APHY
#(« - r
. . LIBRARY . .
Connecticut
Agricultural College
VOL.
CLASSNO. Ai )^U/
COST mL — —
DATE J^5 JilC . / Jb , 19 ^S
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BOOK 910.M61 c. 1
MILL # INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY
3 T153 0020blflfl 7
I
The International Geography
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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 Brozvnin^.
T
he International
Geography. By i^i
Seventy Authors. With 489
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
NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
I916
Copyright, 1899, 1908, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
AS rights of translation and reproduction reserved
Printed in the United States of America
AUTHORS OF THE INTERNATIONAL
GEOGRAPHY
AITOFF, D., Paris.— The Russian Empire.
BAILLIE, A. F., Consul for Paraguay, London.— Paraguay, Uruguay.
BAINES, Sir Athelstan, 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., O.M., F.R.S.— Natal, Transvaal, Orange
River Colony.
CARNEGIE, Hon. D. W. — Western Australia.
CHAIX, Professor E., Geneva— Switzerland.
CHISHOLM, G. G., Editor of The Times Gaze/teen— The Continent OF
Europe, Chinese Empire.
COLE, Professor Grenville A. J., Dublin. — Ireland.
CONWAY, Sir Martin.— The Arctic Record.
DAVIS, Professor W. M., Harvard University.— The Continent of
North America, the United States.
DICKSON, Dr. H. N., Reading.— Climate.
DOWNING, Dr. A. M. W., F.R.S., Director of the Nautical Almanac.^
Mathematical Geography.
DU..FIEF, Professor J., Brussels. — Belgium.
ERODI, Dr. B6la, President of the Hungarian Geographical Society. —
Hungary.
FERGUSON, The Hon. John, C.M.G.. 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.L— Persia.
GREGORY, Professor J. W., F.R.S., University of Glasgow.— The Plan
of the Earth, East Equatorial Africa.
HE A WOOD, E., Librarian of the Royal Geographical Society.— The
Continent of Africa, African Islands.
HEILPRIN, Professor A., Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia.— Mexico.
HERBERTSON, Dr. A. J., Reader of Geography in the University of
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., Buenos Aires.— The Argentine Republic.
HUME, Dr. W. F., Egyptian Geological Survey.— Egypt.
JOHNSTON, Sir H. H., G.C.M.G., K.C.B.— 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, Dr. 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, Rev. Dr. F. C., Cape Town.— (5^^ 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.— Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia.
MASON, W. B., Tokyo.— Japan.
MILL, Dr. H. R. — Geography : Principles and Progress, Land-
Forms, The United Kingdom, etc.
MOCKLER-FERRYMAN, Lieut.-Col. A. F.— Nigeria.
MUIR, Dr. T., C.M.G., 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, Professor J. L., University of Liverpool.— Tripoli.
NANSEN, Dr. Fridtjof, G.C.V.O.— The Arctic Regions.
NIELSEN, Professor Yngvar, University of Christiania. — Sweden,
Norway,
PENCK, Professor A., University of Berlin. — Austria.
PETHERICK, E. A.— New South Wales, Victoria, South Aus-
tralia.
PFEIL, Count. — The German Colonial Possessions.
PHILIPPSON, Professor A., University of Bonn.— The Danubian and
Balkan States.
PLAYFAIR, Sir R. Lambert, K.C.M.G. — Marocco, Algeria, Aden,
Malta, Gibraltar.
RAVENEAU, Professor L., Paris.— 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 Wiirzburg. — Colombia.
ROBERTSON, Sir G. S., K.C.S.I., M.P., formerly British Agent in Gilgit.—
Afghanistan.
RODWAY, J., Georgetown, Demerara. — The West Indies, The Colonies
of Guiana.
SAPPER, Dr. K., Coban, Guatemala. — Central America.
SELOUS, F. C— Southern Rhodesia.
SIBREE, Rev. J., Antananarivo. — Madagascar.
SI E VERS, 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-
TRiBunoM of Living Creatures.
THORODDSEN, Dr. Th., Copenhagen.— Iceland.
TYRRELL, J. Burr, formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada. — The
DoMiMiON of Canada, Newfoundland.
VASC0NCELL03, Capt. Ernesto, Portuguese Royal Navy.— Portugal,
Portuguese Coloxies^
WILSON, General Sir Charles W., 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.
1. Each author should write in the language most familiar to him. The contributions
shall be trans'ated under the superintendence of the Editor.
2. Every contribution must be written continnously, not in the form of tables or dis-
connected sentences. When statistics are given the tables should be placed at the end.
2
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 possibiHty 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 undertake.
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 ioo,ooj 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 di. sKxicWy geographical ■^ovaX. of view, and in a
^\yc(\y general manner — />., 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 nam.es
was adopted after much consideration ; the chief inconsistency it retains
is the use of j as a consonant before e and a, and as a vowel before ;". The
spelling of native names in languages without 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 tlie 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
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 atlnses, 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 1 e 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. Andrews 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, 1895. 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 imiportance, 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 sterhng in the English edition and in dollars in
the American edition, conversions being made on the basis of ^ i =$5.
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,
perhaps 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 Dr. J. E. Marr and Dr. J. Scott Keltie for the
"United Kingdom," by Dr. G. M. Dawson, C.M.G., for "British North
America," by Dr. Francisco P. Moreno for the " Argentine Republic,"
and by the Agents-General of several colonies for revising the sections on
which they are authorities.
Special thanks are due to Mr. Frank Mundell for his vigilance and
care in reading the whole of the proofs, and in facilitating the task of seeing
the first edition through the press in 1899.
The results of the various Census Reports for 1900 and 1901 have been
incorporated in the later editions, and the chapters have been thoroughly revised
by the editor as well as by the authors or by competent specialists, thanks
being due in particular to Mr. E. Heawood and Dr. A. J. Herbertson
for much help. The illustrations have been revised and many of them re-
drawn, and the lists of standard books improved.
H. R. M.
62, Camden Square, London^ N.W.
July, 1907. '
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. London,
1899-1903.
Vivien de St. Martin and M. Rousselet — " Nouveau Dictionnaire de Geo-
graphic Universelle." 6 vols. Paris, 1879-95. Also supplement 1898-
1900.
G. G. Chisholm — "The Times Gazetteer.*' London, 1895, (reprint) 1899.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica " (Geographical Articles in Supplementary Vol-
umes), 1902.
