QJortteU HnitiECBttg iCibrarg 3tl)aca, New ^ork CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 G 122.M6r^" ""'"''"'' "-"""^ 3 1924 023 258 811 PI Cornell University J Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023258811 The International Geography Let things be — not seem, I counsel rather, — do, and nowise dream ! Earth's young significance is all to learn : The dead Greek lore lies buried in the urn Where who seeks fire finds ashes. Robert Browning. T he International Geography. By Seventy Authors. With 488 Illustrations. ^ Edited by Hugh Robert Mill D.Sc. (Edinburgh), LL.D. (St. Andrews), F.R.S.E. Fellow or Honorary Corresponding Member of the Geographical Societies of London, Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin, Budapest, Amsterdam, Brisbane, and Philadelphia Second Edition NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1902. , Copyright, 1899, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. All rights of translation and reproduction reserved. AUTHORS OF THE INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY AITOFF, D., Paris.— The Russian Empire. BAILLIE, A. F., Consul for Paraguay, London. — Paraguay, Uruguay. BAINES, A. J., C.S.I.— The Indian Empire. BARTON, C. H., Maryborough. — THE Continent of Australia, Queensland. BATALHA-REIS, J., London.— Brazil. BERNARD, Professor A., Algiers. — New Caledonia. BERTRAND, Professor A., Santiago.— Chile. BISHOP, Mrs., F.R.G.S.— Korea. BRYCE, Right Hon. J., M.P., F.R.S.— Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State (Orange River Colony). "^ CARNEGIE, Hon. D. W.— Western Australia. CHAIX, Professor E., Geneva. — Switzerland. CHISHOLM, G. G., Editor of The Times GazeUeer.—THS CONTINENT OF Europe, Chinese Empire. COLE, Professor Grenville A. J., Dublin. — Ireland. CONWAY, Sir W. Martin.— The Arctic Record. DAVIS, Professor W. M., Harvard University. — The Continent of North America, the United States. DICKSON, H. N., V.P.R. Met. Soc,— Climate. DOWNING, Dr. A. M. W., F.R.S., Director of the Nautical Almanac— Mathematical Geography. DU__FIEF, Professor J., Brussels. — Belgium. ERODI, Professor Bela, President of the Hungarian Geographical Society. — Hungary. FERGUSON, John, Colombo.— Ceylon. FISCHER. Professor T., Marburg University. — Italy, Spain. FORBES, Dr. H. O., Director of the Liverpool Museum.— The Malay Archipelago. GOLDSMID, Major-General Sir F. J., K.C.S.I.— Persia. GREGORY, Professor J. W., University of Melbourne.— The Plan of the Earth, East Equatorial Africa. HEAWOOD, E. — The Continent of Africa, African Islands. HEILPRIN, Professor A., Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia.— Mexico. HERBERTSON, Dr. a. J., Oxford.— The Continent of Asia, The Continent of South America. HILL, R. T., U.'S. Geological Survey.— Cuba, Porto Rico. HINDE, Capt. S. L.— The Congo Free State. HOSKOLD, H. D., Director of the Department of Geology and Mining, Argentine Republic— The Argentine Republic. HUME, Dr. W. F., Attached to Egyptian Geological Survey.— Egypt. JOHNSTON, Sir H. H., K.C.B., Administrator of Uganda.— British West Africa, British Central Africa, Tunisia. KAN, Professor C. M., University of Amsterdam.— The Netherlands, Dutch New Guinea. ' vi Authors of the International Geography KEANE, A. H.— The Distribution of Mankind. KELTIE, Dr. J. Scott, Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society.— Political and Applied Geography. KIRCHHOFF, Professor A.,University of Halle.— The German Empire. KOLBE, Dr. F. C., Cape Town.— {See Dr. T. Muir.) LAPPARENT, Professor A. de, Member of the Institute, Paris.— France (Physical Geography). MACGREGOR, Sir W., K.C.M.G., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea.— British New Guinea. MARKHAM, Sir C. R., K.C.B., F.R.S., President of the Royal Geograph- ical Society.— Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia. MASON, W. B., Tokyo.— Japan. MILL, Dr. H. R.— Geography : Principles and Progress, Land- Forms, The United Kingdom, etc. MOCKLER-FERRYMAN, Capt. a. F.— Nigeria. MUIR, Dr. T., F.R.S., Superintendent of Education in Cape Colony (and Dr. F. C. KOLBe).— Cape Colony. MURRAY, Sir John, K.C.B., F.R.S., of the " Challenger."— The Oceans, The Antarctic Regions. MYRES, J. L., Christ Church, Oxford.— Tripoli. NANSEN, Professor Fridtjof, University of Christiania. — The Arctic Regions. NIELSEN, Professor Yngvar, University of Christiania.— Sweden and Norway. PENCK, Professor A., University of Vienna. — Austria. PETHERICK,E. A.— New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia. PFEIL, Count.— The German Colonial Possessions. PHILIPPSON, Professor A., University of Bonn. — THE Danubian and Balkan States. PLAYFAIR, The Late Sir R. Lambert, K.C.M.G.— Marocco, Alge- ria, Aden, Malta, Gibraltar. RAVENEAU, Professor L., Par-is. — France (General Geography). RAVENSTEIN, E. G.— Maps and Map-Reading. REEVES, Hon. W. P., Agent-General for New Zealand in London. — NEW Zealand. REGEL, Professor F., University of Wurzburg.— Colombia. ROBERTSON, Sir G. S., K.C.S.I., formerly British Agent in Gilgit.— Afghanistan. RODWAY, J., Georgetown, Demerara.— The West Indies, The Colo- nies OF Guiana. SAPPER, Dr. K., Coban, Guatemala. — Central America. SELOUS, F. C— Southern Rhodesia. SIBREE, Rev. J., Antananarivo.— Madagascar. SIEVERS, Professor W., University of Giessen.— Venezuela, SMYTH, H. Warington, formerly Director of the Department of Mines in Siam. — Siam. THOMSON, Professor J. Arthur, University of Aberdeen.— The Dis- tribution OF Living Creatures. THORODDSEN, Dr. Th., Reykjavik.— Iceland. TYRRELL, J. BURR, formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada.— The Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland. VASCONCELLOS, Capt. Ernesto, Portuguese Royal Navy.— Portugal, Portuguese Colonies. WILSON, General Sir Charles \V,, K.C.B., F.R.S.— Asiatic Turkey. ZIMMERMANN, Maurice, Paris.— The French Colonies. PREFACE Early in 1897 I was requested by the publishers to prepare and edit a compact handbook of geography on a new plan, the suggestion being made that each section should be written by a specialist or recognised authority of high standing. Subject to the limitation of getting the whole world into one volume, I was given a free hand. As the value of the work depends so much on its composite authorship, it may be well to explain at the outset how the book was planned and carried out. Every page is new, each section being written expressly for this work and never previously published. The allotment of space was made after comparing a number of the leading systematic text-books in all languages, and taking account of the area, the population and the degree of accurate knowledge regarding the different countries. The original allocation of space has, however, been slightly altered at the representation of the authors. As the' book is intended to appear at first in the English language only, the parts of the world occupied or controlled by the English-speaking nations have been treated more fully than the rest ; but without giving the excessive promi- nence to the native country which is characteristic of books intended only for school use. The United Kingdom, though occupying much less space than in most English text-books, is treated in greater detail than any other large country. This is because the materials for its geographical description are perhaps more ample and as yet less studied than those of almost any other region. The United States could not be considered in equal detail, but the novel and scientific plan adopted for the chapter dealing with them makes it perhaps the most instructive in the book, and it is also the longest. The countries of Europe, especially those recognised as Great Powers, have also been treated more fully than is usual in English or American books, and from a point of view that cannot fail to throw new light on their nature and people. No part of the world dominated by Western civilisation is viewed as a foreign land ; but is opened to study from within. General rules as to style and method of treatment were drawn up as follows : — RULES FOR CONTRIBUTORS. I. Each author should write in the language most familiar to him. The contributions shall be translated under the superintendence of the Editor. a. Every contribution must be written continuously, not in the form of tables or dis- connected sentences. When statistics are given the tables should be placed at the end. Vlll Preface 3. The Editor is solely responsible for the final form of the work, and in order to ensure uniformity he must be permitted to make any changes in literary style and arrange- ment of matter which he considers necessary ; but authors are held responsible for facts and figures, which are to be approved by them in the final proof. 4. Subject to the possibility of minor alterations mentioned in No. 3, authors are given absolute freedom in their choice of facts and in the relative space devoted to the different divisions of the subject which they undertcike. 5. In the description of a country the following order should be adopted : — (i) The general configuration and geology of the country as a whole, including its river systems, its climate and natural resources, with a very brief outline of the fauna and flora. (ii) The people as to race, language, history, and mode of government. (iii) Manufactures, industries, and external trade, laying stress on the main staples of trade, and on the industries peculiar to the country. The system of internal communications. (iv) Political divisions considered individually, with notices of towns. All towns with populations of 100,000 and upwards must be noticed ; and all other towns which are of special importance. Care should be taken in every case where it is possible to indicate in a few words the characteristics of the site which determined the position of the town, or the geographical conditions which minister to its prosperity, (v) A statistical table, giving the area and population at the last two censuses of the whole country, or in federal countries of the constituent States ; the average values of exports and imports for three five-yearly periods, ten years apart, e.g. for 1871-75, 1881-85, 1891-95 ; the chief towns with their population at the two last censuses. 6. The introductory general discussions of mathematical, physical, commercial, political, etc., geography are to be written from a strictly ^eo^a/,4(Vra/ point of view, and in a purely ^«»«ra/ manner — i.e., referring only to phenomena or conditions which are not restricted to particular regions. Only the most thoroughly established and vitally important facts should be stated. The object is not to give a treatise on the subject named, but to supply the few general facts and principles necessary to the comprehension of the special geography of individual countries. 7. The general description of a continent must refer only to the largest and most determinative features, and these should be taken in the following order : Coasts, Surface, Geology, Climate, Flora, Fauna, Anthropology, History, including territorial changes of the largest order. A list of the most eminent geographical authorities was next drawn up, as a rule three names being selected for each subject ; and in October, 1897, seventy-nine letters of invitation to contributors were posted, the latest date for receiving the MS. being fixed as July, 1898. Forty-seven of the authors first invited at once agreed to contribute. When a refusal was received a second author was applied to, and nineteen of these accepted. In ten cases a third author had to be applied to, and on three occasions four refusals were received before an affirmative answer. Altogether in order to secure the co-operation of the seventy authors whose work appears, letters, and sometimes many letters, had to be exchanged with 122 persons in all parts of the World from Norway to New Zealand. Each section bears the author's name. Those which I compiled merely from literary knowledge are noted as " By the Editor," and in them I have to acknowledge the help of Miss E. J. Hastings; those under my Preface IX name relate to subjects which I have specially studied. The first piece of MS. was received on December 13, 1897 ; the last not until March 11, 1899. The MS. of fifty-three authors (to seven of whom English is a foreign language) was written in English, that of eight in German, of five in French, and one each in Dutch, Danish, Spanish, and Portuguese. The foreign contributions were translated, and the whole MS. for the book carefully revised in order to secure as much uniformity of terminology and spelling as possible. Proofs were then sent out to the authors and their corrections given effect to before the final revision in pages. In many cases page-proofs were also submitted to the author. The most serious editorial difficulty encountered was in the spelling of place-names. An effort has been made to secure a consistent system, but it has only partially succeeded. The transliteration of Russian names was adopted after much consideration ; the chief inconsistency it retains is the use of / as a consonant before e and a, and as a vowel before /. The spelling of native names in languages vidthout a recognised alphabet has been brought- into harmony with the Royal Geographical Society's rules in all cases where the pronunciation is known. Indian names are given throughout the work, almost without exception, in the form preferred by the author of the chapter on India. As an example of the perplexities of spelling, it may be noted that different authors used the words— Maho- metan, Mahomedan, Mohammedan, Muhammedan, Musselman, Musalman, Moslem, and Muslim, for the people following the faith of Islam, and sheer despair of deciding as to the best form led to the nearly uniform use of what is certainly the worst — Mohammedan. It is inevitable that some incon- sistencies remain uncorrected. The arrangement of the subject matter in Part I. follows the natural order of the science. In Part II. the order is that of a natural sequence commencing with Europe on account of its historic claims, and taking the countries in geographical order from west and north to east and south. The Russian Empire having to be treated as a whole makes it necessary to anticipate part of the general description of the continent of Asia, which naturally follows, and leads on to Australasia. The Pacific Islands form a natural link with the American continents, and the circuit of the world is completed in Africa, and concluded by the Polar regions. The index has been prepared with the intention that it should include the name of every place about which any information is given in the text, every geographical term which has a technical meaning, references to the chief resources of countries, and the names of all authors and of the leading geographers cited in the text. But it has been controlled by the omission of casual references, which would occupy space and not repay the trouble of turning up. It is mainly compiled by Mrs. H. R. Mill, whose constant collaboration in all the work of translation and editing has materi- ally shortened the time of preparation of the book. The illustrations are limited to sketch-maps and diagrams. Views are 2 X Preface excluded from considerations of space alone ; it is fully recognised that .well-selected pictures are of great value in all geographical descriptions. The numerous sketch-maps are intended to bring into prominence special features not usually shown in atlases, or apt to be lost in the abounding detail of ordinary maps. They must be looked upon as of value only for the limited purpose for which they are put forward. All the maps have been specially drawn (with ,the exception of the plans of towns supplied by Messrs. J. Bartholomew & Co., which will le recognised by their fulness of detail) ; they are either original or adapted from official maps or from those published in geographical journals or other scientific works. I have particularly to thank my friend Mr. E. Heawood for the excellent maps he has prepared, and I am also indebted to Mr. B. B. DICKINSON and Mr. A. W. Andrbjvs for the drawing of Fig. 242, and to Dr. A. J. Herbertson for the map of the rainfall of Europe (Fig. 53). Mr. Skeaping, of George Newnes, Ltd., Mr. Addison, and Mr. J. Batchelor have also supplied a number of the drawings, and Messrs. Philip & Son those illustrating Chap. III. After the density of population diagrams had been prepared it was pointed out to me that the idea of representing this condition by the number of points on a square inch had already sug- gested itself to Mr. Holt Schooling, and been used by him in the Strand Magazine, vol. ix.— Jan. to June, 1 895. The flags of the nations are introduced on account of the importance attaching to the flag in all countries as the mark of political unity and national individuality ; the colonial badges because of the apt manner in which they often give expression to the natural conditions of the region. These have all been drawn by Mr. Skeaping. The climate curves showing the mean temperature and rainfall for each month in a number of places, have been compiled from the original data by Dr. A. J. Herbertson and Mr. P. C. Waite, Edinburgh. The statistics following each section were, as a rule, sent by the author ; but in a few cases they have been supplied or supplemented from the " Statesman's Year Book." Statistics are given mainly to serve as an index to the growth of countries by the comparison of figures for different dates. It must be remembered that, except for Europe, North America, and the colonies, most of the figures available are only approximate estimates, or sometimes nothing more than expert guesses ; and they may be given variously in different sections. In no case are the odd units, tens, or hundreds in population of any importance, and, as a rule, the three first figures of any quantity are all that are of real value for purposes of com- parison. The values for countries using a gold standard are expressed throughout in pounds steriing in the English edition and in dollars in the American edition, conversions being made on the basis of / i = ftc. The lists of Standard Books are intended to give the titles of the best books dealing exclusively with the special subject or region under con- sideration. A selection of good general books on Geography is given at the end of this preface. Really "standard " books are not very numerous Preface xi and some which are cited occupy their place only in default of better. Care has been taken to exclude the titles of any works known to contain untrustworthy statements ; on the other hand, many excellent books, per- haps more worthy to appear than some which have been given, are omitted inadvertently or through ignorance. I have to acknowledge gratefully the assistance rendered in reading the proofs by Professor W. M. Davis and Dr. J. W. Gregory for the chapter on " Land-Forms," by Mr. J. E. Marr, F. R. S., and Dr. J. Scott Keltie for the " United Kingdom," by Dr. G. M. Dawson, C.M.G., F.R.S,, for "British North America," by Dr. Francisco P. Moreno for the "Argen- tine Republic," and by the Agents-General of several colonies for revising the sections on which they are authorities. Special thanks are due to the publishers in the pergon of Mr. Frank MUNDELL, the member of their staff charged with the production of the book ; his vigilance and care in reading the whole of the proofs, and in many other ways, have greatly facilitated the task of seeing the work through the press. H. R. M. June, iSgg. NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. The notes on changes occurring during the printing of the first edition have been incorporated with the text, and several corrections suggested by friendly critics have been made. The descriptions have in some cases been revised to the end of 1899. Several of the diagrams and maps have been redrawn, and an Index Map has been added. H. R. M. June, igoi. STANDARD GEOGRAPHICAL BOOKS OF REFERENCE E. Reclus — " Nouvelle Geographic Universelle." 19 vols. Paris, 1876-94. Also a translation, London. A. Kirchhoff (editor) — " Unser Wissen von der Erde." Vienna, 1876 — in progress. " Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel." New Issue. Lon- don — in progress. Vivien de St. Martin and M. Rousselet — " Noveau Dictionnaire de G6ogra- phie Universelle." 6 vols. Paris, 1879-95. Also supplement 1898 — in progress. G. G. Chisholm — " The Times Gazetteer." London, 1895, (reprint) 1899. " Chambers's Encyclopsedia " (Geographical Articles). 10 vols. Edinburgh, revised 1895. J. S. Keltic and L Renwick — " The Statesman's Year Book.'' London — Annual. H. Wagner — " Geographisches Jahrbuch." Gotha — Annual [for trustworthy summaries of geographical progress]. O. Baschin — " Bibliotheca Geographica, herausgegeben von der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin." Berlin — Annual. [Gives a nearly complete list of the geographical publications of the year.] L. Raveneau — " Bibliographie Gdographique Annuelle. Annales de G60- graphie." Paris — Annual. [An annotated list of the best geographical publications of the year.] " The Geographical Journal." Published monthly by the Royal Geo- graphical Society, London. [Original records of the most recent travel, and the fullest monthly geographical bibliography and list of maps.] " The Scottish Geographical Magazine." Published monthly by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Edinburgh. " The National Geographic Magazine.'' Published monthly by the National Geographic Society, Washington. " Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York." ■' Journal of School Geography." New York and Edinburgh. [For teachers.] " Petermanns Mitteilungen.'' Gotha — Monthly. [The standard German geographical journal, remarkable for its excellent maps.] Geographical Books of Reference xiii " Erganzungshefte zu Petermanns Mitteilungen.'' Gotha — published occa- sionally. [These separate numbers contain important geographical memoirs or records of travel.] " Annales de G6ographie." Paris — six numbers annually. REFERENCE ATLASES. " Stielers Hand- Atlas." Gotha. [This finely engraved atlas is also issued in separate sheets. The plates are always kept up to date of publica- tions and very few copies are printed at a time.] W. and A. K. Johnston—" The Royal Atlas." Edinburgh. [The finest British atlas, but expensive.] J. Bartholomew — " The Citizen's Atlas." London, 1898. [The cheapest high-class atlas.] F. Schrader — ■■ Atlas de Geographic Moderne." Paris, 1890. O. Spamer — " Grosser Hand-Atlas." Leipzig, 1897. [This is based on Schrader's Atlas with additional maps. Both are characterised by the number of their small maps, town plans, etc.] H. Habenicht — " Taschen Atlas." Gotha. [The most perfect pocket atlas. A new edition is published almost every year.] " L'Ann^e Cartographique." Paris — Annual. [Maps showing all changes due to the explorations and treaties of the year.] Vidal Lablache — "Atlas General." Paris, 1894. CONTENTS List of Authors Preface Books of Reference Contents PAGES V vii . xii XV PART I. PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY. CHAP. I. Geography ; Principles and Progress. By Dr. H. R. Mill . . . . . . II. Mathematical Geography. By Dr. A. M. W. Down- ing, F.R.S. ...... III. Maps and Map Reading. By E. G. Ravenstein IV. The Plan of the Earth. By Dr. J. W. Gregory . V. Land-Forms ; their Nature and Origin. By Dr. H. R. Mill VI. The Oceans. By Sir John Murray, F.R.S., and Dr. H. R. Mill VII. The Atmosphere and Climate. By H. N. Dickson . VIII. The Distribution of Living Creatures. By Prof. J. Arthur Thomson ..... IX. The Distribution of Mankind. By A. H. Keane . X. Political and Applied Geography. By Dr. J. Scott Keltic ...... 1-13 14-25 26-35 36-45 46-59 60-71 72-82 82-95 96-108 109-121 Heraldic Colour-Scheme for Flags . PART II. CONTINENTS AND COUNTRIES. BOOK I.— EUROPE. XI. The Continent of Europe. By G. G. Chisholm . 123-137 XII. The United Kingdom in General. By Dr. H. R. Mill 138-152 Scotland . . ... 1 52-161 XVI Contents England and Wales .... Ireland. By Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole . XIII. The Scandinavian Kingdoms :— Sweden and Norway. By Prof. Yngvar Nielsen Denmark. By the Editor Iceland. By Dr. Th. Thoroddsen . XIV. The Low Countries :— The Netherlands. By Prof. C. M. Kan . Belgium. By Prof.. J. du Fief Luxemburg. By the Editor XV. The French Republic : — Physical Geography. By Prof. A. de Lapparent General Geography. By Prof L. Raveneau XVI. Switzerland. By Prof. £mile Chaix XVII. The German Empire. By Prof. A. Kirchhoff XVIII. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: — Austria-Hungary. By Prof. A. Penck Austria. By Prof. A. Penck Hungary. By Dr. Bela Erodi Bosnia-Herzegovina. By Prof. A. Penck XIX. The Danubian and Balkan States. By Prof. Philippson : — Rumania ..... The Balkan Peninsula Servia ..... Montenegro ..... Bulgaria ..... European Turkey .... Greece ..... Crete ...... XX. Italy and Malta :— Italy. By Prof. T. Fischer San Marino. By the Editor . Malta. By the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair XXI. The Iberian Peninsula : — Spain. By Prof T. Fischer . Andorra. By the Editor . Gibraltar. By the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair Portugal. By Capt. E. de Vasconcellos . XXII. The Russian Empire. ByD. Aitoff:— General ..... Configuration .... Climate and Anthropogeography Towns ..... 161-187 187-196 197-208 208-211 212-215 216-223 223-230 231-232 233-239 239-255 256-265 266-297 298-301 302-315 31S-323 324-326 A. 327-330 330-335 33S-337 337 338-339 340-344 344-349 350-35' 352-365 365-366 366-367 368-377 377-378 378-379 379-385 ■ 386-389 389-401 . 401-409 409-421 Contents xvii BOOK II.— ASIA. XXIII. The Continent of Asia. By Dr. A. J. Herbertson . XXIV. Asiatic Turkey and Arabia. By Sir C. W. Wilson, F.R.S. :— Anatolia ..... Cyprus. By the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair . Mesopotamia ..... Syria ....... Arabia ...... XXV. The Countries of Iran :— Persia. By Sir F. J. Goldsmid . . . . Afghanistan. By Sir G. S. Robertson XXVI. India and Ceylon : — The Empire of India. By J. A. Baines Portuguese India. By Capt. E. de Vasconcellos French Possessions in India. By M. Zimmermann . Himalayan States. By the Editor Ceylon. By J. Ferguson .... XXVII. Indo-China:— Siam. By H. Warington Smyth . Straits Settlements and the Malay States. By the Editor French Indo-China. By M. Zimmermann XXVIII. The Chinese Empire. By G. G. Chisholm Hongkong. By the Editor Macao. By Capt. E. de Vasconcellos . Kiau-chou. By Count Pfeil Rerriote Provinces of Chinese Empire . Korea. By Mrs. Bishop XXIX. Japan. By W. B. Mason . XXX. The Malay Archipelago. By Dr. H. O. Forbes The Philippines ... British Borneo ..... The Dutch East Indies .... Portuguese Timor. By Capt. E. de Vasconcellos PAGES 422-438 439-445 445-446 447-448 448-451 451-456 457-463 464-468 469-502 502-503 503 503 503-507 508-511 511-515 515-520 521-536 536-537 538 538 538-541 542-544 545-554 555-574 558-559 559-560 560-573 573 BOOK III.— AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. XXXI. The Continent of Australia. By C. H. Barton 575-586 XXXII. Eastern Colonies: — Queensland. By C. H. Barton .... 587-593 New South Wales. By E. A. Petherick . . 593-601 Victoria. By E. A. Petherick .... 602-610 Tasmania. By the Editor .... 610-613 XVlll Contents XXXIII. Central and Western Colonies :— South Australia. By E. A. Petherick. . . 614-620 Western Australia. By Hon. D. W. Carnegie . 620-626 XXXIV. New Zealand. By Hon. W. P. Reeves . . 627-634 XXXV. Melanesia :— British New Guinea. By Sir William Macgregor 635-638 German New Guinea. By Count Pfeil . . 639-641 Dutch New Guinea. By Prof. C. M. Kan . . 642-644 New Caledonia. By Prof. A. Bernard . . 644-646 Smaller Melanesian Islands. By the Editor . 646-648 XXXVI. The Islands OF THE Pacific Ocean. By the Editor 649-662 Fiji . . . , . . . . 651-653 Western Polynesian Chain . . . 653-656 Marshall Islands. By Count Pfeil . . 654-655 South Polynesian Chain .... 656-658 Scattered Groups ..... 658-660 Hawaii ...... 660-662 BOOK IV.— NORTH AMERICA. XXXVII. The Continent- of North America. By Prof. W. M. Davis ...... 664-678 XXXVIII. Colonial North America : — Dominion of Canada. By J. B. Tyrrell . . 679-704 Newfoundland and Labrador. By J. B. Tyrrell . 704-707 St. Pierre and Miquelon. By M. Zimmermann 707-708 Bermuda. By the Editor .... 708-709 XXXIX. The United States. By Prof W. M. Davis . 710-773 XL. Mexico. By Prof. A. Heilprin .... 774-781 BOOK v.— CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. XLI. Central America :-— The Central American Republics. By Dr. K. Sapper British Honduras. By the Editor XLII. The West Indies :— General Features. By J. Rodway . Cuba. By R. T. Hill .... Porto Rico. By R. T. Hill . . . . Haiti and Santo Domingo. By J. Rodway West Indian Colonies. By J. Rodway XLIII. The Continent of South America. By Dr. A. J. Herbertson ..... XLIV. The Andean Countries:— Colombia. By Prof F. Regel 782-789 789-790 791-793 793-798 798-801 801-802 803-812 813-823 824-829 Contents XIX XLV. XLVI. XL VI I. Ecuador. By Sir Clements R. Markham, F.R.S. Peru. By Sir Clements R. Markham, F.R.S. . Bolivia. By Sir Clements R. Markham, F.R.S. Chile. By Prof. A. Bertrand The Plata Countries: — The Argentine Republic. By H. D. Hoskold Uruguay. By A. F. Baillie Paraguay. By A. F. Baillie . The Falkland Islands. By the Editor . Brazil. By J.. Batalha-Reis . Northern South America :— The Colonies of Guiana. By J. Rodway Venezuela. By Dr. W. Sievers PAGES 829-833 834-840 840-843 843-848 849-856 856-859 859-862 863-864 865-877 878-883 884-888 BOOK VI.— AFRICA. XLVIII. The Continent of Africa. By E. Heawood 889-903 XLIX. North Africa : — Marocco. By the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair . 904-906 Algeria. By the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair . 906-913 Tunisia. By Sir H. H. Johnston . . . 913-916 Tripoli. ByJ. L. Myres. . . . 916-918 Egypt. By Dr. W. F. Hume . . . 918-929 L. East Africa : — Eastern Equatorial Africa. By Dr. J. W. Gregory 930-940 Abyssinia ..... 934-935 Eritrea ...... 935 Obok. By M. Zimmermann . . . 935-936 Somaliland ...... 936 British East Africa .... 937-940 German East Africa. By Count Pfeil . . 940-944 Portuguese East Africa. By Capt. E. de Vascon- cellos ..... 944-946 British Central Africa. By Sir H. H. Johnston . 946-951 LI. West Africa : — Spanish West Africa. By E. Heawood . 952-953 French West Africa. By M. Zimmermann . 953-959 Liberia. By E. Heawood . . . 959-960 British West African Colonies. By Sir H. H. Johnston ...... 960-969 Nigeria. By Capt. Mockler-Ferryman . . 969-972 German West Africa. By Count Pfeil . . 972-974 The Congo Free State. By Capt. S. L. Hinde . 974-979 Portuguese West Africa. By Capt. E. de Vascon- cellos ...... 979-984 XX Contents LII. South Africa : — Cape Colony. By Dr. T. Muir and Dr. F. C. Kolbe 985-993 Natal. By Right Hon. J. Bryce, F.R.S. . 993-997 Southern Rhodesia and Bechuanaland. By F. C. Se- lous ....... 997-1003 Orange Free State. By Right Hon. J. Bryce, F.R.S. 1004-1006 South African Republic. By Right Hon. J. Bryce, F.R.S. ...... 1007-1011 German South-West Africa. By Count Pfeil . . 1012-1013 Islands of South Atlantic. By E. Heawood . 1013-1014 LHI. Islands of the Western Indian Ocean :— Madagascar. By Rev. J. Sibree . . . loi 5-1020 Mauritius and Dependencies. By the Editor . 1020-1024 Reunion. By M. Zimmermann .... 1024 BOOK VII.— THE POLAR RKGIONS. LIV. The Arctic Record. By Sir W. Martin Conway . 1025-1033 The Arctic Regions. By Prof F. Nansen . 1033-1046 LV. The Antarctic Regions. By Sir John Murray, F.R.S. 1047-1053 Index 1053-1088 The International Geography PART I PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER I — GEOGRAPHY: PRINCIPLES AND PROGRESS By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc. The Plan of the Book. — The object of this book is to present in one volume an authoritative summary of the whole of Geography as fully as space permits. The limit of size makes it impossible to treat any part of the subject exhaustively, but by sacrificing such details as may be found better expressed in the maps of an atlas it is possible to give prominence to the essential facts. Like most treatises on geography, this is divided into two unequal and contrasted parts. The first deals with the Principles of Geography and their applications in the most general sense. It is com- pressed into small compass, because the aim kept in view is rather to illustrate the principles by their application to actual cases than to produce a theoretical work. The second part accordingly deals more fully with the Countries of the World at the present day ; each article involving the application of some or all of the general principles .stated in the first part. The book is neither a Gazetteer nor an Encyclopsedia, but is intended to give a readable account of the character of all countries as regards land and people in language which is neither technical nor childish. Such special terms as are necessary for the purpose of exact description are explained in the index. In the treatment of each country some deviation is made from the general plan common to all, in order to explain the peculiarities of its national life and to bring out its individuality. The structure of the region and its action on the race is the leading motive in the description of old countries ; the reaction of the race on the region takes the first place in the description of new lands undergoing development ; but in every case the ground-work is a true description of the country as it is to-day. Here, as well as in the avoidance of those errors which beset even the most care- ful compiler, this book has a special claim to consideration, because, with PETRI API ANI ET GEAIMAE FRIS. Geographia. Eius limiUtudo. 2 The International Geography few exceptions, each country is treated by an experienced traveller, a resi- dent, or a native. The authorship may indeed be viewed as part of the sub- ject, being itself an outcome of the land described. Geography Defined.— The literal meaning of Geography— the Descrip- tion of the Earth— is limited by usage to the description of the Earth's surface ; but the sense in which description is to be taken in this defi- nition must be explained. That it is a graphy and not a logy has actu- ally been brought forward by men otherwise worthy of respect as an argu- ment against geography being a science. It need only be pointed out in reply that if a name derived from the Greek is necessarily a definition, astrology should still be held a science. The very first modern text-books of geography insisted strongly on the distinction between Chorography, or Topography, and Geography. A quaint diagram from the "Cosmo- graphia " of Apian and Gemma Frisius in 1584 (Fig. i), illustrates choro- graphy as a mere record of accurate details, requiring only observation, and geography as a subject involving thought and the orderly grouping of ascertained facts. The chorography of the old writers has too often been expounded and taught under the name of geography, and hence misconcep- tions have arisen. Geography is a part of that greater science which was called Cosmography in the Middle Ages and Physiography ' in modern times ; but it is something more. A formal definition of the modern science may be put in these words : — Geography is the exact and organised knowledge of the distribution of phenomena on the surface of the Earth, culminating in the explanation of the interaction of Man with his terrestrial environment. The Position of Geography. — In the field of knowledge geography occupies a peculiar, even unique position. As the meeting-place of the physical and the human sciences, it is the focus at which the rays of natural science, history, and economics converge to illuminate the Earth in its rela- tion to man. It is impossible to treat any natural, much more any hum.an science as a portion of knowledge " clean-cut from out and off the illimit- able," for the margins of all sciences are confluent. Geography is akin to physics in its organisation, inasmuch as it is a generalisation, or rather a ' Prof. 'Da.'iis confoiesthename physiography to that department of physical geography which has been termed by other writers geomorphology, but the word was used in the gen- eral sense by Linnaeus about 1736, and was popularised by Huxley in 1877. Cllorographu, Eius limiliiudo. Fig. I. — An Early Simile of Geography. Geography : Principles and Progress 3 synthesis, of units each of which may be viewed as a highly specialised branch of science in itself. The unity of physics results from the fact that the physicist looks on nature in the universal aspects of matter and energy ; the unity of geography results from viewing nature in the limited but still general aspect of the phenomena which afifect the surface of the Earth. The materials for bringing the generalising science of geography to the dignity of completeness, are not yet all collected; but the plan is already grandly outlined. Incompleteness of data, however, is an incen- tive to progress, and a guarantee of substantial advance being made when the right direction is foreshadowed by a theory. The theory of geog- raphy which gives life and unity to the details of topography, and the various facts borrowed from such cognate special sciences as astronomy, geology, oceanography, meteorology, and history is the far-reaching theory of evolution. On the brink of the twentieth century it is scarcely neces- sary to point out that this theory is not antagonistic to the doctrine of creation. Evolution exhibits a constant succession of changes in a definite direction — from lower to higher, from simple to complex — inevitably sug- gesting some external guidance, and never touching the question of ultimate origin. The Departments of Geography. — The subject-matter of geography may be classified in various ways, each representing an aspect from which the whole may be considered, but it is simplest to follow the order of evolu- tion, selecting and arranging the divisions so that the classification becomes a statement of the principles of geography, in which each part depends on that which precedes and conditions that which follows. The fundamental department of geography views the Earth's surface from the standpoint of the one absolute science —Mathematics. It deals with the measurement of the Earth, the whole question of geodesy and surveying, and that of map- projections and map-construction. It takes account also of the strictly calculable phenomena of the Earth's movements and its relations to the other members of the solar system, ascertaining the times of the seasons and of the tides, and fixing the measure of time itself. Mathematical Geography presents us with a globe of a definite size, covered for a certain proportion of its surface to a particular depth by an ocean in which tides are raised by external attraction, rotating on a definite and practically unchanging axis and so acquiring the polarity which enables positions to be found both in latitude and longitude by reference to external bodies ; the axis being so inclined to the plane of the orbit as to bring the succession of the seasons and the reciprocal swing of day and night differently to every zone of the surface. This aspect passes directly into that of the less definitely known and less calculable phenomena of Physical Geography, which takes account of the differences in material and in function of the parts of the Earth — the rigid lithosphere, the mobile hydrosphere, and the all-embracing atmos- phere. Geology, oceanography, and meteorology contribute to supply the 4 The International Geography means of understanding the forms and functions of the Earth. The arrange- ment of the continental ridges above the hollow plains of the ocean, and the forms into which these ridges are wrought, acquire significance. The power of solar radiation calling into movement the currents of water and air, and the deviation in moving bodies due to rotation, firmly lock together the mathematical and physical aspects of geography. Physical geography finally shows us the spinning, tilted globe, throbbing with the innumerable activities which solar and telluric energy impart to terrestrial matter ; sea and air beating upon the land and fashioning its scenery, while the mathe- matical bounds of climate are almost neutralised by rearrangements due to the interchange of tropical heat and polar cold. Throughout these actions the immense control exercised by land-forms is to be traced in the disturb- ances of the movements of air and water from the order which would prevail if a smooth ocean or an uncrumpled land-surface covered the whole Earth. The carving of the crests of the land has yielded soft soil which swathes the lower slopes in flowing sheets warmed by the Sun and moist- ened by the shower ; but bare soil or vacant sea or air do not meet the eye over the greater part of the globe's surface. Living things possess the world, and the purpose of Biogeography is to trace out the reasons why particular species occupy the regions where they are now found. The result shows that those conditions which form the subject of physical geography are the main controlling elements in the distribution of plants and animals. The regions of forest, steppe and desert are fixed by the form and position of the continents and by the climate, which in most cases is also largely dependent on the same control. Geography so far takes account of the greater part of one aspect of evolution, from the development of the solar system itself, following down the cooling Earth with its crumpling crust until the surface is covered with the products of life. Some geographers even bring in the layer of living matter to com- plete four parts of the physical globe— the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmos- phere and biosphere. Amongst all the species of animals which dwell upon the land subject to the severe control of geographical environment one rises so far superior to the rest as to require a special division of geography to take account of its distribution. This is the human species. Alone amongst the animals man, in virtue of his higher intelligence, has the power, while always under the control of his surroundings, to react upon his environment in such a way as to render its action more beneficial to himself. By cultivation and breeding- he alters the character and the distribution of plants and animals, by works of draining and irrigation he modifies the natural watering of the land, by cutting canals and building dykes he changes the relative posi- tions of land and sea, even to the severance of continents. Engineering works enable him to overcome the resistance to free movement presented by vast stretches of waste land, great rivers, mountains, and the ocean Geography : Principles and Progress 5 itself. The object of Anthropogeography is to study the distribution of the varieties of mankind, their degree of culture, and the manner of their groupings and movements. It is obvious that the whole of the other aspects of geography are tributary to this, and the greatness of anthropo- geography and its practical importance make it necessary to subdivide it, the subdivisions being farther advances in evolution. The distribution of man as an animal is merely one of the problems of biogeography ; the consideration of human activity on the Earth's surface is the main purpose of anthropogeography ; but when divisions of mankind acquire a higher civilisation and a firmer hold on definite regions of the Earth's surface, occupying them to the exclusion of other tribes, and, it may be, extending the territory by annexing that of neighbours. Political Geography acquires importance. It takes account of boundaries of settle- ments, sites of towns and ports, and the Hues of travel or migration. Up to this point geography may be studied as a purely physical science, but here history has to be appealed to in order to understand how boundaries came to occupy their present position, and how the people possessing a country have entered or been formed in it in the past. Many other con- siderations also have weight ; strategic value, for example, converts into determining factors many features which are of no particular significance physically. While the motives for distant travel have often been political — the out- come of military ambition — and often religious, at the prompting of missionary zeal, the chief cause which drives people to distant lands and guides migrations and colonisation is personal advantage. This may either take the wide form of economic necessity, due to the failure of supplies in the original home, or the more individual form of trading. Commercial Geography has to do mainly with the discovery, production, transport and exchange of useful and desirable things. In order to under- stand it the fashions and fancies of the various sections of the human race {e.g., the purely fanciful value set upon the diamond) have to be con- sidered, as well as the influence of historical tradition and of the laws of geographical distribution. Geographical Changeableness. — From each successive point of view the phenomena to be taken account of in geography have become successively more complicated, more changeable and less predictable. The rigid degree-net of the mathematical geographer with its definite and unchangeable frigid, temperate and torrid zones, was represented as accurately five hundred years ago as now, and no change in it can ever occur. The data of physical geography are harder to discover, more laborious to acquire, and to some extent liable to change. We cannot as yet produce a perfect topographical map of the continents, nor a passable hypsographical map to show their elevations, nor anything more than a foreshadowing of a geological map of the world. Within historic times new islands have appeared, stretches of coast have been submerged. 6 The International Geography shores built up into land, and old mountains have been shattered into dust by volcanic explosions. The natural divisions which separate distinct faunas and floras are still questions of dispute ; no two biological maps are alike, and even if the distribution of species could be accurately charted to-day they would be antiquated to-morrow by natural changes. This tendency to grow out of date is still more marked in political maps. The frontiers of countries waver in the field of history ; maps of Europe which were perfect in 1800 became nearly useless in 1815 ; and those justly viewed as excellent in 1870 had to be superseded in 1878. No map of South America can be coloured into countries in a manner acceptable in any two of its contiguous States. But all these as- pects of geography are relatively permanent com- pared to the commercial as shown by the pro- ducing areas, markets and lines of transport and com- munication which appear in a commercial atlas. The customs barriers, more impenetrable in their way than any of nature, are continually shifting in position and varying in severity, old mines become exhausted and new ones are discovered, old lands pass out of cultivation, and new lands spring into importance through irrigation, even taste and fashion change, and with them the collecting grounds of the materials for their gratification. The Pyramid of Geography. — To summarise at a glance this scheme of the aspects and objects of geographical science we may consider them as forming a pyramid (Fig. 2), broad-based on the smooth hewn blocks of mathematics, rising through tiers of firmly laid stones from the quarries of the physical sciences, and the less sure products of biology and anthropology to the irregular courses of political geography and the rubble heap of commercial geography which caps if it does not crown the edifice. Here an extension of the metaphor may be permitted. The incoherent and shifting cap of the pyramid is not without its influence on the rest. As rain filtering through a great piece of masonry dissolves the mortar of the upper parts and redeposits it lower down, so the streams of economic interests have spread downwards through the whole structure of the geographical pyramid binding it together. Commercial motives consoli- FIG. 2. — The Departments of Geography. Geography : Principles and Progress / date national life, accentuate racial differences, redistribute animals and plants, modify physical conditions, start investigations into the nature of the Earth, and even invade the solid ground-work of mathematics with practical suggestions. The Practical Value of Geography. — It may be that some readers are repelled rather than attracted by the foregoing attempt to explain the nature and contents of geographical science. If this be so it would be well to read carefully the description of some one country, and endeavour to trace out the part each separate aspect of geography plays in accounting for the character of the land, and the relation of its people to it. It is often supposed that while geography is very useful to the sailor, the soldier, the missionary, and the traveller, who have to go from place to place, or to the merchant who has trading interests in distant lands, it has httle concern with the life of the stay-at-home citizen. This is quite a mistake. Many of the interests of the present day are largely geographical, and the daily paper acquires a fresh and fuller interest when it is read in this light. Even to know where the places one reads of are, what is their climate, and how they are peopled, is something; but, taking the wider view of geography as the science which aims at explaining the adjustment of people to land, there is scarcely a problem of past history or of present politics and economics in any country which cannot be elucidated by the application of its principles. When it is once realized that geography is not merely a description of the immobile surface of the Earth, but a com- prehensive study of the influence which the land exercises on its people, and of the reaction of the people on their own and on other lands, the value of the science and its practical utility will reveal themselves in many ways. Some may perhaps consider that geography is made to include too much, that it is made the centre and the circumference of human knowledge ; but this is simply an effect of perspective. Geography is not claimed to include the sciences whose results form its raw materials, any more than a house can be said to include the quarries, the forests and the mines which have yielded its stone and timber and metal-work. The Course of Geographical Discovery. — The history of every branch of inquiry is full of value, and in the following articles there are many paragraphs dealing with the past events which have led to present conditions. There is not space here to allow of any attempt to give even an outline of the history of geographical discovery or geographical theories ; but a few of the greatest landmarks must be recalled. The most ancient civilisations were those of the great nations which grew up on the plains of the Euphrates, the Nile, the Ganges, and the rivers of China. Each of these formed a centre whence the surrounding lands were explored to a certain extent and the results placed on record. The records, however, did not affect the farther progress of discovery. The Mediterranean or Graeco-Roman civilisation was the centre whence grew, like spreading water-rings round the spot where a stone has fallen, the Fig. 3.- 'The World iiicoriliiig to Hiraitvits. 8 The International Geography wave of exploration which has revealed the world, and rendered possiljle the Oceanic or world-wide civilisation of the present. Geography among the Greeks.— That the early Greeks viewed the world as a flat disc of land is revealed in Homeric poetry, and in the descriptions of the earliest maps like that of Hecatieus in B.C. 500 (Fig. 3). The Mediterranean Sea penetrating this land divided it into two parts — Asia and Europe. Round the circumference of the whole, at an unknown distance, ran the great Ocean River which connected all the seas. Herodotus recognised the Red Sea as separating the ancient "Asia" into two parts, Asia and Africa, and thus the three continents of the Old World were known and named before 430 B.C. The coast of the Mediterranean was fully explored at a very early date, and colonies of Greeks established at favourable points. About 330 H.C. Pytheas, a Greek colonist of Marseilles, sailed out into the ocean, and explored its shore northward, discovering the British Islands. About the same time the armies of Alexander the Great extended the knowledge of the Greeks eastward as far as India ; and the spherical form of the Earth, early suspected by Greek philosophers, was for the first time clearly proved by Aristotle. The attempt to fit the ceciimcne or known world to the sphere revealed the immensity of the unknown surface of the Earth, and gave opportunity for speculations as to the existence of inhabi- tants beyond the zone of kill- ing heat to the south and near the region of fatal cold and darkness to the north (Fig. 4). It was easier from the development of mathe- matical astronomy to estimate the size of the globe than to measure the extent of the known lands, for although distances north and south were early found by astronomical observations, distances east and west could only be guessed at by estimates of the length of marches. Hence it happened that when Ptolemy of Fig. 4. Mclii, A.u. 47 Pontf^oiiiiis Geography : Principles and Progress 9 Alexandria produced his great work on geography in A.D. 150, he believed that the known land extended from west to east half way round the globe, i.e., for 180° instead of 130°, as is the case. As he also adopted 21,000 miles as the value of the equatorial circumference of the Earth instead of nearly 25,000, he made out that the east coast of Asia was only about 9,000 miles west of the west coast of Europe. As he estimated the extent of the known land from north to south at only 80°, it was natural for him to use a word corresponding to breadth for this direction, and one corresponding to length for extension from west to east, and thus our words latitude and longitude had their origin. The most curious feature on Ptolemy's map (Fig. 5) is the great eastward extension of South Africa, which he believed to enclose the Indian Ocean on the south ; this belief in a closed ocean did much to discourage attempts to reach India from Europe by sea. Ptolemy's work marked the culmination of ancient geography, and after it appeared no further advance was made for more than twelve centuries. Geography"' in the Middle Ages. — From the fall of the Roman Empire onwards geog- raphy shared in the general neglect of all natural science. The theory of the sphericity of the Earth was sup- posed to be in conflict with Scripture, and was consequently abandoned by the Christian monks who were the only up- holders of any form of learning in Europe during the Middle Ages. They made a few fantastic guesses to account for such natural phenomena as they could not overlook ; but they did some service to geography by recording the travels of many zealous missionaries, who penetrated to all parts of Europe and made some daring journeys through Asia. These records, however, were for the most part rendered ridiculous by the stories of mythical wonders which were accepted greedily in a credulous age. The great journey of Marco Polo (1271-1295) across Asia and through the eastern archipelagoes was made possible by the conquests of the Mongol emperor Jenghiz Khan, whose power, though a menace to Christian Europe, was a guarantee of peace and security throughout the vast breadth of Asia. The one class in Europe who utilised correct geographical methods at this period was the seafaring population of the Mediterranean, vvhose compass-charts of that sea were remarkably accurate. The Arabs, however, had kept up the knowledge of Ptolemy's work, which they had translated from the Greek ; Fig. S- — The Known World according to Ptolemy, A.D. 150. lo The International Geography Arab geographers throughout the Middle Ages were familiar with the spherical form of the Earth, and their travellers added much to the know- ledge of the interior of Africa. The power of this cultured people was broken by the crusading armies and by the incursions of the barbarous Turks who, sweeping across Asia Minor, threw themselves into Europe, and capturing Constantinople in 1453 scattered all over Christendom the learned men who had preserved there the Greek language and literature. From this time onwards Ptolemy's work, which was translated into Latin and printed in 1462, was accepted as the standard in all matters of geography, until the great explorations of the succeeding period made fresh works necessary. The Era of Voyages of Discovery. — The desire to find a sea- route from the Mediterranean to the spice-yielding lands of the East was greatly strengthened in the first quarter of the fifteenth century by the hampering of the overland Eastern trade by the Turks. About 1418 Prince HeTiry of Portugal, subsequently surnamed the Navigator, devoted himself to the encouragement of exploration along the coast of Africa vnth the object of seeing whether there might not be a passage into the Indian Ocean on the south. This work was continued after his death in 1460, until Bartholomew Diaz, in i486, rounded the Cape of Good Hope. About this time maps were constructed in which the exaggerated breadth of Asia assigned by Ptolemy was increased from the interpretation of Marco Polo's routes, so that Japan was made to appear only 8,000 miles west of Portugal. From the study of these maps Christopher Columbus was con- vinced that Asia could most easily be reached by sailing west. In 1492, after years of effort, he succeeded in getting ships from Spain, and in little more than two months' voyage he discovered new islands which he named the West Indies because he believed them to lie off the coast of Asia. The excitement created in Europe on his return was immense, and at once inaugurated a period of the most daring sea-voyages known to history. It was followed by the re-discovery of North America by Cabot, the gradual feeling out of the great continent of the New World which barred all prospect of sailing directly west, and by the first sea-voyage to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498, following up the Eastern route so long advocated by Prince Henry. The keenness of the rivalry of Portugal on the east- ward passage and Spain on the westward led to the rapid exploration of the new coasts and an almost desperate search for some way round America by the north or by the south. This culminated in the most splendid feat of human daring at sea, the voyage of Magellan through his strait and across the Pacific in 1520. The return of his expedition by the Cape of Good Hope, after finding the western route to the Spice Islands, placed the true form of the Earth beyond doubt for ever, even to the least imaginative ; and so closed the brilliant quarter century which had pushed the Mediterranean, from all antiquity the centre of the world, to one side, off the main tracks of trade. Geography : Principles and Progress ii Later Explorations. — Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies the merchant adventurers of northern Europe reaped the full advan- tage of their newly discovered position in the centre of the oceanic world, and planted their colonies and trading posts almost on every shore. Australia was discovered, though its importance was not recognised. The efforts to find a north-west and north-east passage to India were continued valiantly, but they failed to do more than open up new fishing grounds. While travellers brought back reports of their discoveries, the geographers and cartographers of Europe were engaged in producing annotated editions of Ptolemy and new text-boolcs and atlases setting forth the new facts. Amongst them were the great cartographers of Flanders and the Nether- lands — Mercator, Ortelius, and Blaeu, and such authors as Waldseemiiller (who in 1507 first proposed the name America for the New World), and Munster, whose Cosmographia of 1544 is a curious blending of old legend with new fact. The Jesuit missionary Athanasius Kircher, though given to fantastic theories, practically founded, the study of physical geography in the seventeenth century. The Eighteenth Century. — Notable advances in the art of navigation, especially the invention of the sextant and the perfection of the chronometer, enabled the positions of distant places to be fixed for the first time with accuracy, and detailed surveys of coasts and countries were set on foot. Arcs of the meridian were measured with a high degree of precision, and the true dimensions of the Earth became known. Much of the interior of North America was explored, and the coasts of the Pacific charted for the first time. Captain James Cook stands out pre-eminent amongst the numer- ous bold maritime explorers of the century, for he combined for the first time scientific method, nautical skill and indomitable enterprise. In his first great voyage of circumnavigation (1768-71) he surveyed the coasts of New Zealand and the east of Australia. In his second (1772-75) he circumnavi- gated the world close to the Antarctic Circle and put a stop to the agreeable illusion that a vast temperate southern continent existed. In his third voy- age (1776-79) he surveyed much of the west coast of North America, and discovered the Sandwich Islands where his splendid career came to an untimely end. The French geographer, D'Anville, is memorable not so much because he filled the maps of the period with fresh details, but because he subjected all the data from which maps had previously been compiled to the most rigorous criticism, and rejected everything which was conjectural, or could not be verified. The Nineteenth Century. — This century has seen sucli advances in all departments of geography that this entire volume may be taken as a summary of the results attained in it. Africa and Australia have been practically explored, parts of Asia have been traversed for the first time since Marco Polo passed that way ; the area of the unknown polar regions has been much reduced ; the whole of America has been roughly surveyed, and practically all Europe mapped with high accuracy. Geological sur- 12 The International Geography veys have followed the topographical in all civilised, and in many unde- veloped countries, and the distribution of plants and animals has been widely and systematically studied. The cruise of H.M.S. Challenger (1872-76) was by far the greatest voyage of purely scientific investigation ever attempted, and it has thrown a flood of light on the conditions of the oceans and of oceanic islands. Although separated by almost a hundred years A. von Humboldt, who explored Central and South America and parts of Asia, and Fridtjof Nansen, who approached nearer the North Pole than any other man, may be taken as representative types of the scientific travellers of the nineteenth century. Of naturalist travellers A. Russel Wallace may be specially named. In the great army of missionary explorers David Livingstone stands pre-eminent ; and amongst those actuated by other aims, no name approaches that of H. M. Stanley. The modern develop- ments of cartography are best illustrated in the work of Stieler, Arrowsmith, Petermann, A. Keith Johnston, and J. G. Bartholomew ; and large modern text-books by the great works of Malte-Brun commenced in the first decade, and of Elis6e Reclus completed in the last decade of the century. The leaders in the science whose work has been most fruitful in guiding the researches and forming the opinions of geographers were Humboldt, Ritter, and Peschel, to whose influence the remarkable development of higher geographical learning in Germany may be directly traced. But C-harles Darwin, not so much by his researches in physical geography, though they are important, as by his services in establishing and popu- larising the theory of evolution, has done more than any geographer of the nineteenth century to advance the science by supplying the co-ordinating clue which unifies it. The Progress of Geography.— While progress in most sciences in all countries has been largely due to the work of University professors whose duty it is to study and to teach it, geography (except in Germany) has hitherto been served rather by the voluntary association of persons inter- ested, who have formed geographical societies in all parts of the world. The first was founded at Paris in 1821, the second at Berlin in 1828, and the third, which is now the largest and most influential, at London in 1830.' There were in 1896 no less than 83 active geographical societies in Europe, 6 in Asia, 6 in North America, 4 in South America, 4 in Africa and 4 in Australia ; 107 altogether, with a total membership of 50,000 persons. There are also at least 153 different geographical journals or magazines published regularly in all parts of the world. It may safely be said that this argues a more wide-spread interest in geography than exists in any other science ; and the reason for that interest is that geography is of practical every-day utility to the average citizen of the world. The accompanying map (Fig. 6) shows graphically how far the founda- tions of geography have been laid by exact surveys, and how in the polar regions, in the heart of Asia, Africa and South America there still remain somewhat extensive area* concerning which we are absolutely ignorant. Geography : Principles and Progress 1 3 liui these will be filled up before long, and the threat has been heard that then the geographer will ha\e no more work to do. This is, however, a mistake. The geographer will only then be able to begin his real work. He will have to secure geological, biological and anthropological surveys of equal c|uality, and then at last all the data will be complete to his hands Fig. (j.—TIic Vtdiic of the Maps of the World. for perfecting the theory which e.xplains the relation of man to his terrestrial home. STANDARD BOOKS. E. Reclus. "Nouvelle Geographic Universelle." P.iris, iSyS-qs. 20 vols. H.Wagner. " Geographisches Jahrbuch." Gotha. Annually. [This gives summaries of recent geographical advances. 1 T.H.Huxley. "Physiography. An Introduction to the Study of Nature." London. H. R. Mill. " The Realm of Nature." London. New cd. 1807. " Hints to Teachers and Students on the choice of Geographical Books." London. 1897. [Contains lists of books ] Sir E. H. Bunbury. '* History of Ancient Geography." 2 vols. London. 1879. H. F. Tozer. " A History of Ancient Geography." Cambridge. 1S97. Vivien de St. Martin. " Histoire de la Geographie." Pans. 1873. C. R. Beazley. '* The Dawn of Modern Geography " London. 1897. J. Jacobs. " The Story of Geographical Discovery." London. 1898. The volumes published by the Hakluyt Society in London contain annotated reprints or translations of all the more important early journeys and voyages of discovery. CHAPTER II.— MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY By a. M. W. Downing, D.Sc, F.R.S., Stiperintendeni of the "Nautical Almanac." Mathematical Geography deals with the form and dimensions of the Earth, and the methods employed for determining and representing the positions of places upon its surface. In this chapter we shall also have occasion to refer to the Seasons and Tides as phenomena arising from the influence of the Sun and Moon upon the Earth, which are of the utmost importance in the economy of the latter considered as a habitable planet. The general idea of the rotundity of the Earth is one that has long been famihar, and may readily be inferred from a variety of easily observ- able phenomena. Probably the most convincing of these is the observation that the outline of the shadow of the Earth, as' seen upon the disc of the Moon during a lunar eclipse, is that which only a spherical body could produce. The Earth, therefore, we may conclude is spherical, or nearly spherical, in form, and (as it can be circumnavigated) is limited in extent. To determine accurately the form and dimensions of the Earth — by which we mean those of the surface of the ocean as they would be if the ocean covered the entire Earth — recourse must be had to measurements on the Earth's surface, in combination with observations of the stars. And it is to be noted that observations of the stars are valuable in this connection on account of their vast distances from the Earth. The Earth's diameter is found to be insignificant when compared with the distances of the stars, and the latter can, accordingly, be used as fixed marks of reference, pos- sessing this important property — that lines proceeding from distant parts of the Earth's surface to the same star may be considered to be strictly parallel. But this is not so in the case of bodies comparatively near us, such as the Sun or Moon. It is necessary to apply corrections to the observed positions of these to reduce them to what they would have been had the observations been made at the centre of the Earth. This is called the correction for parallax. Definitions of Terms. — At this point if will be convenient to intro- duce the definitions of certain terms, some of which will be frequently employed in the subsequent pages of this chapter. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the ordinary phenomena due to. the rotation of the Earth on its axis ; how each of the heavenly bodies appears to rise in the east, to attain a certain maximum altitude depending on its position, and then to set in the west ; how certain of the stars appear to observers in the northern or southern hemisphere never to rise or set, but to describe 14 Mathematical Geography 15 circles round points in the heavens called respectively the north and south poles. And we assume that the reader is aware that these phenomena are due to the fact that the Earth rotates round an axis which is situated in the direction of the line joining the north and south poles of the heavens. The Poles of the Earth are the points in which its axis meets the surface — north and south respectively. The Equator is the circle described round the Earth at an equal dis- tance from the poles, and dividing it into two hemispheres. The plane of this circle passes through the centre, and is at right angles to the axis. The Celestial Equator is the circle marked out in the heavens by the extension of the plane of the terrestrial equator to meet the vault of the sky. The Zenith is the point overhead of the observer where a plumb-line suspended at his station would pierce the sky if produced upwards ; the point opposite to the zenith (underfoot, of course) is called the Nadir. The Visible or Sensible Horizon is the circle traced out by the extremities of a plane passing through any place on the Earth's surface, and perpen- dicular to the line joining the zenith and nadir of the place. The Rational Horizon is the circle traced out by the extremities of a plane passing through the Earth's centre, and parallel to the sensible horizon. It should be noted that, on the immensely distant surface of the celestial vault, the two traces referred to sensibly coalesce into one single circle, which will hereafter be called the horizon. Vertical Circles are great circles of the celestial sphere {i.e., circles whose planes pass through the centre of the sphere) drawn through the zenith and nadir, and perpendicular to the horizon. The Altitude of an object is measured on the vertical circle passing through it, and is its angular distance from the point of intersection of the vertical circle with the horizon. The Zenith Distance is measured on the same circle, but from the zenith instead of from the horizon. It is, therefore, the complement of the altitude. The Azimuth of an object is the angular distance of the point of intersection of the vertical circle passing through it with the horizon, measured from the north or south point of the horizon. Hour-Circles axe great circles passing through the poles of the celestial sphere, and therefore perpendicular to the celestial equator. The Meridian is the great circle passing through the zenith and the poles ; the terrestrial meridian being the trace of the plane of this circle on the Earth's surface. The meridian intersects the horizon at the north and south points of the latter. The meridian marks the point of greatest altitude in the apparent diurnal path of each star, due to the Earth's rotation. The Hour-Angle of a celestial object is the angle at the pole between the meridian and the hour-circle passing through the object. It evidently is zero when the object is on the meridian. The Latitude of a place on the Earth's surface is the angle between its plumb-line and the plane of the equator. If the Earth were a perfect 1 6 The International Geography sphere, the directio^i of the plumb-hne at any place on the Earth's surface would coincide with the direction of the line drawn from the point to the centre. But, as we shall see presently, the figure of the Earth deviates slightly from that of a sphere, and geographical latitude must be referred to the direction of gravity, not to that of the Earth's radius, at the place. Latitude is measured from o° at the equator up to 90°, north or south, at either pole. 1 The Longitude of a place on the Earth's surface is the angle at the pole between the initial meridian (that of Greenwich, for instance) and the meridian passing through the place. It is measured from 0°, at the initial meridian, up to 180°, east or west. Determination of Latitude. — The fundamental proposition with regard to latitudes on the Earth's surface (which is assumed in every method used for determining latitudes) is that the latitude of a place equals the altitude of the celestial pole. This will be clear from Fig. 7, in which ADBE represents the terrestrial meridian of the place (its ellipticity enormously exaggerated), AB the equa- torial, and DE the polar diameter of the Earth, O the position of the ob- server, Z his zenith, and OH the hori- zontal plane. Through O draw OP parallel to DE, which is the direction of the celestial pole. The altitude of the pole is-POH, and the latitude of O is ZNA, from the definition given above. But these angles are equal, as OP is perpendicular to AB, and ZN is perpendicular to OH. To determine the latitude of a place it is, therefore, only necessary to find the altitude of the celestial pole at that place. The most obvious way of doing this is to select a circumpolar star, i.e., a star which appears to describe a circle round the pole without ever setting below the horizon. The altitude of this star should be measured at its upper meridian passage, and again at its lower meridian passage (between the pole and the horizon), and the half sum of these altitudes, when corrected for refraction, will be the altitude of the pole. The latitude can also be determined by observing the meridian altitude of a celestial body whose position is known. Let HZN (Fig. 8) be the meridian, Z the zenith, P the pole, S the known body passing the meridian, and HN the horizon. As the position of the body is known, the angular distance from the pole, PS, is known, and the angular distance HS is the observed altitude. Therefore PH is known, which, taken from 180°, gives PN the altitude of the pole, or the latitude. The latitude at sea, or in an unsettled country, is generally found by observing, with a sextant, the Sun's maximum altitude, which of course FIG. 7. Mathematical Geography 17 occurs at noon. The sun is watched for some time before reputed noon, until it is observed that his altitude has ceased to increase. The maximum value is then recorded, which, when the proper corrections are applied, gives the latitude in accordance with the foregoing method. Determination of Longitude. — The difference of longitude between any two places on the Earth's surface is simply the difference of local times at the two places at the same instant of absolute time. The determination of the longitude of any place, therefore, in- volves the two operations of finding the local time, and comparing it with the corresponding time of the initial meridian. Time is measured by the rotation of the Earth on its axis. The interval between two successive passages over the same meridian of a star is called a sidereal day, and of the Sun a solar day. Owing to the fact that the motion of the Earth in its orbit round the Sun is unequal at different times of the year, the solar day, as above defined, is not of constant length. At one time of the year a longer interval elapses between successive passages of the Sun over a meridian than at another. On this account the actual solar day is unsuitable as a measure of time for practical purposes. In its place we use the average solar day as a standard of measurement, and time thus measured by a mean Sun is called mean solar time. It is to this time that our clocks are regulated. The time shown by a sun-dial is true, or, as it is called, apparent solar time. The difference between mean and apparent solar time is called the equation of time. When the Sun's centre is exactly on the meridian of any place it is, of course, apparent noon at all places situated on that meridian. The equation of time being applied, we have, then, the instant of mean noon at all these places. Now in twenty-four mean solar hours the mean Sun passes over every meridian in succession, or over 360°, so that in one hour he moves from one meridian to another which is 15° to the west of it ; and so on at the same rate throughout the twenty-four hours. It is this consideration that enables us to convert differences of local times into differences of longitude. A little considera- tion will show that when it is noon on the initial meridian (that of Green- wich, for instance) it is earlier for places to the west of Greenwich by the amount of one hour for each 15° of west longitude ; and similarly it is later for all places to the east of Greenwich. The first requisite, then, for the determination of the longitude of a place is to find the local time. This may be effected by observing wh?n the Sun or a known star passes the meridian. But the navigator or traveller generally determines time by observing, with a sextant, the altitude of the Sun when at a distance from the meridian. This method assumes that the latitude of the place is known. In the triangle PZS (Fig. 9) where P is the pole, Z the zenith, and S the Sun, the side PZ, being 1 8 The International Geography the complement of the latitude, is known, also PS, the distance of the Sun from the pole is known, and ZS, the zenith distance, is the complement of the observed altitude. From these data the hour-angle ZPS is found, and hence the interval from noon, and finally the mean time. The difficulty in the determination of longitude consists in finding the corresponding time on the initial meridian. The most obvious way of doing this is to carry a chronometer, which indicates it ; and this is the practice resorted to on board ship. If chronometers could be constructed ^"'^ ^' which would maintain their rate for an in- definite time, notwithstanding changes of temperature or other disturbing causes, there would be no further difficulty. But this is still far from being the case, and other expedients have to be resorted to either where greater accuracy than can be obtained by relying on a chronometer is desired, or where, from any circumstance, it is found impossible to employ this method. The most accurate method, and that which has superseded all others where its use is practicable, is the transmission of time-signals by telegraph. The local time, as determined on any meridian, is telegraphed to the station on the initial meridian, which in turn sends its local time to the first station, and thus the difference of local times at the two stations is recorded at each station. Where the telegraph is not available, recourse must ,,be had to the observation of some astronomical phenomenon, the time of the occurrence of which on the initial meridian is known, or may be ascertained. Of these we may mention the measure- ment of the distances of' the Moon from certain bright stars, technically called the lunar-distance method, and the observation of the times of disappearance or of reappearance of stars at their occultation by the Moon, a method which is susceptible of great accuracy in the hands of skilful observers. It may be noted that all the mathematical and astronomical data of use to navigators and travellers are published axinuaWyinthe Nautical Almanac, compiled for the British Government, and similar publications issued by other nations. The necessary calculations are made so far in advance as to allow these ephemerides to be published two or three years ahead of the year to which they refer. It is evident that the exact position of a place on the Earth's surface is known when its longitude and latitude are known. The longitude tells us on what meridian the place is situated ; the latitude, its angular distance from the equator measured on that meridian. These two quantities are called the co-ordinates of the place. With the third co-ordinate, i.e., the altitude of the place above the mean sea-level, we need not concern our- selves here. Two co-ordinates are always sufficient to fix the position of a point on a suface. Form and Magnitude of the Earth.— Having the means of Mathematical Geography 19 determining the latitudes and longitudes of places on the Earth's surface, we are in a position to ascertain its exact form and dimensions'. In order to effect this, it is necessary to measure the exact number of feet or miles between points, in different parts of the Earth, which differ in longitude or latitude by an ascertained number of degrees. The methods employed to effect the accurate measurement of great distances on the Earth's surface by means of a trigonometrical survey form an essential part of geodesy, into the details of which we cannot enter. Suffice it to say that by means of an elaborate system of measurements, such as are referred to above, the general shape of the terrestrial meridians has been ascertained to be that of an eUipse ; and the general figure of the Earth to be that which would be produced by the revolution of an ellipse round its shorter axis, or a spheroid of revolution, as it is technically called. The semi-axes of these meridianal ellipses, or the equatorial and polar radii of the Earth, are 20,926,202 feet and 20,854,895 feet respectively, and the ratio of their difference to the equatorial radius, or the ellipticity of a meridian, is ^s-^.-ie-s- The uncertainty attaching to these values of the Earth's radii may be taken to be about 235 feet in excess or defect. The length of a degree of latitude and of a degree of longitude in any latitude may be found in feet from the formulas : — 1° of Latitude = 364,6o9"i2 — 1,86672 Cos 2 ^ + 3"98 Cos 4

. A table giving the lengths for every 5° of latitude, computed from these formulee, will be found at the end of the chapter. It should be noted that some of the measurements that have been made appear to indicate that the equator of the Earth is not a true circle (as is assumed above), but an ellipse differing slightly from a circle, the difference between the semi- axes being about 1,500 feet. In the present state of our knowledge, how- ever, it is better to assume a regular spheroid for the standard surface of the Earth, and to regard all variations from it as local or accidental phenomena. There are two other methods of ascertaining the form of the Earth which are quite independent of that referred to above, and of each other, which may be mentioned. One is from observations of the variation of the force of gravity at different places on the Earth's surface ; the other is from observations of the Moon, some of the irregularities in whose motions are due to the deviation of the figure of the Earth from a sphere. The results of these methods are fairly in accordance with the more direct measurements. The flattening at the poles of the Earth is a necessary consequence of its rotation, and may be mentioned as affording evidence of it. . The Use of the Globes. — In order to utilise fully our knowledge of the form and dimensions of the Earth, it is necessary that we should be able to represent the whole, or portions of it, on a convenient scale, to which refer- 20 The International Geography ence may be made as occasion may require. Representations of the Earth in the form of a globe, or of maps, must now, therefore, occupy our atten- tion. The terrestrial globe is obviously the most simple, and in some ways the most accurate, form of representation. When constructed of an easily manageable size, it is not possible to represent the Earth as other than a perfect sphere, the difference between the equatorial and polar radii, which amounts to 13^ miles, being too small a quantity to be shown on an ordinary globe. For the same reason the spherical surface is represented as everywhere perfectly smooth ; even the highest mountains being insignificant on the scale we are considering. It is important, however, to notice that it is only on a spherical surface that the different countries, seas, &c., of the Earth can be represented in their proper proportions throughout the whole extent of the surface. And that when represented on a plane surface, as in maps, there must necessarily be distortion of some of the parts. In this respect the globe has an immense superiority over the map. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the properties and ordinary uses of a terrestrial globe ; that he knows, for instance, that the circles of latitude are all parallel to the equator (hence called parallels of latitude), and are all, except the equator itself, small circles of the sphere. Also that the meridians all pass through the pole, and are all equal great circles ; that the degrees of latitude are equal to each other throughout, and that a degree of longitude in latitude equals the equatorial degree multiplied by Cos 0. The globe, as ordinarily used, affords a rough and ready method of solving problems, the accurate solution of which requires a knowledge of spherical trigonometry. Map Projections. — The globe is not, for most practical purposes, a suitable instrument for the representation of the Earth's surface. For this purpose maps are usually employed, when portions of the surface are required to be represented in a more convenient form. A map is nothing more than a representation, upon a plane, of some portion of the surface of a sphere. But as it is impossible to make a spherical surface coincide exactly with a flat surface, no map can represent the different portions of the Earth in their true magnitudes and true relative positions. In the construction of maps, therefore, various methods of projection (as it is termed) are adopted, so as to give results that may be most suitable for the particular ends in view. Some of the methods are perspective representations of the Earth as it would appear to an eye placed in certain positions with regard to its surface. These are chiefly employed in the representation of hemispheres. Other methods are developments of parts of the Earth's surface, and are only suitable for the accurate representation of restricted portions. We proceed to describe a few of the more important projections, premising that, in what follows, we neglect the ellipticity of the Earth. Perspective Projections.— The perspective representation of an object will be different according to the position which the eye occupies Mathematical Geography 21 with regard to the object, and to the plane of projection, or surface on which the representation is made. In projecting hemispheres the eye is supposed to be placed vertically above or below the plane of projection, which is always that of a great circle of the sphere. The position of the eye determines the character of the projection. Those most commonly employed are the Orthographic, the Stereographic, and the Equidistant. In the Orthographic projection the eye is sup- posed to be placed at an infinite distance, so that all lines drawn from it to the object may be con- Fig- 'o- sidered parallel. Every point of the hemisphere is, therefore, referred to the plane of projection by a perpendicular let fall on it, and in this way a representation of the hemisphere is mapped on its base. It is obvious, from Fig. lo, that only the central portions are truly represented in this projection, whilst the outlying portions are greatly distorted and diminished in size. In the Stereographic projection the eye is sup- posed to be placed on the surface of the sphere at E (Fig. 11), and to view the concave surface of the opposite hemisphere, every point of which, as P, is referred to the plane of projection by the line PME. In this projection the similarity of por- tions of the spherical surface is better preserved than in the preceding one. The projected dimen- F'O- "• sions are, however, distorted in a contrary manner, being unduly enlarged in receding from the centre. As when the eye is supposed to be placed at an infinite distance the outlying portions of the map are unduly diminished, and when the eye is supposed to be on the surface of the globe the outlying portions are unduly enlarged, there will be some intermediate position of the eye where one of these distortions will counteract the other. This is the principle of the Equidistant projection, or the Globular projection, as it is sometimes called. In this the eye is supposed to be at E (Fig. 12) on the diameter of the sphere per- pendicular to the plane of projection, and at a distance from the surface EB = radius X "TU If then P be the middle point of the quadrant AD, it is referred to the plane of projection by the line PME, and, by the principles of elementary geometry, OM = MD. And we shall find that othej equal arcs on the hemisphere are projected into nearly equal lines. In the equidistant projection the relative dimensions of the objects delineated are therefore much better preserved than in those previously described. It does not, 4 Fig. 12. 22 The International Geography however, exhibit figures similar to those on the sphere, and in this important particular is inferior to the stereographic projection. Its special value is for the representation of distributions in which it is desired to compare areas by measurement. Conical Projections. — It is a well-known property of a cone that its curved surface can be spread out, or developed on a plane, without any alteration in the figure and dimensions of its parts. This property is made use of in the Conical projection. A part of the Earth's surface lying between two parallels of latitude, not very distant from each other, ABCD (Fig. 13), will not differ much from part of the surface of a cone, OPQ, whose axis coincides with the polar axis of the sphere and which touches the sphere midway between the parallels. And if the latter surface be developed on a plane, the countries, &c., may be delineated in more exact proportions than in any of the perspective projections. The parallels of lati- tude will be represented on the surface of the cone by circles described with its apex (O) as centre, and passing through points on OP which are at dis- tances from the points of contact P, equal to those which the parallels occupy on the sphere. The meridians will be straight lines (OP, OQ) drawn from the apex to the points in which the meridians on the sphere intersect the middle parallel of lati- tude. It is obvious that, in this projection, the dimensions are strictly preserved for the middle latitude only. On this account modifications of it are often employed to obviate the increase in the distances measured along the parallel above or below the middle latitude. One of these consists in the subsHtution of curves for straight lines to represent meri- dians. In this modification the degrees oi longitude are marlted upon each parallel in their proper proportion, and curved lines are drawn through the corresponding points. Another modification of the conical projection consists in regarding the cone not as touching the sphere, but as intersecting it ; so as, for instance, to intersect it at two parallels equally distant from the middle latitude. This arrangement enables the geographer to embrace a considerably wider zone in latitude in his map, whilst preserving an extremely near approxima- tion to exactness in his representation. Mercator's Projection. — The last kind of projection to which we will refer is that known as Mercator's projection. In this projection a cylinder is supposed to circumscribe the sphere, touching it at the equator. The points on the sphere are referred to the cylinder by lines drawn from the centre. The cylinder is then unrolled into a plane. The equator is represented by a straight line, and the meridians by straight Fig. 13. Mathematical Geography 23 lines at right angles to it, and all at equal distances from each other. The parallels of latitude are also straight lines. But as the degrees of longitude are, in this projection, made equal at all latitudes, in order to preserve the proper proportion, the degrees of latitude are increased on the map in the same ratio as the degrees of longitude are diminished on the sphere. This projection gives a true representation as to form, but varies greatly in the scale of different parts. The polar regions are, of course, enor- mously enlarged. Though not very suitable, therefore, for strictly geo- graphical purposes, charts drawn on Mercator's projection are of the greatest importance for navigation, arising from the fact that the meridians and parallels are represented on them by straight lines. On this account the course of a ship from point to point will also be represented by a straight line ; the rhumb line, or line intersecting the meridians at a constant angle, being, in this case, a straight line. In the other projections considered the rhumb line would be, in most cases, an inconvenient curve. The advan- tages of Mercator's projection, in laying down the course of a ship, are therefore sufficiently obvious, and, except for voyages in very high lati- tudes, charts constructed on this principle are always used for navigational purposes. Great Circle Courses. — The navigator, as a rule, guides his vessel between any two places by sailing along a line which corresponds in direction with one of the points of the compass. It is obvious, however, that this course will not, in general, lie along a great circle of the sphere ; in which case it will not be the shortest distance between the two points. It is sometimes found desirable, in practice, for a ship to adopt " great circle " sailing (as it is called) in preference to the m.ore usual " Mercator " sailing. The direction and length of the arc of a great circle joining any two places are calculated by the rules of spherical trigonometry from their latitudes and difference of longitudes. And it is found that the economy in distance in great-circle sailing is greatest in high latitudes between places not differing much in latitude. Thus in sailing between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, a saving of 200 miles is effected by adopting the great-circle route. Duration of Daylight. — The variations of the seasons depend on the inclination of the Earth's axis of rotation to the plane of her orbit, or the ecliptic. This inclination is about 66^°, and the axis remains sensibly parallel to itself during the year. About March 20th the Earth is so situated that the' plane of her equator passes through the Sun, and therefore the line separating the illuminated from the unilluminated por- tions of the Earth passes through the poles, or day and night are every- where equal. The same thing happens on September 22nd, when the Earth reaches the opposite point of her orbit. On June 21st the Earth is so situated that its north pole is inclined towards the Sun by 23 J°, so that that pole then receives sunlight throughout the twenty-four hours, as well as all the region lying within the Arctic 24 The International Geography circle, i.e., within a distance of 23^° from the pole. And every where in the northern hemisphere the day is longer than the night, the difference in length depending on the latitude. At the same time in the southern hemi- sphere the days are shorter than the niglits ; whilst at the south pole, and over the region extending 23^° around it, which lies within the Antarctic circle, it is continual night. It will be understood, then, that from March 20th to September 22nd the days in the northern hemisphere are longer than the nights, and it is summer for that hemisphere. During the same period, in the southern hemisphere, the nights are longer than the days, and it is winter there. During the winter months of the northern hemisphere these conditions are, of course, reversed, whilst at the equator the day and night are of equal length at all times of the year. These results are, however, somewhat modified when we take into account the effect of refraction in increasing the apparent altitude of the Sun, as is done in the table below. Thus in latitude 65° 55', owing to the effect of refraction in increasing the apparent altitude, the Sun's centre appears just on the horizon at midnight at the summer solstice ; whilst at the winter solstice, in this latitude, the Sun's centre is above the horizon for 2h. 38m. In latitude 67° 10', owing to the same cause, the Sun's centre appears just on the horizon at noon at the winter solstice ; whilst at the summer solstice, in this latitude, the Sun's centre is above the horizon for twenty-four hours. Between these limits of latitude, therefore, there is a twenty-four-hour day at midsummer, but not a twenty-four-hour night at midwinter. Tides. — The Tides consist of the regular rise and fall of the water of the ocean, the average interval between successive corresponding high waters at any place being about 24h. 50m. But this is also the average interval between two successive passages of the Moon across the meridian. It is also observed that, at a given place, the time of high water occurs when the Moon has passed the meridian by a certain interval, and again when the Moon has passed the anti-meridian (or the meridian 180° distant) by the same interval. These phenomena at once suggest that there is a causal connection between the Moon and the tides. The Sun produces a tide as well as the Moon, but much less in amount on account of its greater distance. The effect of the Sun's action is apparent at new and full Moon, when the tide-raising forces due to the two bodies act conjointly and produce the magnified effect known as spring- tides. Also when the Moon is in the first or third quarter the forces act against each 'other, thus producing the neap-tides, in which the ebb and flow are less than the average. It is impossible within the limits of a short chapter, descriptive of the general features of mathematical geography, to discuss the theory of the tide-raising power of the Moon and Sun exercised by their differential attraction on opposite sides of the Earth. This must be sought for in special treatises. Mathematical Geography 25 Table giving the lengths in British feet of i° of latitude and 1° of longitude at different latitudes, and maximum and MINIMUM number OF HOURS PER DAY DURING WHICH THE SUN'S centre IS ABOVE THE HORIZON, ALLOWING FOR REFRACTION. ength of Length of Abov e Horizon. f Latitude. 1° of Longitude. Summer Solstice. Winter Solstice H. M. H. M. 362,746 . ■ 365,231 . 12 6 .... 12 6 362,774 . • 363,851 . 12 22 11 48 362,858 . • 359,719 . . 12 38 11 30 362,995 ■ . 352,866 . . 12 s8 II 12 363,180 . • 343,342 . . 13 18 10 52 363,408 . ■ 331.213 . • 13 38 10 32 363,674 • ■ 316,569 . 14 10 10 363,968 . ■ 299,515 . 14 28 9 44 364,281 . . 280,177 . ■ 14 58 9 l6 364,605 . - 258,698 . • IS 32 8 42 364930 . • 235,236 . . 16 18 8 . 365,245 • . 209,967 . 17 16 7 4 ■ 365.S40 • . 183,083 . 18 44 5 44 • 365,808 . ■ 154,787 21 46 3 24 . 366,040 . 125,293 . 24 366,228 . 94,830 . 24 00 366,366 . 63,632 . 24 00 366,451 . 31,940 24 00 366,480 . . . . 24 .... 00 STANDAK D BOOKS. Latitude. 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 F. Briinnow. "Lelirbuch der Sptiarischen Astronomi'^." Berlin, 1851. Sir J. F. W. Herscliel. '■ Outlines of Astronomy." London, 1859. A. Souchon. "Traite d'Astronomie pratique." Paris, 1883. C. A. Young. " A Text-book of General Astronomy." Boston, U.S.A., 1891. A. R. Clarke. " Geodesy." 0.\ford, 1880. W. R. Martin. " Navigation and Nautical Astronomy." London, 1891. G. H. Darwin. " The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System." London, S. Giinther. " Handbuch der Mathematischen Geographic." Stuttgart, 1890. " Hints to Travellers." Published by the Royal Geographical Society. London. - " Encyclopsedia Britannica " (9th Edition), Art. " Mathematical Geography." Latitude. 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 1898. CHAPTER III.— MAPS AND MAP READING By E. G. Ravenstein. Maps and their History.— A map (from mappa, napkin) is a delineation on a plane of the whole or of a portion of the surface of the Earth. A collection of maps is called an Atlas, a term introduced by Mercator, who explains the meaning of the word he chose by a figure of the Titan of that name bearing a globe upon his shoulders. Maps are of very ancient origin. The land surveyors of the civilised states of antiquity undoubtedly produced plans which met all practical requirements, whilst the needs of the navigator were served by Peripli and charts. At a very early age, too, these plans, combined with the informa- tion collected by travellers, were utilised in the production of maps of provinces and even of the whole of the habitable world. When Hecataeus (500 B.C.) warned his countrymen against engaging in a conflict with Darius he enforced his arguments by pointing out the vast extent of the Persian Empire upon a map of the " entire circuit of the world," which had been engraved upon a brazen tablet: (Fig. 3.) For the first maps with degree lines marked upon them we are probably indebted to Dicaearch of Messena (350-290 B.C.), who introduced the parallel of Rhodes as a diaphragm, or separator, between the northern and southern habitable worlds. But it was only after Eratosthenes (296-196 e.g.) had approximately determined the size of the Earth, and Hipparchus (190-120 b;c.) had taught map makers to lay down places according to their observed latitude and longitude, that scientific cartography can be said to have come into existence. Thales (600 B.C.) had already invented the gnomonic pro- jection, Hipparchus introduced the stereographic and orthographic pro- jections, but map makers like Marinus, the great predecessor of Ptolemy, seem to have been contented with producing plane charts, the meridian •differences of which were correct only along the parallel of Rhodes, until Ptolemy (140 a.d.) published his famous map of the world on a conical projection. (Fig. 5.) The principles laid down by Ptolemy for the compi- lation of maps apply in our time as they did in his, and to their development and the improvements of instruments and methods of observation modern maps ate indebted for their comparative accuracy and scientific value. The most valuable Contribution of the Middle Ages to the progress of cartography consists of the so-called " Compass charts," specially designed for the use of mariners, and based solely upon compass bearings and an estimate of distances, without reference to any latitudes that may have been available from actual observation. The coast lines on these charts are given with remarkable fidelity. 26 Maps and Map Reading 27 Scale of Maps.— The scale of a map, or the proportion which it lineally bears to the actual size of the region represented, is expressed either in the form of a fraction whose numerator is i, or by reference to some well-known unit of length. The former is the method more usually followed, and more to be recommended, as it is independent of the various measures of length in use among different nations. Thus, when it is stated that the scale of a map is i-ioo,oooth of nature, or i : 100,000, we know that every lineal unit on the map represents 100,000 such units in nature. Or it is stated that every inch, as measured on the map, represents one or more miles in nature. Thus, a scale of i statute mile to the inch (which is that of the British Ordnance Survey general map) is the same as a scale of i :" 63,360, for 63,360 inches are equal to one statute mile. Measurement of Distances on Maps.— The scale to be found, on nearly all maps is that of the equator or of the central meridian, and hence it follows that this scale can be used for measuring distances only when the area embraced within the map is small. In the case of maps of exten- sive regions or of continents, owing to the distortion or exaggeration inherent in all projections, its application would yield misleading results, quite apart from errors resulting' from an expansion or shrinking of the paper in the process of printing. In proof of this we may refer to a hemisphere laid down upon Lambert's equivalent projection, whose scale, as measured along the central meridian or equator, we suppose to be 1 : 125,000,000. The scale of the same map, as determined by the meridian encircling.it, is i : 80/300,000, whilst a " mean " scale, equal to the square root of the proportion which the area of the map bears to the actual area on the globe, would be i : 112,000,000. The only exception from this rule occurs in the case of maps on an equidistant projection, but even in their case ap- proximately correct distances can only be obtained when measuring from the centre towards the circumference. In those few cases in which the distance to be measured follows the equator or a meridian, we may determine the interval in degrees and minutes, and thus obtain an approximate result in geographical miles, of which sixty are equal to one degree of the equator. The result would, of course, be only an approximation, except under the equator, where I minute=i geographical mile ' = 6,080-27 feet. The degrees, as measured along a meridian, vary in length from S9'594 to 60-204 geographical miles. As a rule, the distance desired should be measured on a globe of suitable dimensions, or calculated from trigonometrical formula to be found in every mathematical text-book. Where a globe is available, a scale should be drawn on a slip of paper, the edge of which is to be applied to the places the distance between which it is proposed to measure. The length of coast lines or of river courses should be measured on a " The geographical or sea-mile, 60 to i degree of longitude on the equator, must not be confused with the British or Statute mile (used in this book when miles are mentioned without qualification) (X)-2 to i degree or 5,280 feet in length. 2 8 The International Geography globe, or, at all events, on a map of large scale. Errors due to the pro- jection may be in a large measure eliminated by treating each trapezoid, bounded by parallels or meridians, as a distinct map, the precise scale of which will, of course, have to be determined before the measurement is made. In the operation itself a " space-runner," such as can be obtained from any mathematical instrument maker, may prove of service. Measurement of Areas on Maps. — The measurement of areas is most readily effected when the map is on an equivalent projection. If a plate of glass have engraved upon it small squares the relation of which to the area of the map is known, the area is obtained by placing the glass over the map and counting the squares required to cover the country whose area it is desired to ascertain. Or the area may be calculated directly with the aid of a Bar or Polar Planimeter. Another way is to Fig. 14. — Picture Map of Part 0/ London, showing Blackfriars Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Smithwark Biidge, London Bridge, the Tower, and the Tower Bridge. take the areas of all full quadrilaterals from a table of the areas of quad- rilaterals of the Earth's surface, such as is to be found in the "Geographical Tables," published by the Smithsonian Institution, and add to the result the areas of outlying portions of quadrilaterals. Plans. — It is obvious that the detail which it is possible to introduce into a map depends more especially upon the scale to which it is drawn. Accordingly we distinguish between plans, topographical maps, and general maps. The scale of a Plan should be sufficiently large to enable separate houses and plots of land to be clearly distinguished. A scale of 1 : 500 would suffice for this purpose, and occasionally even a much smaller scale, say i : 10,000. As a plan only embraces a very small area the sphericity of the Earth's surface is not taken into account by the surveyor, the principles of plane trigonometry alone are involved, and the only instruments really needed are a chain, a cross-staff, ana ^when alti- tudes or sections are required) a level. Maps and Map Reading 29 Topographical Maps. — Topographical Maps must be on a scale sufficiently large to enable the draughtsman to show plans of towns and villages, roads, and other features, without excessive exaggeration. No map on a smaller scale than i : 200,000 will enable this to be done. The details for such a map may be taken from available parish maps on a larger scale, from plane-table surveys, and even from rougher compass surveys. In combining these materials, in the case of a country of con- siderable extent, account has to be taken of the sphericity of the Earth, the position of at least one point has to be fixed by careful astronomical observation, the length of a degree has to be measured, and the country covered with a network of triangles starting from a base-line and checked in the course of the triangulation by one or more bases of verification. The first map produced on such scientific principles was that of France by ^^tMMjtS. Bcalg.liiiae.2in! (1: 3L6B0) ^ Fig. is. — Topographical Map of the Part of London shown in Fig. 14. Cassini de Thury, the first sheet of which, on a scale of i : 86,400, was published in 1750, and the last in 1793. In England several counties had been triangulated about the same time, but a regular trigonometrical survey was only begun in 1784, when General Roy measured a base-line on Hounslow Heath. This survey was subsequently extended to the whole of the United Kingdom. In spite of the slow progress of the work of the survey, and some details which are open to criticism, it may be safely asserted that no country of so great an area possesses a map which can compare in accuracy with that produced by the " Ordnance Survey " Office. The surveyors have supplied the contoured lines of elevation from careful measurements, and not from mere estimates or barometrical observations, as is still the case with most official maps in other countries. The survey has . produced town plans (i : 500 or 1 : 2,500), parish maps (i : 2,500), county maps (i : 10,560 or 6 inches to the mile), and a general map (i : 63,360 or i inch to the mile). Measures have recently been taken for keeping the maps up to date^ and in order to 30 The International Geography enable this to be done the beautiful but tedious process of engraving the maps of copper had to be partly abandoned in favour of photozincography. The maps may be purchased at most post-offices in the United Kingdom. Trigonometrical surveys have now been extended over the whole of Europe, except northern Russia and portions of the Balkan Peninsula. The maps are published on various scales : i : 100,000 in the case of Ger- many, Scandinavia, France, Italy, and Portugal ; i : 7S,ooo in the case of Austria and Servia, &c. In addition to these general maps, the various survey departments issue plane-table sections {planch die-minutes, Mess- tischbliXtter, &c.), usually on a scale of i 125,000. The pubUcation of maps or plan's on a still larger scale is, as a rule, left to be done by local authorities. Trigonometrical surveys outside Europe have as yet been undertaken only in detached areas. India led the van in this useful scientific enter- prise, its trigonometrical survey being very complete. Japan may claim credit for being the only " native " State which has a scientific Survey Department. In Africa a commencement has been made by the French in Algeria and Tunis, and by the British in Cape Colony. In the United States isolated surveys were begun in 1830, but the work has been carried on systematically only since 1879, partly by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and partly by the United States Geological Survey, which has a topographical branch. In addition, surveys of some States have been carried out by the authority of the State legislature. The maps vary in scale according to the nature of the country, the north-western States being on a scale of i : 62,500, the Rocky Mountain region on a scale of I : 250,000. The features of the ground are shown by contours. The relative degree of accuracy in the mapping of the continents is shown graphically in Fig. 6. General Maps. — Under general maps may be included all those on a smaller scale than topographical maps. Their production, where regular surveys are available, is a very simple matter. The original materials are reduced mechanically by the use of squares, or more directly by panto- graph or photography, to the scale desired. The information which it is thought right to give in view of the object which the map is to serve must be selected with judgment. Many details have to disappear, the place of others is taken by signs or symbols, and exaggeration becomes necessary ; but the draughtsman must take care to bring out those features which are most characteristic of the country delineated. This applies especially to the hills, which are too frequently merely sketched in, or omitted alto- gether, on account of the cost of indicating them. ' Where regular surveys are not available the map has to be compiled with the help of all materials more or less trustworthy— a task involving much labour. The compiler first of all lays down those places the position of which has been determined by trustworthy astronomical observations ; he then adjusts to these points the route surveys or sketches made by ex- Maps and Map Reading 31 plorers, and finally adds information derived from native sources. The result, in many cases, hardly compensates for the labour involved ni the production of such a map, yet, until quite recently it was the only means of gaining an idea of the geographical features of the greater part of Africa and of Inner Asia, and notwithstanding the progress of regular surveys, and the better work brought home by explorers, the time is still far distant when the services of the compiler can be dispensed with. Initial Meridians. — The initial meridian now almost universally adopted, in accordance with a recommendation of an International Geodetic Congress, which met at Washington in 1884, is that of Green- wich ; but other meridians are still frequently employed, especially in French maps, and in those of the national surveys of other nations. The assumed meridian of the island of Ferro, in the Canaries (Fig. 453), was once largely used on account of the convenient manner in which it divides the world into an eastern and a western hemisphere. The following is a list of observatories whose meridians are so used : — LONGITUDE OF OBSERVATORIES. Longitude E. of Greenwich. Sydney, N.S.W. .. .. 151 12 23 Madras . . 80 14 50 Bombay . , 72 48 55 30 19 40 24 57 17 18 28 4X 18 3 30 12 28 40 II 36 32 10 43 25 4 22 II 2 20 IS Pulkova (St. Petersburg) Helsingfors, Finland . . Cape Town Stockholm Rome Munich Christiania Brussels (Old Town) . . Paris (Observatoire National) Longitude W. of Greenwich. o f It Madrid 3 41 15 Lisbon (Naval Obs.) . . . . 9 8 23 Ferro, assumed as .. 17 39 45 Rio de Janeiro 43 10 21 Santiago de Chile (New Obs.). . 70 41 39 Washington (Old Obs.) . . 77 3 i Mexico . . . . . . . . 99 6 39 Delineation of the Ground. — In olden times, and occasionally even to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the inequalities of the ground were indicated by serrated ridges or groups of mole-hills, varying in size and number in accordance with the supposed height, extent, and character of the mountain ranges they were intended to represent. Only occasionally did a draughtsman rise above this inartistic level and give a picturesque outline to his hills, by drawing them in perspective, or attempting to portray their characteristics by washes in ink." Hatchings [hachures] were first introduced in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The method was fully developed in La Condamine's map of Quito, published in 1751, and popularised by Arrowsmith. In this crude system of hill shading almost everything is left to the judgment and artistic skill of the draughtsman. A scientific basis for delineating the features of the ground was first supplied by Philip Buache in 1737, when he placed before the French Academy a map of the Channel, on which the configura- tion of the sea-bed was indicated by contour lines, i.e., lines which run " Instructive examples of early attempts at hill sketching are the wonderful maps drawn by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), K. Tiirst's "Landtafel" of Switzerland (1495), Apian's map of Bavaria (1568), and Gyger's map of the Canton of Ziirich (1667). 32 ^ The International Geography- through all points at the same level, like the line of contact of sea and land in calm weather. He suggested that this method might advantageously be extended to the delineation of the land, and this was done for the first time in 1791, when Dupain-Triel published a contoured map of France. A scientific framework or skeleton for delineating the ground had thus been furnished ; the contour lines drawn at equal intervals sufficing, if numerous Scale lin.-lmile (1-63360) Coni/nira at intavals of 25 feet. Fig. 16. — The Guildford Gap : Contoured Map. enough, not only to show the actual height of the land but the form and gradient. Crowded contour-lines indicate a steep slope, contour-lines far apart a gentle slope. Something more than contour-lines was needed to give plasticity to maps. Various methods have been introduced for effecting this purpose. By increasing the number of contours the shape of the hills can be Fig. it.— The Guildford Gap : Hills shaded. brought out more distinctly, and this " Horizontal style " yields very satisfactory results if well done. Another method consists in covering the contours with hatchings crossing them at right angles, and thus drawn in the direction of the greatest descent. This is the "Vertical style." Lehmann(i783) proposed that the scale of shade should correspond to the degree of declivity, and that the map should be supposed to be illuminated vertically. His principles have met with very general acceptance, and it Maps and Map Reading 33 is now admitted that only a combination of contours (preferably printed in a colour different from that of the hill shading) with hatchings, can yield a satisfactory representation of the features of the ground. There are, however, cases in which an oblique illumination may yield better results, and it is obvious that washes of Indian ink or tints may be substituted for the hatchings. Another method for bringing out the vertical structure of a country in its general features, is that of tinting the intervals between the contours, thus producing a " strata map." Where the number of these "strata" is limited the same tint may be employed throughout, its depth increasing with the altitude, but where the features to be shown are more complicated it may become necessary to employ various colours, and upon their judi- cious selection must depend the beauty and expressiveness of the map. The Orthography of Geographical Names.— Care should be taken that the orthography of geographical names should enable the reader of a map to pronounce them with at least approximate correctness. The rules laid down by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society should therefore be adhered to as far as possible. They are exceedingly simple. Names in countries using Roman letters are to be retained as spelt by the respective nations, as are also names in other languages which by long usage have become familiar to English readers. All other names, however, are to be spelt phonetically, as pronounced on the spot. The vowels are to be sounded as in Italian, the consonants as in English, and no redundant letters are to be introduced.' The diphthong ai is to be pro- nounced as in aisle ; au as ow in how ; aw as in law. Ch is always to be sounded as in church ; g is always hard ; y always represents, a consonant ; whilst kh and gh stand for gutturals. One accent only is to be used, the acute, to denote the syllable on which stress is laid. It is obvious that in numerous instances these rules must prove altogether inadequate when attempting to express the sounds of a foreign language. The admission of additional diacritical marks such as ~ and '*-' to express quantity, and the diaeresis, as on a'i, to express consecutive vowels, which are to be pronounced separately, would prove of service, but in all cases where greater precision is aimed at, recourse must be had to such an alphabet as that of Lepsius, or to an alphabet specially adapted to the language, the sounds of which it is proposed to reproduce. The Board of Geographic names in the United States acts upon rules practically identical with those indicated above, and compiles an official list of place names, the use of which is binding on Government departments. Maps for Special Purposes. — These are most varied in their con- tents. The most ancient among them are route maps — the Ilineraria picia of the Romans — and marine charts ; the most recent are maps illustrating the physical geography of the globe. ' Yet the rules say that all vowels are shortened in sound by doubling the following consonant. 34 The International Geography Charts (from charta, paper) are designed for the special use of sailors, and prominence is given upon them to every feature a knowledge of which is requisite for safe navigation. They show more especially the depth of the sea, taking low water as a standard or. datum level, and not the mean level of the sea, as is done in topographical maps. Charts, as a rule, are laid down on Mercator's projection, the advantages of which to a navigator are pointed out on p. 23, and sometimes on the Gnomonic projection, on which all great circles appear as straight lines. Geological Maps date no further back than the latter part of the eighteenth century, and to the United Kingdom is . due the credit of having been the first to organise a regular geological survey, in 1835. The utility of these surveys, quite apart from the scientific interest attached to them, is so apparent, that at the present time there is hardly a civilised State without its Geological Office or Department of Mines ; nay, in parts of the United States and in some of the colonies geological'surveys were inaugurated simultaneously with a general survey of the country. There is no department of physical geography which it has not been attempted to illustrate cartographically, since Athanasius Kircher, in 1665, published the first physical map — one illustrating ocean currents. The surface features of the land and configuration of the ocean-bed ; drainage basins ; the phenomena of the atmosphere ; the distribution of plants and animals ; and, in short, every form of distribution over the Earth's sur- face is capable of being illustrated by means of maps. Maps showing roads and railways are in daily use ; others illustrating the distribution of the population according to density, race, language, or religion ; vital statistics, and every department of social or .industrial life are being more and more appreciated. Maps have likewise proved of inestimable service to the student of history. The ingenuity of compilers has been taxed to the utmost in efforts to present the facts of geographical distribution in an intelligible and striking manner. Density of population, for instance, is generally indicated by a graduated tint, but two or three tints might be employed, one to cover those parts of the country where the density approaches the mean, the two other tints indicating those parts where it falls short of the mean, or exceeds it. This method, greatly generalised, is shown in Fig. 18. It is obvious that the same principle is applicable in numerous other instances,- or where the feature mapped is-the varying degree of a certain condition. Relief Maps.— It is claimed on behalf of maps in relief that they present a better portraiture of the inequalities of the ground than is pos- sible in the case of plane maps. This contention, however, can onlv be admitted on the understanding that the heights are not exaggerated to an extent which would yield a caricature instead of a picture true to nature. A fair amount of exaggeration may be admissible in the case of relief maps on a small scale, but is altogether objectionable where the scale is Maps and Map Reading 35 large. Relief maps of more extensive countries, moreover, should be built up on a spherical surface, or the relief loses all claim to naturalness.' So-called strata reliefs, built up in steps from the strata of a contoured or hypsographical map, are altogether objectionable. Globes.— A globe is the only means of conveying a faithful idea of the distribution of land and water over lAverageDensity the entire surface of the Earth. This advantage was early recognised, and Crates of Mallos is credited with having produced the first terrestrial globe. Globes of an early date are frequently referred to, but the oldest which have survived to our day are one by Behaim (1492), now at Niirn- berg, and the so-called Laon globe, now at Paris (1493). These ancient globes are either drawn by hand or engraved on metal. Globes of this description were naturally very ex- pensive, and Hylacomilus (Wald- seemiiller) has consequently deserved well of the student of geography, when, in 1507, he printed a map of the world upon gores intended to be pasted upon a globe, thus placing this most indispensable educational apparatus within the reach of all. They may now be had of all sizes and at a low price. The globe is not only an atlas on a uniform scale, without distortion, but a valuable mathematical instrument by the aid of which important calculations may be easily made. Fig. 18. — Density of Population in England and Wales. STANDARD BOOKS. G. G. Andre. "The Draughtsman's Handbook of Plan and Map Drawing." London, 1874. Willoughby Verner. " Map Reading and Elementary Field Sketching." London, 1893. J. M. West. " The Elements of Military Topography " London, 1894. Sir W. J. L. Wharton. " Hydrographical Surveying." London. New Edition, 1898 R. S. Woodward. " GeSgraphical Tables." Washington, 1894. ' This was proposed to be done by Maestlin in a letter to Kepler (1S96), by Hauber (1724), and apparently first acted upon by Erben, of Stuttgart, about 1850. The oldest relief of which I have any notice is one of Antibes (1665). CHAPTER IV.— THE PLAN OF THE EARTH By J. W. Gregory, D.Sc, Professor of Geology in the University of Melbourne. General Resemblances. — The vast unknown interior of the Earth is bounded by a shell composed of two layers, the solid rocky crust, or " lithosphere," and the seas and oceans, or "hydrosphere." If the Earth has solidified from a gaseous nebula, then there may have been a stage when the whole lithosphere was covered by an unbroken sheet of water. But now, as through all the ages revealed by geology, the rocks have been piled up in broad masses or high mountain chains which rise above the level of the hydrosphere, while the waters are collected into the inter- mediate depressions. The geographical distribution of the exposed portions of the lithosphere appears, on first inspection of a map, to be so irregular and complicated, and the continents to differ so much in topo- graphic form that their arrangement appears haphazard and accidental. But if we ponder over a map of the world we detect a series of striking coincidences and of repetitions of the same essential forms. There is, for example, a remarkable resemblance in the general shapes of the masses of land and water. Thus, the greatest of the land areas, the Old World, consists of a vast triangle, of which the base extends from Norway to Bering Strait, with the apex at the Cape of Good Hope. The greatest of the oceans is the similar but inverted triangle of the Pacific. Again, the New World consists of two triangles, one contracting from the barren steppes of the Arctic shores to the Isthmus of Panama, and the other contracting from the triple Cordillera of Colombia and the high scarp of Venezuela to the ridge of Cape Horn. And much as the Old World corresponds to the Pacific, so the two Americas correspond to the two basins of the Atlantic, and the Arctic Sea to the Atitarctic land. In the coast lines of the continents other points of correspondence reveal them- selves. The Pacific coasts are steep and high, and are formed in the main by mountain ranges parallel to the shores ; its Asiatic coast is hung with festoons of islands, and remains of similar island chains occur off its American coast. The Atlantic shores, on the contrary, are low and shelving, except where they pass round the margins of high plateaux or cut across mountain chains, of which the directions are rarely parallel to the shores. The islands are few and irregularly scattered instead of being hung in festoons. Moreover, both Atlantic shore lines follow the same course, as if moulded by the same influences ; thus the Gulf of Guinea occurs opposite the projection of Brazil ; the Mediterranean offset on the east The Plan of the Earth 37 corresponds to the Caribbean on the west ; the eastward recession of Europe is followed by the eastward advance of America. Geomorphological Theories, — Such resemblances have been repeatedly pointed out by geographers. For example, most elementary textbooks remark the southward tendency of peninsulas. It has, therefore, long been a favourite idea of geographers that the main outlines of the continents axe not accidental, but have been determined by some undis- covered principle or law. A quartz crystal, with its massive form, its simple outline, its flat faces, and straight edges, appears to have no point in common with a snowflake composed of a radial cluster of delicate, feathery tufts. But the crystallographer recognises that the two different forms belong to the same crystalline system, have the same hexagonal symmetry, and are built on the same fundamental plan. Similarly geo- graphers have believed that veiled by the great variety in topographical details there is some underlying symmetry in continental form, the dis- covery of which is the main problem of geomorphology. The mediaeval wheel maps may be regarded as early attempts to express geomorphological theories, which rested on a theological basis. But it was not until the present century that any satisfactory beginning was made. In 1684 Burnet, in his " Theory of the Earth," had called mountain chains " the backbones of the continents" ; and that idea has so long been popular that the effort to discover the principle governing the evolution of the continents naturally began with the study of the origin of mountain chains. The first formal theory of geomorphology, that enunciated by Elie de Beaumont in 1852, was based on the hypothesis that mountain chains having the same orientation were formed at the same date by the same causes. If, there- fore, the age of a certain mountain chain be required, all that is necessary, according to Elie de Beaumont's system, is to determine its orientation and compare it with a standard scale in which the directions of a considerable series of mountain chains are marked. This system failed as it was too ambitious. The effort to state a theory with mathematical precision, and to make it of universal application, led to exaggeration of the truth on which it rested. The theory was soon found to be inconsistent with essential facts and was discredited. But Elie de Beaumont's effort to correlate Earth-movements over extensive tracts of the Earth's surface was not in itself chimerical. Geological, physical, and astronomical considera- tions all support belief in a certain connection between some distant mountain chains. Thus among the mountains of Europe and western Asia, which trend east and west, the two that agree most closely in orien- tation are the Pyrenees and the Caucasus ; and as Prof. Bonney has shown, they agree most closely in geological structure, and were probably elevated at the same date. Lowthian Green has proposed a physical explanation of the triangular form of the land masses, and why the triangles should be disposed as they are. And Prof. G. H. Darwin has suggested an astronomical cause of the phenomena, by pointing out some coincidence between the 38 The International Geography- distribution of land and water with lines of strain in the Earth's crust caused by some early incidents in its history. Relative Permanence of Continent and Ocean.— Nevertheless, after the overthrow of Elie de Beaumont's system, the interest in geo- morphology was lessened by the influence of Lyell's teaching ; for his axiom of the continual interchange of land and sea, owing to the alter- nate elevation and depression of the land by local independent agencies, threw doubt on the existence of any one steady general cause. Lyell's theory received its first severe check from the diametrically opposite view of the permanence of the continents and ocean basins. In the oceanic abysses various oozes are now being deposited. Nothing exactly like these oozes is rrtet with among the rocks forming the continental masses, except for a few patches on the rims of the ocean basins. The sediments which form the continents resemble those which are being deposited in shallow seas, in lakes and rivers, or on land. ," The vast grey level plains of ooze where the shell-burr'd cables creep " of the existing ocean floors, have apparently never been raised above sea-level. This fact has been cited as conclusive prQof of the permanence of the ocean basins ; but if we neglect deductive negative evidence and study the actual history of different parts of the Earth, we find that the conceptions of continuous oscillation and of prolonged immutability are both true in part. Some land areas have been permanent from a very early period of geological history ; others have been subject to alternate movements of elevation and depression, accompanied by the contortion and crumpling of the beds. Thus, on the one hand, the great block of Scandinavia, Lapland, and Finland, the central highlands of Brazil, the plateau of Labrador, the peninsular area of India, the meseta or central plateau of Spain, are each composed of extremely ancient rocks ; their margins have been repeatedly washed by the sea, but they themselves have never been below sea-level. On the other hand, the British Isles, Portugal, the Atlantic States of America, Japan, and northern India have been repeatedly submerged beneath the sea. The test of actual inspection cannot be applied to the ocean floors, but the submarine parts of the lithpsphere are probably subject to the same movements as the areas now above sea-level. Strong support to this view is given by palreon- tology, one aspect of which becomes meaningless, if we believe that the land masses have always been separated by the existing ocean, barriers. Hence it is now widely thought that the view that every part of the ocean floor now below the depth of a thousand fathoms has always been below sea-level, is as exaggerated as the old Lyellian doctrine. But it was a most useful protest, for with the limitation of Lyellism, geomorphology advanced again. In a brilliant address to the British Association in 1892, Professor Lapworth described the continents as arches formed by vast Earth-folds, while the ocean basins are the sunken troughs between the raised continental arches. Lapworth's fold theory has not, however, yet been stated at length, and Suess's great work on the face of the Earth (" Das Antlitz der Erde ") The Plan of the Earth 39 remains the only modern attempt to describe the physical geography of the world in accordance with a definite system of geomorphology. To understand Suess's views, we must comprehend tlae nature of the movements which affect the level of the Earth's crust. According to the Lyellian school the Earth is undergoing continual oscillation, areas sinking or rising either as wide, continental masses, or by the contortion of belts into mountain chains. This interchange was attributed to variations in the height of the land and not to changes in the level of the sea. Thus in northern Scandinavia the sea has been receding, while in' the southern part of that country it has been encroaching on the land. According to LyoU this was because the ground was rising in the north and sinking in the south. Round the British coasts there are raised beaches in'some places, and submerged forests in others, facts which were similarly explained by the assumption of differential movements in the land. But the phenomena can be equally well explained by variations in the level of the sea. The sea-level is not a fixed, definite level. The old maxim that " water will find its own level " may be true within the narrow range of a set of water-pipes, but the water of the sea knows no level. Water in a glass is raised around the margin owing to the capillary attraction of the sides. In the ocean basins the waters are heaped up against the continents by the gravitational attraction of the land, and they are thus depressed in the middle. In the case of land-locked seas the theoretical water-level is disturbed by the action of winds and currents, just as the water in a lock is heaped up against the sides when a strong current flows into it. Again, the amount of water on the Earth is limited, so that if the depth of the oceans increases their area must lessen. Taking the mean depth of the Pacific Ocean at 13,000 feet, if its floor were to sink until the mean depth is i,ooo feet greater, then the sea-level throughout the globe would be nearly 500 feet lower ; the land vvould appear to have risen to that extent without the slightest actual movement of its own. Suess's Theory of Changes in Sea-level, — Such variations in sea-level are not only possible but probable, and there is some strong geo- logical evidence of their occurrence. On the western shore of Calabria there are some old beach lines which rest in one place on the face of a cHff of Miocene limestone, in another traverse a spur of the Appennines, elsewhere lie on the Archaean schists of the Peloritani, and on the recent volcanic tuffs of Etna. The old beach lines, however, maintain their horizon- tality throughout. Western Scotland furnishes a similar illustration, for a sea beach there, at the height of 100 feet above the sea, lies on rocks of different ages and hardness, and it crosses undisturbed great faults and dislocations. Suess holds that it is physically impossible for such complex areas and rock masses to be upraised without any relative displacement of the different parts. Hence he argues that where we find broad tracts of raised marine deposits maintaining their original horizontality, we must ■attribute their position to movements of the hydrosphere instead of to those 40 The International Geography of the lithosphcrc. Tlii^ cnnlciition is cssciUial to Sucss's Uiuory of geo- morphology. The subsidence of wide areas and tlie elevation of narrovy bands can both be explained by the radial contraction of the globe. But that agency will not account for the undisturbed elevation of extensive areas. If such elevations do occur, then there must be some other factor at work, and we cannot hope for any complete theory of geomorphology until the nature of this unknown cause be discovered. But if there be no such movements then we know already an adequate cause for all the movements in the Earth's crust. Suess's theory, then, is simply that the movements of the lithosphere may be divided into two groups — (i) The siihsiileiicc of wide areas where, owing to the contraction of the Earth's interior, the crust is left without support ; (2) the folding and contortion of rocks along certain lines whereby the rigid crust is able to contract into a smaller space. Between the fold- lines, and beside the sunken lands, crust-blocks stand up like the piers of a bridge of which the arch has fallen in. Suess's great contribution to geo- morphology is, that he has shown that the existing structure of the world can be explained by these two sets of movements. Each of the continents consists of lines of fold-mountains, or blocks of strata which have been left standing above the level of the ocean basins formed by Fig. 19. — The Lines of Tertiary Fold-MoiuUains. subsidence The Structure of America, — The two Americas show this arrange- ment most typically. Both of them are bounded to the west by a long mountain chain ; both of them have an eastern border of fold-mountains, such as the AUeghanies and the Sierra do Faranao. The north-eastern corner of each is formed of a block of Archrean rocks, neither of which has apparently sunk below sea-level since the earliest davs of geological history. In both continents a vast basin occurs between the bounding lines of fold-mountains. And the geological history of the two Americas has been aptly summarised as the history of the gradual filling up of two great gulfs which occurred between the eastern and western ridges. The Structure of the Old World.