of its windings, and the bed thus formed, about 300 miles shorter than the original bed, has been pro- tected by embankments, which in 1872 had a total length of 776 miles. But after all has been done, it is impossible to guard completely against the risk of inundation, and it has even been asserted that the risk in certain parts has been increased by this system of cuts and embankments through the increase in the volume of water thus confined to the main bed of the river. It cannot be doubted that an inundation is thereby rendered liable to be all the more disastrous when it does occur, and it is believed by some that, though the embankments have undoubtedly afforded a local protection in different parts of the river's course, yet the country has not benefited on the whole by their construction. One consequence of this liability to inundation is that the land on the banks of these rivers is extremely marshy. This is particularly the case with the country 156 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AOT) TEAVEL. on the left bank of the lower course of the Theiss. That river there receives at right angles on its left bank two large and rapid affluents, the Maros and the Koros, and the force of their current is gradually driving the bed of the main river farther to the west. At Peterwardein it is stated to be shifting 18 inches westwards every year, and within a comparatively recent period the lower bed of the Theiss has been shifted about 60 nules. The tract left behind on the east may almost be described as one vast marsh, traversed in places by deserted channels of the river, sometimes exact facsimiles of the corresponding parts of the actual bed, except that they contain water with no current or no water at aU. The lakes of Austria are not numerous. The high- land lakes of the Alps and the Carpathians are aU small, and the only considerable lakes are in Hungary, west of the Danube. Lake Balaton, or, as it is called in German, the Plattensee, is the largest, having a length of about 50 and an average breadth of 10 miles. It lies at the foot of the Bakony Wald, which gives a somewhat pic- turesque appearance to its northern shores, though on the south its banks are low and swampy. It is nowhere deep, the average depth being 20 feet, while the deepest part is only 150 feet. It has often been proposed to dra,in it, and about 500 square miles of swamp on its banks have actually been recovered for cultivation. Though it has an outlet to the Danube (the Sio) its waters are brackish, in consequence of the large number of mineral springs by which it is fed. The Neusiedler See ia the extreme west of Hungary is an exceedingly shallow lake, so shallow that it sometimes evaporates completely in very dry years, as it did in 1865. It is then refilled by the waters of the Danube when the river rises sufficiently high to force back the sluggish stream of the Hansag, which communi- cates with the Neusiedler See through the Hansag swamp. AUSTELA. GEOLOGY. 157 The lakes of the Karst Eegion (Lake Zirknitz, etc.) have already been described (pp. 145-6). 7. Geology. In the west of Austria there are two great regions of crystalline rocks, with Palaeozoic and Secondary sediment- ary strata, separated by a comparatively narrow belt of Tertiary and later deposits. The one of these crystalline regions is that of Bohemia, in the heart of which lie beds of Snniian, Carboniferous, and Permian rocks, and more to the north-east a considerable stretch of Cretaceous deposits, largely overlaid by those of Pleistocene age. The other great crystalline region is that of the central Alps, which here also are flanked chiefly by Palaeozoic and Secondary Umestones both on the north and on the south in the same way as they are farther to the west. In Austria, however, the Carboniferous and Triassic lime- stones are much more largely developed than in Switzer- land, and more especially is that the case on the southern side of the central chain. In Tyrol, the south of Styria, Carniola, and the west of Croatia, the Triassic rocks cover wide areas, and are succeeded on the south by the Hippuritic limestones of the Cretaceous and the Nummulitic limestones of the Eocene period. In the south of Tyrol melaphyres and augite- porphyries cover a vast area, chiefly to the east of the Etsch. The Tertiary belt between the older rocks on the north and south is narrowest about midway between Linz and Vieima, and after that the Miocene deposits begia to expand on the east, first to the north and then both to the north and south. The northern branch ascends to the Carpathians (the Western Bieskids) behind the Tatra, while the southern spreads out over all the last spurs of the Alps. The saine formation surrounds the plains of 158 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TEAVEL. Hungary, while the mountains on the north and east are chiefly formed of Cretaceous rocks with large masses of eruptive origin, mostly trachytes and basalts. The Tatra itself is composed of granites and sedimentary rocks of Triassic age, while the highland region between it and the plain traversed by the Danube between Pressburg and Waitzen is made up of the same rocks, along with gneisses, trachytes, and basalts, till we come to the Miocene deposits on the south. On the north and east of the Carpathians there are large developments of Cretaceous and Tertiary strata continuous with those of south-western Eussia. The whole of the interior of the highland region of Tran- sylvania is filled with late Tertiary deposits, mostly in the form of soft more or less clayey sandstones. As stated in the Introduction, loss forms the superficial cover- ing of enormous areas in the Austrian dominions, both on the highlands and in the plains of the valley of the Danube, among the Carpathians, and in the interior of Transylvania. Everywhere it forms a very fruitful soil, in some parts of the Banat attaining a depth of more than 6 feet. 8. Minerals. The mineral wealth of Austria is not inferior to that of Germany, although it is far from being so fully utilised. First of all, coal is found iu great abundance at various localities. The coalfields of the true coal-measures occur chiefly in the crystalline region, of which Bohemia is the centre. In the interior of that area there are extensive beds of coal round Pilsen and elsewhere; in Austrian Silesia another field occurs at the eastern foot of the Eiesengebirge, yet another in western Cracow (Troppau), and another in the Moravian depression to the west of Olmiitz. In the Carboniferous rocks on the south of the Alps there is fossO. evidence to show that there also the upper members AUSTRIA MINERALS. 159 of the series are developed, but they were laid down in a comparatively deep sea, and accordingly not under condi- tions suitable for the formation of coal But by way of compensation Austria has several valuable coalfields of post-Carboniferous date. The Jurassic coals of Steyerdorf and Fiinfkirchen, in Hungary, are of great economic im- portance. The Eocene coalfield of Haring, in Tyrol, has been worked since 1766 — earlier than any of the other coalfields in the empire. In the east the coalfields of late Tertiary date in Transylvania, especially in the north of the basin at Pranzensgruben, are of great importance both for that and the neighbouring provinces. Other extensive Tertiary coalfields exist between the Drave and the Save. There are, moreover, various beds of lignite or brown coal, among which may be included the Alpen- Tcohle of Haidinger — a mineral intermediate between lignite and true coal, found in the Jurassic rocks of the Alps of the arch-duchy of Austria. This, however, is of more mineralogical interest than economical importance. Of greater value in this respect are the lignites of the Miocene basin on the borders of Styria and Hungary, and those of late Tertiary age which are found almost throughout the area occupied by rocks of that period in the north of Bohemia, and in recent years have been worked to a very considerable extent. Iron ores are also widely diffused, especially in the older rocks. They are found among crystalline slates in Carinthia and in upper Hungary (the counties of Zips and Gombr), and in the Silurian rocks of Bohemia and the Alps — ^in Bohemia, chiefly at Krusnahora; in the Alps, at various places in lower Austria, Styria, Salz- burg, and Tyrol, and, above aU, in the Erzberg, in Styria, a mountain containing vast quantities of spathose ore, or carbonate of iron, and forming the richest mineral centre in all the Austrian Alps. Magnetic iron ore is found in 160 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TBATEL. the Cretaceous rocks of the Carpathian region at the mines of Moranitza in the Banat. Gold is another important mineral in the Austrian dominions. The gold-mines of the Transylvanian Erzge-» birge (in the west of that province) are the richest in Europe (those of the Ural mpuntaius being on the Asiatic side of the chain), and both the precious metals have long been worked in the neighbourhood of Schemnitz and Kremnitz, and at various other points in the Carpathians. In all these localities the precious metals occur in eruptive rocks of recent date, but they are likewise found along with lead and copper in Cretaceous rocks in old mines round Edzbanya in Hungary, while the native gold of the central gneiss of the Salzburg Alps was formerly famous. Lead and silver ores are also found associated on the Bohemian side of the Erzgebirge, and among the SUurian rocks at Przibram in Bohemia. Numerous other metals (nickel, cobalt, uranium, bismuth, etc.) are also found in the former of these two localities, and copper, cobalt, and nickel likewise occur iu the mining region already mentioned in upper Hungary. Zinc ore is found in various places, and there are cele- brated quicksilver mines at Idria, in the Trias of Carniola. But the chief mineral of the Trias iu Austria, as in other parts of Europe, is salt, the immense beds of the Salzkammergut mentioned in a previous section belong- ing to this member of the geological series, as do also those of HaH in Tyrol. Near GoLing in Salzburg ther6 occurs in the same strata a large bed of gypsum, probably the largest in the Alps. Salt is not, however, confined to the Trias in the Austrian dominions. Both in Tran- sylvania and GaUcia there are inexhaustible supplies of the same mineral in rocks of late Tertiary date, the masses sometimes (as at Parajd ia Transylvania) lying naked at the surface. In Galicia the beds of rock-salt AUSTKIA MINERALS. 161 and the brine-springs are distributed at intervals over an area stretching for more than 300 miles from Wieliczka, near Cracow, to Bukowina. The salt-works at Wieliczka — ^probably of Miocene age — are still by far the most important. The bed has a depth of upwards of 4000 feet, and the galleries belonging to the workings have a length of more than 50 miles. Kear Kalusz, in Galicia, considerable quantities of potassium salts (chiefly kaioite) are associated with the rock-salt. Among other important minerals in Austria are 'petro- leum and ozokerite, which are found in Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits in nearly the same region of Galicia as that in which rock-salt is found ; sulphur at Eadobaj in Croatia, and south-west of Wieliczka in Galicia ; asphalt in Istria and Dalmatia; graphite at various places among the crystalline rocks of Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia. The porcelain-clay derived from the waste of the crystal- line rocks in the north of Bohemia is likewise worthy of mention as having laid the foundation of an important industry ; and among the gems obtained in Austria there is one that cannot be passed over — ^namely, the nohle opal, which occurs in trachytes in the north of Hungary, near Czervenitza — a locality of peculiar interest, as being the only one where this gem is obtained by regular mining operations. The emeralds of Ober-Pinzgau in Salzburg have also a certain celebrity.^ 9. Climate and Vegetation. Two circumstances combine to give Austria a warmer climate than Germany — its more southerly situation, and the fact of its lying mainly to the south of the great 1 Eegarding the geology and minerals of Austria, see Von Hauer, Die Geologic imd ihre Anwendung auf die Kenntniss der Bodenleschaffenheit der oesterreichischrungarischen MonarcMe, 2d ed., Vienna, 1878. M 162 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. east-to-west mountain barrier. The effect of this barrier is particularly apparent in the west when we compare the temperatures of places situated to the north and south of the main chain of the Alps. Thus Salzburg, in lat. 47" 6', has a mean Julj temperature of 63^° F., while that of Botzen (Bolzano), scarcely more than a degree farther south, has the corresponding temperature just ten degrees higher. The lowest temperature reached on an average of years at the former station is 2° F., at the latter 18°. The extremes of temperature are likewise greater in Austria than in Germany. While at such stations as Konigsberg, Bromberg, and Breslau in the east of Ger- many, where the range of the thermometer is on the whole greatest, the difference between the mean tempera- tures of January and July is from 37° to 37^° F., at Vienna the like difference is 39°, at Pest 42°, and at Botzen 40^°. StiU farther south, however, we come within the equalising influences of the Mediterranean, and at Gorz, a short distance from the head of the Adriatic, the difference sinks to 35-|-°. Almost throughout the whole of the Austrian dominions the amount of the rainfall is greatest in summer. The principal exception is in the south-west, where autumn rains begin to predominate in the valley of the Etsch (Adige) and that of the Drave. There we begin to meet with the climatic conditions characteristic of the Mediterranean region. In the Hungarian plains the maximum rainfall occurs in the early summer months, and is followed by a remarkably dry period in the height of summer, and, as the total annual rainfall of this moun- tain-girt region is little above 20 inches, it is easy to understand the condition of the vegetation in the pusstas as described in the Introduction. The other moun^ tain -girt areas of the Austrian dominions, such as AUSTRIA CLIMATE AND YEGBTATION. 163 Bohemia and Transylvania, are likewise characterised by a very low annual rainfall. In the interior of Bohemia it does not exceed 18 inches (at Prague under 16 inches), while on the south-west or weather-side of the Bohmerwald, the mountains on the south-western frontier, the rainfall amounts to from 60 to 70 inches in the year, and on the same side of the Eiesengebirge, the similarly situated mountains on the north-east, it again rises to nearly 40 inches. In the plains of Galicia — that is, beyond the Carpathian mountains — the total annual rainfall is from 20 to 24 inches, but there are some peculiarities connected with the rainfall of eastern Galicia which will be more appropriately, considered in connection with that of the adjoining parts of Eussia. The highest annual rainfall occurs in the mountainous regions in the south-west (Carniola and Carinthia), and on the Dalmatian strip (Fiume, Eagusa), in all of which places it amounts to from 60 to 65 inches per annum.^ On the subject of the vegetation of Austria little need be added here to what has been said elsewhere. The vegetation of the west has the same characteristics as that of the Swiss Alps ; that of the south has the general aspect of that of the Mediterranean region, while the similarity of the pusstas in respect of their vegetation to the steppes of Eussia has been referred to in the Intro- duction. It may be mentioned here, however, that in this part of the Austrian dominions there is a consider- able number of endemic or peculiar species, due to the fact that these plains are isolated by their exceptional climatic conditions and by high mountain barriers, just as high mountains like the Alps and Pyrenees are isolated by lowlands. On the alpine slopes of the Carpathians ^ As to the rainfall of the Austrian empire, see Hann, " Untersu- chungen iiber die Regenverhaltnisse von Oesterreich-Ungarn," in Sitzungs- terichte der Wiener Akad. II. Abt., Oct. 1879 and Jan. 1880. 164 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AMD TRAVEL. and the Transylvanian mountains the wealth of species is hardly less than at corresponding elevations on the Alps, notwithstanding the fact that on the northern Carpathians the area suitahle for alpine plants is greatly restricted by the enormous development of the dwarf- pine or " knee-wood " of the Germans (Pimcs mugJius or pumilio). The same pine is also very extensively developed on the alpine heights of the Sudetes. One of the singularities of the fauna of Austria is the occurrence of the remarkable blind amphibian called Proteus in the subterranean lakes of Carinthia and Car- niola (the Karst Eegion). The eyes, though present, are covered by skin, which renders them functionless. RUSSIA. 165 CHAPTEE VI. EUSSIA. 1. Main Physical Features. This division of the continent might also be called the Sarmatian lowlands, which are themselves a direct con- tinuation of the north German lowlands. From the banks of the Vistula and the eastern slopes of the Car- pathians they stretch eastwards to the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea, and are bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, with its inlet the White Sea, on the south by the Black Sea and the Caucasian range. Through the gap between the southern extremity of the Ural range and the Caspian Sea these lowlands, which are now shown to be the bottom of a dried-up sea, are brought into direct contact with the Siberian steppes. But the whole of this enormous basin between the Carpathians and the Urals, and politically comprising European Eussia, consists of a granite base, on which rests a vast covering of clay, sand, and marl, varying in thickness from 425 to 850 feet, and in places forming extremely fertile arable land, in this respect differing widely from the dried-up Asiatic plains, which consist mostly of sand, gravel, and rubble. The physical disposition of the eastern European plains is extremely simple and monotonous. They are intersected only by the Uralo-Baltic and the Uralo-Car- pathian ridges, dividing the lowlands into a northern or 166 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. Arctic, a central, and a southern or Euxine plain. Neither of these ridges attains any great eleyation, and the latter, though it forms the water -parting hetween the rivers flowing northwards to the Volga or the Baltic and those flowing southwards to the Black Sea, is so insignificant that it can scarcely be distinguished from the plain. In the south-east, European Eussia is sometimes held to extend to the water-parting of the Caucasus Moun- tains ; but we have already stated in the Introduction our reasons for taking the deep depression of the Manich as the limit of Europe in this quarter. 2. TJie Chain of the Urals, and the other Elevations of Russia. The Ural Mountains range from north to south for a distance of about 1200 English miles, and the water- parting, like that of the Caucasus, forms the conventional line of division between Europe and Asia as far south as Orsk, beyond which the river Ural separates the con- tinents as far as the north shore of the Caspian Sea. The northern end of the range lies beyond the Arctic Circle. Losing its integrity in the extreme north, the Ural chain breaks up into irregular masses, and the Pae-Khoi Moun- tains, though separated by comparatively low ground, may be regarded as a north-western offshoot from the main range. Interrupted by a narrow channel, the mountains reappear in Waigach Island, and are even continued on the opposite side of the Strait of Kara in the Archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. As far south as the Government of Perm the Ural Mountain^ are for the most part under and rarely above 5000 feet in height. In latitude 63° a small portion of the range rises above 5000 feet, and the same exceptional elevation occurs in latitude 59°. South of this, for a distance of about 150 THE URAL MOUNTAINS. 16? miles, the moxmtains are under 2000 feet in height; but again, for a space of about 80 miles, they rise to eleva- tions above that level, beyond which to the river Ural no part of the country rises to a height of 2000 feet. The Ural chain is conveniently divided into a Northern, a Middle, and a Southern section. In the ISTorthern Urals, which reach to about 63° N., a point a little to the north of the source of the Petchora on the west, and some of the head -streams of the Obi on the east, where the range seems to disappear, breaking up into a number of irregular masses, the mountain called Toll -Pass -Is reaches an elevation of 5540 feet; in the Middle Urals, which, with their resources of copper, iron, gold, and platinum, extend to about 56° N., the culminating point is Denejkin Kamen, 5360 feet high ; and in the Southern Urals Mount Iremcl rises to a height of 5040 feet. The Southern Urals do not consist of a single chain, but of three chains spreading out from a centre like a fan, the extremities of which are 180 miles apart, where they sink down to the plain above the east and west part of the course of the Ural river. It is in the western- most of these three chains that the highest peaks occur, several, besides Mount Iremel, there attaining a greater elevation than 4000 feet. Of the two transverse ridges of Eussia the northern stretches over the water-parting between the Caspian and Arctic Sea. In the Volkonski forest and Valdai hills it attains a height of 1066 feet, and thence con- tinues westwards to east Prussia, in this last section abounding in lakes. The southern ridge, on the other hand, rises at the southern extremity of the Urals, as the Ohshchy-Syrt, that is, " General Elevation," extending to the Volga, and thence farther westwards to the north- eastern foot of the Carpathians. 168 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. 3. The Aralo-Caspian Depression. The Obshcliy-SyTt stands on the edge of the great Aralo-Caspian depression, the largest in extent on the surface of the earth. The deepest part of this depression is filled by the Caspian Sea (about 170,000 scLuare miles), the largest of all land-locked water basins, and the re- mains of the great inland European Sea which once ex- tended from the Euxine to the Frozen Ocean. The northern part of this depression, between the lower Volga and Ural, is a steppe region studded with salt lakes, and itself so largely encrusted with salt that the rivers emptying themselves into these lakes are in some cases strongly saline. The Charysacha, which feeds Lake Elton or Yelton, has 5 per cent of saline con- stituents in its waters, that is, nearly a half more than the water of the ocean, and is estimated to contribute to the lake into which it flows nearly 50,000,000 pounds of salt every year. Erom Lake Elton and the lake or marsh of Baskunchatski, nearer the Volga, hundreds of thousands of tons of salt are annually obtained ; but the lakes farther to the north-east, fed by the Great and Little Uzen, are merely brackish, like the Caspian itself 4. Southern Bussia — the Zimans, The Steppes, and the Region of the Black Earth. The region bordering the Black Sea on the north forms a tableland of inconsiderable height, gradually descending eastwards to the mouth of the Don, sinking more abruptly northwards towards the marshes of the Pripet, while sloping more gently southwards. The coast-line, however, has in general the form of a steep cliff fringed by a narrow strip of beach. A peculiar feature of this region is the longitudinal water basins fiUing the EUSSIA THE BLACK EARTH ZONE. 169 outlets of all even the smallest valleys, and known as " linians," a term taken from the Greek language, at one time prevalent in this region. These lakes, though they have all heen cut off from the sea by the deposition of alluvial matter, are yet mostly fresh, but are in some cases largely charged with salt, so that their neighbourhood is specially favourable to the growth of saline plants. As regards its botanical and general physical aspect, this vast region is divided into a northern or "black earth" region and a southern district or steppe proper. But these two regions are not strictly speaking exclusive. The black earth, chernozem or chornozem, which gives its name to one of these regions, and the origin of which was considered in the Introduction (p. 3 4), is a soil of remarkable fertility and of immense importance to Kussia. It spreads over a large area in the southern plains south of a wavy line passing from near Kief and Chernigof in lat. 54° to the right bank of the Volga in about lat. 5*7°, this northern limit being the southern limit of erratic boulders marking the farthest advance of the ice of the Glacial Epoch. Its southern limit is not so clearly defined, but it does not extend over the whole area to the south. The absence of a well-defined boundary on the south causes the estimates of its extent to vary exceedingly. By some its area is placed as high as 425,000 square miles. By Euprecht, a member of the Academy of St. Petersburg, it was estimated on the basis of official returns as equal to only about 251,000 square miles ;i but even the lower estimate, it must be remembered, is nearly equal to three times the area of Great Britain. Possibly the smaller estimate may include only the area already reached by agriculture, for the so-called steppe zone, as distinct from the black -earth zone, includes certain portions covered by black soil, but, on account 1 See Oscar Peschel, EuropdiscJie Slaatenkv/nde, p. 144. 170 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. of the unfavourable climate or for other reasons, not yet brought to any great extent under tillage. The depth to which the black soil covers the surface varies. On an average it is from 3 to 5 feet, but in many places 20, and in some, it is said, even 60 feet. Chemical analysis shows that it is largely composed of organic (decayed vegetable) matter, and it is this circumstance that imparts to it that extraordinary fer- tility which, where the climate is favourable, causes both cultivated and uncultivated products grown upon it sometimes to attain a size unparalleled in any other part of Europe. Clover, lucerne, and sainfoin, for example, may grow to the length of 15 feet; and individual stems of hemp have been met with even 20 feet in height, and that, it must be observed, in regions where there is scarcely a moderate-sized bush and not a tree to be seen.^ The somewhat shrubby herbaceous plants of the region mostly die on the advent of summer, and their withered stems and branches, the careering of which over the arid plains form such an extraordinary and bewilder- ing spectacle during a steppe storm, afford, under the name of hurian, the only available fuel in the black-earth zone. The true steppe zone stretches inland from the coast for about two parallels of latitude, but it varies greatly in breadth. It is broadest in the east, in the parts lying to the west and north-west of the Caspian. Here the vegetation is characterised chiefly by a dense growth of various kinds of stipe-bearing plants, with their acicular or prickly fronds and thyrsoid flowers so dreaded by the shepherd. Cultivation is here difficult, and is practised chiefly in the neighbourhood of the large towns. The peasants are poor, and their dwellings bespeak hardship and privation. ' Grisebach, Vegetation, der Erde, i. p. 449. EUSSIA THE STEPPES; THE CRIMEA. 171 Higher up the course of the streams thin oak planta- tions serve as a transition from the steppes to the region of the woodlands. These are everywhere skirted by oak groves, at first of small extent and disconnected, farther northwards more dense and compact. The oak forests have a rich undergrowth of brushwood and herbs of species almost exclusively common to central Europe. Besides the oak, plantations of white beech occur also on the skirts of the steppes, their density almost entirely banish- ing the undergrowth of copse and other vegetation. Birch, juniper, and pine do not make their appearance till we get farther north, the southern limits of the latter being marked by a line drawn through Brody, Kharkof, and Orenburg. 5. The Crimea — 8cen&ry of the South Coast. Before leaving the south of Eussia we may con- veniently devote a few words to the Crimea, into which the region of the southern steppes penetrates. The whole peninsula, connected with the mainland by the narrow isthmus of Perekop, which it is now proposed to pierce with a canal, is flat, with the exception of its southern shores, where we have a continuation of the Caucasus Mountains interrupted at the Strait of Yenikale, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azof. In the Crimea these mountains form the romantic range of the Taurus or Yaila, culminating with the Chatyr Dagh, 5450 feet in height, and containing other two peaks rising to above 5300 feet. The finest portions of the Crimea are traversed by the route from the famous fortress of Sebas- topol to Yalta on the south-east coast. Between birch and fir trees the way winds up the hill, and then down to the Baidar valley, the sight of whose corn-fields, oaks, and walnut trees is doubly refreshing after crossing the 172 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. treeless districts about Sebastopol. Here -we have huge cliffs towering one above the other ; chasms and abysses, succeeded elsewhere by lines of grassy hills, smiling vales, and a luxuriant vegetation ; and finally we descend on Yalta, where there are glorious stretches of woodland and glade, rare plants, and blossoms of an almost tropical richness; on the left vineyards flanked by mountain ranges, on the right the blue expanse of the sea. And such is the general character of the southern slopes of the richly-wooded mountains of the Crimea. High up the prevailing tree is the sea -pine, but on the lower levels the vegetation has an aspect seen nowhere else in Eussia, the aspect which it bears in the Mediterranean peninsulas. The district between Alupka and Yalta boasts of not a few country seats of the Eussian nobility. In Livadia is the viUa of the empress, around which nestle a number of houses. 6. Western Russia. Eussian Poland, and the governments immediately to the east and north-east of it, are also remarkable for the abundance of their agricultural produce, but are not so richly favoured by the natural fertility of the soil as the tracts just spoken of. In the south-east of this region lie the extensive marshes of the Pripet, which will be referred to again in treating of the hydrography of the land. The railway from Warsaw to St. Petersburg first crosses West Eussia, or more particularly the government of Kovno, corresponding to the old Samogitia, covered partly with flax flelds, but to a much greater extent with forests. Beyond it comes the government of VUna, which in some places, especially along the Niemen, presents a more pleasant aspect. But the generally monotonous character of these lands is continued into the province of EUSSIA THE LAKES. 173 Vitebsk, where extensive birch woods and heaths are varied by cultivated tracts. With the government of Pskof we at last enter Great Eussia proper, forming the priQcipal mass of the old empire, and the eye now rests on nothing for hours and hours together but woodlands, with here and there at long intervals a genuine Eussian village — wooden hovels roofed with planks, through which the smoke struggles out as best it may. These inhospi- table regions, in whose vast virgin forests the bear, the wolf, the elk, and the European bison range unmolested, stretch without change all the way to Ingermanland, the present government of St. Petersburg. The Western Dviaa and the Memen water the marshy Lithuania, which liesbetween theBaltic Sea and theEokitno swamps. Beyond, that is, to the north of the Niemen, in the so-called Baltic provinces of Kourland, Livonia, and Esthonia, the country assumes a stiU more fenny char- acter, though both Kourland and Livonia are occupied to a large extent by well-wooded plateaux, with numerous headlands runniug out iato the plains and marshes. 7. The Lake Region. The north-west of Eussia contains the largest lakes in our continent. The two largest of these, Ladoga and Onega, lie to the east of the Gulf of Finland ; but even Lake Mmen, the smaller of the two chief lakes to the south of that gulf, is half as large again as the Lake of Geneva, and the larger. Lake Feipiis, is more than six times the size of that lake, and nearly twice as large as Lake Wetter in Sweden. The area of Lake Peipus has lately been considerably increased, in consequence of the drainage of the surrounding country having been conveyed to it more largely through the construction of 1200 miles of artificial cuttings. But though large in extent, both 174 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Lakes Peipus and Ilmen contrast with the Swiss lakes and the lakes to the east of the G-ulf of Finland in their small depth. Neither of them has a mean depth above 30 feet, while Lakes Ladoga and Onega both exceed 700 feet in depth in certain parts. The navigation of Lake Onega is much endangered by numerous reefs skirting the shores, and before buoys were placed to mark them numerous lives were lost every year in consequence of wrecks. North of these lakes there is a countless num- ber of large and small bodies of still water, stretching along the White Sea northwards to the peninsula of Kola, and ending with the large Lake Enare in Eussian Lap- land, which drains through the Pasvig Elf into the Varanger Fjord. This lacustrine region is separated by a water-parting from the rocky Finnish tableland, which is also covered with several hundred lakes, comprising over one -tenth of the total area of Finland, and thus presenting a picture on a reduced scale of the great North American plateau. The Finnish landscape is peculiarly depressing, still, almost lifeless, thinly peopled, with gloomy woods and gloomier lakes. Even under the bluest sky the water of these lakes seen from a boat appears perfectly black, although actually transparent to a depth of about 10 feet. Many of them communicate together by natural, others by artificial channels, and we may thus pass from one to another tUl we reach the largest of them all, Lake Saima, whose outflow, the Vocka, forms the Imatra rapids, which are the grandest in Europe. Lakes, rocks, pine forests — such is briefly the aspect of Finland. A few patches of fertile soil, partly reclaimed with much labour by burning down or uprooting the forests or draining off the water, here and there cover the nakedness of the land. Let us picture to ourselves a little hamlet or a single farmstead in the vicinity of these cultivated grounds, and round PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF FINLAND. 175 about the dwelling a number of wooden huts of all sizes, for the Finn builds himself a new roof for every fresh object, whether it be a cow or perhaps only a cart ; add to the picture a small but active horse, a fishing-smack rocking on the lake, or even a steam -tug with a long string of rafts or a heavily-laden barge in tow, and with these few elements we shall have little difficulty in putting together a genuine Finnish landscape. But in winter the scene changes, converted by a thick mantle of snow to the sUence of death, which is broken only by an occasional passing sleigh, or the smoke curling up here and there from a solitary hut, or it may be a hare flit- ting over the fields, or a crow fluttering noisily from woodland to woodland.'^ The railway from Viborg to Helsingfors has rendered necessary many cuttings through the granite of Finland, and these show that the granite base is what the French call terrain moutonjiA, that is, has been worn into rounded humps by the action of ice. Here there are no highlands in any sense of the word, and even in the south there are but few hills more than 500 feet high. The alluvial soil covering Finland, the detritus of the various granites, consists principally of a coarser or finer sand, in some places thrown up like dunes, and over the surface are scattered numerous erratic blocks or boulders. 8. Northern Russia. On the north of Finland borders the inhospitable peninsula of Kola, with flat, monotonous shores, unvaried by inlets of any sort, altogether a dreary, dismal prospect. The shore facing the Arctic Ocean bears the name of the Murmanski or Lapland coast. In the south the Gulf of 1 An instructive map of the lake region of Finland is to be found in Petermann's Mittheilimgen, 1859, PI. V. 176 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Kandalaksha, one of three large bays in the White Sea, penetrates far inland. On the east side of this sea is the Gulf of Archangel, and on the south that of Onega, studded with islands, amongst which is the Solovetzki group, inhabited by a band of monks who have converted formerly unpeopled solitudes into scenes of agricultural, commercial, and industrial activity, leaving nothing to be desired of what can be obtained in such remote and inhos- pitable regions. At the mouth of the Northern Dvina, in the midst of a dreary waste, lies Archangel, the most important seaport in northern Eussia. No less desolate is the region to the east of the White Sea, the Kanin peninsula, an icy wUdemess, with the Samokovskaya Mountain, the home of the Samoyedes, the true savages of Europe, who roam from the gulf of Archangel eastwards to that of Obi in northern Asia. Till almost as far south as the 64th parallel of latitude, the region watered by the Northern Dvina, the Mezen, and the Petchora, there stretch boundless morasses or toundras, where almost the only vegetation consists of the lichen, Gladonia rangiferina, essential to the existence of reindeer. About the 61st parallel of latitude the soil begins to be favourable for the growth of cereals, but here an enormous proportion of the surface is covered by interminable forests, consisting of larch and other species of pine, besides the willow and the apparently so delicate but really hardy birch. In the government of Vologda, the second largest in Eussia, occupying nearly one -thirteenth of the entire surface, 93 per cent of the area is covered by forests. 9. Biver Systems. The most noticeable feature of the principal river systems of Eussia is their size, an inevitable consequence of EUSSIA EITERS. 1 7 7 the superficial configuration. The Volga, the longest of Eussian, is also the longest of European rivers. Its catch- ment-basin has an area at least thrice as great as the area of France, or not far short of seven times that of Great Britain; and even the catchment-basin of the Kama, its principal tributary, is equal to France in area. But the volume of their waters does not correspond with their length and the extent of the area drained by them. The largest of the Eussian rivers are those which flow to the south, and of these the easternmost traverse a region where the rainfall is less than in other parts of Europe, and the loss by evaporation is relatively great. Although longer than the Danube, the Volga is estimated to discharge at its mouth less than two-thirds of the volume discharged by the former river. The mean discharge of the Ural, a river nearly twice as long as the Ehine, is only 1750 cubic feet per second, no more than that of a very insignificant stream in moister regions. Another effect of the climate of this part of Europe on its rivers is, that on all of them the navigation is stopped by ice in winter for a longer or shorter period. Most of the Eussian rivers likewise agree in having their sources in comparatively low regions amidst a labyrinth of waters, and in being liable to inundate and convert into marsh-laud large areas on their banks. It has long ago been pointed out, however, that it is chiefly the left bank that is liable to be flooded, the right bank being mostly the higher and steeper of the two. Hence it is on this bank that most of the towns are to be found. On the Volga below Kazan there are said to be only four towns on the left bank of the river as against more than thirty on the right, and similar observations have been made on the Dnieper and the Don.^ The Volga rises at the height of only 633 feet above ' Pescliel's Physische Erdlcunde, ii. 386. N 178 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the level of the Caspian, or 550 feet above that of the sea, amidst a number of small lakes and marshes at the foot of low wooded hiUs on the Valdai plateau. It begins to be navigable not far from its source, and from the point where navigation commences its course is divisible into three parts, one reaching to Tver, navigable, with more or less difficulty, by vessels not drawing more than 2 feet of water; the second from Tver to Mjni- Nov- gorod, navigable for larger vessels; and the third below Nijni-N"ovgorod, navigable for vessels of the largest size. Altogether the Volga, with its tributaries, affords about 7200 mUes of navigation. By far the most important of these tributaries are the Oka on the right, and the Kama on the left, the former memorable as having long been the frontier between the Tatars and the Slavs. Below the influx of the Kama the climate becomes so dry that the Volga receives no other considerable affluent. Above the confluence of the Kama the region tra- versed by the Volga is extremely marshy. In many parts its banks are bordered by " trembling forests," supported by an upper layer of soil on a bed of mud or ooze. But in the drier region, after the river turns to the south, this sight is no longer to be seen. In the south-east of the government of Simbirsk the map shows that the Volga is deflected abruptly to the left, and surrounds three sides of a quadrangular peninsula jutting eastwards. The cause of this deflection is the presence of a limestone barrier, through which the river escapes by a breach at Samara. It is here that the most picturesque scenery in its course occurs. Its right bank is skirted by steep wooded cliffs, rising into crags, peaks, and pyramids. The delta of the Volga is usually said to begin at Tsaritsin, where the river again makes an abrupt turn and divides into two main branches, the Akhtuba and Volga proper. But the true delta, the area formed by the alluvial deposits of RUSSIA EIVEES. 179 the river itself, begins only a few miles above Astrakhan, about 50 miles above the embouchure in the Caspian. Here there are about 200 mouths, but most of these are shifting channels choked with mud, and after the spring floods, when the whole of the delta proper is covered with water, even the main beds become changed. Fortunately, however, the prevailing winds being from the south and south-west tend to drive the sediment constantly north- wards, and hence to keep open the southernmost and prin- cipal arm of the delta. At Astrakhan navigation is stopped by ice for upwards of three months, at Kazan for about five months, in the year. The Volga communicates by canals with the White Sea, the Baltic, and the Black Sea basins. The communi- cation with the latter is by means of the Upa canal joining the Oka and the Don. But a more important connection with this latter river is that now effected by a railway from Tsaritsin, and it is by means of this railway that the greater part of the traf&c of the Upper Volga is now con- veyed seawards. At the bend of the Don, where the transfer of goods takes place, this river is free of ice for about eight months in the year. The Don itself is navigable as high as Zadonsk, about 600 mUes above its mouth. Between the Don and the Danube the Dnieper, Bug, and Dniester are now the only navigable rivers, although in the time of Herodotus there seem to have been many such. At the present day this region is so arid that all the minor streams are quite insignificant. Many of those flowing across the true steppes are like the wadies of Syria and northern Africa, flowing only during certain seasons ; and many of them never reach the sea, but are absorbed in crossing the steppes. Even the Don, which is more than half as long again as the Ehine, is estimated to have a mean annual discharge of only about 8650 180 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. cubic feet per second, or not much more than a tenth of that of the latter river at the frontiers of Germany and HoUand. This discharge, however, is very variable, risiag greatly at the floods which take place, as in the other rivers of south Russia, at the melting of the ice and snow in spring and during the autumn rains. The Dnieper rises in the low-lying region in which are found also some of the head streams of the Western Dvina, the Volga, and the Oka, and the upper part of its course traverses, like that of the Volga, a region of trembling forests and morasses. It is navigable almost from its source, and it is almost doubled in size on receiving the Pripet on its right bank. This affiuent, before joining the Dnieper, crosses a marsh known as the Pinsk Marsh, embracing an area of about 35,000 square miles, which formerly yielded no valuable products. Surveys made in 1873, however, proved that this land could be drained into the Dnieper, and since then works for the purpose have been so energetically carried on by the Eussian Government that these marshes promise soon to be a thing of the past. At more than one point below the influx of the Pripet the navigation of the Dnieper is greatly impeded by rapids. Above Kremen- chug the river falls over 65 feet in 10 miles, and below Yekaterinoslaf occur the porogi or ledges, where in the course of 46 miles the river falls 157 feet, contracting at the "Wolf Gorge, near the lower end of these rapids, to 520 feet in width. They are navigable only for small craft during eight weeks in the year at the time of the spring floods. Larger vessels are compelled to unload at Alexandrovsk below, and Yekaterinoslaf above. And even this is not the last hindrance to navigation, for constant dredging is required at the mouth to keep the channel open. At Kherson the river is ice-bound for nearly three months. Works are now in progress for EUSSIA EITEKS. 181 the removal of the cataracts on the Dnieper, and it is expected that the course of the navigation will not be impeded through this cause more than three or four years longer. The Dniester and the Bug likewise have the lower part of their course impeded by rapids, and the former has a bar at its mouth which admits only of light craft ascending the river. The Dniester is the first of the rivers yet mentioned which has its sources beyond the frontier of Eussia. It rises on the Galician slopes of the Carpathians, and has its right bank skirted by offsets from that chain till it reaches the Eussian boundary. Of the Eussian rivers draining into the Baltic the most important are the Vistula, the Niemen, and the Western Dvina, besides the Neva, the short but wide and deep river that drains Lake Ladoga. They are all navigable streams, but the navigation of the Western Dvina is greatly impeded by shallows, and is hence very dangerous except at the time of the spring floods. For large craft the Vistula is navigable from the confluence of the San and the Memen (German Memel) from Grodno. In draiaiag Lake Ladoga the Neva drains also a large basin to which Lakes Onega and Ilmen also belong, and hence this river ranks among the foremost of the rivers of Europe in respect of the volume of its waters. Never- theless it is navigable for large vessels only as high as the head of the delta at St. Petersburg. Between the quays at that city there is a depth of from 2 to 50 feet, but above the point mentioned we meet here also with porogi, which do not admit of the ascent of vessels drawing more than 7 feet of water. On an average of 150 years it was found that the Neva is ice-bound for 138 days annually. Within that time the shortest period for which the harbour of St. Petersburg was closed 182 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVBL. by ice was 87 days in 1822, the longest 194 days in 1852. Of the northern rivers the only ones important for navigation are the Northern Dvina and the Petchora. The former becomes navigable on receiving the Vichegda, where it turns to the north; but though at Archangel the river has a depth varying with the season from 40 to 70 feet, yet large vessels cannot ascend it on account of the shoals at its mouth. The mouth of the Petchora is likewise encumbered by a bar with only 12 feet of water above it, and its delta is free from ice on an average for only 127 days in the year; but nevertheless the traffic in timber, cereals, and furs carried on by means of it is very considerable. The Northern Dvina, it may be mentioned, has a kind of cod, called navaga, absolutely peculiar to it. 10. Geology. In consequence of the large scale on which the geological formations entering into the constitution of Eussia are developed, it is easy to discern the geological structure of that vast country by merely inspecting the geological map of Europe. It wUl be observed that all central and northern Eussia may be conceived as forming a vast synclinal trough lying between the Archaean rocks of Finland, Lapland, and Scandinavia on the west, and the granites and crystalline schists of the Urals in the east. In that trough have been laid down in succession Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, and Jurassic deposits, the last forming a great wedge running down from the Arctic Ocean to the heart of Eussia, but divided into two patches in the north by strips of Devonian and Carboniferous age, which mark the division of the great trough into two secondary ones. All the strata above EUSSIA GEOLOGY AND MINEEALS. 183 mentioned below the Jurassic appear on both sides of the great trough, but aU except the Permian are much more extensively developed on the west than on the east, where they merely form thin strips running parallel with the Ural Moimtains, while the Permian, which takes its name from the government of Perm, is the most largely developed of all the Eussian rocks, especially in the east. South of this great trough there are a few out- liers of these older strata, the most important being a large one of Carboniferous date north of the Sea of Azof, where the chief Eussian coalfields occur. Elsewhere the Eussian plains on the south, together with the kingdom of Eoumania, are mainly composed of rocks of post- Jurassic date, from the Cretaceous upwards ; but it must be noticed that the granitic base of this vast country is uncovered by sedimentary rocks throughout a broad belt, stretching from the vicinity of the north-west coast of the Sea of Azof north-westwards to the Pinsk Marsh, in about lat. 52° IST. It has been already mentioned in the Introduction (p. 34) that the soil of the greater part of southern Eussia (the black earth) is of more recent geological date than the rocks that crop up immediately beneath it.^ 11. Minerals. The minerals of Eussia, and especially the metallic ores, are of great value. Notwithstanding the wide dis- tribution of the Carboniferous rocks, and even of the upper members of the series to which the coal-measures belong, coal does not take a high place among the mineral products of the country. Besides the basin just referred to north of the Sea of Azof, known as the Donetz basin, from the fact of its being traversed by that 1 !For details of the geology of Russia, see Murchison'a classical work. 184 COMPENDroM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. tributary of the Don, there are other beds of coal among the Valdai Hills and in the government of Moscow ; but the coal in both of these districts is poor in quality, and in the former obtainable only in very thin seams. On the other hand, gold, iron, and copper are all found in great abimdance. Gold is obtained both by mining and washing at various localities on the east side of the Ural Mountains. The precious metal has also been obtained of late years from the tributaries of the Tana in Eussian Lapland. Iron is very widely diffused, both among the mountains on the east, where there exist four large mountains consisting almost entirely of magnetic iron ore, and in the plains, where even the marshes contain large beds of bog ii'on ore. Copper is distributed over almost the whole of the government of Perm, both in the low country and in the Ural Mountains, and is likewise found in the Valdai Hills, as well as in other parts of European Eussia. Platinum is also an important metallic product of Eussia, the most productive mines of that metal known to exist in the world being situated in the chain of the Urals. It is found, as nuggets and scales, in the alluvial deposits of the valleys, and was formerly used in the Eussian coinage. In the same chain of mountains lead ore occurs, as it does also in some parts of Poland, especially near Cracow and Sandomir, though nowhere in sufficient quantity to give it a high place among the miaeral products. Salt and saltpetre are found in the saline steppes of the south-east, described in a previous section (p. 1 6 8), and excellent granites and marbles are obtained on the shores and in the region to the north-east of Lake Ladoga. Large quantities of graphite are obtained along with ores of iron in the mines of Kriwoi Eog in the south of Eussia. The naphtha springs of the Apsheron peninsula lie outside of the boundary adopted in this volume for Europe on the south-east. (See Asia, p. 362.) EUSSIA CLIMATE. 185 12. Climate, Fauna. In the Introduction attention has already been drawn to the extremes of temperature that characterise the climate of eastern Europe, and to the fact that, in consequence of the absence of the shelter of a mountain- barrier running across the country from east to west as in the rest of Europe, severe winters extend even to the Black Sea shores. The following figures will serve to illustrate these facts, and it may be mentioned that Sebastopol, which, be it observed, lies in a lower latitude than Genoa or Bordeaux, is the only station in European Eussia (excluding Caucasia) where observations extended over a considerable series of years, exhibit a mean January temperature above the freezing-point. 1 N. E. Place. Mean min. of whole year. Mean max. of whole year. Mean Annual Mean temperature. range. Jan. July. Tear. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. 64° 6' 40° 5' Archangel . . 32° 844" 1164° 74" 604° 33° 60° 2' 25° 0' Helsingfors . 17" 80° 97" 19° 614" 39° 59° 9' 30° 3' St. Petersburg 19*" 84i° 104° 144" 64" 384° 55° 8' 37" 7' Moscow . . . 23° 88^ 1114° 12° 66° 39° 52° 2' 21° 0' Warsaw . . . 8° 89r 974" 24° 654° 45° 46° 5' 30° 7' Odessa . . . 27° 73" 49° 46° 3' 48° 0' Astrakhan . . 15° 97*° 1124° 19° 78° 49° 44° 6' 33° 5' Sebastopol. . 10° 83° 73" 354° 74" 54° The variability of temperature illustrated by the wide ranges indicated is not merely a phenomenon characteristic of the annual course of the seasons, but every month of the year shows a wide range of temperature, and above all in the region round the White Sea and in the re- mote east. Towards the west this mean variability of the monthly temperatures rapidly declines.^ In the 1 See H. "Wild, " Temperatiirverhaltmsse des russischen Eeiches," an abstract of which, with maps, is given in Petermann's Mittkeilungen, 1881, p. 281. 186 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. steppes terrible storms frequently rage in winter for days together, burying everything under the masses of snow and myriads of ice-needles whirled along by the wind. The rain-chart of Europe shows how small the total annual rainfall is in the greater part of Eussia, and more particularly in the south ; but it is important to remember that throughout almost the entire area the rains fall principally in the summer, that is, exactly at the period of the year when they are most needed to make up for the loss by evaporation. Small as the rainfall is it is sufficient to make agriculture and gardening possible without irrigation in aU southern Eussia, except iu the extreme east, and the rich soU of this region has long made it a granary for other parts of Europe, and has for years past been attracting a larger and larger population ifrom the more sterile fields in the north. While summer rains prevail over the greater part of the area, this is especially true of the extreme south-west, with the adjoining plains of Moldavia, Galicia, and Bukowina. At Lemberg, Czemowitz, and Kishinef there fall in the month of June from three to four inches of rain as against from half an inch to an inch and a half in the month of October. This is mainly due to the fact that north-west winds then bring great quantities of moisture from the Atlantic. Even at Jassy in Moldavia such a wind will sometimes bring rains lasting for twenty -four hours together.^ In the south-east, on the contrary, the con- ditions are exactly opposite. Even at Astrakhan agricul- ture cannot be pursued without irrigation, and throughout the area of the Caspian depression-basia the rainfall is extremely scanty and very irregular in its occurrence, so that the whole tract is Httle better than a desert affording a meagre support to a few nomadic tribes, and presenting 1 Woeikof, Die atmospMrische Circulation, p. 15. EUSSIA FAUNA. 187 a complete contrast to the rich agricultural land lying immediately to the west. The general aspect of the vegetation of Eussia has been noticed in the previous sections, and its affinities were alluded to in the Introduction (p. 46). Of the more noteworthy members of the Eussian fauna, the larger musk-rat or desman, the mole-rat (Spalax), and the saiga or large-nosed antelope, have all been already mentioned in the opening chapter as highly characteristic of the northern division of the Palsearctic region generally ; but in addition to these we may notice another inhabitant of southern Eussia, the iohak or Eussian marmot, whose nearest ally is the marmot of the Alps ; while the only other member of the genus, singular to say, is a native of the Eocky Mountains. The bobak, which burrows beneath the Eussian steppes, is thus the only inhabitant of the plains belonging to the genus. In the north the sable and various other fur-bearing animals form an important source of revenue to the people. The wUd inhabitants of the forests have already been alluded to in a previous section (p. 173), but the forests of the mountains of the Crimea present some peculiarities worthy of notice with regard to the members of their fauna. In the Crimea generally, the mammals are remarkably few in number, and the forests of the south of that peninsula do not possess either the squirrel, the Ijnxs, or the wild- cat, while the mammals by which they are inhabited, as the stag, the roe -deer, and the pine -marten, belong to varieties found in the Caucasus, but not in the forests of northern Eussia, which are separated from those of the Crimea by treeless plains incapable of being crossed by such denizens of the wood as those mentioned. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the Crimean forests have derived these and several other members of their fauna from the Caucasus, and it has been suggested 188 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. that the animals so derived are only such as could cross the Strait of Yenikale when completely frozen over, as is sometimes the case.-"^ 1 See Tr. Th. Koppen : " Das FeUen des Eichhomchens und das Vorhandensein des Eehs und des Edelhirsches in der Krim," St. Peters- burg, 1882 (a separate reprint from the Beiirage zwr Kenntniss des russischen Beiches). SCANDINAVIA AND ICELAND. 189 CHAPTER VII. SCANDINAVIA AND ICELAND. 1. Outline and Extent. The Scandinavian peninsula stretches from north-east to south-west through about twenty-six degrees of longitude and sixteen degrees of latitude, upwards of six of which are within the Arctic Circle. The first glance at a map of the peninsula will reveal the fact that the coast-line is at almost all parts extremely tortuous, and bordered by larger or smaller islands. But while the west and east coasts seem to correspond in this respect, there is in reality a great contrast between them. Even the map shows that the sinuosities on the east side are, as a rule, much more minute than those on the west, and that the islands on that side are nearly all small, while those lying off the west coast are of all sizes, from mere rocks, often of very fantastic form, up to islands three or four times the size of the island of Anglesey. And yet the map gives but little idea of the contrast that actually exists between the eastern and western coasts. On the west the coasts both of the islands and of the mainland are generally rocky and precipitous, especially towards the north, and the deep indentations penetrating far into the land, often with a siuuous course, are rock-bound fiords. Even the west coast of Sweden, that which faces the Kattegat, is generally rocky, though here it is not high, seldom rising higher than 30 feet. The east coast, on 190 COMPENDroM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the other hand, presents a succession of low shores and cliffs of no great height. In the upper part of the Gulf of Bothnia the coast consists entirely of alluvial deposits, brought down by the numerous rapid rivers from the Scandinavian mountains, and the tortuousness of its out- line is due solely to the irregularity with which these deposits are laid down. The growth of the land in this quarter is assisted by the fact that the coast is here rising, which is indeed the case with the whole of the Scandinavian coast, except the portion on the extreme south-west, which has long been known to be sinking. From Christiania round Cape Lindesnaes, or the Naes, as far as Stavanger, the fiords are comparatively small, the Lyse Fjord alone, at the last-named seaport, penetrating to any distance inland. But from this point northwards the coast seems literally rent asunder; and, as on the west coast of Scotland, fringed with countless islands and cliffs, the so-called skjaers, which must all be alike re- garded as disruptured fragments of the mainland. In the south of Norway the most important fiords are the Hardanger and Sogne Fjords, whose rugged steep sides often sink to a considerable depth below the surface. As we proceed northwards they seem to increase in size, especially beyond the Arctic Circle, which intersects the Scandinavian peninsula. Here the islands and skjaers stretch to a distance of more than 30 mUes from the mainland, forming a vast number of reefs and shoals, against which the sea breaks, producing in stormy weather a prodigious extent of seething surf, with small patches of still water between. About the 68 th parallel begins a larger group of hilly islands, the Lofoden group, where the valuable cod fisheries are carried on along a bank of varying breadth sldrting this coast. Here also, between Mosken and Moskenaso, in the Lofoden group, is situated the famous SCANDINAVIA PHYSICAL FEATURES. 191 Malstrom or Moskenstrom, a whirlpool, particularly dangerous during the preTalence of north-westerly gales. Amongst the more northern fiords, those of Lyngen, Kvenang, Alten, Porsanger, Laxe, and Tana, are distin- guished by their great size and breadth. On the island of Magero, at the western outlet of the Porsanger Fjord, stands the precipitous bluff of North Cape, rising to a height of 1010 feet. 2. Relief of the Land. The Scandinavian mountains trend south-westerly from the head of the Varanger Pjord, east of the North Cape, to the Naze and Christiansand, at the entrance to the Skager-rack. Their length is over 1200 miles, and their average breadth, including all the country above 500 feet, is over 200 miles. It must be borne in mind that the Scandinavian chain does not form a continuous range, but consists of a succession of plateaux and detached mountains rising from an elevated base. Intersecting valleys, mostly deep and narrow, constantly break the continuity of these plateaux, dividing them up more or less into vast tabular masses. Most of these are covered with snow -fields and glaciers, whence the groups of mountains themselves have come to be called " fields " {fjeldene). Approximately the water-parting divides Norway and Sweden, excepting on the south, for the Dovre Fjeld, and the mountains from thence towards the Naze are situated in Norway, and in these regions, as a general rule, they attain their greatest elevation. Throughout by far the greater part of their course the mountains rarely exceed 5000 feet in height, but on and south of the Dovre Fjeld there are at least thirteen points which exceed that elevation, while farther north there are very few. The 192 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. highest point of the Scandinavian peninsula is an eleva- tion of 8550 feet in the Jotunfjelde or "Giants' Moun- tains." The northern part of the Norwegian chain is known as the Kjolen, and here the culminating point is Sulitjelma, at an elevation of 6178 feet. The general elevation of the northern plateaux is from 1600 to 2100 feet, of the southern from 2600 to 3700 feet. It is notable that the water-parting of the Scandi- navian peninsula is much nearer to the Atlantic Ocean than it is to the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, and hence all the larger rivers of the Peninsula flow into the Baltic, the Kattegat, and the Skager-rack, excepting the Tana, the Pasvig, and the Kola, which find their way through com- paratively low lands to the Arctic Ocean. As a conse- quence of this physical structure, it follows that Norway is essentially a mountainous country, while Sweden is characterised not so much by mountains as by extensive plains which, starting from the highlands of the interior, slope more or less gently towards the Baltic and the Gulf of Bothnia. No European highlands surpass those of Scandinavia in terrific and savage grandeur. Like the Alps they are rent and torn, full of fearful chasms and deep gorges, abounding in mountain lakes embedded in vertical rocky walls, and impetuous torrents and rivers often forming enormous waterfalls. The hills are strewn with scattered fragments of disintegrated rock and filled with mighty glaciers ; nor are avalanches wanting to complete the picture. But as the narrow and deep furrows forming the valleys are lost in the vast breadth of the whole mountain mass, the Scandinavian highlands produce a very different impression from that of upland regions such as the Alps, where the chief space is occupied by the valleys. Ascending from the river valley or from the fiord, the Norwegian looks round and beholds nothing but SCANDINAYIA PHYSICAL FEATUEES. 193 a prodigious expanse of heath and moorland stretching as far as the eye can reach in all directions. The Norse hoidar, like the English heath, meant originally nothing more than a broad, treeless waste. But as such open plains occur in Norway only in the higher regions, the conception has heen gradually transferred from the one to the other, and hoidar now means not only the upland wastes themselves, but also crest-like formations, and even a mountain in general. But " to hie over the heath," also means, in Norway, to cross the heights, whenever these rise above the tree line. When the hUls fall short of this limit the word used is sJcogen or wood, and when the bare treeless uplands assume considerable dimensions they are called vidderne or Iroad lands. To form a faint idea of the terrors that here await the wayfarer, and often suddenly fall upon him, one miTst have wandered for days together along these highland tracks, or at least have read the graphic descriptions of journeys " over the heath." In the eastern districts of Norway, a trip across the moun- tains is spoken of as going over Kjolen, that is " over the keel," whence the origin of the term "Kjolen" apphed to the pretended mountain range between Norway and Sweden. But what more than aught else strikes the im- agination in Scandinavia is the colossal scale of its horizontal dimensions, a fact which we are apt to over- look from the cause already referred to in treating of Switzerland — the relatively small scale on which it is usually represented. With an area five times as great as that of England, and more than eighteen times as great as that of Switzerland, we often see the Scandinavian peninsula represented on maps of the same size as these other countries. The central European Alpine range has a sweep of 740 miles from the Eiviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean to the level of the 194 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL, Danube at Vienna. But the western edge of the Scandi- navian highlands stretches for a distance of about 1140 miles from the Waze to North Cape, while their total area amounts to 202,000 square miles, that is, some 21,000 square miles more than Alps, Apennines, and Pyrenees all taken together. The Sogne Fjord pene- trates into the interior of the Scandinavian highlands for upwards of 100 miles, that is to say, about as far as say from Munich to Heidelberg, or Innsbruck to Verona. The Gudbrandsdal again, from beginning to end simply a mountain valley, crosses more than three and a half parallels of latitude in its main direction south-east and north-west, and with it may be profitably compared the length of the Inn or Ehone valley, so far as they form part of the Alpine region. •S. Hydrography . The highland region of Scandinavia is plentifully studded with lakes which send down, east and west, numerous streams or '' elvs " to the sea. These can, of course, develop into large rivers on the east side alone, and are, properly speaking, rather a string of lakes connected together by means of short rapids often assuming the aspect of large waterfalls. That these watercourses are developed more rapidly on the west side, where the decHvities are relatively much more abrupt, is natural enough. Hence on the Norwegian side the whole volume of water often rushes in one gigantic and unbroken fall down a precipice some hundreds of yards high. Here are accordingly found those stupendous cascades, far surpassing those of the Alps in grandeur and volume of water. Nowhere else in Europe do we meet with cataracts of such colossal proportions as the Eingedals and Vorings Fos (that is " force," as used in the North of SCANDINAVIA EIVEES. 195 Eiigland),tlie Hardaiiger,and, above all, the glorious Ejukan Fos, or "Eeeking Porce," in Telemarken, whose waters seem to be dissipated in a vast cloud of vapour. The well-known Falls of Trollhatten, on the river Gotha, near Wenersborg, in the south of Sweden, form a cataract of 112 feet in height. THE PALLS or TBOLLHATTEIT. All the rivers of Scandinavia are remarkable for their great volume of water in proportion to their length and the area they drain. This is partly due to the great amount of the rainfall, but partly also to the nature of their beds, which are almost always hard rocks not allow- ing much absorption ; partly likewise to the circumstance IW 196 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AJSTD TEATEL. that iu these latitudes there is little loss by evaporation. The largest of the Scandinavian rivers is the Glonunen, which flows for the most part in a southerly direction, as if it were going to enter Lake Wener, but at the town of Kongsvinger makes a sharp bend to the south-west and enters the head of Christiania Fjord. Formerly the nearly southerly direction was maintained throughout its whole course till the river actually flowed into the lake for which, in its upper part, it appears to be making. But while Lake Wener has thus lost one feeder, it now derives a much more abundant supply of water than formerly from another ; for Lake Faemund, which is now drained by the Klar-Elv into this other lake, was formerly drained by the Dal-Elv into the Gulf of Bothnia. It is principally the large tribute that is borne by the Klar-Elv to Lake Wener that causes the Gota, the outlet of that lake, to rank next after the Glommen in respect of its volume of water. The rivers of Sweden, north of the estuary of Dal-Elv, have all much the same character. As the map shows, they all, or nearly aU, maintain a general parallelism in their course to the Gulf of Bothnia. They are aU approxi- mately equal in length, in the area of their basin, and in the quantity of water discharged by them (about 70,000 cubic feet per second).-' Finally, as already indicated, they are all provided with lakes which admirably fulfil the function of regulators, their level rising from three to twelve feet during flood — at the melting of the snows in April and May, and again during the autumn rains. The principal lakes of Scandinavia are those in the south of Sweden. In that district He the largest lakes in Europe, except those of Eussia. Lake Wener, with an area of 2408 square miles, is more than nine times as large as the Lake of Geneva, though not one-third of the size of Lake Ladoga. Lakes Wetter and Malar are the ^ Eeolus. SCANDmAVIA GEOLOGY. 197 next in size, and even tlie smaller of these is more than twice as large as the Lake of Geneva. 