" Chambers's Encyclopaedia " (Geographical Articles). 10 vols. Edinburgh.
Latest edition.
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 Gesell-
schaft fiir Erdkunde zu Berlin." Berlin — Annual. [Gives a nearly
complete list of the geographical publications of the year.]
L. Raveneau — " Bibliographic Geographique Annuelle. Annales de Geo-
graphic." 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 Geographical Teacher," London. [The publication of the Geo-
graphical Association.]
" The National Geographic Magazine." Published monthly by the National
Geographic Society, Washington.
"Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York."
"Journal of Geography." New York. [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 Geographic." Paris— six numbers annually.
H. Haack— " Geographen-Kalender." Gotha— Annual [Handy summa-
ries of geographical progress, names and addresses of the geographers,
and geographical publications of all countries].
" Lippincott's New Gazetteer." London, 1906.
REFERENCE ATLASES.
" Stielers Hand-Atlas." Gotha, 1902-1903. [This finely engraved atlas is
also issued in separate sheets. The plates are always kept up to date
of publication 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. G. Bartholomew—" The Twentieth Century Citizen's Atlas." London,
1902. [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'Annee Cartographiqueu" Paris — Annual. [Maps showing all changes
due to the explorations and treaties of the year.]
Vidal Lablache— " Atlas General." PariSi 1894.
CONTENTS
PAGES
List of Authors ..••••• v
Preface ........ vii
Books of Reference . . , , . , . xii
Contents ........ xv
PART I.
PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY.
CHAP.
I. Geography; Principles and Progress. By Dr. H. R.
Mill 1-13
II. Mathematical Geography. By Dr. A. M. \V. Downing,
F.R.S. ....... 14-25
III. Maps and Map Reading. By E. G. Ravenstein . . 26-35
IV. The Plan OF the Earth. ByProf. J. \V. (Gregory, F.R.S. 36-45
V. Land-Forms; their Nature and Origin. By Dr.
H. R. Mill 46-59
VI. The Oceans. By Sir John Murray, F.R.S. , and Dr.
H. R. Mill 60-71
\'II. The Atmosphere and Climate. By Dr. H. N. Dickson 72-82
VIII. The Distribution of Living Creatures. By Prof. J.
Arthur Thomson ..... 82-95
IX. The Distribution of Mankind. By Dr. A. H. Keane 96-108
X. Political and Applied Geography. By Dr. J. Scott
Keltic ....... 109-121
Heraldic Colour-Scheme for Flags . . , 122
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 ...... 152-161
XVI
Contents
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII
XIX.
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
The French Republic : —
Physical Geography. By Prof. A. de Lapparent
General Geography. By Prof. L. Raveneau
Switzerland. By Prof. 6mile Chaix
The German Empire. By Prof. A. Kirchhoff
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
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 Sir R. Lambert Playfair
XXI. The Iberian Peninsula :—
Spain. By Prof. T. Fischer .
Andorra. By the Editor .
Gibraltar. By Sir R. Lambert Playfair
Portugal. By Capt. E. de Vasconcellos
XXII. The Russian Empire. By D. 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
• 315-323
324-326
A.
327-330
330-335
335-337
337
338-339
340-344
344-349
350-351
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 Sir R. Lambert Playfair .
Mesopotamia .....
Syria .......
Arabia ......
XXV. The Countries of Iran : —
Persia. By Sir F. Goldsmid . . . .
Afghanistan. By Sir G. S. Robertson, M. P.
XXVI. India and Ceylon :—
The Empire of India. By Sir Athelstan Baines
Portuguese India. By Capt. E. de Vasconceilos
French Possessions in India. By M. Zimmermann
Himalayan States. By the editor
Ceylon. By Hon. 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 Vasconceilos
Kiau-chou. By Count Pfeil
Remote 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 Vasconceilos
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
5II-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
XXXII. Eastern States of the Commonwealth : —
Queensland. By C. H. Barton
New South Wales. By E. A. Petherick .
Victoria. By E. A. Petherick .
Tasmania. By the Editor . . ,
575-586
587-593
593-^1
602-610
610-613
XViU
Contents
XXXIII. Central and Western States of the Common-
wealth : —
South Australia. By E. A. Petherick . . . 614-620
Western Australia. By Hon. U. W. Carnegie . 620-626
XXXIV. New Zealand. By Hon. W\ P. Reeves . . 627-634
XXXV. Melaxesl\ : —
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
Haw^aii ...... 660-662
BOOK IV.— NORTH AMERICA.
XXXVII.
By Prof. W.
The Continent of North America.
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
The United States. By Prof. W. M. Davis . 710-773
Mexico. By Prof. A. Heilprin .... 774-781
XXXIX.
XL.
BOOK v.— CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA.
XLI. Central America : —
The Central American Republics. By Dr. K. Sapper 782-789
British Honduras. By the Editor . . . 789-790
XLII. The West Indies :—
General Features. By J. Rodway . . . 791-793
Cuba. By R. T. Hill . . . . 793-798
Porto Rico. By R. T. Hill . . . . 798-801
Haiti and Santo Domingo. By J. Rodway . 801-802
West Indian Colonies. By J. Rodway . . 803-812
XLIII. The Continent of South America. By Dr. A. J.
Herbertson ...... 813-823
XLIV. The Andean Countries : —
Colombia. By Prof. F. Regel . . . 824-829
Contents
XIX
XLV.
XLVI.
XLVII.
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
829-833
834-840
840-843
843-848
849-856
856-859
859-862
863-864
865-87.7
878-883
884-888
BOOK VI.— AFRICA.
XLVIII. The Continent of Africa. By E. Heawood
XLIX. North Africa : —
Marocco. By Sir R. Lambert Playfair
Algeria. By Sir R. Lambert Playfair .
Tunisia. liy Sir H. H. Johnston
Tripoli. ByJ. L.Myres.
Egypt. By Dr. W. F. Hume
L. East Africa :—
Eastern Equatorial Africa. By Prof. J. W. Gregory
F.R.S
Abyssinia ....
Eritrea ....
Obok. By M. Zimmermann .
Somaliland
British East Africa
German East Africa. By Count Pfeil'
Portuguese East Africa. By Capt. E. de
Vasconcellos ....
British Central Africa. By Sir H. H.Johnston
LI. West Africa : —
Spanish West Africa. By E. Heawood
French West Africa. By M. Zimmermann
Liberia. By E. Heawood
British West- African Colonies. By Sir H. H
Johnston .....