— The structure of the Old ■World is less simple, for the land is broader and more complex. Its main fold-line runs from east to west instead of from north to south. It is usual to associate Europe and Asia as the continent of Eurasia, to which the part of Africa north of the Sahara is added on biological grounds. But from the standpoint of geomorphology we cannot separate central and southern Africa, unless we also exclude the peninsular area of Indi.i. The The Plan of the Earth 41 great land mass of the Old World is divided into two by a belt of fold- mountains which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The southern margin of this belt'follows the Atlas Mountains, crosses Tunisia, and passes north of Malta and south of the Greek Archipelago ; it continues east along the Taurus, bends northward beside the Persian Gulf, and continues its former direction past Baluchistan and the northern foot-hills of the Himalaya ; then it runs south again across Burma and the Malay Peninsula, and turning eastward once more crosses the Malay Archipelago, until it sinks below the Pacific. This line divides two regions which have quite different geological structures. South of it is a series of table-lands of great geological stability and antiquity. North of it is a vast tract in which the rocks are mostly horizontal or gently inclined, and only violently contorted along the lines of the great mountain chains, the directions of which are moulded by blocks of old rocks, such as the Central Plateau of France, the Alpine Foreland in South Germany, and the massif of Bohemia. A series of subsidences along the southern margin of the northern divi- sion has formed the basin of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indo-Gangetic plain ; and this series appears to be a direct continuation of the Caribbean depression which separates North and South America. The Origin of the Oceans. — So far for the 'structure of the conti- nents. Their shapes are necessarily determined by the surrounding oceans, concerning the history of which direct geological evidence is scanty. Occasional islands tell us a little, and a little more may be inferred from the trend of the rocks and mountains on the continental margins, and from the arrangement of the suboceanic ridges. The subject is speculative and con- troversial ; but it seems to be generally agreed — by geologists at least — that the ocean basins have been formed by subsidences at different ages. Thus the Atlantic Ocean may date from middle Cainozoic times. According to Suess the Atlantic Ocean results from the gradual enlargement of two gulfs which projected north and south from the old Mediterranean Sea that extended from Central America to the Levant. The Arctic Sea may have been formed at the same period. The Indian Ocean is probably older. It appears to have originated by the subsidence of the section of Gondwanaland that united India and Africa, of which the Archaean rocks of the Seychelles and Mauritius are remnants. The Pacific Ocean may have undergone great changes later than th^ other oceans. It has certainly encroached upon Australia by the subsidence of the submerged portion of the Melanesian platform, which extended northward and eastward from Australia as far as New Guinea, New Caledonia, Lord Howe Island, and probably New Zealand. Beyond this crescentic line of continental islands are the oceanic islets of Micronesia and Polynesia, which range through more than ioo° of longtitude. According to Darwin's theory of coral islands these chains mark the site of a sunken land. The Patagonian platform projects from South America to meet the southern island chain, and some indications 42 The International Geography of a former land connection along this line are given by the evidence of zoological distribution. In the North Pacific the evidence is more scanty. The island festoons off the coasts of Asia and America, and the transverse ridges that run east and west across Central America indicate a former seaward extension of the land. But, unless the series of islands from Hawaii to the Tonga group represents a line of movement, all the evidence in the north central Pacific has been lost. The Test of a Geomorphological Theory. — This rapid survey indicates the nature of the evidence, which shows that the structure of both the oceans and continents is consistent with the hypothesis that their distribution has been determined by the subsidence of some regions in consequence of the withdrawal of underground support, and by the eleva- tion of certain lines by the compression of the hard crust into a smaller space. Both movements would result from the radial contraction of the globe during cooling, but unless this cause will also explain the distribution of these two types of Earth-movements, it will not give us an adequate theory of geomorphology The three fundamental facts of distribution which any theory must explain are the antipodal position of the continents and oceans, their trian- gular shape, and the excess of water in the southern hemisphere. Elie de Beaumont's theory gave no answer to any of these questions ; but it led to another geometrical theory which does. Elie de Beaumont attached too much importance to linear symmetry. He assumed that the Earth is a spheroid built up on a rhombic dodecahedron, which is a symmetrical body enclosed by twenty-four equal pentagons. Every face of a rhombic dodecahedron is opposite to a similar parallel face. Antipodal areas are similar. But on the Earth antipodal areas are dissimilar, for a land area at one end of an axis is always balanced by an oceanic area at the other end of the axis. In fact, in crystallographic language, the lithosphere may be described as hemihedral, not holohedral. Moreover, if we could cover two-thirds of the rhombic dodecahedron with a fluid held on to it by attraction from the centre of the body, just as the waters of the ocean are held on to the Earth by gravity, there is no reason why an excess of the fluid should collect on one half. The Tetrahedral Theory of the Earth. — Lowthian Green pro- posed what is known as the " tetrahedral theory," which regards the globe as based on a form which satisfies the requirements of the case better than a dodecahedron. The body which encloses the greatest volume for a given surface is the sphere. The regular body which contains the smallest volume for a given surface is the tetrahedron, which is enclosed by four equal equilateral triangles. Hence every hard-shelled sphere which is diminishing in size owing to internal contraction, is constantly tending to become tetrahedral in form. In the case of the Earth various circumstances such as its rotation, and the attraction of the moon, render such a form impossible. But if we replace the flat faces of the tetrahedron bv convex The Plan of the Earth 43 faces, we get a body which approximates to a spheroid ; and by varying the curvature of the faces this puffed out tetrahedron may pass into the condi- tion of a spheroid and then become truly spherical. Conversely, if a hollow sphere composed of an elastic shell be gradually exhausted of air, the external pressure will force in the four faces and gradually make it tetrahe- dral. The tetrahedral theory regards the world not as an angular tetrahedron, but as a spheroid which has been subjected to this tetrahedral flattening to an ex- tent inappreciable by direct measurements, but in- directly recognisable owing to its influence on the "distribution of land and water. As the flattened faces are nearer the Earth's centre of gravity, the water will collect upon them. The ratio of the areas of land to ^"'- ^°--^<^"-ahedron. that of water on the globe is as 2 to 5. If on a model of a tetrahedron we colour the five-sevenths of the surface that is nearest the centre, the coloured area will indicate where the water would accumulate on a stationary tetrahedron. Mount the tetrahedron with one of the four points pointing downward, when one face will be horizontal at the top ; on that upper face there will be a central coloured area in the position of the Arctic Sea. It will be surrounded by a land belt, from which three projections will run southward down the vertical edges from the three upper angles. These south- ward land areas will each taper gradually to a point, beyond which there will be a continuous belt of water fig. 21.— Tetrahedron surrounding a south polar land. That is to say, that '^'"' "'^^^d faces. on the model the general plan of the arrangement of land and water is identical with its actual distribution on the globe ; for the geographical units are subtriangular with the land triangles pointing to the south ; land and water are antipodal ; and there is a great excess of water in the southern, and of land in the northern hemispheres. The agreement between the facts of geography and the tetrahedral theory goes further. The four faces of a tetrahedron meet along six edges, and if the Earth be subject to tetrahedral strain, these six edges should be represented on the Earth by lines of weakness. The lines of weakness would be marked by lines of crumpling, i.e.; by ranges of fold-moun- tains. The question therefore rises, does the main ^^^ ^^;::r^^^es of fold-mountain system of the world bear any relation ^|^e tetrahedral Earth. to the traces of a set of tetrahedral edges ? Terrestrial Symmetry.— If an observer were to lookdown on the Earth from the direction of the Pole Star, he would discern a central sea surrounded by a ring of land, broken only by the shallow Faroe Channel, Smith South, and Bering Strait. The northern face of the world consists of a 44 The International Geography cone of land of which the apex has fallen in ; if this northern land-cap were to sink still further, its margin would be thrust out in all directions. Now Suess has shown that the whole continent of Eurasia, as geologically defined is bounded to the south by a chain of fold-mountains formed by lateral thrusts from the north. In Eurasia the predominant mountain chains run east and west, parallel in fact to the edges that bound the upper face of the tetrahedron. South of Eurasia the predominant mountain chains, rock- foliation and strikes run north and south, parallel again to the tetrahedral edges that run vertically from the tetrahedral " equator " to its south pole, hence there is a general agreement between the position of the fold-moua- tains and the lines of tetrahedral strain. Fig. 23. — Symmetry of the laud round the North Pole. The agreement, however, is not absolute. For example, one of the points which, according to Green, should be a land centre, falls in the Pacific near the Ladrone Islands. But if Darwin's theory of coral islands be true, then that area was once continental, and has only become oceanic by subsidence in Cainozoic times. Again, Africa lies so well along one of the three vertical edges of the tetrahedron, that South America might be expected to occur on the next similar edge to the west ; but South America actually is 20° too far to the east. Green remarked the discrepancy, and explained it by invoking an eastward torsion of the southern hemisphere, due to its tendency to increase its rate of revolution owing to its decrease in diameter The Plan of the Earth 45 But the geological evidence suggests another explanation. The western coast of Patagonia is formed by a belt of Archsean rocks, which disappear eastward under the Cainozoic sediments, the islands of Chilean Patagonia , also consist of Archaean rocks, which may extend westward as the basis of the great submarine Patagonian platform. And just as the Indian peninsula is regarded as the remnant of a continent of which the western part has been lost by subsidence, so the Patagonian peninsula may be regarded as the eastern remnant of a sunken land, the position of which would agree with the theoretical scheme. But we have no right to expect in our old and wrinkled world that the lands should be arranged with geometrical regularity. The litho- sphere varies in composition ; certain regions consolidated at a very early period into great impassive blocks, which have forced the later foldings to diverge from the course they might have followed in a homogeneous crust. Further, there is nothing in the tetrahedral theory inconsistent with some variation in the position of the tetrahedral axes ; hence, during the gradual shrinkage of the globe, there may have been considerable variation in the position of the lines of strain. " The physiognomy of the globe," says Lapworth, " is an unerring index of the solid personality beneath." The present physiognomy, however, is not an index of the full life history of the continents. The features of past ages must be inferred from the physiognomical fragments of the ages that remain to us. We cannot infer from the existing distribution of land and sea how that distribution has been produced. The problem is so complex and the facts so uncertain, that the historical method of inquiry is safer than the deductive method. A knowledge of the distribution of land and sea at various epochs in the world's history appears to be the only sure basis on which to rest a system of geomorphology. STANDARD BOOKS. E. Suess. " Das Antlitz der Erde." Vols. i. and ii. LeipEig, 1885, 1888. Lowthian Green. " Vestiges of the Molten Globe." London, 1875. Elie de Beaumont. " Notice sur le.s Systemes des Montagnes." Paris, 1852. J. W. Gregory. "The Plan of the Earth," in Geographical journal, vol. xiii. p. 225 (1899), A. Supan. " Grundziige der Physischen Erdkunde." Leipzig, i8g6. CHAPTER v.— LAND FORMS: THEIR NATURE AND ORIGIN By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc. Vertical Relief of the Earth's Crust. — Although, as has been explained in the description of the plan of the Earth, which dealt with the grand features of the crust, the geoid, or form of the actual surface of the ocean, is distorted from the true figure of the Earth, it is yet the only practical zero-surface from which heights and depths on the Earth's surface can be measured. Until the amount of the distortion of sea-level at different places is found, it is impossible to compare exactly the heights of distant continents or the depths of different parts of the oceans. The uncertainty probably amounts to some hundred feet in the most careful measurements. A com- paratively small number of points of the ocean bed have as yet had their depth below actual sea-level ascertained, and only a few of the civilised countries have had the configuration of their whole surface determined by levelling. The large relations of vertical relief can therefore only be roughly estimated by making certain assumptions as to the unmeasured and unex- plored regions. Such calculations have been made by several physical geographers, the latest and most elaborate being those of Professor Wag- ner of Gottingen. According, to his results the mean level of the solid sphere is 7,500 feet below actual sea-level ; but since his calculations were made the discovery of the great depth of the Arctic Sea and some very deep soundings in the Pacific and Southern Oceans show that the dividing line between the elevated and depressed regions of the crust must be drawn at a lower level, although probably not so deep as 10,000 feet, the depth which I estimated from Sir John Murray's earlier work. In Professor Wagner's hypsographic curve here reproduced in a simplified form (Fig. 24), the results of his calculations are shown graphically. The vertical lines in the diagram represent areas of the Earth's surface in percentages, the horizontal lines show depths beneath and heights above sea-level in feet, and the curve thus gives at a glance the extent of the surface lying between any limits of vertical distance. Divisions of the Earth's Crust.— Sir John Murray distinguished three areas of the Hthosphere— (i) the Abysmal Area, a vast and relatively uniform depression covering nearly half the surface of the Earth, mainly in the southern hemisphere ; (2) a Transitional Area occupying less than a qtaarter of the surface and sloping up to (3) the Continental Area, which 46 Land Forms 47 extends over rather more than a quarter of the surface, mainly in the northern hemisphere. Professor Wagner, however, distinguishes the five divisions shown in the diagram — (i) the Dcfrcssed Area occwpying 3 per cent, of the Earth's surface and comprising all the oceanic depths from the greatest (the deepest spot known in the ocean is 30,930 feet or 5,155 fathoms) to 16,400 feet or 2,733 fathoms below sea-level; (2) the Oceanic Plateau, the vast undulating expanse from the depth of 16,400 feet up to 7,500 feet, the mean level of the surface of the lithosphere, and covering 54 per cent, of the surface of the Earth ; (3) the Continental Slope reaching thence to the edge of the Continental Shelf, or 660 feet below actual sea- level, and occupying 9 per cent, of the surface ; (4) the Con- tinental Plateau from the edge of the Continental Shelf to an altitude of 3,300 feet, or 28 per cent, of the surface ; and (5) the Culminating Area comprising the 6 per cent, of surface above 3,300 feet. , The Oceanic Plateau, although more gentle in the outline of its forms than the other divisions of the lithosphere, is by no means featureless. There are many broad rises which subdivide the oceanic depths without approaching the surface, Feet 30000, 2500a ^ 20000 IJOOi 10000 5000 sooo 10000 16000 20000 2J000 iopoo Fig. 2j,.—The Hypsogmphic Curve. Adapted from thai of Professor Hermann Wagner. but frequently forming the foundations whence more abrupt eminences tower upwards into islands ; and in some places these abrupt heights rise even from the deeper parts of the ocean bed. The Continental Plateau may be conveniently subdivided into the Continental Shelf, Depressed Lands, Lowlands, Uplands and Highlands which merge in the Culminating Area. The Continental Shelf slopes very gently from the coast down to about 100 fathoms or 200 metres (600 or 660 feet). In some places, such as the west coast of South America 48 The International Geography or of Africa, it is only a few miles wide ; but in others, e.g., oE north-western Europe and south-eastern South America, it stretches for several hundred miles from land. It unites all the large continental islands to their nearest continent, with the exception of Madagascar, New Zealand, and Celebes. Sailors speak of this zone of shallow sea as " in soundings," because it is always possible to use a hand-lead for finding depths less than 100 fathoms ; and its boundary is a matter of importance, since a vessel " out of soundings " is usually free from the risk of running on shore. Depressed Lands, which lie below sea- level, are of very small extent, occurring only in the Dead Sea rift-valley, the subsiding delta of Holland, and some dried lake beds in the deserts of Asia, Africa, and North America. The contour line of 660 feet (200 metres), which corresponds to the mean surface of the actual globe (litho- sphere and hydrosphere combined), may appropriately be taken as the upper limit of the Lowlands. It is interesting that the present position of sea-level is almost midway between the outer edge of the shallow Continental Shelf, say 600 feet below sea-level, and the inner edge of the lowlands, say 600 f^et above sea-level, a total area of 22,000,000 square miles, and the flattest part of the Earth's surface of equal extent except the floor of the Oceanic Plateau. For Uplands the upper limit 2,000 feet, nearly corresponding to the average elevation of the whole land of the globe, may be assigned ; while all above that elevation may be called Highlands. Classification of Land Forms.— The grandest contrast in the relief of the crust is that between the vast sunk plains of the ocean floors and the elevated surface of the continental world-ridges. The primary practical division is, of course, that into land and water ; with subdivisions into oceans, seas, incurves, gulfs, and lakes for the water ; and for the land on strictly similar lines into continents, outcurves, peninsulas, and islands. The land may indeed be viewed as entirely composed of islands, for every continent is either an island or part of one ; but the distinction between continent and island or peninsula, though one of jank only, is convenient because continents possess a distinctive individuality not shared by^ smaller islands, and there is no more risk of confusion of ideas than is involved by the classification of the strength of a regiment into officers and men. From the geographical pbint of view land-forms are best considered, in their larger aspects at least, from the point of view of form alone without reference to their geological history. No definite system of classi- fication has yet been generally adopted ; but the need of arriving at a common understanding on the subject is recognised by the geographers of all nations, and tentative schemes have been put forward by Professor Penck and others. The following attempt to describe some of the more important kinds of land-forms is neither complete nor altogether con- sistent ; but it may help the student to understand the descriptions of Land Forms 49 coutStfies in Part II. It may also form a basis for criticism and fuller discussion. Tlie simplest form-elements are the plain, hollow, cliff, mountain, hill, and valley. The Plain is a nearly level or gently sloping expanse, which may be a sunk plain if depressed below sea-level, a low plain if on the lowlands, an upland plain in the uplands, or a high plain if it occurs in the highlands. A plateau or tableland is strictly an upland or high plain which is bounded on all sides by a more or less abrupt descent to lower ground, or perhaps bordered in part by mountain ranges which are low in com- parison with its breadth. An extensive plateau may be crossed by moun- tain ranges or deep valleys ; but a highland composed of mountains and valleys alone has no right to the name of plateau. The Pamirs, for example, do not form a tableland, but only a lofty and diversified highland for which a specific name might well be devised. The Hollow is a land-form which is bounded entirely, or nearly so, by higher land. When its floor is flat it is often called a hill-girdled plain ; when more typically it slopes towards the centre it is appropriately termed a basin, or if amongst mountains an interment basin. If the word basin were not also loosely used for the whole drainage area of a river system it might be adopted for this land-form alone, and it is used in this sense by many authors. Perfect hollows of dry land can only occur in arid regions, where they frequently contain salt-lakes or beds of salt. In moist climates they are necessarily occupied by lakes, although incomplete hollows are usually drained by a river. The Cliff or Scarp is a belt of extremely steep slope, usually marking the edge of the sea, one bank of a river or the sides of a gorge. A scarp may break the continuity of a plain, separating one nearly level expanse from another at a higher level. The term escarpment is applied to the relatively steep slope which follows the line of strike of the strata. Mountains and Hills axe to be distinguished by height alone, yet no definition of a hill has ever been more satisfactory than " an elevation lower than a mountain," while a mountain can only be termed " an eleva- tion higher than a hill." It may, however, be conceded that mountains are confined to the highlands over 2,000 feet in elevation, while hills may occur also in lowlands or uplands. Mere elevation of a summit above sea-level is not enough to constitute a mountain ; an eminence rising 300 feet above one of the vast level plains of Tibet can only be called a hill, although its summit may exceed 16,000 feet above the sea. A mountain system like the Alps or Andes, although forming a broad region, is easily recognised as consisting of mountain ranges. German geographers distinguish between low, middle, and high mountains, but the English language renders such a division cumbrous in use. Peaks are usually the culmina- ting points on the crest of a mountain range, but occasionally, especially in the case of volcanoes, a great summit may rise directly from a .plain. Parallel mountain ranges often enclose between them interment basins of 50 The International Geography considerable extent and at a high elevation, or even, as in the case of Tibet, extensive tablelands. The Valley is perhaps the most varied of all land-forms. A valley may be viewed as limited by the meeting lines of slopes. ' The meeting line of two diverging slopes is a watershed or water-parting or divide, and such a line marks off the valley of a river, viewed in its largest sense, from those of its neighbours. The valley, in a narrower sense, may be marked by the lines separating gentle from more abrupt slopes. The meeting place of two converging slopes is a Thalweg, valley-line, or stream-line, usually marking the central line of a river bed. The walls or sides of a valley may be abrupt as in a gorge or gently inclined like the imperceptible slopes bordering a great river before the commencement of its flood-plain. The whole space between the outer watersheds limiting the region draining into a single river is called the drainage-area of that river. Transverse valleys, better termed defiles, completely traverse a mass of high ground from the plain on one side to the plain on the other. The name of longitudinal valleys is given to the long hollows between two parallel mountain ranges ; while the shorter valleys which furrow the sides of the mountains are called lateral. Two lateral valleys -meeting on the crest of a range form a col or pass by which the range may be crossed. No geographical features are more important in determining the lines of traffic across mountainous regions than transverse and lateral valleys with their connecting passes. The head of a valley on a mountain side may take the form of a rounded recess amongst the rocks termed a corry or cirque, the cliffs surrounding which often rise extremely steeply. The lower ends of river valleys on the coast when " drowned " or submerged, form inlets of the sea of various kinds. In this way lowland valleys give rise to estuaries, firths, or bays ; upland or highland valleys form inlets which are known as rias when the depth diminishes gradually from the mouth towards the head, and as fjords or sea-lochs, when a bar shallows the water at the mouth, thereby separating a considerable depth inside from the deep .water outside. In this rapid summary of the chief form-elements of the land reference has been made to their form only ; but while it is the form that mainly controls the distribution of climate, vegetation, animal life and human activity on the Earth's surface, the origin of the various forms has important bearings, and often allows a more helpful method of classifi- cation to be adopted. Materials of the Earth's Crust.— The study of the material composing the lithosphere and the changes it has undergone in the past is the special subject of the science of geology; and while we do not concern ourselves here with the methods or controversies of geologists, ' It might perhaps be permissible to include the slope as a distinct land-form, but where a gentle slope is found it may be viewed as an inclined plain ; and a steep slope forms part of either a mountain, hill, scarp, or valley. Land Forms 51 GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. Quaternary. Recent. (Alluvium.) Pleistocene. (Diluvium.) Tertiary. Pliocene. Miocene. (Molasse.) Oligocene. Eocene. (Flysch.) Mesozoic. Cretaceous. Chalk. Upper Greensand. Gault. Lovirer Greensand. Wealden. Jurassic. Oolite. Lias. Triassic. Rhaetic. Keuper. Muschelkalk. Bunter, Palaeozoic. Permian. Magnesian Limestone. Carboniferous. Coal Measures. Millstone Grit. Carboniferous Limestone. Devonian or i Old Red Sandstone- ) Silurian. Ordovician. Cambrian. Archaean. rocks does not differ so much some of their results are necessary in order to make geography — the description of the actual surface of the Earth — in- telligible. The rocks of which the primi- tive crust of the Earth was composed must have been subject to the disintegrating effects of weather as soon as they were elevated above the level of the sea. The material worn off them must have accumu- lated on shores or on land-slopes, and in time become itself consolidated into new kinds of rock, which were elevated and worn away in their turn to give rise to fresh sediments, and so on for incalculable ages. Before the appearance of life on the globe there was no clue as to the rela- tive age of rocks except superposition ; but since that era most sedimentary for- mations contain distinctive fossils which enable rocks of approximately the same age to be recognised in distant places, and so make possible a fairly complete classifi- cation. The whole series of sedimentary rocks is nowhere found, but large portions of different parts occur in several places, and allow the order of tlie whole to be ascertained. Order of the Rocks. — The most ancient sedimentary rocks known contain no traces of life ; they are of a crystalline texture, and often foliated or crumpled in consequence of subsequent change, the process of change being termed meta- morphism. The series is known as Archcean on account of its great antiquity ; gneiss and schist are typical represen- tatives. The sedimentary rocks containing fossils are divided into four great groups, according to age, known as Palceozoic (old life) or Primary, Mesozoic (middle life) or Secondary, Cainozoic (modern life) in- cluding Tertiary, and Quaternary or Post- \ Tertiary. The physical character of the as their varying age might lead one to expect. 52 The International Geography but in a very general way the Primary rocks are the hardest and most durable, the Secondary are less compact, the Tertiary still more friable, and the Quaternary usually consist of incoherent sands, gravels and clays. Yet very hard rocks may occur even in the youngest formations. The great groups are subdivided into formations which consist of different sets of strata, to each of which a special name has been applied. The table on p. SI shows the position of all the chief and some of the local formations mentioned in this volume, but it is not to be taken as representing the views of any one geologist ; it attempts to generalise the facts which most geologists agree in accepting. Primary rocks are of peculiar importance on account of their great wealth in valuable minerals. The quartz veins associated with the Cam- brian and Silurian strata are rich in gold and the ores of other metals ; but the Coal Measures of the Carboniferous system are economically the most important. Coal is also found in more recent rocks, but the best coal, which occurs in the great fields of western Europe, the greater fields of eastern America, and the greatest fields of all in China, is of Carboniferous age. The association of iron-ore, limestone for supplying a flux, and highly refractory sandstone suitable for lining furnaces enables the manufacture of iron usually to accompany the mining of Carboniferous coal. Generally speaking the surface forms of a country underlain by the more recent rocks are less rugged, and in temperate climates the soil is more fertile than that of ancient strata ; but the type of scenery depends less on the age of the formation than on the nature of its rocks. Amongst the rock-types com- mon to all formations which determine scenery, it is sufficient to mention limestones (which may be metamorphosed into marble), conglomerates and breccias— the pebbly or angular fragments of which are often cemented by limestone ; sandstones, which may be fine or coarse in grain, compact or friable, and may be metamorphosed into quartzite ; and clavs (some soft like mud, others stiff or set with stones) which may be metamorphosed into shale or slate. Every one of these rocks produces a distinct variety of scenery, recognisable by the practised eye. In addition to the sedimentary and metamorphic formations account must be taken of igneous rocks, the origin of which may range in time from the pre- Archeean period down to the present day. They are of two classes, Plutonic which FIG. 25.— Diagrammatic section of an have solidified from fusion under the pres- olri volcanic neck formiiig a crag, .„..„ „f „j.i 1 • 1, ^ , uith a " tail" of Liickrciay. ^^^^ °^ ot^^"^ ""ocks m the form of masses, dykes or intrusive sheets, of which granite and some basalts are examples, and Volcanic which have poured out on the surface and solidified in the air or under water. Igneous rocks give great variety and character to a landscape, especially when they occur among sedimentary strata, and the features they produce are usually of gi-eat geographical significance. For inst:uice, the old volcanic necks which Land Forms S3 project as steep rocks above the level surface of a plain furnished natural sites for ancient fortresses, and mediaeval castles which ultimately formed the nucleus of modern towns. Features due to Crustal Movements. — The crust of the Earth is subject to movements of various- kinds which result in elevations or de- pressions of the surface as explained in Chapter IV. Where the crust is crumpled into a series of folds, moun- tain chains of great height are ridged up, characterised by a succession of lofty ridges separated by deep parallel Fig. 26. — Diagrammatic section across a ■' ° ,\ 1, ri,, , r ,-, range of fold-mountains before erosino (longltudmal) valleys. The arch of the has set in, showing successive anti- folded strata is called in geological cUnes and synclines. , . , , . , . , . , . , termmology an anticline or anticlmal fold, and the trough a syncline. When the amplitude of the folding is great the rocks may be thrown into very complicated convolutions, the strata being even reversed the lower over the upper, or torn apart. A good example of a folded and eroded mountain system is shown in the section across Switzerland (Fig. 130). All the lofty mountain ranges of the world, as shown in Fig. 19, are fold-mountains which were upridged in the Tertiary period, and are thus, geologically speaking, things of yesterday. Other forms of crust-folding occur, though not so strikingly ; the monodinal fold for instance produces a steep-sided and flat-topped elevation. Mountain and valley forms of quite a different type are produced when Fig. 27. — Diagrammatic section of Crust- Block Mountain. ^^S^S^ ^^^^^ :j:vx;';vv/i m ■;:■;■:■;•:■:■•:: ^^^^ ^m ^H wt^ ^^ 7 ,:-■',:<" M —. '^'!i^'!^^M n m :<.TlyAmm^^^m^- F F ■ F Fig. 28. — Diagrammatic section of Rift- Valley. strata subjected to severe stresses relieve the strain not by folding but by cracking, and blocks of the crust are thrust up or allowed to drop down between parallel cracks or faults. The raised or lowered masses may retain their original position or be tilted, and in either case they give rise to crust-block mountains (the Schollengcbirge of the Germans), or to riff- valleys (Graben), such as the upper Rhine plain or the great rift-valleys of the Dead Sea, Red Sea, and East Africa (Fig. 444). These, when of relatively recent origin, are wild and rugged, giving rise to a country full of grand 6 54 The International Geography scenery but presenting great obstacles to traffic. The movement of crust- blocks separated by a great fault is still to be detected in many cases ; it usually occurs in the form of slight slips accompanied by earthquake shocks. Lines of faulting are of course lines of weakness in the crust, and consequently afford a favourable opportunity for the outbreak of volcanic activity. Hence mountains of volcanic accumulation and even great plains of level lava, which originally flowed in a molten state from long fissfures in the crust, are met with in the neighbourhood of rift-valleys. Typical volcanic cones sometimes remain as prorninent features in the scenery long after all volcanic activity has ceased. The old craters are often occupied by lakes without inlet or outlet and some- times very picturesquely framed in cliffs Fig. 2g. — Diagrammatic section of an (Fig. 191). Where volcanic agency has uneroded laccolith {black). f^^jj^^ ^^ ^^^g^j j^^^jf ^^ jj^g surface, masses of igneous rocks may be intruded amongst strata in the form of laccoliths thrusting up the surface into a dome (Fig. 29). Features due to Erosion. — As soon as a rock-surface is exposed to the air it may be attacked by the chemical action of the water and dissolved gases, by the alternate heating and cooling due to radiation, by wind driving sand particles, by the dissolving and abrading action of running water and sliding detritus, by frost, or by the more massive action of moving ice. The result is that in every part of the world high ground is always being eroded or eaten away, and the broken material swept off to lower levels. Every different kind of rock resists the "tooth of time" in its own manner and to a particular degree. Beds of clay or loose sand are washed by rain into fantastic forms, according to the varying hardness and coherence of their parts. Limestones, no matter how hard, are dissolved by rain or rivers, giving a very distinctive type of country, caves or even underground river channels being produced, into which the surface drainage sinks by rifts and swallow-holes which have been similarly dissolved out, and the land is left dry and relatively barren. These features are so characteristic of the Karst district of the Adriatic coast that the name karsi phenomena has been applied to them (see Fig. 156). The more compact rocks weather differently according to their texture and arrangement. Thus a coarsely crystalline granite decomposes into clay and sand along the lines of cracks, and in the process assumes the bold serrated outlines familiar to the observer in all granite mountains ; but the closer grained basalt is much more durable. A dyke or sheet of igneous rock embedded in sedimentary strata stands out sharply when the softer rocks have been weathered away. Again, the forms Df a region where the strata lie horizontally like the Grand Canyon district of the United States, differ from those of one where the rock sheets dip regularly in one direction. The dip-slope weathers more slowly than the steeper edge or escarbmeni, which runs along the direction of the strike (Fig. 30). This is seen best on Land Forms 55 sea-coasts and river-valleys where the character of the cliffs carved out by the waves or current varies in accordance with the structure as well as the resisting power of the rocks. Ex- cept in the newest volcanic for- mations the surface of all exposed rocks has been greatly altered by weathering, and so far as their scenery is concerned the upraising of the land has served mainly to guide the ceaseless action of the tools of erosion. The result of prolonged erosion on an ancient plateau is to cut it up into detached Fig. 30. — Diagram illustrating di-p, strike, dip-slope, and escarpment. masses of mountainous magnitude, which on account of their origin have been called relict-mountains, or mountains of circumdenudation. River Work — Destructive. — As the streamlets flow down any slope to meet and form a larger stream they begin to wear a channel for them- selves, which gradually cuts deeper and deeper into the ground, the sides being steadily widened by weathering as the channel is excavated, so that the lower valley of a great river becomes very wide and nearly flat. In a region where the atmosphere is dry, weathering is retarded, and the river as it cuts its way downwards leaves the rocks sharp and steep, as may be seen in the canyons of the Colorado. The steeper its bed the more rapidly does a stream erode, hence rivers are most powerful in destruction near their heads, and tend to cut back their watersheds. Thus a water- parting which was once straight may become sinuous, and in time the rivers of the steeper slope may actually tap or capture the upper waters of the adjacent drainage area, and a river system which on a new land surface is comparatively simple, be- comes extremely complicated when the land has been long subjected to erosion (Fig. 36). As a river deepens its bed below the general level of the valley floor the deposits of stones and gravel which had been stranded on its margins are left at a higher elevation forming level terraces or benches (Fig. 32). All mountain ranges become seamed with lateral valleys of erosion. A new land surface is usually irregular, with hollows in which lakes are formed by water accumulating until it overflows ; but as the land grows older the lakes are either filled up with sediment carried in by streams, or drained by the escaping river deepening its channel, and the old lake-bed becomes an alluvial plain. Any abrupt change of level on a new land surface, or any hard bed of Fig. 31. — Diagrammatic flan of u straight •watershed (a) showing rivers extending their valleys headward (b). 56 The International Geography rock in the course of a mature river forms a waterfall ; but in time each sharp step is cut back to form a steep slope in a gorge through which the water foams in rapids, and ultimately the river grades its course and flows uniformly along a uniform slope. As a long river flows on its way it is deflected to a certain extent on account Fig. 32. — Diagrammatic section across of the Earth's rotation. This was first a River Valley showing Terraces (T). ^^^^^^^^ ^y VOn Baer, and is included in the statement of Ferrel's Law thus : — If a body moves in any direction on the Earth's surface, there is a deflecting force arising from the Earth's rotation which tends to deflect it to the right in the northern hemisphere, but to the left in the southern hemisphere. The rivers of the northern hemisphere always pressing more heavily against their right bank, cut it back as a cliff, while the left bank is left low and flat, being composed of alluvium deposited by the stream. ■ This is strikingly illustrated in the great rivers of Russia and Siberia, where the "high bank" and "low bank" sides of the stream are terms used where we speak of the right bank or the left. It should be remembered that the right bank of a river is that on the right hand of a person looking down- stream. River Work — Constructive. — As a river approaches its mouth the gradient of its bed diminishes, the water flows more slowly, and is no longer able to sweep along the load of stones and gravel, which are accord- ingly dropped near the sides, to be swept forward spasmodically by floods. Eventually even the sand and mud subside upon the flood plain across which the river meanders in constantly changing loops. At the mouth the final detritus may be swept away and dispersed along the shore by tidal or other currents, or if the river enters a gradually deepening and widening inlet of the coast, the to-and-fro tides may distribute the sand and mud in banks or bars, as in the Thames or Tay, or spread it over so great an expanse as to produce no obstruction, as in the Firth of Forth. But all great rivers which enter a lake and many which enter the sea deposit their sediment in the form of a delta, which' grows gradually seaward, and the water crosses it in many and variable channels (Figs. 362 and 441). The margin is often lined with lagoons separated from the sea by bars of mud ; but the delta itself is a flat expanse of very fine soil. The effect of floods in rivers flowing over a nearly flat plain is to cause a deposit of alluvium along the sides of the stream, and a consequent silting-up of the bed, which results in the river flowing at last along an embankment above the general level of the plain and sloping gently on both sides down from the river. When a flood occurs the banks are apt to burst, and the river descends upon the low ground with tremendous force, often forming a new channel for itself to the sea. Land Forms 57 Fig. 33. — Tlie Alluvial Fan of the III opposite Leuk in ilie Rhone valley. Contours at ei'ery 100 feet. This frequently happens on a small scale in the lower Mississippi, and to a far greater degree in the Hwang-ho (Fig. 264). The flood-plains and deltas of great rivers in latitudes which ensure a genial cUmate are the most fertile lands in the world, and have been the cradles of all the great nations of the ancient East— Assyria, Egypt, China, and India. When a stream from a mountain valley flows out on to a plain, or a flat-floored longitudinal valley, the - - sudden change of slope causes the depo- sition of the detritus it carries down in the form of a fan of alluvial soil, over which the stream usually flows in several branches. The alluvial fan is a form of accumulation intermediate between the delta laid down in still water and the scree or talus of detached rock fragments which grows, sometimes as a magnificent sweep of boulders, at the base of a line of cliffs. In arid regions this work of rivers is very characteristic on account of the absence of rain which in other regions washes away and rearranges the alluvium. Accumulations due to "Wind and Ice.— Wind is powerful in shifting and rearranging dry surface deposits. Hence, in all arid or desert regions there are vast stretches of sand heaped up by the wind into dunes or hills, sometimes several hundred feet in height, sloping gradually on the side towards the prevailing wind and falling steeply on the sheltered side. Dunes, unlike all other geographical features of the land, move like waves, preserving their size and form, but gradually invading and destroying the fertile margins of the desert. Even in moist climates small dunes are formed on sandy shores, and must be fixed in order to protect the neigh- bouring land, by planting grasses or trees with spreading roots upon them. The finer dust blown off from deposits of clay or very minute sand is be- lieved to be the origin of the peculiar earthy deposit known as loess, which occurs on the borders of the Alps, in the Mississippi valley, and to a re- markable extent in northern China, where it completely conceals all other formations. Another accumulation common in tropical countries is a stiff red clay called laterite, the result of the weathering of igneous rocks. A fourth and very important accumulation is the boulder clay or diluvium, left by ice sheets or in extra-glacial lakes. Large tracts of the low ground of northern Europe (Fig. 52) and America (Fig. 329) are covered with this clay, which has had the effect of greatly changing the surface, causing the formation of innumerable lakes and associated river systems which have not yet had time to drain the basins or to entrench themselves deeply in the land. The Geographical Cycle. — Professor W. M. Davis has formulated the geographical results of erosion and crustal movement in a tlieory 58 The International Geography Fig. 34. — Cycle of Erosion. I. ''OOLESCENT """"SHORE LINE Fig ss.— Cycle of Erosion. II. 'elr-^'-'^-'sHORE —LINE Fig, s6.— Cycle of Erosion. III. which explains the progressive de- velopment of a land surface. The time which is required for a land surface to be worn down low and flat by the action of erosion he terms a cycle. The low fiat surface which is the final result of erosion is termed a peneplain. It is only possible here to consider a special case which illustrates the general application of the theory. Thus Professor Davis imagines a varied mountainous region gradually sink- ing, and the sea converting the submerged valleys into rias, while the rivers are shortened until the upper tributaries reach the sea as independent streams. Meanwhile the mountains are being reduced by erosion and the sea-margin built up by deposition, until, in the course of long ages, the mountains are worn down and the shore silted up to form a nearly flat expanse. If now a period of elevation follows, and the uplift is greatest in the region of the old mountains, the sea-bed will be raised into a new land of stratified rocks having a gentle seaward dip down which the new rivers will find their way, guided by the slight inequalities of the surface. The new rivers formed in consequence of the slope of the land are termed consequent streams (Fig. 34, a to i). If, after a time, the uplift ceases, these rivers will continue to cut their channels down, and entrench themselves in valleys which will be enlarged by erosion, and at the same time cut down to a slope of equilibrium in which the waste of the valley floor is balanced by the deposit of sedi- ment. As the original or conse- Land Forms 59 quent valleys are deepened, the opportunity is afforded for streams flowing in on the side to erode for themselves valleys which may be termed subse- quent. While consequent rivers flow down the dip slope of the strata sub- sequent rivers run at right angles, along the strike (Fig. 35, m, n) ; they naturally are formed along the weaker or softer strata. As the'valleys of subsequent rivers grow headward along the guiding line of the strike, they may tap and capture the upper courses of other consequent rivers which have had a gentler slope than that of their more powerful neighbour to which the capturing streams are tributary. Finally a new set of small streams is called into existence, flowing down the steep face of the escarpment to the subsequent river, and these Professor Davis terms obsequent (Fig. 35, 0). The result of all this river-action is to cut up the uniform slope of the new land into a series of inland sloping escarpments corresponding in number to the harder strata and trenched by the valleys of the sea-ward flowing rivers. After long ages the valleys will be so widened, and the inter- mediate elevations so much reduced, that the whole surface assumes the old-age form of the peneplain ; and across it the ancient rivers will meander in winding courses, with no gradient sufficient to enable them to work (Fig. 36). Projecting masses of hard rock which remain projecting above the peneplain are termed monadnocks from Mount Monadnock in New England, a representative instance. If at this stage a fresh uplift of the land should occur, a new coastal plain will be formed, the old consequent rivers will be quickened by the increased slope of their beds, and commence to incise their valleys anew, and as the deepening goes on the subsequent and obsequent streams will also be revivified in their turn, and a more complete adjustment of river to land obtained in the second cycle than was possible in the first. The theory of a geographical cycle is illustrated here by a single case in a very simple form — so simple that it probably corresponds with the evolution of no actual land surface. In nature innumerable irregularities occur ; the varying arrangement and hardness of the rocks produce a great variety of forms, and the alternate elevations and depressions of the land before the work of any one stage of a cycle has had time to be com- pleted, makes it difficult always to recognise what has really taken place. It must also be remembered that processes , of faulting, tilting, warping, and folding, are often simultaneously at work, so that few large areas of the Earth's surface owe their geographical forms to any one process. Still rivers always tend to adjust themselves to the land over which they flow, and so carve and mould it into definite and characteristic forms. STANDARD BOOKS. A. Penck. " Morphologic der Erdoberflache." 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1894. E. Suess. " Das Antlitz der Erde," i vols, Leipzig, 1885, 1888. " La Face de la Terre " (French translation of Vol. I. of above). Paris, 1898. W. M. Davis. " Physical Geography." Boston, 1898. ' A. de Lapparent " Le?ons de Geographie Physique." 2nd edit. Paris, 1898. G. de la Noe. and E. de Margerie. " Les Formes du Terrain " (with atlas of plates). Paris, 1888. J. Geikie. " Earth Sculpture." London and New York, 1898. . C, Russell. "The Rivers of North America." New York, 1898 ; and under the tiOe, "River Development." London, i8g8. CHAPTER VI.— THE OCEANS Bv Sir John Murray, K.C.B., F.R.S., and Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc. The Hydrosphere. — In the atmosphere the region with which we are most familiar is the lower surface in contact with the land or sea ; the higher air requires study— from the geographer's point of view— only in order to find the causes of the movements in the lower. But in the hydrosphere it is the upper surface which plays the most important part in _^ human affairs, while the depths of the ocean have only to be studied in order to explain the superficial movements and actions. Lakes, rivers, the interstitial water of the lithosphere, and the water vapour of the atmosphere may all be regarded as extensions of the hydro- sphere. The general form of the ocean basins is a vast depressed plain, yet the floor of each ocean is diversified by ridges and troughs, the deepest parts frequently occurring not in the centre of the oceans, but comparatively near shore. The configuration of the ocean floor is of great practical' importance for laying telegraph cables ; but it is not necessary to describe it in detail here. The greatest depth hitherto re- ported in the ocean is 5,155 fathoms (or 250 yards less than six miles) to the east of the Kermadec Islands in the south- west Pacific, and not far off another sounding of 5,147 fathoms was obtained. These are the only records of depths exceeding 5,000 fathoms, though sound- ings in depths between 4,000 and 5,000 fathoms are comparatively numerous. The greatest depth known in the Atlantic is 4,660 fathoms, to the north of the West Indies, while in the Indian Ocean no depth approaching 4,000 fathoms has hitherto been found, the deepest sounding being Utile over 3,200 fathoms. It is worthy of remark that Sir James Clark Ross ran out 60 Fig. 37. — Configuration of the Bed of the Atlantic Ocean^ slioiving contour lines of 100 fathoms {doited), 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 fathoms of depth. All over 3,000 fathoms is in solid black. The Oceans 6i 4,000 fathoms of line in the Southern Ocean, to the south of South Georgia, without reaching the bottom. The floor of the ocean on the whole lies about 2^ miles below the average level of the continental land surface (see Fig. 24). Land and Sea.— The margin of the hydrosphere where it touches the protuberant parts of the lithosphere is the primary dividing line of the Earth for most human purposes, separating the water from the land. The exact areas of the oceans and the land cannot be ascertained until the Arctic and Antarctic regions have been fully explored, but for the known parts of the Earth the proportion of sea to land is about 2-5 to i, or in other words 72 per cent, of the surface is sea, and 28 per cent. land. The whole surface of the Earth measures approximately 148,570,000 square sea-miles, or 196,940,000 square miles ; the hydrosphere may be taken as covering about 142,000,000 square miles, and the land about 55,000,000. Superficial Divisions of the Hydrosphere.— The surface of the hydrosphere is most clearly marked off by land into separate portions in the northern hemisphere, the larger of these being called oceans, while the smaller are called seas. Seas have been classified in various ways ; the simplest classification takes account of (i) Inland Seas which are entirely surrounded by land ; the Caspian is the only example, the" smaller bodies of inland water being called lakes ; (2) Enclosed Stas, which are almost surrounded by land, but joined to an ocean by one relatively narrow channel, e.g., the Mediterranean or the Red Sea ; and (3) Partially Enclosed Seas, which are connected with the ocean by two or more openings, being often marked off from it by a chain of islands, e.g., the North Sea or Japan Sea. Partially enclosed seas may be farther divided into shallow and deep, the latter being sometimes separated from the ocean by a barrier which may not quite rise to the surface, as in the case of the Norwegian Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. Groups of seas " partially enclosed " by island loops along the coast of a continent, as for example on the east coast of Asia, are sometimes called fringing seas. , The early Greek conception of an insular land surrounded by the river Oceanus (Fig. 3) gave its name to the ocean, or, as it was called in the time of Columbus, the " Ocean Sea," but the name is now applied to the portions of the hydrosphere separated by the continents. These are the Atlantic, between Europe-Africa and America, the Pacific between America and Asia-Australia, and the Indian between Asia-Australia and Africa. Each of these oceans may be divided into a northern and southern part by the equator. The southern boundary of the three oceans, according to the rule generally adopted, is the Antarctic Circle, within which lies the Antarctic Ocean ; but for many purposes it is more convenient to take the parallel of 40° S. as the dividing line, and call the great ring of shoreless water to the south the Southern Ocean, the term Antarctic being appro- priately enough applied to its southern edge. The northern limits of the Atlantic and Pacific are usually drawn at the Arctic Circle, and the water 62 The International Geography surrounding the north pole is called the Arctic Ocean, but there are reasons for considering the whole Arctic basin to belong to the Atlantic Ocean, of which it forms the Arctic Sea. Islands.— Two distinct and contrasted types of island are readily recognised, (i) Continental Islands which do not as a rule lie far from continental shores, and usually consist of crystalline and sedimentary rocks similar to those found on the neighbouring mainland, from which they are usually separated by shallow seas. In fact such islands generally rise on the continental shelf, and in many cases have been separated from the continent at a period geologically recent. Examples of these are the British Islands, only separated from the mainland in Quaternary times, Sicily, Japan, the Malay and Greek archipelagoes, and the close island fringes of fjord-riven coasts. Madagascar, New Zealand and New Caledonia are examples of a somewhat different class of continental island, being separated 'from their nearest mainland by a considerable distance of deep water. Continental islands as a rule show a com- munity of flora and fauna with the neighbouring land. (2) The second class consists of Oceanic Islands which are situated far from any continent, the islands, singly or in groups, forming the peaks of submarine mountains wiiich rise from the great depths of the ocean, like St. Helena or the Fiji Islands. Oceanic islands never as a rule contain any of the typical rocks of continents, i.e., sedimentary strata, metamorphic rocks, or such acid rocks as granite. They are either volcanic, forming the cones or craters of active or recently extinct volcanoes, in which case they may be mountaipous and of considerable height (see Fig. 326), or else they are of organic growth, usually mainly composed of coral, and then they are t3'-pically low and flat, unless they have been upheaved. Reef-building corals and other lime- secreting organisms, which make up coral islands, flourish best in pure sea water where the temperature never falls below 70° F., and where the annual range of temperature does not exceed 12" F. Hence coral formations are practically limited to the warmer tropical seas. They are of several kinds, the simplest being the fringing reef, a mere edge of growing coral in the shallow water below low-tide mark. The barrier reef is found farther out, and is .separated from the shore, to which it runs more or less parallel, by a stretch of shallow water where detached masses of coral often rise to the surface. The greatest reef of this kind lies off northern Queensland, form- ing a sheltered channel for steamers along the coast (see Fig. 294). Many of the vplcanic islands of the Pacific are almost completely surrounded by a barrier reef. The atoll is the most characteristic form of coral land. It consists of a narrow reef enclosing a shallow lagoon with no central island (see Fig. 326). Coral islands are raised above the level of the sea either by upheavel or by waves breaking off and piling up masses of the coral. Two theories are advanced to account for the origin of atolls and barrier reefs, each of which demands a solid foundation coming to within 20 fathoms of the surface. The theory of Charles Darwin requires that the The Oceans 63 foundation is undergoing slow subsidence ; that of Sir John Murray is equally applicable to a stationary, sinking or rising region. As a matter of fact many instances are known of atolls having been elevated high above sea- level after their formation was completed. Oceanic islands have all a restricted and highly individual flora and fauna as a result of their remote- ness from continental land. Near shore or in fresh water various minor classes of islands may appear, due to deltaic formations, or to the division of a river into branches which afterwards reunite. These islands, and indeed continental islands in general, are to be viewed as forming part of the continental area of the Earth, the separation being frequently only a temporary stage in the evolution of the land. Sea-Water. — The vapour which is always rising from the surface of the sea is condensed by contact with elevated land, or on account of some atmospheric change, and precipitated as fresh water (rain or snow) over the surface of land or sea. The water flowing over or through the land dissolves part of the substance of the rocks, the most soluble matters like common salt and the sulphates of magnesia and lime, being taken up in largest proportion, but also carbonate of lime (the solution of which is promoted by the dissolved carbonic acid absorbed from the air and soil) and silica. These materials collect in the basins of internal drainage into which the rivers from one-quarter of the land-surface flow, and there give rise to salt lakes ; but as the rivers draining three-quarters of the land reach the sea the ocean has become a vast depository of all soluble salts, and hence its water tastes both salt and bitter. The Atlantic is pre- eminently the ocean of land-drainage ; including the Arctic basin, fully one-half of the land-surface slopes towards and drains into it. The Pacific and Indian oceans receive comparatively few rivers. Although sea-salt is practically identical in composition in all parts of the ocean the amount dissolved in the water varies from place to place, the proportion being of course greater in regions where there is great evaporation and little or no rainfall, such as the Red Sea, or the trade- wind belts of the tropics, and less where there is a heavy precipitation such as the region of the equatorial calms. The salinity is also much lowered in estuaries off the mouths of large rivers, and in places where icebergs are melting. The fact that the water of the sea is salt and not fresh has an important influence on the action of heat. If a column of sea water of uniform salinity throughout is cooled from above it steadily grows denser, and the surface layers sink and ' in this way distribute the low temperature by convection throughout the mass. Thus the whole of a detached portion of sea water assurnes rapidly the temperature of the coldest season of the year. If the cold is very severe, when the freezing point (28° F. for sea water of normal salinity) is reached the mass should freeze solid. This, however, never takes place, because the water of the ocean is never at rest, and chemical changes occur in 64 The International Geography the freezing of sea water which lower the freezing-point of the portion remaining Hquid. It usually happens that the surface water is less saline, and consequently so much lighter than the deeper layers that in spite of its lowered temperature it remains floating on the surface until it freezes. When a column of sea water of uniform salinity is heated from above, the surface water evaporates and the remaining liquid near the surface gains more in density by concentration than it loses by expansion, and thus sinks and raises the temperature of the whole, a result that could never occur with fresh water. But it is only in places like the Red Sea, where the superficial layer is not freshened by rain or rivers, that this effect is commonly produced. The specific heat of sea water is a little less than that of fresh water, so that the amount of heat which would raise a quantity of fresh water 9' 35° F. in temperature, would raise the same quantity of sea water 10°. Sea water is also a better conductor of heat, so that it is affected by the Sun's rays to a greater depth than fresh water. The equilibrium of the water of the ocean may thus be destroyed in many ways, and hence it is more readily set in circulation than fresh water, and the causes of its movements are more difficult to ascertain. Sea water also contains in solution a quantity of the various atmospheric gases which bears a definite relation to the temperature at which they were absorbed. Oceanic Deposits. — The chemi- cal action exerted by the complex solution of salts and gases found in sea water produces many interesting effects both as regards the action of living organisms in secreting the material for their shells and skeletons, and the changes brought about in the deposits forming on the bottom. For a distance from land varying with the set of ocean currents and prevailing winds, but rarely exceeding 300 miles, material derived from the shore makes up the larger part of the deposits on the sea-bed at all depths and these are conse- quently termed Terrigenous. Outside this limit the deposits are termed Pelagic, as they are formed in tire free ocean beyond the influence of land except by the occa^loua; (aU of dust and the drifting of volcanic pumice. Fig. 38. — The salinity of the surface water of the Atlantic Ocean, showing by the density the regions of great evaporation and concentration in the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Trade-wind areas, and the regions of dilution dne to rivers, to rain in tlic eqiiatorialbelt and to melting ice in the far north and south. The Oceans 65 In temperate and tropical seas far from land the deposit, where the depth is comparatively slight, consists chiefly of the dead calcareous shells of the minute organisms which swarm in the surface water. The most wide-spread of these deposits is Globigeriiia Ooze. But when the depth is great the lime of those shells is nearly or completely dissolved out when they 'are falling through the vast mass of water or lying on the bottom, and there is left only a Red Clay composed of clayey matter mixed with meteoric and volcanic dust. It is by the occurrence of these pelagic deposits that the theory of the permanence of ocean basins is. largely supported. In the fresher and colder water of the polar seas siliceous organisms predominate and their remains give rise to the Diatom Ooze so characteristic of the Southern Ocean where it approaches the Antarctic Circle. Tides. — It is only in the great ring of the Southern Ocean and in the vast expanse of the Pacific that the tide-raising powers of the Sun and Moon can produce their full effect. The ocean tides show a rise of the water-level by a foot or two when the crest of the semi-diurnal tidal wave passes the place of observation, and a fall of a foot or two when the trough passes six and a half hours later. On entering shallow water the tidal wave becomes changed into a current, often of considerable strength. Such currents may also be produced by shoals in the open sea, but they find their fullest development along fiat shores where the submergence and uncovering of the beach is often a very impressive sight. The tidal currents sweeping through the rocky channels between islands often give rise to dangerous eddies and whirlpools, and may render the channels useless for navigation during the strength of the tide. On the other hand, the influx of the flood tide in the lower courses of the rivers of a flat country often enables shipping to reach ports which would otherwise be inaccessible. The greatest rise and fall of the water produced by the tide occurs in long funnel-shaped bays or estuaries, the difference between high and low water at spring tide at the head of the Bay of Fundy being as much as seventy feet ; but the average tidal rise and fall round the coasts of most countries does not exceed ten feet. The subject of the tides, the times of their occurrence, and their height is of a most complex character owing to the interference of various wave-systems ; but on the whole, tidal influence is not one of the main factors in the circulation of the oceans. Temperature of Ocean Surface "Water.— The mean daily range in temperature of the surface water of the ocean is not more than i" F.. while that of the air resting upon it is three times as great. The contrast of the ocean surface with the land as regards temperature is thus complete. Between the polar regions where the surface of the sea is freezing, and the Red Sea and Persian Gulf where the temperature of the water often exceeds 90°, there is an extreme range of 70°. The extreme annual range in anv one part of the ocean surface does not 66 The International Geography exceed 53° and this only occurs off the coasts of Newfoundland and of Japan, where the same area is occupied at one season by cold water coming from the Arctic regions and at another by warm water from the tropics, and it is not a measure of heating and cooling in the same water. Viewed broadly the hydrosphere is divided into five zones of temperature arranged roughly parallel to one another, but more distinct on the western than on the eastern sides of the oceans. These are a Circumtropical zone of high temperature (over 80°) and small annual range, two Circumpolar nones of low temperature (und^r 50°) and small annual range, and between these and the hot zone two Intermediate zones which show a great annual range of temperature produced by the mingling of the waters of the two others The hot belt is due to the intensity of solar radiation, and it is important because all coral islands occur within it. The cold belt of small range is produced by the low polar winter temperatures and the melting of ice in the summer. Temperature of the Deep Water.— At the depth of 50 fathoms it is probable that the temperature does not change by so much as 2" F. at any one place throughout the year ; and below the depth of 100 fathoms there is no evidence of any annual change of temperature whatever. But differences between the temperature of one part of the ocean and another may be as great as 42° at 100 fathoms, 20° at 500, and 8° at 1,500 fathoms. Everywhere in the open ocean, but especially in the tropics, the temperature diminishes rapidly from the surface to about 400 fathoms, and then very gradually to the bottom, where the temperature of the water is quite independent of latitude. At the greatest depths the temperature varies from 32° to 35°, even at the equator. The average temperature of the whole mass of the ocean is probably between 38° and 39°, and it may be looked upon as a body of cold water covered with a thin warm layer in the tropics. In the north-western parts of the Atlantic and Pacific the warm water extends to a much greater depth than in the tropics, and it is thinnest of all in the south-eastern parts of the three oceans. Circulation of Enclosed Seas.— The whole mass of water in the ocean is believed to be in continual though very slow motion, because there is no abrupt change of temperature anywhere between masses of water at the same depth and not separated by a ridge. But in enclosed seas, which are cut off from the ocean by a barrier, the tem- perature corresponds to that of the ocean only from the surface to the depth of the barrier ; below that the water retains the same temperature unchanged to the bottom. Thus the Mediterranean has a uniform temperature of 55° from 190 fathoms, the depth of the Strait of Gib- raltar, to the bottom in 2,400 fathoms (the Atlantic has a temperature of 35° at the latter depth) ; and the Red Sea has a temperature of 70° from 200 fathoms, the depth of the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, to the bottom in 1,200 fathoms. Enclosed seas are not as a rule stagnant, but (,(,. /.-. An :" JM ^-^^^-^^ M Zz^^j^^L. ^m mmi^^^^ .^mk SUBSECTION OF he^eKhowin^^mperISr^^^HW^ The Oceans 67 their waters circulate on account of their differences in salinity. Thus the water of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean is much Salter and denser than that of the ocean, so that when the level of the enclosed sea is reduced by evaporation the comparatively light ocean water flows in as a surface current, while the dense warm water sets out- wards as a return current along the bottom. In the shallow Baltic and the deep Black Sea, on the contrary, the numerous rivers which flow in make the water so fresh that it overflows „ as a surface current, while ^"^ 39.-I)'«gra,„ s;,oz„i„gfem^,.«i„., o/MS.«. the dense ocean-water flows in as an under-current. The Baltic is, how- ever, very variable in its circulation on account of the action of wind, and the Black Sea is so deep that its lower waters are absolutely stagnant and putrid, unfit for the support of animal life of any kind. In shallow partially- enclosed seas, such as the North Sea, tidal currents play a notable part in the circulation of the water. Action of Wind on Water. — ^When wind strikes the surface of water, part of the surface is depressed and the neighbouring portions ridged up ; but, the force of gravity tending to restore the level surface, a wave form is generated which sweeps over the surface of the sea as a line of rollers. It is only the form that advances as in the tidal wave, the actual particles of water simply rise and fall, but the elasticity of the water keeps up the movement after the wind which generated it has died away ; in fact the surface of the ocean is never quite at rest. The largest waves raised by wind have a length from crest to crest of about one quarter of a mile and a height from hollow to crest of 50 feet, but waves of this magnitude are rare. On entering a shallow, the lower portion of the water in contact with the bottom is retarded, and the upper part toppling over falls in spray as a breaker. On shores facing the steady prevailing winds the thunder of the breakers on the beach is unceasing throughout the year, and in many such places it is almost impossible to land. The power of waves to erode the coast is considerable, but rapidly diminishes with depth, so that at 100 fathoms the largest ocean waves cannot do more than stir the finest mud on the bottom. The wind acts also in another way. A fresh breeze or a gale blows off the crests of the waves in spray which is driven before the wind ; a gentle breeze suffices to cause a thin stratum of the surface layer of water to slip before it, so that if the wind continues long enough from a definite quarter the surface water begins to drift in the same direction. But since the driving of surface water from one position tends to lower the level and the heaping up at another place tends to raise it, the hydro- static equilibrium is destroyed and has to be restored by vertical move- ments, reaction currents, and upwelling on the windward shores. The wind 68 The International Geography thus gives rise not only to horizontal but to vertical movements in the sea, and these vertical movements are strengthened when assisted by the slopes of a shore. An on-shore wind (that is a wind from the sea towards the land), when long continued heaps up warm surface water against the shore which displaces the cold water to a considerable depth. On the other hand an off-shore wind causes an upwelling of deep and cold ocean water against the land. Circulation of the Oceans. — The energy of the Sun, which acts directly by effecting changes of temperature, indirectly by evaporation and precipitation, producing changes of density, and by giving rise to the whole system of the winds, is the main cause of the circulation of the oceans. It is unnecessary to inquire which of the direct or indirect solar actions is the most potent factor, since all work together and reinforce each other. It must be remembered too that the rotation of the Earth, which exercises a directive influence on rivers and wind, has a precisely similar influence on the moving waters of the sea, causing a deviation towards the right in the northern hemisphere. While the mass-movements of the ocean, mainly due "^o vertical circulation, are as a rule very slow and only to be deduced from indirect observations, the movements of the surface water in a hori- zontal sense are rapid and easily observed. They may be roughly divided into drifts and currents. A drift is the general movement of the surface water in obedience to the wind ; it is, as a rule, of little depth, slow and uncertain in velocity and direction, stopping when the wind stops, changing when it changes, but in the regions of steady winds producing a great effect. A current is a more definite movement, sometimes a sharply defined body of water flowing like a river between the relatively motionless water on either side, at a velocity of several miles an hour, and capable of persisting in its direction even against a temporary change of wind. A great ocean current is however not by any means homogeneous. It consists of strands or threads of water moving with different velocities and often varying in direction. It may contain eddies or still patches and it may extend to a variable depth. This character makes it possible for two equal currents to meet, coming from opposite directions, and yet not neutralise one another, the strands of moving water may slip past each other, or one current may pass underneath, or even cut through the other. The transition between currents and drifts is gradual, and the circulation of the ocean is to be looked on as the final result of a variety of move- ments which may not at any one time exhibit their typical character. Speaking very generally the three oceans north of the equator exhibit a surface circulation as if the whole water had been stirred and set in motion in the direction of the "hands of a watch ; but in the Indian Ocean the change of the monsoons reverses this circulation during half the year. The three oceans south of the equator show a similar but less complete cir- culation in the opposite direction, as is explained by Ferrel's law (p. 56) ; and in the centre of each of the great whirls there is an area of rest in The Oceans 69 which floating weed accumulates, best exemplified by the "Sargasso Sea" of the North Atlantic (Fig. 40). Currents of the Atlantic Ocean. — The trade winds blowing from the coast of Africa drive before them two currents, the north and the south equatorial, which are separated by the equatorial counter current running in the opposite direction along the equatorial calm belt from the American coast into the Gulf of Guinea. Part of the north equatorial current enters the Caribbean Sea, but the greater portion of it, turning northward as it flows, sweeps outside of the chain of the West Indies and reinforces the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream leaves the Gulf of Mexico through Florida Strait as a river of very salt water at a temperature of 81° on the surface, fifty miles wide and 350 fathoms deep. It flows along the Florida coast at a velocity of five miles an hour, but off Cape Hatteras curves towards the east, and spreads out in a fan shape, growing cooler as it flows, until it merges in a broad drift that sends branches north- wards along the coast of Norway and into the Arctic Sea, while the main body, turning east and south, passes the British Islands and returns southwards to join the north equatorial current off the Canaries. Cold currents from the Arctic Sea carry many icebergs along the east coasts of Greenland and of Labrador until they melt in the warm water of the Gulf Stream. The Lab- rador current passes southward bptween the North American coast and the Gulf Stream, and is known as the Cold Wall. The position of both currents changes according to the season. The meeting of the warm and cold water is also the cause of the dense fogs characteristic of the Grand Banks of Newfound- land. On account of the large quantity of warm water driven against north-western Europe, the temperature of 40° is found to as great a depth as 900 fathoms off the coast of the British Islands, while in the tropics, where the hot surface water is driven away by the trade winds, water of equal warmth is rarely met with so deep as 300 fathoms. The mass of warm water banked up against the coast of Europe accounts for the excep- tional mildness of the south-westerly winds which prevail there. The south equatorial current is largely supplied from the cool Ben- guela current which wells up from deep water off the south-west coast of Africa, and partly, it would appear, by currents drawn in from the Fig. 40. — The Currents of tlw Allaniu Ocean, showing the typical circnlati'ou of water in an ocean, and the relation of the Sargasso Sea to the Gulf Stream. 70 The International Geography- southern Ocean. It sweeps across to the coast of Brazil, where part turns northward to reinforce the north equatorial current, and the rest flows southward along the coast of Brazil, turning gradually to the east as it comes within reach of the westerly winds. Currents of the Pacific Ocean. — The circulation of the North Pacific is exactly like that of the North Atlantic but on a larger scale. The Ktcro- Shvwo or Black Stream of Japan corresponding to the Gulf Stream, the drift of its warm water gives rise to a strong cUmatic resemblance between north-western Europe and north-western America, while the cold current from Bering Sea helps to complete the analogy of the cold climate of Kamchatka with that of Labrador. In the South Pacific the Humboldt current which flows northward along the west coast of South America is, like the Benguela current of West Africa, largely reinforced by the upwelling of cold water produced by an off-shore wind, which gives to the Galapagos Islands the coolest equatorial climate in the world. Currents in the Indian Ocean. — The South Indian Ocean closely resembles in its circulation the South Atlantic and South Pacific. There is the same upwelling of cold water along the west co:iSt of Australia that is observed off the west coasts of South Africa and of South America. The south equatorial current turns southward off the coast of Madagascar in several branches which are carried back to the east by the " brave west winds." A warm current flowing through the Mozambique Channel strikes the Agulhas Bank off the south point of Africa, where the bulk of the current is turned back to the east, while a portion continues round the Cape into the Atlantic. The strength of this current on the shallow bank produces one of the roughest seas in the world. When the north-east monsoon is blowing the currents of the North Indian Ocean circulate like those of the North Atlantic ; but this direction is reversed during the south-west monsoon. Currents of the Southern Ocean. — The continuous water ring of the Southern Ocean swept by the " brave west winds " from west to east receives branches of the south-flowing currents along the east coast of each of the southern continents, and throws oft northwards branches to reinforce the north-flowing currents along the west coast of each. Antarctic drift ice may occasionally be seen almost at the northern limit of this ocean, although it rarely comes into lower latitudes than 43° or 42°. About 50° S. the warm salt surface water coming from the north is cooled and freshened by mixing with the cold fresh surface water coming from the south, and the increase of density due to the fall of temperature in the one and the increase of salinity in the other, cause a vertical sinking of surface water all round the world. The deep layers of water seem then to be slowly drawn northwards and southwards from this ring to replace the surface drifts, and thus the Southern Ocean acts as a sort of "clearing house" of the hydrosphere, where all inequalities and irregularities in the water of the separate oceans are corrected. Functions of the Ocean.— In the physical economy of the Earth The Oceans 71 the hydrosphere plays the part of a regulator. Its smooth surface gives an opportunity for the normal system of winds to be developed over the greater part of the globe. Its thermal action carries the surplus heat of the tropics to regions less favoured by the Sun, and cools the air of low latitudes by the application of deep upwellings from the cold depths, and by ice-chilled currents from the polar seas. By the absorption and restoration of atmospheric gases it keeps up the uniform composition of the air. It is the one great reservoir of water-vapour determining the rainfall of the land, and is thus the ultimate jource as well as the ultimate destination of all rivers. It is the place where the worn-out materials of the land are fashioned anew to build the rock stuffs of the future. With regard to the plants and animals of the land the ocean is an inexorable barrier, and so it is for savage man. But the separation of the sea does not hold good for civilised humanity ; the barrier has been converted into a highway, so that countries separated by five thousand miles of sea are now for all practical purposes nearer than if they were united by five thousand miles of continuous land. The fullest use of the ocean as a highway demands not only considerations of the shortest line but of the most favourable conditions. Thus the quickest sailing voyage from England to New Zealand is round the Cape of Good Hope, but the quickest sailing voyage from New Zealand to England is round Cape Horn on account of the prevailing winds and currents. Again, the shortest course from Cape Town to Melbourne cannot be taken by vessels because it would bring them too far south, into the region rendered dangerous by Antarctic ice. STANDARD BOOKS. G. von Boguslawski and O. Kriimmel. " Handbuch von Ozeanographie." 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1884, 1887. " Reports of the Challenger Voyage." Summary of Scientific Results. 2 vols. London, 1897 J. Thoulet. " Oceanographie." 2 vols. Paris, i8go, 1895. CHAPTER VII.— THE ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE By H. N. Dickson, B.Sc, F.R.S.E. Definition of Climate. — In every known part of the Earth's surface atmospheric changes are constantly going on, from day to day, from month to month, and from season to season, which are found always to keep within certain more or less definite limits, and always in the long run to maintain a certain average condition which varies so slowly that no appreciable change can be detected unless we go back to the geological past. To every place, therefore, can be assigned a certain mean atmospheric condi- tion, and limits may be stated beyond which this mean is not departed from — the expression of this mean condition and its limits is called the Climate of the place. A description of climate is an account of the physical state of the atmosphere ; the different physical elements become Elements of Climate, and climates may be analysed and classified according to the temperature, humidity, movement, &c., of the atmosphere. In the first instance, a rough classification can be based on evidence received directly from the senses, as into hot or cold, dry or damp climates, but for exact purposes comparable observations must be made by means of instruments. Temperature. — So far as our knowledge goes, the interior of the Earth, although undoubtedly at a high temperature, contributes a negligible quantity of heat to the atmo- sphere, and the heat which raises the temperature of the air above that of in- terplanetary space is wholly derived from the Sun. The foundations of meteorology and climatology are therefore to be sought in physical astronomy. Distribution of Solar Heat.— The simplest case to consider is the distri- >4 bution of temperature to be expected on the surface of a globe of the same size and shape as the Earth, rotating under the same astronomical conditions, but '"°-*^7ir»rS"t"4J"'"""^ presenting to the Sun a uniform land surface without any atmospheric en- velope. The amount and intensity of the solar radiations falling upon a given area depend upon the angle at which they are received, as appears from the diagram (Fig. 41). Let S represent a bundle of parallel rays, 72 Climate 73 then Aa, Ab, Ac, Ad each receive the same total number, but Aa (perpendicular to the rays) is demonstrably shorter than Ab, Ab than Ac, Ac than Ad, and so on; that is, the greater the altitude of the Sun the greater is the intensity of the radiation received on a unit of surface. Speaking generally, the altitude of the Sun is greatest at the equator, and diminishes as the latitude increases, so that if the Sun remained always vertically over the equator (its position at the equinoxes) the amount of light and heat received at any place on the Earth's surface would be a simple function of the latitude, the length of day and night being everywhere equal. But the Sun travels over a belt extending to 23^° on each side of the equator, so this simple relation is only approxi- mately true for a few days in the year about the time of the equinoxes. Within the tropics the altitude of the Sun varies comparatively Httle, and beyond them it changes more and more according to the position of the Earth in its orbit. This consideration intro- 0* lO* 20' 30" 40* 50° 60* ro" 80" 90°H duces two fundamental ideas, that of Diurnal changes due to the Earth's rotation on its axis, and that of Seasonal changes due to its revolution round the Sun ; and also to the fact that near the equator the diurnal influence is para- mount and the seasonal in- fluence slight, while with in- creasing latitude one gains and the other loses, till at the poles the seasonal in- fluence is supreme. Fig. 42 (after Wiener) shows the daily allowance of rays from the Sun at four different dates in various latitudes of the northern hemis- phere ; it is noteworthy that on June 21st places north of 62° N. get more Sun the further north they are, the length of the day more than making up for the weaker intensity. In the southern hemisphere, the seasons are of course reversed, and it is to be noticed that in the southern summer the intensity of the solar rays . is greater than in the northern, and in the winter less ; because during the southern summer the Earth is in its nearest position to the Sun (perihelion), and during the winter at its greatest distance (aphelion). This partly accounts for the intense heat of the summer days in Australia and South Africa, and generally for the greater severity of the climates of southern latitudes. At the same time it must be remembered that what the southern hemisphere gains in power it loses in time, for the Sun 2IJ jne < ^,,,— -^ -^ ^^ ■— ^ \ \^ > ^ , ^ > ^ 7 'S W;^ \ \ \ _ 5 Fig. 42. — Relative amount of Solar Heat received at each latitude at various periods. 74 The Internationa] Geography remains some eight days longer in the northern hemisphere than in the southern. These complex differences of daily distribution vary from the' tropics, where the solar energy is doled out in almost equal daily portions all the year round, to the poles where there are six months' continuous supply and six months' absolute want. The following table gives the relative amounts of solar heat for intervening latitudes, and may be compared with the table of the length of daylight at the end of Chapter II. (p. 25). Latitude 0° 15° 30° 45° 60° 75° 90° Amount 1,000 969 879 739 569 447 415 Thus the poles, which would get nothing if the Sun remained stationary over the equator, actually receive more than 40 per cent, of the equatorial amount. The total annual supply of heat to the Earth is esti- mated as sufficient to melt a layer of ice covering the whole surface to a depth of 176 feet Since the Earth's surface is not known to become perceptibly hotter or colder, it follows that, on the whole, the energy received from the Sun must all be given out again, that the Earth must itself radiate to space, as the Sun does. But the two transactions do not occur at the same rate. In the case of the heat rays, radiation into space may be at one time faster, at another slower, than absorption, and the Earth retains at all times a certain balance of heat. The heat thus retained goes to raise the temperature, and the temperature at any point is simply the state of the heat account at the moment. The atmosphere is the great banker, and no more striking illustration of its influence can be given than the statement of the results of calculation, which show that while without an atmosphere the mean temperature at the Earth's surface would be 115° F., the mean temperature during the day would be 350° F., and during the night — 123° F., a range of 473°- Effects of Heat on the Atmosphere. — In passing through the atmosphere the rays of the Sun are partly absorbed, the amount reaching the Earth's surface being probably a little over half the total received at the upper limits of the atmosphere. It is obvious that the more oblique the rays, the greater the distance they have to travel through the atmosphere, hence the original differences in the intensity of insolation with high and low Sun are exaggerated. The decrease from the equator towards the poles becomes so much more rapid than before that there is no maximum of daily insolation in high latitudes, but a continuous decrease polewards. But the amount absorbed by the atmosphere varies greatly with time and place. Pure dry air or water vapour probably absorbs a very small proportion of the Sun's rays ; the absorption is chiefly due to the presence of an infinity of minute suspended dust particles, which not only vary in number and size themselves, but are altered by the humidity of the atmosphere. When the amount of moisture Climate 75 present is small, and the temperature high, the suspended particles of dust are dry, but when the humidity rises beyond a certain point a deposit of water takes, place on them, increasing their size and absorptive power. After a certain stage the assemblages of particles become sufficiently opaque to form clouds, which intercept practically all the rays from the Sun on the one side, and from the Earth on the other. The atmosphere is, however, not equally opaque to all rays, it exercises a selective absorption, stopping short-wave rays to a greater extent than long-wave rays ; 'hence the Sun often appears red when low down on the horizon. A considerable proportion of the rays absorbed by the atmosphere ultimately reach the Earth's surface as scattered rays, hence the sky appears blue, shadows are not perfectly sharp, it is not always intensely cold and dark in the shade, and in the higher latitudes there is long twilight. Effects of Heat on Land and Water. — The effect of the -solar "rays upon reaching any point on the Earth depends to a large extent on the nature of the surface upon which they fall. On land the heat rays are all stopped just at the surface, and a thin superficial layer of the ground is heated. The heat is then distributed by con- duction downwards into the ground, and upwards to the layer of air lying immediately in contact with it. The latter is removed either by external forces causing wind or by convection-currents j colder air takes its place, and is in turn warmed and replaced. The surface of the ground will obviously become warmed until just as much heat is lost in these two ways as is received. Much depends on the nature and condition of the surface ; dry soils, for example, such as sand, which contains imprisoned air, carry off heat more slowly than damp, close soils, and therefore become much hotter. During the night the surface of the ground loses heat by radiation, and heat is brought to it by conduction from below, the whole process being reversed, except that the layer of air cooled by contact with level ground is not now removed by convection. Rays falling upon deep water are not all stopped at the surface, but penetrate to a depth of probably about five hundred feet, hence the surface layers do not receive as much heat as on land. Evaporation also goes on from the surface of the water, and much of the heat becomes latent. There is therefore less heat available for warming the surface of the ocean, and as the specific heat of water is much greater than that of dry land, the surface of the sea does not rise in temperature to anything like the same extent. Again, the amount of cooling by radiation is much less, and this effect is further reinforced by the cooled water becoming denser and sinking below the surface, to be replaced by warmer and lighter water from below. Several different causes thus conspire to reduce the diurnal and seasonal range of temperature over the sea as compared with the land. Moisture. — The position of moisture as a climatic factor depends chiefly on the relation between the capacity of the atmosphere for 76 The International Geography moisture at any time and place, and the actual amount it contains. In a dry climate, temperature conditions are such that the atmosphere can hold much more moisture than is available, and it greedily absorbs exposed water by evaporation. A damp climate may exist where no more aqueous vapour is present than in the most arid regions ; the lower temperature producing an approach to saturation. In other words, it is the relative, and not the absolute, humidity that is important. We have already indicated how the dryness or dampness of the atmo- sphere affects the transmission of the Sun's rays through it, and therefore modifies the temperature. The condensation of moisture in the form of clouds or mist is chiefly important in its effect on radiation and evapora- tion at the surface of the ground. When vapour is condensed in sufficient quantity, the cloud-particles tend to unite, and, becoming too large to remain in suspension, fall as rain, hail, or snow. All these forms are included in the general term precipitation aad conventionally in Rainfall. The amount and distribution of the rainfall is the most important element of climate next to temperature. The climate of some regions is seriously modified by the deposit' of a persistent layer of snow on the land surface during winter. Snow is a bad conductor of heat, and it therefore serves to prevent the temperature of the ground on which it lies from falling rapidly ; its surface may at the same time become exceedingly cold through radiation, cooling the layer of air resting upon it. A thick layer of snow tends to delay the advent of spring, as the temperature of the surface of the ground cannot rise above 32° F. until all the snow is melted, and meanwhile the soil has become soaked with ice-cold water. Wind. — If the atmosphere wore of uniform temperature throughout, it would so arrange itself that the pressure at any point would simply be that due to the weight of atmosphere above it, a stable condition of things would be arrived at, and all motion would cease. But there are continuously-acting causes of inequality of temperature, and differences of pressure arise from these, which in their turn produce movements of the atmosphere. The currents so pro- duced are known as Winds. The general tendency necessarily is for winds to blow from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure, but on account of the rota- tion of the Earth the movement is not direct ; it is rather spirally out- wards from areas of high pressure and inwards to areas of low pressure, the deflection being to the right of the direction of motion in the northern hemisphere, and to the left in the southern (Figs. 43, 44). The general circulation of the atmosphere is best understood from a study of charts Fig. 43. Fig. 44. climate 77 showing the average distribution. of pressure by means of isobars; the direction of flow in the high and low areas can be easily remembered (Fig. 45). So far as is known, pressure is not itself an important element of climate, except in the case of mountain stations. Winds exercise a paramount climatic influence from their action in transferring heat and moisture. They carry the warm air of low latitudes to the colder regions of higher, and vice versa, and they break down the sharp division between the air lying over land and over sea, in one place carrying moist sea air inland, in another carrying dry air from continental regions over coastal districts to pick up vapour from the ocean. At sea, the winds have additional heat-transferring powers from their dragging action on the surface waters, which gives rise to drift-currents, Pressure 30-0 Inches and more. Fig. 45. — Average distribution oj Atmospheric Pressure, and prevailing Winds 0) the Earth. following the winds, and carrying vast quantities of heat with them as they flow poleward. Winds have also great influence in promoting evapora- tion, removing the saturated layers of air at the water surfaces, and substituting drier air, which in turn becomes saturated. The Great Climatic Areas. — It will be readily understood that in every part of the globe local variations of climate, due to changes in the relations of the principal elements, occur with such endless complexity that it is impossible to give any general description which shall apply rigorously to any particular region. It is nevertheless possible to assign fairly definite limits to certain areas over which the conditions are more or less similar ; and a knowledge of the general features of climate within these areas is essential to proper compreliension of the conditions found 7 7 8 The International Geography within any part of tlaem, such as are described under the headings of different countries. The simple division of the Earth's surface into Torrid, Temperate, and Frigid Zones, follows naturally from the ideal temperature conditions already considered. The rotation of the Earth has, however, such a profound modifying influence on the circulation originally set up by differences of temperature that it is better to base a division into climatic areas on the existing circulation itself, or rather on the distribution of pressure which is its more immediate cause. The Earth is at all seasons completely surrounded by two belts of high atmospheric pressure, one lying in about latitude 35° N., the other in about latitude 30° S. On the equatorial sides of these belts pressure diminishes to a minimum near the equator, and on the polar sides a similar diminution occurs, extending to very high latitudes, if not to the poles. The circu- lation arising from this distribution of pressure may be summarised as follows : — Equatorial Belt . . . , Calms and variable winds . . " Doldrums." N. Intermediate Belt . . . . N.-E. and E. winds . . . . I „ q-rafics " S. Intermediate Belt . . . . S.-E. and E. winds . . . . / *"'"=^- N.and S. High Pressure Belts Calms and variables. . .. " Horse latitudes." Higher North Latitudes .. Variable W. and S.-W. winds " Westerly variables." Higher South Latitudes . . Strong W. and N.-W, winds " Brave west winds." The position of all these belts changes with the season ; but the range of movement is comparatively small, and the extreme positions are reached from one to two months after the solstices. In the Atlantic, for example, the north-east trade winds extend from latitude 3° N. to 26° N. in March, and from n" N. to 35° N. in September. When the equatorial calm belt moves more than a few degrees from the geographical equator, the trade winds from the opposite hemisphere are drawn across and de- flected so as to have a westerly component, and they then receive the name of Monsoons. A south-west monsoon prevails in the Pacific north of the equator during the northern summer, and a north-west monsoon in the Indian Ocean south of the equator during the southern summer. If the Earth presented a surface entirely covered by water, the bounding lines of these climatic belts would probably exactly follow parallels of latitude round the whole circumference. This typical arrangement is always developed over the great oceans, and most perfectly in regions farthest removed from land influences. The Equatorial Belt is remarkable for its sultry, humid atmosphere, its constant and copious rains, and for the strongly marked diurnal, as contrasted with seasonal, changes. In the Trade-wind Belts the air is dry, because it is moving from colder to warmer latitudes and cannot pick up moisture fast enough to maintain saturation, and the rainfall is light ; these regions are remarkable for the steadiness of their winds and for the strong evaporation from the surface of the sea, producing great saltness of the surface waters. The Horse Latitudes Climate 79 resemble the equatorial belt in their light, variable winds and frequent calms, but present a marked contrast in the dryness and freshness of the air and the light rainfall. Where the Westerly Winds of higher latitudes prevail the rainfall is chiefly associated with irregular, stormy disturbances or eddies in the general flow known as cyclones, which usually follow the course of the main current, and occur most frequently in winter. In the intermediate regions, between the limits of migration of the various belts, marked seasonal variations come into play, the climatic belt nearer the equator assuming control during the summer, and that nearer the pole in winter : amongst the districts affected in this way, particularly as regards wet and dry seasons, the countries round the Mediterranean, South Africa, southern Australia, parts of Chile, and the West Indies may be specially mentioned. Influence of the Land. — The chief modification of the normal climatic arrangement produced by the presence of the great land surfaces is due to the greater range of temperature. The air on the land surface is, on the whole, hotter than the air on the sea during summer, and colder in winter ; hence pressure tends to be relatively greater in winter and less in summer, and there is a general movement seawards in the former season and landwards in the latter. A kind of monsoon effect is thus produced, alternately weakening and reinforcing the normal circulation, and its action in deflecting the normal currents is apparent on all the continental coasts, notably in Africa and in Australia. In the case of India, and south-eastern Asia, the vastness of the continental surface, combined with its great central elevation, produces a complete reversal of the normal conditions during summer, the south-east trades are drawn across the equator, and penetrate inland as the south-west monsoon, a strong, warm wind bearing immense quantities of moisture. During winter, the outflow from the excessively cold regions of Central Asia strengthens the north-east trade over India, and deflects it into a north-west wind over China and south-eastern Asia, the wind usually getting the name of the winter monsoon. These seasonal winds are by far the most important of the continental winds, and the " monsoon region" over which they blow forms a distinct geographical area by itself. Analogous to the seasonal changes, a diurnal change occurs on the coasts of regions where the diurnal range of temperature is great. These are known as Land and Sea Breezes. When the winds due to the general circulation are not powerful, a wind blows landwards during the hotter hours of the day, and seawards during the night ; but if they blow with considerable force, as in the trade-wind belts, the diurnal influence merely shows itself by weakening and strengthening, or deflecting, the normal current. Influence of Vertical Relief.— In addition to the temperature disturbances produced by the land masses, modifications in the 8o The International Geography- distribution of moisture must be taken into account, and in this connection the Relief oi the land surface is specially important. When a current of moist air moves inland from the sea, its supply of vapour is cut off. If it is now warmed, as in moving from higher to lower latitudes, the air becomes dry, and the country over which it passes has an arid climate. This is best seen in the desert plains of the trade-wind region — in Arabia, Persia, the Sahara, and Central Australia. But if, on the other hand, the air is cooled, it is unable to retain all its moisture, part of which is deposited as rain. Such cooling can take place in a number of ways, but by far the most common and most effective is by the air ascending from lower to higher levels of the atmosphere. There are two main causes which give rise to such ascending movements, the formation of eddies or cyclones, and the forcing up of the air by direct contact with elevated land. The two causes differ in respect that the latter necessarily operates only on land, and is a definite fixed element, while the other is most effective at sea, and, is an erratic and uncertain quantity at all times. Probably most land stations owe their yearly total of rainfall to both causes combined, but the cyclonic agency is much the less important between the horse latitudes, and much the more important beyond them. A current of air meeting a range of mountains accordingly deposits a: heavy rainfall on the weather side. The condensation sets free latent heat, which prevents the rapid cooling of the air and encourages its further ascent, at the same time drawing up more air from below. The enormous rainfall of the monsoon area is largely due to the height and continuity of the mountain mass of the Himalaya, and the trade-winds, drawn inwards and deflected by the great range of the Andes, distribute a generous rainfall over Brazil. After crossing a range, the current of air may pass on as dry wind, or if the range is sufficiently high it may disappear from the surface circulation altogether. In either case, the lee-side of the range is distin- guished by a dry and often an arid climate : if the air is drawn downwards into valleys from the heights it becomes heated by compression, producing the Fohn or Chinook winds of the northern valleys of the Alps and the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. A range of hills does not in all cases act like a lofty range of mountains ; in the English lake district the maximum rainfall occurs a little to leeward of the hill-tops over which the wind blows. From the direction of the prevailing winds, it follows that between the horse latitudes dry regions are found towards the western sides of the land masses, as in Mexico and Chile, while in the westerly-wind belts they occur towards the east, as in Central Asia, the region of the Great Basin in the United States, and the south of South America. When the region is not actually desert, a large proportion of the rainfall is often due to merely local disturbances of the thunderstorm type, as in the eastern Climate 8i counties of England, where August is the wettest month of .the year. It may be well to point out here the immense advantage enjoyed by Europe through the absence of a high mountain range near the western margin ; the moisture of the Atlantic penetrates to a great distance east- ward, and is distributed in moderate rainfall over a large area. Mountain Climates. — Climate changes with increase of height above sea-level in much the same way as with increase of latitude, except that the radiation effects become stronger, as the rays do not pass through so great a thickness of atmosphere. Generally speaking, temperature and absolute humidity diminish as height increases, and rainfall becomes greater up to a certain level ; relative humidity shows no very regular variation. Everything, however, depends on the form of the elevated surface ; a level plain retains the same characteristics of climate through a wide range of elevation, while the climate of a sloping mountain-side is modified by the ascending and descending currents of air. Ascending currents of course tend to discharge moisture, while descending currents are usually caused by cold air sliding downwards into valleys below : the double effect diminishes the range of temperature, and produces a climate approximating to the " oceanic " as opposed to the " continental " type. Climates of High Latitudes and Polar Regions. — The normal decrease of temperature from the equator to the poles should produce a gradual increase of pressure in that direction, but the rapid movement of air in the belts of westerly winds, of which the poles are the centres, induces a centrifugal tendency which would make pressure greatest at the outer margins of the rotating rings (i.e., in the horse latitudes), and less and less towards their central points. Hence the normal temperature gradient and the centrifugal forces are constantly acting against one another, and the former is helped at the expense of the latter by the resistance offered to the westerly currents by temperature disturbances and by friction, both of which are greatest on a surface of land or rough ice, and least on the open sea. The northern polar area consists of an ice-covered ocean almost entirely surrounded by land. The only considerable tract of water is the extension of the North Atlantic, known as the Norwegian Sea, and the prevaiUng westerly winds accordingly reach their highest development in the northern hemisphere in this region, assisting themselves further by the drift currents, which the configuration of the land allows them to push far to the north. Elsewhere, land and ice surfaces neutralise the cen- trifugal element and sometimes overcome it altogether ; winds are light and variable, stormy weather is comparatively rare, and there is a small rainfall. In high southern latitudes, the uninterrupted belt of the Southern Ocean allows the " polar eddy " to have full play until the coasts of the supposed Antarctic continent are approached. Pressure falls continuously, and 82 The International Geography strong westerly winds are met with up to 60° S. latitude. Beyond this we have little information, but there are indications that a Jjolar cap of land and ice neufrahses or reverses the normal arrangement, perhaps more completely than is the case in the north. Climate Diagrams.' — In Part II. many diagrams are given {e.g., Figs. 59, 60) showing the distribution throughout the year of rainfall and atmospheric temperature. The seasonal range of these elements is ol even greater importance than the mean annual values. In each case the temperature curves and rainfall columns of two places, the situation of which accounts i'or their difference of cHmate, are given for comparison. Thus the contrast of continental and oceanic climates is shown in Fig. 95, and that of rainfall during a prevailing sea-wind and land-wind respec- tively in Fig. 244. The difference in seasonal distribution of temperature between the northern and southern hemispheres may be appreciated by comparing Figs. 196 and 313. STANDARD BOOKS. J. J. Hann. " Handbuch der Klimatologie." New edit. 3 vols. Stuttgart, 1897, " Allgemeine Erdkunde." I. Abtheilung. A. Woeikof . "Die Klimate der Erde." 2 vols. Jena, 1887. A. Buchan. " Challenger Reports — Atmospheric Circulation," Article, " iMeteorology," in Encychpadia Britannica. Ninth edition. W. M. Davis. " Elementary Meteorology." Boston, 1894. J. G. Bartholomew. " Physical Atlas — Meteorology." Edinburgh, 1899. A. Angot. " Traits Elementaire de M^teorologie.'' Paris, 1899. _ For notes on climate of special regions in all parts of the world, see the Meieorologische Zeiisckri/t. published monthly in Vienna. By the Editor. CHAPTER VIII.— THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIVING CREATURES By J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., Professor of Natural History in the University of Aberdeen. The Main Problem. — The main problem in the study of the geogra- phical distribution of plants and animals is to explain the existing state of affairs, and to obtain answers to such questions as these : — Why are certain forms of life here and not there, there and not here ? Why is it that all the Marsupials except the American opossums are now restricted to Australasia ? Why are there no Amphibians on oceanic islands ? How does it come about that several species of Tapir occur in South and Central America and the only other one in the far distant Malayan region ? Why is the flora of the Steppes such as it is ? Why are certain regions tree- less and others grassless ? How is it that the same Alpine plants are found on widely separated mountains and not in the intermediate areas f Why is there a striking contrast between the flora of N-ew Zealand and that of Australia ? Some of these questions may be answered readily, others are very difficult, but they are all of the same general nature — they concern the factors which determine distribution. To analyse out these factors is the main problem ; and the difficulty of the subject is due to the fact that in most cases an observed state of affairs is the result of numerous co- operative factors, all variable, and all inadequately known. Many of the pre- Darwinian studies in distribution are vitiated by their insistence on one or two factors to the exclusion of others which are certainly operative. Some mvestigators insisted on physical boundaries, others on conditions of climate, others on means of dispersal, and so on ; but there can be no solution of the problem until all the factors are recognised, and recognised as co-operative. Peculiarity of Physical Conditions. — Apart from a few resting- stages of Algae, and a few micro-organisms whose precise position is un- certain, there are no plants in the Deep Sea. Their absence is sufficiently explained when we remember that one of the physical conditions of the great abysses is darkness, broken only by the fitful gleams of " phosphores- cent" animals, and that for all plants except Fungi and some parasites, light is an essential condition of life. The Great Salt Lake of Utah has an extra- ordinarily high salinity; this' physical fact is enough to explain why it con- tains only two or three animals, especially the brine-shrimp, Artemia fertilis, instead of the dense population usually found in lakes. Peculiarity of the Organism's Constitution. — ^While some 83 84 The International Geography animals, lilce the flounder, salmon, and eel, can adjust themselves to fresh or salt water, there are others which are fatally sensitive to more than a minimum of salt. This is strikingly true of Amphibians, which absorb large quantities of water through their slcin, and are killed at once if the water be salt. This constitutional peculiarity of the Amphibian race is obviously enough to explain why they are absent from oceanic islands. While some animals seem very indifferent to temperature, like the tiger, which ranges from the hot Malayan jungle to the icy Siberian tundras, there are many of more sensitive constitution. Thus the guanaco, the South American relative of the camel, cannot stand tropical heat ; there- fore in Peru and Ecuador it is only found many thousands of feet up the mountains, while further south in Argentina it occurs on the plains. The Means of Dispersal. — On a solitary island of volcanic origin there are rarely any mammals, and this is at once explicable when we remember that most mammals have very limited powers of swimming. There may be seals or porpoises about the shore, or bats in the caves, and their presence is as intelligible as the absence of others. The occasional occurrence of small rodents on such an island is usually explained by postulating a wreck or a drifting raft. What is called a cosmopolitan distribution is not always due to the same cause, but the broad fact may be noted that wide distribution is often associated with unusual facilities for dispersal. Thus mice, so readily con- cealed, have followed man's wanderings everywhere. Thus, too, we may explain the fact that insects are represented almost everywhere ; most can fly, many are easily drifted with the wind, some occur about floating wood, or can be carried from place to place in the form of eggs or cocoons. Original Headquarters. — If it were, and had always been, the case that the body of a dead animal simply melted away, like the stranded jelly- fish on the beach, we should now be entirely ignorant as to the original headquarters of the different races. If, on the other hand, there had been any arrangement whereby representative samples of the faunas of succes- sive geological ages could have been preserved in the rocks, we should have certain evidence on this point. But what has actually happened lies between these two extreme possibilities. There is a geological record ir the fossil-bearing rocks, the graveyards of the buried past ; but this geo- logical record is very imperfect. The imperfection is explained partly by the softness or rapid decay of many animals and plants, partly because many of the rocks which might have contained fossils have been fused, metamor- phosed, or worn down again into dust, and partly by other reasons. The record is like a library in which whole shelves have been destroyed by fire, while others are left in disorder, in which most of the sets of volumes are incomplete and most of the individual books are sadly damaged. At the same time, there is a record, the study of which gives us some warrant for spealdng of original headquarters or evolufion- centres. It seems fairly certain from geological evidence that the northern Distribution of Living Creatures 85 hemisphere was the original home of most Mammals, whence they have spread southwards ; that the Edentates (sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos) had their evolution-centre in South America; that Africa is the head- quarters of the legions of antelopes ; that there were never any Anthropoid Apes in the New World, nor any Mammals higher that Marsupials indi- genous in Australia ; and that Madagascar was the headquarters of the race of lemurs. Geological Conditions — There is no more impressive fact con- cerning biological distribution than " Wallace's Line " (Fig. 280), which perpetuates the name of one of the most successful workers on the subject. This line follows the narrow but deep strait which separates the islands of Bali and Lombok, and is continued northward along the Makassar Strait between Borneo and Celebes. Soundings show that the strait is deeper than those which separate the other Malayan islands, and this physical fact becomes significant when we learn of the diversity of the fauna on either side of the line. There seems no doubt that we have here to do with an old-established geological barrier to dispersal. Even the scanty geological information which we possess, corroborated by soundings which show the shallowness of the sea, make it practically certain that at no very remote date Asia was connected with America by a land-bridge across Bering Strait. This fact enables us at once to under- stand the presence of remains of the horse, bison, and mammoth in Alaska, and to understand better the many common features between the Eurasian and the North American faunas. Bionomic Relations. — The presence or absence of particular plants or animals in a given region may be sufficiently accounted for by the factors already mentioned, or even by one or two of them, but where the geological evidence shows that organisms once inhabited a region in which they are no longer found, we must fall back for explanation oh that large phrase, " the struggle for existence." This includes all the more or less critical responses which living creatures make to changes in their environment, both inanimate and animate. Changes in the inanimate environment, e.g., floods, lava-flows, slow alterations of climate, equally slow crust-movements, may decide the question of survival ; and so may the very important factor of intra-organismal struggle. On a Scottish hill- side we may watch from year to year the silent struggle between bracken and grass; the same struggle, though different in intensity, is characteristic of the tropical forest. Such well-known cases as the struggle between quickly - breeding " vermin," e.g., voles, and the beasts and birds of prey, are merely striking illustrations of a universal process. Often a balance is struck and both parties manage to survive, doubtless after a process of mutual adaptation ; often, however, there is a meeting of incompatibles, thus we do not find horses and tsetse flies flourishing together. Not less important is the struggle between plants and animals ; the leaf-cutting ants have played their part in determining what trees can 86 The International Geography survive in the Brazilian forest, and it is obvious tliat a parish rich in corn- fields with cleanly kept hedges, and poor in woods or meadowland is not likely to be favoured by insects which live on nectar. Summary as to the Factors in Distribution. — At least six main factors have contributed to the present distribution of organisms, and none of these can be ignored. They may be grouped in pairs : — (a) The physical peculiarities of the region under discussion, and the constitutional peculiarities of the living creatures ; (6) the original headquarters of the stock (usually uncertain), and the means of dispersal in each case ; (c) the physical changes of climate, Earth-movements, &c., in the region, and the changes brought about in the struggle for existence between the various living tenants of the country. It may even be permissible to use a mathematical expression, and say that the distribution is a function of six factors, some of which are variable dependently and others independently. But besides the six main factors there are minor ones, and the problem becomes very complex. Thus although man has not lived long upon the Earth compared with many other living creatures, he has been the direct . cause of enormous changes in their distribution ; such as the introduction of rabbits in Australia, sparrows in America, and the practical extermina- tion of the bison and the beaver. One of the most curious extensions of the life area of a species is the spread of the jigger, a South American insect, which passes its early stages of development as a parasite in the feet of men. It was accidentally introduced into West Africa in 1871, was gradually spread eastward by the increase of traffic across Africa, and in 1898 appeared for the first time in Zanzibar. Some Elementary Facts as to Distribution.— (a) Widely sepa- rated .countries may have similar fauna and flora. Dr. Wallace begins his Island Life by supposing a traveller to pass from Great Britain to. Northern Japan. " He is now separated from his starting-point by the whole width of Europe and Northern Asia, by an almost endless succes- sion of plains and mountains, arid deserts, or icy plateaux, yet when he visits the interior of the country he sees so many familiar natural objects that he can hardly help fancying he is close to his home." ... "There are also, of course, many birds and insects which are quite new and pecu- liar, but these are by no means so numerous and conspicuous as to remove the general impression of a wonderful resemblance between the productions of such remote islands as Britain and Jesso." (6) Closely adjacent countries may have quite different faunas and floras. Thus, as Dr. Wallace points out, the distance from Australia to New Zealand is trivial when compared with that between Britain and Japan, but the Australian who journeys to New Zealand finds an entirely new living panorama. " Kangaroos and wombats there are none, the birds are almost all entirely new, insects are very scarce and quite unlike the handsome or strange Australian forms, while even the vegetation is all changed, and no gum-tree, or wattle, or grass-tree meets the traveller's Distribution of Living Creatures 87 eye." An even more striking case is the contrast between the islands of Bali and Lombok, in the Malay Archipelago, and the same fact is illus- trated by the contrast both in fauna and flora between Florida and the Bahamas. (c) Regions with very distinctive tenantry are in many cases connected by transition areas. Prof. Heilprin illustrates this by supposing the natura- list to journey southwards from the ice-covered fields of Arctic America to the Equator. " New features are being constantly added, and old ones eliminated, but the interchange is effected so gradually that it becomes difficult to determine the limitations that properly define one fauna from another." Yet the fauna at the end of the journey is sharply contrasted .with that which surrounded the traveller at its beginning. {d) On the other hand there is no lack of instances which show sharp delimitation. The mammalian fauna of Australia, apart from recent imports (e.g., rabbits), the bat-tribe, and marine forms, consists wholly of Marsupials and Monotremes ; with the possible exception of the dingo, there are not even fossil remains of Mammals higher than Marsupials ; and, furthermore, there are now no Marsupials beyond Australasian limits except the family of American opossums. («) Another striking fact is the " discontinuous distribution " of certain types, by which we mean that exarhples of a type may occur in widely separated regions without there being any living representatives in the intermediate areas. The generally applicable explanation is that the type in question once enjoyed a wide distribution, as the rock records show ; that widespread elimination has occurred ; and that the conditions favourable to survival happen to have been found in areas far apart from one another. Thus of the genus Tapir, there are some four species in South and Central America, while the only other species occurs in Malacca and Borneo. Similarly the family of Camelidse is represented by one genus in the Old World and another in South America ; and the insectivorous Centetidae are represented by five genera in Madagascar, and one in Cuba and Hayti. These five sets of facts must serve to illustrate what may be called the elementary data of distribution. Zoo-Geographical Regions. — In 1858, Dr. P. L. Sclater proposed to recognise six main zoological regions :— (i) Palcxarctic (= Europe, Northern Africa, Northern and Central Asia) ; (2) Ethiopian (=Africa south of the Atlas, and Madagascar); (3) Indian or Oriental (=India, South- Eastern Asia, and part of the Malay Archipelago) ; (4) Australian (=Australia, with New Guinea.New Zealand, and Polynesia) ; (s) Nearclic (=America as far south as Mexico) ; and (6) Neotropical (=Central and South America, and the West Indies). This scheme was mainly based on a study of the distribu- tion of birds, but Dr. A. R. Wallace soon showed that it worked well for mammals also, and it has met with wide acceptance. Among the more important emendations which have been suggested are the following :— (a) the union of Palaearctic and Nearctic in one Holarctic region ; (6) the 88 The International Geography establishment of several other special regions, e.g., Polynesian, Hawaiian, Malagasy, Sonoran or Medio-Columbian, Arctic, and Antarctic; (c) the definition of several transition-areas, e.g., around the Mediterranean and Lower California; and (rf) the grouping of the regions in three major realms which correspond to the three great evolutionary centres of mammals— I. The Notogxic Realm (including Australian, Polynesian, Hawaiian, and Australo-Malayan regions) ; II. The Neogceic Realm (includ- ing the Neotropical region); and III. The Arctogceic Realm (including the Malagasy, Ethiopian, Oriental, Holarctic, and Sonoran regions). Phyto-Geographical Regions. — In spite of enormous labour spent upon the subject, it remains quite undecided what topographical and other divisions may be most profitably used in grouping plants according to their past and present distribution. When the plants of the world are known as thoroughly as those in Europe, and when the factors of distribu- tiori_ throughout Europe have been as carefully _ analysed as they have been for Great Britain, then the question whether we should recognise fifteen or twenty-five or thirty-five floral regions will begin to be answerable. Humboldt relied mainly on latitude and longitude and height above sea- level in his pioneer attempt to group plants geographically ; and in this he was followed by Meyen. Schouw (1823) introduced the statistical method, characterising his proposed twenty-five regions by the numerical pre- dominance of certain races of plants, e.g., the " Magnolia region,'' the " Cinchona region," and so on. Grisebach (1872) recognised twenty-four areas, and laid particular emphasis on the topographical and climatic barriers which separate one area from another. Engler (1882) struck a new note in seeking to relate the present distribution of plants to that in Tertiary times. Drude (1884) followed on similar lines, and sought to combine a recognition of all the factors. His system is very widely used ; it recognises three main divisions ; — Boreal, Austral, and Tropical, and fourteen smaller regions, each again divisible. Until the subject is further advanced, it seems most profitable for the teacher and student endeavouring to understand the nature of plant distri- bution (a) to think out the problem in relation to the nearest well-marked area— Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, &c.; and (6) to gain by means of photographs and pictures concrete impressions of the vegetation in different parts of the Earth. Groups of Land-Plants.— Every traveller has noticed that the same or similar plants tend to occur in similar areas, and the field-botanist can confirm this in his more restricted rambles. Wood and heath, links and shore, moor and bog, are more or less distinctly marked, wherever they are, by plants characteristic of each. Two arid shores a thousand miles apart may show identical or nearly related plants, and even if there be httle structural affinity in the actual tenants, there is likely to be a superficial resemblance brought about by similar adaptations to similar Distribution of Living Creatures 89 environment. Thus, the prickly cactuses which predominate in one arid region may be represented by similar, but in reality very different prickly spurges in another area with similar conditions. Similarly, the ornithologist expects to find wading and swimming birds about a lake, whether it be African or South American, but it does not follow that the birds will be the same in the two cases. In short, what are called " characteristic vegeta- tions," are in many cases only what the biologist calls physiological or adaptive groups. They owe their similarity to the fact that, in given con- ditions, only plants of a certain constitution or with certain adaptations are able to survive. A few examples of the more typical groups may be given. The Tundra, of north-eastern Europe and northern Siberia, where the deeper strata of the soil remain frozen perpetually, is characterised by lichens, like the " reindeer-moss " {Cladonia rangifera), and by mosses, such as species of Polyirichum, Dicranum, and Sphagnum. In more pro- pitious places, however, there may be bulbous plants, dwarf willows, and grasses ; and in spring, the monotony of the so-called " barren-grounds " is sometimes broken by short-lived brilliant blossoming. In fact, the tundra passes into the Moor, with its mosses, grasses, sedges, cranberries, and occasional willows, and birches, or into the Bog, with its bog-myrtle and peat, cotton-sedge and asphodel, grass of Parnassus and bog-pim- pernel, and more thoroughly aquatic forms like bladderwort and marestail. Similarly, the dry tundra is connected through the moor with the well- defined Heaths where almost nothing will grow but heather. The Grassy Vegetations, such as meadow-lands and savannas, are characterised by the predominance of grasses and sedges, whose long parallel leaves are well suited for crowded life. It is obvious that part of the problem of civilisation is the establishment, extension, and intensive culture of these grassy vegetations, which include our cornfields. But • these again in some of their forms pass into the Steppe Vegetation, charac- terised by plants which are able to survive a prolonged summer drought and require a very short vegetative period. Thus trees are practically absent, and there is an abundance of " Xerophytes," i.e., plants adapted to withstand great dryness. The Thyrsa-grasses (species of Stipa, &c.) are characteristic of the South Russian steppe ; the goose-foots [Chenopodiacece] abound in the salt-steppes. The prairies of North America are probably the richest of the steppe-vegetations, and are by no means treeless, while the pampas of South America and the grassy plains of Australia repeat similar characteristics. Woods and Forests extend in suitable places from the equator to the northern and southern climatic tree-limits, the essential condition of their occurrence being that the average temperature during the vegetative period of the year does not fall below 46° F. But the variety in the com- ponent trees and in the undergrowth is very great, as is evident when we compare the Equatorial forests, the Indian jungle, the Savanna woods of go The International Geography Brazil, the pine-forests of the north, the park-lands of the Amur, and the rich green woods in sheltered English valleys. Groups of Land Animals.— As with terrestrial plants, so with land animals, an arrangement into physiological or adaptive groups may be readily made, and if its limitations are recognised it serves a definite intelligible purpose. Thus we may distinguish, for example, a Boreal group, in some marked way adapted to the exigencies of an Arctic environment, e.g., by permanent or seasonal whiteness as in the polar bear, Greenland falcon, snowy owl, Arctic fox, Hudson's Bay lemming, and Arctic hare. Other groups may, in like manner, be identified with other specialised regions. In books Uke Brehm's " From North Pole to Equator" ample materials will be found for what may be called impressionist pictures of the adaptive peculiarities of the various groups of animals which frequent steppe and tundra, desert and forest, Alps and river-banks. Pelagic Animals and Plants. — While life is almost universally distributed over the Earth, wherever there is food, air, moisture, heat, and some light, it is possible and profitable to distinguish various .kinds of habitats whose conditions make them in some measure discontinuous. Such are the Open Sea, the Shores, the Deep Sea, the Fresh Waters, and the Dry Land, each of which is tenanted by characteristic forms of life. The term pelagic is applied to all organisms that habitually live in the open sea, either drifting (Plankton) or actively swimming (Nekton). As regards animals, there is great variety of type, from the minute Noctiluca which sets the waves aglow in the short summer darkness to the giants of modern times — the whales. As regards plants, there are almost none above the level of unicellular Algae, e.g., Diatoms, but of these there are immense numbers both of species and individuals. This is a fact of funda- mental importance, since these minute plants furnish the basal food supply of all pelagic animals. Just as we may say of land animals that " all flesh is grass,'' so we may say of marine forms that " all fish is diatom." The pelagic animals include a few genera of Foraminifera, rich in species, all the Radiolarians, many Infusorians, jellyfishes, Siphonophora like the Portuguese man-of-war, Ctenophores. like Venus's girdle, many worm-types such as the arrow-worm (Sagitta), Chaetopods, a legion of Crustaceans, a few Insects (Halobatidas), such Molluscs as Pteropods Heteropods, many Cephalopods, free-swimming Tunicates such as Salpa and Pyrosoma, many fishes, a few turtles and snakes, besides some well- known birds and mammals. It should also be noted that many of the shore animals have pelagic larvze. The life-conditions of the open sea are favourable ; there is no lack of room, of moisture, or of sunshine, and the rapidly multiplying small forms supply abundant food for the larger. The rock records bear witness to the early origin of pelagic life. In adaptation to their habitat, pelagic animals tend to be lightly built, delicate, translucent, and often bluish in colour, and with external organs suited for drifting and swimming. The frequent " pho;.phorescenre ' is Distribution of Living Creatures 91 probably in some cases protective, but its meaning is still very uncertain. Huge numbers of individuals usually appear in shoals, which is explained partly by the abundant food supply afforded by the Algae, partly by the prolific reproduction common among lowly organised animals, partly by the relative mildness of the competitive element in the struggle for existence, and partly by physical conditions of currents and the hke, which determine areas of comfortable' subsistence and routes of migration. While certain types are very widely represented, there is also a local distribution of species which shows that the pathless sea has zones and boundaries like the dry land. There are two theories of the origin of pelagic forms, one regarding them as on the whole primitive, the other as mainly due to migration from the shores. The Littoral Area. — This area includes (a) the shore in the popular sense, with its heterogeneous jetsam of dead seaweeds and animal remains, and its own characteristic tenantry of sandhoppers and salt-worts ; (6) the strict littoral zone, exposed only at low tide, with its acorn-shells, peri- winkles and limpets, green seaweeds and occasional sea-grasses ; (c) the Laminarian zone (to 15 fathoms), where the great pennon-like seaweeds float amid an extraordinarily keen battle for life ; and {d) the Coralline zone (15-40 fathoms) where seaweeds become gradually sparser, though the population of debris-eating and carnivorous animals is even denser. The conditions of shore-life are perhaps the most stimulating in the world. It is the meeting place of air, water, and land. It is the area of vicissitudes — ebb and flow of tides, freshwater floods and drought under the hot sun, gently lapping waves and violent breakers, slow changes of subsidence and upheaval. The alternations of day and night, of summer and winter, are more felt there than in the open sea. The tenantry is correspondinglv rich and various, including representatives of almost every family from the Infusorians up to birds and an occasional mammal. The rock records show decisively that the shore fauna was of very ancient origin, and there is some evidence to warrant the conclusion maintained by some {e.g., Pleffer), that a very uniform shore-fauna persisted until Tertiary times. As to its origin, there are two main theories, that which regards it as in the main primitive, and that which regards it as in great part due to migrations from the open sea. The Abyssal Area.