4. Geology. The most strildng peculiarity in the geological struc- ture of Scandinavia is that the peninsula is composed in the main of crystalline rocks, which are extensively over- laid by deposits of Quaternary age. Some intermediate strata are developed here and there, but only to a rela- tively small extent. The Archsean rocks are chiefly made np of gneisses, red and gray, alternating with schistose formations, containing bands of limestone and quartzite, and intermingled with granites of different ages. A smaller area of these primitive formations consists of a series of rocks of more compact structure known as halleflintas, which seem to be of later date than the preceding ; and these latter rocks, although insignificant in respect of their development as compared with the former, are of great importance inasmuch as they contaiii the principal ores of iron, copper, and zinc. Among the granites, the coarse variety known as pegmatite occurs here and there in veins, and in some places this is worked for the sake of the felspar it contains. Besides granites, Scandinavia possesses, among other eruptive rocks, porphyrites, diorites, gabbros, diabases, and basalts. The first of these have a great extent in the Swedish province of Dalecarlia, and are well known from their use in the arts. The basalts are confined to Skanor (Scania) in the south-west of Sweden, and the others are scattered here and there in different places. The Axchsean rocks of Scandinavia are followed by those of Cambrian age in parts of central and northern Norway, and in various parts of Sweden ; but these are not only of small extent, but of very slight thickness in 198 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. comparison with the corresponding rocks in the British Isles. The Silurian strata are more extensively developed in Scania, in West Gotland between Lakes Wener and Wetter, in Dalecarlia, Jemtland, and other parts of the mainland, as well as on the islands of Gotland and Oland. A vast area of the metamorphic region is com- posed of crystalline schists, the SHurian age of which seems recently to have been demonstrated. The structure of the Scottish Highlands probably finds a close parallel in that of parts of the Scandinavian peninsula. The Silurian rocks of the south present, however, a great con- trast to these in being on the whole free from violent folding, crumphng, and metamorphism, and in many places nearly as horizontal in their position and as soft in structure as when first laid down. Eocks probably of Old Eed Sandstone age occur in western and northern Norway, but having as yet yielded no fossils, are believed to be of that date solely on account of their correspondence in structure and in the mode of their occurrence to the Old Eed Sandstone of Scotland. The other pre-glacial deposits of Scandinavia are confined to the south-west of Sweden, where small patches of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks occur ; the former interest- ing as containing the only beds of coal in the peninsula. Finally, the Quaternary deposits are either glacial or post- glacial, the most ancient being an angular gravel chiefly representing the bottom moraine of the vast ice -sheet which once covered this part of Europe. In certain places these are overlaid by marine deposits indicating where the peninsula has since been submerged — in the north to a depth of 500 or 600 feet, in the south no more than 100 feet. Among the most characteristic of the Quaternary deposits of Scandinavia are the long ridges known as Asar, composed of stratified sand and gravel mingled with rolled and polished pebbles. They usually SCANDINAVIA MINERALS. 199 stretch from north to south, and attain in some cases a length of from 150 to 200 miles (see Introduction). The post-glacial formations of Scandinavia are either moraine clays, or fiuviatile or other fresh-water deposits, among which the peat-bogs are the most interesting and important. 5. Minerals. Of the minerals of Scandinavia, by far the most im- portant is iron, the ores of which are of great value, but are mostly confined to Sweden. They are chiefly rich magnetic and hsematitic ores, yielding, when smelted with charcoal, splendid iron for conversion into steel. Next in importance in Sweden are the ores of copper and zinc, and of still less value are those of silver and lead, nickel, pyrites, man- ganese, colalt, and graphite. The area over which these minerals are distributed is of very limited extent. There are two principal mineral districts, one in the south and the other in the north. The former, situated between Lake Wener and the Gulf of Bothnia, and extending over less than 5000 square miles, comprises all the principal mineral wealth of Sweden, both in iron and in other ores. Here occur the iron -mines of Norberg, Dannemora, Perseberg, etc.; the copper mines of Falun, the lead and silver mines of Sala (near Norberg), and the zinc-mines of Ammeberg (at the north end of Lake Wetter). In the north the Swedish ores are almost confined to North Bothnia, where immense masses of iron ore occur at GeUivara, Kircurnavara, Luossavara, Svappavara, and other places ; but all, unfortunately, in situations where the difficulty of establishing communications presents a great impediment to their working. In the province of Jemtland there are deposits of copper, chiefly near the frontier of Norway.^ Coal of Upper Triassic or Ehsetic age ^ See L' Industrie miniire de la Suide, by G. Nordenstrbm. 1883. 200 COMPENDIUM OE GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. occurs near Helsingborg in Scania, where it forms the three coalfields of Hoganas, Stahbarp, and Eoddinge. At Hoganas one of the coal-seams measures 4^ feet in thickness. In Norway itself the mineral wealth is not great. Besides the silver mines of Kongsberg, which have been worked almost without interruption since their discovery in 1623, and the copper-mines of Bratsberg, there are none of any importance; but gold has recently been discovered in the alluvial detritus of the Tana and other rivers of Finmark, and it also occurs, in quartz, at Eids- vold, as well as with silver in the Kongsberg mines. There are also in Norway iron-mines, and workings for nickeliferous pyrites. Apatite, or crystalline phosphate of lime, is worked near Arendal. 6. Climate and Vegetation. The cUmatic conditions of the Scandinavian peninsula are interesting in many ways. In the first place, as stated in the opening chapter, the west coast affords the best illus- tration on the face of the globe of the moderating infiuence of equatorial currents and winds upon the temperature. It is in consequence of this that the fiords even in the extreme north of Norway remain free of ice all the year round, while the ports on the Baltic are annually closed by ice for a longer or shorter period. To the south of 65° N. the most westerly stations have not as a rule any days in which the mean temperature sioks below the freezing point even of fresh water. Fruhohn, iu 71° 6' N, the most northerly meteorological station in the penin- sula, has the temperature of its coldest month (February) even higher than that of Christiania at the head of the Christiania Fiord, more than eleven degrees farther south — 23^° as against 23° F. The contrast between the Lat. West. East. 62°. Aalesund 35f F. Hernosund 20' 60°. Bergen. 33^°. Gefle . . 24' 59°. Skudesnses . 35°. Stockholm 26i SCANDINAVIA CLIMATE. 201 west and east coasts of the peninsula is clearly shown by the following iigures, giving the mean winter temperatures at three stations in equal latitudes on both sides : — F. The lower temperatures at the more southerly stations on the west side are no doubt due to the interference of North Britain with the direct course of the equatorial currents. The effect on the rainfall of the exposure of the steep western edge of the Scandinavian plateau to the warm moisture -laden south-westerly winds is shown with sufficient clearness by the rain-chart of Europe, and need not be further enlarged on. The distribution of the vegetation in the peninsula affords further interesting illustrations of the peculiar climatic conditions that obtain here. The high latitudes at which trees are found, and the cultivation of cereals may be carried on, testify to the exceptionally moderate temperatures of these northerly climes. Even at Ham- merfest, in lat. 70J° N., the birch attains the height of 800 feet above sea -level; on Sulitjelma, in lat. 67", it rises to 1100 feet; in Finmarken, in lat. 69°, the pine ascends to 1020 feet; and on Hardanger Field, in lat. 60°, even the ash to 1200 feet. The cultiva- tion of oats, the principal corn-crop of Norway, extends as high as 68° N.; that of barley as high as 70°. The case of barley is specially noteworthy, inasmuch as that crop has exhibited a peculiar adaptability to different climatic conditions, having developed varieties ripening within a remarkably short period in accordance with the varying conditions prevailing in the country at vari- ous latitudes and altitudes. Within the short distance 202 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAJPHY AND TBAVEL. separating Hardanger from Bergen Grisebacli found the period of vegetation for that crop to vary from 71 to 140 days, and he observed that in the manner in which the shortening of the period is brought about, we may see an effect of the long summer days which Norway enjoys in virtue of its high latitude. The process of growth which is accomplished in certain cases with unusual rapidity, is that between germination and the formation of the ear; that is, the period when the crop is green, and when the green parts accordingly are enabled to carry on their function under the influence of light during a great part of every day. The interval between the formation of the ear and the ripening of the grain is as long in Norway as it is in Saxony.'^ A noteworthy circumstance connected with the dis- tribution of forest trees in Scandinavia is that the limit of different trees rises higher on the east than on the west side of the mountains, even though, as we have seen, the former is the side on which the cold is greatest. The birch and the pine rise several hundred feet higher on the Swedish side of the mountains than they do at correspond- ing latitudes on the Norwegian side. But this too is a natural consequence of the physical geography of the peninsula ; for though in winter the east is indeed colder than the west, it must be remembered that all the year round the precipitation is much greater on the west than on the east. That means that on the western slopes the accumulations of snow in winter are much greater than on the eastern, while in summer and autumn the pre- valence of rainy and cloudy weather keeps down the temperature, and thus retards the melting of the snow. Hence the lowering of the snow-hne, and with it of the tree-line, on the side where that occurs. In the case of fruit-trees, which do not ascend high on the mountain * Grisebach, Vegetation der Mrde, i. 121. SCANDINAVIA FLOEA. 203 sides, Norway retains the advantage whicli it has over Sweden, as well as over all the rest of Europe. The apple and pear ripen in Norway ia as high a latitude as 65° 10'; the cherry is found even at lat. 66°, while ia Sweden the limit for all these trees descends to 61°, and runs thence south-eastwards through Eussia to Kazan, in lat. 56° N. The alpiue region ia Scandinavia, the region, namely, between the tree and the snow line, is found only on the broad tablelands in the south. It has little of the floral luxuriance of the corresponding region of the mountains of central Europe, the surface beiag covered only with a thin soil, bearing little beyond a variegated but dull- tinted carpet of mosses {Cladonia, or reindeer moss, and Cetraria). As in the Alps this region begins with a zone of rhododendrons and dwarf-pines, so iu Scandinavia it is ushered in by a zone of dwarf-birches. The ascent of the mountains is everywhere accompanied by a steady decrease in the size of the willows, until on the highest summits of the fjeldene the only companion of the crypto- gamic vegetation is the minute herbaceous willow, the total height of which, including the roots, is only about one inch, or less. The character of the vegetation on these Scandinavian plateaux renders them for the most part unsuited for summer pastures like those of the alpine heights of central Europe. One may walk over them for miles and miles together without coming in sight of a single herdsman's hut to remind one of the numberless chalets of the Alps. The fauna of Scandinavia is that of northern regions generally, but the remarkable rodent called the lemming may be mentioned as characteristic. This animal migrates from time to time from the interior towards the Baltic or the Gulf of Bothnia in enormous troops, always pursuing a straight line across mountains and valleys, lakes and 204 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. rivers. Among the characteristic birds of the region beyond 70° K are two species of falcon {Falco gyrfako and F. peregrinus), and the rough-legged buzzard (Archi- iuteo lagcypus), all of which are tolerably abundant. The snow-bunting (PlectropMnes nivalis) is the only permanent resident in East Piomarken north of the limit mentioned.^ 7. Iceland. The Arctic Circle cuts the extreme northern point of the large island of Iceland, which is less than 250 miles distant from the thoroughly Arctic region of Greenland. It is more than one-third larger than Scotland, having an area of 39,566 square miles. This island is to be regarded mainly as a volcanic mountainous region, treeless and full of fearful wastes, rugged cliffs, lofty ice- and snow -clad crests, numerous glaciers, or rather glaciated and snow-clad mountaias and plateaux (the so-called Jokulls), rapid torrents, and smaU. but deep crater lakes. It forms an arid tableland ascend- ing from the south-west to the north-east, at a mean elevation of 1000 to 2100 feet above the sea level, and presenting, especially in the north and north-west, a steep coast-Hne indented by deep fiords. The north-western corner, in fact, forms a triangular peninsula connected with the mainland only by means of a very narrow neck of land. Here also the climate is far milder than might be supposed from its high latitude. And the opinion that it has deteriorated since mediseval times, becoming more rigorous since the island has been deprived of its woods, is emphatically denied by Konrad Maurer. The summers, as in 1871, are even now occasionally very hot, and winter, as in 1874-75, remarkably mild. ' Wallace's Distribution of Animals, vol. i. chap. x. ICELAITD PHYSICAL FEATUKES. 205 Amongst the glacier mountains of the interior there are upwards of twenty active volcanoes, amongst which the most noted are Hecla (5095 feet) in the south, and the Vatna Jokull in the south-east. The latter is rather a large tableland than a mountain, and at its southern angle stands Orafa Jokull, the culminating peak of Ice- land (6410 feet). In March 1875 the Vatna Jokull was the scene of a prodigious eruption of sulphur and cinders, on which occasion the ashes were wafted over the sea as far as Scandinavia. In the latter part of February in the same year a new volcano, the Askja, was formed in the Dygyur-Jelden hills lying north of the Vatna Jokull. Two enterprising Icelanders, Jon Thorkellsson and Sigintur Krakson, have recently explored these volcanic districts, and they succeeded with great risk and labour in descend- ing the crater of the Askja. At about 3300 feet below the upper edge of the crater they reached the bottom, and found themselves on the verge of a boiling lake, apparently of great depth. Near the southern end of this lake the ground was broken by rents and chasms, barring farther progress in that direction, while the whole space echoed with the roar of loud undergroimd thunder. North of the great crater the explorers found an opening some 650 feet wide, and seemingly of about the same depth, whence were emitted dense volumes of sulphurous vapours, accompanied by a loud almost deafening uproar. The place has also been visited by Professor John- strup, who reports that the chasms and abysses of the central crater can be pierced by the eye only when the vapour has been dispersed by the wind. These exhala- tions burst through several openings in the crater, which is about 100 feet deep. On its southern side are three streamlets carrying the water precipitated by the con- densed steam to a volcanic lake, which is nearly every- where encircled by lofty perpendicular cliffs. The green 206 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. water of this lake has a temperature of 81° F. Eound about the largest crater on the east there is a layer of sulphur several feet thick, and farther down a zone of snow from 10 to 30 feet thick. The southern craters have discharged a mass of gray slippery clay, rendering them inaccessible. Huge blocks of black sandstone strewn about bear evidence to the violence of the eruptions that here take place. But besides these rocks, mud only is thrown up, no lava, as in the Myvatn desert. Amongst the indications of subterranean igneous forces are the Geysers, or hot springs, strewn aH over the island.^ During their periodical disturbances warm, often boiling, water is discharged with terrific force sometimes to a height of 100 feet through the rents and fissures formed by the steam pent up in the basalt and trachyte masses. Eemarkable also are the mud volcanoes. Here the hot water, bursting with a hissing, spluttering noise through the cavities in the rocks, converts the rich clayey ground into a ceaselessly reeking and bubbling morass, exhaling sulphurous fumes, and every three or four hours discharg- ing large and small masses to a height of 1 5 or 1 6 feet.^ ^ The word geyser is derived from the old Icelandic verb geijsa or gjosa, to burst forth, or to rage. The earliest mention of the geysers of Iceland is by Saxo Grammaticus, a writer of the twelfth century. 2 See Mr. John Coles, Swmtmr Travelling in Iceland, 1882; Richard F. Burton, Ultima Thule, a Summer in Iceland, 1875; Dr. Samuel Kneeland, An American in Iceland, Boston, 1876 ; Lord WiUiam Watts, Aaross the Vatna JoJciUl, etc., 1877 ; Pajhally, Summer in Iceland, 1870 ; and Eev. S. Baring Gould, Iceland : Its Scenes and Sagas, 1863. PmSK AL MAP OF THi: BRITISH ISLES '^Sbedand]!? e Pair I. i?eference. Land above 2000 feet altUuRe I . /TCTn BOOtoZOOO . . 250 to 500 „ SeaZevAto 250 . I__J SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES LoQilon. Edwai'd StimtVii-d, 55. Cliaj-iiifij Cross; SW ■(fir <},'^yci'-Estiih' London THE BEITISH ISLES. 207 CHAPTEE VIII. THE BEITISH ISLES. 1. Outline and Surface. The irregularity of outline both in Great Britain and in Ireland is a feature that cannot escape the attention of any one who inspects a map of these islands, and the fiord-like character of the west coast of Ireland and of Scotland has already heen noticed in the Introduction. The high ratio of coast-line to surface relatively to other European countries will be seen on referring to the first statistical table at the end of the book. Travelling westwards along the south coast of England, it is seen that bold rocky coasts begin in the neighbour- hood of Lyme Eegis, where Oolitic are succeeded by liassic strata, and that bold cliffs are continued for the most part all round the south-west of England and the principality of Wales. Occurring again in the north of Lancashire, they pass almost uninterruptedly round Scot- land and the north-east of England, and the same char- acter belongs to by far the greater part of the Irish coast. The principal stretches of flat coast are to be found in the east and south of England, first in Lincolnshire between the Humber and the Wash, then from the south of Suffolk to the South Foreland in Kent, and finally in Sussex and Hants on the south coast. But even in the south- east of England the chalk forms cliffs of considerable magnitude. 208 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. It is needless to supplement the view of the super- ficial configuration of the British Islands furnished in the accompanying orographical map with a detailed descrip- tion, and hence very few particulars on this subject will sufi&ce. The highest summits in the British Isles are situated in Scotland, and in particular in the aggregate of mountain ranges known as the Grampians. The highest of all is Ben Nevis, in the west of Inverness- shire (4406 feet), and the next ia height Ben Macdhui (4296 feet), one of a cluster of mountains at the meeting of the counties of Inverness, Banff, and Aberdeen. North of the Grampians Ben Wyvis, in a portion of Cromarty enclosed in Eoss-shire, attains the height of 3722 feet, and Ben Dearg and Ben More are also considerably above 3000 feet in height. In the south of Scotland the highest point is Mount Merrick in Kirkcudbrightshire, which reaches an elevation of 2764 feet. In south Britain the culminating point is Snowdon in Carnarvon- shire, the altitude of which is 3570 feet. This is in Wales ; but in England itself the highest point is Scaw- fell in Cumberland, which rises to 3161 feet, while the culminating point of the Pennine range is Cross Fell in Cumberland (2892 feet). In Ireland the highest peak is in MacgiUicuddy's Eeeks in County Kerry, where Cam Tual attains an elevation of 3414 feet. If the term " lowlands " be applied to aU areas under 500 feet in height, it is found that ia England they occupy about two-thirds of the total area, in Ireland as much as seven -eighths, but in Scotland no more than one-half. In the case of Ireland a subsidence amoxmting to 250 feet would place one -third of the entire area under water, while one of 500 feet would submerge the whole island, leaving only two archipelagos above the surface of the ocean, one in Ulster and western Connaught, and the other in Munster and south Leinster. The lowest BEITISH ISLES — PHYSICAL FEATI7EES. 209 tracts in the two islands are the marshy district known as the Fens skirting the Wash, and Eomney Marsh in the south-east of Kent. The former area has been partly drained, and is now intersected by canals, and covered with rich pastures dotted over with windmills.^ To the central lowlands of Scotland access is afforded from the Highlands on the north by the famous Pass of Killiecrankie leading through the valley of the Garry, an afiluent of the Tay. At the present day this pass is utUised by the railway which runs to the north coast of Scotland, and formerly, when a hostile feeHng prevailed between the inhabitants of the highlands and lowlands, it was a point of strategic importance. Of the numerous small islands surrounding the two principal isles, the most important group is that of the Strides in the west of Scotland. They are composed of an inner group lying not far from the coast, — to which group even Bute and Arran in the Firth of Clyde are generally referred, — and of an outer group stretching in a gentle curve beyond the Minch. Their whole number, exclusive of mere rocks without pasturage sufficient to support a single sheep, is about 490, but not more than 120 are inhabited. The total area is upwards of 3000 square miles, of which little more than one -tenth is arable. The rest of the surface consists of pasture land of little value, besides peat-bogs, morasses, barren sands, and rocks. The greatest proportion of level and arable land is to be found in Islay and Bute. lona is interest- ing on account of its ecclesiastical ruins, pointing back to the time when the island was an important ecclesiastical centre for North Britain, a position of influence due to the fact that it was here that the first Christian mission- 1 For description of the Fens, see The Fenlomd, Past and Present, by S. H. MiUer and S. B. J. SkertcUy, 1878. P 210 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. aries from Ireland to Scotland established themselves under St. Coliunba. The Orkney Islands, situated to the north of the Pentland Firth, number upwards of 70, of which 29 are inhabited. Pomona, the largest, is about 150 square miles in extent, or half the size of the island of Anglesey. The total area of the group is about 610 miles, but not much more than a fourth of this area is capable of being employed for tillage or pasture. The Shetland Islands, lying at a distance of upwards of 70 miles still farther to the north-east, consists of about 100 larger or smaller islands or rocks with a total area of about 325 miles. Twenty-three of the group are inhabited. They are altogether without wood. The Isle of Man in the Irish Sea also deserves special notice, inasmuch as it has an independent legislature. Its area is 227 square miles, less than two -thirds of which is profitably occupied. The hills, which spread over the southern part, are chiefly composed of clay slate, penetrated by bosses of granite, and are intersected by veins containing valuable ores of lead and zinc, as well as of copper and iron. 2. Rivers and Lakes. These may be disposed of with a brief notice, inas- much as an inspection of the accompanying map will afford a fairly satisfactory idea of the chief features of the hydrography of the. British Isles. It wiU be observed that the general water-parting is much nearer to the west than to the east side, but, since the former is consequently the steeper side, and since it is exposed to the rain-bearing winds from the Atlantic, the work of erosion is necessarily going on with much more energy on the west than on the east, so that the water-parting >\^VTERSJIED MAP OF THE BRITISH ISLES N 1 ^ fio"drR^f!S^ ./J -/I ^dCXJ^ JinsloJ Chiui4cl lKi>^M»d*^ il^^^Sr^? k^F^^^y^'^'^^-^^ ^^SW*^*' -I LiuuVsEpdi £^ i Start P!^ [lis SCSI E OF tNr, ulon.F,.lwaiM St..Mtu>,l. v., riuLi-uifV rr,.^s, S.W umfnrd^ f.reOfl r Estoi^} JjOP/t^n BEITISH ISLES EIVBES AND LAKES. 211 is gradually creeping eastwards. An illustration of this fact is afforded by the history of the Thames, which now has its source in the Cotswold HUls between Cheltenham and Cirencester, but at one time probably rose to the west of the escarpment forming those hills.-' Another feature that cannot escape attention is the frequency with which the British rivers open out into estuaries — a fact which has helped to give to Britain the unrivalled pre-eminence enjoyed by it as a maritime nation. Deltas are conspicuously absent, but it may be noted that the Thames and the Tay may be taken as examples of rivers which have at their mouths what Oscar Peschel has called "' submarine deltas," that is, deposits of river sediment forming submarine banks. The estuaries of the British rivers are, in general, too long and wide, and the sediment carried down by the rivers is too scanty to admit of the rapid accumulation of deltaic deposits such as those of the Ehine, the Po, and the Danube. Many of the British rivers have made breaches through ranges of hiUs in finding their way to the sea ; and perhaps the most notable instance of this kind in the British Isles is to be found in the Shannon. This river began to flow across the Irish plain when it was covered by thousands of feet of strata, that have since disappeared, and has cut its way through the range of hills to the north of Limerick. So, also, most of the rivers of the Weald flow through gaps which they have themselves wrought in the North and South Downs, the Stour, the Medway, the Dart, the Mole, and the Wey, piercing the former, while the Arun, Adur, Ouse, and Cuckmare intersect the latter.^ Other examples wUl be 1 "On the River-Courses of England and Wales,'' by A. C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., QiMri. Journ. Geolog. Soc, vol. xxviii. p. 148, 1872. 2 See Topley's Geology of the Weald, pp. 160-204. 212 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. referred to in the next section, when speaking of escarp- ments.^ The lakes of the British Isles are in general more remarkable for their beauty than for their size. Lough Neagh in Ireland is the only one that can rival in super- ficial area the larger of the Swiss lakes. Its extent is about 153 square miles, or scarcely three-fourths of that of the Lake of Geneva; while its depth — 120 feet where deepest — is not much more than one-tenth of that of the same lake. But whUe the largest in area, it has none of the picturesque surroundings which attract thousands upon thousands of visitors to the smaller Lakes of KOar- ney in the south-west of the same island, the lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland in England, and the lochs of the Highlands of Scotland. Its shores are low and marshy, and its surface is varied only with two small and uninteresting islands. Besides its size, how- ever, there are two other circumstances worth noting re- garding it. In the first place, its waters have been reputed to possess "petrifying" properties: this is due to the fact that the lake yields fragments of silicified wood derived probably from beds of lignite, and known as " Lough Neagh hones." In the second place, it is believed to be the oldest of all the lakes of the British Isles, the only one that there is ground for referring as far back as Pliocene times. All the others have been formed through various causes, the agency of ice being the chief, during the geological epoch now in progress. 3. Geology and Geological History. It is in the extreme north-west of Scotland that we meet with the oldest rocks in the British Isles. These ^ The hydrology of England and Wales in relation to economic ques- tions is very fally treated by Mr. C. E. De Kance in his work entitled, TJie Water Supply of England and Wales, 1882. BRITISH ISLES GEOLOGY. 213 rocks consist principally of gneiss, and belong to that ancient group of metamorphic rocks to which Dana has applied the term Archomn. Possibly they may be paralleled with the Laurentian rocks — a series so called by the late Sir W. Logan from the fact of their being widely developed on the St. Lawrence in Canada. In Scotland these Archsean rocks occupy the whole of the outer Hebrides, including the islands of Tiree and Coll, and a belt of varying width ia the west of Eoss and Sutherland. There they are succeeded unconformably by Cambrian rocks, outliers of which form some of the "grandest and most abrupt peaks of the north-west Highlands," such peaks, for example, as Suilven, Canisp, and Coulmore, lofty pillars which " the great excavator. Time, has left ... to record the great- ness of his operations."^ The Cambrian rocks of Scotland are again succeeded unconformably by Silurian strata, which extend over a large area bounded on the south by a line running from north-east to south-west from Stonehaven to Eoseneath on the Firth of Clyde, — a liiie also marking in a general way the southern limit of the Scottish Highlands. Farther to the west they nearly cover the peniasula of Kintyre and the islands to the west of it. On the mainland the area occupied by these rocks embraces large patches invaded by granite and other intrusive masses. The Silurian rocks have been for the most part greatly disturbed and highly metamorphosed, so that while limestones with Lower Silurian fossHs occur at the base of the series the greater part of the Silurian group in the Highlands consists of crystaUine rocks, like gneiss and mica-schist. The borders of the Moray Firth, and almost the 1 Eamsay's Fhymal Geology and Geography of Great Britain, 5th ed., p. 288. 214 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY ASSD TRAVEL. ■whole of the county of Caithness, are occupied by Old Eed Sandstone formations, overlaid here and there, on or near the coast, by narrow strips of Oolitic rocks. On the west the islands of Skye and Mull, with portions of the adjoining mainland, are occupied by sheets of basalt, which, in all probability, are remnants of a vast out- pouring that took place in older Tertiary times, and over- spread the whole area between these parts of Scotland and the corresponding sheet covering the county of Antrim in the north-east of Ireland. The celebrated examples of prismatic columnar basalt forming Fingal's Cave iu the small island of Staffa, and the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, belong to this great episode of igneous eruption. Such is a general account of the geological structure of the Scottish Highlands. The folds into which the strata have been thrown, and which have a general trend from south-west to north-east, were produced at some period prior to the deposition of the Old Eed Sandstone rocks. Before the river -systems to which the surface mainly owes its present configuration were formed, the region appears to have been covered in a large measure by deposits of the latter period,^ in consequence of which the folds were for the most part superficially obliterated. Then followed a general upheaval of the whole area. Eivers began to flow along the courses marked out by the superficial configuration at the period of emergence. In the general direction of these rivers the influence of the origiaal plication of the Silurian strata can stiU be detected, but there is no such correspondence between stratigraphical folds and river -valleys as if these had been, in the first instance, directly due to the former instead of being hollowed out by the various denuding agents themselves. West of the chain of lakes stretch- ing north-eastwards from Loch Linnhe to the Beauly Firth 1 Dr. A. Geikie in Nature, toI. xxix. p. 347, 1884. BEITISH ISLES GEOLOGY. 215 the axis of a vast synclinal trough, that is, a region in which the strata on the whole dip downwards on both sides to a middle Une, has been traced running parallel to the chain of lakes just mentioned, yet the mountains and valleys cross that axis as if it had never existed. One instance of the continuity between the geology of Ireland and that of Scotland has already been men- tioned in the case of the Tertiary basalts ; and it may now be pointed out that the north-west of Ireland appears to have had the same physical history as the Highlands of Scotland generally. It is probable that certain granitoid and gneissie rocks in the north-west of Ireland may be paralleled with the Laurentians of the Hebrides. The Silurian strata of the Irish and Scottish areas certainly correspond, and the mountains of Donegal, and of the coimties stretching thence to Galway Bay, have been carved out in the same way as those just spoken of in Scotland. One feature of special interest in the geology of this part of Ireland is worth noting. Towards the south-western extremity of the region now Tinder consideration there occurs an extremely picturesque district between Lough Mask and the mouth of the inlet or fiord known as Killary harbour, and in that district the Lower Silurian rocks, highly metamorphosed, are unconformably overlaid by 7000 feet of Upper Silurian rocks without any trace of metamorphism, showing that the change of structure in which metamorphism consists took place before the rocks of the upper series were laid down. Eeturning again to Scotland, we may notice especially a great synclinal trough, extending between the Silurian rocks of the north and those of the south. The southern limit of this trough runs from the neighbourhood of Girvan, on the coast of Ayr, nearly parallel to the northern Umit, and terminates near Dunbar, on the coast 216 COMPENDrCM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEATBL. of Haddington. Within these limits are included the richest parts of the lowlands of Scotland, both as regards the agricultural capabilities of the soil and the mineral wealth beneath the surface. The geological history of this tract has been very varied, and this is stDl indi- cated in the great diversity of the superficial geological features. In the first place, the whole of this basia was once fiUed by Old Eed Sandstone deposits. During their deposition volcanic activity was rife on a gigantic scale, and immense masses of porphyrite lavas, felsites, and tuffs, attaining a total thickness of 6000 feet, still bear witness to the extent of the igneous outpourings. The Ochil range in the south of Perthshire, the Sidlaw range in Forfarshire, and partly also the Pentland HUls near Edinburgh, are due to the greater resistance which these hard volcanic rocks have offered to the forces of denud- ation. In this same trough were next laid down the deposits of the Carboniferous system. The transition from the Old Eed Sandstone to the rocks of the latter system is in Scotland very gradual, the basement beds of the Carboni- ferous exhibiting a commingling of forms of the two systems, and thus testifying to a partial continuance of the conditions that prevailed during the deposition of the earlier rocks. In particular, the volcanic activity that characterised the Old Eed Sandstone period prevailed with as great energy during the early part of the Car- boniferous era, and there are still abundant traces of it in the form of porphyrites and tuffs not only within the limits of the trough of which we are speaking, but also in the south-east of Scotland (the Cheviots), where the Carboniferous system of that country becomes con- tinuous with that of the north of England. The volcanic activity continued on into the true Carboniferous Lime- BRITISH ISLES GEOLOGY. 217 stone period, but died out before that of the coal-measures. Both in Scotland and in Northumberland the epoch of the Carboniferous Limestone was one of intermittent depres- sion, giving rise to a very varied succession of limestones, sandstones, shales, and coal seams, none of which attain any great thickness. The rocks of this period must here have been laid down near the oscillating shores of a sea, the deeper parts of which lay farther to the south, and received the thicker deposits of what is known as Mountain Limestone. Within the Scottish trough, the limits of which are indicated above, the Carboniferous Limestone rocks were succeeded by those of the true coal-measures, larger and smaller patches of which stUl remain scattered over parts of the area, while in Ayrshire, on the river Ayr, a patch of overlying Permian stOl survives. Beyond the trough, in the south of Scotland, the greater part of the surface is occupied by a series of Lower Silurian rocks, which are on the whole much less contorted and metamorphosed, and much softer than those of the Scottish Highlands. Sandy, gritty, and shaly unfossiLiferous strata are here the characteristic rocks. So also the scenery to which the denudation of these rocks has given rise is much less rugged than that of the Highlands. The lulls are more rounded in outline, and the whole country consists in the main of a succes- sion of upland and lowland sheep-pastures.^ Turning to Ireland, we again see proof of the continuity of its geological structure with that of the neighbouring island in the fact that the same strata are there found repeated in a broad belt running in a south-eastwardly direction from the coast of the County Down into the heart of Eos- common and Longford. In Scotland this southern Silurian area encloses large patches of granite, and is 1 The Scenery of Scotland, by Prof. A. Geikie. 218 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. overlaid in places by remains of Permian rocks, the southernmost of which are continuous with the Permian area of the north-west of England. In the north of England generally we have a strik- ing illustration of the want of correspondence between the existing superficial configuration and the geological structure. This is due to the fact that we have here the ruins of a vast plateau which must at one time have been raised above the surface of the water, with a general slope east and west from the line now forming the axis of the Pennine chain, but with its highest part between Derwent Water and Windermere. At the time when this region became elevated its superficial strata must have belonged entirely to the Carboniferous system, the coal-measures and the Millstone Grit being uppermost, and below these, and possibly not so continuous, the Carboniferous Limestone. From the " dome-shaped emin- ence " which culminated in the part of the Lake District just mentioned, rivers began to radiate in aU directions, and gradually to erode the valleys with which that region is now furrowed, removing aU the strata down to the Silurian and contemporaneous volcanic rocks which now appear at the surface. At the same time, by means of the denudation effected on both slopes of the longitudinal axis above referred to, the Pennine chain was gradually exposed in its present form, the coal-measures being for the most part swept away, while the greater part of the chain shows only the Millstone Grit. Where that also is removed the underlying Carboniferous Limestone is exposed in small patches, but of great thickness, forming hills from which it has earned the name of Mountain Limestone, and which indicate that in this region must have lain the deepest part of the Carboniferous sea. The coal-measures remain in larger patches farther away from the central axis — in the east of Northimiberland and BRITISH ISLES GEOLOGY. 219 Durham, in the west of Cumberland, in the south of Lancashire, and the south of Yorkshire, and in neigh- bouring parts. Throughout the greater part of Ireland we see the final results of a history which began in the same way as that of the part of England now under consideration, but was different in its subsequent course. Down to the close of the Carboniferous period the history is the same, but in Ireland there was no subsequent upheaval of any portion of the interior such as that indicated by the axis of the Pennine chain and the remnants of the dome- shaped area of the Lake District of England. The re-emergence of the island was due to a general and tolerably equal elevation, and hence the deposits of the Carboniferous system have been left covering the greater part of the surface, and hence, too, the denuding agents, though they must have cleared away an immense thick- ness of strata, have allowed the interior to remain in the form of an uninterrupted plaiu. In most places, as will be seen from the map, the Upper Carboniferous rocks containing the coal-measures have been removed, so that by far the greater part of the area in question is now represented by those of the lower series.^ Eetuming again to the highland region of the north of England we find Permian deposits iu the valley of the Eden iu Cumberland and Westmoreland, but these are of a date posterior to the general elevation affecting this district. They are composed of red sandstones, with some calcareous conglomerates interbedded, the latter derived from the waste of the adjacent Carboniferous Limestone. On the east side, where the Carboniferous rocks also dip under Permian strata, such sandstones are ^ For an excellent description of the geological structure of Ireland, see T?ie Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland, by E. Hull, M.A., F.E.S., 1878. 220 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. not SO well represented, but there is a much greater development of Magnesian limestone, which was most probably deposited, as well as the sandstone, in a salt lake. In Wales we have to some extent a repetition of the phenomena belonging to the early Palaeozoic epoch of Scotland and Ireland. It is true that, ia the opinion of PASS OF LLANBEEIS. the most experienced field geologists, there are in that part of the island no traces of Laurentian rocks, but there are small remnants of the Cambrian series iu Anglesey, ia Merionethshire, iu Carnarvonshire, and in Pembroke- shire. Valuable roofing slates occur in the Cambrian rocks of North Wales. The greater part of the rest of the principality is composed of Lower Silurian strata, which are here, however, succeeded by a considerable BEITISH ISLES GEOLOGY. 221 development of Upper Silurian rocks, such as occur in Scotland only in small isolated patches. In these rocks also there are signs of an early upheaval, which threw the strata into a series of folds, with a general trend from south-west to north-east ; but the Welsh Silurians do not exhibit such signs of metamorphic action as are found ia the Highlands of Scotland. The action of denudation has resulted in the excavation of deep valleys bounded by rugged mountains, and in some cases, as in that of Snow- don and Cader Idris, the mountains are the remnants of volcanic eruptions in Silurian times. Eruptive rocks of similar age occur also in the Lake District of Cumberland. In south Wales the Silurian rocks form the bottom of a separate basin, in which later Palaeozoic rocks — Old Eed Sandstone and Carboniferous — have been successively laid down. Now, on turning to Ireland, we again see in the dis- tricts answering both to North and South Wales very striking proofs of the correspondence between the physical history of the two islands. In the east of Leinster the Cambrian and Silurian rocks of North Wales reappear, and here again the general trend of the folds is from south-west to north-east, as ia North Wales and in Scot- land. The mountains of Wicklow, it may be mentioned, are due to the resistance offered to the denuding agents by protrusions of granite. But in the south-west of Ire- land, and likewise in South Wales, the Silurian and later Palseozoic rocks were thrown into a series of folds run- ning east and west, and it is these folds that give rise to the mountain-ridges of Kerry and Cork, which have been referred to as the best examples in Britain of true moun- tain structure.^ Of the later Palaeozoic rocks of Ireland it may be noted that there is difficulty in correlating the so-called Old Eed Sandstone with any of the deposits of 1 Dr. A. Geikie in Nature, vol. xxix. pp. 325, 348, 1884. 222 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TEAVEL. the sister island, and by Kinahan tlie lower group of rocks which in Ireland have received that name are referred to the upper part of the Silurian formation, while the later group so called "not only graduate into the Carboniferous rocks proper, but occur with them on different geological horizons." ■■• THE laud's BNI). The only remaining part of the British Isles that can be said to have a highland character is the county of Cornwall and part of Devon. Here also Palseozoic strata as low as the Lower Silurian have been exposed by de- nudation, though these appear only in two small patches on the south coast, at Start Point and Dodman Point. The south-western peninsula is formed mainly of slaty rocks of Devonian age, known locally as " kiUas." The most rugged heights of this region are due to the pro- ' Manual of the Geology of Ireland, by G. H. Kinahaji, pp. 5 and 6. BRITISH ISLES — GEOLOGY. 223 trusion through these slates of large masses of granite, which stretch away in isolated bosses as far as the Land's End. The most easterly of these granitic pro- trusions forms the basis of the crag- crowned tableland of Dartmoor iu Devon. Formerly a forest, this table- land is now, as its name indicates, nothing but a moor enclosed by a natural rampart of rocky heights, and would be almost uninhabited, except by moorland birds, were it not for the state prison that has been erected in its centre, and which is used as a depot for convicts em- ployed in bringing into cultivation the adjacent land. In the north of Devon, on the borders of Somerset, lies another moorland district, but with a different character and a different origin — the so-caUed Exmoor Forest. It is not so much a tableland as a series of hills and valleys due to unequal erosion in Devonian slate and beds of the New Eed Marl (Triassic). The history of the rest of England is comparatively simple. The bulk of the oldest Secondary rocks fill up the interval between the highland regions of Wales and the north of England, and run out in a belt northwards to the mouth of the Tees. To the area occupied by them belongs the water-parting whence the drainage of the middle of England is sent northwards to the Irish and the North Sea and southwards to the Bristol Channel To the east of these strata there follows a succession of later Secondary rocks, all of which have a general strike from south-west to north-east, and have received in course of elevation a general tilt to the south-east. Their inland boundaries are frequently marked by escarp- ments sloping at right angles to this south-easterly tilt or dip of the strata, and the most prominent of these escarpments stand out as hills, such as the Cotswold Hin.s m Gloucester belonging to the Oolitic escarpment, and the Chiltern Hills in Oxford and Bucks belonging to 224 COMPENDIUM OE GEOGEAPHy AND TEAVEL. the Chalk. In the north the Jurassic rocks (Lias and Oolite) spread out into the plateaux of the east of Yorkshire. From the nature of the case the escarpments just spoken of are gradually retreating eastwards in the direc- tion of the dip, denuding agents being constantly at work on these steep slopes. It must, therefore, be remembered that their present position is far from indicating the ori- ginal boundary of the deposits to which they belong. There can be little doubt that the Oolitic strata, for example, at one time abutted on the mountainous region now forming Wales and parts of the adjacent counties, as well as against those of Devon, stretchtag right across what is now the Bristol Channel ;^ but these Oolites have been gradually eaten backwards, while at the same time an immense thickness has been pared away from their surface as well as from the overlying rocks. It is for this reason that not only these escarpments, but similar escarpments of older date, such as those of the Old Eed Sandstone forming the Beacons in Brecknock, are so regularly breached by rivers. When the rivers began to flow, their beds lay far above the present level, and they have sunk down through the rocks in course of ages, during which escarpments, originally beyond their sources, have gradually in their retreat descended along their banks. The older Tertiary deposits of England are found in two basins — the London basin and the Hampshire basin — which appear to have been at one time contiauous. The London basin consists of a thick marine deposit, known as the London clay, resting on Lower Tertiaries partly of marine and partly of estuarine type, and over- laid by patches of Bagshot sand. The Hampshire basin, 1 Ramsay's Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain, 5tli ed., p. 504. BRITISH ISLES GEOLOGY. 225 which extends across to the Isle of Wight, contains above the London clay alternating strata which have been formed in a great estuary, and in which marine inter- stratifications occur along with fresh-water beds. In the tract between these two basias denudation has exposed some of the oldest formations of Cretaceous age, known as the Wealdens. These are the relics of an estuary of a similar character to that of the Eocene of the Hampshire basia, but stiU older. The denudation of the upper Cretaceous formations from this area has led to the formation of the escarpments of the North and South Downs — two ranges of low chalk-hills running east and west, and gradually merging westwards in the undulating tract known as Sahsbury Plain and the rather more rugged Marlborough Downs. These chalk plateaux are covered merely with a thin soil supporting short dense turf, and are sheep-pastures. Both on Salisbury Plain and on Marlborough Downs stand celebrated mega- lithic monuments : on the former the famous circles of Stonehenge, and on the latter the similar remains of Avebury. These monuments are even of geological in- terest, inasmuch as they are composed of fragments of hard sandstone known as " Sarsen stones," or " Grey- wether sandstones," which are consolidated portions of some of the Eocene beds that once extended as far to the west as the region indicated by the presence of these surviving relics. Of later Tertiary deposits, the remains in England are scanty but interesting. A small deposit of clays and lignite at Bovey Tracey in Devonshire is generally re- garded as of Miocene age, inasmuch as it has yielded an abundant harvest of vegetable fossils, such as have been mentioned in the Introduction as characterising the Mio- cene deposits in different parts of Europe and North America. According to Mr. Starkie Gardner the Bovey 226 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. beds should be placed in the Middle Eocene series. The Pliocene Epoch is represented by the Eed, the Coral- line, and the Norwich Crags of East AngHa. The latter is known also as the " Mammaliferous Crag," on account of the large number of mammalian remains that have been obtained from it. Finally, of post-Pliocene date are the remarkably rich alluvial flats of Holdemess, composed of boulder- clay, in the south-east of Yorkshire — a tract which is unfortunately being steadily diminished by the encroach- ment of the sea ; the low alluvial deposits in the Fen- land on the east of Lincoln, and those by which the Wash is being gradually filled up ; the alluvial tract in the estuary of the Thames, including the Isle of Dogs ; Eomney Marsh on the south-east — a rich pastoral tract which has to be protected by embankments from the inroads of the sea at high water ; the Somersetshire levels and other tracts in the neighbourhood of the Bristol Channel ; and finally, the alluvial land on the eastern border of Lancashire. But to the same general date, it must be remembered, belong aU the glacial drifts which have contributed so much to give smoothness and round- ness to the features of every part of the country except the extreme south, as well as to overspread it with a greater or less depth of finely triturated soil.^ 4. Minerals. The greatest sources of the mineral wealth of the British Isles are undoubtedly to be found in the Goal- Measures, the position of which has already been roughly indicated in the previous geological sketch. In Britain, as elsewhere, coal may, indeed, be found in other strata 1 An excellent description of the structure of southern Britain is given by Mr. H. B. "Woodward in hia Geology of England arid Wales, 1876. BRITISH ISLES MINERALS. 227 ttan those of the Carboniferous system; but it is in that formation that all the beds of coal worth working in this country are situated. In the South Wales coalfield there are more than 100 beds of coal, about 70 of which are worked. In Leicestershire there are about 30 known seams ; in Lancashire about 40 beds of coal over 1 foot in thickness ; in Staffordshire there is a single bed with a thickness of 40 feet. The coalfields of Northumber- land and Durham, and of the Lowlands of Scotland, are likewise remarkably rich ; but Ireland, in spite of the immense development which the Carboniferous system there attains, has comparatively little of this form of mineral wealth. Six different coals are worked in a smaU area in the Blackwater valley in the south of Cork ; but the richest coalfield in Ireland, so far as is yet known, is in Kilkenny, where there are seven work- able beds, yielding an anthracite containing from 94 to 96 per cent of carbon. In the north, between Dun- gannon and Lough Neagh, there is a small coalfield partly underlying the Triassic rocks of that region, where good coal is obtained ; but hitherto this field has been worked only near the surface, and one cannot say how rich it might prove to be if worked to a greater depth. The value of the coalfields of Britain consists not only in the fact of their yielding coal itself, but also in that they mostly contain along with the coal a greater or less propor- tion of ironstone. The ore is generally in the form of an impure carbonate, known as clay ironstone, which occurs in thin seams, and as nodules scattered through the coal- measure shales. One of the most valuable of these ores for smelting purposes is the hlaekhand, which owes its colour and its name to the amount of carbonaceous matter associated with the ore, and serving to facilitate the smelting process. Even coal and iron do not exhaust the mineral value 228 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TKATEL. of the British coal-measures, for they also yield quan- tities of clays, the chief of which is the fire-clay so largely used ia the making of crucibles and fire-bricks for the construction of furnaces.^ From the statement made above, that all our coal- fields contain more or less iron ore, it must not be in- ferred that thence only are our supplies of iron obtained. The rich red and brown haematites, or oxides of iron, are met with far away from the coalfields, though in some cases also within their area. Near TJlverstone red haematite occurs in irregular deposits in the Mountain Limestone, sometimes filling caverns which have no doubt been hollowed out in the rock by the action of car- bonated water. Similar deposits of hsematite are found also in great abundance near Whitehaven in Cumberland, on the borders of the north-western coalfield, while brown hsematite is worked not only in the south Wales and the Porest-of-Dean coalfields, but also in Cornwall, and to a smaller extent in Antrim in Ireland. Iron ores are likewise obtained in large quantities from the- Liassic deposits in the Cleveland district of north-eastern York- shire, where their discovery occasioned the rapid growth of the town of Middlesbrough on the Tees. Large quan- tities of siliceous brown ironstone are also procured from the Northampton sands of the Oolites. In olden times iron ores were largely obtaiaed and smelted in the Weald of Kent and Sussex, where the forests which then existed afforded a supply of charcoal as fuel for the iron-workers. Iron furnaces still blazed in this district till late in last century. The last to be extinguished is said to have been at Ashburnham.^ Next to coal and iron, the ores of lead, tin, zinc, and ' For a detailed description of the coalfields, see Prof. Hull's Coalfields of Great Britain, 4th ed., 1881. '^ Topley's "Geology of the "Weald," Mem. Oeol. Survey, 1875. BRITISH ISLES MINERALS. 229 copper are the most important of British minerals. All these are obtained from deposits almost wholly confined to the Palseozoic rocks. Lead, in the form of galena, is chiefly found in the Carhoniferons Limestone districts of IsTorth Wales, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and the Yorkshire dales ; it also occurs in the underlying Silurian strata, as in Mid- Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Leadhills in the south of Scotland. The silver-lead mines of Cardi- ganshire were very largely worked in the seventeenth century, and yielded sufficient profit to Sir Hugh Myddle- ton to enable him to execute his great project of bringing the New Eiver from Ware, in. Hertfordshire, to London. Copper ores are mainly derived from the Devonian rocks of Devon and Cornwall, known as " killas," and to a less extent from the Lower Silurian rocks of Wales, especially in the counties of Cardigan and Montgomery. Tin ore is obtained only in Cornwall and Devon, where it occurs in lodes, or veins, near the junction of the Trill as with the associated granite. The tin deposits of Cornwall were worked in very early times, long prior to the Eoman invasion.-^ Zinc is produced in considerable quantities in the Isle of Man, and in the counties of Denbigh, Montgomery, Derby, and Cornwall. Cornwall likewise yields ores of bismuth, manganese, and arsenic, and other useful minerals. The precious metals likewise occur to a limited extent in the British Isles, though not in sufficient abundance to place them among the more valuable of our mineral trea- sures. Gold is still procured at the Clogau Mine in Merionethshire, where it occurs in lodes near the base of the Lingula flags, a member of the Cambrian series. Gold mines were formerly worked ia Carmarthenshire ; and so extensive are these old works that a minor valley 1 For early Hstory of Cornish mining, see Mr. Robert Hunt's British Mining, 1884. 230 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. was in the course of ages scooped out in the hillside. The principal works are of Eoman origin, but it is sur- mised that the ruder caverns excavated for the prosecu- tion of this industry date from more ancient British times.i Gold was worked in Crawford Moor, in the south of Scotland, as far back as the reign of James IV., and small quantities may still be found in the burns near LeadhiUs.^ It also occurs in Sutherlandshire, where con- siderable excitement prevailed a few years ago in conse- quence of its discovery. Grains of gold are occasionally found in Cornwall and Devon, associated with "stream tin."^ Silver occurs in Cornwall, and is largely extracted from lead ores elsewhere. Some of the. lead lodes of South Wales, as well as those of Scotland already men- tioned, are particularly argentiferous. As in many other parts of Europe, so in England there are large salt beds in rocks of Triassic age. Prac- tically inexhaustible supplies of this mineral are to be found in the rock-salt and brine-pits belonging to the New Eed Marl of Cheshire. It is also obtained from Permian rocks near Middlesbrough. Of other mineral substances we may first mention slate, derived principally from the older rocks of North Wales. The largest slate quarries in the world lie in the Cambrian rocks of Carnarvonshire. "The Penrhyn slate quarry near Bangor presents a wonderful spectacle of industry. It is about half a mile in length, and a quarter of a mUe wide, and forms a vast amphitheatre, which is worked all round, on one side in thirteen high and broad terraces, like the steps of a Titanic stair. The periodical blastings sound like the firing of parks of 1 Ramsay's Phys. Oeol. and Oeog. of Great Brit, 5th ed., p. 594. 2 Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland, collected by K. W. Cocliran-Patrick, ofWoodside, 1878. ' For a general description of the occurrence of gold, see Gold: its Occurrence and Extraction, hy A. G. Lock, 1882. BRITISH ISLES MINEEALS. 231 artillery. Vast mounds of rubbish, the waste of the quarry, cover the hiUs on either side." ^ In Scotland, in the small island of Easdale in the Firth of Lorn, there are slate quarries that have been worked for many years, but they are of small importance compared with those of north Wales. Good slates are yielded by the old rocks in the south-west of Ireland. Graphite, or " black-lead," as it is popularly caUed, known formerly as "wad," is found in great purity in Borrowdale, Cumberland.^ The chief building stones of our country are the lime- stones of the Oolitic rocks, the Magnesian Limestone, the limestones and sandstones of the Carboniferous period, and sandstones of the Old and New Eed series. Of the Oolitic building stones, the most valuable are the Port- land stone and the Bath Oolite, the former a beautiful white close-grained stone, and the latter a creamy oolitic rock, remarkable for the ease with which it is cut when freshly quarried. The Magnesian Limestone, of which, among other edifices, the Houses of Parliament are chiefly built, is very variable in quality; but some specimens of it could hardly be surpassed for the resistance they offer to the action of the weather, some old buildings in the construction of which it was employed stiU having the edges of the stones as sharp as when they came fresh from the mason's hands many centuries ago. Flagstones used for foot-pavements in London are chiefly micaceous sandstones of the Yorkshire coal-measures. Good flag- stones are also obtained from both the northern and southern basin of the Old Ked Sandstone in Scotland. Those of the north are dark gray bituminous and cal- careous slabs, known as "Caithness flags,'' while the name of "Arbroath flags " is given to those derived from the eastern part of the southern basin. 1 Ramsay's Fhys. Geol. md Geog. of Cheat Brit., 5th ed., p. 591. - Clifton Ward's "Geology of the Lake District," Mem. Geol. Sur. 232 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. Granite is largely quarried in Devonshire and Corn- wall, on Shap Fell in Westmoreland, and in Scotland near Aberdeen and Peterhead. In Devon and Cornwall the local decomposition of the granite has afforded an import- ant substance known as kaolin, or "porcelain clay." Coarser clays, such as pipe-clay, are obtaiaed from Eocene beds in the neighbourhood of Poole, in Dorsetshire, and from Miocene deposits at Bovey, in Devonshire. These are largely used in the manufacture of earthenware. The flints found embedded in the chalk are calcined and ground for mixture with the clay in the production of porcelain. The glass-sand used in this country is chiefly derived from the Eocene beds of the Isle of Wight, and from the sand-dunes on the borders of the Bristol Channel. Of the ores found in Ireland, the most frequently met with are those of iron, copper, lead, and sulphur, besides which, gold, silver, and copper occur native. The ancient annals of Ireland prove that gold was worked at an early period in the mountains of Dublin and Wicklow, but it is now obtained solely from placer-mines in the latter county, and that only ia small quantity. In the north-west of Tipperary native sUver occurs associated with argentiferous lead, and mines have been worked there from a very remote period. Lead occurs also in Limerick, Clare, Galway, and most plentifully of all in the Avoca mines. County Wicklow, where it is associated with iron ores. The latter ores occur also at various places in the coal-measures, especially in the Connaught coalfield, but the only part of the island where they are of great economical value is ia the county of Antrim, where they are found ia association with the basaltic rocks, especially near Lame. The brown haematite there obtained forms an article of trade imder the name of "Belfast alumiaous ore." Copper mines have been BRITISH ISLES SOIL. 233 worked at different times in Waterford and Wicklow, but this metal is now cMefly obtained from tbe south-west of Cork. " Sulphur ore " (iron pyrites) is another of the pro- ducts of the Avoca mines of County Wicklow ; and among the other minerals of Ireland may be mentioned barytes (sulphate of barium), found in various localities, alum shales, in the lower coal-measures of Munster and other districts, and salt, obtained in large quantity from the Triassic rocks at Duncrue, near Carrickfergus. 5. Soil. With regard to the soil of the British Isles, it is important to remember that over a great part of the surface the glaciers of the Ice Age have mixed up materials derived from different kinds of rocks which they traversed in their path, and overspread many parts with a deep layer of material which does not derive its character from the underlying rocks. Nevertheless the influence of geological structure is plainly observable in many parts of the country in the character of the super- ficial stratum of soil and in the general aspect of the vege- tation consequent thereon. On the whole, the Palaeozoic strata are covered with only a thin coating of soil, in consequence of the generally refractory nature of the rocks of which they are composed ; and for this reason, as well as because they occupy chiefly the higher and there- fore colder and moister parts of the country, they are in general not very weU adapted for tillage. The excep- tional fertility of large tracts of the great central valley of Scotland is a consequence of the ice action just referred to, the situation and configuration of that part of the country having enabled it to receive a deep covering of well-mingled soil of glacial origin. The Palaeozoic strata which exhibit most natural fertility are the Permian and 234 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. Old Eed Sandstones. The beautiful vale of Eden, opening from the south into the Solway Pirth, owes its soil partly to the Permian rocks, but here also boulder-clay has greatly contributed to the fertility of the surface. The rivers traversing the Old Eed Sandstone district of south Wales and the adjoining parts of England — ^the Towey, the Usk, and the Wye — are unsurpassed for quiet GOBQE OF THE AVON, BRISTOL, and fertile beauty ; and if one ascends to the summit of the Malvern HUls, on the eastern edge of this Old Eed Sandstone district, and looks westwards, the eye com- mands a vast tract, uiurivalled ia varied beauty, spreading out in far-stretching undulations of hill and dale, dotted with towns and villages, farms and parks, noble woods and orchards, with fruit-trees set in every hedge, " while through the fertile scene wander the Tame, the Lug, and BRITISH ISLES SOIL. 235 the stately Wye, in many a broad curvature, winding its way from the distant Plynlymmon, to lose itself in the wide estuary of the Severn." ^ It is to the domain of the Secondary and later rocks that most of the corn-growing land of England belongs, and it is here that the local influence of soil depending on the subjacent rocks is often most observable. The soft New Eed Sandstone, and especially the Marl, both of Triassic age, when bare of boulder-clay, decompose readily, and form deep fertile loams. Many a rich scene of corn- fields and woodlands belongs to the area occupied by these rocks in the region between the highlands of Wales and those of the north of England ; and it is worthy of atten- tion, likewise, that the most extensive of the fertile valleys of Yorkshire, the Vale of the Lower Ouse, or the Vale of York, as it is sometimes called, and the Vale of Stockton-on-the-Tees, are mainly occupied by a continuous band of these strata, though here also there is much glacial drift. To the west of that band we have only the heathy plateaux of Carboniferous age furrowed by numberless beautiful dales; while to the east there are the Liassic moors on the north, separated by the Vale of Pickering (the valley of the Derwent) from the chalky Wolds on the south. But while such is the general character of the Triassic sandstones and marls, a marked exception is presented to the prevailing fertility where the conglomerate beds of the New Eed Sandstone come to the surface. The mixture of which these beds are composed yields only a barren soil, on which Lie various tracts that have partly remained uncultivated to this day. Such, for example, are Sherwood Eorest in Nottingham- shire, and the ridges east of the Severn, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire. Of the strata next in order, the most fertile beds are 1 Eamsay, Phys. Geol. and Qeog. of Cheat Brit. , 5th ed. p. 668. 236 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TRAVEL. the marlstones of the middle Lias, well seen in Gloucester- shire and the north of Oxfordshire. The prevailing lime- stone beds of the OoHte do not generally yield a very thick soil It is the equivalents of the Lower Oolites that form the moors of the north-east of Yorkshire, whereas Kimeridge clay occupies the fertile vale of Pickering already mentioned. In the Cretaceous series there is a great variety of soils. The Lower Greensand is in part siliceous, and in many places consequently intractable and barren, aU the more so since it lies in a great measure beyond the region where it could receive a covering of boulder -clay. It is from this cause that we may stiH see on the borders of the Weald a tract extending from Leith Hill to Petersfield, on which there are many wide-spread unenclosed heaths, almost as wild as the moors of Wales and the High- lands of Scotland; but in Kent, where there is much limestone, the Lower Greensand becomes more fertile. The Weald clay itself naturally forms a damp, stiff soil, but has been greatly improved by artificial means. Formerly, as already indicated, and as the name implies, this region was mainly covered by wood, and even still much of the country is well wooded, especially on the west, where there are extensive remaias of the old forests of TUgate, Ashdown, and St. Leonard's. The Upper Greensand again gf.nerally forms a finer arable son, and though it mostly crops out only as a narrow band along the foot of the chalk escarpment, its presence, as has been poiated out by Mr. Topley, is revealed in a curious and interesting manner by the fact that a large proportion of the villages are planted upon it. Out of 397 villages ia the whole of the Weald, 73, or 18 per cent, are situated on this narrow band; and often the parishes belonging to these villages climb the chalk escarpment, so as to iaclude a bit of lull-pasture, and at BRITISH ISLES SOIL. 237 the same time stretch inwards, so as to embrace a portion of what was originally woodland on or towards the Weald clay.-^ The soil of the chalk is generally thin and poor, and an idea of its characteristic vegetation may be gathered from the appearance of Salisbury Plain and Marlborough Downs already referred to, or from the bare heights of the North and South Downs in Kent and Sussex, on the steep slopes of which the chalk frequently lies only an inch or two beneath the surface. The thinness of the soil is due to the fact that the surface of the rock, instead of decomposing to form a layer of loose particles, has its chief constituent, carbonate of lime, dissolved and washed away by the raia. In many places the earthy impurities of the chalk are left after this process to form a stiff, cold clay, plentiful on parts of the plains of Wiltshire, Berk- shire, and Herts. In other parts, as in eastern Herts, in Essex, and in Suffolk, the chalk is almost entirely buried under thick accumulations of glacial drift, which com- pletely alters the agricultural character of the country. Most of the Eocene beds of England are well culti- vated, but their fertility is due in many parts not to the natural qualities of the soil so much as to prolonged labour necessitated by the wants of the large population which so long ago made its centre within the area occu- pied by these strata. Some of these beds, however, still remain barren. Such is the case with the Bagshot beds in the west of the London, and the north of the Hampshire basin, where the soil is for the most part too loose and sandy for cultivation, while in the 'New Forest district, in the west of the Hampshire basia, cultivation is almost equally hindered by the prevalence of wet and unkindly clays and gravels. 1 See a paper on " Parish Boundaries in tlie south-east of England," by William Topley, F. G. S. , in Journ. Anthropol Inst. , vol. iii. p. 32 (1874). 238 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. In Ireland aU the richest soils are composed of material brought from a distance. Such, for example, are the callows or alluvial flats on the banks of the Shannon and its tributaries. Such also are the soUs filling the valley of the Lagan in Ulster, and those forming what is known as the Golden Vein, stretching from Cashel in Tipperary to Limerick, in both of which cases the fertility of the soil is greatly increased by the variety in composition of the surrounding rocks from which the soil is derived.^ About one-seventh of the area of Ireland is covered with bogs, from many of which remains of the Cervus megaceros (Megaceros h'ihemimis), or " Irish elk," as it is called, have been dug up. The Bog of Allen, situated east of the Shannon, in King's County and Kildare, itself covers an area of 283,500 acres, being nearly three-fourths of the siae of Yorkshire. 6. Glimate, Mora, and Fauna. With regard to the climate of the British Isles it is needless to add much to the information supplied by the maps illustrating the distribution of rainfall and tem- perature. The abundance of the rainfall in the west has already been referred to in the Introduction. The rainiest spot in England is Seathwaite in Cumberland, where the total annual rainfall amoxints on an average to about 150 inches. This unfortunate pre-eminence is due to the fact that Seathwaite lies at the foot of high mountains which form an angle so situated that they arrest the moisture- laden winds both from the west across the Irish Sea, and from the south across Morecambe Bay. Even this degree of humidity, however, is rivalled, if not surpassed, by some of the glens and passes in the west of Scotland. As regards temperature, the British Isles, like Norway, 1 Marniml of the Geology of Ireland, by G. H. Kinahan, p. 291. iLVmr.\LL X. TOrPERATl'KE I\LVP OF THE BRITISH ISLES 5 £ 30 _ ,,.40 0.„.50 0.„.75. . „. .. ■ 10 20 20 *0 SO QO ^0 SO 90 100 •'r.r/ahrd.-- Oeo,-- 'E.-^-tab^ Loiiduu EJwiu'J Stanford., JO, Ciiiain;^ Cross. BRITISH ISLES CLIMATE. 