Nigeria. By Lieut.-Col. Mockler-Ferryman
German West Africa. By Count Pfeil
The Congo Free State. By Capt. S. L. Hinde
' Portuguese West Africa. By Capt. E. de Vascon
ccUos . ...
889-903
904-906
906-9 1 3
913-916
916-918
918-929
930-940
934-935
935
935-936
936
937-940
940-944
944-946
946-951
952-953
953-959
959-960
960-969
969-972
972-974
974-979
979-984
XX
Contents
LII. South Africa: —
Cape Colony. By Dr. T. Muir, F.RS., and Dr.
F. C. Kolbe
Natal. By Right Hon. J. Bryce, F.R.S.
Southern Rhodesia and Bechuanaland. By F. C.
Selous ......
Orange River Colony. By Right Hon. J. Bryce,
F.R.S.
Transvaal Colony. By Right Hon. J. Bryce, F.R.S.
German South-West Africa. By Count Pfeil
Islands of South Atlantic. By E. Heawood
LIII. Islands of the Western Indian Ocean : —
Madagascar. By Rev. J. Sibree
Mauritius and Dependencies. By the Editor
Reunion. By M. Zimmermann
985-993
993-997
997-1003
1004-1006
1007-1011
1012-1013
1013-1014
1015-1020
1020- 1024
1024
BOOK VIL— THE POLAR REGIONS.
LIV. The Arctic Record. By Sir Martin Conway . 1025-1033
The Arctic Regions. By Dr. 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 tacts. 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 Encyclopcedia, 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
The International Geography
PETRI API ANI ET GEMMAE FRIS.
Gcographia. Eius (imilitudo.
few exceptions, each country is treated by an experienced traveller, a
resident, or a native. The authorship may indeed be viewed as. part of
the subject, being itself an outcome of the land described.
Geography Defined. — ^The literal meaning of Geography — the
Description ot 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
definition must be explained. That it is a grapliy and not a logy has
actually been brought forward by men otherwise w^orthy of respect as an
argument 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, after Ptolemy by the meta-
phor of a small detailed sketch such
as that of an eye or an ear, while
geography is like the complete draw-
ing of a portrait. 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 thus :
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 human
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
I Prof. Davis confines the name physiography to ih?Li department of phj'sical j^eoiraph}-
which has been termed by other vjvxifivsgeomorphology, but the word was used in the general
sense by Linnaeus about "1736, and was popularised by Huxley in 1877
Chorographia.
Eiusfimilitudo.
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 affect 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. Writing in the twentieth century it is scarcely necessary
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 guyiance, and not 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 folloxys. 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 tifles
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. Geolog-y, 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 lines 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 law^s 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 w-ith 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. W^ithin 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 181 5 ; 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,
riiore 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
tliem 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
Fig. 2.— The Depaituiculs of Geography,
geographical pyramid binding it together.
Commercial motives cqnsoli-
Geography : Principles and Progress 7
date natiopal life, accentuate racial differences, redistribute animals and
plants, modify physical conditions, start investigatimis into the nature o/
the Earth, and even invade the solid ground-work of mathematics with
practical suggestions.
The Practical Value of Geography. — It may he 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 j^art each separate aspect of geography plays in
accounting for the character of the land, and the relation of its peoj)le 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
little concern with the life of 4he stay-at-home citizen. This is quite a
mistake. Many of the interests of the present day :ire largely geograjihical,
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 geographicnl
theories ; but a few of the greatest landmarks must be recnlled. 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 j^rogress of discovery. The
Mediterranean or Grseco-Romnn ri\ili^a! on was the centre whence grew,
like spreadinf w.iter-rings round the spot where a stone has fallen, th
Fig. 3-
■The World according to
Hecatceiis.
8 The International Geography
wave of exploration which has revealed the world, and rendered possible
the Oceam'c or world-\wde 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 Hecataeus 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 B.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 oecumene 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.— The World according to Pomponius
Mela, A.D. 47.
Geography : Principles and Progress 9
Alexandria produced his great work on geogfraphy in A.D. 150, he believed
that the known land extended from west to east half way round the globe,
/'. 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
(i 271-1295) 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, whose 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 ;
Kncncti World according to Ptolemy,
A.n. ISO.
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 Henry of Portugal, subsequently surnamed the Navigator, devoted
himself to the encouragement of exploration along the coast of Africa with
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
thp 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 w^ay 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 1 1
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 w^as 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-books and atlases setting forth the new facts.
Amongst them were the great cartographers of Flanders and the Nether-
lands — Mercator, Ortelius, and Blaeu, and ' uch authors as Waldseemiiller
(who in 1507 first proposed the name Atnericd), Munster, whose Cosmo-
graphia of 1544 is a curious blending of old legend with new fact, and
Varenius, who first gave expression to modern theories. Athanasius Kircher,
though given to fantastic speculations, greatly promoted the study of physical
geography in the seventeenth century.
The Eighteenth Century. — Notable advances in the art of navigation,
especially the invendon 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 everj^thing which was conjectural,
or could not be verified.
The Nineteenth Century and After.— The advances made
during the nineteenth century were so great that this volume is largely
a summary of the results then attained. Africa and Australia were com-
pletely explored, parts of Asia were traversed for the first time since
Marco Polo passed that way; the area of the unknown polar regions
was much reduced; the whole of America roughly surveyed, and
practically all Europe mapped with high accuracy. Geological sur-
3
12 The International Geography
veys have followed the topoc^raphical in all civilised and in many
undeveloped 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 man
before him, 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 Elisee Reclus completed in the last decade of the nineteenth
century. The leaders in the science whose work has been most fruitful in
guiding the researches and forming the opinions of recent geographers were
Humboldt, Ritter, and Peschel, to whose influence the remarkable develop-
ment of higher geographical learning in Germany may be directly traced.
But Charles Darwin, not so much by his researches in physical geography,
though they are important, as by his services in establishing and making
familiar the theory of evolution, has done more than any geographer of the
nineteenth century to advance the science by popularising 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 has, until very recently,
been served rather by the voluntary association of persons interested, 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 most influential, at London in 1830. The largest is the National
Geographic Society at Washington which had 30,000 members in 1908. There
were in 1901 no less than 89 active geographical societies in Europe with more
than 60,000 members, 6 in Asia, 8 in North America, 5 in South America, 3
in Africa and 4 in Australia 1115 altogether. There are also more than 1 50 dif-
ferent 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 e very-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 areas concerning which we are absolutely ignorant.