— It is not likely that the floor of the deep sea will ever become a familiar hunting ground to the naturalist, yet almost every year since the days of the Challenger has added some interesting detail to our darkly-shaded picture of it. We know that there is practically no depth-limit to the distribution of animals, though plants are almost unknown below the so-called light-limit, and the more moderate depths seem to be more richly peopled. The population of the deep sea includes representatives of most of the types of animals from Protozoa up to Fishes. There are Foraminifera in abundance, many flinty sponges, some corals and sea-anemones, not a 92 ■ The International Geography few Annelids and other worms, especially on the red clay, Echinoderms of every kind, legions of Crustaceans, abundant Molluscs, and many peculiar fishes— the tyrants of that dark world— some blind, some half- blind, and others with "darkness-eyes," catching perchance the fitful gleams of phosphorescence. The conditions of life in the Abyssal area are peculiar to itself in the following particulars :— (i ) There is practically no light apart from that produced by phosphorescence ; (2) the temperature is low (about 34° F.), and very uniform ; (3) it is an area of enormous pressure, thus at 2,500 fathoms the pressure is about two and a half tons per square inch ; (4) it is quite calm', untouched by the severest storms ; (5) the water is relatively rich in oxygen ; (6) it is virtually plantless ; (7) it is probably without putrescence, for although pelagic bacteria (formerly denied) are now well known, there is no secure evidence of their presence in the great depths, and there can be no true rotting without bacteria ; (8) the animals necessarily feed upon one another, but fundamentally upon the organic debris which sinks from above, and not least upon the ceaseless rain of pelagic Protozoa ; (9) it is very uniform over vast areas, and many forms have a very wide range. The generally accepted view is that the deep sea did not become a possible home of life until perhaps Cretaceous times, until the Poles cooled and the cold-water rich in oxygen sank to the great depths. The affinity between abyssal animals and those found in shallower water in boreal seas has often been pointed out, and it is probable that the deep sea was largely peopled from the poles, or in any case from the shores. The Fresh Waters. — As in the case of the sea, it seems useful to distinguish (a) the littoral forms, which occur in rivers, on the shores of lakes, and in shallow water ; (6) the surface forms, or Limnoplankton ; and (c) the deepwater iorms. Thus among plants, the rushes, irises, marsh mari- golds, water buttercups, water-lilies, bladderworts, stoneworts are character- istically littoral ; numerous green alg» occur in the open water and form an important source of food to animals ; while few are known to occur on the floor of deep lakes. Among animals, the deepwater forms are chiefly Rhizopods, Turbellarians, Nematodes, Leeches, Ch;etopods, Crustaceans, a few Arachnids, some insect larvse, and not a few Molluscs. Many have probably migrated from the shore of the lake, where the same or similar forms may .also occur, along with others distinctively littoral, e.g., the Hydra and the freshwater sponges. Very distinct, again, are the surface forms — small Crustaceans, Rotifers, Infusorians, &c. — which present a marked analogy of structure and habit with the marine Plankton. The Entomostracan Crustaceans are of much practical importance in forming the fundamental food supply of many freshwater fishes. As regards origin, freshwater animals have been divided into three sets. (a) The recent migrants which may be illustrated by the dozen or more marine species which are at present learning to live in the Kaiser- Wilhelm Distribution of Living Creatures 93 canal in which the water is on the whole fresh, or by the snnple polype Cordylophora which has been carried by boats up rivers and canals. It is probable that the American freshwater polype Microhydra rydcri which liberates swimming-bells or medusoids is a relatively recent migrant. (6) The archaic freshwater animals, which must have been at home in freshwater since ancient times and have been isolated by Earth- movements in basins far from the present-day sea, may be illustrated by the African freshwater Medusoid {Limnocodium) which was found in Lake Tanganyika, 2,700 feet above sea-level. The widely distributed old- fashioned Crustacean Apiis, and the double-breathing mud-fishes {Ceratodus in Queensland rivers, Protopterus in the Gambia, and Lepidosiren in the Amazon), are other instances. In Lake Tanganyika, according to Moore, two faunas co-exist — (i) "The normal and ubiquitous freshwater stock" ; and (2) a series of very divergent forms, notably molluscs, which appear to be " the dwarfed and stunted remnant of a fauna that the sea left behind it" probably as far back as the Jurassic period. (c) The cosmopolitan forms include some Protozoa, freshwater sponges, Hydra, some Turbellarian worms, and numerous small Crustaceans, like Cyclops. Their uniformity seems to be due to three or four factors — (i) Migration from the sea would be effected in different parts of the world by animals of similar constitution, and the conditions of adaptation and survival, being closely alike in different freshwater basins, would tend to work out similar results ; (2) in lakes which arose as relict-seas and contained originally somewhat similar samples of a fairly uniform pelagic fauna, e.g., before Cretaceous times, the conditions of elimination would tend to be much the same everywhere, and the result would be uniformity in the survivors ; (3) there are not a few of the smaller forms which are readily carried on birds' feet and otherwise from one water basin to another. Dry Land. — As the majority of animals, from the • simplest up to and including Amphibians, are either themselves aquatic or have their juvenile stages adapted for aquatic hfe, the presumption is strong that the dry land was originally peopled slowly and gradually by migrants from the water. Very gradually, of course, must the transition have been effected, now by a wandering worm and again by a curious Crustacean, here by a fish-like form clambering in the'lagoon and there by an ancestral Amphibian which learned to survive the drying up of the pool where it was hatched. Besides pelagic, littoral, abyssal, freshwater, and terrestrial groups, others might be distinguished ; thus there are aerial animals, such as birds and insects, and aerial plants, like the epiphytic Orchids and Aroids, or like the Bacteria which drift about in the air ; there is the not very abundant population found in brackish water ; there is the " cryptozoic " fauna of caves and grottoes, some members of which appear to be ancient relicts, and there are the but little known Fungi found in similar places. Over forty species of animals are known from the Mammoth Cave of 94 The International Geography Kentucky, and the total number of recorded cave-dwellers is about three hundred. Finally, in considering the different homes of life, account must be taken of the immense number of plants and animals which live as parasites in or on other organisms. Relations between Life Areas.— Accordingto Moseley, "The fauna of the coast has not only given origin to the terrestrial and freshwater faunas, it has throughout all time, since life originated, given additions to the pelagic fauna in return for having received from it its starting point. It has also received some of these pelagic forms back again to assume a fresh littoral existence. The terrestrial fauna has returned some forms to the shores, such as certain shore-birds, seals, and the polar bear ; and some of these, such as the whales and a small oceanic insect, Halobates, Dry Land Origina Home' Fig. 46. — Possible Evolution of Faunas. have returned thence to pelagic life.'' " The deep sea fauna has probably been formed almost entirely from the littoral, not in the most remote antiquity, but only after food, derived from the debris of the Uttoral and terrestrial faunas and floras, became abundant in deep water." According to Agassiz, Simroth, and others, if we may venture to compress their views into a sentence, a littoral fauna was the original one, whence have been derived, on the one hand, the pelagic and abyssal faunas ; on the other hand, those of the fresh waters and dry land. According to Professor W. K. Brooks, a pelagic fauna was primitive, for there the conditions of life are easiest. From the pelagic fauna migrants passed inwards to the shore and downwards to the deep sea, while a possibility of a return-movement from both these areas is also allowed. Distribution of Living Creatures 95 Sir John Murray has especially emphasised the importance of " the mud-line," the boundary between the abyssal and littoral (or neritic) regions, at an average depth of about too fathoms. It is the line where the minute organic and inorganic particles derived from the land and surface waters find a resting place upon the bottom, it appears to be one of the great feeding-grounds in the ocean, and seems to be very densely peopled. The same authority holds " that" in early geological times there was a nearly uniform high temperature over the whole surface of the globe, and a nearly uniformly distributed fauna and flora ; and that with the gradual cooling at the poles, species with pelagic larvas were killed out or forced to migrate towards the tropics, while the great majority of the species which were able to survive in the polar areas were those inhabiting the mud-line." If we adopt- the suggestion that the most probable ancestral home of animals was some region not far from the shore, we may picture the possible relations in a diagram (Fig. 46) which may appear complex, though the probability is that it is not complex epough to be true. In this brief essay we have of course assumed that conception which is fast becoming organic in all thinking — the general conception of evolution, that the present is the child of the past. If this be true, the various faunas and floras amid which the naturalist wanders have had their history, and it is the task — merely begun — of the students of distribution to spell this out. STANDARD BOOKS. F. E. Beddard. " Text-book of Zoo-geography." London, 1895. O. Drude. " Die Florenreiche der Erde." 1884, &c. A. Heilprin. " The Distribution of Animals." London, 1887. R. Lvdekker. " Geographical History of Mammals." London, 1896. A. R. Wallace. " Geographical Distribution of .-Vnimals." 2 vols. London, 1876, A. R, Wallace. " Island Life." London, 1880. J. Wiesner. " Biologic der Pfianzen." 1889. [Bibliography.] A. F. W. Schlmper. '• Pflanzengeographie auf physiologischer Grundlage." Jena, 1898. CHAPTER IX.— THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF MANKIND By a. H. Keane, Late Vice-President Anthropological Institute. Specific Unity of Mankind. — That mankind forms a distinct zoological genus in the strict sense of the term, Ihat is to say, a separate group amongst the higher mammalia sprung from a single stock, though not necessarily from a single pair, may now be taken as a generally accepted conclusion of modern science. There certainly survive here and there a few distinguished polygenists, who still believe that the main divisions have each had a separate origin from so many specifically different ancestors in different parts of the world, although no two of these pluralists are in accord as to the number of such independent zoo- logical species. But this view is rejected by the great majority of living anthropologists, who, after a long period of " storm and stress " in the early part of the nineteenth century, have returned to the sober teachings of Linnaeus, in whose Order of Anihropomorpha man appears as a single genus with a single species and four varieties, corresponding to the four main continental divisions of the Earth. The specific, and not merely" the generic, unity of mankind is frankly accepted by Sir W. Flower, the leading English anthropologist, in whose Sub-Order of AN'THROPOiDEA.the Hominidce constitute the fifth and highest family, coming nearest to, but still independent of, the Simiidce, that is, the four groups of so-called " man-apes " — Gibbon, Orang-Utan, Gorilla, and Chimpanzee. The Pliocene Precursor.— The apparently impassable gap which, despite many obvious points of resemblance, still separated the human from the simian group, was largely bridged over by the discovery made in 1892, by Dr. Eugene Dubois, of some human remains embedded in the late Pliocene deposits of the Solo river, in Java. These highly fossilised bones of Pithecanthropus erectis, as he has been named by the finder, are regarded by the best authorities as undoubtedly human, and the import- ance of the discovery may be inferred from the fact that the skull holds a position about midway between those of the Chimpanzee and of the Neanderthal, that is, the lowest human cranium previously described. In other words the Javanese " missing link " is as much below the Neander- thal as this is below the normal European. It presents the characters which were anticipated in Pliocene, as compared with Pleistocene man, should his remains ever be discovered. Moreover, it gives a vastly more remote starting-point for the natural history of mankind, and that in the 96 Distribution of Mankind 97 very region which many eminent palasontologists have pointed to as the probable cradle of the human family. Tertiary Distribution of Land and "Water.— At the time of the Dispersion, the Indo-African Continent, the existence 0f which was estab- lished by the geologists of the Indian Geological Survey, still formed almost continuous land across the present Indian Ocean, between the Dekkan, Madagascar, and South Africa. The shallow inland waters, nowhere exceeding fifty fathoms in depth, had not yet converted to insular masses the Sunda group (Borneo, Sumatra, Java), now separated by narrow channels from the Asiatic mainland. The Australian continent was con- nected with New Guinea, and extended westwards much farther than at present. New Zealand also occupied a far wider area, while the Funafuti borings leave little doubt that Polynesia itself is an area of compara- tively recent subsidence. In the northern hemisphere Africa was connected with Europe both across the Strait of Gibraltar, and also at one or two other points ; Britain still formed part of the mainland, and almost continuous land appears to have extended from North-west Europe through Iceland to Greenland and North America. The First Migrations. — It is to be borne in mind that the first migrations took place unconsciously, much in the same way as did those of all the other land faunas. The cranial capacity of the Javanese pre- cursor was not much more than about 950 cubic centimetres, as compared with that of the highest apes (Orang 500), and of the highest human beings (Europeans, 1,500 or 1,600). Hence at that time the disparity between man and the lower animals was not nearly so marked as at present. He no doubt could walk erect, and possessed a well-developed hand with which to fashion the rude implements found by Noetling in the neigh- bouring Pliocene beds of Indo-China. But in other respects the difference could not have been great, and, like the other animals, he must have moved about rather by instinct and impulse, in obedience to the sur- rounding physical conditions, than of any set purpose. The struggle for existence was also carried on in the same blind way, although in virtue of his greater intelligence he had no doubt already acquired a sufficient supremacy over his competitors to become the one universal species. Not only is man the one member of the animal kingdom whose present range coincides with that of the habitable globe, but this universal domain had already been occupied by him in early Pleistocene times. A considerable mass of trustworthy evidence has in recent years been broaght together from every quarter of the world to show that it had been peopled during, if not prior to, the recurrent invasions of ice in the northern and southern hemispheres. That is to say, Pleistocene man had spread over the entire habitable globe while he was physically still but little removed from his Pliocene ancestor, and prior to the development of any culture, and even of any arts or industries, beyond the manufacture of the rudest stone implements. Hence the astonishing resemblance that is presented by 98 The International Geography these objects, as well as by the earliest skeletal remains of man himself in whatever part of the Earth they are found— skulls from western and Central Europe, from Egypt, CaUfornia (if genuine), Brazil and other parts of South America ; flints from Britain, France, North and South Africa, Somaliland, India, the United States, Patagonia, Fuegia. By the land connections indicated above, Pleistocene man was able, without any knowledge of navigation, to pass from his Indo-Malaysian home northwards to Asia and thence by the Bering Strait route into America ; and westwards into Africa ; thence northwards by two routes (Strait of Gibraltar, Tunis-Sicily) into Europe, and from north-western Europe to Greenland and America during inter-glacial or post-glacial times. Formation of Varieties. — From this view of the first dispersion it follows that these migrations everywhere preceded the later physica:l and mental development of mankind, so that the evolution of the existing human varieties and of their several cultures is presented in quite a new light. We need no longer suppose, always a somewhat violent assump- tion, that some fully specialised group, say, originally black, migrating from continent to continent, became white in one region, yellow in another, brown in a third, and so on. Had such a group passed from its proper zone to another, it would probably have died out long before it had time to become acclimatised. In any case it is now easy to see that the evolution could not have taken place on those Hnes, but was brought about in the several regions independently, as in the case of other animal varieties. Tne Pleistocene groups, all alike at first, everywhere presented the same generalised prototype, from which the now living varieties were severally and independently developed. The main divisions of mankind must therefore be regarded, as Linnasus regarded them, as so many zoolo- gical varieties, all springing from common or closely allied generalised ancestors, and each gradually specialised by slow adaptation to its special environment. Like all other divisions of the terrestrial fauna, these divisions are thus the outcome of their respective surroundings. They are what climate, soil, diet, heredity and time have made them, and that is the reason why, in the case of all later migrations, the first question that arises is one of acclimatisation. If the new zone is favourable, that is, differs Uttle from the old, the variety persists ; if not, it either merges and becomes absorbed in the indigenous element, or else simply dies out. A continuous illustration of this fundamental truth is afforded by the social relations in • North America, tropical and extra-tropical Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and every other land where European people have failed or succeeded in establishing themselves. Culture Zones.— With what may be called the first settlement of the Earth by Man in Pleistocene times begins the evolution of the human varieties and of human culture everywhere simultaneously, but with varying results in accordance wuh the varying nature of the environment. In the most favoured regions, mainly the north temperate zone (the south Distribution of Mankind 99 temperate being too contracted to constitute areas of specialisation) man has attained his highest development both phj'sically and mentally. In the eastern hemisphere the space included between the parallels of 25° and 50° N. will about comprise what may be spoken of as the " Culture Zone " in a pre-eminent sense. Within this privileged area, which, follow- ing the normal isothermal curves of continental and marine climates, is contracted in the east to 40° N. or less, and reaches in the extreme west to 55° N., have originated and flourished all the great centres of civilisation in ancient and modern times — the Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Indian, Chinese, JEgenn (Mykenaean), Hellenic, Phoenician, Minaean, Sabaean, Etruscan, Roman, and later European. Within the same area have sprung up all the great religions of the world — the Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, and Mohammedan ; and here also have been developed all the higher orders of speech, that is to say, the three inflect- ing Hamitic, Semitic, and Aryan linguistic famihes. Such coincidences are not merely accidental, but have their roots in the soil itself, and are an eloquent illustration of the great evolutionary formula that all living things are the outcome of their environment. Elsewhere, primitive man has lagged behind, being still for the most part a mere savage in nearly all the tropical, and also, for the reason stated, in the south temperate lands — Central and South Africa, East Malaysia, New Guinea, Australia, Melanesia, Fuegia. The picture is completed by the various transitional phases of barbarism between savagery and civilisation, which are characteristic of the inhabitants of the sub-tropical Asiatic peninsula, the bleak elevated plateaux and sub-arctic steppes of both hemispheres : Indo-China, the Dekkan, Central Arabia, Tibet, Mongolia, Siberia, the great tablelands, prairies, and tundras of the New World. The diverse anthropogeographical relations here sketched in broad outline have no doubt been somewhat modified, and in places completely obliterated, since the expansion of the higher European peoples during the last four hundred years. But a properly prepared sixteenth century culture-map of the world on a Mercator projection would show a nearly parallel series of shaded bands, indicating the various degrees of progress m4de by mankind since the Pleistocene period between the equatorial, the arctic, and antarctic regions. Owing to the contraction and great eleva- tion of the land about the equator in the western hemisphere, the chief isocultural deflections occur in the New World, not in the temperate zone, but well within the tropics (Peru, Colombia, and Yucatan). Mexico alone reached northwards a little beyond the tropic of Cancer. The Progressive Stages of Culture.— The progressive stages of human culture, viewed as a whole, are determined, partly by the activities indispensable to mere existence — hunting, fishing, pasture, and tillage — but far more by the industries associated either with those activities them- selves, or with more advanced social conditions. By a systematic study of the remains of the more primitive and later arts, discovered in ever in- lOO The International Geography creasing abundance in all parts of the world, archaeologists have been able to distinguish certain marked types of stone, and later of metal implements, which everywhere present a surprising general uniformity, and thus serve as a sure guide in following the successive steps by which mankind has advanced from the lowest to the highest plane of civiUsation. The Old and New Stone Ages. — Thus have been determined a Palceolithic and a Neolithic, that is, an " Old Stone " and a " New Stone ' Age, with reference to the material (mostly flint) which in the first, and immeasurably the longer, period, was merely chipped, flaked, or otherwise rudely fashioned, but in the second more carefully worked and polished. Now, it is an ascertained fact that sonie of the highly specialised varieties of Man known to history — Proto-Hamites, Proto-Semites, Iberians, Ligurians, Pelasgians, and some peoples of Aryan speech — had already made their appearance in Neolithic times both in Central and West Europe, and in all the Mediterranean lands eastward to Mesopotamia. Consequently, the Old Stone Age must have lasted long enough to allow of such stupendous differentiations as those involved in the upward development from the Pleistocene precursor to Linnaeus' Homo Europaus. It is not, therefore, per- haps surprising that even such a cautious observer as Sir John Evans should have declared that " the remoteness of the date at which the Palaeolithic period had its beginning almost transcends Our power of imagination." During these countless ages, estimated by some authorities at several hundred thousand years, the various Pleistocene groups could nowhere have remained stationary, and in the more favoured localities the progress was so great that it is not everywhere possible to draw a hard and fast line between the Old and the New Stone periods. Speaking generally, how- ever, the latter was distinguished from the former by a more complete control over fire, by burial and funeral rites associated with more enlarged religious notions, by the cultivation of cereals and other alimentary plants, by the domestication of several animals, and by considerable progress in most of the useful arts and industries, especially pottery, weaving, architecture. Some of the monuments raised by Neolithic man over the dead — dolmens, menhirs, barrows— were so solidly constructed that they are still found girdling the globe from Britain and Brittany through Iberia, North Africa, Syria, Palestine, India, Korea, Japan, Easter and many other Pacific islands to the New World, where they culminated in the astounding mono- liths of Tiahuanaco on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. They served as models for later generations, as in Etruria, Mykens, Phoenicia, Egypt, where the pyramids themselves are nothing but petrified mounds. Thus are connected remote past and present times by the imperishable works of early man, just as the two Stone Ages were connected by the kitchen middens and shell mounds which were common to both periods, and are still found fringing the " beached margent of the sea " in so many lands— Denmark, Japan, Australia, North and South America. Similarly, the present aquatic habitations of savage man in such widely Distribution of Mankind loi separated regions as Cambodia, New Guinea, Borneo, Venezuela, have their prototypes in the lacustrine pile-dwellings, lerramare, palafitti, crannogs, and other Neolithic stations, whose sites have been explored in Switzerland, northern Italy, Ireland and Scotland. North Britain appears to have been first occupied by these crannog-dwellers, or possibly by some earlier Neolithic hordes, in places where subsequent geological changes afford some trustworthy data wherewith to gauge the long duration of the second Stone Age. Thus, after the break of continuity between Britain and Europe in glacial times, Sir W. Turner suggests another upheaval, a " Neolithic land-bridge," by which the men of the New Stone Age may have reached Scotland, where they were undoubtedly present during the formation of the Carse clays. These cliffs, which show distinct traces of sea-beaches now in places 45, 50, and 100 feet above the present sea-level, formed the bed of a marine inlet, which in post-glacial times still nearly if not completely separated North Britain from the region south of the Forth. The rise of the 100 foot terrace was followed by an immense development of forest growths, which have since disappeared, and all these oscillations and surface changes fall within the relatively short New Stone period. The Metal Ages. — Then followed, still in remote times, the intro- duction of the metals, which, generally replacing stone, constituted the three " Copper,'' " Bronze,' and " Iron " Ages, in the order named, but without any further absolute displacements. These metals, once made known, have necessarily persisted for diverse purposes throughout the next ensuing " Prehistoric " and " Historic " Ages down to the present time. Here, indeed, there can be no real dividing lines, and, as shown by the multifarious contents of prehistoric graves, overlappings were of con- stant occurrence, while the transitions from period to period must every- where have been imperceptible. In fact, a clearly marked Copper Age has been doubted except in the New World, where, before the dis- covery, bronze was but little known, and iron (other than meteoric) not at all. The Prehistoric and Historic Ages. — The Prehistoric Age, which admits of no strict definition, covers that vague period of time, dim memories of which, such as popular myths and legends, demi-gods, epony- mous heroes, and the like, survived into the strictly Historic Age. It corre- sponds to the " Age of the Five Emperors," in the early Chinese records, which was marked by the institution of marriage and the invention of writing, and was preceded by the " Age of the Three Rulers,'' our Stone Ages, when people dwelt in caves, drank the blood of animals, ate wild fruits or uncooked food, wore the skins of animals, obtained fire bv friction, and threw their dead to the beasts of prey. Such universal reminiscences reveal the common background of shere savagery which stands behind the later developments among all the more or less cultured peoples. Of the Historic Age, which must persist to the end of time, the essential characteristic is the general use of letters, invented in the West as well as in I02 The International Geography China in the Prehistoric Age, if not even earlier.' In virtue of this invention, gradually perfected through the successive phases of mere pictographs, conventional ideographs, phonetic symbols, syllabaries, and alphabets, all human knowledge worthy of preservation is perpetuated, and thus becomes accumulative. Civilised Man. — ^Henceforth the mind grows, so to say, at the expense of the body ; man becomes less and less a mere " creature of circum- stances," that is, more independent of his environment, which he now largely controls ; and as he began by acquiring the ascendancy over all the other members of the animal kingdom, and constituting himself the one universal species, so he ends by bending Nature herself to his will and' requirements. By the development of navigation and diverse methods of land locomotion, he has been able to overcome the obstacles of seas and mountain barriers, and thus to move more freely over the face of the Earth. But these processes have been in progress for many millenniums, certainly since late Neolithic times, with the result that the originally well marked varietal groups have become almost everywhere somewhat inter- mingled, and their'distinctive physical characters diversely modified. Thus it is that the primitive racial types have become " ideal quantities," and the original races themselves palseontological studies, while " the more limited groups, now called races, are nothing but peoples, or societies of peoples, brethren by civilisation more than by blood " (Tosti). Primary Divisions of Mankind. — Under these circumstances it is not surprising that opinions have greatly differed regarding the number and nomenclature even of the primary divisions of mankind, although here again the tendency has lately been to revert to the views of the Swedish systematist. There is a somewhat general consensus amongst ethnologists that the endless sub- varieties may be reduced to about four primary groups — the Ethiopic or Negro, the Mongolic or Yellow, the American or Red and the Caucasic or White, the term " Caucasic " being of course taken in Blumenbach's purely conventional sense, without any special reference to the inhabitants of the Caucasus. This scheme has the advantage of being based partly on colour, one of the most conspicuous external characters, and partly, as it ought to be, on actual geographical distribution, with no doubt certain discrepancies in both cases. Thus, before the displacements that have taken place in modern times, the Ethiopic was mainly confined to the inter- tropical lands west and east of the Indian Ocean (Africa south of the Sahara, and most of Australasia), which jointly constitute the essentially Negro or Black Zone. The Mongolic occupies by far the greater part of Asia with some conterminous European districts, and is almost everywhere characterised by various shades of yellow, or yellowish brown, so that in popular language, " Yellow Mongol " and " Asiatic " are practically equiva- ' M. Cartailhac describes certain markings on pebbles from the Mas d'Azil cave, which he regards as possibly a rudimentary script dating from the Stone Ages IL'Anthrotologie, I8g6, p. 385 sq.). Distribution of .Mankind 103 lent expressions. Thanks to its insular conformation, the coincidence of the New World with the American division is complete, and here again reddish or coppery tints prevail from Alaska to Fuegia. Lastly, the Caucasic comprises nearly the whole of Europe and Africa south to the tropic of Cancer, with the eastern seaboard to the equator and south-western Asia. This division thus occupies a very distinct zoological zone, disposed round about the Mediterranean waters where the dominant colours are white and whitish or olive brown, with some aberrant deep brown, or even black shades in those districts where this division encroaches on the Black Zone. These dark Caucasic groups (Gallas, SomaUs, Abys- sinians), are, so to say, balanced by those Mongolic peoples (Finns, Lapps, Turks, Bulgars, Magyars), who have invaded the Caucasic zone, and thus become assimilated in colour and other respects to the white type. All such aberrations are to be regarded as results of the secular interminglings that have everywhere taken place about the ethnical "divides" of the primary groups. Each of these groups comprises a number of sub-varieties which are sufficiently specialised in type, speech and other respects to constitute tolerably well-defined secondary divisions. A summary conspectus of these groups and sub-groups, disposed according to their more probable genetic affinities, is all that it is possible to give in this place. THE CHIEF DIVISIONS AND SUB-DIVISIONS OF MANKIND. ETHIOPIC (BLACK) DIVISION. I. — WESTERN (AFRICAN) SECTION. Original Habitat. — Africa south of the Sahara ; Madagascar. Later Expansion. — North Africa (sparsely) ; Southern United States ; Nicaragua ; West Indies ; Atlantic States of Brazil ; the Guianas. Population. — Africa, 150,000,000 (?) ; Madagascar, 3,000,000 ; Tropical and Sub-tropical America, 20,000,000. Total, 173,000,000. Physical Characters. — Head .- Long (from glabella to occiput) ; prognathous jaws ; broad flat nose ; thick everted lips ; rather prominent cheek bones ; arched brow ; large, round, prominent black eyes, with yellowish cornea ; flat foot ; larkspur heel. Colour : Very deep brown, rarely quite black. Hair : Short, black, woolly, flat in cross section ; sparse beard. Height, above the average : 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet. Mental Characters. — Temperament : Sensuous, unintellectual, fitful ; mind arrested at puberty, hence unprogressive ; no science or letters ; few arts beyond agriculture, weaving, pottery, woodwork, and metallurgy (iron and copper). Religion : Nature and ancestry worship ; fetishism ; witch- craft ; human sacrifice ; ordeals. Speech : Agglutinating, mostly with prefixes ; numerous stock languages north of the equator ; two only in the south (Bantu ■and Hottentot), Malayo-Polynesian in Madagascar. 104. The International Geography Chief Sub-Divisions.— I^o/o/, Mandingo, Songhay, West Sudan ; Chi, Ewe, Yomba, Upper Guinea ; Hausa, Boriiii, Central Sudan ; Maba, Nuba, Denka, Shilluk, Bari, East Sudan and White Nile ; mam-Niam {Ziuuieh), Mangbattu, Barambo, Momfu, Welle river. Groups of Bantu Speech : Waganda, Wanyoro, Lakes Victoria and Albert ; Waswahili, East Coast ; Zmu-Kafir, South- Eat,t Coast ; Bechuana, Mashona, Maroise, South-Central regions ; Ova-Hcrero, Ova-Mpo, Bateke, Mpongwe, West Coast. Aberrant and Doubtful Groups. — Fula, Senegambia, Sudan. Fans, Ogowe and Gabun basins ; Bantu speech, negroid type with marked H ami tic traits ; Pagans. Negritoes, numerous isolated groups in the forest regions of the Congo basin ; negro features, brachycephalous heads ; yellowish colour ; dwarfs, 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 10 inches. Bushmen, originally everywhere south of Lake Tanganyika, now mainly in the Kalahari desert, probably akin to the Negritoes. Hottentots, orginally everywhere south of Zambezi, now confined to Cape Colony and Namaqualand ; of Bushman- Bantu descent. II. — EASTERN (AUSTRALASIAN) SECTION. Original Habitat. — Malaysia ; Andamans ; Philippines ; New Guinea ; most of Polynesia ; New Zealand ; Australia ; Tasmania. Present Domain. — Malaysia, east of Flores ; Malay Peninsula, Anda- mans, parts of the Philippines, Melanesia, parts of Australia. Population. — 2,000,000, chiefly in New Guinea and Melanesia. Physical Characters. — ^Very variable, differing from the African section chiefly in the height, which is about or even below the average ; the hair, rather frizzly, wavy, or shaggy (Australia) than woolly ; the nose, large, straight, and often aquiline with downward tip ; and the lips less thick and never everted. Mental Characters. — Temperament : Boisterous, cruel, treacherous, indolent ; generally more savage than the African ; head-hunt- ing common in Melanesia ; cannibalism formerly prevalent as in Africa ; no science, letters, or arts, except agriculture, pottery, weaving, and woodwork ; artistic sense somewhat deve- loped, as shown especially in boat-building and wood-carving. Religion : Nature and spirit worship, totemism ; tabu. Speech : Archaic forms of Malayo-Polynesian in Melanesia ; agglutinative with post-fixes in Australia and most of New Guinea. Sub-Sections. — Papuans, the most typical of the Oceanic negroes. Range : Most of East Malaysia, inclusive of Flores ; nearly all New Guinea. Melanesians. — Often grouped with the Papuans ; but differences physical, mental, and linguistic, constitute them a separate branch. Range : New Britain and New Ireland ; Louisiades ; Solomons ; New Hebrides, New Caledonia and Loyalty; Tasmania (now extinct). Australians.—A. highly specialised branch, with marked uni- formity in type, speech, and usages throughout Australia; dis- appearing. Negritoes.— Andamanese, the so-called " Mincopies," Andaman Islands; Samangs, Sakais, of Malay Peninsula; Aeias, thinly scattered over the Philippines. Distribution of Mankind 105 MONGOLIC (YELLOW) DIVISION. Original Habitat. — Probably the Tibetan tableland. Early Expansion. — Indo-China ; China ; North Asia ; Malaysia. Present Expansion. — Korea ; Japan ; Formosa ; Turkestan ; Irania ; Asia Minor ; Caucasia ; Russia ; Baltic lands ; Balkan Peninsula ; Hungary ; Madagascar ; Australia ; America. Population. — China, 380,000,000 ; Japan and Korea, 55,000,000 ; Indo- China, 35,000,000 ; Malaysia, 30,000,000 ; Mongolia and Manchuria, 10,000,000 ; Tibet, 6,000,000 ; Turkestan and Siberia, 7,000,000 ; West Asia, 13,000,000 ; Sundries, 4,000,000. Total, 540,000,000. Physical Characters. — Head : Brachycephalous, moderately progna- thous jaws ; very small concave nose ; thin lips ; prominent cheek bones ; small oblique black eyes. Colour : Yellowish, pale, or white in Manchuria, Korea, Japan, and in Turkey and Russia ; yell owish brown in Malaysia. Hair : Long, coarse, and bla ck, round in cross section, no beard. Height : Below the average, 5 feet 2 to 4 or 6 inches. Mental Characters. — Temperament : Sluggish, sullen, industrious in the temperate zone, elsewhere in dolent ; mostly reckless gamblers ; science slightly, arts and letters moderately developed. Religion : Nominal Buddhists and Mohammedans mostly ; a few pagans and Shamanists ; nearly all spirit worshippers. Speech : Three great families : i. Ural-Altaic, Lapland to Japan, Turkestan to Hungary ; agglutinating with post-fixes. 2. Tibeto-Indo-Chinese, Tibet to the Pacific, Great Wall to Indian Ocean ; originally aggluti nating, now in every transition of phonetic decay towards monosyllabism, with numerous homo- phones distinguished by tone y hence maybe called "monosyllabic toned languages." 3. Malayo-Polynesian, the "Oceanic" lin- guistic family in a pre-eminent sense, sweeping round from Madagascar across the Indian and Pacific Oceans to Easter Island, and from Hawaii to New Zealand ; agglutinative at various grades of dissolution. Subdivisions and Aberrant or Doubtful Groups : Mongolo- Turks. — Commonly called " Mongolo-Tartars." Chief sub-groups : Mongols proper : Khalka or Shara, i.e., Eastern Mongols j- Kalmuks, i.e., Western Mongols j Burials, Siberian Mongols ; Tungusj Man- chus, Gilyaks. Range : Mongolia, Manchuria, North Tibet, most of East Siberia. Turki Branch : Yakuts, Kirghiz, Uzbegs, Turko- mans, Nogai, Anatolian Turks, Osmanli. Range : Lena Basin, Central and West Siberia, Turkestan, Asia Minor, parts of Caucasia, East Russia and Rumelia. Ugro-Finns, Samoyedes, Lapps; Finns proper, Voguls, Ostyaks, Siryanians, Permians, Magyars, Bulgars. Range : North Siberia and islands east to the Yenisei, Lapland, Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, parts of North and East Russia, Hungary. Tibeio-Chinese. — Tibetans, Burmese, Shans {Siamese, Ahoms, Khamti), Arakanese, Chins, Nagas, Mishmi, Annamese, Chinese. Range : Tibet, Himalayan slopes, most of Indo-China and China. Malayans. — Malays proper, Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, Sassaks, Bugis, Bisayaiis, Tagals, Formosans, Hovas. Range : Malaysia, east to Flores, Formosa, Philippines, parts of Madagascar. Koreo-yapanese. — Koreans, Japanese, Luchu Islanders. Sub-Arctic. — Chukchi, Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Kamchadales. io6 The International Geography AMERICAN (" RED ") DIVISION. Original Habitat. — The whole of the New World. Present Restricted Domain. — The unsettled parts and some reserves in the Dominion ; Alaska, numerous reserves and some north and south-west tracts in the United States ; most of Mexico, Central and South America, partly intermingled with the White and Black intruders, partly still independent or in the tribal state. Population (pure and mixed). — Full blood, 9,900,000 ; half-breeds, 12,270,000 ; total, 22,170,000, chiefly in Mexico (8,765,000), Brazil (4,200,000), Colombia (3,150,000), Peru (2,700,000), Bolivia (1,500,000), Guatemala (1,400,000), and Venezuela (1,325,000) ■ in the United States only 250,000, and Canada 100,000. Physical Characters. — Head: Both round and long, intermingled inextricably ; slightly projecting massive jaws ; large straight or aquiline nose ; moderately prominent cheek bones ; small straight black eyes ; coppery colour, shading off to yellowish or brown. Hair : Like the Mongol, but longer and coarser ; scant beard. Height : Variable, average or under on the uplands, above the average on the plains (Patagonia, pampas, prairies). Altogether a' type specialised in the New World, probably from generalised Asiatic (pre-Mongol) and European (pre-Cau- casic) precursors, the former predominating. Mental Characters. — Temperament : Austere, moody, impassive, wary ; science slightly, art and letters moderately developed. Religion : Polytheistic, with human sacrifices where most deve- loped (Aztecs, Mayas) ; elsewhere nature worship and shamanism. Speech : Multifarious, but everywhere of the same polysynthetic type, in which the elements of the sentence tend to merge in a single word sometimes of prodigious length. Being unknown in the Old World, this type must have been entirely developed in America from the common germs of articulate speech which accompanied Pleistocene man in all his migrations. There are probably over 200 stock languages of this character, crowded together in astonishing numbers in some coast districts (Oregon, British Columbia, California), and woodlands (Amazonas), but some ranging over vast spaces on the open plains and plateaux. Chief Subdivisions.— £sA(mo.— Most speciahsed of all the aborigines; range for 5,000 miles from Alaska round the Arctic shores to Greenland and Labrador. Athapascan.—Kuchins, Chippewyans, Apaches, Navajosj Alaska to Hudson Bay with enclaves on west coast and about United States and Mexican frontiers. Shoshonean. Snake family : Bannocks, Comanches, Utes, Moqui. Range : Oregon to Texas, Idaho to South California and Arizona. Siouan. — Dakotas, Assiniboines, Omahas, Crows, lowas, Missouri, Catawba (extinct). Range : Hudson Bay to Arkansas ; Virginia, North and South Carolina. > & • Muskhogean.— Creek family : Creeks, Chociaws, Seminoles, Chica- sas. Range : Kentucky to Florida. Algonquian.—Delawarcs, Ojibwas, Shawnees, Arapahoes, Crees, Blackfeet, and many others. Range : Rocky Mountains to New- foundland, Labrador to Kentucky. Iroquoian.—Hiirons, Cherokees, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas. Range : Laurentian Basin, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan. Distribution of Mankind 107 Nahuatlan. — Aztecs, Pipils, Niquirans. Range : Mexico discon- tinuously to Nicaragua. Huaxtecan. — Huaxtecs, Mayas, Quiches, Pocomans. Range : Vera Cruz, Yucatan, Guatemala. Muiscan ; Arawakan ; Araucan , Tsonecan. Cariban. — Caribs, Macusi, Ackawoi, Bakairi. Range : Central Brazil to West Indies (a few still in St. Vincent). Quechuan. — Quitenos, Peruvians, Aymaras, Chinchasuyos. Range : Quito to Lake Titicaca and Chili. . Guaranian. — Guarani-Tupi family. Range : A great part of Brazil and Paraguay. CAUCASIC (WHITE) DIVISION. Original Habitat. — North Africa, south to Sudan. Early Expansion. — All the Mediterranean lands ; North- East Africa ; Arabia ; Central and West Europe ; Britain ; Irania ; India ; South-East Asia ; Malaysia ; Polynesia ; North-East Asia. Later and Present Expansion. — The whole of Europe ; Aralo-Caspian Depression ; East Turkestan ; Manchuria ; Korea ; Japan ; North Africa (return) ; Abyssinia ; South Africa ; North and South America ; Australia ; New Zealand. Population. — Europe, 355,000,000 ; Asia, 280,000,000 ; America, 115,000,000 ; Africa, 15,000,000 ; Australasia, 5,000,000. Total, 770,000,000. Physical Characters. — Two types : i. Fair (Huxley's "Xanthochroi"). Head : long ; moderately large blue or grey and straight eyes. Colour: Florid. Hair: Long, wavy, flaxen, light brown and red. Height : Above the average (5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet). 2. Dark (Huxle^s "Melanchroi"). Head: Long in south, round in north ; large black eyes. Colour: Pale white. Hair: Wavy, curly, brown and black. Jaws of both orthognathous ; nose large, straight or aquiline ; cheek bones small, features regular. Mental Characters. — Temperament of i : Solid and somewhat stolid ; of 2 : Fiery, fickle ; of both : Active, enterprising, imaginative. Science, arts, and letters highly developed. Religion: Monotheistic (Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedan- ism), but polytheistic (Brahmanism, &c.) in India and elsewhere. Speech : Mainly inflecting {i.e., root and formative elements completely fused), but agglutinative in Caucasia, the Dekkan, and Polynesia. Two great linguistic families : Hamito-Ibero-Semttic, North Africa, South- West Asia, Iberia ; Aryan {Lido-European), nearly all Europe, Armenia, Irania, Northern India, nearly the whole of America, Australia, New Zealand, parts of North and South Africa. Chief Subdivisions : — South Mediterranean. — Hamites : Berbers, Tuaregs, Egyptians, Bejas, Afars, Agaus, Gallas, Somalis, Tibus, Masai, Wa-Huma. Range : Mauritania, Sahara, Nile Basin, North-East African seaboard. Semites: Arabs, Abyssinians, Syrians, Chaldaeans. Range : North Africa, Abyssinia, Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia. North Mediterranean. — Pelasgo-Hellenes': Albanians, Greeks. Range : Adriatic to Cyprus and Asia Minor, Rumelia to Crete. Ligurians : Most Italians, Corsicans, Sards, Sicihans. Kelto- Iberians : Spaniards, Portuguese, Basques, Bretons, Auvergnats, io8 The International Geography Savoyards, some English, many Welsh and Irish. Range : North Italy, South France, Brittany, parts of England and Scotland, most of Wales and Ireland. North European. — Scandinavians: Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Orkney, Shetland and Faroe Islanders. Lorn Germans; Most Prussians and Westphalians, Frisians, Dutch, Fleriiings, English, Scots, many Irish. High Germans : Bava- rians, Wurtembergers, Tyrolese, most Swiss, Austrians. Letto- Slavs: Lithuanians, Great, Little and White Russians, Poles, Chechs (Bohemians and Moravians), Slovenes, Slovaks, Croatians, Serbs, Dalmatians, Montenegrins. Iranic. — Armenians, Kurds, Persians, Afghans, Baluchi. Range : From Asia Minor to Indus, Hindu-Kush and Pamir slopes. Indic. — Northern Hindus {oi Aryan speech) : Kashmiri, Panjabi, Sindhi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Mahrati, Oriya, Assami. Southern Hindus (of Dravidian speech) : Telugus, Tamils, Kanarese, Malayalims, Singhalese, some Galchas. Indonesian. — Asiatic Mainland:- Gyarungs, Lolos, Mossos, Kuys, Khmers (Cambodians), Charays. Malaysia : Battas, Tin- guians, Manobas. Polynesia : Samoans, Tahitians, Tongans, Maori, Marquesas, Hawaiians. Ainu. — South Kurile Islands, Yezo, South Sakhalin. Caucasian Proper. — Georgians, Lazes, Circassians, Abkha- sians, Kabards, Chechenzes, Lesghians ; both slopes of Caucasus. Population of the World According to Races. — From this survey it appears that since Neolithic times the two lower groups (Ethiopic, American) have been losing, the two upper (Mongolic, Caucasic) gaining ground everywhere, with results expressed in terms of population as under : — Caucasians... Mongols ... Ethiopians Americans ... Total 770,000,000 540,000,000 175,000,000 22,000,000 1,507,000,000 STANDARD BOOKS. C. Darmn. " The Descent of Man." 2 vols. London, 1871. W. Boyd Dawkins. " Early Man in Britain." London, 1880. ■ " Cave Hunting." London, 1874. Sir J. Evans. " The Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain." 2nd edit. London, 1897. " The Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain and Ireland." London, i88l. T. Waitz. " Introduction to Anthropology." EngUsh edit. London 186^ ■ P. Topmard. " Anthropolog>'." English edit, London, 1878. T.H.Huxley. " Man's Place in Nature," in collected Essays. London A. H. Keane. " Ethnology." Cambridge, i89fi. " Man Past and Present." Cambridge. iSog. Sir J. Lubboclj. " Prehistoric Times." London, 1869. -7— —-7 — "The Origin of Civilization." London, 1870. M. G. Maspero. " The Dawn of Civilization." London 1807 M.de Nadaillac. '■ Prehistoric America." London iSS=; O. Peschel. " The Races of Man and Their Geographical Distribution " -■>-» A. de Quatrefages. ' Classification des Races Humaines." = vols. Paris. W ^ rIi J " TV," R ^n)l'"^- Engl sh edit. . vols. London, Ztgg. W. Z. Ripley. The Racial Geography of Europe." Boston and London; 1899. CHAPTER X,— POLITICAL AND APPLIED GEOGRAPHY By J. Scott Keltie, LL.D., Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, Political Geography.— The body of knowledge included under the term Geography is capable, like most other departments of science, of certain practical applications to the affairs of humanity. But until the student has thoroughly grasped the facts and principles of physical geography and of anthropogeography, he is not in a position to investigate their practical appUcations with success. Political geography is the application of the data included in these two great divisions of the subject to the affairs of those groups or communities of men which in their more developed condition we designate States or Nations. Groups of this class are of all grades from the isolated village community and the nomad tribe of savages, up to one of the " Great Powers " ; but whatever its grade, it is impossible to conceive of any community without associating it with an area of land . or territory of greater or less dimensions. The land and the people are integral parts of the State or political community, the one being as indispensable as the other, and therefore a knowledge of both is absolutely essential to a satisfactory understanding of the life and activity of the State. It may be said that the whole of geography has a practical bearing in this direction, as it deals with the surface of that Earth, which is the theatre of all human activity. We can here only briefly indicate some of the directions in which this practical application can be worked out. Position on the Earth's Surface.^ — The position of a country on the Earth's surface is determined by latitude and longitude. The former, from the standpoint of Pohtical Geography, is of much more importance than the latter. Latitude is one of the main factors in the determination of climate. Land in the extreme north or the extreme south is either uninhabitable, or political, social and industrial development is arrested on account of the cold. Extreme heat, with certain modifications, seems also to exercise an arresting influence. But in considering the political development of tropical regions, we must take into account the type of people inhabiting them. How far the geographical environment has moulded the character of the people, it is the business of Anthropo- geography to investigate. At this stage of the world's history, the important point with regard to tropical countries is to what extent they are habitable by the white races, by the dominant peoples who have been 9 109 no The International Geography habituated to temperate climates. Hitherto, in India and in tropical Africa, the white races have not been able to people the countries, but only to reside temporarily as traders or as rulers of the native population. In tropical countries, as a rule, the necessaries of life can be obtained without much exertion, and as little or no clothing is required, the incentives to exertion for a people in a primitive state are few. The great advances in civilisation, in political, social, and industrial develop- ment, have been made in temperate climates. Longitude, as indicating the position of a State on a great continent, is of importance, as distance from the sea-board has an effect in modifying climate. It is also of commercial and even political importance with respect to communications and distance from important seaports. Physical Characteristics. — The surface forms or Physical Charac- teristics of a country, its division into mountains and- valleys, into high plains or plateaux, and low plains, the distribution of land and water, the nature of the soil, must evidently have a marked effect on the political and industrial development of a country. A mountainous country like Switzerland or Abyssinia, or a high plateau country like Tibet, presents very different conditions from the well - watered plain of northern Germany, the black earth region of Russia, or the prairies of North America. The highlands of Scotland have reared a different type of people, have had a different history, and a different development from the ' lowlands, and from the great plain and the uplands of England. These, again, present marked contrasts with the conditions of life and the history of the Sahara and the desert of central Australia. An island State, like Great Britain, is influenced by a different set of conditions from those which prevail on a continental State with contiguous neighbours. The configuration of a coast-line is another important factor in influencing the development of a country. It may be rich in bays and gulfs and estuaries, and fjords forming excellent harbours and giving easy access to shipping, as in the case of Europe, or it may be marked by an entire absence of such advantages, as in the case of Africa, the greater part of the coast of which cannot be approached by shipping, and which, except in the case of the Congo estuary, has no indentations going deep into the land. But it should be pointed out that modern engineering skill has been able to overcome some of these disadvantages, and to create a new set of geographical conditions. Mountains may play an important part in modifying the distribution of rainfall over a country, depending on the aspect they present to the prevailing winds. Their direction may be such as to tap the rain-bearing winds and distribute the precipitation in a direction from which little or no agricultural results could be expected. The Himalayas intercept the rains of the southern monsoon before they can reach the Tibetan plateau beyond ; therefore we find on one side rich forest and other vegetation . and on the other sterility. The waterless condition of the Sahara is no Political and Applied Geography III doubt partly due to the direction and the situation of the Atlas range, which intercepts what moisture comes from the Atlantic and Mediterra- nean. So it is in AustraUa, the only mountain ranges of which are on the eastern border. Altitude in general is a great modifier of climate ; if of sufficient dimensions it may introduce temperate climates into a tropical coiintry, as in some parts of Africa and South America. • The Hydrography of a country, that is, the distribution of its water- supply on the surface, is evidently a matter of prime importance. The main forrrjs in which water is found on the Earth's surface, apart from the ocean, are those of lakes and rivers. Under certain conditions the supply of water stored underground may also be of economical value, as in the Sahara and AustraUa. A widespread network of rivers, as in England and over much of Europe, gives a State a great advantage in the development of the agricultural resources of the soil. On the other hand although a very large area of Austraha is waterless, yet by sinking wells a supply of water has been obtained in some districts sufficient to irrigate an extensive area and so turn a desert into valuable grass lands for cattle and sheep. It is often possible when the beds of streams are steep, or when they are broken by waterfalls, to utilise them as sources of power for machinery instead of steam. Thus it comes that in countries like Switzerland and Norway electric lighting is common even in small villages, while below Niagara Falls on the New York side the banks of the river are covered with manufactories. Lakes are also of some importance in these respects, and that im- portance is increased when their stores of water can be distributed either by rivers or by canals, for purposes of fertilisation, for industrial uses, or for the water supply of large towns. Both rivers and lakes, when of considerable size, and especially when supplemented by canals, may be of great utility as means of communication or transport. They were of still more importance before the extension of railways. Dimensions. — This element, composed of length, breadth, altitude and area, has various important bearings on the life of a community or State. The extent of a country from north to south may be of prime significance. Canada extends from the latitude of Lisbon to the Arctic regions, the result being that a large area in the north is unavailable. Even the United States has during the course of the year a climate varying from tropical heat to Arctic rigour. These two countries in the east and west direction extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, so that while their east coasts, owing to certain physical conditions, have a severe, and, in the case of Canada, an Arctic winter, their west coasts have a comparatively mild climate. The British possessions in South Africa extend from the tempe- rate climate of Cape Colony to the tropical conditions of Lake Tanganyika ; this gives a great advantage over a purely tropical country so far as Europeans are concerned. Similar conditions are found in Australia. Area is of importance in many ways. A State of very small extent is 112 The International Geography not necessarily an inferior Power. The actual areas of Athens and Sparta, of Phoenicia and Carthage, and even of Rome were comparatively insig- nificant, but these were all of them Great Powers in their time. In the middle ages Venice and Genoa were insignificant in size, but they exercised great influence owing to their commercial supremacy. The Hanseatic League may be said to have had no territory at all, but here again the magnitude of its commercial transactions gave it great influence in the affairs of Europe. The United Kingdom is only half the size of France or of Germany. But its geographical position has given it great commer- cial advantages, and these combined with its mineral resources, have endowed it with wealth sufficient to maintain a powerful fleet by means of which it has been enabled to acquire and maintain additional territory in other parts of the world. Unless a continental State is of considerable extent, although it may become commercially important, as in the case of Norway, Belgium, Holland, it can never develop into a Great Power, as the population could never increase sufficiently to admit of the establish- ment of a great army. On the other hand an extensive territory, bordering on the territories of other States, or scattered in sections over the globe, is vulnerable at many points, necessitating the maintenance of a large army or navy, or both, and the establishment of extensive frontier defences. Boundaries. — " Landmarks ' have been a very early institution. Natural boundaries, that is, the boundaries that exist between different types of natural features, are rarely hard and fast lines. Thus the boun- dary between sea and land is a more or less broad strip. So also there is generally a zone of transition between mountain and valley, between forest and grass land, between the neve and the glacier, between the river and its banks. Human races also are seldom sharply separated in their habitat, there is always a certain amount of intermingling on the border. Among certain primitive peoples there is no hard and fast line delimiting their territories ; in central Africa certain of the native States seem to be separated by a neutral zone. So is it also among certain of the coast tribes of British New Guinea. Until quite recent years there was a broad neutral zone separating China and Korea. In mediaeval Europe the " Mark," the " Marches," the " Borders," consisted of a more or less broad belt, it might be a mountain range or a clearing in a forest or a strip of waste land which separated two tribes, or communities, or States. Where there is a scanty nomad or primitive population the need for rigid bounda- ries is not felt. Natural features at first sight seem to form the most suitable boundaries — a river, a mountain range, a lake, a desert, the ocean itself, and in more primitive times when the Earth was not so fully peopled, no doubt this was so. But as a matter of fact, most of the great rivers are now included in single States ; as a result of the Franco-German War of 1 87 1 the Rhine ceased to be the boundary between France and Germany, and became throughout its middle course a German river. With the growth of States, the growing supremacy of a few " Great Political and Applied Geography 113 Powers," the increase of population, the development of commerce and industry, and the growth of naval and military power, natural geographical boundaries have been overridden, especially in Europe and Asia. A State is like a living organism which as it grows in strength must expand. Expanding Prussia was bound to find an outlet to the ocean, and so in 1866 made her boundaries overlap Schleswig-Holstein. A great State like Russia could clearly not be debarred access to ports open all the year round, and therefore her pushing outward to the Pacific was inevitable. A great commercial country must have an accessible sea-board, and if she cannot obtain one by diplomacy, she must endeavour to get one by force. Ignorance of geographical facts sometimes leads to strange mistakes which may be to the disadvantage of one of the parties to a boundary treaty. Thus when the boundary between the United States and Canada was arranged in 1846, the line was to proceed across the Lake of the Woods to the north-west corner. It was afterwards found that the lake extended much farther to the north-west than was known at the time, so that the United States in this way ob- tained a section of territory within Canada, and the islands in the lake are divided in the most cap- ricious way. Boundaries are generally made at first on paper with the aid of maps, and when the final delimitation is made on the spot, the imperfections of the maps used sometimes gives rise to serious disputes, as has been the case in delineating the frontiers between Russian and British territory in Asia, and between some of the European Powers in Africa. As a rule in settled countries boundaries are arranged between two contiguous Powers, either by diplomacy, by purchase, or by war. But in regions occupied by uncivilised or semi-civilised peoples, which civilised Powers desire to annex in whole or in part, there may be several parties to a boundary, and these may or may not include the natives themselves. Thus the boundaries of what is known as British East Africa were arranged between Great Britain, Germany and Italy, the native population having no voice in the matter. But to this arrangement France never formally gave her consent, and therefore considered herself at liberty to ignore the boundary line on the west, and to establish herself on the Upper Nile. The most uncompromising type of boundary is the ocean ; hence the Fig. 47. — Boundary between the United States and Canada at the Lake of the Woods. 'Bou- • ^ :^-%/-^ 114 The International Geography advantage which the United Kingdom has over continental States. Owing to the nature of the boundaries of. the United Kingdom, she is enabled to dispense with a large standing army, but is compelled to maintain a powerful fleet. The United States and Canada have also the advantage of .being bounded on two sides by the ocean, each of them having only two land frontiers, differing in this respect from a country like Austria, which is almost entirely surrounded by other States. Next to the ocean, perhaps the simplest boundary is the line of latitude or longitude. West of the Lake of the Woods, the boundary between the United States and Canada is the 49th parallel of north latitude until it reaches the sea. In Africa the boundaries between the " spheres " of European Powers are often straight Unes, not necessarily coinciding with lines of latitude or longitude, but drawn from point to point. The disadvantage of straight lines is that unless the country has been carefully surveyed disputes are apt to arise as to the position of particular places. Where a river is taken as a boundary, the line runs through the Thalweg or centre of the river-bed ; the disadvantage here is that unless the river has been fully surveyed, disputes may arise as to which is its true upper course, when there is more than one upper stream, or the stream itself may change its course, like the Yellow River in China. In Europe boundaries are more complicated than in other parts of the world, for they have been subject to alterations, mainly by war, for more than a thousand years. Like most boundaries that have not resulted from actual annexation, they were probably originally tribal or racial, and to understand the many changes which have taken place in them, it is necessary to master the racial movements in Europe. Roughly they now coincide with linguistic distinctions, though this rule is, far from rigid. Over a large part of Europe the boundaries between the different States are marked by no outstanding physical feature, and can only be detected along the highways by posts or pillars or some other artificial mark, or the location of a custom-house. For military purposes the boundary line becomes a " frontier " which extends for a varying space on each side of the line on the map. Troops and fortresses are not ranged SWITZERL.1SI) Fig. 48. — Fortresses on the French frontier. Political and Applied Geography 115 on the actual line, but at selected points in its neighbourhood. The boundaries between sub-divisions of old countries, like England, Germany, and France, sometimes indicate the limits of old independent States, or of ecclesiastical jurisdictions, or of tribal territories ; the modern tendency is to abolish them, and to substitute more convenient administrative divisions. In new countries, like the west of the United States and Canada, the sub- divisions are more often made by mathematical lines. Internal Development. — All material progress is dependent on the interaction between humanity and its geographical environment, and the rate of progress is almost directly in proportion to the extent of man's activity in dealing with that environment. In Australia, and in tropical Africa, the aborigines have remained at a low level of progress partly because they have been in the main content with what nature provided with little or no active interference on their part. They are, of course, people of a type different from those who have developed so greatly jn Europe, Asia, and America, and the question arises how far such types are the product of their environment. Purely pastoral pursuits in regions where only the natural resources are utilised, as in the Sahara, Arabia, and Central Asia, do not conduce to continuous progress in a community.. It is only when man begins to improve the natural conditions that he enters upon the upward path of development. The cultivation of the soil, the attempt to domesticate animals, and improve breeds of stock, the working of mineral resources, the pursuit of fishing, will among an energetic people lead to the improvement of the means by which these pursuits are carried on. This would develop the intelligence, and initiate manufactures of various kinds which are bound to go on improving. Increase of popu- lation in any country will lead to the occupation of further territory and the improvement of waste lands, as well as the opening up of the country by the destruction of forests. When this destruction is reckless it is apt to affect the chmate injuriously. The progress of internal development necessitates the establishment of communications by land and water between different sections of the community. These will no doubt be simple enough at first, mere narrow tracks as in tropical Africa, permitting the passage of only one man at a time. The introduction of beasts of burden greatly improves intercourse and traffic, and this improvement, with increased manufactures and the establishment of market centres, leads to the growth of commercial towns. Towns. — Probably one of the first causes which induced men to live together in enclosures was mutual protection, either from hostile com- munities or from wild beasts. Many of the oldest towns had their begin- ning under the protection of the fortified castle of a powerful chief. In central Africa at the present day the natives almost entirely Hve within enclosures around the chief's or headman's kraal. But as industry and commerce, and the political life of the people develop, many other causes co:ne into play leading to the establishment of towns and cities. The late ii6 The International Geography Mr. Green showed how natural it was that London should have started in its marvellous growth from the landing of the Romans on the first little height of land they reached on sailing up the inviting estuary of the Thames, which is the natural highway into the heart of the land for traffic from the continent of Europe. It became the great entrepot and distri- buting centre where, in time, much of the commercial business of the world came to be transacted. This, with the fact that it became the capital of the kingdom and the empire, will to a large extent account for its wonderful growth. On the other side of the island, Liverpool and Glasgow have also grown into great commercial centres, since the increase in the traffic across the Atlantic, although they both had certain natural disadvantages. Glasgow was situated on a narrow shallow stream suitable only for boats. But it was surrounded by coal and iron mines, and in order that the products of these and of the industries which accompanied them should find a direct transit to the outside world, the shallow stream was deepened into a great highway, navigable by ocean ships. Manchester owes its growth to the fact that it is a suitable centre for the manufacture of the raw cotton imported into Liverpool from America. The handsome city of Vancouver on the coast of British Columbia, opposite the island of that name, owes its existence to its being the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the point of departure for steamers across the Pacific. The town of Rossland in the Kootenay District of British Columbia grew up from nothing to a population of 6,000 in four years, owing to its being in the centre of a newly-discovered mining district ; but such an origin contains the germ of decay, for if the mines should be abandoned the city would be at once deserted unless other resources had in the meantime been developed. Similarly there exists a reason for the position and the development of every town in whatever part of the world it may be situated. Land and People. — The actual relations of the community or State and the land is an interesting feature in political geography. No doubt in primitive communities the land belongs to the whole community. In Russia at the present day the land of each mir, or commune or parish, belongs to the whole commune. In England the " Crown " or the State is supreme over all land. The relations of the State to the land is an important feature in the political geography of every country. It would be a nice point of inquiry to what extent the form of govern- ment of a community is due to its geographical conditions. No doubt the peculiar geographical position of the United Kingdom which minimises th 3 importance of the military element, has had something to do with the stable development of the pohtical condition of the country, though the ques- tion of race is also involved here. The contrast with France is very marked. The modern German Empire has been welded together and extended through war, and therefore the military element is still predominant there, as it is also in France for opposite reasons. The internal growth of a community or State naturally leads to its expansion, to its value being Political and Applied Geography 117 increased, in the eyes of those who, generation after generation, have developed it, and whose many common interests in their territory constitute them a nation, which, as in the Unitpd States, and indeed in most European countries, may be composed of many different races. This naturally leads to measures being taken for its defence — to the establishment of an army, of defences for the frontiers, and of a navy where that is required. Expansion brings a State into contact with its neighbours, with whom its relations may be friendly or hostile. If it is felt that the boundaries of the State are too restricted to give room for expansion, then attempts will be made to obtain additions to the territory of the State by forcible seizure, by treaty, or by purchase. This expansion will also lead to commercial traffic between neighbouring States, and the establishment of means of communication between distant States. Where a State borders on the ocean or possesses navigable rivers or lakes, ships are built, and the art of navigation improved. This traffic between different communities naturally leads to the growth of important trade centres ; thus some of the towns in southern Germany and Austria, such as Innsbruck and Salzburg, grew up as a result of the traffic between Italy and central Europe, across the Brenner and other passes. International Commerce. — International traffic has various obsta- cles to contend with ; there may be geographical difficulties, like mountain ranges over which passes have to be found and roads made, or at a later stage they have to be pierced by railway tunnels. Or if a State borders on the sea there may be a lack of convenient harbours, and this defect, unless remedied, might be a serious commercial disadvantage. If the State is energetic enough it may force its way by expansion to an accessible harbour, or it may, by attention to the development of engineering, over- come natural geographical disadvantages by such means as the creation of artificial harbours, or the construction of breakwaters. As the development of industry and commerce and of commercial relations with distant States increases, it becomes important to overcome the geographical disadvantage of distance by the introduction of steam power. Thus the means of transit become improved in speed and in carrying power, and the cost reduced, so that it becomes possible to develop regions previously untouched. Facilities for communication by means of correspondence are developed, and electricity is pressed into the service of humanity, telegraph lines are established, cables laid round the world, by means of which the most distant communities are brought into the closest relations. Artificial restrictions on commercial intercourse are frequently established, such as customs duties on certain articles imported, sometimes in order to raise a revenue for the State, sometimes in order to encourage native industries by increasing the price of imported articles. This may lead to the discouragement of industry in certain countries. Thus the sugar-cane industry of the West Indies has been nearly ruined because 10 ii8 The International Geography continental nations impose a heavy duty upon it to encourage the beetroot sugar industry. Most nations have such restrictions to a greater or less extent. In the United Kingdom they are confined to one or two articles of luxury, and therefore it is said to be a free-trading country. Sometimes States form what is called a commercial union, agreeing to accord each other certain advantages in their commercial intercourse which they do not accord to other States ; or it may be to agree not to give to any other State a greater favour in the imposition of duties than they accord to each other. Even before the union of the German States into the German Empire there existed what was called the ZoUverein or German Customs Union, by which free trade existed between them. Until recently Ham- burg remained outside of this union, and was a free port, and even yet on a small area of the city, on the harbour, merchandise may be landed free of duty. Though independent of each other in many respects, the various States that form the United States have free trade with each other, and so have the self-governing provinces of the Dominion of Canada ; on the other hand, the Australian colonies have different tariffs. States may also form political unions with each other for the purpose of mutual defence under certain contingencies. Colonisation. — The internal development of a State, and the expan- sion of its boundaries may reach a stage when further development is impossible by what may be called contiguous expansion. In that case a State may seek to acquire further territory at a distance from its own boundaries. Both the Phoenician and the Greek States sent out what they called colonies. These often consisted mainly of the foundation of new cities, sometimes with a greater or less extent of territory around. Often in the case of the Phoenicians they were only trading posts, more or less independent of the mother country. Carthage was originally a Phoenician colony, and grew to be a great independent State that sent out colonies of her own. Rome's annexations became part of the empire, governed from the centre. In modern times, Portugal and Spain, Holland, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, have taken possession of territory at a distance from their own lands. At first this was mainly done for trading purposes, though both Portugal and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in Asia and America, as well as in Africa, annexed large areas which were treated as part of their own dominions. Natives of the mother States went out partly as rulers, partly as traders, many of them staying permanently, and making these lands their homes. Many of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom went in large numbers to lands beyond the seas, especially to North America and to Australia. These new terri- tories were treated by the mother country as part of her own domain, and dealt with in the interests of the Home Government rather than of the population who lived upon them, and who had acquired those territories either by conquest or purchase, or by simply taking possession without consulting the aboriginal population. This conduct led to certain of the Political and Applied Geography 119 British colonies in North America declaring their independence of the mother country, and establishing new States. But as the other distant colonies developed and became populous and wealthy, the jurisdiction of the mother country over them becaine more and more- slender, and so far as their territory and their internal affairs are concerned, they became independent, and even treated the mother country commercially as a foreign land. The French colonies have not developed in the same way as the British. One of them, Algeria, is dealt with to a large extent as if it were a part of France, and they are all directly governed from the mother country, although several of them send representatives to the French Parliament. This condition of things is mainly due to the fact that Frenchmen have not migrated and settled in their colonies to anything like the extent that has been done in the case of the British colonies. This may be partly due to the fact that the geographical conditions in most of the French colonies are not favourable for European settlement, for in that part of Canada which was once a French colony there is still a large and growing French population. The United Kingdom has posses- sions of a somewhat similar type to those of France, but these are tropical like India, the Straits Settlements, Central Africa, and the West Indies, where the native or coloured population has not been displaced by people of European origin, and where Englishmen reside more or less temporarily as administrators or traders. The administration of colonial possessions is sometimes confided to a chartered commercial company, acting under the central government of the colonising country. New Colonial Forms. — The expansion of European States has recently become so great, and commercial development so rapid, that the most enterprising of them have sought still further to extend their terri- tories and expand their markets by taking possession more or less completely of such portions of the globe as remained unannexed. This haste has given rise to a new and curious political factor, seen especially in the case of Africa, which within a very few years has been partitioned among the Powers of Europe. So rapid has been this partition, and so extensive has been the share of each Power, that it has been impossible to take effective occupation of the territories, except at a few accessible points. Therefore it has been agreed among the Powers concerned that certain large areas beyond the stations occupied (the Hinterland) should be regarded as the " sphere of influence ' of the Power occupying the stations. The main object of thus reserving spheres of influence is commercial, most of the Powers concerned placing restrictions on foreign commercial enterprise. But these great areas claimed by the Powers of Europe are regarded as integral parts of the dominion or empire of these Powers, so that in reckoning up the area of the British, the French, or the German po-^sessions we include every square mile of land in any part of the world over which they claim to have " influence." The one exception I20 The International Geography is Egypt, which, although its affairs are practically directed by the British Government, and its principal officials are British, more so than is the case with an Indian native State, yet it is not nominally included in the British Empire. Another new form of political factor has been created by one State leasing part of its territory to another. This was done in 1894, when the British Government leased to the King of the Belgians a portion of British East Africa on the Upper Nile. Previously the Sultan of Zanzibar had leased part of his territory to the United Kingdom and to Germany, but these Powers ultimately bought the territory outright. More recently Ger- many, Russia, and the United Kingdom have leased certain areas of territory in China, where they have established naval and military as well as trading stations. More recently still the United Kingdom has accorded to France the lease of two stations on the British section of the Niger. All these new departures are due to the internal development of modern States and the necessity of finding scope for the energy of the increasing populations beyond the boundaries of their restricted territories. The Oceans. — As has been seen, the oceans themselves play an important part in political geography. Still further, it may be pointed out that the sea for a distance of three miles from the coast of civiUsed States is regarded as forming territorial waters of these States, in contradis- tinction to the " High Seas," on which there is no jurisdiction beyond that of the flag under which each vessel sails. Certain portions of the sea, more or less enclosed, arfe sometimes regarded as the property of the States bordering upon them, mainly for fishing purposes — thus the Bering Sea is claimed by Russia on the one side and by the United States on the other. A knowledge of the physical geography of the sea, especially of the currents and tides, is of importance to navigation. The knowledge of the ocean bed is of value in connection with the laying of telegraphic cables. It is also important to know the variations of temperature and salinity and other factors at different depths, as on these to a large extent depend, it is believed, the migration of food fishes. The results of the interaction between advanced coriimunities and their territories can often be shown quantitatively in the form known as Statistics, which, when arranged with intelligence, are useful as a measure of progress. Commercial Geography .—The applications of Geography to com- merce are so numerous and comprehensive that Commercial Geography must be vie\yed rather as a particular aspect of the whole subject than as a separate department. The necessary foundation is a sound compre- hension of the principles of geography, but this is useless for the special purpose until applied by a practical mind to practical affairs. Commercial geography may be divided roughly into three parts, dealing respectively with Commodities, Transport, and Markets. I. The principal Commodities fall into two classes, (a) Those which exist in the substance of the lithosphere, or have been formed there by Political and Applied Geography 121 slow natural processes, so that the supply is not inexhaustible. All mineral commodities are of this class : gold, coal, and iron are typical examples. After being obtained, most minerals require various processes of reduction or purification before they are fit for use, and materials for carrying out this work must be made available before the resources acquire their full value. (6) The second class consists of commodities, the supply of which can be increased and the nature modified by rapid natural processes which are capable of being directed by human agency. This includes all culti- vated plants and domestic animals. Most of the raw products of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, such as textiles, require complicated processes of manufacture before they can be utilised, and the work is often carried out at great distances from the places of production. 2. Means of Transport include routes by land and sea, the selection of which involves knowledge of geographical features and conditions, such as mountains, valleys, rivers, winds, or ice, and of artificial difficulties like hostile tribes or vested interests. They also include the vehicles or vessels used, and their mode of propulsion and guidance, thus involving engineer- ing and navigation. Pioneer gold miners in an Arctic region have to depend on their own backs or on dog-sledges for means of transport ; in other places rivers are available for canoes or boats, deserts may have to be crossed with camels, or jungle traversed with native porters. Roads and railways are later developments which render possible the most highly developed commerce. It is evident that the value of all bulky raw materials must depend on the possibility of cheap transport. Under this head postal and telegraph systems have also to be considered. 3. Markets involve a consideration of the laws of supply and demand, of the artificial restrictions or encouragements presented by protective or prohibitory tariffs, or by bounties, and the more natural effects of free competition. Distance between centres of production and consumption, facilities for handling goods in transit, nationality, language, even religion and superstition are important factors. In the descriptions in Part II. prominence is given to the products and trade on which the prosperity of each country depends, and statistics of the growth of its commerce are added ; but, except in a few instances, little can be said on undeveloped resources, a subject which concerns future rather than present conditions. STANDARD BOOKS F. Ratzel. -"Politische Geographie." Leipzig, 1897. " Anthropogeographiie." 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1882, 1891. New edit., vol. 1. 1899. J. S. Keltic and I. P. A. Renwiclt. "Tlie Statesman's Year Booli." London. Annual. W. Gotz. " Die Verkehrswege im Dienste des Welthandels." Stuttgart, 1888. G. P. Marsh. " Man and Nature, or Physical Geography as modified by Human Action." London, 1864. G. G. Chisholm. " Handbook of Commercial Geography." . London, 1890. J. S. Keltie. " Applied Geography." London, 1890. H. R. Mill. " Elementary Commercial Geography." New edit. Cambridge, 1897. ReraWic Colour Scbeme Tor ?laas. 1. /\rgetit= White. 2. Or = Yellow. 3. i\zure= 4. Sable = :Blue. Black. 5. Gules = Red. 6. Vert = Green. PART II CONTINENTS AND COUNTRIES BOOK I.— EUROPE CHAPTER XI THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE By George G. Chisholm, M.A., B.Sc. Position and Extent. — Europe is, next to Australia, the smallest of the continents. The area to be assigned to it depends upon the limits assumed, which vary partly in accordance with physical and partly in accordance with political considerations. In the south-east the limit now usually adopted is that of the valley of the Manych, stretching from near the Caspian Sea to the mouth of the Don, and nearly coinciding with the administrative boundary of the Lieutenancy of the Caucasus, the whole of which is thus assigned to Asia. In the east the most obvious physical boundary is formed by the Ural Mountains and the Ural River. The area of the mainland and the adjacent islands within these limits is about 3,750,000 square miles. The addition of Iceland and Novaya Zemlya (Nova Zembla) brings it up to 3,820,000 square miles, and the further addition of Spitsbergen to nearly 3,850,000 square miles. In the east of Russia, however, the political boundary extends some distance beyond the Urals so as to include all the mineral wealth of that region, and on the other hand, it runs, partly along the edge of a low plateau, some distance to the north-west and west of the Ural River. If this political boundary is followed it adds to the area of Europe about 100,000 square miles. Eurasia. — On a map of the world or the eastern hemisphere, Europe does not seem to have any right to the name of continent. It is seen to be a mere peninsula of a great land-mass the greater portion of which is formed by Asia. To this land-mass the name of Eurasia has been given, and from some points of view the consideration of the larger unit is con- venient if not essential. For most purposes, however, the distinction of the two continents is imperative. It has been established by history, and is justified by the physical conditions that have kept the history of the two continents in a large measure distinct. It originated where Europe and Asia are separated by water, and on land the separation is continued by a vast area of desert or sparsely peopled territory between the most populous regions of both. 123 124 The International Geography Coast-Line. — The coast-line of Europe, exclusive of the islands, has been variously estimated at from 19,500 to nearly 48,000 miles. The fact is that length of coast-line is not a definite idea, and no definite figure for the coast-line ought to be taught in schools. The length varies according to the degree in which the minor indentations are taken into account. It is important, however, that the coast-line of Europe is certainly longer in proportion to' area than that of any other continent ; but it is much more important that this greater length of coast-line is so largely due, not to small bays, gulfs, and creeks, but to great inland seas. The whole of Europe is thus brought into easy communication with the ocean. Surface Features. — These viewed broadly, are very simple. In the north-west there is an extensive highland region occupying the greater part of Scandinavia and advancing to the water's edge in the countless fjords of Norway. These highlands reap- pear, to a large extent in the same form, in the north-west of Scot- land, and in a modified form in the west of Great Britain generally, in the angles of Ireland, and in Normandy and Brittany in France. Another extensive and loftier highland region occupies the southern countries, spreading northwards in the area between Italy and the Baltic to about 51!° N. Fig. 49. — Europe, showing circles of 600 and 1,200 miles radius from Cracow. Between these great highland areas there stretches an area of lowlands mainly composed of low plains broken only by seas. This area begins in England to the north of the English Channel and south-west of the North Sea, and on the mainland stretches continuously from the shores of the Bay of Biscay, the English Channel, and the North Sea to the Ural Mountains, spreading out in Russia from the shores of the Black Sea to those of the Arctic Sea. In the highland region of the south there are certam minor features too important to be passed over even in a general survey. These minor feacures are of two classes— (a) mountain ranges or systems, (6) valleys or plains. The former are the Alps in the heart of this southern highland region, the Carpathians in the east, the Balkans in the south-east, the Appennines m the peninsula of Italy, and the Pyrenees, stretching from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean and forming a natural boundary which has never been Europe 125 long ignored in history. Of the lowland minor features the most important are (i) the valley of the Danube, stretching on the whole east and west through nearly the whole of the northern half of the mountainous region, and expanding in its lower part into two great plains, one between the Alps and the Carpathians drained also by the Theiss, the Drave, and the Save, and the other outside the Carpathians between these mountains and the Balkans ; (2) the valley of the Po, between the Alps and the Appennines ; (3) the north-to-south valley of the Saone and Rhone, between the Central Plateau of France and the highlands connecting it with the Vosges on the west, and the Alps and Jura on the east, a valley of all the more consequence historically and. commercially because it is separated only by a low water- parting between the Vosges and the Jura (the opening known as the Burgundy Gate) from (4) the equally important north-to-south valley of the middle Rhine from Basel to Cologne ; and (5) the valley, or rather relative depression, called the passage of Naurouse, between the foot-hills of the Central Plateau of France and those of the Pyrenees, contain- ing the low water- parting between the Garonne and the Aude. The Alps, — Al- though the Alps are not the most extensive mountain system in Europe, being sur- passed in this respect both by the Scandi- navian Highlands and the Ural Mountains, they are the loftiest, and they contain the sources of many of the most important streams of the continent. Their surface is shared, unlike the larger systems, by a number of different countries. Their limits are everywhere well marked except where they unite with the Appennines. Here the proper line of division has been much disputed, but now there is a nearly general agreement in placing the boundary at the CoUo dell' Altare or di Cadabona, a pass about 1,600 feet in height, to the north-west of Savona on the route to Mondovi. From this point they stretch rbund in a curve, west, north, then east — westwards to the frontier of France, then northwards on the borders of France and Italy, and finally eastwards through Switzerland and the west of Austria. Their total extent is about 80,000 square miles, or not much less than that of the mainland of Great Britain. Their total length is about 680 miles, their least width, between Mondovi and the Gulf of Genoa, about 30 miles, and their Fig. 50.- 'The Con/iguration of Europe, showing Highlands and Lowlands. 126 The International Geography greatest width, about the meridian of Verona, a little less than i6o miles. (See Fig. 210 for contrast with other mountain systems.) The highest peak is Mont Blanc, 15,775 feet, in a short range on the borders of France and Italy. Monte Rosa, on the borders of Switzerland and Italy, in the Pennine Chain, rises in the Dufourspitze to 15,215 feet, and there are several other peaks above 14,000, and many above 13,000 feet in height. The lower slopes of the Alps, up to about 5,300 feet in height, are known as the Fore Alps (in German Voralpen, in Italian Prealpi), those next in height up to about 9,000 feet, as the Middle Alps, and those above that height as the High Alps. This last altitude may be taken as the average snow- line in about the middle latitude of the Alps, 46^" N. The snow-line is, however, higher on the south side (9,200 feet) than on the north side of the Alps. The higher valleys are filled with glaciers, that of the Lower Grindelwald descending to about 3,500 feet (formerly lower). Geographical Divisions of the Alps. — These mountains are divided with respect solely to their direction and surface features, into three great and well-marked divisions, the Western Alps comprising the section with a north-to-south trend between the Great St. Bernard Pass, north-east of Mont Blanc, and the Collo dell' Altare, the Central Alps, ex- tending thence to the Brenner Pass with the valleys of the Adige-Eisack and the Wipp leading up to that pass on both sides, and the Eastern Alps comprising all the remainder. In the Western Alps the subsidiary ranges and the valleys are generally tortuous, at least on the outer or French side of the system, but in the other two divisions longitudinal mountain ranges and long valleys running between them east and west are a well-marked feature. Passes of the 'Western Alps.— On the east or Italian side of this division secondary chains run inwards towards the basin of the Po with some regularity, and among the valleys thus formed, two are of great importance with regard to the communication across the mountains, each of them leading up to two important passes. One of these is the valley of the Dora Riparia leading due west from Turin up to Susa, where the road forks, one branch going north-west across the Mont Cenis Pass (6,835 feet) to the valleys of the Arc and Isere, the other going south-west across the Genevra Pass (6,080 feet) to the valley of the Durance and the south of the Rhone valley. Both of these were much used in the middle ages, but the former has been superseded by a railway tunnel. The second important valley is that of the Dora Baltea, leading up to Aosta, the town still commemorating the name of its founder Augustus, who built it as the kay of the two Roman roads laid from this point, one across the Great St. Bernard (Mons Jovis) to the valley of the Rhone, the other across the Little St. Bernard, south of Mont Blanc, to the valley of the Isere. Passes of the Central Alps.— Several passes long combined to confer importance on one city in northern Italy— Milan, and one route Europe 127 on the north side, that of the Rhine valley above the lake of Constance On the south side of the Alps most of these routes followed at first the side of the lake of Como or were gained by a boat-voyage up that lake, but one of them ascended Lago Maggiore and then struck north- eastwards. On the north side all of them after crossing a single pass, or at most two passes, reached the Rhine valley above Chur (Coire, Curia Rhceiorum), and emerged from that valley almost due south of Ulm, on the Danube, thus contributing to the importance of that town. In Roman times and till late in the middle ages, the Septimer was the most important of these passes, though it is no longer a carriage-road. A more direct route across the Alps from Milan by the St. Gothard Pass was not made practicable till a late period, and not made easy till 1707, when a tunnel was pierced through the side of the gorge of the Reuss. In 1882 this route was supplemented by the longest of railway tunnels (9J miles ; see Fig. 134). Even in Roman times !Milan was connected with the Rhone valley by a road following at first the west side of Lago Maggiore, and then across the Simplon Pass (6,600 feet), which is now also being superseded bv a railway tunnel of even greater length (about 12 J miles). The Brenner.— The transverse breach form- ing the Brenner route, and taken as the line of demarcation between the Central and Eastern Alps, is so well marked and for the most part so convenient that it has formed from tlje earliest times an important highway both for commerce and for war. The pass itself is low (only 4,470 feet), and if the Inn valley is made use of downwards no other pass has to be crossed in the whole breadth of the mountain sys- tem. From the remains found on this route we know that it was made use of in prehistoric times by the Etruscans. It was one of the first of the Alpine passes to receive a Roman road. It was again and again followed by the Hoty Roman emperors in their expeditions from Ratisbon, due north of the outlet of the Inn on the Bavarian Plateau, to Italy. It was the first of the Alpine passes to have a carriage-road in the modem style laid across it (1772) ; and the first to get a railway carriage over it (1867). The chief tunnel on this line is rather more than half a mile long, and there are twenty-six shorter tunnels. Hydrography. — Besides being a centre of radiation for important feat looo-aooo - 30OO-80OO - Above SOOO . Fig. 51. — The Alps and their chief Passes. 128 The International Geography streams, the Alps are one of the principal lake-regions of Europe. The lakes, many of which are celebrated for the beauty of their surroundings, mostly lie on the outer margin of the system (Maggiore, Lugano, Como, Iseo, Garda on the south ; Geneva, Zurich, Constance, Ammer, Wiirm, Chiem, Konig, Hallstatt, Wolfgang on the north) ; but others (Walenstadt, Lucerne, Brienz, Thun) lie nearer the heart of the system. Another important centre of radiation for rivers is the higher ground to the south of St. Petersburg culminating in the Valdai Plateau. From this area issue the Volga and one or two of its chief tributaries, the Dniester, the Western Dvina and the Volkhov. To the north and west of this area, in Russia proper, Finland, and Scandinavia there is another region abound- ing in lakes of all sizes and shapes. Among these are the largest in Europe — Ladoga, 7,004 square miles, about one-tenth smaller than Wales, Onega, 3,765 square miles, Chudskoye or Peipus, 1,356 square miles, Vener, 2,409 square miles, Vetter, 758- square miles, this last accord- ingly, though the smallest of the five, being equal in size to the county of Surrey A third region abounding in lakes is the northern part of the German plain, especially north and east of the Elbe, aild a peculiar feature of the eastern section of this region is the large number of lakes in it (mostly very small) without any visible outlet. Geology. — The geological structure of the mountainous region of southern Europe is as complicated as its orography. The same is true of the highland region of the British Isles, but in Scandinavia the geological changes belong to such a remote past that the steps in the change are no longer distinguishable. The solid rocks both of this peninsula and the adjoining parts of Russia to the east of the White Sea and the shores of Lakes Ladoga and Onega are mainly composed of materials so meta- morphosed that they are all classed as Archaean crystalline rocks. Between the highland areas the rocks are for the most part more recent except in northern Russia. In the English lowlands Jurassic rocks cover a considerable area, but on the mainland of Europe those of Cretaceous age are generally the oldest, excepf in the region just mentioned. Above the Cretaceous areas of the plains are extensive deposits of Tertiary age (also widespread in southern Europe) ; and northern Germany, Denmark, and Holland are mainly composed of Quaternary deposits. In the Quaternary history of Europe an important episode was the advance on more than one occasion of a vast ice-sheet from the Scandi- navian highlands over a great part of the plains, and of smaller ice-sheets from the chief mountain ranges of the south, with glaciers of much larger dimensions than those now seen protruding from the margin of the sheet down the valleys. This period is known as the Ice Age, or sometimes the main periods of advance of the ice are distinguished with more precision as the First, Second, and Third Ice Ages. The result of this advance of ice has been to cover vast regions with deposits of morainic matter, in the' Europe 129 form of clay, shingle, or larger fragmentary material, or with deposits of another kind due to the action of water under the ice. The great lake districts of Europe all belong to the regions once buried under these vast ice coverings. Twofold Division of the Alps based on Geological Structure. — In this division now generally recognised, the line of demarcation between the Eastern and Western Alps being that of the route across the Alps, from Milan to the upper end of the lake of Constance, by the Lago Maggiore (east side), the Val Mesocco, and the Hinter-Rhein. Throughout the Alps the central zone, -which contains the highest peaks, is composed mainly of hard crystalline rocks, outside of which sedimentary rocks occur. East of the line mentioned these sedimentary rocks occur both on the outer (northern) and inner side, and on both sides are largely composed of lime- stones and dolomites, though on the north side these are largely inter- mingled with sandstones and slates. West of the line there is no inner zone, and in the outer zone limestones and dolomites greatly predominate. The structure is shown in the sec- tion of Switzerland (Fig. 130). Climate. — This is one of the heads under which it is important to remember that Europe is after all only a great peninsula of Eurasia. The climate of Europe can be compared only with that of the corresponding lati- tudes of the western portion of North America, not the whole width of that conti- nent. This comparison reveals analogies, but also differences greatly to the advantage of Europe. In both cases, the chief rain-bearing, in winter the chief heat-bearing, and in summer the chief cooling winds are from the south-west. Europe, however, in addition to the advantage of receiving its winds from warmer seas, owing to the indirect influence of the Gulf Stream, has no mountains near the coast running at right angles to these winds, and thus cutting off their influence within a short distance ; and, on the other hand, its great inland seas, the Baltic in the north, and the Mediterranean in the south, favour the penetration of the equalising influence of the sea further into the interior. Moreover, southern Europe has the benefit of a mountain barrier on the north to ward off cold northerly or north-easterly -vyinds. The result is that all kinds of cultivated products, vyhether those of the temperate zone, such as wheat and barley, or those of a warmer clime, such as the vine, orange, and olive, can be cultivated in a higher latitude in Europe than anywhere else on the globe. I Existing Glaciers. ^g Ancient Ice Sheet. Fig. S2. — The Glaciated Area of Europe. 130 The International Geography Barley is regularly grown in Europe (Norway) several degrees within the Arctic Circle. For certain products the advantage of more prolonged sunshine thus enjoyed is of great consequence in improving the quality. But owing to the direction of the prevailing winds in Europe, there is the same increase in range of temperature from west to east as in western North America, and the same tendency to a diminution of rainfall in the same direction where not counteracted by special circumstances. The easterly increase of range of temperature is noticeable even in the Medi- terranean region in spite of the equalising influence of t^e great inland sea. In the higher latitudes of Europe, however, the increase of range is due more to the increase of winter cold eastwards, in the lower latitudes rather to the increase of summer heat in that direction. Rainfall. — The easterly decrease of rainfall is regular in Europe only in the region of the plains. Everywhere of course mountains promote a higher rainfall locally, but the effect of posi- tion with regard to the prevailing rain-bear- ing winds is seen in mountainous districts also in the fact that the heaviest rains gene- rally occur in Europe to the west and south of the mountains, and on their western and southern slopes. For the most part the rain- fall is tolerably equally distributed throughout the year, but there is a well-marked contrast between the eastern plains and the Mediterranean region, especially its southern portion, as regards the season of most abundant rains. In the eastern plains the most abundant rains are those of the summer. The winter rains are perhaps as frequent as those of summer, but are extremely scanty. Though the winds then blow across the isotherms, and hence at that season are constantly advancing into regions in which the temperature becomes more favourable to condensation, yet from that very fact, they are so rapidly drained as they proceed onwards that they arrive in Russia nearly dry. The summer rains are largely due to local evaporation. The Mediterranean region, on the other hand, belongs in part to those latitudes which, during the height of summer, are included in the trade- wind zone of the North Atlantic. There ii thus a tendency for the winds to be drawn to the ocean from the adjoining parts of the land, a tendency / / 'r^h\^-'''^^ \ J^ \nUnd.rZOI«. Fig. 53. — The Distribution of Rainfall in Europe. Europe 131 to the establishment of north-easterly winds. This is further promoted by the intense rarefaction that then goes on over the Sahara. Hence it happens that the further south we go in the Mediterranean region the drier the summers become, and in the extreme south they are almost rainless. It is believed by some that the rainfall of this region has be- come less within historical times. The evidence of this is not convincing, but it is quite certain that owing to the clearing of forests with the progress of population and cultivation great changes have been brought about. The forests on hill-slopes and mountain sides protected the soil from being washed away, and the presence of the soil kept the rain from running off too rapidly. There was thus a greater extent of ground well supplied with moisture. Rivers were more equal in volume, more'useful, less destructive. Now they are an alternation of rushing torrents and dry beds. Through their torrential action they have in some places laid waste the ground with heaps of rocky debris, in other places, sometimes assisted by the violence of war, they have converted plains once proverbial for their fertility into malarious swamps, presenting scenes of almost hopeless desolation. Flora. — The greater part of Europe is occupied by a flora of uniform character, to which the name of the Germanic flora has been given, a flora of forest trees and flowering plants such as are familiar in the British Islands. Only a small area in the north-east, the Russian tundras, has a true Arctic flora composed of mosses and lichens. In the Mediterranean region, and especially in the southern part of it, there is a marked adap- tation in the general habit and aspect of the vegetation to a climate with dry summers, and within historical times there has been an increasing diffusion of vegetation of this character answering to the increasing extent of arid soil just explained. In ancient times forests like those of central Europe spread over large areas, of the Mediterranean, but now the prevailing forms are low trees with leathery often glossy leaves, retentive of moisture, such as the holly and holm-oak, the laurel and myrtle, the pistachio nut and carob or locust tree, the orange and the olive. Thick fleshy plants, such as the cactus and the agave or American aloe, have also become thoroughly characteristic in the south. The trees do not form great forests, but are scattered in clumps over the landscape. Hence the Italian name of such clumps, macchie.' The tendency in the Mediterranean is for forests increasingly to give place to macchie, and these to a still scantier vegetation. In south-eastern Europe, and in the interior of Hungary, vegetation has another aspect, that of steppes— vast treeless plains, thinly covered with coarse grasses and scattered shrubs. Fauna. — In the fauna of Europe, as distinguished from that of northern Asia, there is very little distinctive. Europe is regarded from a zoological point of view as forming two sub-regions of the Patearctic region, one composed of the Mediterranean countries, the other comprising all the rest. Under this head again we are reminded that Europe is only ' Plural of macchia, from Latin, macula, a spot. Changed by the French (in Corsica) into maguis. 132 The International Geography a peninsula of Asia, for the Palasairctic region includes also all that con- tinent north of the Himalayas. Among the larger or more remarkable mammals still found wild in Europe are the wolf, in large packs in Poland, Russia, and Hungary, and in small troops in the Jura, the Ardennes, the Pyrenees, and the north of Spain ; the brown bear in Norway, Sweden, and Russia, and a smaller variety in the Pyrenees ; the lynx, still common enough in Norway and Sweden, and a peculiar species all over Spain, very rare in central Europe ; the beaver in eastern Europe, the European bison in the forests of Lithuania, the elk in the districts bordering the Baltic on the east and north, the reindeer in Lapland, the chamois in the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Balkans, and Abruzzi, the Grecian ibex or bezoar goat in Crete, the musimon'or European mouflon in Corsica and Sardinia, the alpine marmot at high altitudes between the forests and the glaciers in the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians, the bobak or Russian marmot in the Russian steppes. People and Language.— The languages of Europe afford some indication of the differences of race in the continent, but are not to be taken as showing the proportions belonging to different races. Here, as elsewhere, historical events have brought about a great mingling of races, and various causes have led to a change of language in many regions. But -if language be taken as the guide, it is important to note that probably 95 per cent, of the present population speak languages belonging to the great Aryan group, and fully 90 per cent, to three great stocks of that group, the Greco-Italic, the Teutonic, and the Slavonic. The first of these stocks is that in which there is least correspondence between race and language, one language of this stock, the Latin, having been spread first over the whole of Italy, and also over modern France and part of Belgium, over Spain and Portugal, and parts of Switzerland and Austria, by the prolonged dominion of the Roman power. Another language of the same origin was introduced by immigration into Rumania and Transylvania. At the present day the total number speaking languages of this stock is less than that speaking Teutonic and Slavonic languages. These are now spoken by nearly equal numbers, but in recent years the peoples of Slavonic tongue (in eastern and south-eastern Europe), have been increasing more rapidly within the continent tKan those of Teutonic speech (German, Scandinavian, Dutch, Flemish, and English). A larger part of the expansion of the peoples of Teutonic than of those of Slavonic speech is taking place outside of Europe. The other Aryan languages spoken in Europe are those of Keltic, Lettic, and Lithuanian stock. Keltic languages are spoken by about three millions of people in Wales, the highlands of Scot- land, Ireland, and the west of Brittany, Lettic and Lithuanian by a few millions more in the west of Russia proper, and the north-east of Poland, . The chief non-Aryan languages of Europe are those of the Fimto-Talar group, spoken by Lapps and Finns in northern Scandinavia and Finland, by other tribes in northern Russia, by the Magyars in Hungary, and by Europe 133 the Turks in Turkey. A language the affinities of which are quite un- known is spoken by 560,000 Basques in Spain and France at the west end of the Pyrenees. Jews are scattered throughout the continent, but are most numerous in Poland and western Russia, and the adjoining parts of Austria-Hungary and the German Empire. They generally speak a corrupt Hebrew in addition to the language of the country in which they dwell. History. — The civilisation of Europe began in the south-east and spread from the Mediterranean over the rest of the continent. On the islands and coasts of the ^gean Sea influences proceeding from Asia and Africa (Phoenicia and Egypt), helped on the development of the marvellous civilisation of the Greeks. The Greeks extended their influence by com- merce and by the planting of colonies from the .^Egean to the shores of the Black Sea on the one hand, and to those of Sicily and southern Italy on the other hand. The Sicilian and Italian colonies rose to a level hardly surpassed by the most flourishing States of the mother country. From mere economic necessities their influence on the native civilisations of Italy must have been immense — greater than can be detected by historical or archaeological research. Ultimately, however, native civilisations pre- dominated in Italy, and the most important of these arose in or near the basin of the Tiber. The first was that of the industrial and commercial Etruscans whose chief seats were in southern Etruria, only partly accordingly in the modern Tuscany. The Influence of Rome. — The Etruscans were vanquished by the growing power of Rome, the city of the Tiber, which ultimately came to spread her dominion round all the shores of the Mediterranean and northwards to the Rhine and the Danube, in places even beyond the Danube. The ancient history of Europe is largely made up of the record of the conquests of this Power; but there were important periods of repose, especially one period of rather more than 80 years (98-180 A.D.), when the Roman empire at the height of its power was governed by four successive emperors (Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius) of great abiHty and high character. During that time all the countries round the Mediterranean enjoyed the blessings of peace and order to an unexampled degree. Roman institutions were established on such a firm basis as to leave permanent effects on European history, and the empire was provided with most of that great system of military roads that united its remotest frontiers. These roads were made for defence, but when a defending power is worsted roads facilitate attack, and it was by these roads that barbarian hordes made repeated raids into the empire, and in the fifth century again and again advanced to its very heart and ultimately overthrew it in its original seat. The Influence of the Christian Church. — While the empire was decaying, the Christian Church was growing within it, and as it grew it adapted its organisation almost inevitably to that of the empire. It thus became a great unifying force, and, as some of the barbarians were 134 The International Geography already christianised when they made their incursions and the others were speedily gained over to the Church, it served in various ways to extend and perpetuate the influences of Roman civilisation. Thus the Roman roads were not all that remained from the empire as civilising agents. But while the Church was a unifying, influence, two causes were at work for centuries tending to promote disruption within the empire. One was its excessive extent from east to west, the other was the difference of language. While the Latin language prevailed over those of the con- quered nations of the west, it never prevailed over Greek in the east. The regular division of the empire for administrative purposes into two sections, an eastern and a western, began at the close of the third century, A.D. This tendency to disunion was confirmed by the foundation of Con- stantinople as the capital of the east in 330 a.d., and by the adoption of Greek as the official language of the eastern government as it was also that of the Eastern Church. Finally, in the ninth century, about four hundred years after the overthrow of the Roman empire in the west, a dispute between the Eastern and Western Churches led to a severance which the difference of language helped to make permanent. Thus while the eastern or Byzantine empire handed on Roman influences, it did so with certain difterences. While all western, including all Teutonic, Europe may be said to show direct or indirect traces of the influence of the Roman empire of the west, Russia and some other parts of Slavonic Europe have received such influences both in Church and State with an eastern stamp. The western Slavs of the basins of the Vistula, Oder, ahd upper Elbe (Poland and Bohemia), as well as that of the Morava (Moravia), were christianised by German missionaries, and so also were the Magyars of Hungary, hence all these adhered to the Roman Church. The Saracens and the Crusades. — Even before the final separation between the Eastern and Western Churches another faith, Mohammedanism, had made conquests in Europe. In 711 the Saracens, as the Mohammedans of that time were called in Europe, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and rapidly overran nearly the whole of the Iberian peninsula, establishing a dominion which, though gradually contracted, was not finally overthrown till the end of the fifteenth century. Less durable conquests were made in Sicily, Crete, and elsewhere. The resistance to the Saracens was at first local, but at the end of the eleventh century a great European movement was set on foot for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem from their hands. This led to the first Crusade (1096-99). Six others followed down to 1270, and had important effects on European commerce, industry, and civilisa- tion, though they failed in their main purpose. Subsequent. Events.— Subsequently to the Crusades the chief events of European magnitude were the invasion of the European territories of the Eastern Roman Empire in the fourteenth, and the final capture of Constantinople by the Turks in the fifteenth century (1453), the scattering Europe 135 of Greek scholars over western Europe and the revival of Greek learning that then followed, aided by the invention of printing with movable types that had taken place in the first half of the same century, the discovery of America in 1492, and of the sea-way to India in 1497-98, and the schism of the Western Church due to the movement for reform which was brought to a head in 1517 by Luther's affixing his famous theses to the door of the castle-church at Wittenberg. The Origin of the Present States. — In the limits of European countries at the present day we see partly the influence of geographical conditions, partly that of historical causes, among which the events briefly sketched in the preceding paragraphs are important. The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal originated in the wars for the recovery of the Iberian Peninsula from the Saracens or Moors. Several different Christian States were formed in the course of this conflict, but most of these were finally united through the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, their grandson Charles (Charles V. of Germany) inheriting in 1516 the whole of their dominions, including the kingdom of Granada, which they had conquered from the Moors (1492). Portugal, however, remained, as it still does, a separate kingdom, with a territory separately recovered from the Moors, with the aid of a Burgundian count who became the founder of the first royal dynasty. The abandonment of the British Isles by the Romans early in the fifth century, led to the invasion of Great Britain in the latter half of the same century by Teutonic tribes. Angles and Saxons, who were the real founders of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, though the latter took its name from a Keltic dynasty. The separate dominions of France and Germany may be dated from the year 870, when the great empire of Charlemagne (Charles the Great), regarded, in virtue of a consecration by the popes, as a restoration of the Roman empire of the West, was finally divided between two of his descendants, the division corresponding approximately with that of the Romanic and Teutonic tongues. Nearly a century later the imperial dignity was again revived by the popes, being conferred in 962 on Otho the Great, the first of the so-called Holy Roman Emperors, whose dignity survived in name till 1806. The dominion of Otho and some of his successors embraced not only the bulk of Germany 'but also all the Alpine lands and a great part of Italy, but the obstacles placed by geographical conditions in the way of a real union, must be recognised as among the causes that led to the breaking up of both Germany and Italy into a large number of minor States, so that there was no united Germany or united Italy till the nineteenth century. The domain of the modern German Empire, founded in 1871, differs from that of the Holy Roman Empire chiefly by the exclusion of the German parts of Austria-Hungary, of Switzerland and the Low Countries, and the inclusion of extensive territories in the east once, or still, Slavonic 136 The International Geography in speech. The present dual empire of Austria-Hungary is composed of the territories gradually acquired by the house of Habsburg. With that house the imperial title derived from the Holy Roman Empire (latterly purely nominal) was uninterruptedly associated from 1438 till 1806, when it was relinquished for that of Emperor of Austria. The Low Countries now form the kingdoms of Belgium and the Netherlands, after a very chequered history. In the sixteenth century entirely attached to the crown of Spain, the northern provinces broke away (1579) in the period of the Reformation, while the southern provinces remained attached now to one crown, now to another. In the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which concluded the Thirty Years' War, the independ-- ence of the northern provinces was recognised. The provinces were all again united by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, at the close of the Napoleonic period, but were separated once more in 1830, when the southern provinces revolted and formed the kingdom Of Belgium. The Peace of Westphalia recognised also the independence of the provinces that formed the nucleus of the present Switzerland. The Slavonic territory of the modern German Empire was mainly taken from the former kingdom of Poland. This State became a kingdom in 1320, was for a time extensive and powerful, but misgovernment, due to an impracticable constitution, led to its partition among the three adjoining powers, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, on three occasions (1772, 1793, and 1795), the last partition being complete. Before the last partition the troubles of the French Revolution followed by those of the Napoleonic period (1789-1815) had broken out. The Congress of Vienna, which subsequently settled the affairs of Europe, recognised the results of this final partition, as it did most of the other territorial arrangements existing at the beginning of the period. • The only important new arrangement that still subsists from that time is the personal union of Sweden and Norway under one king, the latter kingdom having previously been associated with Denmark. Since that time the principal changes in the map of Europe have been the transfer of Alsace-Lorraine from France to Germany (1871), and the reorganisation of the Balkan Peninsula at the expense of Turkey : Greece made an independent kingdom in 1830 and extended in i88i ; the princi- pality of Rumania created by the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859. By the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Rumania, Servia, and Montenegro were declared independent of Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina placed under Austrian administration, Bulgaria made a principality tributary to Turkey, and Eastern Rumelia an autonomous Turkish province under a Christian governor, an arrangement that lasted only till 1885, when Eastern Rumelia joined Bulgaria. In 1881 Rumania, and in 1882 Servia, was raised to the rank of a kingdom. The Great Powers of Europe— the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, Austria- Hungary, and Italy— although not free from mutual Europe 137 jealousies, exercise in some respects a common influence on the peace of the world. The gradual consolidation of Europe into a comparatively small number of powerful countries has been ac- companied by the re- moval of obstacles to intercommnuication. The existing railway system includes many inter- national express routes, which radiate from Paris, Berlin, and Vienna as centres (Fig. 54). Of these the Indian mail route through Paris and Turin, to Brindisi ; the Orient Express from Paris through Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade to Constantinople ; and the Northern Express route from Paris through Berlin to St. Petersburg, are the longest on which trains run without change of carriage. Fig. 54. — The Main Railways of Europe. • STATISTICS. THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE IN ORDER OF SIZE. Area sq. miles. Pop, Area sq. miles. Pop. Russia . , 2,095,500 100,000,000 Greece 25,300 2,200,000 Austria-Hungary 261,000 42,600,000 Servia 18,700 2,100,000 German Empire 210,600 52,000,000 Switzerland .. 16,000 2,900,000 France ; . 207,200 38,000,000 Denmark 15.300 2,200,000 Spain . . 195,000 17,300,000 Netherlands . , 12,700 4,500,000 Sweden ,. 171,000 4,800,000 Belgium ".373 6,000,000 Norway . . 125,600 2,000,000 Montenegro . 3.500 220,000 United Kingdom 121,700 39,000,000 Luxemburg . 1,000 210,000 Italy .. iii.QOO 30,000,000 Andorra 175 6,000 Tiurkey . . 65,000 4,500,000 Liechtenstein 61 10,000 Rimiania .. 50,600 6,000,000 San Marino . 23 8,000 Bulgaria . . 37,300 3,100,000 Monaco 8 13,000 Portugal . . 34.500 4,700,000 STANDARD BOOKS. G. G. Chisholm. " Europe." 2 vols. In Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel. London, 1899, 1900. A. Kirchhoff (editor). " Europa." 2 vols. In Unser Wissen von der Erde. Vienna, 1887, 1890. M. Block. " L'Europe, Politique et Sociale." Paris, 1892. E. A. Freeman. " Historical Geography of Europe." 2 vols. London, 1881. W, Sievers. " Europa." Leipzig, 1894. Sir E. Hertslet. "The Map of Europe by Treaty." 4 vols. London, 1875, 1891, R. F. Scharff, " The History of the European Fauna." London, 1899. CHAPTER XII.— THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND I.— GENEEAL By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc. Name. — In popular usage the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is most frequently, though incorrectly, called England. When James VI., King of the Scots, acceded to the English crown he employed the name Great Britain to include the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the use of this name for the whole country has since been general in official writings, while the more concise form of Britain is also in use. It is, however, better in several ways tb call the country as a whole the United Kingdom, in the same way as the United States of America are spoken of as the United States. It is convenient to use the word British for " of the United Kingdom " as it is convenient to use American for " of the United States." The official form Britannic does not commend itself for general adoption. Eupliony suggests the use of A nglo- in compound words where the name of the United Kingdom comes first, and of British where it comes last ; thus, Anglo-American but Russo-British. It is necessary to give these definitions because there is no general usage in the country, and some local jealousy exists as to the abuse of the words. The British Islands is a convenient name for the region occupied by the United Kingdom, and the British Empire is a popular expression including all the countries and colonies acknowledging the British Crown. Position and Extent. — The United Kingdom occupies two large islands. Great Britain and Ireland, and about 5,000 small islands and rocks lying in groups to the north — ^Orkney and Shetland ; to the west— the Hebrides, Isle of Man, the small coast islands of Ireland, and the Scilly group ; and to the south — the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands, the latter belonging physically to France. The total area is 121,000 square miles, the United Kingdom coming eighth in order of size amongst the countries of Europe. It is convenient to remember that the whole land and sea area of the British Islands is defined by a rectangle of lo" of latitude and longitude. Only Lizard Head, the Scilly, and the Channel Islands lie south of the parallel of 50° N. ; and only a part of the Shedand group extends further north than 60° N. The meridian of 10° W. runs through the tips of the western peninsulas of Ireland ; while only the south-east of England projects beyond the meridian of Greenwich. Geology and Configuration.— Although there are now no lofty mountain chains or great rivers in the British Islands, there is much vaiiety of land-form and of scenery, the result of remote geological changes, and of the more recent action of erosion upon the different kinds of rocks which 138 The United Kingdom 139 ATLANTIC form the surface. In no other part of Europe, or perhaps of the world, is so great a range of geological strata found in so small an area. In the north and west the most ancient and disturbed rocks known form the land, which is similar in character to the Scandinavian peninsula. Towards the south and east these ancient rocks are succeeded by Carboniferous strata containing the Coal Measures, which give place further south and east to more recent formations usually but little dis- turbed and resem- bling those of western France. The northern and western regions have possibly been on the whole land areas since a very early geological period ; the rocks of the south and east have been formed by the sediments worn off the northern lands and spread out on the shores of seas, or in great fresh lakes. Volcanic outbursts leading to the ac- cumulation of masses of hard igneous rocks have occurred at vari- ous geological periods down to and includ- ing the Tertiary in the regions of ancient rocks, which have also been subject to much faulting and folding ; but apparently the more recent regions of the east and south were not affected in this way. These facts fully account for the occurrence of the highest land and finest scenery in the north and west, and the lowest and most uniform towards the south and east (Fig. 55). Many of the minor surface features of the islands have been produced by the ice-sheet and glaciers of the Great Ice Age, which scratched, polished, and rounded the exposed rocks, and smothered the lower grounds in vast sheets of boulder clay, partly obliterating the former surface relief. The extreme south of England alone escaped this action. The indented island- I Over 1,500 ft. - 3 500-1,600 ft. ^ I 1 Tliider 500 ft. Fig. 55. — Conjigttratioii of tlie British Islands. 140 The International Geography- starred coast of the west of the British Islands points to a depression or a tilting of the whole region westwards after a complex system of valleys had been impressed upon it by erosion. The drowned valleys of the west form fjords or rias penetrating the land, or uniting together to cut off islands. On the east the generally smooth coast, practically without islands, may result from the softer nature of the rocks. Configuration and History. — The natural physical divisions of the British Islands have given rise to the larger his- torical divisions by guiding the long struggles of the settled inhabitants against successive invaders. Wherever the character of the Fig. %t.—Frequeiu^ of Winds from j^nd allowed the defenders to offer effective different directions, . , , . • ,, , , , , , resistance to invasion the old race was enabled to retain its independence, language, and customs. Strong local differences, even distinct feelings of nationality and separate laws are still perpetuated, long after the complete political union of the old countries into the United |Under38' ^^38-42 fXm ^g-gO Fig, S7. — Temperature of the British Islands in January. Eg 50- 60 I 1 Above 60 Fig. 58. — Temperature of the British Islands in 'July, Kingdom, of which England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands may be looked upon as natural units. Climate of the British Islands.— The position of the British Islands in latitude secures to them the same amount of heat from the Sun and the The United Kingdom 141 V Ju lit. Hab API. Mat. Jun. M. Auc. Sii>. Ooi Hw. Dio io\ 60 5& 60 45 40 35 30 35 ZO 15 , -- -s s 8 7 e s 4 3 2 1 J ^ " \ V, I ^' _ _ -^ -'^ „ ™. .. -,.. H .. " Fig. 5g. — Average monthly tempern- ture and rainfall for Greenwich and Valentia. same duration of day and night, summer and winter, as are experienced in central Russia, southern Siberia, Kamchatka, British Columbia, and Labrador ; but the direction of the prevailing winds renders available throughout the year much of the heat which the Sun has radiated on more southern regions. As the British Islands are usually covered by the edge of the North Atlantic area of low pressure the prevailing wind is south- westerly. Wind blows from the south-west for a greater number of days in each month than from all other directions together (Fig. 56) ; a fact which makes the west end of a town the least smoky and therefore the best quarter for residence. The south-westerly winds are commonest and strongest in winter. In April and November they are weakest, and in these months cold easterly winds are comparatively common. The warm water known as the Gulf Stream Drift is driven against the British Islands on the west, maintaining the generally high temperature of the air. The average temperature of the British Islands for the year is about 48° F. decreasing from 53° in the Scilly Islands to 45° in Shetland, so that on the average the climate grows 1° colder for each 100 miles towards • the north. The warmest month is usually July (Fig. 58), when an average temperature of 64° prevails round London, and of 54° in Shetland, the air on the whole becoming cooler towards the north, a natural conse- quence of the Sun being the chief source of the heat supply. But in winter there is an entirely different set of conditions. In January (Fig. 57), the coldest month, the temperature shows no relation to latitude, but the air grows warmer from east to west, indicating that the chief source of heat is then the warm wind blowing from the Atlantic. The east of the British Islands has the average temperature of 39° from Shetland to London, the coldest region, just inland from the east coast, having an average of 38°. In the west Fig. 60.— Average monthly tempera- and south-west of Ireland the temperature ture and rainfall for Ben Nevis averages from 43° to 45° in January. The and fori William. . ° ,, ^~' 7 ■,,,..,,, winters are thus everywhere mild, but mildest on the coast and especially in the west ; and the summers are everywhere cool, but coolest on the coast and in the west. Snow falls on the higher ground every winter ; but even the highest mountain, Ben Nevis, is always free from snow in summer. E< JM.Fii.IUi lH.tbT.Jui.m.Ave.SEP.Oor.ll(iy Die. i''' the English language a notable impulse towards its tuams ofEnglatd present form, and ingrafted a French culture on (twice), Scotland, and the Germanic people. Generally speaking, while ^^ "" " mixture between the Keltic and Teutonic races was always taking place, the Keltic clans kept their independence under their chiefs in the highlands and islands of the west, while the Teutonic tribes became fused into a homogeneous nation on the lower and more fertile lands of the east. Great Britain, from the time of the Norman conquest until 1603, was divided between the small northern kingdom of Scotland and the large kingdom of England. The two were always at enmity, and a broad strip of debate- The United Kingdom 145 able land formed the borders separating the marches of the countries. The lowland Scots and English were, however, one in race and language. The union of the two crowns in 1603 was not followed by the union of the two parliaments till 1707, and in 1800 the suppression of the Irish parliament and the admission of Irish representatives to the British parliament brought about the present constitution of the United Kingdom. People. — The first uniform census of the United Kingdom was taken in 1801 on the completion of the Union. Since that time the growth and the redistribution of population have been remarkable. Population of United Density per Percentage of population in Date. Kingdom. sq. mile. England & Wa.es. Ireland. Scotland. 1801 . . 16,000,000 . , 131 . . 56 , . 34 . . 10 1891 . . 38,000,000 . . 314 . . 76 . . "12 . . n The predominance of England is still more strikingly shown by the trade returns ; but the union of the three countries is so complete, and the number of Scotsmen and Irishmen in England is so great that such comparisons are unnecessary and even misleading. The British people at the present day are mainly of Teutonic stock and English speech, the varieties of dialect being mere survivals of former conditions of isolation. In 1891 not quite 5 per cent, of the people were returned as speaking Keltic languages (half of them speaking Welsh, the others Irish and Gaelic) but only one-third of these (half a million people in Wales) were unable to speak English. The people of the United Kingdom as a whole, although not so educated nor so disciplined as the Germans, and not so polished nor so thrifty as the French, may be credited with perseverance, enterprise and powers oi physical endurance beyond the average of mankind, and with a determined independence of character. The valour of the British army, and especially the splendid organisation of the British navy, have preserved the country from invasion and extended the area of the British Empire beyond all others. The enterprise of British manufacturers, merchants and ship- owners, has gained a like pre-eminence over all other nations in trade and material prosperity. Respect for law and love of justice are the mosi striking characteristics of the nation. In the United Kingdom and the colonies Law is recognised as the first power in the realm, and special provisions have been made to prevent the Crown, the government, or the armed services from interfering with its impartial administration. Government. — The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, the supreme legislative power being vested in a parliament, consisting of the Sovereign, a House of Lords, most of the members of which are hereditary, and a House of Commons, consisting of 670 representatives elected by men who possess certain very general qualifications. Two- thirds of the male population over twenty-one years of age are registered as voters. The House of Commons alone has power over the national expenditure ; and it is only on rare occasions that either the House oi Lords or the Crown refuses to pass or to assent to any Bill passed by thai 146 The International Geography House. The executive power nominally vested in the Crown can practi- cally only be exercised by the Cabinet, a committee of about twenty Ministers, who are responsible to Parliament and must resign when they lose the confidence of that body. The House of Commons — " the mother of parliaments " — is the pattern on which the legislative chambers of all democratic countries are based. Elementary education is compulsory and free. The predominant form of religion is Protestant, except in Ireland, where Roman Catholics are in a large majority. In England the Anglican Episcopal Church is established by law, and in Scotland the Presbyterian Church. The established churches do not include a majority of the population, and membership of them con- fers no political or public privileges. The British Empire is an unofficial name which includes the United Kingdom, the Indian Empire, and all the British colonies, protectorates, and spheres of influence. The bond between the various parts is little more than community of sentiment, all the colonies in temperate regions being themselves self-governing countries, their people untrammelled by British legislation, but receiving the advantages of British citizenship and having the right of ultimate appeal in legal matters to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The one material privilege within the empire not extended to foreign countries is the Imperial penny postage established in 1898. There is no compulsory military or naval service ; and there are no protective duties on trade in the Fig. b^.