239 enjoy in a high degree that equability which is due to the viciaity of the sea, and in particular to the indirect action of the warm marine currents from the south-west. The mean range of temperature between the average of the coldest and the average of the hottest month in England is 24^° Fahr. as against 30° at Paris, and still greater extremes farther east and farther inland. This equability is enjoyed by Ireland even more than by the larger island, the former being more directly open to the bene- ficial influences of the equatorial marine and atmospheric currents, and being moreover sheltered by Great Britain from the cold polar currents blowing from the north-east. This circumstance enables the myrtle to grow in the open air in the north-east of Ireland, though it grows nowhere else at so high a latitude. At Dublin the mean winter temperature is 39°, which is from 3° to 6° higher than in the plains of Lombardy. For the sake of affording a standard of comparison for other places not so well known to the majority of Englishmen, it may be mentioned that the mean January temperature at Greenwich is 38-|-° E., the mean July temperature 62'5°, the mean of the whole year 49 "7°; the average annual rainfall 25 inches ; the average number of cloudless days in the course of the year 2 2-|- ; the average number of completely overcast days 61^.^ The most notable fact connected with the flora and fauna of the British Isles is this, that, with one or two exceptions, all the members of both have been derived from the continent of Europe. There is not a single species of plants peculiar to our islands, and that circum- stance is itself enough to prove that this archipelago must have been connected with the mainland at a date compara- tively recent geologically, for it is uniformly found to be 1 Reduction of Photographic Records of Meteorological Observations at Qreenwich, by Sir G. B. Airy : Loud. 1878. 240 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. the case that when a region has been long isolated, either by climatic differences or in any other way, that region possesses some species of plants which are found nowhere else. We may take it then as established that the flora and fauna of the British Archipelago found their way hither by land, and that at no remote date. In fact, we have ia the circumstance referred to the best proof that, subsequently to the Ice Age, there was a wide connection between Great Britain and Ireland and the mainland of Europe. The relation between the flora and fauna of Ire- land and that of England leads us similarly to infer that the connection between the two British Isles was broken before that between England and the Continent ; for the Irish flora and fauna are both much poorer than those of the sister isle. Ireland indeed contains only about two- thirds of the number of floweriag plants and ferns belong- ing to Great Britain. Moreover, it has been shown by Prof Leith Adams that the mammalian fauna of Ireland agrees more closely with that of England than with that of Scotland, from which it appears probable that the English mammals were prevented from crossing to Ire- land by a lake occupying the site of the deeper parts of the Irish Sea and the broad river that must have flowed out of that lake through St. George's channel.^ One special circumstance relating to the flora of the south-west of Ireland, and partly also of England, is worthy of note. In these parts, which are specially favoured by the warm currents and breezes from the south-west, there are several members of the vegetable kingdom not found elsewhere in Britain, and not met with again in Europe till we come to the south-west of France and the Mediterranean region. The most striking example of this is the strawberry-tree (Arbutus Unedo), ^ See Proc. Royal Irish Acad., 2dser. vol. iii. p. 99 ; and Proc. Royal Dublin Sac, p. 42, 1878, cited in Geikie's Prehistoric Europe, p. 612. BRITISH ISLES FLORA. 241 which many tourists will remember as an ornament of the banks of the Lakes of Killarney, but which, though wide-spread in the Mediterranean region, is absent both from the west and from the interior of France.^ The most probable explanation of this phenomenon is that this group of plants travelled to their present seats along the submarine plateau of western Europe when it was elevated above the surface of the water, but since the submergence of that plateau have died out in intervening regions where the conditions were not so favourable for their continued existence. ^ Engler's VersuA emer Enivrickelungsgeschichte, etc., i. 181. 242 COMPENDIUM OF GEOaEAPHY AND TBAVEL. CHAPTEE IX. THE IBEEIAN PENINSULA. 1. Outlines — Extent — Belief of the Zand. Undee the title of the Iberian Peninsula is comprised the extreme south-west corner of Europe, which is sharply defined and severed from the rest of the maiuland by the lofty mountain wall of the Pyxenean range, whence it is known also as the Pyrenean 'peninsula. In point of size it ranks second among the European peninsulas, being exceeded only by Scandinavia. Its southernmost extremity, Punta Marroqui at Tarifa, lies almost exactly on the 36th parallel of north latitude. Cape Eoca, at the mouth of the Tagus, projects iuto the Atlantic Ocean as the western- most extremity of the European continent. Two states of very unequal extent jointly occupy the Pyrenean Peninsula, Spain taking about five-sixths of the whole, while the remainder forms the kingdom of Portugal. Notwithstanding this political division, it is necessary to study the structure of the peniasula as a whole, since there is nothing in its physical features to justify this separation. To form a correct idea of the conformation of this region in its main features, it should be regarded as a compact mass of land rising boldly out of the sea. It is in fact nothing more than an extensive upland plateau, overlooked by several mountain ranges and intersected by IBEELUSr PENINSULA PHYSICAL FEATUEES. 243 numerous valleys cut out by the eroding action of rain and rivers. The lowlands of the peninsula comprise no more than about the eighteenth part of the entire area, being restricted to narrow strips along the coast, together with the lower courses of the rivers, especially those of the Ebro, the GuadalcLuivir, and the Tagus. Were the sea to rise from 400 to 500 feet above its present level, these low- lying tracts would be flooded and converted into gulfs penetrating into the land, while the entire Peninsula would become a complete island, with the Pyrenees rising sheer out of the water along its northern seaboard. This range, in fact, which stands as a natural barrier between Spain and Prance, is separated by a broad relative depres- sion from the highlands lying to the north of it, and hence must be orographically regarded as belonging altogether to Spain, with whose other mountain systems it is, more- over, closely connected. Four principal mountain ranges may be distinguished as traversing the plateau. The northernmost, forming the Asturian or Cantabrian mountaias, may be regarded as a western continuation of the Pyrenees, and runs nearly east and west, while the other three, the Castilian mountains, separating Old and 'New CastUe, the mountains bounding the basin of the Guadalquivir on the north, and the Sierra Nevada bounding the same basin on the south, run, roughly speaking, parallel to one another in a general south-west and north-east direction. None of these ranges is continuous ; they are each composed of de- tached mountain chains having the same general direc- tion, and throwing off a number of spurs to different points of the compass. Between them lie several subor- dinate ranges, which will be noticed in the more detailed account of the peninsula contained in the following sections. 244 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 2. The Pyrenees. The Pyrenees on the northern frontier not only form the grandest range in Spain, stretching for a distance of about 250 miles ia an unbroken line from the Mediter- ranean to the Bay of Biscay, but when regard is had to their length as weU as their height, they must be ranked next to the Alps among the mountain systems of Europe within the limit which we have adopted for that con- tinent — a limit which, it will be remembered, assigns the Caucasus to Asia. As a barrier between north and south the Pyrenees, in consequence of the remarkable continuity in the main chain and the regularity in its height, are even more effective than the Alps. The chain is in fact a true sierra, or saw-like ridge of moun- tains, the depressions in which are only slight notches not much below the level of the neighbouring peaks. Throughout its whole length between the depressions at the extremities, round which the railways cross between France and Spain, there are only two passes practicable for carriages; one, the Col de la Perche between the vaUey of the Tet and that of the Segre, and the other, the Col de Somport or Port de Canfranc, a little to the west of the Pic du Midi on the old Eoman road from Saragossa to the valley of the Oloron. Hitherto the Pyrenees have not been pierced, Uke the Alps, by any railway tunnel. Schemes are now on foot, however, for having this effected. After long negotiations the French and Spanish governments have agreed to the construction of two lines of railway through this frontier barrier, one to pierce the mountains at the Port de Canfranc, the other at Solanut to the south of Ari^ge. The eastern or Mediterranean end of the Pyrenees is to be found at Cape de Creus, or more precisely at Cape Cerbera, whence the chain trends in a general IBERIAN PENINSULA THE PYRENEES. 245 direction W.N.W., untU. it reaches the Atlantic at Cape du Figuier, near Fuenterrabia. The ascent of Marbor^, about the middle of the chain, -where the gigantic Eoland's Gap opens up an extensive prospect through the wild regions of the Spanish Pyrenees away to the blue plains of Saragossa, is as charming as it is dangerous at certain points. Close by is seen the Peak of Mont Perdu (11,030 feet), rising amidst the dazzling splendour of a lofty snow-clad PASS OF PERTUS, EASTERN PTBENBBS. dome. These sublime phenomena in the marvellous regions round about Gavamie are rivalled only by one other spot in the Upper Pyrenees. It lies near their eastern extremity, where the group of Maladetta, the Mont Blanc of the Pyrenees, with its many snow- and ice-bound crests, attains its loftiest elevation in the Peak of N^thou (11,168 feet), the highest summit in the whole range. Yignemale falls not far short of 11,000 feet ; and besides, Marbor^ the peaks of Ndonvieille, and D'Estat, likewise exceed 10,000 feet in height. Althoucfh the vegetation along their southern slopes 246 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVBL. is richer than that of the Alps, the Pyrenees are far surpassed by the former in the volume of their waters, and in the extent of their snows and glaciers, as weU as in the delightful contrasts often presented by the close association of these stern features with a vigorous vege- table Hfe. A regularity of structure, here and there reaching a certain degree of monotony, is the distinctive character of the Pyrenees as compared with the more varied lines of the Alpine regions. From the two prin- cipal chains of the western and eastern Pyrenees advan- cing towards each other in a uniform direction from either coast, till the eastern end of the western chain is joined by a transverse ridge to the eastern chain near its western extremity, the spurs branch off with the regu- larity of the pinnae of a fern leaf, thus forming a large number of short parallel valleys, crossed by others nearly at right angles. In consequence of this regular formation the Pyrenees lack the picturesque variety so characteristic of the Alps. Moreover, owing to the absence of extensive parallel valleys, or, indeed, of broad valley formations of any sort, they also lack the charm of large lakes. In the higher regions alone there repose a number of small basins, hidden away in the wildest seclusion, fed by glaciers and snow-fields, and mostly ice-bound for the greater part of the year. Nor do the glaciers them- selves, or, as they are here called, the Sernelhas, reach so far down towards the cultivated valleys as is the case in the Alps. The water system of the Pyrenees is also much less considerable, giving rise to only one important stream, the Garonne, which flows through part of France. The smaller mountain streams or Gaves, wind their way through narrow and precipitous gorges. There are further wanting the grand natural mountain passes elsewhere met with, the pasos or puertos of the Spaniards, with the IBERIAN PENINSULA THE PYEINEES. 247 exception of the two above mentioned, being merely foot, or at most bridle paths for mules. At the same time the Pyrenees enjoy advantages not possessed by any other mountain system. While the Alps separate the Germanic and Italian climates north and south of them, the contrast of two very different regions is presented by the Pyrenees when traversed along their course from east to west withui a relatively narrow distance, and without sensible divergence from the same parallel of latitude. On the west side, in the land of the Basques, begins the mountain system, with an un- dulating hdlly district of granitic, Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous rocks, its wooded heights recalling the scenery of the central German highlands. But towards the shores of the Mediterranean the landscape assumes an African aspect. Here rise bare white limestone walls of Miocene and Cretaceous strata, overlooking cork and olive groves and vineyards, their fruit glowing with the fire of the south, while extensive sandy plains are friaged with the strange but majestic aloe, and the tamarisk with its bushy green foliage. In a word, we have here contrasted the scenery of central Germany and Algeria on the same parallel of latitude and within a very limited area. In the Central Pyrenees, in the language of Eitter " the sublime and lovely crown " of the whole system, our attention is riveted especially by those rocky amphi- theatres, characteristic of so many mountaia systems, but nowhere better seen than here, the cirques^ or ouelles (oUa, or pot), by which latter name the local patois indicates the caldron-shaped formations which impart to the inter- secting valleys their peculiarly imposing background. Eock-waUed recesses assume their grandest proportions 1 In tlie Highlands of Scotland such cirques are called in Gaelic coire, a caldron. 248 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. on the frontiers of Spain and France, in the limestone district of Marbor4 at Gavamie, a wretched Pyrenean village (nearly 6000 feet above the sea), which, thanks to its majestic rocky amphitheatre, has acquired a European fame, such as that conferred on Chamouni by Mont Blanc and its gigantic ice-streams. In the whole Alpine region there is only one spot at all comparable to the Pyrenean cirques — the upland valley of Leuk at the Pass of Gemmi, encircled by the bare walls of the Daub and Piatt Horn. The abnormal structure of the cirques has given rise to many hypotheses regarding their origin.^ The smaller mountain recesses of this sort sometimes possibly but very improbably point to the falling in of caverns as the cause of their peculiar shape. But it is impossible to believe that this theory is applicable to the mighty oules of Gavarnie, Troumouse, Bielsa, etc. So much, at least, is certain, that cirques are characteristic of all the European and other mountains where glaciers are, or where they have been in comparatively late geological times, such as the Black Forest, Switzerland, the Highlands of Scotland, Cumberland, and Wales. 3. The Northern Provinces. South of the Pyrenees stretch the Aragonian lowlands intersected by the Ebro, which is here joined by several not iaconsiderable affluents from the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. Towards the east the Aragonian lowlands are severed from the Mediterranean by a lofty ridge, which, in the north, develops into a real highland region, partly formed of granitic and other crystalline rocks, merging with the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees. These highlands form the ancient province of Catalonia, ' See Prof. Bonney "On the Formation of Cirq^ues," Quart. Jmm. Geol. Soc, vol. xxvii. p. 312, 1871. IBEEIAN PENINSULA THE NOETHEEN PKOVINCES. 249 and in order to reach its delta on the Mediterranean, the Ebro, which nearly throughout its whole length flows through Miocene strata, has been obliged to cut its way- through the Catalonian hills in the district between Mequineza and Tortosa. Following the upward windings of the yellow Ebro we see rising to the north the mountains of the Basque provinces, forming the western continuation of the Pyrenees, and the eastern section of the Cantabrian or Asturian mountains which skirt the north coast of Spain. This chain runs at an elevation of nearly 9000 feet from Navarra to Galicia. Between the Minho and its afSuent the Sil it bends southwards, thus merging in the high tableland -region which fills the whole space between the Minho and the Douro both in Spain and Portugal, and in the latter country includiag the two small provinces of Entre Bouro e Minho and Tras OS Monies. Galicia also is a hilly region, with many leafy wood- lands, pleasant meadows, a mild climate, in which even southern fruits grow to perfection, while many tracts present a decidedly picturesque aspect. A lovely sight is offered especially by the walnut and chestnut woods, whose fruit forms a profitable article of export. Asfurias, on the other hand, is an almost inaccessible Alpine region, with steep and jagged mountain ridges, luxuriant grazing lands, and fertile well-watered valleys. 4. ^e Central highlands and Plateavx, Planking the Cantabrian chain on the north is the upland plateau of Leon and Old Castile, whose principal stream is the Douro, which reaches the sea near the com- mercial port of Oporto, the chief centre of the Portuguese wine-trade. Between its upper course and that of the 250 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. Ebro the -westerii limits of the Iberian -water-parting rise to the not inconsiderable range of the Celtiberian moun- QOKGE OF PAITCOEBO. taias, or Sierra de la Demanda, at whose western foot lies the city of Mrgos, one of the coldest spots in Spain, and formerly the " state prison of the kings of the land." To proceed from this point northwards, that is, to the Ebro IBEEIAN PENINSULA TABLELANDS OF CASTILE. 251 valley, we must cross the ravine at Pancorbo known as the Gargantas de Pancorho, which presents a wild and extremely romantic view. For a distance of some four or five miles enormous masses of rock in some places rise abruptly from the ground, in others incline so much forwards from the perpendicular as almost to meet over- head. To the north of the Gargantas also we come upon labyrinths of bare rock, and the whole region presents altogther a very savage aspect. Very different is the tableland of Old Castile, in the north of which are situated several famous locahties, such as the old but now ruined and desolate Eoman cities of Palencia, Leon, and Astorga, and south of them Valladolid, Zamora, and the renowned university town of Salamanca. Here reigns a dreary monotony, reminding the traveller of the parched tablelands of La Mancha in New Castile, or even of the sandy wastes of Sahara. This desert tract of Old Castile is traversed by caravans of mules, whose distant approach is revealed by the clouds of dust accom- panying them. We unwittingly recall the Spanish saying, according to which " A lark that would fly over Castile must take its food with it." The southern limits of this tableland of the Douro are formed by the ridge of the Castilian Sierras, with a mean altitude of about 8500 feet. These mountains are disposed in four clearly-defined chains, in some places rivalling the magnificence and romantic wildness of the Swiss Alps. Proceeding from west to east there rises the enormous i mountain wall of the Serra da Estrella (" Starry Sierra ") in the Portuguese province of Beira ; the Sierra de Gata ; the rugged rocky walls of the Sierra de Gredos, sinking abruptly towards the south, but level on the top, with alpine pasture lands, lakes, and a little glacier ; lastly, the Sierra de Guadarrama, whence flows down to the Tagus the little Manzanares, an insignificant 252 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. stream on which is situated the Spanish capital, Madrid^ in the centre of the dreary tableland of New Castile, and almost in the geometrical centre of the peninsula. Speaking generally, the New Castile tableland presents everywhere the same dreary aspect as that of Old Castile, and it is not a little remarkable that these boundless tracts have exactly the same character in winter and summer — always and everywhere bare, barren, and burnt up. The tableland is divided by the Mountains of Toledo into the northern and southern plains of Toledo and La Mancha, the former watered by the Tagus, the latter by the Gruadiana ; and these mountains are continued west- wards into the Spanish province of Estramadura by the Sierra de Guadalupe. 5. The Western and Hosier n Regions — The " Coast Steppe!' Between the 40th and 41st parallels Portugal forms a plateau, sloping in terraces towards the north, with a mean elevation of perhaps 1900 to 2000 feet. These Beira highlands may be regarded as the south-western corner of the Old Castile plateau. On the other hand, the southern Portuguese province of Alemtejo is traversed partly by a western extension of the mountains of Spanish Estremadura and partly by the valley of the Guadiana, and in the north it has nothing but insignificant eleva- tions very gradually sloping down to the west coast. Proceeding eastwards from the plateau of La Mancha, we come upon the Iberian highlands, between which and the Mediterranean stretch the provinces of Valencia and Murcia, embracing a considerable strip of coast, which may justly be described as a " European Africa." In it is situated the port of Alicante, close to the edge of an arid salt steppe, forming part of the great steppe region of the IBERIAN PENINSULA THE EASTERN PROVINCES. 253 south of Spain, which has been named by Willkomm the " Coast Steppe." This is by no means a uniform plain, but rather an undulating country, above which, towards the north and west, rise isolated mountain masses, assuming beautiful forms and glittering with the most brilliant hues, but apparently destitute of vegetation. Apart from a few date-trees and fig plantations round about the few scattered flat -roofed caserios, trees are nowhere to be seen, and one begins to wonder how so many people can exist in these bare, arid tracts, which are yet, comparatively speaMng, somewhat thickly inhabited. But the cornfields, which Ue ia the hollows watered by Twrias or bucket water-wheels, are concealed from view, though they are found nearly always lining both sides of the highway. The farther we go from Alicante the more African becomes the aspect of the land. There first appear, right and left of the highway, clusters of palms, succeeded by palm- groves, varied with dazzling white caserios. These caserios have but few windows, but on their flat roofs may often be seen a half-conical baking oven, just as on the Moorish houses in Morocco. As the traveller ap- proaches Elche the palm -groves increase in size, the ground between the trees being densely covered by an undergrowth of pomegranate bushes, while fields of corn and lucerne-grass, olive and carob-bean plantations, pro- claim the increased fertility of the soil, and bring us directly to the famous palm groves of Elche.^ 6. Andalusia — Valley of the ChiadMlquivir. Between the tableland of La Mancha and Andalusia extend the numerous bare but low ridges of the rugged Sierra Morena, forming the main chain of the Andalusian 1 See M. WiUkomm's Spa/nien und die Balearen, Berlin, 1876. 254 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVBL. parting range. The famous rocky gorge of Bespenaperros, 2444 feet above the sea-level, is now crossed by the railway connecting the valleys of the Guadiana and Guadalquivir. The latter is the great water highway of Andalusia, flowing by the cities of Cordova and Seville, and disemboguing not far from Jeres and Cadiz. Andalusia is the garden of Spain, and to it are mainly applicable the glowing descriptions of travellers — descrip- tions which are too often unfairly extended to the northern highlands of the peninsula. Here the loveliest spot, the very soul of the picture, is the valley of Granada, at the foot of the majestic coast -range of the Sierra N'evada. In this favoured land spring is well advanced so early as the month of February. Owing to the prevailing moderate temperature there is here developed the most marvellous blending of northern and southern vegetation. Being flanked towards the south by the lofty Sierra Nevada, the city of Granada, notwithstanding its southern position, seldom lacks cooling breezes, even in midsummer. On the mountain tops, especially on the Mulahacem peak, the culminating point of the Iberian peninsula (11,660 feet above sea-level), are visible vast snow-fields, which never quite disappear even beneath the glowing rays of the July and August suns. One small glacier, the most southerly in Europe, still remains in the Sierra Nevada, 2000 feet beneath the summit of Mula- hacem, in the precipitous Corral de la Veleta. The ground is overgrown with a delicate green vegetation, with ivy and the loveliest little flowers, and even entire fields of violets, enclosed by long Hues of myrtle hedges and twining rose bushes with deep-red blossoms. Here also blossom the apple and the pear tree, and even the straw- berry, by the side of the orange, the cactus, and aloe, laurels, palms, and avenues of the cypress and cedar. And amidst it aU the eye is refreshed by the sight of IBERIAN PENINSULA LA ALPUJAEEA. 255 the magnificent system of irrigation inherited from the Moors. Towards the east the Spanish plateaux merge into a highland region from 2000 to 5000 feet in height, overlooked by scattered peaks of greater altitude, which axe gathered into groups, and form connecting links with the lofty mountain masses occupying the southern limits of the peninsula. In these eastern highlands lie the sources and water-partings of nearly all the streams of the Peninsula, which here take their rise, and flow to the west and east. The general water-parting must thus be regarded not as a real sierra or mountain chain, but only as an elevated district, which attains in various places various degrees of altitude. Beginning at the source of the Ebro it forms a semicircle, running first east and then south and west as far as Cape Marroqui, far south of which lies the Sierra Nevada, which forms the loftiest part of the Andalusian coast range. South-eastwards from Granada stretches the moun- tainous region of Alpujarras or La Alpujarra, about 50 miles in length, " sending out its sierras like so many broad arms to the Mediterranean." It is a region as romantic as mountainous — romantic not only in virtue of its grand and picturesque scenery, but also in conse- quence of its historical associations, taking us back to the time when its heights were " thickly sprinkled with Moorish villages," and were the scenes of fierce battles celebrated in the Spanish ballads, when the Moors were fighting for their religion and their independence against the soldiers of Ferdinand and Isabella. Few other spots on the face of the globe are said to be so highly favoured by nature. On the crest of the sierra flourishes the aromatic camellia, together with the rarest lichens ; on the higher slopes the trees and shrubs of the north; lower down the olive and the vine ; and in the valleys 256 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. even the banana, cotton, and the sugar-cane. The flowers and fruits of La Alpujarra are the most highly prized in the province of Granada. 7. Biver Systems. The general slope of the Iberian plateau being to the west, and the water-parting forming, as just intimated, a semicircle with the convexity to the east, it foUows that the principal rivers of the peninsula flow westwards. Only in the angle between the upper half of the semi- circular water-parting and the Pyrenees is there room for a considerable river, the Ebro, on the east side. In general the Iberian rivers are not of great volume in pro- portion to their length, or of great use for navigation. The largest in respect of the volume of its waters and the most important as a navigable stream is the Guadal- quivir, which in the upper part of its course enriches the province of Andalusia, but in its lower course winds slug- gishly through pestiferous swamps uninhabitable by man. Steamers ascend as high as Seville, but the navigation is chiefly conducted by means of barges. The Guadiana, the next great river to the north, is the poorest as regards volume of all the Iberian rivers, and is navigable for only about 35 miles above its mouth. In the upper part of its course it disappears underground for upwards of 30 miles, revealing its existence only here and there by small lakes, which the Spaniards call " the eyes of the Guadiana." This river and all the other great rivers to the north, the Tagus, Douro, and Minho, form during part of their course a portion of the boundary between Spain and Portugal. The Tagus is navigable for 11 5 miles above its mouth, and the Douro is important to commerce from the fact that it flows in the lower part of its course through the richest wine country of Portugal, the produce IBERIAN PENINSULA EIVEES. 257 of -which it brings down to Oporto in flat-bottomed boats ; but even this, though a noble stream, traversing in certaiu places some of the most magnificent rock scenery in Europe, is for the most part difficult of navigation on account of the number of rocks and sandbanks in its course. On the eastern side the streams in the south, the Segura, Jucar, Guadalaviar, etc., all flow in their upper parts through rugged valleys, sometimes through gorges of the most picturesque kind, and, though of hardly any use for navi- gation, are aU of great value as sources of supply for irri- gation canals. Even the Ebro is more important in this respect than as a navigable stream. Its bed is rocky, and its current above the influx of the Segre, its principal affluent on the left, much disturbed by rapids and cata- racts, and though this evil has in part been remedied by the construction of a navigation channel, the Imperial Canal, from Tudela to a point 20 miles below Saragossa, yet the obstacles to navigation are stiU great. Its use as a source of supply for irrigation channels is, however, increasing, and its volume consequently diminishing, from year to year. Besides the navigation channel just men- tioned, the Ebro at Tudela feeds an important irrigation canal, which is the means of covering with luxuriance a large and formerly sterile tract on the left bank of the river. So arid, indeed, is the greater part of its valley that, were it not for the irrigating channels derived from the Ebro and its affluents, Aragon and Catalonia, which are, in fact, fertile provinces, would be as barren as the Castries. Of the minor rivers of Spain the only one that claims special mention is the Bidassoa, forming the frontier line towards France. Apart from a few brackish lagoons along the coast, the peninsula has no lakes of any extent. 258 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TRAVEL. 8. Geology of the Iberian Peninsula. Granitic and gneissose rocks occupy much of the north --western part of the peninsula, stretching from Galicia through the northern provinces of Portugal, and extending far south into Estremadura. At the same time a great branch of similar rocks, forming the Sierras de Gredos and Guadarrama, extends eastwards from the main mass and separates the two CastUes. Graooite also forms the axis of the Pyrenean chain, and occurs in patches in the southern part of the peninsula, especially in the Sierra Morena. In most places the granitic rocks are overlaid by Silurian strata. These strata are de- veloped to an enormous extent in Western Spain, where they form a large part of Asturias, Galicia, and Leon ; while on the southern side of the granitic area they re- appear in New Castile, Estremadura, and Granada. The Devonian formation is but poorly represented, being nearly confined to the Cantabrian chain. The Carboni- ferous system, in like manner, finds its chief representa- tive in the Asturias, where it consists mainly of lime- stones, the productive coal-measures being limited to a few small basins near Oviedo and Leon, while in the south they are developed to a small extent near Cordova. Triassic strata, with deposits of gypsum and salt, occupy a large area in Andalusia and Cuenca. Eocks of Ziassic, Oolitic, and Cretaceous age occur in the eastern half of the peninsula, the Chalk being especially well developed and extending from Biscaya into Valencia. Nummulitic lime- stone is found in the Pyrenees, while other Tertiary strata occur in Seville and in Portugal. But the Tertiary period is mainly represented by Miocene deposits of vast extent spread over the great plateaux of the two CastUes and through the basin of the Ebro. The occurrence of these Miocene deposits forms indeed one of the most marked IBERIAN PENINSULA MINERALS. 259 features in the geology of Spain. Attaining in some parts to a thickness of more than 1000 feet, they repre- sent the lacustrine matter gradually accumulated, through an enormous interval of time, at the bottom of two great fresh-water lakes which occupied the Castilian plateaux in the Mid-tertiary period. In the limestone rocks of many parts of Spain caves have been discovered containing the remains of extinct and other mammalia associated in some cases with the remains of man. These may be generally referred to the neolithic period, or age of polished stone. Such ossiferous caverns have been found in Granada and Andalusia, but the best known examples are those at Gibraltar, which were explored by Captain Broome, Dr. Hugh Falconer, and Prof G. Busk. 9. Minerals of the Iherian Peninsula, From the days of the Phcenicians the mineral wealth of Spain has engaged the attention of the miner, and relics of ancient workings are abundantly scattered over the peninsula. Lead appears to have been in most cases the prime object of the quest. Valuable ores of this metal occur at Linares in the province of Jaen, south of the Sierra Morena, where the veins are mostly found in granitic rocks, though occasionally also in the neighbour- ing Silurian slates. There is evidence to show that the ores of this district were worked successively by Phoe- nician, Carthaginian, and Eoman ; and at the present day the mines of Linares are among the most important lead- workings in the world.-^ Other ancient workings for lead-ore are found in the neighbourhood of Cartagena, in the province of Murcia, while rich ores of the same metal 1 Bevart of B.M. Consuls on Manufactures, etc., part xiv., p. 1307. 1882. 260 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. also occur near Almeria in Granada. Much of the Spanish lead-ore is argentiferous, but ores of silver itself were formerly worked at Guadalcanal and at Cazalla. Silver- mining is still carried on to a limited extent at Hien- delaencina in the province of Guadalajara, where the principal ore is a mineral of extremely local occurrence, called rreieslebenite. Gold was washed by the Eomans from the sands of the Tagiis, and was systematically worked by mining in Asturias, Galicia, Granada, and some other parts of the peninsula. The Arabs appear to have worked gold chiefly in the province of Jaen. Vast deposits of iron-pyrites occur in the province of Huelva, and have been utilised from a very remote period. Workings for this mineral on a gigantic scale are stiQ carried on at Eio Pinto and Tharsis in Spain, and at San Domingos in Portugal. The ore is a sulphide of iron containing about 3 per cent of copper, with a small pro- portion of silver and traces of gold. Enormous quantities are imported into this country, and treated in Lancashire, on the Tyne, at Glasgow, and at Swansea. The ore is first washed, whereby the sulphur is expelled and utilised in the manufacture of oil of vitriol; and from the " cinder," or calcined, ore, the copper and other metals are extracted by wet processes. The waters issuing from the old workings at Eio Tinto yield metallic copper by precipitation with scrap iron. The iron-ores of Spain occur chiefly in the province of Biscaya, and consist of haematite, or red ore, associated with brown and spathic ores, in limestones of Cretaceous age. The red ore is known as campanil, the brown as rubio. In 1881 not less than 2,800,000 tons were extracted from the districts of Matamoros, Triano, and Somorrostro, near Bilbao. Zinc-ores, consisting of blende, calamine and smithsonite — the sulphide, carbonate and silicate respec- tively — are found in large deposits in Santander ; tinstone IBERIAN PENINSULA MINERALS. 261 occurs in the granite of Galacia ; and ores of manganese are worked in the province of Huelva. Far more im- portant, however, than these minerals are the ores of mercury which have been worked for centuries at Almaden (" The Mine"), in the province of La Mancha. The cinna- bar, or sulphide of mercury, occurs in sandstones and slates of Silurian age, which are penetrated by diabase, while rocks with characteristic Devonian fossils are found in the neighbourhood. There is no proof that Almaden, although an old mine, was worked by the Eomans, but it is known that cinnabar was carried from some part of Spain to ancient Eome, and there used as a red pigment (vermilion). Almaden is the most important quicksilver mine in Europe. The coal-fields of Spain are unfortunately of very limited extent. Near Oviedo in Asturias is a small basin yielding several valuable seams of coal — anthracitic, semi- bituminous, and bituminous. To the north-east of Leon, near Sotillo, is another small field with beds of con- siderable thickness. The coal-field of Bflmez and Espiel, north of Cordova, supplies coal for smelting the lead-ores of Southern Spain. The little basin of Villa Neuva del Eio, north-west of Seville, is notable for showing the coal- measures resting on Silurian slates. In the province of Teruel there are three coalfields containing ten seams of coal, lignite, and jet, belonging to the Neocomian or Lower Cretaceous series. Spanish jet is largely used in Whitby, but is far inferior to the native product for which it is substituted. Portugal appears to be almost destitute of coal ; a small deposit of anthracite, however, occurring at San Pedro de Cova, near Coimbra. Petroleum, has been worked in the district of Conil, about 20 miles from Cadiz, where deposits of sulphur also occur. Bock-salt is found in various parts of Spain, but the 262 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. most notable localities are Cardona and Solsona, in Cata- lonia, -where enormous deposits occurring in nummulitic rocks have been worked for centuries. Some remarkable deposits of native sulphate of soda, more or less pure, are found associated with Tertiary strata in the valley of the Jarama, a tributary of the Tagus, not far from Madrid, and at Lodossa on the borders of Navarre and Old Castile. The sulphate of soda is of considerable economic value, and finds use in glass -making and other industries. Valuable deposits of phospJwrite, or phosphate of lime, occur in Estremadura and in Murcia, where they are worked for conversion into the superphosphate so largely used as a fertilising agent. 10. Climate and Vegetation. A single glance at the rain-chart of Europe is enough to show the great deficiency of rainfall that characterises the Iberian peninsula as a whole. The parts chiefly affected in this way are the interior tablelands and the valleys of the Ebro and the Guadalquivir. The fact is a natural consequence of the superficial configuration and situation of the country. The extensive plateaux occupying the interior form in summer an area of super- heated and consequently rarefied air, while in winter the air is correspondingly cooled and condensed. The result is that in the former season the general direction of the winds is from the sea on aU sides towards the interior, in the latter from the interior towards the sea. In summer, however, when the winds are most heavily charged with moisture, the rain is condensed chiefly on the mountains that form the boundaries of the plateaux, and the Ebro Valley on the north is completely shut off from aU the rain -bearing winds. The valley of the Guadalquivir, it is true, is then directly exposed to the IBERIAN PENINSULA CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. 263 moisture-laden wind, but at this season the surface is so heated by the rays of the sun that the moisture is only condensed when it is forced by the mountains up to higher levels. In winter, again, when the winds blow chiefly from the interior tablelands, the air is necessarily dry. In the west and north-west, where the tableland is less continuous, the surface being broken up into moimtains and valleys, the country receives abundance of rain at all seasons of the year from winds blowing in different directions from the Atlantic. Taking Madrid as typical of the Iberian plateau, we find that this dryness of the atmosphere is strikingly shown by the average number of absolutely cloudless days in the year. Of such days there are as many as 129, as against 22-|- at Greenwich. As on other table- lands and plains, where hot suns and clear skies prevail, the daily range of temperature is often very great. In July and August it amounts on an average to 3 1° F., and even in December to 16°. The dearth of vegetation on the interior tablelands caused by this excessive aridity has already been noticed in previous sections. Large areas are occupied only by a continuous covering of esparto grass; but in the east, where the drought is even greater than in the western parts of the plateaux, there are vast tracts, forming true steppes, hke those of Southern Eussia, with no continuous vegetation of any kind. In these the soil is largely impregnated with salts derived from the gypsum which forms a large proportion of the underlying rocks, and hence almost the only vegetation to be seen consists of halophytes, or plants suited to a saline soil, mostly of a pale green colour, and only sparsely scattered over the land. Among the other peculiarities of the vegetation of the Iberian peninsula is the large number of endemic species (species found nowhere else) which the flora com- 264 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. prises, and more particularly the flora of the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada. The southern parts of the Iberian tableland, especially La Mancha, Murcia, and Andalusia, are characterised in summer and early autumn by a dry haze known as calina. It is composed of the finest dust, and when at its height (generally in the month of August), is so dense that the sun shines through it only as a reddish disk shorn of its rays and glare, while the whole of the landscape is enveloped as it were by a dull gray cloak, which obscures objects from the sight until the observer comes close up to them. The Spanish coasts suffer much less from malaria than those of Italy. As already mentioned, the tract at the mouth of the Guadalquivir is very unhealthy, and so too are the environs of Lake Albufera, near Valencia, where rice is cultivated ; but with the exception of these parts the Spanish coast enjoys almost complete immunity from this scourge of the sister peninsula. Partly, no doubt, this is due to the drier character of the Spanish climate, but it is in a great measure one of the benefits which the modern Spaniards derive from the labours of the Moors, who by their irrigation canals, have made the rivers useful to man, so that where in Italy, Greece, and the Levant generally, swamps infect the air with their poisonous exhalations, the vegas are spread out on the Spanish coasts as smiling richly -watered gardens of the most luxuriant fertility. 11. The Balearic Islands. Here may briefly be mentioned the Balearic and Pituyse islands, situated in the Gulf of Valencia, off the east coast of Spain, and in every respect belonging geo- graphically to the Iberian Peninsula, from which the THE BALEARIC ISLANDS. 265 nearest is distant about 60 miles. Of the Balearics the most important are Majorca {Mallorcd} and Minorca (Menorca), the former with the capital Falma, the latter with the excellent harbour of Mahon. The other httle islands forming part of this group call for no special mention. The Pituyse consist of the two islands of Iviza (liiza) and Formentera. The islands are mostly hilly, and on Majorca, the largest of them, the Silla de Torella rises to a height of 4940 feet, while the adjacent Puig Mayor reaches 4920 feet. They enjoy a healthy and mild climate, and are favoured with a fertile soU, growiag all the products of Southern Europe. The plain encircling the industrious and populous town of Palma (60,000 inhabitants) presents an extremely agreeable prospect, being overgrown with almond, fig, mulberry, carob, and pomegranate trees, mingled with the fruits of more northern latitudes, such as wheat, barley, leguminous and other vegetables, which grow well beneath the shade of the trees. The date-palm, which gives its name to the town of "Pabna," is not now so much cultivated as formerly. Minorca is remarkable for its peculiar mega- lithic monuments, called Talayots, somewhat resembling the Sardinian nurhags. The other members of the Balearic group are small islands and islets, known under the names of Cabrera, Dragonera, and Gonejera. The Baleares are supposed to derive their name from ^aXKeiv (ballein), " to throw," iu allusion to the dexterity of their ancient inhabitants iu the use of the sling. Majorca gives its name to the ancient tin-glazed pottery called Majolica, though it is doubtful whether this ware was ever really made in the island.^ 1 On the Balearic Islands, see Murray's Handbook to the Mediterromean, by lieut-Col. E. L. Playfair, 2d ed., 1882. 266 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEK X. THE ITALIAN PENINSULA. 1. General Physical Aspect — Form — Outlines — IIxten,t. Italy, the central of the three southern European penin- sulas, dividing the Mediterranean into nearly two equal parts, is the garden of this continent, the land of classic memories, where the very stones are eloquent of bygone times ; the home of poetry and the arts, as weU as of the sublLmest natural scenery. Famous beyond all other European lands both geo- graphically and sesthetically, severed also from the rest of Europe by a mighty rocky barrier, Italy is regarded by those dwelling on this side of the Alps as a lovely Eden. Erom the remotest times it has ever presented irresistible attrac- tions to the northern nations, who here seek a milder chmate and enjoy the accumulated treasures of art and antiquity. And this region does undoubtedly possess most glorious advantages above many other lands. Its shores, studded with extremely fertile islands, form safe and spacious harbours, while the interior is watered by many noble streams. It is traversed in its entire length from north to south by an unbroken mountain range, rich in valuable minerals, with its snowy crests tempering the scorching summer heats, and with its extinct and active volcanoes bestowing boundless fertility on the soil, while presenting subUme and awe-inspiring scenes to the eye. Projecting like a tongue of land from the body of the ITALY PHYSICAL FEATURES. 267 European mainland, Italy is split at its southern extre- mity into two promontories, the Calabrian on the west, and the Apulian on the east. The deep bight of the Gulf of Taranto, which divides them, thus assists in imparting to the peninsula that familiar form of a boot which finds its counterpart, though in a reversed direction, in the twin islands of New Zealand in the southern hemi- sphere. "Washed by the sea on aU sides except the north, Italy is severed by the Strait of Otranto, which is no more than 47 miles wide, from the Balkan peninsula to the east. 2. General Belief of the Land. On the north the kingdom of Italy is bounded by the Alps, which from Styria and Carinthia strike westwards through Tyrol and Switzerland. Most of the famous summits of this range lie outside the political boundaries of Italy, the noblest mountains of the Italian Alps being the Grand Faradis, south of the Dora Baltea, which reaches an elevation of 13,271 feet, and Monte Visa, to the south-west of Turin, which gives birth to the sources of the Po, and attains an altitude' of 12,585 feet. Beyond the region of Monte Eosa the Alps curve southerly by Mont Blanc, Mont Cenis, and Monte Viso to the Maritime Alps, whence, lower in height, the mountains pass eastwards, overlooking the Gulf of Genoa, and merge into the Apennines, which form, so to speak, a long offshoot of the Alps, and traverse the whole of Italy almost as far as the very toe of the boot. Here and there portions of this long chain are from 2000 to 7000 feet in height, the culminating point of the Apen- nines being Monte Gorvo, near the centre of the chain, which reaches an elevation of 9810 feet above the sea- leveL In consequence of their great length, the general character of the Apennines is necessarily very diversified. 268 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The Ligurian section is mostly wooded, as is also the Etruscan division, though to a less degree. On the other hand, the Eoman and more southerly divisions are almost destitute of vegetation, or covered at most with but a few scanty shruhs; for here the top layer of humus has disappeared, and the bare limestone now crops out every- where. The complete destruction of timber on the Apennines, as well as on most of the other Italian moun- tains, has taken place since the time of the Eomans, and has been attended with the most disastrous consequences. Owing to the absence of forests at the sources of the rivers, the moisture is no longer held in check, whence arise those periodically recurring iuundations so destruc- tive to the low -lying districts, and especially to the Eoman Campagna. Between the two great mountain chains of the Alps and Apennines expands a vast fertile tract, often briefly spoken of as the Plains of Lomhardy, but in reality comprising the three distinct territories of Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venetia. 3. The Lowibardo-Venetian Lowlands, The present Lombardo- Venetian plain, including Fied- mont, Lowhwrdy, Venetia, and EmUia, occupies an area of more than 37,000 square miles, and ascends gradually towards the spurs of the mountaius, which rise steeply in the north, and still more so in the west, but slope gently southwards. The small volcanic hills of the Monti Berici (1380 feet high), at Vicenza, and the Monti Hicganei (1350 feet), at Padua, divide the whole region into the large or Zomiardian plain on the west, and the smaller Venetian plain on the east. The former is contracted by the projecting uplands of Superga (2296 feet), near Turin, so that the rest of the plain becomes a narrow ITALY THE ALPINE LAKES. 269 tract, gradually rising towards the south to an elevation of 1640 feet. The Lahe of Gar da, or Benaco, is cut off from the plain by a series of hilly moraines deposited at the end of the great glacier that liUed the valley, while the Lago Maggiore (Verbano) and the ZaJce of Coma {Lario) are also encircled by the romantic lacustrine highlands of Brianza (1300 feet). Like the other great Alpine lakes, LAKE OF COMO. those just mentioned are remarkable for their depth. That of Lake Maggiore reaches 2666 feet, and as its surface is only 645 feet above sea-level its deepest part is about 2000 feet below it. In the Venetian plain there is no lake save the little Lago Santa Croce at Belluno. The eastern limits of the great northern plain are fringed by a number of coast lakes or lagoons, in the midst of which rises the proud queen of the Adriatic, Venezia la Bella. A still larger lagoon lies to the south, 270 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY ANl) TEAVEL. between the two main arms of the Po. This is known as the Valle di Comacchio, and is important on account of the great quantity of salt obtained from it, as well as for the valuable eel-culture carried on in its waters. 4. The, Ligurian Ajaennines. The southern limits of the extensive plain of the Po are formed by the Apennines. This range, as already stated, begins close by the sea-coast in the extreme west of the land, at a point where the Alps turn from the north to the east on the frontiers of Prance and Italy. Liguria is the still surviving classic name of this highland coast-district, which with its picturesque and abrupt rocky slopes forms the far-famed Riviera di Ponente and Riviera di Levante between Nice and Spezia. Hence we speak of the " Ligurian Alps," and their continuation the " ligurian Apennines," the division between the two being more or less conventional The latter here assumes the aspect of a perfect coast range, such as the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the South American Cordilleras, or the Californian coast range ; that is to say, the range approaches close to the seaboard, sinking abruptly down to the water, whereas its inland side slopes very gently towards the valley of the Po. In any case, the western extremity of the Apennines remains a narrow ridge of moderate elevation. The genial climate along the Ligurian seaboard alto- gether rivals that of the delightful shores of the Bay of Naples, and -the invalid from the north wisely seeks a winter residence in such places as Nice, Mentone (both now annexed to Prance), Ventimiglia, San Eemo, and Porto Maurizio on the Eiviera di Ponente, or Nervi, Chiavari, and Spezia on the Eiviera di Levante. The vegetation also of this coast is the same as in southern Italy. In Genoa and its neighbourhood we are, in fact. ITALY THE APENNINES. 27l in the south of Europe strictly so called, which really begins where our botanical maps mark the northern limits of the evergreen sub-tropical plants. The Ligurian Apennines, at present crossed by the railway in two places, at Savona and Genoa, follow with their crests the line of the deep bight known as the Gulf of Genoa, whose romantic and precipitous shores are also skirted by a railway carried through endless tunnels and blastings over ground mostly obtained artificially from the cliffs here sinking abruptly iuto the water. But as it trends eastwards the main, line departs more and more from the coast in order to follow a more direct easterly course. 5. The Tuscan Highlands and Plains — Carrara and its Marbles — ITie Valley of the Arno. At the southern slopes of these eastern Ligurian Apeimines there extends seawards the charming district of Lunigiana, watered by the little river Magra. Farther south, severed from the Apennines by the Vale of Gar- fagnana, and lying between it and the coast, rise the wild and gloomy limestone hills of the Apuan Alps, with the Pizzo d'UccelLo, 6163 feet high, sloping southwards down to the Tuscan plains. In the Apuan lulls is quarried the far-famed white Carrara marble, and on their western slopes lies the town of Carrara itself, in the midst of hills thickly clothed with the ohve, vine, and stone-pine {Pinus-pinea, L.), and towards the east shut in by a crescent of rugged marble bluffs, forming a picturesque contrast with the southern vegetation of the sea -coast. The marble is chiefly worked in the neighbourhood of Carrara, Massa, and Serravezza, about 150,000 tons being annually exported. Most of the stone has a pale bluish htie. 272 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. and is more or less veined, but the purest is highly valued for statuary purposes. The marble was worked by the ancient Eomans, and has ever since been prized by sculptors. It is in this material that the finest works of Michael Angelo and Canova were wrought. The geological age of this " metamorphic " limestone has been the subject of much dispute; but the officers of the Geological Survey of Italy appear to have determined that it belongs to the Triassie series. According, how- ever, to M. Coquand, who has paid great attention to the subject, it should be placed in the Carboniferous group. Whatever may be the actual truth with respect to the Carrara marble itself, it seems to be certain that Carboni- ferous rocks lie on the coast not far to the west, which has been proved by the discovery of fossils in the so-called "limestone coal" of the lower Carboniferous formation. The Etruscan Apennines we may take as beginning with their highest peak, Monte Cimone (7107 feet), understanding by the expression that section of the range which takes a decidedly south-easterly course towards the Adriatic seaboard as far as the source of the Tiber at , Monte Comero (3828 feet). It forms an extremely inter- esting section of the Apennines, and is now crossed by one of the most imposing railways in Europe, runniag from Bologna to Pistoja, and attaining its highest eleva- tion at Pracchia. This line follows at first the valley of the Eeno, one of the many streams flowing mostly in parallel lines down the more gently- sloping northern side of the range to the valley of the Po. After surmoimting the pass the line descends southwards along the far more abrupt slopes down to the Tuscan plains, at whose eastern extremity lies embedded the city of Florence. This Tuscan plain is, properly speaking, limited to the valley of the Arno, a stream which, with the Po and the Tiber, ITALY TUSCANY. 273 forms one of the three really important rivers of Italy. Its course is mainly from east to west, though from its source at Monte Palterona (5407 feet), in the Etruscan Apennines, it makes a decided sweep to the south before finally trending westwards at Pontassieve. Below Pisa it seeks an outlet in the Tuscan Sea through the Maremma, that is, the marshy and very unhealthy strip of coast in which the Tuscan plain here merges. The Maremma is the seat of lingering volcanic action, as abundantly attested by the numerous jets of steam and other heated vapours which issue from the ground. These vapours contain boracic acid, and in the beginning of this century Count Lardarel laid the foundation of a great industry by leading the vapours from the soffioni, or vents, into ponds, or lagoni, in which the boracic acid was condensed, and then utilised in the preparation of alum. Tuscany also possesses numerous brine springs and mineral waters ; and valuable deposits of copper ore are worked near Monte Catini. The occurrence of pebbles, of jasper, and other hard stones in the bed of the Amo has led to the manufacture of the famous Florentine mosaic-work, which is mainly composed of these pietre dure. 6. The Roman Ajpennines — The Abruzzi — The Tiber and its Tributaries — The Lake Region. Monte Comero and the sources of the Tiber are the starting-point of the Eoman Apennines, which reach as far as the gorge of the Tronto, an Adriatic coast stream, and whoie highest and most rugged section forms the Mordi Sibillini, or Sibylline Hills. Like its farther con- tinuation, the lofty chain of the Abruzzi Apennines, this range shows a striking tendency to hug the line of the Adriatic seaboard as far as Monte Amara (9000 feet high). 274 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEATEL. under the 42d parallel. But beyond -the Pizzo di Sevo (8353 feet) it branches off into two parallel chains, the more easterly of which bears the most elevated peaks in the peninsular portion of the kingdom, including the Gran Sasso d'ltalia (9545 feet), the Socca di Lvpareto, and La Scalata, while the western chain culminates with Monte Velino, 8157 feet high. This region of the higher Apennines, limited west- wards by the course of the little river Salto, forms the province of the Ah^uzzi, which before the unification of Italy acquired an . evil fame from the brigandage and general lawlessness of its inhabitants. Both the Eoman and Abruzzi Apennines are furrowed by innumerable little coast streams running parallel with the Adriatic. Between the eastern slopes of the Apennines of Umbria and the Adriatic lies a strip of land, which from having been the frequent scene of contention between neighbouring states, is known as The Marches. On the north it joins the Eomagna, while on the south it stretches towards Monte Gargano, which forms the "spur" of the so-called boot. The most important town in The Marches is Ancona. The source of the Tiier lies in the Apennines at the foot of Monte Comero, and at no great distance to the east of that of the Arno. The two streams, however, pursue widely different courses, the Tiber taking mainly a southerly direction, so that its mouth and source lie nearly on the same meridian. The most important afftuents on its left or east bank are the Ifera, rising in the Eoman Apennines, or more definitely in the Monti SibiUini, and the Anio or Teverone, which rushes from the Sabine HiUs along its peculiar travertine bed over the picturesque falls of Tivoli, joining the main stream a little above Eome. On the right bank is the Chiana, connected by a canal with the Arno. The Arno and Tiber thus form two sides ITALY THE CENTRAL APENNINES. 275 of a triangle, resting on the western seaboard as its base, the whole space being occupied by a very diversified highland country, which is intersected by the Omlrone, the most important coast stream between the two main rivers. The heights between the Arno and the Ombrone are chiefly known as the Tuscan Hills, while between the Ombrone and the Tiber there is a group of volcanic hUls, among which rises the lofty Monte Amiata, 5680 feet high. Here lies the not inconsiderable Lake Trasim.ene, or Zake Perugia, besides the neighbouring lakelets of Chivsi and Montepiilciano, famous for its vintage. Trasi- mene is a shallow lake, little more than 20 feet iu depth, but having an area of about 46 square miles. Zake Fucino, formerly a much larger and deeper piece of water, has been partly drained, with the advantage not only of reclaiming the land, but of increasing the salubrity of the district. The Zake of Bolsena, occupying an area of 42 square miles, and having a depth of 460 feet, lies in the midst of a volcanic area, and hence has frequently been regarded as an extinct crater. It is, however, more probably a basin of erosion, or possibly it may occupy an area of subsidence. Bolsena empties its overplus of water through the river Marta into the Mediterranean. To the south lie Zake Bracciano, whence issues the Arrone, and the little Zago di Vico. Among the volcanic rocks of Albano, on the south side of the Tiber, is the Zake of Albano, occupying about 2i square miles, and having a depth of 466 feet. It is notable that a small crab inhabits this lake, thus suggesting former communication with the sea, though the water occupies the site of an old crater. Close to it is the small Lake of Nemi. Both of these Alban lakes are eased of their surplus waters by artificial tunnels. 276 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 7. The Camfagna. The Campagna di Eoma is distinguished alike for its picturesque beauty and historic grandeur. A solemn calm, of late years broken from time to time by the shrill whistle of the locomotive, broods over this richly-coloured soU of the classic Latiwm. The Campagna, however, must not be regarded as a perfectly level plain, although exten- sive tracts of the Ager Eomanus bear this character. Elsewhere it rolls considerably, the simple but noble lines of these tmdulations presenting a pleasant contrast to the monotony of the more level districts. The prospect southwards is limited by the marvellous outhnes of the volcanic Alban Hills, culminating with Monte Cavo. Towards the east the gaze is arrested by the limestone walls of the Sabine heights, whilst in the near distance the interminable arches of the Aqua Claudia impart to the Campagna its peculiarly grand and uniform character. Overhead this ravishing picture is canopied by that blue Italian sky which is not only of a sharper and more lovely hue, but also seems considerably higher and more expansive than is ever the case ia more northern lati- tudes. The Italian horizon, also, is clearer, and suffused by a white light, forming a beautiful background to the objects rising in the far distance, which thus seem to be sharply outlined when contrasted with their appearance in our hazier atmosphere. As far as the eye can reach, it detects nothing in the Campagna except pasture-lands, the only animated figures in the landscape being the flocks of sheep or goats grazing on the slopes, with the -solitary form of a shepherd in their midst. Here and there may also be seen a few wretched-looking horses, enjoying total freedom; and when unusually favoured by good luck, the traveller may perhaps meet a few mounted Campagnoli, with their never-failing iron-tipped ITALY THE CAMPAGNA. 277 staves and goat-sMn nether garments. A rising ground is occasionally crowned with a httle shady grove of the Italian evergreen oak {Qmrcus ilex), though this is always a rare phenomenon in the bare, treeless, sunlit Campagna. But, on the other hand, there everywhere rise amidst the broad expanse ruins and shapeless fragments, whose weird and often inexplicable forms speak eloquently of the past. Occasionally, also, a solitary pine spreads its noble fan-like branches over the grave of buried memories, or else the deep foliage of the laurel glitters amongst the mouldering ruins. In the centre of this charmed spot stands the Eternal City, overtopped by the all-command- ing dome of St. Peter's. But above it also the fever- gendering malaria too often wields its deadly sceptre. (See section on Climate, pp. 295-6.) 8. The Pontine Marshes — The Sabine, Allan, and Volscian Hills — Naples. Towards the west the Eoman Campagna merges into the equally unhealthy Maritima, stretching along the coast, whose southern extension in the direction of Terraciua forms the Pontine Marshes, anciently called the PomptinoE paludes, and so named from the old town of Pometia, which is no longer in existence. They extend along the west side of the Monti Lepini, or Volscian HUls, which, with the Sabine and Alban, limit the Cam- pagna eastwards and southwards. By the expression SaMne Sills is understood a western offshoot of the Apennines, but severed from them by the valley of the Vehno and its tributary the Turano. They rise on the left bank of the Nera, running parallel with the Tiber in a south-easterly direction along the axis of the Italian peninsula. Here rises the Anio, lead- ing to the famous town of Tivoli, the ancient Tihur ; 278 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. and in the very heart of these hills nestles the no less famous town of Subiaco, known anciently as Svhlaquewm — a name which it derived from the circumstance of its having been built below the lake {suh lacirni) of Nero's Villas. It is at TivoU that the celebrated falls of the Anio, already referred to, are situated, and still finer falls are produced at Terni by the waters of the Velino escap- ing into the Nera. The stone called travertine — a con- cretionary limestone, deposited from calcareous springs, and largely used near Eome for building purposes — ^is formed abundantly by the waters of the Anio ; from its occurrence near Tivoli it was anciently called Lapis Tihurtinus, of which the modem " travertine " is said to be a corruption. At Terni this stone forms a natural bridge, like the well-known one at Clermont in Auvergne.^ The hills of Albano {Monti Zaziali) are of volcanic origin, and perfectly isolated from the surrounding uplands. They preserve their crater forms in the so- called Campo d'Annibale, and in the lovely lakes of Albano and Nemi. At Ariccia, also, an extinct crater is distinctly visible. South of the Alban rise the Volscian Sills, which are even now still avoided on account of the lawless propensities of their inhabitants. They extend south- wards as far as the Terra di Lavoro, watered by the GarigUano (the classic Liris), where begins the favoured land of N'aples. A little to the south spreads the fertile plain known as the CampagTia Felice, which begins roughly with the Volturno, the most considerable stream in southern Italy. Here by the steep hills of a lovely seaboard stands the witching city of Naples, the largest in the kingdom, over- looked by the neighbouring Vesuvius. At the foot of Vesuvius an almost unbroken line of ' See Petennanu's MUtheilungen, p. 329, 1881. ^ ^^ LS^T?*^ ITALY THE PHLEGE^AN FIELDS. 279 townships stretches from Castellamare onwards, and even the neck of land separating the Bay of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, and ending with the Pmita deUa Cam- panella, is dotted with pleasant suburban retreats. Facing the Punta della CampaneUa lies the rocky island of Capri, with its marvellous "Blue Grotto." At the opposite horn of the beautiful Bay of Naples are the volcanic islands of Procida and Ischia. 9. The Phlegrcean Fields — Vesuvius — The Southern Apennines. Ischia — the ancient Pifhecusa — was the seat of volcanic activity in very early times, as recorded by Strabo and other classical writers. Its central point, the volcanic hill of Epomeo, rises to a height of 2520 feet. The continuance of the volcanic activity is shown by the constant ascent of hot vapour at certain places {fumarole), and it is a curious fact that two tropical plants, a fern and a cyperaceous plant, elsewhere unknown in Europe, grow in these spots under favour of the warm soil and exceptionally heated atmosphere. The action of subter- ranean forces is likewise manifested by frequent earth- quakes. On the 4th of March 1881 200 persons on this island lost their lives through an earthquake, and little more than two years after (July 28, 1883) occurred the most disastrous earthquake known in Europe since that of Lisbon, destroying the town of Casamicciola, and causing the loss of about 1500 lives. The little isle of Procida {Prochyta) lies between Ischia and Cape Miseno, at the head of the Bay of Baise. In all the area around this bay the marks of volcanic action are so evident that the district is commonly known as the Campi PhlegrcBi, or the " Burning Fields." This region extends as far as the wooded mass of PosiLippo, a little to the west of 280 COMPENDIUM OF GEOaEAPHY AND TBATEL. Naples. Many of its extinct craters have been converted into lakelets, and in this chaotic district the fancy of the ancients placed the entrance to the lower regions. Lake Avernus, near Pozzuoli, is a sheet of water ahout half a mile in diameter, which occupies one of the old volcanic craters. To the west of Pozzuoli is the conical hm known as Monte Nuovo, or "The New Mount," in allusion to its comparatively recent formation. This hill is 440 feet in height, with a basal circumference of more than a mile and a half; yet documentary evidence may be cited to prove that the bulk of this hDl was formed in about forty-eight hours in the year 1538. Near Monte Nuovo is the larger but similar cone of Monte Barbwro, once celebrated for its wines. The three marble columns still standing in the ruins of the so-called " Temple of Serapis," on the Bay of Baiae, have often been appealed to by geologists in evidence of the oscillation of the groimd in this volcanic area. Proof of subdued igneous activity is strikingly afforded by the vapours of the Solfatara. This term is now applied to all hot springs emitting a mixture of aqueous and sulphurous vapours, and depositing sulphur at their mouths. Originally, however, the term was limited to the old crater at Pozzuoli, from the hocca grande or lowest depths of which hot exhalations, with a temperature of from 120° to 165° P., are discharged with great force. In these vapours DeviUe detected steam, oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic acid, sulphurous acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen. It is in volcanic districts also that chiefly occur the mephitic or carbonic acid fumes known as mofette. This tetm was originally the local name for the temporary exhalations of carbonic acid following on the eruptions of Vesuvius in the neighbourhood of Naples. Owing to its greater specific gravity this deadly gas remains in the ITALY VESUVIUS. 281 depressions of the ground, in caves, and in valleys. The best known of these mofette is that of the Grotto del Cane at Lake Agnano in the Phlegrsean Fields. A little to the east of the Phlegrsean Fields, and almost in the centre of the beautiful Bay of Naples, rises the volcano of Vesuvius — a flattened conical mountain, 4160 feet in height. On three sides the cone is encircled by a ridge known as Monte Somma, while the intervening valley is distinguished as the Atrio del Cavallo. The hill of Somma represents the rim of an ancient crater, which was probably broken through by the great eruption of 79 A.D. Prior to this date the volcanic nature of Vesuvius had not been generally recognised, though for several years previously the surrounding district had been shaken by repeated earthquakes. Withia the natural fortress formed by the pre-historic crater of Vesuvius the Eoman gladiators under Spartacus took refuge during the Servile War in 72 B.C. The first recorded eruption — that of 79 A.D. — was witnessed by the elder Pliny, who, being then stationed in command of the Eoman fleet at Misenum, was attracted by the phenomena, and approaching too near to the scene lost his life in the volcanic exhalations. His nephew, the younger Pliny, has left an account of the eruption in the letters which he addressed to Tacitus. It was during this volcanic outbreak that the populous cities of Ser- cvlaneum and Pompeii, with the small town of Stahice, were overwhelmed and completely destroyed. The catas- trophe was occasioned not by streams of lava, or molten matter, but rather by showers of ashes and streams of volcanic mud, which rapidly buried the iU- fated cities, and so completely protected their contents that the relics which have been exhumed present an imexampled state of preservation. Since the earliest recorded eruption just referred to. 282 COMTENDIITM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Vesuvius has frequently 1)6611 the scene of volcanic activity, and the shape of its cone has been subject to repeated alteration. Of late years an observatory, under Professor Palmieri, has been erected on the mountain; and a railway now conveys the visitor to the summit. In southern Italy the great range of the Apennines becomes irregular, the main section of the Neapolitan Apennines gradually approaching so perceptibly to the west or Tyrrhenian coast that the peninsula of Otranto seems like a lowland country when compared with that of Calabria, which is traversed in its entire length as far as Cape Spartivento by the Calabrian Apennines. The territory of Otranto or Apulia is in fact a coast region of no great elevation, poor in watet but rich in Cretaceous limestone, the ground rising continually as we proceed westwards.' West of the Gulf of Taranto the Apennine range may be said still to continue in a long spur towards Eeggio, the highest part of which, trending south between the gulfs of Policastro and Taranto, exceeds 5000 feet in height for a distance of about 5 miles. 