Geography : Principles and Progress 1 3
But these will be filled up before long, and the threat has been heard that
then the geographer will have 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 quality, and then at last all the data will be complete to his hands
Fig. 6.— The Value of the Mups of the World.
for perfecting the theory which explains the relation of man to his
terrestrial home.
STANDARD BOOKS.
E. Reclus. " Nouvelle Geographic Universelle." Paris, 1878-95. 20 vols.
M. Klar (and others). "Die Erdkunde " [to be completed in 30 vols.]. Leipzig and Vienna,
1Q03.
H.Wagner. " Geographisches Jahrbuch." Gotha. Annually. [This gives summaries of recent
geographical advances ]
" Lehrbuch der Geographie." Vol. I. Leipzig, 1900.
T. H. Huxley and R. A. Gregory. " Physiography. An Introduction to the Study of Nature."
London.
H. R. Mill. "The Realm of Nature." London. New ed. 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. 1897.
Vivien de St. Martin. " Histoire de la Geographic." Paris. 1873.
C. R. Bcazley. " The Dawn of Modern Geography." London. 3 vols. 1897, 1901, 1905.
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.,
Superintendent 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 familiar, 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 it 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 heaven^ 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 Xadir.
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
mtersection of the vertical circle passing through it with the horizon,
measured from the north or south point of the horizon.
Hour-Circles are 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 o( 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 Latitudc'oi 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 direction 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 devii.tes
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 pi: ce.
Latitude is measured from o° at the equator up to 90°, ncrth or south, at
either pole.
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 o", 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
ot 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
Mathematical Geography 17
occurs at noon. The sun is watched for some time before reputed noon,
until it is observed that his aUitude has ceased to increase. The maximum
value is then recorded, which, when the proper corrections are appHed,
gives the latitude in accordance with the foregoing metliod.
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, ir-
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 when
the Sun or a known star passes the meridian. But the navigator ( r
traveller generally determines time by observing, with a sextant, the
altitude of the Sun when at a distance from the meridian. This metliod
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 arxnusdly in the Nautical Almanac,
com.piled 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 j^ears 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 ig
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 emplo\'ed
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 ha^ been ascertained
to be that of an ellipse ; 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,S95 feet respectively, and
the ratio of their difference to tiic equatorial radius, or the ellipticity of a
meridian, is ^ig^^-^z- ^he 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 formulae : —
1° of Latitude = 364,609-12 — 1,86672 Cos 2 ^ -f- 3*98 Cos 4
i
25000.
20000
10000
^P^.^V-SE V3f^Ii9M.GL0Bi(L*N0tiSEAl §SOhet
Fig.
■The Hypsogmphic Ci
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
C') ithiental Shelf, Depressed Lands. Lowlands, Uplands and Highlands
\\h ch merge in the Culminating Area. The Continental Shelf slopes very
gently from the coast down to about 100 fathoms or 200 metres (6od or
060 feet). In some places, such as the west coast of South America
4-8 The International Geography
or of Africa, it is only a few miles wide ; but in others, e.g., off
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 loo 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 feet 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 rank 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 point 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
countries in Part II. It may also form a basis for criticism and fuller
discussion.
The 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. Pi. 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 intermont 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 are 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 foet 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 intermont 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 tralBc 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 cony 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 pn 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 m-Hmtain.. 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.
Lower Greensand.
Wealden.
Jurassic.
Oolite.
Lias.
Triassic.
Rhaetic.
Keuper.
Muschelkalk.
Bunter.
Palaeozoic.
Permian.
Magnesian Limestone.
Carboniferous.
Coal Measures.
Millstone Grit.
Carboniferous Limestone.
Devonian or )
Old Red Sandstone, f
Silurian.
Ordovician.
Cambrian.
Archaean.
rocks does not differ so much
G
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 classili-
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 the 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 Pahvozoic
(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. 51 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 qiiartzite ; and clays (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-
Archaean 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-
oW w/cflmc «ec-J /arm/»^fl crag, ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ -^^ ^^^ ^^^^ o£ masses
u-tth a " tatl of boulder clay. '
dykes or intrusive sheets, of which granite
and some basalts are examples, andj o/az/z/c 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 great
geographical significance. For instance, the old volcanic necks which
Land Form
53
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 wliich 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
(longitudinal) valleys. The arch of the
folded strata is called in geological
terminology an anticline or anticlinal
fold, and the trough a syncUne. 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 monoclinal fold for instance produces a steep-sided and flat-topped
elevation.
Mountain and valley forms of quite a different type are produced when
Fig, 26. — Diaj^miiiHUjtic sectiou across a
range of fold-mouiitaius before erosion
has set in, showing successive anti-
clines and synclines.
^sA
W}V^7yf^
MW^
Hf
•.'itrr-
j-r--->: v^'/mff\
.•::.vp
iii
* \ 'r J
'■ '''■>•
Fig. 27. — Diagrammatic section 0/ Crust-
Block Mountain.
Fig. 2S.— 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 j anils. The raised or lowered masses may
retain their original position or be tilted, and in either case they give rise
to crnst-block monntains (the Schollengcbirge of the Germans), or to rift-
valleys {Grabcn), such as the upper Rhine plain or the great rift-valleys of
the Dead Sea, Red Sea, and East Africa (Fig. 445). These, when of relatively
recent origin, are wild and rugged, giving rise to a country full of grand
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
consequentl}^ 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 fissures
in the crust, are met with in the neighbourhood of rift-valleys. Typical
volcanic cones sometimes remain as prominent feature^ in the scenery
^^^^^^^^ long after all volcanic activity has ceased.
^^^KJBfcB^k The old craters are often occupied by
^^^^^I^^^^^^B^^^^^ lakes without inlet or outlet and some-
^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ times very picturesquely framed in cliffs
¥iQ.2().— Diagram mafic section of an (Fig. 191). Where volcanic agencv has
uneroded laccolith {black). ^^j^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ .^^^j^- ^^ ^j^^ ^^;^^^^^^
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 maybe 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 countr}^ 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 karst phenomena has been applied to them (see Fig. 1 56). 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 of a region where the strata
lie horizontally like the Grand Can3^on 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 escarpment,
which runs along the direction of the strike (Fig. 30). This is seen best on
Land Forms
55
Fig. 30. — Diagram illustrating dip, strike,
dip-slope, and escarpment.
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
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 whidi 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
Fig. 31. — Diagrammatic plan of a straight
watershed (a) showing rivers extending
their valleys headward (b).