-The British Empire ^n'^^^* Kingdom or New South Wales, although on a Colonial postage they exist — even against the mother-country — in *''""^' almost all other British colonies. On account of the scattered nature of the empire and the vital importance of its foreign trade, the avowed defensive policy is to maintain a navy strong enough to secure the command of the sea. Permanent squadrons are stationed in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and on the Coasts of India, China, Africa, North America, South America, and Australia, and a system of fortified coaling stations makes it possible to send a British warship to any point on the surface of the ocean, and to prevent the war-vessels of any other nation from going far from home. Economic History. — The Romans dealt with Britain as a colony by encouraging the growth and export of grain, developing the fisheries, and constructing trunk-lines of communications. They also utilised the mineral resources — the tin of Cornwall, the lead of the Pennine Chain, and the bog-iron ore which occurred almost all over the country. During the Saxon and the subsequent Norman periods the rearing of sheep for wool became the staple industry of England, there was little manufacture, and the country remained a producing area for raw materials. The " wool- sack," the official seat of the Lord Chancellor as president of the House of The United Kingdom 147 Fig. 64. — The White Ensign — the flag of the British Navy, Lords, dates from this period. Later, when root-crops were introduced and the methods of agriculture improved, the leading occupation became once more grain-growing and cattle-rearing. As the country grew peaceful and became an asylum for the oppressed industrial peoples of the continent, handicrafts of every sort, and particularly weaving, acquired importance, and England began to export manufactured goods. Iron works were early established in all places where ore was found in the neighbourhood of forests from which charcoal could be made for its reduction. In the eighteenth century coal was discovered to be fit for use in making iron, and the first movement of iron- works to the coal-fields of the north commenced. The streams of the Pennine Chain, the Cotswolds, and other hilly districts were from early times utilised for the supply of mechanical power in mills. On the invention of spinning and weaving machinery in the eighteenth century new textile factories were started in the valleys of the northern rivers, and when at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury steam-power was introduced, the prosperity of the industrial villages already situated on the coal-fields was increased, and the other manu- facturing industries of the country were attracted to the same regions. Subsequently the introduction of railways drew some of the manufactures back to the great seaports ; and now the use of electricity in manufactures has restored and multiplied the value of water-power, and promises renewed prosperity to the highlands of high rainfall and full rivers. As the volume of the manufactures swelled, the need for improved communication with sea- ports led to the initiation of the system of barge- canals which make a close network over the central plain of England, and also cross the mid- land plains of Ireland and Scotland. The intro- duction of railways deprived the canals of their importance and introduced new adjustments of centres of production. In every one of those changes the control exercised by geographical conditions is to be traced, varying in its character from one period to another. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century the agricultural produce of the country nearly sufficed for the food-supply of the people ; but as the improvement in machinery and means of communication by land and sea enabled the manufactures of imported raw material to be increased, and cheapened the cost of foreign food-supplies, from which the protective tariffs had been removed, agricultural labourers began to be attracted to the factory work of the towns, land went out of cultivation as the farmers found it impossible to compete with the cheap foreign corn, and many were driven to emigrate. The tide of emigration was enormously Fig. 65.— Tfe Red Ensign— the flag of the British Merchant Service, 148 The International Geography increased in Ireland by the failure of the potato-crop, on which the people depended, and the result now is that all but a fraction of the food-supply of the nation has to be imported and paid for in manufactured goods, or in services rendered by carrying on the shipping-trade of other countries. If supplies from over-sea failed the reserve of bread-stuff in the British Islands would not last for a month. I'his is the secret of the unique importance of foreign trade to the United Kingdom, and of the necessity for holding the command of the sea at all costs. In 1891 one third of the British people above ten years of age were engaged in manufacturing in- dustries and less than one tenth in agricultural work. Distribution of Population. — The average density of population for the British Islands was estimated in 1898 at 330 per square 'mile ; but in England, which contains three-quarters of the whole population, the density is 500 per square mile. The bare and unproductive Highlands are almost un- inhabited, the density of population in Sutherland- shire being only 11 to the square mile. The pastoral regions are as a rule the most thinly peopled, the agricultural districts somewhat more thickly, while an enormous density of population is found on the mineral fields and in the neighbourhood of certain seaports (Fig. 18). Agriculture. — Three-quarters of England and Ireland, nearly two- thirds of Wales, and one-quarter of Scotland are occupied as farms and pastures ; more than half being pasture land. The grain most largely Average population of a square mile — Fig. 66. — Average popu- lation of a square mile of the United Kingdom. Fig. 67. — England & Wales. Fig. 6S.— Ireland. Fig. 69. — Scotland. cultivated is oats, next to which come barley and wheat. The cultivation of oats is carried on mainly in the north and west, where the rainfall is great and the temperature not extreme ; in these conditions wheat- growing is impracticable. The great wheat-growingTegion is in the east of England, where there is a clay soil, a relatively extreme climate and small rainfall. Turnips and potatoes are the next most important crops ; the only industrial plant cultivated on a fairly large scale is flax in the north of Ireland. Hops are grown in Kent and some other parts of the The United Kingdom 149 country, and apples in the west of England. Market gardens and fruit farms — growing plums, pears, strawberries, gooseberries, &c. — are found near all large towns. The live-stock are principally sheep on hill pastures, cattle on the richer grass of the plains, especially in the districts of high rainfall, horses, and pigs. Dairy farming is important, but little attention is given to the rearing of fowls. Fisheries. — The fisheries in the North Sea are of great value, but those on the west coast and in Ireland are comparatively neglected. Salted herrings form one of the minor British exports. The introduction of steam trawlers has led to the concentration of fishermen at large ports with good railway facilities, such as Aberdeen and Grimsby, and to the gradual de- population of the fishing villages which formerly fringed the wholl east and south coast, thus reproducing the effects of the introduction of ieam- power in manufacturing industries Mining. — The extrac- tion of copper, tin, lead and zinc is now quite in- significant. Silver and gold are obtained in small quantities, but the only metal worth considering is iron, ten times more valuable in its annual production than all the rest put together. It is mined mainly as clay- ironstone in the Cleve- land district of Yorkshire. Better qualities in smaller amount occur in the Coal Measures, and can often be mined together with the coal ; but the finest 1883 84 85 8C 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 9S' 96 97 98 jfl 9 1900 210 200 190 160 170 160 160 140 lao 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 60 40 30 20 10 MIUl ■ 210 200 190 180 170 160 160 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 60 40 30 20 10 SL y" ^ / ^' r' \ / . y ^ \ / / V / \'K iTF IK NC nn ^ y \ / / / / / T s A NIT Fn St STF R ^ .-- y' r— ' — ' ^ CfF RM AN i ^, — FR AN rF \ Fig. 70. — The progress of Coal Production in the chief countries. ore is the red hematite of the south-west and west of the Lake district. The great demand for iron requires so large an import of ore that more than one-half (in value) is brought in from abroad, mainly red hematite from the north of Spain. Coal stands alone as the most valuable product of the United Kingdom, the only commodity none of which has to be imported ; and, at the present time, the material basis of the prosperity of the country. Its production has increased with remarkable rapidity, only 82,000,000 tons having been produced in i860. The recent output is compared with that of other countries in Fig. 70. It is coal which makes it possible to purchase grain and other food materials ; not directly, however, for only 33,000,000 tons of the 190,000,000 tons annually raised are exported ; but indirectly by 150 The International Geography supplying smelting furnaces for reducing iron and providing power for engineering works and factories. The outputs 'of coal in the four chief divisions of the country stand in the proportion of England 71 per cent., Scotland 15 per cent., Wales 14 per cent, and Ireland a minute fraction. The chief coal-producing districts are named in the following list with the output in 1896. (i) The Northern Coal-field in Northumberland and Durham (42 million tons) near the Cleveland iron ore, is important mainly for the engineering works at Newcastle, and for export to Scandinavia and the Baltic. (2) The Yorkshire Coal-field on the eastern slope of the Pennine Chain between the Aire and the Trent is shared by the East Riding, Nottingham, and Derbyshire (41 million tons). It supports the engineering works of Leeds and Sheffield, and is the seat of the woollen weaving industry. (3) The Lancashire Coal-field, lying symmetrically on the west side of the Pennine Chain (23 million tons), only supplies the engineering works and cotton factories of Lancashire centred round Manchester. (4) The Staffordshire Coal-fields, raising 13 million tons, furnish supplies to two industrial districts, the " Potteries " and the " Black Country," where the iron industry and metal manufactures centre in Birmingham. (5) The South Wales Coal-field (32 million tons) stretches into the county of Monmouth, and supplies the iron and copper furnaces of Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, and Swansea. The coal is mainly anthracite, of great value for producing intense heat with no smoke, and fully one-half of the supply is exported for use on steamers in all parts of the world. (6) The Scottish Coal-fields (29 million tons) scattered throughout the central lowlands, touch the sea on the Firths of Clyde and Forth, exporting to Ireland and the Baltic. They supply the iron furnaces near Glasgow and the steel shipbuilding yards on the Clyde. Seaports. — The present commercial supremacy of the United Kingdom is not due to the number and commodiousness of its natural harbours, although this is frequently stated. The best natural harbours are remote from the regions of dense population and they are not useful. Another common error is to ascribe the great trade to the fact that the south of England is nearly in the centre of the " land hemisphere " ; but if this were a potent factor it would act much more powerfully on the trade of France, which possesses by far the most central position on the ocean routes of the world. The real reason must be sought in the spirit of the British people, and in the abandonment of protective tariffs, making it necessary to import food and raw material, and to pay for imports by trade. Eight groups of ports carried on between them 80 per cent, of the trade of the United Kingdom with foreign countries in 1896. (i) London, with about 16 million tons of over-sea shipping, owes its pre-eminence to the historic continuity of the capital as the chief nucleus of population, and to its now being the centre of means of distribution inland. The exports are inconsiderable. The United Kingdom 151 (2) Liverpool, with a movement of 1 1 million tons, is unique amongst British seaports for its practical monopoly of the American and West African trades, especially in the import of food and raw material, chiefly cotton, and for its export of manufactured goods and machinery. The harbour is an estuary deepened and liept open at great cost. (3) Carrf/^ (including Barry Dock), with 11 million tons of shipping, prospers by the enormous export of coal from the South Wales coal-field. (4) The Tync Ports, including Newcastle and North and South Shields, have a total movement of 9 million tons, mainly exporting machinery and coal. (5) Hull and Grimsby, on the Humber, with over 5 million tons of Fig. 71. — The progress of the Total Trade of the chief com- mercial nations from 1871 to 1896. movement between them, are the principal har- bours for the export of cotton and woollen goods to the continent of Europe, and in a minor degree for the import of continental produce. (6) The Firth of Forth Ports, Leith, Grange- mouth, and Kirkcaldy, have between them about 5 million tons of move- ment, mainly exporting coal. (7) Glasgow, with a movement of 3 million tons, is an artificial port on the Clyde, ocean steamers now coming to a point where fifty years ago children could wade across at low water. The trade is largely in im- ports of ore and raw materials, and the export of iron and manufactured goods. (8) Southampton, with a movement of 3 million tons, is mainly con- 152 The International Geography cerned in the passenger trade to South Africa and America ; its proximity to London by rail enabling it to compete in this respect with Liverpool. It will be noticed that almost the whole trade of the United Kingdom with other countries is carried on in four inlets of the east coast (the Thames, H umber, Tyne, and Forth) three on the west coast (the Bristol Channel, Mersey, and Clyde) and one on the south coast. But in addition the importance of Dover, Folkestone, Queenborough, and Harwich as passenger and light cargo ports for cross-channel trade must be remem- bered. The coasting shipping of the country is also greatest in the harbours which concentrate the over-sea trade, and its volume is about the same. Fully 1,000 vessels enter the ports of the United Kingdom daily. Trade.^ — The value of the exports and imports is nearly twice as great as that of any of the countries which come nearest to it, Germany, France, and the United States (Fig. 71). The merchant fleet amounts to more than half of all the vessels afloat, and their tonnage much exceeds that of all the ships of other nations in the world. The annual trade of the country (exports and imports) averages more than $3,500,000,000, or #90 per head of the population. The value of the exports of British goods is scarcely, more than half that of the imports, a proportion which prevails in no other large country. The imports consist mainly of food and of raw materials, the exports mainly of manufactured articles as nearly as can be ascertained in the following proportions : — Food material. Animals. Raw materials. Manufactures. Total. Imports . . 407 25 3S-3 215 . . 100 Exports , . 53 0-4 7-8 86-5 . . 100 Most trade is done with the other British possessions, the United States, France, Germany, Holland, Russia, and Belgium, in the order given ; the British possessions are relatively the most valuable as a market for exports. Railways were first introduced in the United Kingdom, and they remain in the hands of a few great companies ; but the telegraph system, also the first to be established in the world, has been incorporated with the Post Office, the only State monopoly. II.-^SCOTLAND By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc. General Characteristics. — North Britain is divided naturally into three parts — the Highlands to the north and west, the Central Lowlands and the Southern Uplands to the south and east. The boundaries of these areas are marked by nearly straight parallel lines of faulting running from north-east to south-west (Fig. 72). Between these faults the crust-block of the Central Lowlands has gradually" sunk, protecting the Carboniferous strata, while those of the Highlands and Southern Uplands have been elevated on either side, and the very ancient rocks exposed by denudation. The existing scenery of Scotland, perhaps more than the other parts of the Scotland 153 British Islands, shows traces of the Glacial Period, when the land was buried in ice, the movement of which polished and striated the rocks of mountain and valley alike, and covered large parts of the country with masses of boulder clay. This gives a gently undulating character to much of the Central Lowlands, and has, by filling old river channels, caused a rearrange- ment of many of the river courses. The work of frost and rain has carved the Highland summits into characteristic forms of rugged strength. One of the most recent geological features is the series of raised beaches which sur- round Scotland. Of these the most im- portant is a horizontal terrace about twenty- five feet above sea-level, sometimes cut in the solid rock, more often built up of pebbles and clay, which furnishes the sites for almost all the coast towns. History and People. — The Scots, a Keltic race from Ireland, entered the country from the west, gradually over- spread it in the fifth century, and con- quered the earlier Picts. It was not until after the tenth century that the English language in its Northumbrian form was fully established on the Lowland plain and the unassimilated Gaels began to draw back within the Highland border. There the clans lived under their chiefs as a typical race of mountaineers, often at war with each other, and as distinct in dress and language from their fellow-countrymen in the Lowlands as from their national enemies in England. The suppression of the rebellion in 174S broke up the Clan system finally, and since that time the Gaelic language has been less and less spoken. The eastern portion of the Lowland plain formed for a long period a part of the kingdom of Northumbria, which spread from the H umber to the Forth; but the bare hills of the Southern Uplands were a barrier to the easy communication neces- sary to maintain cohesion in unsettled times, and well suited to form the marches or borderland between two States. The fertile carse-lands of the eastern firths naturally became the heart of the kingdom of Scotland. The long-continued wars with England drove Scotland into closer associa- tion with continental countries, the influence of France being very marked for several centuries. For a century after the union of the crowns Scot- land retained its own parliament, and was separated from England by Customs barriers for a longer period. The opposition of English mercan- tile corporations hampered Scottish trade, and brought disaster on the -splendid though premature project of colonising the isthmus of Darien in order to command the trade of the Pacific. With the union of the parlia- -Natuml divisions of Scotland, 154 The International Geography ments the economic development of the country really commenced. At present the chief external difference between Scotland and England lies in some details of law and the administration of justice, and in the establish- ment of a Presbyterian church. The national character is marked and ^ distinctive. The Highlander is constitutionally courteous, poetical, and open-handed, and prefers an occupation involving occasional calls for severe exertion with longer intervals of inactivity, such as fishing and cattle rearing. The Lowland Scot, on the other hand, is sometimes surly but always independent, persevering, and determined in his undertakings, and given to agriculture, manufactures, and trade. As a consequence of the adverse conditions against which his race has so long struggled he is often more thrifty than generous. Since John Knox inaugurated the parish schools at the Reformation three centuries of practically universal educa- tion have given the Scottish peasantry a bent for study and a taste for serious reading which make the Scottish universities perhaps the most numerously attended in Europe. The Highlands. — The north-west of Scotland bore the brunt of the compressing forces in the Earth's criist by which the European continent was ridged up from the Atlantic depression, and its geology is consequently very complex. Since the up-ridging, continual erosion has worn down many of the islands of the outer Hebrides to a low level, although composed of the hard Archasan gneiss. Great volcanic disturbances also occurred through many geological ages, resulting in the outpouring of lavas and the injection of sheets of molten rock, which denudation has uncovered and rendered conspicuous. The average level of the Highlands is about 1,500 feet above tiis sea, although in parts they rise to nearly three times that height. There is no mountain range. The surface has been carved by rivers and atmospheric erosion into masses, which looked at from below have the appearance of mountains ; but viewed from one of the highest summits the Highlands appear as round-shouldered and flat-topped moor- lands covered with moss or heather or shattered stones. They are of fairly uniform general height and rise without definite order like waves on a stormy sea. They are, in fact, the product of a deeply incised system of valleys impressed upon an ancient plateau, the recent depression of which on the west has formed the islands. Highlands and islands together comprise 70 per cent, of the area of Scotland, but only contain 23 per cent, of the population. Most of the crofters who formerly made a pre- carious living by farming in the valleys have been compelled to migrate to more fertile lands or engage in more profitable callings. The high rainfall of the west, the raw climate, and the poor soil of the crystalline rocks unite to make agriculture impossible ; and the Highlands have relapsed into the condition of a wild country, useful mainly as a game preserve, and now for the most part the property of wealthy Englishmen and Americans. Sheep farming on a large scale is still carried on, but deer forests are more profitable. The population is almost entirely confined to the lower Scotland 155 parts of the valleys where they come out on the Lowland plain or on the sea. The roads through these valleys are now in many cases superseded by railways carrying the yearly swelhng tide of sportsmen and lovers of the picturesque to moor, mountain, and loch. Whisky distilling is a typical Highland industry ; the most famous distilleries are often situated in small villages, and CampbelHon in Cantyre is almost the only town of which distilling is one of the chief resources. The North-"Western Highlands and Islands.— Some of the lakes in the western valleys are of remarkable beauty, especially those in the west — Loch Maree, Loch Shiel, and Loch Morar, the last being the deepest lake in the British Islands (maximum depth 1,070 feet). The picturesque masses of volcanic rocks forming Skye, Mull, and the smaller islands of the Inner Hebrides are separated from the mainland by drowned valleys. The population is found chiefly on the fertile wedge of Old Red Sandstone lowland surrounding the Cromarty Firth on the east coast. The Highland railway winds its way northward along the east coast, and a branch line from Dingwall at the head of the Cromarty Firth runs across to Stromc Ferry on Loch Carron, whence steamers ply to the herring-fishing, port of Stornaway, in the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Part of Inverness and the county of Ross and Cromarty united occupy most of the area; but Sutherland (the Southern Land of he old Norsemen), includes the northern end of the Highlands. The Northern Lowlands and Islands. — Beyond the north-western Highlands the Old Red Sandstone plain of Caithness is really a detached portion of the fertile Lowlands, better cultivated and more densely peopled than the Highland counties. The coast scenery is fine, and the fisheries important, especially at Wick, for herrings. From Thurso the mail steamer sails for Orkney. Orkney and Shetland, though forming one county for parliamentary purposes and having come under the Scottish crown together in 1590, are entirely distinct. The Orkney islands -are a continuation of the Old Red Sandstone plain of Caithness, separated from it by the Pent- land Firth, their only striking scenery being on the coast. The tide rushes furiously through the narrow sounds which separate the numerous islands ; and the Orkney people are very skilful boatmen. Sheep are raised, and fishing and some woollen manufactures are carried on. Kirkwall, on Pomona, the largest island, is the chief town. The Shetland group, fifty miles north-east of Orkney, are much more varied in character ; their rocks resemble those of the Highlands, and the people are of more exclusively Scandinavian origin, their dialect containing many words still current in Icelandic. With a climate like that of the Faeroes the productions are similar ; small shaggy ponies and sheep are reared, there is a good deal of fishing and whale hunting, and a considerable home industry in knitting the fine native wool. Lerwick, on lyiainland, is the only town. It used to be the last port touched at by Arctic whalers, a large proportion of their crews being Shetlanders ; and the islands still produce many sailors. Fair 156 The International Geography Isle, half way between Orkney and Shetland, has an important light- house. The Great Glen and South-Eastern Highlands.— The long, narrow valley of Glen More {i.e., the great glen), separates the north- western from the south-eastern Highlands by the clear-cut line of an ancient fracture. The centre of the rift is occupied by a series of long, narrow lakes of great depth, which never freeze, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. '1 hey are joined by the Caledonian canal, which is now of value only as a tourist route. The historical importance of this valley is attested by the growth of Inverness at its north-eastern outlet. The continued prosperity of Inverness is due not so much to the beauty of its situation as to the fact that it stands at the crossing of the tourist routes of the Highland railway and the Caledonian canal. It has become a distributing centre for the whole north of Scotland, and a noted sheep market. The names of three old military posts recall the strategic value of the Great Glen in the past : Fort William, established at the west end of the Glen in 1655 ; Fort Augustus, in the centre, after the rebellion of 1715 ; and Fort George at the east end, after the rebellion of 1745. Ben Nevis (4,406 feet), the highest point in the British Islands, is crowned by a meteorological observatory. The Falls of Foyers on Loch Ness have been utilised for the production of electric power for an aluminium factory, a foretaste of the possible revival of Highland industries by rnodern methods. The highest land, representing the ridge of the old plateau, is marked by the granite masses of Ben Nevis and Ben Macdhui (4,300 feet), in which the longest rivers in Scotland originate. The Spey runs north-eastward to the Moray Firth ; the Dee and Tay (the latter carrying the outflow of the large lakes -r- Lochs Ericht, Rannoch, Tay, and Earn) flow to the east and south-east. Their valleys furnish the only lines of communication for roads or railways across the Highlands. The large Loch Awe of the west resembles in a general way the salt water fjords of Loch Etive and Loch Fyne betvveen which it lies. From the Central Lowlands the edge of the Highlands presents an imposing appearance like a line of mountains rising from the plain, and to this edge the name of the Grampians has been vaguely applied. Near the great fault separating the Highlands from the Lowlands, sftiall earthquakes are common, a sign probably that the strata are still yielding to the internal stresses. South-Eastern Highland Counties. — The county of Inverness occupies the north, that of Argyll the whole west, and Perth the south of this division of the Highlands. The northern slope to the Moray Firth terminates in a narrow coastal plain shared by the counties of Nairn, Elgin, and Banff. Thanks to the porous soil of the west of this plain, and its sheltered posi- tion, it possesses a remarkably dry and mild climate. Where the coast turns to face the east, and the Highland schists and granites reach the sea in grand cliffs, the seaport of Peterhead was long famous for its Arctic Scotland i ^ y whaling fleet. The exposed bay is being converted into a great harbour of refuge for the east coast by the construction, with the aid of convict labour, of huge breakwaters which will not be completed until 1921. Aberdeen, the largest town on Highland soil, owes its prosperity in part to the quarries of fine grey granite, of which the whole city is built, in part to its ancient university, but mainly to the harbour, which, in spite of an awkward bar at the mouth of the river, is growing in importance. It is concentrating the fishing industry, now largely carried on by steam trawlers, and gradually attracting it from the small fishing towns along the coast. This is, in part, due to the good railway service to London (500 miles in eleven hours), with which Aberdeen also does a large trade in fresh beef, the cattle of the district being renowned. The Central Lowlands.— The Central Lowlands are on the whole under 500 feet in elevation, the lowest divide between the North Sea and Atlantic being only 200 feet above sea-level. The Firth of Clyde, on the west of the plain, is connected with a series of long fjords running north- ward and north-eastward into the Highlands, but receiving no streams of any length. Loch Lomond, picturesquely situated near the west coast on the edge of the Highlands, combines the character of a highland valley loch with that of a lowland lake, Loch Leven in Fife shows the latter type alone. The lower ground is composed of the Old Red Sandstone forma- tion on the northern and southern margins, with Carboniferous strata in the centre containing numerous detached basins of the Coal Measures. Great accumulations of volcanic materials form ranges of hills parallel to the general lines of the country, especially the Sidlaws, Ochils, and Campsie Fells on the north, and the Pentlands, and Lammermgors on the south. 'The Lowland plain contains much more than half the population of Scotland ; for on account of its diverse natural advantages it has always been the richest part of the country. The fertility of the soil, and the development of the most advanced scientific farming, enables remarkably heavy crops to be raised. The iron and coal-fields have fixed important industries, and caused the growth of many active towns, knit together by a close network of railways. The Highland Border. — The county of Perth, almost co-extensive with the drainage area of the river Tay, includes the system of converging river valleys which drain the southern Highlands, and bring all the lines of communication with the north to a focus at the city of Perth, where it stands on a flat plain bordering the Tay at the head of the tide. Perih has always been important on account of its commanding position ; for from it diverge the roads (and now the railways) to the Highlands by the valley of the Tay, to Aberdeen by the plain of Strathmore north of the Sidlaws, to Dundee by the fertile Carse of Gowrie, to Stirling by the Allan valley skirting the Ochils on the west, and to Edinburgh ty the pass of Glenfarg across the Ochils, through which the construction of the great Forth Bridge has restored modern traffic to the old coach route. Besides its importance 158 The International Geography as a railway centre, there are some industries, especially extensive dye- works, Stirling grew round the steep basaltic crag on which its castle stands commanding the lowest ford on the river Forth, close to the head of navigation, and at the point where it could first be bridged. Stirling Bridge was for centuries the key to the Highlands, and the immediate neighbourhood was consequently the scene of many battles, chief amongst them that of Bannockburn in 13 14, when Scottish independence was finally assured. Dundee, with the only harbour for sea-going vessels on the Tay estuary, is a commercial and manufacturing town. As a linen- weaving centre dependent on Russian flax the Crimean war nearly ruined it ; but the timely introduction of Indian jute more than compensated the temporary loss, and the American civil war, by stimulating the production of all other textiles than cotton, confirmed its prosperity. Dundee' has famous jam factories, partly supplied by the fruit farms of the Carse of Gowrie, and it is the only port of the United Kingdom still sending out a fleet of Arctic whalers. The Tay Bridge, two miles in length, gives direct com- munication with the south via the Forth Bridge. The Eastern Low- land Towns. — The peninsula of Fife between the Firths of Forth and Tay was compared by James VI. to " a beggar's mantle fringed with gold " on account of the number of prosperous seaports along its coast. There are still many fishing villages, but the only harbours for steamers are Burntisland and Kirkcaldy, the latter the chief centre of linoleum manufacture in Great Britain. The ancient city of St. Andrews, with the oldest university in Scotland, founded in 141 1, standsion the shores of a sandy bay in the extreme east, where the links made it famous centuries ago, as it is famous still, for the "royal and ancieht game " of golf. Edinburgh, originally a castle on a lofty crag (see section from west to east in Fig. 25), grew into a walled town, the one street of which, with branching "wynds" and "closes," descended the steeply- sloping "tail" to the later palace of Holyrood. Within the last century the space around the castle and Calton Hill has been laid out in streets and squares which stretch to the shore of the Firth of Forth, and suburbs also spread far to the south. Edinburgh retains the supreme courts of Scotland, and other survivals of its life as a capital. Fig 73 — Dundee itid the Tay Bridge. Scotland 159 The university is the youngest in Scotland (1582), and is renowned mainly for its medical school. Book printing and brewing are among the more important of the industries of the town. As the headquarters of many banks and insurance offices it is of financial importance, and the General Assemblies of the Scottish churches make it an ecclesiastical centre also. The grandeur of its site, and the bold design and fine architecture of the streets and public buildings, make it in the opinion of many the finest city in Europe. The adjacent seaport of Leith does a large shipping trade. The Western Lowland Towns.— The centre of the Lowland plain is engaged in the characteristic industry of oil-shale mining, and the distillation of paraffin. Further west the coal-mines yield more than half the output of Scottish coal-fields, most of which is employed in the many Fig. 74, — Edtnbtirgh and the Forth Bridge, manufactures of the densely peopled counties of Lanark and Renfrew. The black-band iron-stone occurring with the coal gives employment to the blast furnaces of Hamilton, Wishaw, Coatbridge, Kilmarnock, and Cumnock. The industry of the region is concentrated on the upper estuary of the Clyde where Greenock is an active seaport with ship-building yards, and Paisley, though standing back from the river, is even more prosperous through its great manufactures of cotton thread. Glasgow is one of the most ancient cities in Scotland, and the seat of an old university. At one time its importance, like that of .Perth, lay largely in its situation on the border of the Highlands, but its present prosperity, which has made it the largest British city next to London, is due to the artificial deepening of the Clyde, commenced in 1768. The. proximity of iron and coal promoted manufactures of every kind, the navigable waterway enabled trade-relations i6o The International Geography to be established with America and India, and the introduction of steam in navigation, and of iron and then steel in naval construction united these advantages. Steel ship-building is the most important industry of the Glasgow district, and the Clyde is the greatest ship-building centre in the world. Locomotive works, chemical works, and potteries, as well as textile factories of all kinds, employ the large industrial population. The city of Glasgow is one of the most progressive municipalities in the United Kingdom. The water supply is drawn through a tunnel 34 miles long from Loch Katrine. The Southern Uplands. — The Southern Uplands rising steeply from the Lowlands form a region of round-topped hills of Silurian forma- tion, usually richly grassed to the summit. The general character is that of a plateau deeply trenched by valleys, with an average height of perhaps 1,000 feet and only 2,700 at its highest point — Mt. Merrick. The Tweed flowing east by south is the principal river, and its lower valley forms a flat plain of considerable ex- tent near the coast. The Clyde, rising near the source of the Tweed, flows on the whole west by north to its estuary in the Central Lowlands.. The Annan and other short streams flow to the Solway Firth. The south- western corner of the Uplands is its highest and most rugged' part, Fig. ys.— Glasgow. , . ^, ?• ^ . , J * formmg the district of Galloway. It is mainly a land of sheep farms, and in proportion to the area Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Berwick contain more sheep than any other counties in the United Kingdom. The sheep are usually of the Cheviot breed, celebrated for their fine wool, and the towns of the Tweed valley, especially Galashiels, have long been prosperous through the weaving of strong woollen cloth. The old divisions of the border country were the dales or valleys of the rivers which formed the natural highways and contained the best farming land. Railways from England enter the Uplands at Berwick on the east, winding round the coast to Edinburgh, and from Carlisle on the west, whence one line of the Glasgow and South- Western railway runs round the coast to Stranraer on the shortest sea-passage from Great Britain to England and Wales i6i Ireland. Another passes Dumfries and goes up Nithsdale, descending to the coastal plain, and passing Kilmarnock to Glasgow. The Caledonian railway passing Gretna Green (formerly famous for the celebration of run- away marriages, as it was the nearest point to England where the Scots law could be taken advantage of), ascends the valley of the Annan and descends that of the Clyde to Glasgow. The North British " Waverlcy Route" passes up Liddesdale and descends the valley of the Tcviot, crossing the Tweed at Melrose, and running thence direct to Edinburgh. H.W. Horth Wales Malvern Fig. 76. — Section across England [after Ramsay). The Ijtiers o and c indicate the Oolitic and Chalk escarpments. Ill,— ENGLAND AND WALES By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc. Natural Divisions. — A bold contrast presents itself between the scenery and structure of the country to the east and to the west of a slightly curved line, convex to the east, drawn from the mouth of the Tees in Durham to the mouth of the Exe in Devon. This is not an "imaginary line " but a distinct height of land, the Oolitic Escarpment, forming a watershed through- out its whole length, except in one point where the Humber estuary breaks through it. The western hills are lofty, rising like islands out of the low ■ plain which surrounds them, and often wild and rugged like those of the High- lands, contrasting with the low and gentle downs and es- carpments of the eastern low- land. The western rocks are for the most part of Pateozoic or igneous formation, occur- ring in irregular and confused Fig. 77. — Natural Divisions of England and Wales. masses, in contrast to the uniformly overlapping sheets of little-disturbed Secondary and Tertiary formations to the east. The western region falls into four fairly definite physical divisions which have also a cer- 1 62 The International Geography tain historical and industrial individuality, the Lake District, Wales, the peninsula of Cornwall and Devon, and the Pennine Chain, to which may be added the Central Plain which surrounds and separates them. The eastern region is less sharply subdivided, into the Jurassic Belt, the Chalk Country which is broken by the Fenland and the Weald, and the Tertiary Basins of Hampshire and London (Fig. 77). General Characteristics.— England is distinguished from Scotland and Ireland by the more purely Teutonic descent of its people. The Saxon type is still to be seen in great purity in the southern and eastern counties, even traces of the old German language remain amongst the peasants, who in Sussex still use " Ya " (the German Ja) for " Yes." The local dialects of most parts of the country are distinctive, but not so different as to hinder free intercommunication. The whole of England and Wales is divided ecclesiastically into two Provinces presided over by the Arch- bishops of Canterbury and York, and into thirty-two Bishoprics, each with its cathedral city. The rank of city in England is only given to the seat of a cathedral. The forty " ancient counties " or shires into which England is divided, represent very early divisions of the old Anglo- Saxon kingdoms, which coalesced to form the realm of England. Few of them have natural boundaries ; but it is interesting to notice as exceptions that the Thames separates counties along nearly its whole course, the Tamar, Tyne, and Tees are also county boundaries, and Yorkshire consists almost exactly of the basin of the Ouse. For administrative purposes the larger counties are subdivided, and large towns as a rule are counties in themselves. The County Council is the chief local government body. The character of the English people is the foundation of that of the British nation. The sense of justice is strongly developed, and the love of "fair play" for friends and enemies alike is perhaps the real basis of British greatness ; but this feeling is combined with a strenuous determination to uphold rights : " Dieu et mon droit " is not inaptly the national motto. New ideas are slowly received, but once accepted they are strongly held. Interest in manly sports is deeply rooted and forms the strongest bond between all classes of the community. The Western Division.— In the time of the Roman occupation the mountainous region of Britain west of the Severn, including the peninsula of Cornwall and Devon on the south, and the Lake District and Southern Uplands of Scotland on the north, was occupied by Keltic tribes, amongst whom the Brythonic or British predominated over the Gaelic and other elements ; so the Gaelic language does not occur in Wales. The people called themselves Cymry [i.e. fellow-countrymen), hence the name of Cumberland. Wales is from a Saxon word meaning " foreign," and the name reappears in Cornwall. The tribes were organised in warlike clans, the chieftains sometimes united under a common head, more frequently at war with each other, .ind they resisted conquest until the Norman period. The northern districts have now completely lost their Keltic population and language, England and Wales 163 and so has the southern peninsula, although the old Cornish language lingered there until the eighteenth century. Wales was incorporated with England in the fourteenth century, yet the Welsh language has survived, and one-third of the people of the principality can speak no other. The Welsh are lovers of music, the harp being a favourite instrument. The Lake District.— The Lake District forming a peninsula between the Solway Firth and Morecambe Bay, and separated from the Pennine Chain by the valleys of the Eden and the Lune, is a small rugged highland trenched by deep and picturesque valleys which radiate in all directions from a central point. Each long valley contains a narrow lake-bed ; but some have been separated into two by silting up like Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite, or Buttermere and Crummock, others Uke those of Langdale have been entirely drained or filled up and converted into meadows. The largest remaining lakes' are Windermere running south, and Ullswater running north-east. Scafell Pike, above Wastwater, the deepest lake, is the highest mountain in England (3,200 feet) ; Skiddaw in the north, and Helvellyn in the east also exceed 3,000 feet. Geologically the Lake District consists of a central mass of Silurian volcanic rocks, with sedimentary strata of the same age, to north and south ; surrounded by a ring of Carboniferous limestone, with Coal Measures on the north-west, and a broken rim of newer rocks — the New Red Sandstones — outside the whole. In the central valleys the population has always been sparse, the ex- tremely wet climate makes agriculture impossible, and only a few cattle and sheep are kept. Plumbago mines in Borrowdale gave rise to the manufacture of pencils at Keswick, and this industry continues although the mines have been exhausted ; graphite is now imported from Ceylon, and the cedar for the sticks is brought from Florida. The romantic beauty of the Lake District attracted attention about the middle of the eighteenth century, and ever since it has been a haunt of tourists. It is a favourite residence for poets, artists, and men of letters, who have striven to introduce home industries in order to retain the small population in their native dales. On the outer margin coal is mined, and the remarkably pure hematite iron ore has caused the artificial harbour of Barrow-in-Furness to spring into pros- perity in the south-west. The heavy rainfall of the district is utilised by the conversion of Thirlmere into a reservoir for the water supply of Man- chester, and some of the streams are utilised for producing electrical energy. Wales. — Wales as a physical region comprises the peninsula between the estuary of the Dee. and the Bristol Channel, and extends on the east to the Severn valley, but the counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Hereford, and Monmouth have long ceased to be Welsh ; Monmouth is, however, usually classed with Wales for statistical purposes. The very ancient rocks known as Cambrian and Silurian were called after the land of the Cymri and Silures, and they form the main bulk of the dissected highland of the peninsula. The north-western and south-western extremities are rendered more resisting by intruded igneous sheets and dykes, and consequently 164 The International Geography- project boldly, while the more yielding rocks between them have been cut back into the harbourless Cardigan Bay. In Anglesea and Carnarvon on the north-west, the strata and their igneous intrusions run in narrow bands from north-east to south-west. One of these bands gives origin to the channel of Menai Strait which, like that cutting off Holy Island on the west, is so narrow that the harbour of Holyhead, lying nearly on the straight line joining London and Dublin, can be reached by rail, and thus used for the mail route to Ireland. ■ Masses of igneous rock have given rise to Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales (3,570 feet) and other high summits in the neighbourhood, as well as to the fine ridge of Cader Idris (2,930 feet) further south. The slate mountains of North Wales are very extensively quarried, and keep several small seaports at work, as no slate of equal quality is found elsewhere in the British Islands. Both the north and the west coasts of Wales attract many residents and summer visitors on account of their combination of mild climate and fine scenery. In Pembroke on the south the hard igneous rocks run in narrow bands from east to west, and there Milford Haven, the only fjord-like inlet of the coast, is a magnificent natural harbour. Because it lies farther from coal than the tidal harbours of the Bristol Channel, and is remote from the great centres of manufacture and population, it is only beginning to be utilised as a trans-Atlantic shipping port. Around the very ancient rocks of Wales there are several patches of the Coal Measures contained in basins or synclinal troughs. One detached basin runs south from the .estuary of the Dee in the north, and others of smaller size appear in the Severn valley, at Coalbrookdale, the Forest of Wyre and the Forest of Dean, each supporting a group of small but busy mining and manufacturing towns. The South Wales Coal-field. — One great geological basin fills the south and east of Wales, in a synclinal hollow of the ancient Silurian strata, the upturned edges of which running to the north-east originate the striking scenery of Wenlock Edge, and on the east form the singularly graceful line of the Malvern Hills. Within this rim there is a great expanse of Old Red Sandstone rising on the west into the Black Mountains, and reaching an altitude of 2,900 feet in the rugged and barren Brecon Beacons. On the east the Old Red Sandstone sinks to form the low sheltered and exceedingly fertile plain of Hereford bearing the finest orchards in England, and hop gardens rivalling those of Kent. It is watered in the south by the Wye, the most picturesque of English rivers. The plain was formerly of great strategic value, as it commanded the passes into Wales, now its importance appears in providing a " west and north " railway route, in conjunction with the Severn tunnel, from Bristol to Crewe, converging at Shrewsbury with the route by the Severn valley. Within the Old Red Sandstone, between the Brecon Beacons and the Bristol Channel, the Carboniferous rocks are held as in a cup. The South Wales coal-field has an area of 1,000 square miles, and is shared mainly by the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Its perfect basin shape is shown England and Wales 165 by the outcrop all round it of the oent-up edges of the Millstone Grit, the "farewell rock'' of the miners, and the Carboniferous limestone, which lie under the coal. The Coal Measures form a plateau which descends from an elevation of about 1,200 feet in the north to 700 feet in the south, and then sinks to a coastal plain of newer rocks. It is trenched by remarkably steep-sided and deeply-cut valleys running southward almost parallel to one another. The coal seams crop out along the sides of these valleys, the floors of which are traversed by railways and lined with mining villages, contrasting with the nearly uninhabited uplands between them. The railways converge on the east to the Ebbw valley, at the confluence of which with the Usk the ancient town of Newport has become a modern coal-shipping port ; and on the west to the far more important Taff valley. Where the Taff enters the coal-field on the ■ north a little village took the name of Merthyr-Tydfil, from the martyrdom of an early Welsh princess named Tydfil. In the middle of the eighteenth century coal mines and iron works were established there, and a large though un- pretending town has grown on a poor site over 500 feet above the sea. The neighbouring valleys of the Cynon and the Rhondda converge to the Taff, and the output of the whole goes by the Taff Vale railway to Cardiff, where there are great docks rendered accessible at high water to the largest vessels by the high tides of the Bristol Channel. Cardiff is the seat of numerous manufactures, mainly connected with iron 'and tin-plate. Some miles to the west a desolate sandy tract of coast .was made the site of a large artificial harbour, Barry Dock, in 1889, which now exports an enormous amount of coal, and is the- centre of a considerable town. Swansea farther west has long been engaged in copper-smelting, ore being imported from all parts of the world, and it is also one of the chief manufacturing places for tin-plate. This industry is carried on in villages in all the valleys of South Wales, the locality being originally determined by the proximity of the coal-field to the Cornish tin-mining district, although now most of the tin is imported from Singapore. The Severn Valley. — The rivers flowing down the steep northern, southern, and western slopes of the Welsh highlands are short and swift. On the eastern slope the Dee flows out of Bala lake at the base of the culminating volcanic mass of North Wales, and turns northward to meander over the Cheshire plain. The Vyrnwy, rising close to the source of the Dee, fills an artificial lake formed by the Liverpool water-works in ^ V f>3S-r^' i ^ i fi r-4 -^ b- ^. ^ y^ M ® Cial-(lBlXm<»-« % jH^^^jjcv ii-j5^^^'^^ i'V5^^^^v"^1^'r^ J'^OT^a^^iT^ r I ff'J'fr^ . /j&flZt* f ^!S^'CosSM yp^^l^rtiix^ flTj^^ffJ^ 1 ^v^l'^Os.rV >tV /S^'wm*^-^ S l^isStaii./ 3e^>3r^^ '^M^K J^^DS^^Y^^'^'^^^^^^^^d^:! fe^aS ^\i^^L ^^7^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^y- f/ ^^^S Jgg|^^^^£iL \ YiT^^'^^^^^^f^^^^S^^^t^ii..— J^^^ ^si^g« ^fe ^^^^m^^^^^J^^^^^^^^ ¥^^J C^^^^^^fc<^^^S^^^^^^R^ ^irX^I^ ^^\H ^^^^^^^^^xW^^^^^w^*^ ^J^l ^^ ^^^^^^^^9B ^^% ^i iR^^^^ V ^^^^^^^^^^^^^'^X i&sf^^^^^r?^^' ^^^f ^"^TV /^ Iy^^^^^^^ "^^ ^ EngUah^^Us \^^.£^k\^ f^ii^/'^^ j M^wa?si //Jfj^^ffS^\ ff-i'^ ll 6 1 a 3 fi/^ '^=^T^*'y'*^\ ■ / J T \m-^"4 r^ Fig. 83. — Birmingham and the Black Country. work, making nails chains, and other small articles. When the discovery was made that coal could be used in working iron, and the iron trade deserted the southern counties, it remained unchanged in the Black Country on account of the coal-fields of South Staffordshire. Birmingham has grown into a great city and a very important railway centre, but, although the modern methods of large establishments have been intro- duced, many small family workshops still remain turning out articles of a special kind. Jewellery of all sorts, watches, coins for foreign govern- ments, buttons, beads, and small metal work of every description, are its characteristic trades. The making of firearms is also very important, from 176 The International Geography flint-locks for African trade to magazine rifles. Bedsteads employ many hands ; bicycle-making and the construction of steam-engines are largely carried on. Birmingham is a progressive and enterprising town ; its municipality has taken a lead in introducing modern improvements, from steam-engines and gas-lighting in the early days of the great firm of Boulton and Watt, to electric traction at the present time. The public buildings are very fine, the pictures in the Corporation Galleries are exceptionally good, and the Mason College provides education of univer- sity rank to one of the most alert and intelligent populations in the country. The smaller towns of the Black Country are as cheerless as the name of the district implies. Trade is much specialised. Wolverhampton has numerous blast furnaces, and manufactures all kinds of heavy iron goods ; other towns produce needles or nails, spurs or horses' bits, fish-hooks, light chains, chain-cables for shipping, and even steel anchors. , The condition of the women and children engaged in nail and chain-making in their cottages was formerly deplorable, and in some quarters is still a reproach. Other Tovrns of the Plain. — Burton-ott-Trent is the greatest brewing town in the country, the water, of the district being specially suitable for brewing on account of containing sulphate of lime. The supply of barley for malting and of hops demands good railway facilities, and the streets of Burton are much cut up by railway sidings running to the breweries. Large cooperages have also been established to turn out the innumerable casks required. Coventry, a very ancient town, has acquired modern importance on account of its great manufacture of cycles. Leicester, in the flat valley of the Soar, a southern tributary of the Trent, was one of the old woollen manufacturing towns, the pastures of the neighbourhood yielding a fine wool particularly adapted for woollen hosiery, which is still the staple manufacture. Boot and shoe making is also important. A curious outcrop of Archaean and other ancient rocks occurs to the north-west of Leicester, giving rise to the picturesque hills of Charnwood Forest, in some of which granite is quarried. The Jurassic Belt.— From the eastern end of the Cornwall-Devon peninsula, and skirting the Central Plain of Triassic rocks, a series of bands of Secondary and Tertiary rocks sweeps in a northern curve, each formation dipping below the next, and forming by the weathered edges of the harder strata facing the north or west more or less continuous escarpments or lines of heights. The contrast of the gentle dip-slopes and steep escarpments is explained by Fig. 30. The determining influence which the edges of the gently-tilted strata exercise on the course of the drainage of the country is best exemplified by the Exe-Tees line of watershed by which the South-Eastern district is bounded. The Avon-Severn .flows south- westward, and the Soar-Trent north-eastward, parallel and close to the first escarpments of the Secondary rocks, so that no tributaries exceeding a few miles in length reach them from the south or east. Even beyond the break of the H umber estuary to the north, the course of the Yorkshire England and Wales 177 Ouse is parallel to the escarpments. A similar parallelism may be traced ill many other rivers, the courses of which appear inexplicable on any map not showing geological features. The escarpments are formed usually of some one hard bed of sandstone or limestone, the softer beds of clay or marl weathering away to level or undulating plains. The bold front of the Oolitic escarpment can be traced in a sweeping curve from Portland Island oil the south, overlooking the remarkable line of Chesil Beach, through the Cotswold Hills, where the highest point is i,ioo feet, and the low ridges towards the north-east, until it reaches the North Sea in the high mass of the North Yorkshire Moors south of the Tees, where elevations of nearly 1,500 feet occur. The land slopes gently from the Oolitic escarpment in broad plains of clay to the edge of the Chalk or Cretaceous escarpment. Though narrow on the south coast, the Jurassic Belt widens towards the north, including the greater part of the counties of Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Northampton, Huntingdon, Rutland, Lincoln, and the North Riding of Yorkshire. Besides building stone, quarried largely at Portland, where a great prison supplies convict labour, in the neighbourhood of Bath, where the Box tunnel pierces the escarpment, and elsewhere, the chief mineral products of this formation are clays for brickmaking, fossil deposits used as fertilising agents, and the abundant iron ore of the Cleveland Hills, which form the escarpment of the Yorkshire moors. The ore brought down from these hills to the Tees is smelted at Middlesbrough by coal brought from the Durham field. The steep coast formed by the moors is cut into narrow river-mouths, in one of which the little town of Whitby has grown up, and the fashionable watering- place of Scarborough also stands upon this coast. The steep slopes of the Cotswolds near the other end of the line shelter a row of towns on the Lias plain below them, of which Gloucester and Cheltenham are the chief. The deep valleys which trench the southern end of the escarpment contain small towns which have been engaged in the manufacture of " West of England cloth " for centuries. This was orginally a consequence of the line-woolled sheep pastured on the hills ; but it has ■ not undergone a modern development, as in the Pennine district, and Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Stroud are still of only local importance. Bath, although containing some flourishing manufactures, owes its importance to the hot mineral springs which made it famous' amongst the Romans as a health resort. The middle portion of the Jurassic Belt is lower than the pastoral Cotswolds and the Yorkshire Moors, with less pronounced escarpments, and the broad fields of Oxford and Kimmeridge Clay make excellent agricultural land, growing heavy crops of wheat. The river Thames, rising on the Cotswold plateau, flows eastward until it meets the Cherwell coming from the north. At the junction Oxford stands on an alluvial meadow. It is the most venerable seat of learning in England, with a university dating from the twelfth century, and now composed of twenty- one colleges, most of them picturesque buildings with beautifully kept lyS The International Geography gardens. Museums, laboratories, and observatories supply means of scien- tific instruction, but Oxford continues to be famous rather for classical learning than for scientific research. Bedford is a type of the market towns, with small manufactures of agricultural implements, which are common in the district. Northampton, on the river Nen, was always a great leather-making town, and is now the chief seat of the boot and shoe trade in the United Kingdo n. The Nen flows north-eastwards, parallel to the strike of the strata, and Peterborough, a cathedral city and an important railway centre, stands on it at the very edge of the Fenland. Further north Lincoln occupies a remarkable site in a gap where the Witham trenches one of the minor escarpments. The name implies that it was a Roman colony, and it was always a crossing place of roads as it is now of railways. In the whole Jurassic Belt there is not one town with so many as 75,000 inhabitants ; this is a consequence of the absence of mineral fuel to promote manufactures. The Chalk Country. — The Chalk is the characteristic feature of the south and east of England, covering the whole of the older rocks over almost the entire area. It sweeps as a vast sheet from the sea at the mouth of the Axe in the south, to the sea at Flamborough Head in the north ; and its edge, facing the older Cretaceous rocks (Greensands) that dip under it as the Jurassic rocks dip under them, forms the succession of gentle heights roughly concentric with the Oolitic escarpment, which in different parts bears the names of the Dorset Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Chiltern Hills, the East Anglian Heights, the Lincolnshire Wolds, and the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding, terminating in the great chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head. This escarpment also shows a certain controlling influence on drainage lines, but the rivers flowing parallel to it on the plain on the north in almost every case turn abruptly and flow southward through gaps in the ridge. The soluble rock of which it is composed has been rapidly eroded and cut through by the streams flowing down the dip slopes, which in time " captured " and diverted the rivers of the plain beyond. Everywhere the scenery of the Chalk uplands is the same, rolling country with dry valleys and grassy, treeless hills, the white chalk gleaming through every scratch on the overlying turf. On the east coast this formation, and the Jurassic Belt within it, is breached by two notable inlets. The southern is the wide and very shallow depression known as the Wash, which is bordered landward by the level plain of the Fenland. The northern inlet is the narrower and deeper estuary of the Humber. A portion of Dorsetshire, the greater part of Wiltshire, a considerable share of Hampshire and Oxfordshire, most of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, the west of Norfolk and Suffolk, the east of Lincoln and the East Riding of Yorkshire all lie on the Chalk. The southern portion is mainly pastoral, the thin soil covering the Chalk serving only for the growth cSf pasture grass, but farther north the ancient ice-sheet spread a covering of boulder clay which makes a fertile soil peculiarly favourable to wheat-raising in Cambridge and Lincoln. England and Wales 179 To'wns of the Chalk Country. — As in the Jurassic Belt, ttie towns, thougli numerous and of much historic interest, are small; they have as a rule taken little part in modern development, and the rural market town is the predominant type. Salisbury Plain is the centre whence the Chalk hills of the northern and the southern branches diverge. Its undulating pasture-grounds bear the great stone-circle of Stonehenge, the largest prehistoric monument in the British Islands, and on the southern margin of the slope, at the junction of several river valleys with the south- flowing Avon, stands Salisbury with its magnificent cathedral. The valleys of the other south-flowing rivers of the Chalk plateau contain towns of equal antiquity and historic interest situated in very similar positions ; of these Winchester, associated with the memory of Alfred the Great, is the most important. On the northern edge of the Chalk, where the Kennet flows eastward to the Thames below Marlborough Downs, Marlborough is situated. The Vale of Aylesbury, north of the Chilterns, is dotted with a chain of small market towns. On the west and south the Thames closely borders these hills, and Reading stands at the confluence of the Kennet, on the margin of the fertile London clay, a busy town with the semi-agri- cultural industries of biscuit-making and seed-raising. Cambridge, on the edge of the Chalk where the low plain of the Fenland begins (it is only 32 feet above sea-level), is the second great university town of England, with seventeen colleges. It has for many centuries been the chief centre of mathematical learning. In the east of Lincolnshire the largest town is Grimsby, at the mouth of the Humber. It has a large general trade, and is distinguished by being the chief market for sea fish in the United Kingdom, London excepted. North of the Humber the Chalk wolds of the East Riding are separated from the Oolitic moors of the North Riding by the valley of the Derwent. In this region the boulder-clay deposit is vecy thick, the whole Holderness coast from the high chalk cliff of Flamborough Head to the low shingle spit of Spurn Head being formed of clay, which is being rapidly eroded by the sea. The Fenland. — An extensive but shallow depression of the Chalk and Oxford Clay gave rise to a great square inlet of the sea between Lincoln and Norfolk, fringed by broad marshes. This district is the Fenland. Efforts have been made for centuries to reclaim and drain the marshes ; their primitive character is now qui e lost, and they form wide flat plains of arable land crossed by innumerable canals, and in many places embanked to protect them from floods, as some portions lie at, or even a little below, the level of the sea. Boston, with its great parish church, the famous tower of which (Boston stump) was long an important landmark to sailors, and Kings Lynn stand on the seaward margin at opposite angles of the shallow Wash. Both were formerly active seaports, but the silting of the channels and the increasing size of vessels have left them out of account. Here and there over the Fens flat mounds of gravelly formation rise above the level peat and clay. These were islands and secure refuges in the ancient days. i8o The International Geography- Each now bears a little town, of whicli the cathedral city of Ely is the most important. The Fenland contains a remarkable number of fine churches and abbeys. The Weald. — Above the Chalk, and leaving only a narrow strip of it exposed parallel to the belt of Jurassic rocks, a series of Tertiary clays, sands, and gravels, appears once to have extended across the whole south- eastern corner of England. This was the last portion of the British Islands to be elevated above the sea. During the final uplift the whole south of England appears to have been subjected to stresses from south to north, causing the ridging up of a broad anticline running from east to west. Salisbury Plain forms the western extremity of this elevation of the Secondary strata ; and the Tertiary rocks were almost entirely stripped by denudation from the ridge which separates the remaining Tertiary formations into two basins, named after London and Hampshire. The ridge has been so deeply eroded that all the chalk has been stripped from the top of the arch east of a line from Farnham to Petersfield, exposing the Gault clay, Greensand, and Weald clay, on which it lay, and the still deeper Lower Cretaceous sandstones, which formed the core of the ridge. The cut edges of the Chalk and of the Greensand form steep escarpments surrounding and facing the great oval exposure of earlier rocks, across the east end of which the FIG. 84.-SccKo« across the Weald from North gtrait of Dover has been cut, to South, cc Chalk, g^ Greensand escarp- . ^^^^^ ^^wt, • mcnts, w Wealden sandstones. leaving part of the Wealden region on the mainland of Europe ni the north-west of France. The northern line of the Chalk escarp- ment of the Weald, with its steep slope facing south, forms the North Downs, beginning in the Hog's Back, and terminating in the white cliffs of the North and South Forelands. The rivers flowing north- wards from the ancient Wealden dome, cut through the line of the North Downs in a series of deep gaps, most of which are now the sites of towns, and afford passage to roads and railways. From west to east these rivers are the Wey, on which Guildford stands (Fig. i6), the Mole with Dorking, the Dart with Sevenoaks, the Medway with Maidstone, and the Stour with Ashford and the venerable cathedral city Canterbury. All these rivers receive tributaries which flow parallel to the strike of the rocks along the clay plains between the escarpments. The escarpment of the South Downs similarly faces northward, and runs along the south coast to terminate in the grand cliffs of Beachy Head. The rivers flowing southward from the Wealden dome have cut it into lengths by several gaps, some no longer occupied by streams, including that at the mouth of which Chichester lies, and those of the Arun with A rundel, the Adur, the Ouse with Lewes and Newhaven, and the Cuckmere. Their tributaries similarly run from east or west along the clay plains between the escarpments (see Fig. 36 for explanation). The Chalk Downs, dry on England and Wales i8i the surface but saturated with water at the heart, are in sharp con- trast to the flat wet strips of clay land at their base, to the Green- sand escarpments within them, and to the arid heights of the Wealden sandstones in the centre, in which the small number of streams and springs makes the water supply a question of much anxiety. A great part of the. sea-coast of the Weald is a low coastal plain, which tidal action and the slow elevation of the land has recently built, robbing the old seaports Rye, Winchelsea, and Pevensey of their access to the water, and building the shingly projection of Dungeness, enclosing the swamps of Romney Marsh, which was formerly a lagoon, like that behind Chesil Beach. The ancient forests of the Weald formerly made Surrey, Kent, and Sussex important iron-smelting counties, but their furnaces have all been extinguished for a century, and most of the woods have disappeared. The chief resources now are pasturage on the downs, yielding the famous South Down mutton, and agriculture on the clays and sandstones of the Weald, especially the great hop-crops of Kent, for the picking of which the poorest class of Londoners swarms to the fields every autumn. Dover flourishes because it commands the shortest passage to the continent by the Calais route, but deep borings in the neighbourhood have reached coal beneath the Cretaceous rocks, and mines may become important. Brighton is simply a fashionable seaside suburb of London, fifty miles distant from the metropolis, but reached in one hour by rail, and Eastbourne, Hastings, and St. Leonards are Smilar resorts on a smaller scale. To the north Margate and Ramsgaie, on the Isle of Thanet, no longer an island, are popular with the humbler London "trippers," and Tunbridge Wells in the centre of the Weald, like Haslemere farther west, is a favourite town for residence. The Hampshire Basin. — The Tertiary rocks form a fertile undulat- ing plain. In the south-west the New Forest is still an extensive wood- land, the remains of that planted as a hunting-ground by William the Conqueror. The coast is usually low, and is broken by the branching estuaries of Poole and Portsmouth, and the wider channels of Spithead and the Solent, which cut off the Isle of Wight and run up into Southampton Water. All parts of the coast formed by Tertiary deposits are undergoing rapid erosion, and the sea is gaining upon the land. The Chalk border on the south is seen at Ballard Point, is carried across the centre of the Isle of Wight and appears again beyond Bognor. Portsmouth is the most strongly fortified town in the United Kingdom, on account of the importance of its splendid harbour as the head-quarters of the navy, and the site of the chief naval dockyard. Southampton, a purely commercial port with good docks, is increasing in importance for passenger traffic with South Africa and America on account of its proximity to London. Health and pleasure resorts line the coast, the most frequented being Bournemouth, laid out on the top of the crumbling clay cliffs to the west, and the little seaside towns of the Isle of Wight. 14 1 82 The International Geography The London Basin. — The London Basin, made up of various clays and gravels, occupies a depression in the Chalk, which is reached every- where by the borings for artesian wells. It extends from the eastern border of Wiltshire, along the valley of the Kennet, and gradually widens until it meets the sea from Heme Bay to Cromer. The coast of this section is typically low and fretted into shallow estuaries, among which that of the Thames is supreme, although the Blackwater and the inlets at Harwich are equally characteristic. In the east of Norfolk the low, flat land on the lower courses of the Yare, Bure, and Waveney, contains a number of shallow lagoons known as the Broads, surrounded by marshes. Foulness, the Naze, and Orfordness are typical capes of low ground. The gravel hills are often conspicuous features in the generally flat land formed by the clays, as in the line of heights which runs from Harrow eastward through the northern suburbs of London. ' The soil is remarkably fertile and naturally richly wooded, Epping Forest being a fine example. The manner in which the London Basin is surrounded by its wall of Chalk cannot fail to strike the railway traveller from London by any line except the Great Eastern, on account of the deep chalk cuttings which are passed through. The one great river is the Thames, which cutting through the Chalk escarpment west of the Chiltern Hills, flows out along the south side of the London Basin, receiving the Lea from the Chalk belt on the north, and many small rivers from the Weald on the south. The Small Towns of the London Basin. — The towns of the Thames valley are, with the exception of London and its suburbs, small and mainly important as centres for residential neighbourhoods. Windsor is the usual royal residence of the British court, and the small town of Eton on the opposite bank of the Thames, is important for its ancient public school. In the north-east, where the deposits of the London Basin are covered by the thick boulder clays of East Anglia, there was, before the fall in the value of wheat, the best farming land in England, and the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk are still pre-eminent agriculturally. The large town of Norwich is just beyond the London Basin. It was an ancient cloth-making town, and one of the first to profit by the im- migration of Flemish weavers ; it still retains a share of this manufac- ture, although boot and shoe making, the construction of agricultural machinery, and great starch and mustard works are now more important commercially. On the coast Yarmouth continues to be a fishing centre ; Ipswich retains a share of manufactures ; Colchester depends largely on the great oyster beds of the Colne estuary, and Harwich has developed by the construction of an artificial harbour for continental passenger ti-affic, the distance across the North Sea being just sufficient to give the passengers by night-boats time to sleep comfortably. Along the shingly coast there are many little watering-places, celebrated for- the freshness of the air. London.— The name London is variously applied. The City of London, England and Wales 183 the portion under the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor, is a small area between the Tower and the site of Temple Bar, with a resident population of only about 30,000, although ten times that number are employed within its Umits during the day. The County of London, administered by the London County Council, haS an area of 120 square miles, or one-thousandth part of the United Kingdom, and a population, in 1891, of 4J millions, or more than one-tenth of the population of the country. But the area under the charge of the Metropolitan and City Police forces, called Greater London, includes a radius of about 14 miles from Charing Cross — an area of 690 square miles — the whole of which may be viewed as a suburban, if not an urban district, and this included 5^^ million people in i8gi. The Port of London comprises the whole estuary of the Thames, extending for 50 miles from London Bridge to the Nore (see Fig. 85). No such town exists in any other part of the world. The population exceeds that of Scotland or Ireland, and is even greater than that of fifteen of the independent countries of Europe, while the trade of the port is greater than that of any complete country except the United States, Germany, and France. The nature of its growth and the successive swallowing .up of innumerable towns and villages deprives it of any definite plan, but although of little architectural distinction, and with many narrow and irregular streets, the essential feature of a complete drainage system has been so carefully attended to, that London has the smallest death- r- » -^, Fig. fiS-— Thames Estuary. rate of any large town, and is scarcely below the average of the whole country in healthfulness. The natural features of the site of central London have been obscured by nearly twenty centuries of human interference ; but the results of the original topography are still to be discerned in the arrangement and in the names of the streets. Before Roman times there was a fortified British camp called Linn-dun (the hill over the lagoons) — on a low hill which rose abruptly from the Thames, constricting the tidal lagoons which then formed its estuary to a width that admitted of a ferry, and latterly of a bridge (London Bridge) being established. This hill was strengthened for defence by the steep ravine of the Fleet river (now Farringdon Street) on the west, and the Lea marshes on the east. The Romans had one of the ferries or fords to connect their trunk roads at this point, the other crossing being at Westminster, two miles farther up the river. From Westminster ford, Watling Street (the present Edgware Road) ran straight to Chester, but when the first London Bridge was built in 1 170 the ford was abandoned, and the road diverted at what is now Marble Arch, to lead eastward to the bridge. The Tower of London is the lineal successor of the old hill fort, and St. Paul's Cathedral marks the centre of ancient London and of the modern fi Mrin iO / , x 1_L'^ -1 7=^" --^ ^, \cJ^^ -ss^ ~\ ^.v^ •Ase^ ^s^-r^ .-'■ 9 _^ ^ p^^uwhoroui ^ 184 The International Geography " City " (Fig. 15). Between them now stands the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England— the business and financial centres of the world. West- minster was originally grouped round the ancient abbey, which is now the last resting-place of the most illustrious of the British people. Here West- minster Hall was part of the palace of the early kings, and still stands in association with the Houses of Parliament that have been several times rebuilt on the same site. The road between the commercial city of London and the political capital of Westminster lay along the low strand of the broad tidal Thames, hence its name ; but now it is separated from the river by the broad Embankment which confines the tidal waters to a narrow channel. The port was necessarily below London Bridge, and up to that point the fiver was kept available for shipping by embanking it, and Fig. 86. — London. excavating docks in the flat ground projecting between the windings. As vessels became larger the docks were increased in size also, and constructed further down the estuary, until now the activity of the Port of London extends to Tilbury, 20 miles from. the Tower. The east' of London has grown by commerce and has attracted many branches of manufacture, the, enumeration of which would be impossible. In no other country is there so vast an extent of small streets inhabited exclusively by people of the working classes, drawn from all nationalities, as in the East End of London, a term including the separate municipality of West Ham. On a hill on the south side of the river stands Greenwich Observatory, which sets the time for the world and whose meridian is the zero of longitude. Farther down Woolwich contains an arsenal and dockyard. For more than two hundred England and Wales 185 years London has been growing steadily westward from tlie City, the tide of business always pushing the mansions of the wealthy farther and farther to the west. Recently the heights to the north and to the south of the Thames beyond the ring of public parks have been covered by suburban villas, inhabited by the business men of the city, and the expanding fringe of London is always driving the country farther away. The terminal stations of the great railway companies are not arranged on any method allowing of easy inter-communication ; but for passenger traffic the system of underground railways has been greatly developed. In the main thoroughfares the trafihc is too great to allow tramlines to be laid, and alone amongst great cities London depends for street communica- tions on omnibuses. London as a Centre . — Although London is situated in one corner of- Great Britain, the exi- gencies of its absorbing traffic have created a magnificent system of fast express trains on the northern and western railways, which bring almost all parts of the country within a twelve hours' journey of the capital. The supplies for the food of London and for distribution to the sur- rounding country come in by train and by sea. The chief markets for fish at Billingsgate, for vegetables, flowers, and fruit at Covent Garden, and for meat at Smithfield are of vast size, but inadequate to the demand. The trade of the port of London is mainly in imports, which amount in value to one-third of those of the whole country, and the tea and wine trades are almost monopolies of the port. The University of London is only an examining body, but there are two important colleges, and great medical schools are attached to the large hospitals. The British Museum, with a library of 2,000.000 volumes, contains unrivalled collections of objects of antiquity and natural history, and there are many special museums and art galleries. The Fig. 87. — Railways radiating from London. t86 The International Geography Fig. X8.— 77;t hlc of ilaii. The !m^ (7 nui/ii^ of 45 miles. :inTf scientilic hocielic^ of London arc tht- liuaclquarter^ of all branches of Britis^h science. The publislinig trade has been centralised in London to a remarkable degree, almost all the publishers who made Edinburgh famous as a literary centre early in the nineteenth century have removed to London, although much of the printing is done in other towns. The Isle of Man. — The Isle of Man, lying in the Irish Sea, is independent of either England, Scotland, or Ireland, a fact hinted at in its coat of arms. The island enjoys complete home rule ; the legislative body, called the House of Keys, is composed of twenty-four landed proprietors. A governor is appointed by the British government to represent the Crown. The island is of great geological interest, being composed, like the Lake District, mainly of Silurian rocks, patches of Carboniferous limestone, and some bosses of granite. The northern portion is a drift- covered plain, but the centre and south of the island are high, the highest point, Snaefell, slightly exceeding 2,000 feet. There are some important lead mines, and the mild climate is favourable to stock-raising. The little towns of RdiitSiiY, Douglas, and Custliiou-ii on the east coast, and Pc'cl on the west, attract a great number of summer visitors. The Manx people are of Keltic origin, and their ori- ginal language is not forgotten, being still taught in the schools in addition to English. The Church of England is established under the Bishop of Sodor and Man, a title which recalls a former groupmg of the Isle of Man with the Hebrides. The Channel Islands. — The group of islands including Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, lying off the coast of Normandy, with which they were probably connected by land in prehistoric times, were part of the domains of William the Conqueror, and although the people are still of Norman race and French speech the islands have never formed part of France politi- cally. The dialect of each island is peculiar to itself, but all are derived from the Iani;ui: ,i'oil, and modern French is used officially, but the use of English is rapidly spreading. Ecclesiasticall\- they form part of the See of Winchester, and for sonre purposes they are attached to the county of Hampshire : but the islands are self-governing, and retain nianv curious privileges and quaint customs. There is compulsory mihlary service for all men in the mililia. The islands unjuy a mild climate, and each possesses a special breed of cattle Fig. &q.— The "Anns- of the Isle of Man. Fio. QO.- Cllainiel Islii. imt. Ireland 187 valuable for dairy purposes. The fertility of the soil is great and the leading occupation is farming, or rather market gardening, for the farms which belong to the peasantry are now very small on account of the practice of dividing the land amongst all the sons of a family. Early vegetables for the London market, and fruit, grown for the most part under glass, are the chief exports. The detached rocks about the larger islands and the rapid currents of the sea make navigation diffi- cult and dangerous, but steamers run regularly **' "'"'"'' to the French ports from 15 to 30 miles away, and to Weymouth and Southampton, 90 and 150 ^^V^^i^l;;:^:!;'';^;^ miles distant. Jersey, the largest island, has its chief town at St. Helier, and Guernsey, which is not much smaller, has a harbour at St. Pierre. In addition to its farm produce Guernsey exports granite, particularly for paving. IV.— IRELAND By Grexville A. J. Cole, Professor of Geology in the Royal College of Science for Ireland. Position and Outline. — The name of Ireland otl Eire-land, 2iCcorAmg to tradition, is that of Eire (earlier Erin), one of the queens of the Tuatha De Danann. Ireland stands on the very edge of the European plateau, the sea- floor sinking to oceanic depths on the west ; while on the east it is divided from Great Britain by shallow seas, rarely deeper than 70 fathoms. The western coast-line is deeply indented, and obviously reJDroduces the features of the sea-lochs of Scotland and the fjords of Norway. The long inlets are river-valleys that have been lowered beneath the sea, and the walls that bounded them now jut out as headlands into the Atlantic, their outermost peaks forming characteristic chains of islands. The attack of the ocean-rollers has, in places, formed cliffs of considerable height ; at Slieve Liag in Co. Donegal, and at Achill Island, there are almost sheer descents of 2,000 feet. The east coast of Ireland includes few fjords, though the names of Wexford, Carlingford, and Strangford show how the typical structure even there impressed the Danish settlers. In general, however, on the east there is a series of broad bays and accumulated sands, broken only here and there by some bold feature like Bray Head. Surface and Structure.— The general form of the surface of Ireland resembles a shallow basin, the highlands being grouped along the coast. The watershed between an eastern and a western group of rivers may be traced from Lough Foyle to Mizen Head, but is a sinuous line marked by no special surface features. In some cases rivers of both groups arise on opposite sides of the same central bog-land. The Northern and Eastern Mountains.— The high plateaux of 1 88 The International Geography the north-east are due to the outpouring of basaltic lavas, tier upon tier, in Eocene times. Immense denudation has since gone on, and Lough Neagh has been formed by the fracture and subsidence of part of the volcanic area. The Mourne Mountains are formed of Eocene granite. The highlands of western Londonderry, Donegal, Mayo, and Gal way are formed of far more ancient rocks. A series of folds running north-east and south-west determined the general structure of this region at the close of Silurian times. Here and there, portions of the still older floor of metamorphic rocks, on which the early Palasozoic strata were laid down, have been brought to light. The age, however, of many of the altered series is still uncertain. Errigal (2,466 feet), Croagh Patrick (2,510 feet), and the Twelve Bens (2,300 feet), are good examples of the conical mountains formed by the occurrence of hard bands of quartzite, at various horizons, in this antique region. The same system of north-east and south-west folds is traceable across Ireland wherever the older rocks ap- pear through the Carboniferous coating. Silurian and Ordovician beds thus form a long ridge from near Dundalk through Co. Down, and the Newry granite comes up along this axis. In Leinster, again, a granite moorland', sixty miles long, forms a backbone to the province, flanked similarly by up- turned Older Palasozoic strata. The Southern Mountains.— The mountains on the south and south- west, on the other hand, have been determined by post-Carboniferous folding, and the axes here run east and west. The upward folds, or anticlines, have weathered out as ridges, owing to the hardness of the Old Red Sandstone conglomerates, which have here been brought to the surface. The downward folds, or synclines, contain the softer Carboniferous limestone, which has been greatly worn down, forming a system of east and west valleys. Long stretches of the Suir, the Blackwater, the Lee, and the Bride thus follow the axes of folding. The abrupt bend southward in the lower part of the Blackwater and other rivers may be due to the intersection of their original courses by other streams running north and south. These have cut their way back at their heads, until they have drawn off into their own channels the waters that once flowed on along the east and west synclinals. When subsidence of the west coast occurred, the main vallevs were already formed in the synchnes, and the sea entered them between the anticlinal ridges of Old Red Sandstone, forming the inlets of Dingle, Kenmare, Bantry, and Dun- manus. Farther north, the same system of folding is manifest in the Galtee Fig. t)i.—T/ie Axes of Folding of Ireland. Ireland 189 Mountains (3,000 feet), and in the axis of Slieve Felim and Slieve Bloom. In the latter region, however, the trend of the ridges seenis diverted by the older series of folds. The Central Lo-wland. — Central Ireland is, in general, a lowland, with many brown bogs, stretches of green meadow, and numerous lakes, sinuous in outline, and enclosing abundant islands. The Carboniferous limestone here covers an immense extent of country, and repeats, on the broadest scale, the features seen in the compressed synclinals of the south. The synclinal from the Leinster chain to the Slieve Bloom axis is 35 miles wide ; and thence a second still shallower one stretches to the foot of the Donegal and Mayo highlands. Clew Bay, with its host of islands, is merely a marine representative of the inland lakes. The broad area of Carboniferous limestone retained in the .central plain gives a uniform character to the interior ; and from Galway to Dublin, 115 miles, there is not a hill of any importance. Near Sligo, however, and in the west of Clare, the same strata have been uplifted to form scarped and terraced mountains. The lower ground has served for the accumulation of sands and gravels from the surrounding hills, the final distribution of which has been largely influenced by the confluent glaciers of the Ice Age. The Shannon and its important tributary, the Suck, run north and south through the plain. The former, if we include" the Owenmore river, rises on the moors of Cuilcagh, falls steeply at first, and then has a gentle course of over 200 miles. It thus appears mainly as a broad lowland stream, spreading out to form Loughs Allen, Boderg, Forbes, Ree, and Derg. At Killaloe it cuts for a time through mountainous country, and forms a series of rapids at Castleconnell on its way to Limerick. Minerals. — The Coal Measures, lying above the Carboniferous lime^ stone, have been preserved only in a few isolated basins. The coal, moreover, is of an anthracitic character, except near Lough Allen and Dungannon. This fact has caused the manufacturing centres to lie almost entirely on the east coast, where coal from Scotland or England can be obtained by cheap sea-carriage. The Dungannon Coal Measures are partly overlain by New Red Sandstone, and are thus capable of further development. Active iron-mining in Ireland is confined to the pisolitic ores of Co. Antrim, which are interbedded, as old lake-deposits, in the Eocene basalts. Bauxite is worked, for aluminium, in the same district. Rock-salt is mined near Carrickf ergus, and barytes in Co. Cork. Copper and lead are now very little worked, even in Co. Wicklow. The abundant discoveries of prehistoric gold ornaments in Ireland go far to show that alluvial gold was at one time common in the country ; but the supply was probably soon exhausted. The quartz-rocks of Cos. Donegal and Wicklow have been indicated as the source ; and small nuggets have been found in the latter county in historic times, while the quartzites contain recognisable quantities of gold upon assay. Grains of gold are still obtained by washing the sands of some streams near Arklow. I go The International Geography The fine-grained Carboniferous sandstones of Donegal are well suited for building purposes in towns. The black marbles of Galway and Kil- kenny, the red from Co. Cork, and the unique green serpentinous marble of Connemara, are used for decoration. Grey granite is quarried at Newry, and red granites occur in Co. Galway and elsewhere. The cost of carriage and of working retards the Irish stone industry. The one material ex- cavated with unfailing regularity is peat — locally called turf — which is extensively used for fuel. Fauna and Flora. — The exceptional features of the fauna and flora of Ireland have been previously referred to in describing the British Islands as a whole (p. 142). People and History. — Separated from South Wales by some 50 miles, and from Scotland at one point by only 13 miles, and with the broad Atlantic on the west, it is clear that the natural incorporation of Ireland in the British Isles has profoundly influenced her history. Her insular position laid her open to attack from a variety of nations, at a time when journeys by sea were simpler than those by land. The early settlers in Ireland appear to have come in some small degree from southern Europe, but mainly from the Keltic tribes of Gaul and Britain ; but these invaders doubtless found men of the Stone Age already in occupation. The detailed anthropomefrical investigations now in progress under the care of the Royal Irish Academy may do much to settle the difficult question of the origin of the sections of the Irish people. The distinctive, characters of the peasantry are not confined to those who still speak the Irish language. Courtesy, quickness of idea, a delicate or humorous aptness of expression, a conservatism of method, and a deep sense of the supernatural in ordinary life, are features of the agricultural community, and imply less mixture of race than might have been expected from the frequent immigrations. The dominant tribe became ultimately known as the Scots, who occupied the plain, holding the country from the centre, much as the Magyars now hold Hungary. The Scots and their subject tribes invaded Wales and Corn- wall. A colony in Galloway spread northward, and gave its name to Scotland. The Romans never established themselves in Ireland ; but in the middle of the fifth century St. Patrick successfully introduced Chris- tianity, and the country still abounds in Christian monuments erected by his monastic successors. The round towers are now believed to belong mostly to the ninth century. Ecclesiastical learning and art flourished, and Irish missionaries spread into central Europe. The seizure of the harbours by Danes and Norwegians from 800 a.d. onwards checked ex- ternal enterprise ; but the development of the towns of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and Limerick, as commercial centres, dates from this inva- sion: Dublin became the centre of Norse power in Ireland, while rival Irish kings strove for inland supremacy. Brian, however, drove the Danes from Limerick in 968, and broke their power at Clontarf in 1014. They held Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford till the Norman inva- Ireland i g i sion under Richard de Clare in 1170. Tlie Anglo-Norman governors soon regarded themselves as local Irish chieftains, and their insular position often overcame their loyalty, despite the existence of an official Viceroy in Dublin. The defection of many of the settlers reduced the English district to a small area round Dublin. Henry VIII. came to be styled king of Ireland, and drew to his side those who had long looked for a central authority. But no English predominance was estab- lished until after the wars of extermination carried on by Elizabeth's generals. The virtual forfeiture of Ulster by the government of James I. led to the introduction of sturdy English settlers on an organised basis, and the name of Londonderry records the source of many of the colonists. The emphasis laid upon religious differences resulted in a bitter rising in 1641, the ultimate suppression of which was left to Cromwell. The loyal party under William III. secured the passing of " penal laws," whereby land and other property were gradually brought into the hands of the Protestants.. The export of wool was forbidden, and, outside the district of the linen industry, the people were driven to rely on agriculture alone. The conciliatory measures of the Dublin parliament came too late to check the sanguinary rebellion of 1798. Parliamentary union with Great Britain took place in 1801, and in 1829 Roman Catholics were first allowed to sit in parliament. To this day the country presents suggestive traces of its comparatively recent colonisation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1891 the Roman Catholics numbered 75.4 per cent, of the entire population. Present Economic Condition. — The growth of population was rapid between 1800 and 1845, and the general reliance on the potato as a source of food led to the disastrous famine of 1846, when the potato crop failed. The western peasantry, isolated in small bodies among the moun- tains, naturally suffered most, even when relief had been freely supplied from England. A steady decline in population has since gone on. The sea has provided a simple means of exodus to America, just as in old times it served as a means of approach. At the present time the country appears to be increasing in prosperity, and much is being done, by legislation and private effort, to maintain the population on the soil. In former days water-power was largely used for mills, and the formation of reservoirs may again utilise the rainfall. From poverty in coal, the country must always depend .largely on systematic agriculture and grazing. Of late years crops have been neglected, while large numbers of cattle have been exported. In the north, flax is cultivated, as a basis for the flourishing linen-industry. Shipbuilding prospers in Belfast. Distilling and brewing are important trades in the large towns. Cloth and lace are manufactured locally. The sea-fisheries have largely developed. Butter and bacon form the main exports of the south and south-west. The Congested Districts Board, and the construction of " light railways,'' with Government assistance, have done much to stimulate industry in the west. Many lines 192 The Internationa] Geography of steamers connect the eastern ports with England and Scotland ; and American hners call at Queenstown, and at Moville on Lough Foyle. Divisions and Tovras. — The division of Ireland into provinces, under an over-lord, dates from prehistoric times, though the boundaries have slightly varied. The provinces are divided into counties, and these into baronies, which mostly bear ancient and interesting Gaelic names. Leinster includes the twelve counties of Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Dublin, King's Co., Queen's Co., Kildare, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Carlpw and Wexford, The north consists largely of a Carboniferous limestone plateau, used for grazing. The Boyne rises in the bogs near Edenderry, c.nd runs through a wooded valley below Navan. Drogheda occupies its mouth, on a good inlet for shipping. The Liffey rises in the Wicklow Mountains, makes a loop of 75 miles through the plain, and enters the sea at Dublin Bay. A wooden bridge was erected across it here 1 iWIV ^^^^^»r ) ^J^ \5 ^4^^^s.i^f^ 1 TalMP' Fig. 93. — Dublin. in ancient times, and Dubh-linn, the Black Pool, became the site of a town guarding the passage. The bay, sheltered between the hills of Howth and Dalkey, was accessible both to Danes and English ; and Dublin became the capital of the invaders. It is the seat of the Viceregal court, and of the DubUn University, founded in 1591. The Royal University also hoUs its examinations in the city ; and there are several libraries and museums. The quays on the Liffey serve for a good import and export trade ; the mails cross to Holyhead from Kingstown, a fine harbour six miles down the bay. The city has of late extended greatly on the south. The old quarter round the Castle and Cathedrals is poor and dilapidated ; but the expansion in the eighteenth century provided Dublin with many handsome public buildings, classical in style. Dublin is mainly an administrative and professional city, but has large breweries,, mineral water factories, chemical works, and other manufactures. South of Dublin, Leinster broadly divides itself into the mountain axis on the east, and the western Carboniferous Ireland 193 synclinal, including the pastoral lowlands of Kildare and the high Kilkenny coal-field. Beyond the Slieve Bloom range, the King's County stretches to the Shannon. The Nore and the Barrow run north and south on either side of the coal-field, uniting at New Ross in a navigable channel. The Leinster granite chain rises to 3,039 feet in Lugnaquillia, and forms a long moorland, commonly 2,000 feet above the sea. The flatter ground east of the chain widens towards the south, where Wexford town has a fair ship- ping and agricultural trade. Ulster includes the nine counties of Donegal, Londonderry, Antrim, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan, Armagh, and Down. The planters of the seventeenth century introduced a virile and enterprising element. Immigration from Scotland took place at various times ; and a great part of the population remains Presbyterian. Antrim contains high basalt plateaux, the columnar jointing of the lavas being admirably seen in the Giant's Causeway near Portrush. Belfast {Beal feirsie, the " ford of the sandbank ") was occupied by the Normans, and was finally secured for England in 1573. The steady growth of trade in the port, and of the linen and shipbuilding industries, have raised the population from 30,000 in 18 10 to some 300,000 at the present day. The modern city has handsome well-kept streets, with conspicuous commercial buildings. The Queen's College is on the south, and there are seven public parks. The shortest route from Britain is from Lame, some 20 miles to the north. The basalt plateaux fall towards Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles. The Bann runs through it, continuing as a broad stream to the sea at Coleraine, 100 miles from its source in the Mourne Mountains. Londonderry, still walled, rises picturesquely on the west bank of the Foyle, and has large agricultural exports. From the Sperrin Mountains across Donegal there stretches a romantic highland, mainly occupied by Irish-speaking people. The south- west of Ulster is less rugged, and the scenery of the two Loughs Erne graduates into that of the plain. An agricultural country of green rounded hills extends from this point eastward. The Mourne Mountains occupy the south-east of Co. Down, Slieve Donard (2,796 feet) and Slieve Bingian (2,449 fset) being conspicuous summits. Connaught includes the five counties of Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Galway, and Roscommon. It lies almost entirely west of the Shannon, and its comparatively poor lands were often occupied by persons ejected from the east. In the mountains of Galway and southern Mayo lies some of the most beautiful scenery of Ireland ; but the whole area eastward belongs to the limestone plain. Loughs Conn, Mask, and Corrib are thus broad sheets of water, with low eastern and mountainous western shores. The popula- tion of the Connaught highlands is thickest along the coast, and is engaged in fishing. The towns of Galway and of Sligo are thus fishery-centres. The former stands at the outfall of Lough Corrib, and is a natural port for the trade of Galway Bay, which runs 30 miles west to the open ocean. Munster includes the six counties of Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Kerry, 194 The International Geography and Cork. The indentations of the coastline render it highly picturesque. The warm south-westerly winds preserve a richness of vegetation, except on the limestone terraces of Clare. Co. Tipperary consists partly of the plain, partly of the Old Red Sandstone ranges. The acropolis of Cashel is one of the most remarkable groups of antique buildings in Europe. Limerick, despite its trade in bacon and agricultural produce, has felt the effects of decreased population. It has a beautiful situation on the Shannon, above which the Norman stronghold rises. The east and west mountain- ranges occupy most of Cos. Cork and Kerry, culminating in Carrantuohill (3,414 feet), a peak in Macgillicuddy's Reeks. The lower lake of Killarney belongs to the plain, while the upper is enfolded in wooded mountains. The population of Kerry preserves many ancient characteristics, and dwells mostly on the coast. The island of Valentia is a starting-point for one of the most important transatlantic cables. In the east, Munster becomes richer and more cultivated ; the Suir and the Blackwater often run between high banks of woodland. Cork, the third largest city in Ireland, is well built upon the Lee, and its suburbs run down towards Queenstown, a station for the American mails. The winding but spacious harbour is set with wooded islands. The chief trade lies in agricultural exports. Waterford, founded by the Danes, occupies a similarly sheltered position on the inlet of the Suir, and has a corresponding trade with England. The east and west ranges that form the south of Ireland are here broken by St. George's Channel, and we pass somewhat abruptly to the foot-hills of the Leinster chain. STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. Area of the United Kingdom in square miles Population ,. „ .... Density of population per square mile . . 1881. 120,979 35,2411482 291 1891. 120,979 38,104,97s 314 England. 1881 . . 24,613,926 1891 . . 27,483,490 Ai-ea, sq. miles 50,867 DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. Channel Scotland. Ireland. Isle of Man. Islands. 3-735,573 5,174,836 53,558 4,025,647 4.704,750 S5,6o8 29,785 32,583 227 Wales. 1,360,513 1,519,035 7,442 87,702 92,234 75 THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTIES IN 1891. Name. London York .. Lancaster Lanark Stafford Kent . . Durham Name, Kinross Nairn . . Peebles Area, sq. miles. 118 5.939 1.757 882 1,142 1.S19 999 Population. 4,232,118 1,777,923 1,768,273 1,105,899 818,290 785,674 721,461 Name. Essex . . Middlesex Chester Devon . . Cork . . Edinburgh Antrim . . Area, sq. miles. 1.533 233 1,009 2,597 2,890 362 1.237 THE LEAST POPULOUS COUNTIES IN 189 Area, sq, miles. Population. Name. 73 6,673 Bute .. 195 9,155 Rutland 355 14,7.50 Radnor Area, sq. miles. 2l8 152 471 ' Takes account only of soldiers and s.iilors. Abroad.! 215.374 224,211 Population. 579,355 560,012 536,64* 455,353 438,432 434,276 428,128 Population. 18,404 20,659 21,791 United Kingdom 195 THE LARGE TOWNS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM Name. LONDON' (County) Glasgow . . Liverpool Manchester Birmingham Leeds Dublin Sheffield . . Bristol . . Edinburgh , . Belfast . . Bradford , . Nottingham Wi'st Ham . . Hull S'.lford . . Newcastle-upon. Oldham . . Leicester Wolverhampton Portsmouth Dundee . . Sunderland Btighton . . Cardiff . . Aberdeen . . Blackburn , . Bolton Preston . . Merthyr Tydfil Croydon Noiwich birkenhead Middlesbrough Huddersfield Derby Southampton Population. 1881. i8gr. 3,816,483 4,232,118 674.095 793,320 552,508 341.414 400,774 309,119 349.648 284,508 206,874 236,002 208,122 183,032 186,575 128,953 165,690 176.235 145.359 111,343 122,376 164,332 127,989 140,239 116,542 107,546 82,761 105,189 104,014 105,414 96,537 91,373 78,953 87,842 84,006 72,601 81,841 81,168 84,384 584.499 505.368 478.113 367.506 352.277 324.243 286,231 261,225 255,950 216,361 213.877 204,902 200,044 198,136 186,300 183,871 174,624 174.365 159.251 153.051 142,248 142,129 128,915 121,623 120,064 118,730 111,685 104,021 102,697 100,970 99,857 98,932 96,495 94,146 93,589 Name. Swansea . . Dudley Halifax Ystrad-v-fodwg . Plymouth Hanley Burnley Gateshead South Shields . Stoke-upon-Trent . Cork Dewsbury . . Walsall Rochdale . . St. Helens . , Northampton Stockport . . Devonport Wednesbury Stockton-on-Tees . York Leith Paisley Hartlepool Greenock . . Hastings Reading West Bromwich . Chatham . . Grisisby . . Ipswich . . Bury Warrington Wigan Coventry . . Newport (Mon.). Bath Population. 1881. l8gi. 73,971 87.527 73.630 73.795 75,912 63,638 65,803 56,875 64,091 80,124 69,566 59.402 68,866 57,403 57,544 59.553 63,980 68,142 55.460 61,166 59,485 55,638 46,990 65,884 47.619 46,054 56,295 46,788 45.351 50,546 53,240 45,253 48,194 46,563 38,427 53,875 90,349 90,252 89.832 88,351 87.480 86,945 86.034 85,692 78,391 75.352 75.345 72,896 71.789 71,401 71,288 70,872 70,263 70,204 69,083 68,875 67,004 67,700 66,418 64,882 63,096 60,878 60,054 59.474 59.210 58,661 57,360 57,212 55.349 55.013 54.755 54.707 54.551 AGRICULTURE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Turnips. Potatoes. Acres in 1874 3,819,011 2,500,217 4,076,570 2,466,823 1,412,851 „ „ 1886 2,355,457 2,423,060 4,403,579 2,302,2:9 1,353,808 „ „ 1895 1,454,173 2,337,929 4,512,306 2,229,183 1,251,703 MINERAL PRODUCTION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. Iron Ore. Amount, long tons. Value, $. 15,726,370 28,000,000 14,590,713 17,500,000 13,700,764 15,500,000 Coal. Amount, long tons. Value, $. 1878 132,654,887 232,000,000 1888 169,935,219 214,500,000 1896 195.361,260 285,500,000 Pig Iron manufactured. Long tons.2 6,300,000 7,898,000 8,659,681 Year Amount TOTAL IMPORTS OF RAW COTTON INTO UNITED KINGDOM {In million pounds weight.) 1820. .. 1840. ,. 186a. .. 1880, 152 ■ ■ 592 . . 1,391 . • 1.629 1.755 ANNUAL TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. (In dollars.) 1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95- Imports 1,800,000,000 . . . . 1,995,000,000 . , . . 2,085,000,000 Exports3 1,195,000,000 . , , , 1,160,000,000 . . . . 1,130,000,000 . Re-exports 4 290,000,000 . . . . 315,000,000 . . . . 300,000,000 1 Seaports in small capitals, other towns not near coal-fields in italics. 2 From native and imported ores. 3 Of British produce. 4 Of foreign produce previouslj' imported. 196 The International Geography CHIEF SOURCES AND DESTINATIONS OF TRADE. {In 1896. Values in million dollars.) United Country. States. France. India. Australasia. Germany. Holland. Russia. Belgium. Canada. Imports from 530 250 125 145 135 I49 no 95 80 Exports to .. 100 70 150 105 no 40 35 40 30 Total Trade with 630 320 275 250 245 189 145 135 no THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 1898.^ (Approximate.) Area, sq. miles. United Kingdom 121,000 Indian Empire 1,800,000 Colonies : — Gibraltar 2 Malta and Gozo 120 Aden and Perim 80 Ceylon 25,400 Straits Settlements . . . . 1,500 Hongkong 30 Cape Colony 300,000 . Natal 32,900 Gambia 2,700 Gold Coast 40,000 Lagos 1,000 Sierra Leone 15,000 Mauritius 700 Ascension and St. Helena . . 80 Dominion of Canada . . , . 3,300,000 Newfoundland and Labrador . . 162,000 Bermuda 20 British Honduras 7,5oo Bahamas 4.5oo Jamaica and Turk's Island . . 4i400 Leeward Islands 7bo Windward Islands . . , . 780 Barbados 170 Trinidad and Tobago . . . . 1,800 British Guiana 109,000 Falkland Islands 7i5oo Fiji 7,700 British New Guinea . . . . 88,400 New Zealand 104,000 Queensland 670,000 New South Wales . . . . 310,000 Victoria 88,000 Tasmania 26,000 South Australia 903,000 Western Australia . . . . 975,000 Total, United Kingdom, India, ' and Colonies . . . . . . 9,131,000 Protectorates, &c. : — Asia 120,000 Africa 2,120,000 Pacific Islands — Total, BritiBh Empire . . 11,370,000 STANDARD BOOKS. J. G. Bartholomew. " Atlas of Scotland." Edinburgh, 1895. Cassell's "Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland." 6 vols. London 189^-08 jy-p""".',".^^^';^- ''^''owth of EngHsh Industry and Commerce^^ 2 vols. Cambridge, 1890,1892 SirA.Geikie. "The Scenery and Geology of Scotland." 2nd edit. London 1887 — -—Geological Maps of England and Wales and of Scotland. Edinburgh. J R. and A. S. Green ^ 'A Short Geography of the British Islands." London. A. T Jukes-Browne ;;^lhe Buildmg of the British Islands." London 1888 S' ^"ft r, Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland." London 1878 Sir A. C. Ramsay. Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain." edited by H. B. Woodward. London, 1894. -' fh^'^"r!iv,,^K^Jji/'S%°! ™P°rtance are to be found in the publications of the Geological Survey, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Shipping ; tonnage Population. entered and cleared 40,000,000 85,500,000 290,000,000 7,700,000 20,000 8.700,000 176,000 6,600,000 42,000 2,400,00a 3,000,000 7,000,000 560,000 11,200,000 260,000 12,300,000 2,000,000 4,800,000 780,000 1,800,000 13,000 200,000 1,500,000 1,100,000 85,000 700,000 75.000 1,000,000 370,000 770,000 4,000 100,000 4,800,000 11,400,000 200,000 800,000 16,000 400,000 34.000 340,000 52,000 400,000 710,000 1,700,000 128,000 1,600,000 173.000 1,900,000 190,000 1,300,000 261.000 1,200,000 278,000 700.000 2,000 , 100,000 120,000 230,000 350,000 30,000 714,000 1,200,000 470,000 1,100.000 1,300,000 6,200,000 1,200,000 4,600,000 166,000 900,000 360,000 3,500,000 138,000 2,160,000 347,700,000 194,000,000 1,200,000 35,000,000 — 10,000 — 383,900,000 _ I From The Statesman's Year Book for iS CHAPTER XIII.— THE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS L— THE SCANDINAVIAN PENINSULA By Yxgvar Nielsen/ Professor of Geography in the University of Christiania Position and Extent.— The two kingdoms of Sweden and Norway occupy the whole Scandinavian Peninsula from Knivskjelodden (71° N.) near the North Cape to Smyge Huk (55^° N.), in Scania ; and from the island of Buland (4^" E.) to the meridian of Vardo (31° E.). The breadth of the peninsula varies from 230 to 470 miles, and the length is 1,160 miles. The long wesbSsast faces the Atlantic and the North Sea, and the harbours along its whole extent remain unfrozen all the year round. At Lindesnes the coast bends to the east along the Skagerrak, which then runs north- ward into Christiania Fjord, while the Kattegat runs southward along the west ctiast of Sweden. The Oresund, or Sound, separates Schonen, the extreme south of the peninsula from the Danish Islands. The Baltic turns north-eastwards along the east coast to the Aland Islands, and is continued northward by the Gulf of Bothnia, north of which the Scandi- navian Peninsula is attached to the mainland of Finland and Russia by an isthmus three hundred miles across. On the east coast of the peninsula, especially in the Gulf of Bothnia, the harbours may be blocked by ice for as much as six months of the year. With the exception of Russia, no other countries in Europe stretch over so great an extent in latitude. While the south of Sweden lies in the same latitude as the Cheviot Hills, Stockholm lies parallel with the Orkney, and Bergen with the Shetland Islands ; and in the north the peninsula passes far beyond, the Arctic Circle. Norway and Sweden share the geographical unity of the peninsula which can be described as a whole ; but the historical development of the two countries has been very different, and for internal politics they are entirely independent of one another ; hence in these aspects they must be separately described. The names Norway and Sweden may be con- veniently used in the physical description as generally corresponding to the western and eastern slopes of the peninsula. , >itito>' . Geology. — The Scandinavian peninsula is bui(t upi^r the -most part of very ancient rocks. In Norway the Archaean rocks are widely spread in the south-east, and often penetrated by masses of granite and gabbro, ' Translated from the German by the Editor, 197 198 The International Geography while Silurian formations are spread over a large area round Christiania Fjord and the lakes in its neighbourhood. Archaean rocks come to the surface also over all southern and western Norway, but in the interior of the country they are overlaid by sparagmite, and different schists and limestones, quartzite also appearing on the high mountains. In the Jotun mountains all these strata are broken through by masses of gabbro. Throughout the Trondhjem district schists are greatly developed, while further north the Archaean rocks reappear, pierced by intrusions of granite. The Lofoten Islands, like the neighbourhood of the Lyngen Fjord, are masses of gabbro. Ancient sandstones are widely distributed in Fin- marken. Archaean formations also predominate in Sweden, where they are in part overlaid by Cambrian and Silurian strata, especially round the great lakes ; only in Scania, in the extreme south, do Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous rocks appear. The large island of Gottland belongs entirely to the Upper Silurian formation. Where the ancient rocks do not themselves appear on the surface in the peninsula, glacial formations, clay, gravel,' and sand cover extensive areas. Fertile patches covered by good soil are also found, especially in Sweden, where the principal agri- cultural districts are in Scania and East and West Gothland. In Norway fertile land occurs only on the margins of Christiania Fjord, the lakes of Tyrifjord, Randsfjord, and Mjosen, and of Trondhjem Fjord. The soil is favourable for the growth of forests in most places ; between 50 and 60 per cent, of the area of Sweden is wooded, but in Norway only about 20 per cent, on account of the greater elevation of the country. Configuration. — The Scandinavian Peninsula on the whole forms a plateau. In the east and south the elevation is small, but towards the west the land rises gradually, and reaches its maximum height in a great ridge near the west coast. This ridge from north to south forms the main water- shed of the peninsula, and the boundary between the two countries runs along it for a great part of its length. Thus it comes about that only a small portion of Sweden is mountainous, while Norway is, next to Spain, the most conspicuously mountainous country in Europe. In the west the narrow fjords penetrate steep-walled, rocky gorges for ninety miles or more from the sea, while on the east long and sometimes wide valleys provide more gradual access to the high mountain regions. In the Jotun- heim, where the peninsula reaches its greatest height, Glittertind attaips 8,380 feet, and Galdhopiggen 8,400 feet, and further west Store Skagestols- tind, 7,861 feet. In the far north the mountains rising directly from the sea reach a considerable height, some exceeding 6,000 feet. The greatest heights in the north-west of Sweden are Kebnekaise (7,004 feet) and Sarjektjokko (6,988 feet). Southern Sweden contains a hilly disti-ict, cut off from the' mountains of the north by the depression of the large lakes. Numerous snowfields and glaciers are formed in the great mountains, especially in the north and towards the west coast. In the south of Norway the Folgefonn, Jostedalsbra, Aalfotebras, and Hardangerjokel are The Scandinavian Peninsula 199 the most important, and in the north Svartisen, Heldalsisen, and Frostisen. The largest expanse of snow is the Jostedalsbrs, which reaches a height of 6,800 feet, and is surrounded by other great snowfields ; twent> -four glaciers of the first rank How from it. The large glaciers of the eastern slope are confined to the far north. On account of the character of the soil and of the great average elevation the quantity of absolutely useless land is very great. In Norway only 3,500 square miles of land are available for agriculture or pasturage, but in Sweden more than 19,000 can be utilised. Coast. — The coast is extraordinarily broken and indented ; not only are ■ there numerous fjofds and bays, but in most places innumerable off-lying islands forming the Skjaergaard (" Skerry wall ") protect the coast, and give it a distinctive character. In Norway large islands lying far from the main- land take the place of the Skjaergaard in the north ; the largest of these groups are those of the Lofoten and Vesteraalen. Between many of the i.slands tremendous currents are formed by the tide, amongst them the famous Malstrom between Varo and Moskeneso, the appearance and effects of which were greatly exaggerated by old writers. ' The large and interesting islands of Gottland and Oland lie off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic. The total area of all the islands connected with Sweden is about 3,000 square miles, and of those connected with Norway about 8,600. The formation of the coast with the off-lying islands affords innumerable sheltered harbours for fishermen ; and many banks frequented by great shoals of cod occur in the broad Vestf jord, east of the Lofoten Islands. Lakes and Rivers. — While the average proportion of Europe occu- pied by lakes and rivers is only o'5 per cent, of the area, the percentage of the area of lakes and rivers in Norway is 4, and in Sweden it is as much as 8. The rivers are frequently broken by picturesque waterfalls. The rivers on the ealstern side of the main watershed are of course the longest. Several long rivers from the southern Norwegian mountains converge on Christiania Fjord, the Glommen which flows south through the Osterdal, and its tributary from the Gudbrandsdal being the chief. Many long rivers with numerous lakes in their course cross Sweden from west to east throughout its whole length. The Klarelf, the greatest Scandinavian river, runs southward to Lake Vener. The depression of the great lakes lies to the north of the plateau of southern Sweden, from which short streams are received by Lake Vetter, and discharged eastward by the large Motala river to the Baltic. The lakes of this depression are four in number — Fig. 94. — Portion of the Coast of Norway 70 miles by 40, showing over 400 islands. 200 The International Geography- Lake Vener (2,100 square miles in area, the tiiird greatest lake of Europe) lies on the west, and drains to the Kattegat, then Lake Vetter (730 square miles), and north-east of it Lakes Hjelmarand Malar draining to the Baltic through the Gotaelf, the continuation of the Klarelf. On account of their low elevation and their central position these lakes have been largely utilised as means of communication by the construction of canals which unite the lakes to each other and to two seas. They have thus been of the utmost service in the material development of Sweden. Climate. — Compared with other northern countries, the climate of Scandinavia is very favourable. On account of its great range of latitude there is necessarily a marked difference between the south and the north,' and on account of exposure to prevailing winds the west has a much milder climate than the east ; the annual isotherm of 45° F. is found on the west coast at UUensvang in 60° N., and towards the east coast at Lund in 56° N. lat. The greatest cold in winter is experienced in the interior of northern Sweden and in Finmarken. The majority of the population of Norway, living upon the coast, enjoys much milder conditions than the people of Sweden, whose country is more exposed to continental in- fluences ; but the high valleys of Norway have a very severe and unfavourable cUmate. The rainfall is greatest on the Norwegian coast, where in winter rain and fog are very common, and there is comparatively little snow, though violent storms often occur. At Dombesten the annual rainfall is 79 inches, and in Floro in 61^° N. it is 74; but the general rainfall along the Norwegian coast is estimated at from 32 to 35 inches. At TrnfemiurTfor^BodolN^way) Christiania the rainfall is only 28 inches, and Verkhoyansk {Siberia) and on the high plateau of the Dovrefjeld it is under 14. The greatest rainfall in Sweden is on the west coast, facing the Kattegat, where 35 inches are recorded ; but the east coast is very much drier, the fall at Kalmar being only 13 inches . thus the contrast between the mild and moist sea climate of western Norway and the dry continental climate of eastern Sweden is complete. The curves in Fig. 95 contrast the temperature and rainfall of the west coast of Norway with those of the most extreme continental climate in the world. In winter most of Scandinavia is covered with snow, and the peasants then employ ski or long snow-shoes, in the use of which they are very expert. People and History.— The great body of the population of the peninsula belong to the Scandinavian family of the Teutonic race. In P° Jkn Fii. Mar Apd. Mut. Juh Jul Jluc Sep. Oct Nov Oeo in | 80 56 60 4S 40 35 2b 20 15 10 6 ■5 ■10 20 -30 40 20 le 18 17 ■16 16 14 13 12 11 10 e 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 '1 / ^ ^ / / \ \ \ / / \ \ \ s s/ / 1 1 s '! I 1 1 1 (- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i \ - . J. / ''■■.' » V 60 BoDO Verkhoyansk The Scandinavian Peninsula 201 very early times the Lapps entered from the north along the central range of mountains. At a remote period a great immigration of Finns took place in the north of the peninsula, and another immigration of these people in 1600 was directed to the central parts of the country. The Scandinavians have long been divided into Norwegians living in Norway and Swedes in Sweden ; originally of the same stock, they have become more and more distinct. In the Middle Ages the Swedes were composed of two originally independent peoples, the Svear in the north, and Gbtar in the south. The bright sonorous Swedish language is derived through a long history from the earliest common -linguistic stock of Scandinavia, whilst Norway, during its union with Denmark, adopted Danish and lost its old language, the Norrona, from which the dialects still spoken are derived. Norway has formed a separate kingdom since 872 ; and in the ninth century also the Swedish lands were united under a single king. From that time the two nations have gone their several ways, as indeed they had done in the earlier viking period when the Norwegians carried their con- quests towards the British Islands, the Swedes towards Russia. Early Norwegian civilisation has been influenced from the west, particularly from England, with which intimate relations were long maintained, while Sweden has had more dealings with the east and with the south; The early Norwegian kings ruled over the Scottish Islands. In the thirteenth century the Swedes established a firm footing in Finland. Queen Margaret founded the Scandinavian Union of three nations in 1397, and a long period of unrest followed. Sweden broke from this union under Gustavus Vasa ; but the less powerful Norway remained under Danish domination, and from 1537 to 1660 was a subordinate kingdom. During this period Sweden attained its climax of national greatness, and, especially during the Thirty Years' War under Gustavus Adolphus, occupied a distinguished place amongst the European Powers. Several provinces of Norway and Denmark were incorporated, and Sweden became the most powerful country of the north ; but during the long wars of Carl XII. this place was lost, and Sweden fell under foreign influence, from which it was saved by Gustavus III., through his revolution of 1772. His son, Gustavus IV., involved the country in war with Russia and lost Finland in 1808. The Revolution of 1809 placed Carl XIII. upon the throne of Sweden. In 1810 the. French Marshal Bernadotte, under the name of Carl Johann, was elected Crown Prince and succeeded in 1818. The idea of a union between Sweden and Norway, which had long been in contemplation, was rendered possible by the disruption of the bond between Norway and Denmark by the Kiel Treaty of 1814. Norway had at first proclaimed itself a separate kingdom, but the envoys of the Great Powers induced it to withdraw this proclamation after a short war ; and a Norwegian national assembly then chose Carl XIII. as king of Norway, and on his death the Bernadotte dynasty succeeded peaceably to both kingdoms. Fig. g6. — The Norwegian " Clean Flag." 20 2 The International Geography Since 1814 the history of both nations has been a record of great economic progress and of unbroken peace. Yet the hope of a complete incorporation of the two peoples once entertained by the Swedes, has not been fulfilled. Since 1885 the question of separate consular and diplomatic representation for Norway, in accordance with the spirit of the agreement of 1814, has given rise to a permanent crisis. In 1898 the Storthing decided to sanction a Nor- wegian flag without the badge of union with Sweden (Fig. 96). Each kingdom exercises complete independ- ence as to all internal affairs, the union is only for common politics in war and peace. The Ministry for foreign affairs is really a common institution ; its chief must, according to the Swedish constitution, be a Swede, but its other func- tionaries, including Ministers and consuls, may belong to either country. The Lutheran church has been established since the sixteenth century in both kingdoms. SWEDEN Government, People and Resources.— The name of Sweden is in the language of the country Sverige, i.e., the kingdom of the Svears. The government, with its seat in Stockholm, where the King also resides, consists of a Minister and nine Councillors of State, these seven being heads of de- partments. The Swedish Parliament consists of two chambers, the elective franchise for both being limited. The population of Sweden is mainly agricultural, and several parts of the country are particularly well suited for the rearing of live stock. The most fertile districts are in the provinces of Scania and Halland, the Baltic Islands, the coast of SmSland and western and eastern Gothland. Forestry is a very important source of wealth, the export of timber and forest products having the first place in the trade of the country. The toimage of the merchant fleet is about 500,000. The Swedes have long been cele- brated for their industries and for their excellent technical institutions ; in recent years the progress in industrial matters has been rapid, the water power of the numerous rivers being largely utilised. The country possesses immense mineral wealth, particularly in iron, and Swedish mining has long been famous and has played a great part in the development of the country. The country is divided into separate mining districts known as bergslager. At the present time the immense deposits of very rich iron ore in Lappland, especially at Gellivara, Fig 97. — Average popu- lation of a square mile of Sweden. Fig. gS.— Swedish Merchant Service Flag. Sweden 203 Fig. 99. — Swedish Naval Ensign. take the first place. The principal copper mines are at Falun, zinc is pro- duced at Ammeberg, and silver at Sala ; but there is scarcely any coal in the cou;itry except in Scania. Swedish iron has a reputation all over the world for its purity. The United Kingdom and Germany come first in the foreign trade, then Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Russia. The means of communication are excellent in parts, and everywhere good. A network of roads extends over the whole country. The admirable natural waterways have been improved by the con- struction of canals, of which the most important is the system between the Kattegat and the Baltic, in- cluding the TroUhatta and Gota canals and the great lakes. Steamer communication is kept up on the internal waterways and along the coast during the open part of the year. The railway system has been steadily improved, and Sweden now possesses a greater extent of rail- ways in proportion to inhabitants than any other country in Europe. The system is naturally most developed in the lowlands in the south, but it extends also far to the north. The principal mail route to the continent is from Stockholm to Trelleborg, and thence across the Baltic to Sassnitz on Riigen (Fig. 107). The journey from Stockholm to London occupies about 50 hours. Post, telegraph, and telfephone systems are all highly developed. Education is general, almost every one can read and write ; the school system is well organised and attendance is compulsory. There is a large and well-disciplined army, and the fleet, although formerly neglected, has recently been improved and increased. Divisions and Towns. — Sweden has been divided from remote times into two great parts, Svealand and Gotaland) representing the historical distinction between differ- ent peoples and separated by the great forests of Tiveden, Tyloskogen, and Kolmirden. The new southern provinces were joined to Gotaland in the seventeenth century. Norrland, the third great division, contains all the districts northwards from Gefle. In Svealand towns were first founded in the environs of the Malar Lake, and here the magnificent capital is situated at the short outlet of the lake. Stockholm is one of the most attractive towns of Europe. From the Fig. 100. — The Site of Stockholm. 204 The International Geography- original city on an island the modern town has extended widely on all sides. It contains a beautiful royal palace in the city, the resi- dence of the king. There are many old palaces and public buildings, such as the Riddarhus, the common property of the Swedish nobility, the Riddarholmskyrka, the burial-place of royal dynasties, several rich museums, the great royal library, a university college for natural science, a technical high school, a medical college, great hospitals, several academies and learned societies, a new opera-house, and several theatres. The different parts of the town are connected by numerous bridges. The old town is called Staden, with Sodermalm and Norrmalm on both sides, and Ostermalm, the newest and finest part. The beautiful park Djurgarden, and several royal palaces, form attractions in the environs. Stockholm, with its fine harbour, is the first trading-place of^ Sweden in regard to imports, but comes after Goteborg and Malmo for exports. It is the chief industrial town in Sweden, with manufactures of every kind. Stockholm is defended on the seaward side by the very strong fortress of Oscar Frederiksborg. Northward lies the ancient town of Upsala, with a venerable cathedral and the oldest Swedish university, founded iii 1477. Falun has great copper mines. Farther north, in Norrland, the prosperity of which is steadily increasing, the towns occur principally on the coast, and Gefle, Suiidswall, Hernosand, Umeh, Luleh, and Haparanda are some of the many small sea- ports exporting wood and ores. In the ■ interior, which also includes Lappland, there is only one little town, Ostersund, on the Storssjo lake, a station on the railway to Trondhjem. From Lulea a railway runs to the rich iron mines of Gellivara, and is planned to be carried on to the Ofoten Fjord on the Atlantic in Norway. Gotaland, which includes the most fertile provinces, especially Oster- gotland and Scania, is rich in towns. The largest is Goteborg (Gothen- burg) on the Skagerrak, at the outlet of the Gotaelf, the first port for Swedish exports, and the centre for a great traffic along the coasts and on the canals. The town is regular and fine, with many splendid buildings, but is inferior to Stockholm in regard to picturesque situation. Goteborg has a well-endowed university college with a faculty of arts. On the coast of the Kattegat stands Halnislffd, and on the Sound, Helsing- borg and Malmo, two flourishing and advancing towns, with large exports from the province of Scania. This province, distinguished by its many fine country seats, also contains the inland town of Lund, with an old cathedral, and the second university of Sweden, founded in 1668. On the coast of the Baltic there is a long succession of more or less important towns, including Carlskrona, the chief station of the Swedish navy, with wharves and docks. In the interior of Gotaland there are many small towns, including Wexio, the bishops' seat in Sm^land, Jonkoping, at the south end of Lake Vetter, and on the Motala river, the great manufacturing town of Norrkofing, the chief industrial town of Sweden. The great Norway 205 manufactories of Motala stand on the same river. On Lake Vener there are several towns, including Venersborg and Lidkopingj and on the canal where it enters Lake Vetter is the central fortress of Carlsborg. One of the most interesting Swedish towns is the ancient Visby, on the island of Gothland, in old times one of the first commercial places on the Baltic and a member of the Hanseatic League, but now remarkable for its splendid ruins of churches and magnificent old walls. The population of the Swedish towns is 19 per cent, of that of the whole country. The peasants live mostly in farms, but in the south they also dwell in villages. Fig. ioi. — Average population of a s'juare mile of Noiway. NORWAY Government, People and .Resources. — The native name of Norway is Norge from Norvegr, which means the Northern Way. Norway has its separate government, residing in Christiania, consisting of one Minister and six Councillors of State, each of whom is the chief of a department. One Minister of State and two Councillors remain with the King, when he is residing in Sweden, and then form his Norwegian Council. The legislature is in the hands of the Storthing (Parliament), elected by universal suffrage of men over twenty-five years of age. This assembly has also exclusive power in finance. The people of Norway are to a great extent agriculturists, although the country cannot produce corn enough for its inhabitants, and needs a great iniport. A large percentage of the people are seamen ; the merchant fleet, only inferior in Europe to the British,' had a tonnage of 1,500,000 in 1896. Industry has long been at a very low level, but is now increasing, the country possessing great waterfalls, which can supply power to the factories. In many parts of the kingdom there are rich mines, Kongsberg (silver), Eidsvold (gold), Roros and Sulitelma (copper), being the best known. Most of the foreign trade is done with Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. The fisheries of cod and herring are of great importance, es- pecially those of Lofoten and Finmarken. Along the coast, and on the fjords, communication is kept up by steamers all the year round, up to the Russian frontier, as well as on the great lakes in summer. Several lines connect Norway with the continent and the British Islands. The roads are built by government engineers, many of them being works of high technical skill. The railway system, also for the most part belonging to government, is only complete in the south-east. Between Christiania and Trondhjem a line follows the valley of the Glommen, 15 Fig. 102. — Norwegian Merchant Service flag. 2o6 The International Geography Fig. 103. — Norwegian Naval Ensign. Railways are now being constructed around the country, between Bergen and Christiania, and from Trondhjem towards the north. Three different lines connect Norway with Sweden. The great mail route is the southern railway via Goteborg to Copenhagen, by which the journey from London to Christiania may be made in less than sixty hours. The telegraph and telephone system has attained a high development, especially for the convenience of the fishing population in the remoter districts. Education receives particular attention from the State and from local authorities, and is compulsory. The elementary and higher schools are well equipped. The army and navy were long neg- lected, but are now improved, and important forti- fication works have recently been carried out. Divisions and To'wns. — From old times Norway has been divided into two great divisions, the Nordenf jeldske and Sondenf jeldske or Northern and Southern Districts ; the Vestenf jeldske or Western District has been formed later. The Sondenf jeldske includes the lowlands around Christiania Fjord and Lake Mjosen, together with the great central valleys. Christiania (sometimes spelt Kristiania), is the real centre of the country, situated at the northern end of the long Christiania Fjord, which forms a splendid harbour. The city is the capital of Norway, the seat of the Government and of the Storthing. It contains a university, founded in 1811, a learned society, several museums for science and arts, among them a museum of northern an- tiquities, the richest in ob- ' jects from the Viking period. Christiania is the first com- mercial ceptre of Norway. The town is beautifully situ- ated among wood-clad hills, but much of it is irregu- larly built. Many flourishing towns are situated along the coasts of Norway on the fjords and islands. Close to the Swedish frontier is Frederikshald, with the celebrated fortress of Frederiksten, and at the estuary of the river Glommen Frederikstad, one of the chief centres of the timber trade. Dramnien, on the western side of Christiania Fjord, another centre of the export of timber. Horten, with Carljohansvaern, the chief station of the Norwegian navy ; Tonsberg, the oldest town of Norway, and one of the head-quarters for Arctic sealing ; Cliristiansaiid, and other busy seaport towns, stand on Christiania Fjord, or on the Skagerrak. Fig. 104. — The Site of Christiania. Norway 207 Stavanger, one of the oldest towns of Norway, with a fine cathedral, stands on the Atlantic coast at the south end of the great line of western islands. Bergen, further north on the west coast, was once the first, and is now the second, town of the country, and from the oldest times it has been the chief place in northern Europe for the fishing trade. In the fourteenth century the Hanseatic League founded an establishment there, which remained for four centuries. There are many remains from former times, including old churches, the royal hall, and the tower of Bergenhus . It is now a flourishing commercial town, with an intelligent and vivacious population ; it has a great museum and a biological station. Christiansund is an important place for fishing. Trondkjem, one of the oldest towns (it was founded in 997), and now the third in importance, is the northern terminus of the railways, with lines running south to Christiania and east to Sweden. The magnificent ancient cathedral is the coronation-place of the kings of Norway. Next to Bergen, it is a centre for steamer trade, and in summer for the immense tourist traffic attracted by the smooth seas and romantic scenery of the fjords. In the far north, beyond the Arctic circle, there are several flourishing little wood-built towns, cpntres for fishing in winter and for tourists in summer, including Bodo, Tromso, and near the North Cape, Hammerfest. Beyond the North Cape are VardS, the Wardhouse of the first English Arctic explorers, and Vadso on the Varanger Fjord in the extreme north-east. The towns of Norway contain about 25 per cent, of the population of the whole country. In the country the people live on their farms; villages are unknown. It is an exception to find a town not situated on the sea ; the only inland towns are near mines, or on the shores of Lake Mjosen, among them the episcopal seat of Hamar. The rural population centres round the four large cities, Christiania, Hamar, Bergen, and Trondhjem; especially round the two former. STATISTICS. NORWAY. 