10. Hydrography — The Po and the History of the Po Basin} The whole of the northern plain of Italy is richly watered with rivers and canals, some of the latter being navigable, and serving to drain the marshes. Still the main channel of this water system is the Po, disembogu- ing with a decided delta ia the Adriatic, and in its lower reaches connected by canals with the more northern river Adige. Its principal mouth is the Po della Maestra, which traverses the true delta of the river, but some distance above Ferrara it throws off another branch, 1 "The River Po," by A. C. Eamsay, F.R.S., Macmillan's Magazine, December 1872. MAP OF THE BASl^i oi Tin. Ut\ i:H TO at tiil: (Ji^VCL'a El'OCII Stan/jrds Giii?Q'^s-ai:~ ,,i,,ii r.KvujmI sii.,,i„iii , .-.r,,i i.^.iii.;; e. ITALY THE PO BASIN. 283 which again divides at Perrara into the Po di Volano and Po di Primaro, encompassing the lagoon of Comacchio to the south of the main stream. It has also numerous tributaries both from the Alps on the north and from the Apennines on the south, so that even at Turin it is already a considerable stream. The northern affluents aU take a more or less south-easterly direction, as, to mention the most important, the Bora Baltea and the Dora Eiparia, the Sesia, the Ticino, the Adda, the Oglio, and the Mincio. The southern tributaries, which, though more numerous, are less considerable, flow, on the con- trary, exclusively towards the north-east. Amongst them are the Tanaro in Piedmont, no mean stream, the Scrivia with its charming upper course, the Trebbia, the Taro, the Secchia, and the JReno. An exuberant fertility pre- vails almost everywhere in this region, occasioned by the richness of the soil and the streams and canals irrigating it in every direction. The Po in its behaviour may be looked upon as a typical river, the sources of which are fed by the " aged snows " of the Alps, and by the heavy rains of the Apennines. Above Ferrara, where the Po receives the last of its affluents, it drains an area of about 26,800 miles, of which 15,850 miles consist of mountain lands, and 10,950 of land comparatively flat. As every one knows, it runs from west to east, through many a city famous in story, across the great plains of " Fruitful Lombardy, Tlie pleasant garden of great Italy," tiU at last, charged thick with sediment, it passes onward through the mouths that intersect its muddy delta into the Adriatic. In this great valley, now so fertile, it has run for far more thousands of years than man can yet venture to attempt to number, though perhaps the time may come when even that feat may be attempted. 284 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TKAVEL. Long before the historic period, tens of thousands of years ago, but which geologists call recent, the great valley was an arm of the sea ; for beneath the gravels and alluvia that form the soils of Piedmont and Lom- bardy, sea-shells of living species are found in well-known unconsolidated strata at no great depth. At this period the lakes of Como, Maggiore, and Garda may have been fiords, though much less deep than now. Later still, the Alpine valleys through which the afluents of the Po run were full to the brim with the huge old glaciers of the Glacial Period, which, debouching on the plains, piled up the enormous moraine of the Dora Baltea, 60 miles in circumference, in places 7 miles in width, and over 1600 feet in height. Others of almost equal import- ance lie lower down the valley, as at Garda; and the famous battle of Novara was fought on hills which, though now fertile, were once mere heaps of barren moraine rubbish. In those early times the Po flowed from the ice- caverns of the giant glaciers — just as at the present day it does from their diminutive descendants, high up among the inner Alps ; and the great lakes of northern Italy had no visible existence, for the valleys were choked to their watersheds on either hand by the ice of glaciers, which, now shrunken and small, have receded far up among the farther recesses of the mountains. No forests miscalled primeval then clothed the rocky heights, for all was white and barren, a waste of snow, unprofitable to the eye, had eyes been there to see it, but not unprofit- able in reality, for the thick and ponderous glaciers were busy scooping out lake-basias, great and small, and grind- ing the rocks in their path to powder, which, transferred to the great river, was spread abroad in the vaUey to form the soil now worked by man on so many fertile breadths of tUlage. ITALY THE PO BASIN. 285 When we consider the vast size of the moraines shed from the ancient glaciers that fed the Po, it is evident that at all times, but especially during floods, vast havoc must often have occurred among the masses of loose debris. Stones, sand, and mud, rolled along the bottom and borne on in suspension, must have been scattered across the plaias by the swollen waters ; for it is the habit with large glacier rivers to be constantly changing their courses; and often disastrously to ravage the plains through which they flow. It will thus be easily understood how the vast plains that bound the Po and its tributaries were gradually formed by the constant annual iaerease of river gravels and iiner alluvia, and how these sediments rose in height by the overflow of the waters, and steadily encroached upon the sea by the growth of the delta ; a process which, begun thousands of years before history began, has largely altered the face of the country within historic times, and is powerfully in action at the present day. To persons accustomed to think of the world as having always been what we now see it, it is hard to realise such facts as these — facts, too, that only relate to a very small portion of a late minor epoch in the geological history of the earth. And yet how greatly suggestive they are ! Through all this time (and long before) the mountains have constantly been wasting away, and their crests getting lowered; the vaUeys, so many of which send tributary streams to the Po, have been widening on the upper slopes and deepening below, at one time almost wholly by the power of ice, and now by the action of the petty glaciers which we are accus- tomed to esteem so large, combined with winds, frost, rain, and tbe torrents that tear along their bottoms. It has been estimated by Professor Geikie that the area drained by the Po is on an average being lowered one 286 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. foot in 729 yeaxs, and a corresponding amount of sedi- ment carried away by the river. When the day arrives in which the great Italian lakes, fulfilling the destiny referred to in the chapter on Switzerland, shall be filled with alluvium, a new modifica- tion of the history of the Po may commence, and its delta and the filling up of the Adriatic wHl advance more rapidly than before. All these considerations help to show, though only in part, how complicated is the history of any great river ; but before closing this sketch something may be said about the later history of the Po. It is hard to get at the historical records of the river more than two thousand years ago, though we may form a good guess as to its earlier geological history. Within the historical period extensive lakes and marshes (some of them probably old sea lagoons) lay within its plains, since gradually filled with sediment by periodical floods. Great lines of dikes, partly of unknown antiquity, border the winding river for a length of about 200 miles from Piacenza to its mouth, and throughout this course its breadth varies from 400 to 600 yards. Through all its many windings, from Chivasso downwards, alluvial islands diversify its course, and deserted channels here and there mark the ancient aberrations of the river. To guard against the devastating effects of floods, and to check such aberrations, the dikes were raised ; and in this contest of man with Nature, the result has been that the alluvial flats on either side of the river outside the dikes have for long received but little addition of surface sediment, and their level is nearly stationary. It thus happens that most of the sediment that in old times would have been spread by overflows across the land is now hurried along towards the Adriatic, there, with the help of the Adige, steadUy to advance the far -spreading alluvial flats that ITALY THE PO BASIN. 287 form the delta of the two rivers. As the embanking of the river went on from age to age, so just ia pro- portion has the annual amount of the formation of the delta been accelerated. But the confined river, unable by annual floods to dispose of part of its sediment, just as the dikes were increased in height, gradually raised its bottom by the deposition there of a portion of the transported material, so that the risk of occasional floods is again renewed. All these dangers have been much increased by the wanton destruction of the forests of the Alps and Apennines, for when the shelter of the wood is gone, the heavy rains of summer easily wash the soil from the slopes down into the rivers, and many an upland pasture has by this process been turned iato bare rock. In this way it happens that during the historical period the quantity of detritus borne onwards by the Po has much increased; and whereas between the years 1200 and 1600 the delta advanced on an average only about 25 yards a year, from 1600 to 1800 the annual advance has been more than 75 yards. The growth of the delta since the time of the Eomans is proved by evidence of the best kind. The town of Adria, which in the Eoman period was a maritime town, now stands on the banks of the Po more than 20 miles from its mouth. Similar changes in relative position indicate the advance of the land farther to the south (at Eavenna). But farther north there is equally good evidence of the encroachment of the sea on the land through local subsidence. The Lido (Latin littus, shore), facing Venice, is nothing but an old chain of dunes, through which the sea has forced its way. The islands on which Venice was built have sunk about 3 feet since the sixteenth century. Besides the Po, the Adige, the other chief river of the Lombardic plain, is the only river in Italy of navi- 288 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. gable importance; and even it, though navigable for vessels of large size, as high as Trent in Tyrol, is navi- gable only with great difficulty in consec[uence of the great rapidity of its course. The country on its banks is much subject to inundations. The rivers of the pen- insula proper are all comparatively short, and being already spoken of require no additional notice here. As to the Italian lakes, we may here enumerate the principal. Beneath the southern slopes of the Alps are the Lakes of Maggiore, Lugano, Como, Iseo, and Garda ; between the two main branches of the Po, the lake or rather marshy lagoon of Comacchio; in the Apennine region. Lakes Trasimeno, Bolsena, and Albano. For par- ticulars about them it is enough to refer to the Intro- duction (where the question of the origin of the Alpine lakes is discussed), the previous sections of the present Chapter, the Chapter on Switzerland, and the Appendix. 11. Geology. The three areas into which Italy is sharply divided by nature correspond with, and in fact are due to, as many well-marked geological districts. There is first the mountainous region of the Alps in the north and north- west, which is really part of the great mountain system of central Europe, with which it can be best studied ; secondly, the vast alluvial plain of Venetia and Lom- bardy, prolonged to the west and south into Piedmont, or Piemonte — " the foot of the mountain " — or district at the base of the Alps ; and thirdly, the peninsula proper, the hills of which are connected with those of the first-named region by means of the Maritime Alps. In the south-eastern part of the peninsula, from the Gulf of Taranto to the neighbourhood of the Strait of Messina, the mountain land consists chiefly of crystalline ITALY—- GEOLOGY. 289 metaTmrphic rocks, which cross the Strait and pass into the north-east angle of Sicily. Sicily itself consists mainly of Tertiary strata, through which appear, in a few localities, older rocks of Permo-carboniferous, Triassic, and Jurassic age. The centre of the peninsula is composed largely of Cretaceous rocks, overlaid for great areas by Tertiary beds (Eocene and Miocene). A continuous band of these, fringed by an outer line of Pliocene deposits, ranges down the east coast, passing inland near Loggia, and reaching the sea again at the Gulf of Taranto. Eocene beds form a great part of the north of Italy between Plorence and the plain of the Po. Farther to the south, through Tuscany and towards Eome, patches of Miocene or middle Tertiary strata diversify the country. In the central highlands of Italy the rocks have been bent into a series of folds, with a general N.W. and S.E. direction. These folds bring up the Jurassic rocks (Lias and Oolites) in many places from beneath the Cretaceous beds. Both formations consist very largely of limestone. The older strata of the peninsula are confined to its western side, and occur there only in isolated areas. Of these the most important is that near Carrara, where the central part of the Apuan Alps is formed of Carboni- ferous rocks, around which come others, highly altered, which the Italian surveyors consider to be of Triassic age. In these the famous marble of Carrara occurs (see pp. 271-2). It is also on the western side that the volcanic rocks are found. This is true equally of the more modern pro- ducts, so well known in the Eoman states and around Naples, and of the older igneous rocks, of which small areas occur in the south-west, in Tuscany, and near Genoa. The newer Tertiary beds of Italy, and especially of Sicily, are of great interest from the large number of u 290 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGfeAPHT AND TEAVEL. fossils which they have yielded. The Arno valley con- tains certain lacustrine strata of late Pliocene, or more probably of post-Pliocene age, which contain the relics of various mammalia. The area in which they occur in the Upper Val d'Arno is about 12 miles in length by 2 in breadth, and the depression which the strata fill con- sists of Cretaceous and Eocene or lower Tertiary forma- tions. The thickness of the overlying Pliocene beds is about 750 feet, the uppermost strata being of newer Pliocene age, 200 feet thick, while the remainder is formed of older Pliocene. The upper series consists of sands and conglomerate, containing the bones of Mastodon arvernensis, Elephas meridionalis. Rhinoceros etruscfus, Sippopotamus major, besides species of deer, bear, hyaena, and Felis, and remains of coniferous trees. Eemains of teeth of the mammoth (M&phas prvmi- geniui) are found in many parts of Tuscany, mostly, it seems, in the so-called pancchina, a loose description of loam. 12. The Minerals of Italy. Italy is but ill supplied with mineral fuel, and relies largely upon its imports from England. True bituminous coal seems to be absent, but anthracite occurs in rocks of Carboniferous age at several localities. In the Alpine regions the most important deposits are at La Thmle in the Val d'Aosta, at Demonte in the Val di Stura, and at Ovara in the province of Udine. It is found also in the basin of CaUzzano, Genoa; and at Seni in Sardinia. At Cludinico in Prione there is a deposit in rocks of Triassic age, and Mesozoic coal occurs also near Selva di Progno, Verona. Lignite is extensively distributed through parts of Italy, being known to occur in 2 8 1 communes distributed through forty-six provinces.^ Some of this mineral is of ' I ComhistibiU Minerali d Italia, per G. Jervis : Torino, 1879. ITALY MINERALS. 291 Eocene and some of Miocene age, wMle certain deposits are of Pliocene and even post -Pliocene date. In the Alpine districts the most important deposits are those in the provinces of Cuneo, Bergamo, Verona, and Vicenza. Lignite occurs also in the Ligurian Apennines, and along the Mediterranean side of central Italy. The best varieties are found near Savona, Sarzana, Murlo, Pomar- ance, and Grosseto. There is also an Eocene lignite worked at Gonnessa in Sardinia. It has been calculated that at the present rate of consumption the deposits of fossil fuel known to exist in Italy will serve the country for about 250 years. Peat is extensively used in many parts of the country. Petroleum occurs in the Tertiary rocks of the Val de Taro, at Miamo, Monte Gibbio, and elsewhere ; while asphalt, a solid bitumen, has been worked to a limited extent at Frosinone, Koceadarce, Eoccasecca, and in the valley of Pescara. Graphite, or " black-lead," of poor quality, occurs in lenticular deposits in Piedmont, and in some of the higher Alpine districts. The iron ores of Italy are by far the most important minerals of the country. They are raised chiefly in Elba and in the mines of Lombardy; but many of the old iron mines of the Val d'Aosta, of central Italy and of Calabria are no longer active. The Elban ores are partly smelted in the furnaces of Tuscany and Lombardy, and partly exported in a raw state from Eio to Prance, England, and North America. Manganesiferous iron ore is raised at Monte Aigentara. Manganese minerals are found chiefly in the Eocene rocks of Liguria and Tuscany, while the anciently-worked deposits of S. Marcel in Piedmont occur in chloritic schists. Iron pyrites is worked at the Brosso mine, near Ivrea, and is used locally in the manu- facture of sulphuric acid. Copper ores of great richness are found in the ser- pentine rocks of Monte Catini in Tuscany, and are smelted 292 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. at Briglia, near Prato. Ores of low grade are extensively raised and treated at the Agordo Mine, near Belluna ia Venetia, and at OUomont ia the Val d'Aosta. Valuable lead ores, in many cases highly argentiferous, are worked in Sardinia, and a fine ore is raised and smelted at Bot- tino, near Serravezza in Tuscany. For the most part the ores of lead are sent to Marseilles and to England. Zinc ores are raised to a Kmited extent in the Triassic dolomites of Lombardy, but the chief mines are in Sardinia, especi- ally at Malfidano, where the calamine occurs in veins and bedded masses ia limestones, probably of Silurian age. Tin is rare, but some interesting deposits have lately been worked at Monte Fumacchio, near CampigUa in the Mar- emma. Antimony occurs to a very limited extent, and ores of colalt and nickel were formerly worked on a small scale. Gold occurs in the form of veias of auriferous py- rites in many of the valleys of the Alps, especially in those descending from Monte Eosa and the Simplon towards the Lago Maggiore. The chief gold-beariag valleys are those of Anzasca, Antigorio, Antrona, and Toppa. Mining operations have been undertaken at various times at a large number of spots, and English capital is at present working some of the mines. Veins of gold-bearing quartz have been explored to a limited extent in the Val Corsente in the Ligurian Apennines. The precious metal is found also in the sands of the Dora Baltea, the Sesia, the Ticino, the Orea, and some other rivers of upper Italy. Formerly the gold -sands were an object of careful exploration, and their working may be traced back to classical times. Silver is found ia Italy ia various forms, iacluding the native metal, the chloride, the sulphide, and antimonio- sulphides. The ores are found chiefly in Sardiaia, and are worked up with argentiferous lead ores. Mercury ITALY MINERALS. 293 occurs at Serravezza in Tuscany, where veins of cinnabar traverse limestones and schists of Eocene age. • It is found also at Mount Am lata. An ore worked at Vallalta, near Agordino, is interesting as being a pyrites containing a small percentage of quicksilver. Sulphur is a substance of immense importance to Italy. It is found chiefly in the island of Sicily, but occurs also in the Eomagna. The sulphur ore of Sicily is for the most part simply roasted in crude kilns called calcaroni, when the sulphur separates in a fused state. In Eomagna the process of reduction is less primitive, kUns of scientific construction being employed. Some of the sulphur is used in the vineyards of Trance and Italy, but the principal part is employed in the manufacture of oU of vitriol, this " brimstone acid " being in many cases preferred to that obtained from pyrites, inasmuch as it is not contamiaated with arsenic. Bock salt is obtained from the mines of Lungro in Calabria, and of Eecalmuto, Cianciana, and Leonforte in Sicily. Salt is also derived from the brine springs of Volterra in Pisa and of Salso Maggiore in Parma. The latter springs contain salts of iodine. Mineral and thermal springs are abundantly distributed throughout Italy. Sea salt is obtained by evaporation of salt water at many points round the Italian coasts. The production of horax and loracic acid forms an important industry in the Maremma, as already explataed (p. 273). Boracic acid is also obtained in the Isle of Vulcano. Alunite or alum-stone has been worked for ages in the trachytic rocks of Tolfa, and the production of " Eoman alum " is stiU carried on at Civita Vecchia. Asbestos has of late become an article of considerable commercial importance, and is worked in the serpentine rocks of ValteUina. Marble is yielded abundantly by the rocks of the Apuan Alps, and the famous quarries of Carrara have 294 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. already been described (pp. 271-2). The stone is largely- exported, for statuary and decorative purposes, to Prance, England, and America. A beautiful alabaster or granular sulphate of lime is -wrought at Volterra in Tuscany, and serpentim of various kinds is also worked in Tuscany, especially near Prato. Chanite is quarried on the shore of the Lago Maggiore.^ 13. Climate — Flora and Fauna — The Malaria. Italy shares in the uniformity of summer temperature characteristic of the Mediterranean region generally. The mean summer temperature does not exceed 80° F. at any station in the whole kingdom, and, except in the elevated valleys of Piedmont, it is nowhere lower than 70°. The greatest extremes of temperature are in the Po basin ; but even here, except in Piedmont, the mean winter tempera- ture does not descend below 35° F. In this region the advantage of the shelter afforded by the northern moun- tain barrier is strikingly illustrated by the climatic differences between Milan and the Lake of Como, a few miles to the north. At the former station the winter temperature sinks to about the point just mentioned, but at Villa Carlotta on the Lake of Como the corresponding temperature is four degrees higher. Hence the rich Italian vegetation which strikes every one in descending from the north on the lakes of Lombardy, a vegetation which is not seen with the same luxuriance even in the plains a little way to the south. Eegarding the rainfall of Italy nothing need be added to the account given in the Introduction of the general characteristics of the rain- ^ The preceding sketch is partly tsiken from a memoir in the Bevue UniverselU des Mines for 1882 (p. 426), entitled "L'lndustrie Min&ale en Italic," by Jean Beoo and Lion. Thonard. For farther information the reader may consult the exhaustive work of Mr. Jervis, I Tesori soUera/nei delV Italia: Turin, 1873-1881. ITALY THE MALAEIA. 295 fall of the Mediterranean region, and there also we refer the reader for information relating to the occurrence of the sirocco and the mistral in the peninsula (see pp. 39- 40, 42-4). As to the vegetation of Italy, it must be borne in mind that its general aspect is greatly affected by the superficial configuration. The great extent of the moun- tains and highlands causes the truly Mediterranean vegetation, the myrtles, olives, and other evergreens, to be confined chiefly to the coast, especially in upper Italy, where the flora of the Apennines is composed of forms resembling and allied to those of central Europe more than to those of the Mediterranean generally. The salubrity of the climate of Italy is greatly affected by the extent of the tracts in which the iutermittent malaria fevers are prevalent during the summer. Eecently this has been made the subject of a government inquiry, and siuce then an instructive map,^ with text, throwing a great deal of light upon the matter, has been published. Prom this it appears that out of the sixty-nine proviaces into which the kingdom of Italy is divided, only six are altogether free from malaria ; these six being Genoa, Porto Maurizio, Florence, Massa e Carrara, Pesaro, and Piacenza. Of the remaining sixty-three provinces thirteen suffer only from a mild form of the fever, twenty-niae from a more severe form, and as many as twenty-one from the worst kind of malaria, which occasionally gives rise to fevers that prove fatal in twenty-four hours. In northern Italy this most pernicious form of the malaria occurs only in two districts — round the lagoons of Venice and in the neighbourhood of Brescia; in middle Italy it is the Tuscan Maremma (Pisa and Grosseto), the environs of Lake Trasimene, the Chiana depression ia Perugia, and the Campagna of Eome, '■ Carta delta Malaria delV Italia, illustrata da Luigi Torelli, Senaiore del Regno : Florence, 1880. 296 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. that are affected by it ; and in southern Italy, Apulia, the strip called the Tavogliere on the Gulf of Manfredonia, the environs of Paestum, almost the entire coast of Cal- abria and Basilicata, and the south of Sicily. How seriously prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants these malarial tracts are, will be apparent from the fact that ia Sicily alone two-thirds of the railway ofiScials are stated to be attacked by the fever every year, and to be iU on the average for eleven days, while on the Calabrian railways matters are said to be even worse. The cause of the insalubrity is found by the commission to consist in the marshy nature of the ground, and hence the remedies it proposes are the regulation of river-beds, the construction of irrigation works on their banks, the drain- ing of the ground, and the planting of the Australian tree, the Eucalypttbs globulus, which has already been introduced with so much beneficial effect into many unhealthy regions in different parts of the world, and among other places into the Campagna of Eome. In upper Italy, where the E. globulus does not thrive, the iatroduction of other two species of Eucalyptus, £. amygdalina and K resinifera, is recommended for the same purpose.^ The animal kiugdom presents nothing of special in- terest. The larger beasts of prey are nearly extinct ; but the smaller fauna is plentifully represented in the south by such noxious creatures as scorpions, tarantulas, and mosquitoes, which in some places, especially along the coast, are a perfect pest. Among useful animals must be mentioned the sUkworm, besides nearly aU the domestic animals common to the rest of Europe ; and to these must be added the buffalo of the Maremma as more peculiar to Italy. 1 See Dr. Pietro Balestra, L' igiene nella Campagna e cUtd, di Boma (1875) ; and Dr. Gregorio Fedeli, Sulle prqprietd, boniflcanti e teropeuliche deW Eucalyptus globulus, 1876. ITALY ISLANDS. 297 14. Sicily. Beyond the narrow straits of Messina, about two miles in width, formerly dreaded for the terrors of ScOla and Charybdis, rise the precipitous shores of Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, which it is now proposed to connect with the mainland by a submarine railway tunnel. Owing to its triangular shape, it was known to the ancients by the name of TriTMcria. This island, like the Italian mainland, is, with the exception of a few low-lying tracts, such as the Plain of Catania, almost wholly occupied by mountains, which form a nucleus between Gangi and Mcosia, thence radiating in three main ridges to the three poiats of the triangle. The northern branch attains a considerable altitude, the western is lower, while in the southern the hills mostly fall off. In contrast with the many abrupt elevations, the volcano of Etna} north of Catania, on the east of the island, rises to a height of 10,840 feet, with a slope so gradual that the area of the base is estimated at several hundreds of square miles. It is only in its upper portion that its general outline becomes very steep ; but on the western slope of the volcano there is a vast amphitheatre, probably the relics of an ancient crater, called the Val di Bove, the precipitous sides of which are partly 3000 feet in depth. These cliffs are entirely formed of ancient streams of lava, pierced by niunerous dikes, the whole revealing a remarkable view of a considerable part of the interior of the mountain, and giving clear indications of its gradual growth by repeated eruptions. In the im- mense hollow are numerous minor eruptive cones, which have sometimes been called parasitic volcanoes, and great numbers of such subsidiary cones elsewhere dot the sides 1 Mount Etna is known in Sicily as Mongibello, a name derived from the Latin wums and the Arabic gibel, "a mountain." 298 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. of the mountain, having been thrown up by various eruptions on its slopes. The most recent of these erup- tions occurred on August 29, 1874, and was attended by remarkable changes in the shape of the mountain. Eruptions from the summit of Etna have long ceased, or are at least very rare, for so long and lofty is the upper part of the neck of the volcano that the explosive force of aqueous vapour seems, so to speak, to jBnd it more easy to rend and force its way through the sides of the mountain at lower elevations, than to drive the molten matter up to and over the brim of the central crater. The observatory on Etna is noteworthy as the highest building in Europe, its altitude being 9650 feet above sea-level. On the flanks of Mount Etna are the cities of Catania and Aci Eeale, together with sixty-two towns and villages, supporting on the whole a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants.! The chief mineral product of Sicily is sulphur, which is largely worked in the Miocene rocks of Caltanisetta, Girgenti, and Catania. Gypsum and rock salt are found in association with the sulphur ; Mtumen and other carbon- aceous minerals also occiir in Sicily; marbles of great variety and beauty are yielded by the limestones of the north coast ; a peculiar variety of amber is obtained from the Simeto ; and agates are fotmd in the beds of some of the rivers. Indeed it has been said that the miueral derives its name from the river Achates in this island. Sicily was once an important granary, and large areas are still occupied by corn-fields. The olive, the vine, the orange, the lemon, and the citron are now largely culti- vated, and an important industry has sprung up by the preparation of citric acid and its salts. The orange crop 1 See Etna: a History of the Mountain and its Eruptions, by G, P. EodweU. 1878. ITALY ISLANDS. 299 is said to have an annual value of £2,000,000. Among other vegetable exports may be mentioned sumach, used in dyeing; manna, derived from a species of ash; liquorice, and saffron. The cochineal cactus flourishes throughout the island, and the papyrus of the Nile is found in the Anapus, near Syracuse, its only locality in Europe. 15. The Lipari and other Islands. West of Sicily lie the unimportant islands of Favig- nana, Levanzo, and Maretimo, the jMgusa of the ancients, while north of Sicily, at a distance of from 10 to 40 miles off the coast, is the group of the Lipari islands, the JEolice or Vuleanice of the ancients.^ The Liparis are all of Yolcanic origin, and consist of seven islands, with a few unimportant islets. Lvpari, the chief island, is about 5 miles in length and 4 in breadth, consisting wholly of lava and scorise, and yielding large quantities of pumice- stone. Strorriboli, with a cone rising to 3090 feet, has been from remote periods in a state of rhythmical erup- tion, ejecting at intervals of a few minutes clouds of steam illuminated by reflection from the glowing lava in the throat of the volcano. Vulcano, the most southerly of the archipelago, is almost quiescent, and chemical works have been established on the island for the preparation of alum, sulphur, boracic acid, and sal ammoniac. The other islands of the group are Panaria, Salina, Filicudi, and Aliciidi. Besides these islands, we encounter in going north- wards the little Pontian group in the Tyrrhenian Sea, near the Bay of Naples, the principal of which is Pontia or Ponza; and stiU farther north, the Tuscan islands, in- 1 For recent descriptions of these volcanic islands see Prof. Judd's papers in The Geological Magazine for 1875, and his volume on Volcanoes, 188L 300 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND XKAVEL. eluding Giglio, Giannutri, Monte Crista, Fianosa, Capraja, and Mba. 16, The Maltese Group. Between Sicily and the African coast lies the Maltese group, belonging geographically to Italy, and politically to England. The islands composing the group are Malta (the ancient Melita), Gozo, and Gmtivno, the last deriving its name from the cumin grown there. They are formed entirely of Miocene limestone strata, partly artificially provided with soU, with steep shores on the south, and without hills or rivers. The capital of Malta is Valetta, which has a fine harbour. To the west of Valetta is the Porto di San Paolo, the traditional scene of St. Paul's shipwreck, described in Acts xxvii. and xxviii. One of the most interesting facts in the natural history of Malta is the discovery that at a comparatively recent period there existed in the island at least two kinds of pigmy elephant, the bones of which are found in deposits of post- Pliocene age. The so-caUed " donkey elephant" {Elephas Melitensis) was only between 4 and 5 feet in height, while another species, called E. Falconeri (Busk), was not more than 2^ or 3 feet high. The discovery is of special interest, as proving that at the time indicated the islands must have been connected with the mainland, since such animals could not live on an area so circum- scribed as Malta now is.-' To the north-west of the Maltese group, between Sicily and Cape Bon on the African coast, is the little volcanic island of Pantellaria; while in the neighbouring waters are the yet smaller islands of Zinosa and Lam- pedusa. ^ See Wallace, Distribution of Animals, chap, x. ; Leith Adams, Wanderings of a Naturalist in India, p. 216. ITALY ISLANDS. 301 17. Elba. Off the coast of Tuscany, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, are several islands, of which the only one of importance is Elba, the Hva of the ancients. Its length is ahout 15 miles, whUe its breadth varies from 2 to 10 miles. The chief town is Porto Ferrajo. Elba has been famous from remote antiquity for its iron miaes, which are stOl a source of considerable wealth. The principal workings are situated near Eio, and yield an ore chieiiy composed of hcematite, or red oxide of iron. These deposits furnish the cabinets of mineralogists with crystals of specular iron ore and iron pyrites of surpassing beauty, while the granite of San Pietro yields magnificent crystals of tour- maline. The south-east promontory of the island termi- nates in Capo Calamita, so called ia consequence of the occurrence there of magnetic oxide of iron, or the natural loadstone. The highest point in Elba is the granitic peak of Monte Campana, which rises to an elevation of 3340 feet. 18. Corsica and Sardinia. To Italy physically belong, in a vague sense, the two large islands of Corsica and Sardinia, of which the first, however, forms part of the French dominions. The two islands were at one time concaected by an isthmus across what is now the Strait of Bonifacio. A submarine plateau of no great depth joias Corsica with the Tuscan coast, while water of considerable depth separates it from France. Both Corsica and Sardinia are extremely mountainous ; but, while in Corsica a lofty chain runs longitudinally north and south, seldom broken by deep ravines, the hills in Sardinia form independent groups culminating with Monte Genargentii, 6116 feet high. Their shores possess no natural harbours, but abundance of coral is found in 302 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. the Sardinian waters, and great mineral wealth in the interior of the island. The district of Iglesias, in the S.W. of Sardinia, was worked ia the time of the Eomans, and still yields large quantities of lead and zinc ores, chiefly argentiferous galena and calamine. The zinc- mines are indeed the scene of the most important mining operations in the Italian States. Valuable silver mines are worked in the district of Lanusei. Agriculture, how- ever, is neglected, both in Sardinia and Corsica, which latter is characterised by iine forests and splendid moun- tain scenery. Monte Eotondo has hitherto been generally taken as the highest point in Corsica ; but, according to the last survey of the French engineering staff, Monte Cinto now takes the first place. It is 8891 feet high, while Monte Eotondo reaches only 8775 feet. Ajaccio, the birthplace of Napoleon, is the capital of Corsica; Gagliari that of Sardinia. It is notable that vast numbers of megalithic structures called nurhags or nuragghi are scattered over the surface of Sardinia, while none occur in Corsica. The nurhags are round towers, with sloping sides, generally placed on elevated sites. They are of unknown origin, but evidently of great antiquity. The vegetable productions of Corsica and Sardinia present a mixture of European and North African types. The finest European conifer {Pinus altissima), which some- times reaches a height of 160 feet, is indigenous to Corsica. Among the animals the most interesting is the Mouflon {Ovis miosimon), which is still found both in Corsica and in Sardinia. The beautiful rock called Ndpoleonite or Orbicidar diorite, occasionally polished as an ornamental stone, is limited to Corsica. In Sardinia the geological formations chiefly consist of SUurian rocks, gneiss, granite, and various volcanic rocks, besides tracts of Miocene strata. In Corsica there ITALY ISLANDS. 303 is also much granite and gneissic rocks, together with igneous masses and strata of Eocene and Miocene age. The great amount of disturbance which all the more ancient strata of these islands have undergone, combiaed with long-continued meteoric waste and degradation, has pro- duced that wonderful combination of mountains and deep cliffy valleys for which these islands are celebrated. Off the north-east coast of Sardinia lies the little island of Cabrera, so named from the number of goats formerly existing there, and famous in recent times as the home of Garabaldi, to whom the island was presented by the King of Italy. 304 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TEAVEL. CHAPTEE XL THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 1. Outlines — Boundaries. Unlike Italy and Spain, the Balkan peninsula is destitute of any mountain Carrier on the north separating it from the great mainland of central Europe. The best-defined physical boundary on the north is the line formed by the Lower Danube and its tributary the Save, which on the whole divides a mountainous region in the south from extensive plains on the north. The plain between this highland region and the outer slopes of the Carpathians forms the kingdom of Eoumania, the physical features of which resemble for the most part those of the adjoining parts of Eussia. The coast is in most parts steep and rocky, especially on the west side ; and the highly varied outline, with its fringe of mountainous islands, agreeing in its general character with that of the sea-board of Asia Minor lying opposite to it on the east, suggests the idea that the present distribution of land and water in this region is due to a comparatively recent submergence. Along the Dalmatian coast this subsidence seems to be stUl going on ; and although in Greece and in the greater part of Asia Minor, as well as the Black Sea coast of the penin- sula, the most recent variations in the coast-line appear to have been due to movements of upheaval, there can be little doubt that, for example, in the deep gulfs of Koron, THE BALKAN PENINSULA PHYSICAL EEATUEES. 305 Marathordsi, and Nauplia, running up between the rocky peninsulas on the south, we have simply the lower parts of submerged land-valleys. The longest inlet, that of the Gulf of Corinth or Lepanto, runs for more than 100 miles up between the peninsula of the Morea and the mainland; and it is a curious and interestiug fact that this ialet bears a close resemblance to many of the l>rorwegian fiords, not only in its outline but also in the position of its deeper and shallower soundings, being deepest towards its upper end and shallower at and near its mouth. Possibly this may be due to the deposition of a relatively large amount of sediment in the sheltered waters where it opens into the Ionian Sea behind the islands of Cephalonia and Zante. From the Gulf of ^gina, or the Saronic Gulf on the east, this inlet is separated only by the narrow isthmus of Corinth, the piercing of which by a canal has long been a favourite idea with rulers and engineers. In ancient times a canal was actually commenced by E"ero, though it was never completed, and of late years the project has been revived with more promise of success. 2. Belief of the Land. The whole of the Balkan or Illyrian peninsula is of a very mountainous character, but the mountains are so diversely distributed over the surface that only two or at most three continuous ranges of considerable length can be made out. One of these is the range from which the peninsula takes its ordinary name — the Balkan. In the widest sense, this name, which is simply a Turkish word meaning a high range, is used to designate the mountains which are said to sweep in an irregular curve from the north of the Adriatic to the Black Sea; but when so used (and its use in that way is not without its con- X 306 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAYEL. venience) it must be remembered that it does not desig- nate a range of mountains, but only the northern part of the mountainous region that lies to the south of the Save and the Lower Danube. As the name of a mountain range, it is properly applied only to the chain starting as the Etropol Balkan from the east of the great basin of Sofia and running thence eastwards between Bulgaria and Eastern Koumelia to Cape Emineh on the Black Sea. In this sense the name corresponds to the ancient Hcemv^ in its narrower sense. The highest part of this range is ia the west, between the Etropol and Shipka Balkans (about Ion. 24° to 25° E.), where it is known by the name of the Khoja Balkans. Here the mean height is 6500 feet, and nowhere in this section does the height sink below 4500 feet. As a whole the range descends very gradu- ally on, the north towards the Danube, and it is only on the south side that it presents anything like a steep escarpment. At various parts of the range the main chain is accompanied both north and south by parallel ridges. The Sredna Gora (5250 feet) and the Karaja-Dagh (3200 feet) stretch on the south parallel to the Khoja and Shipka Balkans, and farther east the Kitchik or Little Balkans, nowhere more than 2350 feet in height, extend on the north with an easterly and slightly northerly trend between the two head -waters of the Kamtchyk, one of the most considerable streams here flowing into the Black Sea. At this part of their course the Balkans diminish greatly in height, and the Little Balkans form only one of numerous well-wooded spurs that are here sent out both northwards and southwards. As in most continuous mountain ranges, the passes form a very important geographical feature in the Balkans. In enumerating the principal, we may begin with the Isher Pass, which leads out of the depression where we THE BALKAN PENINSULA PHYSICAL FEATUEES. 307 have assumed the Balljan range to commence. It may indeed be said that the Balkans proper are continued westwards across this defile, for to the west of it the continuity of the mountain range remaias for a certain space uninterrupted, but it gradually breaks up into a maze of mountaias which it is impossible to refer to any great range, whence it is convenient to assume the com- mencement of the Balkan range where we have done. Wlien the name is extended to the mountains to the west of that defile there is a natural want of agreement as to how it should be applied, some making the Balkans proper stretch westwards to the mountains at the frontiers of Bosnia and Albania, others making them sweep round northwards to the Danube east of the Morava. Still, as we have already indicated, the Isker defile may properly be iacluded among the passes of the Balkans. It is a romantic mountain gateway, situated in the midst of vast crystalline formations, and rising, according to Kanitz, to the height of 4540 feet. The Etropol Balkans are crossed to the north-east of Sofia by the Orhanie or Orkhanie Pass, while several lead over the Khoja. The most important, according to Kanitz, who crossed them all, are the Kalofer and Teteve passes. The highest are the Bosalita and the Babanica passes, both upwards of 6000 feet in height. The Shipka or Shibka Pass, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, leads directly through the romantic gorge of the Tantra northwards to the industrious little Bulgarian town of Gabrova, and southwards to the " Thracian Shiraz," the far-famed and unique rose-fields of Kezanlik, which have acquired a world-wide repute from the attar of roses here manufactured on an extensive scale. The valley of Kezanhk, protected by gently-undulatiug hills from south- westerly gales, is covered with rose gardens and waving fields of yellow corn, interspersed amongst which are 308 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGBAPHY AND TKAVBL. numerous Osmanli hamlets, watered by sparkling rivulets and shaded by clumps of mighty walnut trees, their red- tiled roofs and white minarets irresistibly attracting the footsteps of the passing wayfarer. Prom Kezanlik the more easterly Travna Pass, so called from the town of like name, leads northwards to the old Bulgarian royal city of Tirnova, charmingly situ- ated on the Yantra. The last section of the Balkans, extending to Cape Emineh, is also crossed by several passes, such as " The Iron Gate" [Demir ^apz^), upwards of 3000 feet high, at the point where the Little Balkans strike off to the north, the Slivno and the Ddbrol (2132 feet).'' A less well-defined range is that which, under the name of the Bespoto-Dagh or Bhodope, Mountains, runs in a curve south-eastwards towards the ^gean Sea from near the western extremity of the Balkan range. At the ^ See Prof. Toula Mne geologische Bdse in den westlichen Balkan, pp. 85-112 ; and F. Kanitz Donautulgarien und der Balkan, vol. ii. pp. 263- 291. THE BALKAN PENINSULA PHYSICAL FEATURES. 309 northern extremity of this range, where it unites with the Eilo Dagh, stands Muss-alla, 9500 feet in height, the culminating point of the whole of the northern portion of the peninsula. Between the Eilo Dagh and the Etropol Balkans stands Mount Vitosh (7640 feet), one of the most remarkable peaks in the whole peninsula, a huge mass of syenite, exhibiting evidence of volcanic action, and con- taining an immense quantity of magnetic ironstone.^ The only other well-defined range of importance, both as regards length and height, is that of the Dinaric Alps the main chain of which, stretching from north-west to south-east, divides the Austrian crownland of Dalmatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main features of the region covered by these mountains are similar to those described under Austria, in the section on the Karst. The loftiest summit in the chain is Mount Dinar a, 5942 feet high, consisting of a mass of bare, dazzling white chalk, not, however, the soft chalk of north-western Europe, but the hippurite limestone mentioned in the Introduction as characteristic of the Cretaceous system in southern Europe. Of the rest of the surface of the Balkan Peninsula, it would serve no good purpose to attempt a detailed description. It is enough to remember that it consists of a confused network of mountains, with peaks rising in every part, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Servia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Albania, in northern Greece and the Morea or Peloponnesus, to from 5000 to 9000 feet and upwards. Many of the short but lofty ranges in the south are, however, worthy of particular mention, on account of their ancient celebrity. Such, for example, are those enclosing the plain of Thessaly; namely, the Pindus range on the west, between Thessaly and Albania, Othrys and CEta in the south, with the famous pass of ^ See F. von Hochstetter, in Petermann's Mittheilimgcn, 1872, p. 84. 310 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. Thermopylse at the farthest extremity of the latter; Olympus, Ossa (now Kissova) and Pelion (now Plessidi) in the east. Olympus, 9750 feet in height, is the highest peak in the whole peninsula. Still farther south are the isolated Mounts Parnassus (now Liakura), HeUcon (now Zagora), Cithseron (now Elatra) ; and in the Peloponnesus or Morea, in the heart of which lies the highland district of Tripolitza or Arcadia, a sort of basin encircled by lulls, from which short ranges of mountains run out to the extremities of the minor peninsulas, there rise in the north-west Mount Erymanthos (now Olonos) and Cylene (now Zyria), and in the south Taygetus, the five principal peaks of which have obtained for it the modern name of Pentedactylo, "the five -fingered." Many of these Peloponnesian peaks attain a height of upwards of 6000 feet, and Mount Elias or Taletum, the highest of all, one of the peaks of Taygetus, reaches an elevation of 7904 feet. The extremity of Taygetus forms Cape Matapan, the most southerly point of Europe. The most extensive of the plains of the peninsula is that in eastern Thrace, watered by the Maritza, between the Ehodope Mountains, and the coast range, called the Estranja Hills, which culminate in Gok-Tepe, nearly 4000 feet high. To the west of the Ehodope Mountains occurs another plain of considerable extent in Macedonia, com- pletely isolating from the mountains just named the highlands of Chalcidice, with their peninsular prolonga- tions, the most notable of which is the bold and naked marble -white headland of Mount Athos, or the Holy Mount, rising sheer out of the water to the height of 6350 feet. The only other plain of importance south of the Balkans is the one already mentioned, that of Thessaly, drained by the Salamvria, the ancient Peneus. Prom this plain the river makes its escape to the sea in the north-east through a wild but beautiful gorge, the THE BALKAl^r PENINSULA PHYSICAL FEATURES. 311 ancient vale of Tempe, between Olympus and Ossa, a gorge which the ancients believed to have been formed by some convulsion of nature, allowing the waters to escape from what was formerly a lake. North of the Balkans the eastern part of Bulgaria and the district of Dobruja, now assigned to Eoumania, are lowlands. The latter, indeed, contains a number of isolated hills, rising to the height of about 1500 feet, and, though for the most part of no great elevation, sinks on the north rather abruptly towards the marshy land belongiag to the delta of the Danube, while it slopes more gently eastwards to a chain of lagoons on the Black Sea. The whole extent of these plains is remarkably arid. In summer the Dobruja is a burnt-up desert, in spring a muddy slough in consequence of the melting of the snows, yet it contains some fertile spots here and there, and affords pasture for numerous sheep and buffaloes, the rearing of which forms the chief occupation of the people. 3. Hydrogra;phy. In consequence of the proximity of the Ulyrian Alps to the western coast of the Balkan peninsula, most of the rivers which flow into the Adriatic and Ionian Seas are of inconsiderable length, and are too rapid in their flow to be of much service, save for the purpose of driving mills. Of these western rivers, the largest is the Boyana, which drains the Lake of Scutari, or Skadar, a body of still water in northern Albania, having an area of about 145 square miles. This lake is itself fed by the Moratcha, the principal river of Montenegro. Wear the mouth of the Boyana is the outlet of another large river, the Drin, which flows for much of its course through a narrow valley hemmed in by precipitous walls. The Drin is formed by the union of two streams known as the White 312 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHy AND TRAVEL. and Black Drin, the latter of which takes its rise in Lake Ohhrida. This is a sheet of water 95 square miles in area, situated on a plateau at an elevation of nearly 2300 feet above the sea level. Farther to the south lies the remarkable Lake of YaniTia or Joannina, fed by- springs, yet destitute of any visible outlet. It is divided into two basins drained by subterranean channels, called by the modern Greeks katahothra; the northern lake is supposed to give rise to the Kalamas, the ancient Thyamus, which flows into the Ionian sea, while the southern lake is probably connected with the river Acheron. In Boeotia lies another lake with subterranean channels for its out- lets. This is Lake Cwpais, which is now in process of being drained. The basin of the .^gean Sea, or the Archipelago, includes a number of considerable streams, of which the most important are — the Vardar, a river which rises on the Shar-Dagh, and after cutting its way through the deep passage of the Demir-Kapu, or Iron Gate, flows into the Gulf of Salonica ; the Struma, Strytnon, or Kara-su, rising on the slopes of the great mountain of Vitosh; and the Maritza, the greatest of the southern rivers, which collects its waters from the Balkans and the Ehodope Mountains, traverses the fertile plains of Eoumelia, passing Phihppopolis and Adrianople, and at length empties itself into the N.E. corner of the Archi- pelago. The river is navigable at certain seasons as high as Philippopolis. The few streams that flow into the Sea of Marmora are for the most part mountain-torrents of no great im- portance. Among the numerous rivers that empty them- selves into the Black Sea, the supreme position is of course taken by the Danvhe and its tributaries, represent- ing the drainage not only of all the northern part of the Balkan peninsula, but also of the great Eoumanian plain THE BALKAN PENINSULA PHYSICAL FEATURES. 313 whicli stretches northwards as far as the foot of the Carpathians. Below the series of gorges described in the chapter on Austria (pp. 152-3), the Danube in flowing through the Balkan Peninsula makes a wide sweep to the south, traversing a broad stretch of country, which on its left bank has the form of a wide alluvial plain, while on the right rises a more or less precipitous terrace ascending to an extensive tableland furrowed by numerous affluents of the great river. The southerly sweep of the Danube in this part of its course is partly a result of the alluvial deposits brought down from the Carpathian and Transyl- vanian mountains by the tributaries on the left bank. These latter are far larger and more numerous than those rising in the Balkans south of the main stream. The alluvial loam covers the extensive Walachian lowlands, in. some places forming terraces and embankments up- wards of 40 feet high, and on both sides of the Danube the alluvial deposits have been spread over the under- lying Miocene formations. A monotonous loss terrace, underlaid by Miocene strata and destitute of timber, rises directly from the right bank of the Danube, gradually ascending over Cretaceous strata to the foot of the Balkans, and furrowed by numerous affluents of the main stream. What may be called the present Danubian delta is of no great geological age, and so moderate in its rate of growth that it has so far done little more than fill up the acute-angled triangle, the two longer sides of which are formed by the deposits of an earlier period. Between Tultcha and Ismail the river forks off into two branches, of which the northern or Kilia arm carries off no less than seventeen twenty-sevenths of the whole body of water, while the southern or St. George's arm, known also as that of KhidrilKs, discharges about eight twenty- 314 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. sevenths. Between those two branches is that of Sulina, which absorbs two twenty-sevenths. The Sulina, though the smallest, is the most important of these branches, since it alone is open to navigation. Though swampy, the delta possesses woods of tall growth, that of Letti on the north, and Kara-Orman south-west of Sulina, whose dark masses produce a pleasing variety amidst the pale green elsewhere prevalent, and form a striking contrast to the fickle waters of the Black Sea. The marshy shores of the stream are also relieved by herds of buffaloes, flocks of wild duck, an occasional flight of herons, with here and there a few pelicans, while the stately stork abounds everywhere. Swarms of swallows, magnificent roller birds, tortoises, and other animals, add animation to a picture which must be seen to be fully realised. 4. Geology — Mineral Products. Until lately our knowledge of the geology of the Balkan peninsula was more defective than that of any other part of the European continent. Thanks, however, to the labours of the Austrian geologists — especially Dr. F. von Hochstetter — a considerable amount of informa- tion has been obtained within the last few years, the extent of which is well shown in Dr. F. Toula's Materi- alien zu einer Geologie der Balhanhalbmsel} It appears that the great mountain-chains of Turkey 1 Jahrbwchd. K.-K. Geologischen Beiehsanstalt, Bd. xxxiii., pp. 61-114, 1883 ; see also Petermann's MittJieilimgen, Bd. xxviii., p. 361, 1882, where will be found an excellent sketch-map illustrating the geological structure of the Balkan peninsula. In the summer'of 1879, after Bosnia had come under Austrian administration, an examination of the geologi- cal structure and mineral resources of that province was made at the instance of the Austrian Government, and the results of the labours of the Commission appointed for the purpose are to be found in the work entitled Gnmdlinien der Geologie von Bosnien-Eerzegomna (Vienna, 1880). THE BALKAN PENINSULA GEOLOGY. 315 — the Balkans and the Illyrian Alps — consist of a nucleiis of granite, associated with gneiss and various crystalline schists. A huge mass of syenite, rising from the plain of Sofia, forms Mount Vitosh ; while numerous outbursts of trachyte — ^probably of Miocene age — have contributed to form the bold features of the Ehodope Mountains. Serpentine is exposed in many parts of Servia and in Bosnia. Strata of Devonian age constitute the country on which Constantinople is built, and passing under the Bosporus stretch far away into Asia Minor. These Palaeozoic strata are in parts fossiliferous, and are tra- versed by eruptive dykes. Eocks referred to the Permian and Triassic periods are exposed around the basin of Sofia, and onwards to the east as far as Eski-saghra. The Trias is also represented in Bosnia. Of other Mesozoic formations the best developed are those of Cretaceous age. They occupy a very large area on the northern slopes of the Balkans, whence they extend as broad terraces almost down to the valley of the Danube, and are found again strongly developed along the western side of the penin- sula, where various limestone formations of Mesozoic age form long strips running from north-west to south-east parallel to the coast mountain-chains. Eocene strata, in- cluding Nummulitic limestone, are found in several locali- ties — notably in the neighbourhood of Constantinople and of Varna on the Black Sea. In the north-east of Bosnia a peculiar flysch-formation, partly of Cretaceous, partly of Eocene, to a less extent of later Tertiary date, appears on the surface intimately associated with serpen- tine and gabbro. Deposits of Miocene or post-Miocene age occur in great force in many parts of the country, especially in the plains between Adrianople and the Sea of Marmora, and in the valley of the Danube. The loss, or " diluvium," is widely distributed as a surface-deposit. 316 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. It is supposed that the Balkan peninsula possesses mineral resources of considerable value, but the apathy of Turkish rule has hitherto prevented their development in most parts of the country. Bulgaria is rich in lignite, or brown coal, probably of Miocene age. At Belogradcik the coal is siipposed to be Triassic ; at Trevna, liassic ; and at Kunino, near Wratza, iSTeocomian. A small amount of brown coal is raised at Sikole in Servia. Magnetic iron ore, washed from the syenitic rocks of Vitosh, are worked and smelted in very primitive fashion at Samakof. Servia is taking active measures to open up its mineral wealth, and it is known that the lead ores of this region were worked by the Eomans, and afterwards by the Venetians. Heaps of ancient slags are still existing in the neighbourhood of Belgrade. Argentiferous galena is obtained from Kutchiana ; copper ores are worked at Maiden Pek ; and manganese near Kladova. The mines of Krupan have yielded argentiferous lead, antimony, and other ores. Gold is washed by the peas- ants from the sands of the Timok Valley, and to, a limited extent in some other parts of the peninsula. More than two thousand years ago, however, the gold deposits of the Balkan peninsula were worked on an extensive scale, and yielded enormous revenues to Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. The yield of Thracian gold in the days of Philip has been estimated at 1000 talents per annum. These mines were probably situated on the Eiver Kilik, near Salonika. In Bosnia the gold-mines are said to have sometimes yielded in the time of Nero as much as 50 lbs. of the precious metal in a single day, and their working, after being discontinued at the break-up of the Eoman empire, was resumed in the thirteenth century, and continued tiR the advent of the Turks in the fifteenth. THE BALKAN PENINSULA MINEEALS. 317 The silver-jaines of Attica were also of vast import- ance to tlie ancients, and the gigantic piles of slag still existing are sufficient proof of the energy with which they were worked. At Laurinm, in the southern ex- tremity of Attica, there are ores of lead, silver, zinc, and copper, which occur in veins and contact-deposits, asso- ciated with mica schists and crystalline limestones, broken through here and there by igneous rocks. The greatest mining activity at Laurium was between 600 B.C. and the Peloponnesian War, when as many as 15,000 slaves were employed in the mines and smelting-works. Of late years some of the workings have been re-opened, but attention has been given not so much to raising raw ores as to smelting the old slags and mine-refuse, which were found to contain a considerable percentage — ia some cases 10 per cent — of lead. The works are situated at Ergasteria. Small quantities of lignite are raised in Greece, and iron ores have been worked in the isle of Serphos. The fine crystalline limestones of Pentelicus furnished the white marble with which the Athenians built their tem- ples ; while a handsome green porphyry found in Mount Taygetus was greatly prized as an ornamental stone of unrivalled beauty. The recent Commission, referred to in the note on p. 314, has proved Bosnia to be, as was supposed, very rich in ores and other useful minerals, including coal. The last is chiefly found in various basins of Tertiary rocks scattered over the surface, and some of the deposits both of coal and other minerals are found near the valley of the liver Bosna, so that they can easily be utilised by means of the railway from Serajevo to Brod on the Save. Seven coal-fields of the first rank are counted. A very valuable one, ia which the coal occurs in seams of from 1 to 20 feet in thickness, and is very easily worked, is situ- 318 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEAVEL. ated near Zenitza, a station on that railway. Brine- springs occur at various spots. For iron ores Varesh, north of Sarajevo, is the most important locality, the ore- bearing bed lying on the surface. The dolomites and slates in the district to the west of Sarajevo (round Poinitza and Kreshevo) have a very varied mineral wealth — ores of iron, lead, copper, manganese, antimony asso- ciated with silver, and of mercury, being aU found there. The whole of this mineral region, as well as the coal-field above mentioned, has been declared to be state property. 5. Climate, Vegetation, and Animal Life. The highly mountainous character of this peninsula gives it a climate more resembling that of Central Europe than the rest of the Mediterranean region. It will be observed on the rain-chart of Europe that the lines indi- cating the limits of the rainless summer and the excep- tionally dry summer approach very close to one another in the south; and, as it is these lines principally that mark out the domain of the characteristic Mediterranean climate, it wiU be seen that it is chiefly the kingdom of Greece where such a climate prevails in this region. The greater part of the peninsula has, in fact, very abundant summer rains. Few regular meteorological observations are indeed available for the interior, but the accounts of travellers and residents in Servia, Bulgaria, and eastern Eoumelia (the iron-works of Samakof), show that it fre- quently rains in summer for days, sometimes for weeks together,^ and the observations that have been made at several stations in Bosnia since the period of the Austrian occupation likewise indicate that the summer rainfall in- creases from the coast inwards.- One cause of this ^ Fischer, Klvma der Mittelmeerlander, p. 8. 2 Ausland, p. 657, 1883. THE BALKAN PENINSULA CLIMATE. 319 abundant summer rainfall of the interior is the fact that this peninsula has an extensive sea on the east as well as on the south and west. The moisture drawn up from the Black Sea in summer is condensed by the high moun- tains of the interior ; and when we reflect that in former times the area of sea on this side was much larger than it is now, we may conclude that the rainfall in that epoch was even greater than at present, and hence that the highly diversified surface of this region is in great mea- sure due to the energetic erosion by water of a former plateau which may once have vied ia height with those of central Asia. The dryness of the level region in the north-east, already referred to, is due not only to its remoteness from the Mediterranean, from which besides it is shut off by high mountains, but also to the fact that the moisture from the Black Sea is carried by the pre- vailing winds farther to the south, and is condensed mainly by the mountains. Snow-falls are likewise more frequent in the Balkan peninsula than in any other part of the Mediterranean region. In Bosnia snow-faUs and frosts were found on an average of four years to recur at intervals as late as the middle of May at the height of 1500 feet above the sea. As to the climate of the north-west strip and the occurrence of the bora in that quarter, see Austria, pp. 143, et seq., and Inteoduotion, p. 43. The characteristic vegetation of the Mediterranean is naturally found along with the characteristic Mediter- ranean climate. The maquis, or thick-leaved evergreen shrubs (see lNTEODUCTiON,p.48), are plentiful on the coasts, and on the Dalmatian islands and on the northern shores of the ^gean Sea they often cover large areas to the exclu- sion of vegetation of every other form. The absence of the oHve at Constantinople,^ in the latitude of central Spain ^ Grisebach, Vegetation der Erde, i. 28. 320 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY A2fD TEATEL. and southern Italy, is an interesting illustration of the reduction in temperature spoken of in the Introduction (p. 37) as due to the ahsence of a sheltering barrier of mountains on the north. As regards the constituents of the flora of this region, it is worthy of note that the close correspondence between the vegetation of the Eoumelian mountains with that of Mount Olympus on the Asiatic side of the Sea of Marmora is one of the best proofs of the recent date of the connec- tion between the Black Sea and the -iSlgean, and this accounts likewise for the affinities between the more dis- tant floras of the Caucasus mountains and those of the Balkan peninsula. Among the endemic species of this region there are two genera, Bamondia and Saberlea, of peculiar interest, inasmuch as these genera are the only representatives in Europe of an entire natural order (the GesneraceoB) , the nearest allies of which, moreover, are met with in India,^ though the first of the two has another species in the Pyrenees. The magnificent forests of the Balkans stiU. harbour wolves and bears ; but the fauna offers little else worthy of remark, unless it be the presence of the camel in Con- stantinople, warning us of the neighbourhood of the Asiatic continent, as the monkeys on the rock of Gib- raltar remind us of the opposite coast of Africa. 6. Crete or Oandia. Like Northern Hellas and the Morea, all the islands of Greece are mountainous. The highest and most im- posing group is found in Crete or Candia,^ the largest of ^ Engler, Versuch einer JETdvncJcelungsgescMchte, etc. , i. 63. 2 The name Oandia, frequently applied to the entire island, is the Italian form of Khamdax, the Saracenic name of Megalo-Kastron, one of the chief cities of Crete. CRETE. 321 these islands, and belonging politically to Turkey, though connected with Greece by its physical and ethnological characters. It lies quite outside of the ^gean archi- pelago, and, along with the islands of Servi, Cerigo, Ceri- gotto, Caxo, Scarpanto, and Ehodes, forms a kind of semicircle leading on from the southern end of the Morea to the south-western coast of Asia Minor. Like much of the Morea, its geological formations consist of gneissic rocks, and of Cretaceous and Miocene strata. These, and indeed all the islands of the archipelago (excepting some of comparatively recent volcanic origin), may be looked upon as relics of that old land which sank in post-Mio- cene times to form the Mediterranean Sea, as explained on pp. 11-12. The island of Crete is about 160 miles in length. From west to east, about one-third of the island is from 2000 to 5000 feet high, and above that height among other altitudes rise — AspraAmna, or Leuca-Ori (8081 feet high), Psiloriti, the ancient Ida (8059 feet), and Lasiki (7100 feet). On the coast south of the river Hieropotamo are the Messara Hills. The cave of MeHdoni, on the western slope of Mount Ida, is remarkable for the beauty of the stalactites which bedeck its walls. It was here that ia 1822 about 300 Christians — mostly women, children, and aged men — who had taken shelter in the cavern, were suf- focated by the Turks, who burnt a quantity of straw, sulphur, and other combustible matter at its entrance. The soil of Crete is exceedingly fertile, and the climate in most parts excellent. Its principal products are the olive, the vine, the orange, and the carob-tree or locust-bean. Valonia, a substance used in dyeing, is obtained from oaks growing near Eetimo. The best wine is still made from grapes in the district of Mcdevesi, near Y 322 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKATEL. Candia, — a district which gave its name to the famous Malvoisie or Malmsey. One of the most important pro- ductions of Crete is the soap made from olive oil. Among the animals of the island may be mentioned the Cretan ibex {Ca;prea picta), which is found only here. 7. The Ionian Isles. Off the western coast of Greece lies the group of the Ionian Isles, at one time under the protection of Great Britain. On Cejphalonia, or Kephallenia, one of the two largest of the group, Monte Nero, or Elato'^ — the ancient Mrum — arises to an elevation of 5310 feet, and is thus the culminating point not only of this island but of the whole group of the archipelago. It is notable that near Argostoli, in Cephalonia, streams of sea-water pour steadUy into the land through fissures in limestone in sufficient volume to be used for the driving of mills. Five and a half millions of cubic feet of water are estimated to be poured iato the interior of the earth per day. Corfu,, known anciently as Corcyra, is a fertile island of about the same size as Cephalonia. Zante, or Zahynthus, pos- sesses bituminous springs ; and in this island factories have been established for obtaining pyrene oil from the refuse of the olive-oil mills. The other principal islands are Santa Maura, or Leucadia, so called from its white cliffs, the famous island of Ithaca or Theaki, Cerigo, Fams, and Antipaxos. The Ionian Isles are remarkable for their beauty and fertility, but are subject to frequent earthquakes. 1 Monte Nero = Black Mountain ; Elato Vuno — Pine Mountain. Both names refer to the pine-forests with which the mountain was formerly clad. THE ISLANDS OF THE ^GEAN SEA. 323 8. Eubcea. The large island of Eubcea, in the ^gean Sea, lies so close to the shores of Boeotia and Attica that it forms almost a part of the Grecian mainland. It trends in a north-west and south-east direction, and is traversed throughout its length by a range of limestone hills culminating in Mount Delphi, the ancient Dirphe, which reaches an altitude of 7266 feet. From the mainland the island is separated by a long narrow and shallow strait, the northern part of which is known as the Channel of Talanti, while the southern portion is dis- tinguished as the Channel of Egripo. Towards the middle this strait is so contracted that it has from ancient times been spanned by a bridge, which places Ghalcis, the capital of Eubcea, in immediate communication with the mainland. This strait, remarkable for its rapidly- changing currents, was formerly known as the Euripus, whence the town of Chalcis came to be called Evripo — a word which was corrupted successively into Negripo and Negroponte. The entire island is still sometimes known under the name of Negroponte. It reaches nearly 100 miles in length, but its breadth even in the widest part is not more than 20 miles. The southern end of Eubcea is separated by the Channel of Doro from the isle of Andros, the most northerly of the group of Cyclades. 