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 growls 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
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. ^2.— Diagrammatic section across of the Earth's rotation. This was first
a River Valley showing Terraces (t). ^ . , ■, ^ -n j--ijj
•^ ^ ^ ' detected by 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 Earths rotation which^ tends to defied 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 silti'ng-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.— r/je Alluvial Fan of tlie 111
opposite Leiik in the Rhone valley.
Contours at every 100 feet.
This frequently happens on a small scale ir. 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 climate arc
the most fertile lands in the world, and have been the cradles of all the
great nations of the ancient East — Assyria, Eg\^pt, 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 theory
58 The International Geography
COHSTRUcr;o^^, SHORE LINE
Fig. 34. — Cycle 0/ Erosion. 1.
'^OOLESCENT """SHbRE LINE
Fig 35. — Cycle of Erosion. II.
fVv-^'-'-^-^HORE LINE
Fig z6.— 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 flat 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 theor3\ 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 m
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 ^g
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) ; thev
naturally are f .raied along tht 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 thtm 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." 3 vols. Leipzig, 1885, 1888, 1902.
" The Face of the Earth." (Translation of above.) Oxford, 1904, 1906.
W. M. Da\'is. ' Physical Geography " Boston, 1898.
A. de Lapparent. " Lemons de Geographic Physique." 3rd edit. Paris, 1907.
G. de la Noe and E de Margerie. " Les Formes du Terrain " (with atlas of plates) Par(s 1888.
J. Geikie. " Earth Sculpture." London and New York, 1898.
L C Russell, "The Rivers of North America." New York, 1898 ; and under the title, 'River
Development." London, 1S98.
CHAPTER VI.— THE OCEANS
By 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 re-
garded 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 occur-
ring 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 neces-
sary to describe it in detail here.
The greatest depth hitherto reported
in the ocean is, 5,269 fathoms (or six
miles) to the east of the Ladrones in
the North Pacific. In the south-west
Pacific to the east of the Kermadec
Islands soundings of 5,155 fathoms
and 5,147 fathoms were obtained.
These are the only records of depths exceeding 5,000 fathoms, though
soundings 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 approach-
ing 4,000 fathoms has hitherto been found, the deepest sounding being little
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, showing contour
lines of 100 fathoms (dotted), 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,
but in 1904 Dr. Bruce found the depth at this spot to be only 2,660 fathoms.
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 oft" 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 St775 which are entirely
surrounded by land ; the Caspian is the only example, the smaller bodies
of inland water being called lakes ; (2) Enclosed Seas, which are almost
surrounded by land, but joined to an ocean by one relatively narrow
channel, e.g., the IMediterranean 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 CirclCj 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 crystaUine and sedimentary
rocks similar to those found on the neighbouring mainland, from which
thev 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
which rise from the great depths of the ocean, like St. Helena or the Fiji
Islands. Oceanic islands do not 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 mountainous and
of considerable height (see Fig. 326), or else they are of organic growth,
usu2illy mainly composed of coral, and then they are typically low and flat,
unless they have been upheaved. Reef-building corals and other lime-
secreting oiganisms, 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 fn'ii^ing reef, a mere edge of growing coral in the
shallo'v water below low-tide mark. The barrier reef is found farther out,
and 1 , . parated from the shore, to which it runs more or less parallel, by a
strjLC.i 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). IMany of
the volcanic islands of the Pacific are almost completely surrounded by a
biirrier 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 assumes rapidly the
temperature of the coldest season of the year. If the cold is very severe,
when the ireezing 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 liquid. It usual!}- 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 la3^er 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.
Fig. ^8. — The salinity of the surface water ^~. • -r^ -j. t*! u •
of the Athintic Ocean, showing by the OceaniC DepOSltS.— The chemi-
density the regions of great evaporation cal action exerted by the complex
and concentration in the Red Sea, , ,■ r u. j ^ r j •
Mediterranean Sea, and Trade-wind solution of Salts and gaseS found m
areas, and the regions of dilution due to sea water produces many interesting
e«IO>v •wi5 I 02s ro 1-026 1 026 ro
iw^«>l«J28 At>bv« I UZ£
rivers, to rain in the equatorial belt and
to melting ice in the far north and south.
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 the free ocean beyond the influence of land
except by the occasioiial fall of dust and the drifting of volcanic pumice
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 Globigerina 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 flat shores where the
submergence and uncovering of the beach is often a very impressive
sight. The tidal currents sweej^ing 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 ot
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 no!
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 Circiimtropical zone
of high temperature (over 80°) and small annual range, two Circumpolar
zones of low temperature (under 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 W^ater.— In the open ocean 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
aver.ige 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
d^pth 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 f 5° at the latter depth) ; and the Red Sea has a temperature of yo'
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
The Oceans
67
Fig 39. — Diagram showing temperature 0/ Red Sea.
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
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 forn\ 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 layei
of water to slip before it, so that if the wind continues long enough from
a de'nite 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-
in-iits, 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 upweUing 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 exempHfied 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,
lifty 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 between
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 w^ater is driven awa}" 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-
^uela 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 Ctinrnts of the Atlantu
Ocean, shoiciiig the typical circulation
of 'd'atcr in an ocean, and the relation
of the Sargasso Sea to the Gnlf Str.ani.
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 Kiiro-
Sliiuv or Black Stream of Japan corresponding to the Gulf Stream, the
drift of its warm water gives rise to a strong climatic 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 wliich 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 cor^st 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 off 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 norm.il system of winds to be developed over the
greater part of the globe. Its therm il 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 source 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 no\v 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 vovage
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 prevaihng 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.
O. Kriimmel. " Handbuch der Ozeanographie." Vol. I. Stuttgart, 1907.
" Der Ozean." 2nd edition. Leipzig, 1Q02.
" Reports of the r//
fs^
. —
^
>
^
'
^
'^
^>
\
\
\
Fig. 42.
-Relative aiiioiiut of Solar Heat received at
each latitude at various periods.
74 The International 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°
300
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 w^ould be 115° P., the mean temperature
during the day would be 350° P., and during the night — 123° P., 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 dr}'^ 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 7 5
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 alway> intensely cold and dark in the
shade, and in the higher latitudes there is loiig 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 ; 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 w^hole
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
7
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 and 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, cooHng 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 were 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,
Pressure29 8 Inches and less , Pressure 30 Inches and more.