1875. i8go. Area of Norway in square miles 124,454 . . 124,454 Population of Norway 1,813,424 . . 2,000,917 Density of population per square mile 15 .. 16 1890. 1898. Population of Christiania 151,239 . . 220,000 „ „ Bergen 53,684 .. 70,000 „ „ Trondhjem 25,065 .. 35,"3 „ „ Stavanger 23,899 .. 28,000 ANNUAL TRADE OF NORWAY (jk dollars). 1871-75. 1881-85. I89I-95. Imports 31,500,000 . . 40,500,000 , . 59,500,000 Exports 24,500,000 . . 28,500,000 . . 35,000.000 2o8 The International Geography SWEDEN. Area of Sweden in square miles . . Population of Sweden Density of population per square mile Population of Stocliholm . . „ „ Goteborg „ „ Malmo ,, „ Norrkoping . . „ „ Gefle 1880. 170,722 4,565,668 26 168,706 76,500 38,082 26,924 18,749 1890. 170,722 4,774.400 28 346.454 104,657 48,504 32,826 23.484 288,602 120,352 55.500 38,354 26,400 Imports Exports ANNUAL TRADE OF SWEDEN (in dollars). 1871-75- 62,000,000 53,500,000 1881-85. 88,500,000 67,500,000 1891-95. 97,500,000 88,500,000 STANDARD BOOKS. M. Hoyer. " Konungarilcet Sverige." 4 vols. Stockholm, 1875-1884. J. Fr. Nystrom. " Handbok i Sveriges geografi." Stockholm, 1895. " Norges Land og Folk," in many volumes not yet completed. Christiania, 1885 todate. Joh. Dysing. " Kongeriget Norge." Christiania, 1890. II.— DENMARK By THE Editor. Position and Coasts. — The name Denmark is properly Danmark, the mark, marches or frontier of the Danes. Jutland (in Danish Jyland), the northern portion of the Cimbrian Peninsula occupied by Denmark, lies between the same parallels of latitude as Scotland south of Inverness. The western shore facing the North Sea is low, sandy and unindented, but behind the sandy beaches and lines of dunes there are several large lagoons. A long, narrow, curved sand spit called the Skaw or Skagen, forms the tip of the peninsula. The east coast is somewhat higher and more indented ; a number of its inlets form safe harbours for small vessels. The two ■ largest islands of Denmark stretch between the south of Jutland and the south of Sweden, separated by the shallow and tortuous Little Belt between Jutland and Fiinen, the wider and deeper Great Belt between Fiinen and Zealand, both leading into Kiel Bay, and the Sound between Zealand and Sweden. The historic greatness of Denmark depended on the command of these channels, and the importance of having them in the possession of a neutral Power in case of war has probably preserved this small kingdom from absorption in any of its larger neighbours. Surface and Resources. — The west and north of Jutland consist of heather-covered moorland which yields peat for fuel. The south-east and the islands, being traversed by the western extremity of the Baltic coast-ridge, are hilly, and full of variety of landscape, although the highest summit is less than 600 feet above the sea. No coal or metallic ores occur in the country ; the soil is t'verywhere underlain by recent rocks. The hills and vales of Denmark were originally thickly covered with beech Denmark 209 forest, and although most of the land is now cleared for pasture and the growth of oats, barley and, rye, extensive woods still remain. The climate resembles that of eastern Scotland, but is a few degrees colder in winter and warmer in summer. It is, however, less extreme than the climate of central Germany. Although the Sound and other channels are often blocked with drifting ice in winter, they are rarely closed to navigation for any time. People and History. — The early Cimbrian race were succeeded by Teutonic tribes, who from Jutland and other parts of the Baltic and North Sea shores descended upon the coast of England, forming the English people. The Scandinavian Danes from the Baltic Islands then obtained a footing on the peninsula, and the power of their kings extended over Norway, the south of Sweden, and England. Denmark has re- mained free of foreign control, but in the seven- teenth century it lost the last of its territory in ViG.ioi.— Average poi>ii- Sweden, and in 1814 Norway was separated from lation of a square ^ mile of Denmark. the Danish crown. The German-speakmg people of the duchy- of Holstein, in the south, who had, during previous centuries, sometimes been subject to the King of Denmark, at other times to the German Emperor, became dissatisfied ; aild in 1864, after a war between Denmark and Prussia, the duchies of Schleswig (Slesvig) and Holstein were incorporated with the kingdom of Prussia. The Danes have always been enterprising and persevering in war and commerce, winning for themselves colonies in Greenland, Africa, and the West Indies, but the tropical possessions are now reduced to the three small islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, while Iceland is a separate country acknowledging the Danish crown. At home more than half the people make their living by agri- culture, the rest by manufactures, by trade, fishing, and as sailors, many of them serving on British and other foreign ships. The form of government in Denmark is a limited monarchy, with a parlia- ment of two houses, both elected by the people. Practically every man has a vote. The Lutheran Church is established by law, and education has long been universal. The land is divided up into a great number of small farms. Butter-making is the greatest industry of the country, being carried on by scientific methods, and butter forms more than half the value of the exports. There are few manufactures. Textile fabrics, metals, and coal are the principal imports. Most of the foreign trade is done with the United Kingdom, which takes more than half the exports, and Germany, which sends about one-third of the imports. The Fig. 106. — Danish Merchant Sennce Flag. 2IO The International Geography railway system is very complete, and most of the lines belong to the Government. The Islands of Denmark.— Zealand (or Seeland), with the detached portions forming the picturesque islands of Laaland, Falster, and Moen to the south, form the eastern division of Denmark, flanked on the east by Sweden, and on the south by Germany ; its indented coasts are deeply penetrated by the water of the Kattegat and the Baltic. Helsingor (Elsinore) will be remembered as the scene of Shakespeare's " Hamlet," and from the.reference of Campbell in his description of the battle of the Baltic, but both descriptions are geographically at fault, the shores are lo*, and the. castle stands at the level of the sea. Copenhagen {KjSbenhavn=MeTchz.nt's harbour), the one large town of Denmark, is situated near the widest part of the Sound where the island of Amager helps to form an excellent harbour. It is strongly fortified by a series of modern batteries occup3ring arti- ficial islets, hardly showing above the water. The town is hand- somely laid out, with gardens and fine public buildings ; it is the seat of government, the residence "of the king, and contains a univer- sity and several learned societies. Copenhagen concentrates the maritime trade of Denmark, as no other harbour can receive large vessels. Korsor, at the south-west of Zealand, and Giedeser, at the south of Falster, are steamer ports for the express routes to Kiel and Warnemiinde (for Berlin). The richly cultivated island of Fiinen (or Fyen), with Lange- land and a maze of smaller islands to the south, forms the western shore of the Great Belt, which is crossed by ferry-steamers to Nyborg, whence a railway passes through the ancient town of Odense to Sii-iib on the Little Belt. Jutland. — Jutland, though nearly twice as large as the islands, con- tains rather fewer inhabitants. All the good harbours lie on the Kattegat coast, and the southern and eastern parts of the peninsula are the most thickly peopled because agriculture is the mainstay of the people. Aal- borg, on the narrowest part of the Liim Fjord, where it can be crossed by a railway bridge, and reached by small vessels from the Kattegat, is the chief commercial centre of the north. At Thisted, on the wide lagoon of the Liim Fjord in the west, Malte-Brun, the author of a celebrated French treatise on geography, was born. Aarhuus, on the east coast, is the largest town of Jutland, with a busy harbour. Further south Fig. 107.- -Railway and Steamer routes in Denmark, Denmark 211 Horsens, Veile, and Koldittg, stand each at the head of a short fjord in the heart of beech forests. Fredericia is the railway harbour for SIriib in Fiinen, on the route to Copenhagen which has the shortest sea passage. Bornholm. — When the southern provinces of Sweden were given up by Denmark, the rocky island of Bornholm in the Baltic was also ceded ; but the people of the island massacred the Swedish troops who came to take possession, and the island has remained part of Denmark. The lofty cliffs of granite and ancient sedimentary rocks are entirely different from the rocks of Denmark, and the island yields building stone and even a little coal. The principal town is Ronne. The chief value of Bornholm is as a lighthouse station. The Faroes {i.e., sheep islands) form a group of twenty-two small islands situated nearly mid-way between Shetland and Iceland on the great submarine ridge that runs from Scotland to Greenland. They are com- posed of volcanic rocks, in large part of horizontally bedded basalt, which once appear to have formed a plateau of great extent. This ancient plateau had been deeply cut into by river-valleys running parallel to each other from north-west to south-east, and by subsequent subsidence the valleys became fjords or sounds, cutting up the land into a succes- sion of long narrow islands or peninsulas. The climate is very equable, and the people make their living by sheep farming, the capture of sea-birds, chiefly loons, and fishing. They are of Norwegian descent, and speak an old Norse dialect, although Danish is the official language. The one town is Thorshavn, on the east coast of Stromo, the largest island ; a little place of wooden houses, frequented in summer by fishing vessels. STATISTICS. 1880. 1890. 15,281 Area of Denmark (square miles) 15,289 Population of Denmark 1,980,259 .. 2,185,335 Density of population per square mile . . . . . . izg . . 143 Population of Copenhagen (without suburbs) . . . . 235,254 . . 312,859 Aarhuus .' 24,831 . . 33.308 „ Odense 20,804 ■ • 30.277 Aalborg 14.152 ■ • 19.50.') ANNUAL TRADE OF DENMARK [in dollars). Average 1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95. Imports 30,000,000 . . 70,000,000 . , 94.000,000 Exports 23,500,000 . . 50,000,000 . . 70,500,000 STANDARD BOOKS. Both. " Kongeriget Danmark," 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1882-85. H. Weiteraayer. " Danemark, Geschichte und Beschreibung," and English translation. London, 1891. 212 The International Geography III— ICELAND By Dr. Thorvald Thoroddsen,' Reykjavik. Position and Surface. — Iceland is a large island in the North Atlantic Ocean on the edge of the temperate zone. The arctic circle touches the most northerly points, and the south of the island lies in 63^° N. Many fjords cut their way into the. steep coast on the west, north, and east ; but the south coast is without indentations, and close to the sea is very low and sandy. The largest bays are in the west — Faxafioi and Breidafjordur, and north of the latter a nearly isolated Fig. 108.— Icelanil. peninsula, intersected by many fjords, stretches to the north-west. Iceland is mainly composed of volcanic highlands, with an average height of about^ 2,000 feet ; lowlands are only found in the south and south-west, and form only one-fourteenth of the whole area. They are all produced by river deposits silting up the heads of bays or fjords. The highlands bear several large snowfields, of which VatnajokuU is the largest, all producing glaciers which give rise to large rivers. The snow-level is lowest (1,300 feet) in the north-west, and highest (3,500 to 4,000 feet) in the centre. ■ Tianslated from the Danish by F. Backer. Iceland 213 The highest parts of the country are in the south-east, the highest point in the southern ridge of VatnajokuU being OrEefajokulI, which reaches 6,241 feet. Most of the Icelandic rivers are short, but full of water, flow- nig strongly and broken by many waterfalls. The longest rivers (80 to 100 miles) are the Thorsa, Olfusa, and Joktilsd in Axarfjord, the last with the imposing waterfall of Dettifoss. There are several lakes, the best known being Thingvallavatn. Geology. — Iceland is built up of volcanic masses of Tertiary age ; two-thirds of the country consists of basalt in horizontal beds of gentle dip with steep escarpments and cliffs falling to the sea, exactly as in the Faroes. Right across the country there runs a belt of tuff and breccia, occupying about one-third of its area. There are more than 100 volcanoes, of which 25 have been in eruption during historical times. Some have the same conical form as Vesuvius ; others are broad and of very gentle slope, like Mauna Loa in the Sandwich Islands ; but most of the eruptions have come from fissures on which a long row of low craters have been formed. These volcanoes have produced large lava fields, which together cover an area of about 4,000 square miles. The best known volcanoes are Hekla, Katla, and Askja, the crater of which covers an areapf 16 square miles. Katla is, like several other Icelandic volcanoes, covered with glaciers, which during the eruptions melt and cause dreadful inundations. Earthquakes are very common, and have often done great injury both to life and property. There are many hot intermittent springs, of which the Geysir is most famous, and its name is often applied to such springs as a general term. Climate and Productions. — Iceland has an insular climate, which is much warmer than the latitude would suggest. In the south the winter is mild and the summer proportionally temperate ; the mean temperature of the year in Eyarbakki, in the south, is 38-5° F., and for Akureyri, in the north, 36° F. The climate is rather wet and very stormy ; but snow does not lie long on the coast in winter, and many harbours in the west are never frozen. The highlands are very cold, and snowstorms are common even in summer. In the north of the island the climate is also cold, with a greater range between winter and summer. Floating ice from Greenland often blocks the north coast, stopping the shipping trade and the fisheries, and affecting the climate adversely. The vegetation has a European-Arctic character ; here and there small woods of stunted beech and a very few mountain-ash trees occur. The natural pastures are excellent, and sheep thrive well ; rich grass fields alWays surround the farms, and the hay yielded by them is used for the cattle. There is no other agriculture, even barley rarely ripens. Foxes are the most common animals, and polar bears sometimes come with the floating ice. The sea abounds with all sorts of fish, of which cod, herring, and flounders are amongst the most important ; and whales and seals are also plentiful. The coast is crowded with sea-birds ; the eider-duck is i6 214 The International Geography of great importance to the inhabitants, and is tended almost like a domestic animal. History. — Iceland was first discovered by Irish monks about the year 790. It was next visited by Norwegian vikings in 870, and was colonised from Norway in the years 874 to 930. An Icelandic republic was then established with an aristocratic form of government, which lasted till 1262, when the country entered into a personal union with the kingdom of Norway. That was the golden age of Icelandic culture, and it is memorable for the splendid poetic and historical literature contained in the Edda and Sagas. The early Icelanders were daring, sailors. They colonised Greenland in 982, and discovered America in 1000. After the year 1262 the prosperity 6f the country- declined, mainly because of suc- cessive misfortunes, volcanic eruptions, plague, and bad government ; and practically it is only since 1874 that it has begun to recover ; but now there is progress in all directions. Together with Norway, Iceland in the year 1389 came under Denmark, and it has since belonged to the Danish crown. In 1874 ^ separate free constitution was granted, with a legislative assembly (Althing), a - Governor-General (Landshofding) in Reykjavik, and an Icelandic ministry in Copenhagen. People. — Only the lowlands, the coast, and the valleys are inhabited. The great highland area cannot support any inhabitants, for except a little grass on its outer slopes it consists only of bare ground, lava deserts, and snowfields. Trade was in olden times carried on by Icelanders and Nor- wegians. In the fifteenth century English sailors took a large share, and in the sixteenth German influence preponderated. From 1602 to 1786 there was a Danish government monopoly ; in 1786 trade was thrown open to all Danish subjects, and in 1854 to all nations. At present the trade both with Great Britain and Denmark is chiefly carried on by Icelanders. The chief exports are fish, cod-liver oil, salmon, sheep and horses, salted mutton, wool, fur, eider-down, and feathers. There is no manufacturing industry. Most of the inhabitants Uve by breeding cattle, especially sheep ; a smaller number by fishing, with much risk to life, in open boats. On the great fishing banks French and British fishing-vessels of larger size are at work, while the Norwegians carry on whale hunting from stations on the coast. Many horses have to be kept because they furnish the only means of transport in the country, and the only roads in most places are bridle paths. Recently, however, good roads for driving have been commenced, and bridges are now being built over the rivers. The Icelanders still talk old Norwegian (the Saga language) almost unchanged, and every child can read the ancient Sagas. There is a good deal of current literature, and more books and newspapers are published per head of the population than in any other country. Education is uni- versal and thorough. Nearly all the people belong to the Lutheran Church. Postal communication with abroad is by steamers from Copenhagen calUng at Leith in Scotland, and the Faroes. In summer there is also a Iceland 215 regular steamer service all round the coast. Reykjavik, the capital, and the only town, is built on a little projecting point in the south- eastern part of Faxafloi. Here the Althing is held, and the Governor- General and the Bishop of Iceland reside. Reykjavik has classes for medicine, theology, classical languages, and navigation, and there is a national library, a collection of antiquities, and a national bank. In the centre of the tovyn there is a statue of the famous sculptor, Albert Thorwaldsen, who was of Icelandic origin. STATISTICS. Area of Iceland (square miles) 30,432 Area of habitable portion (square miles) 6,784 1880. 1890. 1S95. Population of Iceland 72,445 . . 70,927 ' ■ • 73,449 „ „ Reykjavik 2,567 .. 3,886 .. 4,222 ANNUAL TRADE OF ICELAND {in dollars). Average 1881-85. 1891-95. Imports , 1,700,000 . . 1,780,000 Exports 1,550,000 .. 1,700,000 STANDARD BOOKS. Th. Thoroddsen. " Geschichte des Islandischen Geographie. Uebersetzt von A. Gebhardt." Vols. i. ii. Leipzig, 1897, i8g8. J. Coles. " Summer Travelling in Iceland." London, 1882. I From 1880 to 1890 there was a great emigration to America, chiefly to Manitoba, but this has now almost ceased. CHAPTER XIV.— THE LOW COUNTRIES I.— THE NETHERLANDS By Dr. C. M. Kan,' Professor of Geography at the University of Amsterdam. Position and Geology. — Although one of the smallest countries in Europe, the kingdom of the Netherlands {Nederland=low country), or Holland (so called from its most important province, Holland, derived from Houtland, i.e., Woodland), is one of the most noteworthy. It lies between 50° 45' and 53° 32' N. latitude, and between 3=' 25' and 7° 12' E. longitude, on the north-west coast of central Europe, at the mouths of the Scheldt, Maas (Meuse), and Rhine. Its importance results from its posi- tion, its commerce, and its colonies. Traces of Coal Measures, Chalk, and Tertiary sands and loams cover less than 1 per cent, of the area, and appear only in the extreme east and south-east, while the most recent Quaternary formations, diluvium and alluvium, occupy respectively 40 and 59 per cent, of the surface. In the south the Maas and the Rhine have co-operated in the formation of the diluvium ; and in the north the inland glaciers of the Ice Age. In their period of enhanced activity consequent on the Great Ice Age, the Maas and Rhine brought down coarse sand and grit ; but at a later time principally finer sand. The diluvium of the northern provinces, being of Scandinavian origin, contains coarse gravel and loam, in addition to the sand ; it also lies higher, its surface is less flat, and forms more distinctive watersheds between the rivers of that part of the country. Vegetation, rivers, the sea and wind have combined in the formation of the alluvial strata. Plant remains have given origin to the fens and arable lands, and contributed to the formation of the iron-ore, found in the badly drained parts of the smaller river basins in the east, and the loess which occurs in the south of Limburg only. The high fens, which consist of heath, cotton-grass, rushes, moss, and sometimes trees, only occur upon the higher sandy soils ; they are found principally in the south and east of the country, and lie above the ordinary level of the water. The low fens in the north and west owe their origin largely to marsh plants, and frequently rest upon clay of high fertility. In process of time the sandbanks deposited in the sea develop into sand-spits ; then the sea builds up chains of marine dunes upon them, shutting off a half or lagoon against the land. It is in such » Translated from the Dutch by J. T. Bealby. 216 The Netherlands 217 lagoons that the greater number of the low fens have been formed. The most recent deposits of fluvial clays stretch chiefly east and west along the Rhine, the Waal, and the Maas, occurring more especially between the diluvial regions of the north and those of the south of the country. In the west recent marine clays have been deposited along the Fig. 109. — The Nether- lands, showing height of land. edge of the diluvial strata. Wind has played an active part in the formation of the sand- dunes, which still occupy extensive areas in the Veluwe, in Drenthe, and in North Brabant. Reclamation of Land. — Human energy has materially supple- mented the operations of natural forces by draining the marshes and trenching the fens, by fighting against the drifting sand, protecting the coasts with dunes and dykes, regulating the rivers and carrying out other works. Polders are low-lying inland tracts protected by means of dykes and mounds against the invasion of water from the higher land around them, 2i8 The International Geography the superfluous water being at the same time pumped out and led away. By embanking the lands along the sea shore which are not sufficiently high, they are wrested from the dominion of the ocean, protected by dykes or banks, and gradually transformed into the most fertile districts. Thus the land that has been destroyed by the sea, which in 1894 amounted to a larger area than the united provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, is being to some extent made up for by reconquests of better land. Configuration. — The lowest-lying part of the Netherlands is on the west, bordering the sea (Fig. 109). With the exception of the narrow strip of sea-dunes, which have a mean height of 30 feet, nearly a quarter of the surface of the country lies between sea-level and 8 feet below, while about half as much lies between sea-level and 3 feet above ; in other words, 38"per cent. of the surface would be overflowed by the ocean were it not protected by dunes and dykes. Some of the lower-lying tracts, consisting exclusively of reclaimed fens and marshes, are actually from 5 to 15 feet below sea-level. The remaining 62 per cent, of the surface on the whole forms a series of belts or zones stretching from south-west to north-east. In Drenthe, Gelderland, Overysel, Utrecht, and Limburg there are hills of gravel and sand ranging froih 150 to over 300 feet in elevation ; and in the south-east of Limburg, the region of the old rocks, the highest elevation of the kingdom attains an altitude of 1055 feet. Small as these altitudes may appear they have produced their effect upon the flow of the rivers, drainage, the fertility of the soil, the climate, and even on the construction of roads. and railways. The differences of level and relief themselves are largely due to the action of the glaciers of the Great Ice Age and their moraines. Rivers and Canals. — From the higher-lying diluvial tracts and gravel hills of Drenthe and Groningen a number of small streams radiate through diluvial valleys into the adjacent provinces ; and many short streams also flow westward from the east of Overysel and Gelderland. Elsewhere the minor streams make their way into the channels deserted by the larger rivers — ^for instance, the Eem and the Ysel, and in the south the Aa, Dommel, and Mark. The larger rivers do not follow the natural inclination of the diluvium, but flow in the direction of the general slope of the country, or from south-east to north-west. The east to west direction of the Rhine, Waal, and Lek is the most influential factor in determining their economic importance; since it makes them the chief natural highways between central Germany and the sea. Four-fifths of the river trade of Holland is carried by the Rhine and the Waal, these rivers being international waterways. The most important canals, from 12 to 25 feet deep, are the North Sea Ship Canal, connecting Amsterdam and the sea (Fig. 112) ; the Rotterdam ; Waterway, giving that city easier access to the North Sea ; the Canal of "South Beveland connecting with the Scheldt ; the Merwede Canal and the King Williami Navigation, uniting various rivers with one another ; and the canals which terminate at the H elder and the DoUart. Minor canals The Netherlands 219 serve for the transport of turf, and for communication between towns. Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Flushing have a trade of nearly nine million tons between them, as compared with scarcely more ■ than two million tons for all the ports not situated on the deep rivers or ship canals. Coast. — The characteristic features of the western coast are sand- banks, mud-flats, high dykes (embankments), and sand-dunes, with a shallow, gently sloping shore. Further north a series of low islands marks the former coast line ; indeed some of them still possess dunes. The sandy shallows are covered with water by the tides, otherwise they would be cut off from direct communication with the existing coast and the Zuider Zee. Natural Productions, Flora and Fauna. — Mineral products are limited to a very little coal from the mines of Limburg, bricks from the marine and fluvial clays, sandstone from quarries near Maastricht and else- where, and some bog-iron ore. Both the diluvial and alluvial lands are adapted for agriculture and grazing ; these occupations utilise respectively 26 and 35 per cent, of the total area ; 7 per cent, is planted with forest, and about 20 per cent, is waste. The vegetable products of the sandy soils are principally rye, buckwheat, and potatoes, and thus differ from the chief products of the fluvial and marine clays — hops, rape-seed, sugar-beets, tobacco, and wheat. Orchards, market-gardens, and the characteristic Dutch industry of flower-gardening, occupying together i^ per cent, of the country, are found principally on the geest or higher grounds along the edge of the rnarshes on the sandy soil, and in the reclaimed lands of the west. The different character of the soil in different parts occasions variations in the breed of horses, oxen, and sheep ; but does not affect the goats and swine to the same extent. Climate. — The climate of the Netherlands is determined by the position of the country between 50° and 53° N. latitude, by its situation on the eastern shore of the North Sea, and by its low elevation. The mean of nearly fifty years' observations at Utrecht gives an annual temperature of 50° F., with a mean of 49° for the spring and autumn months, 66° for summer, and 34-5° for winter. Owing to the proximity of the sea, the winters are not cold, nor the summers unpleasantly warm. The water of the North Sea, which, as observed on the North Helder sandbank, has a January mean temperature of 46° F., and a July mean of 60° F., is also an influencing factor. The average annual rainfall amounts to 28 inches ; rain falls on 204 days in the year on an average, snow on 19, and thunderstorms occiir on 18. The wind blows from the sea from directions between south-*est and north for 219 days in the year on the average ; and from the land, from directions between north-east and south, for 146. The greatest quantity of rain falls upon and behind the maritime dunes. But the east differs most from the west in the smaller degree of its moisture and evaporation, both very important factors in the polders or reclaimed lands. There the people suffer considerably from the drawbacks of the climate, especially its variability, and the prevalence of diseases affected by it. 220 The International Geography Consequently in ILe western lowlands the death-rate is relatively highest — 30 to 40 per 1,000, as compared with 20 to 30 per 1,000 in other parts of the kingdom. People and History. — The people of the Netherlands trace their origin to three Teutonic races the Frisians, who now preponderate in the west and north-west, and are best represented in the province of Friesland ; the Saxons, in the east and north-east as far as the Ysel and Rhine ; and the Franks, in the south, extending northwards a httle beyond the Rhine. The three types differ in dialect, in the plan of the villages, styles of the houses, racial character, dress and customs. The fact that the Frisians inhabit chiefly the clay soils and low fens, the Saxons the diluvial tracts of the east, and the Franks the river-clays and diluvium of the south, has helped to maintain these differences. . Tlie races are now welded together into one people by the possession of a common written language, Duicli (neither " Hollandsch'' nor Low German), and in cultured circles a com- mon spoken language also. After Dutch the most important language of the. Netherlands is Frisian, which possesses a separate literature, but is not officially recognised. After the Roman supremacy came to an end the country was sub- divided into various counties, duchies and bishop- rics, which were reunited under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy ; separated from the German Empire, and enjoyed autonomy under Charles V. (1548^. The Eighty Years' War of Independence against Spain followed ; and after a lapse of time the country developed into a commercial and ^"'' N°mrflni"^ "" colonising State under the Statholders of the House of Orange-Nassau, its complete inde- pendence as a free republic was recognised at the Peace of.Munster in 1648. The civil liberty and religious toleration which the Dutch so jealously guarded attracted large numbers of strangers — Flemings, Wal- loons, Huguenots, and Germans, who paid for the hospitality extended to them by fostering the commerce, and especially the industry of the Netherlands. After the abolition of the republic and the establishment of the sovereignty of the House of Orange, the year 1848 marked a fresh era in the political life of the nation by introducing a new and more liberal constitution, initiating reforms in economic and social matters, and develop- ing the colonies to a high pitch of prosperity. Government.— According to the constitution of 1848, the Netherlands forms a hereditary limited monarchy. The legislative power is shared by the Crown and the States-General, which includes a First Chamber of thirty members, and a second chamber of a hundred members. The execu- tive powers of the Crown are delegated to eight responsible Ministers, and a Council of State of fourteen members. For administrative purposes the country is divided into eleven provinces and 1,123 communes ; the former The Netherlands 22 1 governed by the Provincial States and a Royal Commissioner, the latter by the communal council and magistrates with a burgomaster or mayor. Occupations. — Fully one-third of the productive workers are occu- pied in agriculture, the breeding of cattle, gardening, and so forth ; about the same number in manufacturing industry and trade ; one-sixth in com- merce, on railways and other means of communication ; and a much smaller proportion in fishing. Agriculture on the clay soils, the sandy soils, and in the fens differs not only in its staple products but also in the methods of cultivation employed. Large estates are rare, and those which exist are chiefly confined to the clay soils. Tenant farmers preponderate in the provinces of Utrecht, Friesland, South Holland and Zealand ; in the other provinces peasant proprietors. After agriculture in order come the textile industries, principally developed in Overysel and North Brabant ; the working of metals for ship-building and agricultural implements ; the manufacture of paper and leather ; of chemical products, sugar, spirits and food materials, especially butter and cheese. More than three-quarters of the factories belong to the provinces, Overysel, North Brabant, North and South Holland. Trade. — The products of agriculture and stock- breeding, and of such manufactures as margarine, sugar, textiles, iron-ware, quinine, constitute the more important articles of commerce. The trade of Holland is chiefly carried on with Germany, the United King- dom, Belgium, Java and Russia. These countries send to the Netherlands about 90 per cent, of the total imports, and take about 75 per cent, of the total ex- ^Ta/L"'^fl%™fre m/te ports. Very many of the trading steamers sail under of the Netlterlands. foreign flags, chiefly British, German, and Norwegian. Trade and commerce, both foreign and inland, are greatly facilitated by a network of nearly 9,500 miles of roads and dykes practicable for vehicles, by about 7,000 miles of tramways, mostly worked by steam, and ap- proximately 2,000 miles of railways, which are connected with the systems of the adjacent countries at several points in the east and south. Fishing is prosecuted principally in the North Sea ; but a large number of fishermen work in the Zuider Zee, in the rivers of South Holland and Zealand, and off the coasts of Groningen and Friesland. Density of Population. — The density of the population varies with the means of subsistence and the degree of concentration in large cities, the range amongst the provinces being from 127 to 816 per square mile. But here the determining factor is the fundamental character of the soil. When the kingdom is mapped according to the soils, it appears that the higher gravel lands of Groningen and Drenthe, the sandy tracts and unreclaimed fens of North Brabant, and the regions of the dunes and sand-drifts, all show a density of population less than 65 per square mile ; the lower-lying diluvium of Scandi- 2 22 The International Geography navian origin, the intermediate diluviums of Overysel and Gelderland, the low fen pastures, the tracts adjacent to the sea-dunes on the islands of South Holland and Zealand, have a density of 65 to 125 per square mile ; the non-diluvial tracts in the interior of Groningen and Friesland, in the south-west of Drenthe, in the east of Overysel, and the diluvium of Limburg have from 125 to 250 per square mile ; a few settlements in Groningen, the valley of the Ysel, the fluvial clays of the Maas, Waal and Linge, the industrial regions of Brabant and Limburg, the reclaimed polders and certain of the marine clay districts — all exceed 250 per square mile ; and finally, in the neighbourhood of Maastricht and of Eindhoven, the banks of the Noord and Maas, the vicinity of the large towns of North and South Holland, the density exceeds 500 and in some places even 1,000 per square mile. The Large Towns. — The size of the towns and their importance depend upon the same conditions as the density of population. The kingdom contains twenty-one towns, each possessing a population of more than 20,000, and at least one of these is found in each of the five sub-divisions just enumerated ; the larger towns being more frequent on the richer soils. The chief towns in the north- east are Groningen, a market for agricultural products, a shipping centre, seat of a uni- versity, and provincial capital ; Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland, and an important cattle-market for the trade with England via Harlingen ; Zwolle and Deventer, the live-stock and corn markets of Overysel. These towns possess but little industry. Arnhem and Nijmegen, the principal towns on the fluvial clay soils, aftract many inhabitants by reason of their picturesque sur- roundings, their active river trade, and their important markets. In the south of the kingdom are the fertile districts and manufacturing centres of Breda, Tilburg, s'Herlogenbosch {Bois-le-Duc) in North Brabant and Maas- tricht in Limburg. The last two are also provincial capitals. The most important city in the centre of the kingdom is Utrecht, on soil intermediate between the pure clays and the pure sands ; it is a provincial capital, seat of a university, and an important railway junction. The Helder, in North Holland, stands at the entrance of the North Holland Canal, and possesses several naval institutions. In the same province are Haarlem, capital of the province, and buSy with the cultivation of flower- bulbs, and Amsterdam, the largest town, and one of the two chief com- mercial centres, famous for its Exchange and money market, its shipping, manufactures, diamond-cutting, and for its university and museums The western parts of the province of South Holland are the most densely Fig. 112. — Amsterdam, showin]^ chief polders in its vicinity. Belgium 223 peopled districts in the kingdom. There are the towns of The Hague (s' Gravenhage), the capital of the kingdom and seat of the chief artistic industries ; Delfi, a' cheese and butter market, with manufactures of fine pottery, and of spirits ; Dordrecht, with active river-shipping and trade in timber, corn and wine ; Leiden, the seat of an ancient university, w'ith a flourishing market, and a still considerable manufacture of cloth and cotton ; SchiedaiK, best known for its spirit distilleries producing gin or Hollands, but also important as a corn-market ; and Rotterdam, one of the most famous seaports and' commercial centres on the Continent, though the bulk of its commercial activity is in connection with transit trade. STATISTICS. 1879. 1889, 1897. Area 6i the Netherlands (square miles) 12,728 . , 12,728 . . 12,728 Population of the Netherlands . . 4,012,^93 . . 4,511,415 . , 4,928,658 Density of population per square mile 316 .. 353 .. 388 Population of Amsterdam .... . , 399.424 . . 494,189 „ Rotterdam .... . . 197,722 . , 286,105 The Hague .... .. 153,340 .. 191.530 „ Utrecht .... , . 83,304 . . 96,349 „ Groningen .... . . 56,038 . . 60,541 „ Haarlem .... . . 50,500 . . 59,654 „ Arnhem .... .. 49,727 .. 54,i8o THE DUTCH POSSESSIONS ABOUT 1895. Area sq. mis. The Netherlands 12,728 Java 50,554 Other Islands of Dutch East I ndiesi 685,846 Dutch West Indies 403 Dutch Guiana' 46.060 Population. 4.859.451 25,067,471 7,732,000 47,601 63,070 Total 795,591' 37.769,6001 ANNUAL TRADE OF THE NETHERLANDS (.in dollars). 1872-76. 1882-S6. 1892-96. Imports 283,500,000 . . 448,500,000 . . 602,500,000 Exports 215,000.000 .. 342,500,000 .. 490,000,000 STANDARD BOOKS. " Algemeene Statistiek van Nederland." Leiden. (Pubhshed by the Dutch Government Statistical Society), 1870-onwards. H. Blink. " Tegenwoordige Staat van Nederland." Amsterdam, 1895-96. R. Schuiling. *' Aardrijkskunde van Nederland." Zwolle. 1897. II.— BELGITJM By J. DU FiEF,= Professor of Geography in the AtheiiSe royal of Brussels. Position and Configuration. — Belgium {La Belgique) is situated between 49^° and 51^° N., that is to say, between the parallels of the island of Guernsey and of London. It is bordered on the west by the North Sea which separates it from England, on all other sides there are land frontiers ; towards the Netherlands on the north, Germany and the grand duchy of ' Estimates. ' Translated from the French by the Editor. 224 The International Geography Luxemburg on the east, and France on the south. The short sea-coast, extending for only 42 miles, is washed by a sea so shallow that the depth does riot exceed five fathoms until at least five miles from the shore. The shore itself is entirely composed of sand, very low and uniform, but suit- able for the establishment of seaside watering-places ; it is separated by a line of dunes from the low plain of the interior. From the dunes the land rises gradually towards the south-east, but to the north the surface is absolutely flat throughout the greater part of the provinces of Flanders, Antwerp, and Limburg. In the centre nearly parallel undulations of the ground separate the tributaries of the Schelde ; and the surface exceeds 600 feet in elevation at a few points ^ along the left bank of the Sambre and Meuse (Maas). South-east of the line formed by these two rivers the land becomes more broken and picturesque, rising to the high plateau of the Ardennes with a maximum elevation of 2,230 feet, and sinking again on the southern frontier to about 1,000 feet above the sea. Geology. — Geologically the northern half of Belgium is covered by Quaternary deposits, including the marine and fluvial alluvium of the polders, the sand of the Campine, and the mud of Hesbaye. These are followed by Tertiary formations which extend across the whole breadth of the country as far south as the Sambre and the Meuse, containing the yellow sand of the province of Antwerp, the clay of the Rupel valley, which is of value for brickmaking, and the argillaceous sands and coarse limestones of Mons. Secondary strata are chiefly represented by the Cretaceous rocks which arei utilised in the valley of the Haine, fire- clay of a refractory character capable of withstanding a very high temperature, white chalk and a brown phosphatic chalk, and rharl and chalk in the valley of the Geer, a tributary of the Meuse. Primary rocks crop out at a few points in Hainaut and Brabant, and cover the greater part of the Ardennes in the provinces of Namur, Liege, and Luxemburg. These strata yield limestones of value both for building purposes and for making lime, sandstones useful for paving, slates, and, most important of all, great deposits of coal which underlie the whole south of Belgium, from west to east, and give rise to rich coal-fields at Mons, Charleroi, and Liege. Rivers and Canals. — Belgium is traversed from south to north by two great rivers which enter the country from France and pass on into Holland where they reach the North Sea. The Meuse (Flemish Maas) which traverses the picturesque part of the country in the east, flows through the fine valley in which stand the towns of Dinant, Namur, Huy, Seraing, and Liege. Beyond this it serves as the boundary between Belgium and Holland. It has been canalised as far as Vise, close to the German frontier to render it fully navigable. Its tributaries on the right are picturesque but unnavigable mountain streams ; the lower course of the Ourthe which flows in at Liege has however been canalised. The Schelde (French Escaui) traverses the low and level country of western Belgium, and the towns of Tournay, Oudenard, Ghent, Termonde, and Antwerp have grown upon its Belgium 225 banks. It is regulated by locks as far as Ghent, below which it flows freely to the sea. The chief right bank tributaries are the Dendre which is canalised, and the Rupel,, formed by the junction of the Dyle and the Nethe ; and on the left bank the Lys which is canaUsed. A small coast river, the Yser, which also comes from France, passes Nieuport and flows into the North Sea. Two canals keep up communication between Ghent and the sea, one running to Bruges and Ostend, the other due north to Terneuzen ; and a large ship canal is now in construction going direct from Bruges to the sea at Heyst. A great many other canals have been established with the object of developing the system of inland naviga- tion, draining the low country, and irrigating the sandy soil of theCampine. Climate and Natural Productions. — Belgium enjoys a cool, temperate climate ; the mean annual temperature for the whole country is 50° F., but on the high plateau of the Ardennes the mean is only 45°. The prevailing winds are from the south-west and west bringing moisture from the ocean, a fact which accounts for an average number of 195 rainy days in the year. The most important natural resources are those of the mineral kingdom. Of these coal is the chief, occurring at various depths in the centre of the country, the west and the east, following the courses of the Haine, the Sambre, and the Meuse, where it accounts for the origin of the great industrial centres of Mons, Charleroi, and Liege. Iron ore is extracted principally in the provinces of Namur, Liege, and Luxemburg ; zinc in the province of Liege, while stone is quarried largely in Brabant, Hainaut, Namur, and Liege, and slate in Luxemburg. The principal products of agriculture are cereals, flax, hemp, and colza, and the most important fruits are plums and apples. The great Flemish and Brabant horses, and the smaller but stronger Ardennes horse have more than local fame. People and History. — Two distinct elements can be distinguished in the population of Belgium : a dark race preponderating in the Walloon district which appears to have come from the south at the most remote period, and a fair race descended from the Kelts and Germans. The latter, who were not numerous in the time of Julius Caesar, have since increased by immigration mainly in the north where Roman influence was weak and the people preserved their Germanic- language and character, In the south, however, the Roman influence produced a profound effect. and hence two languages still exist, Flemish (closely akin to Dutch) and French (Walloon), each spoken exclusively by nearly half the population. This explains the fact that almost every place in the*country has a Flemish and also a French name. The linguistic dividing line runs approximately from St. Omer in France to Vise on the Meuse. When Julius Cassar undertook the conquest of Belgian Gaul in the first century B.C., that region was bounded by the Rhine, the Marne, the Seine, and the sea, and was inhabited by 24 independent tribes. For five centuries it remained under the Romans, until the Franks who had Fig. 113. — Average popu- lation of a square mile of Belgium. 226 The International Geography gradually been invading it, occupied it entirely. Thenceforward the territory of ancient Belgica was thrown into confusion, and it was several times divided between the Merovingians and Carolingians. The first internal divisions were formed during the administration of the Prankish counts, and many localities took their rise round their castles, or round the churches and monasteries. The feudal system was established in the tenth and eleventh centuries when the counties of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, Namur, Limburg, and Luxemburg, and the episcopal principality of Liege were established, and these served as the basis of the present provinces. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the municipal system developed, and towns such as Bruges, Ghent, Ypres, Courtrai, Antwerp, and Liege rose to considerable commercial and political power. Most of these principalities were absorbed into the possession of the Dukes of Burgundy (1384-1482), but without forming a real monarchy, and they then passed by inheritance to Charles V. and Philip H. of Spain. Under the last-named prince the Belgian provinces, or the Spanish Netherlands, were ruined by persecutions and religious wars, while the northern provinces, including Holland, separated and formed the republic of the United Provinces in 1570. Attacked by the French under Louis XIV. the Spanish Netherlands were handed over to the Emperors of the House of Austria (1713-95), then from 1795 to 1815 they formed part of the French Republic and Empire. In 1815 they were united with Holland as the Kirigdon of the Nether- lands, but in 1830 the Belgian provinces objecting to the Dutch Govern- ment became at last an independent country, the Kingdom of Belgium.- I .J... ■ | | |||| || |||ii| | | | || | || The Belgians have continued since their inde- '■;■■' vi pendence, as they were in the past, to be dis- ■'•'•'•'• I tinguished in science' and in the arts. The ■ • ■.'.'.' richness of the soil and the aptitude and intelli- ■ ■ ■ ■ gence of the people have caused the country to ////.. Illllllil l rank amongst the greatest producing regions of the Earth, and to support an extremely dense FIG. Ii4.-Belgian Flag, pop^i^tion. Government. — The form of government is a hereditary constitu- tional monarchy ; the constitution promulgated in 1831 proclaims the equality of all citizens before the law, the complete liberty of religion, of opinions, of forming societies, of speaking any language, of education and of the press. It also provides for two great principles, national sovereignty, and the separation of the legislative, exeeutive and judicial functions. The legislative power is exercised jointly by the King, the Senate; and the' Chamber of Representatives. The King is the head of the executive ; but he exercises the power through Ministers, none Belgium 227 of his acts taking effect unless countersigned by a Minister, who thereby renders himself responsible. While Belgian soil has often been a battle-ground of European Powers — the classic field of Waterloo where Napoleon was finally crushed in 1815 lies near the centre of the country — it was on its formation as a kingdom declared neutral territory under the guarantee of the chief nations of Europe. Hence it has only to maintain sufficient military forces to preserve its internal security. For administra- tive purposes the kingdom is divided into nine provinces, West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Limburg, Brabant, Hainaut, Namur, Liege, and Luxemburg, the provinces being divided into 41 arrondissements which are subdivided into communes. All religions are free, and while the Belgians are almost all Roman Catholics (there are only about 10,000 Fig. 115. — The Belgian Railway System. Protestants and 4,000 Jews in the country) the State subsidises Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish ministers. Industry and Commerce.— Belgium is distinguished by its great industrial and commercial wealth, which is very remarkable when the smallnes; of the country (which is only one and a half times as large as Wales) is taken into account. Although the majority of the inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, the production of cereals is not sufficient to meet the demand. The minerals of southern Belgium have given rise to metallurgical industries of all kinds, including the manufacture of iron and steel, and the construction of machinery, for which many large establish- ments have been formed, especially in the neighbourhood of Liege and of Charleroi. The manufacture of firearms for military purposes and for trade has its centre at Liege ; cutlery and the manufacture of glass and 22 8 The International' Geography crystal are leading industries of the provinces of Hainaut, Namur, and Liege. The manufacture of cloths and woollen stuffs is most developed in the neighbourhood of Verviers, that of cotton yarn and cotton goods at Ghent, and linen in Flanders. Belgium is also renowned for the manu- facture of lace. The most important exports, according to value, are coal, grain of all kinds, linen yarn and raw flax, meat, cast-iron, and glass-ware. Most of the trade is done with the nearest countries, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. The means of communication with other countries comprise first of all the steamer lines which connect the port of Antwerp with all the maritime countries in the world, the daily services between Ostend and Dover and between Antwerp and London, and finally a remarkably complete railway system, the longest per square mile of area of any country, which places Belgium in direct communication with France, Switzerland, and Italy, Vienna, and Constantinople, Berlin and St. Petersburg, thus giving to the country the full advantage of its geographical position in the matter of transport trade (Fig. 115). , Chief Towns.— Brussels (French Bruxelle, Flemish Brussel) is the capital of the country, the residence of the king, the seat of government, and of the legislative chambers. The population of the city of Brussels is scarcely more than 200,000 ; but including the eight surrounding communes (Schaerbeek, Laeken, Molenbeek, Anderlecht, St. Gilles, Ixelles, St. Josse-ten- Noode, and Etterbeek) the whole concen-. trated population considerably exceeds half a million. Each of these suburban communes has its own separate municipal adminis- tration. The Senne which flows through Brussels is not navigable, and water com- munication is carried on by a canal to the Schelde. Since 1870, great public works have transformed Brussels into a beautiful city, the Senne has been built over to guard against floods, a great central street runs from the northern to the southern stations, and other new thoroughfares have been opened. Amongst the modern buildings the Palais de Justice (law courts), the Post Office, the Exchange, and the National Bank are worthy of any capital, and amongst the ancient buildings the Hotel de Ville (town hall), dating from the fifteenth century, and the houses of the old trade corporations which surround the Grande Place form a magnificent artistic group not to be rivalled elsewhere. Brussels contains several important picture galleries, valuable museums, an Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts a university, and other educational institutions, a Botanic garden and several theatres.- It has thus become an intellectual as well as a political — Brussels and its Suburbs. Belgiu m 229 centre ; the population is rapidly increasing, and many branches of industry have been established, of which the most important are carriage-building, the construction of artistic furniture and lace-making. Antwerp (French Aiivcrs, Flemish Antwcrfen), situated on the Schelde, 60 miles from the sea, from which it is separated by Dutch territory, is one of the chief commercial ports of Europe ; it is also an important fortified place serving as the base for the defence of the country. The old Gothic cathedral containing some of the most celebrated pictures by Rubens, the church of St. James, and the Steen, an old castle of the fifteenth century, are amongst the most interesting of the ancient buildings. There are valuable museums, an Academy of Fine Arts, a musical Conservatoire, and a particularly well-arranged Zoological garden. The port of Antwerp carries on most of the external trade of Belgium, and the town is consequently flourishing. Amongst other branches of industry which F'"- ^^1--Antwerp and ,ts Forts. have been attracted to the place, sugar refining, distilling, lace-making, and shipbuilding are of great importance. i«e^d (Flemish Luik, German Liitiich) is a large industrial town on the Meuse surroiunded at a distance of about four miles by twelve detached forts, which in conjunction with those around Namur protect the valley of the Meuse (see Fig. 48). The most remarkable of the old buildings is the Palace of the Prince-Bishops of Liege, dating from the sixteenth century, and now occupied by the provincial government. Liege contains, amongst other intellectual institutions, many scientific bodies, an important university, especially well-equipped in the scientific depart- ments, a School of Mines, a School of Arts and Manufactures, a Botanic garden, an observatory, and a Conservatoire of Music. The great industrial prosperity of the town is due to the neighbouring coal mines ; its principal manufactures are firearms, the establishments including a Royal Arsenal and many metallurgical and engineering works. Many industrial- towns occupy the neighbourhood, including Seraing, which contains the great engineering establishment founded in 1817 by the Englishman John Cockerill, and now one of the most important in the world. Ghent (Flemish Gent, French Gand), the principal town in East Flanders, is situated at the confluence of the Schelde and the Lys, the town being built upon a large number of islands in the latter river. A canal goes to Bruges and Ostend, and another larger one to Terneuzen on the lower Schelde. Ghent has played a considerable political part in the history of Flanders, the belfry dating from the fourteenth century, the town hall dating from the fifteenth, and the ruins of the Castle of the Counts preserve the memory of its ancient power. The town is now dis- tinguished for its industrial development, especially the spinning and weaving of linen and cotton, lace-making, and the construction of 230 The International Geography machinery, and also for the cultivation of ornamental plants. It has a university with a school of Civil Engineering, and an Institute of Sciences ; there are also a Botanic garden, a Flemish Academy, and a Conservatoire of Music. While Belgium has developed mainly as an industrial State and now is one of the most densely peopled regions in Europe, it has entered into relations with the outer world, thanks to the foresight and perseverance of King Leopold II. He has become the sovereign of the Congo Free State, and has done much to encourage the intrepid devotion of its explorers-and administrators, thereby opening up in central Africa an important market for the trade not only of Belgium but of the world. STATISTICS. 1875- 1885. 1895. Area of Belgium in square miles . . 11,374 • • ii.374 ■ • ii,374 Population of Belgium 5,403,006 . . 5,852,273 . . 6.410,783 Density of population per square mile 475 . . 514 . . 563 NUMBER SPEAKING CHIEF LANGUAGES IN 1890. Flemish only. 2,744,271 French only. 2,485,072 French and Flemish. 700,997 POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS. 1875. 1885. Brussels (including suburbs) 385,388 . . 436,843 Antwerp 148,814 . . 198,174 Liege 117,638 .. 135,371 Ghent 131,026 . . 143,241 Mechlin , . 47,672 Verviers . . 45,521 Bruges .. 46,274 ANNUAL TRADE {in dollars). 1871-75. 1881-85. Imports . . . . . , . . 263,000,000 . . 302,000,000 Exports 212,500,000 . . 260,000,000 1895. 518,381 262,255 163,207 157,214 53,772 51,605 49,606 1891-95. 326,500,000 277,000,000 STANDARD BOOKS. A. Jourdain and L. von Stalle. " Dictionnaire Encyclopedique de Geographic de Belgique." Brussels, 1895 onwards. The Geographical Societies of Brussels and Antwerp publish many important papers on the regional geography of Belgium. Luxemburg 231 III.— LUXEMBURG By the Editor.' Position and Extent.— The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg forms, the south-eastern and only remaining independent portion of the once large State of that name. It separates Germany from Belgium, while on its southern side the frontiers of France and Germany meet. Except on the east, where the Moselle and the Sauer, with its affluent the Our, form the border, it has no natural boundaries, and its separate existence is due to the convenience of having a neutral area between powerful neighbours. Surface and Resources. — The northern part of Luxemburg, known as the Eisling or CEsling, lies on the Pateozoic slate plateau con- necting the Ardennes and the Eifel; the soil is poor, and the general aspect sombre and rugged. The southern section known as the "Bon Pays " is a continuation of the Triassic and Jurassic Lorraine plateau, the valleys of which are covered with fertile alluvium. Although the mean altitude of the country is littie more than i,ooo feet, and the highest point less than 1,900 feet, the rivers have cut deep and narrow valleys, which give variety and even grandeur to the scenery. The forest of Grunwald is said to be the largest in central Europe, and the south of the country is generally well wooded. There are very rich deposits of iron in the south ; lead, antimony, and other ores are found ; alabaster of peculiar whiteness and excellent slates are quarried. People and History. — The people are Teutonic in origin and language, though modified by the admixture of other races. French and German are both official languages ; the former is the more generally used, but a dialect of Low German is commonly spoken by the people. In the time of the Romans the territory formed part of Belgica prima j under the Franks it was attached to Treves, and subsequently to Lorraine. In the tenth century it was erected into an immediate fief of the empire, when Siegfried, Count of Ardennes, acquired the old Roman castle of Luciliburgum, the site of the modern capital. In the fifteenth century it passed to the Habsburgs, and continued to be a dependency of Austria till 179s, when it became the French department " des Forets." By the Treaty of Vienna, 1815, Luxemburg was freed from France, erected into a grand duchy, and given to the King, of the Netherlands. In 1839, by the Treaty of London, dismemberment was formally effected by the Powers. The larger part then became a Belgian province, and the smaller south-eastern portion was constituted an independent State, which passed from the Dutch Crown on the accession of Queen Wilhelmina. In 1867 the State was neutralised by agreement of the Great Powers and the demo- lition of the fortifications decreed. The government is a constitutional ' Assisted by E. J. Hastings. 2 32 The International Geography hereditary monarchy, with a parliament of one chamber, the members of which are elected by the people for a term of six years. Agriculture occupies the greater number of the people, and the vintage is large. Iron working is the most important industry ; several consider- able manufactures are carried on. Luxemburg is a member of the Zollverein, and the trade returns are therefore included with those of Germany. The main railway traversing the country north and south is a link on the through line from Belgium to Switzerland. Luxemburg (Luciliburgum, Luzilinburch, Liitzelburg=" little castle") took its name from a castle built by Siegfried on the site of a Roman stronghold, on the Bock, a rock overhanging the opposite bank of the river, and now connected with the town by a stone bridge. The town occupies a very strong position at the confluence of the Petrusse with the Alzette. It consists of two parts, an upper and a lower ; the former situated on a rocky plateau rising about 200 feet above the river, with precipitous cliffs on three sides, the only natural approach being from the west. The natural strength of the position caused it to be selected in early times as a strategic point, and the genius of Vauban made it one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. The old fortifications have been converted into fine boulevards and parks. STATISTICS. 1880. 1890. Area of Luxemburg (square miles) 998 . . 998 Population of Luxemburg 209,570 . . 211,088 Density of population per square mile 210 . . 214 Population of Luxemburg (city) 16,700 . , 18,817 CHAPTER XV.— FRANCE I.— PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY By Professor A. de Lapparent, Paris Structure. — The physical structure of France exhibits, in a very high degree, the union of great structural simplicity with a marked variety of natural features. France may be spoken of as formed of two parts, which join along a straight line of 530 miles, from the mouth of the Bidassoa to the north-eastern corner of the Ardennes near the source of the Sambre. West of that line the land projects in a triangular shape more than 250 miles to the west-north-west, and is surrounded by sea. The larger part, to the east, with the exception of the Mediterranean coast, by which southern France enjoys easy access to the lands of the Far East, is surrounded by a semi- circle of mountains ; the Pyrenees in the south, the Alps, Jura, Vosges in the east, the Rhine Highlands and the Ardennes in the north-east. The mean width of the country thus bounded remains over 250 miles. Thus France possesses natural boundaries throughout : but though encircled, it is not imprisoned ; not only because more than half of its outline is made up of the coast of open seas, but because the eastern mountainous girdle is interrupted at some points, such as the gap of the Rhone, between the Alps and Jura ; the opening at Belfort, between the Jura and Vosges ; that of Lower Alsace, between the Vosges and the Rhine Highlands, and the gorges of the Moselle and of the Meuse, through the same highlands. In the northern corner of France, also, down the slopes of Artois running waters and migrating people are naturally led to the plains of Belgium and Holland, and thence without obstacle to northern Germany and Scandinavia. Central Plateau. — The chief feature of central France is that a high- land stands near its centre — the so-called Central Plateau, consisting almost entirely of Archasan rocks, whose levelled surface is broken in the middle by volcanic accumulations. Thus the old and denuded cones of the Mont Dore and of the Cantal rise to nearly 6,000 feet above sea-level, while the Arch:ean base of these volcanic structures reveals itself between 3,200 and 3,900 feet. Apart from minor irregularities, the Archasan plateau becomes continuously higher from north-west, where it is 1,500 to 2,000 feet, to south-east. There it ends abruptly, facing the Mediterranean Sea as a great wall, the dissected border of which is called the Cevennes, the highest 233 2 34 The International Geography summit, located quite on the rim, being the gigantic Mont Lozere, 5,584 feet high. The Cevennes are succeeded in a northerly direction by the mounts of Lyonnais and Beaujolais. While on the whole elliptical in its outline, the Central Plateau is prolonged into two spurs of much the . same constitution : the Morvan to the north, and the Montagne Noire to the south, approaching very near to the Pyrenees. Geological History of the Central Plateau. — The Central Plateau is the very nucleus of France. Early in Palasozoic times it stood as an island, round which sediments were accumulating. Of varying size, according to the oscillations of the crust, it has persisted as a prominent feature through the whole range of geological evolution. Only near the middle of the Tertiary period it was broken by two fractures, from north to south, leading to the formation of Tertiary lakes, the floors of which are now occupied by the plains of the Limagne and Forez, with an elevated Archaean ridge intervening be- tween the two. By the hght of the geo- logical and topo- graphical relations which prevail in the Central Plateau we may believe that, near the end of the Tertiary ranges period, it ought to have been reduced to the condition of peneplain, on the average not much above sea-level, with old meandering on its surface. But when, as a consequence of the Alpine movements, the plateau was tilted as a whole from south-east to north-west, the rivers had to excavate canyons on the site of their old valleys, while volcanic activity asserted itself through the fissures of the now fractured Archaean mass. Rivers of the Central Plateau.-Thus it is easily understood why, notwithstanding the actual dome-like shape of the country, which is entirely due to late volcanic accumulations, the rivers do not diverge out- wards in all directions from a common centre as they flow. Only two directions now prevail : the one south and north, the other east and west. U^Archeean ^^ Primary Fig. 118. — Tlia Physical Structure of France. a rivers France 235 Both were acquired before the tilting was inaugurated. So the main lines of river-flow are inherited from the time when the flat Archasan mass divided the French region into two parts, one sloping towards a northern sea, the other towards the southern belt of waters. This conclusion is strengthened by another characteristic feature of western France. With the single exception of the Loire, no river comes from the eastern boundaries of the country to the Atlantic. The courses of the Vienne, of the Mayenne, of the Orne, clearly show that there is a marked tendency on the part of the rivers to follow the eastern limit of the Armorican region, which embraces Vendee, Brittany and Cotentin. And, in fact, this region, entirely made up of tilted and upturned Palasozoic sediments, was an island early in Mesozoic times, while between it and the Central Plateau stretched the so-called Strait of Poitou. The Paris Basin. — The western highland extended far to the west, and was united with British Cornwall ; the present state of things being due to long-contin\iied erosion by waves and currents. At the same time, the similar Palaeozoic land of the Ardennes became uplifted, while some islands were rising on the site of the Vosges. Thus, this series of emerged lands encircled a nearly closed trough of sedimenta- tion, the Anglo- Parisian Basin, and it has been the work of Mesozoic and Tertiary times, to fill up this trough with various sediments by the dis- integration of surrounding regions. When, about the middle of the Tertiary period, this work had been completed, and the Oligocene Sea vanished, there remained in the centre a large lake, the lake of the Beauce, to which rivers flowed chiefly from the north-east, east and south. But the lake was emptied, while its floor was raised in the north-east during Miocene times, and a large trough was opened between Vendee and Brittany, allowing the sea-waves to encroach as far as the vicinity of Blois. Therefore the Loire, formerly a tributary of the lake, abruptly turned west, forcing in the same direction the lower courses of the Cher, Indre, Creuse, and Vienne. Meanwhile the eastern drainage, that of the Moselle and of the Meuse, found an outlet to the north through the more lately elevated highland. But the central and south-eastern parts of the basin were sending their waters directly to the English Channel, the old meander- ing Seine maintaining its course by. a continuous process of cutting through the recently elevated plateau of Normandy. The Pyrenean Region.— Till the close of the Eocene period, the southern slopes of the Central Plateau were drained into a southern sea, which stretched continuously from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean waters. At that time there was no chain of the Pyrenees, and while the northern basin was submitted to the ever-changing conditions of an enclosed area of sedimentation, in the southern area pelagic influences prevailed, resulting in a quite different and much more uniform type of deposits and fossils. But when the Pyrenees begun to be uplifted, the spur of the Montague Noire soon was united with the foot of the newly 236 The International Geography elevated mountain. Therefore the south-western slope of the Central Plateau, together with the Pyrenees, outlined a large gulf, that of Aquitaine, progressively filled up with marine, brackish, fresh water, and fluvio-glacial deposits. Thus were laid down the large and uniform plains, whose drainage is now concentrated in the Garonne, and which terminate in the great alluvial fan of the Landes. South-Eastern France. — The south-east of France long remained under the western end of the Alpino-Mediterranean Sea, which, through the Strait of the Cote d'Or, remained in communication with the Paris Basin till the end of the Cretaceous period. Then the land was raised between Morvan and the Vosges, while the present valley of the Saone was depressed and finally became the lake of the Bresse. Meanwhile the Jura and the Western Alps were rising in crowded folds, so that between the outer folds and the linearly lifted border of the Central Plateau, there remained a Rhodanian depression. When Tertiary times came to an end, the Pliocene Sea, which had penetrated through this depression to the neighbourhood of Lyons, left the country, and its bed gave issue to the waters of the Rhone, which had forced their way through the weakest spot between the Jura and the Alps. Surface and Soils of France. — In accordance with its geological evolution, which has been so complete and continuous as to give rise to representatives of every epoch, the surface of France exhibits an unusual variety of composition. While the Central Plateau, with the exception of the volcanic accumulations, is almost entirely composed of crystalline schists, which give an infertile soil, the old Armorican land is not much better endowed on account of the prevalence of silicious, schistose, and limeless deposits. Nevertheless, the frequent alternation of slates, grits, granites and schists, in long, narrow bands, where the harder rocks project in ridges, makes the country look much less monotonous than the Limousin. The richest parts of France are to be sought for in the Paris Basin, where the different kinds of soil, though very numerous, have been distributed with great regularity. As the filling up of the basin has, on the whole, progressed from the rim towards the centre, each geological period being marked by peculiar sosts of deposits ; as, moreover, the tilting of the lately emerged land took place towards the north-east, east, and south-east, the successive sheets of sediments, formerly buried under one another, are now exposed rising towards the borderlands on the east. Therefore they crop out, one after the other, as con- centric girdles. Under the influence of running water, the softer parts in each girdle have been progressively removed on the edges, laying bare the flat surface of the more resisting ground. Now the traveller, going from Paris towards the east or north-east, walks over gently rising plains, each of which ends abruptly in a scarp facing eastward. The upper part of the scarp consists of a harder stratum, while at the France 237 foot the softer layers, the dispersion of which has given rise to the cliff, are trenched. As the development of this structure proceeded pari passu with the general uplifting of the old lake-floor, the chief rivers had to cut their way through the mass of the growing cliffs, where they now run on the floor of deep trenches. Every scarp-line constitutes a military front of defence, where the weak points are the entrances of the valleys. According to the nature of the outcropping sediments, as well as to the more or less advanced rate of dispersion of the projecting tongues of the dissected scarps, the successive girdles are marked by contrasting land- scapes, where every sort of land is to be found: Dry and pervious table- lands of compact limestones, with rare but well-fed watercourses (Barrois, Bassigny), alternate many times with low and argillaceous belts, covered with grass and crowded with forests, where plenty of rivulets furrow the ground, but only during the wet season (so-called wet Champagne). When a sandy girdle has been passed, another is met, the earth of which is especially fitted for agricultural purposes (Valois, Vexin, Brie), till a new belt of smooth and bare hills is reached, where the white chalk is to be seen many hundred yards in thickness (Champagne, Picardie). Thus the numerous "pays" of the Paris Basin, strongly contrasting with each other in a cross section of the whole, keep, on the contrary, very constant characters along the direction of the concentric belts. The striking variety which they exhibit is due to the ever-changing conditions of sedimentation which prevailed, during geological times, in such a limited basin, and has been enhanced by the local deformations which the different parts of the country may have independently undergone. Elevation of France. — The mean height of France averages some 1,000 feet, but more than one-half of the country (that is, the western portion) remains much below 650 feet ; there being only small patches of higher ground between Paris and the western seas, in any direction, and only one of these, in the hills of Normandy, stands a little over 1,300 feet. The chief relief is concentrated in definite lines : (i) in the great and abrupt wall of the Pyrenees, the crest of which maintains an elevation between 6,500 and 10,000 feet ; (2) in the eastern border of the Central Plateau ; (3) in the Western Alps, highly complicated, and culminating over 13,000 feet in Mont Blanc and Pelvoux ; (4) in the parallel and arched ridges of the Jura, growing from west to east, till the terminal crest is reached, which directly faces the plains of Switzerland in some summits of 5,500 feet ; (5) in the linear crest of the Vosges, with peaks from 4,000 to 4,600 feet, and a rather gentle slope towards Lorraine ; (6) in the elevated border of the highland of the Ardennes, where some points of the levelled peneplain are over 1,300 feet. To which must be added the high table- land of Langres, which at 1,600 feet bridges over the space between Morvan and the Vosges, serving as a south-eastern divide for the Paris Basin, on the very spot where the Jurassic and Cretaceous waters of the same basin mingled in bygone epochs with the waves of Alpine seas. 17 238 The International Geography Climate.— Thanks to such a disposition, the climate of France is a temperate one. As the true mountains of the land are all located on the eastern border, the warm and moist winds from the west, which prevail for the most part, are not stopped by any obstacle before they reach the highest summits. Nevertheless, on account of the neighbourhood of the snowfields of Switzerland and of the continental plains of Germany, the range of the thermometer is rather large, the minimum in some years reaching 13° F. in Paris, while in 'Summer the thermometer rises there to 95° F. in the shade. Sometimes the fall and rise of temperature succeed each other very rapidly. The great differences of altitude (the highest peak of Europe, Mont Blanc, 15,800 feet, belongs to France), cause every kind of climate to be encountered, from the mouth of the Loire, where frost is almost unknown, to the perpetual snows of the Alps, with the intervening high plateaux of the Cevennes where, during many months, a bitter wind is constantly blowing. The mean annual rainfall for the whole of France amounts to 29^ inches, varying from a minimum of under 194- inches on the Medi- terranean coast from Perpjgnan to Narbonne, and 19J to 23^ inches in the region between Le Mans and Reims, to a maximum of 71 inches which is reached on the western corner of the Pyrenees, while on the Mont Dore, Cantal, Morvan and Vosges the rainfall is little over 60 inches. The general dis- tribution of rainfall may be seen on the map of rainfall of Europe in Fig. S3. Mineral Resources. — France has been very poorly endowed with precious metals ; iron ore is rather abundant, especially in the state of oolitic layers. The coal-fields, though numerous and scattered, are not sufficient to prevent the necessity of importing from abroad. The country is exceptionallv rich in building stones : either products of internal activity, like the granites of Brittany, Normandy, and the Central Plateau ; the trachytes and lavas of Auvergne, the porphyries of Esterel, or consolidated sediments of the various geological epochs. For examples of the latter kind we may mention the marbles and roofing slate of the Palaeozoic deposits ; the Jurassic limestones, mostly oolitic, which are nowadays extensively quarried in Lorraine, Burgundy, Berry, Poitou, Lyonnais, &c.; the fir'e-clays of the lower Cretaceous formation ; the tufaceous chalk of Touraine ; the building-stones of the so-called rough limestone, ■ so largely developed in the neighbourhood of Paris ; the travertines, plaster-stones, silicious millstones, and gritty paving-stones of the same basin ; and the calcareous molasse of Provence. Volcanic activity has now entirely disappeared from the country, and t» Jm.Fei.Mai ilrR.liUT.JvH.duL.AuB. Sep. OOT.Hov.DtO. i"-\ 70 65 flO SB EO 46 40 36 30 ,— -V 3 2 I / - •\ \ ~] -/ -/ — -^ \ V- " ,'* / t- \ \ ^ Pi ;>. _ HttH r"i ■ «„ ^ Pans Mflpseil 65 Fig. iig. — Curves of Mean Monthly Rainfall and Temperature for Paris and Marseilles. France 239 since historic times not the slightest eruption has taken place in Auvergne, where the freshness of the craters and volcanic cinder-cones bears testi- mony that internal fires must have found vent not many centuries before the settlement of the district. But in many parts of France, and always in association with the remnants of extinct vulcanism, or with the manifesta- tion of recent displacements of the crust, there are to be found thermo- mineral springs, successfully used for curative purposes. They occur along the foot of the Pyrenees, round the old eruptive centres of Auvergne, in the Alps, the Vosges,^ and on the fractured rim of the Morvan. Flora and. Fauna. — As France is everywhere in free communication with adjoining countries, its fauna does not essentially differ from that of western and central Europe. But, owing to the want of extensive forest- lands or mountain masses, the range of wild animals is becoming smaller, they being now for the most part artificially protected for sport. The flora is a rich one, on account of the great differences of climate, according to varjdng altitude and exposure. As the high mountains of the country generally face westward, that is seaward, their slopes enjoy better conditions than they could have done if turned eastward. Thanks to its special situation the south-eastern corner of France, called Provence, is the very garden of the country. There eucalyptus, introduced from Australia, is thriving, as well as the native olive and mulberry. For the remainder of the land oak, beech, lime-tree, yoke-elm, and the various sorts of maple- trees are the prevalent forest species, pine and fir being confined to mountains or to sandy grounds. With the exception of the mountainous parts, peat is to be found only to the north of Paris. The productions of the country are in accordance with the diversity of physical conditions. From the wind-swept downs of the North Sea to the "azure coast," where a vegetation of almost tropical character thrives on the sun- glistening slope of the Southern Alps ; from the vineyards of the Medoc or the Cote d'Or to the Alpine woods and pastures below the perpetual snows ; from the blooming grasses of Normandy to the desolate plateaux of the Gausses every type of vegetation or cultivation is represented. II.— GENERAL GEOGRAPHY By Professor L. Raveneau,' Of the "Annales de Gdographie," Paris. People and Language. — The French people, like the English or the German, is made up of several races. In passing from Flanders through Paris and Poitou to the Gironde one can recognise amongst the people the essential features of the Gauls ; they are typically fair-haired, tall, and long- headed (dolichocephalic). In the west of France, Vendee, Anjou, Maine, ' Translated from the French by the Editor. 240 The International Geography and Brittany, and on the Central Plateau in the heart of Caesar's Celtica, the people have, as a rule, dark hair, and are short and thick-set with broad heads (brachycephalic), representing a much earlier invasion which had evicted the yet more ancient reindeer hunters and the remnants of the Quaternary races. In the Mediterranean region in the south-east and in Aquitaine in the south-west there are traces of the early Ligurian and Iberian peoples. Migrations which are still going on within the country have brought about a general fusion of all these races into one fairly homogeneous general type. The Gauls, when conquered by the Romans, forgot their own language and adopted Latin, from the popular form of which the new French language gradually formed itself. The language had taken shape by the twelfth century — about the time when France acquired a national existence ; but it appeared in two dialects, the northern or langue d'oil {oil== oui= yes) and the southern or langue d'oc {oc^ oui= yes). The dialect of the He de France and of Touraine, which was spoken by the kings, gradually superseded the other dialects of the langue d'oil in the north, but was not received with the same readiness in the south where some dialects of the langue d'oc, Proven9al amongst others, are still spoken. The French language is used beyond the political limits of France ; the Walloon dialect is spoken throughout the whole of southern Belgium, and even in a corner of Prussia (Malmedy) ; it is also spoken in part of Lorraine, annexed to Germany in 1871, in several cantons of Switzerland, and in the high valleys of the Italian Alps. On the other hand the Flemish language encroaches upon the northern part of the department of the Nord, and Italian dialects are spoken in part of the Alpes-Maritimes and Corsica. Most of the inhabitants of the Pyrenees-Orientales still speak the Catalan language. At the western end of the Pyrenees the French Basques, who differ anthropologically from the much more numerous Basques of Spain, speak the same Euskarian language, the origin of which baffles the researches of philologists. 5'inally, in lower Brittany the Keltic language in four dialects is used by the peasants living to the west of a line drawn from the river Vilaine to Chatelaudren. Territorial Growth. — Neither community of race nor of language would have sufficed to form the nation ; two other forces were necessary, a line of kings working for centuries to build up the provinces into one country, and a devoted people supporting their royal leaders without stint of money or life. At the time when the Duke of Normandy conquered England in 1066 his suzerain, the King of France, only possessed in his own right Valois, He de France and Orleanais. In the following century, as by the turn of a tide, England occupied the whole Atlantic coast of France, and for a time the French king was nothing more than King of Bourges. Jeanne d'Arc and Charles VII. recovered the territory, but Calais, the key of the Channel, was held by the English for another century. Interrupted by the chivalrous epic of the expeditions into Italy and by the sanguinary France 241 interlude of the religious wars, the policy of territorial consolidation was revived by Henry IV. Richelieu and Mazarin added to France the "four nations" : Roussillon, Piemont (Pignerol), Alsace and Artois in 1648 to 1659. Under the personal reign of Louis XIV. the frontier reached the Alps at Barcelonnette in 17 13 (the possessions beyond the Alps had been given up in 1697) ; it had already advanced towards Switzerland, incorporating FrancheComtein 1678, and towards the Spanish Netherlands, encroaching on Flanders in 1668. Louis XV. acquired an enclave, Lorraine, in 1766, and annexed Corsica in 1768. The Treaty of 18 14 left to France the enclaves -which had been suppressed during the Revolution (Comtat Venaissin, Miihlhausen, Montbeliard), but required the restoration of the fruits of Napoleon's conquests in Belgium, Holland, Germany (Hamburg), Switzerland (Geneva), and Italy (Rome). France gave up Savoy and Nice, gained during the Republic, and only touched the Rhine through Alsace. The Treaty of 1815 broke into the northern frontier by the loss of Philippeville, Marienburg, and Landau. As a reward for the part taken by France in securing the unity of Italy Napoleon III. recovered the departments of Savoy and Nice, the inhabitants of which ratified their change of nationality by a popular vote. The war with Germany and the Treaty of Frankfort in 1871 threw back the French frontier to the crest of the Vosges, and Alsace and Lorraine were incorporated without the consultation of the inhabitants as an Imperial Territory of the German Empire. Government. — Since 1871 in fact, and since 187s by law, the form of government in France has been that of a constitutional republic. The Chamber of Deputies, elected directly by universal male suffrage, and the Senate nominated by a special electorate, exercise legislative powers, and united in Congress they elect the President of the Republic who exercises the executive authority through responsible Ministers. The democratic spirit of the country assures to all free education and the right of voting, and imposes in return compulsory personal military service. All religions are tolerated and the State allows an annual subsidy to Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish ministers. The majority of the people are Roman Catholics. Administrative Divisions.— In 1790 the National Assembly sub- stituted for the old French provinces 83 departments. This number was raised to 89 by the creation of Vaucluse, the splitting of Rhone-et-Loire, the formation of Tarn-et-Garonne, the annexation of the two departments of Savoy and the Alpes-Mari times ; and since 1871 it has been reduced to 86 by the cession of the whole Bas-Rhin, of the Moselle, with the exception of the arrondissement of Briey (which was united to Meurthe to form Meurthe-et-Moselle) and of Haut-Rhin with the exception of the territory of Belfort. At the head of each department Napoleon placed a Prefect as Fig. 120. — The French Flag. 242 The International Geography an agent of the central authority, and at the head of the arrondissement a sub-prefect. Each of the 36,000 communes, except Paris, is administered by an elected mayor. A larger, more elastic, and more geographical division is tending gradually to be superimposed upon the departments. This is the Region, represented by the ecclesiastical division which the National i\ssembly had adapted to the departments, and also used by the Courts of Appeal and the Academies instituted by Napoleon, by the Army Corps (for which there are 19 regions including Algeria, created in 1872) and finally by the Univer- sities, to which the State has recently restored liberty and vitality. Movements of the Population. — The population increases very slowly; from 1872 to 1896 the total increase scarcely exceeded 2,400,000 while in the same period the population of Germany had increased by more than 11,000,000. While the French Canadians continue to increase perhaps more rapidly than any other civilised people, the birth-rate in France itself has fallen lower than that of any other country in Europe. The increase, such as it is, results not from the general growth of the population but from the exceptional increase in a few departments. From 1846 to 1896 the five depart- riients of Seine, Nord, Rhone, Loire, and Bouches- du-Rhone, showed an increase greater than the average for France ; a large number of departments have remained stationary, while those of Normandy and of the basin of the Garonne show a marked diminution. Different parts of France exhibit im- ViG. 121.— Average popti- portant movements of the population in the form of lattonof^^a^^iuire temporary removals, such as the exodus of people from the Central Plateau or the Alps to Paris, Lyons and Marseilles for work with the prospect of returning, and also of permanent displacement. The population of the department of the Seine in 1891 was made up of people coming from other parts of the country to the extent of 58 per cent. The rural population, that is to say people living in communes which do not contain an aggregation of more than 2,000 inhabitants, is diminishing, while the urban population increases ; thus the rural population amounted to 7S'6 per cent, of the whole in 1846, but only to 62-6 per cent, in 1891. The population of 34,000 purely rural communes is diminishing to the profit of from 400 to 500 towns ; the number of towns with a population exceeding 30,000 has increased from 54 in 1886 to 60 in 1896. These currents of internal migration cross and at some points mix with those of immigration. Between 1851 and 1891 the number of foreigners living in France increased by 200 per cent., and in the latter year exceeded a million. Foreigners are ^-ery numerous in the large towns and in the departments near the frontiers, forming, for instance, 29 per cent, of the population of the arrondissement of Lille, and concentrating in two places in the interior at He de France France 243 and Adour-Garonne. A law passed in 1889 facilitates naturalisation, and provides that the children born in France of foreign parents who were themselves born in the country are by birth French citizens. There is at present but little emigration from France, and figures can hardly be given (say 5,000 to 7,000 per annum). The people of the Basses- Alpes emigrate to Mexico where they are known as Barcelonnettes, the Basques habitually make their way to the Plata States, and people from the Mediterranean coasts have established themselves as vine-growers in Algeria. It is estimated that half a million French citizens live in foreign countries. Agriculture.— Half the total surface of France is made up of arable land, and almost half the population (47 per cent, in 1890) are occupied in agriculture. Peasant proprietors are very numerous and cultivate their land with tireless assiduity. Agricultural societies are gradually extending the use of fertilizing agents and the employment of scientific methods. Although the greater part of the arable land (58 per cent.) is devoted to the growth of cereals, and produces annually from 300 to 330 million bushels of wheat (nearly 17 bushels per acre on the average), the French, being great eaters of white bread, require 33 million bushels to be imported every year from the United States and Russia. Maize, for which a moist and warm climate is necessary, grows mainly in the basin of Aquitaine ; barley associ- ated with hops supplies many breweries in the north and east, and beetroot, cultivated on a large scale in the plains of Flanders, Picardy, Brie, Beauce and Limagne, is used for the production of alcohol in distilleries attached to the farms, or for the manufacture of sugar in sugar-mills. While the work on large farms tends more and more to assume an industrial character, the rnarket gardens of Provence, Agenais, and Anjou supply fruit to the markets of Paris, and the early produce of Brittany (the Golden Belt) is also largely exported to London. Horse and cattle breeding is an important branch of farming on the coast of Flanders, the pastures of the Pays d'Auge, the meadows of Perche, Bocage of Vendee, and the "pres d'embouche " of Nivernais and Charolais. Sheep are largely kept on the dry pastures of Champagne Pouilleuse and of the Gausses, those of Crau are fed in summer on the mountain pastures of the Alps and of the Cevennes, as is the custom in Spain and Italy. Dairy-farming and cheese-making prosper in Boulonnais, Bray (Neufchatel), Lower Normandy (Camembert), Brittany (Prevalaye), the Central Plateau (Roquefort) and the Jura. The vine was formerly cultivated as far north as the shores of the Channel, and in Champagne it is still grown north of lat. 49°, but otherwise its real importance is now confined to the valleys of the Saone (Cote d'Or and Maconnais) and the Rhone, to Lower Languedoc and Bordelais, vv|ience there has been a regular export of wine to England since the Hundred Years' War. The production of wine in France is greater than that in Italy or Spain, although it has been very seriously affected by the phylloxera pest; a production of 1,850 million gallons in 1875 having been 244 The International Geography- reduced to 550 million gallons in 1887 ; but the vine}'ards have now been restored by the introduction of American plants, and in 1896 the production of wine in France exceeded 1,000 million gallons. The vine is associated in the valley of the Rhone with the mulberry, employed for rearing silk- worms, in Provence with the olive, and in the neighbourhood of Nice with the orange. Industry. — Mineral and textile industries 'support one quarter of the population, but France is far from being so favoured as Great Britain in this respect ; its output of 27 million tons of coal (in 1896) is insufficient, and an annual import of from 10 to 12 million tons from England, Belgium and Germany is required. The numerous coal-fields include the group of the Nord and the Pas-de-Calais, which yield 60 per cent, of the total production, and those of the Loire (St. Etienne), Burgundy and Nivernais (Le Creusot), Gard (Alais), Tarn and Aveyron (Aubin, Carmaux), and Bourbon- nais (Commentry). Altogether 140,000 workmen are employed in coal mines. The average price of the coal at the pit mouth varies from $1.80 per ton in the northern coal-fields to I2.60 per ton in the Loire field ; but on account of the cost of transport the price as sold in the department of Haute-Vienne is increased to I7.00 per ton, a fact which acts prejudicially on the. manufactures of districts far from the coal-fields. The coal produc- tion of France is shown graphically in Fig. 70. Iron ore is largely ex- tracted from the oolitic rocks at Nancy and Briey, the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle 3'ielding nine- tenths of the iron raised in France, and in the Oolite of Champagne (Vassy) ; some iron is also produced in Franche-Comte and the Pyrenees. The production of cast-iron, wrought-iron and steel exceeded four million tons in 1896, most of it being produced in Meurthe-et-Moselle, at Le Creusot, the rival of Essen in Germany and Seraing in Belgium, and at Fives-Lille. Building materials and other mineral products are obtained by quarrying. The more important are marble from the Pyrenees, building stones from Lorraine, Burgundy, Berry, and Bordelais, mill-stones and hydraulic cement from Ardeche, plaster from the neighbourhood of Paris, as well as phosphate of lime (Somme and Pas-de-Calais), and marl. Textile industries flourish most in the neighbourhood of coal-fields and near the supply of raw materials. With the coal-field of the Nord the spinning and weaving of linen, hemp, jute, and cotton are closely associated. .Fig. 122. — The range of the vine in France- shown by vertical shading. France 245 On the other coal-fields, St. Etienne manufactures ribbons, Roanne cotton cloth, and Lyons is the queen of the sillc trade. The old Norman weaving industry is now represented by the cloths of Elbeuf and Louviers, and the cottons of Rouen. Some industries have grouped themselves near waterfalls on the slopes of the Vosges (cotton-weaving) ; in the valley of the Isere, where there are paper-works and glove factories at Grenoble and Voiron ; along the banks of large rivers of pure water, such as the Charente with the gun-factory of Ruelle and the paper-works of Angou- leme, and of the Essonnes with the paper- works and flour-mills of Essonnes and Corbeil. Historical reasons and industrial tradition have as much to do as geographical conditions in explaining the woollen industries of Champagne (Reims), and Languedoc (Mazamet), the cloths of Sedan, the porcelain of Sevres and Limoges, the carpets of Gobelins, Beauvais, and Aubusson, the mirrors of St. Gobain, and the crys- tal of Baccarat. Means of Com- munication. — Trans- port and trade furnish a livelihood to 13 per cent. of the population. The means of communication comprise a close net- work of roads which are regarded with just pride ; these comprise the na- tional high roads, the mag- nificent engineefirig of which is a heri^e'ifrom ancient Fran^^depart- mental roads and parish roads. The expansion of railways has thrown undeserved discredit on the old roads which, after all, are their natural tributaries. Steam tramways and motor cars, not to speak of bicycles, have, however, led to an increase of road traffic, which produces its effect on the national statistics. Water-ways. — The rivers, whose harmonious arrangement had attracted the attention of Strabo, have been regulated and deepened so as to render their current more uniform and permanent. A depth of nearly 7 feet now prevails in more than a quarter of the rivers used for.navigation. Engineers have made projects for improving the sluggish and capricious Loire, and they have overcome in part the rapid current of the Rhone, for although the ascent of that river is always difficult it is descended by numerous vessels. In the north of France the triumph of the engineers is complete. Fig. 123. — The Rivers and Canals of France. 246 The International Geography Works carried on between 1878 and 1886 have established a depth of water exceeding 10 feet on the Seine between Paris and Rouen, and the traffic on that section has doubled in less than 20 years. Paris has become the principal port of France, and although, strictly speaking, it cannot be termed a seaport, it yet maintains regular direct communication with such places as Nantes and London. The natural waterways are supplemented by an excellent system of canals, the best of which are those of the north and east of France, but one-half of the canals in the country have a depth exceeding 6^ feet. Water transport has been rendered more and more economical by the introduction of steam traction, and of such modern developments as electric power in the tunnel of the Burgundy canal, and hydraulic lifts at Fontinettes on the Neuffosse. Forty-two per cent, of the mineral fuel for Paris is brought into the city by water. The system is of particular service in facilitating the exchange of heavy and bulky products between the north and east by the canals which join the Oise to the Marne and the Rhine, coal coming from the north, cast-iron and iron-ore from the east. The recently constructed Eastern Canal, and the canals joining the Marne to the Saone and the Doubs, which are on the point of completion, unite Franche-Comte to Champagne and Flanders. The canal of Briare, the first canal with level reaches which was constructed in France, and the Central Canal with their branches form important arteries of traffic between Paris, Montlufon, Roanne, and Chalon-sur-Saone. Railways. — The railway system converges on Paris even more con- spicuously than do the roads and canals, and each company's lines radiating from Paris serves a separate sector of France ; the cross lines as a rule have only moderate traffic except the sections from Dunkirk to Nancy, from Amiens to Chalons and Chaumont, from Caen to Le Mans by Alenf on, from Tours to Vierzon and Chalon-sur-Saone, and from Bordeaux to Cette. The Northern Railway (Chemin de Fer du Nord), with a total extent of 2,300 miles, covers a small territory with a close network ; its traffic is proportionally greater than that of the other lines as it serves a very fertile, populous, and industrial region. On this system Lille is 153 miles, or 3J hours, from Paris ; Brussels 193 miles, or 5 hours ; Berlin 665 miles, or 18 hours, and the distance of 1,680 miles to St. Petersburg is covered in 48 hours by the Northern Express. Only 7J hours are required for the journey from Paris to London by Calais and Dover, or by Boulogne and Folkestone, and the Northern Railway is the link connecting Great Britain, by the shortest sea-passage, through Paris with all parts of Europe. Special through trains connect Calais with Basel in 13 hours via Chalons-Chau- mont ; with Nice via Paris in 24 hours, and with Brindisi, the port of the Far Eastern mails, via Paris and Modane in 41 hours from London. The section of the Northern Railway between Amiens and Paris is one of the busiest in Europe, and some of the international trains travel over it at the remarkably high average rate of 57 miles an hour. The Eastern Railway (Cliemin de Fer de I'Est), has a system of 2,920 miles France 247 of line. By Nancy, it connects with the south of Germany and Austria (Vienna 870 miles' in 23 hours). The Oriental Express runs from Paris to Constantinople, a distance of 1,900 miles in 63 hours. Another line by Chau- mont and Belfort communicates with Switzerland, reaching Basel in nine hours, and Milan by the St. Gothard tunnel in 22 hours from Paris. The Paris Lyons and Mediterranean Railway (Chemin de Fer Paris-Lyon- Mediterranee, or shortly P.-L.-M.) is the largest system in France, serving the greatest area, and with a total length of 5,400 miles of line. The importance of this great central artery of trade, which follows the old natural route formed by the valleys of the Yonne, the Saone, and the Rhone, is explained by the diversity of the districts which it unites, and the variety of the productions THE RAILWAYS OF F,RA which it transports; the busiest section of the line is that between Lyons and the sea. The prin- cipal line unites Paris and Mar- seilles, a distance of 537 miles, tra- versed in 12 hours ; it passes througji Dijon, Lyons, and Tarascon, the junc- tion for Nimes, whence trains run on the lines of the Southern Company to Cette, and thus to Barcelona, 754 miles from Paris, reached in 23 hours. This system sends two lines to Switzerland ; one from Dijon by Pontarlier to Lausanne, and the other from Macon to Geneva. Two lines also go to Italy ; one by Macon, Modane, and the Frejus (Mt. Cenis) tunnel to Turin and on to Rome, a distance of 910 miles, traversed in 29 hours from Paris. The second line runs along the coast of the Mediterranean from Marseilles. The Paris-Orleans Railway {Chemin de fer Paris-Orleans) 2.nd the Southern Railway {Chemin defer du Midi) meet at several places, and, unlike most of the French lines, one occasionally penetrates the territory of the other. They connect the Spanish railway system with the French by one line round the eastern, and another round flie western extremity of the Pyre- nees. The most important section of .this system is that through Orleans Fig. 124. — The French Railzfny System. The hreadik of tlu lines indicaies the rolnnic of traffic. 248 The International Geography and Tours to Bordeaux, 363 miles, traversed in 8 hours. Tliis journey can also be made by the State Railway [Chemin de fer de I'Etat), via Chartres and Niort. The Southern Express from Paris by Bordeaux reaches Madrid, a distance of 900 miles, in 28 hours. Another line connects Paris with Limoges and Toulouse. The Southern Railway Company controls the canal which runs parallel to its main line and unites, though very im- perfectly, the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean. The Neussargues- Beziers line traverses the Central Plateau by a series of great engineering works including the viaduct of Garabit. The departments of the Charentes and Vendee are served by the State Railway, while the districts of Anjou and southern Brittany have the advantage of the rivalry between the Orleans and the Western companies. The Western Railway {Chemin defer de I Quest), runs from Paris to Brest a distance of 387 miles, accomplished in 13 hours ; but this line is only important as far as Rennes. Other lines run to Granville and Cherbourg, but the heaviest traffic of the system is carried on in the neighbourhood of Paris, and on the great artery of trade running parallel to the navigable Seine from Paris to Rouen (84 miles, covered in two hours), and terminat- ing at Havre and Dieppe, the latter on the route to London via Newhaven. Ocean Routes and Commerce.— The railways bring Paris into touch with the great lines of ocean steamers. The Messageries Maritimes unite Marseilles with the ports of the Mediterranean, and through the Suez Canal with Madagascar, Indo-China, Japan, Australia, and New Caledonia (in 38 days). From Bordeaux steamers of this line touch at Lisbon and go on to Dakar in West Africa, or to Rio de Janeiro in 16 days, and to Buenos Aires in 21 days. The Compagnie Generale Transatlantique runs from Marseilles to Algiers in 26 hours, from St. Nazaire to Colon and Vera Cruz, and from Havre to New York. The mercantile marine of France is dechning ; not from the want of sailors, for the fisheries on the coast and in distant seas rear a vigorous race on the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Channel ; but because the seaports have not been improved in an adequate manner, and on account of the difficulty which vessels landing large cargoes find in obtain- ing an adequate return freight. France, in fact, imports more than she exports, just as she receives more foreigners than she sends out emigrants. The imports as a rule consist of raw materials for manufactures which are in general bulky : coal from the United Kingdom, copper from Chile, flax and hemp from Russia, jute from India, cotton from the United States, raw silk from the Levant and the Far East, wool and hides from thie Cape, Australia and the Plata, wood from Norway and from America. The principal food-products imported are grain from Russia and the United States, and coffee from Brazil. The exports include agricultural produce such as wine, fruit, butter and cheese, but consist mainly of manu- factured articles of small weight and high price, too expensive indeed for customers who in all countries are more and more demanding cheaper and France 249 plainer goods ; the}' consist mainly of fine woollen cloth, silk, cotton, and the innumerable artistic manufactures known as articles de Paris. The fluctuations of the total trade of France are shown graphically in Fig. 71. Regions and Towns of the North. — France possesses three important seaports in the North Sea and on the Channel. Dunkirk pre- sents its deep and commodious harbour to ships from the north, between a flat shore bordered by dunes and the watery plain of the Wateringues. Near a repellant line of chalk cliffs the triple town of Calais stretches along the shore, comprising the port with its immense passenger traffic, the fortified town, and the industrial St. Pierre-les-Calais. Boulogne lies un- obtrusively on a little estuary amongst meadows. The relief of the country ■ behind these seaports is as undecided as the political frontier which was gained at Lens and saved at Denain. The character of the populous towns of the north still exhibits the old Spanish pride softened by the wider municipal spirit of Flanders. Lille has been, thanks to Vauban, the principal fortress of the north, and it is now the first post in the great line of frontier fortifications which, with some gaps protected by the second line of defence, stretches as far as Belfort (see Fig. 48). The Black Country of Belgium seems to be prolonged underground to the' mining district of Anzin and Lens, while the Flemish textile in- dustry, which preceded that of England and France, has revived again in the sister-towns of Tourcoing and Roubaix which are now united by the growing suburbs of Lille. The towns of the Somme share the intense industrial activity of French Flanders, especially Amiens, where the full river flows slowly through a peaty valley at the base of long ridges denuded of chalk, and S/. Queniin, the capital of the district of Vermandois, where a canal unites the Somme and the Oise. One of the outlying hills of the old province of Ile.de France is crowned by the citadel of Laon. Another, the Montagne de Reims, displays a rich covering of vineyards on its slopes, and conceals in the cellars beneath its surface millions of bottles of champagne. The town of Reims, where Clovis was baptized and the kings of France consecrated, covers with its factories the beginning of the plain pf Champagne. Champagne Pouilleuse has two centres, Chalons-sur-Marne with its great camp, and Troyes, the scene of one of the most ancient fairs in northern France. Further east, ■;■••■ -"^^l ^■'■- )f^tfv^S ^ J>^^ TOUl :coi ^ k£ ^>nJ '■ W ^^ ^^\ ■ X '^ . *W l^^^A \^-- j\3if m r| f x «*®t»i ^(5^** •jj ^ H^ %. ^ ^ _? Mile Fig. 125. — The manufacturing district of Lille. 250 The International Geography beyond the mountain ridge of the Cotes de Meusc, are the two strongly fortified episcopal cities Verdun and Toul. A furrow in the plateau of Lorraine is marked out by the blast furnaces near Nancy, a city proud of its squares and of its monuments, the heritage of Stanislas. Paris, situated in the hollow of the Paris Basin 85 feet above sea-level, is a centre towards which flow not only the rivers converging to the Seine but the commodities of the surrounding countries and the people of France and of the world. Originating on an island in the Seine, and at first, like London, a resting place for sailors, it has spread over the higher ground of both banks, until now it is bounded on the south, near Villejuif, by the lower slopes of an agricultural plateau, and is expanding in suburbs of villas towards Vincennes, and as a town of factories to the north including St. Ouen and St. Denis. On the wesf there are extensive woods, now diver- FiG. 126. — Paris, showing Fortifications. sified by numerous active towns including Neuilly, Boulogne, and Sevres; in the centre of these forests Louis XIV. created Versailles, with its beautiful gardens and artificial lakes. Paris illustrates the rich past of France in its monuments, and reflects the varied aspects of the country in the daily life of its people. Its beauty, made up of contrasts softened by time, makes many a Frenchman forget his province and attracts many a foreigner from his native land. Normandy, — The lower Seine, become a tidal river, bears on one of its wide curves the ancient city of Rouen, the spires of its old churches and the masts of its shipping standing out against the sky ; while cotton factories dot the little valleys cut deeply into the plateau of the Pays de Caux or Upper Normandy, the surface of which is covered with well- wooded farms. The third port of the Seine, Havre, created by Francis I., has killed Harfleur and strangled the trade of Honfleur, although it has not France 251 detracted from the ancient maritime fame of Dieppe. Havre does a large trade in coffee from Brazil and wheat from the United States, and great flour mills have been established in the town. The capital of Lower Normandy is the market town and seaport of Caen on the Orne. The stones from its famous quarries were used in the construction of some of the Norman buildings in England, and stone quarrying is still an important local industry. The Campagne de Caen is prolonged beyond Alettfon by the Campagne Mancelle, adapted for the growth of cereals and the rearing of poultry, by which the town of Le Mans in particular prospers. The fortified port of Cherbourg stands at the extremity of the peninsula of Cotentin, the geology of which marks it as Breton rather than Norman ; the breakwater, which has made it an excellent naval harbour, required a century and a half for its completion. Brittany. — Brittany, a land of granite and schists, appears infertile in the interior, the poorly cultivated ground being broken up by woods of oak and moorlands. The coast, on the contrary, bathed by the warm Atlantic, water, is richly cultivated, and has also important sardine fisheries. , The indented coast of the peninsula of Brittany abounds in harbours in- cluding Si. Malo, an old haunt of corsairs ; Morlaix, which exports early vegetables to England ; Brest, a naval port on a great roadstead, the entrance to which, however, is rendered difficult of access by reefs and frequent fogs ; Lorient, another naval port, mainly of value as a dockyard where French men-of-war are built and repaired ; and Nantes, on the Loire, one of the two capitals of Brittany. The people of Nantes have endeavoured, by the construction of a direct outlet to the sea (the Loire Ship Canal^ opened in 1892), to recover their ancient prosperity, formerly fostered by the West Indian trade, which has been seriously menaced by the competi- tion of the rising port of St. Nazaire at the mouth of the river. The other capital is the old parliamentary town of Rennes lying in a Tertiary basin traversed by the railway and canal from St. Malo to Redon along a track which has always been an important north and south road. The Loire Basin and Central Plateau. — Angers, near the junction of the Maine and the Loire, is a centre for the surrounding orchards and slate quarries. Tours, at a point where several fertile vine- growing valleys open out on the Loire, is surrounded by parks and fine country houses. Orleans, on the most northerly curve of the Loire, stands between the district of Beauce on the north, which has always been one of the granaries of France, and that of Sologne, formerly a pestilential plain but now greatly improved. From its commanding position Orleans played a considerable part in the Hundred Years' War and in the war of 1870-71; its trade, formerly very active, suffers from the loss of the boat traffic on the river. Bourges, situated almost in the geometrical centre of France, is the principal market town of the old province of Berry, the country watered by the tributaries of the Loire which flow northwards from the Central Plateau. Clermont-Ferrand, high on the Central Plateau, is the 252 The International Geography Fig. 127. — The Gironcfe Estuary. successor of tlie old Gaulish town of Gergovia, and stands between the range of the Puys and the Limagne, a region of old lake beds now bearing rich harvests ; Royat, which almost touches it, and Vichy, not very far to the north, are famous for their mineral waters. Limoges stands at the meeting-place of several important routes which skirt the Central Plateaa, and although far from the sea- and far from coal mines, it is a prosperous industrial town on account of kaolin, the material for the manufacture of the porcelain which it produces, abounding in its neighbourhood. Poitiers, an old ecclesiastical and feudal town, commands the uniform plateau drained by the western rivers flowing from the Central Plateau to the Loire and uniting the Paris Basin with the south-west. On account of this position it has been the scene of many decisive battles. The South-West.— La Rochelle, with its new suburb La Pallice, has not yet recovered the importance which it formerly held as the Protestant capital. Rochefort, on the plain of Cognac, is an important naval harbour in spite of the tendency of the river Charente, on which it stands, to become blocked by sand. Bordeaux, founded by the Romans and long held by the English, stands on the Garonne in the centre of an ancient wine-growing district, which has retained its prosperity because it has in great measure escaped the ravages of the phylloxera. With its outport, Pauillac, on the Gironde, it carries on active trade with Great Britain, West Africa, and South America. The splendour of its monuments attests the antiquity of its origin and the power of its commercial traditions. Pau, the capital of the old province of Beam and the birthplace of Henri IV., in the midst of a wine-growing region, is the most important of the Pyrenean towns, some of which, like Cauterets and Bagneres-de-Luchon, are much frequented watering-places on account of their thermal springs. Toulouse, half way between Bordeaux and Cette, on the most easterly curve of the Garonne, is in the centre of rich grain- growing plains, whence there is easy access to the Central Plateau and to Languedoc. The South-Easl,— In the basin of the Saone Dijon, the capital of the old province of Burgundy, stands at the junction of the routes from the west and north by the valleys of the Yonne and the Marne and at the commencement of the vineyards of the Cote-d'Or. Besanfon, encircled by ^ curve of the Doubs, is the key of the Jura, the plateaux of which are Fig. 128. — Lyons. France 253 covered with pasturage while the valleys shelter numerous small industrial towns largely engaged in watch-making. Lyons is ranged upon the lower slopes of the eastern wall of the Central Plateau at the junction of the Saone and the Rhone, where the lake-dotted plateau of the Dombes meets the mountainous Dauphine. It is the second town in France for popula- tion, for industrial activity, and the enterprise of its capitalists ; in the silk trade it is unsurpassed. The neighbouring town of Si. Etienne combines mining and the making of fire-arms with the manufacture of ribbons. The whole valley of the Rhone and the plain of Languedoc are dotted with old Roman towns, forming regular stages on the first great road built in Gaul : of these'are Vienne, Orange, Avignon, the papal city ; Beancairc, the glory of the south in the Middle Ages ; Ntmes, which still retains many fine memorials of the past ; and the old commercial and university town of Montpellier, still celebrated for its Medical School. Cette was founded in the seventeenth century as a seaport to replace Narbonne, which had become an inland town by the silting up of the flat shore. Marseilles, on the edge of the old Roman province of Provence, of which Aix has long been the centre, has been successively Greek, Roman, Provencal, and French. Beside the old harbour, the plan of which has become classic in the whole Medi- terranean, the docks of La Joliette are thronged with large vessels trading with the East, not only French liners but the steamers of British companies which make it the port for embarking passengers for India and Australia. Toulon conceals in the depths of its safe harbour the vessels of war of the French Mediterranean fleet, and the naval shipbuilding yards. Further east the Azure Coast takes on an Italian splendour at Cannes and Nice, the favourite winter resort of the sovereigns of Europe and of a considerable portion of their subjects. Conclusion, — Although France is a remarkably homogeneous country it yet presents a great variety of soil, climate, and productions. This diversity is reflected in the national character, typically lively and frank, but, notwithstanding appearances, lacking neither in energy nor earnest- ness. France, toiling under the burden of a heavy history, has been distanced by younger and better equipped nations in some branches of human activity, but it has never ceased to maintain its old reputation for bright intelligence, sociability and generous hospitality. Fjg. 129. — Marseilles. Area of France in sq. miles i Population (total) French and naturalised Foreigners Density of population per sq. mile STATISTICS. 1886. 207, 127 38,218,903 37,092,472 1,126,431 1845 ■ • 1891. 207,127 38,343,192 37,003,174 1,130,211 1896. 207,127 38,517.975 37,490,484 1,027 491 i860 ' This value, calculated by the Geographical Service of the Army, is preferable to that of 204,210 square miles, the area calculated by the Survey Department (Cadastre). 2 54 The International Geography Belgians. Italia 465.000 286,0 1886. ' Paris 2,344.550 ■ Lyons 401,930 . Marseilles. . 376,143 . Bordeaux . , 240,582 -Lille 188,272 . Toulouse . . 147,617 . St. Etienne 117,875 r Roubaix . . 100,299 -Nantes . . 127,482 -Le Havre . . 112,074 —Rouen 107,163 -Reims 97,903 *Nancy 79,038 'Toulon . . 70,122 -Nice 77,478 Amiens 80,288 THE FOREIGN POPULATION OF FRANCE IN 1891 {Round Numbers). Germans. Swiss. Spaniards. 83,000 83,000 77,000 British subjects. 39,000 POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS. 1891. 2,447,957 438,077 403,7.49 252,415 201,211 149,791 133.443 Il4i9l7 122,750 1 16,369 112,352 104,186 87,110 77,747 88,273 83,654 2.536,834 Limoges . . 466,028 Angers 442.239 Nimes 256,906 Brest 216,276 Montpellier 149,963 Tourcoing. . 136,030 Rennes 124,661 Dijon 123,902 Orleans 119,470 Grenoble . 113,219 Tours 107,963 Le Mans . 96,306 Besan9on . . 95,276 Calais 93,760 Versailles . 88,731 Saint-Denis 68,477 73,044 69,898 70,778 56,765 58,008 66,139 60,83s 60,826 52.484 59.585 57.591 S6,5" 58,969 49.852 48,009 1891. 72,697 72,669 71,623 75,854 69,258 65,477 69,232 65,428 63,705 60,439 60,335 57,412 56,05s 56,867 51.679 50.992 77,703 77.164 74,601 74.538 73.931 73,353 69,937 ■ 67,736 66,699 64,002 63,267 60,07s 57,556 56,940 54,874 54.432 INTERNAL COMMERCE ON RAILWAYS AND WATERWAYS. , I Railways ' 1 Waterways 1095 1 y- ■ 1 Waterways Length. Kilometres. Miles. 29,839 12,378 36.337 12,281 18,541 7,691 22,579 7,631 Amount of Traffic. Kilometre-Tons.i 9,791,940,000 2.452,750,000 12,898,456,000 3,766,019,000 Percentage. 71 I SHIPPING TRADE— EXTERNAL AND COASTING— OF THE CHIEF SEAPORTS In Tons weight of goods entered and cleared. Paris . . Marseilles Le Havre Bordeaux 1891. 6,878,000 4,798,000 3,044,200 2,635,500 1895- 6,937,000 5,299.500 3,059,900 2,503,600 Dunkirk Rouen St. Nazaire Algiers 1 891. 2,132,100 1,780,800 1,153,100 1895. 2,487,200 1,967,500 1,200,900 1,087,000 MERCHANT TONNAGE OF FRANCE IN 1893. Sailing Ships. 203,909 Steamers. 853.799 Total. 1,057,708 register tons. ANNUAL TRADE a OF FRANCE {in dollars). Imports Exports 1867-76. 681,500,000 661,000,000 i87fi-86. 892,000,000 669,500,000 1887-96. 821,000,000 681,500,000 PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF SPECIAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. Manufactures. Imports. 1891 Food Products, 36'3 270 Animals. 23 6- 1 Exports. 1891 . . 23-5 1895 . . 165 1-4 Raw materials. 53-5 607 20'0 249 7'9 6-2 54"3 57-2 Total. 100 100 100 100 r A kilometre-ton is i ton of goods carried for i kilometre of distance. 2 Special trade only, i.e., Exports of home products or manufactures and Imports consumed in the country. France 255 FRENCH TRADE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES. Mean of 1892-96. rmports Exports Total Trade. into France. from France. DoUars. Dollars. Per cent Dollars. Per cent. Country. of Imports of Exports United Kingdom . . 295,000,000 . 100,000,000 . 13 195,000,000 30 Belgium . . . 165,000,000 . 68,000,000 . 8-5 97,000,000 15 Germany . . . 130,000,000 . 63,500,000 . 8 66,500,000 10 United States . 115,000,000 . 70,500,000 . 9 44,500,000 7 Algeria 80,000,000 . 40,000,000 . 5 40,000,000 6 Spain 70,000,000 . 46,500,000 . . 6 23,500,000 3-5 FrencliColoniesi. 60,000,000 , 34,000,000 . 4'5 26,000,000 4 Italy 50,000,000 . 25,500,000 . 35 24,500,000 35 Switzerland 50,000,000 15,000,000 , 2 35,000,000 5 Argentine Republ ic 47,000,000 . 36,600,000 . 4-S 11,000,000 15 Ru^ia . 46,500,000 . 42,000,000 . 5-4 4,500,000 0-6 All other countrie s 333,000,000 . 240,000,000 . 30-6 93,000,000 13-9 THE FOREIGN POSSESSIONS OF FRANCE {i8 French India French Indo-China Algeria Tunis Sahara French West Africa Obok, &c Madagascar, &c Reunion American Possessions New Caledonia Pacific Islands Total Foreign Possessions (estimated) . . , . 3,977,000 Area sq. miles. Population. 200 287,000 272,000 . 21,600,000 184,500 4.430,000 50,800 1.500,000 1,800,000 . 2,550,000 1,367,000 . 18,029 000 8.600 30,000 228,700 3,580,000 1,000 172,000 48,000 384,000 7,600 51,000 1,600 27,000 52,640,000 STANDARD BOOKS. J. Michelet. "Tableau de la France." Livre III. du Tome II. de "I'Histoire de France." Paris, 1834. (In spite of its date an admirable description of the country.) Elisee Reclus. " Xouvelle Geographic Universelle." Tome 11. "La France." Paris. 2nd edit. 1885. P. Joanne. " Dictionnaire Geographique de la France et de ses colonies," vols. i-v. Paris, 1890-99. In progress, Ardouin-Dumazet. "Voyage en France." 33 small volumes of which 16 have been pubhshed. Paris 1893-98. P. Vidal de la Blache and P. Camena d' Almeida. " La France." 2nd edit. Paris, 1898. P. Vidal de la Blache. "Atlas separe de la France." Paris. A. de Foville. " La France economique. Statistique raisonnee et comparative,"Annee 1889, Paris, 1890. X Except Algeria. CHAPTER XVI.— SWITZERLAND By Emile Chaix, Professor of Geography in the Ecole SupSrieure de Commerce of Geneva. Position and Boundaries. — Switzerland (German Schweiz from Canton Schwyz, French Suisse, Italian Svizzera), lies between 46° and 48° N., or, on the average, 3° to the south of Lizard Head. It extends in longitude from 6° to loj" E. ; and is thus as far east from Greenwich as the Island of Valentia lies west of it. The country is somewhat less than half the extent of Ireland. It measures little more than 200 miles from west to east, and 120 from north to south. Switzerland is a sort of buffer State between France, Germany, Austria and Italy. The Jura mountains form a natural boundary towards France, and, except for the ■Canton of Ticino, the main crest of the Alps is the frontier towards Italy ; but the details of the boundaries are complicated and do not follow natural features. Configuration and Geology. — Switzerland is naturally divided into four geological zones, extending across the country from south- west to north-east, and roughly parallel to each other. The first zone, to the north-west, is formed by the Jura, a limestone region, some 2,500 feet in height, folded into a series of parallel waves. The second zone is the Swiss Plateau, composed of sandstone partially covered by the glacial deposits of the Ice Age. It is very irregular and hilly, varying in height between 1,000 and 3,000 feet above the sea. The remainder of Switzerland, about three-fifths of the whole, occupies the Alps, which are divided into two broad bands differing widely in character. The northern limestone Alps are stupendously folded, the folds being driven north-westward and piled up over each other. The central crystalline Alps occupy all the southern and south-eastern part of the land ; they are formed of huge masses of gneiss, granite, and other crystalline rocks, cropping out amid schists, and rising in many places to over 13,000 feet (Fig. 130). The action of running water has deeply modified the primitive structure. Only a few rivers, viz., the upper parts of the Rhone, the Rhine, and the Inn, continue to flow along longitudinal valleys, parallel to the south-west and north-east trend of the original folds ; most run through transverse valleys excavated right across the folds towards the north-west, and exhibiting a succession of gorges and basin-like expansions. Denudation has been and is still intense. Large rivers have pushed their sources as far back as they could, to the very heart of the mountain groups, cutting through or turning 256 Switzerland 257 obstacles, and each tributary is pursuing the same work in its smaller sphere of action. Hydrography. — The principal system of rivers is formed by the Rhine and its tributaries flowing to the North Sea ; then come the Rhone, draining to the Mediterranean, the ficino (Tessin), which discharges into Lago Maggiore and thence into the Adriatic, and the Inn flowing to To. iu.2a»" J -u. r a- — ^^ ii.ltj. Folded. Jura, S-B, j_;i!j. .* ■*»-. -.1 *-^ V / ^. t ^'■- _'' I --' WW. &-e: ^"^^^"-"({afr .7*>l'!S!w™^ iss^^m^mmmm&MmmmmmmwMm^ ■.Hiiiai) (ai.) (iviu) (ai.f Fig. 130. — Profile across Switzerland, from Basel to Bellinzona. Showing the Folds of the Jura and the Alps; the doited curve representing the Upper Jurassic Strata {partly 'hypothetical) as they may have been before being worn away. Worked out from E. Miihlberg and C. Schmidt, by E. Chaix. the Danube and thence to the Black Sea. Switzerland is thus the point of contact of many river systems. The Rhine, after many changes in its direction, has worked its way up to the Oberalp Pass. It has not yet completely graded its bed, since it forms a waterfall of 60 feet at Schaffhauscn, and rapids somewhat lower down. Its different higher tributaries descend from the St. Bernardin and Splugen Passes, from the Julier Pass, Albula Pass, &c. The great Lake of Constance (Bodensee) forms part of its course. The Linth rises in the 258 The International Geography Alps of Glarus ; on leaving the Lake of Zurich under the name of Limmat, it flows into the Aar close to the junction of the Reuss. The Upper Reuss, before traversing the Lake of Lucerne, has cut its way in wild gorges through all the folds of the northern Alps, and carried its head to the centre of the system, the group of the Furca, St. Gothard and Oberalp Passes. The Aar comes from the Grimsel Pass, and its tributaries have radiated into the middle of the Bernese Oberland ; it traverses the lakes of Brienz and Thun, and carries all the drainage of northern Switzerland to the Rhine. The Thfele (Zihl) rises, under the name of Orbe, in the valley of Joux in the Jura, and after flowing for some miles in an underground channel, passes through the lakes of Neuchatel and Bienne to join the Aar.' The Rhone has cut its way through the French Jura, and through the northern folds of the Alps at the foot of the Dent du Midi, up to the Furca Pass. Its southern tributaries penetrate deep into the Pennine Alps, and it leaves Switzerland after passing through the largest of the lakes, the Lake of Geneva (Leman), which is rather more than 200 square miles in area, and 1,000 feet in maximum depth. ' Mountains. — Besides being worn away by water and weather, all the Alpine system must have subsided after the glacial period. That movement determined the formation of the elongated lakes that surround the central Alps both in Switzerland and in Italy. The principal rivers have isolated and defined different groups of mountains (see Fig. 51). Between the Rhone and Aar lie the Alpes Vaudoises and the Bernese Oberland, with the summits of the Rochers de Naye, Moleson and Niesen in the limestone zone, and, in the crystalline zone, the Finsteraarhorn (14,026 feet), Jungfrau (13,672 feet), Monch (13,440 feet), Wetterhorn, &c., grouped in one compact mass of snows and rugged peaks above the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. More than twenty summits tower over i2,ooo feet, and this group possesses the longest of all the 600 Swiss glaciers, the Aletsch Gletscher, sixteen miles in length. Between the Aar and Reuss extend the Alps of Unterwald, almost severed by the Briinig Pass. Among the summits the Brienzer Rothhorn and Pilatus (7,000 feet) are best known because of their railway. At the convergence of the head- waters of the Reuss, Rhine, and Ticino lies the Si. Gothard group, cut off on all sides by important passes. Between the Reuss, the Rhine, and the Walen- see extend the Alps of Glarus and Schwyz, with the Todi (11,887 feet) in its centre and the hotel-crowned Righi (5,906 feet) in its north-western corner. Farther to the north-east the romantic Seniis group (8,215 feet) is isolated by the Walensee. South of the long Rhone valley the Pennine Alps extend as a splendid chain, carved into gigantic buttresses by the short southern tributaries of the Rhone. Round Zermatt gathers the most bewildering succession of bold peaks : Monte Rosa (15,217 feet), Mischabelhorner with the Dom (14,941 feet), Weisshorn (14,803 feet), and the incomparable pinnacle of the Matterhorn or Ccrvin (14,705 feet). Over thirty other summits exceed 12,000 feet. The next group to the cast are the Alps oj Switzerland 259 Ticino, profoundly trenched by torrent valleys. Between the Ticino, Rhine, and Inn lie the Alps of Grisons (Graubiinden), a powerful complex, deeply cut into by the tributaries of the Rhine. It culminates in numerous summits exceeding 10,000 feet, including Piz Kesch, and Adula, and separated by the high passes of St. Bernardin, Splugen, Julier, and Albula. , Lastly, to the south-cast of the Inn the splendid Bernina group towers to a height of 13,288 feet. As to the Jura, its summits do not exceed 5,500 feet, and its limestone ridges have effectively withstood partition by rivers. Perpetual snow begins at heights varying between 8,500 and 10,000 feet, according to the exposure of the slopes, to their convex or concave profile, and to the extent of the high masses ; but glaciers come down to 4,500 feet. Perpetual ice and snow spread over 800 square miles, or one- twentieth of the total area of Switzerland. Climate. — Were Switzerland at sea-level it would enjoy a temperature varying between 35° F. for the average in January, and 72° for July. But this normal temperature is greatly modified by the altitude, diminish- ing on an average by 3° for each thousand feet of elevation. Thus the mean temperature of the plateau oscillates with the altitude between 32° and 26° for January, and between 68° and 62° for July, while much lower temperatures occur on the mountains. Another cause of great dif- ferences in climate is the exposure : the northern slopes of the mountains never receive direct sunshine, while the southern slopes catch the solar rays as perpendicularly as flat ground does in the tropics. During winter, regions above 6,000 feet often enjoy splendid weather while cold fogs gather in the lower valleys. There are great extremes of temperature in consequence of strong insolation during the day, and active radiation at night through the pure and thin air of the heights ; and above 4,000 or 5,000 feet the atmosphere is exceedingly free from noxious micro- organisms. Cloudiness and rainfall are great ; rain falls mostly with westerly and southerly winds, and the amount varies with the exposure of the slopes. Windward slopes generally get more than 60 inches of rain yearly (some as much as 90) ; but Geneva receives less than 33 inches, and parts of Canton Valais only 20, being protected by mountain ramparts 10,000 feet high on all sides. The dry hot Fohn wind descending the northern slopes of the Alps is a characteristic feature of some valleys. As a whole the climate of Switzerland is not favourable to agriculture, but it is invigorating for man. Flora and Fauna. — Switzerland possesses many wild plants and animals which, although interesting, are generally useless. The flora of the summits, many members of which grow also in Scandinavia and Spitsbergen, is charming. One-third of the area of Switzerland is entirely valueless, being covered with ice or bare rock, while of the remainder more than half is available only as pasture, one-third is clad with forest, and only one-ninth of the whole area can be cultivated. Between 260 The International Geography 6,500 and 4,000 feet forests are composed of Rolle pines (Pinus cembrd), larches and fir-trees ; under 4,000 feet beeches are prevalent, and oaks and chestnut-trees are abundant only in the southernmost parts of the country. Agriculture is generally not practised above 2,500 feet. Wild animals are becoming rare ; hardly a bear is left, no wolves and few lynxes ; there are no more ibex (Capra ibex), chamois are few and extremely shy, and so are marmots and blackcock (Teirao urogallus). Eagles and bearded vultures {Gypaetus barbatus, Ldmmergeier) are quickly disappearing. People and History. — The first inhabitants of Switzerland who left somewhat important traces were the lake-dwellers ; but the earliest in historic times were the Helvetians, of Keltic race. They were conquered by Julius Caesar, and Helvetia remained under Roman rule down to the great migrations from the north. Then it was occupied by three peoples : the Allemanni in the north and east, the Burgundiaiis in the west, and the Ostro-Goihs in the south. The Allemanni retained their Germanic language, while the others adopted the Latin. In the fifth century Helvetia was united under the Franks, and Christianity was es- tablished by Irish mis- sionaries. In the eleventh century the German Em- perors ruled over the whole country. The Dukes of Austria subse- FlG. 131.— TAe Languages of Switzerland. quently attempted to usurp the government, but the Cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwald, which had made a first covenant in 1291, renewed it at the Grutli in 1307, and resisted and defeated the Austrians at Morgarten. In the first half of the fourteenth century Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug and Bern jomed these cantons, and this Confederation of Eight Cantons after many wars became free of the German Empire, and from time to time their number was increased. During the first Revolution the French entered Vaud in 1798, and in place of the Confederation of Thirteen Cantons, then existing, they erected a " Republic one and indivisible," as in France. But there was no peace in the country until the former Federation was restored in 1815, with the accession of fresh cantons, making twenty- two m all. I'he neutrality of the Confederation is now guaranteed by the European Powers. Language, Religion, and Government.