9. The Cyclades and the Sporades. The .^ean Sea is thickly studded with islands, which are generally arranged in two groups — the Cyclades belonging mostly to Greece, and the Sporades to Turkey. Of the Cyclades, the largest is I{axos or Naxia. In this 324 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. island Mount Oxia, or Drios, rises to a height of 3290 feet, and thus forms the culminating point of the group, l^axos is rich in marble, but its chief wealth lies in its emery, of which 2000 tons are annually raised. This emery is an impure kind of corundum, or native alumina, of very limited occurrence, and largely used as a polish- ing agent. Syros, or ^ra, is the most important of the Greek islands, and has become of late years the chief centre of commerce in the Levant. Its capital, Hermo- polis, is a modern town, built near the harbour, and the seat of great trade. Paws yields the fine statuary marble which was known to the ancient Greeks under the name of lychnites, in allusion to the underground quarries being worked by aid of lamps (Greek, lychnoi). The Parian marble occurs chiefly on Mount Marpessa. Antiparos is famous for its stalactitic caverns ; while Melos or Milo yields alum, sulphur, and other volcanic products. But the most interesting centre of volcanic action in the ^gean Sea is unquestionably found in the island of Santorin or Thera. This is an island of horse-shoe shape, about thirty -six miles in circumference, consisting of marble and schistose rocks overlaid by thick masses of scoriae, lava, and volcanic tuffs with marine shells. Opposite to Thera is the smaller island of Therasia, and the two appear to represent parts of the rim of an old crater, which descends beneath the sea to a depth of 1278 feet. According to Fouqu^ this volcano must at one time have formed a large island well wooded and locally inhabited, the centre of which was blown out in prehistoric times by an explosion of tremendous force.^ Between Thera and Therasia rise three volcanic islets — Palaia Kaumene or Hiera, which was thrown up by an eruption in the year 197 e.g. ; Nea Kaiimene, the largest of the group, 1 Saitiorim et ses Eruptions, by M. Fouqu^. Paris, 1880. THE ISLANDS OF THE ^GEAN SEA. 325 which first appeared ahove the waters in 1707 A.D. ; and Mihra Kaumene, which was elevated iq the sixteenth century. In the early part of 1866 eruptions were commenced afresh in Nea Kaiimene, and the activity contiQued until 1870. Of the islands helonging to Turkey, the most northerly is Thasos, the highest poiat of which is the pine- clad mountain of Ipsario, which rises to a height of 3428 feet. But in the neighbouring island of Samothrace Mount Phengari reaches an elevation of not less than 5240 feet. The chain of the Sporades is continued by the islands of Imbros, Zemnos or Limni, Tenedos, and Lesbos, or MytUene. A reddish clay, reputed from remote antiquity to possess great medicinal virtue, is dug in the isle of Zemnos, and is still exported ia the shape of small balls bearing a stamp, whence it has been known as terra sigillata. From Lemnos we pass to Chios or Scio, an island of nearly 400 square miles, which suffered from a terrible earthquake in 1881. Among the products of Scio may be mentioned " gum mastic," which is an exuda- tion from the Pistacia lentiscus. The isle of Samos, famous as the birthplace of Pythagoras, gave its name to the ancient red glazed pottery known as "Samian ware.'' Patinas, or Patina, was the scene of St. John's exile and of the vision of the Apocalypse ; while Xas, or Stanco, is famous as the birthplace of Hippocrates and Apelles. Of aU the Sporades, however, the most renowned is the island of Rhodes, situated at a distance of about 12 miles from the coast of Caria. Here Mount Attairos, or Atabyros, reaches an elevation of 4068 feet above the sea level It is unnecessary, however, to refer to these islands in detail, as aU those which fringe the Anatolian peninsula belong physically to Asia rather than to Europe, 326 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. 10. Cyprus. Situated in the far east of the Mediterranean, opposite the shores of Syria and Anatolia, the great island of Cyprus — ^known to the Turks as Kulris — is clearly- related to the continent of Asia rather than to that of Europe. It has therefore been noticed in the volume on Asia in this series ; but as that notice was necessarily very slender it seems desirable to supplement it by farther information, which can be appropriately introduced in this place. Cyprus has an area of 3723 square miles: its greatest length is 140 miles, and the maximum breadth 60 miles, while the circumference of the island is about 400 miles. It is traversed by two chains of mountains partly covered with forests, running roughly parallel to each other, and enclosing between them a wide irregular plain, studded with flat-topped hills and conical mounds. The northern range runs near to the coast, from Cape Kormakiti to Cape St. Andreas, the extreme north-west point of the island. It presents steep faces, especially towards the south, while its crest is serrated or broken into turreted peaks, which rise to elevations of more than 3000 feet. The southern range, known as the Troodos Mountains or Olympus, is characterised by rounded outlines rather than by craggy peaks. It culminates in Mount Troodos, which, rising to a height of 6340 feet, forms the most elevated point in the island. The trees and shrubs are chiefly conifers (the maritime and the Aleppo pine on the lower levels, the Karamanian black pine higher up, the juniper, etc.), besides the mastic shrub, a species of strawberry tree and a species of oak. The southern chain of hUls consists mainly of serpen- tines, with traehytic rocks, and other forms of lava ; and these also appear in the northern hills, which, however. OYPEUS. 327 are mainly formed of calcareous rocks. The oldest strati- fied rocks ia Cyprus are certain unfossiliferous limestones, perhaps of Jurassic age, known as the "Mount Hilarion limestones." These are followed by the "Konos" — a local name applied to certain calcareous rocks, also des- titute of fossils, but probably referable to the Cretaceous system. The Miocene limestones, with gypsum, which have been termed the "Idalian beds," occupy a large area, and pass locally into a series of strata of undoubted Pliocene age, to which Mr. E. Eussell has given the name of " Mcosia beds." A yellow calcareous sandstone, known as the "Kerynia rock," furnishes the chief building-stone of the island. Most of the streams in Cyprus are insignificant, the only important river being the Pedias, which rises on the slopes of Mount Makbera, one of the southern range of hills, and flows past Nikosia to the marshes near Famagusta. The Lake of Paralimini, not far from Famagusta, is a sheet of fresh water having a circumference of between 4 and 5 miles. Near Larnaca is a great salt lake, and another occurs in the neighbourhood of Limassol. During summer these lakes yield by evaporation a large quantity of salt, which was formerly a source of considerable revenue. The copper mines of Cyprus were of great importance in classical times, but no large deposits of ore are now known. The wealth of the island lies rather in its vegetable products. The vine, the olive, the carob-tree, the cotton-plant, tobacco, and cereals, are cultivated with success. Two kinds of wine, known as maoro and com- andaria, are made in the island. Silkworms are reared, and a coarse kind of silk is woven. The principal towns of Cyprus are Nikosia, or Lefkosia, the capital, which is the only considerable inland town ; Limassol, on the south coast, a military station not far from Mount Troodos ; Larnaca, a port on the south-east ; 328 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. and Famagusta on the east coast. Antiqtiities of extra- ordinary interest, testifying to the former prosperity of the island, were exhumed in great abundance by General di Cesnola when residing in the island as American Consul.^ ^ For a general description of Cyprus see Lieut. -CoL Playfair's Hand- hook to the Mediterranean (Murray), 2d ed., 1882 ; for the geology, consult Mr. R. Russell's paper in the Seport of the York Meeting of the Brit. Assoc, p. 640, 1882 ; for the archseology, Gen. di Cesuola's Cyprus; and as to the forests see a comniunicatiou to AvMwnd by the superintend- ent of the works of re-afforestation (p. 744, 1883). 11. nil JJorthOtf - <. ■^4 K I ^ / ^-^ ^ '-TUOBa H / '"■^'"""Ulo^ ;^^ 1 T E R K ^ ^ ;^ ' -^ A "•'>i4. I:' HJ w « y;i i EUROPE Scale of Eng-lishlfiles IduAon , Edwrard Stanford, 55 (.'kanno- Cross. -?=rj V^ \ 5o o 5o 100 150 200 j^^ PAET 11. THE EUEOPEAN STATES AND PEOPLES. CHAPTEE L FEANCE. 1. Characteristics of the People — Ethnography. In the natural wealtli of her soil, in the high degree of prosperity pervading aU classes of the community far more uniformly than elsewhere, and in the mental elasticity of her inhabitants, France undoubtedly takes the foremost rank amongst European states. Taking French as synonymous with the Latin or rather Latinised race now inhabiting France, we may describe this people as being on the whole endowed with a sanguine tempera- ment. But ia saying this we are anxious to avoid the inference so often made on the strength of a crude notion of what the sanguine temperament implies, — that the French are superficial, frivolous, immoral, puerile, or in- constant. Whoever will take the trouble to follow the intellectual movement in France, from the lowest to the highest grades of society, and probe the serious side of its national literature, in order to appreciate the high moral and earnest tone animating its social and literary life, will be apt to smile at all the nonsense flippantly 330 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. uttered on the subject of French levity and want of solidity. But in order to form a proper estimate of the national character, which in France as elsewhere is an all-important factor in appreciating its historic development, we must make a closer study of the individual elements out of which the present French nationality has been moulded. It should accordingly be borne in mind that Gaulish, often called Keltic, races were in possession of the country when Caesar's legions first began to Latinise them. In some places, especially the north-west provinces, this Keltic element has been preserved to the present day. Nor can the Teutonic mixture be overlooked, particularly in the eastern districts. Proudhon does not hesitate to say that "modern France consists of at least twenty different nations, whose characteristics, especially amongst the peasantry, are still clearly marked." This writer no doubt goes too far, inasmuch as the mere names of the several territorial divisions in many cases imply no deep ethnical distinction between the inhabitants, or at least not deep enough to have produced any material influence on the general national development. At the same time, whether the result is to be attributed to descent, climate, or other influences, there exists a greater difference be- tween the Fleming from the neighbourhood of Dunkirk and the Proven9al on the Mediterranean seaboard, or the B^arnais at the foot of the Pyrenees, than between the Pomeranian and the Bavarian or Austrian. The characteristic qualities of the natives of the several provinces are so constant and uniform that they have become proverbial. Thus, the Flemings are, or are supposed to be, slow and phlegmatic, yet industrious and prosperous. The Picard is honourable and outspoken, — " frank Picard," — but somewhat blunt. The Norman is industrious, but litigious ; if he can help it he will never FEANCE ETHNOGEAPHY. 331 give you a decided answer. The Breton is honest, trust- worthy, but obstinate. The Auvergnats are thrifty, perhaps too much so, and very clannish. The natives of Poitou are credited with subtilty, and those of Berri with bashfulness. The Provenqals are said to be lively, quick to take offence, but also quick to forgive. The Gascon is witty, but also an unconscionable boaster, whence the expression gasconading. The ethnography of France is still involved ia much obscurity. According to the results of modern research, however, there exist here two races, side by side, one stretching northwards from the Seine, the other dwelling south of the Loire, the intermediate territory being occu- pied by a mixed people. The southern race is of com- paratively low stature, with dark eyes and hair, and round head. It is diffused over three-fifths of the total area, and numbers about 19,000,000 altogether. The north- ern race, characterised by a tall stature, light eyes, fair hair, and .oval head, numbers no more than 9,000,000, spread over about one-fifth of the land. The latter, as shown by Baron Eoget de BeUoguet,-' are the descendants of the old Gauls, who were endowed with the high qualities of the tall fair race ; speaking one common language, adhering to one common form of wor- ship, and possessing one common poKtical and religious ideal, which they brought with them into Gaul. But these Kelts here found another and older race already settled in the country, the non- Aryan Ligurians, who, according to some ethnologists, are still represented in the great bulk of the French population.^ 1 Efhnoginie gwuXoise ; Paris, 1858-1873. 2 On French ethnology see the writings of the late Dr. Paul Brooa, especially his "Eecherches sur TEthnologie de la France," Mimoires de la SocUU d'Anthropohgie, tome i. p. 1. See also Professor Keane's Appendix, "On the Ethnology of the European Races." 332 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AKD TEAVEL. 2. Manufactures, Commerce, and Communications. As a manufacturing country France has always held a high place. The chief centres of industry are Lyons in the south ; and in the north, French Flanders and Nor- mandy. French goods are characterised, in general, by cheapness, elegance both of form and colour, refined taste, and great durability. The most important branches of industry are : — Cot- ton, surpassed by that of England alone, principally in Normandy (Rouen), Picardy, and the Vosges ; linen, chiefly in Flanders, Normandy, Picardy, and Brittany; woollen stuffs, also mainly in the north ; sOk, elsewhere unsurpassed, in Lyons, Paris, Nimes, Valence, and St. Etienne ; lace, iacluding the famous Valenciennes, Alen- 9on, Bayeux, and Caen varieties ; leather, especially patent-leather goods and gloves. For gloves, both dog and rat skin are also employed, the latter being in great demand on account of its softness and delicacy. The Paris saddlery and harness ware are much esteemed, as are also the paper goods, including the universally cele- brated French playing cards. Excellent terra -cotta, faience, and porcelain ware are produced in Sfevres, Limoges, and Eouen, while the glass-works have attained to the highest development. France also produces furniture, soap, perfumery, clocks, gold, silver, and bronze wares, the so-called articles de Paris (Paris fancy goods), besides iron, steel, copper, brass, tin, wooden wares, and chemicals in large quantities. Important also is the beet-sugar industry, and of late years the beer trade, together with the ex- cellent French Liqueurs and brandies. In the preparation of essences France surpasses all other countries. Its foreign commerce, no less than its industries, is FEAKOE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL TEAITS. 333 highly developed, yielding in importance to that of Great Britain alone. Means of communication are widely diffused over the country. It possesses more especially the completest system of canals and canalised rivers in any European state, including some engiaeering works of the first order. Projects are at present being discussed for rendering some river-beds more navigable, in order to facilitate to the utmost the carriage of heavy goods. Foremost amongst these projects is one to construct a good water highway between the EngUsh Channel and the Mediterranean Sea.^ 3. Political and Social Traits. Passing from the economical to the social condition of the country, it may be remarked that on this subject the most erroneous ideas are still current abroad. What strikes the dispassionate observer of French history and society more than aught else is the great number of seeming contradictions he meets with at every turn. Passionate participation in political matters succeeded by stolid indifference, enthusiasm and scepticism, routine and a spirit of innovation, sublime abnegation and selfish withdrawal from public affairs, a yearning for freedom while submitting to absolutism, rapidly succeed each other almost without respite on the political arena. Superstition and unbelief, depravity and a sense of the sanctity of the family life, rhetoric and the most jejune taste, trespass hard one on the other, or rather meet face to face, go hand in hand in the religious, social, and in- tellectual world. Still more striking is the contrast between the private and public character of the French- 1 For a recent aoooimt of the Frencli canals and canalised rivers, see a paper entitled " Die Wasserstrassen Frankreichs, " by H. KeUer, in Peter- mann's MitCheUuTigen, 1881, p. 401. 334 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TRAVEL. man. Frivolous, extravagant, yielding only to his im- piilses in all that concerns the State, the same individual is provident, thrifty, always a shrewd man of business, in everything connected with his personal relations. There is one explanation of these apparent inconsistencies. Unless we mistake, the secret lies in the direct anta- gonism of their natural temperament and their mental tendencies. Eationalism, a logical turn of mind, lies at the bottom of French intellect. This fundamental trait, which did not find its fullest development and most definite expression tOl the eighteenth century, acquired absolute ascendency in the Eevolution and under the Empire, while not tiU our days has it clearly manifested its various influences, wholesome and poisonous, on public and private life. 4. PvMic Instruction, Passing to a consideration of the intellectual condition of a society so constituted, the state of public instruction must claim our first attention. Till 1882 the education of the people was neither compulsory nor gratuitous. The consequence was that, before the passing of the Act rendering attendance on school compulsory on all children from the end of the sixth to the end of the thirteenth year, it was estimated that about 15 per cent of the children attended no school. The eastern pro- vinces are the best, the western the least, educated. Eecent laws have likewise deprived the clergy of much of the control which they formerly exercised over education, while at the same time doing much to pro- mote higher education, as well as that of an elementary kind. There are in France no universities like those of other European states. The University of France is chiefly an administrative board, having under its direc- TEANCE EDUCATION CHIEF TOWNS. 335 tion a number of colleges in different parts of the country bearing the title of academies universitaires. Notwith- standing all the shortcomings of public instruction in France, it should be stated that here flourish institu- tions and learned societies for every branch of human knowledge, and that steps have been taken to provide gratuitous instruction in Paris in all imaginable subjects by the most celebrated scientific lecturers of the day, so that in scarcely any other place can self-instruction be so conveniently carried on as in this capital. 5. Chief Tovms — Paris. " Who says Paris says France " is constantly in the mouth not only of the leading French writers, but also of most foreigners. Yet the saying is very misleading, for the life of the provinces is entirely different from that of Paris, and even far from uniform in the provinces them- selves. These provinces have numerous cities, each with a peculiar stamp of its own, and some — such as Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes — have become almost rivals of the capital in size, population, mercantile importance, and general culture, without, however, attaining to that peculiar charm which has rendered Paris unique in the world, a veritable urls in the sense of the old Eomans. Hence, while a detailed description of other French towns may be dispensed with, it is impossible to speak of France without devoting a few words to its capital, which, next to London, is the largest city in Europe. " There it Lies, the large and splendid city, with its two millions ^ of inhabitants, in the broad basin traversed by the Seine, encircled by heights, from the summit of which one looks down upon a sea of houses, over- looked in the west by the lofty dome surmounting the 1 At tie census of 18th December 1881, 2,226,000. 336 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. fine large Hotel des InvaUdes, in the middle by the two high towers of the principal church, the cathedral of lifotre Dame, and at all ends and corners by the turrets, pinnacles, and gables of beautiful buildings. We will make our entrance ia thought from the west, where the Seine, after traversing the town, describes a large semi- circle on the north. There, between the river and the PALACE OF THE CORPS LEGISLATIF, PARIS. town, lies the charming Bois de Boulogne, the resort in fine weather of all the wealth and elegance of the Parisian world. Having lingered a while amidst the splendour and gaiety of that attractive scene, we pursue our way eastwards. There we have before us a magnificent broad straight street, the end of which is too remote to be seen. It leads us through a splendid triumphal arch, the Arc de r;^toile, buUt by the first Napoleon. StiU. following this route we next pass through the Champs Elysfes, a beautiful park, swarming with people, bounded on one PARIS. 337 side ty the Seine, which flows along on our right. Farther on we come to the garden of the Tuileries, and then we have in front of us the extensive palace of the same name, which formed the residence of the last sovereigns of France. It stretches with its wings for a great distance along the Seine, and then unites with the Louvre, an older royal palace, the saloons of which now contain the celebrated collections of paintings, statues, and other splendid works of art. Not far from this, nearer the heart of the town, is the Palais Eoyal, which has long ceased to be a royal palace, but now, with its innumerable fine saloons, shops, and restaurants, is the place where thousands of residents and strangers buy the costliest that can be bought, enjoy the most exquisite delights, and spend their money on all imaginable pleasures. . . . " Stni proceeding eastwards we pass along the banks of the Seine with rows of the finest houses on our left, and then we turn to the right across one of the many hand- some bridges, and now find ourselves on the He de la Seine, where, nearly 2000 years ago, in the time of the Eomans, the nucleus of the town, I/wtetia Farisiorum, arose. Here is the church of Notre Dame with its two beautiful but unfinished towers. We continue our way to the opposite bank of the river, where the smaller half of the city extends. On this side we find the splendid building where the deputies of the people used to assemble, that in which the Invalides (the wounded veterans of the French army) are so nobly housed, and the enormous parade-ground called the Champ de Mars. If, however, we return from Notre Dame to the north side of the river we may visit the municipal building, the Hotel de Ville, where so many revolutions, and among others the last, have had their birth; then the Place de la Bastille, where the old royal dungeon once stood; and z 338 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. the Place Vend6me, in which stands the bronze column surmounted by the bronze statue of the first Wapoleon. A staircase leads up the interior of this column, from the top of which one has a bird's-eye view of the splendid town. Around the column the victories of the great conqueror are represented in half-relief. All these wanderings have led us also across the boulevards, beautiful wide avenues, with handsome houses on both sides, partly occupying the sites of old ramparts, partly new, laid out by the last Napoleon, and intersecting the city in all directions. If such is the beauty within the town, especially since it was cleansed by the last Napoleon of a large nimiber of narrow dirty lanes, in place of which broad, straight, airy streets have been constructed, on the outside of the town there are not wanting signs of the military character of the place. The whole town is surrounded by a wall and moat, and is accordingly a gigantic fortress. . . . Eound it lie a number of independent forts, of which Mont Valdrien is the most important and the highest. . . . Then if we have a mind we can also make a subterranean ramble under the streets among the catacombs, that is, the old quarries from which building materials have been derived for more than a millennium, and which at the same time contain in orderly arrangement the millions of bones of previous generations, which have been pHed up there layer above layer since the abolition of the burial- places within the town. Among the cemeteries of the present day we may visit the beautiful P^re Lachaise, where many celebrated men now rest ; and among other pleasant resorts we may wander through the large and beautiful botanic garden, Jardin des Plantes, which also contains a zoological collection and several museums. Outside the walls we may visit on the north St. Denis, formerly the burial-place of the French kings; on the west the palace and garden of St. Cloud, the FRANCE CHIEF TOWNS. 339 favourite residence of the Napoleons ; on the south the splendid palace of Versailles, with its equally splendid garden and celebrated fountains, and lastly, stOl farther south, the palace of Fontainebleau in a charming wood. That is Paris, the capital of France even in this sense, that the whole of Prance has accustomed itself for two centuries to be governed from that centre, and to follow every movement that originated there, whether it leads to revolution, to monarchy, to imperialism, or to re- pubKcanism." ^ Of the other large towns of France, those most worthy of mention are Lyons (373,000), at the confluence of the Ehone and Sa&ne, the second city in point of size, and the great seat of the silk manufactures, which were introduced here by Italians in the fifteenth century ; Marseilles (358,000), the ancient Massilia, the principal seaport in France and the fourth in Europe, and probably the oldest town in the country, having been founded by a colony of Phocseans in the sixth century B.C. ; Bordeaux (221,000), formerly the capital of Guienne (Aquitania), now a great wine-exporting seaport; Toulouse (137,000), once the capital of the Visigothic kingdom in the south- west of Gaul, and afterwards of an important French fief. An attractive feature of the country round Marseilles is presented by the large number of small country houses with which it is studded, houses belonging not to the wealthy but to the middle and lower classes, who resort thither to spend their Sundays in rural enjoyment. 6. Andorra, Monaco. In the Pyrenees the valley of Andorra, on the Spanish side of the mountains, forms an independent ^ Fr. Hobirk, Wwnderwtigen auf dem Gebiete der Lander- vmd Vslker- Icwnde, toI. vi. pp. 1-4. 340 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AKD TRAVEL. republic under the protection of France and the Bishop of Urgel in Spain. The sovereign principality of Monaco, in the depart- ment of the Alpes Maritimes, is also under the protector- MONACO. ate of Trance. Its territory embraces little more than eight square miles, and contains a population of about 7000. It consists of the old town of Monaco, with its castle ; Monte Carlo, with its weU-known casino ; and Condamine, lying between Monaco and Monte Carlo. BELGIUM. 341 CHAPTEE II. THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM. 1. People — Walloons and Flemings. The kingdom of Belgium has been artificially welded together out of two essentially distinct ethnical elements. There is no such thing as a Belgian race, but only a Belgian nation, and this nation is composed of two stocks — the Eomance or Latin Walloons, partly speak- ing French, and the Teutonic Flemings, mostly speak- ing Netherlandish. French, however, is the official language of the country and of the Government. Of all the European states, Belgium has the largest relative population.^ The population is denser in the region where Flemish is spoken than in that in which the Walloon element predominates. The present population of Belgium is partly of Keltic, partly of Teutonic origin. Within the historic period two languages and two races have constantly existed north of the Ardennes — the Teutonic represented by the Batavians and Frisians, and the Gaulish or Keltic repre- sented by the Belgse. Descendants of these Belgae are the Walloons, who long retaiued their primitive speech, on which the later neo-Latia had almost less influence than the Teutonic. Hence Walloon is by no means a corrupt French, although, since the political supremacy of the Burgundians, to a large extent displaced by that 1 See Table I. in Statistical Appendix. 342 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEATEL. language. Still less is it a corrupt German, but shows greater affinity rather with the Eomance of several Swiss cantons, and with the Tyrolese Ladin or Eumonsh. In some rural districts of Belgium the two elements are so blended together that a Walloon often adjoins a Tlemish village, or else both are separated only by the inter- vening highway. For hundreds of years the two races have thus dwelt together, for hundreds of years they have lived through the same political vicissitudes, but to the present time no intimate union has taken place between them. This deep contrast between speech and national usages has outlived the Eevolution of 1830, not- withstanding all their common institutions and interests, and the belief is very general that these interests and their common freedom are the only ties that hold them to- gether. A line drawn from Dunkirk, south of Tournai, to Ath, and thence north to Tongern, will roughly divide the Belgian territory according to the two forms of speech prevailing in it, though, as is evident from what has been stated, there are isolated Walloon groups north of this line, as there are Flemish to the south-east of it. In Brussels both idioms meet on common ground, the upper town being decidedly French, the lower Flemish. In order to form a correct estimate of the political and social situation in Belgium, it is necessary constantly to bear in mind the ethnical identity of the Flemings with the Dutch. At the Congress of Vienna the seeds of dis- sension were sown by comprising within the then consti- tuted kingdom of the ITetherlands the Walloon domain, instead of transferring it to France, to which it naturally belonged. The differences of habits, customs, and espe- cially of religion, contained the germs of endless future discord. As almost everywhere else, here also the south was Catholic, the north Protestant. To the former con- fession adhere both the Teutonic Flemings and the Keltic BELGIUM PEOPLE: WALLOONS AND FLEMINGS. 343 Walloons, and the kingdom of Belgium, as now consti- tuted, is one of the most Catholic countries in the world. Hence the antagonism between north and south betrayed itself with the greatest bitterness, first of all in the Church, and then in the army and the States-General, resulting at last in the violent severance of Belgium from the Protest- ant Netherlands ia 1830. But scarcely had the new kingdom been established when the national antipathies were again manifested. The Catholic clergy had no doubt skilfully availed themselves of the Walloons and French, out of whose ranks the most enlightened and energetic spirits had arisen. But once their independence was achieved they took a decided part with the Plemings, who now formed the majority, and who demanded that the new nationality should be based on their speech. In truth, but for the efforts of the lower clergy in previous times, Plemish would have long since sunk to the posi- tion of a mere patois. However, notwithstanding the attention they have since paid to their national literature, the riemings have been hitherto imable either to set aside the French language in Belgium, which continues to be the idiom of all the upper classes, or yet to acquire the political position due to their numerical ascendancy. The cause of this failure lies doubtless in the intellectual superiority of the Walloons. The two conflicting ele- ments have thus clashed more violently than ever, mainly on ethnical grounds. The Flemings, the majority of whom were mere tools iu the hands of the clergy, have long begun to regret their wilful divorce from their Dutch kinsmen, and the " Flemish movement," as it is called, has been for years endeavouring to efface all traces of dialectic differences between the northern and southern branches of the Netherlandish tongue. The philological congress, which assembles annually in one or other of the Dutch and Belgian cities, has also succeeded 344 COMPENDroM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. in bringing about orthographic uniformity in both idioms. But the more pronounced become the efforts of the Flem- ings agairi to be united with their northern kindred, the less disposed do the Dutch show themselves to sympathise with such advances. Whoever has resided for any length of time ia Bel- gium and in the neighbouring Holland, is at every moment involuntarily tempted to draw comparisons between the two States. A short visit to the cities of Eotterdam and Antwerp brings the points of difference into a strong light. The Dutch love of cleanliness is at once missed in the Belgian seaport, and the high but narrow houses of the Dutch are here replaced by older and often more preten- tious structures. Both places are about the same size, Antwerp now containing a population of 175,000. But as a seaport Antwerp has latterly far outstripped her Dutch rival ; and not only her Dutch rival, for the pro- digious growth of her shipping within the last few years has placed her in this respect in advance even of Hamburg and Marseilles. 2. Chief Towns. Not far from the centre of the Belgian territory stands Brussels, the brilliant capital of the kingdom. Including the adjoining eight communes, Brussels has a population of 360,000, and consists of an Upper and a Lower Town. The latter, being the oldest Germanic por- tion of " Brugsel," that is, " The Bridge," contains the most important bitildings, such as the Town HaU, the fine cathedral of S. Gudule, and others. Brussels has not unjustly been named "The Little Paris." Like that most magnificent of European capitals, the Belgian city boasts of its boulevards, many sumptuous buildings, and a suburban forest, the Forest of Soigne, which is much grander and more extensive than the Bois de Boulogne. BELGIUM CHIEF TOWNS. 345 But here all further comparison ceases, and the beautiful Seine, reflecting most of the grand monuments of Paris, is represented in Brussels by the wretched little Senne, which in the heart of the city is now completely covered in. Most of the other principal towns of Belgium are at least of great historical interest, and can look back to a time when they played a more important part in European PLACE EOTALB, BKITSSELS. history than they do now. Some of these, like Ghent (134,000), during the Middle Ages the most populous city in Europe, now the chief seat of the cotton-spinning industry in Belgium, and Lifege (126,000), now the centre of the Belgian iron industry, have experienced a modem revival, while others, such as Louvain (36,000), whose university, foimded in 1426, was during the six- teenth century the most celebrated in Europe, and Bruges (45,000) have had no such revival, and the latter, with the remains of its splendid garments too large for its shrunken body, is more fitted than any other town in 346 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHy AND TRAVEL. Europe to impress the imagination with the witnesses of its ancient glory. Of the other towns of Belgium we may mention Mechlin, or MaUnes (43,000), seat of the Archbishop and Primate of the kingdom, and centre of the railway system, a town pleasantly situated in the flat but green and extremely fertile low-lyiag plains of Flanders, not far from Brussels. 3. Flanders. The whole country between Brussels and the coast is like one vast garden, a careful and long-established rational system of tillage here co-operating with the natural fertility of the rich alluvial soil. There are cer- tainly no broad acres and extensive farms, as in most other parts of the Continent, the unusually dense popu- lation having caused the land to be cut up into countless little independent holdings ; nevertheless it supports an extremely prosperous race of small peasant farmers. Here the numerous villages are also each a seat of such local industries as are needed to supply the wants of the popu- lation scattered iu large numbers over the land. In these villages, often numberiug as many as 8000 souls, almost every handicraft is represented ; and yet most of the 2000 Plemish thorpes and townships had formerly a larger population even than at present. The mediaeval aspect of the country is here iutensified by the rich and pictur- esque local dress, and especially the long dark-hooded mantles of the women, giving them somewhat the appear- ance of nuns. A female peasant is seldom met with who, besides this comfortable and comely attire, is not decked with valuable earrings and brooches set with genuine brilliants, old family heirlooms of a rare though some- what uniform type, implying long generations of uninter- rupted prosperity. THE NETHERLANDS. 347 CHAPTEE III. THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS. 1. General Aspect of the Country. " There is a land where the rivers, so to say, flow over the heads of the people ; where mighty towns rise below the level of the sea, which domiaates and almost over- whelms them ; where broad tracts of cultivated ground are alternately rescued from and swallowed up by the waters ; where the natural course of the streams has heaved up sandbanks connecting old islands with the mainland; where old continental provinces, rent and disruptuxed, have formed new islands."^ This singular European land is the Netherlands, which term is simply the poKtieal or official title of the kingdom, also usually known as Holland. Geographically speaking, the Netherlands comprise all the lowlands stretching from the Ardennes to the Zuider Zee. This region forms the great delta of the Ehine, the Maas, and the Scheldt, an alluvial deposit produced by these rivers, and preserved by the conflict between the sweet and salt waters. But the main creator and fashioner of this land is the Ehine, with its various branches. In its mighty seaward course from east to west, this river furrows its delta into two clearly-marked halves, forming a northern and a southern district. ' Alphonse Eaquiros, La Nierlcmde el la me ffollandaise ; Paris, 1859. 348 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TEAVEL. 2. People — Elements of the Population — Position of the Dutch in the Teutonic Family — National Traits. The whole of the Netherlands, taking them in their widest geographical sense, are no less ethnically than physically divided iato two great sections. The iahabit- ants of the south fell early under the influence and the sway of the southern and alien powers, while those of the north were from the first a freedom-loving isolated race, devoted mainly to fishing and a seafaring life. Hence it naturally followed that their influence prevailed in the Zeeland or Scheldt group of islands. The Zeelanders, or Zeews, as the Hollanders call them, are kinsmen of the Dutch proper, and being like them an island people, took part with them in all their political movements, although the Scheldt archipelago, as physically belonging to the region of the Scheldt, might be, and iu fact has been, claimed by the Plemiags. The north is in aU respects the more rugged and younger brother of the south, and the national speech and usages, character and customs, gradually assumed dis- tinctive features independent of each other, and ever departing more and more from the common original type. In this way was brought about the great divorce of the Belgo-Batavian family, branching off on the one hand into the Dutch or northern, on the other into the Flemish or southern nationality. Besides the Flemings, who form 13 per cent of the people in the kingdom of Holland, and reside in the pro- vinces of North Brabant and Limburg, there live a small number of Low Germans, 2 per cent altogether, in Dutch Limburg. But the great majority of the inhabitants of the Netherlands are the Dutch ; '^ or, perhaps better, the ' In order the better to understand what follows, it will be well to remember that the English term "Dutch" is entirely a misnomer as ordi- NETHERLANDS PEOPLE. 349 Hollanders properly so called, descendants of the old Teutonic Batavians. Chiefly settled in the provinces of North and South Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Gelder- land, they form 71 per cent of the entire population; the remaining 14 per cent consisting of the Frisians, also a Low German race, who now occupy Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, and Over-Ijssel; but who formerly, — that is, before the irruption of the Zuider Zee — were unques- tionably spread over the present province of North Holland also. The resemblance in many respects, even in the dress, between the North Hollanders and the Frisians, may still be easily detected by the observant traveller. Ethnically speaking, both Hollanders and Flemings form a race presenting in its peculiar customs and social features a profound contrast to its German neighbours. Until quite recently efforts continued to be made abso- lutely to ignore the distinctive nationality of the Nether- landers, and to regard them as differing only in their peculiar dialect from the rest of the Germans. But the utter fallacy of this view becomes apparent when we begin to form some clear conception of the affinities of the Teutonic races. From the now lost prehistoric Teuton narily used. Etymologically it is simply the German word " Deutsch " ; that is, "Teutscli"; that is, "Teuton" ; and is therefore the most generic name for the whole Teutonic or Germanic family, thus properly including not only the High and Low Germans, and the Scandinavians, but the English people themselves, so far as they are ethnically descended from the Angles and Saxons of Low Germany. But, according to English usage, Dutch has now come to mean nothing more than a very small section of Low Germans dwelling ia the Rhine delta. In this sense it has of course no equivalent in Germany, and still less in the Netherlands, where the people call themselves simply "Netherlanders," or else "Hollanders," though this last term is more properly applicable only to the natives of two provinces — North and South Holland. It remains to be stated, that the Germans themselves never extend the word Deutsch to the Netherlanders, now restricting its use to all the High Germans and to all the Low Germans excepting the Netherlanders, Flemings, and English. — Trans. 350 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AITO TRAVEL. speech there sprang the three branches, usually known as the Gothic, Scandinavian, and Germanic, with the last of which alone we are here concerned. This Germanic stock agaiQ branched off into the Old High German and the Old Low German, the first giving birth to three dialects — the Prankish, Bavarian, and Alemannic; the last-named being identical with the Middle High German, which, later on, merged in the present current New High German, the ordinary German of literature. The long extinct Old Low German gave rise to two distinct and well-known offshoots, the Old or Conti- nental Saxon and the Frisian, which last still survives in various dialectic forms in west and north Friesland, on Heligoland and Wangeroog and in Saterland. From the Old Saxon again there sprang the Anglo-Saxon, the Old Netherlandish, and the Old Piatt Deutsch or Lowland German, of which the last two have left scarcely any, if any, written records behind them. But all three became in course of time subject to certain modifying influences ; so that out of the Anglo-Saxon arose the modern English, out of the Old Netherlandish the Middle Netherlandish, and out of the Middle Lowland German the modem Piatt Deutsch. From the Middle Netherlandish, which is rich in literary monuments, is derived the New Nether- landish, usually called Dutch, with which the Flemish is practically identical. Thus we see that neither Dutch nor Flemish is a dialect or patois, consequently in no sense are they daughters of the German, but are both as far removed from it as is English, each of them having developed from a collateral stock. Nay, more, the Piatt Deutsch or Lowland German itself is also quite as remote from New High German as are the English and Dutch. They cannot even be called sister languages, the relations being at the utmost rather those of cousins-german. And this NETHERLANDS PEOPLE. 351 is quite as applicable to the people themselves as to their speech. The ethnologist, at all events, can have no sort of doubt that the claims of no people to a distinct nation- ality are more justified than those of the modern Hollanders. With the exception of the strongly-mixed English race, no Teutonic people has such a decided national stamp. In their habits and pursuits they show far greater affinity to the English than to the Germans, and they are themselves fully conscious of this truth. Hence the Dutchman, as a rule, will have nothing to do with the German, and is fully as ready energetically to repel all encroachments on his marshy meadow -lands as in the days of William the Silent ; and it may be added that, for this purpose, his grand system of canalisation would be likely to stand him in as good stead as on former occasions. The national characteristics of the Hollanders are but little known, indeed mostly misapprehended, abroad. They are certainly distinguished by an undeniable reserve and taciturnity towards strangers, herein contrasting forcibly with the amiable communicativeness of the Germans ; still the access to the family circle in Holland is not quite so difficult as is usually supposed, and once obtained, all outward appearance of coldness vanishes at once. The reception accorded to strangers, even by the fair sex, is thoroughly warm-hearted and kindly, and this may perhaps be substantially enhanced by the comfortable arrangements in the Dutch homes, of which the mistress of the house is not unreasonably somewhat proud. Each family usually occupies a house to itself, the dwelling together under one roof with strangers appearing to the Dutchman alike incomprehensible and unbearable. Their houses are fitted up with every comfort and luxury, not only in the large cities, but even in the smaller towns in the east — ZwoUe, Leeuwarden, Groningen, etc. — ^places 352 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TKAVEL. seldom visited even by the Korth and South Hollanders themselves. This strongly -marked love of home explains many traits in the history of the coimtry, and especially that intense devotion to the cause of freedom in which they have never been approached by their Flemish neighbours. The careful observer cannot fail to notice how everything in Holland is done with a thoroughness scarcely realised elsewhere on the continent. Even were he not hardened by his ceaseless struggles with the watery element, from which he has been fain to rescue the very ground inch by inch, the Dutchman would still be the Englishman of the mainland. In the streets we read the same familiar announcements as in the English seaports — outfittings for the East and West Indies, transatlantic steamship com- panies, commission agencies for BrazU, booksellers' shops devoted exclusively to works on navigation, colonial affairs, and the like. At a review in the Hague we may see the colonel decorating an officer for distinguished service amongst Dyaks of Borneo, and the strange-sounding names of the Malay Archipelago are in everybody's mouth. In the salons we may even hear the soft sounds of the Javanese language on the lips of yotmg ladies and gentle- men, and there are few members of the upper circles in society that have not been at least once to the Indies. The scions of well-to-do merchant houses go to learn business in Batavia or Brazil. After a few years spent in the tropics, these young men, still in their twenty- fourth or twenty-fifth year, return home with matured views and rich experiences of the strange lands visited by them. And even if not belonging to the trading classes, their duties as military men or government officials will often req[uire them to pass some time in the East Indian Archipelago. For next to England the kingdom of the Netherlands possesses the greatest colonial dominions. NETHEELANDS CHIEF TOWNS. 353 3. Occupations of the People — Beligion — Education. Three-fourths of the people belong to the Protestant confession, and the remainder chiefly to the Eoman Catholic Church. Of Jews there are some 70,000, of whom 30,000 are in Amsterdam alone, so that this element is very largely represented in the Netherlands. Besides those engaged in trade and commerce, a large number of the daring and hardy seaboard population are occupied with the deep-sea fisheries, whUe stock-breeding is the principal pursuit of the people ia the Eastern pro- vinces. The intellectual culture of the Dutch stands on a very high level. The greatest attention is paid to public instruc- tion, every village, however small, being provided with an efficient elementary school. Equally well administered are the poor-laws, and public mendicity is a thing un- known in this happy and prosperous little state. Every- body works, and, wherever the circumstances permit, there exists a flourishing industry. 4. Chief Towns ; The Hague, Amsterdam — the Bead Cities of the Zuider Zee — Grand JDuchy of Zuxemhurg. The seat of government and residence of the king is the Hague (130,000 inhabitants), one of the handsomest and most elegant cities in Europe. But the true capital of HoUand, at least commercially, is Amsterdam (350,000 inhabitants), the great emporium of the German Ocean, whose harbour, the Ij, has now been brought into direct communication with the sea by the recently- completed Ijmuiden Canal. Next in importance is the large naval and commercial port of Eotterdam on the Maas, with a population of 162,000. Besides these three cities there 2 A 354 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEATEL. are a considerable number of towns, varying in size and importance, all crowded together in a narrow compass. Amongst them are Delft, Haarlem, Schiedam, Dordrecht, the two university towns of Leyden and Utrecht, and some others. In the eastern provinces are ZwoUe, Leeu- warden, and Groningen, and at the northernmost extremity of North Holland the important naval station of De Hol- der. Eound about the Zuider Zee lie a vast number of places, at one time wealthy and prosperous, but now not inaptly named " the dead cities of the Zuider Zee." But however gloomy the present prospects of such towns as Hindeloopen, Molkwerum, Edam, Hoom, Enkhuizen, Me- dembliek, and Stavoren, there is still some reason to believe that a better future awaits them. Meuwe Diep and Har- lingen have already revived, and better days will doubt- less be in store for the others, if ever the great project of draining the Zuider Zee is realised. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg (998 square nules, and some 200,000 inhabitants) is connected with the Grown only by a personal union, being in all other respects independently administered; the relation be- tween the two States is, in fact, similar to that existing between Sweden and Norway. GERMANY. 355 CHAPTEE IV. THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 1. Sitxudion — People — The Swdbian and Saxon Maces — The Fair and the Dark Types. The German Empire occupies the central portion of Europe, and her domaia is intersected by the liae divid- ing the western half of the mainland into two great natural sections — a vast highland region on the south, and a lowland on the north. Corresponding with this physical duality of the Teutonic domain is the ethnical dualism of its inhabitants, so far as they speak the Ger- man language, as is the case with eleven-twelfths of the entire population of the empire. The Germans are in fact divided into two branches, differing in their national customs, aspirations, views, speech, and' in all probabUity in descent. These are the High and the Low Germans, and if we compare a physical map of Germany with a philological and ethnographic chart, we shall perceive that the limits of High and Low Germany correspond pretty accurately with those of the highlands and low- lands. The Low German element occupies mainly the North German low-lying plains, as far as an altitude of 650 feet above the sea -level, and is encroached upon only by the Harz, the Teutoburger Wald, and the Sauer- land uplands. Even in early times the Teutons were already divided into two great branches, each of which was in its turn 356 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. split up into a number of subdivisions. The truest representatives of the old High German type are perhaps to be sought amongst the Swabian tribes, while the non- Swabian or Low German element might be denoted by the term Saxon. This may be conveniently used as the common appellative of all the Low German peoples, even in a retrospective sense, while also serving to indicate the contrast between their national life and that of the Swabians. These Swa- bians were originally settled in the east of the present Germany, bordering on the Goths and Slavs, while the Saxons had perhaps already formed tem- porary settlements in the region of the Lower Elbe, where they ulti- mately established themselves permanent- ly. At some unknown period the Swabians abandoned the sandy plains of north-east Germany, migrating to the south-western region, which was still occupied by the Kelts, but whither, even in the time of Ccesar, some of those Swabian tribes must have already penetrated. This racial displacement proceeded at a very slow rate, probably occupying the whole period of the Eoman sway in the Alpine regions. Nor must it be sup- posed that the arrival of the Swabian hordes was followed SWABIAN PEASANTS. GEEMAIfy PEOPLE. 35V by the utter extirpation, or even expulsion, of the older Keltic element. The two were on the contrary largely fused together, and the results of this fusion may still be detected in the present population of the country. Por even amongst the modern Germans there may be dis- tinguished a fair and a dark type, of which the first alone — light hair and blue eyes — answers to the popular idea of the genuine German race. But ia point of fact the most recent researches have shown that this fair complexion, usually taken as the test of the pure German, pre- dominates overwhelm- ingly only in the North, that is to say, amongst the Low German tribes, from time out of mind in possession of the soil still held by them. The darkest districts are the southern border -lands, Alsace - Lorraine and Ehenish Bavaria. In the North the lightest element is found on either side of the Elbe and in farther Pomerania, though here also the frontier lands west and east — that is, the Ehine provinces and Silesia — show an increase in the dark shades. In general the three frontier rivers — Ehine, Danube, and Oder — mark the line of the darker races. Along these water highways flowed the great streams of migration ; here the fusion took place in the south-west with the Latin and other dark elements, and in the south-east with stiU imknown foreign, but also dark, types. GIKL FROM TJPPEK BAVAEIA. 358 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TRAVEL. 2. Foreign Ethnical Elements among the Germans. Throughout South Germany and Helvetia both the aboriginal Kelts and the more recent Teutonic tribes be- came thoroughly Eomanised, while also acquiring a large admixture of Eoman provincial blood. But this very provincial element was often drawn from the remotest corners of the empire. Later on the Teutons absorbed much alien blood, owing to the large number of capMves made by them during the Eoman wars, while with the tribal migrations the slaves of foreign extraction became so numerous as to form the majority of the population in such places as the region of the Ehine and other parts of South Germany. A still more extensive displacement of the Teutonic element occurred during the first half of the Middle Ages. The Hungarian wars must have occasioned the introduction of some Magyar or Finno-Tataric elements into South Germany. But the largest infusion of foreign blood was brought about through the wars with the Slavs. So late as the seventh century Slavonic tribes were stOl migrating into the Austrian Danubian lands, and the whole of the east Alpine region was occupied ex- clusively by the Slavs. So too all the country immediately to the east of the Elbe was Slav. StOl farther east were the pagan Prussians, a Lettic or Lithuanian people akin to the Slavs, who offered the most desperate resistance to the proselytising sword of the Christian Teutonic knights. Not before the twelfth century was the greater part of the Slavonic (Wendish) element in North Germany finally destroyed, expelled, or absorbed. Most of the captives were either enslaved, settled in the country, or else distributed over various parts of Germany as far as the Ehine, Wiirtemberg, and Bavaria. From about the GEEMANY^^-^PEOPLE. 359 nintli century hinds and menials of Slavonic blood were so common in Germany that the term slave came gradu- ally to acquire its present meaning of bondsman, while still continuing to be used as the generic appellative of the Slavonic race. The present Germans are therefore the result of a fusion of the original Teutonic stock, with a considerable amount of foreign blood, and are consequently as little identical with the old Teutons as are the Italians with the old Romans. 3. The German National Character. The German national character is by no means of a uniform stamp, ethnical, historical, and social causes having prevented the development of a common national type. Thus, the wine-drinking and sanguineous Ehinelander is the very opposite of the beer-drinking and tobacco-smok- ing Bavarian. But, taking them all in all, and as at present constituted, the Germans may be described as of a phlegmatic, and partly even of a melancholic, tempera- ment. In other respects they are distinguished by a number of brilliant qualities; though it should be observed that German estimates of themselves are apt to degenerate into something akin to self-glorification. This tendency has of late years become so general as to call for the sternest reproof on the part of all who have the true interests of the people at heart. Their industry, endurance, courage, loyalty, devotion, kindliness, love of freedom and of the family Hfe, are universally acknow- ledged. But it is a sign of but little modesty to emphasise all these excellent qualities with the perpetual addition of the epithet "German" — German daring, German patience, German diligence, etc. — in such a way as to imply a monopoly of them. The Gennan is doubt- 360 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. less a diligent workman, but in this lie is surpassed, not only by the Englishman, but even by the Italian and the Frenchman; he has made many discoveries, but some other nations quite as many ; he is frank and honest, but others are no less so, and knaves are to be met amongst all peoples. Courage and bravery are the common inherit- ance of all Aryan and of many non- Aryan races. Love of the family and of family life is more intense amongst the Slavs than amongst the Germans, while for this Aortue the Jews of every clime stand pre-emiaent. The German is religious, but also, like the Englishman and all other Teutons, an utter slave to dogmatism, whereas some of the Eomance peoples have long since shaken off the yoke of theological teaching. In science the German intellect has achieved its highest triumphs; but, as a rule, the German mostly teaches formulae, and acquires, not the virtues, but the vices of other nations. 4. Tfie non-German Populations of the Empire — Freruih; Slavs — Fsekhs, Wends, Poles, Mazurians; Lithvxinians; Jews. The non-German element of the population belongs partly to the Eomance, partly to the Slavonic stock, to whom must be added 150,000 Danes in Sleswig. The Eomance family is represented by the French and Wal- loons, the former mainly in Alsace-Lorraine, besides a few scattered settlements in Prussia. The French Huguenot villages in the Black Forest have long since become Teutonised. In Lorraine the French constitute probably one-half of the entire population, but in Alsace are in a decided minority. To the Slav family belong the Tsekhs, "Wends, and Poles. Of the first there are only about 50,000 within the limits of the empire, in Silesia ; the second form an GERMANY THE NON-GERMAN POPULATIONS. 361 isolated linguistic group of 140,000 in Upper and Lower Lusatia, belonging partly to the kingdom of Saxony, partly to the Prussian proviuce of Brandenburg, a group which, being entirely surrounded by German-speaking popula- tions, is destined at no distant period to become Teutonised. With the exception of the old generation, nearly all the Wends already speak two languages, — Sorb, as their Slavonic dialect is generally called, and German ; and, as the young become daily more familiar with the latter, the time cannot be far distant when this district will become as thoroughly Germanised as so many other regions in the north-east of the empire. Akin to the Wends, but speaking a Polish dialect, are the Kassubes or Kashubes, dwelling in the western divi- sion of the Prussian administrative circle of Danzig. These Kashubes, stUl numbering about 90,000, are a small but pure remnant of the Slavonic Pomeranians who formerly occupied this region, but have since become assimilated to the surrounding Teutonic element. The main stock of the Slavonic population in the German Empire are the Poles, some two millions and a haK altogether, principally settled in the Prussian province of Posen, but also found on either side of the Oder, ia the south-east of Silesia. But here, no less than in Posen, the process of absorption in the German population has already made considerable progress. Amongst the Poles must also be included the tribe of the Mazurians, dwelling in the south-eastern division of East Prussia. These Mazurs are the descendants of the Mazovians, a people akin to the Poles, whose Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic knights to Old Prussia ia 1228 to protect him from the attacks of the pagan inhabitants of this country. Their speech is a corrupt form of the Polish language, held in great contempt by the educated Poles themselves, though the Mazurians 362 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TKAVEL. reciprocate the feeling by showing great contempt for the Poles, while they hold the Germans in high esteem. To this preference for the Germans must be attributed the fact that they are all Protestants, whereas the Poles proper, everjrwhere in Germany, are members of the Eoman Catholic Church. The series of non-German nationalities lq the empire is brought to a close by the Lithuanians, numbering some 150,000, and dwelling in the extreme north-eastern comer of the State. The Lithuanians are generally strongly biult, and capable of enduring the greatest hardships. They have a fresh and blooming complexion, and continue to enjoy a vigorous constitution till an advanced period in life, hale old men of 70 to 80 being by no means rare amongst them. Their intellectual qualities are above the average, though they display a certain tendency to seclusion, due, doubtless, to their peculiar speech and social habits cutting them off from free intercourse with their neighbours. Their attachment to the old national traditions also stands in the way of their social advance- ment. They are all Protestants and very religious — no bad weather, great distances, or other impediments, keeping them from church on Sundays. The clergy enjoy great consideration amongst them, and in their troubles and sorrows they console themselves with the belief in predestination. On the other hand, they are said not to be over truthful in their commercial and ordinary dealings, and the vice of intemperance has also unfortunately spread with fatal consequences amongst them. As every- where on the border-land of the Slavonic domain, the assimilation of the Lithuanians to the German element is progressing, and has been materially furthered by the development of the railway system. A few of the old people here and there, doubtless, still understand the GERMANY THE JEWS. 363 beautiful, sonorous, and marvellously preserved Lithuanian tongue, but the young know only a few words or sen- tences, and are often even ashamed of understanding so much. Finally, the Jews form a considerable element in the population of Germany. They are relatively six times as numerous there as they are in the United Kingdom, amounting to about I'S per cent of the population. They are most numerous in the east, in the once Polish province of Posen, where they make up nearly 4 per cent of the inhabitants, but they are Hkewise abundant in some parts of the west, as in Alsace-Lorraine and the Grand-duchy of Hesse, where they amount to 3 per cent, or nearly that proportion. Everywhere they show a tendency to disappear from the agricultural districts and congregate in the large towns. From this cause the Jewish population in Berlin has grown from about 2 per cent of the entire population in 1840 to nearly 5 per cent at the present day ; and as the Jews always exhibit a peculiar faculty for acquiring a large share of the capital wherever they are settled, they generally rouse a strong feeling of jealousy and dislike towards them among the rest of the people. This antagonistic feeling is intensified by the oppressiveness with which they are said to use the influence which their command of capital secures for them, and also by the exclusiveness by which the Jewish race is everywhere characterised. Hence in Berlin especially the Jews have recently become the objects of a peculiar antipathy, which has occasionally expressed itself in a violent anti-Semitic agitation.-' 5. Extent, Constitution, and Government of the Empire. In its present limits the German Empire is based on ^ See Andrees, Volkshimde der Jvden : Leipzig, 1881. 364 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TRATEL. the treaties between the States of the former North German Confederation and the South German States (November 15, 23, and 25, 1870, and ratified on January 9, 1871), and on the law decreeing the incor- poration of Alsace and Lorraine passed on June 9, 1871, after these two provinces had been ceded by France to Germany at the treaty of peace concluded in Frankfort- on-the-Main on May 10, 1871. The German Empire now accordingly consists of 22 sovereign, and three republi- can, States, besides the imperial district of Alsace-Lor- raine, in which the Emperor exercises political power (see Statistical Appendix). The King of Prussia is also at the same time Emperor of Germany, which, as now constituted, is a Confederacy of States with constitutional forms. Hence, according to the intention of the powers framing the constitution, the German Empire is a mon- archy, and the head of the government a sovereign, who, however, does not exercise without restraint the supreme power inherent in the Confederacy. On the contrary, the constitution, as representing the imperial authority, names as the presidium of the Confederacy, in the first instance, the King of Prussia, with the title of German Emperor ; then a Confederate Council, consisting of the plenipotentiaries of aU the separate States; and lastly, the parliament or " Council of the Empire," chosen by direct election as representing the whole nation. All imperial measures, which require to be passed by a majority of the two assemblies just mentioned, receive their binding force by imperial proclamation. The ad- ministration of the empire is entrusted to the Imperial Chancellor, who, though named by the Emperor, is con- stitutionally responsible, is president of the Confederate Council,, and controls the general management of affairs. Although the imperial constitution does not infringe upon the sovereign rights of the various members of the GERMANY BEKLIN. 365 Confederation, still the imperial authority, with a view to uniformity in certain departments, regulates a number of matters otherwise usually regarded as the prerogatives of the individual States. Such are — the diplomatic repre- sentation abroad ; the army and navy ; the finances ; railway, postal, and telegraphic affairs. It follows also from the very nature of the case that the enormous predomiaance of Prussia — in extent and population five times greater than Bavaria, the next largest state in the empire — presses more and more on the independence of the other members of the Con- federation, and while leaving them an outward show of sovereignty substantially limits its exercise to the admini- stration of their internal affairs. Hence, as might be expected, Berlin, the capital of the Prussian monarchy, is also the seat of the imperial Government. 6. Berlin, Capital of the Empire. For the metropolis of a great empire Berlin is very inconveniently situated on the banks of the little river Spree, in the midst of a sandy, unattractive country. At the census of December 1, 1880, its population amounted to upwards of 1,120,000- The name of the place is Slavonic, in which language bar, hara, and Irljina means a muddy, sluggish stream, and such the Spree may well have been at the time when, and at the spot where, Berlin was founded by the former Slav inhabitants of the present Brandenburg. This still far from romantic stream forms an island in the centre of the city, on which stood the old Koln, and the older parts of the town round about this spot are within the circuit of the former moat of the fortress. On this island are now situated the Eoyal Palace, the Cathedral, the Old and New Museum, the National Gallery, and other important 366 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. buildings ; and from it '' Unter den Linden," the finest and most frequented thoroughfare in Berlin, leads west- wards to the Brandenburg Gate, beyond which lies the Thiergarten. Formerly an uninteresting place, Berlin has been greatly improved of late years, and now boasts of a considerable number of public monuments. For THE KOTAL PALACE, BERLIN. does it lack a certain historic character of the genuine Prussian type, these very monuments mostly breathing a warlike spirit, and harmonising well with the capital of a great military power. Here is the equestrian statue of the Great Elector, recalling the days when the German lands were overrun by victorious Swedish hosts. Not far off we are reminded of the Seven Years' War by the famous monument of Frederick the Great, with its lifelike GEEMANY-^BEELIN. 367 plastic reliefs, and by the statues of the leading captains of those stirring times. The national rising of 1813 is represented on the Kreuzherg and Belle Alliance Platz by six figures of well-known Prussian heroes, erected close to the Arsenal. And with all these records of bygone times must now be included the monument of Frederick Wniiam III, which, with its surroundings, has added z0mm THE NEW MUSEUM, BERLIN. considerably to the appearance of the large open space between the royal palace and the museums ; and, lastly, the much criticised column of Victory, which commemo- rates the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, the last great triumph of the Prussian arms. The last few years have also witnessed the unveiling of two monuments of a more peaceful character — the statue of Schiller in front of the theatre, and the bust of 368 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHT AND TRAVEL. Hegel the philosopher in the secluded chestnut grove behind the university. Beyond the Brandenburg Gate Berlin has recently made rapid strides in the direction of Charlottenburg, round about the Thiergarten and the Zoological Gardens. These have been greatly improved, and are now really worthy of the capital. There is also a magnificent aquarium, unsurpassed even by that of Hamburg, not- withstanding its inland situation. Unfortunately the social, economical, and sanitary con- ditions do not keep pace with the material and sesthetical progress of Berlin. The high death-rate (about 30 per thousand per annum), and the excessive rate of infant mortality (children under one year old making up in some years upwards of 45 per cent of the total deaths), both bear witness to the extent to which overcrowding prevails. The evil is intensified by the great increase of house-rent; by the disappearance of open spaces in the interior of the city, every available piece of ground being at once seized upon and covered with houses ; by the consequent deterioration in the general health of the people ; and lastly, by an unprecedented increase in the criminal element, the most abandoned characters from every part of the Empire continually gravitating towards the capital. 7. Hamburg, Frankfort, aiid other Towns. Besides Berlin, which certainly far surpasses all other cities in the Empire, there are many other large, handsome, and populous towns in this State, in their general aspect differing more widely from each other than is perhaps the case in any other European country. Foremost amongst the commercial centres are: — Hamburg (410,000), on the Elbe; next to Berlin the largest and most populous city in the Empire, and next to London and Liverpool STRASBURG CATHEDRAL. The foundation of the present struc- ture ivas laid by Bishop Werner of Hapshurg in 1015. Tlie Towers were ommenced by Er^\-iu of Steinbacli in 1-7J', and completed liy John Hiiltz ( C(dogne in 14.39. The Spire on the ^orth-■l^■est Tower rises to a height t 468 feet above the pavement. Tlie ..leatcst length of the interior is .357 1 .t STBASBURG CATHEDRAL. To face page 369. GERMANY CHIEF TOWNS. 