Fig 45. — Average distribution oj Atmospheric Pressure, and prei-ailing Winds oj 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 ar^as 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 comprehension of the conditions found
78 The International Geography
within any part of them, such as are described under the headings oi
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. IXTER.MEDLATE BELT . . , . N.-E. and E. winds , . . . ) ..t^„j„ ..
S. IXTERMEDLATE 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 11° X. to 35° N. in September. When the equatorial calm belt
moves more than a few degrees from the geographical equator, the
trade w^inds 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. Wlien 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 speciall}- important. When
a current of moist air moves inland from the sea, its supply of vapoui
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
be3'ond 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
respects act like a lofty range of mountains ; but when the height does not
reach the snow-line the maximum rainfall occurs a little to leeward of the
crest over which the wind blow^s.
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 8 1
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. — Chmate 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 b}' 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 prevailing
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 " circum-polar eddy" to have full play until the coasts of the
Antarctic continent are approached. Pressure falls continuously, and
82 The International Geography
strong westerly winds are met with up to about 60° S. latitude. Beyond
this there are indications that a polar cap of land and ice neutralises or re-
verses the arrangement, perhaps more completely than is the case in the
north as the winds in the neighbourhood of the Antarctic circle blow most
frequently from an easterly quarter, indicating an increase of pressure
towards the south.
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 of even
greater importance than the mean annual values. In each case the tem-
perature curves and rainfall columns of two places, the situation of which
accounts for their difference of climate, 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 respectively 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. Hann. " Handbuch der Klimatologie." New edit. 3 vols. Stuttgart, 1897. Also transla-
tion of Vol. I. by R. de C. Ward. New York, 1903.
" Lehrbuch der Meteorologie." Leipzig, 1905.
A. Woeikof. " Die Klimate der Erde." 2 vols. Jena, 1887.
A. Buchan. " Challenger Reports — Atmospheric Circulation."
Article, " Meteorology " in Encyclopedia Britannica. Ninth edition.
W. M. Davis. "Elementary Meteorology." Boston, 1894.
J.G.Bartholomew. " Physical Atlas — Meteorology." Edinburgh, 1899.
A. Angot. " Traile Elementaire de Meteorologie." Paris, 1899.
For notes on climate of special^ regions in all parts of the world, see the Meteorologische
Zeitschrift^ published monthly in Vienna ; the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteoro-
logical Society ; the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society ; for the British Empire
see Symons's Meteorological Magazine, published monthly in London ; for the British Isles,
the Weekly Weather Report of the Meteorological Office, London ; and for North America, the
Monthly Weather Review of the United States Weather Bureau.
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 o'-tain 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 '
Why is there a striking contrast between the flora of New Zealand and
that of Australia ? Some of th^se 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, .4 r/t^;«m/t';'^//z5,
instead of the dense population usually found in lakes.
Peculiarity of the Organism's Constitution.— While some
8 83
84 The International Geography
animals, like 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 skin, 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.
Tnere 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 w^ith 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 speaking of original headquarters or evolution-
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.
fLven 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 on 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
si )w 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 that 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* (b) the original headquarters of the
stock (usually uncertain), and the means of dispersal in each case ; (t) 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."
(b) 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, inspcts 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
BaH 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. /
(t) Regions wiCh 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.
(e) Another striking fact is the " discontinuous distribution " of certain
types, by which we mean that examples 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 Camelidre is represented by one genus in the Old
World and another in South America ; and the insectivorous Centetidoe 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) Pahvarctic (= 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) ; {^) Australian (= Australia,
with New Guinea,New Zealand, and Polynesia) ; (5) Nearctic (=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 ; {b) 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 {d) the grouping of the regions in three major
realms which correspond to the three great evolutionary centres of
mammals — I. The Notogceic 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-
tion 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 rehed 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 {b) 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 mile?
apart may show identical or nearly related plants, and even if there
be little 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 tind 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 raugifeni), and by mosses,
such as species of Polytrichiim, Dicraiuim, and Spliagnum. 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-mvrtle
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 (CJienopodiacece)
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
speciahsed regions. In books like 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 Algag, 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 [Sagittd), Chaetopods, a legion of
Crustaceans, a few Insects (Halobatid^), 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 larvas. 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 " phosphorescence '' is
Distribution of Living Creatures 91
probably in some cases protective, but its meaning is still verv uncertain.
Huge numbers of individuals usually appear in shoals, which is explained
partly by the abundant food supply afforded by the Algae, partly by tl e
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 like, 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 populatioa of debns-Ga.ting 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
correspondingly 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 fo 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, Echiuoderms
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 m the great
depths, and there can be no true rotting without bacteria ; (8) tliC 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 forms. Thus among plants, the rushes, irises, marsh mari-
golds, water buttercups, water-lilies, bladderworts, stoneworts are character-
istically littoral ; numerous green algas occur in the open water and form
an miportant source of food to animals ; w^hile few are known to occur on
the fioor of deep lakes. Among animals, the deepwater forms are chiefly
Rhizopods, Turbellarians, Nematodes, Leeches, Ch^etopods, Crustaceans, a
few Arachnids, some insect larvae, 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 maybe illustrated by the dozen or more
marine species which are at present learning to Uve in the Kaiser- Wilhelni
Distribution of Living Creatures 93
canal in which the water is on the whole fresh, or by the simple polype
Cordylophora which has been carried by boats up rivers and canals. It is
probable that the American freshwater polype Micwhydm 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 {Ceratodtis
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 clit'fcrent 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 life, the presumption is strong that the dry land
was originally peopled slowly and gradually by migrants from the water.
Very graduallv, of course, must the transition have been effected, now by
a wandering worm and again by a curious Crustacean, here by a lish-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 wliich live as
parasites in or on other organisms.
Relations bet-ween Life Areas. — Accordingto Moseley, "The fauna
of the coast has not onl}^ 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,
Original
Homef
Fig. 46. — Possible Evolution 0/ 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 littoral 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 loo 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 larvae 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 enough 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-geographv." London, 1895.
O. Drude. " Die Florenreiche der Erde." 1884. &c.
A. Heilprin. " Tlie Distribution of Animals." London, 1887.
R. Lydekker. " Geoj^r.ipiiical History of Mammals." London, 1896.
A.R.Wallace. " Geographical Distribution of .Animals." 2 vols. London, 1876.