-Switzerland has inherited many things from its past, especially in the distribution of religions and languages. Of the total population, 72 per cent, speak a German dialect, 5 per Switzerland 26: I \ frattstiMnlS [Raman CalhlKa Fig. 132. — The Religions of Switzerland. cent. Italian (in Ticino), i per cent. Raetho-Romanch dialects (in Orisons), and 22 per cent. French (in Valais and Fribourg, Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel and the Bernese Jura). The non-German part of the country is often termed Roman or Welsh Switzerland. On account of the vast number of tourists who visit Switzerland, English is spoken as a foreign language by a very large number of the people. In religion the cantons of Bern, Glarus Neuchatel, Schaffhausen, Thurgau, Vaud and Ziirich are almost en- tirely Protestant ; those of Fribourg, Lucerne, Schwyz, Ticino, Unter- wald, Uri, Valais and Zug are almost entirely Roman Catholic. In the other cantons the two religions are more or less mixed. On the whole three-fifths of the population are Protestant, and two-fifths Roman Catholic ; there are only 8,000 Jews. The federal institutions are obviously a consequence of the topography and history of Switzerland, the people of each valley or region having long lived by themselves before uniting with their neighbours. Each canton is a State, with its own constitution and- government ; but common affairs are administered by a common executive power and two legislative assemblies. Every citizen has a vote. Two important and un- usual rights exist : the Referendum, by which the people can always oblige the authorities to submit newly made laws to a general vote of the country ; and the Right of Initiative, by which a group of citizens may at any time propose any new measures and submit them to a general vote. Public instruction has long been general, and is constantly progressing. Besides the general schools, there are all kinds of educational institutions, techni- cal, agricultural, commercial, and six universities, with their seats in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich and Fribourg. Emigration is large, but the population nevertheless increases. The mean density of population is 184 inhabitants to the square mile ; but it naturally varies greatly. In the industrial cantons — such as Geneva (914), Basel, and Zurich — it is high ; in the agricultural cantons it approaches the average ; and in the Alpine cantons like Valais, Uri, and especially Orisons (34), it is very low. Industries and Trade. — Agriculture is as well developed as it can Fig. 133. — Average Popu- lation of a square mile of Switzerland. A, 1716 fPj jH Waasen GoBBchsnen Aeiefr. g* AndermaU 262 The International Geography be with mediocre soil and climate. Wheat is grown everywhere on the Plateau under 2,500 feet, but it yields only half the quantity required in the country. Grapes are cultivated, in good exposures, generally up to 1,500 feet (in Valais and Ticino even to 2,000 feet); but the country wants twice as much wine as it produces. Wood must be imported. Even cattle and meat are not sufficient ; cattle, however, are reared for dairy produce, and furnish under that form a good export, cheese being made everywhere, and condensed milk in many places. Silkworms are reared in Ticino. Notwithstanding the absolute lack of raw materials, there is a strong industrial development. The principal industry is cotton manufacture and embroidery in central and north-eastern Switzerland, from Bern to St. Gallen and Glarus ; then come silk manufactures round Basel, Ziirich, Lucerne and in Ticino, and straw-plaiting. Watchmaking is carried on on a very large scale along the Jura and its base, from Geneva to Basel; and machinery is made in all the towns. Electro-chemical works are now springing up wherever water-power may be obtained, even in mountain recesses hitherto untouched by manufactures. Trade is necessarily active in a country which must import half its food supplies, and has so many manufactured goods to export. But a great inconvenience results from the high tariffs established by all surrounding countries and the lack of colonies. Communications. — Roads and railways are very difficult to establish on account of the configuration of the land. Yet the network of roads is complete, and that of railways is already highly developed. Good carriage roads follow all the large valleys of the Alps, and many high passes are crossed by splendid causeways. Railways cross the Jura FIG. 13^.-Map of the St. Gothard Raih^ay. .^ ^^^ ^^^^^^_ ^.j^^^^ j^ ^^ y^^ ^^ly one transalpine line, carried by the longest tunnel in the world under the St. Gothard (see plan in Fig. 134, and section in Fig. 130), but a second has been taken in hand under the Simplon. The Plateau is covered with a complete network of railways, and lines penetrate along many valleys into the very heart of the Alps. Some important inter- national routes pass through Switzerland, especially the St. Gothard route from Germany to Italy through Basel, Lucerne and on to Milan ; the Arlberg route from France to Austria through Basel, Zurich and eastward through the Arlberg tunnel ; and from the south of France to Bavaria, through Geneva, Bern, Ziirich and Winterthur. For the convenience of tourists a great many mountain railways have been con- ^^Spi'S^T"""*' Faldo 2365 rr. ^Spiral Tunnels Switzerland 263 structed, actuated by cog-wheels, or worked by cables, and a daring project for an underground railway to the summit of the Jungfrau is in progress. Only the lakes and very short stretches of a few rivers are available for navigation. Post, telegraph and telephone penetrate every- where, and are highly organised. Cantons and Towns. — Soil, cUmate, and all conditions of exist- ence are so much better on the Plateau, that most of the inhabitants and important towns are found there, though the progress of communica- tions and industry, and the increase of pleasure-tours have led to the growth of noteworthy places everywhere. The canton of Grisons (Graubiinden) occupies the upper basins of the Rhine and Inn. Coire (Chur) was an important station for the Romans, and is yet noteworthy because of its situation at the convergence of many frequented passes. Davos,- in a high valley, is much resorted to as a winter sanatorium. The Engadine, the elevated valloy of the upper Inn, has an excellent summer climate, splendid mountains, lovely lakes, and important mineral springs at Si. Moritz and Tarasp, which attract many tourists. The canton of Uri occupies the upper valley of the Reuss. The railway ascends the valley by loops and spiral tunnels to Goeschenen, where it enters the long horizontal tunnel of St. Gothard. But the carriage road continues over the Devil's Bridge to the valley of Andermait, where four passes meet, now defended by fortifications The canton of Unter-walden lies among the mountains south of the lake of Lucerne traversed by the rail- way to the Briinig pass. The canton of Sch^vyz, Fig. 135.— The Swiss Flag. the centre of Swiss freedom, touches the lakes of Lucerne and of Zurich. Schwyz is surrounded by many visited resorts, including the battlefield of Morgarten, Einsiedeln with its pilgrimage, and the Righi. The canton of Glarus occupies the quiet, secluded valley of the Linth ; and its villages are full of cotton-factories. The canton of St. Gall extends between the Rhine and the Lakes of Constance, Zurich and Walenstatt. The manufacturing town of St. Gall preserves the rich manuscript collection of its ancient monastery, Ragatz is much frequented for its hot springs. The lovely canton of Appenzell, round the Sentis, has active manufactures of cotton goods and embroideries in all its towns. Thurgovia (Thurgau), along the lake of Constance, has an active import of Hungarian corn at Romanshorn on the lake The canton of Schaffhausen projects into Germany beyond the Rhine. Schaffhausen and Neuhausen stand near the Rhine cataract ; the former is known for its mediaeval appearance ; the latter for its manufacture of arms and alu- minium. The canton of Zurich is a great centre of industry. Zurich is the largest town in Switzerland., It possesses a university, the federal Polytechnicum, the national museum and important manufactories for silk and machinery. Winterthur is very important as a manufacturing town. 264 The International Geography The canton of Zug, with its pretty capital, is concerned with texile manu- factures. The canton of Lucerne contains the town of Lucerne, with its old towers, its covered wooden bridges and other attractions, and is much visited by tourists because of its situation near Mount Pilatus, the Righi and the picturesque lake. Argovia (Aargau) occupies an exceptional position near the confluences of the Rhine, Aar, Limmatt, and Reussi Aarau is known for its manu- facture of mathematical instruments. Near Brugg stands the ruins of Habsburg Castle, the cradle of the imperial family of Austria, and those of a large Roman city, Vindonissa. The canton of Basel (Bale) lies at the point where the Rhine leaves Swiss territory. The town of Basel has always been conspicuous because of its situation which makes it the busiest railway centre in the country. The canton of Soleure (Solothurn) is half on the Aar and half in the Jura. Soleure, with the surrounding small towns, and Olten, where important railways meet, are all buSy with machinery and smelting works. The canton of Bern is large, occupying the Oberland, a part of the Plateau and the Bernese Jura. Bern is the federal capital, containing the federal palaces, numerous international offices, a fine cathedral and university. The Emmenthal is far-famed for its cheese, but is still rhore active in weaving and spinning. The Bernese Jura with Bienne (Biel), and other towns and villages, are occupied with watch-making. Thun, in a lovely situation, is the principal military centre in Switzerland. Between the two lakes of Thun and Brienz, Interlahen is a haunt of tourists visiting the grand scenery of the Oberland. The canton of Fribourg on the Sarine is covered with excellent pastures. Fribourg, an old town on a picturesque site, with celebrated suspension bridges over the surrounding gorges, has a Roman Catholic university. Further up stands Gruyere, in a lovely valley famed for its cheese. The canton of Neuchatel is well known for watch-making. The town of Neuchatel is more celebrated for its schools, its museum and its wine, but Chaux-de-fonds, in an arid region over 3,000 feet in elevation, and Le Lode, with a watchmakers' school, are the greatest centres for watch-making in Europe. The agricultural canton of Vaud extends from the Jura to the Alps. Lausanne occupies a magnificent position. It possesses a very beauti- ful cathedral, the federal supreme! courts and a university. Along the eastern bank of the lake, named La Vaux, and famed for its wine, lie Vevey, Monireux, and other resorts of invalids and tourists in spring and autumn. In the north, Avenches (Aventicum) was the capital of the Roman Helvetia, and Ste. Croix is known for its manufacture of musical-boxes. The canton of Geneva, at the west end of the Lake of Geneva, is almost entirely surrounded by French territory, which lessens the natural advantages of its situation. Geneva is very old, but has few ancient remains. It is famed as a religious, educational and scientific centre. The making of chrono- meters, jewels, scientific instruments and chemicals is very active, particularly since the establishment of great water-works on the Rhone Switzerland 205 generating, as it leaves the Lake of Geneva, 30,000 horse power. The canton of Valais occupies the high valley of the Rhone. Sion is picturesquely dominated by three rocks crowned with ruins, and Martigny stands at the entrance of the valley leading to the far-famed Grand St. Bernard. Leukerbad (Loueche), at the foot of the Gemmi pass, is known for its hot springs. To the south of the Rhone a series of splendid side valleys opens, in one of which Zermatt lies at the foot of the Matterhorn. Farther up Brieg is a point whence roads radiate to numerous passes including the Simplon Road, established by Napoleon I. for war purposes, which has served as a model for subsequent mountain-roads. The canton of Ticino, on the southern slopes of the Alps, is occupied by people speaking Italian. BelUnzona is the chief town. At the entrance of the St. Gothard tunnel lies Airolo, now fortified. Locarno, on Lago Maggiore, and Lugano on the northern bank of its lake, enjoy marvellous scenery, and wholly Italian climate and vegetation. STATISTICS. 1880. Area of Switzerland square miles I5)964 Population „ 2,827,572 Density of population per square mite I77 Population of Ziirich 75.960 ., „ Geneva 68,300 „ „ Basel 61,400 „ „ Bern 44.1°° ANNUAL TRADE OF SWITZERLAND (i« dollars). Average 1885-86.1 Imports 149,000,000 Exports 134,000,000 Transit 77,000,000 1890. 15,964 2,938,009 184 96,900 74,800 63,500 46,500 1891-96. 189,500,000 140,000,000 97.500,000 STANDARD BOOKS. M. Wirth. " Allgemeine Beschreibung und Statistik der Schweiz." 3 vols. Zurich, 1871-73. F. Umlauft. " Die Alpen." Vienna, 1887, and translation London, 18S9. Sir John Lubbock. " The Scenery of Swfitzerland and the causes to which it is due." London, 1896. > The statistics of value of trade commence in 18I CHAPTER XVII.— THE GERMAN EMPIRE By Dr. Alfred Kirchhoff,' Professor of Geography in the University of Halle. Position and Extent. — Germany is the most central country of Europe. It occupies almost the whole north and west of central Europe viewed from the morphological centre of the continent, the "Fichtelgebirge, as the main mass of Austria occupies the south and east from the same centre. Germany extends from the Alps to the North Sea and the Baltic, over a range of latitude corresponding to that from the mouth of the Loire and the north-eastern apex of the Sea of Azov in the south, to that of Glasgow and Moscow in the north. The position in longitude is the same as that of Scandinavia and of Italy. South Germany, a comparatively narrow tract south of the northern watershed of the Main, is enclosed by France, Switzerland, and Austria- Hungary ; North Germany, which is much larger, is bounded on the west by Holland, Belgium, and Luxemburg, and on the east by Russia and Austria-Hungary. Almost two-thirds of the boundaries of Germany are land frontiers, and one-third is composed of sea coast on the north. The peninsula of Jutland projects between the short coast-line on the North Sea and the much longer coast of the Baltic, forming the bridge between Germany and Danish Jutland, and, next to East Prussia, the most northerly part of the German Empire. The length of Germany in a north and south direction, from the Konigsau, the boundary river towards Jutland, to the southern point of Bavaria near the source of the Iller, is exactly the same as that of Great Britain. From the north-west to the south-east, from northern Schleswig to Upper Silesia, the distance is also almost the same ; but the diagonal from south-west to north-east, from Upper Alsace to East Prussia, is much longer ; the distance being as great as from Gibraltar to Nice. Amongst the countries of Europe, Germany is only surpassed in area by Russia and Austria- Hungary ; France comes very closely after it, and Spain is not much smaller. South Germany extends, like the south of England, through 8° of longitude, while North Germany extends over 17°. Configuration.— The German Empire has been formed in the great natural region of Central Europe, which is shared also by Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland, and the part of Austria which belonged to the German Confederation until 1866. But Germany alone occupies • Translated from the German by the Editor. 266 The German Empire 267 part of all the four zones into which the surface of Central Europe is naturally divided, viz., the Alps, Alpine Foreland, Central Highlands, and Northern Plain. The Alps.— Germany Jias but a small share of the Alps, limited only to the northern limestone Alps on the southern borders of Bavaria, between the Lake of Constance and Salzburg. In this district alone does the sur- face of Germany approach or exceed 6,500 feet in elevation, heaved up by the great pressure from the south to which the Alps as a whole owe their origin. Here alone does Germany extend into the region of eternal snow, the highest summit being the Zugspitze, 9,710 feet above sea-level. The Alpine Foreland.— Germany occupies the Alpine Foreland from the Lake of Constance to the mouth of the Inn. Together with the German Alps this Swabian-Bavarian high plain forms the German portion of the Danube basin, an undulating surface averaging 1,600 feet in elevation. In the Tertiary period this region was occupied by the great sea which extende.l from the Rhone in France through the north of Switzer- land and across the Alps to Hungary and Rumania. The surface of the high plain is, however, only partly com- posed of sediments deposited in that sea ; it is in great part covered by material more recently derived from the moraines of the huge Alpine glaciers of the Great Ice Age, which extended as far as the latitude of Munich, and by the alluvial deposits formed by the running water when these glaciers finally melted. The Central Highlands, extending north of the Danube from the Carpathians to the Rhine, exhibit the greatest variety in the direction of their heights and the arrangement of their rocks. One extensive low plain, that of the upper Rhine, is embedded amongst these heights. The structure of the mountains exhibits no recent upridging like the Alps ; they scarcely anywhere exceed 5,000 feet in height, Schneekoppe, in the Riesengebirge, alone reaching 5,266 feet. All geological formations are represented like mosaic work, although the Mesozoic, and particularly the Triassic, preponderate in the South-West German basin, Hesse, and Thuringia. The strata of the Central Highlands are for the most part ancient marine deposits. The most extensive mountain group of the region is that of the North German Rhine Highlands, composed of Devonian schists, but it is much too small to have been formed on the floor of an independent division of the sea. Hence it follows that Fig. 136. — Natural Divisions of Germany. 268 The International Geography the scattered portions of the same ancient marine formations, e.g., the Coal Measures appearing on the edge of the Rhine Highlands, in Saxony and in Silesia, are connected by continuous strata underground, or that the once continuous strata have been worn away by denuda- tion. In fact, the variegated mosaic of this tesselated region can only be understood when one recognises it as a land where the Earth's crust has been dislocated and broken up into blocks — a SchoUenland. The isolated Palaeozoic masses show clearly how the Devonian strata of the Rhine, the Hartz, the Frankenwald, and the Sudetes have undergone violent dis- turbance, being wrinkled into ridges and domes, although the primitive foldings do not figure prominently in the scenery of to-day. The action of the encroaching and receding sea and the continual influence of atmo- spheric erosion have worn the crests away, until only the exceptionally hard rocks of the centre of the folds remain ; a good example of this is seen in the quartzite hills of the Hunsriick and Taunus. During the Cretaceous period the sea withdrew, so that Cretaceous formations are found only along the north-eastern edge of the Central Highlands from the Belgian frontier to Silesia. In the course of the Tertiary 'period the last portions of the land emerged from the sea. Then followed the fracturing and subsidence of the isolated blocks of the Earth's crust, with or without marginal elevations, and the upwelling of molten rock, as shown by the basalt flows of the Siebengebirge, the Rhon and the Vogelsberg, and also by the little volcanoes of the Eifel, which did not become extinct until Quaternary times. The lines of fracture along which subsidence and the corresponding uptilting have taken place follow three special directions : (a) From north-west to south-east, the Hercynian (so-called from the Hartz) line of strike, marked by the Weser mountains in the north, the Thuringian mountains, the Hartz, the Bohemian Forest, and the Sudetes. (6) From south-west to north-east, as shown by the slate Rhine High- lands, the Swabian and Franconian Jura, and the Erzgebirge. (c) From north-north-east to south-south-west, including the Black Forest and Odenwald, the Vosges and the Hardt. Where the land remains highest as a rule denudation has been most complete, so that the upper sedimentary layers have been entirely removed, exposing the deep foundations of Archaaan rocks which now form the summits of the Black Forest, the Vosges, the Brocken dominating the Hartz, and the highest crests of the Erzgebirge and Riesengebirge, all of which are composed of granite, gneiss, and mica-schist. In the lower grounds the less ancient marine sediments have been more protected from erosion, and, for example, the Trias, Bunter sandstone, Muschelkalk, and Keuper still remain in the Thuringian Basin, while they have been worn away both from the Hartz, which bounds the basin on the north, and from the Thuringian and Franconian forests which enclose it on the south. The . existence of patches of Muschelkalk left on the southern Thuringian moun- tains proves that the sediment of the Triassic sea had at one time spread The German Empire 269 over that district also. In the same way Triassic rocks are still found in the lower parts of the Black Forest and also on the Swabian-Franconian Terraces ; whilst the Swabian-Franconian Jura is named from the Jurassic rocks which at a considerable elevation above the sea rest upon the triple series of the Trias. The existence of Jurassic pebbles on the slopes of the granitic Feldberg similarly reveals the fact that at one time Triassic and Jurassic strata rested high over the southern part of the Black Forest. Crustal movements have not yet quite died away in the Central German Highlands. Where the solid mountain mass of the Black Forest with the Odenwald, and the Vosges with the Hardt, is trenched by the Upper Rhine Plain earthquake shocks are frequently experienced travelling in the direction of the Rhine, showing that deep within the Earth the vast rift which separates these blocks of the crust is still an unhealed wound. That the present relief of the Central German Highlands is more recent than the rivers of the region can be recognised from the fact that the rivers often flow in directions directly opposite to the general elevations of the land, frequently breaking through the highlands in valleys of erosion excavated by their own flow. Thus the Weser traverses the Weser chain, the Rhine flows in its gorge across the Rhine Highlands, and the Elbe through the Bohemian mountain barrier. The Main and the Neckar in their middle courses flow between high plains, which are less elevated than the mountain crests separating them from the Rhine, into which at one period they were enabled to force a passage in consequence of the relation of height having become inverted. ' The Northern Plain is the lowest and flattest part of Germany, yet only in parts is it a complete low plain. Its foundation consists of de- pressed blocks of all formations down to the Tertiary, for in the Tertiary period it was still covered by the sea. Even yet a few small island-like portions of the sunken crust-blocks pi'oject as hard rocks, such as the chalk cliffs of Riigen and a plateau of Muschelkalk near Riidersdorf, to the east of Berlin. For the rest the whole plain consists, like the Alpine Foreland, not of " real rocks," but of soft material of Quaternary age, mainly sands and clays of alluvial and glacial origin. The ice-sheet of the Great Ice Age which extended from Scandinavia over the German plain has covered a great part of the land with the stiff clay of its ground-moraine mixed with boulders of ancient formations, the accumulations sometimes forming con- siderable eminences. Thus the land is by no means flat or level, although its height rarely exceeds 600 feet. On the melting of the ice, boulders of red granite and of gneiss carried over from Sweden were left scattered as " foundlings " or erratic blocks over the plain. As the land became free from ice the rivers which began to furrow its surface easily washed away the soft clay and deposited it in flood-time, forming meadows along the banks and round the river-mouths. A low coastal plain extends along the shore of the North Sea, separated from the tide-washed beach by a broken chain of sand-dunes. The sea is 19 270 The International Geography encroaching, and has already separated from the land the Kne of the Frisian islands, which stretch from the Zuider Zee to the unbroken coast of Jutland, and, like the fertile land of the low coast, are still the prey of the devouring ocean. The shallow flats, or " Watten," only uncovered at low tide, merge on the landward side into the " marshes," which, being a little higher on account of the material washed up by the sea, are only reached by water at high tide. These tracts have been utilised since the Middle Ages, the people protecting them from the sea by constructing the " golden hoop " of dykes or sea-walls. The pastures and corn-fields of this district pass without any orographical difference into the less fruitful soil of the sandy diluvium of the " Geest." Hydrography.— The Central Highlands and the Northern Plain belong to the North Sea and Baltic drainage areas, their rivers flowing as a rule in a northerly or north-westerly direction, thus contrasting with the German Alps and Alpine Foreland, which belong to the Black Sea drainage area, with the east-flowing Danube as the main river. The Rhine is the only river which binds southern to northern Germany, crossing the Central Highlands. Its sources rise in Switzerland, its delta forms Holland, yet the main part of its course makes it a German river, and on account of its facihties for navigation, its great wealth of water, and its exceptional depth, the most useful of them all. In summer, when the other rivers, the Danube system excepted, shrink on account of drought, the Rhine is fed by the melting of the Alpine glaciers. The systerii of tributaries on either side of the main stream is developed with beautiful symmetry, the longest flowing in near the middle of its course where the Mosel describes its great curve from the French slopes of the Vosges, and the Main pursues its zigzag course from the Fichtelge- birge. The whole of the South German Highlands except the south- eastern slopes of the Jura draining to the Danube, sends its rivers to the Rhine. On the contrary. North Germany is shared by several different river systems. The small Ems and Weser in the west are entirely German from source to sea, and so also is the Oder in the east with the exception of its actual source in Moravia. Between these the Elbe has sunk its roots most deeply into the innermost recesses of the Central European mountains, where it gathers the converging drainage of the Bohemian Basin, and dis- charges it into the North Sea. The share of Germany in the Russian rivers Vistula (Weichsel) and Memel is but small. Both of these discharge wholly or in part through great lagoons or "haffs" into the Baltic. The Oder also discharges through such a lagoon, the Stettiner Haff, which is united to the sea by channels between the two islands of Usedom and WoUin, while the Frisches Haff, into which a branch of the Vistula flows, and the Kurisches Haff, which receives the Memel, are almost cut off from the sea by narrow spits of sand. Rivers of the Plain.— All the great rivers of the Northern Plain have a peculiarity in common. Each receives its longest tributaries on The German Empire 271 the right, so that, instead of flowing across the plain in the centre of its drainage area, each river runs clos.e to its western watershed. . The long eastern tributary of the Ems is the Haase, of the Weser the AUer, of the Elbe the Havel, of the Oder the Netze, and of the Vistula the Bug. The sudden change of course from west to north in the Elbe at 52° N., in the Vistula at 53° N., is extremely striking. It would seem as if the Elbe at one time flowed through the present valley of the AUer and had received the Weser at Verden. The Oder similarly has at one time evidently continued its north-westerly course (south of Frankfort) and received on its left bank a great stream, pursuing its way to the sea at the present mouth of the Elbe. This primitive river must have been the Vistula, which then flowed along the southern base of the Baltic lake plateau. The primitive Vistula then found a way for the first time across this elevation down the Oder gorge to the present Stettiner Haff, the Elbe taking over its old mouth ; a second time, and nearer its source, it found another way across the ridge to the Danziger Haff, by Fig. 137. — The Rivers of the North German Plain. which its former tributary, the Oder, was left an independent river with the deserted mouth. All these changes were brought about by the influence of Earth-movements which the crust-blocks, or " buried mountains," experienced far into the Quaternary period. In a plain quite small altera- tions in level suffice to break up the arrangement of river systems and to allow them to form new combinations. The great deserted valleys are still before us ; for example, the valley of the prehistoric Oder is now utilised by the Friedrich Wilhelm's Canal to unite the Oder and the Spree, and nearer Berlin the small Spree in the great richly wooded valley of the primitive river is as little in harmony with its surroundings as a mouse in the cage of a lion. Hydrologically, however, all these bendings to the north result from the law that rivers, as soon as they have secured a shorter course, leave the earlier one in stagnation, so far as a portion of the earlier course is not taken possession of by a former tributary and thereby restored to activity. The portions of the ancient valley which have become swampy have in favourable circumstances been again utilised in order to restore the 272 The International Geography prehistoric river-communications and render them available for boats ; on the site of the first deviation the Fjnow Canal now unites the Oder and the Havel, on the site of the second deviation the Bromberger Canal unites the Vistula and the Oder system. Lakes. — Lakes are most abundant on the most recent geological for- mations, the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Plain. The lakes of the Alpine Foreland are clearly related to the immense ice-sheet which descended from the Alps during the Great Ice Age, since the lakes only appear on ground which was once covered by glacier-ice. A few small lakes he amongst the mountains themselves, including the charming Tegernsee and the KSnigsee in the most southerly corner of Germany. The others lie at the northern base of the Alps, including Lakes Stafnberg and Ammer south-west of Munich, the broader lake of Chiem between the Inn and Salzburg, and innumerable smaller sheets of waiter, dwindling to mere pools amongst the ancient moraine mounds. The Baltic Lake Plateau in the north-east of the Northern Plain is thickly pitted with small lakes, as its name implies. Many of the curi- ously irregular lakes of East Prussia resemble those of Finland, and are of considerable depth. The shallow shore lakes lying behind the chain of dunes on the Pomefanian coast are of quite a different type, identical in formation with the Haffs, although the latter are in free communication with the sea ; thus the Kurisches Haff may be considered the largest lake in Germany. The other parts of the Northern Plain are much poorer iu sheets of water, particularly to the west of the Elbe, where the low-lying and very flat land, in consequence of the damp climate, has been overgrown and its lake basins filled up by the typical vegetation of the moors. The Central Highlands have few lakes ; but in bygone ages many "of their valleys have been temporarily occupied by sheets of water. The largest is the rift valley of the Upper Rhine Plain, which was a gulf of the sea in Tertiary times, stretching northward from the present Switzerland, just as the. existing Red Sea (the Erythragan rift valley) stretches northward from the Indian Ocean. The uplift of the Jura mountains shut off the gulf and changed it into a lake, which in course of time became filled up by sediment from the rivers, and converted into a plain. Climate. — The mean annual temperature (reduced to sea-level) of the west of Germany is the same as that of the British Islands, while that of the region east of the Oder is similar to the climate of Denmark and the south of Sweden. The mean annual isotherms cross Germany from north-west to south-east ; in other words, the climate grows colder from the south-west towards the north-east. In summer the zones of temperature correspond more closely with the parallels of latitude, tending to bend northward in the east, because at that season the greater specific heat of the land compared with the sea makes itself most felt on the air temperature in the east, where the land is widest. Thus the temperature of the air in South Germany in July is higher than 70° P., being equal to that in Central France, while The German Empire 273 in North Germany it is lower than 70° being the same as in England. In winter, on the contrary, the south is no warmer than the north in the same longitude ; hut the east of the country is much colder than the west. In winter also the contrast between the high pressure area over the Azores and the low pressure near Iceland is increased, and frequent cyclonic storms sweep over the north-west of Germany. On this account the warm south-westerly and westerly winds from the Atlantic blow most frequently in winter, and western Germany consequently enjoys a mild cUmate, while the east suffers from unbroken frost. The isotherm of 32° F. in January enters Germany at the mouth of the Weser, runs southward, and finally curves eastward through Munich. The North Sea coast of Germany remains almost free from frost, while the harbours on the Baltic coast are usually closed by ice, and the further east they lie the longer is their trade arrested, the increasing shallowness and smaller salinity of the Baltic conspiring to increase the effects of the colder winter. The water of the Baltic in spring cannot rise above the freezing-point until the last of the ice has melted, hence the spring on the Baltic coasts is cold and late. In the Rhine district, when the swallows return and the almond and apricot blossoms are opening, snow is still lying in East Prussia, where the frost does not break up until the middle of March. The different elevation of the land necessarily deranges the simplicity of the distribution of tempera- ture outlined above. The south-western plains and valleys of the Rhine, Mosel, Neckar, and Main, are actually the warmest parts of the country, enjoying an annual mean temperature of over 50° F., with hot summers and mild winters, because they lie low. On the other hand, the high land of South Germany is in no way more favoured by climate than the northern low plain. Munich and Konigsberg have the same high temperature in July and very nearly the same degree of cold in January. High mountains everywhere act as refrigerators for the surrounding districts, and they act most vigorously in summer, when the temperature falls more rapidly than at other seasons with the increase of height. The mountains similarly receive the heaviest precipitation (on the average about, or over, 40 inches per annum) especially on their western and south-western slopes. The average rainfall for Germany is about 28 inches ; it is greater in the west, where the moist westerly winds prevail ; and there it attains a maximum in July. In most places the rainfall is limited to about 20 inches per annum ; in the north-east there are some areas with less, while on the North Sea coast it may rise to over 27 V M fii Mil b>i HH.j'ja.jui.bfc Sec Ofir. Nov Oic iflj SO 76 70 66 60 66 BO 45 40 35 11 JO B 7 e 6 4 3 2 1 ('^ ^^ >f i\ ^ V J 7 jmm 'i V N ';^ ^ / — :;r 7 -~1 i as Hamburg Berlin Fig. 138. — Mean Monthly Tempera- tiire and Rainfall Curves fo-} Hamburg and Berlin. 2 74 The International Geography inches on account of the moist sea winds blowing upon the rough land (Fig. 53). Flora and Fauna.— Of the whole area of Germany at the present time 49 per cent, is cultivated, 20 per cent, consists of natural pasture, 26 per cent, is under forests, and only 5 per cent, can be classed as waste land. Thus the original plants and animals of the country can occupy only a very small area, the forests even being no longer in a state of nature, but under systematic management. Yet the German flora and fauna are extensive enough, including at least 2,250 species of vascular plants and 16,000 species of insects alone. During the Great Ice Age the severe climate reduced the abundant life of the earlier time to a few surviving species strong enough to withstand it. In the Steppe period which followed, the vacant German lands were invaded from the arid regions of the south-east, as far as the Kirghiz steppe, by many species of plants and animals including the Saiga antelope, jerboa, and hamster. The feather- grass (Stipa) of the Hungarian and Black Sea steppes also obtained a footing in Germany at this period. Almost all the animals peculiar to the Steppe retired again to the east when the climate became moister, and the land once more became wooded, not this time with tropical exuberance, but with northern simplicity. The hamster remains in many parts of Ger- many a surviving relic of the Steppe period.' Most of the present plants and animals result from the post-glacial invasions from the east with which Germany is so closely connected in soil and climate. Thus there are com- paratively few species pecuUar to the country ; of the 220 species of birds not one is confined to Germany. The larger wild animals, especially the bear and wolf, have been exterminated, and the last bison was killed in 1775. The stag, roe, and wild boar still people the forests ; the reindeer has disappeared since the Middle Ages, but the elk is still found in one of the forests of East Prussia. The chamois and marmot are found only in the Alps above the tree limit. Reptiles requiring a dry, warm climate are not numerous ; all the varieties of lizard and snake known in Germany inhabit thd south-west, and scarcely half of the species are found in other parts of the country. With regard to fish, the Danube district forms a province of the Black Sea faunal district where no salmon are found, although this fish abounds in the rivers flowing to the North Sea and the Baltic. There are numerous oyster banks off the shallow west coast of Schleswig, and the only place in German waters where the lobster lives is near Helgoland. Forests.— In order to secure a profitable supply of timber, pine and fir woods have recently been extended at the cost of the deciduous forests, which, consisting mainly of oak and beech, now occupy only one-third of the area of German forests. Larch woods are found chiefly in the Alps, and the beautiful Rolle pine {Pinus cembra) grows there only. Proud forests of the silver fir (Edelianne) still beautify the Vosges and the Black Forest, and are found in places amongst the hills of Thuringia and on the slopes The German Empire 275 of the Sudetes, but they do not occur much further north. The cha- racteristic tree of the Central Highlands is the spruce {Fichte), and that of the Northern Plain is the Scots pine {Kiefer), which makes up almost half of the German forests, together with the white birch. The beech, which still thrives so splendidly on Riigen and the other Baltic coast lands, is suddenly Umited by the climate from Konigsberg towards the north-east ; beyond this it cannot thrive on account of the increasingly continental climate reducing the period with a mean day temperature of over 50° F. to less than five months, although it stands cold in winter better than the oak. In the north-west, on the contrary, the saltness of the stormy sea winds stunts the growth of trees, and moors and heaths cover that region which is the least wooded in all Germany. Vine-growing is impossible in the north-west on account of the damp air and dull skies, but formerly it was carried on in the sunnier regions of the north-east. Now, however, when better means of transport make it unnecessary to grow sour grapes, the German vineyards are mainly found in the valleys of the Rhine and its tributaries. On the Alpine Foreland, influenced by the raw Alpine climate, the vine cannot be cultivated ; in eastern Germany, however, as far north as latitude 53°, the summer and early autumn are warmer and less cloudy than similar latitudes in the west, and the most northerly vine- yards in the world are those of Bomst, in the province of Posen, 52° 10' N. German Races. — Until the commencement of the Christian era the German tribes only inhabited the north of Germany, not extending to any great distance west of the Rhine. Then they began to displace or subju- gate the Keltic people of the southern half of Central Germany and the left bank of the Rhine. In the course of their wanderings the Germans next took possession of the Alpine Foreland and of the Alps. Even to the present day the mixture of Keltic blood in South Germany may be recognised in the large proportion (from .15 to 30 per cent.) of dark- complexioned and dark-eyed people ; in North Germany fair com- plexions predominate, or at the most brown hair with light-coloured eyes, the proportion with dark complexions scarcely ever reaching 15 per cent. When, in the course of their migration, the German people had deserted the greater part of the eastern half of Central Europe, Slavonic tribes, called by the Germans Wends, entered from the east and spread over northern Germany to Holstein, the Elbe, and the Thuringian Saale. People of the closely-related Lithuanian group, coming from the east, settled themselves in East Prussia from the Vistula to beyond the Memel. They included the Prussians, whose language be- came extinct about the year 1700, the Letts, and in the extreme east to beyond the Russian frontier, the Lithuanians, who have still preserved their very ancient language, which in many ways resembles Sanscrit. During the second half of the Middle Ages the Germans again took possession of the eastern regions. The Slavs were, however, by no means driven out. 276 The International Geography but German colonists settled amongst them, gradually introducing their language and customs. So completely has the process of Germanisation been carried out in the districts settled by the early colonists that in most cases the only sign of the Slavonic origin of the peasantry is to be found in the foreign sound of the place-names, which often end in iiz and ow. The Slavonic peoples of north-eastern Germany related to the Poles have completely adopted the German language since their contact and mixing with that people ; but the Slavs related to the Chech family have still pre- served the remembrance of their original tongue in the Spree valley between Bautzen and Cottbus. It is only in those parts of the country which belonged to the kingdom of Poland up to the eighteenth century that the population continue to speak Polish generally. The Poles are not quite three millions in number, and they live chiefly in the provinces of West Prussia, Posen, and south-eastern Silesia ; it is they principally who compose the 8 per cent, of German subjects who speak foreign languages. Next to them come about a quarter of a miUion French-speaking inhabitants, mainly in Lorraine, about half as many i)an«s^-speaking in northern Schleswig, and the same number of Lithuanians. The chief elements of the present German population are : — (i) Swabians from the Vosges mountains to the river Lech and in the Neckar district (the Germans of Switzerland also belong to this family). (2) Bavarians in the whole Danube basin east of the Lech (the Germans of the neighbouring parts of Austria are closely related). (3) Franks of the Main, i.e., the Franks who migrated from the North German Rhine district to the Main valley. (4) Palatines, a mixed stock of Franks and Swabians in the Bavarian Palatinate, the south of the grand duchy of' Hesse, and northern Baden. (5) Franks of the Rhine, in the Rhine province and in Nassau. (6) Hessians in the highlands of Hesse. (7) Thuringians in Thuringia. (8) Saxons extending from Westphalia to the Elbe and to Schleswig-Holstein, also called Low Saxons in contradistinction to the, formerly-named Low German or Platt-Deutsch-speaking people. (9) Fri- sians, along the, coast of the North Sea and the off-lying islands, formerly speaking Frisian, a dialect distinct from all other varieties of German, but now speaking Low Saxon. Language.— Where Low Saxons colonised the Slavonic lands on the Baltic coasts and in the Mark Brandenburg, Low German became the spoken language. East Prussia, on the other hand, was colonised by the most different races of North and South Germany after the Order of German Knights had conquered the country in the thirteenth century. Thuringians took the chief part in the Germanisation of Saxony ; and Thuringians and Hessians in the settling of Silesia ; hence in both these lands Upper German is spoken ; indeed, the dialect of the kingdom of Saxony (Upper Saxon or Meissnisch) was promoted in the sixteenth century to be the literary language, or " High German." Upper German was derived in the Middle Ages by phonetic change from the Low The German Empire 277 German, once the universal German tongue. It spread from the Swabians and Bavarians of the " Upper Lands," who initiated the change, gradually displacing the northern dialects. At the present time Low Saxon only remains unaltered amongst the Frisians, who, to give an example, instead of using the High German das and Wasser, keep to the old unchanged form of dat and water, pronounced as in English, and in fact almost identical with the English words that and water. One of the most re- markable cases is the transitional position of the Franks. The Franks of the Main speak with the Upper German value of the consonants, the Franks of the Rhine Highlands retain some of the old unaltered words, while those in the Lower Rhine Plain near the Netherlands speak the ancient unmodified Frankish dialect. History. — The territory of the present German Empire (with the exception of the north-eastern provinces, which were added later) formed, together with the remaining States of Central Europe, the East Frankish Empire as it was constituted in 843 out of the Frankish Empire of Charles the Great (Charlemagne). The ancient German Empire, however, has been diminished by the withdrawal of the territories now belonging to Switzer- land, Belgium, and the Netherlands. What remained over fell at last into . many hundred powerless fragments — temporal and spiritual principalities, free cities, even imperial villages — scarcely held together in a nominal empire. Only two of these practically independent little States attained any real importance. One of these was the Bavarian Mark of the Habsburgs which grew in the Middle Ages into the Austrian Duchy in the south-east ; the other was the State of the Hohenzollerns, which spread from the Mark of Brandenburg in the fifteenth century until it occupied, as Prussia, the whole of the north-east of the German Plain. The power of the great Napoleon brought the old German Empire to an end in 1806, shortly after the spiritual principalities (the domains of the Prince-Bishops) had been suppressed in favour of the claims of the temporal princes. States of the old empire to the number of thirty-nine, but later only thirty-five, again came together in the feeble union of the German Confederation {Deutsche Bund) which lasted from 1815 to 1866. This union terminated with the war of 1866, which was really a struggle between Prussia and Austria for the leadership in the Confederation, and led to the definite withdrawal of Austria. Thus the way was prepared for the new German Empire, under the leadership of Prussia, which was founded after the united forces of the German States defeated the French attack in 1870. ^^^ i39._rfc. German Government. — The present German Empire imperial Standard. is a strong Confederation of twenty-six sovereign States, each possessing its own independent form of government, but, for the common affairs of the empire, all subordinate to the central government. 20 278 The International Geography This government consists of — (i) the Federal Council {Bundesrath) composed of 58 members representing the constituent States of the empire; (2) the Imperial Diet {Reichstag), a popular assembly elected directly by the votes of the whole German people ; (3) the Ministers appointed by the German Emperor, who, by the constitution of the empire, must be the King of Prussia for the time being. The Emperor is Federal Commander-in-Chief and supreme head of the whole imperial administra- T,,^ „. „ tion ; but he is not the monarch of Germany — the Fig. 140. — The German ' i - • i.u Flag. authority he exercises is vested m him "m the name of the confederated governments." Division. — In size Germany is the third, in population the second country of Europe. The constituent States may be distinguished into North German and South German, as the course of their development was affected by one or the other of the great commercial areas of central Europe — the northern depending on maritime trade, the southern on trade over the Alps or by the Danube. South Germany consists of Bavaria, . Wurttemberg, Baden, the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine (administered directly by the empire through a Statthalter, or governor) and the southern part of the grand duchy of Hesse, which is not inhabited by Hessians, but came under the duchy by inheritance. Prussia occupies the lion's share of North Germany, although the growth of this State towards the west did not begin until 1609, and until 1866 included only the provinces of Rhine- land and Westphalia in the west. By the acquisition of Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse and Nassau, including Frankfort-on-the-Main, Prussia was able to unite its older provinces of the east with the hitherto isolated provinces in the west, and so to command a stretch of territory extending from the Belgian to the Russian frontiers ; and, with the exception of the Free Towns, Hamburg, Bremen, and hUbeck, left only three other States to share the German coast — viz., the two grand duchies of Mecklenburg, and Oldenburg. The only North German State besides Prussia which is large enough to contain several million inhabitants is the kingdom of Saxony lying close up to the Bohemian border. The fact that North Germany, particularly in Thuringia and in the Weser district, contains no less than twenty of the constituent States of the empire, shows that the northern States have been able to maintain their separate existence better than those in the south. Religion. — Germany, the cradle of the Reformation, where the strife between Protestants and Roman Catholics first broke out, has continued to be a land of mixed confessions — 63 per cent, of the people are Protestant, 36 per cent. Roman Catholic, and i per cent, are Jews. Their distribution can be clearly explained by historical considerations. Parts of West Prussia, Posen, and southern Silesia form the eastern belt of predomin- ating Catholicism in the Oder and Vistula region, the people having The German Empire 279 belonged to Roman Catholic Poland. Beyond this East Prussia is Pro- testant, because the Grand Master of the Order of Knights, the Hohen- zoUern Albrecht, who became Duke, took up the cause of the Reformation. The broad middle district of the German Empire is almost throughout Protestant, but in the south-west a strip of Catholic country stretches from Bavaria to the old district of the Bishops of Miinster on the Ems ; here one can see to this day the effect of the religious peace of Augsburg in 1555 when the dictum was published — Cujtis regio, ejus religio. Thus where, in those days, the Prince-Bishops ruled on the Rhine, the Mosel, and the Main, and as far as Westphalia, or where the Bavarian Wittelsbacher remained true to the old beliefs, the Catholic ritual is followed to the present day ; but in old Wiirttemberg on the Neckar, in the Palatinate, and in Hesse, the Protestant form of worship prevails, because there the princes took up the cause of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. The distribution of the half-million Jews who inhabit Germany may also be explained historically, although in this case social conditions have also to be taken into account. They are confined principally to the districts on the east where there is a large Polish population, and to the south-west in Hesse, the Palatinate, and Swabia ; Bavaria contains the smallest num- ber of Jews. The larger number of Jews in Alsace compared with Baden is accounted for by the more favourable laws in the former State during the French period. The German People. — The density of population is to be explained by economic rather than historic considerations. The average density of population throughout Germany is 250 to' the square mile, a figure which is only exceeded amongst the large countries of Europe by Italy and the United King- dom. The agricultural districts, especially in the Alpine Fore- land, the sandy North German plain, and the poor rocky soil of many parts of the Rhine ^'-.r^l^-f^^^a Highlands, of course are much of Saxony. less densely peopled. Yet along the whole course of the Rhine the density of population reaches 250 per square mile, and wherever minerals, especially coal, give rise to flourishing industries, the density approaches 400. This is the case in south-eastern Silesia and on the Waldenburger coal-field to the south-west of Breslau, in the kingdom of Saxony, and especially in the Lower Rhine and Westphalian manufacturing district. With the exception of the Free Towns, Hamburg and Bremen, the most densely peopled State in the world is the kingdom of Saxony with an average density of 658 per square mile, thus surpassing even Belgium. Fig. 141. — Average popu- lation of a square mile of Germany. 2 8o The International Geography The German people must be perseveringly laborious, frugal, and thrifty in order to make a living out of the soil of their country, which, although nowhere too rich, everywhere yields a fair return for hard work. The large families of the Germans present a curious contrast to those of other nations, especially of the French. Since 1871, for example, the natural increase of population in Germany has been over 11 million, and in France only 2 million. The result is considerable emigration from Germany to distant lands, especially to the United States and British Colonies, where Germans prosper and make good citizens. The German is not so quick and versatile as the people of the warmer countries of the south, but his inclement winters have given him a regard for the domestic hearth, fostered the family sentiment, encouraged a depth of feeling, and habits of contemplation, led to a love for reading and think- ing, and to the cultivation of science. Compulsory attendance at school and, since 1871, the service in the army of every able-bodied young man, have exercised a most salutary influence on the intellectual and physical life of the nation. Without being particularly rich, Germany is ready to make great sacrifices in order to maintain the army and navy in a con- dition of high excellence for the protection of its recently-won position amongst the armed Powers of Europe. Agriculture.— Until the middle of the nine- teenth century the German lands were almost ex- clusively of agricultural value. This is now the case with the north-east only, and even there many Fig. m.— German Naval centres of manufacturing industry are springing ^p . ^jj(j these industries are the most important interests .in the west. Taken as a whole 42 per cent, of the people of the German Empire are dependent on agriculture, 33 per cent, on manu- facturing industries, 8 per cent, on trade, and 3 per cent, on mining and the extraction of metals. The map (Fig. 144) shows the distribution of the more important branches of agriculture and related industries. The favourable climatic conditions of the south-western districts naturally fit them for the extensive growth of the vine, hops, and tobacco, and make the Upper Rhine plain almost the only part of the country where wheat and barley predominate among the crops. In all other places rye and oats, the chief grain crops of Germany, take the first place. With respect to its total production of all grain-crops Germany is hardly excelled by the more favoured fields of France, and Russia alone amongst the nations of Europe has a much greater production. But it must be remembered that the warm air and less sandy soil of France allow far more wheat to be grown there, and that the German peasants must, to a large extent, content themselves with black bread made from rye. The potato was naturalised in all parts of Germany in the eighteenth century ; it supplies a cheap form of food, the more valu- The German Empire 281 able because, like rye, it flourishes on a light soil and in a raw climate. Germany grows more potatoes than any other country, and provides a con- siderable surplus for export. In the north-east of Germany there are many distilleries for the manufacture of spirits from potatoes ; and thus great estates dating from the German conquests in feudal times, hitherto nearly useless on account of the sandy soil, have enormously increased in value. More recently this north-eastern region has become the centre of beet- growing mainly in connection with the manufacture of sugar, hut partly also for distilling. The excessive drinking of spirits which formerly exercised a Map of the AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES Ofthe GERMAN EMPIRE. annSyeaOats. ^Wheata Barley Swine. (^Tobacco EE3Hops. ^1 Beet Sugar PwlDisl-illing. Fig. 144. — Agricitltiiral Map of Germany. bad effect on the lower classes in the wineless country of the eastern Elbe is now being remedied by the establishment in all parts of Germany of breweries producing light beer like that of Bavaria. In the excellence and quantity of the beer it produces Bavaria keeps the first place. The raising of live stock on the extensive pastures and well-cared-for meadows is an important branch of German farming, and Russia alone has a larger number of cattle in Europe. The plains of the Alpine Foreland and of the north are the best for horse-breeding ; cattle are kept every- where fqr beef and for dairy purposes from the coast marshes to the Alps. The high farming now practised and the fall in the price of wool due to 282 The International Geography imports from abroad have recently led to a considerable reduction in the number of sheep kept. There are in fact more cattle than sheep in Ger- many, and large flocks are now only to be found on the estates of the great proprietors in the north-east. Goats also are less numerous than formerly ; they are kept in the mountains for their milk, where they have earned the name of "the poor man's cow." The number of swine kept, on the other hand, has increased, mainly on account of the development of the beet- sugar industry, the refuse from the factories making good food for pigs. The Fisheries along the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic have been greatly stimulated by the extension of railways opening up the inland markets, and a society for artificial fish-culture is actively engaged in increasing the number of the more valuable fresh-water fish such as trout and salmon. Industry. — The Germans have been foremost in mining for many centuries, and German miners are now to be found in every continent. On many of the mountains of the country, particularly the Erzgebirge, the diminution of the output of ore from the old mines has led to the development of many forms of domestic industry through the efforts of the people to make a living on their native soil. Yet the methods of working and the enterprise of the German miners have brought all processes to a high degree of excellence. Almost half of the silver pro- duced in Europe is raised in Germany, most of it from silver-lead ores ; and the production of zinc, lead, and copper is equally advanced. These metals are obtained principally from the mountains of Prussia, from the neighbourhood of Aachen in the west to upper Silesia in the east. The most valuable of the Earth's riches, however, are the supplies of iron-ore, found in almost all parts of Germany, and coal. The most important coal- fields, which as a rule abound in iron-ore also, occur on the northern border of the Rhine Highlands especially in the Ruhr valley, in the neigh- bourhood of Aachen, to which the Belgian coal-field extends, south of the Hunsriick on the Saar, in Saxony, in Silesia near Waldenburg, and in Upper Silesia. In the production of coal and iron Germany is far ahead of every other country on the continent, and is only surpassed by the United King- dom amongst European States (Fig. 70). It is besides very rich in rock-salt, and in potassium salts of enormous industrial importance, which accompany the common salt. Almost all the salt-bearing formations are found in the sunken mountains under the diluvium covering the North German plain ; and there a vast supply is stored up for the future. Brewing, spinning, and weaving were old domestic industries, and wood-carving is a national occupation of great antiquity. Domestic indus- tries have developed on the higher slopes of the mountains where agricul- ture becomes less profitable ; there the weaving of wool and flax were early favoured by the mountain climate, and wood-carving, lace-making, and, later, glass and porcelain manufacture were established. During the nineteenth century the introduction of factories and steam-power has swept The German Empire 283 away many of the old village workshops, but has brought more lucrative employment to large numbers of working men and women. The most developed of these are the textile industries, now including cotton and silk as well as wool, and the manufacture of iron where the ore and coal are mined together, or can be brought to the same place by steam and railway at small cost. The iron trade alone occupies nearly a quarter of a million of workmen. By the quantity and excellence of its manufactures Germany has rapidly distanced all other countries on the continent in the markets of the world, and takes rank next to the United Kingdom. An index of the rapidity of the growth of great industries is afforded by the increasingly rapid migration of people from the country to the towns, and from the small towns to the larger cities. Thus in 1871 there were 8 German towns of over 100,000 inhabitants, together making up rather less than 5 per cent, of the population of the empire ; in 1891 there were 26 of these towns with 12 per cent, of the population, and in 1895 there were 28 with 14 per cent. Trade. — The external trade of Germany amounts to about $2,000,000,000 per annum, or $40 per head of the population (see Fig. 71). It is that of a typical industrial State, the exports consisting mainly of manufactured articles and the imports of food and raw materials, the proportions being : — Food Material. Animals. Raw Materials. Manufactures. Total. Imports.. 284 6-6 58-7 6-3 1000 Exports.. 92 — 191 717 lOQ-o The principal trade is done with the United Kingdom, then follow the United States, Austria- Hungary, and Russia. The two last-named countries are important for the supply of grain, for Germany itself, even in years of good harvest, does not produce enough food for the population which increases by half a million. The importance of the United States, on the other hand, is mainly for the supply of raw cotton. The over-sea trade of Germany is carried on by means of a merchant fleet, only second in tonnage to that of the United Kingdom amongst European States. Since 1895 the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, through Holstein from the Baltic to the estuary of the Elbe, has stimulated German trade by opening a shorter route from the Baltic ports to the Atlantic. Internal Communications. — The navigable waterways of Ger- many measure nearly 7,500 miles, of which 1,500 miles are canals. The Rhine is the most important of the navigable rivers ; the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula come next in order. South Germany is poorly supplied with water transport as the Rhine above Mannheim is too rapid for easy navi- gation, and the Bavarian Danube is not much wider than the Ems ; hence the railways carry most of the traffic between North and South Germany. The German Empire has the greatest railway system in the world, with the exception of Russia and the United States. There are 29,600 miles of railway, and there is scarcely a point in the empire which cannot be reached within twenty^-four hours from Berlin. The capital sunk in these railways is $2,600,000,000 ; and the railways are of more than national im- 284 The International Geography portance. The lines along both banks of the Rhine have formed an important link in the communication between England and India since the St. Gothard tunnel was opened ; the line from Strassburg through Munich to Vienna is traversed by the Orient Express from Paris to Constantinople, while the line from Cologne through Berlin to Warsaw unites Paris by the town of Samara on the Volga' to Sioeria, and thus to the whole of eastern Asia. The central position of Berlin in the railway system of Europe is clearly shown in Fig. 54. Districts and Towns of the Alpine Foreland. — The German share of the Alpine Foreland which stretches from the Lake of Constance to the Inn, is crossed by the rivers Iller and Lech flowing towards the north and the Isar and Inn towards the north-east, but these rivers are so rapid that they are only available for floating rafts. The Alpine Foreland is prolonged on the north bank of the Daflube towards the Fichtelgebirge in the Upper Palatinate, which stretches between the Franconian Jura and the Bohemian Forest, and is drained by the south-flowing Naab. In the Bavarian Alps and the neighbouring parts of the Foreland coniferous forests and pastures predominate, and the people are principally engaged in cattle-rearing. Towards the Danube, however, agriculture prevails, and the wooden cottages with shingle roofs adapted to an Alpine climate give place to tiled . farm-houses. The western or Swabian end of the Foreland belongs to the kingdom of Wiirttemberg as far as the Iller ; and at the point where that river enters the Danube at the commencement of navigation, the city of Ulm stands on the left bank. It is renowned for its splendid cathedral, and is besides an ancient commercial town at the end of the most convenient passage between the Danube valley through the Franconian Jura to an eastern tributary of the Neckar. Between the Iller and Lech Ues the Swabian district of the kingdom of Bavaria. Augsburg, the former chief town of the Alpine Foreland, stands on the Lech. It dates from Roman times, and remained a very important commercial centre until the fifteenth century, on account of the Oriental goods brought over the Alpine passes from Italy and down the Lech valley. The road forked at Augsburg westward to Ulm and north- ward through the Franconian Jura. The eastern portion of the Foreland is the original country of Bavaria, which became a king- dom in 1806 and secured as an extension the Swabian district as well as the three dis- tricts of Franconia in the basin of the Main. Munich (Munchen), on the Isar, has grown Fig. 14s.— Mmuch. "P ^ince the thirteenth century, and suc- ceeded Augsburg as the royal residence. The kings have beautified the city by the erection of many fine build- ings, and made it the centre of South German art, especially painting, The German Empire 285 and of art industries. It is the greatest beer-brewing town in the world, and the chief grain market for the non-agricultural region of the Bavarian plateau and the Bavarian Alps ; but, above all, it has a great future as a commercial centre on account of the railways converging to it from the north, from the south over the Brenner Pass and down the Inn valley, from Paris on the west and Vienna on the east. The lack of coal in the Alpine Foreland has restricted manufactures. Regensburg [Raiisbon), the old residence of the Dukes of Bavaria, stands on the Danube at the most northerly point reached by that river, where in the early Middle Ages the incoming Bavarians first encountered it as they came from Bohemia, and where in antiquity the Romans erected a fort against the independent German tribes. South-"West German Districts and Towns. — "The Garden of Germany" is the name fondly given to the rich, flat plain of the Upper Rhine, aglow with varied agriculture, and framed by the finely wooded ranges of the Vosges and Black Forest. Behind these bordering ranges of ancient rock there follow stretches of Triassic and Jurassic formations. The eastern flank of the system belongs entirely to Germany, and includes the Swabian-Franconian Jura, a limestone plateau with an abrupt slope down- wards on the side towards the Rhine, crowned by prominent castles, such as those of Hohenzollern and Hohenstaufen, and merging into the Swabian-Franconian terrace region through which the Main and Neckar flow. The western flank extends into France ; here the boundary strips exhibit a striking section where, on the right of the Mosel in German Lorraine, the Jurassic rocks remain above the Triassic. The Rhine receives almost all the streams of the south-west German basin ; the Neckar and Main, the chief rivers of the eastern flank, have cut their way through the Central, Highlands to the middle Rhine plain, and on the western flank the Mosel, flowing from the southern Vosges like a twin of the Neckar, describes a wide arc and returns to the Rhine through the gorges of the Rhine Highlands. Until the South German States extended their territory under Napoleon's influence the State of Wiirttemberg was confined to the Swabian. portion of the Neckar basin. It became a kingdom at the same time as Bavaria, and its capital, Stuttgart, has recently acquired considerable importance. It is situated amidst charming scenery on the left side of the Neckar, and prospers on account of the cheap transport of raw materials and coal by the Neckar valley railway from the Rhine, enabling it to become an industrial centre particularly for engine-con- struction and cotton-weaving. It is also the chief centre of the South German printing and publishing trade. In Bavarian Franconia two ancient episcopal cities stand in the valley of the Main, the only large river in Germany which, flows westward. These are Bamberg, on the Rednitz close to its confluence with the Main, and Wurzburg, a larger town on the Main itself where the river cuts its zigzag course almost in the 2 86 The International Geography- shape of a W into the Muschelkalk of the Triassic Franconian plateau. Niirnberg {Nuremberg), on the Pegnitz, an eastern tributary of the Rednitz, is nearly twice as large. It was founded in the eleventh century on barren ground under the protection of an imperial castle ; then, through the energy of its citizens, it acquired the rank of a self-governing " Free Imperial Town," and became the most famous centre of industry and invention in Germany during the Middle Ages. Now it has again become a busy industrial town, and a great centre of commerce on the railway which runs through it directly northwards from Augsburg to Erfurt. Niirnberg is a gem among the towns of Germany on account of the perfection in which its ancient buildings have been preserved, and especially for its noble Gothic churches. Frankfori-on-the-Main is on the threshold of North Germany, and has grown into the greatest of all the towns of the Main valley. Like Vienna it stands on a point where two routes cross at right angles ; the east to west route following the Main valley being cut by the north to south route from the Upper Rhine plain to ithe north coast. It was the true centre of the earliest development of German culture in the Rhine valley, and in many respects the chief town of the old German Empire. It has always been a place of civic affairs, and of high intellectual activity — it is the birthplace of Goethe. Since 1866 it has been attached to the new Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, and now, by the deepening of the lower channel of the Main, Frankfort is practically one of the Rhine river- ports, and one of the foremost trading and banking centres of the west of Germany. The southern part of Hesse, formerly belonging to the Electoral Palatinate, contains Darmstadt, the capital of the grand duchy, at the base of the Odenwald, and Mainz (Mayence), a fortress on the bend of the Rhine towards the north-west and the most important crossing-place of the Middle Rhine. The Bavarian Palatinate lies entirely on the left of the Rhine, enriched by the generous vineyards of the eastern slope of the Hardt. Finally, the northern portion of the grand duchy of Baden contains Heidelberg at the point where the Neckar enters the plain ; this old capital of the Elector Palatine is dominated by the magnificent ruins of an ancient castle destroyed by the French in 1689. The later capital, Mann- heim, is an entirely modern town at the con- fluence of the Neckar and the Rhine, and carrying on an active trade on the great river. The present boundaries of Baden date only from the nineteenth century. The capital, Carlsruhe, was built in 1715 at the FIG. i46.-Carlsri,he ' Command of the Prince round a hunting castle, from which,' as a centre, the straight main streets radiate. Konstam (Constantia, Constance), on the other hand, has been a town since the time of the Romans, and was an episcopal city in The German Empire 287 the Middle Ages ; it is the only town of Baden on the left bank of the Rhine, being situated at the point where the Untersee unites with the Lake of Constance. The imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine, re-taken from the French in 1870, is made up of Alsace on the slopes of the Vosges draining directly into the Rhine, and Lorraine in the Mosel district ; the former is inhabited by people of Swabian and the latter of Rhenish-Franconian stock so far as they were not occupied by the later immigration of Romanised Kelts. Sirassburg, the capital of Alsace-Lorraine, is a very important traffic-centre and a strong fortress, because it lies almost in a straight line between the valley of the Zorn by which the route from Paris crosses the Vosges, and the valley of the Kinzig which leads across the Black Forest to the source of the Danube (see Fig. 48). Muhlhausen, in the south of Alsace, is the most important cotton manufacturing town of southern Germany. The strong fortress of Metz protects the Mosel valley, which forms the most natural line of communication between France and Germany. It was the ancient capital of the Keltic Mediomatriker. The Rhine Highlands and their Towns. — This division of the country presents an undulating surface little over 1,500 feet above sea- level, forming the worn-down residue of a mountain range now presenting a reniform outline, the indentation being represented by the low plain of Cologne towards the north-west. The Rhine flows across this plateau in a gorge towards the north-west, which is most contracted between Bingen to the small volcanic mountain group of the Siebengebirge opposite Bonn The eastern wing of the Slate Highlands is divided by the Mosel valley into the Hunsriick on the south and the Eifel on the north ; the right wing is called the Taunus as far as the Lahn, the Westerwald as far as the Sieg, the Sauerland as far as the Ruhr, and the Haar to the north of that river. The plateaux between those valleys of the Rhine system have for the most part an inclement climate and infertile soil ; in the Eifel there are ex- tensive moorlands on account of the amount of clay present forming an impervious soil ; other parts bear extensive forests. The deeply cut valleys, on the contrary, are extremely fertile because of their sheltered position and productive aUuvial or loess soil. Here in the Rheingau at the base of the Taunus and on the slopes of the steep slate banks of the Rhine and Mosel, frequently crowned by the ruins of ancient castles, the best wines of Germany are grown. Here also, close to the thinly peopled plateaux untouched by trade, is one of the most thickly peopled and busiest districts of the country, the river itself traversed by a ceaseless stream of passenger and cargo steamers, and railways following both banks through the gorges. The pulse of traffic beats less strongly in the lateral valleys, but recently a railway of great importance for strategic purposes has been constructed along the valleys of the Lahn and Mosel connecting Metz with Berlin. The whole is now Prussian, the greater part being included in the Rhine Province inhabited by people of the 288 The International Geography Rhenish-Franconian stock ; only the Taunus and the Rheingau belong to the new province of Hesse-Nassau, and the north-east of Sauerland (the Ruhr district) to the Low Saxon province of Westphalia. On the left side of the Rhine, once occupied by the Romans, there are towns whose history goes back for more than a thousand years. Trier {Treves) was once the chief town of the Keltic Treverer ; it stands in a widening of the Mosel valley and was often the residence of the Roman emperors, who made it an outpost against the attacks of the German tribes. Other ancient towns are Bingen, the university city of Bonn, and right in the centre of the Slate Highlands Coblentz {i.e., Confluence), at the mouth of the Mosel, the capital of the Rhine province, and strongly fortified in order to protect the valley of the Rhine from an attack by way of the Mosel. Aachen {Aix-la-Chapelle), at the northern base of the Eifel, stands on a coal and iron field, the only great industrial town of Germany, which is at the same time celebrated for its baths, its warm springs having in fact given it its name from the Latin Aquce. The charming bathing-place of Wiesbaden, in a sheltered spot at the base of the Taunus, has also been cele- brated for its baths since Roman times. Thanks to the metal pro- duction, and principally to the iron of Sauerland and the neighbourhood of the Fig. i47.-rfe Railways of the Ruhr Coal-field. r^j^^ coal-field, a close swarm of industrial towns has grown up, including on and near the Wupper, the contiguous towns of Elberfeld and Barmen, engaged in textile industries ; Solingen and Remscheid, with iron and steel manufactures ; and north of the Ruhr valley, Essen, with Krupp's famous cast steel works, and further east Dortmund, a centre of iron and coal mining on the edge of the Haar and the seat of a great iron industry, particularly the construction of machinery. The Hessian Uplands.— The narrow Hesse and Weser Uplands lying east of the Rhine Highlands, are unified by the Weser river system but fall naturally into two divisions. That of Hesse to the south is higher, with masses of hard basalt standing out from the prevailing Triassic rocks and forming the highest parts of the district in the Vogelsberg (2,533 feet) and the Rhon mountain (3,146 feet). The river Fulda rises in the Rhon, and unites at Miinden {i.e., mouth, called after the confluence) with the Weser, which flows from the south-western slope of the Thiiringerwald, ahd is called as far as Miinden by the Upper German dialect name of Werra. The Eder flows east to the Fulda from the slopes t ^^^ ^^^^ 0. ■ ^ ^ ?n^,3^M •f^ >>C "'"■ ^ The German Empire 289 of the Rhine Highlands, and the Diemel north-east to the Weser below Munden. Being without mineral wealth Hesse has perforce developed as a purely agricultural district ; until the thirteenth century it could only boast of small villages, and even yet there are scarcely any but small market towns. The two famous mediasval abbey-towns of Fulda and Hers/eld stand on the Fulda ; and lower down the same river Kassel, the capital of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, is built on a fertile ex- pansion of the valley, an important meeting-place of traffic from the north and south, and from Thuringia on the east. The flat dome-like mass of the Vogelsberg, together with the fruit-growing plain of the Wetterau stretching from the bed of the Lahn at Giessen to Frankfort- on-the-Main, forms the North German half of the grand duchy of Hesse. The Principality of Waldeck stretches from the Eder to the Diemel west of Kassel. The Weser Uplands. — The varied scenery of the Weser Uplands, scarcely any parts of which exceed 1,500 feet in elevation, is formed almost entirely of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. It consists mainly of fairly abrupt and finely wooded hills which pleasantly break the monotony of the flat fields and meadows on either side of the Weser. In the north there are two long narrow mountain ridges, the Teutoburger Wald and the Weser chain converging towards it and cut through by the Weser in the Porta Westfalica. There is no natural centre for the growth of a town, but the Low Saxon people have always combined their farming with other work, particularly with weaving, and recently the utilisation of supplies of coal, both of Carboniferous and of Cretaceous age, has led td an advance in industrial enterprise. Bielefeld, renowned from an early period for the fine linen it produces, is in the Prussian province of West- phalia, at a remarkable gap in the Teutoburger Wald which gives passage to the railway from Cologne to Minden. Most of the rest of this region belongs to the Prussian province of Hanover. The university town of Gottingen, in the south, stands on the Leine, which flows out of Thuringia, and runs parallel to the Weser, reaching the northern plain before it joins the Alter, a tributary of the Weser. In the north of the province of Hanover there are two interesting old episcopal cities : Hildesheim, on the Innerste, which flows from the Hartz plateau to the Leine, a town whose quaint architecture has won for it the name of " the North German Niirnberg," and Osnabrilck lying between the converging spurs of the Weser chain and Teutoburger Wald in the west, now the seat of varied industries in consequence of the recent discovery of coal. The two parts of the province of Hanover are almost completely separated by a series of small States running east and west, including the principality of Lippe between the Weser and the Teutoburger Wald, with its capital Detmold; and 'a narrow strip of the territory of Brunswick {Braunschweig) from the Weser to the Hartz, and north-east of the Porta Westfalica, the principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, one of the smallest States in Germany. 290 The International Geography Thuringia and the Hartz.— The Thuringian basin lies between the elliptical plateau of the Hartz on the north and the Thiiringerwald which runs north-westward as a mountain ridge from the plateau of the Frankenwald dominated by the Fichtelgebirge. It is a comparatively low district of Triassic formation covered in great part by cultivated fields, contrasting with the bare ancient rocks and old forests of the bordering highlands which rise in places to over 3,000 feet (the Brocken 3,740 feet) in elevation, too high for profitable agriculture. The Hartz contains great mineral wealth, its mines yielding large quantities of iron, lead, silver, and copper ore ; while the Thiiringerwald and Frankenwald are noted for the variety of their industries, amongst which the manufacture of glass and porcelain and wood-carving are pre-eminent. In the Thuringian basin also there is a good deal of small industry, although with the exception of salt there are no useful minerals, and farming is the chief occupation of the people. Northern Thuringia and part of the Hartz, including the Brocken, belong to the Prussian province of Saxony. Erfurt, the metro- polis of Thuringia, is an important traffic centre on the east-and-west artery of trade formed by the Thuringian railway between Eisenach and Halle. Halle-a-S. {i.e., Halle on the Saale, the river which rises in the Fichtelgebirge and receives on the left the chief Thuringian stream, the Unstrutt) has recently outstripped Erfurt in the growth of population on account of its fine commercial situation in the south-eastern " bay " of the North German plain, and to the promotion of manufactures on a large scale by the presence in the neighbourhood of large deposits of Tertiary lignite. On account of the frequent divisions of inheritance amongst the branches of the Saxon Ernestine family, the south of Thuringia forms a mosaic of small States, which are grouped into about a dozen areas scattered over the district. The grand duchy of Weimar is made up of two parts, one containing Weimar to the east of Erfurt, the other Eisenach with the old castle of the Wartburg, celebrated throughout the world for its associations with Luther, finely situated at the north-western end of the Thiiringerwald. Coburg-Gotha is a double State made up of two separate parts — the Thuringian duchy surrounding Gotha, between Eisenach and Erfurt, and the Franconian duchy, containing Coburg, in the drainage area of the Main. Meinirigen stretches from the Werra valley, in which its capital Meiningen stands, to the Frankenwald, where Sonnenberg is the greatest doll-making town in the world, and as far as the upper Saale. Altenburg shares part of the Saale valley near the borders of Meiningen, and a separate portion farther east where the capital Altenburg is situated, near the Pleisse to the south of Leipzig. There are two other pairs of little States not of the Ernestine group, but also made up of scattered bits of territory, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt with Rudohtadt on the Saale, where the beautiful Schwartzathal opens ; Schwarzburg- Sondershausen with Soiidershausen, entirely surrounded by Prussian territory to the north of Erfurt ; Reuss of the older line, with Greiz on the The German Empire 291 Elster, and Reuss of the younger line, with the industrial town of Gera further down the same river. The Kingdom of Saxony.— The kingdom of Saxony with the outline of a right-angled triangle, lies close to the east of Thuringia. The Erzgebirge which rise steeply from Bohemia sink gradually in the form of a plateau towards the north-west on the Saxon side, down which the two Mulde rivers flow to unite on the fertile loess-covered plain and pass onwards to the Elbe. The highest summit of the Erzgebirge, which run north-eastwards from the Fichtelgebirge, is the Keilberg, 4,052 feet. The granitic plateau of Leusitz lies at the eastern angle of Saxony in the line of the south-east running Sudetes. Between these ranges the Elbe breaks through from Bohemia, and with its tributaries has cut up a plateau of Cretaceous sandstone into a series of miniature tablertopped mountains of great picturesqueness, which have been termed the Bohemian- Saxon Switzerland. The Elbe, a navigable river before it leaves Bohemia, flows in a north-westerly direction across the fertile and in some parts vine-clad Saxon lands. The capital, Dresden, stands on both sides of the river in a beautiful expansion of the valley. Its collected art treasures and fine architecture have won for it the name of " the Florence of the Elbe " ; but it has recently become a great industriarand commercial town as well. The somewhat more populous city of Leipzig, at the confluence of the Elster and the Pleisse, stands at the north-western angle of the kingdom, its position in the south-western " bay " of the North German plain corre- sponding to that of Halle. Hence it is the natural objective for warlike movements or peaceful commerce coming from the north-east and keep- ing as long as possible on the plain, or coming from the south-west with the design of reaching the low ground as rapidly as possible. Thus, next to Berlin, Leipzig is the most irnportant inland trade centre of Germany, and consequently it has become a great industrial town also. It is the chief seat of the German book trade. The most productive coal basin of Saxony stretches over the Mulde district between the great manufacturing towns oi- Zwickau and Chemnitz. On the poor, forest-clad soil of the Erzgebirge, the inhabitants, like those of the Thuringerwald, maintain themselves by a variety of domestic industries such as lace-making, and through their diligence and frugality have attained a greater density of population than the agricultural people of the fruit-bearing lands along the northern border. The Sudetes. — The Sudetic mountain system is composed of, moun- tain ridges and plateaux of Hercynian strike. It separates the drainage areas of the Bohemian Elbe and the Moravian March from that of the Oder, which flows through the "Moravian Gate" (a gap less than 1,000 feet in elevation between the Sudetes and the Carpathians) in a curve towards North Germany, and receives on its course north-westwards through Silesia tributaries flowing north-eastward from the eastern Sudetes and those flowing northward from the western end of the range. 292 The International Geography The range runs next rather to the east-south-east, the Lausitzer mountains, from the edge of the plateau towards Bohemia, and on the other side of the deep valley of the upper Neossa come the Iser mountains and their immediate continuation, the Riesengebirge, at the east end of which, not far from Schneekoppe, the most important and central pass of the Sudetes leads from Lahdshut in the Silesian Bober valley to Bohemia. Finally it follows the irregularly grouped Waldenburger hills and the two closely approaching terminal, members of the whole system with a due south- easterly direction, enclosing the rectangular mountain basin of Glatz out of which the Neisse flows north-eastwards through a deep and narrow gorge, and the similarly formed but wider plateau-like depression which gives birth to the Oder. Many of the summits of the Riesengebirge exceed 5,000 feet, and the Altvater in the Gesenke reaches 4,890 feet, heights not found elsewhere in Germany except in the Alps. The whole crest of the Riesengebirge, averaging 4,250 feet in height, rises above the forest limit and is covered only with bushy mountain pine. The high-stemmed coniferous forests belong as a rule to the upper mountain slopes, and are mixed with deciduous trees lower down. The hot summers of eastern Europe allow of agriculture being practised up to 3,000 feet, and the juicy mountain pastures are favourable for cattle-rearing ; on the Riesengebirge the Alpine method of cattle farming prevails, and formerly large flocks of sheep were kept. The wool produced on the spot and the excellent mountain flax supply the materials for an active domestic weaving industry which has been long established ; and recently textile factories, including those for cotton, have developed, and are supported by the charcoal made in the forests. The abundance of timber and the rapid currents of the mountain streams have led to the cstabhshment of many saw-mills, and glass-making has also been introduced from Bohemia. Thus the whole of this mountain region is thickly peopled, but although the villages of weavers stretch for miles along the valleys there are no large towns. Since the three Silesian wars of Frederick the Great almost the half of the Sudetes have belonged to Prussia, and with the plain- of the Oder forms the province of Silesia (Schlesien). The North German Low Plain. — The north of Germany is characterised by open plains with, at most, an undulating surface, and is divided up by the numerous streams and rivers which have frequently cut steep-sided valleys through the gently swelling elevations. The most charming features of the landscape in the plain are the small lakes with their fringe of reeds and the white and yellow water-lilies mirrored in the placid surface. These are most numerous on the Baltic ridge and south of it in Brandenburg ; in Posen they disappear as the base of the mountains is approached, but there fertile stretches of loess are mixed with the otherwise sandy soil, and pine forests take the place of the deciduous woods, while wheat, barley, and sugar-beet are cultivated. Deciduous forests, however, do not entirely fail to grace the other The German Empire 293 regions ; Oldeaburg itself boasts some fine oak woods, and the most westerly coast lands of the Baltic rejoice in magnificent beech forests. The sandier the soil grows towards the east the more monotonous do its pine woods become, relieved only by the silvery bark of the birch. About one-third of the surface is covered by such woods, the rest being occupied by sheep pastures and fields of rye, oats and potatoes. The Luneburg Heath extending west from the Elbe to the AUer, is covered with heather and n'-w has many oases of tree plantations. Beyond it the scenery becomes more and more like that of the neighbouring country of Holland, quite fiat and sterile, with wide moors on account of the lack of natural drainage ; the smell of peat fills the air, windmills are prominent features, and the Frisian cattle graze on the rich marsh meadows behind the protecting sea-walls on the North Sea coast. Remains of the row of North Sea dunes are only to be found along' the former coast line of the Continent long since worn away and represented only by the line of Frisian islands, while sand-dunes run along the Baltic coast in place of marsh lands. The only rocky island in the North Sea belonging to Germany is the sandstone islet of Helgoland, lying off the mouth of the Elbe, which was held as a British possession from 1807 to i8go. Political Divisions of the Plain. — The North German low plain is politically much more homogeneous than the rest of the empire. Besides the three Free Towns — Liibeck, Hamburg, and Bremen; — the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin stretches from the lower Elbe to Pomerania containing the pretty capital Schwerin on a lake of the same name, flanked on east and west by the two unequal divisions of the smaller grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The duchy of Anhalt extends in the south across the province of Saxony from the Hartz eastward, with the capital Dessau on the lower Mulde. In the north of the Hartz lies the main portion of the duchy of Brunswick, with its capital Brunswick {Braunschweig) on both sides of the little river Oker which flows from the Hartz to the AUer. Finally, the grand duchy of Oldenburg extends from the Jade Gulf and the lower Weser southward into the interior. Its capital, Oldenburg, stands on the Hunte, a left-bank tributary of the Weser ; other portions of this duchy are detached from the main body. All the rest of North Germany is made up of provinces of the kingdom of Prussia. East Prussia extends from the Frisches to the Kurisches Haff and the Russian frontier, with Konigsberg just above the mouth of the Pregel in the Frisches Haft. West Prussia Ues on both sides of the Vistula, with Danzig at the mouth of that river as its chief town, and south of it comes the province of Posen with the capital Posen on the Warte, the chief right-bank tributary of the Oder. Silesia is the fourth Prussian province touching the Russian frontier, and has Breslau as its. capital. Brandenburg, historically the nucleus of the kingdom of Prussia, lies between Mecklenburg and the kingdom of Saxony and between the Warte and Oder and the Elbe with its tributary the Havel. At 294 The International Geography Spandau, the westerly fort protecting Berlin, the Havel receives its tributary the Spree. The province of Saxony lies on both sides of the Elbe, and its capital, Magdeburg, stands on that river. Schleswig-Holstein, in the south of Jutland, has as its capital Schleswig, on one of the long narrow inlets which penetrate the land from the Baltic shore. Hanover extends to the Teutoburger Wald and the frontier of the Netherlands, with its capital Hanover on the Leine ; and Westphalia (with Munster in the " bay " of the plain between the Teutoburger Wald and the Haar) and the Rhine Province on both sides of the river before it leaves Germany, com- plete the divisions of Prussia. Chief Coast Towns. — The two great naval stations of Germany are Wilhelmshaven on Jade Bay on the North Sea, and Kiel on the inlet of the same name near the Baltic entrance of the Kaiser- Wilhelm Canal, which enables German war vessels to pass rapidly from one sea to the other and concentrate at any desired point on either coast. In the extreme east, Konigsberg belongs to the group of towns that have prospered through over-sea trade, although on account of the shallowness of the Frisches Haff large vessels cannot reach the harbour, and the outport of Pillau on the sand-spit enclosing the lagoon has been built to carry on the trade. The navigable Pregel enables Konigsberg to serve as a centre for dis- tributing goods through the interior of East Prussia, and in winter when the Russian harbours are frozen up, there is great traffic by railway to the Baltic provinces of Russia. Danzig is not only the great commercial centre of West Prussia, but is important as the seaport of Russian Poland, exporting the wood and wheat brought down the Vistula. Stettin is similarly not only the chief seaport of Pomerania but of an extensive hinterland, even to a certain extent serving as the Baltic port of Berlin, since it is the most southerly point which sea-going vessels can reach from the Baltic, and the navigable Oder is linked by canals to all parts of northern Germany, including the Elbe system. Lubeck, on the Trave, which falls into the head of the Baltic bay, which reaches farthest to the south-west, has since the time of the Hanseatic League been a favourite centre for Baltic trade. On the North Sea coast the ports are the small Emden at the mouth of the Ems, and the great harbours, Bremen and Hamburg, which in happy rivalry Bremen has only ^STi^ ^3^ fr^^ tes^"'^^^ ^^D^ '^^^^B P Esu p m ra iS^^ ^ Heugraien ^^ K — r ^^^•<=* HABBO^ o 2 4 Fig. 148. — Hamburg. command the whole German trade with America, recently been made accessible to the largest sea-going vessels by the deepening of the lower Weser ; but Hamburg receives the greater share The German Empire 295 of the trade on account of its situation on ttie most soulh-easterly inlet of the North Sea where the Elbe allows of easy anchorage for ships of any draught, and because of the cheap water-transport by which goods can be forwarded to the interior of the country ; so it has become the greatest seaport on the continent of Europe, and now realises the benefits of being no longer separated from the rest of the country by a Customs barrier. The large town AUona, in Schleswig-Holstein, shares the favourable situation of Hamburg, and is now urlited with it by continuous streets. Inland Towns of the North German Low Plain.— Within recent years the coal-fields of the Ruhr valley have enabled many. of the towns of the lower Rhine district to become great manufacturing centres. Such in particular are Krefeld, some distance from the left bank of the Rhine, which is now the chief silk manufacturing town in Germany, and Dusseldorf, the splendid river-port on the right bank of the Rhine, in close railway communication with the neighbouring Barmen and Elberfeld (see Fig. 147) and celebrated also for its Academy of Painting. In the inland trade_ between east and west, Cologne, Hanover, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Franiifort-on-the-Oder, and Posen have all in- creased in importance on account of their position at the crossing places of important rivers. Cologne (Koln), with its lordly cathedral, is naturally the most important of the series, for sea-going vessels can reach it easily from Rotter- dam, thus it is a place for transhipping cargo and of immense activity on account of the great north and south river highway of the west cross- ing the greatest east and west railway of the north. Cologne is very strongly fortified on this '^' '*''~ " °^^"' account, and so are Magdeburg, the chief centre of the German beet-sugar trade, and Posen, which lies on the central line of approach from Russia towards Berlin. Breslau also, the true centre of Silesia, became important from its position at a crossing of trade routes, the roads from Bohemia through the Landeshut Pass, and from the March through Glatz, meet there and cross the Oder in the direction of Posen. Berlin. — Berlin has grown as the seat of the Hohenzollerns in the centre of Mark Brandenburg, increasing in importance with the growing power of the Brandenburg-Prussian state. Its position on the Spree has assisted its development as a commercial town from an early period ; even in the thirteenth century it shipped wheat to Hamburg, and now, by means of canals from the Spree and Havel to the Oder, goods can be carried cheaply over the whole Elbe and Oder river systems, a very important consideration for the supply of food and fuel to the city. The full advantages of situation only appeared in the nineteenth century, when the level stretches of the north-east plain, equidistant between the coast and the highlands, developed a system of direct lines of communication with Hamburg and Breslau, with 29^ The International Geography the Halle-Leipzig lowland " bay " and Stettin. Thus Berlin naturally be- came the greatest centre of radiating railway lines in Central Europe, in direct touch with every capital on the Continent (see Fig. 54), a huge com- mercial city, the head-quarters of German banking, and one of the chief industrial towns of Europe, especially for the manufacture of clothing and artistic articles, in fact, half the population live by its manufactures. Frederick the Great made Berlin a leading town in the scientific and artistic world, a position it has since maintained and improved.' Including the suburbs and the inseparable town of Charlottenburg on the west, the total population of Berlin is at least 2,000,000, making it second in size only to Paris amongst the cities of continental Europe. Fig, 150. — The Sttrroitndings of Berlin. STATISTICS. AREA AND POPULATION OF THE GERMAN STATES. State. Style. Prussia (including Haffs) . . Kingdom Bavaria „ Wiirttemburg , . . . „ Baden Grand Duchy Saxony Kingdom Alsace-Lorraine .. .. Imperial Territory Mecklenburg-Schwerin . . Grand Duchy Hesse . . . . . . . . „ Oldenburg „ Brunswicl^ Duchy Saxe Weimar . . . . Grand Duchy Mecklenburg-Strelitz . . „ Saxe Meiningen . . . . Duchy Anhalt , Saxe Coburg-Gotha „ Saxe Altenburg . . . . „ Population. In 1890. In 1895. per sq. 237 199 276 20 654 293 116 350 151 305 244 90 245 323 287 352 Area in persq. sq. miles. Number. mile. Number. 136,116 29,957,367 223 31,855 123 29.291 5,594,982 191 5,818,544 7,535 2,036,522 270 2,081,151 5,822 1,657,867 285 1,725,464 3,787,^ 5,789 3,502,684 605 5,500 1,603,506 286 1,640,986 5,081 578,342 "3 597,436 2,966 992,883 335 1,039,020 2,481 354,968 143 373,739 1,418 403,773 283 434,213 1,396 326,091 235 339,217 1,131 97,978 87 101,540 953 223,832 235 234,005 886 271,963 300 293,298 756 206,513 273 216,603 5u 170,864 332 180,313 The German Empire AREA AND POPULATION OF THE GERMAN STATES~(coniim,ed). 297 State. Style. wS'd'eck ". :: w ^'""p^"y Schwarzburg-Rudolsladt . . Schwaraburg-Sondershausen " Reuss, younger line. . . . ," Hamburg Free'Towii Schaumburg Lippe . . . . Principalitv Reuss, older line . . {-"beck Free Town Bremen German Empire Area in sq. miles. 469 433 363 333 319 160 131 122 "5 99 In 1890. Population. persq Number. mile. 128,495 274 57,281 132 85,863 236 75,310 227 119,811 376 622,530 3,949 39,163 299 62,754 514 76,485 66s 180,443 1,823 In 1895. per sq. Number, mile. 210,273 49.428,470 236 52,270,70? POPULATION OF THE LARGEST GERMAN TOWNS. g«'''"" 1,578,794 Hamburg 569,260 Munich (Munchen) . . 349,024 Leipzig 357,122 Breslau 335,186 " Dresden 289,844 Cologne (Koln) Frankfort-on-the-Main . Magdeburg Hanover ji Diisseldorf Konigsberg Nuremberg (Nurnberg) . Chemnitz . . Stuttgart 281,681 136,819 202,234 174 455 144,642 l6l,666 142,590 138,934 - - 139,817 Altona 143,249 Bremen Stettin Elberfeld 125,684 116,228 93.538 1895. 1.677.304 625.552 407,307 399,03 378,250 336,440 321,564 229,279 214,424 209,535 175,985 172,796 162,386 161,017 158,321 148,944 141,894 140,724 139,337 Strassburg Charlottenburg , . Barmen Danzig Halle .. .. ;; Brunswick * Dortmund " Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) Krefeld .. Mannheim . . Essen Kiel Carlsruhe Muhlhausen . . ,[ Augsburg [ Kassel Erfurt ■. Mainz (Mayence). . 1890. 123,500 76,859 116,228 120,338 101,401 101,074 89,663 103,470 105,376 79,058 78,706 69,172 73,684 76,892 75.629 72,477 72,360 72,059 1895- 135,608 132,377 126,992 125,605 116,304 115,138 111,232 126,422 107.245 97,780 96,128 85,666 84,030 82,986 81,896 81,752 78,174 76.446 Imports Exports ANNUAL TRADE OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE (in dollars). Average for 1872-75.1 1881-85. 935,000,000 . . . . 785,000,000 623,500,000 .. .. 790,000,000 1891-95. 1,064,500.000 860,500,000 THE GERMAN FOREIGN POSSESSIONS (estimates). Area in square miles, German East Africa 384 180 Kamemn ig^',.^^ Togo .. j3_,Jo German South-West Africa 322,450 German New Guinea and Samoa on 000 The Marshalllslands .. .. ^^'150 Caroline and Marianne Islands 610 Total . . 1,020,680 Population, 4,000,000 3,500,000 2,500,000 200,000 400,000 13,000 37,000 10,650,000 STANDARD BOOKS. G. B. Mendelssohn. " Das gei-manische Europa." Berlin, 1836. A. Penck. " Das Deutsche Reich." Vienna, 1887. R. Lepsius. " Geologic von Deutschland und den angrenzenden Gebieten I Teil. westliche und siidllche Deutschland." 1887-1892. * Geologische Karte von Deutschland " (Atlas in 27 sheets). 1892-93. " Karte des Deutschen Reiches " (Atlas in 27 sheets). 1892-93. " Deutschlands Pfianzengeographie." I Teil. Da* C. Vogel. O. Drude. " Forschungen zur Deutschen Landed und Volkskunde." Edited by R. Lehmann, and later by A. Kirchhoff (in progress). 10 vols. Stuttgart, 1886-1896. I The earlier statistics are less satisfactory than the later. CHAPTER XVIII THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY I.— AUSTRIA-HUNGARY By Dr. Albrecht Penck, Professor of Geography in the University of Vienna. Position and General Character. — The Austro- Hungarian Mon- archy lies in the latitude of France, between 42° and 51° N., but farther east, in the interior of the continent, between 10° and 36° E. long. Whilst France has the sea on three sides and has longer coast-lines than land frontiers, Austria-Hungary is only touched by an arm of the Mediterranean, and its land frontiers, towards the German Empire, Russia, Rumania, Servia, Turkey, Montenegro, Italy and Switzerland, are five times longer than its coast-line. No other part of Europe has so great a variety of geographical features, climates and nations. It embraces the greater part of the Eastern Alps, with their high, snow-clad summits, the greater part of the Boian or Bohemian plateau, nearly the whole chain of the Carpathians, with a large part of their northern forelands, the nearly level plains of Hungary, and a part of the Dinaric Mountains of the Balkan peninsula. Its western parts are under the climatic influence of the Atlantic Ocean; in the east a continental climate prevails, with hot summers and cold winters ; the south has the mild winters and dry summers of the Mediterranean, whilst the highest summits in the Alps and Carpathians have the mean annual temperature of the Arctic regions. Extensive forests are found, es- pecially in the mountain districts. The eastern plains in the interior of Hungary, and on the northern slope of the Carpathians, are natural meadows, belonging to the steppes of south-eastern Europe. Consider- able areas in the south show bare rock with only traces of vegetation. All the races of Europe are represented in the Monarchy. The north-west belongs to the Teutonic race— it is German. The east is occupied by different Slavonic peoples, separated into a northern group of three, the 2g8 I-"" Jw. Fib. Man Acr Mat. Juu. Jul. Auc. Sep. Dar. Nov Dig. ■'< | 85 80 7B 70 06 eo 65 50 46 40 36 30 26 13 -IS 11 10 S B 7 6 .6 4 J 2 1 / r- ^ / <^ N \ — -~ — ■/ ■- ~- L N \ ', ■- y 'y r - 1 ^ .— 7 t ^^ — \ V Fig. 151. — Mean Monthly Rainfall and Temperature Curves of Vienna and Trieste. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 299 Chechs, Poles and Ruthenians; and a southern group of two,. the Croats and Slovenians ; and by the Hungarians, whose language is not allied to that of the other European races, but points to an affinity with the Uralian peoples. The Mediterranean coasts and the south-east corner belong to the Latin race ; Italians in the west and Rumanians in the east. There are only three provinces of Austria in which one language (German) is generally spoken. In Hungary there are numerous villages and even towns where three distinct languages are in common use. As to religion, only the western parts of Austria are uniform ; they belong to the Roman Catholic Church. In the east Greek Catholics, adherents of the Eastern Church, and Protestants of different denominations are met with, and in several towns the Jewish population is in the majority. On the Mediter- ranean coasts the civilisation is directly derived from the Romans ; the Alpine and Boian countries have shared in the evolution of German Uf e since the Middle Ages. The Carpathian lands and Hungary possess a newer civilisation, the Turks having been driven out from several parts only two hundred years ago. The Dinaric lands are only now entering into the life of civilised Europe. The north-west of the Monarchy belongs to the great manufacturing belt of Central Europe ; the east, however, to the agricultural lands of Eastern Europe. Boundaries. — ^All these differences are found in a group of countries which are united by their natural frontiers. The northern boundary is de- termined by a nearly continuous succession of different mountains. There are the mountainous rims of the Boian lands, which surround the upper Elbe basin, and the long arc of the Carpathians around the basin of the middle Danube ; thus Bohemia and Hungary are circumscribed, and both coun- tries are connected by frequent passes. South of Bohemia the Eastern Alps form a mountainous country, which, drained mainly by the Danube, is connected by that river with the Hungarian basin. The same holds good of the Dinaric Mountains. Austria- Hungary is in fact the basin of the middle Danube, with its mountainous surroundings, to which is added, the neighbouring upper Elbe basin. Only that part of the Danubian slope of the Dinaric Mountains, which forms the kingdom of Servia, does not belong to the Monarchy, and there the frontiers are determined by the great river Save On the other hand, the Monarchy reaches the Adriatic Sea and stretches in the Alps into the basin of the Adige, and even of the Rhine. In the north- east Austria extends over the water-parting of the Carpathians and embraces the lowlands beyond. Towards the north a natural limit is drawn by the infertile land along the Vistula, the river itself forming the boundary for a considerable distance, but towards the east the frontier is arbitrary. There are four considerable openings in the mountain border, one by which the Danube enters Austria as a navigable river ; the second by which it leaves Hungary ; the third is a breach between the Sudetes and the Carpathians ; and the fourth is the saddle-like gap between the Alps and the Dinaric Mountains, which opens the way to the Adriatic Sea. Two highways of 300 The International Geography European, commerce are determined by these openings ; one follows the Danube to the south-east, to Asia Minor, the other connects the Medi- terranean with the great plains of northern Europe. The crossing of both ways is the site of Vienna, the capital of the Monarchy, and a great centre of European activity. People and History. — The large Austro- Hungarian basin has always been an attraction for the neighbouring peoples,, but it has rarely been in the possession of one nation. The Romans extended their Empire over the south-western half, in general not farther than to the Danube. They were thrown backward to the Mediterranean coast by Teutonic peoples who did not occupy the conquered country, but left it to the Slavonic tribes which wandered, in the sixth century, over nearly the whole ground with the exception only of the western Alpine provinces. Then came a new German immigration. The Bavarians followed the course of the Danube on its right bank, and settled between the Slavonic clans as far as the mouth of the river Drave. Charles the Great (Charlemagne) extended the frontiers of his mighty empire as far east as this, forming its eastern marches (Ostmark) there ; and he also conquered Bohemia. In this way the western half of the Monarchy became connected with the old German Empire. The east, however, was conquered at the end of the tenth century by the Hungarians, who formed a national kingdom ; another arose in Poland, a third in Bohemia, which however never ceased to be a German fief. Some of the rulers of these kingdoms favoured German immigration, and North Germans cleared the forests of the Boian mountains and of the Carpathians as far as Transylvania, and founded numerous towns on the left bank of the Danube, those on the right being mostly of Roman origin. In 1276 the remnants of the old eastern marches, then called Oesterreich (Eastern realm), came into the possession of the Habsburg family, who gained the neighbouring countries by treaties of inheritance. At first they obtained the Alpine provinces, and later succeeded to Bohemia and Hungary. This happened at a moment when the Turks had invaded Hungary, and it needed two hundred years of continual fighting to conquer that kingdom, and after its conquest Germans were settled on the devastated lands. When, at the end of the eighteenth century, the kingdom of Poland was divided, Austria gained Galicia, and soon afterwards received Bukovina from the Turks. When the old German Empire ceased to exist the Habsburg countries were declared an Austrian Empire, and this was enlarged after the Napoleonic wars by some provinces in Italy, which have since been lost, with the exception of the Venetian colonies on the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, in Dalmatia and Istria. Finally, in 1878, the adjoining parts of Turkey (Bosnia and Herzegovina) were occupied, though nominally they still belong to the Sultan. Organisation. — The gradual growth of the Monarchy can be com- pared with a crystallisation of lands around their natural centre, that is, Vienna. This happened in a peaceful way ; the different countries Dve- The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 301 served their own organisations, and their inhabitants retained their own languages ; but by the fact tliat German colonists were and are active nearly ever3rwhere the whole came into the sphere of German culture, and though the Germans form only 27 per cent, of the population, German is the language of intercourse of the whole Monarchy, and is spoken by every educated man. Several attempts to amalgamate the different countries of the Monarchy into one uniform State have been made and failed. In 1867 complete home rule was established for Hungary, and the title of the Austrian Empire was re- placed by that of the Austro-Hungarian Mon- archy. This name recalls that of the United King- dom of Great Britain and Ireland. Indeed, the re- lations between Austria Tjt and Hungary may be Fig. 152. — Austria-Hungary, tk^xii-ii countries and compared to those be- i""^""'' Austria white, Hungary stippled. tween Great Britain and Ireland as they were before the final union. The Emperor of Austria is always King of Hungary, and in Hungary uses only that title. The foreign relations, the army and navy, as well as the customs-tariffs and currency, are common affairs to the whole Monarchy. In their internal administration both moieties of the Monarchy have complete independence, with their own parliaments and governments. Delegates elected by both parliaments arrange a new mutual treaty (Ausgleich) every ten years, and control the common affairs, which are administered by common Ministries for Foreign affairs. War, and Finance ; the last named also administers Bosnia and Herzegovina. The official title of Austria is, " The Kingdoms and Countries represented in the Reichsrat " (Austrian parliament) ; Hungary is called "The Lands of the Hungarian Crown." Thus, independent in their own administration, both moieties are mutually dependent on one another in all foreign matters; and both together form one of the six Great Powers of Europe with a common flag. Fig. 153. — Austro-Hun- garian Merchant Flag. 31 302 The International Geography II.— AUSTRIA By Dr. Albrecht Penck, Professor of Geography in the University of Vienna. The Empire of Austria.— Austria embraces the old Habsburg possessions of the Alps (Lower and Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Tirol, Gorz, Triest), most of the lands of the old king- dom of Bohemia (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia), parts of the former kingdom of Poland (Galicia and Bukovina), and the Venetian colonies on the east side of the Adriatic (Istria and Dalmatia). These four historical groups correspond in general to the natural groups of the Alpine, Boian, Car- pathian, and Dinaric lands. Each of these groups consist of provinces or Crown lands (Fig. 152), which still bear their old titles such as kingdom or duchy, &c. Each has its governor, ailed Statthalier, and its own provincial diet or parliament. They are all represented together in the Reichsrat, or Austrian parUament, partly by popular election, partly by the election of privileged classes. Alpine Provinces. — The Alpine lands of Austria cover the larger part of the Eastern Alps and of the northern and eastern Alpine forelands. The characteristic features of the Austrian Alps are two long rows of longitudinal valleys, with a mean elevation of 2,000 to 2,500 feet running, like the FiG.is^-AverageM'^- '^°'''^^^''^^' f™™ ^^st to east. They separate a cen- lation of a square mile tral zone from two lateral mountainous belts. The of Austria. Central Zone consists of ancient rocks, gneiss, mica-schist and granite. In the west it is cut into separate groups of mountains, which reach heights of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet, and are divided by passes of moderate elevation ; the Ortler (12,800 feet) is the culminating point ; the Brenner (4,400 feet) is the lowest and most important pass (Fig. 51). East of the Brenner the Central Zone forms a long wall with summits of 12,460 feet (Gross Glockner), which is not interrupted by any pass lower than 7,500 feet for a distance of 100 miles. Farther east their height diminishes to 6,000 feet, and glaciers cease ; the mountains lose their rugged form and become rounded, the valleys widen at several places, especially in Carinthia, into basins, and some passes are below 3,000 feet. The lateral zones of the Eastern Alps consist of limestone, and are therefore called the Northern and Southern Limestone Alps. In the west they are lower than the Central Zone ; the Northern range does not reach more than 10,000 feet, the Southern not more than 11,500 feet. In the east, however, they surpass the Central Zone, and even at their ends have heights of 6,600 feet on the north, and 8,200 feet on the south. Austria 303 In general, they rise as steep masses of naked rock, separated by deep valleys and low passes. In some parts there are beautiful lakes in these hollows, e.g., the Garda-lake, Achen-lake in Tirol ; and the lakes of the Salzkammergut. The Northern Belt is cut through by three important rivers, which leave the northern row of longitudinal valleys ; the Inn, the Salzach and the Enns are direct affluents of the Upper Danube. Only one river of this line, the Mur, turns to the south-east and reaches the eastern forelands. In the southern row of valleys, how- ever, the main river, the Drave, flows eastward, and parallel to it farther south is another Alpine affluent of the middle Danube, the Save. Only one river of the southern line, the Adige, or Etsch, turns in a deep valley to the Plain of Lombardy on the south. There are numerous other passages between the steep mountains, especially in the east, where the valleys of the Drave, the Save and the Tagliamento are connected by a set of passes lower than 2,700 feet. North of .the Alps there is a narrow strip of flat, undulating land, which sinks eastward from 1,500 to 600 feet in elevation. It is narrowed in the middle by the projecting southern corner of the Boian plateau to a width of only six miles, forming the important Austrian Gap. To the west and east this foreland widens out between its mountainous walls. Its general trend is followed by the Danube ; but this mighty river prefers the course in a gorge-like valley through the border of the Bohemian plateau to that in the lowlands. At Krems it leaves the plateau and runs to the north- eastern extremity of the Alps at Vienna. In the east several chains of the Alps branch off into the Hungarian plain, a corner of which penetrates basin-like between them westward. The frontier between the two countries cuts off the branches and leaves the Styrian basin with Austria. It is a hilly country, which rises gradually from 600 to 1,500 feet. In the south-east the Southern Limestone Alps are connected with the Dinaric Mountains by the saddle-like Karst plateau, whose lowest point is a little below 1,900 feet. It consists principally of limestone and exhibits the typical development of all those features which are called Karst phenomena. A distinct valley-system is wanting ; the rivers run over flat basins, descend into caves, and reappear as great springs in other basins. The surroundings of Adelsberg are famous for the cave where the river Poik disappears. In the same neighbourhood the lake of Zirknitz is formed now and then by the inundation of the low grounds from springs. The grandest scenery is found along the subterranean course of the Reka in the Caves of St. Canzian (Fig. 158). Climate and Agriculture of the Alpine Provinces. — The climate of the Alpine lands shows great variety. The highest meteoro- logical station on the Sonnblick {i.e., Sun-glimpse, 11,190 feet) has the winter of north-east Russia and the summer of Franz Josef Land. In the principal valleys the climate of the Alpine forelands reigns in a some- what intensified form. Thus the eastern valleys have a strongly continental 304 The International Geography climate with cold winters ; in the valley of the Adige, however, the Mediterranean climate with warm winters extends nearly to the centre of the mountains, where Bozen and Meran lie in a climatic oasis. The northern valleys, like the northern Alpine forelands, have the relatively mild winters of western Central Europe, and the temperature is often raised by a warm south wind, called fohn. The range of temperature, however, is determined also by the elevation, and is less in the interior than in the border regions, especially on the forelands ; on the Karst plateau, however, it is raw and severe. The rainfall is highest on the northern and southern rim of the mountains, where it rises in several places to 80 inches per annum ; the valleys are dryer than the forelands. The snowfall increases with the elevation, and from 8,500 feet in the border region, from 10,000 feet in the inner parts, the Eastern Alps are covered to the extent of 600 square miles with perpetual snow. The Austrian Alps produce 1,000 glaciers ; the largest and finest is the Pasterze, near the Gross Glockner, 12 square miles in area. Below the snow-line there is a zone of natural pastures, called the Alpine region. The last trees mount up to 6,000 feet, and in the interior at several places to 7,000 feet. The high ground is used during the summer as pasture ; the lower slopes are woodland. Cultivated fields are rarely found above 4,000 feet. Agriculture is therefore concentrated in the valleys, and no large village lies higher than 4,000 feet, only some hamlets are met with in the western Central Zone as high as 6,000 feet. In the northern and eastern valleys grain is grown ; in the valley of the Adige vine-growing prevails, and the mulberry-tree is cultivated for silkworms. In the three Alpine provinces which are confined to the mountains (the County of Tirol with Vorarlberg,. and the Duchies of Salzburg and Carinthia or Kdniten) nearly one-half of the ground is uninhabited ; only one- seventh of the area consists of arable land, while three-fifths are woodland and one-fourth pasture lands. The density of population averages 75 per square mile. .The Alpine forelands, however, are excellent agricultural lands. In the eastern parts of the northern and in the Styrian basin tliere is extensive vine-culture ; the Karst plateau bears still in most parts its extensive original forests. The four Alpine Crown-lands, therefore, which lie partly on the forelands, are far better populated than the three of the interior. The arable lands amount to 30 per cent., and the pastures to less than 10 per cent. The Archduchies of Lower and Upper Austria {Unter- and Ober-Oesterreich), which extend from the Alps over their northern fore- lands and the opposite slope of the Boian plateau, have (without Vienna) 165 inhabitants per square mile, while the Duchies of Styria (Steiermark) and Camiola (Krain), which extend over the eastern parts of the Alps, the Styrian basin and the Karst, have 144. The principality of Liechtenstein is a very small independent State on the western frontier of Vorarlberg, united with Austria- Hungary merely by a Customs treaty. Austria 305 Minerals and Manufactures of the Alpine Provinces.— The gold mines of the Central Zone being now exhausted, there are only five important mineral products in these mountains : salt in several parts of the Northern Limestone Alps ; iron in Styria and Carinthia, especially at Eisenerz, where a whole mountain consists of the purest iron-ore (whence the name) ; lignite in some parts of Upper Austria, in the valleys of Styria and the Styrian basin ; lead in Carinthia (at Bleiberg) and Carniola ; and mercury at Idria in Carniola. The Styrian iron, worked only with charcoal, already known to the Romans as Norian, has caused an extensive iron-manufacture in the valleys of Upper Styria and the neighbouring parts of Lower and Upper Austria. But since the new processes of refining enable good iron to be made from poor ores, the Boian lands with their coal have become the chief centre of iron manufacturing in Austria. Another industrial region of the Alpine lands is close to the Swiss frontier in Vorarlberg, where there are numerous spinning factories, and where embroidery is a branch of domestic industry. A third is in the south of Tirol, where silk is produced and manufactured. Communications and To-wns of the Alpine Provinces. — The great lines of communication avoid the Alps as far as possible and follow the Alpine forelands. There are two important routes in the northern and eastern foreland, both converging on Vienna, (i) That of the northern foreland has the natural waterway of the Danube, and is followed by the Western Railway of Austria, which prefers, however, the low country at the foot of the Boian plateau to the narrow valley of the great river. Where the river leaves its gorge for the first time and runs for some miles along the Alpine foreland, Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, is situated ; and where the land route passes into Bavaria at the entrance of the Valley of the Salzach, lies Salzburg, the beautifully situated capital of the duchy. (2) The eastern foreland route, which goes to the sea, has no waterway, although an artificial one was commenced but not finished ; it is followed by the Southern Railway which has rather heavy gradients, for it cuts off the north-eastern branch of the Alps, ascending by a wonderful piece of engineering to the Semmering Pass (3,000 feet) and crossing the Karst. Graz, the capital of Styria, stands on the Mur, where the railway enters the Styrian basin. The quarters on the left bank of the Mur are the site of the Government offices, of a university and a technical school. On account of their garden-like surroundings they are much favoured by Austrian pensioners. On the right side of the river there are large industrial estab- lishments. The ascent of the Karst begins at Laibach (Lubiana), the capital of Carniola, in a wide and partly fertile basin. The Southern Railway con- nects with a line going over the low passes of the Central Zone and between the Drave and Tagliamento directly to Italy. It passes near Klagen- furt, the capital of Carinthia. One other great railway crosses the western part of the Central Alps by the Brenner ; it connects Germany with Italy and is therefore of international importance. It leaves the Inn Valley at Inns- 3o6 The International Geography bmch, the capital and university-city of Tirol, and reaches the valley of the Adige at Bozen, a place well known for the grandeur of its surroundings. Farther down the line Trient {Trento) is the capital of the industrious part of Tirol with Italian population. The long northern row of longitudinal valleys has special importance for Austria, as they establish a direct connection with Switzerland, which is made practicable by the construction of a tunnel through the Arlberg with a length of almost 6^ miles. Taken as a whole, the Alpine provinces of Austria are a poor country, though there are some very rich parts in the valley of the Adige and on the Alpine forelands. One-tenth of their area is uncultivated, nearly one- fourth is poor pasture land, only one-fifth is arable. The population, without Vienna, is less dense than anywhere else in Austria, there being only 140 per square mile. It is for the greater part German (72 per cent.)^ Italian, however, in the south of Tirol (8 per cent.), and the Slovenian language is spoken in parts of Styria and Carinthia, and nearly the whole of Carniola. Cattle, cheese, wine, wood, iron, lead, and mercury form the chief exports ; grain must be imported. In recent years the higher parts especially of Tirol, with their magnificent glaciers of the Oetzthal, Zillerthal, and Sulden, and the grand rocky scenery of the Dolomites, have become favourite summer resorts. Visitors also flock to the valleys of Salzburg, Upper Austria (the Salzkammergut), and Carinthia with their charming lakes. The south of Tirol is important as a winter resort, especially Meran, Arco and Riva on ('13 Garda lake. The hot springs of Gastein in the Central Alps and those pt several places along the eastern rim of the Alps, e.g., Baden near Vienna, Gleichenberg and Romerbad in Styria, are much frequented. Bohemia. — The Boian lands of Central Europe form a plateau of primitive and Pateozoic rocks, which are covered only in the north by Cretaceous sandstones and marls. The centre is a basin-like depression forming Bohemia ; the peripheral parts belong in the north and west to the German Empire, in the south to Upper and Lower Austria, and in the east to Moravia and Silesia. Bohemia (German Bohmen) is nearly conterminous with the upper Elbe basin. Its south-west side is formed by the parallel ridges of the Bohemian forest, which reach nearly 5,000 feet in the south, whilst they are in general lower than 3,000 feet in the north. On the north-west side the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) rise abruptly to heights of over 4,000 feet, which slope gently down to Saxony. The Sudetes chain stretches in the north-east, the highest part, known as Riesengebirge (Giant's Mountains) reaches in the Schneekoppe (snow- dome) an elevation of 5,300 feet, which is the highest point of West- Central Europe north of the Alps. Only the south-east side of Bohemia is without a distinct chain of mountains ; but instead there is a highland region averaging 2,000 feet in elevation and in two groups of mountains approaching 3,000 feet. The interior of Bohemia is hilly in the southern Austria 307 half, and has a mean elevation of 1,500 feet ; some chains, such as the Brda (mountains) exceed 2,500 feet. The north is in general a level lowland, from 600 to goo feet in elevation ; near the Erzgebirge there is a group of isolated conical mountains of volcanic origin, called the Mittelgebirge, 2,800 feet in height, and in the northern corner a plateau of sandstone extends, which is dissected by numerous valleys and gullies, forming the wonderful scenery which is generally known under the name of Saxon Switzerland, but which, for the greater part, belongs to Austria. The drainage of Bohemia is very regular. The Moldau, running from south to north, forms a median axis to which rivers approach from both sides. Among them is the Elbe, which comes from the Riesenge- birge and continues the course of the Moldau northward. It breaks through the Mittelgebirge in a charming valley, and leaves Bohemia in a winding gap of the sandstone mountains walled by heights of 400 feet. This is the only point at which Bohemia can be left at a level below 1,500 feet. Climate and Vegetation of Bohemia. — The climate of the interior lowland is very agreeable, the summer is warm, the winter not too cold. The rainfall is moderate ; some parts, especially at the foot of the Erzgebirge, are dry, the annual precipitation being only 16 inches. In the south the climate is more severe, and it is raw on the surrounding mountains. The winter is rich in snow, but the elevation is nowhere so high as to bring Bohemia beyond the limits of forest growth, and its whole surface is productive. The excellent soil of the interior lowland favours extensive agriculture ; wheat and beetroots are grown on the southern slopes of the Mittelgebirge, the vine is productive as far north as in the Rhine valley, and hops are cultivated at the foot of the Erzgebirge. Orchards surround all the villages. The hilly south is a rye, oat, and potato country ; while extensive forests cover the moun- tains of the interior and of the border region. More than one half of Bohemia is cultivated as arable land, and two-fifths are well-administered forests. Bohemian Minerals, Manufactures and Towns.— The wealth in precious metals once attracted many settlers, especially to the Erzge- birge ; now most of the mines are exhausted ; only at Mies in the west and at Przibram in the centre there are still silver mines, the latter being the deepest on the continent (3,691 feet). The actual mineral wealth of Bohemia consists in its coal. Coal Measures occur in the centre near Prague and Pilsen ; lignite is found in enormous quantities, sometimes in layers nearly 100 feet thick, at the foot of the Erzgebirge near Teplitz, Dux and Biilx, and near Eger. The centre has iron mines, and all the conditions for extensive iron working exist. The quartz of the sandstone mountains in the north has given rise to glass manufactures of all kinds, especially of the well-known Bohemian cut glass. The kaolin deposits connected with the granite of Karlsbad favour the making of porcelain. 3o8 The International Geography The rapid rivers of the Sudetes supply power for many spinning factories ; cotton manufactures are spread over the whole of the mountains, and Reichenberg is a centre of woollen manufacture. Many paper mills work up the wood of the forest districts. A flourishing sugar manufacture is based on the extensive cultivation of the beet ; beer of superior quality is brewed, especially at Pilsen. Numerous thermal springs are connected with the former volcanic activity on the foot of the Erzgebirge. Teplitz, Karlsbad, Franzensbad and Marienbad are bathing-places of European celebrity. The picturesque scenery of the sandstone mountains near the Elbe Gap is also well known as a tourist resort. The kingdom of Bohemia belongs to the densely populated countries of Central Europe. Its population has an average density of 293 per square mile ; but in the industrial parts of the north it rises to 500 and 600. Of the people 37 per cent, are German, occupying the border region, especially the industrial district of the north, and 63 per cent. Chechs, who occupy the centre, and reach the frontiers only at three places. The peripheral arrangement of the mountains and the convergent course of the rivers of Bohemia favour the development of a natural centre, which is the main crossing-point of all radial lines of communication. This is Prague (Frag, Fraha). It lies in the midst of the country on both sides of the Moldau in a rather narrow valley, but the suburbs extend over the neighbouring heights. Seen from the Hradschin, the castle of the old Bohemian kings on the left bank of the Moldau, the city is highly pictu- resque, with its numerous towers and monumental buildings on prominent points. But the interior is narrow and unhealthy ; an aqueduct is wanting, and the population increases slowly. Prague is the capital of Bohemia, with the Government offices, two universities and two technical schools — one for the Germans, one for the Chechs. The suburbs, which raise the number of the mainly Chech population to over 300,000, are the industrial quarters. The manufacture of engines and railway cars is considerable. The other towns of Bohemia are of less importance. They lie on the numerous radial railway lines near the frontiers, Budweis on the southern, Pilsen on the south-western, and Reichenberg on the northern line. The Elbe is the chief traffic route from Bohemia to the sea ; on it, the frontier is passed annually by 20,000 vessels, and there are railways on both sides of the river. Aussig and Bodenbach-Teischen are considerable river-ports. Moravia and Silesia.— Moravia and Silesia (in German Mdhren and Schlesien) occupy the south-east side of the Boian plateau and stretch over the lowlands, bordering the western chains of the Carpathians, which form their eastern frontier. The south is drained by the March to the Danube, the north by the Oder to the Baltic Sea. The water- parting between the two rivers is low in the Carpathian forelands, and forms the deep Moraivian Gap between the Boian plateau and the Carpa- thians. It would allow Mi the construction of a canal connecting the Baltic and Black Seas at a summit level of less than 1,000 feet. Austria 309 In the north of both countries, at the sources of the Oder and the March, the eastern extremity of the Sudetes forms a plateau 2,000 feet high, and rising in the Altvater to nearly 5,000 feet. In spite of the rough cUmate there is a crowded German population, carrying on the Austrian linen manufacture. In the south the low ground penetrates basinlike between the Boian plateau and the Carpathians ; the climate of these parts is mild, and agriculture flourishes ; barley and beetroot are extensively grown ; even the vine is found. The Carpathians at the eastern frontier are extensively wooded. The Silesian coal basin of Prussia extends over the Austi'ian frontiers ; Witkowitz and Miihrisch Ostrau are the chief places for coal-mining in Austria, and since the neighbouring Carpathians supply iron, there is also a centre of iron manufacture. The plateaux at the sources of the Oder contain beds of roofing slates, which are much worked. The south has scarcely any mineral wealth. The Margravate of Moravia and the Duchy of Silesia have an average density of population of 272 per square mile ; the industrial north having a denser population than the agricultural south — in some parts of Silesia there are 1,000 inhabitants to the square mile. Of the people, 33 per cent, are Germans, 60 per cent, are Chechs, and 7 per cent., in the eastern parts of Silesia, are Poles. Towns of Moravia and Silesia. — The lowland between the Car- pathians and the Boian plateau is the principal way of communication of the Monarchy. Its rivers are not navigable, but it is followed by the most frequented Austrian railway, the Northern. It points to Vienna, which therefore absorbs the Moravian trade, and hinders the development of any considerable centre in that country. The capital of the margravate is Brilnn {Brno), on the edge of the Boian plateau, where the main route from Bohemia enters the lowlands. It is the chief centre of Austria for woollen manufactures, and has a technical school. One-half of its in- habitants are German. Another woollen manufacturing place is Iglau, a German-speaking town on the heights adjoining Bohemia. The former capital of Moravia, Olmutz, is situated in a fertile basin of the Upper March, and has, though it is the ecclesiastical centre of the country, only local importance. The capital of Silesia, Troppau, is an active place close to the Prussian frontier. Vienna. — The two main routes in the eastern and northern Alpine forelands and the Moravian route along the south-east side of the Boian plateau meet at Vienna. In the east there is a whole series of gaps between the Alps and the Carpathians, termed together the Hungarian gate, where the Danube enters the great Hungarian plains. Vienna, there- fore, has a commanding position between the Boian and Alpine lands on one side, and Hungary on the other. The routes through the Austrian Gap to South Germany, and through the Moravian Gap to the plains of northern Europe, unite here with the Semmering route to Italy, and the ways through Hungary to the south-east of Europe. Over the low 3IO The International Geography south-eastern edge of the Boian plateau the Elbe Gap Of Bohemia can also be easily reached, and by means of the longitudinal valleys of the Alps the Rhine basin is accessible. Vienna lies at the crossing of great routes from London, Beriin and Paris to Constantinople, and from St. Petersburg to Rome (Fig. 54). Its general situation has thus no equal in Europe, and the more immediate surroundings of its site are also very distinguished. The north-eastern branch of the Alps, called the Kahlengebirge, termi- nates with a height of nearly 1,800 feet over the low plain of the Vienna basin with an elevation of 600 feet, and both are cut off by the magnificent river. The mountains bear a beautiful forest, the Wiener Wald ; their Fig. 155.