369 the first seaport in Europe; Bremen (123,000), on the Weser, the second seaport in Germany ; Frankfort-on- the-Main (165,000), for some time capital of the old Germanic Empire, at present the centre of the traffic in the south-west; Leipzig (250,000), metropolis of the book trade; Breslau (273,000), with its important wool market; and Stettin (92,000), the principal trading- place in the Baltic, in this respect now surpassing both Kbnigsherg (141,000), "the city of pure reason" (so- called as having been the residence of Kant, and the birthplace of the Kantian philosophy), and Danzig (109,000), which latter town is from the architectural point of view the most interesting and original of all those on the Baltic. The two last-named stOl remain the most important places in the north-east; while, in the south, Munich (247,000), the art-loving Bavarian capital, considerably excels both the hill-encircled Stutt- gart (117,000), and the finely-buUt Karlsruhe (49,000), with its imposing railway-station, — capitals of Wiirtem- berg and Baden respectively. On the Ehine we meet the grand fortified towns of Strasburg (104,000), in Alsace, and Mayence (61,000), in Hesse; and farther north, Cologne (160,000), in the Ehine province; Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle (86,000), where the emperor was formerly crowned; Diisseldorf (95,000), "the city of the painters ;" and the industrial double towns of Barmen and Elberfeld (together 190,000). In the north-west the populous towns of Hanover (123,000), and Magdeburg (137,000), deserve mention; and in Saxony its capital, the attractive and charmingly situated city of Dresden (220,000). 8. Agriculture — Manufactures — Trade and Gornmerce. The inhabitants of the German Empire derive their 2 B 370 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. chief support from the cultivation of the soil, although, with the exception of the terrace lands sloping from the central highlands, and most of the river valleys, the ground is not very fertUe. But agriculture, for the improvement of which technical schools and model farms have been established in all the German States, has arrived at such perfection as to be surpassed by Western Europe alone. Various cereals, especially wheat and rye, are cultivated, besides potatoes, vegetables, root and green crops, excel- lent fruits and ' wine. Without pretending to compete with the French vintages, the numerous German wines, those especially of the highly -favoured Ehine valley, enjoy a general and well-deserved reputation. The manufacturing industries are doubtless very im- portant, and in some branches large quantities of manu- factured goods are exported. Still the trade returns for the last few years show that Germany is capable of supplying no more than two-thirds of her own demands, being thus compelled to import fully one-third. Amongst the most important industries are — wool in the Ehine lands, Silesia, the kingdom of Saxony, and Wiirtemberg ; linen in Lusatia, Silesia, Westphalia, and Ermeland ; iron wares mainly in Essen, Westphalia, where are the famous Krupp steel-works, the largest in the world. A very extensive trade is also done in wooden ware, notably in the south ; but, on the other hand, the German glass-works can compete neither with those of France nor of Bohemia. In a word, the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876 confirmed the impression already produced by that of Vienna in 1873 — that the German industries do not hold their own with those of oth6r manufacturing countries. A far more satisfactory picture is presented ,by the recent development of German trade. While the move- ment in the interior is furthered by an excellent and con- ToJ\,.:ci,ujc:ilO. GEEMAITY CULTURE AND EDUCATION. 371 stantly expanding railway system, its foreign trade, not- withstanding its far from favourable geographical position, has already called into existence a mercantile navy sur- passed in amount of tonnage by those of England and the United States alone. The strong tendency of the people to settle permanently in foreign lands, where they, as a rule, renounce their own nationality sooner than any other European people, has, however, meantime, given occasion to the establishment of German commercial houses in every part of the world. It often happens even that in some of the most remote regions the trade has been monopolised, or very nearly so, by the Germans, who now supply the home country with the products of every zone. 9. Culture — Public Instruction — Religion. The triumphs achieved of late years have been largely due to the high degree of intellectual culture attained to by the German people. Their educational, like their military system, already enjoys universal recognition, and the various provincial universities, twenty-one in number, are rivalled by those of Austria and Switzerland alone. Secondary schools are also well organised and sufficiently varied in character to be adapted to the needs of different sections of the community, whether professional, com- mercial, or industrial, while elementary education is made compulsory on all by law, and the law is so well carried out that almost all children of school age are actually in attendance at school. It is noteworthy, that of all the Germanic States Prussia has for a long time paid most attention to educational matters, so that there is now scarcely a village to be found in that country without its national school. In religious matters the German Empire does not 372 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. present quite so satisfactory a picture. The nation is unfortunately divided into a Protestant majority and a Catholic minority — a minority, however, large enough seriously to affect the religious uniformity of the country. The Protestant element predominates in the north, the Catholic in the south, though not by any means to the same extent. There are nearly 70 per cent of Protest- ants in the north, and over 3 7 in the south. Under this name are comprised the Lutheran, Eeformed, and United Churches. The so-called Old Catholic party, though worthy of mention as a phenomenon peculiar to the German national temperament, is too insignificant in itself to modify the religious atmosphere of the State. SWITZEELAND. 373 CHAPTEE V. SWITZEELAITD. 1. GovernTnent — Peo]ple — The Bumonsh or Ladin Race and Language. Amongst the various political forms of government developed in Europe that of a federal republic has been realised by the neutral State of Switzerland alone. It consists of a confederation, " Eidgenossenschaft," of twenty- five independent little cantons, as they are called, mostly named after their chief towns, and governed each accord- ing to the constitution best suited to its own requirements. In these various constitutions there are gradations from the fullest democracy to the purest representative forms ; but pure non- representative democracies have been adopted in the smaller cantons only, such forms of government being in fact impracticable except amongst small populations. The bulk of the population is of Teutonic race, but the Latin race (represented partly by French, partly by Italians) makes up three -sevenths of the whole. The Swiss Teutons belong to the Alemannic stock, and still speak a difficult Alemannic dialect, usually called Swiss German, or simply Swiss. They occupy the whole of the Upper Ehine valley, as far as its extreme western angle at Basel, consequently the whole of the Helvetian highlands lying north of the Central Alps, besides the 374 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEATEL. Upper Ehone valley as far down as Sion or Sitten, under the Bernese Alps. The remainder of the Upper Ehone valley and the western slopes of the Jura are French ; this region comprising the cantons of Valais, Vaud, Geneva, and Neuch^tel. Lastly, the south - eastern extremity, including the magnificent highlands of the Ticino, and the southernmost valleys of the Grisons, belong to the Italian domain. In the sunny valleys of the Grisons, along the head streams of the Ehine, and in the region between these rivers and the banks of the Upper Inn, and even still farther eastwards, in some Tyrolese valleys beyond the Swiss frontier, we find the Eumonsh or Ladin-speaking people, whose language at first sight seems like a sort of connecting link between German and Italian. These are the iateresting Ehseto-Eomance tribes, which had long failed to receive that attention in the scientific world to which they are undoubtedly entitled. But since the critical works of such writers as Lorenz Diefenbach and Fr. Diez, the idiom now spoken by these Ehseto-Eomance people, of the Grisons and Tyrol has been recognised as a thoroughly independent Neo-Latin tongue, standing on the same level as the Portuguese, Spanish, Langue d'Oc, Langue d'O'il, Italian, and Moldo- Walachian. Nor are these people less interesting from the ethno- logical than from the linguistic point of view, though the researches in this direction have been far less extensive, and leave many gaps still to be filled up. The question whether, and how far, the Ehseto-Eomance race is con- nected with the old Ehsetians can here be no more than referred to. It is, however, on the whole, probable enough that they are a mixture of the Eomans, who, between the years 16 and 12 B.C., completed the subjection of the Alpine highlands, maintaining their supremacy there tiU SWITZERLAND PEOPLE. 375 the time of the Teutonic migrations, and of the aboriginal populations of those regions spoken of by the old writers under the name of Ehsetians. These Kheetians were formerly far more widely diffused than at present. Numerous local names, scattered all over Tyrol, still bear witness to their former presence in that province, and the present Ladias of the south-eastern valleys of Tyrol are kinsmen of the inhabitants of the Grisons both in blood and speech. However, the mixed Ehseto-Eomance populations elsewhere yielded in " the struggle for exist- ence " to the vigorous Teuton tribes, a pure race pressing upon them from two directions — from the north as Bayuwars, and from the south as Longobards (Lombards), surging up through the valley of the Adige or Etsch. They thus became at last confined to the solitary upland valleys, where they still continue to eke out a laborious existence. Their speech too is steadily jdelding to encroachments both from the north and south, and is gradually getting supplanted either by German or Italian. They are altogether a doomed race, and one of the most instructive illustrations of the struggle for existence in the domain of ethnology. ■bb'- 2. Agriculture — Industries — Chief Towns : Geneva, Bern, Basel. The Swiss depend for their support on various branches of industry. In the lowlands the chief occupations are agriculture, horticulture, and wine-growing. The last is carried on to a greater or less extent in twenty cantons, but yields the largest returns in the neighbourhood of the great lakes of Geneva, l^euch§,tel, Ziirich, and Constance. Nearly all the towns, with their various industries, are also situated in the lowlands. Foremost amongst the few important towns in Swit- 376 COMPENDroM OP GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. zerland is Geneva, with its 70,000 inhabitants,^ once celebrated as "the Calvinistic Eome," but now better known as a seat of gaiety and a centre of science and learning. Next in size is the trading city of Basel (Bale) (61,000 inhabitants), which is supposed to be the wealthiest town in the country. Bern, the federal capital, ranks third only in point of population (44,000), and, like the other two, is situated in the west, which. TELl's chapel, lake of LtrOEENB. with the north-east, is the chief centre of the industries. In the northern cantons of Zurich, Zug, Glarus, and Thurgau, cotton-spinning is most actively carried on, and in Appenzell and St. Gall the manufacture of mushn. Specially noteworthy are the cotton and other manu- factures of Glarus, as Ulustrating the manner in which industry and intelligence can triumph over natural disadvantages. Carried on in a remote mountain vaUey in the very heart of Europe, where only a fifth part of the surface is fit for the plough, and where the inhabit- ^ Including suburbs. SWITZBKLAND- INDUSTRIES. 377 ants have to make the torrents and waterfalls compensate for the absence of fuel as a motive power, their products THE KIGI RAILWAY. are nevertheless sent to the farthest east and the farthest west, to China and America, as well as to the nearer parts of Europe and Africa. 378 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. The centre of commerce in the north-east is Ziirich, on the lake of Hke name, with a population of 25,000, swollen to 76,000 by the villages that stretch along the shores of the lake on both sides. The vast watch trade has its headquarters in the west, more particularly Geneva, and La Chaux de Fonds (22,000 inhabitants), and Locle (10,000 inhabitants) in the Jura. In the highlands there are naturally no industries, and, in fact, little more than sheep-farming with a scanty tUlage, many of the upland grazing-grounds, the "Pore- alps" (locally Maiensdssen), as they are called, being further utilised for cattle-breeding and the production of butter and cheese, carried on in a very efficient manner. Mention may also be made of the numerous hotels, sup- ported by the vast number of strangers annually attracted to thq Alpine regions by their romantic scenery. Of railway lines there is in fact a superabundance, but most of them lack the material conditions essential to pros- perity. Eeference has already been made in the previous portion of the work to the great mountain tunnels in their course, in operation or contemplation. The illus- tration on the preceding page represents the little rail- way that ascends the Eigi from Vitznau, on the Lake of Lucerne. Educational matters receive the greatest attention in Switzerland. There are universities in Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Zurich, and in the last-mentioned town also a far-famed polytechnic institution, with admirably- appointed laboratories and museums. AXrSTEO-HTJNGAEY. 379 CHAPTEE VI. THE AtJSTEO-HUNGAEIAN MONAEOHY. 1. Extent — Population — Heterogeneous Ethnical Elements. If not the most remarkable, certainly one of the most singularly constituted States in this continent is the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the population of which is of a far more heterogeneous character than that of any of the States hitherto passed in review. It is indeed a remarkable fact that the countries of Western Europe are the most uniform in respect of their inhabitants, this homogeneous character growing perceptibly less as we proceed eastwards. In the German Empire we had to consider the presence of diverse fragmentary ethnical elements ; but in Austro-Hungary, Eussia, and the Bal- kan Peninsula, the ethnographic relations become almost indescribably intricate. Although belonging geographically to Central Europe, Austro-Hungary must be ethnically included in Eastern Europe, both on account of the peculiarity just mentioned and for many other reasons ; nor should it be forgotten that the political status of countries is estimated mainly by this ethnical consideration. By Eastern Europe is here understood that vast region where the Slavonic element predominates, as compared with the Eomance or Neo- Latin world of the west and south, and the Teutonic of Central and Northern Europe. Now this preponderance exists in Austro-Hungary no less than in Eussia and the 380 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AUD TKAVEL. Balkan Peninsula. Hence, notwithstanding the other mostly numerically insignificant inhabitants of this region — Eoumanians, Albanians, Greeks, Jews, Gipsies, Magyars, Finns, and Turks, Tatars, Bashkirs, etc. — we are clearly justified in speaking of a Slavonic East, even though the Slav element is not at the same time everywhere politic- ally paramount in this division of the continent. In the Austrian Empire the Germans, who are at the head of the goverrunent, and whose speech is the official language in the army and navy as well as in the admini- stration of the western portion of the empire, form no more than one-fourth, and the Magyars somewhat over one-seventh, of the entire population. The political inferiority of the Slavs, notwithstanding their numerical excess, is explained by the fact that they are themselves split up into various branches, often separated from each other by intervening peoples, whereby the mixture of races in the monarchy is itself considerably increased. For here we have Tsekhs, Poles, Euthenians, and Great Eussians, Slovenians, Croatians, and Serbs, be- sides 30,000 Bulgarians. All these groups belong either to the northern or southern branch of the Slavonic family, — the Tsekhs of Bohemia and Moravia, with their kins- men the Slovacks of North Hungary, the SUesian and Galician Poles, and the Euthenians and Great Eussians of Gahcia and Bukowina, to the former ; all the others to the latter. "Wedged in between these two great groups are the Magyars of the Hungarian plains, with the Eoumanians of South Hungary, Transylvania, and Bukowina bordering them on the east, and the Germans on the west. These last occupy in a compact body both Upper and Lower Austria ; Salzburg on the frontiers of Bavaria ; and Carinthia and Styria east of Tyrol. There is also a broad Teutonic belt encircling the Bohemian basin, be- AUSTRIA GOVERNMENT. 381 sides isolated German-speaking communities scattered aU over the monarchy, as far as its easternmost limits. Of these the most considerable are the Gottsehee in Carniola, the upland towns and the Zips of North Hungary, the German colonies in the Banat of south-eastern Hungary, and the Saxons of Transylvania. Any good ethnographic map of the monarchy — such, for instance, as that of Carl Baron Czoernig — will show at once that there is scarcely a single province or " crown land," as the provinces are here called, entirely occupied by a homogeneous population. Austria is, in fact, the most polyglot of European States. 2. Dualistic Government. Austro-Hungary constitutes a hereditary constitutional monarchy divided into two very unequal portions, one of which embraces " the kingdoms and lands represented in the Imperial Council," the other comprising "the lands of the Hungarian Crown." Instead of the first of these expressions, the almost equally inconvenient term " Cis- Leithan " has been generally adopted in contradistinction to the lands of the Hungarian Crown, which are then spoken of as the " Trans -Leithan " provinces. Both divisions really form two distinct States, with separate governments, political institutions, and, what is still worse, with utterly antagonistic interests, currents of thought, and national sympathies. The district admini- strations extend even to the postage stamps and coinage ; in the Cis-Leithan provinces there is an Upper and a Lower House, in Hungary a " Tafel," or Chamber of Magnates, and a Tafel of the Commons. Affairs of common or imperial interest are transacted by the " Delegations " chosen by these four assemblies, and even here there is a Cis-Leithan and a Trans-Leithan Delega- tion, meeting alternately in Vienna and Pest, capitals of 382 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Austria proper and Hungary respectively. In the former State every crown land has its own diet for the admini- stration of its local affairs, whUe in the latter Croatia and Slavonia alone enjoy this privilege. Quite exceptional is the position of Dahnatia, which, though recognised in 1868 as formiagpart of the so-caUed "Triple Kiugdom" of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia, is stOl included amongst " the kingdoms and lands represented in the Imperial Council." It accordingly sends its representa- tives to the Lower House in Vienna, and is administered de facto by the Cis-Leithan Government. This dualistic T&gime naturally requires the appointment of separate ministers for each division of the monarchy, besides which there are three ministries common to both, and representing such functions as are still administered without reference to the twofold partition of authority in other respects. These are the ministry of the imperial household and foreign affairs ; the ministry of the im- perial finances providing for the common expenditure, towards which the Austrian division contributes 70 per cent and the Himgarian 30 ; lastly, the imperial ministry of war, administering the army, whose supreme com- mander-in-chief is the Emperor. 3. The Austriaris Propei Upper and Lower Austria — Vienna. The inhabitants of Upper and Lower Austria are Germans, at least in speech, and seemingly related to the neighbouring Bavarians. But, as the country south of the course of the Danube had long been peopled by Slavs, the two elements have here been extensively inter- mingled, as shown even by the Austrian High German dialect, which has adopted numerous Slavonic terms and expressions. There are, moreover, certain Tsekh and AUSTRIA PEOPLE : THE AUSTEIANS PEOPEE. 383 Croatian elements still actually surviving in Lower Austria, though doubtless only in small quantities. Hence the Austrians are, strictly speaking, a mixed race, whose Teutonic outward aspect is of verj'' recent date. They are also essentially different from their German neighbours in their intellectual qualities and natural disposition, being characterised by great cheerful- ELISABETH BEIDGE, VIENNA. ness and kindliness, together with an undeniable inclina- tion for material or sensuous pleasures. Both the best and worst sides of the Austrian character are most highly developed in the inhabitants of Vienna, at once the capital of Lower Austria and metropolis of the monarchy. Situated near the Danube, which it pro- mises some day to reach, and intersected by a channel of this recently-embanked stream, Vienna occupies an area of over 2 1 square miles, without reckoning the suburbs, covering 35 square miles. The population amounted, at 384 COMPENDroM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the census of December 31, 1880, to 1,104,000, of whom 726,000 resided in the ten wards of the ianer town. Since the old fortifications have been levelled and laid out ia spacious boulevards, with monumental structures in the Paris style, Vienna has become one of the most brilliant capitals ia Europe. These boidevards, or the " Eingstrasse," as they are called, enclose the old heart of the city — in fact, " the City," as it is usually spoken of by the inhabitants, everything outside of this circle being regarded as suburbs. In "the City" are all the finest warehouses, commercial establishments, palaces of the nobility and foreign ambassadors, government offices, and the imperial " Hof burg," or palace itself, a structure more remarkable for its size than its beauty. In the very centre of " the City " rises the grand old Gothic cathedral of St. Stephen, with its graceful spire no less than 475 feet high. There are also some fine palatial residences in the environs, whose ornamental grounds are generously thrown open to the public ; besides which Vienna boasts of some splendid art collections (including an excellent pictm'e- gallery in the Belvedere), one of the largest libraries in Europe, a university and academy of the sciences, together with many other scientific institutions ; and, lastly, a far-famed theatre. Numerous silk, cotton, woollen, leather, hardware, musical instrument, porcelain, and carriage factories, iu the, suburbs, contribute largely to the wealth of the place. A railway system, radiating in all directions, helps to promote the large trade carried on, especially with Eussia and Turkey through Hungary, and through Trieste with the Levant and Italy. AR this, combined with its Parisian refinement and gaiety, and the various polyglot elements and national types here gathered from north, south, east, and west, imparts to Vienna a thoroughly cosmopolitan character. The inhabitants themselves — a ST STEPHENS CATHEDRAL U I I ^ lit llll \ ^ 1111 1 11 1 ill lit t!i A 11 1 n ill 11)11 1 t 1 111 ii'-o 111 Clu it 1 « 1 w 1 I ,uii 1 \ A\ 11 1 t Ivl ^t 1 111 I 1 11 111 1 1 11 1 I 11 ll I 1 \ 1 11 llsl lull in 11 It 11 s 1 1 1 ll ^lit 1 ll 1 The ^uitLst kii^lli it tile I itlie b il i^ o U fcit K-^/,- ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL, VIESXA. SALZBURG. To /ace ijage 385. AUSTRIA VIENNA, SALZBUEG, TYROL. 385 more mixed race, if possible, than the ordinary Austrians of the lowlands — have developed a taste for the beautiful, and a sense of what the Parisians call chic, the Viennese fesch} universally displayed in the dress, the manners, and social life of the people. Favourite places of resort are the imperial country seats of Schonbrunn and Laxenburg. Prominent features of Lower Austria are the great monastic foundations, with their sumptuous buildings, and the many ruined castles, several of which adorn the highly romantic course of the Danube between Melk and Krems. But neither here nor in Upper Austria are there any towns calling for special mention, except perhaps Linz (42,000), capital of the latter province, pleasantly situated on the Danube. However, the charming little town of Ischl in the Salzkammergut, with its famous miaeral waters and salt works, is well worth a visit. 4. Buchy of Salzburg — Tyrol and Vorarlherg. In the sparsely-peopled Duchy of Salzburg the only important town is the capital of like name (23,000), one of the most romantically situated cities in all Europe, a city which, owing to its Italian style of architecture, has received the name of " the German Eome." The archbishop of this see bears the title of " Primate of Germany," and it may be mentioned that its first bishop was the Irishman St. Virgilius, one of the most en- lightened men of his time (eighth century). He was the contemporary, and in some respects the rival, of St. Boniface, the English apostle of Germany. Amongst the mineral waters of the duchy, those of Wildbad Gastein enjoy a European reputation. 1 Answering to sucli English expressions as "good form," "style," and the like. — Trans. 2 C 386 COMPENDIUM OE GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The adjoining crown-land of TyioP is divided by the main chain of the Alps, both physically and ethnically, into a northern or German and a southern or Italian Tyrol. The whole country is thinly peopled, but in the north even more so than in the south. The German Tyrolese is honest and loyal, simple and candid in his demeanour, and devotedly attached to his sovereign. With the neighbouring Bavarians he associates mostly somewhat cautiously, for he is above all a strict and even bigoted Catholic, entirely under the influence of the priest, and strongly opposed to the presence of other religionists in his romantic land. His intellectual culture stands on a low level, and there are but few industries in a coimtry mainly occupied with Alpine farming. The inhabitants of the ZUler, Teffereggen, and some other valleys, migrate annually abroad, returning in winter with their summer earnings. Although this northern portion has been pretty generally Teutonised, there still linger unmistakable Slavonic traits in the popular types about Lienz, in the Kaiser, Teffereggen, and Hochpuster valleys, and even in Italian Tyrol itself. On the other hand the 20,000 Ladins, occupying several valleys in the south-east, are a Eomance people, akin to the Swiss Ehseto-Eomanians. In this northern division lies Innsbruck (that is, Inn- Bridge, like Cambridge), with a population of 30,000, including suburbs. It possesses a university, and the same privilege is enjoyed by Feldkirch (3500), the little capital of Vorarlberg. Par more favoured by nature than the northern is the southern or Italian division of Tyrol, with the glorious ' Tyrol, not the Tyrol, as we often see in English works. The article has been introduced prohably through a slavish translation of the Italian expression il Twolo ; but it is as absurd to speak in English of the Tyrol, as it would be to say the Oermany, the Italy. — Trans. AUSTEIA TYROL, STYKIA. 387 valley of the Etsch or Adige, along whicli are situated a number of towns of some importance, such as Botzen or Bolzano (11,000), near the famous sanitorium of Meran, the episcopal town of Trient or Trent (20,000), cele- brated in history as the seat of the great council of the Church summoned to settle the disorders due to the Eeformation, and Eoveredo (9000), seat of the silli trade. Botzen still lies within the limits of the German- speaking division, but it threatens soon to be absorbed by the constantly encroaching Italian element — an en- croachment which is natural and indeed inevitable in a country whose intercourse lies almost exclusively with the south. 5. The Buchy of Styria — Carinthia — Garniola — Istria — Trieste. Like Tyrol and Salzburg the Duchy of Styria is also ethnically divided into two portions, the north being German, and the south Wendish or Slovenian, with a few German-speaMng communities intermixed. In the German domain lies the fine and important town of Graz, capital of the duchy, with nearly 100,000 in- habitants and a university. In Southern Styria, close to the line of demarcation between the Teuton and Slav elements, are Marburg, an episcopal town with 18,000 inhabitants; and Cilly (5000), with its abundant mineral waters, mostly hot sulphur springs. With the kingdom of Illyria, comprising the provinces of Carinthia, Carniola, Gorz and Gradiska, Trieste and Istria, we enter a more decidedly Slavonic region of the empire. German predominates iu Carinthia alone, a highland district comprising the valley of the Upper Drave. Here Slavs of the Wendish stock are found, the few Germans being confined to the tract stretching 388 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGBAPHY AND TEAVEL. from Klagenfurt (19,000), capital of the province, south- eastwards to the Camiolan frontier. On the other hand, Carniola itself, mainly filled by the Karst or Julian Alps, is peopled almost exclusively by Wends or Slovenians. A few isolated German com- munities occur only here and there, includiag, however, the somewhat extensive district of Gottschee on the Cro- atian frontier. In Laibach (26,000 inhabitants), capital of the province, as well as in some other places, both lan- guages are spoken; but in the coast-lands there now remain only two small German colonies — those of Gorz on the Isonzo (20,000 inhabitants), and Trieste (including sub- urbs, 133,000), on the Adriatic. This fine and regularly- built seaport — not only the most important city in Illyria, but also the most considerable emporium in the empire — has risen greatly in importance since the open- ing of the Suez Canal, and is now the successful rival of the neighbouring Venice. With Trieste, whose terri- tory is exclusively Slovenian, the Slavs begin to be re- placed by the Italians, who are also elsewhere met with along the northern and eastern seaboard 6. TTw Slovenian Slavs — BalmMia. As constituting the main element of the population in lUyria, the Slovenians have some claim to our consi- deration in this place. They number, altogether, perhaps about 1,356,000 — 26,000 in Venetia, 50,000 in Hun- gary, 350,000 in the coast-lands, 100,000 in Carinthia, 380,000 in Styria, and 450,000 in Carniola. They thus come in direct contact not only with other Slavonic races, but also with the other two main elements of the European continent — the Teutonic and JSTeo-Latin ; and though thus exposed both to German and Italian in- fluences have not only hitherto maintained their ethnical AUSTRIA DALMATIA. 389 independence, but have naturally striven to drive the Slavonic wedge continually farther in between the two. The Slovenian is generally of' a vigorous buUd, and even the women, who are mostly well-favoured, have tall slim figures, with a fresh appearance and kindly expression. Their symmetrical forms are further improved by their picturesc[ue costumes, which, however, like so many other national peculiarities, have already begun to feel the leveUing influences of modern culture. The in- habitants, especially of Upper Carniola, are thoughtful and peaceable, proud, industrious, and intelligent. This mentally and physically healthy race enjoys a bright and cheerful existence in the midst of the glorious nature by which it is surrounded, thankful for the certain present, without anxiety for the unknown to come. Lower Car- niola is the cradle of the most delightful popular songs and legends, while at the same time it presents in its Koman remains a fruitful field for the researches of the archseologist. The narrow and barren strip in the south-west of the Empire is one of the most backward portions of the Austrian dominions, but more may be expected to be done for its intellectual and material improvement since the inland provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been brought under Austrian occupation. In Dalmatia the German element ceases altogether, the higher culture being represented by the Italians alone, who live exclu- sively in the towns, and monopolise the trade of the country. They are found principally in Zara (12,000), capital of the kingdom, and in the equally small coast towns of Sebenico, Trau, Spalato, and Eagusa, as well as in the seaports of Lesina and Curzola on the islands of Kke name. The interior is occupied by a much-neglected population, in the south consisting mostly of Morlaks round about the famous Bocche di Cattaro, and akin to the neighbouring Montenegrins. 390 COMPENDIUM OJ GEOGEAPHY AITD TRAVEL. 7. Bohemia — Moravia — Austrian Silesia — The German and Slav Races in Bohemia and Moravia — The Tsekhs. A more satisfactory picture is in some respects pre- sented by those crown -lands of the monarchy, which may, on the whole, be described as the North Slavonic provinces ; and more particularly in the prosperous lands of " the Crown of Wenceslaus," comprising the kingdom of Bohemia, the margraviate of Moravia, and the duchy of Silesia. Bohemia especially may be regarded as the brightest jewel in the imperial crown of Austria. Its extremely fertile soil, mineral wealth, and other natural resources, combined with the industry of its inhabitants, render it the richest province in the monarchy. In its flourishing condition an equally honourable share has been taken by the Germans and the Tsekhs, the two ethnical elements in possession of the land, between whom, however, an unfortunate spirit of rivalry and partisanship has of late years been Mndled. In Bohemia and Moravia are found the most indus- trious towns in the State. In the former, besides its capital, Prague (including suburbs, 218,000), on the noble river Moldau, one of the finest inland cities in Europe, are the busy manufacturing towns of Eeichenberg (28,000), Eumburg, Gablonz, Braunau, and others. Weaving of every sort is the principal branch of industry in North Bohemia, where the Teutonic element prevails, while glass -making flourishes in the Bohmerwald, and beet-root sugar and brewing in the central basin, which is occupied mainly by the Tsekhs. Mining operations are also extensively carried on both in the German and Tsekh districts. Karlsbad, Marienbad, and Franzensbad AUSTEIA MOEAVIA. 391 enjoy a world-wide reputation on account of their medi- cinal waters. In the favoured province of Moravia, Brunn, its KLEINSEITE, PRAGUE. capital, with a population of 83,000, is the centre of the woollen trade; while the neighbouring province of Silesia, with Troppau (25,000) and Teschen (13,000), 392 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGEAPHY AlfD TRAVEL. capitals respectively of its two departments, is equally famous for its linen goods. The Tsekhs of Bohemia, occupying the most ad- vanced outposts of the Slav world towards the north- west, betray the effect of Teutonic influences in their manners, social habits, institutions, dress, and in many other respects. But only the superficial observer will venture to assert that they have ceased to be Slavs in everything except their speech. Whoever has travelled in Bohemia is aware of the profoxmd difference between a German and a Tsekh village. It may be added that not so many years ago much in Bohemia was German which has since become Slav, that German was every- where understood, and that Prague might have passed for a German town. But all this has been changed in an incredibly short space of time. The market people soon ceased to understand German, and in the country districts not a word of that language was to be heard. On crossing the Saxon or Bavarian frontier we now come at once on the Slavonic flood, that has irresistibly covered the whole land of Bohemia. The German element has taken refuge in some solitary asylums, and has become an alien, almost an intruder, in the land. The explanation of this phenomenon lies in the fact that Austria itself is no longer such a Germanic power as it claimed to be some few years ago. It had been arti- ficially so constituted, and the outburst of national feel- ing in various districts was but a natural process hitherto kept in undue subjection. , So true is this, that nothing in Bohemia has of late years really become Tsekh, that had not at one time been Tsekh ; and the rapid spread of this movement is the most convincing refutation of the assertion that the Tsekhs had lost everything except their Slavonic speech. The Moravian Slavs, at one time the sole inhabitants AUSTRIA GALIOIA. 393 of Moravia, are also Tsekhs, or closely akin to them, and still make up nearly three-fourths of the population. The Tsekhs in general have some excellent character- istics. They axe exceedingly industrious, and as crafts- men are held, jointly with the Italians, in the highest esteem. Of all the Slavs they are the most advanced, and, with the Eussians, the most highly endowed by nature. According to Dr. Weisbach's measurements of all the Austrian races, they have the largest craniums and the greatest weight of brain. The Tsekh regiments are amongst the bravest in the Austrian service ; many of the high government officials are Tsekhs ; and the musical talents of this people are universally recognised. 8. Galicia — Gracow- — -Bukowina — The Jews, Poles, arid Buthenians. In the north-eastern Cis-Leithan States the chief occupation of the people is agriculture. Few industries have been developed, though, as stated in the previous portion of the work, the mineral wealth (salt and petro- leum) is considerable. Architecturally speaking, two cities only deserve mention — Lemberg, in the east, with a population of 110,000, and Cracow (including suburbs, 78,000), where the Polish kings were formerly crowned. All the other places, however important some of them may be commercially, present the appearance rather of villages than towns. In the duchy of Bukowina the only place of any importance is the capital, Czernowitz, with 46,000 inhabitants and a university founded in 1875. Of the predominant Slavonic population there are here two branches, about equally numerous — ^the Poles in the west, the region of the Vistula, and the Euthenians in the east. The former speak Polish and are Eoman 394 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Catholics, while the latter speak the so-called Little- Eussian, and belong to the Greek or Orthodox Church. A real plague to the country are the numerous Jews, occupying in many towns separate quarters, and in some places in a numerical majority, as in Brody, where they constitute 60 per cent of the inhabitants. In Galicia and Bukowina they are more numerous than in any other of the Austrian crown -lands. At the census of 1880 they amounted to somewhat more than 755,000, or upwards of 11-J per cent of the entire population. Most of them speak, or at least ujiderstand, German, and stand on a higher intellectual level than their neighbours. In their hands is all the trade of the country ; and these " civilisers of the East " thoroughly fleece the peasantry and landed proprietors with equal impartiality. The increase in the number of Jews throughout the Austrian dominions during the last thirty years or more has been very remarkable. In the Cis-Leithan provinces alone it has amounted during each of the last three census periods to at least 22 per cent of the number at the previous census, while that of the non- Jewish element has never exceeded 10 '2 per cent. In the Alpine and maritime crown -lands the Jews are only sparsely distributed over the land, but in all those with a Slavonic population they are congregated in all the large towns in considerable numbers. Like the Swedes, the Poles have with some justice been compared with the French, for they occupy amongst the Slavonic nations a position similar to that taken by the French amongst the Eomance peoples. like them, quick and vivacious, inspired by an enthusiastic love of their country, looking on bravery, independence, and freedom as the greatest of blessings, they combine with these noble qualities the same national impulsiveness that distinguishes the French, and that has been so disastrous AUSTRIA. EUTHENIANS. 395 to both. In other respects the intellectual condition of the Galician Poles stands on a very low level. The Galician Euthenians belong to the widely-diffused and expansive little- Eussian stock. In the west of Galicia they are encroaching upon the Polish element, just as they are on the Eoumanian in Bukowina, and on the Magyar in Hungary. The name of " Euthenian " is most unsuitable, as this race belongs undoubtedly to the same linguistic branch as the Great Eussians themselves. These Little Eussians everywhere call themselves " Eusy," and their country " Zemlya rus " (Eussian land). The Euthenians are a strong and hardy race, vigorous, healthy, and well-built, and are animated by an intense love of freedom and a marked feeling of self-respect. They are essentially a democratic people, amongst whom there exists no aristocratic class. Bukowina is ethnically remarkable, even in the East, for the extraordinary diversity and heterogeneous charac- ter of its population. Here we have eight distinct nationalities, — Euthenians, Eoumanians, Germans, Poles, Magyars, Jews, Armenians, and Tsekhs ; and eight different confessions, — the United and Orthodox Greeks, the Eoman Catholics, Jews, Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholic and Disunited Armenians. But the Eoumanians and Euthenians constitute the main element of the population. 9. The Hungarian Crown Lands — People — The German Mement — The Slavonic Element : ButheniaTis and, Slovaks — The Roumanian Element — The Magyars and Hungarian Jews. Turning to the Hungarian or eastern division of the monarchy, we find it occupied by about fifteen and three- quarter millions of people, of whom more than a third are Magyars, an Uralo- Altaic race related more immedi- 396 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. ately to the Finns, and more remotely to the Turks and Tatars. The next most numerous element is that of the Moldo-Walachians or Eoumanians, after which come the Serbo-Croatians, the Tsekhs, Germans, Jews, Euthenians, Slovenians, besides Gipsies, Bulgarians, and others. The ruling race of the Magyars have of course a direct interest in representing themselves as being as numerous as possible, but it is beyond all doubt that in the Austro -Hungarian monarchy the Slavs are three times as numerous as the Magyars. It also appears that the Magyars increase less rapidly than either the Slavs or the Jews, and that consequently they cannot in the long run hold their ground against these rival elements, or even against the Eoumanians. About half of the Magyars are Eoman Catholics, the rest Protestants, mostly Calvinists, with a few Lutherans and Unitarians. The fate of the Magyars is also shared by the Germans of Hungary and Transylvania, where they fall short of the mean ratio of increase. In the whole of Hungary there is scarcely a single town which is not at least partly inhabited by Germans, while in the interior they are not so much thinly scattered as widely spread over the land. In Slavonia, Croatia, and the former Military Frontier, they are considerably more numerous than the Magyars, but are everywhere more dense in the towns, some of which, such as Temesvar, are essentially German. In their hands are the greater part of the trade and industries, science, letters, the press, and the theatrical world. About two -thirds of the inhabitants of Pest, capital of Hungary, and the whole of the opposite town of Ofen or Buda, and of Pressbuxg, are Germans. But, however important this element may be histori- cally and socially, it is of far less consequence politically than the Slavonic, for both morally and numerically it is everywhere on the decline, at least in Upper Hungary. AUSTRIA THE GERMANS OF HUNGARY. 397 Many of the former flourishing German towns there have now been reduced to wretched villages, and the people have either been dispersed or reduced to poverty, or else become absorbed by the Magyars and Slovaks, and in some instances even by the Euthenians. This result has been brought about partly by many outward circumstances, but partly also by the inherent weakness of the German character, and the readiness with which it lays aside its own and adopts alien nationalities. The tendency to become Slavonised has hitherto proceeded unchecked. To accommodate their Slovak maid-servant both master and mistress will take to speaking Slovakian, and in this way the children learn first to speak this language, so that it now often happens that even in pure German families the current speech is Slavonic. Unfor- tunately, with their language these Germans also sacrifice the social virtues of their race. Those that have been absorbed by the Slovaks and Euthenians abandon them- selves to the vices of intemperance, uncleanliness, and indolence. The very opposite is the case with the Germans of South Hungary, where the non-German element is con- stantly losing ground in the presence of the Teutons. But in the number of these Germans of South Hungary must not be included the 220,000 Germans, or Saxons as they are called, of Transylvania. These last, so far from increasing, are actually on the decline. With all their antiquated mediaeval privileges, they are, so to say, being stifled by their very opulence, and are slowly yielding to a ceaseless process of corruption. Here, as has been so often elsewhere witnessed, " wealth accumu- lates, and man decays." It is otherwise with the Slavs, who exist in the greatest variety ia Hungary. Those of the south, con- sisting of Croatians, who are mostly United Greeks, and 398 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. Serbs, mainly Orthodox Greeks, are entirely distinct from the northern Slavs in the Western Carpathians and the east. In the west almost every mountain range harbours a different race, such as the Goralians of the Tatra, akin to the Tsekhs of the neighbouring Moravian frontier, while in the east the Slav family is represented exclu- sively by Euthenians, though these are in many respects different from their Galician brethren. The Hungarian Euthenians belong to three difierent creeds, some being Orthodox Greeks, others United Greeks, and others again " Schismatics." In the German and Slav districts also, both in the Eastern and Western Carpathians, there are many towns and communities in which the races have become so intermingled that it is no longer possible to detect any fundamental element, unless it be sought in the Jewish race, which is most numerously represented in these townships. Here the current language of intercourse is always a corrupt German. The Slovak districts in North Hungary, which are mostly Eoman Catholic, are described as the poorest in the whole country. On the other hand, the Euthenian districts, under the same parallel, are highly favoured with the vine and fruits of all sorts. Next to the Slavs the Eoumanians are, ethnically speaking, the most dangerous enemies of the Magyars, and above aU in Transylvania, where they have already displaced the Magyars, as they have also in the neigh- bouring districts of Hungary. Between the years 1770 and 1850 the Magyars increased 11 2*1 5 per cent in Transylvania, the Eoumanians 123'12, and the Germans only 45 per cent. The Eoumanians belong partly to the United and partly to the Orthodox Greek Church. In the midst of this endless confusion of national types and temperaments the genuine Hungarian, the " true blue " Magyar, stands out conspicuously. In him AUSTEIA THE MAGYAES. 399 all the ruling passions and virtues of all the races of the land seem to blend together harmoniously. In Hungary no more upright peasant can be found than the Magyar. All traders, merchants, dealers, craftsmen of every sort, prefer to do business with the Magyar. The German peasant will cheat and impose upon you ten times over in as many minutes; the Slovak will make you ten promises, and break them aU ; the Eoumanian will wheedle you out of anything with fair and flattering words ; the Serb with a suspicious show of plain dealing. The Magyar neither lies nor deceives you. But, on the other hand, the Magyar is foremost in all deeds of violence, especially where there is a chance of laying hands on his neighbour's goods and chattels. In Hungary there is no more outspoken friend and abettor of lawlessness than your honourable Magyar peasant. He will cultivate his plot during the day, and in the evening fling himself into the saddle, or else crouch with his fellows in their basket- waggon, and thus go forth, arms in hand, to play the highwayman. Wrapt in his Oriental fatalism the Magyar wUl calmly smoke his chibook beneath the very gallows : while the German robber becomes a sneaking craven, or else assumes an air of religious mysticism ; the Walachian abandons himself to paroxysms of despair ; the Serb trolls a national lay. The intense savagery of the people is due mainly to the want of aU instruction, and this again finds its explanation in the physical conditions of the land. The position of the Hungarian townships prevents a regular school system from being carried out, even were the parents anxious to have their children instructed. In the Hungarian plains nature loses all her charms, and here the " tanyas " or dwellings are naturally scattered thinly over the boundless wastes. On the other hand, the market towns are of large size, ranging from 20,000 to 400 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 70,000, SO that the two or three wretched schools of the place are unable to accommodate half the children bound to attend them, even if they were not prevented from doing so by the mud, often knee-deep in the roads. The staff of teachers is also of the very worst description, many of them being even unable to write. This state of things accounts also for the absence of industries, and for the primitive way in which field opera- tions are still carried on. The Magyar peasant, instead of thrashing his corn, employs his horse to tread it out, where- by much is left in the stalk, and much more trampled into the ground. Since the emancipation of the Jews, how- ever, the trades have begun to develop, and in time the inexhaustible natural resources of the land wiU doubtless be opened up. In all this the Jews are the alpha and omega. Their numbers, their spirit of clanship, their skill, and above all their capital, give them a paramount position, while they increase so rapidly that the Carpa- thian circles are almost filled with them. Between 1785 and 1880 they have increased more than eightfold (from 75,000 to 625,000), amounting at the latter date to rather more than 4-|- per cent of the entire population of Hungary and Transylvania. Since its connection with Ofen (Buda) and Old Ofen, Pest enjoys the honour of being the most Jewish city in Europe. By their usury as money-lenders they are doubtless ruining the Magyar nobles and the drink-loviag Magyar peasantry ; but on the other hand they are almost the sole promoters of trade, introducing commercial dealings into the most in- accessible and neglected districts of the country. They are also the pioneers of culture and the centre of social hfe, though, except in a few of the large towns, the latter can scarcely be said to exist. The Magyar in his daily rounds mostly satisfies him- self with taking a vigorous part in pothouse politics. AUSTRIA THE MAGYARS. 401 Here he shines with great brilliancy, losing no oppor- tunity to indulge in glowing speeches on the current events of the day. These long-winded discourses are re- hearsed at dinners, and on all public occasions, with an earnestness and a fervour which might prove of great service to themselves and their country if directed towards the improvement of the national schools, the paving and drainage of the streets, or such like practical purposes. And in the midst of all this frothing, at the sudden strains of some spirited patriotic tune struck up by a strolling gipsy on his " Cremona," the matter in hand is immedi- ately forgotten ; politics, the immiaent dangers pending over the State, scientific, literary, or commercial questions — all are thrown overboard, and sedate senator, wise statesman, and grave diplomatist join tumultuously in the mazy dance, which seems all at once to spring up like the clouds of dust sometimes seen whirling before a sudden gust of wind. At the last notes of the fiddle the enthusiastic Magyar plunges his hand into his pocket, and without stopping to count the cost, presents the lucky minstrel with all he had to support wife and family on for perhaps the next month to come. The gipsy, in his turn, who, after all, does not represent the worst social element in the Magyar world, squanders this lavish wealth in even less time than it has taken him. to eai-n it. Yet he may perhaps occasionally be found in possession. of the grand house of the Magyar spendthrift, who never stops in his headlong career until warned by want and hunger that he is a beggar. Thus the light-hearted Mag- yar passes as suddenly from the investigation of the deepest social problems to the wildest frenzy of sensuous enjoy- ment, as he often does from a state of princely affluence to the most abject poverty. 2 D .402 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 1 0. Chief Towns : Budapest, Pressburg, Szegedin, etc. The only noteworthy city in Hungary is the capital, now consisting of the united towns of Buda, or Ofen, and Pest on the Danube. The Hungarian metropolis, with its 360,000 inhabitants, is really a brilliant city, over- ilowing with all the refinements of civOised life. As we stroll along its magnificent thoroughfares, its spacious quays and handsome suspension bridge, we little suspect that we are in a genuine oasis in the midst of an inter- minable waste. For Budapest is in the strictest sense the Urbs, the one " city " of the country. Of the provincial towns, such as they are, the most important are Pressburg (48,000), above Pest, on the Danube ; Szegedin (74,000), on the Theiss, at the confluence of the Maros ; Maria- Theresienstadt, in- Hungarian Szabadka (61,000), in the plain between the Danube and the Theiss ; Debreczia (51,000), in a similar plain on the left of the Theiss; Agram (20,000 inhabitants), capital of Croatia and Slavonia; the free port of Fiume (21,000 inhabitants), the principal commercial and industrial centre on the Croatian coast; and in Transylvania, Klausenburg (30,000 inhabitants), Maros -Vasarhely (13,000 inhabit- ants), Hermannstadt (19,000 inhabitants), and Kronstadt (30,000 inhabitants). EUSSIA. 403 CHAPTEE VII. THE ETJSSIAN EMPIRE. 1. Hxtent — Government. The whole of Eastern Europe is comprised within the limits of the Eussian Empire, which is not only the largest state in Europe, but ranks next after the British Empire among the states of the world ; for, besides its European territory, it embraces the whole of Northern Asia, a great portion of Central Asia, and the region of the Caucasus. When we leave Wirballen, the Eusso- Prussian frontier-station, we do so with the cheerful consciousness that we are henceforth at liberty to proceed eastwards for something like ninety-five degrees of longi- tude without having again to pass through the ordeals of a border custom-house, until we fall, perhaps, into the hands of some yeUow-skinned Mongolian officials on the frontiers of the Celestial Empire. In the present chapter our remarks must be restricted to European Eussia alone, which forms the most important portion of this colossal state. The head of this vast Empire, the Czar, as he is here called, is an absolute monarch, still unshackled by any legislative or other constitutional factors. He is at once the temporal and spiritual head of the State, to whom are subject both the Privy Council and the Imperial Council, consisting of the members of the imperial family — that is, the grand-dukes, the heads of the army and navy, the senate, and the holy 404 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. synod or assembly of the highest ecclesiastical function- aries. For administrative purposes European Eussia is divided into a number of " governments," and these again are subdivided into circles. Exclusive of the Caucasus — though this province is regarded by the Eussians as in Europe — there are 68 governments altogether, differing greatly in size, and named mostly after their chief towns. Several of these governments are often grouped together on historic or ethnical grounds under one name. Of such groups the most extensive is Great Eussia, comprising no less than nineteen governments in the heart of the state, and including the whole of the north except Finland, while stretching southwards almost to the Southern Steppes. In this latter region of the Dnieper lies Little Eussia or Ukrania, embracing four governments, and bounded on the north-west by West Eussia, with eight governments, three of which form the so-called province of White Eussia. Since 1868 Poland has been completely incorporated with the Eussian Empire, and divided into ten govern- ments. The four governments of Kourland, Livonia, Esthonia, and Ingermannland or St. Petersburg, are com- prised under the general name of the Baltic Provinces, and of these the three first, often wrongly spoken of as Teutonic domain, enjoy certain exceptional political privi- leges. A far greater degree of local independence is possessed by the eight Finnish governments, or laens, as they are here called, for Finland boasts of a distinct system of administration, with popular representation presided over by a representative of the Emperor. In fact it is not a homogeneous member of the Empire, but a thoroughly independent state, with a constitutional and monarchical form of government, its sovereign being the Czar, and its independence being shown in its possession of a special coinage and postage stamps of its own. RUSSIA ETHNICAL ELEMENTS. 406 In the south-east of Great Eussia we meet the former imperial territory of Kazan and Astrakhan, both with five governments, and the latter bordering on New or South Eussia, extending along the Black Sea, and also comprising five governments. 2. Heterogeneous Ethnical Elements — The Great and Little Russians : the Finnic Theory. It will be evident from this grouping of the various provinces that the Empire itself is not inhabited by a homogeneous race, and in this respect no state in the whole world is occupied by a greater variety of nation- alities than Eussia, embracing as it does within its limits upwards of a hundred different peoples, speaking as many as forty distract languages. At the same time, with all this diversity, the Slavs, and more particularly the Great Eussians, form numerically the great majority of the people, on which account Eussia itself enjoys a far higher degree of ethnical unity than either Austria or Turkey. To this must be added the important fact that by far the larger portion of the 85,000,000 of inhabitants in European Eussia, out of a total of 98,000,000 ia the whole Empire, belong to the Greek or Orthodox Church. Language, religion, and social habits thus tend to mute the Eussian people in one mighty nation, the great bulk of whom speak substantially one tongue, with such dialectic divergence as is represented by the Great, White, and little Eussian branches. But in any case there remain some 40,000,000 of Great Eussians, possessing such a marked uniformity of national type as but few other nations can pretend to. Of the diverse foreign elements interspersed amongst the Slavs, the Finnic predominates amongst the Great, the Letto-Lithuanian amongst the White, and the Tatar 406 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. amongst the Little Eussians, though the last-named are, on the whole, of pure Slavonic blood. The estimates as to the total number of the Eussian Slavs vary very greatly. According to Buschen, they number upwards of 58,000,000, and of these 66 per cent are Great Eussians, 27 per cent Little Eussians, and 7 per cent White Eussians. On the ground of the admixture of foreign ethnical elements with them, some writers have regarded the Great Eussians as fundamentally a Finnic, Mongolian, or " Turanian ; " — in a word, a non- Aryan Slavonised people, without any right to the name of "Eussians." This theory, although, as might be expected, eagerly adopted by Polish writers, has already been fully refuted by the Euthenian savant Professor Kostomarof, who clearly shows that the Great and Little Eussians, with all their historical and ethnographical differences, are substantially two branches of one and the same stock. Professor Ealston^ also has not only con- firmed the claim of the Eussians to be regarded as a genuine Aryan race, but further shows that they have preserved the common inheritance of primitive Aryan legends and traditions better than most other members of the family. Between the Great and Little Eussian idioms the dif- ference is not great. The former is spoken by the Great Eussians proper, the Don and other Kossacks of Great Eussian descent, as well as by the West Eussians in the former Polish provinces. The latter is the speech, not only of all the Little Eussians proper, but also of the Podolians, Polish Ukranians, Kossacks of the Black Sea, besides all other Kossacks of Little Eussian origin. All the Kossacks^ without exception are true and genuine ' Russian Folk Tales. By W. R. S. Ralston : London, 1873. ^ See Fr. V. Stein, Die Eussischen Kosaksnheere : Ergdmmngsheft, 71, to 'Peteima.na.' a Mittheilungen: Gotha, 1882. RUSSIA THE MUSJIK. 407 Eussians in descent, speech, religion, and customs, and all Russians are essentially one in speech; the two main branches, that is. Great and Little, differing far less, one from the other, than do the High and Low German tongues. This great uniformity is due mainly to the uniformity and open aspect of the land itself, where everything,— man and beast, soil and vegetation, wiad and weather, — bear one and the same uniform stamp. 3. National Types — The Musjik — The Bussian " Gentleman." Of these the Great Eussians occupy the most promi- nent position. Amongst them a leading type is that of the Musjik, a friendly, harmless creature, absolutely free of all " book-learning," superstitious, and thoroughly loyal. For generation after generation of his forefathers the Church formed a bulwark against all foreign invasions and a refuge in time of need. Hence he fosters for his religion a feeling of love and thankfulness such as probably no other people entertain for theirs. On the other hand, the heathendom that still universally prevailed a thousand years ago has left influences behind it by which his belief has been profoimdly modified, often rendering it well-nigh impossible to draw the line between the old paganism and the modem Christianity. It is at times equally difficult to distinguish between the good and bad qualities in the character of the Musjik himself; to determine, for in- stance, where his patient endurance becomes stolid stub- bornness, where his genial joviality degenerates to dis- gusting debauchery. Throughout life he retains certain childlike and even childish features. Delighted and dis- tracted by every trifle, seldom showiug himself capable of earnest thought, he moves in a narrow groove on to the grave, never perhaps stimulated by any elevated sentiment. 408 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. never troubling himseK about personal dignity or freedom. If he is to be bappy he must be ruled with a friendly but firm hand, seldom feeling quite at ease when released from the restraint of the leading strings. Such are the more prominent characteristics of the Musjik in town and country, except that the influence of town life has mostly a deleterious effect upon him. Being naturally inclined to intemperance, and with somewhat cloudy notions on the rights of property, these evil traits are, as might be expected, much more highly developed in large cities than in the rural districts. Yet he seldom sinks quite so low as the criminal element in more civilised lands ; and he at least lacks the refine- ments of vice. The educated Eussian is described byOtto Wahli as highly intelligent, and endowed with great powers of perception and adaptibUity, though stiU way^rard, even where own interests are concerned, soon relaxing in his efforts, and inclined to spendthrift ways. He sacrifices everything for the moment, never thinking a passing whim or impulse too dearly purchased. Alternately for- bearing and arrogant, jealous, irresolute, and hesitating, or else energetic and persistent, he presents altogether a strange union of contrasts. At the same time the pro- foundly modified relations brought about by the abolition of serfdom may also possibly rescue the upper classes ^ TM Land of the Czar: London, 1875. RUSSIAN PEASANT. his WHITE RUSSIANS AND LITTLE RUSSIANS. 409 from their apathy, and stimulate their natural impulsive- ness to earnest work, and thereupon depends to a large extent the future of Eussia. 4. The White Russians, Poles, wnd Serbs — The Letto- Lithuanians — The Germans in Russia. The White Eussians present a somewhat gloomier picture. Poverty-stricken, and but little familiar with the comforts and blessings of civilisation, they are at least exceptionally good- natured and inoffensive. They can boast neither of the robust constitutions nor the numerous families and patriarchal ciistoms of the Great Eussians. Few, if any, traces of the former Polo -Lithuanian rule can now be detected, the Poles themselves having entirely disappeared from these pro- vinces. More like the Poles are their neighbours and former subjects the Little Eussians, the most genial and gifted of all the inhabitants of the Empire. More deli- cately organised than the Great Eussians, — fond of music, song, and flowers, and altogether alive to the beauties of nature, — they supply the romantic element in Eussian life, which we should seek for in vain amongst the White Eussians. Other nations of Slavonic blood in Eussia are the Poles, Serbs, and Bulgarians, besides a few thousand Tsekhs settled mostly in Caucasia. The Poles are the KTTSSIAN PEASANT WOMAN. 410 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. next most important people in the Empire, numbering altogether about 5,000,000, though here again the estimates vary considerably. About four-fifths of these inhabit the ten governments of Poland proper. The intelligent, industrious, and also warlike Serbs number scarcely more than 8000, residing in the southern border lands. On the other hand, there are nearly 100,000 Bulgarians, who have founded large colonies in Bessarabia, Taurida, and Kherson. Some very interesting peoples are found in the Baltic provinces, where the Letto - Lithuanian and Finnic or Chudic elements come in contact. The Letts and Lithu- anians, the southern neighbours of the great mass of the Finnic populations, form at present the maia stock of the iuhabitants of Livonia, Kourland, the government of Kovno, the north-western portion of Vilna, and the north of Augustovo, as far south as Grodno. The Lithuanians are mostly Eoman Catholics, and are mainly occupied with agriculture, and to a small extent with cattle-breeding. The Letts are a kindly but somewhat heavy race, though not deficient in capacity for improvement. With the exception of 50,000 members of the Orthodox Greek Church they are Lutherans, and so far instructed that aU can at least read, and most of them write also. Yet many superstitions are still current amongst them. The resemblance in their character and national usages shows that the Letto-Lithuanians are akin to the Slavs. Many ethnologists even suppose that the Lithuanian stock was not originally distinct from the Slavonic, and only sub- sequently diverged through the admixture of Gothic and Chudic elements, and philological research would seem to point in the same direction. Some recent philologists, in fact — such as Max MiiUer ^ and Friedrich Miiller — group the two together in their linguistic schemes. ' Science (ff Language, i. 411 : London, 1864. EUSSIA LETTS AND LITHUANIANS. 411 Lettic and Lithuanian belong of course to the same group, and Schleicher, who some twenty years ago stated that Lettic stood in the same relation to Lithuanian that Italian does to Latin, would now perhaps admit of even a closer affinity between them. Grewingk treats Lettic as a younger sister of Lithuanian, and in any case the resemblance of both to Slavonic can no longer be called in question. In the Letto-Lithuanian domain, the "German " Baltic provinces as they are often misnamed, there are certainly here and there some scattered and isolated German com- munities, foremost amongst which are those of Eiga, Windau, Libau, and Diinaburg. The German language reaches even into the Finnic domain, beiag current in Dorpat, Eevel, and along a small portion of the Esthonian coast. But these Baltic Germans, though increasing in relative number, do not yet amount to one-fifth of the entire population in Esthonia, Livonia, and Kourland. German is spoken by the nobility and townsfolk, Lettish or Esthonian by the peasantry. While showing a certain aptitude for improvement, the Letts still keep aloof both from the Germans and the Esthonians, differing even in their dress from the latter, and displaying more cleanliness, order, and comfort in their dwellings than the peasantry of East and West Prussia, who, though now Germanised, were originally closely related to them. The Letts agree with the Finnic Esthonians only in their common hatred of their German masters, and there are Lettish districts where the word " Vahzesh " (German) is stiU. a direct term of reproach. It may here be mentioned that besides those of the Baltic provinces there are numerous other German colonies in Eussia, especially in the south, and even in the Crimea and Caucasia. These settlers stiU preserve both their Teutonic speech and even the dress in vogue at the time 412 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. when they migrated thither. The towns founded by them are generally named after those in the home country — Worms, Speyer, Landau, Heidelberg, etc., and their total number has been estimated at about 800,000. In reli- gion they show a partiality for certain peculiar, but for- tunately harmless, sects, the best known of which are that of the peaceable Mennonites, an Anabaptist community possessing many adherents amongst the German colonists of South Eussia, and the Moravian settlement of Sarepta on the Volga, in the government of Saratof. 5. The, Swedes of Finland — Finland and the Finns. Another branch of the Teutonic family represented in Eussia are the Swedes, dwelling in a compact mass espe- cially along the south coast of Finland. Here they number between 200,000 and 300,000, and are occupied mainly with agriculture and navigation. The Swedes are exclusively Protestants, and form the ruling class in the principality of Finland, which might therefore be called " Swedish " with as much right as the Baltic provinces have been called " German." Swedish is even the official language in Finland, and the proceedings of the Finnish diet in Helsingfors, capital of the principality, are con- ducted in the same language. At the same time the great bulk of the population are Finns, numberiag about 1,550,000, and mostly belonging to the Lutheran con- fession. O The commerce of Finland is not inconsiderable. Abo, the former capital of the country, was the chief seaport and commercial centre in mediaeval times, but since its annexation to Eussia its trade has moved farther east to Helsingfors and Vyborg. The only manufacturing town of any note is Tammerfors, a little place which the Fin- landers are fond of calling "the Finnish Manchester." EUSSIA FINLAND. 413 Here are some important cotton-spinning factories, paper and machinery works, and the place is now connected by rail with Vyborg and St. Petersburg. The exports consist mainly of timber, planks, and tar, and so considerable is the commercial movement that, notwithstanding the poverty of the interior, a certain pros- perity prevails along the seaboard. Finland, which has a coinage of its own, has adopted the French decimal system, the mark corresponding to the franc, and hke it being divided into 100 units (jpennid, or pennies). There can be no doubt that in former times the Finnic race was spread much farther south than at present, and that it has been driven into the inhospitable region now occupied by it in the northern extremity of the continent solely, or at all events mainly, through the continuous pressure of the Teutonic and Slavonic peoples. But this displacement of the Finns by the Letts and others naturally took place very gxadually. Even so recently as the time of the first appearance of the Germans, the inhabitants of Livonia were a powerful and warlike Finnish people, and not Letts, as they now mostly are. Most of the Finns, originally nomad fishing or hunting tribes, have long since risen in the social scale above this savage state, through the influence of more civilised races adopting a settled pastoral or agricultural Hfe. The Ostyaks and Lapps alone have been compelled by climatic conditions to continue their nomad life, sup- porting themselves mainly on the reindeer, and partly also by fishing. Some of these tribes have had the advantage of embracing Christianity, and with it the civilisation of the West. The Finns themselves have lived so long in contact with other races that they also often show a very mixed character. During the period of racial migrations they became mingled with Turkish or Tatar peoples on both 414 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRA.PHY AND TRAVEL. sides of the Ural, whilst others already settled in Europe were subjected to Teutonic and Slavonic influences, and others, again, became intermixed with North Siberian races. Physically the Finns are, as a rule, strongly built, but of low stature, with almost round head, forehead little developed, low, and arched, flat features, prominent cheek- bones, as amongst the Mongolian race generally ; eyes mostly gray and oblique, the outer corner pointing up- wards ; short and flat nose, protruding mouth, thick lips, neck very thickset, so that the back of the head appears flat and almost in a straight line with the nape of the neck. The beard is weak and straggling, but the hair is not exclusively black, being also brown, red, and fair, while the complexion is brownish. With honesty, hospitality, trustworthiness, and perse- verance, together with a certain sense of personal freedom and independence, they combine the vices of obstinacy, revenge, and cruelty. They are also indolent, disobliging, and of uncleanly habits. 