A. R. Wallace. "Island Life." London, 1880.
J. Wiesner. " Biologie der Pflanzen." 1889. [Bibliography.]
A. F. W. Schimper. " Pflanzengeographie auf physiologischer Grundlage." Jena, 1898.
• • " Plant Geography upon a physiological basis." [Translation of
above.] Oxford, 1904.
CHAPTER IX.— THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH
AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF MANKIND
By a. H. Keane, LL.D.,
Late Vice-President Anthropological Institute.
Specific Unity of Mankind. — That mankind forms a distinct
zoological genus in the strict sense of the term, that 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 Anthropomorpha 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 Axthropoidea, the
Hominidcc constitute the fifth and highest family, coming nearest to, but
still independent of, the Simiidcc, 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
q6
Distribution of Mankind 97
very region which many eminent palaeontologists 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 of 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 brought 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 Jiis
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, Cahfornia (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 physical 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 lines, but was brought
about in the several regions independently, as in the case of other animal
varieties. The 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 Linnaeus 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,
Austraha, 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 wilh 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 physically 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, ^gean (Mykenasan), Hellenic, Phoenician,
Mincean, Sabasan, 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 families. 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
made 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 chiet
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, arch^ologists 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 civilisation.
The Old and New Stone Ages.— Thus have been determined a
Palceolitliic 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 pohshed.
Now, it is an ascertained fact that some of the highly speciaHsed varieties of
Man known to histor}- — 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 Eiiropcvns. 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 Palaeohthic
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 ahmentary 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 NeoHthic 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, Myken^, 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, terramare, 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 cHffs, 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 jpersisted 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 by 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 earher.' 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 palaeontological 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,Eihiopic or Negro, the Mongolic or Yellow, the American or Red and
the Caiicasic 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 w^est and east of the Indian Ocean (Africa south of
the Sa]]ara,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 {V Anthropologic
l8Q6,'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, Somalis, 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 ; tw^o only in the. south (Bantu
and Hottentot), Malayo-Polynesian in Madagascar.
I04 The International Geography
Chief Sub-Divisions, — Wolof, Mandingo, Songhay, West Sudan ; Chi,
Eu'c, Yoniba, Upper Guinea ; Haiisa, Boniii, Central Sudan ;
Maba, Xiiba, Denka, Shilluk, Bail, East Sudan and White Nile ;
Niam-Niam [Zanddi), Mangbattii, Barambo, Monifii, Welle river.
Groups of Baxtu Speech : Waganda, Wanyoro, Lakes Victoria
and Albert ; IVaswaJiili, East Coast ; Zitiu-Kafir, South-East Coast ;
Btxhitana, Mashona, il/t/ro/'st', South-Central regions ; Ova-Herero,
Ova-Mpo, Batcke, Mpongwe, West Coast.
Aberrant and Doubtful Groups.— F///a, Senegambia, Sudan.
Fans, Ogowe and Gabun basins ; Bantu speech, negroid
type with marked Hamitic traits ; Pagans.
Negritoes, numerous isolated groups in the forest regions of the
Congo basin ; negro features, brachycephalous heads ; yellowish
colour ; dwarfs, 3 ifeet 6 inches to 4 feet 10 inches.
Buslimen, 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. — Malaj^sia ; Andamans ; PhiHppines ; 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- (AustraHa)
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.
Mclanesians. — Often grouped with the Papuans ; but differences
physical, mental, and hnguistic, 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 ; Aetas, 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.
HeigJit : 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.
Reliilion : Nominal Buddhists and Mohammedans mostly; a
few pagans and Shamanists ; nea rly all spirit worshippers.
Speech: Three great families : i. Ural-Altaic, Lapland to
Japan, Turkestan to Hungary ; agglutinating with post-fixes.
2. Tibeto-Ixdo-Chixese, Tibet to the Pacific, Great Wall to
Indian Ocean ; originally aggluti nating, now in every transition of
phonetic decay towards monosy llabism, with numerous homo-
phones distinguished i^ytone; hence maybe called "monosyllabic
toned languages." 3. "Malayo-Polyxeslax, 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 : Klialkaov Shara, i.e.. Eastern Mongols; Kalmiiks,
i.e., Western Mongols ; Burials, Siberian Mongols ; fungus j Man-
clius, Gilyaks. Range : Mongolia, Manchuria, North Tibet, most
of East Siberia. Turki Braxch : 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.
Tibeto-Chinese. — Tibetans, Burmese, Shans {Siamese, Ahoms,
Kliamti), Arakanese, Chins, Xagas, Mishmi, Annamese, Chinese.
Range : Tibet, Himalayan slopes, most of Indo-China and China.
Malayans. — Malays proper, Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese,
Sassaks, Bugis, Bisayans, Tagals, Formosans, Hovas. Range :
Malaysia, east to Flores, Formosa, Philippines, parts of Madagascar,
Koreo-'Japanese. — 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 slightl}', 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. — Eskimo. — Most specialised of all the aborigines ;
range for 5,000 miles from Alaska round the Arctic shores to
Greenland and Labrador.
Athapascan. — Kuchins, Chippewyans, Apaches, Navajos; Alaska
to Hudson Bay with enclaves on west coast and about United
States and Mexican frontiers.
Shoshonean. — Snake family : Bannocks, Comanches, Utes, Moqiii.
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. — Delawares, Ojibwas, Shawnees, Arapahoes, Crees,
Blackfeet, and many others. Range : Rocky Mountains to New-
foundland, Labrador to Kentucky.
Iroquoian. — Hurons, Cherokees, Ttiscaroras, Mohawks, Senecas,
Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas. Range : Laurentian Basin, New
York, Pennsylvania, Michigan.
Distribution of Mankind 107
Nahuatlan. — Aztecs^ Pipits, Niquirans. Range : Mexico discon-
tinuously to Nicaragua.
Huaxiecaji. — Hiiaxtecs, Mayas, Quiches, Pocomans. Range :
Vera Cruz, Yucatan, Guatemala.
Muiscan ; Arawakan ; Araucan , Tsonecan.
Cariban. — Caribs, Maciisi, Ackauvi, Bakairi. Range : Central
Brazil to West Indies (a few still in St. Vincent).
Qiiechiian. — Qiiitefws, Peruvians, Aymaras, Chincliasuyos.
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
(Huxley's "Melanchroi"). Head : Long in south, round in north ;
large black eves. Colour: Pale white. Hair: Wavy, curly,
brown and black. Jaws of both orthognathous ; nose large,
straight or aquiline ; cheek bones small, features regular.