— rte Site of Vienna. base is covered with vineyards, and the plain is richly cultivated. The site of the city is the corner between mountains, plain and river. Only one industrial suburb (Floridsdorf) lies on the left bank of the Danube, and only the smaller part of the city is on the river plain ; the principal quarters extend on the hills to the right of the river and stretch even into the valleys of the Kahlengebirge, along the base of which there is a con- tinuous belt of small towns iroxa Klosterneuburg in the north to Mod ling in the south, a distance of 20 miles. Vienna is the intellectual and material capital of Austria- Hungary. It is the seat of the Imperial Court, of the Common Ministries and of the Austrian Government. There is an old, much-frequented university, and there are also a polytechnic school, Austria 311 an academy of agriculture, and rich museums of fine art and natural history. Commerce has at its dis.posal in the Danube the longest water- way of Europe outside Russia, and eight important railways radiate in all directions. The city and its neighbourhood form the chief industrial district of the monarchy. There are extensive iron and engine works, the manufacture of all kinds of metal goods, especially of bronze and instru- ments, is important ; Viennese furniture, clothes, leather and fancy wares are objects of large export. In the Vienna basin there are numerous spinning factories and paper mills. Vienna (German Wien) derives its name from the Roman camp of Vindobona, but it does not retain many signs of high antiquity. The sieges of the Turks destroyed the ancient suburbs totally, and large parts of the city ; the magnificent St. Stephen's Cathedral is the only relic of ancient times. The older houses date principally from the eighteenth century, but the greater part are modern ; the Ringstrasse is one of the most magnificent modern boulevards in the world. The quickly increjising population is almost exclusively German. The Carpathian Lands. — The long arc of the Carpathians is occupied by Austria only on its western and north-eastern slopes. The former stretches through Moravia and Silesia, the latter through Galicia and Bukovina. These two Crown-lands extend from the mountains over the Carpathian foreland ; and Galicia even reaches the Podolian plateau, which forms the water-parting between the Dniester and the Dnieper. The Austrian Carpathians form a chain of sandstone ridges which con- tinue the Kahlengebirge, at first in a north-easterly and then in a south- easterly direction. In the west they gradually rise to 4,000 feet in Silesia and S,ooo feet in western Galicia ; at the point where the direction of the chains turns at a right angle there arc numerous passes of from 1,150 to 2,000 feet in height, called the Eastern Beskids, which afford short passages from Galicia to the plains of lower Hungary ; the Western Beskids are the passes between Silesia and upper Hungary. The eastern chains rise in the Czornahora (Black Mountain, over 6,750 feet). In the south of these sandstone mountains the Upper Hungarian plateau extends. It consists of old rocks, which now and then rise to sharp ridges. The highest is the High Tatra, which culminates with 8,740 feet. From this highest part of the whole Carpathians two rivers break through the sand- stone chains ; along them the frontier of Galicia sweeps up to the High Tatra. The sandstone ridges of the Carpathians are thickly covered with forests ; the whole chain, therefore, is often called the Forest Car- pathians. Only the highest chains of the east arise above the tree-line ; they are covered with grassy flats called polonines, which correspond to the Alpine region. The Tatra, however, is a rocky ridge with some deep corries, the tarns of which are called " eyes of the sea." Galicia and Bukovina. — The Carpathian foreland is a low, un- dulating country with a mean height of from 600 to 900 feet. As there is 312 The International Geography only a low watershed in the west between the March and the Oder, there are also in the east, in Galicia, low water-partings between the Vistula, Dniester and Pruth. These rivers are navigable for flat-bottomed boats. The soil is fertile, with the exception of the northern angle, between the Vistula and the San, where it is sandy. The Podolian plateau swells gently north of the Dniester, and forms an escarpment of 600 feet against the flat moorlands, which are drained to the Vistula and to the Dnieper. The water-parting between the Baltic and Black Seas is here flat and indistinct. Numerous parallel rivers run from the plateau southward to the Dniester ; they have, like the latter, a meandering course, and flow in deep valleys. The heights of the plateau are part of the steppes of south-eastern Europe ; the woods are restricted to the steep sides of the valleys. The climate of Galicia and Bukovina is continental ; the summers are hot, the winters cold ; the country is open to the snowstorms of Russia. The rainfall is not great, but occurs throughout the whole year. In the mountains it is sufficient, but the temperature is low. By their elevation the Carpathian lands are divided into agricultural lowlands and wooded highlands. Nearly one-half of the land is arable ; wheat and maize in the east, rye and potatoes in the higher regions, are the chief crops. The forests cover two-sevenths of the surface ; they consist in the lower mountains of beech (the name of Bukovina is derived from the beech forests), and in the higher regions pine woods prevail. The sandstone of the Carpathians contains natural oil at numerous places, which is bored for, especially at Drohobycz, in the same way as in Pennsylvania. Natural wax is also dug. The Carpathian foreland is rich in salt, which has been mined as rock-salt at Wieliczka, near Cracow, for centuries ; at Stanislau and other places it is obtained in the form of brine. In the west a small part of the Silesian coal-field extends into Gahcia. The population of the Carpathian lands is large, and its density is nearly the same as the average for Austria. The lowlands con- tinue the thickly populated zone of the German central mountains eastward to the Podolian plateau, and there 300 per square mile are found. The Carpathians are, however, poor in men. There are still hundreds of square miles in eastern Galicia and Bukovina covered with virgin forests, without a single village. The two Slavonic nationalities in Galicia are nearly equal in number ; the west belongs to the Poles (53 per cent.), who are dominant, the east to the Ruthenians (47 per cent.). In Bukovina the latter meet with the Rumanians, and there are 20 per cent, of Germans. The general condition of the population is unsatis- factory. There are rich landowners and poor peasants, whose wages are below the minimum which can be held sufficient, and who are, for the greater part, illiterate. The trade is in the hands of the Jews, who form one-eighth of the inhabitants ; manufactures are undeveloped, with the exception of distilling brandy, which, together with potatoes, forms the usual diet of the people. Everything else must be imported ; the exports Austria 313 consist of grain, cattle, wood and horses, which are bred in the east, especially in Bukovina. Towns of the Carpathian Lands.— The Carpathian foreland in Galicia is followed by one European main route. In the south the mountains, in the north the swamps of the Pripet, hinder free communi- cation. The ways from western Austria and Germany to the south-east converge to one point of the western Carpathian foreland, run together on the east, and diverge on the Podolian plateau to Russia and Rumania. Thus there are two centres in Gahcia. Cracow (German, Krakitu, Polish, Krakow) commands the entrance from the west, and the' substantial appearance of the city bears witness to its importance from olden times, when it was one of the outposts of the Germans in the east. Later, Cracow was the capital of Poland ; the Polish kings are buried there, and it is still a centre of Polish life. It has an old Polish university and a modern Polish Academy of Science. The commerce is still considerable. The commanding position of the city is expressed by its selection as one of the strongest Austrian fortresses for the defence of the upper valley of the Vistula. The inhabitants are mostly Poles. Lemherg (Polish, Lwow) is the radiating point of the east. Here the main railway line, which follows the Carpathian foreland, and is the continuation of the Austrian Northern Railway, sends off two branches to Russia, to Kiyev and to Odessa, and is connected by a transverse line with Budapest. Lemberg was, since its foundation, the capital of the Ruthenian provinces of Poland, and the neighbourhood has a Ruthenian population, but its inhabitants are for the greater part Poles, and the Ruthenians are less in number than the Germans. In the Middle Ages Lemberg also was a German outpost. There is a university and a technical school. The manufactures have only local importance. Between Cracow and Lemberg lies Tarnow, on the Dwnajec, and Przemysl, a strong fortress, which defends the' eastern Beskids, on the San. On the two lines from Lemberg to Russia the chief towns are Brady and Tarnopol j the continuation of the main line to the south-east passes through Kolontea, on the Pruth, and reaches the Russian and Rumanian frontier near Czernowitz, a somewhat new town on the right bank of the Pruth, which is the capital of Bukovina. It has im- portance as a local centre, and as a frontier place. Its population is more mixed than that of any other town in Austria ; Jews, Greek Christians, and Roman Catholics are nearly equal in number ; the German language predominates, and is used in the university, which was founded in 1875. The Dinaric Lands. — The narrow strip of the Dinaric lands which forms the Austrian coast is accompanied by a mountain range, S,ooo to 6,000 feet in height, which consists of limestone, and shows all the irregularities of the Karst phenomena. Deep valleys are wanting, and only one fairly long river from the interior, the Narenta, reaches the sea. A low foreland forms the peninsula of Istria. Farther south there are some low grounds in the middle of the Dalmatian coast, on both sides of 314 The International Geography which rows of long islands follow the coast, the ridges of a drowned land. The northern part of the- coast extends along the Karst, which continues the mountain range at a height of only 2,000 feet ; and a small part of the Plain of Lombardy, at the mouth of the Isonzo, belongs also to Austria. The climate of the Austrian coast, which stretches between 45° 45' 'and 42° N., is truly Mediter- ranean. The winters are warm and relatively rainy, the summers are hot and dry. In the north. Fig. 156.— The Karst. The map measures 300 especially along the Karst, the miles by i^o. Karst region white ; Adriatic g^^.^ jg ^ frequent cold and dry drainage, black ; Danube drainage, sitppled. ^ . •' wind coming from the mterior, and the charms of the Mediterranean climate can only be enjoyed at- places like Abbazia, which are sheltered from it. The south wind, called Scirocco, is warm and moist ; the sudden changes between Bora and Scirocco are consequently very disagreeable. The evergreen bushes and trees, and the culture of the olive reach from the sea to 600 and 1,000 feet. The higher slopes are bare rock, and the growth of trees is hindered by the strength of the Bora and the heavy rain showers of the Scirocco. The mean annual precipitation, which is at the coast above 40 inches, rises here to 80 inches, and at several places even to 200 inches. The forests have often been devastated by reckless wood-cutting. Resources and People of the Dinaric Lands. — The con- figuration and the soil of the Austrian Coast-lands do not favour agriculture. Only one-eighth of the land is arable ; the olive gardens and vineyards are nearly as extensive. In the north, near the mouth of the Isonzo, mul- berries are cultivated for silkworms. Nearly one-half of the ground serves as pasture for sheep, and especially goats. The mineral wealth is confined to some coal-beds in Dalmatia : excellent building stone is quarried in Istria ; the Brionian islands, near Pola, furnished the marbles of Venice. The sea affords a rich fishing-ground, resorted to by 11,000 fishermen. The trade in fish with the interior suffers, however, from the want of means of communication. The population of the maritime provinces, consisting of the County of Gorizia, the Territory of Triest, the Margravate of Istria, and of the King- dom of Dalmatia has a density of 152 per square mile, much below the average. The greater number of the people (68 per cent.) are Slavonic, in the north Slovenians, in the south Croats and Servians. In the harbours, and along the coast of the maritime provinces, descendants of the old Roman population still exist, refreshed by Italian colonists. Nearly 30 per cent, of the inhabitants are Italians, and Italian is the language along the sea. The German element forms little over i per cent. Coast Towns.— The Austrian coast has many excellent ports along Hungary 3 1 5 the Dinaric Mountains, but most of the deep and sheltered bays have no importance, since there are no practicable ways from them into the interior. That part of the coast, however, which can be easily reached from the other Austrian provinces over the Karst has no good harbour. Triest lies on the slope which rises directly to i,ooo feet round an open bay. The ancient Greeks had a settlement (Tergeste) on this site, but its de- velopment as a harbour dates only from the decay of Venice, when Austria began to make efforts for maritime power. By the foundation of the Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company, and since the opening of the railway, which ascends the Karst in a long loop, Triest became a port of interna- tional importance, but being exposed to the full force of the Bora, and having only one mountain railway to the interior, notwithstanding many improvements, it has not the rank which the country deserves for its chief seaport, and the trade of the whole north of Austria gravitates to German ports. The population of Triest does not increase as much as that of other Austrian cities ; it is mainly Italian. The great military port of Austria, Pola, lies on a deep and sheltered bay near the south point of the peninsula of Istria, from which the neighbouring coasts can be easily defended. The capital of Dalmatia, Zara, is a port of local value on the Dalmatian lowlands. In the south, Ragusa fig- iSl.-Ausiro.Him- , . , , , . ,, ganan Naval Ensign. was in the Middle Ages the chief harbour of the whole Dinaric coast ; now it is a dead place ; there is no railway to the interior. The shores of Dalmatia are amongst the most beautiful of Europe. They combine the steepness of the Norwegian coast with Mediter- ranean scenery and the picturesque relics of an old civilisation. Nothing can be compared with the deep narrows (bocche) of Cattaro, where the sea penetrates in several basins among cliffs of 6,000 feet in height. At Spalato a whole town is built in the ruins of the palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (whence, indeed, the name of palace is derived). Palms grow on some of the islands, especially at Lissa. Dalmatia will one day become a favourite haunt of tourists, and its sheltered towns will be prized as winter resorts. But it is still very isolated, and its inhabitants extremely ignorant, only 31 per cent, of them being able to read and write. Abbazia, near Fiume, and the island Lussinpiccolo, are winter stations. IIJ.— HUNGARY By Dr. Bela Erodi, President of the Hungarian Geographical Society, Budapest. Position and Extent. — The Kingdom or State of Hungary (Magyarorszdg='L^nd of the Magyars) lies about the middle of the southern half of Europe in the basin of the Danube, between the same parallels of 3i6 The International Geography- latitude as France, north of Bordeaux. Its form resembles a semicircle, and excepting a small part of the western side, it is separated on three sides by natural boundaries from the neighbouring lands. On the west, north and north-east these are hereditary provinces of Austria, which form with it one monarchy ; on the south-east and south Rumania and Servia, on the south-west the occupied provinces of Austria- Hungary. Hungary is a continental country ; only on its extreme western boundary does a small portion of it touch on the Adriatic Sea. The natural boundaries are formed on the west, north-west, north, north-east, east, south-east and south by the mighty range of the Carpathians, then on the south by the Danube, the Save and the Unna, and finally on the west by the Leitha (Lajia) river and Leitha hills, which separate it from Austria. Configuration of Surface. — Hungary is surrounded for more than i,ooo miles by the immense curve of the Carpathians, which, starting from the gate of the Danube at Deveny (near Pozsony) sweep round one- half of the country from west, through north and east, to south, where they again reach the Danube at the so-called Iron Gates (Vaskapu) near Orsova. This great range of mountains is divided into three principal sections forming the north-western, the north-eastern, and the south-eastern high- lands. The most interesting of the mountains is the High Tatra {Magas Tdtra), in the north, a picturesque high mountain group, without any foot hills. Its loftiest peaks are those of Lomnicz, more than 8,600 feet high, and Gerlachfalva (named since 1896 Ferencz Jozsef Peak), 8,737 f^ct, the highest mountain in Hungary. These are all bare rocks, on which • in some places snow remains even in summer ; and in their hollows more than a hundred small mountain tarns, the fairy-like "eyes of the sea," attract many visitors to this splendid mountain wilderness. The most extensive members of the Carpathian system are the south-eastern high- lands, which form one grand natural fortress, through which there are few passes. The Vereczke Pass, in the north-eastern frontier range, is famous in history as that by which the Magyars entered the country in the year 898. The offshoots of the mountain system of the Alps, which enter Hungary, are divided into three chief groups. Between the Danube and the Drave, the eastern offshoots of the Noric Alps, between the Drave and the Save, the last spurs of the Carnic Alps, and finally between the Save and the Adriatic the eastern continuation of the Julian Alps. In the space surrounded by the Carpathians and the Alps stretch two level expanses of land — the Little and the Great Hungarian Plains. The Little Hungcfrian Plain [Kis-Alfold) lies in the western part of the country, upon the islands and both sides of the Danube from Pozsony to Esztergom. Its extent is about 5,000 square miles ; the lowest portion of it is the Hansag, between the Ferto {Neusiedler) lake and the Rabcza river. This plain, called al30 the Pozsony basin, is exceedingly fertile. Coming through the passes of the Danube at Vacz from the small plain, we reach the Great Hungarian Plain, the most characteristic part of the country, lying in the centre of Hungary 317 the land and bounded by the Carpathians on one side and the Lower Danube on the other. It occupies about 30,000 square miles. The Tisza {Theiss) traverses its greatest length. This plain, appearing as an unend- ing, and for the most part uniformly flat surface, is not so monotonous as it appears upon a map. Its surface is undulating ; rows of mounds and sand- dunes are frequent, in many places there are deep hollows which are damp and impregnated with alkaline salts, in other parts there are marshes. But in general the plain is very fertile, ploughed fields stretch to the horizon, and the immense pasture-grounds are filled with herds of horned cattle, horses, sheep and swine. The vijlages, fringed by rows of shady trees, especially acacias, stand at great distances apart, but are large and populous, and are transversed by State, county and communal roads and railway lines. Hydrography.— Most of the rivers belong to the Danube system ; Fig. 158. — The Chief Canal at the Iron Gates. only two streams having their sources in the High Tatra flow to the Vistula. The Danube (Duna), which is the principal waterway of Hungary, traverses the country for almost 600 miles, forming several large islands in its course, of which the most important are Csallokoz and Szigetkoz between Poszony and Komarom, the first formed by a branch on the left, the second by a branch on the right of the main stream. The island of Szent Endre is above and that of Csepel below the capital. The Danube is navigable by steamships ; the rocky bed of the Iron Gates, which was dangerous to navigation, has been cleared and all obstacles removed by the Hungarian Government. Tributary streams of the Danube on the left hand are the Morva (forming in part the Austrian boundary), Vag, Garam, Ipoly, Tisza, Temes ; on the right side the Lajta (Leitha), Raba, Kapos, Drave (which receives the Mura) and Save. The Tisza is the one great truly Hungarian river, as it rises and ends in 3i8 The International Geography the country. In the Hungarian coat-of-arms four silver stripes represent the Danube, the Tisza, the Drave and the Save (Fig. 159.) Hungary contains only two large lakes, the Balaton and the Ferto, both on the right side of the Danube. The Balaton (or Flatten lake) has an area of 230 square miles, and stands 420 feet above sea-level. It is separated into two parts by the mountainous peninsula of Tihany. On its banks mineral springs of acid water burst out at Balaton-Fured, which is a celebrated watering-place. The lake is commonly called the Hungarian Sea, and its shores are much cultivated. The Ferto (or Neusiedler lake) has an area of no square miles, and stands 370 feet above sea-level, but its surface is not permanent. Between the streams there are many canals for navigation. Mineral waters are abundant in many places. Resources of Hungary. — More than 97 per cent, of the soil of Hun- gary is productive, and about half of this is arable land. The plains, the land between the Danube and the Drave, and between the Drave and Save are covered with black, yellow, and sandy earth, which, in the highlands, is mixed with gravel. The alluvial and diluvial deposits in the plains form good soils for the growth of wheat, rye, barley and maize, the crop of which not only supplies the country but furnishes a great export. The mountains are chiefly formed by granite, upon which rest crystalline schist formations. The Carpathian sandstone is widely distributed. The mountains conceal many mineral treasures, which have been mined from very early times. Iron-ore is very abundant ; the mountains of Transylvania produce much gold ; silver, copper, cobalt, nickel, mercury, zinc and lead are found in varying quantities. A special product of the country is the noble opal, which is found in the trachyte beds near Vorosvagas. Salt is found in immense abundance in Transylvania and Maramaros. There is plenty of coal and lignite, and petroleum is also worked. The mountainous districts are covered for the most part with forests ; the woods occupy 30 per cent, of their area, in contrast with only from i to 5 per cent, of the plains. The export of timber is important. The most common trees are the oak, poplar and acacia. Fruit trees are largely cultivated, and Hungary furnishes apples, pears, and plums for export. Wine production, is of great importance, for the grape grows and ripens well almost every- where. Cattle breeding has not received as much attention as agriculture, though lately the breeding of horned cattle, horses and swine, has shown improvement. The bear, fox, wolf, badger, wild cat and lynx, the roe, red deer, wild swine and wild goat are common in the immense forests. Climate.->-As Hungary, excepting one small portion on the Adriatic Sea, lies far from the ocean, the climate is moderately continental. Three types may be distinguished — that of the mountain districts, of the plains and of the sea-coast. The winter is in general very cold, especially in the great plain and in the inner basin of Transylvania ; the summer is hotter than in western Europe in the same latitude. In the highlands the climate is very variable, but snow does not lie in summer, except in some hollows Hungary 319 of the High Tatra. The rainfall is very capricious. Most falls, on the average, in spring and autumn in the north and north-eastern highlands, and in the Transylvanian mountains ; and less in the Great Plain. The yearly rainfall in the Carpathians is on an average 40 to 50 inches, while on the Great Plain it is 20 to 25 inches. The most cloudy season is spring. In summer the delibdb, or Fata Morgana, is a very charming and everyday phenomenon, which on tranquil, warm days rises about noontide, and like a resplendent sea spreads over the heated plain as far as the eye can reach. Fiume has a very dry summer and a very rainy autumn and winter ; strong north and north-east winds {bora) prevail. History. — The territory of the present kingdom of Hungary was a great highway of nations. At the earliest period after the Romans came the Huns, under King Attila, after whose death the empire fell in pieces. After German people came the Avars, an Asiatic nation, which inhabited this land for two and a half centuries, until Charlemagne broke their power. The Hungarians, who lived in the earliest time in Asia, between the Lower Irtish and the Ural, and later between the Lower Dnieper and the Don (Lebedia), penetrated in 898, under the leadership of Arpad, through the pass of Vereczke into their present country, and settled in it after subduing the different nations of the land. The house of Arpad reigned till 1301. Stephen, the first king, converted the nation from heathenism to Christianity, was crowned in 1000, ,.,,..„., J. i Fig. 159. — Hungarian and organised the Hungarian State according to state Flag. western patterns. The Hungarian State attained its greatest area under King Nagy Lajos (fourteenth century), and under King Matyas, surnamed the Just, it came to the climax of its glory, both military and political. In 1526, after the catastrophe of Mohacs, where the Hungarians were defeated by the Turks, the Habsburg dynasty succeeded, and Transylvania was created a separate principahty under national princes. The Turks occupied a great portion of the land and were not finally expelled for nearly two hundred years. In 1723 the Hungarian Parliament accepted the Pragmatic Sanction, which established the succession of the female line of the Habsburgs. In 1848 laws were enacted which abrogated the old constitution, introduced parliamentary govern- ment with a responsible national ministry, reunited Transylvania to the mother country, abolished all agrarian burdens, asserted the freedom of the press and the complete legal equality of the recognised rehgions, and made many important reforms. Events, however, necessitated a fresh struggle with Austria, which, by the help of a large Russian army, imposed a period of absolute government on Hungary for eighteen years. The constitution of 1848 was restored by King Francis Joseph in 1867. That year was the beginning of a new era, and since then progress in every department of national life has been rapid. In virtue of the 320 The International Geography Hungarian Constitution the Apostolic King of Hungary, whose person is sacred and inviolable, shares legislation as a joint right with the parliament, which he summons for a term of five years. The House of Commons consists of 413 representatives chosen by Hungarian districts, and of 40 deputies of the Croatian-Slavonian Diet. Members of the House of Magnates sit in virtue of inherited right, office, or dignity, or by nomi- nation or election. The Royal Hungarian Cabinet consists of the presi- dent of the council and of nine Ministers, including the Croatian-Slavonian Minister without a portfolio. In virtue of the Pragmatic Sanction, Hungary and Austria are independent States allied with each other, but preserving their own sovereignty undiminished, with separate and independent State administration. But by the personal identity of the ruler, they form for mutual protection one monarchy. For the management of the common affairs 60 delegates, who meet alternately at Budapest and Vienna, are chosen by each parliament, the Hungarian Parliament selecting 40 members from the House of Deputies and 20 from the Magnates. The contribution for common expenses is arranged by mutual agreement for ten years at a time ; the actual •quotas are 30 per cent, for Hungary and 70 per cent, for Austria. People. — The people of Hungary are composed of several nationalities, all together forming the Hun- garian nation. The Hungarians proper, or Magyars, are the leading element, for although they form only about one-half of the population, 80 per cent. ^'''■:!:u^;7a%tte °f the people speak the Hungarian language-a mile of Hungary. proportion which is increasing every year. It must be particularly stated that the Hungarian race who conquered the country and created the kingdom take the leading position also in intelligence; and far from oppressing the other nation- alities, they allow to all the same rights and privileges. Besides Hungarians there are (in order of their number) Serbo-Croats, Ru- manians or Walachians, Germans, Slovaks and other nationalities, whose number together does not amount to more than a million. According to reUgion, the greatest part of the population belongs to the Roman and Greek CathoUc Churches ; then follow the non-united (or schismatic) Church, the Protestant Churches of Calvinist and Lutheran confession ; finally the Unitarian confession and the Jews. The Roman CathoUcs, the United Greek Church, and the Armenian Catholics are under the authority of the Pope in Rome. The king must belong to the Roman Catholic faith. The people of Hungary live chiefly by agriculture, the breeding of live stock, and mining, to which occupations they are directed by the nature of the soil. They have no great inclination for industry ; therefore the imports are almost double the value of the exports. Though trade makes great progress by the increasing extension of railways, the want Hungary 321 of corresponding capital and enterprise allows many natural resources of great value to lie undeveloped. Yet material and intellectual progress is remarkable. At the census of 1890, 61 per cent, of the male and 46 per cent, of the female population above the age of six years could write and read. Higher instruction is provided by three universities, namely, at Budapest, Kolozsvar, and Zagreb, and many colleges for higher training in special subjects. The supply of secondary schools is better than in Austria, and approaches to that of some States of Germany. The pharmaceutical, philosophical and medical faculties of the universities are open to ladies. Great progress is made in the provision of technical schools. As for the administration, Hungary (the mother-land), is divided into 63 counties (vdrmegye), at the head of which stand the prefects (foisfdn) and deputy-prefects {alispdn). Croatia-Slavonia numbers eight counties. Hungary is well supplied with railways ; more than three-quarters of the whole Hungarian system belong to the State or are under the management of the Hungarian State Railways. The present tariff for passengers, the so- called zone system, was inaugurated in 1889, according to which the long distance is divided into fourteen zones, and the price is regulated by sections. In the zone tariff the longest journey, from 140 miles to any distance which can be traversed in twenty-four hours, costs only I5 first- class, which is the maximum fare for any journey in the kingdom. Hungary Proper. — Budapest is the capital and residence-town of Hungary, situated in a splendid position on both sides of the Danube, a short distance below its great bend from an east- ward to a southward course, surrounded on the right bank by picturesque hills, the off- shoots of the Alps. One of these' hills which dominates the city is the site of the Royal Palace, and another, named Mount St. Gerard {Szent Gellerthegy), rises abruptly from the Danube to a height of 720 feet above sea-level. The left bank of the Danube is a plain. Buda on the right and Pest on the left side formed, before 1873, two towns with separate ad- ministrations, but are now united. They are connected by several bridges for passengers and two railway bridges. The town is the residence of. the king, who is understood to reside there for half the year ; it is the seat Fig. 161. — Budapest. 322 The International Geography of government, of the parliament and of the supreme courts. It has many public institutions, including the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the National Museum, with rich collections in different branches, and the National Picture Gallery. Budapest has a university, a polytechnic, many colleges, technical schools, and learned societies. It is also the centre of the commercial as well as of public and intellectual life of the kingdom. The population is increasing rapidly, at the average rate of about 10,000 a year. The town presents a very animated appearance, with the electric tram-lines which intersect it in all directions, and the great steamer traffic on the Danube. The boulevards and ring-streets and the colossal new buildings testify to the enthusiastic spirit in which the improvement of the city is carried on with reference to art as well as material progress. Amongst them the new Royal Palace, the new Parlia- ment House on the left bank of the Danube, modelled after the Parliament Houses in London, the new Palace of Justice, and many of the theatres and churches may be mentioned as of conspicuous merit. Budapest has many hydropathic establishments with hot mineral springs. The fairy -like Margaret Island, the property of the Archduke Joseph, but used as a public park, and the hilly environs of Buda are charming places of popular resort. Szeged, Debreczen and Arad are the chief towns of the Great Plain. Szeged, on the bank of the Tisza, has been rebuilt and improved since the great inundation of 1879, which destroyed the whole city. Debreczen, a railway centre east of the Tisza, is a large provincial centre of com- merce, industry, and intellectual life. It is situated in the Hortobagy puszta (steppe), the most important part of Hungary for cattle and horse- breeding. Debreczen has been termed " Calvinist Rome," as most of its inhabitants are of the Calvinist confession and the town takes a leading part in religious affairs. Arad is a fine, intelligent, and commercial town on the shore of the river Maros, which comes from Transylvania and discharges near Szeged into the Tisza. Pozsony [Pressburg) is one of the most cultivated provincial towns, and, after Budapest, the handsomest city of the country. It is situated on the Danube in a very fine position close to the Austrian border, and was the seat of the Hungarian ParHament until 1848, aiid since 1526 the place of coronation of the kings. Kassa is the most considerable town of Upper or northern Hungary, an ancient royal free town, with an interesting cathedral, the finest Gothic church in the country, built in the years 1290-1382. Szekesfehervdr {Alba Realis) is the most flouirishing commercial town in the Trans-Danubian region {i.e., the region west of the Danube), the earliest coronation and burial-place of the -Hungarian kings. Esziergom (Latin, Strigonium ; German, Gran), on the right bank of the Danube, above its great bend to the south, is a picturesque city, the seat of the Prince-primate, the ecclesiastical chief of Hungary. Kolozsvar {Klaiiscnburg), s\in?A.ed. on, the banks of the river Szamos, is the capital of Transylvania {Erdely), after Budapest, the first centre of Hungary 323 inteUectual and public life of Hungary. It has a university, a remarkable museum, three colleges (a Roman Catholic, a Calvinist, and a Unitarian), and is the seat of the Calvinist and the Unitarian bishops of Transylvania. It was the birthplace of Matyas (Matthias Corvinus), the greatest king of Hungary. Gyulafeheivdr {Karlsburg the Roman Apulum), near the river Maros, was the ancient residence of the princes and is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Transylvania. Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia form a self-governing political unit inside the dominion of Hungary, and on that account bear the name of Borderland {Partes aditexce). Despite this legal and correct triple desig- nation, Dalmatia, which at the beginning of the twelfth century was united to Hungary by King Kalman, now belongs only de jure to Hungary and the Borderlands, while de facto it is united to Austria. Croatia was united to Hungary under Kings Ladislaus and Kalman, and King Kalman was the first, who in the year 1 102 was crowned King of Croatia and Dalmatia. The local government is concerned only with home affairs, rehgious service and public instruction, and justice. Croatia-Slavonia has a National Assembly of one Chamber, which consists of 90 elected depu- ties, and of personal voters holding a privileged position. It is repre- sented in both Chambers of the Hungarian P.arliament. Zagreb (Hungarian, Zdgrdb ; German, Agram), near the Save, is the seat of the Banus (governor), of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Croatia, and of the Diet (National Assembly). It has a university, academy of sciences, museum, and a remarkable late Gothic cathedral of the fifteenth century, recently restored after an earthquake, which damaged it seriously. Fiume and its Territory, annexed to Hungary in 1779 by Queen Maria Theresa as a separate body {corpus separatum), is represented in the Hungarian Parliament, but administered by a special governor. The town of Fiume lies in the north-east corner of the Gulf of Quarnero, in the Adriatic Sea. It was formerly an insignificant fishing village, but since its union with Hungary it has developed into a considerable seaport and a commercial town of the first rank, a notable rival of the Austrian Triest. Fiume has three good harbours, one the petroleum harbour. Whitehead's torpedo factory, a great paper factory, petroleum refineries, and rice-mills, give it considerable industrial importance. Fiume is the residence of the Governor, of the Imperial and Royal Marine Academy, and of a Royal Mercantile Marine Academy. The greater part of the inhabitants speak Italian, which is the recognised official language of the territory. 324 The International Geography IV.— BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA By Prof. A. Penck. Bosnia and Herzegovina.— The hinterland of Dalmatia, nearly the whole north-west of the Dinaric lands, is " occupied and administered" by Austria-Hungary. It is a mountainous country; the west consists of limestone, which is partially bare, and reaches at several points to from 6,500 to 7,500 feet. Between the ridges'there are numerous broad basins called Poljes, which are drained by subterranean channels and are inundated during the wet season. In the east slates and sandstone prevail; the mountains are covered there with dense forests, which extend over one-half of the country; they contain iron ores, and silver at several places. Coal and salt are found in broad basins along the rivers. The west, embracing Herzegovina, has a Medi- terranean climate in the valleys. It is drained by the Narenta to the Adriatic Sea. The east, Bosnia proper, has severer winters and cooler summers ; rain occurs at all seasons. It is drained by the Una, Vrbas, Bosna and Drina to the Save, and belongs in all respects to the lands of the Danube. Bosnia and Herzegovina formed, before the conquest of the Turks, a separate kingdom, and from an ethnographical point of view they are still uniform. Their inhabitants belong to the Croatian branch of the Southern Slavs, but they are diversified by religion. Forty-three per cent, are Christians of the Eastern Church, called Servians ; 20 per cent, are Roman CathoUcs, called Croats ; and 37 per cent, are Mohammedans, called Turks, though there has been only a very insignificant Turkish immigration. The landowners, or Begs, are mostly Mohammedans ; the tenants, or Kmets, are Christians. This state of things has not been changed since the occu- pation, but the old system of despotism has disappeared, and the country, which twenty years ago had only bridle-tracks, has now an extensive net- work of excellent public roads, and some narrow-gauge railways, by which it is Connected with Hungary and the mouth of the Narenta. Different manufactures are now established ; mining is going on ; there are iron and salt works, and even paper mills. The population is growing rapidly ; and the average density of the population has increased from 59 in 1879 to 68 in 1885. The exports are wood, especially oak, plums and cattle. Sarajevo, formerly called Bosna Serail, is the flourishing capital, lying in a basin of the Upper Bosna, surrounded by high mountains. The chief place of Herzegovina is Mosiar, on the Narenta. STATISTICS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. {Withmit Bosnia and Herzegovina.) 1880. 1890. Area of Austria-Hungary (square miles) .. .. 240,942 .. 240,942 Population „ 37,883,609 . . 41,358,886 Density of population per square mile I57 . ■ 171 Austria-Hungary : Statistics 325 THE PEOPLE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY BY LANGUAGE (1890).! Austria. German 8,461,000 Chech, Moravian, and Slovak . . 5,472,000 Polish . . 3,719,000 Ruthenian Slovenian Servian and Croatian . Italian and Ladin Rumanian Magyar Gypsies , . 3,105,000 1,176,000 645,000 675,000 209,000 8,000 Total 23,895,000 Hungary. Total. 2,107,000 10,568,000 1,910,000 7,382,000 3,719.000 383,000 3,488,000 94.000 1,270,000 2,604,000 3.249,000 675,000 2,592,000 2,801,000 7,426,000 7,434.000 82,000 82,000 17,463,000 41,358,000 Imports Exports AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY (in dollars). 1876-1880. 1880-1885. 1891-1895. 277,000,000 234,000,000 273,000,000 257,500,000 302,000,000 321,000,000 STATISTICS OF AUSTRIA. 1880. 1890. Area of Austria (square miles) 115,925 .. 11S.925 Population of Austria 22,144,244 . . 23,895,413 Density of Population (inhabitants per square mile) 192 . . 207 POPULATION OF AUSTRIAN TOWNS. Vienna . 1,112,02s Prague 177,026 Triest 144,844 Lemberg . . 109,746 1.364.548 182.530 157,466 127.943 1880. i8go. Graz . . 97,791 . . 112,069 Briinn . . 82,600 . . 94.462 Cracow . . 66,095 . . 74.593 .Czernowitz 45,600 S4,I74 THE LANDS OF THE AUSTRIAN CROWN. Area Square Miles. Lower Austria . . . . 7,666 Upper Austria . . . . 4.631 Salzburg 2,763 Styria 8,668 Carinthia 3.99° Carniola 3.848 Tirol with Vorarlberg . . 11.313 Alpine lands . . . . 42,881 Bohemia 20,065 Moravia 8,584 Silesia 1.990 Eoian lands . . . . 30,639 Galicia 30,322 Bukovina 4.037 Carpathian lands . . 34.36° Maritime Provinces . . 3.079 Dalmatia 4.966 Dinaric laiids . . 8,045 1880. 2,330,621 759,620 163,570 1.213,597 348,730 481,243 912,549 6,209,930 Inhabitants. 8,279,701 5.958,907 571,671 6.530.578 647,934 476,101 1,124,335 1890. 2,661,799 785.831 173.510 1,282,708 361,008 498,958 928,769 6,692,583 5,560,819 5.843.094 2,153,407 2,766,870 565,475 605,649 8,725.613 6,607,816 646,591 7 254.407 695.384 527.426 1,222,810 Mean Density per Square Mile. 1880. i8go. 303 , 163 60 140 88 124 80 145 277 251 282 196 142 190 210 96 347 170 62 148 91 1J9 S3 156 293 264 306 285 218 161 225 106 152 STATISTICS OF HUNGARY. 1880. Area of the Hungarian Crown Lands; in square miles 125,039 Population of Hungarian Crown Lands Density of population, per square mile 15,739.375 126 From The Statesman's Year Book. 1890. 125,039 17,463,473 139 326 The International Geography POPULATION OF HUNGARIAN TOWNS. 1880. 1890. 1880. 1890. Budapest (without mili- tary) .. .. 360.551 505.763 Szeged .. .. 73.675 87,410 Szabadl^a (Maria There- siopol) . . . . 61,367 73,526 Debreczen .. .. 51.122 58.952 Pozsony (Pressburg) 48,006 56,048 Kolozsvar .. .. 29,923 34.858 Fiume and territory 20,981 30,337 Zagreb (Agram) . . 28,388 40,268 STATISTICS OF THE HUNGARIAN CROWN LANDS. Area Population. Density of Population square miles. 1880. 1890. 1880. 1890. Hungary Proper, with Tran- sylvania 108,258 .. 13,812,446 .. 15.232.159 •• 127 •• 139 Croatia and Slavonia .. 16,773 ■• 1,905,295 .. 2,200,977 .. 113 .. 130 Territory of Fiume . . . . 8 . . 20,981 . . 30,337 • ■ — • • — (For analysis of population according to language see Statistics of Austria-Hungary.) STATISTICS OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. Area of Bosnia and Herzegovina (square miles) Population ,, „ Density of Popuiatign STANDARD BOOKS. 1879- 1885. 19.734 19.734 ,158,453 1.336.091 59 68 H. F. Brachelli. " Handbuch der Geographic und Statistik des Kaiserthums Oesterreich." Leipzig, 1861. " Statistische Skizze der Oesterreichische-Ungarischen Monarchic." 13th edit. 1892. Grassauer. " Landeskunde von Oesterreich-Ungarn." Vienna, 1875. F. Umlauft. " Die' Ocsterreichiscla-Ungarisolie Monarchic. Geographisch Statistisches Handbuch." 3rd edit. 1896. " Die Lander Oesterreich-Ungarns in Wort und Bild." 15 small volumes. Vienna, i88o-8g. H. Neumeyer-Vukanowitsch. ** Oesterreioh-Ungarn nach eigenen Beobachtungen gc- schildert." Leipzig, 1885. A. Supan. "Oesterreich-Ungarn." Vienna, &c., i88g. " Die Osterreichisch-Ungarische Monarchic in Wort und Bild. Auf Anrcgung und unter Mitwirkung Seiner k. und k. Hoheit Kronprinzcn Erzherzog Rudolf." Vienna. 17 volumes. 1887-98 (in progress). CHAPTER XIX.— THE DANUBIAN AND BALKAN STATES ' By Dr. A. Philippson, Lecturer an Geography in the University of Bonn. I.— RTnUAlTIA Position and Boundaries. — The great mountain chain of the Carpathians on the east of Transylvania runs from north to south, turns at right angles towards the west, as the Transylvanian Alps, and again towards the south at the point where the Danube breaks through it in the gorge of the Iron Gates, and there the chain enters the Balkan Peninsula. The Carpathians form the western boundary of Rumania towards Hungary. The country includes the low plain on the east and south, which is physically part of the great plain of Russia. On the north the boundary is an artificial line towards Bukovina ; on the east the river Pruth separates Rumania from Russia, and on the south the Danube is the boundary towards Bulgaria. Rumania also includes the delta of the Danube and the district of the Dobruja, the coast of which is a low plain, bordered by lagoons on the Black Sea. Thus the country is the gate of the Balkan Peninsula towards Russia, stretching as it does from the Carpathian barrier to the Black Sea. Together with Russia it commands the mouths of the Danube, and with Bulgaria the lower course of that river, the greatest channel of inland navigation in Qentral Europe. Surface and Resources. — The great wall of the Carpathians, which rises in several summits above 8,000 feet, slopes down to the Jtumanian plain in beautiful wooded decHvities cut by the valleys of numerous rivers fed by the high rainfall of the region. The foot-hills of recent Tertiary formation contain important deposits of rock salt and petroleum springs. The province of Moldavia occupies the eastern foreland and forms a tableland sloping to the south, covered with the black earth of the steppes, and trenched deeply by the steep-walled valleys of the Sereth, the Pruth and other tributaries of the Danube. The province of Walachia occupies the southern slope from the Transylvanian Alps. It forms a low plain of pebbles and clay, which is crossed by the broad, flat valleys of rivers flowing southward or south-eastward to the Danube. The most important of these rivers is the Aluta, which rises in Tran- sylvania and breaks through the Transylvanian Alps. The left bank • Translated from the German by the Editor. 327 328 The International Geography W,\p ' Sv r^&i I 1 s?_ A /'^tiXKAff f^^^^^i S jf^?? 'ftU'^ "VS ^ Twitch. ^*'**^s^f£ w yF 3 ' Xi^^ it. _^^M^ '-■^ bI , i^^^vj"^ ™^ Kustenji ^fff^ri. ^^ "^1 y ip SP 50 *f sp Miles. of the Danube, which is here divided into numerous branches, forms a perfectly flat, marshy, alluvial plain, so that the river can only be approached at a few points, and there are very few towns upon it. The right or Bulgarian banli, on the other hand, is high and forms the site of several towns. The higher steppe-like plateau of the Dobruja causes the Danube to turn northward, and where it resumes its easterly course the delta, a- mere wilderness of swamps, begins at once. The most important mouths are, from north to south, those of KUia, Sulina, and St. George,; the Sulina mouth is that used by shipping, silting being overcome by engineering works. The Dobruja and south-eastern Wala- chia are mainly pastoral Steppes ; the rest of the Rumanian plain is very fertile, especially for grain. In' the hill-zone fruit and excellent wine are produced ; while in the mountains cattle-rearing and forestry are more important. FIG. i62.-The Mouths of the Danube. Climate.-In climate, as well as in soil, Rumania belongs to the region of the Russian Steppes. The winters are very cold, the temperature may even fall as low as -20° F. ; the summers are hot, the range of temperature being great. The rainfall is small and irregularly distributed throughout the year. It is heaviest in early summer (June), while the later part of summer is very dry. The mean temperature of the year at Bukarest is 51°, that for July 73°, and the extreme temperatures of the year are -6° and +94°. History. — The Rumanian region was inhabited in ancient times by the Thracian tribe called Dacians, and formed a -part of the Roman province of Dacig, When or how the Rumanian people, who speak a language closely allied to Latin, and call their country Romana, took their rise is doubtful. Some believe that they were originally Roman colonists, others that they were Romanised natives of the Balkan peninsula, who came into the country in the Middle Ages. Fig. 163.— Tfe Rumanian The independent principalities of Moldavia and ^'^^' Walachia date from the thirteenth century'; but later they came under the power of Turkey. During the nineteenth century Russian influence has been gradually increasing. The efforts of the Rumanian people- to secure their independence of both Powers led, after the Crimean 'War, to the union of the two principalities in 1859. By the Berlin Treaty of 1878 Rumania was obliged to give up Bessarabia to Russia, but received in return the Dobruja, and attained complete independence of Turkey. In 1881 it was declared a hereditary kingdom, the power of the king being Rumania 329 limited by a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies representing the people. People and Trade.— The great majority of the people belong to the Rumanian nation and the Greelc Catholic Church ; the remainder are nearly all Jews. The people live mainly by agriculture, the growing of wheat and maize being most important. Cattle-breeding also occupies a considerable part of the population ; there is very little other industry except salt-mining and the extraction of petroleum. Rumania is one of the most important grain-growing countries in Europe, 73 per cent, of its exports being grain, and the rest consisting almost entirely of other farm produce; The exports, which are considerably less than the imports, go mainly to Belgium, the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. The order of importance for imports is : Austria-Hungary, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. -The Danube shipping trade is of great importance to Rumania ; the chief seaports are the mouths of the river, the navigation of which is under the charge of an international com- mission meeting in Galatz. The Pruth is also navi- gable for a considerable distance. The railway system, with Bulcarest as its centre, is well de- veloped. Three lines enter the country from Austria- Hungary ; on the west at Orsova at the Iron Gates ; from Translyvania by the Predeal Pass (3,400 feet high) ; and on the north-east from Lemberg through Moldavia. Two lines cross the Danube to Varna and Constantsa (Kustenji), on „ , _ . the Blacic Sea, with direct communication to Con- ulation of a square stantinople ; and there are also two hnes into Russia. ""'" "■'' ^»"«««'a- Tov^ns. — The capital is Bukarest, in the middle of the Walachian Plain on the small river Dimbovitsa. It is first referred to in history in the fourteenth century, and since the seventeenth century it has been the capital of Walachia. The town has quite a western appearance, and is indeed one of the most elegant cities of southern Europe. In every respect it is the intellectual centre of the Rumanian people, possessing a university and other educational establishments. Eighteen forts protect the capital. North of Bukarest, on the railway to Transylvania, Ploesci stands at the foot of the mountains. In western Walachia, Craiova is the most important town. In Moldavia the chief towns are the provincial capital, Jassy, situated near the Pruth, and Botosani in the extreme north. The principal commercial harbours, particularly for the export of grain, are Galatz and Braila, on the left bank of the Lower Danube, not far from the mouths of the Sereth and Pruth. Constantsa, the only harbour of the Dobruja, has recently acquired importance for trade with Constaatinople. 330 The International Geography STATISTICS 1887. 1894. Area of Rumania (square miles) 50.54° • • 50.54° Population 5,500,000 .. 5,406,249 Density of population per square mile log . , 107 POPULATION OF TOWNS. 1876.1 1895. I 1876.1 189S. Bukarest . . 221,000 . . 232,000 Braila , . 28,000 . . 51.000 Jassy . . 90,000 . . 66,000 Craiova . . 23,000 . . 39,ooo Galatz .. 81,000 .. 57,000 I Ploesci .. 33,000 .. 37.ooo ANNUAL TRADE (in dollars). Average 1870-75. 1881-85. 1891 .95. Imports 16,500,000 . . 58,500,000 . . 79,000,000 Exports 30,000,000 . , 44,000,000 . r 59,500,000 II.— THE BALKAN PENINSULA General Features. — The Balkan Peninsula is the most easterly of the three great peninsulas of southern Europe, and, unlike the others, is united to the body of Europe along a long land boundary. In the west the Dinaric Alps and in the middle the Carpathians run into the peninsula which is bounded between them by the Hungarian Plain, and in the north- east by the plain of Rumania. The boundary of the Balkan Peninsula can best be drawn from the Gulf of Fiume to the source of the Kulpa, and along that river, the Save, and the Danube to the Black Sea. From this border the peninsula stretches as a broad quadrilateral towards the south. The Black Sea coast on the east is for the most part a steep, low shore, the only sharp indentation being the Gulf of Burgas in the middle. In the south-east it almost touches Asia Minor, being separated only by .the narrow river-like Strait of Constantinople (the ancient Bospotus), the small Sea of Marmora (Propontis), and the Strait of the Dardanelles (Hellespont). The south coast in the east is for the most part low and uniform, but in the west the deeply notched mountainous peninsula of Chalcidice projects and forms the Gulf of Salonica. The south-west corner is formed by the peninsula of Greece which is separately described. The west coast, facing the Adriatic, runs northward as a flat shore as far as the mouth of the Drin ; thence, north-westwards to Fiume, , it is mountainous, and bordered By a complicated series of longv narrow islands and peninsulas separated by straits and bays, and stretching for the most part parallel to the coast, a formation resulting from the partial submergence of a folded mountain region. The great importance of the Balkan Peninsula depends upon the fact that the channels separating it from Asia Minor are so narrow that it forms a bridge between Asia and Europe, connecting the mountain structure of the continents, and interposing no barrier to plants and animals, or human I These figures are estimates, not the results of a census. a No data for 1873. The Balkan Peninsula 331 movements. Through its channels it commands the communication between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and thus the " Eastern Question " has acquired its importance in modern European politics. Configuration. — Two great systems of folded mountains penetrate the Balkan Peninsula from the north ; one of these, the Balkan, occupies the north-eastern part ; the other, the Dinaric Alps (called after Mount Dinara in Dalmatia), occupies the whole western portion. Between the two extends the ancient crystalline mass of the Thraco-Macedonian Highlands, forming the nucleus of the peninsula (Fig. 165). The Balkan Region. — The Carpathians, turning southwards after having formed the boundary between Hungary and Rumania, are broken through by the Danube in a long picturesque gorge between Bazias and Turn Severin. The numerous rapids, the most dangerous of which is called the Iron Gates, were formerly a serious obstacle to shipping ; but the difficulties have now been removed by blasting and canalising (Fig. 158). South of the Danube gorge the Balkan range begins as the immediate con- llnuation of the Carpathians, and with a similar structure runs first south- wards, and then east to the Black Sea, shutting in the Lower Danube Plain on the south. The first section of the Balkans, running southward, occu- pies eastern Servia ; ranges of crystalline schist yielding iron, lead, and copper ore, alternate with broad, wild limestone ridges rising to 6,500 feet in height. The Central Balkans, on the contrary, form a long and nearly uniformly high central ridge, running eastwards, with rounded summits up to 7,800 feet in height. On the north this ridge is bordered by a broad zone of parallel folded chains of sedimentary rock which become gradually lower towards the plain. These bordering heights form the third or eastern section of the Balkans, after the main ridge has disappeared. The mountains sink gradually towards the north, but break away in steep slopes on the south to a series of fertile interment basins of which the most impoffant is that of Sofia. From the Sofia basin the river Isker flows northward.'icutting "through the Balkans in a narrow gorge. South of this series of b^aiii |§veral mountain masses rise parallel to the Balkan, and are named the Anti-Balkan ; Mount Vitosha near Sofia is the most important of these. The Bulgarian Foreland, stretching from the foot of the Balkans to- wards the north, is formed of horizon^l Cretaceous and Tertiary strata, coveiliiP?u:ith the fertile earth of the sfcppes, and well cultivated. The north-ffinl&ng rivers flow through deep, steep-walled valleys across the plateau, which forms a high bank where it meets the Danube. From the ferries on the river roads cross the tableland, and the wooded foot-hills gradually rising to the great barrier of the main ridge which is crossed by numerous easy but very important passes. On this account the high bank of the Danube, the valleys which furrow the Bulgarian plateau, and the Balkan passes, are the natural defensive lines of the peninsula and have been the scenes of many great battles. 332 The International Geography The Thraco-Macedonian Region.— In contrast to the younger folded mountains, the reKef of the ancient highlands of crysta,lline rock in Thrace, Macedonia, and western Servia is of an extremely irregular character. Here and there rounded mountain masses rise to a great height, while in other places the land forms broad, flat, undulating hills ; and the whole district is so penetrated by deep basins and river valleys that lofty mountains are often immediate neighbours of low plains. The valleys with their fertile soil naturally form the centres of cultivation and Unes of communication, especially where several basins approach each other so as to form a continuous furrow. One of these which traverses the whole peninsula from north-west to south-east is known as the Diagonal Furrow. It is formed by the broad valley of the Morava, flowing northwards to the river Danube, through the fertile hills of Servia, from which low passes lead through the basin of Sofia to the great river Maritsa flowing to the JE.gea.n Sea through the two most extensive basins of the Balkan Penin- sula in the ancient province of Thrace. The first of these is the extremely fer- tile plain of Eastern Rumelia, which stretches along the south of the Balkans ; Fig. 165. — Orographic Siritchtre of the Balkan Peninsula. and the second is the steppe-like basin of Adrianople, which reaches to the Marmora and .lEgean Seas, and is separated from the Black Sea by the low range of the Stranja hills. This great diagonal furrow was used for the old road, as it is for the modern railway,from central Europe by Belgrade to Constantinople and Asia Minor. Another important furrow, followed by a road and railway, branches southward from the Morava valley over a low pass, and the river Vardar, flowing along it, traverses several basins in Macedonia to the Gulf of Salonica. These two furrows diverging towards the south are the greatest highways of traffic and of industry in the peninsula, and in all ages they have been the sites of the greatest centres of population. Between the two stretches the wild mountainous district of the Rhodope, which in the north reaches a height of almost 10,000 feet in the peaks of Rilodagh and Muss- -- Political Boundaries "■ Mounfams ±K Chief Railways Boundary of ThracO' MaceOoniao Rtgion. The Balkan Peninsula 333 Alia. Upper Macedonia, west of the Vardar valley, contains the mass of Shardagh, the highest summit in the Balkan Peninsula, just 10,000 feet above sea-level. Both of these mountainous districts are intersected with numerous basins and fruitful valleys, some of which in Macedonia, particularly in the west near the Albanian frontier, contain large lakes. The Dinaric Region. — The west of the peninsula is occupied by the broad folds of the Dinaric Mountains, which, continuous with the Alps in the north, turn south-eastward and then southward parallel to the coast through Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, into the Greek peninsula. They consist of a great number of parallel chains for the most part of limestone formation, rising in places in jagged crests to more than 6,500 feet above the sea ; and in other places showing the pecuhar features of the Karst, swallow-holes and subterranean channels abounding on account of the solution of the rock. Stony and barren plateaux separated by longitudinal valleys following strips of softer schistose rocks, are characteristic features. The rivers Narenta, Drin, and Semen, break through the chains in wild inaccessible ravines. Com- munication with the interior is exceptionally difficult, as a traveller from the coast has to cross a succession of high ridges and deep valleys ; and, to add to the physical difficulties^ these barren mountain lands have always been the home of robber tribes. The mountain barrier on the west walled in the important and easily accessible trade routes from Hungary, Asia Minor, the .lEgean Sea, and the Lower Danube Plain, which have made the centre of the Balkan Peninsula a channel for trade, for the passage of armies and for the migration of peoples in all ages. This central part is rich in fertile plains, and mineral resources are not wanting ; so that the country is capable of supporting a dense and highly civilised population, were it not for the thousand years of confusion and misgovernment which have made it the least advanced part of Europe. Climate and Productions. — The Balkan Peninsula exhibits several varieties of climate. The centre and the east coast, as far as the Bosporus, are intermediate between Central Europe and the south of Russia, with winters as cold and snowy as in the east of Germany or in the north of Norway, the temperature often sinking below zero F. ; the summers, on the contrary, are as warm as in the south of France. The rainfall is less on the east coast than in the interior ; June is the wettest month, but rain is fairly uniformly distributed throughout the year. On the .(Egean coast the climate is that of the Mediterranean, with mild winters like those of the south of France ; the rainfall, especially on the south-east, is small, with a maximum in autumn and winter. The greatest contrast occurs between the interior and the west coast, which is exposed to the warm winds from the Adriatic and protected by mountains from the north-east ; the average January temperature, in the same latitude, is about 7° F. higher on the west than on the east. The rainfaU on the Adriatic coast is heavy at all seasons, 23 334 The International Geography especially in autumn. The typical Mediterranean vegetation of evergreen shrubs, olives, figs, oranges, and lemons, is luxuriant along the whole west coast, very poorly developed in the south, and altogether wanting in the interior, where the forests and fruits of central Europe take its place. In the east, particularly in the Adrianople Plain, there are steppes like those of Asia. The Balkan -Peninsula is also a meeting-place for European, Medi- terranean and Asiatic animals,; the wolf and bear are at home on the mountains, the jackal prowls over the southern plains, herds of buffaloes and Oriental fat-tailed sheep graze beside the ordinary European cattle ; but the camel has now almost disappeared. People and History. — In ancient times the Balkan Peninsula was occupied by two Aryan races, the Thracians in the east and the Illyrians in the west.; the Vardar Valley between them was the dwelling-place of the Macedonians of mixed Illyrian, Thracian and Grecian stock. The Greeks, who settled on the coast as sailors and traders, gradually spread over the south-east of the peninsula as far as the Balkans, introducing the Greek language and culture, although Latin was afterwards adopted in the north. Under Roman and Byzantine rule the land prospered greatly, and in the time of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople became the most renowned city in the world through its trade and industry. In the seventh century the Slavs from the north, pressing upon the declining empire, drove the Greeks back to the coast, the Romans into the distant mountains, and the Illyrians (the present Albanians) into the south-west of the peninsula. These Slavs consisted essentially of two peoples, the Servians in the west and the Bulgarians in the east : both accepted Christianity in the ninth century and gradually raised themselves out of barbarism into civilisation. The Bulgarians by the foiu'teenth century had made themselves masters of the whole peninsula, and were then conquered by the Servians, but their short supremacy was brought to an end by the invasion of the conquering Turks before whom the Byzantine Empire fell in 14S3, and Servia in 1459. The*heavy rule of the Turks put a stop to progress, and the subject peoples sunk into ignorance and barbarity, except on the north-west coast where Dalmatia remained in the possession of Venice and later passed to Austria. Comparatively few Turks settled in the interior, but many of the natives were perverted to Mohammedanism. In the course of the nineteenth century the oppressed nationalities were roused, with Russian help, to throw off the Turkish yoke, or to acquire some measure of independence. The present political condition of the peninsula was determined by the Treaty of Berlin which followed the last Russo-Turkish War in 1878. The Balkan Peninsula was by it divided into five States, (i) The north-western part of the Dinaric Mountains, including Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, attached to Austria- Hungary. (2) The small independent principality of Montenegro to the south. (3) On the east the kingdom of Servia around the Morava valley. (4) The principality of Bulgaria, under the suzerainty of the Sultan, occupying the north-eastern part of the peninsula on both sides of the Balkan Mountains. (5) The Ottoman Empire, or Turkey, in the south. Servia 335 The ethnographical boundaries do not correspond with the political. The Servians occupy the north-west, the Bulgarians the east, and Slavs of doubtful origin Macedonia. The ancient Albanian people remain by themselves in the south-west. Many Greeks live on the coast, and, with the Armenians, are settled as merchants in all the towns. Jews, descended from those who were expelled from Spain in the fifteenth century and still speaking Spanish, also occupy the towns as trades- men and merchants. The Turks are numerous only in Constanti- nople ; they live in small groups in Thrace, Bulgaria and Macedonia, and elsewhere as Government officials and soldiers. The Balkan Peninsula is thus the theatre of numerous races and religions, the adherents of which live in an atmosphere of fanatical hatred and political rivalry. --*! l^ ^ 1 ^ V i ^m [ ^^-^^^.^ ^ 4' El j^-J Loftdunng n*C«nUirjC3 ;; : ii: v, a FVount tcTntarj in Europe^ W'/r'y. f ifg ,^ «»«=, ' "^""^^1 Fig. i66. — The Shrinking of Turkey in Europe. III.— SERVIA History. — The Servians were the first of the Balkan peoples to recover their liberty from the Turks. As early as 1817 the land on both sides of the Lower Morava was formed into a principality under Turkish suzerainty, but the Turks occupied the fortresses till 1867. Repeated wars and internal troubles, the struggle between the dynasties of Karageorgevich and Obrenovich, ending in the victory of the latter, hindered the progress of the country. The Berlin Congress at last secured complete independence to Servia, and an important increase of territory in the south, including the upper reaches of the Morava above Nish. Immediately afterwards, in 1882, it was declared a kingdom, the power of the king being limited by a popularly elected Parliament, the Skupchina. Configuration. — Servia is separated on the north by the Save and Danube from Hungary and Rumania, on the west by the Drina from Bosnia, while the boundaries on the east and south are merely arbitrary lines drawn towards Bulgaria and the district still known as Turkish Old Servia, which was the nucleus of the Servian Empire in the Middle Ages. The east of Servia lies on the rugged chains of the Balkans, and is therefore very thinly inhabited, although containing copper. Fig. 167.— The Servian Flag. Fig. i68. — Average popu- lation of a square ■mile of Set via. 336 The International Geography lead, and iron at Maidanpek, and coal near Cuprija. The highlands of crystalline rock in the south include the Kopaonik Mountains, rising to 7,000 feet ; but western Servia consists of a hilly district of younger Tertiary strata, which extends to the Hungarian Plain. The hills are covered by beautiful oak forests interspersed with fertile fields. The Morava Valley, the great artery of commerce through the peninsula, with its tributary valley of the Western Morava, forms the best part of the country. The central position of this valley, commanding the entrance to the Balkan Peninsula from central Europe, to some degree compensates Servia for being completely shut out from the sea. Resources and Trade. — Servia is the most fertile and densely peopled of the Balkan States, but the want of tranquility and diligence amongst the people, and the violence of party strife in politics lead to maladministration and retard the progress of the country. Only 18 per cent, of the surface is cul- tivated, yet the people depend almost exclusively upon agriculture and the rearing of live stock, particularly of swine in the great oak forests. The exports, princi- pally of swine, fowls, dried plums (prunes), wheat, maize, and other farm products considerably exceed the imports of manufactured goods, and the external trade is practically with Austria-Hungary alone. Except for the undeveloped mines, there is no other industry in the country. Means of communication stand sorely m need of improvement ; the roads are bad, and the railway system is confined to the lines from Belgrade to Nish, and thence to Constantinople and Salonica, with a few unimportant branches. River trade, on the other hand, is important both towards central Europe, by the Save and Danube, and towards the sea by the latter river. The education of the people, who are practically all of Servian race, and belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, still leaves much room for im- provement. Towns. — Belgrade, the capital, is situated in a splendid position on a hill at the confluence of the Save and Danube, not far from the mouth of the Morava, and thus it commands the great artery of traffic between central Europe and the peninsula. It was formerly of great importance as a fortress, and was the scene of many battles in the Turkish wars. It now concentiatcs the national life of Servia ; it contains the Servian University and Government build- ings, but it is by no means a handsome town. The railway junction Nish on the Upper Morava is the only other town that requires to be mentioned. Fig. tfx).— Belgrade. Montenegro 337 STATISTICS. 1890. 1895. Area of Servia in square miles 18,650 , . 18,650 Population . . 2,i62,'759 .' .' 2,3i4iiS3 Density of population per square mile n6 .. 124 Population of Belgrade 54,249 . . 58,992 „ „ Nish 19,877 . . 21,049 ANNUAL TRADE OF SERVIA (in dollars). 1871-75- 1884-88. 1891-95. Imports 6,000,000 , . 8,000,000 . . 7,500,000 Exports 6,500,000 .. 7,500,000 .. 9,500,000 IV.— MONTENEGRO Position and Surface. — On the stony limestone mountains which rise above the steep coast of southern Dalmatia, the Black or Barren Moun- tains {Montenegro in Italian, Chernagora in Slavonic), a small and very poor tribe of the Servian race has always maintained its independence against both Turks and Venetians, and through their warlike spirit and frequent raids the clansmen have made themselves feared by the surrounding people. The nucleus of the little State is an elevated, stony, limestone region, a portion of the Karst, with a raw climate and possessing only a few patches of cultivable land scattered amongst the poor pastures. The natural entrance is by the steep ascent from the deeply cut Bay of Cattaro, which, however, is in Austrian territory. In the north-east the Karst plateau is dominated by huge limestone mountains exceeding 8,000 feet in height, and cleft by profound gorges, which form the boundary towards Turkey. In the south-east a well-watered and wooded schistose range, the Brda, rises to a similar height. By the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 the fertile and warm low plain of the river Zeta and the north shore of the Lake of Scutari, into which it flows, as well as a strip of coast west of this lake containing the harbours of Antivari and Dulcigno, were added to Montenegro. People and Trade. — On the low ground maize, fruit and wine are cultivated, but most of the Montenegrins, a tall, powerful and honest moun- tain people, make their living by cattle-rearing. The very small export trade is almost entirely with Austria-Hungary, and consists of products of the pastures. Many Montenegrins emigrate as workmen to other countries. The State, like the people, is very poor, and can only exist through the help of Russia. There is absolutely no industry, and in spite of all attempts at improvement, roads, commerce, and education are in a very backward state ; there are no railways at all. The hereditary Prince is an absolute monarch ; every man serves in the army in time of war, and almost all belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. The area of Montenegro is only 3,500 square miles, and the population about a quarter of a million. The capital, Cetinje (Cettigne), situated on the plateau not far from the Bay of Cattaro, and the larger town Podgoriiza, on the Zeta, are little more than villages. 338 The [nternational Geography Fig. 170. — Tlie Bulgarian Flag. v.— BULGARIA History and Constitution.— The national life of Bulgaria recovered later than that of Servia. It was only in the second half of the nine- teenth century that the Bulgarians began to try to escape from Turkish tutelage and from the influence and guidance of the Greek nation, and to found a national church, schools and Kterature. The Russo- Turkish War secured to the principality of Bulgaria an autonomous government under Turkish suzerainty, and the Treaty of BerUn in 1878 defined it as the land between the Danube and the Balkans, together with the Sofia plain and its surrounding mountains. The autonomous province of Turkey, Eastern Rumelia, formed at the same time, has been treated as an integral part of Bulgaria since 1885. The whole country is governed constitutionally, the Sobranye, or parliament, being elected by the people. Surface. — The form of the country is that of a rectangle directed from west to east, from Servia to the Black Sea. The Danube divides it on the north from Rumania, except the Dobruja. On the south the frontier follows the hUls which separate the plains of Eastern Rumelia and Adrianople, and zigzags across the northern Rhodope. The chain of the Balkans divides Bulgaria into two large parts — the Danubian-Bulgarian plateau in the north, with an extreme and dry climate but good soil for grain-growing, and the hill- girdled basins in the south. To the west a group of high valley basins with a raw climate surround the central Sofia basin. The eastern group of basins south of the Balkans, especially the Eastern Rumelian Plain, through which the Maritza flows, is warrn, well-watered, and fertile, forming the best part of the country. The Rilodagh and other moun- tains south of the fertile zone are wild and thinly peopled. People and Trade. — Bulgaria is the strongest and most settled of the Balkan States, in spite of some troubles resulting from past centuries of fig. 171. Average pop- misgovernment. A keen desire exists amongst ulation ^ a sqnate ii 1 i i.i_ ■ 1-1- • i ,• ""'" "/ Bulgaria. the people to annex the neighbouring part of European Turkey inhabited by Slavs, especially Macedonia ; hence the national interests conflict with those of Servia, Greece and Austria, and necessitate the maintenance of a large standing army. Three- quarters of the population are Bulgarians belonging to the Greek Ortho- dox Church, which is established under a separate Exarch. About half a million Turks still remain in the east of the country, but the number is being reduced by emigration, and the Greek element is con- Bulg; ana 339 siderable in the coast towns. The population is not yet nearly so dense as the fertility of the land can support, and consequently the peasants are in easy circumstances ; yet they are steadily improving their methods of agriculture. Maize and wheat are grown in Danubian Bulgaria ; in Eastern Rumelia rice, cotton, wine, and fruit, particularly plums, are also cultivated. Silk-gi-owing is a feature of this district, and the cultivation of roses is carried on to a very large extent for the extraction of the typical Oriental perfume, attar of roses. Sheep, goats, many cattle and buffaloes are kept. The woods on the mountains yield excellent timber ; and the water-power is utilised for industrial purposes, particularly wool-weaving and small ironworks. The mineral resources are insignificant. External commerce is more developed than in Servia, the exports consisting chiefly of grain, particularly wheat, pastoral products, and attar of roses ; it is carried on principally with Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The imports are principally manufactured goods from Austria- Hungary, • the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Germany. The Danube and the fairly good harbours of Varna to the north and Burgas to the south of the Balkans facilitate external trade. Numerous roads traverse the country in all directions. A railway connects Rushchuk on the Danube with Varna, and a branch from the great Orient railway, which traverses the Diagonal Furrow, reaches Burgas. A line in course of construction from Sofia through the Isker valley will be the first railway to cross the Balkans. To'wns. — The capital, Sofia, is situated in the basin between the Vitosh Mountains and the Balkans, at an important meeting-place of roads. It is very ancient, but has only begun to flourish since the in- dependence of the country ; it has been completely rebuilt after the style of a Russian town. Philippopolis is picturesquely built on an iso- lated basaltic height overlooking the Maritza in the middle of the Eastern Rumelian Plain. A series of fortified towns along the high bank of the Danube command the ferries. Rushchuk is the most important, but Vidin and Silisiria have played a great part in military history. Plevna in the east of the Bulgarian plateau was, from its commanding position, the scene of the decisive battle in the last Russo-Turkish War. STATISTICS. Area of Bulgaria (square miles) 37.282 Population of Bulgaria 3,154,375 Density of population per square mile 84 Population of Sofia 30,428 „ Philippopolis 33.032 „ Varna 25,256 „ Rushchuk 27,194 1888. 1893. 37,282 3,309,816 89 47,000 36,000 28,000 28,000 ANNUAL TRADE {in dollars). 1880-84.= 1891-95. Imports 9,500,000 . . 16,500,000 Exports 8,000,000 . . 15,500,000 ' It is to be noted that in commercial reports, throughout the East generally, Austria- Hungary is credited with a considerable amount of export trade which really consists of German goods sent by rail into the Balkan Peninsula (or by Triest). , " Before the annexation of Eastern Rumelia. 340 The International Geography VI.— EUROPEAN TURKEY Position and Surface. — The centre of gravity of the Ottoman Empire now lies entirely in Asia, only the crumbling ruins of former great possessions remain in Europe. It includes the greater part of Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, parts of Arabia, and exercises suzerain rights over Tripoli and nominally over Egypt and Cyprus. European Turkey now (Fig. i66) occupies a narrow strip of the Balkan Peninsula between Bulgaria and the JEgean Sea, the southern part of ancient Thrace, and in- the west a triangular area including Macedonia, Old Servia, and Albania, reaching to the Adriatic and bordered by Servia, Bosnia, and Montenegro in the north, and by Greece in the south. The western portion of Turkey is so shut in by the Rhodope Mountains from eastern Thrace that the two are only put in communication by the plain along the coast. The provinces have no common interests, they are peopled by a mixture of races, amongst which the Turks are in a minority, and they are only held together by the force of arms and the jealousy of the Great Powers. While the possession of the straits and the proximity of Asia Minor domi- nate the eastern part, and have led to it becoming the centre of both the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires, the Vardar valley in western Turkey supplies the line of communication between central Europe and the JEgezn Sea. The possession of the straits as an outlet for its Black Sea fleet is a great desideratum for Russia, and the control of the Vardar valley is of equal importance to Austria. The Greeks look upon Epirus and western Macedonia as belonging by right to Greece ; in Albania, Austrian and Italian interests oppose each other, and are met by the ambition of the inhabitants for an independent Albania. People, Government and Trade.— In spite of many reforms in details the methods of Turkish government still remain essentially Oriental, and foreign to modern principles. The Sultan is absolute master of the land and the people, his ministers and officials being responsible to him alone. Only Mohammedans possess civil rights, small as these are in such a State, and they have to bear the whole heavy Fig. iy2.—n,rktsh Naval burden of military service. The Christian popu- nstgn- jj^tJQjj jg pi-actically without rights. The Turkish administration shows by the arbitrary conduct, the acceptance of bribes, and the entire want of method on the part of the frequently changed officials, that it has never understood, and still does not understand, how to utilise or develop the rich resources of the country. The population lives almost exclusively by agriculture and cattle-rearing, very carelessly carried out and leaving much of the land unutilised. Almost all the land belongs to the crown, the church, or to large proprietors; the peasants live in the deepest poverty and ignorance, oppressed by heavy taxation. The chief European Turkey 341 Fig. iJi-— Turkish Mer- chant Flag. productions are grain, maize, flax, hemp, cotton, tobacco, silk, wine, and, on the coast, olives. Oxen and buffaloes are used as beasts of burden and for farm-work. The forests have been nearly destroyed, and are very badly managed. There is practically no industry except haind-loom weaving and artisan's work. Most of the trade in the towns, and almost all the shipping are in the hands of Greeks and Armenians, or of foreigners who enjoy the great privileges of freedom from taxation, and the protection of their consular courts. The roads are so bad and so little developed that large districts are unable to place their products on the market. Yet there are now a few important railways, including the lines from Belgrade by Sofia to Constantinople and to Salonica, and the line along the coast from Constantinople to Salonica and Monastir, and that from Uskub to Mitrevitza. The postal and telegraph systems are undeveloped and so unsatisfactory that the Great Powers have their own post-offices in the large towns. In spite of the exceptionally favourable geographical position of European Turkey, political conditions have prevented any developments of transit trade or shipping. The chief exports are grain, beans, fruit, honey, wax, wine, tobacco, wool, attar of roses, also carpets, arms, and leather goods. The chief imports are textiles, colonial wares, wool and coal, rice, petroleum and iron. The United Kingdom, France, Austria-Hungary, and indirectly Germany, have the chief trade with Turkey. The population consists in nearly equal parts of Turks, Greeks, Albanians, and Slavs (Bulgarians and Servians), and also a certain number of Rumanians, Jews, Cherkesses, Armenians, and Gypsies.- About half the population are Moham- medans, including the Turks and Cherkesses, most of the Albanians and some Bulgarians. The rest are principally Greek CathoUcs, and were formerly under the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople, but now most of the nationalities have a separate form of Church government. None of the Turkish statistics can be viewed as trustworthy, and all figures must be looked upon as mere estimates. The country is divided into a number of vilayets or provinces, the boundaries of which are arbitrarily drawn and frequently changed. The Bosporus.— The Bosporus forms the focus of the shipping routes between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and of the land routes between Europe and Asia Minor. It is a winding, river-like valley with picturesque slopes leading up on both sides to a level-topped plateau of schistose rocks. A strong current flows through it from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and the depth is more than sufficient for the largest ships. The beautifully 24 Fig. 174. — Average pop- ulation of a square mile of European Turkey. 342 The International Geography- wooded and cultivaed banks are lined witth towns and villages, castles and parks, ancient towers and modern forts which can stop the passage of a hostile fleet. In contrast to the rich fertility of the banks the plateau is bare and desolate. The southern end of the Bosporus is the great centre of population, and here the world-famous city of Constantinople surrounds the narrow curved inlet of the Golden Horn which forms a magnificent harbour on the European side, and the coast of the Sea of Marmora bounds a triangular hilly peninsula on which the Greek colony of Byzantium was founded about 700 B.C. The Roman Emperor Constantine, changing its name to Constantinople, made it the capital of the Roman Empire ; and as the metropolis of the Eastern Empire it became in the Middle Ages the most splendid and richest town in the world, the great meeting-place of East and West. The glory of those days is still recalled by the incomparable church of St. Sofia, now a mosque, the great city walls and other buildings. When the Turks conquered it in 1453, "Stambul" lost much of its commercial value, but it has always continued to be the centre of the Islamic as well as of the Greek Orient. Its beautiful mosques with their minarets commanding magical views of the city, the bazars, the public wells, the multi- farious street life, give to the town even yet a purely Oriental aspect. Here the Turkish element preponderates as the Greek does in the adjoining suburb of Phanar. On the contrary the suburbs of Pera and Galata on the northern side of the Golden Horn are quite European in appearance, and form the modern com- mercial city. Scutari on the opposite side of the Bosporus is entirely Turkish. Altogether these towns contain about a million inhabitants, half of them Mohammedans, the other half almost equally divided between Armenians, Greeks and foreigners, most of whom are Greek subjects ; about 5 percent, of the population are Jews. On the wider and less picturesque strait of the Dardenelles, also protected by numerous forts, stands the harbour of Gallipo{i. Eastern Turkey.— Compared with the neighbourhood of the straits, the whole of Eastern Turkey, the vilayets of Constantinople and Adrian- ople, are thinly peopled, except on the notable Maritza river which flows through a very fertile vallev. Where it enters the hill-girdled plain, and is rendered navigable by the junction of important tributaries, at the intersection of the Diagonal Furrow with the roads from the Balkan ^j^^4' X ^l^ '.r' , ...lfe£^ Fig. I7S.— The Bosporus. European Turkey 3^3 Passes, the town of Adrianople, the most important military post of European Turkey, has its site. Dede Agach is the harbour of the Maritza region, exporting grain on the ^gean Sea. From this point the railway to Salonica passes along the low coastland which, like the off- lying islands, is mainly inhabited by Greeks. The Rhodope Mountains in the north are inhabited by wild Pomaks or Mohammedan Bulgarians. The island of Thasos, although the nearest to Europe, is politically part of Egypt, while Samothrace, Imbros, Lemnos, and Strati, belong to Asia. Macedonia.— Macedonia, including the vilayet of Salonica and part of Monastir, is the best part of European Turkey. It contains many fertile hill-girdled ' plains ; and in the south-east gold and silver were formerly mined, but the mineral resources are not yet properly utilised. The principal products are grain, tobacco, and, on the coast, olives. On the coast and in the south-west the people are Greeks ; elsewhere the Slavs predominate, with a sprinkling of Greeks, Turks, Rumanians and Jews, and the strife of races is very acute. The important seaport of Salonica, inhabited mainly by Spanish Jews, stands at the outlet of the great Vardar valley. The other towns of importance are Seres, in the east, and Bitolia, in the fertile high basin of Monastir in the west. Old Servia, or the vilayet Korsovo, between Macedonia, Albania, Monte- negro, Bosnia, Servia and Bulgaria, on the upper tributaries of the Vardar, Morava, Drina, and Drin, contains an alternation of fertile hill-girdled valleys and high mountains. In this district Albanians, Servians and Bulgarians struggle and intrigue for supremacy, and on account of its com- manding geographical position it is of exceptional political importance. The north-western part forming the Sanjak (district) of Novi-Bazar, between Servia and Montenegro, is in the military occupation of Austria-Hungary. The chief towns are Prisrend, at the northern base of the Shardagh and Uskub on the upper Vardar, where the roads from Servia, Bosnia, and Montenegro to Salonica converge. Albania. — Albania, comprising the vilayets of Scutari, Janina, and part of Monastir, is a wild and inaccessible mountain-land descending on the west to a swampy and unhealthy coastal plain. Epirus, which belongs physi- cally to the Greek Peninsula, and is inhabited almost exclusively by Greeks, is included in Albania, and has quite a similar character. The Albanians are a warlike and very uncultivated people, whose speech has never up to modern times become a literary language ; they are divided into several tribes at enmity with each other, and many fall victims to family £euds and private vengeance. The authority of the Turkish jurisdiction is confined to the larger towns. The people are in almost equal parts Mohammedans, Greek and Roman Catholics — a. fact which places a very serious obstacle in the way of independence for Albania. The resources of the land are small, consisting of cattle-breeding in the interior, and olive culture in the coast. The principal towns are Scutari in tlie north on the Drin, not far 344 The International Geography from the coast and close to Lake Scutari; and Janina in the interior. In ancient times the harbour of Dyrrhachion (Durazzo) and Apollonia (Valona) carried on a great trade with Italy, but there are no Albanian harbours of modern importance. STATISTICS [estimates). Area of European Turkey in square miles 65,598 Population 5,864,000 Density of population per square mile 89 POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS. Constantinople (with European 5uburbs,ii885) 874,000 Salonica 150,000 Adrianople 71,000 Monastir 50,000 Prisrend 40.000 Gallipoli Janina Seres Skutari Uskub 30,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 20,000 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE -(fis^mato). Area in square miles. Turkey in Europe 65,600 Anatolia (Asia Minor) 200,000 Armenia and Kurdistan 89,200 Mesopotamia . . ' 100,200 Syria 115,100 Arabia . . i73.7oo Tripoli 398,700 Population. 5,864,000 9,000,000 2,457,000 1.350,000 2,677,000 6,000,000 1,300,000 Ottoman Empire 1.142,500 .. 28,648,000 Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Samos and Egypt are also considered to form part of the Sultan's dominions. VII.— GREECE Position and Boundaries. — The Greek Peninsula stretches south- ward from the south-west corner of the Balkan Peninsula between the ^gean and the Ionian Seas. The coast, which is almost everywhere mountainous, is deeply indented by great gulfs and by innumerable small bays which form a great number of excellent harbours. The country is divided by gulfs on opposite coasts into three parts. Northern Greece, Central Greece and the Peleponnesus ; the last named is connected only by the low and narrow Isthmus of Corinth, across which the Gulfs of Corinth and .<95gina are now united by a ship canal. Numerous islands diver- sify the ^gean Sea ; the sailor in passing from Greece to Asia Minor has always land in sight. The Ionian Islands lie along the west coast. While the barren mountains of the Balkan Peninsula effectually shut off Greece from overland trade, its position is exceptionally favourable for traffic by sea. Surface.— The Greek Peninsula is iiUed with the continuation of the Fig. 176.— TAe Isthmus of Corinth Ship Canal. Greece 345 mountain systems of the Balkan Peninsula (see Fig. 165). The folds of the Dinaric Mountains, with their long, parallel limestone ridges, separated by troughs of sandstone and schists, run through the west of the region, and are closely bordered by the wild Pindus range, which divides Greece as far as the Gulf of Corinth into definite eastern and western parts. The Dinaric mountain system also occupies the Ionian Islands and the greater part of the Peloponnesus, where Mount Taygetos reaches the height of 7,890 feet, and finally it turns and runs in a curve of islands towards Asia Minor, shutting in the JEgenn Sea on the south. The north-east of Greece is traversed by the continuation of the crystalline rocks of Thrace and Macedonia, which build the mountains of Thessaly, including the fabled mount of the gods, Olympus (9,800 feet). The east of Central Greece, Euboea, and north-eastern Peleponnesus are, on the contrary, mainly occupied by mountain chains of Mesozoic limestone stretching in curves from west to east ; the best-known summit of these mountains is Parnassus, rising in the very heart of Greece to the height of 8,060 feet. The Cyclades stretching to the east of the Peleponnesus are occupied by less abrupt and lower mountains of crystal- line formation. The steep and rugged highlands of Greece are cleft by many irregular depressions or rifts, the floors of which are sometimes occupied by the sea, sometimes by fertile plains or hilly ground. Strong earthquake shocks which originate in them often cause great destruction. Many of these basins are drained by subterranean channels in the limestone ; these sometimes get blocked and lead to the formation of lakes, which frequently disappear again after some years, but are often permanent. Although the little mountain-girdled plains take up but a small part of the area of the country, they have in all ages been the centres of culture. In this small region the sharpest physical contrasts are crowded together ; wild mountains and sterile limestone plateaux rise close to fertile plains and tranquil inlets of the sea. While this arrangement gives much variety and beauty to the landscape and is favourable for seafaring and to some extent for mining, it leads, on the other hand, to a low general average of productiveness and to the subdivision of the country into a number of separate provinces. Climate and Vegetation. — On the low grounds Greece enjoys the typical Mediterranean climate, hot and almost rainless summers with warm and rainy winters, although frost and snow are not entirely unknown. The rainfall is considerable in the west but small in the east, where the drought is often excessive ; there are few permanent streams, and in summer all grass and vegetation on the plains wither. Artificial irrigation is conse- quently necessary for successful fruit-growing. In the mountains rain falls in summer and much snow in winter. The vegetation of the plains con- sists principally of evergreen shrubs and occasional fir and oak woods. In the mountains there are some fine forests of conifers and oak, but at great heights the vegetation assumes an Alpine character. 34^ The International Geography History and People. — From the dawn of authentic history Greece has been inhabited by the Hellenic people {Greed, Greeks) a branch of the Aryan family. The intellectual supremacy of Greece in antiquity was the foundation of modern civilisation, and, from the material point of view, was not due only to the careful utilisation of the manifold though not rich resources of the country by a highly gifted people, but also to the fine situation of Greece for the trade of the early world between the ancient civilised countries of Asia and the newly opened lands of the western Medi- terranean. Side by side with the commercial, there was a great industrial development, and Greek merchants and sailors spread the culture of their people by founding colonies in every part of the then known world. During the last centuries of antiquity Greece lost its importance more and more on account of changes in trade routes ; while political subdivision and the small fertility of the land led to its gradual impoverishment and depopulation. In consequence of the destruction of woods and allowing the land to lie fallow, much of the soil was washed away by the heavy rains of winter and the old harvest-fields became useless. The inroads of barbaric tribes, the endless wars of the Middle . Ages, and lastly the tyranny of the Turks completed the ruin of the land. Yet Greece all along retained a certain importance in the trade of the Levant, and Venice held some of the best of the Greek islands and harbours on the coast for cen- turies against the Turks. In the course of the Middle Ages many Slavs and Albanians settled in the mainland, and many Italians on the islands ; but all of these gradually became assimilated with the original Greeks in speech and habit, until now only a few of the Albanians speak their original language. The reawakening of the Hellenes began late in the eighteenth century, and culminated in the spirited war of independence from 1821 till 1829. The result was the creation of the kingdom of Greece which contained only the Peleponnesus, Central Greece, Euboea and the Cyclades. In 1864 the Ionian Islands were ceded to Greece by the United Kingdom, and the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 extended its territory to the north so as to include the greater part of Thessaly. The northern boundary of Greece is now a line starting from the Gulf of Arta in the west, following the Arta river north- wards, then crossing the Pindus and the low ranges of Thessaly to the southern base of Olympus ; it does not coincide with the natural frontier, which should run from Cape Akrokeranian to Olympus and include the whole of Thessaly and Epirus. Crete and other neighbouring islands belonging geographically and ethnographically to Greece are also outside its limits. The Greek people indeed are scattered over all the islands and the coast of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. Government.— The population is almost entirely Greek ; it includes only about a quarter of a million Albanians in the east of Central Greece and the north-east of the Peleponnesus, and a few Rumanians in northern Greece The Greek Orthodox Church includes almost the whole Greece 347 Fig. 177. — Average fofu- lation of a square mile of Greece. people; it is an independent national church under a Metropolitan in Athens. Education is well cared for, and the number of illiterates is smaller than in any other part of eastern or southern Europe. The govern- ment is that of a very free constitutional monarchy, the parliament being chosen directly by the people. Party strife, frequent changes of ministry and officials, do serious harm ; yet, in spite of the great weakness of the government, the country has made immense progress since its indepen- dence, and the Greeks are the best-educated people and the highest in culture in the Balkan States. Resources and Trade. — Agriculture is the principal resource of the country, although the amount of cultivable land.is small (only about 18 per cent.), the warm.plains are of extraordinary fertility. The condition of the peasants is very good, except in Thessaly where large estates are the rule. Grain and maize are not produced in sufficient quantity to meet the home demand, but wine, olives, tobacco and fruit give an abundance for export, and some cotton and silk are also produced. The fruit most important in trade is the currant (the name is a corruption of Corinth) which is produced only in Greece and mainly in the west. The rearing of live stock, principally sheep and goats, the wasted forests and the fisheries do not yield enough for home needs. The only important products of the sea are bath sponges. Laurion, in Eastern Attica, is an important mining district ; emery is obtained in the island of Naxos, and inferior lignite occurs in Greece. No great industrial development is possible on account of the want of coal, water-power and capital. The merchant fleet is important and carries on a great part of the trade in the eastern Mediterranean ; and the foreign trade of Greece itself is considerable. One-half of the value of the exports consists of currants, then follow lead and zinc ores, 'wine, oil, tobacco, figs, sponges and valonia (acorns). The exports go principally to the United Kingdom, France, Ajastria-Hungary and the United States ; the imports, consisting mainly of grain, manufactures of all kinds, wood and fish, come chiefly from the United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey and Austria-Hungary. Traffic is mainly by sea along the coast ; the roads are in a very bad state, for the most part mere mule-tracks ; and railways are little developed. The only lines of im- portance are one from Athens across the Isthmus of Corinth to the Peleponnesus, where it branches to the west along the coast to Patras, and to the south. There are two lines in Thessaly, and a few local railways. Post and telegraphic communication are, however, weU pro- vided for. Fig. 178.— rfte Greeli Merchant Flag. 348 The International Geography Northern Greece. — Northern Greece includes the wild mountain district of the Pindus, except Turkish Epirus, inhabited by poor and some- times predatory herdsmen, and Thessaly to the east, the mountains of which surround the largest and most fertile plains of Greece. The land is comparatively ill-cultivated and thinly peopled, as it was only recently freed from Turkey. Still, since that time the province has made, surprising strides as the flourishing condition of its towns, Trikkala in the interior and Volo on the coast demonstrated before the last war, in 1896, had again thrown the province back. Central Greece. — Central Greece, although mainly mountainous in the west, contains some fertile plains where currant-growing is carried on in .^tolia. The chief harbour of the district is Missolonghi, lying on a great lagoon, and renowned for its heroic defence during the War of independ- ence, and for the death of Lord Byron whose verse celebrated the revival of Greek nationality. On the east there are some rich inland plains, par- ticularly in Boeotia, one of which contained the recently drained lake Kopais. Cotton is largely culti- vated in this district. Thebes, the old capital of Bceotia, is now merely a village. The large moun- tainous island of Eubcea is celebrated for its wine-growing, and is separated from the main- land by the very narrow Strait of Euripus. The south-eastern extremity of Central Greece, which projects as a peninsula, only shelters small stony plains between its mountains, which are low and barren, although rich in marble and ores. Six miles from the sea, in one of the little plains opening southward on the beautiful island-studded Gulf of jEgina stands Athens, the city which in ancient times embodied the highest development of Greek culture. Its material prosperity depended upon its position in the centre of the Greek world on the most important trade route which traversed the Gulfs of .^gina and Corinth uniting the trade of the .lEgean with that of , the West. After a long period of obscurity Athens is now once more the centre of the whole Greek nation. The brilliant and beautiful city is entirely modern, but built round the steep, rocky hill of the Acropolis with its splendid world-renowned ruins. Museums, educational establishments, including a university and a polytechnic, and other fine public buildings adorn the capital, while trade and industry have 'their seat around the excellent natural' harbour of the Pirasus which now forms a suburb of Athens. Peleponnesus. — The Peleponnesus, approached from Central Greece "W^^^^ ^ ^g/" rf^ '^M^^S^X I ^■=5 9W j/i-^e^^ ^!!l^^^>J^^ A"«. 5^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^3 ^^^^MJ fe % ^b^^^» J^i^^^^^ fv P/^f A\ \ aS^^f y*~/^ S^^^k^ "S*^ WM ni.j-^^^^^^^(^ 'i'^PfC 1^ y.^^^^ . XnjhAH^ -* M^ h^A I^^Q Fig. 179. — Athens and the Pirccus. Greece 349 by the Isthmus of Corinth, contains in the luxuriant plains of the north and west coasts tlie richest part of Greece ; the districts of Achaia, EHs and Messenia producing the greatest crops of currants, which are exported mainly from the harbour of Patras in the north-west. The plains of Laconia (Sparta) in the south-east of Argos, and Corinth in the north-east were important centres of ancient culture ; but tlie towns now known by these names are of small importance. The highland district of Arcadia in the interior also contains some fertile land. The Greek Islands. — The Ionian Islands, Corfu, Leukas, Cephalonia, Ithaca, Zante and Cythera are all mountainous in the middle, but round the heights there are zones of hilly land and plains of extraordinary produc- tivity in currants, wine and fruit. A large part of the Greek merchant shipping belongs to these islands. The good government which they long enjoyed under the Venetian Republic and the United Kingdom leaves its mark in their well-ordered affairs. The town of Corfu, with its splendid harbour, is specially engaged in the trade with Italy and Austria. The Greek Islands in the .lEgean Sea are on the whole of small fertility, yet the Cyclades, particularly Naxos and Santorin, produce excellent wine and fruits. Santorin is a ruined volcano, the great crater of which has been invaded by the. sea, and in the centre of it repeated eruptions, the latest in 1866, have formed several new small volcanic islands. Little Syra, in the centre of the Cyclades, contains the town of Syra, also called Hermoupolis, which has risen during the nineteenth cen- tury into the most important trading centre of the whole .^gean ; but it is now de- clining. Several small islands on- the east coast of the Peleponnesus, Hydra, Spetsae and Paros a;re inhabited by Albanians and carry on considerable shipping trade. |(5an^o«in Fig. 180. — Santorin. (Sea less than 100 fathoms is shown white.) STATISTICS. Area of Greece (square miles) ^5jIS| Population of Greece 2,187,208 Density of population (per square mile) 87 Population of Athens . . . . ■ 107,251 (with Piraeus and suburbs) . . . . 148,924 " PiriEus 34.327 Patras 33,529 Trikkala '4.820 Syra 22,104 Corfu 19.025 „ Volo ",029 ANNUAL TRADE OF GREECE \,.n dollars). 1871-75. 1879-83. Imports 20,000,000 .. 24,500,000 Exports 15.500.000 .. 13,500,000 1896. 25,152 2,433,806 96 111,486 179,755 43.001 37.985 21,149 18,760 18,581 16,788 1891-95. 22,500,000 17,000,000 350 The International Geography Fig. iSl. — The Cretan Flag of 1898. VIII.— CRETE Crete. — The Island of Crete (modern Greek Krifi, Italian Candid) forms part of the great curve of islands which bounds the ^gean Sea on the south. Three mountain masses, principally composed of limestone, occupy the island ; the chief being Mount Ida, 8,070 feet high. The' mountains fall steeply on the south to a harbourless coast, in the middle of which the only low ground occurs as the plain of Mesara. To the north they fall more gently, forming a hilly region of con- siderable fertility and ending in a richly in- dented coast. The climate is warm and the rainfall sufficient. Extensive herds are pastured on the mountains, and the plains yield grain, oil, wine and fruit plentifully. Crete has ac- quired particular importance on account of its position at the exit of the .^gean Sea, which made it in ancient times a great sea power, with, numerous thriving towns. In the Middle Ages it was for some time in the possession of the Arabs ; it decUned gradually in importance under the Venetians, and its ruin was com- pleted by the dominion of the Turks from 1669 to 1898. The island has now received autonomous government, guaranteed by the Great Powers, but it remains under Turkish suzerainty. A part of the population having become perverted to Mohammedanism, bitter religious feuds have led to continuous strife and bloodshed, in which the brave mountain tribe of the Sphakiotes took a conspicuous part. In spite of religious differences almost all the people belong to the same Greek stock, even the Mohammedans speaking no language but Greek. Before the revolution of 1896 about one- quarter of the population were Mohammedans, but now most of them have left the island. The people live almost exclusively by agriculture and cattle- breeding ; the principal products being wine, olive oil and carobs. The three towns of the island all lie on the north coast, and possess indifferent harbours ; Khania {Caned) in the west, Rethymnon further east, and the largest town, IrakUon (Megalonokastrom or Candid), about the middle of the coast-line. Suda Bay, with the best anchorage for shipping, lies a little to the east of Canea. [!:■ Fig. 182. — Average pop- ulation of a square mile of Crete. STATISTICS. Area of Crete in square miles 3,324 Population of Crete (estimated) 294,000 Density of population per square mile 89 Population of Candia 25,000 „ Canea 8,000 Rhetymnon 8,000 Crete 351 STANDARD BOOKS. Th. Fischer. " Die drei siideuropaische Halbinseln " in Kirchlioff's " Unser Wissen von der Erde." Vienna. F. Kanitz, "Serbien." Leipzig, 1868. " Donau, Bulgarien und der Balkan." Leipzig, 1882, K. Hassert. " Beitrage zur physischen Geographic von Montenegro." Gotha, 1895. A. Boue. " Die Europaische Turkei." 2 vols. Vienna, 1889. C. Neumann and T. Partsch. " Physikalische Geographic von Griechenland." Breslau, 1885. A. Philippson. " Der Peloponnes." Berlin, 1892. " Thessalien und Epirus." Berlin. 1897. 'Griechenland und seine Stellung in Orient." Leipzig, 1897. " Travels and Researches in Crete." 2 vols. London, 1865. "La peninsuledes Balkans." 2 vols. Brussels, 1886. English transla- tion, London, 1887. E. A. Freeman. "The Ottoman Power in Europe." London, 1877. T. A. B. Spratt. E. de Lavelaye. CHAPTER XX.— ITALY AND MALTA I.— ITALY ? 32 T Miles By Dr. Theobald Fischer,' Professor of Geography in the University of Marburg. Position and Geological History. — The Italian Peninsula, central amongst the peninsulas of southern Europe, owes its origin and configura- tion to the circumstance that a branch of the great Eurasian Earth-fold on the eastern edge of the old Tyrrhenian crust-block diverges in a southerly direction across the Mediterranean belt of subsidence, and only resumes the east and west direction of the Eurasian folds in the south in the present Sicily. This accounts for the configuration of Italy and its extent through 11° of latitude from 47° to 36° N. as a long, narrow land bridge across the Mediterranean Sea. The Appennines are perhaps the most recently formed moun- tains in Europe. The plain of Lombardy in the north took its rise from the elevation in Quater- nary times of a deep gulf of the Adriatic Sea be- tween the Alps and Appennines, combined with the accumulation of the sediment brought down from both ranges by glaciers and rivers. The Quaternary uplift also brought together the severed portions of an older pre-Miocene Appennine range which had not been incorporated by the last folding movement ; thusGargano and the Apulian Cretaceous plateau in the south- west were united with the Appennines. A portion of the Appennine land ' Translated from the German by the Editor 352 Appennine forelands ^Alluvium K^ Remnanfs of Tyrrhenian crust block. ^^ Fold system of Alps and Appennines. Fig. 183.— Tectonic Map of Italy. Italy 353 separated in the Pliocene epoch by a rift, being cut off at the same time by a similar dislocation from the continuation of the Appennines in Tunisia, forms the present island of Sicily. The Malta group, Lampedusa, and the .(Egadian Islands at the west end of Sicily are all that remain of the great Tertiary plateau which once united Sicily with Tunisia. Only fragments are left of the ancient mass of Tyrrhenia which lay to the west of the present Appennine lands, and in the course of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods gave rise by direct subsidence to the vast depression now occupied by the Tyrrhenian Sea. Some of these relics were attached to the Appennine lands by the latest crustal movements and form the plateau of Tuscany, Calabria and the north-east of Sicily, while the twin islands Sardinia and Corsica represent a portion left standing in the middle of the depression. Natural Divisions and Coasts. — Italy consists of three parts : the Continental — including the slopes of the Alps and Appennines towards the northern plain — the Peninsular, and the Insular. The two latter form more than two-thirds of the whole, and even in continental Italy the distance from the coast is so small that 80 per cent, of the whole country is within 62 miles of the sea ; Turin is 65 miles and Milan only 75 miles from the coast. Italy is separated from central Europe by the gre^t wall of the Alps, and it is as a whole a maritime Mediterranean country. The detailed structure of the coast emphasises this character by its remarkable richness in natural harbours, particularly on the west, where the bays of Genoa, Spezia, Talamone, Gaeta, Naples, Salerno, Policastro, Santa Eufemia, Palermo, and Castellamare succeed one another. The numerous islands off the coast include Elba, a remnant of the ancient Tyrrhenia, and the volcanic groups of Ponza, Ischia, and the Lipari Islands, which beautify the surface of a sea rich in fisheries and precious coral. While the land frontier of Italy measures only 1,200 miles, the coast stretches for more than 4,000. Except on the shallow shores at the head of the Adriatic, the coast is everywhere easily accessible from the interior, and is as a rule bold and rocky with picturesque promontories furnishing magnificent landmarks and offering fine sites for lighthouses visible far to seaward. On the west coast only the northern part from Spezia to the Gulf of Gaeta is flat and swampy,-, making artificial harbours necessary at Civita Vecchia and Leghorn. The population of Italy is generally dense along the coast, and more than 16 per cent, of the present population live within three miles of the sea. Value of the Position and Resources of Italy.— Italy, as a whole, looks towards the west, and in a sense towards the east also, although, so to speak, the peninsula turns its back upon the Adriatic, which is only no miles wide on the average, and at the Strait of Otranto less than fifty. The country is singularly well placed for communication with the eastern Mediterranean and the Suez Canal on account of its fine eastward-facing harbours of Venice, Brindisi Taranto, Messina, and Syracuse. From Sicily and Sardinia com- 354 The International Geography munication with the north coast of Africa is easy, the distance from Sicily being less than loo miles. With continental Europe there is land communication by the Alpine roads which converge on Turin, Milan, and Venice. These many-sided relations make the geographical position of Italy exceptionally favourable for commerce, and on this account it became the focus of the trade and civilisation of the narrow world of antiquity and the Middle Ages. It is to-day the very heart of the Mediterranean lands and plays a great part as a link in the chain of communication between north-western Europe and the Far East. Italy may become one of the real Great Powers only if it succeeds in commanding the Mediterranean by its naval forces. The Italian people are directed to the sea as their field of enterprise the more distinctly because three-quarters of the surface of the land is built up of geological formations not older than the Tertiary period, and consequently there is little mineral wealth. No coal is found, and the sulphur deposits which occur mainly in Sicily are the most valuable mineral resources ; they supplied till a short time ago most of the sulphur used throughout the world. The marble quarries of Massa, Carrara, and Serravezza are of great value. Iron-mining is only important in the relics of the ancient Tyrrhenia in Elba and Sardinia. The industrial value of the country is due to the production of a few important raw materials — silk, flax, hemp, and straw — to the economy of sea-transport, the cheapness of labour in a country with so rich a soil and so genial a climate, and at the present day to the utilisa- tion through electricity of the important water power made available in the Alps and Appennines. Configuration of the Alps. — Since Italy is mainly composed of the Appennine range with which the inner slopes of the Alps unite, it is on the whole a mountainous land. Only one-third of the surface is made up of plains, most of this being the great Plain of Lombardy. The Itahan Alps (Fig. si), usually named after the provinces of the neighbouring plain, e.g., the Alps of Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venetia, tower into lofty summits and aBound in snow-fields and glaciers. Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa rise on the boundary line. The Alpine chain is trenched by numerous transverse valleys running parallel to one another, formed by the erosion of the Po and its b-ibutaries the Dora Baltea, Sesia, Ticino, Adda, and further east the Adige and Tagliamento, by which roads are carried through the border- ing mountains up to the important passes across the Alps — the Mt. Cenis, Simplon, St. Gothard, Spliigen, Maloja and Brenner. Where the valleys meet the plains they are often occupied by long, narrow lakes along which the Alpine roads run through scenes of famous beauty. The upper Italian lakes, especially Lago Maggiore, Lago di Como and Lago di Garda are not only important as pleasure resorts but they form the great reservoirs for the rivers of the plain. Configuration of the Plain.— The Plain of Lombardy is a long, narrow trough formed by subsidence between the Alps and Appennines, Italy 355 which inclines eastward towards the Adriatic as well as inwards towards the central line along which the river Po flows. In the middle of the plain beautiful groups of small hills arise, especially the Monti Berici near Vicenza and the Colli Euganei near Padua, both of which are remains of old volcanic activity, on the inner side of the great crack between the Alps and the plain. The Montf errato hills between Turin and Alessandria in which La Superga rises to 2,140 feet, commanding a splendid view across the plain, are orographically separated from the Appennines by the broad valley of the Tanaro, which occupies a synclinal fold of the Appennine system. These hills give a special character to the Piedmont portion of the plain. A hilly region, for the most part made up of old moraine amphitheatres set with small lakes and moors, the peat of which is already in most cases exhausted, runs close along the base of the Alps, the perfect form of the plain first appearing at some distance further out. The many rapidly flowing rivers, the rich cultivation and, in a special degree, the wealth of forests together with the many towns and villages and the views of the encircling mountains free this part of the plain from any appearance of monotony. All the rivers flow towards the central line running from west to east formed at first by the Dora Riparia and from Turin onwards by the Po, which, from its volume of water and the force of its flow, has drawn their lower courses in an easterly direction as is shown in the Ticino, Adda, Oglio, and Mincio, while the Adige has been completely turned aside and pursues an independent course eastward across the deltaic plain. Although as true torrential rivers the streams of the Plain of Lombardy do not attract population to their banks, their valleys have played an important part as strategic hnes in time of war. Configuration of the Appennines.— The Appennines present a fine example of a folded mountain chain broken off abruptly on one side by the sunken area of the Tyrrhenian depression. The parallelism of the successive chains is clearly shown in the northern and central Appen- nines by their arrangement en echelon so that the general south-easterly trend of the chains, like the wings of a theatre, pushes a more easterly before a more westerly which gradually falls off in height and is finally broken at the Tyrrhenian trough. Each chain thus forms a portion of the watershed until that function is taken over by a more easterly. In this way— and not as a simple chain— the mountain wall, which serves also as a dividing line of climates. Fig. 184. — The Plain of Lombardy. is formed between Genoa and 356 The International Geography Ancona, and about the 44th parallel separates Northern and Central Italy. The Northern Appennines are usually separated into the Ligurian and Etruscan from the Col di Cadibona (1,600 feet high) which separates the Ligurian Appennines from the Alps, to the Bocca Serriola ,(2,400 feet). They have a small elevation both for crest and peaks, the highest summit being Monte Cimone (7,110 feet) which is crowned by a meteorological observatory. The northern section of the range is formed throughout of Tertiary strata, mainly clay, which, in spite of the moderate elevation of the passes (rarely above 3,000 feet) makes the construction and maintenance of roads very difficult. This is true, indeed, for the whole range of the Appennines as far as Sicily. Throughout the whole range also, the outer or eastern side is cut into blocks by the valleys of parallel streams which flow at right angles to the direction of the chain, e.g., the Trebbia, Panars, and Reno, while on the inner or western side the rivers have been developed in the longitudinal valleys of the mountain-folds where they form a few large drainage systems and are much longer than those of the other slope. The chief western rivers are the Magra, Serchio, Arno, Tiber, Garigliano, Volturno, and Sele. The Central Appennines may be divided into those of Umbria and the Marches in the north, and those of the Abruzzi in the south. They are very clearly distinguished from the Northern Appennines by the absence of the numerous intrusions of serpentine which distinguish the former, and by the increasing prevalence of limestones, principally Cretaceous, which give rise to steep bald slopes and wildly rugged crests and peaks. These have suggested the erroneous idea that the Appennines are a lime- stone range, whereas they really are mainly argillaceous. From Monte Nerone to the Matese mountains the country exhibits the karst phenomena of lakes, caverns, and powerful springs which give rise to permanent rivers. There are signs also of great vertical displacements or faults which here play an important part in mountain building. These dislocations are associated with the increased frequency and force of the earth- quakes experienced towards the south. The Central Appennines contain some high summits, chief amongst which is the Gran Sasso d' Italia, 9,583 feet, and there are many peaks exceeding 8,000 feet. On the Tyrrhenian side the development of numerous folds of gentle curvature in the main chain forms extensive highlands such as those of Umbria and Abruzzi with sharply defined longitudinal valleys in which the rivers flow, and depressed interment basins. The Southern Appennines, beginning at the Vinchiaturo Pass (1,800 feet), may be divided into a Neapolitan and a Calabrian portion. The Neapolitan Appennines are characterised by the outcrop of older Triassic limestones along the whole Tyrrhenian side and by plateaux made up of flat-lying recent Tertiary strata, particularly on the eastern side. Traffic across the range is impeded not so much by the height of the passes (the two Italy 357 important railways from Campania to the Apulian plain at Foggia and to the Gulf of Taranto hardly reach an elevation of 2,000 feet) as by the narrowness of the defiles which in former times played their part in military history, and later opposed great difficulties to the construction of railways. Monte Polino, with an elevation of 7,450 feet, rises in rugged limestone peaks above the valley of the Crati, which separates it abruptly from the gentler forms of the Archaean rocks of Sila in Calabria. The drainage of the Southern Appennines runs in regular parallel valleys of erosion eastward to the Adriatic, the Biferno Fortore and Ofanto, or south- ward to the Gulf of Taranto, the Bradano Basento, Agri, and Sinni. The Calabrian Appennines are mainly composed of fragments of the ancient Tyrrhenian crust-block, with remains of ancient sedimentary strata on the eastern side which formed a group of islands in Pliocene times and were only united by a Quaternary uplift as a narrow land bridge rising from a great depth between the Tyrrhenian depression on one side and the yet greater Ionian deep on the other. The flanking Tertiary zone of the Appennines is in this part submerged in the Ionian depression and only reappears in Sicily where it forms the broad southern slope of the island. The Calabrian range consists practically of the masses of the Sila mountains and of the Aspromonte. No point of it quite reaches 6,500 feet ; its rounded, massive forms are explained by the gnejsses, crystalline schists and granite of which it is composed. A usually narrow zone of the most recent formations borders the ancient rock masses ; it is built up principally of the deltaic fans of the torrents and forms a coast line without shelter, so that Calabria remains a closed land to this day. The Appennine Foreland. — A broad, low foreland formed by the unsubmerged border of the Tyrrhenian depression and gulfs filled up by river and volcanic sediments lies along the Appennine region from the Gulf of Spezia to that of Policastro. The line of fracture separating the two is distinct both orographically and hydrographically : all the rivers follow the longitudinal valley to which it gave rise, after leaving the Appennine region, and it is also one of the most important lines of communication in Italy, along which a railway runs from Pistoja and Florence to the Vallo di Diano which separates the mountains of Cilento from the Appennines. The broad belt of land cut off by this valley is partly composed of surviving fragments of Tyrrhenia, such as the highlands of Tuscany, partly of sunk portions of the Appennines, like the Lepini and Cilento mountains, and partly of small volcanic cones and craters contain- ing lakes, such as the Albanian mountains and the Phlegraean fields with Vesuvius (Figs. 191 and 192), and finally of elevated portions of the sea-bed covered with volcanic ejecta, such as the plains of Rome and Cam- pania, or river sediments of the Arno, Tiber, &c. As the Tyrrhenian Appennine foreland was first brought into contact with the Appennine region in the Quaternary period so also was the much lower foreland 358 The International Geography on the Adriatic side. At the beginning of that period a strait ran from the Gulf of 1 aranto through the Plain of Foggia to the Adriatic and here, where a transverse fault crossed the great longitudinal crack, the mass of Monte Volturno (4,265 feet) was upheaved. From the depression, which is still easily recognisable, rise the heights of Monte Gargano and the chalk tableland of Apulia (Le Murgie) a poorly watered karst-land rendered very fertile in parts by a covering of loess. The Italian Islands. — Of the many straits which divided the south of Italy into islands in Pliocene times only one, the Strait of Messina, has resisted the great Quaternary upheavals whose action produced the wonderful terraced scenery of Calabria. The Strait of Messina was produced by an exceptionally deep-seated fracture, which accounts for the severe earthquakes still experienced in Messina and Calabria. The crossing of this fracture by the fault which gave rise to the steep south-eastern scarp of Calabria is marked by the upheaval of the greatest of the Mediter- ranean volcanoes — the giant mass of Etna, which towers to the height of 10,740 feet. The triangular island of Sicily resembles the Appennine region in having its steepest slope to the Tyrrhenian depression out of which rise the volcanic Lipari Islands. This steep northern side is composed like southern Italy of Triassic formations, while on the outer side towards Africa soft Tertiary rocks, rich in sulphur, form a gently sloping tableland with a mean height of 1,450 feet which has been cut into a chaos of rounded hills by river-erosion and denudation. Except Etna, no mountain in Sicily attains 6,500 feet, and the highest summits all lie in the well-watered district near the north coast, the scenery of which is remarkably varied and picturesque. Its agricultural resources make this the most densely peopled part of the island, and in the strip of land from the sea-shore to the height of 160 feet the density of population reaches 2,530 per square mile. Only the Peloritanian mountains in the extreme north-east of Sicily can be viewed as a relic of the ancient Tyrrhenia, but the whole of Sardinia is a portion of that vanished land. Sardinia is mainly composed of ancient crystalline rocks, especially granite ; but in the south there are Palasozoic strata rich in copper and silver-lead ores, and on the west side recent eruptive rocks appear. The island is almost all occupied by mountains covered with wasted forests and undergrowths, and with a raw climate, although no point reaches the height of 6,000 feet. The small plains are swampy and malarial, and of the little islands only Caprera, the dwelling- place of Garibaldi, need be mentioned. La Maddalena, now united to Caprera by a bridge, has been converted into a naval station commanding the Strait of Bonifacio. Climate. — Its climate makes Italy one of the most favoured lands of the Earth, and the garden of Europe. The great wall of the Alps protects it from the northerly winter winds and from continental influences. The Appennines from Nice to Ancona form a second line of climatic defence, and the whole land is open to the south and to the equalising influence of the Italy 359 --. ,...M. ..«.,.,». «>....S„.»..„.„.,^ eo 76 •70 u so 66 60 4B 40 36 ao ae u 10 B 7 e 6 « 3 2 1 / ^ s -A / S \ // \, \ y f \ --' / / -1 \ \~ '/ f ■ _ l=s- \ ^ ■ Turin Naples Fig. 185. — Rainfall and Tempera- tun of Turin and Naples. Mediterranean, a sea filled to its greatest depth with water over 50° F. in tem- perature. The winters are milci everywhere, even in the Plain of Lombardy, and south of the Appennines the temperature seldom falls to the freezing point, and never goes far below it, while January in SicHy is like May in England. South of the 40th parallel the prevailing wind in summer is northerly, and tends to moderate the heat. The protection of the mountains forms . veritable climatic oases close to the foot of the Alps, on the Ligurian coast, and at Amalfi and Salerno. Yet even in Sicily a little snow is no very rare occur- rence. On account of the position of the Atlantic high pressure area to the north of Italy in summer and to the south in winter, the Italian summer is deficient in rain, and there is an accumulation of rainfall in winter, but towards the north the summer rainfall is not so deficient, and in some places at the foot of the Alps there is not much difference in the amount of precipitation in spring, summer, or autumn. In Sicily and Sardinia from 35 to 40 per cent, of the annual rainfall comes in the winter months. Hence the rivers, except those fed by the powerful springs of the limestone regions, are remarkably variable in volume. Floods and inundations occur in the rainy period with very high water during autumn, especially in the rivers flowing from the Alps, but in the centre and south of Italy the rivers are little more than dry stony beds during summer, and artificial irrigation is rendered necessary. The distribution of rainfall is determined by the configu- ration of the land. It is greater on the Tyrrhenian than on the Adriatic slope ; greater on the southern margin of the Alps than on that of the Appennines, but greatest on the slopes of the mountains near Genoa, where it is 51 inches, and at Tolmezzo in Friaul, where it reaches 100 inches. The rainfall of northern Italy may be stated as about 40 inches on the average, that of central Italy about 32 inches, and of southern Italy not much more than .27. Malaria, which is characteristic of all the Mediterranean lands, is particularly common in Italy, and is the greatest drawback to a land otherwise so favoured. Only six of the 69 provinces— Porto Maurizio, Genoa, Messa-Carrara, Florence, Pesaro, and Piacenza— are entirely free from malaria. It makes large areas un- FlG. 186. — The Malarial Districts of Italy, shown in stipple. 360 The International Geography inhabitable and uncultivable in spite of the fertility of the soil, which can only be utilised for winter pastures, and it hampers the railway service. One-sixth of the popnlation of Italy suffers from malaria, which causes 14,000 deaths per annum. ' Flora and Fauna. — The flora of Italy is that typical of the Mediter- ranean iregion, at least so far as regards the centre and south, and along a broad belt of the west coast south of Liguria. It includes evergreen trees of kinds fitted, to withstand the long drought ; and the olive may be looked upon as the most characteristic growth. The olive is .excluded from the Plain of Lombardy by the comparatively severe winter ; but it appears along the immediate foot of the Alps, especially round the borders of the lakes, and it surrounds the whole coast of Italy, growing in Liguria to altitudes of nearly 2,000 feet, and in Sicily to 3,000 feet. The flora of central Europe prevails in the Plain of Lombardy, and in the mountains ; in Sicily there are forests of chestnut trees between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, and of beech from 3,000 to 5,500 feet. The Mediterranean belt is charac- terised by the evergreen oak and pine, the Aleppo-pine, cypress, and especially a number of low evergreen and often thorny aromatic shrubs. The fauna of Italy is poor, and has little of geographical interest. The reptiles (lizards), however, are almost too abundant, and so are the snails. People. — The favoured land of Italy has been the goal of many migrating peoples both from the north and south, yet they all adopted one language, and at present unity of speech prevails in Italy to an extent unapproached in any other country of Europe. The people is ethnically remarkably mixed, and the contrast between the northern and southern Italians is very great. The mixture of races may be traced back to the great Roman trade in slaves, by which Phoenicians, Greeks, Berbers and Arabs from the south were brought into contact with Kelts, Germans, and Slavs from the north. Five ethnical groups are now believed to have inhabited prehistoric Italy. These were the Iberians in Sardinia, the Ligu- rians in Liguria, the Italians in the greater part of central and southern Italy, the Illyrians, in Venetia and Apulia, and the Etruscans, amongst whom the ^e/fe intruded themselves, in the Plain of Lombardy. All of these adopted the Latin language in the Roman period, but to this day traces of the primitive physical types may be recognised in the local dialects of Italian. In the south, especially in Sardinia and Calabria, the physical type is narrow-skulled (dolichocephalic), of short stature, with dark complexion and hair, while in the north the type is on the whole broad-skulled (brachy- cephalic), tall, fair, and light-haired. Of the dialects of ItaUan, Tuscan is considered the purest form of the language. In the valleys of the western Alps about 120,000 people still speak French, and in the east half a miUion Friaulians preserve their Rhasto-romanic tongue. A few German settle- ments in the Alpine valleys and some Slavs in Friaul and Abruzzi are almost all bilingual. There are also a few Albanians in Calabria and Sicily, Italy 361 Fig. 187. — The Italian Naval Ensign. some Greeks in Apulia, and about 40,000 Jews, mainly in northern Italy and in Leghorn. Reckoning the Friaulians as Italians, there is a foreign population of only 1 per cent, on Italian soil, while about 5 per cent, of the Italian people live abroad, about one million in North and South America, and the others mainly in Switzerland, Austria, Corsica, and Malta. History and Government.— The historical subdivision of Italy stands in the sharpest contrast to the physical unity and isolation of the land. The Romans united Italy first politically and then linguistically ; the splitting up commenced with the fall of the Empire, and led to the establishment of foreign rule over larger or smaller areas by the Germans, Spaniards, French, and Austrians. Yet in spite of this the linguistic and intellectual individuality of Italy was never lost, and in the Middle Ages Italian influence on the rest of the world, on account of the power of the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church, was hardly less than in Roman times. In maritime trade the Republics of Amalfi and Pisa, and still more those of Venice and Genoa, dominated the world until the sixteenth century, and they also centralised a large share of the land- trade of Europe. In recent times Italy was united after the war of i860, when six of the independent States combined to form the kingdom of Italy as a constitutional monarchy. To this Lonibardy was added, and Venetia in 1866, both being reconquered from the Austrians, while in 1870 the last remnant of the Papal States was incorporated and Rome became the capital. The kingdom of Sardinia was the nucleus around which the united nation crystallised. The new kingdom was subject at first to great dangers and difficulties, not least those due to the fact that the citizens had not been trained to freedom and self-government, while a heavy national debt has involved excessive taxa- tion under which the country still suffers. Economic Geography. — Italy is destined by nature to be an agricultural country. The cUmate allows of all the crops of Europe and many of those of the tropics being grown, while in Sicily, by artificial irrigation, seed-time and harvest may occur at all seasons of the year. In the Campagna the irrigated meadows may yield as many as ten crops in the year, and in Lombardy from four to six. In almost all parts of the country two or three harvests can be reaped in one year from the same land. Artificial watering is very important in the north where the object is to increase the yield of the crops and to allow rice to be grown in the Plain of Lombardy, and in the south to allow of the growth of oranges and lemons. The irrigated area is nearly 8,000 square miles, and it can still be greatly increased. The yield is enhanced two or three-fold on the average, and as much as twenty-fold in Sicily, on account of the growth of oranges and lemons. The cultivation of southern fruit trees, especially of the olive, to which alone 3,500 square miles are devoted, gives to whole -The Merchant Flag of Italy. 362 The International Geography countrysides the appearance of well-cultivated gardens. Terrace cultiva- tion also is a characteristic of Italian agriculture. Wheat of exceptional quality is raised in Sicily, rice and maize are more grown in the north. Vineyards occupy about 8,000 square miles, and Italy is second only to France as a wine-producing country. Yet agriculture no longer stands at its former high level. The system of large estates and the prevalence of malaria renders great areas of the most fertile land unproductive. In some provinces only i8 per cent, of the land is under cultivation, and the average for the whole country is 37 per cent., while only 1 1 per cent, can be considered as naturally unpro- ductive. Cattle-breeding is in a still worse position. Italy is poor in live stock, and it is only in the north, especially in Lombardy, that cattle are profi- tably kept for butter and cheese. There also poultry farming and artificial fish-breeding are largely carried on. In the centre and south the flocks and herds wander as the season changes from the mountains to the coastal plain and back again. Trade and Communications. — In Lombardy, Liguria and Pied- mont, silk spinning and weaving give employment to 200,000 people, and there are factories for woollen and cotton weaving and for the preparation of flax and hemp, as well as other industries. The trade of Italy is mainly maritime ; but the opening of the Alpine tunnels has developed a considerable land trade as well, bringing pros- perity to Turin and Milan, and even making Genoa to some extent the port of south-western Germany. The mercantile fleet of Italy has recently been declining in importance, and now comes fifth amongst the nations ; but Genoa, although mainly an import harbour, attracts much shipping, and is a serious rival to Marseilles. Most trade is done with France, and next with the United Kingdom, Austria- Hungary and Germany. The exports are chiefly agricultural products, the imports grain and textiles. The improvement of trade has been fostered since i860 by the construction of harbours, railways, and roads on a scale attempted in few other countries— - too much, indeed, for the finances of Italy if not yet enough for its necessities. The railway system amounts to about 7,500 miles, and there are also 1,200 miles of steam-tramways. For a land in which agri- culture predominates, Italy is very densely peopled, even although many extensive districts, such as the neighbourhood of Rome, are entirely unin- habited, and the number of emigrants is steadily increasing on account of the poverty of the country. Towns of Northern Italy.— For administrative purposes Italy is divided into 69 provinces, differing greatly in area and population, and with Fig. 189. — Average popu- lation of a square mile of Italy. Italy 3^3 boundaries showing little relation to physical features. The old division into sixteen regions is better for geographical purposes. Five of these divisions — Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia, EmiHa, and Liguria— belong to northern Italy. They are the most important from an economic point of view and contain 45 per cent, of the popu- lation. The principal towns have, as a rule, grown up on the edge of the plain along the borders of the Alps and Appennines (Fig. 184). There is a town at the outlet of every mountain valley ; the larger the valley and the more important as an entrance to the mountains or a passage through them, the more important is the town, and the greater the part it has played historically. Only those, however, on which the Alpine and Appennine roads converge have become really great .cities ; such for instance is Bologna, and, in a still higher degree, Turin and Milan. These also lie on the most important east-and-west line of communi- ^"^- ^9o.-The Site of Vemce. cation, and are centres of a fertile and diligently cultivated neighbour- hood in which manufacturing industries are well developed. Amongst the historically important towns of the plain are Pavia at the mouth of the Ticino, Piacenza and Cremona at points where the Po could easily be bridged, Mantua, a fortress in the midst of a defensive system of lakes ; Padua, an ancient seat of learning, and Ferrara, which dominated the trade on the waterways of the Po delta ; but their old greatness has waned. Venice {Venezia), a lagoon port unassailable alike by land or sea, which suc- ceeded to the importance of Ravenna when the sea approaches to that town were silted up, now preserves only the shadow of the splendour it attained in the Middle Ages. Genoa (Genova), Fig. 191.