6. The Kalmiwks, Tatars, Sdmoyedes, and other Races. Amongst the peoples of Mongolian race settled in Eussia are the Kalmucks, about 100,000 strong in the governments of Astrakhan, Stavropol, and the steppes of the Don Kossacks. Another branch of the Kalmucks lives in the Siberian governments of Tomsk and Yeniseisk. The Kalmucks are nomad tribes, professing Buddhism, and seldom adopting the Christian religion. They are, on the whole, an intelligent race, capable of rising in the scale of social culture, though all science, learning, and even the healing art, have hitherto remained the exclusive monopoly of their Buddhist priests. In the vicinity of Kazan, on the Volga, there are some EUSSIA UKALO-ALTAIC RACES. 415 Mohammedan Tatar settlements, — the home of a temper- ate, honest people, anxious to improve their social status. Most of them can read, write, and count, in consequence of ■which the young men are in favour with the mer- chants and tradespeople. In the Crimea also the Tatar element is numerous and prominent enough to impart KALMUCKS. a decidedly Oriental aspect to the whole country. The Tatars of the coast are a tall, handsome, intelligent- looking people, and their old- capital, Bakchiserai, is a purely Oriental city; in race, religion, and national customs thoroughly Tatar. There is not much to be said in favour of the Samoyedes, also a branch of the Great Uralo - Altaic family, who lead a nomad life, roaming over the toimdras 416 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. of Northern Siberia in a state little, if at all, removed from absolute barbarism. Although a few of them belong nominally to the Greek Church the majority are still pagans, worshipping rudely-carved figures of deities, and still showing a strong tendency towards fetishism.'^ Amongst the other less prominent ethnical elements in Eussia may be mentioned the Greeks, Eoumanians, ,^/ffMK?i ' K/yv^^ SAMOTBDB HUTS. Armenians, and Gipsies ; lastly, the Jews, that veritable pest of all Slavonic lands, conspicuous amongst whom in Eussia are the Karaim Jews. 7. Culture and Social Life of the Hussiam. In the foregoing remarks it was impossible to do ' Edward Rae, The Land of the North Wind; or Travels among the Laplanders and Samoyedes : London, 1875. RUSSIAN PEASANT HOUSES. J'o/oc6jmj6 41T. EtrSSIA SOCIAL LIFE. 417 more than refer in a general way to the leading ethnical elements of East Europe, a region which is alone nearly as extensive as aU. the rest of the continent. Nor will our available space allow us to do more than touch upon some of the main features in the social and moral aspect of Eussia. Characteristic in this respect is the striking contrast which immediately presents itself on crossing the western frontiers of the Empire. When passing elsewhere from one country to another we meet with gradual trans- itions in speech, manners, costume, appearance, and structure of the houses. But here language, customs, dress, even the coinage, and a thousand other features, constantly remind us that we are in a strange and foreign land. We are struck especially by the peculiar form and colour of the churches and house-tops, the favourite tones here being a sky-blue, gold, or dark green, and occasionally blue, studded with silver stars. The churches themselves present the aspect of little citadels. With the exception of a few built by Peter the Great on Dutch models, they all assume the cruciform shape, and are otherwise per- vaded by a subtle Oriental atmosphere. The houses of the better classes m the country are nearly always planned after the Swiss style, and also decked with green or blue roofs, and occasionally red, though not tiled, but covered with zinc, painted red. The peasantry and day-labourers dwell in little cabins with thatch roofs, seldom provided with flues, the smoke mostly maldng its escape through the doorway. This primitive method is naturally not free from danger of occasional conflagrations, which the insurance companies, supported by the authorities, are endeavouring to obviate by introducing more civilised arrangements. But against all such efforts the Musjik obstinately sets his face, declaring that what was good enough for his fathers must be good enough for himself also. 2 E 418 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAYBL. 8. The Village Commune or Mir. Count Cavour once remarked that the Eussian village commune system, the " Mir," as it is called, is " destined to go the round of the globe." It has, on the other hand, been condemned by political economists as opposed to the social development and free action of the individual The term " Mir " means " -world," and the system in question forms in truth a little world of its own. But the antiquated idea that it was a peculiar Slavonic insti- tution is now exploded. In the Mir there must be distinguished an administrative and an economical ele- ment, the local administration being of a very simple character. The commune generally possesses a solitary of&cial or " starost " (literally " the oldest "), chosen at the communal elections, and administering the affairs of the village with the help of the communal assembly. So far the Mir is an organ of local self-government. But, on the other hand, in its economical arrangement it differs essentially from anything of the kind to be met with in Western Europe. It is legally and de facto in possession of all the communal lands, with the absolute power to parcel them out according to traditional rights and usages. At the same time all the members of the commune are personally responsible for the general and individual taxes. The communal lands consist — 1st, of the ground on which the village stands and its immediate environs ; 2d, of arable land ; 'and 3d, of grazing grounds. On the first -every family receives a wooden house with a court and vegetable garden, often also with a strip of ground on which to raise a crop of hemp. House and garden are heritable property, with the single reservation that they cannot be bequeathed to a member of another commune. EUSSIA THE VILLAGE COMMUNE. 419 But of the arable and pasture lands the population enjoys the usTifruct only in a ratio corresponding to the number of the male inhabitants of the place. As soon as a mem- ber of the commune pays the capitation tax and other imposts he also receives his share in the communal lands, so that the assessments are to some extent a land tax, the public charges and the allotments always standing in cer- tain definite relations one to the other, which again necessitates constant repartitions of the land.^ But althoiigh self-governed, the Mir forms after all a community of bondsmen. Only as a member of the commune has the peasant any standing or means of sub- sistence in the land. Once expelled from it he becomes a social pariah. At the same time the commune itself exercises the most terrible supervision over its individual members, and within its pale the head of the family and the priest are again practically little tyrants in their way. The knut, though legally abolished, still continues to be vigorously applied in the most patriarchal fashion, and the Musjik submits to the lash with all humility and resigna- tion. This meddlesome supervision penetrates into all the social and domestic relations, in which even the rudest peoples elsewhere enjoy a certain degree of personal free- dom. The patriarch, or the priest, and the match-maker arrange the marriages between them, without even con- sulting the wishes of the parties more immediately con- cerned. Until the year 1861 the Eussian peasantry languished in the bondage of serfdom under the noble owners of the land, who estimated their means according to the number of " souls " on their property. The peasant was unable to shake off the yoke without the sanction of his master, who might either decHne to accept a price for, or refuse to grant him, his freedom. There were wealthy mer- ■■ D. Mackenzie "Wallace, Russia, i. 178-209 : London, 1877. 420 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. chants, artists, and writers who stOl remained serfs, and though this state of things has been abolished, it has been succeeded by another with many dark features of its own. X^. 9. Beligion — The State Church — Dissenters — Education. The ruling religion in Eussia is the Orthodox Greek Church, at whose head is the Czar with the "Holy Synod." The clergy are divided into the so-called " white," or married secular priest- hood, and the "black," or regular order of monks. The former are more intimately asso- ciated with the social life of the people, while in the hands of the latter is the supreme control of ecclesiastical affairs. There are at present altogether about 600 monasteries and nun- neries of the Greek Church in the Empire. The people themselves are intensely religious, but split up into countless sects, often of the most eccentric character, and the entire southern zone of the State may be said to be occupied by dissenting communities. All these " Schismatics," or raskolniki, are divided into the so-called " Staroviertz," or old believers, forming a sort of popular church, with numerous adherents especially amongst the northern peasantry and the Don Kossacks, KUSSIAN PPJEST. RUSSIA ^RELIGION AND EDUCATION. 421 and the '' dissenters " properly so called, of whom there are hundreds of sects. This statement will, of itself, suffice to dispel the illusion that the reveries of these Eussian sectaries are inspired by political motives, though it cannot be denied that some of them have manifested political tendencies. Nor amongst the religious sects can be included the " Nihilism " so widely spread even amongst the women of the upper classes. This is a purely atheistic and democratic association aiming at the immediate subversion of all the social and political in- stitutions that have been developed by the most civilised nations of Western Europe. Public instruction is still in a very low state all over the Empire. The national schools that do exist are gener- ally deficient in the means of imparting instruction, and are not always placed ia the most convenient sites ; and the consequence is that the number of those who receive no instruction at all is very great. To this picture the sole exception is presented by the Baltic provinces, where compulsory education has been introduced amongst the Lutheran communities since April 25, 1875. These serious defects are frankly admitted and commented on in all official reports, and this candid treatment of the subject is perhaps the best guarantee for future improve- ment. 10. St. Petersbv/rg — Moscow. Of the Eussian cities the two capitals alone call for special mention. Compared with them, aU others, even the most populous, of which there is no lack, are little more than mere provincial towns. Even the wealthy and commercial Odessa, with its splendid buildings, presents no features of a special type, such as might perhaps be in some respects claimed for Archangel (20,000), Kief 422 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. (127,000), and the somewhat Asiatic towns of Kazan (94,000) and Astrakhan (58,000). St. Petersburg, with a present population of 875,000, is perhaps the most formal and stately of European capi- tals. ISTone other is intersected by such a broad stream as the Neva, here nearly a mile wide. The grand features of St. Petersburg culminate in the due proportions observed between the noble quays, streets, and squares, as compared with the size of the river, all conceived on a grand scale, harmonising well with the colossal bidldings flanking them. A uniform style of architecture has also been consistently adhered to, while avoiding the sameness produced by monotonous repetitions. Besides the churches and monas- teries, specially remarkable are the great markets, which form such a prominent feature in all Eussian towns. These Gostinoi-dvor, as they are called, are huge, one- storied buildings, includiag whole lines of shops and warehouses, that on the NevsM- Prospect containing no fewer than 340 of such stores. The public buildings are very numerous, those of the various ministries, the admi- ralty, and the university exceeding in size aU similar structures elsewhere. Some of the theatres also are well worth seeing, while an imposing effect is produced by the numerous palaces of the imperial family, especially the Winter Palace on the Neva. If to these are added the many splendid residences of the nobles, it will be readily understood that St. Petersburg takes a foremost position- amongst European capitals for the size and magnificence of its public edifices. Moscow, with a present population of more than 600,000, and characterised by a decidedly Oriental colour- ing, is reached by express train from St. Petersburg in fifteen hours. Moscow is the holy city of the Eussians, the Eome of the Eusso -Greek Church, the city of convents, churches, and chimes. But it is also the seat of wealth. KUSSIA MOSCOW. 423 of the aristocracy, of the merchant classes, and the centre of the interior trade of the country. Previous to the foundation of St. Petersburg by Peter the Great it was the capital of the Empire, and it will ever be memorable ^^.s^fer- CHURCH OF THE SMOLNOI CONVENT. in history as marking the turning-point in the hitherto victorious career of Napoleon Bonaparte. With the Kremlin and its surroundings are associated aU the memories of its past greatness, and around the Kremlin the present also ever wreathes fresh charms. This is not 424 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. SO much, a single palace or castle as an accumulation of palaces, public of&ces, ecclesiastical edifices, and open places, crowning the hill of this name, which itself com- mands the whole city, in the very heart of which it is situated. It is difficult to convey a just idea of the impression produced by a general view of Moscow. Bearing in mind that a Eusso-Greek church is usually adorned not merely with one or two towers, but with a large central dome encircled by four smaller domes or towers, all, without exception, covered with metal, gilded or silvered over, or painted in one or many colours, — light-green, blue, or even pink ; every dome and pinnacle further surmounted by a large gilt cross attached to the ridge of the roof, with heavy uniform chains in filigree work; we can readily understand that in the bright sunshine there is produced a glitter and a dazzling play of light and colour, giving the traveller from the West a foretaste of the East such as can nowhere else be matched in Europe, except perhaps in Constantinople. The streets of Moscow are always wide, flanked with comparatively low but roomy houses, and often with splendid structures, though the effect is imfortunately much impaired by the absence of all sanitary measures. Altogether, although the old capital is, in many respects, more interesting, and even more wealthy, than the new, it cannot, compare in beauty and elegance with the truly imperial city of St. Petersburg. 11. Natural Besources — Bailway and Telegraphic Systems. With its enormous internal resources of every sort this mighty Empire is almost entirely independent of the rest of the world. Thus we have in the north a region quite as large as Spain entirely covered with timber. Then comes another tract of equal size whose population EUSSIA NATUEAL EESOUECES. 425 is engaged in every industrial art, relying for its fuel on the first. Farther on is a vast region, twice the size of France, whose moist black soil, an account of which is given in the previous portion of this work (p. 169), has produced the most abundant wheat crops for upwards of a century without ever requiring to be manured. It is this last portion of the country whose resources are probably of most consequence for the future develop- ment of Eussia. How important these are already may be inferred from the fact that the provinces covered by this soil, though embracing at the highest estimate less than one-fourth of the total area of Eussia, are estimated to contaia 53 per cent of the entire population, and to produce 68 per cent of the entire crop of cereals, at the expense of only 5 9 per cent of the total quantity of seed sown.^ But it must be remembered that these figures are very far from showuig what the soil in this part of Eussia is capable of. Though the richness of the soil has made this part of Europe renowned for its fertUity since the time of the Eomans, so primitive is the mode of agricul- ture still pursued here that the ground does not produce a tithe of what it might do. The explanation of this backward state of agriculture in a region so highly favoured as regards soil is to be found partly in the physical features of the region and partly in the history of the country. There is no inducement to cultivate the ground carefully when there is no outlet for surplus crops, and such an outlet can be procured only where there are adequate means of communication. Now it has already been pointed out in the physical section of this work that the great rivers of Southern Eussia are rather obstacles to intercourse than highways of communication with the outer world. Most of them have their channels obstructed near their mouths in such a way as to hinder ^ Oscar Pesohel, Europdische Staatenkunde, p. 145. 426 coMPENoroM of geography AOT) tkavel. navigation. They are, moreover, subject to inundations, and the whole country is apt ia wet seasons to be con- verted into a vast slough, so that the construction of good roads is a difficult matter, and, in fact, such roads are almost entirely absent in Southern Eussia. Further, this region was, till comparatively recent times, occupied by untamed nomadic hordes, who rendered the Me of settled cultivators of the ground insecure, so that the Eussians preferred to migrate in search of new land northwards towards the forest region rather than southwards into the Black Soil, notwithstanding the natural advantages that the latter presented. Eecently, however, all this- has been to a large extent altered, and further improvements may be expected to take place in the near future. Communication with the outer world has been provided by means of railways. The nomadic hordes have been subdued. The conse- quence is that this fertile region is now attracting large numbers of settlers from the less favoured districts farther north. Whole villages sometimes migrate in a body, and that in spite of the efforts of the authorities to prevent this displacement of population.^ Mean- while there is such abundance of imoccupied land that this internal migration is not leading to any improve- ment in the mode of agriculture. Virgin soil does not require high farming, and as long as that is found in plenty it may be expected that the cultivators will prefer to seek new land when the old is exhausted rather than bestow labour and expense on making the old fertile. But it is obvious that as this goes on a time must come when extensive culture, as it is called, will give place to intensive, when high farming must be adopted to maintain the increasing population. Since the introduction of railways aU that is wanted to bring ^ D. Mackenzie Wallace, Bicssia, ii. 416, fgg. EUSSIA NATUEAL EESOUEGES. 427 about this result is peace and order and the higher organisation accompanying an advancing civilisation. When these have had their full effect it may con- fidently be believed that this part of Europe wiU support an enormously greater population than it does at present, though how large it would be impossible to say. At present, if we take the fourteen govern- ments of Volhynia, Podolia, Bessarabia, Kief, Chernigof, Poltava, Kharkof, Tula, Orel, Voronej, Eiazan, Tambof, and Penza, as constituting the best part of the Black Soil region, we find that their total population, according to the most recent estimate, is only 27,350,000 ; about 100 to the square mile. The almost purely agricultural provinces of Flanders in Belgium have a population of 660 to the square mile, so that even if we take the utmost attainable limit at something considerably less than that, we may still believe that a population of about 150,000,000, or 5-J times the present one, is possibly capable of being supported by the governments above named ; and hence we may imagine of what great importance the development of the Black Soil region must be for the future history of Eussia. 428 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AIJD TRAVEL, CHAPTEE VIII. SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 1. Govermment and Constitution of the two States. - The kingdoms of Sweden and Norway are connected to- gether only by a sort of personal union — that is to say, both crowns are worn by the same prince, and both governments are represented abroad by the same diplo- matic corps. In all other respects they form two perfectly distinct states, so that we have a Swedish and a Norwegian army and navy, administration, and so on. Each country possesses its own institutions and laws, and had, till recently, its own mint. But by a special Scandinavian monetary convention Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have now one coinage in common. In Sweden the king is assisted by a Privy Council and a Parliament with two Chambers. In Norway there is also a Council of State, and the Storthing, or Great Council of the Commons, with two branches, the LagthiTig, or legislative body, and the Odelsthing, or assembly of the landed gentry. The Lagthing consists of one-fourth of the members of the Odelsthing, chosen by the Storthing. There is a titled nobUity in Sweden, but not in Norway, where, however, the larger landed proprietors practically constitute a sort of aristocracy. THE NOESE EACE. 429 2. The Character of the Norse Race. The usages and institutions of this country, removed as it is from the great stream of national intercourse, are still marked by a certain simplicity, recaUiag the practices of bygone times. This is also largely due to the peculiar and strongly -marked features of the Scandi- navian character. This brave and hardy race, overflowing with energy, enterprising, proud of and devotedly attached to the fatherland, is indebted for these qualities to the physical conditions of the country, and the occupations thereby imposed upon them. Nurtured by the sea, which he looks on as his second home, the Scandinavian stUl proudly remembers the Vikings, those daring seafarers who once went forth in small but skilfully -constructed vessels to conquer the world, and over whose grassy mounds may stiQ often be seen monuments covered with Eunic inscriptions. The soil itself yields him but a scanty subsistence, and mining and seafaring probably employ a greater proportion of the population than in any other country ia the world. Hence his pleasures also are of a very simple description, his homely fare consisting mostly of a sort of biscuit, in times of scarcity mixed with the bark of the birch tree. He lives a somewhat secluded life in his gaard, or farm- stead, on Sundays alone associating with his few ac- quaintances on the way to and from the parish church. The hygdes also, bearing some remote resemblance to our idea of a village, are very thinly dotted over the land. All these and other circumstances tend to foster a certain healthy and conservative element in the Norse- man. He has forgotten none of the memories of the heroic past, nay more, the old Teutonic mythology still survives in familiar lays and sagas. Giants and elfs 430 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. are not yet dead, but continue to hold commune with the people. The Scandinavian is profoundly religious, and his Protestantism is so severe that it recalls the days of the Thirty Years' War. And here the dark side of the picture is an iutolerance of other creeds. All creeds are indeed tolerated by the State, but the feeHng of the people has hitherto been such as to exclude the Jews altogether, and the Catholics almost entirely, from the country. The three great branches of the Scandinavian family do not differ materially from each other. The Swede, however, passes for the Frenchman of the North — ^the man of refined tastes with a delicate appreciation of the pleasures of existence. This is partly due to the country itself, where the soil, especially in the south, is more fertile and the climate less rainy than elsewhere. Of aU the N"orse dialects Swedish is also the most sonorous, and is peculiarly adapted to poetic expression in all its forms. In Norway Danish is stOl the language of the upper classes, and it is not long since Norwegian has been employed in literature ; yet the gifted Bjornstjerna Bjornson has composed masterly novels in this dialect, his works affording a deep insight into the national life of the people. The Norwegian is exclusive, and has impressed the spirit of this exclusiveness on the constitution, which practically excludes aU except the landed gentry and the government of&cials from political rights. Altogether the Scandinavian is honest, conscientious, religious, reserved, brave, and energetic. For the sub- ordinate part he plays in politics he seeks to indemnify himself by the recollection of the past greatness of his heroic forefathers. A people so sound at heart and so industrious need not fear for its future. SWEDISH INDUSTEIES. 431 3. State of Education and the Indiistries in Sweden. Public instruction, especially in Sweden, is in a very satisfactory state, and the arrangements in the elementary schools are in many respects models in their way. Very few adults are entirely illiterate. Of the industries, which have been fairly developed in many places, the most active m Sweden is that of the cabinetmakers. The timber trade has for many years been actively carried on in the southern and central districts of Sweden, the chief centre of this industry being Goteborg. A special branch is the manufacture of matches, the explosive materials of which are partly imported from England. Timber is also largely used in house architecture, turnery and wood-carving forming a prominent feature in the household arrangements all over the country. Wood is further the mainstay of the highly important iron industry in Sweden. Unfortun- ately the forests in the neighbourhood of the ironworks are nearly exhausted, while on the other hand most of these works are so far removed from the railway liaes that disastrous consequences have already resulted. There is very little coal in Sweden, but Swedish iron and steel can compete with those of all other countries, not except- ing England. On the cast and wrought iron and steel works is based an excellent manufacture of machiaes, tools, and arms, which has acquired vast proportions, at least for a country like Sweden. 4. Aspect of Town and Country in the South of Sweden. It foUows from its geographical position that Scandi- navia is approached mainly from the south, where Malmo is the chief centre of the railway movement, lines radiating 432 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. thence through Christianstad and Jonkoping to Stockholm, capital of Sweden. Jonkoping, with its long, broad, and straight streets, is a pretty town with from 12,000 to 13,000 inhabit- ants. It lies between Lakes Munk and Eock on the south, and Lake Wetter on the north ; and ships boxmd for this town do not anchor in the treacherous Lake Wetter, but pass through the canal now connecting it with Lake Munk, where there is an excellent harboui'. The steamer plying between Jonkoping and the capital traverses Lake Wetter almost in its entire length, and then carries us through a series of canals and lakes, the last of which is Lake Malar, a lake dotted all over with islands of every form and size, some surmounted with castles, and others studded with peasants' houses and fishing hamlets. A three hours' trip through this lovely lake brings the traveller to Stockholm, capital of Sweden, a city of the most striking contrasts, situated on seven islands at the outlet of Lake Malar into the Baltic. With a population of 170,000, Stockholm is the most beautiful of all northern cities, and for its unique and picturesque situation may well bear comparison with Naples and Constantinople. It has also often been called the Northern Venice, but it is certainly no copy, but rather an original, in many re- spects superior to its southern rival. If eclipsed by the number and splendour of the palaces adorning the Queen of the Adriatic, it, on the other hand, unites everything that Nature has refused to Venice — hills, crags, and vFooded landscapes, while the artificial canals of the Italian city are here represented by natural arms of the sea. From the highest point of Sodermalm, the southern suburb of Stockholm, originally a rugged mountain, the view is superb. The island-city lies at our feet, and on our right another island, the Djurgarten (UteraUy deer- SWEDEN LAKE MALAE. 433 garden), formerly a royal deer-park, but now converted into piiblic pleasure-grounds, with numerous restaurants, caf^s, and other attractions, rendering it one of the most pleasant places of the kind anywhere to be met with, both in winter and summer. In Lake Malar there are some 1300 islands, while its bluffs, headlands, narrows, bays, and creeks are beyond counting. In one place it resembles a concourse of streams ramifying in all directions, in another a majestic inland sea serving as a glittering perspective to the summer re- treats of the royal family of Sweden. In its waters are mirrored the towers of Gripsholm, the grand flight of steps leading to Drottningholm and the terraces of Ulriksdal. Gripsholm is a mediaeval castle, whose solemn halls, now occupied by long rows of knightly armour, have outlived many a revolution, and whose keep has served as the prison for many a dethroned prince. Drottningholm, on the other hand, is a magnificent building, the favourite residence of the reigning family ; whUe ULriksdal, nestling in one of the lovely inlets of the lake, is occupied by the art-loving king himself. ITorth of Stockholm lies the university town of Upsala (16,000), in a somewhat monotonous but fertile district, at a point where Lake Malar shrinks to the proportions of a river mouth. Though an old name it is but a new place, for the wooden structures of the Swedish towns fall too often a prey to the flames to grow old. The prettily-situated town of Gefle (19,000), the third com- mercial emporium in Sweden, was almost entirely burnt down in 1869, and has been since then rebuilt. It has two docks, a school of navigation, and does a large trade in wood and iron. 2 -B 434 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 5. Balecarlia and its People. From Gefle the railway leads westwards by Lake Eunn to Falun (7000), capital of the former pro-vince of Dalecarlia, which differs not a little both physically and ethnographically from the southern districts of Sweden. The inhabitants of Dalecarlia are a robust race, endowed with much mother-wit and mechanical skill, which dis- plays itself in clock -making, hair-plaiting, etc. The winter they spend mostly at home, and in summer they retail their wares in Sweden, Denmark, and England, or else seek employment, especially in the capital. But as they return yearly to their native valleys they bring more and more foreign usages with them, and thus the simplicity of manners by which Dalecarlia has ever been distin- guished is gradually disappearing. There still lingers, however, a national costume, which has long vanished from the southern and central districts. Falun owes its importance mainly to its copper mines, though even these are far from being as productive as they were two or three centuries ago. Other considerable towns in the south of Sweden are Karlskrona (18,000), situated on some rocky islets in the Baltic, and Goteborg or Gothenburg (76,000), at the entrance to the Kattegat, the second seaport in Sweden. In the island of Gotland, that is, " Goodland," lies "Wisby (6000 inhabitants), at one time a leading Hanse town and one of the centres of the Baltic trade. 6. Social Condition of the Norwegians — Christiania — Bergen. Somewhat different are the social relations in the neighbouring kingdom of Iforway, a land possessing, on the whole, a less degree of culture than Sweden. The population is at present multiplying too rapidly for the NORWAY PEOPLE. 435 resources of the country, and hence Norway, as is shown by one of the tables under the heading " Vital Statistics " in the Statistical Appendix, furnishes a relatively larger number of emigrants than any other country in Europe except Ireland. Amongst the endemics are Mephantiasis Gh'cecorum (a sort of leprosy), cancer, and especially con- sumption, to which 14 per cent of the deaths are attributed. Idiocy also is very prevalent, a fact which is attributable mairJy to hereditary causes and excessive use of alcoholic drinks. Since 1840 vigorous efforts have been made to arrest the progress of these evils, both by repressive measures and by temperance societies. These efiforts have been fairly successful, and the consumption of brandy sank from 16 litres per head in 1833 to 10 in 1843, and between 1861 and 1865 even to 4, though it has recently again risen. Amongst the upper classes also the use of spirits, at one time so universal, has greatly diminished. In Norway education is compidsory and gratuitous from the age of eight to confirmation, which is generally administered in the fifteenth year. Public instruction is altogether largely influenced by the Church. Its avowed object is above all to impart a thoroughly Christian educa- tion to the youth of the country, so that besides other useful branches of knowledge much attention is devoted to religion, Bible-history, Bible-reading, and psahn-siaging. The Norwegian dwellings are stUl almost exclusively of wood, and tiU within some fifty or sixty years stone and brick buildings were amongst the rarest sights. But for many years a law has been in operation restricting the use of wood in the larger cities to houses of a certain limited size, and regulating the distance at which they must stand from the neighbouring buildings. In the country wood is mostly used for fuel, though peat replaces it in some localities, and coal is frequently 436 ■ COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. met with in the larger towns. And it may here be re- marked that even in this densely-wooded country the cry has already been raised against the reckless destruction of the forests and the consequent scarcity of timber. The people generally bear a good character for cleanliness. CHUKOH AT BOKGUMD, NOllWAY. though there is stiQ room for improvement in this respect in the fishing places on the west coast, and in some of the poorer villages of the south, while matters are stOl worse in Lapland and Finmark. The most important towns in Norway are Christiania, Christiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Throndhjem, Namsb, Bodo, and Tromso. NOEWAY CHIEF TOWNS. 437 Christiania, though the seat of government, a univer- sity town, and a commercial seaport, cannot compare with Stockholm, either for the beauty of its situation, the grandeur and magnificence of its public institutions, or the contents of its museums. This is doubtless partly due to its relatively recent expansion. In the year 1814 it was still a small place of no more than 10,000 inhabit- ants, while it has at present a population of upwards of 90,000, including suburbs. Bergen (34,000) was, under the former Danish rule, the capital of Norway, and is still an important seaport, with a population of 30,000. It is in fact the principal trading place in Norway, and one of the centres of the coast fisheries, receiving annually about 600,000 stock- fish from the Lofoden islands, and exporting 200,000 tons of train-oil and salt fish. It lies at the head of an inlet of the sea running far inland, has narrow, crooked, uneven streets, mostly wooden houses in the peculiar Norwegian style, six public squares, an exchange, a theatre, and a royal palace. 7. Travelling and Scenery in the north of Norway — Throndhjem — The Lofoden Isles — Tromso. The country north of Bergen — Sognefjord, Eomsdal, Throndhjem and the Arctic regions — does not appear to suffer particularly from wet weather, and July being mostly fine is decidedly the best month for traveUing. The northernmost points are all now easily accessible, as there is a weekly steamboat service in summer from Throndhjem along the coast all the way to Vadso, near the Eussian frontier. The steamers, which, of course, run much less frequently in winter, are roomy and comfortable, and stop about every two or three hours at some station. The western seaboard of Norway is so completely 438 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TEATEL. sheltered by islands, or at least low rocky reefs, that the water is always smooth between Christiansand and Hanunerfest, so that the most susceptible are here little liable to sea-sickness. The boat often steams for hours at a time through a sort of strait, and it is on one of these, the so-called " Garden of Norway," that is situated Throndhjem (23,000 iahabitants), the old fortified place where were crowned the kings of Norway. It lies at the mouth of the Md, flowing into the Throndhjem Fjord, which penetrates far into the land. Throndhjem is one of the most interesting and oldest cities ia Norway, forming a handsome semicircle facing seawards, its bright wooden houses rising in terraces one above another, with the venerable cathedral of St. Olaf in the foreground of a green range of hOls. Altogether, though there are some important places still farther north, such as Namso, Bodo, and Tromso, Throndhjem is the most northerly centre of civilisation in Norway. Over against Bodo, at the mouth of the Salten Fjord, lie the southernmost of the Lofoden group, forming a naked rocky chain with the boldest and most fantastic outlines. With their jagged indentations they look like the double row of teeth in the shark's mouth, as they rise in clear weather abruptly out of the water at about 60 miles from Bodo. Some of these rocky heights attain an elevation of nearly 5000 feet, and when covered with snow they present a marvellously-beautiful sight. They are somewhat thickly peopled with a hardy race of fisher- men, occupied principally in the preparation of the raw materials for cod-liver oil. At Bodo we are already within the Arctic circle, but even Tromso, several degrees farther north, is a place of some importance. It stands on a little island, which is separated by a narrow channel from a larger one to the east, sheltering its convenient and much - frequented LAPLAND AND THE LAPPS. 439 harbour from the winds. Here cod and ling are every- where strewn about, drying in the sun, and behind the town rise hills of birch and pine, with a few pretty country seats, which enjoy a fine view of the opposite islands. But the pride of Tromso is its cathedral, a very large and handsome cruciform wooden structure, still retaining its first fresh tones. The interior, which is scrupulously clean, has a fine organ and some beautiful wood-carving 8. Lapland and the Lapps. At Tromso civilisation comes in contact with the first traces of savage life. In its neighbourhood dwell a number of Laplanders, who, although the missionaries have done wonders in the way of educating them, stni continue to occupy a low scale in social culture. Their faculties seem to be of a restricted order, and they form a race apart, like the Gipsies elsewhere in Europe. The Lapps are, at least linguistically, a branch of the Finnish family, and occupy the extreme north of the Scandinavian peninsula and of the adjoining Eussian domain. They are subdivided into fishing or Coast Lapps, and Eeindeer or Mountain Lapps, the so-called Fj eld-Finns, who lead a nomad life with their reindeer herds, and who present the purest type of the race. The former live by fishing, and are called either, ' Elv-Finns " or "Sea-Finns," according as they fish in fresh or salt water. These various branches are called " Skolte-Finns " in Eussia when they belong to the Orthodox Church. They are of low stature, but robust, with broad features and pointed chin. They are of a peaceful disposition, and the Lapp always salutes with the word " peace." On the other hand he is greedy, avaricious, dirty, and is passion- ately fond of alcohohc drinks. They are still enslaved to many superstitions, and there are men and women amongst 440 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. them who pretend to foretell births and deaths. These " charmers," as they are called, have their magic drums, with which they perform. The reindeer especially plays an important part in the offerings to the good and LAPIANDEK. evil deities, and the belief stUl survives that the protect- ing spirit, who invisibly attends every Lapp during his lifetime, is afterwards conducted on a long journey in company with his soul and a young reindeer to wherever the deceased has done either good or evU, in order to determine his reward or his punishment accordingly. The LAPLAND AND THE LAPPS. 441 best of the race are the Norwegian Lapps ; the Swedish, Fianish, and Eussian Lapps standing each one step suc- cessively nearer to the savage state. Amongst the Lapps the death-rate is now diminishing, while that of the births is on the increase. They are consequently growing more numerous, though the Lapp, SCENE IN LAPLAND. the moment he can speak Norwegian, denies his nation- ality, and soon assumes the Norwegian dress. Their liter- ature, if it can be so called, is very limited, and, such as it is, has been composed mostly by Norwegians. It consists almost exclusively of short ballads and epics. The Lapps have some notion of joint-stock concerns. Several wiU sometimes put their capital together, and work it according to a verbal agreement. But the capital 442 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. itself always consists of reindeer herds, the breeding of which, from the economical point of view, is stUl in its infancy. Were it conducted on rational principles it would be one of the most lucrative occupations of its kind in the world. Nor have the Lapps yet made much progress in the art of making the most of their labour. Yet the change in the female head-dress, the substitution of the Norwegian for the national form of salutation, and of the Finnish snow-shoes for their own, together with many other symptoms, show that they are capable of improve- ment. And they have the less difficulty in adopting new ways from the utter absence of any traditional sentiment in such matters. No one remembers anything of the national usages two generations back, and even their legends are not so much poetic echoes of the past as records of events such as might and do take place at aU times amongst nomad tribes leading such a life as theirs. Even when making outward profession of the Protestant faith they seldom or never trouble themselves much about Christian dogma. As they often indulge in a snow-bath they cannot be refused the credit of a certain cleanliness, although not over particular about the presence of reindeer hair in their soup, and, in consequence of the climatic conditions, some- what indifferent to the state of the crockery. These nomads are extremely good-natured when treated pro- perly, and yield a ready obedience even to harsh orders when accompanied by energy and firmness. Except ia the matter of reindeer, the appropriation of which they do not profess to regard as theft, they are honest enough, and quite trustworthy when employed as carriers. ' They are the only available means of transport and guides over the snowy wastes of their boundless table-land, and as such exhibit marvellous tact in finding and following the path. DENMARK. 443 CHAPTEE IX. THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK. 1. People — Language — Copenhagen and other Towns. This little State contains a population of nearly 2,000,000, almost exclusively Lutherans, and enjoys a strictly constitutional government. It is officially divided into thirteen circles, of which four are in the islands and nine on the mainland. Besides the Faroe group and Iceland, which has a constitution and legislative assembly (Althing) of its own, Denmark possesses colonies in Greenland, forming a northern and southern inspectorship, and in the West Indies, where she owns the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz. The Danish people have made important contributions to the cause of letters and general culture. The language, which is somewhat harsh and rude, is well suited for the expression of childlike thoughts, and Andersen, whose wonderful tales are well known in their English dress, in many respects resembles the Norwegian writer Bjornson. It is also adapted to tragedy, which dispenses more readily with the graces of composition. The Dane him- seK is a pleasant neighbour enough, so long as you do not hurt his national sentiment, on which point, like the Swede and Norwegian, he is extremely sensitive.. Copenhagen (Kj^bnhavn = Merchant's Haven), capital of the State, and residence of the Mng, forms the central and most attractive point of the extremely interesting 444 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. group of islands between Jutland and Sweden. On February 1, 1880, its population was 235,000. In this strongly-fortified seaport are centred all the learned insti- tutions of the country, colleges, a university, academy of arts and sciences, magnificent museums, several literary and co-operative associations, many excellent educational THE FREDBEICKSBOEG, COPENHAGEN. establishments, and extensive factories. Here are lofty houses, often six storeys high, numerous public buildings, decorated in a severe and correct style with escutcheons, or artistic gables and dormers. Amongst them are the palaces of the old and wealthy aristocracy, and many sumptuous royal residences, which sprang up during the active architectural movement of the eighteenth century, though avoiding the tastelessness generally elsewhere DENMAEK CHIEF TOWNS. 445 characteristic of that period. Besides the broad streets provided with convenient footpaths, and the many open squares planted with trees and embellished with monu- ments, the city is now traversed by much -frequented tramways leading to the various pleasure-grounds and attractions in the neighbourhood. Amongst the numerous museums conspicuous are those of the great Thorwaldsen and of "Northern Antiquities;" and of the places of public resort the most notable is the justly -celebrated Tivoli, an extensive garden or park, well laid out and adorned with many ornamental streams. Another feature of the place is found in the pleasant walks on the high dam or mound leading northwards along the shores of the Sound, and commanding an animated view of the vessels sailing through the narrow branch of the sea between the city proper and the island of Amager. Amongst the other Danish towns the most noteworthy are Helsingor (10,000 inhabitants), the Elsinore of Ham- let, with its castle of Kronenborg barring the passage of the Sound; Odense (21,000) on Funen ; and on the mainland Aalborg (pronounced Olborg), with 14,000 inhabitants, and Aarhuus (pronounced Orhlis) with 25,000 inhabitants. 2. The Faroe Islands. Amongst the Danish possessions here claiming atten- tion are the Faroe Islands, which have a total area of upwards of 500 square miles. They are a steep, rocky archipelago, entirely treeless, lashed by the Atlantic storms, and having a raw and moist climate, with a fauna as limited as is their vegetation. The animal kingdom is represented principally by horses and a breed of half- wild sheep, whence the group takes its name, besides the caaing or black whale {Belphinus glohiceps or Globicephalus melas), here captured annually in large numbers. 446 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. The inhabitants, about 1000 in number, are occupied in collecting eider-down, fishing, and seal-hunting, and possess a not inconsiderable trading-place in the little town of Thorshavn on Stroma 3. Iceland and its People. But much more important in every respect than the Faroe group is the large island of Iceland, the Ultima Thule of the ancients. The population numbers about 70,000, all Lutherans, and claiming with some justice to be at once the youngest and the purest of all the Aryan races in Europe. They are certaioly still the purest of the Teutonic branch, and their speech, which has departed but little from the old Norse type, is much the same as that of the first settlers in the year 874 of the Christian era. The Icelanders, tall and robust, quiet, earnest, and prudent, and of simple habits, address every one in the second person singular, are hospitable and lovers of freedom, but also litigious and hopelessly self-opinionated. Though field operations are not absolutely impossible in Iceland, the ripening of the crops depends upon so many contingencies that it becomes cheaper to import than to grow corn. On the other hand, the island is well suited for grazing, and at every farmstead may be seen a so- called tun, or plot of good, vigorous grass, enclosed by a stone wall. Haymaking lasts from the middle of July to September, and all hands that can be spared now betake themselves to the interior of the island in order to mow the crops on the uplands. The west and south-west coasts abound in fish, and here the fisheries are of great importance to the natives. Of less consequence is the fowling along the coast, though the eider-duck yields fair returns. It would be difficult ICELAND AND ITS PEOPLE. 447 to find a less cleanly people than these islanders, amongst whom the use of soap, combing the hair, washing and bathing, are practices never willingly indulged in. Nor are there any recognised trades or crafts. Everybody is his own " Jack-of-all-trades," and to all the farmsteads is attached a forge where horses can at all events be shod. The dwellings stand mostly apart, often at great distances from each other, and seldom forming hamlets or town- ships. The walls are of stone and turf, the roof also of turf, and the rafters, doors, and gables alone of wood. The laer, or farmstead, usually consists of several little huts, each forming one chamber, the dwelling-place of the family, the so-called iadstofa, which is approached by a little trap-door. The fireplace is unprovided with a flue, so that every house is redolent of the odours produced by the peat-smoke, dried fish-bones, and sheep and cow dung kept burning night and day. Here also the arrangements are in other respects of the most primitive, and the light penetrates only through a few little openings in the roof. However, the houses are somewhat better in. the lowlands and trading-places, where advantage is taken of the drift- wood thrown up along the coast. As in all primitive communities, the distinction of classes is but partially developed in Iceland. The decrease of wealth since the settlement of the country has also had a very levelling effect, poverty having caused the upper classes gradually to disappear, so that everybody is now socially pretty well as good as his neighbour. Yet there may here and there still be detected some leading social elements. The foremost rank consists of the clergy and officials, the second of the traders, and the third the Thomthussmen — that is, those owning no cattle. A fourth and numerous class is formed by the poor, whose support is a heavy burden to the community. Though not very remarkable for culture or refinement, the traders are still 448 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. enabled by their wealth to play a certain part in society. Most of these merchants are Danes, but their numbers are now diminishiag, owing to the sharp competition of co- operative associations, which threaten soon to drive them altogether from the island. Great results are anticipated from the expulsion of these traders, as the money will then remain in the country instead of findtag its way to FUNBKAL IN ICELAND. Copenhagen. So argue these northern political econo- mists. The great test of social distinction amongst the rural population is the cow. To the class of the londi belong aE those who possess a cow and keep her on a plot of grass farmed by themselves, whether as actual owners, tenants for a term of years, or simply renters of the land. The greatest outward consideration is enjoyed by the government officials, amongst whom the most im- ICELAND AND ITS PEOPLE. 449 portant, though not the first in point of rank, is the Syslumann. The Syslumann is a king in his own department, unitiag in his own person the most varied magisterial functions. Nevertheless cases of maladminis- tration are of rare occurrence, although the supervision exercised over these of&cials is far from severe. But the real promoters of Icelandic civilisation, the instructors of youth, the guardians of the people's morals, are the evan- gelical clergy. The Iceland minister is not merely a preacher of the gospel and dispenser of the sacraments, but also a receiver of the tithes, churchwarden, vestryman, ecclesiastical commissioner, president of court, justice of the peace in his parish, parochial registrar, school inspector, and, over and above all this, manager of the glebe lands. And as the State troubles itself but little, if at all, with the spread of elementary instruction, the clergyman looks after this also ; hence it is that amongst adults nearly all the men and most of the women possess a certain fluency in writing, and even in reckoning. In other respects, however, these mutual relations tend to blunt the mental faculties of the people, and bring them under the absolute sway of the clergy. Nowhere else does the Church at present enjoy greater influence in the family circle, nowhere else does religion play a greater part in everyday life than in the strictly Protestant Iceland. Eeykjavik (2000 inhabitants), the little capital of the island, situated in the south-west, is the centre not only of the secular and ecclesiastical administration, being the seat of a bishop and prebendary, but also of science and letters, of trade and commerce, for the whole country. Nor is life in this Icelandic town at all so unsociable as might be imagined. In winter balls and evening parties are frequent enough, whilst private and amateur theatricals, open to the general public for a small fee, are amongst the most popular entertainments. 2 G 450 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHT AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE X. THE BRITISH ISLES. 1. Physical Conditions of England's Greatness. "The maritime position of England, her mild climate, moist atmosphere, copious streams, and fertile soil, com- bined with the main direction of her water systems, the fortunate configuration of her coast-line, and its numerous and commodious harbours, constitute the essential physi- cal conditions of the independent and universal develop- ment of her inhabitants, as well as of their political, or rather cosmopolitan, relations. Through the expansion of her naval power, possible only under such conditions, and through the spread of her colonial system in every direction, embracing all the seas and zones of our planet, the little island of Britain has indefinitely enlarged the narrow limits of her dominion, and still more of her civilising influences. " The heart and centre of all these endless ramifica- tions is England, ' the mother of empires.' She gathers to herself the varied products of her dependencies, not to accumulate them in mouldering heaps, but to work up the raw materials in her countless factories, and thence diffuse them on all sides as manufactured goods at a tenfold enhancement of their original value. Back to England as to a common fountain-head flows the might, the fulness, and the wealth of her thousandfold relations with all the world." POLITK AL MAP OF THE BRITISH ISLES UTotfi FarUameniary Boroughs and. Cotmty Towns with more iJian 50.000 mhabihmts ore shown, thus Tbrk. Coimtv Towns wi^t less Bum 50,000 10 20 30 ao -so 60 70 ao 9C i 1. ori^^i-tutljL' West 4 fpoia Greeixwifli 2 toii.lurj. C._i\>.-u-''''■ :.i 'Eital/ BRITISH ISLES — ETHNOGRAPHY. 451 Such are the terms in which Carl Eitter has character- ised the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which has long been the first commercial, naval, and colonial power the world has ever seen. 2. British MJinogrwphy — The Kelts — The Keltic and Iherian Theories. Let us add, that in considering this State we are dealing with the last of those belonging to the domain of the Teutonic linguistic group. We purposely say the Teutonic linguistic group rather than the Teutonic nations, because serious doubt has been thrown on the popular opinion that the present race of Englishmen and Scottish Lowlanders are the direct descendants of the Anglo-Saxon conc[uerors of Britain, and are consequently of pure Teutonic blood. But before coming to the Teutons themselves it may be convenient to speak of their predecessors, the Kelts, who, though now reduced to a seemingly narrow compass, must necessarily remain one of the chief factors in the ethnology of Western Europe. Kelt and Gaul were, 2000 years ago, practically synonymous names for all the inhabitants of Gaul — the present France — as far south as the Garonne. The Keltic domain stretched eastwards to the Ehine, and two or three hundred years before the Christian era it even embraced the right bank of that river, while the name of Bohemia preserves, to the present day, a remiaiscence of the Keltic Boii, its oldest inhabitants in historic times. These Kelts of Central Europe were gradually pressed westwards by the Germans or Teutons, who were them- selves being driven forward by the Slavs on their eastern borders. In any case the oldest known inhabitants of the British Isles were linguistically allied to the Gauls or 452 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. Kelts, and are therefore usually grouped witli them. Of this once so widely-diffused Keltic family there still sur- vive the Bretons of Brittany, in France; the Welsh of Wales, in England; the Gaels of the Scottish High- lands ; the Irish, now chiefly in Munster and Con- naught ; and the Manx, in the Isle of Man. To these, some 150 or 200 years ago, the now extinct Cornish of Cornwall might have been added. All the Keltic tongues form two distinct groups, com- monly spoken of as the Gaedhelic and the Kymric.^ The first embraces the dialects of Ireland, the Scottish High- lands, and Man, — aU three closely related, and differing mainly in their orthography and pronunciation. In fact, there can now be little doubt that the Scottish BQghlanders and the natives of Man are Irish colonists within the historic period. The Kymric or South British branch comprises the old Gaulish and Cornish, both extinct, the Breton, Armorican of Brittany, and the Kymric proper, or Welsh of Wales. The Bretons are in aU probability de- scendants of the South Britons, who were driven by the Saxons and Angles into the Welsh Highlands, Cornwall, and even beyond the seas into the old Armorica, which thence received the name of Britannia Minor, or Little Britain. Hence it is a serious mistake to regard the modern Bretons as descendants of the old Gauls, and their speech as a direct contiauation of the Gaulish. This Gaulish language has been dead some fifteen or sixteen hundred years ; the Gauls, whose blood is stUl largely dif- fused throughout the present population of France, having gradually adopted the speech of their Eoman conquerors. Indeed, all the Keltish tongues that still survive may be said to be, more or less rapidly, dying out. Some English writers, such as Luke Owen Pike ^ and 1 See also Prof. John Rhys' Lectures on Welsh Philology, 2d ed., 1878. ' The English and their Origin, etc. : London, 1866. BEITISH ISLES ETHNOGEAPHY. 453 the late Dr. Thomas Nicholas,^ have endeavoured to show that the old British or Keltic element that preceded the Anglo-Saxon conquest stUl forms the main ingredient in the English race. At any rate, Henri Gaidoz, a very com- petent judge, is of opinion that the general assumption of a wholesale extirpation of the Kelts by the Anglo-Saxons not only lacks scientific proof, but is in itself extremely improbable. The Teutonic invaders, in the fifth century, can have been accompanied by but few women, and alliances with the Keltic female population must have inevitably taken place very generally. It should also be observed, that in such cases the conquerors are not in the habit of exterminating the native element, but rather of enslaving and employing them for menial and hard work. So far from being on the wane, the Keltic element is rather on the increase, owing to the large absorption of Irish, Highland, and Welsh blood in recent times. And if this Keltic mixture has to some extent deprived the English race of its original Teutonic character, other in- fluences have been operating probably still more power- fully in the same direction. Professor Huxley has pointed out the presence of two clearly distinct ethnical types in the British Isles, — a fair and a dark type, such as are found also in Erance. The first he refers to the Aryan, the second to the Iberian, element, where it would be per- haps safer to substitute pre -Aryan, or pre -Keltic, for Iberian, at least pending further research into the abori- ginal dark-haired European race. England, however, is thus no more a representantive of pure Teutonic than is Erance of pure Eomance nationality. Nor should it be forgotten that the English, strictly so called, whose ethno- logical position has here been under discussion, form but a portion of the entire population of the British Isles, and that the rest, whether in Wales, the Scottish Highlands, 1 The Pedigree of the English People: London, 5th ed., 1878. 454 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEATEL. or Ireland, are unquestionably Kelts, apart at least from a possible Iberian or pre- Aryan substratum.^ The population of Great Britain has increased during the present century with astonishing rapidity, and though that of Ireland has declined, it must be remembered that this is far from being the case with the number of the Irish people, great crowds of whom emigrate not only to the United States, but also to the sister island. An interesting phenomenon is the continual decrease in the death-rate, notwithstanding the rapid increase in the population of late years. The Board of Health returns clearly show that the mortality in the towns has less to do with the geographical position or the climate than with the more or less efficient sanitary measures of the Corporations. It is not a little remarkable that in London, the largest city in the world, the death-rate is lower than in any other large European town. In the rural districts the longevity is very great. On the other hand, it has been calculated that in England 78,000 persons suffer yearly from complaints brought about by insufficient nourishment, and that of these about one- half perish. 3. Religion — The Established Churches — The Dissenters. In the British Isles the State recognises two " estab- lished churches," both the result of the great schism of the sixteenth century from the politico-religious ascend- ency of the Eoman Church. These are the Anglican or Episcopalian, in England and Wales, and the Presbyterian in Scotland. The great mass of the Keltic element in Ireland has remained faithful to the old religion, and 1 On the physical characteristics of the people of the British Islands, see the final Eeport of the Anthropometric Committee of the British Asso- ciation published in the Report of the Southport Meeting held in 1883. BKITISH ISLES RELIGION. 455 in that country the Protestant establishment has been abolished. The numerous religious sects not belonging to the State Churches in England and Scotland differ greatly both in doctrine and Church government. The Church of England takes precedence of all others, being the National, or rather the State, Church. Its doc- trines are summed up in the so-called Thirty-nine Articles. But the iuterpretation of these Articles has given rise to various discordant opinions, leading to two main antagon- istic currents of thought. One of these, apparently ap- proaching the Catholic form of ritual, is known as the High Church, of which the Ritualists are the highest develop- ment. The other, or Low Church, as it is called, professes to adhere strictly to the principles of the Geneva Eeformer. The Anglican Church is governed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as Primate and first peer of the realm, who oflBciates at the coronation of the sovereign, and claims jurisdiction over all the colonial bishops ; by the Archbishop of York, as Primate of England; and by thirty bishops. Both the archbishops and twenty-four of the bishops have seats in the House of Lords. The ap- pointments are made by the Crown, though in the case of the older sees — that is, all except Gloucester and Bristol, Chester, Peterborough, Oxford, Eipon, Manchester, St. Albans, Liverpool, Truro, and Newcastle — the form of an election by the Dean and Chapter of the vacant see is gone through, that body receiving from the Crown a congd d'ilire or licence to elect the person nominated. The lower clergy includes deans, archdeacons, rural deans, and incumbents of parishes, with their curates or assistants. The number of ecclesiastical parishes (the boundaries of which do not always coincide with those of the civil parishes) is now about 14,000, and the incum- bents bear different titles (rector, vicar, or perpetual 456 COMPENDIUM OF GEOaEAPHT AND TRAVEL. curate) according to the nature of the right which they hold to the ecclesiastical revenues of the parish. Per- haps about half the population of England and Wales professes to belong to this Church. The other half is split up into a large number of sects, amongst whom the most important are : The Congrega- tionahsts or Independents ; the Wesleyan Methodists, or followers of Wesley ; the Baptists, who admit adults only to baptism; the Calvioistic Methodists, especially ia Wales ; the Unitarians ; the Quakers ; the Sweden- borgians ; the Moravian Brothers ; the Plymouth Brethren; the Irvingites; the Free Christian Union; and the Sandemanians. The "Spiritualists" profess to hold direct communication with the souls of the dead. In Scotland the principal sects are the Free Church and the United Presbyterians. All these sects have their own places of worship, and employ a variety of proselytising agencies and organisa- tions for carrying on spiritual work. Amongst the most remarkable religious movements of the times should be mentioned the undoubted encroach- ments of the Eoman Catholic Church in England. The same phenomenon has been observed in the United States, whose religious condition bears a strong resemblance to that of Great Britain. Till the year 1851 the Catholic Church in England and Wales was divided into eight districts, each administered by a Vicar Apostolic appointed directly by the Pope. But in that year the hierarchy was re-established without the sanction of the Government, which led to some passing disturbances at the time. It consists at present of an Archbishop of Westminster and twelve bishops. In Scotland there were formerly three districts, administered by an archbishop and two bishops in partibus infidelium. But here, also, the hierarchy was restored in the year 1878. BRITISH ISLES EDUCATION. 457 Ireland has four Catholic archbishops — those of Armagh, " Primate of all Ireland ; " Dublin, " Primate of Ireland ; " Cashel and Tuam, for the four provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Cashel respectively; and twenty-four territorial bishops. The progress of the present Catholic movement in England has its historic explanation. Here the Eeforma- tion originated, not with the lower nor even the middle, but with the higher, classes. In fact, the Crown itself may be regarded as the founder of the English Eeformed Church in the sixteenth century; and as the disrupture was mainly at that time the work of the aristocracy, we now see the reactionary movement again initiated by the highest sections of the community, whence it is gradually sinkiug to the lower classes.^ 4. Public Instruction — Grime and Pauperism. The intellectual culture of the people varies greatly with the various sections of society. Not till 1870 did England possess any provision for a national school system at all worthy of the name, but since the passing of the Education Act in that year a great improvement has been effected in that respect throughout the country. The figures given in the Statistical Appendix will show how satisfactory has been the extension of elementary teaching in Government schools within recent years. By an Act passed in 1880 attendance at school is compulsory throughout England and Wales for all children between the ages of five and thirteen. In Scotland the state of matters has long been much better on the whole than in England, and the Act for that portion of the kingdom, passed in 1872, made ^ G. Eavenstein, "Statistics of Roman Catholicism in Great Britain," in the Geographical Magazine for 1874, pp. 102-106. 458 COMPENDrUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. elementary education virtually compulsory throughout the area to which it applied. In Ireland, however, elementary education is still in a very backward condition. It was placed iu 1845 under the superintendence of the Commissioners of National Education; but notwithstand- ing all that has been done since that time, the average attendance of children at school is still only about one in ten of the whole population, instead of one in six, according to the usual mode of estimating the number of children of school age. A system of Mixed Schools does admirable work, but there is no compulsory attendance in any part of Ireland. Even the higher education, with the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge at its head, stUl leaves much to be desired. It gives undue prominence to the classics, and is too much under the iofluence of the clergy. Meanwhile some enlightened minds, of whom there is no dearth in the English world of letters, are endeavouring with marked success to bring about a wholesome change in this respect. The chief defects that still remain in the higher education are the want of an adequate number of properly-equipped secondary schools, and the insufficient provision for scientific and technical education. But these defects are now at least beginning to be keenly felt by the leaders of the people, and the movement now in progress for supplying the wants indicated is going on with encouraging rapidity, more especially in the case of technical education, which is the most crying need of a people whose prosperity depends so much on the main- tenance of their industrial pre-eminence. It must not be forgotten that the work of the Science and Art Department, and lately of the City Guilds' Institute, has done much to promote the cause of technical edu- cation in tliis country. BEITISH ISLES — SOCIAL CONDITION. 459 5. Social Culture — The Proletariat. Nowhere else do the fruits of -a slow but steadily advancing national development present such a marvellous picture as in England. The freedom of this development from all revolutionary or reckless precipitation finds its natural explanation in the conservative spirit forming the substratum of the English character, and actuating even the most advanced reformers. This spirit shows itself in the very tenacity with which the English cling to their old customs and usages ; so that, although at the head of all European nations in modern progress, this nation has still in many respects retained more relics of mediaeval times than any other.^ Thus it happens that in this classic land of political freedom there are more sinecures than elsewhere ; that the nobility nowhere else enjoy such political and social influence combined with personal respect, or the religious world such widespread preponderance, as here. Hence also a landed peasantry is almost unheard of in England, and the mass of the rural population is still compelled to till the land for others as hired labourers. Side by side with this agricultural system the pro- digious development of the national industries, embracing every conceivable branch of trade, has created an enormous proletariat class in the mining districts and manufactur- ing centres, a class which is often compelled to earn its bread under oppressive conditions. Women and children are obliged in ever-increasing numbers to perform hard work in gloomy, ill-ventilated, and unwholesome factories (though it is only fair to add that these factories are under official inspection), and the injurious consequences of these practices are manifested in depravity of every sort, but more especially in widespread drunkenness. 1 See T. F. Thiselton Dyer's British Popula/r Customs, Past and Present, etc. : London, 1876. 460 COMPENDIUM OF GBOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. 6. Character of the English Pe^ piir cunt, and in tlio islands 80 yxsr cont. HUH, an irnproviuniint in Ijiig respect is going on. Tho jtroportion of alwolutoly illi- terate persons in 1881 in 7 per cent less iJian it wuh at tiio census of 1871. 'I'lio (riost inai'ldid progroHH had taken place in l/i;.,'uria and Piedmont, the least in the Basilicata, ( lumpimui, and LaLinni. In intiinato connection with the ignorance, of the lower orders is their moral status. The paHHionato Unit- peramcrjt of the Italians doubtless, to Home extent, excuses the frequency of murder and personal assaults; but justice is also much impedcil by the HiicnjL associa- tions of the lawless classes, Over 200,000 persons may be said to bclorjg to the Majia and the Cimi.orra, which, it rrjay be incidentally remarked, has a secret language of its own. The Sicilian Mafia and the, Neafiolitan (hmurni, answer to the H„.„- J Mordvinian Volga Group 1 cheremiasian j Peimian Permuin Group 'sSiry'anian (Votyak Stnitrv £ !i^. Cxi'"" T' ■' Irish or S'. C'<^<»'f ilf„.-i,-lin''* U.pJ^ '- III. (Vogul UGR«AN|°\'g>.^ IV. TATAR Turkish Kirghiz Chuvash ? Basil kir „" iMeschotyak O" Tepyak Bobyl Nogai Kumuk MONGOL- Kalmnk ' BASQXTE FAMILY, A Piicr ADA [Guipuzcoan ,/*SCUNSE |^»^-f^ (L„^^, (French Group) [ souietin miscellaneous. Hebrew Gypsey Armenian Circassiaji Maltese "■^d ..f.hdlb''- Liihin,.-/;. &"i^rd -^^^ 1/ Z ujuj" i".!* V^ s*""'tt. fVi Hi-*" ;f*!^'<5Z' r- &-^. 1 T i E R R ,^ *''. L_I_ / / A ,k M B mgihidfe l*st'of /Gr^enlvidl R Tili taidettaria L' ■' ' 6 ' / / / ,''X 15 "'-v,,. i ' ■ ■ t\^J ^ <• O 02 02 ;3 i= ^ "^ 3 S H <1 •dnojiB ijonsia: "itioia iiBiaBdg -J 6 . fl . fJ r-I d 03 f3 C3 . 564 APPENDIX. Here it will be noticed that all the old Italic languages become absorbed in the Latin, which through its vulgar or vernacular form alone survives in the modern Romance idioms. This vernacular Latin, often referred to by classic writers as the Vimgna rustica, lirigua pleheia, sermo campestris, and so on, differed considerably in. pronunci- ation, vocabulary, and even in structure from the literary standard, and in such peculiarities must be sought the key to the evolution of its present representatives. The general tendency from the first has been from synthesis to analysis, resulting in the total disappear- ance of the Latin declension and of a large part of its conjugation. In this respect they all now stand much on the same level, although both the; Langue d'Oc and Langue d'Oil ^ retained a true accusative case long after it had been lost by the sister languages. They also show a remarkable agreement in the preservation of the Latin tonic accent, and here agaia French is more faithful to the original than the other members of the group. Thus, while the Latin accented syllable almost invariably survives in French, the place of the accent is occasionally shifted in Italian, as in diSdero, com- pared with ded^runt. But Italian is itseK here anticipated by such Old Umbrian forms as dederont, dedrot, d^dro, occurring in the Eugu- bine tables. The Roumanian differs from all other neo- Latin languages in some important particulars, such as the fusion of the Latin demon- strative as a definite article at the end of the noun. Thus omul = homo ille = the man. The Roumanian people claim to be lineal descendants of the Roman military colonists settled in Dacia after its conquest by Trajan. But this patriotic delusion, originally exposed by Thunmann,^ has been finally disposed of by Roesler,^ who clearly shows that after the withdrawal of the Roman garrisons there were no Latin-speaking communities north of the Danube tiU the beginning of the twelfth century. About that time the Latinised peoples of Thrace and Mcesia began to move northwards, and in the course of two centuries became numerous enough to establish a power- ful Roumanian state in the present provinces of Walachia and Mol- davia. Hence the Macedo-Roumanians — that is, the so-called Kutzo- Vlacks or Zinzars of the Pindus highlands, are not to be regarded as the descendants, but as the direct progenitors of the Roumanian peoples now settled north of the Danube. It is obvious that, as at present constituted, the Italic group is ^ So named from their respective terms for the affirmative yes ; oc = hoc ; oU = hoc ilhtd. Cf. Dante's " lingua del Si." ^ Qeschichte der Sstl. Vslker, ' In his Jtomdnische Studien, See also Die Rvmanen und ihre Anspriiche, by P. Hunfalvy : Vienna, 1883. THE THEACO-HELLENIC GROUP. 565 pTuely a linguistic division destitute of all ethnical unity. Popular ■writers and politicians are doubtless wont to tali of the Latin- speaMng world as if it formed some clearly-defined physical branch of mankind. But the absurdity of this view will be apparent if we include in the group, for instance, such a country as Mexico, where Latin is also current, but where nine-tenths of the population are either pure or half-caste Indians. There are, therefore, Latin- speaking communities and Latin-speaking nationalities ; but there can be no question of a Latin race. The characteristic Roman features, massive head, low brow, arched nose, with just a suspicion of ferocity, have disappeared even from the banks of the Tiber. Why should they be looked for in the Seine, Tagus, or Lower Danube basins ? 8. The Theaco-Hellenic Geodp. Here " Thraco " is taken in its old and wider sense, including, besides the Thiacians proper, the lUyrians, Mossians, Macedonians, Epirots, — in a word, all the old inhabitants of the Balkan Penin- sula north of Greece, who are supposed to have been Aryans allied to the Hellenes, and who are now represented by the Epirots or Albanians alone. The position of the Albanian language itself has scarcely yet been clearly determined, but it seems to stand some- what in the same relation to Greek that Etruscan does to Latin. Analogies have even been pointed out between Albanian and Etmscan,^ suggesting a primitive Thraco- Etruscan group inter- mediate between the Hellenic and Italic, which, if established, would doubtless help to remove much of the obscurity still sur- rounding the relations of these important members of the Aryan family. Meantime Albanian is provisionally grouped with Greek in the subjoined table of the Thraco-Hellenic division : — TSEACO-ILI.TBIO. Thracian, Phrygian, Mcesian, niyrian, Albanian. Toshk. Pelasgo-Hellenic. Cfheg. ( Klementi. Toxides. J Hoti. MaUiesor.-^ j^^ti. (.Pnlati. /Dnkagine. J Matia. ) Fandi. ( Dibri. Miidite. Tapides. (I^pides.) Khamides. Calabrian. Sicilian. ^olmn. DorioM, . Cyprian. Argive. Lycian. Laconian. Lesbian. Megarian. Boeotian. Phocoean. Thessalian. Locrian. Arcadian. Attic. Byzantine. Eomaic. Phanariot. Spliakiot. Mainot. Cypriot. Cretaiu Kakavonniot. Kimariot Tsakonian. ^ Laites, loc. cii., p. 501. It is noteworthy that the Greeks called the Etmscans Pelasgians as well as Tyrrhenians. 566 APPENDIX. By tlie Turks tlie Albanians are called Arncumts, from tlie Byzantine Arvanites, probably a corrupt form of Albanites, from the old Kelto- Italic root, alh, alp = height, hUL Hence Albanian, i.e. highlander, has the same meaning as the national designation shipetar, from a root skip, scop, also meaning rock, hilL^ Of their two main divisions the Gheg, or northern, is much the purest, the Toshk, or southern, having become largely HeUenised ia speech, physique, customs, and religion. Hence the numerous Toshk immigrants in various parts of Greece and the Archipelago soon became absorbed in the surrounding Hellenic populations. On the other hand the Gheg communities settled in Calabria and Sicily since the wars of the famous hero " Scanderbeg " (Gteorge Kastriota, ob. 1467) still retain their national traditions and lan- guage. Of all European Aryans the Albanians alone have preserved the tribal organisation, and amongst the Ghegs there are still as many as twenty phis or pha/r — that is, clans. The practice of exo- gamous marriage also survives amongst the Mirdites south of the river Drin, who, although Eoman Catholics of the Latia rite, seek their wives amid the surrounding Turkish and Mohammedan popu- lations. The other Gheg tribes are mostiy Mussulmans, and the Toshks Orthodox Greeks. Of Greece proper the earliest known inhabitants were vaguely spoken of as Leleges or Pelasgians, probably Thraco-Illyrians subse- quently absorbed or assimilated in speech and type to the kindred Hellenes. Herodotus somewhat sharply distinguishes between the true Hellenes and the Pelasgians, and tells us (i. 51) that in his time Pelasgian dialects still survived at Creston in Thrace, and at Placia on the Hellespont. On the other hand, Dionysius identifies the two peoples,^ and it is noteworthy that in Homer the epithet Stot is applied to the natives of Pelasgiotis in Thessaly. The Greek tribe itself, whose name was adopted by the Latins as the collective designation of the whole race, appears to have been Pelasgian. In Greece such more or less general terms as Achaeans, Danai, Argians, Dolopes, Myrmidons, ultimately yielded to the national name, Hellenes — that is, descendants of Deucalion's son Hellen, whose two sons, .^olus and Dorus, and grandson. Ion, were supposed to be the progenitors of the iEolians, Dorians, and lonians. But such tradi- tions are merely reminiscences of times when the tribal organisa- tion still prevailed, and it may be taken for granted that the three main branches of the Hellenic stock did not spring from a particular family that rose to power in comparatively recent times in the ^ Cf. the Gr. (rxiTreXos, Lat. scopulus = cliff, crag, headland. ^ TJ Tuiv Ile\aEUTSCH. - Borgondian : Swiss. Alemanno- Suabian. Bavarian. /Nenhochdeutsch (Literary Stand- J ard). j Alsafcian. Wiirtemberg, vBaden. ( Tyrolese. ( Austrian. ( Bernese. ■^Hazli. ( Appeuzell. ( Styrian. \ Carinthian. (Zips, etc. This somewliat intricate scheme represents the final outcome of innumerable migrations, shiftings, absorptions, and displacements of all sorts, continued almost incessantly from the earliest historic times till the close of the Middle Ages. In this vast ethnical movement, beginning with the advance of the Cimbri and Teutons a century before the new era, and terminating with the occupation of Transylvania by the Upper Saxons, the Teutonic domain has become greatly enlarged in Central Europe at the expense especially of the surrounding Keltic and Slavic populations. During the early migrations the Kelts were partly expelled, partly assimilated, 570 APPENDIX. in South Germany, in. most of the Alpine regions, and in large tracts of North-east Gaul. But in the east the Teutons were in their turn for a time driven back by the Slavs, who had in the eighth century reached their extreme western limits about the neighbourhood of Niirmberg in the south, an.d the river Saale farther north. But these Polaba, Sorbs, Wends, and other western Slavs, were gradually absorbed by the Teutons, who thus recovered and enlarged their lost domain in the east. The recovery was effected chiefly by the Low Germans, who were at that time collect- ively known as Saxons, and who formed three political divisions, — the Westphalian, Enger, and EastphaUan, — besides an independent group in Sleswig-Holstein. Thus it happened that the Saxon name and Low German speech became diflPused throughout Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia. Later on the term Saxon, owing to political causes, received a farther extension towards the south-east, whence arose the distinction between the Upper and Lower Saxons, the latter Low Germans, the former allied to the High Germans of Bohemia and Silesia. Corresponding to the Saxon confederation in the north was that of the Alemanni in the south, which at an early period com- prised all the Upper Ehiue regions, Alsace, Baden, East Switzer- land, and West Tyrol. North-east of the Alemanni, and politically connected with them in the fourth and fifth centuries, was the Suabian Confederacy, embracing the Upper Neckar and Danube as far as the Lech. East of the Suabians were the Bayovers (Bavarians), originally from Bohemia, and west of them the Bur- gundians, since Latinised in East France. A connecting link between all these High Germans and the Saxon Low Germans was formed by the Franks, at first a purely political division, comprising the Catti (Hessians) and other tribes along the middle and lower Rhine, as weU as some undoubtedly Low German peoples in the north, the former known as Eipuarian, the latter as Salic Franks. These passed into Gaul, where they became absorbed in the Kelto- Eoman populations, their name alone surviving in that of the region now known as France. The Eipuarian Franks remained in their original home, thence called East Franconia, and later on simply Franconia. The dialects of aU these middle Ehenish and Prankish populations are closely related, and allied more to the High than to the Low German, through the Thuringian of the Weser Valley merging gradually eastwards in the mixed forms of the modern kingdom of Saxony, and through these with the Saxon of Transylvania, which marks the extreme eastern limit of the Germanic domain. THE TEUTONIC GEOtTP. 571 In the western movement to Britain the chief part 'was again played hy the Low German Saxons, with the kindred Frisian, and Anglian tribes of Sleswig and the north-west seaboard. No doubt many parts of South Britain had been occupied by Teutonic peoples many centuries before these recent arrivals. But they had mostly lost their ethnical independence and become absorbed in the Eomano- British communities. Hence the Anglo-Saxon ^ invasion, almost coincident with the withdrawal of the Roman legions early in the fifth century, may be regarded as a fresh settlement, in which the Romano -Keltic element became ultimately absorbed, or at least Germanised in speech, political institutions, social usages, — in a word, in everything constituting the distinctive national features of a people. Henceforth the greater part of Britain is no longer Siluro-Teuto-Keltic, but Siluro-Kelto-Teutonic, afterwards locally modified by pure Norse elements from Scandinavia, and Romanised Norse elements (Normans) from Normandy. But the Norsemen being themselves a branch of the Low Germans, it is obvious that such additions merely tended to intensify the Teutonic at the expense of the older Keltic and still older Silurian ethnical elements throughout the British Isles. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon speech became so deeply affected by Romance influences that its modern English represent- ative occupies altogether an anomalous position in the Teutonic group of languages. But while becoming almost more than half Italic in its vocabulary, English has nevertheless remained purely Germanic in its structure. At the same time it may be admitted that the tendency to analysis, carried to a greater extent than in any other member of the Teutonic group, has been stimulated by Norman influences. After leaving the Anglo-Saxon grammar a mere wreck, this tendency has been arrested in the standard English of literature. But the process has gone much farther in some of the provincial dialects, as, for instance, in that of Holdemess, south- east Yorkshire, which has abolished the possessive {Jach hat for JacVs hat) ; all personal verbal endings {ah is, thoo is, lie is, etc.) ; the adverbial ly (bad = badly) ; besides suppressing the aspirate and reducing -ing to -in (thdnkin = thinking). This dialect has thus almost returned to the analytic state from which its Aryan pro- genitor slowly emerged many ages ago.^ The Teutonic type — florid complexion, blue eyes, flaxen hair, 1 For a vindication of this compound term, Anglo-Saxon, against the frivol- ous ohjections of a recent school of English ethnologists, the reader is referred to the writer's History of the English Language, enlarged edition. Preface : Longmans, 1875. 2 See English BiaUct Society's Series, C, No. VII. ; Triibner, 1877. 572 APPENDIX. regular features, dolichoceplialous head, tall stature, — wMcli was characteristic of all Germanic tribes in the time of Tacitus, has dis- appeared in most parts of Germany, owing doubtless to fusion with Keltic, Slav, and other foreign elements. It is still found, however, in the extreme north, and especially in Scandinavia, most of which region appears, from the recent researches of Dr. Oscar Montelius,! to have been in the exclusive possession of Germanic peoples for at least 4000 years. Here the men, not only of the Iron, but also of the preceding Bronze age, were of this stock, and Huxley's Xanthochroi, or " fair whites," as distinct from the Melanochroi, or " dark whites " of Southern Europe, are thus in the north traced back at least to the close of the Neolithic age. A certain support is thus given to the theory of those anthropologists who hold that the blonde type itseK was differentiated in Scandinavia or on the Baltic seaboard. At present the Scandinavian race, which at one time overran a great part of the Continent, is again confined to its original home in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. Of all its former conquests it has retained little more than a few strips along the coast of Finland, and even here the Swedish is gradually yielding to the Finnish tongue. Of all the Norse lan- guages by far the best preserved is the Icelandic, which still differs little from the old Norwegian introduced with the first settlers in the ninth century. In this language was composed the famous "Edda," or northern epic poem of Snorri Sturlusson. But even in remote pagan times the Norse language had been reduced to writing, and Mr. Isaac Taylor has shown that the Scandinavian " runes " are derived, not from the more recent Eoman, but from the far older letters of the Greek settlers in Thrace and Scythia some five or six centuries before the new era. It is remarkable that the oldest alphabets are by far the most perfect, consisting of nearly thirty letters, which in later times were reduced to sixteen. The change, which appears to have been sudden, was probably due to the influence of the early Christian missionaries, and especially to the Irish, whose alphabet also consisted of sixteen letters only. 10. The Slavonic Group. The Slavs, vaguely spoken of by the ancients as Scythians and Sarmatians, are first distinctly mentioned in the sixth century by Procopius, who gives them the collective designation of Spor, and divides them into two main branches, the Antes in the east, and the Slavs in the west. Spor, which occurs nowhere else, is 1 Nordisk Tidshrift, Feliniary 1884. THE SLAVONIC GROUP. 573 perhaps tlie Russian Sbor — that is, collection, gathering, merely denoting a general federation of tribes, hence analogous to the con- temporary Allemanni of the southern Teutons. Antes may possibly be identical with Wend, by some supposed to be the oldest national name, still applied to some branches by the Germans, and occurring in classic writers under the forms Veneti, Venedi, Heneti. There were Veneti at the head of the Adriatic, whose name survives in the modem Venice, and Pliny mentions the Venedse on the Lower Vistula, from whom was named the Venedicus Sinus. But what- ever may be thought of these coincidences, all other collective terms were soon superseded by that of Slav, identified by some with Slava (glory), by others more probably with Slovo (word, speech), implying a people of distinct or intelligible utterance. In the Chronicles attributed to Nestor the Russians are stated to have been originally called Slovenes, and there are other indications that the oldest form of the word was Slov, not Slav. The latter, however, was the prevalent form in early mediteval times, and as such passed into the Teutonic and Romance languages in the sense of slave, owing to the large number of Slav prisoners enslaved during the wars with the western nations. At present the Slav domain, which has absorbed nearly all the Tatar and Finnish territories in the Russian steppes, comprises most of the Continent east of a line drawn from Trieste on the Adriatic through Prague to Danzig on the Baltic. As in the time of Pro- copius, it stm forms a western and eastern division, the latter of which has received a southern extension to the Balkan Peninsula.^ The western group consists mainly of the Poles, Tsekhs (Bohemians), Moravians, Slovaks, and Lusatians ; the eastern and southern of the Great and Little Russians, Serbo-Croatians, Slovenians, and Bul- garians. Although the Slav dialects are neither so numerous nor so divergent as those of the Teutonic family, the question of their mutual relations has given scarcely less trouble to philologists. Here the difficulty arises from the lack of any common standard of comparison older than the so-caUed Church Slavonic — that is, the form adopted about the middle of the ninth century by the Apostles Cyril and Methodius as the liturgical language of the first Slav Christian communities. The oldest manuscript of their 1 This extension dates from the seventh century, when the Serbo-Croatians migrated southwards from the Carpathians, la Slav the term Oarpath means "highlands," and is preserved in the national name of the Croatians (Chrovaf, Khrebet). From the north also came the Serhs, as is evident from Alfred's Orosius : And he nordan Dalomsnsam sindon Sv/rpe, i.e. "And north of the Dalomenses are the Surp." Here are still the Sorbs of Lusatia. 574 APPEKDIX. version of tlie Bible dates only from the year 1056, nor is it any- longer possible to determine with certainty the region where this now extinct dialect was current. Most authorities localise it in Bulgaria, and even call it " Old Bulgarian," in contradistinction to the very corrupt dialect now spoken in that district. In the sub- joined table^ Church Slavonic finds a place intermediate between the Russian and Serbo-Croatian groups, which appear to resemble it most in their phonetics and grammatical structure. I' Moscow. Great Russian. g°7-^^ n I o a M a ^ Russian. A .^^j^ Russian, \^ Siberian. T -iii T> • r Ukranian. Little Russian J ^^^^^^ . (Rutheman). \ Carpathian. „ . f Old Bulgarian (Church Slavonie). Bulgarian. -|jf^^B^fg^^^^_ Seebo-Ceoatian. ( Servian. I Croatian. I Dalmatian. l^ Syrmian. „ I Carinthian. SLO^^^-jstyi-iaii. rTsekh. Bohemian. 4 Moravian. t Slovak. (Mazurian. Kashubian. Lusatian f Upper Lusatian. (Sorb). \ Lower Lusatian. PoLABiSH. Polabish (extinct). During their diffusion over half the Continent the Slavs have become so intermingled with other peoples — Teutons in the west, Thracians and Roumanians in the south, Finns, Tatars, and Mongols in the north and east — that anthropologists have failed clearly to determiae a primitive Sla/v type. The original stock was probably xanthochroic, like the Teutonic ; but at present the only general characteristic is brachycephaly, a feature common also to the sur- rounding Finno-Tatars. Other more or less marked traits are a somewhat swarthy complexion, small deep-set eyes, short, straight, or slightly concave nose, dark brown straight hair, rather scant eyebrows, fuU beard, medium stature. Distinct from aU the other ' Based mainly on the classification proposed by A. N. Pypin and V. D. Spasovioli in their Geschichte der Slavischen Literatur, T. Pech's German translation, vol. i. : Leipzig, 1880. THE LETTO-LITHUANIC GROUP. 575 groups are tte Bulgarians, originally of Ugro-Finnic stock, but assimilated to the Slavs in speech since the tenth century. Nice- phorus Gregoras (fourteenth century) tells us that they take their name from the river BovAya j(Volga), which watered the country whence they migrated southwards. This region is spoken of by medisBval writers as the "Greater Bulgaria," north of which stretched the " Greater Hungary," and we now know that, being Ugrian Finns, the Hungarians and Bulgarians came originally of one stock. But their fate has been different, for while the Hun- garians have lost their racial type and retained their Ugrian speech, the Bulgarians have lost their speech and to some extent preserved their racial type. On the other hand, the Polabish Slavs — that is, the Slavs of the Elbe basin ^ — have become completely Teutonised both in speech and type. Other members of the Slavonic family have also suffered from Teutonic encroachments, and at present the Grerman Jews appear to be displacing numerous communities, especially in Eussian Poland. But farther east the Slav race is not only absorbing the Pinno-Tatar populations of the Volga basin, but rapidly extending its domain throughout Siberia and Caucasia. The only possible future rival of the "Greater Britain" beyond the seas will be the " Greater Russia " of Central and Northern Asia. 11. The Letto-Lithuanic Group. At one tiine stretching nearly from the Baltic to the Euxine, this group is at present restricted to a narrow territory at the south-east corner of the Baltic, where it is hemmed in on the south-west by German, on the south and east by Eussian, on the north by Esthonian (Finnish) communities. It is thus confined to the Eussian provinces of Kourland, Livonia, and Kovno, and to the north-east comer of East Prussia. But notwithstanding its limited geographical area it forms one of the most interesting linguistic groups in the Aryan domain, adhering more faithfully than any other living member of the family to the primitive Aryan speech. There are three well-marked dialects with several varieties, as iinder : — (High Lithuanian. LoTLUhuanian. Jemaitic. T„„„„ /Lettish proper. LETTio. ^ Kriviniau. Peiiczi (extinct). ' From po = by, near, and Laie = Elbe. 576 APPENDIX. Ill some respects more arcliaic than either of its congeners, Pruczi, or Old Prussian, wMch. ceased to be spoken some two cen- turies ago, occupies a middle position between the two. Lithuanian, however, is, on the whole, by far the best preserved member of the group. Although betraying more numerous points of contact with Slavonic than with any other Aryan language, it also exhibits some marked affinities with the Hellenic, Teutonic, Iranic, and Indie branches. It is thus of paramount importance for the comparative study of these tongues, while its preservation during thousands of years, without the aid of any literary standard or political prestige, must be regarded as a most remarkable linguistic phenomenon. 12. The Finno-Tatar (Uealo- Altaic) Family. An account of this wide-spread division of the Mongolic world belongs properly to the ethnology of Asia, where it is best repre- sented. In Europe the Tatar (Mongolo-Tatar) branch is now con- fined to the extreme east, where are found scattered communities of Tatars proper and Nogai- Tatars in the Volga basin, in Cis- Caucasia and Crimea ; Osmanli Turks, in the Balkan Peninsula ; Bashkirs, Meshcheryaks, Tepyaks, and some other mixed Tatar peoples, partly assimilated either to the Finns or to the Slavs, in Orenburg and the Middle Volga valley ; lastly, some Kirghiz (Tatar) and Kalmuck (true Mongolian) hordes on either side of the Lower Volga and north-west Caspian seaboard. On the other hand the Finnic branch, although of undoubted Asiatic origin, now belongs almost entirely to Europe, where all its subdivisions are represented, and where it has been settled chiefly in the ex- treme north and north-east from prehistoric times. The term Finn, already occurring in Pliny (4, 13) and Tacitus {Germania, 46), and later on in Procopius and Alfred's Orosius (Fionas, Scride Finnas, Ter Finnas), is simply the Teutonic translation of the national name Suomalaiseti — that is, "Fen People," dwellers in the fenny, lacustrine region of Finland. But far from being con- fined to this region, the Finns, or Chudes,^ as the Russians call them, are spread under various local names over Lapland, North Bussia (Archangel), both slopes of the Urals, and in scattered groups along the Middle Volga, besides occupying a large outlying enclave in Hungary. There are thus altogether five main branches, ^ Prom suoma=teii. The same root occurs in Same, the national name of the Lapps (called Finns by the Swedes), and in Samoyede. ^ Supposed by some to be the same word as Scythian, through an inter- mediate form, Skud. THE FINNO-TATAE FAMILY. 577 which, with their various subdivisions, may be tabulated as under : — SAMOYEDE GBOUP; II. BALTIC GROUP. III. VOLGA GEOUP. IV. PERMIAN GROUP. UGRIAN GROUP. { Vanoites. YtTRAKS.-! Eiruches. (Tysia-Igoley. Kaeelians. Tatastians. (Karialaiset. Auramoiset. Savolaiset. Vepse. Vote (Votjalaiset). I Hamalaiset. . Kainulaiset (Quans). OsTKOBOTHNiANS : Pohjalalset, ESTHONIANS. LiVONlANS. Same (Lapps). mokdvinians. Cheeemissians. Chuvashbs. 'Peemian peopek (Komi-Murt). VOTTAK (Uhd-Murd). , SlEYANIAN. I OSTYAKS, VOGULS. I Maotaes. fFjeldfin. A Elvefin. tSjofin. / Erze. 1 Moksha. By speculative anthropologists the Finnish race has been disseminated throughout Europe, and even identified with the Aikads, founders of the earliest Babylonian culture. But their true home is the Altai region, where they are stUl represented by the Soyotes, and whence their migrations may be followed down the Ob valley, over the Urals and along the Kama and Volga to their most advanced outposts on the Baltic seaboard. The speech of all the branches is agglutinating and clearly aUied to the Mongolo-Tatar Unguistic family. But the physical type presents every shade of transition, from the original Mongolic as seen in the Samoyedes and in the Ugrian Ostyaks, to the light and dark varieties of the Caucasic, as seen in the Suomalaiset, or Finns proper, of the Baltic, and in the Hungarian Magyars respectively. Even amongst the Finns themselves, although all alike brachy- cephalic, Gustavns Eetzius-' discriminates between the eastern ^ Finska Kranier: Stockholm, 1878. Wimologj," Nature, December 24, 1879. 2 P See also A. H. Keane's "Fiimio 578 APPENDIX. Karelians with their tall slim figures, oval face, straight and hazel eyes, dark or chestnut hair falling in ringlets over the shoulders, lively frank expression, the true descendants of Ilmaxinen, hero of the Kalevala epic, and the western Tavastians of middle size, square buUd, large head, broad flat features, prominent cheek-bones, short broad nose, tawny complexion, grayish -blue and slightly- oblique eyes, flaxen or rather towy hair, scant beard, dull sullen expression. Betzius regards the Karelians as the typical Finns; but they appear to be rather an amalgam of Slav and Mongolic elements, whUe the Tavastians are obviously Mongols grafted on a Teutonic stock. Thus there is no fundamental Finnic type, and here as elsewhere everything resolves itself ultimately into one or other of the two everlasting primeval elements, fair Oaucasic and yellow Mongolic, already differentiated and diffused throughout the Asiatic and European Continents in Neolithic times. 13. The Ibbeian (Basque) Family. Owing to its abuse by certain recent theorists, the term " Iberian " has fallen somewhat into disrepute. Nevertheless it is impossible to dispense with this venerable historic name, which was formerly applied to the whole of the Spanish peninsula, which survives in the geographical terms Ehro, Ceaai-abria, and which conveniently designates a primitive non- Aryan race in pre-Aryan times in possession of South-west Europe as far north as the Garonne, probably including Sardinia, Corsica, and North-west Italy (Liguria), but doubtfully North Africa. Of this Iberian race, so limited, the only known survivors are the Basques, now confined to the west comer of the Spanish and French Pyrenees.^ The term Basque itself is of respectable antiquity, the people having been known to the Eomans as Vascones (Pliny, 3, 3) before the new era. The same root is found in the name of the Ausci, the primitive inhabitants of Aquitania ; and Aquitania itself later on again took the title of Vasconia (Gascony) when reoceupied by the Basques* between 580 and 602 a.d. It still lives in the province of Viscaya, and the Bay of Biscay, and probably forms the first part of the compounds Euskara, Euscaldun, and Euscaldunherri, ^ In his classical work, Prilfungen der Untersiichungen iiber die Urhe- iBohner Sispaniens, etc. , W. von Humljoldt clearly shows that the primitive geographical nomenclatuie of the Peninsula is distinctly Basque. Thns there were Illiberis, i.e. "new towns," in the extreme south and north of Spain and in Aquitania ; and the Basque words Mr = water, iturria =spTmg, asta= rock, etc., are of ftequent occurrence — always in harmony vrith the nature of the localities. THE IBERIAN FAMILY. 579 the respective native names for the language, the people, and theii country. At the same time it is impossible to maintain that the old Iberian type, of which nothing is known, but which has been made the subject of so many fanciful theories, survives in the present Basque population. Long before the advent of the Cartha- ginians and Romans they had become largely intermingled with the Kelts, as shown by the mixed Celtiberians in the heart of the peninsula and the Gallseci (GaUicians or Gauls) in the north-west. Later on the country was successively overrun or invaded by the Sueves and Visigoths, by the Merovingian and Carlovingian Franks, by the Arabs, French, and Spaniards. Hence it is not surprising that anthropologists have had difficulty in determining a distinct type, where there is nothing but mixture of many heterogeneous elements. Two varieties at least have been detected — one taU, fair, and dolichocephalic,! chiefly among the upper classes ; the other short, dark, and brachycephalic, more numerous, but no more chaiacteristie of the Basques than the same traits are of the Keltic Savoyards. EHste Reclus says emphatically that " il n'y a point de type Basque."^ What the Basques have preserved almost intact is the primitive Iberian language, but for which no one would have ever thought of separating them from their French and Spanish neighbours. It is in virtue of this marvellously preserved language that they are a law unto themselves, and remain the crux of European ethnology. Notwithstanding its present limited domain Basque presents a great diversity of forms, of which the chief are comprised in the subjoined table : — Old Iberian (extinct) EUSCAEA BaSOITNSE (Spanish Basque). (French Basque). Guipuzcoan. Biscayan. Labourdin. Souletin. Upper Navarrese North. Lower Navarrese East. Upper Navarrese South. Lower Navarrese West. None of the French or Spanish Navarrese dialects seem to have ever been reduced to writing. But the four others possess a sort of literature, the oldest printed specimen of which dates from ^ Thus in an old Basque MS. lately found at Santiago occurs the passage : "BascU facie candidiores Navarris approbantur. " Quoted by Rev. W. Webster in la Nbuvelle Bevue, April 1881. 2 Oiographie Urwoerselle, i. p. 855. 580 APPENDIX. the year 1545.' All, however, resemble each other in their essential features, which are so peculiar that it becomes difiScult to find a suitable place for Basque in any linguistic classification. It fuses the formative elements with the root to a far greater extent than the Finno-Tataric, Bantu, or any other agglutinating family of the old world ; it employs composition by syncope like the polysynthetio American languages ; lastly, Mahn ^ has shown that it is in some respects even more highly inflecting than the Aryan and Semitic groups themselves. In a morphological classification of speech Basque thus stands quite apart, being somewhat inter- mediate between the agglutinating, polysynthetic, and inflecting orders, and for this unique position the term Incorporation (Einverleibung), first proposed by Humboldt, might be conveniently reserved. In any case the persistence of Basque throughout endless political and social vicissitudes, probably from the Stone age down to the present day, is a conspicuous instance of the importance of language in ethnological studies. Of fundamental races nothing now remains in Europe beyond the fresh creations that time has been able to mould from diverse heterogeneous elements since the great waves of migration have subsided. Yet here is a peculiarly intricate form of speech which, unaided by political prestige or the conservative influence of literature, has maintained its integrity in a few upland Pyrenean valleys, at all events since Neolithic times. From this, however, it does not follow that linguistic are more stable than physical types, but only that under certain conditions speech may survive the effacement of racial features. 14. Statistics of the Eueopean LAis^GUAaES. Of the present population of Europe, estimated at about 330,000,000, not more than 24,000,000 are of non-Aryan speech, while fuUy 300,000,000 belong to the three great Teutonic, Romance, and Slav branches of the Aryan family. It is generally supposed that of these the Slavonic is the most numerous ; but from the subjoined table, prepared from the latest official returns, it wiU be seen that it ranis third only, being exceeded both by the Romance and the Teutonic, the latter heading the list with a total of about 105,000,000. ' B. Deohepare's Linguce Vasconum Primitios : Bordeaux, 1545 ; one copy extant. ^ In DenJcmdler der Baskisdien SproLche : Berlin, 1857. An admirable thougli now almost forgotten little treatise, betraying a deep insight into the philosophy of speech. STATISTICS OF LANGUAGES. 681 Aryan Domain. German (Empire, 42,000,000; Austria,10, 000,000; Switzerland, 2,000,000; Russia, 1,000,000) 55,000,000 English (British Isles) .... 34,000,000 Dutch (Holland) 4,000,000 Flemish (Belgium) 3,000,000 Swedish (Sweden, Finland) . . . 5,000,000 Danish (with Icelandic, 60,000, and Faroic, 10,000) 2,000,000 Norwegian 2,000,000 105,000,000 f French (France, 36,500,000 ; Germany, 3,000,000; Switzerland, 500,000) . Italian (Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily) Spanish (with Catalan, Galician, etc. ) Portuguese ...... Koumanian (Eonmania, Hungary, Balkan Peninsula) WaUon (Belgium) Rhseto-Eomance (Switzerland, Tyrol, Friuli) 40,000,000 29,000,000 16,000,000 4,000,000 8,000,000 2,500,000 500,000 100,000,000 >5 W Great and White Russian . Little Russian (TJkrania, Galicia, etc.) PoUsh (Russia, Austria, Prussia) Tsekh \ (Bohemia, Moravia, North Hun- Slovak / gary) .... J, , ;-. . . ( (Carinthia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serho-CroatianJ Herzegovina, Servia, Dal- Slovenian ^ ^atia, Montenegro) . Bulgarian (Bulgaria, Rumelia) . Sorb (Upper and Lower Lusatia) 50,000,000 16,000,000 11,000,000 7,000,000 7,360,000 3,500,000 140,000 95,000,000 Letto-Lithtjanian (Kovno, Kourland) . Thraco-Hbl- j Greek (Greece, Archipelago) . 3,500,000 LENio. j" Albanian (Albania, Greece, Italy) 1,750,000 3,000,000 5,250,000 "Welsh (N. and S. "Wales) . Breton (West Brittany) . Irish (Munster, Connaught, Ulster) Gaelic (Scotch Highlands) . Manx (Isle of Man) . 1,000,000 1,370,000 860,000 360,000 10,000 3,600,000 582 APPENDIX. Finno-Tatak Domain. Magyar (Hungary) 6,500,000 Baltic Finn (Finland, Lapland, Esthonia, Livonia) 3,000,000 Volga and TJgrian Finn (Middle Volga, Perm, Urals) 2,000,000 ^ J Tatar (Orenburg, Volga, Crimea) . . 3,750,000 5 I Osmanli (Balkan Peninsula) . . . 1,250,000 Mongol.— Kalmuck (Lower Volga) . . . 100,000 16,600,000 MiSCELLANEOtrS. Basque (both slopes of Western Pyrenees) . 600,000 Armenian (Balkan Peninsula, Austria, etc.) 550,000 Gipsey (Austria, Turkey, Russia, Spain, etc.) 500, 000 Circassian (Balkan Peninsula) . . 150,000 Maltese, Arab, and Sundries . . . 250,000 2,050,000 B^SUM^. Teutonic .... 105,000,000 Romance .... 100,000,000 Slavonic .... 95,000,000 Letto-Lithuaniau 3,000,000 Keltic 3,600,000 Thraco-Hellenic . 6,250,000 Armenian .... 550,000 Gipsey 500,000 Aryan .... 312,900,0001 Finno-Tatar 16,600,000 Sundries 1,000,000 330,500,000 ^ Including 6,400,000 Semitic Jews, mostly of Slav and Teutonic speeoli. STATISTICS. 583 II.— STATISTICS. By G. G. CHISHOLM, M.A., B.Sc. 1. AREA,i ETC., OF THE STATES OP EUROPE. is S o 3 1 i i S i A < II 3 s Andorra . 1T4 174 6,000 34 Amstrian Empire 2 . 240,291 193 1,272 241,663 2| 37,880,000 1880 157 laechtenstein . 61 — — 61 9,000 1880 148 Belgium . 11,376 216 — 11,375 i 5,500,000 1879 486 Britisli Possessions 3 . 116,400 — 5,065 121,465 H 36,300,000 1881 290 Great Britain . 84,060 17 — — — Ireland . 32,838 11 , Denmark . 9,501 16i 5,856 15,357 J 1,980,000 1880 128 Iceland . 39,545 — 89,645 i 72,000 1-8 France 202,300 71 3,685 206,985 2* 37,670,000 1881 183 Germany . 207,702 114 1,029 208,731 24 46,200,000 1880 217 Greece 21,106 Hi 3,871 24,977 fV 1,980,000 1879-81 79 Italy . 92,073 89 19,337 111,410 li 28,460,000 1881 255 Monaco 8-3 1 — 8-3 7,000 1878 — Montenegro 3,487 16 — 3,487 A 236,000 — 67 Netherlands 12,106 19 638 12,744' t 4,173,000 1883 327 Luxemburg . 998 — — 998 210,000 1880 210 Norway 117,071 10 8,580 125,651 1? 1,900,000 1880 15 Portn^ . 34,420 44 — 34,4204 i 4,160,000 1878 121 Bomnania . 60,736 336 — 50,736 f 6,400,000 — 106 Bnssia (including Fin- land) 1,969,074 366 42,3715 2,011,4456 23 85,000,0007 1882 41 S [Finland . — — — 144,223 U 2,082,000 1879 14] San Marino 33 — — 33 8,000 — 242 Serrla 18,761 — — 18,761 i 1,820,000 1882 97 Spain 191,365 72 1,930 193,2959 H 16,630,000 187T 86 Sweden 170,934 36 3,040 173,974 lA 4,670,000 1880 26 Switzerland 16,978 — — 16,978 A 2,846,000 1880 177 Turlsey in Europe . 58,927 — 3,920 62,847 * 4,490,000 1880 71 E. Eoumelia . 14,870 — — 14,870 i 816,000 1880 65 Bulgaria . 24,693 — — 24,693 A 2,000,000 1881 81 Bosnia, Herzegov- ina, and Novi-Bazar 23,631 — 1 — 23,631 A 1,826,000 1879 56 1 After Strelbitsky (Saper^rfe de V Europe), except in the ease of Turkey, Greece, and Montenegro, for which Behm and Wagner's Bevdlk&rv/ng der Mrde has been followed. The total area of Europe, according to the above table, is, in round numbers, 3,748,000 square miles, and the total population 332,000,000. s Not including Bosnia and Herzegovina. 3 Including Heligoland, Gibraltar, and the Maltese Group. * Exclusive of the Azores and Madeira (1311 square miles). 5 Including Novaya Zemlya. 8 Exclusive of the Asiatic portions of the Governments of Perm and Orenburg, amount- ing to about 67,000 square miles. 7 Population of the whole of European Russia (including Finland, but not the lieuten- ancy of the Caucasus). 8 Calculated on the whole area, including the Asiatic portions of Perm and Orenburg. 9 Exclusive of the Canaries (2808 square miles). 584 APPENDIX. 2. COLONIAL AND OTHER POSSESSIONS OF EUROPEAN POWERS IN OTHER CONTINENTS. Denmark. In America — Greenland (territory free of ice), and the West Indian Islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz. Total area, 25,140 square miles ; population, 44,000. France. In Africa — Algeria, Tunis,i Senegambia, the settlements on the Gaboon, the islands of Ste. Marie and NosBi-B6 near Mada- gascar, Mayotte and Reunion (Bourbon); in Asia — the East Indian colonies of Pondicherry, Ohandemagor, Carical, Mah^, Yanaon, the protected State of Cambodia, the large settlement of Saigon in Cochin China, and Tonquin ; in Oceanica — New Caledonia, with the protectorate of Tahiti and the Marquesas ; in America — Martinique and Guadeloupe in the West Indies, the fishing stations of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the Newfoundland coast, and French Guiana in South America. Total area, 795,000 square miles ; population, 25,600,000. Netherlands. In Asia — Java, Madura, and other possessions in the Eastern Archipelago ; in America — Surinam, and the West Indian Islands of Ouragao, Saba, St. Eustatius, Aruba, Bonaire, and part of St. Martin. Total area, 700,000 square mUes; population, 28,000,000. Portugal, In Asia — Goa, Salsette, Bardez, Daman, and Diu in Hindustan, Macao off the coast of China, and Timor in the Eastern Archi- pelago ; in Africa — Azores and Madeira,^ Cape Verde, St. Thomas and Prince's Islands, possessions in Senegambia, Guinea, Angola, Benguela, Sofala, and Mozambique. Total area, 698,500 square mUes ; population, 10,700,000. ^ Since 1881 under IVencli control. 2 Tie Azores and Madeira are regarded as forming an integral part of the kingdom of Portugal, though generally considered to belong to the African Continent. They are described in the volume on Africa. STATISTICS. 585 EussiA. In Asia — Siberia, the Trans-Caspian Territory, Central Asia, and the lieutenancy of the Caucasus. Total area, 6,296,000 square mUes ;i population, 14,700,000. Spain. In Asia — Philippines and Sulu Islands ; in Africa — Ceuta and the Presidios (Penon de Velez, Alhucemas, and MelUa), with the Canary Islands, the Island of Fernando Po, and some smaller possessions on the Guinea coast ; in America — the West Indian Islands of Cuba and Porto Eico ; in Australasia — the Palaos. Total area, 118,000 square mUes ; population, 8,700,000. TUEKET. In Asia — immediate possessions in Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, etc., and the tributary principality of Samos ; in Africa — the vice-royalty of Egypt ^ and the vilayet of Tripoli. Total area, 2,227,000 square miles ; population, 33,500,000. United Kingdom. In Asia — British India, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Northern Borneo, Labuan, Hongkong, Aden, and various small islands off the coasts of Arabia, Cyprus;^ in Africa — Cape Colony and its dependencies, Natal, the Transvaal,* the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, and Lagos Settlements, the Islands of Mauritius, Ascension, St. Helena, and Tristan da Cunha ; in America — the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, British Honduras, British Guiana, the Bermudas, Jamaica, and other West Indian Islands, the Falkland Islands ; in Australasia — ^Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania ; in Polynesia — the Fiji Islands and Eotumah, Fanning, Maldive, Starbuck, and Caroline Islands. Total area, 8,500,000 square miles ; population, 270,000,000. 1 Exclnsive of the Asiatic portions of the Governments of Perm and Orenhurg, amounting in all to about 57,000 square miles. " Inclusive of the Soudan. ' Under British administration, though still nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire. ■• Under British suzerainty. 586 APPENDIX. 3.— AREA AND POPULATION OF THE PEOVINCES OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGAEIAN MONARCHY. PoptOation |i lig Area in Ratio to Britain t County ham (: 31st Decem- 33 m 00 P"^ eq. miles. ber 1880. 1" l|i CiSLEITHAN PbOVIN- CES — Lower Austria . 7,655 7-6 D 2,331,000 304 17 TTpper Austria . 4,633 4-6 D 760,000 164 3-1 Salzburg . 2,767 2-7 D , 164,000 59 6-8 Tyrol and Vorarlberg 11,325 •125 B 913,000 31 3-02 Styria 8,670 8-6 D 1,214,000 140 6-6 Carintliia . 4,006 4 D 349,000 87 3 3 Camiola . 3,856 3-8 D 481,000 125 3-2 Gorz and Gradiska, Istria and Trieste . 3,084 3 D 647,000 210 7-7 Dalmatia 4,953 4-9 D 476,000 96 3-8 Boliemia . 20,063 ■223 B 5,561,000 277 8-2 Moravia . 8,584 8-5 D 2,153,000 251 6-7 Silesia 1,998 2 D 565,000 290 10-2 Galicia 30,301 •34 B 5,959,000 197 9-4 Bukowina 4,036 4 D 572,000 141 11-3 Transleithan Peo- VINOES OR L A NDS or THE HtTNGAEIAN Crown — Hungary and Tran- sylvania 108,279 1-2 B 13,700,000 126 1-2 Croatia and Slavonia 8,982 8-9 D 1,192,000 133 4-2 Croato - Slavonian Frontier 7,850 7-8 D 698,000 89 •46 Piume 8 21,400 16-3 1 Area of Great Britain, including the adjacent small islands in round numbers, 90,000 square miles ; of the county of Durham in round numbers, 1000, or, more precisely, 1012 square miles. STATISTICS. 587 4.— AEBA AND POPULATION OF THE STATES OF GERMANY. Area in sq. miles. itio to Great citaln (BV or lunty of Dur- ham (D). Population 1st December 1380. 11 KWS S" M g " Kingdoms— Prussia 134,178 1-5 B 27,279,000 203 5^97 Bavaria 29,292 •34 B 5,285,000 180 5-96 Saxony 5,789 •06 B 2,973,000 614 7-69 Wiirtemterg 7,531 •08 B 1,971,000 262 4^76 Geand-DuchtFiR — Baden 5,824 5-8 D 1,570,000 270 4^19 ■ Hesse 2,965 3 D 936,000 315 5^89 Mecklenburg-Schwerin 5,136 5-1 D 577,000 112 4^20 Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1,131 1-1 D 100,000 88 4^80 Oldenburg 2,470 2-4 D 337,000 136 5^69 Saxe-Weimar . 1,387 1'35D 310,000 223 5-68 Duchies — Brunswick . 1,425 1-4 D 349,000 245 6 •68 Saxe-Meiningen 953 •95 D 207,000 217 6^47 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha . 760 •75 D 195,000 256 6-64 Saxe-Altenburg . 510 •5 D 155,000 304 6^30 Anbalt 906 •9 D 233,000 257 8-91 Pkincipaiitibs — Waldeck . 433 •4 D 56,500 130 3^25 Lippe 459 ■45 D 120,200 262 6^93 SchaumbuTg-Lippe . Schwarzburg-Budol- 171 ■16 D 35,400 206 6-77 stadt 364 •35 D 80,300 220 4^72 Schwarzburg-Sonders- bausen . 333 •32 D 71,100 213 5^37 Eeuss (elder line) 123 •11 D 50,800 413 8^08 Keuss (younger line) . 321 ■31 D 101,300 316 9^69 Free Towns — Bremen . 98 •1 D 157,000 10^21 Hamburg . 158 •15 D 454,000 16^79 Liibeck 109 •1 D 64,000 11^70 iMPEKIAl TeBKITOBY— Alsace-Lorraine 5,602 •06 B 1,567,000 280 2 •28 588 APPENDIX. 5.— AEEA OF THE LARGER AND SOME OF THE PRIN- CIPAL SMALLER ISLANDS OP EUROPE.i Great Britain Iceland Novaya Zemlya Ireland Sicily Sardinia Corsica Candia Zealand (Denmark) Vaigatch . Eaboea Majorca Kalgouef . Gotland Fiinen (Fyen) Oesel . Hindo Lewis Senjenb Skye . Faroe . Oland Laaland After Sorb Sq. miles. 84,060 39,545 35,164 32,338 9,860 9,096 3,422 3,317 2,636 1,430 1,380 1,362 1,360 1,161 1,136 1,011 846 833 612 692 514 509 444 371 367 Strelbitsky {La Superfide de VEwrope). Mainland (Shetland) oq 362 Kiigen . 344 Lomgo . 343 MuU . 302 Minorca 293 Waago . 281 Islay . 280 Corfu . 278 Eingvatsb 273 Ceplalonia 266 Anglesey 262 Aland . 247 Ivi9a 229 Bomholm 229 Man . 223 Pomona 203 Lemnos 183 Zante . 168 Arran . 163 Usedom 154 Wight . 143 Cerigo . 110 Malta . 96 Elba . 86 6. EUROPEAN SEAS. Area,i includ- Areaiof Mean2 Greatest 2 ing Islands. Islands. Depth. Depth. Sq. miles. Sq. miles. Fathoms. Eathoms. Azof .... 14,519 42 5 Black Sea 163,711 21 320 1070 Marmora 4,500 70 Mediterranean (including Adriatic) . 1,007,220 40,569 640 2170 Western basia . 640 1640 Eastern basin . 960 2170 Adriatic . 52^215 1,295 110 566 Archipelago . 320 540 North Sea . . . 207,036 2,487 4608 Baltic .... 184,496 12,763 44 126 White Sea 32,472 191 1 After StrelWtBky. 2 ^fter Eeclus. ^ In Skager Eack ; elsewhere greatest depth 103 fathoms. In few places does the depth exceed 30 fathoms. STATISTICS. 589 7. EUROPEAN LAKES. (1.) Area of Lakes belonging to dippekent Countries op Europe.^ Sq. miles. Portugal .... 201 Koumania .... 590 Russia (including Finland) . 44,288 Serria .... Spain .... Sweden . . . 14,293 Switzerland . . . 488 Turkey .... 696 United Kingdom . . 1,011 1 After Strelbitsky. Sq. milea. Austria-Hungary , 708 Belgium . 2-3 Denmark . 162 France 530 Germany . 2,198 Greece 179 Italy — Montenegro . 814 Net lerlands 74 (Including Luxemburg) 165 Norway . 3,952 (2.) Principal Lakes. Average 2 Area.i Means Greatest !i height Depth. Depth. above sea-level. Sq. Miles. Feet. Feet. Feet. Ladoga (Eussia) .... 7000 300 60 Onega (Kussia) . 3765 "Wener (Sweden) . 2408 Peipus (Russia) . 1356 Wetter (Sweden) 758 Saima (Eussia) . 679 Malar (Sweden) . 651 Paijane (Eussia) . 608 Enare (Russia) . 549 Segozero (Russia) 481 Beloie (Eussia) . 434 Topozero (Russia) 411 * Ilmen (Russia) 354 Vouigozero (Russia) 332 Imandra (Eussia) 329 Sineie and Zmeika (Eo umania) . 256 Balaton (Hungary) 245 20 150 426 Kovdozero (Eussia) 225 Geneva (Switzerland) 221 492 1099 1217 Constance (Germany) 208 490 906 1306 Koubinskoie (Eussia) 152 Garda (Italy) . 141 490 226 Neusiedler (Hungary) 137 NeucMtel (Switzerland ) ; • 89 246 472 1427 Maggiore (Italy) . 81 690 2666 645 Como (Italy) 59 810 1352 663 Lucerne (Switzerland) . 44 490 (?) 853 ... i After Strelb tsky. " C JMefly afte r Reolus. 590 APPENDIX. (3.) Area of Peinoipal Lakes op the British Isles.^ Neagh Corril) Derg Erne Eee Mask Lomond Ness Sg. Miles. . 153 Awe . 71 Tay . 49 Loehy . 48 Maree . 43 Windermere . 35 '5 Leven . 27-25 Katrine . . 19-3 TJlleswater 1 After Strelbitsky. Bq. MUes. . 15-6 . 10-1 . 9-65 . 9-65 . 6-4 . 5-4 . 4-4 . 4-3 8. HEIGHTS OF PRINCIPAL MOUNTAINS OF EUROPE.i b = Detennined ty means of the barometer. th= „ ,, thermometer. tr=^ ,, trigonometrical observations. Country or Region. Mountain. Latitade. Feet. Spitzbergen Hornsund Peak 76° 55' 4,560 tr. Jan Mayeu Barenberg 71° 0' 6,870 tr. Iceland . Orafa JokuU . 64° 0' 6,427 tr. Norway Sulitjelma 67° 0' 6,178 tr. )) Snehaetten 62° 20' 7,565 6. Kussia Tbll-poss-is 63° 47' 5,540 tr. J) Iremel 54° 10' 5,040 I. Scotland Ben Nevis 56° 48' 4,406 tr. Germany . • Brocken . 51° 48' 3,740 tr. ,, (Elesengebirge) . Schneekoppe . 50° 44' 5,252 tr. (Sudetes) . Altvater . 50° 5' 4,890 tr. Austria-Hungary (Bieskids) Babia G6ra 49° 34J' 6,650 tr. (Tatra) . Gerlsdorfspitze . 49° 10' 8,705 tr. Germany (BohmerwaJd) . Arber 49° 7' 4,825 Hungary (Liptauer Gebirge) Kralowa Hola . 48° 53' 6,370 tr. Germany (Vosges) . Sulzer Belchen . 47° 54' 4,700 tr. (Black Forest) . Feldberg . CrgtdeleNeige 47° 52' 4,904 tr. France (Jura) . 46° 16' 5,650 tr. (Alps) . Mt. Blanc 45° 5' 15,732 tr. Transylvania . Negri 45° 35' 8,340 tr. Austria (Karst) Maggiore . 45° 17' 4,570 tr. France (Mt. Dore) Puy de Saucy . 45° 12' 6,180 tr. „ (Provence) Ventoux . 44° 9' 6,270 tr. Spain (Pyrenees) Maladetta 42° 38' 11,168 tr. Italy (Abruzzi) . Gran Sasso d'ltalia . 42° 25' 9,545 tr. Turkey . Ljubatin . 41° 58' 8,i20 th. Sicily Etna 37° 45' 10,840 tr. Spain (Sierra Nevada) Cumbre de Mulahacem 37° 5' 11,660 1 Cihiefly after Behm's Geographisches Jahrbitchr 1874. STATISTICS. 591 9. Length op PRiNCiPAii Eivers op Europe, witli the number of squaie miles in the area of their basin to one mile of length. For the total area of basins see Map of Eiver Basins. ^ r = tributary on right bank. I = tributary on left bank. Black Sea Basin : — Rivers. Don Donetz (r) Dnieper . Pripet (r) Berezina (r) Desna (Z) Bug Dniester . Danube . Pruth (Z) Sereth (Z) Olta (Z) Inn (r) Drave (r) Save [r) Theiss (Z) Marcs (f) Korbs (Z) Szamos (Z) Length in Snglisli miles. 980 487 1064 378 218 438 428 646 1644 368 258 308 268 434 535 550 390 245 258 No. of sq. miles of basin for 1 mile of length. 169-5 ■77-7 191 124 42-6 76-5 61-2 46 192 28 71 29-5 36 36 70 108 43 '5 42 31-8 Mbditeeranean Basin :- Maritza 272 76 Tiber . 199 34 Adige . 234 22-9 Po . . 354 82 Tiber . 199 34 Rhone . 447 85 SaSne (r) . 268 42-9 Ebro . 470" 82 Jucar . 270 28 Atlantic and KofiiH Sea Basin :- Guadalquivir . 374 58 Guadiana 316 80 Tagus 566 56 Douro 485 75-6 Garonne (including Gironde) . 342 96 Atlantic and KTokthSea Basin: — No. of sq. Length in miles of Rivers. English hasin for miles. 1 mile of length. Garonne (excluding Gironde) Dordogne Loire Seine Somme Scheldt Ehine Main (r) Moselle (Z) . "Weser and Werra Werra " Fulda . Elbe 290 262 543 425 86 199 530 709 300 300 355 160 119 612 Baltic Basin :- Oder Vistula . Niemen . W. Dvina Neva Tomea . Gijta-elf . 424 596 437 470 34 268 56 76 35 86 70-6 25 38 24 107 35 36 50 13-3 24 90-4 40-4 124 80 70 3281 49 336 Akctic Basin : — N. Dvina Mezen Petchora . 358 394 496 61-3 915 139 Caspian Basin : Ural Volga Oka (r) Kama (Z) Viatka (r) 1446 1977 706 984 596 66-6 285 132 206 84-8 After Strelbitsky. 592 APPENDIX. 10. VITAL STATISTICS. Bate of increase o Emigration.2 r population of Proportion per 3entof different countries of Europe number of emigrants at different periods. to total increase of population including enu'grants ga Is Period. Period. ! 1880. 1881. Austria 1800-60 6-4 1860-78. 8-6 3-93 11-93 12 -5' Belgium . 1801-60 7-6 1860-78 8-2 1-5 3 4-2 Denmark . 1801-60 9-3 1860-78 11-1 20-2 51-3 53-6 France 1800-60 4-8 1860-77 2-3 10-7 7-2 6-4 Germany . 1871-78 10-6 15-6 37-7 51-2 Bararia . 1818-61 5-5 1861-78 5-4 13-8 24-1 Prussia (within boundaries of 1866) . 1820-61 12-1 1861-75 9-8 ... Prussia (with extension of 1866) . 1830-61 11-6 1861-78 10-0 14-3 33-9 Saxony. . 1820-61 14-1 1861-78 15-6 5-4 9-7 Wurtemberg . 1834-61 3-4 1861-78 7-6 29-3 54-5 Greece 1821-61 12-2 1861-77 9-5 Hungarian Crown 1830-60 2-7 1860-77 5-5 ... Italy. 1800-61 6-1 1861-78 7-1 3-3 7-0 9-i Netherlands 1795-1859 7-1 1859-77 9-5 3-3 7-0 16-4 Norway . 1800-60 9-9 1860-78 8-6 56-9 133-3 155-0 Portugal . 1801-61 3-9 1861-74 11-7 Bussia . 1851-63 12-0 1863-75 11-1 6'-98 i-2 2-5 Finland . 1800-60 12-2 1860-78 7-3 Russian Poland 1823-58 7-2 1858-77 19-5 Servia 1834-59 19-2 1859-78 11-9 ... Spain 1800-60 6-6 1860-77 3-5 i'-'z 1-1 4-2 Sweden . 1800-60 8-2 1860-78 11-5 21-5 79-1 94-4 Switzerland 1837-60 5-9 1860-78 6-0 15-2 40-8 56-4 United Kingdom 1801-61 9-9 1861-81 9-5 14-9 20-2 23-9 England and Wales 1801-61 12-6 1861-81 13-1 Ireland . 1801-61 1-7 1861-81 6-11 118-6 221-3 184-9 Scotland 1801-61 10-5 1861-81 10-1 ... ... ' Rate of decrease. " From " Die Europaisohe Auswanderung," by Alb. v. Randow, in Deutsche Bundschau fwr Geographie und StaMstik, 1882. ' Including Hungary. STATISTICS. 593 According to the best available estimates the total population of Europe doubled itself in 78 years from the beginning of the present century, amounting ia 1878 to about 324,000,000. The average marriage-rate in Europe amounts at present to 7'7 marriages (or 15'4 newly married persons) to 1000 of the population annually ; the birth-rate varies from 25 '8 to 43-8 per 1000 ; the death-rate from 17-5 to 38 per 1000. The different countries of Europe may be grouped as follows with regard to birth-rate and death-rate : — Birtli-rate „ , . per 1000. Countnes. 25-8 . . France. 28-2 — 32 •! Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece. 34 "5 — 39 "9 . . England, Holland, Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Spain. 40 '4 — 43 '8 . Russia, Poland, Hungary, Servia. Death-tate per 1000. 17*5 — 21-4 . . Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Greece. 22 '2 — 24 '9 . France, England, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland. 25 '0 — 31-5 . Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Finland. 31 '5 — 38 . . Russia, Poland, Hungary, Servia. Among children under five years of age the lowest death-rate is found in Norway, where the number of those who die under that age is 18 per cent of the number born. Sweden and Denmark stand next in this respect ; then follow France, England, Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece with from 25 to 28 per cent ; Holland, Germany, Italy, and Austria with from 33 to 38 per cent. As to the sex of children bom, the highest percentage of boys is found in Southern Europe, where it reaches 110 to 100 girls ; in Central Europe the proportion is about 105 : 100 ; and in Kussia 104 : 100.^ 1 '•' Die Entwickelung der Bevolkerung Europas im neunzehten Jahr- hundert," von Dr. Vine. Goehlert, in Vierteljahrschrift fur VolTcsirnHh- schafl; Jalirg. 20, vol. 1. Berlin, 1883. 2 Q 594 APPENDIX. i ■3 g O % P4 g o 15 1 CO •* O O t^ CM '"^ ^ CO Tt* rH lO •. lO o>co(D -ooj>-oo«5(N«>co(Noococooi. Oi -^H OJ (N ; t-H »-HCOi-(:- o 00 CO vn «00(N •COCOOrHOOC000001>-'aD(N(NCO :i>. coj>-i-i : i>- eo ITS CO . I-H (N 1-H 1-H 1 Ir^'^O t- t^ '"!}< Tji O O (M O CO (N CS O l>- co-^''^ ■■^T-icooo.t^i-H5oeD*^co-^j>.-^ooi>- :t^ CO <0 (N . t^ CO CO I-H 1— 1 CO lO j-H CO CO lO lO t-H ■* CO . (M 1-1 i 1 1 1 Hops. Stigar Beet. Metric cwts. per 1000 of . Population. 1108 1090 3085 980 888 . rH .J>*C^rH CO . . rH <0-OS*CNi-(iO'-"i-(**---- -'I-H Graiu. No. of kilos, per head of Population. l7^ 00 rH 05 OS 05 50 -rtl «l t* M C-CO . O -^ lO . :rHrH-*t-^°^"CO»n -*rHrH f-iTH(NOS OO o OS O O O O O O O . J^^ 50 00 OS CN CO -^ : OS lo CO ^J:^ o c^ C^'ffD'od'os CO Oi T-H rH OO O .xair^ CO . ; -00 CO c-- o^ : ^r^ r-T 2 4,890 18,720 120 3,320 o o o o o o o . CO CO (M J.-~ oo OS ICS : urs O (N 00 CN 00 (N cd" virT icT od" (N* ^s' oo" rH rH rH rH rH 'o O O O . OS CO OS rH : '■^ 00 . CO rH rH 4,060 8,110 26,660 300 36,210 i i CI 1^ .g-s P 4 OS 00 CO 1^ CO : CD CM rH CO J>- CD O . lO O CO OO , : CO rH »ri o . (N t^ CO CO «> rH ■<:*< 00 OS O CO CO OS ITS -^ CO rH rH Tff CO rH rH rH rH rH IM OS tN t-~ 4 OS 55 CO CO 1-- CO . o o ua CO (M OO J>. CO OO CO OS . OS 00 O OS . Ol tr^ CO la Oi rH rH CO i^ CO rH O CN J>- m CO (M rH CO rH 1-1 ■* rH - CO o CO »a CO CO OS rH rH 00 lO -* ; -^ rH -* CD '!:t< -* CO rH CO (N (M r r-t CO O CD CO t- -* i>. CO '^ CO J>. O O lO -* _ OO CO CO '^ lO o o : i>ro''. CO T-H OS ^ OO o (M OS rH (N Oi CO 1-^ 1,518J658 87,060 344^304 274,826 430,'l23 529,613 67>10 6, 956,' 865 ^ J0 91TUl't 0!^ J-H CO* 00{NOir500u:5Ti(COCDOCOO-- O rHrH COrHrH CNCOiOCOOS T-i ■^ rH rH rH rH rH 00 CO : OS 4t< 00 OS CO CO •CO Tt< Ol^ tH r-t T-88St JO SuinuiSgq I^B TI9(io S9XTK TH.-tCOiOCO-u:3OC0-*J>-OCNOC0 CO(NCDt-HOCO OOCNC^OSOOSCOt-^ GrT-roo"i-r tcTr-r .-r -^ r-l rH . rH -^ " -^ CO r-T Oo" r-1 4 ee B. * • • ' • ■ • ' Bosnia and Herzef Belgium Denmark France . Germany Greece . Italy . Ketherlands . Luxemburg Norway Portugal Eoumania Kussia . Finland . Servia . Spain . Sweden Switzerland . Turkey . Bulgaria . United Kingdom STATISTICS. 597 a, o I— I o O o P - --^ CSI (M rH rH iH -OS • CO i-H -CO ■ - OO (N ■ lO CN CO ■ CN • • tH * • Oi i o O urs rH O O CO O O iCi CO OO o O Oi to to o urs -"ii CO o (N to o ^^ o t^ to it^oovocotNooito :i tOrH la CO I— 1 Cq 11 »-* -t^coc^caursiM"^!— 1 -to -xo-^ "in • -ih .-1 : CO i-i i-H ■ l-H . . rH . . -* 1 ift . W oq lO rH ^ -<*< Ol O .t^ . Oi -* .t^ , , .iftOii— (i-(tDt^(N -i-H -tOi-H -tJH . -OS u:i ■ G^l OO l>- rH to -"il cq rH "OS ' to lO "t^ ■ • -^ i-H CO o O 0(N>^OvnOrHiO CO 0(M O OS •j>.rHooo. -o ; -m !>. ItO'^OtOrHOCOCN -i>- -toxft -CO . -CO CO rH rH rH CO r-t r^ r-t tO SI i < 1 O 1 t-^OOSOCOirSrHtO OOtOm- co t-TurT to" j>. cricTaT CO to i>. urs rn'^cN m (N oo co"!:* os tOCCv.- OOOOOOOSCOt>-Ou:sOW500l01u^C*10 rH(N OOirSrHOi— 1 * t— 1-T r-f 1-i r-^ CM 1 fit.-. O-^COG^lOSOOCO^-COlOrHlO "tt.^-tO coQOoocNOs-*05coto^^J>-oo ■^?!> :.-^t>- OG-OOtOOOrH10t-- C>CNrHtO 00'^Ot^. xo r-T ' OO i>- icTi^ O "* rH O -^ (N to lO rH CO CO urS rH , 104, 106, 109, 113 Mezen, 176 Mincio, 283 Minho, 266, 475 Moldan, 140, 390 Mole, 211 Moratcha, 311 Morava, 160, 164, 541 Moselle, 88, 104 Mur, 122, 154 Nab, 91 Nahe, 88, 109 Neckar, 103 Nera, 274 Neva, 181 Niemen, 98, 172 Northern Dvina, 176, 182 Obi, 167 Oder, 96, 105, 106, 160 Oglio, 283 Ogly, 62 Oka, 178 Olona, 601 Ombrone, 275 Orb, 62 Ouse, 211 Pedias, 327 Petohora, 167, 176, 182 River Po, 131, 272, 282-88 della Maestra, 282 di Primaro, 283 di Volano, 283 Poprad, 160 Pripet, 180 Pruth, 628 Regen, 91 Regnitz, 104 Reno, 272, 283 Beuss, 46, 123, 137 Rhine, 88, 96, 99, 103, 109, 111-14, 116, 117, 122, 131, 347 Rhone, 74, 104, 122, 130, 181 Ruhr, 93, 112 Salamvria or Peneus, 310 Salza, 90, 122 Sambre, 112, 113 San, 181 SaOne, 76, 81, 104 Sarthe, 73 Save, 122, 151, 163 Scheldt, 96, 99, 104 Scrivia, 283 Seochia, 283 Segre, 267 Segm'a, 257 Seine, 74 Senne, 345 Sereth, 628 Sesia, 283 S^vre Nantaise, 73 Sleg, 98 Sio, 166 Spree, 105, 365 Stour, 211 Struma or Sti-ymon, or Kara-su, 312 Tagus, 243, 256, 473 Tame, 234 Tana, 184 Tanaro, 283 Tarn, 72 Taro, 283 Tech, 62 Tet, 62 Thames, 211 Theiss, 140, 163, 155 Tiber, 272, 274 Tioino, 131, 283 Trebbia, 233 Tronto, 273 Turano, 277 Towey, 234 Unstratt, 94 Ural, 177 Usk, 234 Vaal, 106 Vardar, 312 Velino, 277 Viehegda, 182 Vienne, 73 Vistula, 96, 106, 106, 160, 181 Vocka, 174 Volga, 177 Volturno, 278 614 INDEX. Kiver Waag, 154 Werra, 92 Wertaoh, 90 ■Weser, 96, 100, 106, 106 ■Western Dvina, 173, 181 Wey, 211 Woemitz, 91 Wye, 234 Yantra, 307 Eiver systems of Europe, 21 France, 70 Riviera di Levante, 270 Ponente, 270 Roanne, 72 Boca, Cape, 242 Eocca di Lipareto, mountain, 274 Book lake, 432 Rome, 606 Romsdal, 437 Rotondo, Monte, 302 Rostoletz, 518 Rotterdam, 344, 353 Rouen, 332 Roumania, 151, 522 aspect, 522 chief towns, 52S ethnography, 523 natural resources, 622 people, 523 social condition, 523 "Wallachians, 624 Roumelia, 547 Roveredo, 387 Mlibica^ra, 52 Riigen island, 98 Ruhr river, 98, 112 valley, 109 Eumburg, 390 Bunn lake, 434 Russe, 548 B-ussen, 133 Russia, 165, 403 Aralo-Caspian, 168 climate, 185 culture and social life, 416 education, 421 elevations, 160 ethnical elements, 405, 416 extent, 403 fauna, 178, 185, 187 Finns in, 412 geology, 182 Gennans in, 409 government, 403 Great and Little Rus- sians, the, 406 Kalmucks, 414 lake region, 173 Letto-Lithuanians, 409 minerals, 183 Mir or village commune, 418 Musjiks, 407 national types, 407 natural resources, 424 northern, 175 Russia, physical features, 166 Poles and Serbs, 409 railways and telegraphs, 424 religion, 420 river systems, 176 Samoyedes, 414 southern, 168, 171 Swedes in, 412 Tatars, 414 vegetation, 170-74, 176 western, 172 White Russians, 409 Rustchuk, 548 Saar valley, 109 Saarhriick, 112 Sabine hills, the, 277 St. Albans, 466 St. Andreas, Cape, 326 St. Andrews, 466 St. Etienne, 332 St. Gall, 376 St. Moritz, 136 St. Petersburg, 185, 421 harbour, 181 Saima lake, 174 Salamanca, 251 Salamis island, 531 Salamvria or Peneus river, 310 Salerno gulf, 279 Salford, 465 Salina island, 299 Salonika or Thessalonica, 643, 648 Salten Fjord, 438 Salt in Austria, 142, 160 Cyprus, 327 France, 80 Italy, 270 Russia, 168, 184 Switzerland, 136 Salt (rock) in British Isles, 230 Germany, 114 Italy, 293 Sicily, 298 Spain, 261 Salza river, 90, 122 Salzburg, 142, 162, 385 duchy of, 385 Salzkammergut, 142, 160 Samakof, 318 Samara, 178 Sambre river, 112, 113 Samokovskaya mountain, 176 Samos island, 325 Samothi'ace island, 325 Samoyede huts, 416 Samoyedes, savages, 176 San river, 181 Sandomir mountains, 30 San Marino, 514 San Remo, 270, 600 Santa : Maura or Leucadia island, 822 Santo Bartolomeo island, 608 Santorin or Thera island, 324 SaOne river, 75, 81, 104 Saratof, 36 Sardinia island, 301, 492, 49.9, 612 inhabitants, 614 Sarepta, 412 Sargans, 133 Sark island, 59 Sarmatian lowlands, 99 Samen lake, 26 Sassari, 614 Sarthe river, 73 Sauerland or Sildcrland mountains, 93 Save river, 122, 151, 153 Savona, 493, 600 Savoy, 70 " Saxon Switzerland," 105 Saxony, 95, 113, 114, 370 Scandinavia, 189 climate, 200 fauna, 203 geology, 197 hydrography, 194 minerals, 199 relief, 191 vegeiation, 200 Scarpanto island, 321 Soawfell mountain, 208 Schaffhausen, 103 Scheldt river, 96, 99, 104 Schiedam, S54 Schinznach, 156 Schlangenbad, 92 Schleswig-Holstein, 114 Sohlier lake, 90 Schneeberg mountain, 94, 141 Schneekopf mountain, 93 Schreckhom mountain, 122 SclviiUcn islands, 151, 164 Schwalbaoh, 92 Schwartzwald mountains, 113 Schwedt, 105 Schwerin lake, 107 Sclo or Chios island, 325 Scotland, 466 see British Isles Highlands, 212 Highlanders, 468 Scrivia river, 283 Scutari or Skadar lake, 311 Sea, Adriatic, 4 of Azof, 6 Baltic, 15 Black, 6, 130 Caspian, 6, 168 Great, 4 Haarlem Meer, 102 Inner, 4 Ionian, 4 of Marmora, 6 the North, 14, 99, 101, 116, ISO Our, 4 the Polar, 18 Tyrrhenian, 4 White, 18, 174, 176, 185 Zuider Zee, 14, 100-2 Seas, Northern, 17 INDEX. 615 Sebastopol, 171, 185 Setenico, 3S9 Secchia river, 283 Sedan, 110 Seeland island, 107 Segebe^, 114 Segre river, 207 Segura river, 257 SeicheSy 133 Seine river, 74 Sellers, 93 Senne river, 845 Serajevo, 318 Sereth river, 52S Semdhas, 246 Serphos, isle of, 317 Serra da Estrelha, 4S7 Serravezza, 271 Servi island, 321 Servia, 309, 516 agricultm-e, 518 chief towns, 519 education, 519 government, 519 peoples, 516 stock-breeding, 518 Sesia river, 283 Setubal, 474 Seville, 254, 480, 490 Sfevre Nantaise river, 73 S6vres, 332 Sheffield, 465 Shetland Islands, 210 Shumla, 54S Sicily or TrinaciTa island, 297, 492, 512 flora, 298 minerals, 298 people, 513 Siebengebirge mountain, 93, 108 Siebenbiirgen, see Transyl- vanian highlands Sieg river, 93 Siegen, 113 Siena, 506 Sierra de Francos, 487 Silesia, 115, 148, 150, 357, 360, 361, 370 Austrian, 390 Lower, 113 manufactures, 391 Upper, 113 Silistria, 548 Sils Maria, 137 Silver in Balkan Peninsula. 317 Bohemia, 160 British Isles, 230 Italy, 292 Sardinia, 302 Scandinavia, 199, 200 Spain, 260 Simm lake, 90 Sic river, 156 Sirocco, 43, 44 Bissek, 153 Sistova, 548 Skager Rack, 101, 191 Skjaers, 190 Skodra or Skutari, 548 Skogen, 193 Skudesnaes. 201 Skutari or tJsklidar, 547 Skye, isle of, 39 Skyros, 534 island, 534 Slavonia, 151 Slavonians, the, 388 Slavonic group, the, see Ap- pendix I., 572 archipelago, former, 100 Slivno, mountain, 308 Snowdon, mountain, 208 Soden, 92 Sofia, 548 Sqffioni, 273 Sogne Fjord, 190, 194, 437 SolaTW, 44 Solenhofen, 115 Solfatara, 280 Solothurn, 130 Solovetzki islands, 176 Sondrio, 502 Soonwald, mountain, 89 Sorrento, 511 South Holland, 349 Spain, 478 Andalusians, 479 Asturians, 482 Aragonese, 482 Balearic islanders, 483 Basques, 483 Canaries, islands, 490 Castilians, 481 Catalonians, 483 chief towns, 488 Gallegos, 482 Gibraltar, 490 Gipsies, 486 Hardes Valley folk, 486 see Iberian Peninsula people, 478 Spalato, 389 Spartivento, Cape, 282 Spechtswald or Spessart, mountains, 91, 92 Sperenberg, 114 Spessart or Spechtswald, mountains, 91, 92 Spezia, 270, 501 bay of, 501 Spezzia island, 533 Sphagnum acutifoliuin, 97 Spalasc, 53, 187 Spitzbergen, archipelago, 18 Sporades, islands, 323, 534 Spi'ee river, 105, 365 Sredna Gora, mountains, 306 Stabiae, 281 Staffel Lake, 90 Stahlberg, 113 Stanco or Kos, island, 325 Sternberg or Wiirm lake, 90 Stassfurt, 114 Stavanger, 436 Stavoren, 354 Statistics relating to Com- merce and Communi- cations, see Appendix IL, 596 Mines and Manufactures, see Appendix II,, 595 Primary Education, see Appendix II., 598 the United Kingdom, see Appendix II., 598 Steinhuder Meer, lake, 97 Steppes, the, 170 Stettin, 369 Steyerdorf, 159 Stockholm, 39, 201, 432, 437 Stockport, 465 Stour river,' 211 Strasburg, 369 Strait of Bonifacio, 301 of Dover, 61, 83 Strength of the Army and Navy of diflferent countries of Europe, see Appendix II. , 597 Stromboli, island, 299 mountain, 299 Sti-bmb island, 446 Struma or Strymon or Kara- su, 312 Stuttgart, 369 Styria, 143, 387, 388 Subiaco, 278 Sudetes, mountains, 141, 164 Sudetic mountains, 96, 110, 141, 164 Sulina, branch of Danube, 314 Suli'yelma mountain, 192 Sumen, 548 Sunium, 532 Superga mounia,in, 268 Svappavara, 199 Swabian or Jura Alps, 91, 103, 110, 130 tableland, 88 Swabo-Bavarian plateau, 89 Sweden and Norway, 428 South, 431 character of Norse race, 429 Dalecarlia and peoiile, 434 education, 431 government, 428 industries, 431 Norwegians, 434 see Scandinavia Switzerland, 121, 373 agriculture, 375 chief towns, 375 climate, 136 education, 37S fauna, 136 flora, 136 geology, 134 industries, 375 government, 373 lakes, 130 minerals, 134 people, 373 616 INDEX. Switzerland, relief of land, 121 rivers, 130 Sydenham, 464 Syra, island, 634 Syracuse, 512 Syrraia, 143 Syros island, 324 Sylt island, 100 Szabadka, 402 Szegedin, 156, 402 Tagtjs river, 243, 256, 473 Talanti, channel of, 323 Talayots, 266 Tambof, 427 Tame river, 234 Tammerfors, 412 Tana flord, 191 river, 184 Tanaro river, 283 "Tanyas," 899 Taranto, gulf of, 609 Tarn river, 72 Taro river, 283 Tasselot, mountain, 68 Tatra, mountains, 147 Tannus, mountain, 92, 103 Taurida, 410 Taurus or Yaila, mountains, 171 Tavogliere, 296 Taygetus or Pentedaotylo, 310 Tech lagoon, 62 river, 62 Tegern lake, 90 Temesoar, 896 enedos island, 325 Teramo, 510 TeiTanova, 612 Teschen, 391 Tet river, 62 Teutoburger Wald, mount- ains, 94, 96, 106, 110 Teutonic gi'oup, the, see Ap- pendix I.,' 568 Texel island, 100 Thames river, 211 Thasos island, 325 Therasia island, 324 Thehen, 154 Thehes or Thiva, 633 The Hague, 853 Theiss river, 140, 163, 155 Thermal springs in France, 80 Thessaly, 309, 541 Thorshavn, 446 Thrace, 309 Thi-aeo-HellenJc Group, the, see Appendix I., 565 Tlirondhjem, 436, 437 Thun lake, 131, 136 Thurgau, 376 Thuringia, 114 Thiiringerwald mountain, 93, 111 Thuringian mountains, 92 Forest, 93, 94 Titer river, 272, 273, 274 Tioino river, 133, 283 Timova, 308 Titano, Monte, 614 Tivoli, 277 Todtcn-see lake, 26 Tokay, 154 Toledo, 489 mountains of, 252 Tolfa, 293 ToU-Poss-Is, mountain, 167 Tomsk, 414 Topolias lake, 633 Torre dell' Annunziata, 611 del Greco, 611 Toulouse, 339 Toundras, 176 Towey river, 234 Transylvania, 140, 163, 380, 396, 898 climate, 163 highlands, 147, 163 Trapani, 513 Trasimene lake, 275 Trau, 389 Travers, Val de, 136 Travna, 643 Trebhia river, 283 Treguier, 60 " Trembling forests,' 178 Trient or Trent, 387 Trieste, 387, 388 gulf of, 144 Trinacria, see Sicily Tripolitza, 534 TroUhiitten Palls, 195 Tromso, 436-39 Tronto river, 273 Trodos or Olympus mount- ains, 326 Troppau, 158, 391 Trouville-sur-mer, 60 Truro, 455 Tsaritsin, 179 Tsekhs, the, race of, 390 Tudela, 267 Tula, 427 Turano river, 277 Turin, 499 Turkey, 537 Albanians in, 541 army, 537 Bulgarians in, 541 culture, 548 finance, 548 government, 587 Greeks in, 541 Osmanli race, 540 Serbs in, 541 Ulemas and Softas, 587 various races in, 641 Turnu-Severinu, 152, 528 Tuscan hills, the, 275 islands, the, 299 Tuscany, 492, 604 productions, 504 MarewMU, the, 604 Tuy, 475 Tver, 178 Tyrol, 142, 150, 386 geology, 157 Tyrrhenian Sea, 4 Udine, 290 Ulm, 104 Ultima Thule, see Iceland Dmbria, 492, 506 Latium, 506 Marches, the, 606 Unstrutt river, 94 Upsala, 483 Usanjova, 547 Uskiidar or Skutari, 547 Ural mountains, 166 river, 177 Uralo-Baltic mountains, 99' Carpathian mountains, 99 Uri bay, 138 Urseren valley, 133, 136 Usk river, 234 Otrecht, 115, 349, 354 Uzen, Great, river, 168 Little, river, 168 Vaal river, 106 Vadso, 487 Valais, 374 : Valcar6s marsh, 62 Valdai mountains, 167 Valence, 332 Valenca, 476 Valencia, 483 Valetta, 800, 516 Valladolid, 251 Val Tellina, the, 502 Varengar Fjord, 174, 191 Vardar river, 812 Varna, 648, 648 Vaud, 374 Velino, Monte, 274 river, 278 Venetia, 268, 388, 492, 601-8 Venice, 269, 499, 502 lagoons, 295 Verona, 603 Ventimiglia, 270 Vesuvius mountain, 278, 279 281 Vicenza, 503 Vichegda river, 182 Vielle Montagne, 113 Vienna, 110, 160, 162, 383 Vienne river 73 Vierwaldstadtersee, see Lake of Lucerne Vilna, 172, 410 Viso, Monte, 70, 267 Vistula river, 96, 105, 150, 181 Vital statistics, see Appendix XL, 692 Vitoeh, Mount, 809 Vitznau, 378 Voca river, 174 Vogelgebirge mountains, 92 Vogelsberg mountain, 93, 108 Voigtland plateau, 94 Volga river, 177 Volhynia, 427 Volkonski forest, 167 Volscian hills, 277, 278 INDEX. 617 Voltuvuo river, 278 Voralpen mountains, 124 Vorarlberg, 385, 386 Voronej, 427 Vosges mountains, 76, 88, 332 IJpper, 109 Vulcano island, 299 Vyljorg, 412 Waag river, 154 Waigatch island, 18, 166 Waltzen, 149, 151 Wakefield, 465 Walachia, 522, 628 Walchen lalte, 90 Waldgebirge mountains, 148 Carpathian, 147 Wales, 462 Wallenstadt lake, 133 Walloon Domain, the, 342 Wangeroge, 100 Wapno, 114 Warsaw, 36, 185 Wattenmeer, sea, 100 "Watts" or sandbanks, 100. 102 Weald, the, 211 Wellhom mountain, 122 Welsh highlands, 220 Wener lake, 131, 196 Werra river, 92 Wertach river, 90 Weser river, 96, 100, 105, 106 Western Dvina river, 173 Westerwald mountain, 93, 108 Westmoreland, 212 Westphalia, 116, 370 Wetter lake, 196, 482 Wetterhoni mountain, 122 Wey river, 211 White Sea, the, 18, 24, 174, 176, 185 Wlche's Land island, 19 Widdin, 548 Wieliczka, 161 Wienerwald mountains, 142 Wiesbaden, 92 Wight, Isle of, 464 WUdbad Gastein, 385 Willei)K£sia, 13 Windau, 411 Windsor, 464 Wirballen, 403 Wisby, 434 Woernitz river, 91 Wolf Gorge, 180 Woods, importance of, 146 Woolwich, 464 Wiirm or Starnberg lake, 90 Wiirtemberg, 114, 370 Wye river, 234 YaIla or Tam'us mountains, 171 Yekaterinoslaf, 180 Yalta, 171 Yanina or Joannina lake, 312 Yantra river, 307 Yelton or Elton lake, 168 Yenikale Straits, 171 Yeniseisk, 414 Yen island, 58 Yorkshire, 235 Yougar Strait, 18 F«cca gloriosa, 81 Zadonsk, 179 Zamora, 251 Zante or Zakynthus island, 322 Zara, 389 Zeeland, 349 Zirknitz lake, 145 Zug, 376 Zugspitze mountain, 90 Zuider Zee, dead cities of the, 354 former islands of, 100 irruption of the, 14, 101 plan to drain, 102 Zilrich, 136, 376, 378 Zwickau, 112 ZwoUe, 351, 354 THE END. Printed by Edward Stanford, jj, Charing Cross, London, S. W.