— rfe Environs of Rome. o^ j-he Other hand, on account of the trade through the Alpine tunnels and because it is the true centre of the whole of Liguria^ has grown in importance and secures still further advances by continuous improvements of the harbour. Spezia, on the border of Central Italy, is a purely naval port. 364 The International Geography Towns of Central Italy. — This division includes the regions of Tuscany, the Marches, Umbria, Rome, Abruzzi, and MoUse, and contains 21 per cent, of the population. The coasts are unfavourable, and tlie only seaport requiring mention is the artificial harbour of Leghorn {Livorno) taking the place of Pisa which was silted up long ago. The centres of population are dependent on the north-and-south lines of communication, e.g., Siena, Perugia, Florence'{Firenze), and even Rome itself, each of which is connected with the passes of the Appennines and is also the chief town of a rich agri- cultural neighbourhood. Rome (Roma), founded on a group of tufa hills at a crossing-place of the Tiber, and the mouth of the Anio, indeed in some respects commanding the mouth of the Tiber itself, occupies a remarkably favourable position for the Tyrrhenian coast (Fig. 191). At the same time the convenient route across the Appennines to Ancona on the Adriatic and thence by Rimini to northern Italy makes it almost the geometrical centre BAT- or N4. PL jS S FiG^ 192. — The Environs of Naples. of the peninsula. On this account it has become the capital of united Italy, and so entered upon a third period of prosperity, the former epochs mark- ing the climax of the greatness of the ancient and the mediaeval world. No city approaches it in the number and interest of its historical associations. The ruins of the ancient Forum and Colosseum are grand relics of ancient Rome, while the Cathedral of St. Peter's is the most famous church in the world. The King of Italy resides in the Quirinal ; the Pope lives in seclusion in his palace of the Vatican. Towns of Southern Italy. — The regions of Campania, Apulia, the BasiUcata, Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia form Southern Italy with 34 per cent, of the population of the country. All the important towns of this division are situated on the coast. The comparatively easy conditions of life in the fertile Campania have caused Naples {Napoli) to grow into the largest city of Italy. Its surroundings are of rare beauty, and the climate is typical of the south at its best, while the neighbouring town of Pozzuoli San Marino 365 stands in the midst of vast ruins of the Roman period. The ancient Roman watering-places of Herculaneum and Pompeii at the base of Mt. Vesuvius, destroyed and buried by the great eruption of a.d. 79, have been to a large extent excavated, and the old streets and houses have become once more a centre of attraction for pleasure-seekers. Amalfi and Salerno have shrunk to shadows of what they were, but the fine natural harbours of Brindisi and Tarenio have given a new lease of prosperity to these towns, and they rank next to Bari, the largest of the coast towns of Apulia. Palermo, the capital of Sicily, stands on a grandly sheltered bay of the north coast, facing Italy, in the middle of a vast forest of fruit trees. On the eastern side turned towards Greece, Syracuse, once the chief town of the Greek world, has fallen into decay, and is surpassed in importance by Catania at the foot of Mount Etna on the shore of the Strait of Messina. For centuries during the Middle Ages and even in antiquity, Sicily main- tained the closest relations with Africa, and Girgenti on the south coast was then a flourishing town. In Sardinia the chief towns, Cagliari on the south and Sassari in the north, have never had more than local importance. STATISTICS. Area of Italy in square miles . . Population Density of Population per square mile 1881. {Census^ 110,684 28,459,628 257 1894. {Estimates.) 110,684 31,000,000 280 POPULATION OF LARGE TOWNS. (Towns, censtts l88l. Communes, estimates 1894.) Town. Commune. Naples (Napoli) . . Rome (Roma) Milan (Milano) Turin (Torino) Palermo Genoa (Genova) . . Florence (Firenze) Venice (Venezia) . . Bologna 463,000 527,000 273,000 490,000 296,000 443,000 230,000 345.000 206,000 281,000 138,000 220,000 135.000 204,000 129,000 154,000 104,000 148,000 Catania Leghorn (Livorno) Ferrara Padua Lucca Alessandria Bari 58,200 Verona 60,700 Town. 96,000 79,000 28,800 47,300 20,400 30,700 Commune. 123,000 104,500 86,000 80,800 78,100 78,300 77,300 73,200 ANNUAL TRADE (in dollars). 1871-75. 1881-85. 1890-94. Imports 263,000,000 297,000,000 260,000,000 Exports 241,000,000 249,000,000 212,500,000 STANDARD BOOKS. H. Nissen. " Italische Landerkunde," Bd. I. Berlin, 1883. Th. Fischer. " Landerkunde von Europa herausgegeben von A. Kirchhoff, Bd. II. 2. Halfte s. 285-515. Prag, 1893. G. Marinelli. " L'llalia, La Terra," vol. iv. Milan, 1892. Th. Fischer. " La Peninsula Italiana." Turin, 1898. II.— SAN MARINO The Republic of San Marino.'— The city of San Marino, pictu- resquely massed on a rocky height about ten miles south-west of Rimini, is the centre of the most ancient and the smallest republic in the world. By the Editor. 25 366 The International Geography This little State, with an area of only 23 square miles and a population of 8,000, is entirely surrounded by Italian territory, but remains quite inde- pendent of Italian jurisdiction. The supreme authority is vested in a Senate of sixty members elected for life. The foreign relations of San Marino are necessarily with Italy alone, and a treaty of friendship with that Power is the only international agreement necessary. III.— MALTA By the late Lieut.-Col. Sir R. Lambert Playfair. Position and Resources.— The Maltese group consists of two principal islands, Malta and Gozo, separated from each other by a channel three miles broad, in which are the islets of Comino and Cominetto, while off the south-west coast is the small rock called Filfila. Malta is situated in lat. 36° N., and long. 14!° E. on the bank which connects Sicily with the African continent, and which here divides the Mediterranean into an eastern and a western basin. Its distance from Sicily is sixty miles, and from Cape Bon in Africa about two hundred. These islands are the insignificant remnants of land now submerged, which must at one time have been covered with an extensive flora, the home of gigantic mammals and reptiles, the remains of which have been preserved in the fissures and caves of Malta. Although they are mere rocks cropping out of the ocean (Malta only contains 95 square miles), they are happily covered with a thin, rich mould, which enables a larger number of people to live on them than on any other equal number of square rniles on the surface of the globe. The great enemy to vegeta- tion is the violence of the wind, which necessitates the gardens being made small and surrounded with high walls, so that from a distance the place looks like huge stone quarries. Yet enormous crops are raised, and fruit of all kinds and of excellent quality is grown in abundance. The flora greatly resembles that of Sicily. The flowers have long been celebrated, and in springtime give an appearance of great beauty to some of the valleys ; others, however, are bare and rocky, and yield little beyond a few carob- trees and prickly pears. The indigenous mammalia belong to well-known European species ; migratory birds visit the island on their passage across the Mediterranean, but only seven species remain there throughout the year. Fig. 193. — Valetia and the Harbour. Malta 367 Amongst the reptiles are several snakes, but all harmless ; St. Paul is said to have banished the venomous ones, as St. Patrick did in Ireland. History. — Malta, from its commanding position, midway between Gibraltar and Egypt, and its magnificent harbour, has always been a position of the greatest importance, and at present is one of the strongest fortified positions of the British Empire. The most interesting part of its history is comprised in the 268 years during which it was subject to the Knights of St. John, or Hospitallers, as they were called. After their expulsion from Rhodes, Malta and its dependencies were made over in perpetual sovereignty to the Order by Charles V., and the knights arrived here in 1530, under their Grand Master, L'Isle Adam. The Turks made repeated vain attempts to expel them ; their greatest and final effort being in 1565, when the siege lasted about four months. The final disaster which befell the Order was in 1798, when the island was taken by the French under General Bonaparte, but they soon made themselves so unpopular by their unsparing policy of plundering the churches and charitable insti- tutions, that an insurrection broke out. A British squadron was sent by Nelson to blockade the harbour, and the French surrendered from famine on September 5, 1800. In 1814 the island was finally transferred to the United Kingdom by the treaty of Paris. Government, People and Towns. — The government now con- sists of the Governor-General, who is also commander- in-chief of the forces, and an Executive Council con- sisting of six official and fourteen elected members — all natives of the island. The language of Malta is a corrupt form of Arabic, mixed with ancient Phoenician and modern Italian words. Valetia, the capital on the grand harbour of Malta, is full of splendid build- ings ; the great object of admiration is the Church F^g- 19^- — Colonial of St. John, remarkable for its historical associations and the richness of its decoration ; there are many magnificent auberges or palaces of the Knights, and the whole island is full of fine build- ings and objects of archaeological interest, probably of Phoenician origin. St. Paul's Bay, the traditional scene of the apostle's shipwreck, is the site of ruins supposed to have been occupied in his time. STATISTICS, ca. 1896. Area of Malta and adjacent islands in square miles 117 Population „ „ 176,000 Density of population per square mile 1,500 Population of Valetta 62,000 CHAPTER XXI.— THE IBERIAN PENINSULA I.— SPAIN By Dr. Theobald Fischer,' Professor of Geography in the University of Marhurg. The Iberian Peninsula. — The Iberian Peninsula, the south-western promontory of Europe, is a world in itself, and a world of contradictions. Although the sea surrounds seven-eighths of its periphery, it has all the features of a continental mass with restricted access to the ocean ; forming a huge square, or rather pentagon, with an average elevation of 2,200 feet, and terminating on its seaward faces in a high, straight and little indented shore. Although situated between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and between central Europe (France) and Africa, its ranges of east-and-west mountains serve rather to separate than to unite the continents. There are almost no well-marked inlets on the coast, and few navigable rivers, or off-lying islands ; the inland routes are made difficult by the many mountain passes. The Iberian Peninsula thus provides no traffic route between the ocean and tlie Mediterranean nor between the Mediterranean lands and north-western Europe. In the course pf a long history the relations have been closer with the southern neighbour Marocco than with the northern neighbour France, so that there is some truth in the French proverb — " Africa begins at the Pyrenees." This posi- tion, together with certain peculiarities developed in the people by their five- century-Iong struggle with Islam, have thrown obstacles in the way of real development. Only one of the many clearly characterised natural regions of the peninsula, Portugal, has acquired importance as a maritime Power : and this also alone amongst the ancient kingdoms has remained an independent State. Its territory was marked out for the seat of separate natioEal life by the gorges of the Minho in the north, the Guadiana in the south-east, and the deep canyons of the Douro and Tagus cutting it off from the rest of the plateau and forming splendid harbours in their estuaries. Configuration of the Meseta. — The broad geographical features of the peninsula are explained by its geological structure. Three-quarters of the peninsula is composed of an ancient and much altered block of the Earth's crust which may be termed the Iberian Mesela ; on its margins two younger land masses were upheaved by tangential thrust into lofty border- ' Translated from the German by the Editor. 368 Spain 369 ing ranges, the Pyrenean-Cantabrian on the north and the Andalusian on the south. The Meseta is made up, for the greater part, of a wide tableland of flat-lying strata, its mountainous edges on the west and east turned towards the ocean and the Mediterranean contrasting sharply with the central plateau. The Iberian Meseta is mainly composed of Archaean and Palaeozoic rocks, especially those of Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian formation ; their fractured edges looking down on the plain of Andalusia in the south and on that of Aragon in the north. Towards the close of the Pateozoic period these strata had been upheaved into a vast mountain chain broken through by masses of granite, which was later reduced by marine action and long-continued atmospheric erosion to a uniform surface, a peneplain, in the south-west. This was in large, part covered over with Mesozoic continental strata, particularly Cretaceous and Tertiary ; and in part by lacustrine deposits. The general uniformity of the surface of the wide high plains contrasts with the more varied character of the borders of the Meseta. As a whole, the Iberian table- land slopes gently west- ward to the ocean. Its highest part is the Iberian Border Range which separates the plateau of Castile from the Ebro. basin and both from the narrow coastal plain of Valencia, a district which CENT»«i.«AT£BaHED =««-escarpme«t«. Iberian Plateau (Mtseto) Fig. 195. — Physical Structure of the Iberian Penimula. over an area of about • 15,000 square miles attains an average elevation of from 3,500 to 5,000 feet. A greater variety of scenery is only found in the Main Dividing Range which has been formed by successive fractures and vertical movements, giving rise to a series of crust-block mountains which, starting at the mouth of the Tagus, follow each other en echelon from the south-west towards the north-east. These heights separate the basin of the Douro from that of the Tagus, the province of Old Castile from that of New Castile. Although in this region there are some lofty summits such as the Plaza Almanzor, 8,730 feet, in the Sierra de Gredos, and the Pico de Penalara, 7,890 feet, in the Sierra de Guadarrama, yet these summits only rise about S,ooo feet above the level of the plateau. The so-called Sierra Morena is nothing more than the steep southern edge of the Meseta border- ing the great valley of the Guadalquivir. The parallel Sierra de Toledo, which forms part of the watershed between the Tagus and the Guadiana is a denuded highland of small relative elevation composed of a series of 370 The International Geography steep saddles of Cambrian and Silurian quartzite closely following one another in a north-west and west-north-west direction, similar in character to the German Taunus. While the more recent formations of the plateau yield no minerals, except salt, and form featureless expanses of arable or pasture land, the older strata, especially towards the margins of the plateau, are rich in all mineral wealth. Hydrography of the Meseta. — The drainage of the Meseta is effected along more or less parallel river valleys towards the west : the Minho, Douro, Tagus, and Guadiana, and, most amply supplied of all, the Guadalquivir. This river, however, draws the greatest part of its supplies from the high mountains of Andalusia, but the fault which gave rise to the Andalusian plain also qutlines the steep edge of the plateau. The name Guadalquivir means Great River, and it has a right to be so called because it is the only river of the peninsula navigable to any distance from the sea, vessels being able to ascend it as far as Seville. The other rivers are of less importance, flowing in the deep rocky valleys which their streams have cut through the plateau, poorly supplied with water, not navigable, difficult to cross, and so far sunk below the general level as to be useless even for irrigation. At the northern end, the smaller Ebro, which in many respects contrasts with the Guadalquivir, flows through a similar valley defined by the boundary fault of the Meseta forming the narrow depression of Aragon, which is connected with the Mediterranean only by a tortuous gorge. Its largest tributaries, the Aragon and Segre, bringing in a great supply of Water from the slopes of the Cantabrian mountains and the Pyrenees render it particularly advantageous for irrigating the lowlands of Aragon ; and the Imperial Canal which has been constructed parallel to it would itself be a most important waterway if the situation were more favourable. Configuration of the Fold-Mountains. — The Andalusian plain and the Ebro basin separate the Meseta from the chains of fold-mountains' in the north and south. Nowhere is there a greater contrast in scenery. The Andalusian system of crust-folds consists of a low outer zone of folded Mesozoic and Tertiary strata, and a lofty inner girdle in which the Archaean and Palasozoic rocks are thrust up so steeply above the Mediterranean depression that Mulahacen, the loftiest summit of the Sierra Nevada and of all Europe outside the Alps, rises to a height of 11,420 feet at a distance of only 22 miles from the coast. This system of folds begins at the transverse dislocation which separates it from the Atlas mountains and in Pleistocene times gave rise to the Strait of Gibraltar. It extends west by north, and is crossed by a series of transverse valleys at Malaga, Motril and Guadiz, the tectonic character of which is indicated by the frequency of earthquake shocks and by the deep bays, now almost silted up, at the mouths of the rivers. It ends at the Cabo de la Nao ; but the line of the Balearic Islands, Ibiza,. Mallorca and Menorca (or Ivizo, Majorca and Minorca), and some smaller ones, continues in the same direction Spain 371 and their structure shows that they are the continuation of the folded cliaiii. The lofty boundary wall of the Pyrenees in the north is also a fine example of a young folded mountain system built up of parallel belts and chains, their direction being usually west-north-west. On the east they are broken off at Cape Creux, while on the west they are separated from the Cantabrian mountains by no definite geological dividing line. The Cretaceous and Eocene belts of the western Pyrenees continue on the Spanish side as the southern belt of the Cantabrian mountains with the same character as far as Asturias. But there is a depression in the Creta- ceous mountains in the Basque Province south of San Sebastian, possibly connected with the formation of the Ebro basin, which gives passage to the most important roads from France. In Asturias, the ancient formations of the Meseta, including some coal-bearing strata of the Carboniferous, have been much folded and contorted. Rocks of the newer Palasozoic series, together with the Eocene and Miocene folds of the Pyrenees, unite in the structure of the Cantabrian mountains, which attain their greatest height in the Picos de Europa (Torre de Cerredo, 8,670 feet), scarcely 19 miles from the sea. The wildness of the scenery on this mountain border, trenched with the deep furrows of eroded valleys, may be judged from the fact that it was only with difficulty that a piece of level ground could be found in Asturias long enough to serve as a base-line, under a mile in length, for a trigonometrical survey. The loftiest summits of the Pyrenees, formed of the central core of crystalline rock, occur in the Montes Malditos in Aneto, which are 11,168 feet high ; but the peaks of the Tres Sorores (Mont Perdu), of Cretaceous formation, reach 10,997 feet. Just as the narrow and easily defended passes of the Andalusian fold- mountains enabled the Moors of Granada to hold their own for centuries against the Christians, so the small enclosed mountain valleys of Sobrarbe in the Pyrenees, and of Liebana and Valdeon in the Picos de Europa, formed the last refuges of Christians during the Mohammedan supremacy, and the • centres from which they reconquered the land. The Meseta is entirely wanting in such natural strongholds. Climate and Vegetation. — In spite of the length of its coast-line the Iberian Peninsula has a climate which may almost be termed conti- nental, being characterised by large range of temperature between summer and winter, great and rapid variations of temperature, and remarkable dry- ness, resulting from the arrangement of border mountains and plateau. In the north and north-west, from the border of Portugal to the boundary river Bidassoa, there is an oceanic climate with mild winters, cool summers, and rain at every season. The vegetation is that of central Europe, and in some places cider is even the national drink. But in the interior the air is everywhere dry ; and ift the south-east the province of Murcia is so hot and arid that it is the only part of Europe in which the date palm ripens in true oases, for example at Elche. Artificial irrigation is absolutely 372 The International Geography- necessary for agriculture in that region and all along the whole Mediter- ranean border, except for the irrigated huertas, the vegetation has a steppe-like character, the predominant cultivation being esparto grass for paper-making. The coast-strip of the Mediterranean between Gibraltar and Almeria, sheltered by the lofty Andalusian chain, possesses the warmest winter climate of Europe. In the small well-watered coastal plains of Malaga and Motril sugar-cane is cultivated on a large scale, and the banana, the Peruvian cherimaja, and other tropical plants, grow luxuriantly. The mean temperature of January there is 55° F., and frost and snow are extremely rare ; but at Madrid, in the centre of the peninsula, skating can often be indulged in, although in summer the temperature may go up to over 107° F. in the shade. The climate of Madrid is the most extreme in western Europe. Rainfall is most abundant around the border region in winter : in the interior, spring is usually the season of maximum rain, but in some parts the rainiest season is autumn. As a rule the quantity of total precipitation diminishes from the north-west towards the south- east, but in La Mancha, and other parts of the plateau it is so small that the soil remains charged With soluble salts and in consequence only bears steppe- like vegetation. Yet tremendous and sud- den bursts of rain are apt to occur in all parts of the peninsula, giving rise to serious floods. With such climatic con- ditions it is natural that both plant and animal life should exhibit great contrasts in their nature and in their distributions. Barely half of the country has a predominant Mediter- ranean flora, characterised by evergreen shrubs. The cold of winter and the excessive dryness of summer make such vegetation impossible in the greater part of the highlands of New Castile. The south-western half of the peninsula, especially Estremadura, is rich in thickets of aromatic evergreen shrubs. The mountains of the northern border, and also those of the Main Dividing Range, bear forests of a central European type. People and History.— The Iberians appear to have been the oldest inhabitants of the peninsula, and to form the basis of the present Spanish, or rather Castilian, race. Their language still survives, if the dwindling remnant of the Basques, less than half a million of whom live in the mountains of the extreme north-east, may be looked upon as their descen- dants. Keltic invaders early obtained a footing in the north-west. The Romans civilised almost the whole peninsula, by the establishment of strong military colonies. The immigration of Suevi, Alemanni, and West Goths did not suffice to change the established Roman language and affected the V Ju.Fii.MAi ltPi.llUv.JiiH. Jul. lue. Sir. GDI. Kn lie lu | 80 75 70 Q6 eo 65 GO *8 (40 10 / r > i - — - - V S" - ^ ^ i i S S bs 1 i 1 ".^ 7'' W! CoiMBRA Madrid Fig. 196. — Mean Monthly Tempera- ture and Rainfall of Coimbra and Madrid. Spain 373 physical type of the Spaniards only in a few places, for example in the Sierra de Bejar, one of the most isolated districts of the Main Dividing Ranger The incursion of the Arabs and Berbers (Moors) had a much deeper influence on the country, affecting not only the physical type of the people, but their customs and the geographical names, as is well seen in Valencia, Murcia, and Andalusia, where numerous traces of the Moham- medan invasion remain. The Castilian language itself has incorporated many Arabic words. A large fraction of the African immigrants remained in the country and were absorbed ; the Jews alone were completely and permanently driven out. The kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, which existed separately for 700 years, and others, were created through the existence of sharply defined natural regions ; and it was only in the fifteenth century that these became united, so that only two States now occupy the peninsula. This history explains the contrasts in physical type, customs, and organisa- tion between the people of the separate districts, especially between the Andalusians, Castilians, Aragonese, and Catalonians. The few traits which the whole Spanish people have in common, their military spirit and religious fervour and intolerance, may be traced to the eight centuries of struggle against Islam. For a century the possession of the rich colpnies of America made Spain the mistress of the world, but the small esteem in which civil occupations were held has led to the loss of all the valuable colonies, and the impoverishment and depopulation of the mother country ; the unabated but hollow Spanish pride is now a serious drag to all progress. Besides the predominant Castilian dialect, Catalonian, which is nearer to the French Provengal, is spoken, written and even used in education throughout Catalonia and the adjacent provinces of Valencia and Aragon. The Gallegos, near the frontier of Portugal, not only resemble the Portuguese type in appearance, but speak several old-fashioned dialects which approach closely to Portuguese. The diversity of the provinces plays an important part in the modern history of Spain, and there is room to doubt whether Spain can continue to exist as a single country. Agriculture. — At least half, perhaps three-quarters, of the people depend directly on the fruits of the soil, which also supply two-thirds of the exports. In the Mediterranean belt of huertas, the rock has to be blasted and then powdered with hammers to form soil, the slopes of all the hill-sides are terraced, and every available fertilising agent, even the sweepings of the streets, is utilised, while artificial irrigation of a highly elaborate kind is resorted to in order to produce the utmost possible yield. On the other hand vast stretches of fertile Jand on the plateau remain entirely unfilled, or else are cultivated in a destructive fashion, without the use of manure or irrigation. The apathy of the people makes all progress impossible ; the multiplication of large estates, the depopulation of the country districts, absence of roads and want of capital are other causes which have contributed to this result. Almost everywhere, even in the midst of the most flourishing huertas, the tillers of the soil live in the 26 374 The International Geography deepest poverty, a fact which explains the frequency of sociahstic and communistic outbreaks. About 40 per cent, of the country is under culti- vation, and 9 per cent, is artificially irrigated ; but nearly 15 per cent! consists of fertile soil lying waste. In Murcia the productiveness of the ground is increased thirty-seven times by artificial watering. The huertas are mainly devoted to fruit trees such as the orange, date-palm, and pome- granate ; but here and there rice, ground-nuts, cotton, sugar-cane, maize, tomatoes, onions and vegetables of every kind are grown. Wheat yields a hundred fold, and lucerne may be cut ten or twelve times in the year. The olive and vine are largely cultivated on unwatered land, mainly on the low grounds. On the highlands of course . the nature of the cultivation is more uniform ; trees lose their importance, and in m£ny places disappear, the tableland being characteristically treeless ; even the mountains have been despoiled of their timber and rise in bald, rocky, and barren slopes. Wheat is an important crop everywhere, the province of Valladolid is called the granary of Castile ; yet grain has sometimes to be imported to make up the supply for home consumption. The moist northern border bears groves of the fruit trees common in central Europe ; maize and millet are cultivated, and there are green meadows on which cattle are reared for export to England. The great stretches of dry pasture on the tableland, on the contrary, are only useful for sheep farming, an occupation which was formerly much more prosperous than now. The flocks are driven down in winter to the warm and low-lying districts of Fig. igj.— Spanish Naval the south, returning to the highlands in spring. The forests of evergreen oaks in Estremadura make swine-keeping profitable, while Andalusia is famous for the breeding of horses and of bulls for the public bull-fights, a cruel sport confined to Spain and Spanish-speaking countries. Mining. — Spain has been the classic land of mining industry since the time of the Phoenicians. The variety of the mineral wealth in the mar- ginal mountains is astonishing. They yield large quantities of lead and silver, particularly in the south-east from Adra to Cartagena ; almost one- quarter of all the copper produced in the world is mined near Huelva on the Rio Tinto ; the mercury mines of Almaden have been famous for centuries, and the splendid iron ore of the north coast supports an immense trade. Near Oviedo and elsewhere coal is mined. At present the mines are worked mainly by foreign capital, and in some years the output is worth as much as $30,000,000. During the nineteenth century a certain amount of industrial activity has been developed, chiefly in Catalonia and the Basque Province, where it is favoured by the proximity of mineral wealth, the abundant supply of water-power, and cheap sea transport. The chief industry is the manufacture of iron and machinery ; cork-cutting and tobacco manufacture are characteristic, and cotton spinning is important in Catalonia. Spain 375 Fig. igS.— The Metchaiit Flag of Spain. Trade. — In spite of its fine position for trade with all parts of the world Spain now takes but a small share in international commerce. The internal trade which is stimulated by the different character of the various natural regions is rendered difficult by the configuration ; roads and railways have to be carried across the marginal mountains by very costly engineering works, the general traffic centre of the country being Madrid in the centre of the tableland. From historical causes such foreign commerce as Spain retains is mainly with its former colonies, especially Cuba and the Philip- pines, but the shipping in Spanish ports is almost all under the British or French flags, the Spanish mercantile marine being very small. Commercially Spain depends most largely on France ; the rail- ways, for instance, were built by French com- panies, and one-third of the foreign trade is done with that country, more however by sea than by land. One quarter of the trade is with the United Kingdom. The value of the exports of home produce, mainly wine and minerals, exceeds that of the imports, which consist chiefly of cotton, coal, wood, sugar and fish. There are fisheries of some value on the coasts of Galicia and Andalusia ; but the frequent fasts of the Roman Catholic Church to which practically the whole population belongs, make a constant demand for salted and dried fish from abroad. Natural Divisions and Towns. — Judged by the number of inhabi- tants, the small density and slow increase of population, Spain is to be classed with countries of the second rank ; it could support three times as many inhabitants as it contains. The distribution of the people accen- tuates the contrasts between the natural regions. There is a comparatively dense population on the slopes of the bordering mountains, while on the plateau vast stretches of country, like the despoblados which occupy 2,000 square miles south-west of Toledo, are practically uninhabited ; and in those regions even the population of the provincial capitals is diminishing. Except Madrid, all .the large towns lie on the margin of the tableland, which is the only part of Spain where progress is being made, and contains 66 per cent. Of the population of the country on 45 per Fio.i^.-Avera.gepopu- ^ent. of the area. There the people live in thickly lation of a square sown villages, and in the Basque province and Galicia mile of Stain. ^^ hamlets and isolated farms ; but on the plateau, in spite of the complete dependence of the peasants on agriculture, they are grouped entirely in towns scattered 15 or 20 miles apart, the groups of low houses standing on the bare plain with no sign of tree or shrub about them. Spain is poor in large towns, even the capitals of the 48 provinces, arbi- trary political divisions without geographical meaning, are small as a rule ; those of the historical regions — the former kingdoms — are larger. All the im- Fig. 200. — The Harbour of San Sebastian. 376 The International Geography portant towns of the marginal belts naturally stand on the sea coast. The fine natural harbours of Galicia have allowed of the establishment of the naval port Ferrol and the commercial towns Corunna, Vigo, and Pentevedra ; but the ancient capital, Santiago di Compostela, famous of old as a place of pilgrimage, lies in the interior. Similarly in Asturias Oviedo is an interior town, while its harbour Gijon grows rapidly on account of the development of the neighbouring mines. The same is true of Santander, the most northerly harbour of Castile, and of Bilbao and San Sebastian, the chief ports of the Basque province, all of which have a large export of iron ore to the United Kingdom. Pamplona and Vitoria are fortresses commanding the land routes between Spain and France on the west. In Old Castile the towns of the border district of the tableland include Leon and Astorga in the north, Salamanca, Avila, Segovia, and Burgos in the south, all of them extra- ordinarily old fashioned, rich in historical memorials, but showing signs of present decay. The hydrographic, and almost geometric, centre of the Douro basin is the larger town of ValladoUd. In New Castile the peculiar predominant land-forms have also given the marginal towns the highest degree of development ; but the central position of this region in the heart of the whole peninsula has introduced other conditions which led to the importance of Toledo on the Tagus, the former capital, and still more to that of Madrid, the modern capital. Madrid has grown more and more important as a focus of railways, has increased rapidly in population, and grown to be the head and heart of Spain in spite of its situation in a region of little charm, with an un- pleasant climate. It has no his- torical associations, its people have come together merely because all the lines of communication between the marginal towns run through the capital, and it has become the seat of great educational institutions and financial and commercial estab- lishments. The only town of Estre- madura requiring mention is Badajoz in the Guadiana valley, a fortress on the Portuguese frontier. In lower Andalusia there are three notable towns connected with the Guadalquivir, Cordoba, now a mere shadow of its former greatness, but still famous for its splendid cathedral which was once a mosque ; Seville with many art treasures, and important on account of manu- factures and trade ; and Cadiz, a fortified naval harbour which may be looked upon as commanding the entrance to the river. In. upper Andalusia Fig. 201. — Madrid. Spain 377 Granada is made famous for ever by the natural beauty of the neighbouring Vega and the exquisite architecture of the Moorish Alhambra. Malaga is the export harbour for the wine and fruits of the fertile coast border of Andalusia. More to the east Almeria and Alicante are small seaports, but at the same time, like Murcia, characteristic huerta towns, they give their names to the districts of which they are the centres. The naval port Cartagena owes its importance primarily to its splendid harbour, but recently mining has added to its prosperity. Valencia, now the third Spanish city in size, has become prominent because it is the centre of the richest part of the coastal plain. Catalonia abounds in towns and in industry ; chief amongst its harbours is the ancient town of Barcelona, now the second in Spain and still rapidly growing ; it has long since cast into the shade the anciently renowned port of Tarragona. The natural centre of Aragon is Zaragoza on the Ebro, which eclipses all the other towns of the basin of that river. The Islands and Presidios. — In the Balearic Islands the chief town of the largest island is Palma. The harbour of Mahon on Menorca dominates the whole north-western basin of the Mediterranean. The Spaniards also reckon with Spain the volcanic group of the Canary Islands belonging geographically to Africa. The Presidios, or Spanish possessions on the coast of Marocco, are also viewed as part of Spain. Melilla and Ceuta are the most important of these. The colonial possessions of Spain were once enormous, but have gradually diminished as the old colonies became independent republics. The last valuable possessions in America were lost when the Philippine Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico were transferred to the United States in 1899. There remain only a strip of the Sahara coast, and the islands of Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco, and Eloby in Africa, none of any importance. Andorra.' — A lofty valley on the southern slope of the Pyrenees, sur- rounded by high mountains, forms a separate State, " the Valleys and Sovereignty of Andorra,'' which has maintained its independence for a thousand years. Its area is only 150 square miles, and the population does not exceed 10,000 ; the people are more akin to the Spaniards than to the French and speak a Catalan dialect. The valley of Andorra is drained by the Valira, a tributary of the Segre, and is approached from the Spanish city of Urgel by a mule-path along the steep gorge of the river. It may also be reached from the French town of Ax on the northern slope by a very rough track crossing the crest of the range. The altitude of the valley is about 3,000 feet, and its only resources, apart from a little trade and a good deal of smuggling between France and Spain, consist in the tilling of the infertile soil and pasturage on the steep mountain-slopes. The isolation of the valley of Andorra has made it the resting-place of many curious ancient laws and customs. The little State is governed by ' By the Editor. 378 The International Geography a Council elected by the heads of families and presided over by a Syndic who is appointed for one year. The French Republic and the Spanish bishopric of Urgel, however, exercise certain rights of suzerainty, and each has a representative in Andorra charged with all matters of external policy and justice. The organisation appears to be rather a feudal survival with a divided allegiance than what is usually understood as a republic. The people of Andorra have the reputation of being quiet and taciturn ; they are much attached to their old ways and ancient priveleges, and live with austere simplicity. The capital, Andorra la Vieja, is a plain stone-built little town of 2,800 inhabitants. STATISTICS. Area of Spain (including Balearic Is.), square miles Population ' ^ , , Density of Population per square mile I8V7- 192,004 16,341,201 85 POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS. Madrid Barcelona Valencia Seville Malaga Murcia Zaragoza Granada 1877. 398,000 277,000 144,000 134,000 116,000 91,800 84,600 76,000 682,644 350.000 171.000 143,000 134,000 98,500 92,400 73,000 Cartagena . . Cadiz Jerez de la Frontera Palma Lorca Valladolid . . Cordoba Bilbao 1877- 75,900 65,000 64,500 58,200 52,900 52,200 47,800 35,200 1887. 192,004 17,246,688' 89 84,000 62,500 61,700 60500 58,300 62.000 55.600 50,800 Imports Exports ANNUAL TRADE (in dollars). 1866-70. 1881-85. . . 90,600,000 156,000,000 61,500,000 138,800,000 1890-94. 175,000,000 160,400,000 STANDARD BOOKS. Ibanez. "Resenageograficay cstadisticadeEspana." Madrid, 1888. Th. Fischer. "Die Iberische Halbinsel. Kirchhofi' s Landerkunde von Europa." Leipzig, 1893. II.— GIBRALTAR By the LATE Sir R. Lambert Playfair. Gibraltar.— The celebrated fortress of Gibraltar is situated on a rocky promontory which rises to the height of 1,396 feet. The town is on the tA^-Mj^'!^%j^ur!ii^-'N ■ ' ■ 1 ^^^^ ^^'^^' ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ south sides are very rugged and almost par- pen iicular. The northern side, fronting the narrow isthmus or neutral ground connecting it with Spain, is precipitous and difficult of access. The circumference is six miles, the length three miles, • ^nd the area 1,266 acres. In Fig. 202.— The Strait of Gibraltar. ■ , ,. „ . ancient times this was Calpe, the European side of the Pillars of Hercules, the African one being Abyla. The rock now bears the name of its Arab conqueror— Jebel Tarik, or Portugal 379 hill of Tarik — who landed here in a.d. 711. It was incorporated with the Spanish Crown in 1502, and it was taken by the British during the War of Succession in 1704. Since that time, notwithstanding repeated efforts by Spain and France, and a protracted siege which lasted four years. Great Britain has maintained possession of it at a lavish ex- penditure. The fortifications have been constantly improved and extended, and it may now be considered as impregnable as defensive Works can make any place. The growing importance of Gibraltar as a naval station and as a coaling port has led the Government to con- struct a protected harbour with an area of about 450 acres. It will be enclosed by solid moles, alongside P"^- 20$. — Colonial of which the largest battleships can lie. Three large " ^^ "J graving docks will be provided, and the dockyard establishment will be fitted to undertake every kind of repair. The northern mole will be reserved for merchant steamers, with facilities for coaling ; and very large stocks of coal will be kept in the stores. III.— PORTUGAL By Captain Ernesto de Vasconcellos, Portuguese Royal Navy. Position and Coasts. — The kingdom of Portugal occupies the most western part of the Iberian peninsula, washed on thesouth and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The country lies between the parallels 37° and 42° N. and the meridians of 6° and 9° W. Its coast line measures nearly 465 miles, and is formed on the north by hills of moderate height rising inland to mountain ranges. It continues to run south- ward to a little beyond the Douro, where it begins to change in aspect, becoming less elevated, and is bordered by sand-hills, behind which several mountain ranges appear, looking from the sea like a single chain, of which the Ser'ras da Gralheira, Caramulo, and Bussaco are part, the latter sending out spurs south-westward to near the mouth of the Mondego and ending in the cape of the same name. To fix the sand-hills and prevent the cultivated land in the interior from being in- vaded by them, the royal pine forests (Pinhal Real) were planted on the coast in the neighbourhood of Leiria, and protect the stretch of coast from the heights of S. Martinho to Vieira beach. Owing to the neighbouring Serras do Bouro, Monte Junto and Cintra, the coast becomes more elevated south of Pedreneira, where it bends towards the south-west. Here the small Peniche peninsula is formed by steep rocks, off which lie the Berlenga Islands. Cape da Roca, the seaward end of the Serra de Cintra, is the most westerly point of Portugal and of continental Europe. Near it the coast forms an ample bay, where the river Tagus has its outlet, 380 The International Geography This bay is bounded on the south by Cape Espichel, the extremity of the peninsula between the Tagus and Sado. Beyond this point the coast, formed by the southern slopes of the Serra da Arrabida, recedes eastwards to Setubal bar, where it resumes its southerly trend as a flat and sandy stretch, till the proximity of the Serra de Grandola makes it mountainous once more as far as Cape Sao. Vicente (Cape St. Vincent), the extreme south-westerly point of Europe, where it is broken by some inlets forming natural harbours. Here the coast turns sharply eastwards to the river Guadiana, which separates Portugal from Spain. Near Faro, the most important town of Algarve, the coast is sandy. At some distance from, and running parallel with, the beach, long sandbanks rise above the water. Configuration. — The general configuration of Portugal can be con- sidered as due to three orographic systems — in the north, the Trans- montano, or Mountains of Traz-os-Montes (Behind the Mountains), including as its name indicates the mountains situated north of the river Douro, the highest summit of which is Gerez (4,816 feet) ; in the centre, the Beirense, or Mountains of Beira, including the mountains between the rivers Tagus and Douro, the highest of which is Estrella (6,532 feet) ; in the south, the Transiagano, or Alemtejo, which includes all the mountain system south of the Tagus, of which S. Mamede (3,362 feet) is the highest. The country north of the Tagus is the most mountainous and elevated, whereas south of the Tagus stretch the extensive plains of Alemtejo, principally near Ourique and Beja, and those of Estremadura between the Sorraia tributary of the Tagus and the river Sado, the latter being generally known by the name of Baixas (Lowlands) do Sorraia, near to which are the Lezirias, parts of the interior delta of the Tagus, the soil of which is extremely fertile. Between the northern mountains there are the remarkable plains or Veigas of Chaves and Valenga. Geology. — Almost all the geological formations are to be found in Portugal : granite in the north, in Minho, in a part of Traz-os-Montes, and in the centre of Beira and Alemtejo ; porphyry in a part of Alemtejo ; basalt in the surroundings of Lisbon ; gneiss in the Douro district ; mica- schist appears irregularly in different parts ; the Palaeozoic formations occupy part of the north, the centre, and nearly all the southern region ; Mesozoic rocks occur between Aveiro and Lisbon, and Cainozoic in the centre ; Jurassic rocks being abundant in Estremadura, where they form several mountain chains and the peninsula of Peniche. Deposits of crystalline limestone form the greater part of Alemtejo. Rivers. — The principal rivers of Portugal have their origin in Spain. The river Minho, which coming from the Cantabrian Mountains enters Portugal above Melgafo and forms the boundary between the two coun- tries. Its banks are very fertile, and salmon and lamprey are abundant, giving rise to fisheries of considerable importance. The Douro, rising in the Serra d'Urbion, crosses Portugal from east to west. Its bed is cut Portugal 381 between mountains in a narrow tortuous valley, and it receives many tributaries, the most important of which cross the province of Traz-os- Montes from north to south. On the right bank, between the tributaries Tua and Tamega, the Douro irrigates the well-known wine regions, the centre of which is Pezo da Regua, producing the famous wines which being exported from Oporto are known as Port. The city of Oporto lies near the mouth of the Douro, on the north bank, and faces Villa Nova de Gaia, the great wine cellar centre. The Tagus divides Portugal into two nearly equal parts. It rises in the Serra de Albarracim in Spain, and flows south-west to the sea. Between its ti-ibutaries, Erjes and Sever, it marks the frontier with Spain. Near Villa Velha de Rodam, the Tagus passes between two high cliffs, which form the celebrated Portas do Rodam, receives the waters of the Ocreza and Zezere, crosses plains of great fertility, to Lisbon, where it widens out to a great basin, called the Mar da Palha (Straw Sea), the eastern estuary by which its waters flow into the ocean, forming in front of the Portuguese capital one of the best and largest harbours in the world. The Guadiana enters Portugal near Elvas, where it is joined by the Caia, runs south, and receives several tributaries, forming the so-called Raia Mol- . hada (wet-border). Then it curves slightly to the south-west, running through a deep and rocky bed, till it flows into the ocean, between Villa Real de Santo Antonio and Ayamonte (Spain). Near the Guadiana are the important copper mines of S. Domingos, which are connected by a railway to Pomarao, the most important port of the Guadiana. The Mondego from the west of the Serra da Estrella flows past the picturesque city of Coimbra, and finds its outlet through marshes and salt- pans at the little port of Figuera de Foz. The little river Sado, one of those with their course entirely in Portugal, runs from south to north in many curves, and when passing Alcacer do Sal widens out through flat banks, where there are celebrated salt-pans, which produce salt of finest quality, exported in large quantities from the port of Setubal at its mouth. Climate. — Portugal, though not extensive, has a varied climate, due, doubtless, to the great differences of altitude in the country. In the north it is cold and damp. In the district surrounding the Mondego, temperate and damp (Fig. 196). South of the Tagus the hot winds from Africa are felt. Thus north of the Douro the mean annual temperature is 50° F. ; between the Tagus and Douro, the mean at Coimbra is nearly 62° F., and in the Guadiana valley it is over 64° F. The mean temperature in Oporto is 59° F. ; in the Serra da Estrella only 45°; and in Lisbon 61°. The prevailing Miles. fvillaFrancaj^ ^ ^intra 1 i m ^ & I'^jS Belem ^ *-SB=«e^^ ssX>C ^^4?>* \ Barr^ y^ ^^ , . CESpkfceU b^ Fig. 204. — The lower Tagus, showing the Mar da Palha. 382 The International Geography winds blow from the north-north-east, and north-west. The chmate on the south coast near the Tagus is very genial in winter. Resources. — The agricultural resources are great, but, unfortunately, agriculture is not in as high a state of development as could be desired. The staple cereals cultivated are wheat, rye, and maize, the two latter in the north and centre, the former in the south. The vine is grown over the whole country, producing various types of generous and lighter wines. Vegetables and fruit are of the first quality. The oak and chestnut trees are the most abundant in the north, and on the Beira mountains. Pines grow principally on the sea coast, and the olive in Estremadura. In Alemtejo the azinheira and sobreira (cork trees), are important, the cork taken from the bark of the latter constituting one of the riches of the country. In Algarve the fig trees and alfarrobeira (carob tree) are abundant. The fauna and the domestic animals of Portugal are similar ±0 those of Spain. Sardine fishing and preserving are extensive industries on the coast ; and the tunny caught along the Algarve coast is also cured and preserved. The most important mines are those of copper in Alemtejo, and of iron in Moncorvo. Coal is worked in Cape Mondego, and is also found in the neighbourhood of Leiria. Portugal is very rich in mineral waters. Those of Vidago can be compared with the Vichy waters, and the sulphurous waters of Caldas da Rainha, Vizella, and Cucos are also of the best. People and History. — Owing to insufficient Fig. 205.-Portugttcse Flag, investigation, the origin of the Portuguese people is not as yet fully established ; however, Berber influence can be considered as proved, but not the existence on this part of the peninsula of Ligurians and Kelts. History narrates that Turdetans, Turdulos, Suevi, Arabs, etc., passed through at different periods, leaving, as would be natural, ethnic traces. The Portuguese race is of the Aryan stock, and the Latin family. The language is the Lusitanian, derived from the Latin, and is spoken in Portugal, Madeira, Azores, in the Portuguese colonies, and Brazil, and to some extent in Ceylon, Malacca, and other places. The Roman Catholic religion is established by the State, though other religions are tolerated, if without public forms of worship. The Portuguese became famous through their bold adventurous genius. Inhabiting the sea coast, the constant vision of the broad ocean inspired them to achieve the maritime discoveries of the fifteenth century which astounded the, world. Masters of the sea route to India, they destroyed by a clever stroke of political economy the commercial supremacy of Venice. Portugal then reached the height of her glory, which later she lost on Alcacer-Kibir. Spain annexed Portugal in 1580, and only in 1640, by the energy of half a dozen men, did she regain her independence, but her best colonies were lost. The form of government is 3, constitutional hereditary monarchy. Portugal 383 Industry and Trade. — The Portuguese manufacturing industries, after a long time of decline, have undergone remarkable development since 1890. Factories for woollen, cotton, linen and silk textiles are established in Lisbon, Oporto and other towns, and lace is made in Peniche, Setubal and the Azores. Woollen and cotton goods find good markets in the Portuguese West African Colonies. The manufacture of paper is important, the Almasso paper being a speciality generally used in the country, and greatly appre- ciated abroad. Glass and china are also largely manufactured. Metals are worked principally in connection with cutlery, all kinds of iron goods, and articles in gold and silver. Oporto filigrees are characteristic and unique. Gold ornaments are greatly prized by the people, who show their wealth by the amount of jewelry they wear on fete days. Commerce consists, principally, in the export of wines, cork, fresh and tinned fish, copper, and fruit ; and the import of cereals, cotton, wool, machinery, iron, coal, and sugar. Most trade is done with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Brazil, the United States, and Spain. Traffic is carried on principally by means of a main railway line, which connects Faro, the most southern town of Portugal, with Valenpa do Minho in the extreme north, passing through Lisbon, the centre of the railway system. From this main line others branch off along the valleys of the Tagus and the Douro, and to all the principal towns of Portugal. Political Divisions. — Portugal comprises, be- sides her colonies, the "adjacent islands" of the yig. 206.— Average popu- Agores and the Madeira Archipelago forming part lation of a square mile of the kingdom of Portugal proper. Formerly the "■' '"^ "'^" ' administrative division consisted of eight provinces named from north to south Minho, Traz-os-Montes, Douro, Beira Alta, Beira Baixa, Estremadura, Alemtejo, and Algarve; and this division is still generally used. The present administrative divisions are 17 districts, most of which are subdivisions of the provinces, made with regard to equality in the population and wealth of the locality and hence they vary much in size. The districts are divided on the same principle into concelhos, or municipalities, and these again subdivided into freguezias, or parishes. Lisbon, the national capital, is built on the right bank of the Tagus ; crowned by hills and robed with white buildings, it offers the traveller superb views, not only of the majestic Tagus but also of the surrounding country, covered with plantations and parks, spread over the sides of the encircling hills. In the neighbourhood of Lisbon is the picturesque Cintra, loved by Byron, with its castle rising on the mountain crags ; Mafra, the monumental town renowned for its monastery, seen from the ocean in front of a forest ; Cascaes and Estoril on the coast are two favourite bathing resorts. Estoril is also a first-class winter station, owing to its uniformly mild climate. Lisbon is the seat of the Government and Court, 384 The International Geography •fi.™ ■ viU* .^ and also the first commercial port of the country, and the only naval arsenal. Oporto is situated on the Douro, where the railway crosses by a monumental bridge. It is an active and important commercial centre, where the most important port wine trade is carried on. Oporto is a lovely city with splendid views, and fine public buildings. Setubal, at the mouth of the Sado, is the third port in rank. The Adjacent Islands.— The Afores Archipelago lies between the parallels 37° and 40° N., and the meridians of 25° and 31° W., at a distance of 740 miles from Lisbon. It is made up of three groups of islands : the eastern, comprising S. Miguel (the largest), Santa Maria and the islet of Formigas ; the central consisting of Terceira, Graciosa, S. Jorge, Pico, and Fayal ; and the western of the two islands, Flores and Corvo (the smallest of the Azores). The most notable mountain peaks are Pico (8,530 feet) and Pico de Vara in S. Miguel, with an altitude of 5,578 feet. In S. Miguel is the curious volcano crater, named Lagoa das Sete Cidades (Lake of the Seven Cities), containing four lagoons. The geological constitution of the Azores is volcanic. The climate is mild and temperate. The Azores produce pineapples, oranges, cereals, and wine. Many cattle are kept and the chief in- dustries are the making of butter, cheese, and alcohol. Commerce is carried on principally with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Continent. The Fjg, 2or-The Agores Archipelago. ^^^^^^ ^^e divided into three ad- ministrative districts : Ponta Delgada, with seven concelhos ; Angra do Heroismo with five, and Horta with six. The Madeira Archipelago, about 33° N. and 71° W., includes, besides the island of the same name, the Islands of Porto Santo, Desertas, Bujio, and Selvagens. The capital is Funchal, which is also the seat of the disti-ict government and a stopping-place for passenger steamers between European ports and South Africa. The highest peak in Madeira is Pico Ruivo (6,568 feet), and in Porto Santo, Funcho (1,817 feet). The soil is volcanic. The climate is undoubtedly one of the best in the world, enjoying a universal reputation and much recommended to sufferers from chest complaints. The principal products are wine, superior to sherry,_ sugar-cane and cereals. There are many cattle. Industry is represented advantageously by articles of inlaid wood, cane (chairs, sofas, baskets), lace, embroideries, arid straw hats. Colonies. — Portugal still stands high amongst the colonial Powers so far as extent of territory is concerned. For centuries the chief European nation holding African territory, Portugal retains the Cape Verde Islands, part of Guinea, the islands of San Thome and Principe, and the very important territories of Angola in West Africa and Mozambique in East Africa. There are also some less valuable possessions in Asia. — SloMigi SanU Mir loPortO * Portugal 385 STATISTICS. Area of continental Portugal, square miles Population „ „ . . . . Density of population, per square mile Population of Lisbon (Lisboa) „ Oporto (Porto) „ Braga „ Setiibal „ Coimbra Area of Adiacent Islands, in square miles Population „ ,, Density of population, per square mile Population of Funchal „ Ponta Delgada ANNUAL TRADE {in dollars). 1871-75- Imports 34,300,000 Exports 25,700,000 1878. 1890. 34,34S 34.345 4.160.315 4,660,095 121 135 242,297 301,206 103,838 138,860 19,755 23,089 14.798 17.581 13.369 16,985 (?)926 . 0926 390,384 389,634 (?)42l . (?)420 19,752 18,778 17,635 16,767 s). 1881-85. 1891-95. 40,200,000 44,300,000 25,500,000 38,100,000 PORTUGUESE COLONIES IN 1896. Area in sq. miles. Cape Verde Islands 1,480 Portuguese Guinea and Islands 4,800 Angola 484,800 Portuguese East Africa 301,000 Portuguese Possessions in India 1,560 Timor, Macao, &c. 7.460 Total Portuguese Possessions 801.100 Populatio 114,000 845,000 4,119,000 3,120,000 572.000 379,000 9,217,000 CHAPTER XXII.— THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE By D. Aitoff.' I — GENERAL The Russian Empire in General. — Upon a terrestrial globe the Russian Empire appears in the form of a rectangle twice as long as it is broad (Fig. 208). Two sides are washed by the sea, the Baltic with its three gulfs, the Arctic Sea on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the sast. The southern side is marked by mountains and steppes, the Turko- man Steppe, Alai-taffh, Tian Shan, Tarbagatai, Sailugem, Sayan, Yablonovyi Khrebet, Khingan, Sikhota-alin. The fourth side is open towards Europe, and is bounded by arbitrary lines which, for a certain distance, follow the slopes of the Carpathians, separating Russia from the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy ; but further to the north a purely artificial frontier winds across the northern plain of Europe. Within these limits the Russian Empire occupies in one continuous expanse one-twerity-second part of the surface of the Earth, or one-sixth of the land of the globe. In Russia, more than other parts of the globe, the geographical and historical evolution of the country has been guided by the configu- ration of the land. The plain which stretches from the western confines of the empire to the Pacific pre- sents no physical obstacle in any part to the expansion of Russia. In Fig. 208. — The Russian Empire from u globe. , . , , , past ages it has served as the route for the nomadic peoples who descended from the high plateaux of Asia and swept onwards to conquer Europe or to dwell in its unoccupied territories. Later, the Slavs who settled in what is now Russia formed a bulwark to western Europe, and stopped the invasions of the Asiatic hordes which made their homes in the south of the country. The Mongols, having made themselves masters of all the Slavonic principalities, served as a sort of cement to bind together these disunited States, and thus helped forward the formation of 'a country which two centuries later became strong enough to drive them out. For several subsequent cen- turies the Russian plain was the theatre of the wars of the Muscovite State,, by which the Asiatic hordes were conquered and the dying power ^ Translated from the French by the Editor. * 386 ^'*jf it /?-- ■Z/'- 1'"^ ^Hf^y'kv- ^■^. I ■'■■'} ^^v/'p-i'-/ '' .,V i T.,^^A' '' ■^"'* '^J''''£'' ^*''y/" //?' ;yj«f' ,--^|/ y/' V^i<^-^' '' ''/ ',\ ^i^//''-'- '', '' '■,''&f,i,i'-- ", i,'//'. te^ 4 %.. Russian Empire — General 387 of Poland extinguished. Finally, it was in the Russian plain and not- in Brabant that the empire of Napoleon was shattered. While most of the rivers of Europe take their rise in the mountains, the largest streams of European Russia have their source in the moderate elevation of the Valdai hills, the height of which scarcely exceeds i,ooo feet. From this region the rivers flow to the Baltic, the Arctic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caspian. By a singular and happy chance the rivers which traverse the Russian plain spread through the country like the arterial or venous system of an organised body. The Volga, the Dnieper, the Duna, and the Niemen rise close together and diverge to the furthest limits of the country ; and some rivers such as the Don and the Volga, born in distant regions, approach until they almost touch and, although no apparent obstacle prevents their meeting, separate again to fall into different seas. Again, the Dnieper, the Bug, and the Dniester, coming from distant sources, converge to what may be termed a single estuary. - The Russian plain, no part of which exceeds 1,150 feet in height, naturally forms a single climatic region ; atmospheric disturbance can be propagated over the surface without encountering any obstacles from the border of the White Sea to that of the Black, and from the plains of Bessarabia to those of the Pechora. The winds which blow from the Arctic Sea reach unchecked the borders of the Euxine, and conversely the influence of the southern breezes is felt along the slopes of the Ural and upon the shores of the Polar waters. It is true that the mean temperature varies very considerably from north to south ; in some parts of the north it is even colder in summer than it is in winter in more favoured spots ; but the transition between the various climates is so gentle as to be imperceptible. The Russian Empire and the Russian People. — It was in this plain, and at first in the very region where its great rivers rise, that the Muscovite kingdom had its origin, grew, and strengthened until it became the Russian Empire, which originally an Asiatic power in Europe is now a European power in Asia. The dominant character of the region which has given birth to Russia is monotony : one land, one climate, one flora, one fauna, one race. In its growth the Russian Empire has come in contact with countries of an entirely different type, and has incorporated them so that now it possesses every variety of surface and scenery. Like Palestine with the Dead Sea, Holland with its polders, and the United States with Death Valley, Russia contains an area of defression, that of the Caspian, Targer than all the other sunk plains in the world put together. While the mountain chain of the Tian Shan must cede the supremacy to the Himalayas and the Andes, yet the peak of Khan Tengri exceeds 24,000 feet, an altitude equal to that of the culminating summit of the Carpathians added to the giant of the Alps. Even at the doors of Europe, Elbruz, Kazbek, and several other summits of the Caucasus exceed 16,500 feet. In the south, steppes more extensive than all the savannas and prairies of America ; in 388 The International Geography the north, vast tundras, on which the hold of frost never relaxes ; in the north-west, a lake region, smaller indeed than those of America or of Africa, but yet of great size ; here a region of black earth of extraordinary fertility, there solitudes greater and less known than those of the far west of America or the centre of Australia ; finally, from the Crimea to Kam- chatka a belt of wild and picturesque mountain chains. Such are the varieties of land and scenery within the Russian Empire. Strikin_g as these diversities are, they are paralleled by those of the inhabitants of the empire. Just as the central plain is surrounded by regions of the greatest variety, so the people of the Great Russian branch of the Slav race are surrounded by a number of races incomparably greater than in any other country of the world. These include Slavs of the Polish branch, Jews, Tatars, more than thirty different races in the Caucasus alone, Kalmuks, Turkomans, Tunguses, Yakuts, Koryaks, Samoyeds, Ostyaks, Voguls, Finns, and many others. From the point of view of religion, beside the great body of members of the Orthodox Greek Church, there live believers in all creeds and in none — Freethinkers, various sectaries of the Greek Church, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Moslems, followers of the Jewish persuasion, who are not all Semites, Buddhists, Brah- manists, and Fetish worshippers, or simple Pagans. Russia is no less varied when considered from the moral and intellectual standpoint. Side by side with the absolutism of the Government is the independent spirit of the moral leaders of Russian society ; custom has an almost Asiatic power, yet there is an entire want of tradition ; obligatory membership of the all-powerful Orthodox Church is confronted with the utter Atheism of the intellectual and with hundreds of different sects, some ritualistic, some rationalistic : such is " the Russian people." Natural Divisions of the Russian Empire. — The central nucleus of European Russia is a slightly undulated plain rising to a moderate elevation somewhat to the north-west of its geometrical centre, and giving rise to all the great rivers of the country. It is the river system which distinguishes this plain from all others. In the north-west the Lake Region is unique in the complex mingling of land and water. In the south-west there is a region very distinct in its natural characteristics, but without a special name ; it might be termed Transdnieperia (from the Russian point of view), or Carfathia. In the south, separated from the Russian plain by lowlands or even sunk plains, comes the great chain of the Caucasus, with its western prolongation, the Crimea, and its eastern termination in the highlands of Transcaspia. In Asia two varieties of steppe are to be distinguished, the high and the low, the latter sometimes sinking below the level of the sea, the former rising to elevations of many thousand feet ; but both presenting the same characteristics of land surface, climate, flora, and fauna. The vast territory of Siberia sloping wholly towards the north, furrowed by its immense but useless rivers and with a rigorous climate, supports upon an area greater than all Europe no more inhabitants than Russian Empire — Configuration 389 dwell in the single town of London. The last of the varied natural divisions of the Russian Empire is the mountainous land of the Transbaikal Province and the Pacific slope. Each of these regions is remarkable for the unity of its geographical features, and each will be described in the order given above without special reference to administrative subdivisions, the boundaries of which have no relations to natural features. II,— CONFIGURATION Central Russia.— The natural region of Central Russia is bounded on the north-west by the Lake Region ; on the west its limit is the depres- sion which runs from the Black Sea to the mouth of the Oder by the valleys of the Dnieper and the Pripet and the plains of the Vistula ; on the south it is bordered by the low steppes and the depressions which mark off the Caucasus ; and on the east by the steppes between the Volga and Ural, the Obshchii Syrt, and the chain of the Ural, while further north it merges without a break into European Siberia. A gentle elevation of the surface defined by the contour line of 170 metres (say 600 feet) extends from the bend of the Mologa in 58° N. in a south- south-easterly direction to Kharkov in 50° N. It culminates in the Valdai hills at an elevation of 1,150 feet. A second smaller "island" of high ground extends from north to south along the right bank of the Volga from Kazan in 56° N. to Kamyshin in 50° N. A third and smaller "island" of the same elevation lies to the south of the Donets, a tributary of the Don. If we consider the central mass of Russia as bounded by a lower contour line (that of 425 feet), a western projection will be observed occupying the whole space between the Pripet on the south, the Duna on the north, and the meridian of Dvinsk on the west. The top of the entire region in which the principal rivers rise is a land of swamps, and appears to be an almost dead level. All the great rivers of Central Russia have arrived at a state of mature adjustment to the land, having drained their ancient lakes and established their individuality as river systems. They carry an enormous volume of water, although com- OVER 600 FEET ELEVATION Fig. 209. — Central Russia — Area above 600 feet in elevation shown in black. 3 go The International Geography pared with its area, Russia is traversed by a much smaller volume of running water than western Europe. The Volga. — The Volga is the first of Russian rivers ; it is the longest and has the largest volume of water in all Europe. Rising in a peat moss the little stream flows through a series of lakes, and on leaving Lake Volgo it is a considerable river with a volume of from no to 1,320 cubic feet per second, according to the season. Its first important tributary is the Selizharovka, which flows from the lake of Seliger, and at the confluence of these two rivers, which are of almost equal volume, the true course of the Volga may be said to commence. The tributaries on the left bank flow from the low watersheds which separate the Volga from the river systems of the Baltic and the White Seas. At Nizhnii-Novgorod it unites with the Oka, a river of equal size, but much greater historical importance. The Oka was long the frontier between the Tatars and the Slavs, and it flows through the very centre of the European Russia of to-day ; from its source in the Black Earth region it waters the most fertile part of Great Russia along a course of 970 miles, and where it enters the Volga it is almost a mile in width. About 60 miles below the point where the Volga turns to a southerly direction, it receives on the left bank the Kama, which brings in the drainage of a region larger than the United Kingdom. The Kama and the Volga are nearly equal in volume, but the water has a different colour, that of the upper Volga being grey, and of the Kama yellow. The united river flows on in the direction of the great tributary as far as Simbirsk, where the volume of the stream is as great as it is at its mouth. Below Simbirsk the Volga closely follows the base of a calcareous plateau which causes it to make a sharp bend at Samara. In its lower course the great river divides into several branches, the most westerly of which retains the name of Volga and the most easterly is called Akhtuba. Between Simbirsk and Samara the banks of the Volga are very picturesque, the hills of the right bank rising abruptly for more than 300 feet above the water, present indeed an almost mountainous appearance. The Belyi Klyuch, south-west of Syzran, rises to 1,100 feet above the average level of the river, and other summits reach 600 or 800 feet, forming imposing heights compared with the almost imperceptible swellings which ripple the surface of Central Russia. The uniform low level plain which lines the left bank presents the most striking contrast. The Western Rivers of Central Russia.— While the Volga is the greatest of Russian rivers, the " Mother Volga " of the Great Russians, the Dnieper in its own region is no less honoured ; the Little Russians call it " Father Dnieper." It rises only 50 miles from the source of the Volga, and although shorter (1,330 miles), its drainage area is as large as France. The Dnieper receives few tributaries in its upper course as far as Smolensk and Mohilev, but below Rogachev it receives successively three great tributaries, the Berezina, the Pripet, which traverses a region of swamps, now in large measure drained and converted into meadows, and the Desna. Russian Empire — Configuration 391 Below the confluence of the Desna the left bank of the Dnieper is every- where low, while the right bank rises in cliffs to the height of 300 and 400 feet ; and the course of the stream is obstructed by rapids (poroglii), which were mentioned by the early Byzantine chroniclers. The third river which flows from the central plateau is the Duna, or Western Dvina, which is the great river of the White Russians and Lithuanians. Originating as the outflow of Lake Okhvat, only 12 miles from Lake Volgo, the Duna flows to the south-west as far as Vitebsk, and then, turning at right angles, it flows north-westwards to its mouth in the Gulf of Riga. It has no tributaries of any importance, and its banks are low and marshy. The Velikaya, the Lovat, and the Msta belong by their mouths to the Lake Region, and the Sukhona, the main branch of the Northern Dvina, will be described in the section on Siberia. The Vistula is essentially a Polish river. It enters Russia as a consider- able stream, navigable by large vessels from the confluence of the San, and leaves it as a majestic river carrying a volume of at least 8,000 cubic feet per second to the Baltic. It receives no tributaries beyond the frontier, its most important affluents being the united Bug and Narev. The Don and its upper tributaries rise in the central swelling of the Russian plain, which also gives origin to the Volga, the Dnieper, and the Duna. It is one of the largest rivers in Europe, having a breadth in some places of 18 miles during the spring floods, although the droughts of summer reduce its volume to such a degree that navigation is very difficult even for light-draught vessels on account of the shallowness of the channels and the number of sand-banks ; some of the tributaries dry up completely. The largest tributary is the Little Don, or Donets, which was navigable down to the seventeenth century, but has since been reduced in volume on account of the destruction of the forests which covered vast areas of southern Russia. Now navigation is possible only in the lower course of the river when it is in flood. The basin of the Donets is commercially important on account of its coal-mines, which are worked here and there over an area of 9,000 square miles. South- Western Russia. — This region, which we suggest might be named Carpathia, extends on the north to the low plains of the Vistula _and Pripet, on the east to the valley of the Dnieper, while on the west it is prolonged into Austria- Hungary and Rumania as far as and beyond the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps. EHsee Reclus says of it : " From the geological point of view the depression which joins the Black Sea and the Baltic through the valleys of the Dnieper and the Oder separates two different worlds ; on each side everything is unlike : the outline of the contours, relief of the land-forms, and the folding of the strata. On the west [the author should have said on the south] the land is the result of frequent and complicated geological changes ; on the east it bears the impress of slow and regular oscillations." The culminating point of this district, cut up here and there into superb escarpments and beautifully diversified by 392 The International Geography forests, is in Poland, where the St. Catherine beacon on the Bald Mountain {Lysa Gora) reaches a height of 2,003 ^^et ; and in Russian territory the Castle of Kremenets reaches 1,309 feet. The rivers of this region are the Bug, the Dniester, and the Pruth, a tributary of the Danube. The Dniester is the largest, rising in the forest region and crossing the land of the black earth and the bare steppes to the south of it ; and although it is one of the most tortuous rivers on the surface of the Earth its bed is very deeply cut into the strata across which it flows. The Lake Region. — The region of the northern lakes includes Finland and the Russian governments of Olonets, Novgorod, St. Peters- burg, and Pskov. The fact that the government of Novgorod alone contains 3,200 separate lakes and that of Olonets 2,000, is sufficient justifi- cation for the name. The parts not occupied by sheets of water or by marshes consist of isthmuses and peninsulas ; the lakes, as a rule, com- municate with one another. The highest part of this region is in the north, where some summits exceed 3,000 feet. Southern Finland and the Russian part of the region contain no mountainous elevations, the highest hills being rounded knolls worn by the action of the ancient ice-sheet. No other part of Europe abounds in erratic blocks to such an extent as Finland, and many of these are so large that the peasants build houses in their shelter. The ancient glaciers have left the marks of their passage deeply engraved on the surface of the land, and the general forms of the country are everywhere due to glaciation. There are few better marked land surface features in the world than the parallel valleys which descend to the Gulf of Bothnia,both on the Finnish and Swedish sides, and the same phenomenon occurs in the interior. In many parts of the country the general alignment is of almost geometrical regularity ; hills, lakes, marshes, and chains of boulders running parallel to one another from north-west to south-east ; and all public works, embankments, cuttings, lines of communication, even the streets of villages and of towns have necessarily to follow the same direction. The whole of Finland is sprinkled with lakes, lagoons, and marshes ; the lakes, indeed, forming such a laby- rinth that it is impossible, without paying the most minute attention, to trace the watersheds separating the drainage areas of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland and of Lake Ladoga, the zone of separation being frequently a tract of almost level marsh. Amongst the more important lakes of Finland may be mentioned the little-known Enere, Saima, which has been united by canal since 1856 with the Gulf of Finland, and Paijanne, which empties by the Kymmene Elf into the same gulf. The rivers which unite the lakes sometimes spread out to a wide expanse and sometimes form rapids, the most celebrated of which is the grand cataract of Imatra in a granite gorge which interrupts the course of the Vuoxen. The Larger Lakes.— The Russian portion of the Lake Region includes 15,500 square miles of water surface. Lake Lad-oga is the chief and still the largest lake in European Russia, and fifth in size in all the Russian Empire — Configuration 393 Empire, ranking next to the Caspian, Aral, Baikal and Balkhash. In former times its dimensions were much greater, for it formed one basin with the Gulf of Finland. From the low southern shore, an almost treeless, boulder-strewn region of glacial origin, the lake bed descends by a gentle slope towards the depths whence rise the granite cliffs of its northern coast. The average depth is estimated at almost 300 feet (50 fathoms), which gives a total volume of water nineteen times as great as that of the Lake of Geneva. The water is, as a rule, very clear and remains cold at all seasons ; even in August the surface temperature scarcely exceeds 54° P., and in May it is only 36°. Lake Ladoga is frozen over for about 120 days in the year, from December to April. Near Valaam Island masses of ice have been measured piled up to a height of 75 feet, and presenting from a distance the appearance of hills of weathered schist. The gales which frequently blow over this lake raise high and confused waves followed by a heavy ground swell. Notwithstanding the freezing of the lake its animal life is very abundant, including not only fish, but a species of seal which may be seen in winter on the edge of the ice cracks. The river Neva, flowing from the lake into the Gulf of Finland, has a length of 43 miles, and carries a volume of water equal to that of the Rhone and Rhine united. Lake Onega is for the most part very deep, and near the centre soundings of 740 feet (120 fathoms) have been obtained. The northern side of the lake forms numerous bays running towards the north-west, and prolonged towards Lapland by chains of small lakes and by rivers following the same direction and separated by lines of hills between 800 and 1,000 feet in height ; these features running parallel to those already noted in Finland. Lake Onega communicates with the White Sea by a series of lakes and rivers, and with the Gulf of Finland by the river Svir, which flows into Lake Ladoga. Its tributary, the Vitegra, brings it into connection with the Volga system on one side, and with the Mezen on the other. Lake Ilmen is really nothing more than a permanent inundation formed by a number of rivers which meet at a point whence the outlet is not large enough to carry off the whole of the water ; its depth does not exceed 30 feet, and the waters are almost always muddy. The Volkhov, which carries off the overflow of the lake, is the chief affluent of Lake Ladoga, and is a muddy river throughout its whole length. The streams which meet in Lake Ilmen are the Shelon, Lovat, and the Msta, which places it in communication with the Volga. Lake Peipus, the southern branch of which is called the Lake of Pskov, has a north-north-west and south- south-east direction, like Ladoga and Onega. Its average depth is some 30 feet and at the deepest point it only reaches go feet, yet it remains frozen for a shorter time than the other Russian lakes. It receives the Velikaya and the Embakh, which places it in connection with the Gulf of Riga, and its own outlet is by the Narova to the Gulf of Finland. The Crimea. — The Crimea, which we consider as a prolongation of the Caucasus, is placed entirely outside Russia by its geological structure. 394 The International Geography The southern slope of the Yaila Tagh is for the Russians a second Italy as far as climate, vegetation, and the appearance of earth and sky can make it so. " Like the Caucasus," says Elisee Reclus, " the Crimea is one of those districts which has contributed most to develop the love of nature in the modern Russians." The mountain chain which extends along the south- east of the Crimea is little more than loo miles in length, and its culmi- nating point has an elevation of S,o6o feet. Although a hundred feet lower, the best known of its summits is the Chatyr Dagh, which may be taken as an example of a land-form common in this district, a limestone wall cut into battlements, which from a distance presents the appearance of a giant tent. There are few rivers in the Crimea, the largest of them being the Salgir. The Caucasus. — As a mountain chain the Caucasus is remarkable for the unity of its geographical features and its general orientation, the chain running direct from south-east to north-west with only the smallest devia- tions. Each end of the chain forms a peninsula, that of Apsheron in the Caspian on the east, and that of Taman in the Black Sea on the west. The latter is only separated from the peninsula which forms the eastern ter- mination of the Crimean range by the narrow Strait of Kerch. The peninsula of Apsheron is continued across the Caspian by a series of volcanic islands and then by a submarine ridge, and beyond that sea it runs eastward as a chain of heights, either mountains, hills, rocks, or the scarped edges of plateaux, as far as the valley of the Murghab between Merv and Herat. The range of the Caucasus is 750 miles in length, and is divided almost exactly half-way between the two seas into two unequal parts by a depression through which the great military road passes in the Darial defile. At this point the range is only 60 miles wide between the northern and the southern plains, while the western Caucasus is twice and the eastern two and a half times as wide as the constricted portion which divides them. The western Caucasus contains the highest summits ; Elbruz, Koshtantau, Dikhtau, and two other peaks surpassing the altitude of Mont Blanc. The eastern Caucasus is lower than the western, but less uniform, more varied in outline, and the spurs which ramify from the central ridge in various directions give rise to a labyrinth of valleys. The general relief of the Caucasus is formed almost throughout by two, and in some places by three or four, ranges running parallel to one another, or only slightly diverging, and connected here and there by knots. The main chain may be considered to be that which forms the watershed, although in several parts of. the system it is not the most elevated. Mount Elbruz, for instance, rises to the north of it. From the orographic point of view the loftiest summit of the Caucasus is Koshtantau, which rises on the water- shed, and is the highest granitic mountain of the range. As a rule the southern slope of the Caucasian ranges is much more abrupt than the northern. The regularity of structure is as apparent in the great geological features as in the general relief, at least upon the northern side. The main Russian Empire — Configuration 395 chain is composed throughout of crystalline schists resting here and there on granite, and diminishing in extent from west to east. On both sides of the central chain the slopes consist mainly of calcareous and silicious strata of different ages, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene ; to the north these rocks dip under the Pliocene and Recent formations of the steppe. Near the middle of the chain, where it is constricted, the high valley of the Terek forms a sort of geological gulf in which a great horizontal plateau of Tertiary sandstone advances like a peninsula in the midst of the Cretaceous strata. Elbruz, the highest summit of the Caucasus, is an ancient volcano, and Kazbek is also a trachytic cone. Thermal springs are exceedingly abundant. The peaks of the Caucasus, although higher on the whole than those of the Alps, are not so heavily enfolded in snow and ice. This is due not only to their more southern latitude and other climatic conditions, but also to the narrowness of the high ridges and the absence of corries in which the snow could accumulate in extensive neves. The snow line varies much in its position ; on the western flanks of Garibalo it comes down to 8,300 feet, while on the north-west of Great Ararat it reaches only to 14,300, and Alagoez, 13,500 feet in height, 'is entirely free from snow in summer. The average height of the snow- line is about 2,000 feet higher in the Caucasus than in the Pyrenees which occupy the same latitude. The plateau of Armenia, separated from the Caucasus by the narrow furrow in which the Rion and the Kura flow, is only partly in Russia, and may be better described in the general account of Asia. Its highest summit is Mount.Ararat, where three empires, Russia, Turkey, and Persia, meet. The Kuban is the chief river of the Caucasus, with a length of 550 miles, and next to it rank the Kuma, the Terek, and the Manych. They have all a very variable volume ; in spring and in autumn they are swollen by the melting of the snow or the fall of rain, and consequently inundate the low grounds, but in summer they shrink enormously after leaving the mountains, partly on account of evaporation and partly because of the quantity of water diverted from them for purposes of irrigation. The Kuma terminates in the midst of a reedy swamp sixty miles from the Caspian. On the south of the Caucasus the Ingur, Rion, and Chorokh flow to the Black Sea^ while the Caspian receives the Kura (830 miles), with its scarcely less important tributary the Araxes (640 miles). The Aralo-Caspian Basin. — There is no general name for the region which lies between the Caspian on the west, the plateaux of Persia and Afghanistan on the south, and the Pamirs on the east, stretching to the Tian Shan and the Tarbagatai on the north-east, to Siberia on the north, and merging on the north-west into the steppes which lie between the Ural and the Caspian. The three provinces of Syr-daria, Samarcand, and Ferghana bear the name of Turkestan. The northern part of the region, from an administrative point of view, forms the General Govern- ment of the Steppes, and the country between the Amu-daria and the 39^ The International Geography Caspian is termed the Transcaspian district. The whole region is made up in almost equal parts of highlands and lowlands ; on one side mountains rise to heights of from 20,000 to 23,000 feet, while on the other side the surface sinks to the Caspian 85 feet below the level of the sea. Notwithstanding this diversity the region presents a remarkable unity, especially with regard to climate. In July the temperature ranges between 68° and 77° F. on the average, the temperature of the' Cape Verde Islands; but in January the average is from 5° to 23° F., the same as in the heart of Canada, in southern Greenland, or in Spitsbergen. The range of extreme temperature is no less than 133°, from 111° F. to — 22". Another general characteristic is the progressive dessication of the country. The Syr-daria and the Amu-daria were formerly of much larger volume and probably united in one stream which flowed to the Caspian. The great lakes, such as Lake Balkhash and Lake Aral, have shrunk in their dimensions, those on the high plateau have been partly emptied like Issyk-kul, and others have completely disappeared. In consequence of this dessication a large part of the country, in the mountains as well as on the plains, has assumed the character of the steppes. On the Pamirs, in the Tian Shan and the Tar- bagatai, every longitudi- nal valley and every hollow is a steppe, with vegetation singularly re- stricted both as to number of species and the annual period of growth which Fig. 210. — Relative areas of the Tian Shan, Alps and is limited tO three Pyrenees — after Rectus. ,, . ,, months in the year. The Tian Shan, the Alai-tagh, the Alai, and the Trans-Alai, are the principal mountain chains of Turkestan, the two latter being the ramparts of the Pamirs, which -completely separate the two parts of Asia. The vastness of the Tian Shan is clearly shown by the accompanying figure adapted from the " Geographie Universelle " of Elisee Reclus. It includes steppes, deserts, half-dried lakes, and salt marshes. The Pamirs, which form the meeting-place of the three great empires of Asia, are described in the general account of that continent. The Steppes.— The steppes which extend through the whole of Turkestan and across the river Ural into the interior of Russia form a vast, naked land, except during afew weeks of spring and summer, when they are clothed as if by enchantment with verdure and flowers. Deserts, pro- perly so called, extend over half of the plain of Turkestan between the watershed of the Ob and the plateau of Iran ; the most famous is the Bek-Pak-Dala, or Hunger steppe. The whole country is sprinkled with lakes, with funnel-shaped hollows, and salt marshes side by side with lagoons and lakes of fresh water. Of the numerous rivers which formerly emptied into Lake Aral two alone now reach it. The Syr-daria (the Russian Empire — Configuration 397 Jaxartes of ancient authors and the Seihun of the Arabs) rises in the heart of the Tian Shan. As it flows across the steppe the great river diminishes in volume more and more, on account of the abstraction of its water by irri- gation canals which change a great part of the barren plain into smiling gardens. Between the Syr-daria and the Kara-daria the whole country is cultivated, shaded by trees, and musical with running water ; it is the most fertile part of Turkestan. Sandy districts lacking the water necessary to fertilise them form little deserts here and there, and a zone of sterile and uninhabited country stretches along the right bank of the river. The most important of the streams which flow towards the Syr-daria, but dry up without reaching it, is the Chu. The Amu-daria (the Oxus of the ancients and the Jihun of the Arabs), more than 1,550 miles in length, is formed by two rivers, the Aksu, which is probably the more important, and another issuing from Lake Victoria on the Pamirs, which was discovered by Wood in 1838. The Surghab, fed by the snows of the Trans- Alai, joins the river lower down ; beyond that the Oxus escaping from the gorges of the outer heights of the Pamirs only receives tributaries of minor importance. Below the tributaries flowing from western Badakhshan it does not receive another drop of water from the south ; all those rivers, including the Zarafshan, which would naturally have flowed to it, are either diverted for irrigation or are drunk up by the insatiable sands of the desert. The Murghab, which was formerly a tributary of the Amu-daria, is now exhausted in forming the oasis of Merv long before it reaches the great river. The changes which the course of the Oxus have undergone during the historic period, are among the most extraordinary phenomena of physical geography. During the first half of the sixteenth century it was one of the feeders of the Caspian ; this was indeed only a temporary phenomenon, for since the period of the Greek historians it has twice been turned from the Caspian to Lake Aral. In Strabo's time the Oxus, " the largest river of all Asia, with the exception of those of India," fell into the Caspian Sea ; but on the map of Idrisi, the Seihun and the Jihun flowed together into Lake Aral.' Very few rivers flow into the Caspian on the Asiatic side. The largest of them is the Ural, which is usually considered as the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is long, but narrow, and of small depth ; its only importance lies in the very considerable fisheries between Uralsk and the mouth. The largest lake of the region is usually termed the Aral Sea ; it has an area of more than 23,000 square miles, and is filled with very salt water. The next in order of size is Lake Balkhash, which extends for 340 miles from west to east. Both lakes are very shallow and, like all the sheets of water in this region, are diminishing in extent. Siberia. — Siberia forms a plain far more extensive than that of European Russia. Its special character is the regular slope of its surface ' See our reduction of the 70 maps of Idrisi's Geography in Schrader's Historical Atlas. Paris, Hachette. 27 398 The International Geography from south to north, as is indicated by the direction of all the Siberian rivers; The Tian Shan, Alatau, Tarbagatai, Altai, Sayan mountains, Apple Tree (Yablonovyi) chain, and the Dorsal (Stanovoi) chain separate it on the south and south-east from .Mongolia and the Pacific slope. The nature of the land divides Siberia into two parts : Western Siberia, which includes the north of Russia in Europe from which the extremity of the Ural range scarcely separates it, and Eastern Siberia. West of the Yenisei the country is low, covered with rich soil or sheets of water, marshes, and trembling meadows. The watershed between the Ob and the Yenisei, for instance, is so imperceptible that according to the direction of the wind the water of the marshes which compose it flows out sometimes to one river, sometimes to the other. The steppe of Baraba, between Omsk and Tomsk, is as flat as the sur- face of a lake, and the soil is formed of sand so fine that the inhabitants have no idea what a stone is like. Between the Tobol and the Ob the country is one huge marsh, impassable in summer except along the margins of the rivers which drain off the superfluous moisture of the land in their immediate neighbourhood. The only mountain chain of any importance west of the Yenisei is the Ural, which runs from north to south along the meridian of 60° E. for 1,500 miles, with a breadth varying from i^ to 100 miles. It is built up throughout of crystalline rocks covered by regularly disposed strata and contrasting with the uniformity of the neighbouring plains. In the north and in the south the Ural mountains rise to 5,300 feet, but in the centre their elevation is so slight that one crosses the chain between Perm and Yekaterinburg without seeing more than some gently rounded and hardly recognisable eminences. In spite of its northern situation the Ural has no glaciers, the snow-fall being insufi&cient, on account of the dryness of the air, to produce permanent snow fields. It is only in some of the deep ravines with a northern exposure that any snow remains unmelted during summer. East of the Yenisei the land is diversified and stony, with outcrops of solid rock appearing here and there, and it even rises into groups of hills which are difficult of access. Mount Makachinga, the highest summit north of the Arctic circle, reaches a height of 8,500 feet. Pacific Slope. — The mountains which traverse Asiatic Russia from south-west to north-east are divided into a series of highlands, plateaux, and chains. From the Tian Shan to the Sayan these mountains form the boun- dary between the Russian and Chinese empires ; further east, where the Russian frontier runs furthest to the north, the highlands, of an average altitude of from 6,500 to 10,000 feet, constitute the border chain of the great inclined plain of Siberia. From the high plateau of Transbaikalia, bounded on the south-west by the Khamar-Daban and the Sokhondo, 9,200 feet high, the Apple Tree chain {Yablonovyi Khrebet) branches towards the north-east but contains no summits of an equal height. From the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk the whole eastern region is very diversified, and the forms of the land are most abrupt in the neighbourhood of the sea. The edge of the Siberian high plain, to which the land rises imperceptibly from the north- Russian Empire — Configuration 399 west, is sharply scarped when seen from the Pacific side, and bears the name of the Backbone or Dorsal chain {Stanovoi Khrebet) which Middendorff proposed to call Stanovoi Vodorazdel or Main Divide. This edge, which is improperly represented on maps in the form of a mountain chain, is really composed of heights, hills, mountains, or plateaux, still little known, and winding from the Transbaikal plateaux to Cape Dezhneff (East Cape), a distance of 2,500 miles. The island of Sakhalin, separated from the mainland by the strait known as the Gulf of Tartary, resembles the neighbouring coast of Russian Man- churia in its configuration. The mountain chain which borders the west coast rises here and there into real peaks of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet in height. Finally, the mountains of Kamchatka, although attached to the Stanovoi Khrebet, differ from it completely. They are the highest, after the giants of the Tian Shan, and are the only mountains in Russian territory which continue volcanically active. The highest of the many volcanoes of the peninsula is Mount Klyuchev, which attains to within a few feet of the height of Mont Blanc. Most of the volcanoes of Kamchatka, ten of which are in full activity, are ranged in a single row along the east coast. Although smoking continually and sometimes glowing with molten lava, these mountains stand clothed in eternal snow and covered with glaciers. The great Khingan and the Sikhota-Alin, running from south-west to north- east, are two ranges distinct from the other mountains of Asiatic Russia. Rivers of the. Arctic and Pacific Slopes. — The rivers of Siberia are amongst the largest in the world. If we only suppose that half of the annual precipitation is carried by them to the sea, the volume of the Ob and of the Yenisei must in each case exceed 110,000 cubic feet per second, or more than four times that of the Rhone and the Rhine, but they vary greatly throughout the year. In winter the frozen surface retards the movement of the deeper water, and the small streams are completely stopped. The largest rivers of Siberia and the north of European Russia are, in Europe, the Northern Dvina and the Pechora, and in Asia, going from west to east, the Ob with the Irtysh, the Yenisei, the Lena, the Amur, and a dozen other streams which would elsewhere be considered great rivers, but appear insignificant in comparison with those which have been named. At the junction of its two main branches, the Sukhona with the Yug and the Vychegda, the breadth of the Northern Dvina is more than two- thirds of a mile ; further down, after receiving the Vaga and the Pinega, it spreads over a space which varies from two to four miles in breadth from bank to bank, and its delta on the White Sea has an area of 440 square miles. The Pechora and its principal tributaries rise on the slopes of the TIral mountains, and the river is larger in every way than the Dvina ; its delta on the Arctic Sea having a length of 125 miles. The Ob and its tributaries drain an area almost equal to that of western Europe (ij million square miles). Judged by length and directness of 400 The International Geography course, the Irtysh and not the Ob is the main river of this system. It rises in Mongolia, where at first it bears the name of Urungu and later Ulyungur, and it is only where it leaves Lake Zaisan that it receives the name of Irtysh, which it bears to 60° N. The Ob and the Irtysh are navigable throughout almost their whole length ; in summer all the large tributaries and, during the spring floods, several of the second rank admit of the passage of barges and light-draught steamers ; the whole navigable distance of the Ob and its tributaries together exceeds 9,000 miles. At its mouth, on the Kara Sea, the Ob is more than five miles wide and has a depth of from five to fifteen fathoms. The Yenisei, like the Ob, is shorter than its chief tributary, which rises in Mongolia where its principal branch is called the Selenga ; it flows into Lake Baikal, whence it escapes under the name of the Upper Tunguska or Angara. The Yenisei itself is formed by the junction of the Ulu-Kem and the Bei-Kem in a corry of the mountain range which continues the Sayan range on the east, then after escaping from its high mountain basin by a succession of defiles cutting across the parallel ridges of the Sayan, it flows straight northward to the Arctic Sea. The chief tributaries of the Yenisei come from the east. The most northern of these is the Lower Tunguska, which places the basin of the Yenisei in communication with that of the Lena. The tributaries on the left bank, all of which are comparatively short and insignificant, give access to the basin of the Ob. The Yenisei enters the Arctic Sea at the head of the long Gulf of Yenisei, which is separated from that of the Ob by a low and compara- tively narrow peninsula. The Lena rises about 30 miles from Lake Baikal ; it is the largest river of Eastern Siberia, and lies wholly within the Russian Empire. In its upper course the scenery is very picturesque. The only tributary of any importance which it receives on the left bank is the Vilyui ; but on the right from the Vitim plateau, the Olekma and the ample Aldan double the volume of the upper Lena. From the confluence of the latter stream the bed of the Lena has a breadth of from four to five miles from bank to bank, and in some places the river expands into lake-like reaches. Unlike the Ob and the Yenisei, the Lena enters the Arctic Sea by numerous branches which form an immense delta. The Amur, formed by the union of the Shilka and the Argun, flows at first in the same direction as the upper Lena, then from the confluence of the two branches to its mouth it describes a semicircle of almost geometrical exactness. Few rivers have to traverse a country so broken with mountain ranges, the most important of which are the Great and the Little Khingan. Being as large as any of the three great northern rivers of northern Siberia the eastward course of the Amur gives it a special importance for the expansion of Russian colonisation towards the Pacific, and it is by the valley of a southern tributary, the Ussuri, that Vladivostok is reached. Russian Empire — Climate 401 Lake Baikal is the largest accumulation of fresh water in Asia, and is of enormous depth, the soundings in some places exceeding 700 fathoms, the average depth of the southern portion being 140 fathoms. III.— CIIMATE AND ANTHROPOGEOGRAPHY Climate of the Russian Empire. — In the first part of this description of the Russian Empire a simple statement of facts could alone be made without any attempt at explanation in the present state of our knowledge, but in what follows it is possible to explain the various distributions by reference to the configuration of the country, and, indeed, they might be deduced a priori. The whole Russian Empire, in one continuous mass, lies between the parallels of 35° and 75° N., and is most elevated in the south. Consequently the average temperature of winter must be low, and indeed in almost all parts of the country it is below the freezing point. All the rivers are frozen and the ground in most parts is covered by snow for several months, the only exceptions being some districts in the south. Russia is essentially continental in character ; the ratio between the extent of its coast-line and its area is remarkably small, and the greatest stretch of coast is that which borders the icy Arctic Sea ; from west to east there is not a single ele- vation to break the force of the polar winds, on the contrary, great mountain masses ranged along the southern frontier bar the way against any warm breezes from the tropics. Thus the chmate of every region, indeed, of every town in the Russian Empire is more rigorous and more extreme asone goes from west to east, and all are more severe than in the regions and towns of western Europe situated in the same latitudes. The diagram of the mean annual temperature for Asia (Fig. 228) shows this clearly by the isotherms forming a constant angle with the meridians in almost all places and for all temperatures. The form of the winter isotherms is most interesting and suggestive from this point of view. The diagram shows how sharply the isotherms of winter bend to the south as they approach the interior of the continent. Orenburg, for example, has the same temperature as Arkhangelsk, which is 13° further north. Although fourteen-fifteenths of the vast solitudes of Siberia are as unknown from the climatic point of view as from any other, yet observations which have been made on the shores of the Lena and the Yana point to the existence of the pole of cold at Verkhoyansk (see Fig. 95), which is not quife so near the pole as is Bodo. The isotherms of summer, on Fig. 211. — Rainfall and Temperature of Moscow and Sevastopol. 4© 2 The International Geography the contrary, run, on the whole, from west to east, incHning slightly towards the north, except on the Pacific coast, where they turn sharply southwards ; thus in summer Yakutsk has the same terriperature as Moscow, although it is 6° further north. In a similar manner the lines of equal atmosphere precipitation and of equal humidity of the air incline towards the south as they run from west to east, the rainfall being least in the interior. Atmospheric disturbances propagate themselves with remarkable rapidity over the almost unbroken plain of the empire ; but the prevailing winds are different in each part of the country. In winter the cold dense air accumulates in eastern Siberia in the sort of hollow through which the Lena flows ; the sky is always clear, the weather calm and still, and in some parts of the region snow falls so rarely that it is impossible to use sledges during much of the winter. An opposite effect is produced in summer ; the same part of Siberia over which the barometer indicates the greatest pressure in winter has then the lowest pressure found in any continent, and thus, speaking generally, it is this part of Russia that is the centre from which the winds blow outwards in all directions in winter, and towards which they blow inwards from all directions in summer. Flora. — The climate explains the flora, which in turn renders visible and defines the zones of climate. Along the margin of the Arctic Sea there are great stretches of marshy land, the bare ground of which only bears mosses, lichens, and little shrubs so stunted that they are no higher than the grass of a meadow ; this is the zone of the Tundra. To the south it is bordered by a region of Low Forests, in which birch, larch and silver fir grow vigorously enough to merit the name of trees. Still further south Forests of splendidly grown trees cover almost the whole country ; they include birch and conifers of many kinds, and here and there the clearings are cultivated. The region of deciduous fofests, including the greater part of Central Russia, is that in which agriculture is most energetically carried on, the crops including rye, flax, and hemp, the principal commodities of Russia. The Black Earth Region is a broad zone which extends from the valley of the Dnieper to the base of the Urals, and here wheat, fruit trees, and rich grass bring prosperity to the country ; while south of the barren Steppes, the valley bottoms, the margin of the Black Sea, Bessarabia, and the Crimea, form a Southern Zone, where maize and the vine flourish. In the Trans-Caucasus, and in the south of the Crimea, where the winter temperature does not fall below the freezing point (Fig. 211), the olive ripens and even cotton may be grown. The boundaries of the various zones of vegetation run on the whole from north-west to south-east ; for instance, the northern limit of wheat is north of 60° N. in Finland, while on the Pacific coast it is south of 50°. A glance at the map of summer temperature (Fig. 230) explains how in the southern zone it is possible to cultivate certain Algerian vegetables which only require great heat in summer, while the map of winter temperature Russian Empire — People 403 (Fig. 229) explains the absence of fruit trees in the eastern division of the same zone. The forests of European Russia occupy 450 miUion acres ; the timber which predominates in the north is pine and fir, mixed with larch and cedar in the east, and with birch, aspen, and alder in the west. In the centre of Russia the commonest trees are the oak, the maple, the ash, and the lime. The area of woodland is diminishing with alarming rapidity ; in some parts of the country which were densely wooded at the commencement of the nineteenth century, only a few trees are now pre- served in gardens as a rarity. The destruction of forests increases the dryness of the climate, and the lakes and rivers are beginning to lose more by evaporation than they receive from rain, and some waterways which were formerly navigable are so no longer. Fauna. — The fauna of the different parts of Russia is controlled by the land-forms, the climate, and the flora. The Polar bear, the Arctic fox, seals, and reindeer, such birds as the Polar wild goose, and fish like the cod, salmon, and trout, inhabit the land and waters within the Arctic circle. The forest region and the Urals shelter the stag, the weasel, fox, hare, bear, and wolf, as well as the lynx and the elk, which are disappear- ing ; the wild boar only lives in the basin of the Duna, and the beaver is found only in. the government of Minsk. The birds include the grouse, partridge, and the hazel hen, while the Salmonidas and the Coregoni are characteristic fishes. The country bordering the steppe contains most of the carnivora of the forest belt, and in addition squirrels, foxes, and hares greatly abound, but the most characteristic animals are the suslik and the baibak, which ravage the corn-fields. Birds are less numerous than in the 'forests. The fish include carp, silures, and sturgeon, and the sterlet of the Volga is justly famed for its caviare. What has been said of the fauna of European Russia applies equally to the fauna of Siberia, the Ural mountains interposing no barrier to the movement of species. The only difference is that the Siberian species are larger in size than those of European Russia, and the fur-yielding animals are very important. In the east and south a tiger may occasionally be met with, and on the Pamirs the Ovis Poll, or great mountain sheep, is still abundant. Races. — The nucleus of the Russian population is formed by the Slavonic branch of the Aryan people, who occupy the larger portion of Russia in compact masses, speaking different dialects. The north-west and the north are occupied by the Finns. Scattered amongst the Slavs in tribes and families there are many Asiatic ra!ces — the Samoyeds, Zyrians, and Lapps in the north, and the Kirghiz and Kalmuk hordes in the south. The west is occupied by another Aryan race akin to the Slavs, but quite distinct, that of the Letto-Lithuanians. The Tatars in the east, and the Jews in the south-west, complete the main racial elements of European Russia. The Caucasus is occupied by Georgians and other Caucasian peoples, Turks, Arvans like the Armenians and Kurds, and Mongol- Kalmuk tribes. 404 The International Geography Asiatic Russia is the native home of numerous tribes, some scattered and others- grouped in compact masses : Samoyeds, Tunguses, Yugaghirs, Ostyaks, Voguls, Koryaks, Kamchadales, Turks, Tatars, Mongols, Gilyaks, and a host of others. The Russian Slavs may be distinguished into three distinct groups, (i) The WJiHe Russians occupy the forest-covered plains which extend from the left bank of the Duna to the marshes of the Pripet. (2) The Little Russians occupy the vast territory between the Donets, the San, and the sources of the Tisza. (3) The Great Russians inhabit the remainder of Russia, especially the centre and the north. Generally speaking the Rus- sian Slavs differ in appearance from their brethren of Austria and the Balkan States. Mixture has taljen place chiefly on the borders of the various groups ; thus in the north Russians may be _met with the flat features and high cheek- bones of the Finns, and in the south the Slavs have mixed with the Mongols, Turks, and Tatars. At the commencement of written history, about 900 years ago, the Sla- vonic people were not numerous in the plains of what is now Russia ; they occupied scarcely a fifth part of the territory, all the rest of the country belonged to the Lithu- anians, the Finns, and the various wandering or settled tribes which had come from the steppes of Asia. At the pre- sent day the change is marvellous; Russians and other Slavs inhabit four-fifths of the empire, and have spread to its furthest limits, in Siberia, in Turkestan, and in the Caucasus. Many minglings of diverse populations have necessarily taken place during those nine centuries of Slavonic expansion throughout the territory occupied by the ancient inhabitants. The Great Russians are model colonists; the habit of migration is hereditary with them, their ancestors migrated into the Muscovite forests, and the descendants of these pioneers have gone on from clearing to clearing, from steppe to steppe, have climbed the slopes of the Caucasus and of the Altai, and, descending the Amur, they have colonised the shores of the Pacific. Population.— According to the first and only census of the Russian Empire, which took place on February 7, 1897, the population numbers Fig. 212. — European Russia — density of ■popitlaiion. Russian Empire — Resources 405 Fig. 213. — Average fiop- ulation of a square mile of European Russia. 130 million inhabitants. This figure is exceeded only by the British Empire and China. The distribution of population is very unequal, as the accompanying map of the population of European Russia clearly shows (Fig. 212). While some Russian governments have as many as 360 inhabitants to the square mile (Petrokow in Poland) others have not so much as one inhabitant for four square miles, as in the coast province of Siberia. Agriculture. — Agriculture occupies' nine-tenths of the population, and 900 million acres, forming about two-thirds of the whole territory, is cultivable land, of which 225 million acres consist of the celebrated Chernoziom, or black earth, stretching from the Ural to the western frontier of the empire ; but on account of the slight density of the population only about 240 million acres are actually cultivated. The chief place amongst the products of the soil is taken by cereals, and then follow flax, hemp, potatoes, beetroot, and tobacco ; in the southern zone, especially in the Crimea, fruit trees are largely grown, and the vine is cultivated as far north as the 48th parallel. The rearing of cattle acquires considerable importance, especially in the grassy steppe land. Sheep are most numerous amongst the live stock, followed in order by horned cattle, horses, camels, buffaloes, goats and pigs. The fisheries are very productive, especially in the Volga, the Ural, and the Siberian rivers. Hunting and the collection of furs is the exclusive occupation of the native tribes in the Siberian solitudes. Mines. — Mining is carried on most extensively in the Urals, the Altai, and the Sayan mountains, and in Transbaikalia. The most important minerals produced are, in the order of their value, gold, silver, copper iron, salt, coal (in the basin of the Donets and the Oka), and petroleum at Baku, Kerch, arid Taman. Platinum, lead, tin, and zinc are found in smaller quantities ; some precious stones occur in the Urals and Transbaikalia, and marble is quarried in Finland and the Crimea. Industries. — Not very long ago all manufactured goods were imported into Russia from abroad, or were made locally on a small scale, but during the last few Fia2id.—Averasetoi>- decades Russia has commenced to make itself inde- ulation of a square pendent of foreign manufactures. There are now mile of Siberia. ^^ many as 100,000 factories and workshops of all kinds, most of them being situated in the great centres of population, especially St. Petersburg and Moscow, in Poland, and in the mining districts ; but six-sevenths of the industrial population work in their own houses {Kustari). The first place amongst the industries belongs to the distilleries and breweries ; cotton factories and sugar refineries 28 4o6 The International Geography- come next, ana then follow flour mills, brick works, woollen factories, iron works, tobacco manufactories, and textile mills for linen and hemp. Trade. — The internal commerce of Russia is considerably developed, the number of merchants being more than 80,000. Much of the trade is still carried on in great fairs, to which people come from far and near ; they are held in many of the towns in European Russia, the most cele- brated being that of Nizhnii-Novgorod. The navigable rivers of Russia are not very extensive compared with the size of the country. European Russia- does not contain more than 22,000 miles of navigable waterway, or one mile for every 90 square miles of area. Since all the rivers are frozen during the cold of winter, and much reduced in depth by the dryness of summer, navigation upon them is in most cases confined to the period of the spring floods. The one advantage which the rivers of Russia present from a commercial point of view is their divergence from neighbour- ing sources, which facilitates transport from one to another, and the construction of canals. The Russian canals are of much commercial importance; the greatest, as regards the traffic carried on by it, is the system which unites the Caspian and the Bal- tic by the Volga and Neva, the Marie canal, those of Tikh- vin, and of Vyshnii- Volochek. The canals uniting the Fig. 215. — The Resources of the Russian Empire. r>, , o 'ii it ^ Black Sea with the Baltic by the Dnieper on the one side, and the Duna, the Nieman and the Vistula on the other, are of less 'importance, being only available for barges. Considering the area of the country, the railway system is not as yet very extensive. The cart roads are generally in a very bad con- dition, especially in spring and autumn. Winter is the best season for the transport of goods, for then the whole plain of Russia, with its rivers, lakes, and marshes, is covered with a uniform pavement of snow, and sledging is universal. Foreign trade by land is carried on with western Europe, and with the various countries of Asia on the east and south. The most important trading towns near the western frontier are the ancient Kiyev (Kieff), on the Dnieper, Warsaw, the old capital of Poland, on the Vistula, and Vilna. On the Asiatic side the most important centres are Orenburg, Troitsk, Petropaviovsk, Semipalatinsk, and Kyakhta. Seaboard and Shipping.— The Russian Empire has 280 square miles of area for every mile of coast, and this comparative isolation from the sea is increased practically by the fact that the Arctic coast is almost Russian Empire — Government 407 always and everywhere closed by ice ; the seas of Bering, Okhotsk, and oi Japan, although free for several months of the year, border an uninhabited country far removed from all the great centres of population ; near these centres the White Sea is only navigable during three months of the year. The Baltic is a dangerous sea, and for five months the greater part of the coast is blocked by ice ; recent attempts to keep the harbours open by the use of ice-breaking steamers have to some extent mitigated this disadvan- tage. Finally, the Caspian is enclosed by land, affording no outlet to the ocean. The Black Sea and the Sea of Azov alone are nearly always ice-free, but the former, though deep and safe for shipping, has few harbours, and the latter is too shallow to be useful ; moreover they are both separated from the ocean by a series of straits commanded by foreign countries. These facts explain the long struggle of Russia to gain a footing on the Baltic, which was accomplished under Peter the Great, and the present tendency to expansion towards Constantinople and the Mediterranean on the one hand, and towards the Yellow Sea, where Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan have been acquired, on the other. The nature of its coasts explains why Russia possesses few great seaports. The most important on the Baltic are St. Petersburg with Cronstadt, Narva, Revel, Riga, Windau and Libau ; on the Black Sea, Odessa, Nikolayev, Kherson, Eupatoria, Theo- dosia, Kerch, Berdyansk, Taganrog, Mariupol, Rostov on the Don, Yiesk and Poti ; on the White Sea, Arkhangelsk and Onega ; on the Cas- pian, Astrakhan, Derbent and Baku, and on the eastern coast the Pacific ports, Vladivostok, Nikolayevsk, Okhotsk, Petropavlovsk and Port Arthur. Government. — The Russian Empire is an absolute autocratic monarchy, in which the Emperor or Tsar is the temporal chief of all his subjects. He makes the laws, declares war and concludes peace in his own name, and on his own responsibility. The only dignitaries who take part in the legislative powers of the emperor are the eleven Ministers, the Council of State, the Senate, and the Holy Synod. The Council of State ought in principle to take cognisance of all laws and of all important measures before they are submitted to the sovereign, but it has no right of initiative for the preparation of new laws. The "Directing Senate " created by Peter the Great is charged with the registration and publication of the imperial ukases, and it also serves as' the supreme court of appeal in judicial matters. The Holy Synod, also instituted by Peter the Great, is presided over by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Novgorod, and is composed of a certain number of prelates, who succeed each other in rotation, while a lay procurator, nominated by the emperor, represents the wishes of the sovereign, and directs the business of the Synod. In 1864 " the statute of territorial institutions was promulgated, which recognises the elective principle in the conduct of business and in the study of local economic requirements for each government and for each district." These local institutions bear the name of Zemstvo, and are composed of representatives drawn from all classes of society — nobles, 4o8 The International Geography- citizens, traders, and peasants. The President of the Zemstvo is almost always the marshal of the nobility, and the sittings are very short. The governor of the province has the right of suspending any decision of the Zemstvo which he considers to be contrary to the laws or to the well- being of the State. The municipal institutions are analogous to the Zemstvo. The grand-duchy of Finland has preserved some remains of its ancient constitution in a national parliament, consisting of four estates — the nobles, the , clergy, the burghers, and the peasants. The Central Asiatic State Bokhara has still nominally its own sovereign, but from 1873 it has been practically a Russian dependency. The khanate of Khiva has also been under Russian supremacy since 1872. Administration of Justice. — The organisation of justice, estab- lished in 1864, is justly considered as one of the greatest reforms of the Tsar Alexander II. As yet the Russian courts, and especially the juries, have shown that clernency which is one of the most conspicuous traits of the national character, and have not aspired to the ideal of implacable severity which prevails in other countries. In principle the judicial power is independent of the administrative ; trials are public, and serious cases have to be submitted to assize courts with a jury. In reality, how- ever, several offences such as bigamy, resistance to local authorities, and malversation of public money, are reserved from the privilege of trial by jury ; political crimes, which consist in the spreading of more or less advanced ideas, fall under the jurisdiction of special courts, and for some years even this semblance of a fair trial has been set aside by a private process of the administrative authority which banishes the delinquents or the suspects to the north of Russia, or even to Siberia, for periods which may extend to as much as ten years. Since 1864 Justices of the Peace had been elected by representatives of the Zemstvos, but these were changed in 1889 for " chiefs of the district " (Uyezdnyi nachalnik) in the country, and " town magistrates " {Gorodskoi sudia) in the towns ; both being nominated by the administration. Books, magazines, which are very numerous in Russia, and newspapers when containing objectionable matter are not, as in all other countries, made the subject of investigation in the courts, but are judged privately by the Government ; a committee of Ministers has, since 1872, exercised a censorship without appeal on all literary works, and interdicted or confiscated those which they considered it undesirable to place before the public. Newspapers are subject to the special disability of being only supplied to subscribers, the sale of single numbers being prohibited. Education. — There are in Russia nine universities and 42 special colleges. Secondary instruction is given in the Gymnasia and other schools under the charge of the Ministry of Education, as well as in the Cadets' College, which is under the Ministry of War. These institutions number in all 900. Elementary education is much neglected ; in European Russia there are about 65,000 schools, with rather more than 3 million Russian Empire — Towns 4.09 pupils of both sexes, a proportion of one pupil for 34 inhabitants ; in the Caucasus there is one pupil for every 50 inhabitants, and in Siberia a smaller ratio. The expenditure upon education in 1896 was about $i3,ocx),oco, or $1 for 10 inhabitants. In contrast, it may be noted that in the United Kingdom, with one-third of the population of the Russian Empire, the schools are attended by 5,400,000 pupils, or one for every seven inhabitants, and the government expenditure on primary education is $45,000,000, or more than $1 for every inhabi- tant. Army and Navy. — Military service is uni- versal and compulsory ; the period of service m the regular army is five years for the illiterate, but ^io.2i6.-TheRtissianFlag. reductions are made in proportion to the degree of education of the con- scripts. In 1892 the effective strength of the army on a peace footing was 33,500 officers, 835,000 men, and 155,000 horses. In case of war Russia can place in the field upwards of 3I millions of men, and more than half a million horses. The most important fortresses in European Russia are Warsaw, Ivangrod, Novo-Georgievsk, and Brest-Litovsk, forming what has been termed the Polish Quadrilateral; Vilna, Ust Dvinsk (which defends Riga), Dvinsk (formerly called Dunaburg), and Vitebsk, between the Polish frontier and the Duna ; Bendery and Akkerman, which defend south-western Russia. In the Caucasus Alexandropol, Kars, and other towns are strongly fortified, and in Asia Samar- cand, Tashkent, and Vladivostok may be men- tioned, but thei;e are many smaller forts at different points on the frontier. In the navy the period of active service is seven years. The Russian fleet in Europe and Asia contains 250 vessels with 38,000 men, and its Fig. 2iy.— The Russian annual cost is about one-fifth that of the army. Naval Ensign. rj,^^ ^j^j^j fortified seaports are Sveiborg in Fin- land, Cronstadt and Ust Dvinsk on the Baltic, Sevastopol and Nikolayev on the Black Sea, Vladivostok and Port Arthur (on Manchu territory leased from China) in Asia. IV.— TOWNS The Towns of Russia.— With a few exceptions the towns of Russia are hardly more than villages ; the houses are usually of wood or brick, and the streets are ill-paved when they are paved at all. In rainy weather the foot passengers have to wade through the mud, and in the drought of summer they are half blinded with driving dust. The towns contain few or no buildings of any interest. In 1897 there were in the Russian Empire twenty towns with a population exceeding 100,000, but in addition to 41 o The International Geography liese several of the smaller towns cieserve to be mentioned on account of specially interesting circumstances. St. Petersburg. — St. Petersburg, the modern capital of Russia, ranks fifth by population amongst the great towns of Europe. It occupies six large and many small islands at the mouth of the Neva, but its true centre is now on the left bank of the Great Neva, south of the islet on which Peter the Great founded his new capital two centuries ago. Here stand the Winter Palace, the Admiralty, the Cathedrals of St. Isaac and Kazan, the equestrian statue of Peter the Great, based upon the heaviest mass of rock that has ever been transported by human agency, and the column of Alexander, a granite monolith 75 feet in height. The part of the town which was first built contains the Fortress of Peter and Paul, where so many prisoners of State have been confined, and the church in which the Emperors are buried. On Vassili Ostrov (Basil Island), the University, Fig. 218. — SI. Petersburg and surroundings. the Academy of Sciences, the Exchange ; in the quarter of Viborg, the School of Medicine, and the Artillery' College are situated. The streets of St. Petersburg are wide and regular with lofty housed of five or six stories, but there are few public gardens and no thoroughfares planted with trees. The climate is unhealthy, and the mortality exceeds the birth rate so that the population is only maintained by the immigration of people from all parts of the empire, and even from abroad. Although St. Petersburg is essentially a town of soldiers and government offi- cials {Chinovniks) it has also considerable industrial importance : some large establishments, belonging to the State, manufacture tapestry, glass and china, but the main industrial activity is found in the factories of private firms. The commercial movement of St. Petersburg by sea amounts to a quarter or even a half of the total trade of Russia, but most of the traffic in the ports of the capital is carried on by foreign vessels; the British, German and Norwegian flags are more common amongst Russian Empire — Towns 411 the merchant shipping than the Russian, and indeed many of the vessels sailing under this flag belong to Finnish owners. Education of every grade, from the University downwards, is more developed than in any other town in Russia, and in all matters concerning literature, science and art, St. Petersburg leads the empire. The Public Librapy ranks next to the British Museum Library in London and the National Library in Paris. The museums are amongst the finest on the continent. The most important is the Hermitage, which contains a great number of pictures by the most famous European painters, and a unique selection of the works of Russian artists, little known in western Europe ; but the glory of the museum is the collection of ancient Greek remains of the best period of Hellenic art and the Scythian antiquities from the Tauride and the south of Russia. A city of sumptuous palaces St. Petersburg completes the splendour of its state by a ring of parks, royal residences an^ pleasure resorts at Peterhof, Oranienbaum and Pavlovik. The village of Pulkovo, about twelve miles south of the capital, is the site of the national observa- tory which sets the meridian for Russia. It is approximately 30° 20' east of that of Greenwich. Twenty miles to the west of St. Petersburg the powerfully fortified naval port of Cronstadt, on an island, forms the centre of the chain of impregnable fortifications which protects the mouth of the Neva. North-Western and Northern To'wns. — Riga is situated at the head of the Gulf of Riga on the Baltic, at the mouth of the great navigable Duna, a river whose sources rise close to those of the Volga and Dnieper. The har- bour is the third in the Russian Empire in order of trade, but its prosperity is hampered by the length of the winter, during which all traffic is stopped by ice for several months. More than one third of the trade of Riga is with Great Britain, which sends salt, coal, tobacco, spirits, colonial com- modities and manufactured goods, and receives in excliange hemp, flax, grain, tallow and timber. The old Hanseatic town still presents a mediaeval appearance in its central parts, where some interesting buildings have survived, including the palace of the old Teutonic Knights and the Guild halls ; but all round beyond the boulevards modern suburbs extend with wide and straight streets. The Polytechnic School is the principal educational establishment. The river is crossed by a viaduct nearly half a mile in length, and all approaches are protected by fortifications. Vilna, the ancient capital of Lithuania, on a tributary of the Niemen, contains an ancient cathedral founded by Yagello, and historic castles which have been in ruins since the Muscovite occupation. Vilna was one of the centres of culture in White Russia, and the first printing office in the empire which employed the Cyrillic character was founded here in 1525. The historial museum is one of the most remarkable in Russia, and there is also a Geographical Society. Arkhangelsk (Archangel) was founded at the mouth of the Northern Dvina on the White Sea in the twelfth century, but only became important 412 The International Geography when the Enghsh navigators seeking the North-East Passage arrived there by chance in the sixteenth century, when it was the only Russian seaport. During the few months when the sea is free from ice Arkhangelsk exports flax, hemp, oats and other grain, timber, tar, tallow and fish oil. A colony of English Workmen is established in the neighbourhood of the town, taking charge of the great saw-mills. The railway recently extended to Arkhangelsk from Moscow makes it the most northerly terminus in Russia. Yekaterininsk, newly founded on the Murman coast, at the niouth of the river Kola, is an ice-free port which will be of value when placed in com- munication with the railway system. Tovrns of Finland. — Hehingfors, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland, is a well-built European town laid out with parks and promenades, and possessing the most northerly botanic garden in the world. Its university -is a centre of scientific activity, and the library contains a valuable collection of documents bearing on Finland and its history. It is an active seaport, trading particularly with England. The formidable defensive works of Sveaborg, on the rocks of the Seven Islands, command the channel leading to Helsingfors and protect the town from attack on the seaward side. Abo, the most ancient city in Finland, is a centre for the maritime trade of the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland. It is the second town of the grand duchy in population, and third in trade, the staples of the port being timber and grain. The astronomer Argelander compiled his famous star-catalogue at Abo. Viborg is the most frequented harbour of Finland, and stands second in the value of its trade, on account of its favourable position, being near St. Petersburg and a terminus of railways and canals leading to the interior. Large vessels cannot reach the port, but discharge and load at Tr&ngsund, a strongly fortified roadstead eight miles further south. The chief export is timber. Tovms of Poland. — Warsaw {Warszawa in Polish), situated on a great navigable river in the centre of a fertile plain, is the point of convergence of commercial routes from all parts of Russia and western Europe, and is destined one day to become one of the greatest cities in Europe. The ancient palace of the kings of Poland, surrounded by terraced gardens rising immediately on the bank of the river, is the most remarkable of the public buildings, and contains a library and collection of works of art. From it diverge the principal avenues lined with hotels and public build- ings. The old town with narrow streets extends towards the north, while the newer quarters with their wide avenues are situated towards the south. A railway viaduct and a seven-arched bridge across the yellow waters of the Vistula unite the city to the suburb of Praga. There is a university, founded in 1816, but closed after the insurrection of 1830-31, until it was re-opened in 1861. It does not enjoy all the rights which the other Russian universities possess, and the teaching must be given entirely in the Russian language. Warsaw also possesses a School of Arts and Russian Empire — Towns 413 Industries and a musical Conservatoire. The capital of Poland is distinguished by remarkable industrial and commercial activity. Lodz, which was only a poor village of less than 800 inhabitants in 1821, is now the second city in Poland by population as well as by industry. It is not an ordinary town ; it consists of one street about six miles in length on each side of which there are hundreds of factories where seven-eighths of all the cotton goods manufactured in Poland are produced. Czestochowa with a celebrated convent is, next to Kiyev, the most frequented place of pilgrimage in the Slavonic world, and it is also a busy market town, doing a large trade in cattle and in cloth. The convent perched on the summit of a hill looks like a fortress, and was indeed one of the chief castles of Poland in former days. Lublin is the second Polish town in size, if the great agglomeration of population in the straggling villages of Lodz is not considered. It became famous by the stormy meeting of the Diet of 1568, which decreed the incorporation of Lithuania with Poland. Mosco\w. — The great city of Moscow is situated almost in the geome- trical centre of European Russia, and thus forms a focus where roads and rail- ways from all parts of the country converge. In its larger outlines the plan of Moscow resembles that of Paris, the same winding river and the same circular boulevards appear; but while the Seine is large enough to make Paris the . . , , , T^ Fig. 210. — Moscow. prmcipal port of trance, the Moskva which traverses the ancient capital of Russia is only navigable for small vessels. The centre of the town is the Kremlin or fortress situ- ated on the left bank of the Moskva, and constituting a picturesque pile of cathedrals, monasteries, palaces and barracks. There rises the tower of Ivan the Great, 266 feet high, and an object of veneration, almost of worship to the people. Some of the buildings of the royal palace are remarkable in their architecture, recalling in turn the palaces of Venice and those of India, and presenting a confused congeries of domes, turrets and colon- nades painted vividly in green and red and yellow. Besides the Kremlin there is another fortified enclosure, that of Kitaigorod, the commercial city containing many remarkable buildings, including the famous church of Basil the 'R\e.ss,ed{Vassili-Blazhennyi) ornamented with tiles and variegated colours, the details of its architecture purely Byzantine, but entirely Muscovite in its general appearance. Since 1755 Moscow has been the seat of the most frequented university in Russia, which has exercised considerable influence on all philosophical and literary movements in the ^^.i«iM« ^^^ jMia jo 2 ■* T^ 1 lojyel \^ ^^^ i 1 ^faatm>va_ /=