Mental ChSiVaiCievs.— Temperament of i : Solid and somewhat stoHd ;
of 2 : Fiery, hckle ; of both : Active, enterprising, imaginative.
Science, arts, and letters highlv developed.
Religion: Monotheistic (Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedan-
ism), but polvtheistic (Brahmanism, &c.) in India and elsewhere.
Speech : Mainly inflecting {i.e., root and formative elements
completely fused), but agghitinative in Caucasia, the Dekkan, and
Polynesia. Two great linguistic families : Hamito-Ibero-Semiiic,
North Africa, South-West Asia. Iberia ; Aryan (/ do-European),
nearly all Europe, Armenia, Irania. Northern India, nearly the
whole of America, Austraha, 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, Chaldasans. Range : North Africa, Abyssinia, Ai-abia,
Syria, Mesopotamia.
North Mediterranean. — Pelasgo-Hellenes : Albanians,
Greeks. Range : Adriatic to Cyprus and Asia Minor, Rumelia to
Crete. IJgurians: Most Italians, Corsicans, Sards, Sicilians. Kelto-
Iberians : Spaniards, Portuguese, Basques, Bretons, Auvergnats,
9
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. Low
Germans: Most Prussians and Westphalians, Frisians, Dutch,
Flemings, 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.
I RAN I c. — Armenians, Kurds, Persians, Afghans, Baluchi.
Range : From Asia Minor to Indus, Hindu-Kush and Pamir slopes.
Indic. — Northern H indus (pi Avy^n 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 W^orld According to Races. — From this survey
it appears that since Neolithic times the two lower groups
(Ethiopic, American) have been losing, the two upper (Mongohc,
Caucasic) gaining ground everywhere, with results expressed in
terms of population as under : —
Caucasians 770,000,000
Mongols 540,000,000
Ethiopians 175,000,000
Americans 22,000,000
Total ... 1,507,000,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
C. Darwin. " The Descent of Man." 2 vols. London, 1871.
W. Bo3'd 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,
1881.
T. Waitz. " Introduction to Anthropology." EngUsh edit. London, 1863.
P. Topinard. " Anthropology." Englishedit. London, 1878.
T. H. Huxley. " Man's Place in Nature," in collected Essays. London.
A. H. Keane' " Ethnology." Cambridge, 1896.
" l\Ian Past and Present." Cambridge, 1899.
Sir J. Lubbock. " Prehistoric Times." London, 1869.
■ "The Origin of Civilization." London, 1870.
M. G. Maspero. " The Dawn of Civilization." London, 1897.
M.de Nadaillac. " Prehistoric America." London, i88i^.
O. Peschel. " The Races of Man and Their Geographical Distribution." 1878.
A. de Quatrefages. ''Classification des Races Humaines." 2 vols. Paris.
F. Ratzel. " History of Mankind." Englishedit. 4 vols. London, 1896-99.
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 apphcations 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 Political 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
lOQ
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 chmates.
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 Geographv
III
doubt partly due to the direction and the situation of the Atlas range,
which intercepts what moisture comes fiom the Atlantic and Mediterra-
nean. So it is in Australia, the ii.ain 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
country, as in some parts of Africa and South Anierica.
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 forms in which water is found on the Earths surface, apart from the
ocean, are those of lakes and rivers. Under certain condition;^ the supply
of water stored underground may also be of economical value, as in the
Sahara and Australia. A widespread network ot rivers, as in England and
over much of Europe, gives a State a great advantage in the development
of the agricultural resource^ of the soil. On the othef hand although a very
large area of Australia is waterless, yet by sinking wells a supply of water
has been obtained in some di>tricts 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 tiiem as source^ of power for machinery
instead of steam. Thus it comes that in countries like Switzerland and
Norway electric li'ij^htino' is common even in small vilK'n^es, while Niagara
Falls supply power to innumerable factories both on the Canadian and the
United States side.
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 o- 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 comparativelv 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 AustraHa.
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 Hne dehmiting
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
industr}^ 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 apd
Canada was arranged in 1846, the
line was to proceed across the Lake
of the Woods to the north-west
corner, and then follow the forty-
ninth parallel. It was afterwards
found that the lake extended far
to the north of 49°, 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 Fig. 4j.—Bomidary hehveen the Uniicd States
J i.- ^- • ^'"<^ Canada at the Lake of the Woods.
maps used sometimes- gives rise ■'
to serious disputes, as has been the case in dehneating 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 did not formally give her consent, and at
one time considered herself at liberty to ignore the boundary line on the
west, and to lay claims to a position on the Upper Nile.
The most uncompromising type of boundary is the ocean; hence the
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 lines, 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 var3^ing space on
each side of the line on the map. Troops and fortresses are not ranged
50 MIftS
.^XtRLAND
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 deahng 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 in
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 tishing. will among an energetic people
lead to the improvement of t'lie 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 live 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
come into play leading to the establishment of towns and cities. The late
10
1x6 The International Geography
Mr. Green showed how natural it was that London should have started in
'ts 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 tlie 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 ceitain 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 lind 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 viir, 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 territorv
constitute them a nation, which, as in the United 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 constructed, cables laid round the
world, or wireless telegraph established, 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
1 1 8 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 countr}-. 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 Germin
Empire there existed what was called the Zollverein 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 other federal dominions,
such as the Dominion of Canada. States may also form political unions
with each other for the purpose of mutual defence under certain con-
tingencies.
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 w^ere 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 iig
British colonies in North America declaring their independence of the
mother country-, and estabUshing new States. But as the other distant
colonies developed and became populous and wealthy, the jurisdiction of
the mother country over them became 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 r\-pe 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 char4:ered commercial company, acting under the
central government of the colonising countr\'.
New Colonial Forms. — The expansion of European States has
recently become so gre.it, 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 recent 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 occup\*ing the
stations. The main object of thus reser\-ing 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 possessions 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. Some years ago Ger-
many, Russia, and the United Kingdom leased certain areas of territory in
China, where they established naval and military as well as trading stations.
More recently the United Kingdom 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 find-
ing 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 civihsed 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, are 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 communities 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 viewed 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 lit for use, and materials for carrying out
this work must be made available before the resources acquire their full
value, (b) The second class consists of commodities, the supply of which
can be increased and the nature modilied 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 tliat the value of all bulky raw
materials must depend on tht3 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. " PoHtische Geographic." Leipzig, 1807.
" Anthropogeographie." 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1882, 1891. New edit. vol. 1. 1899.
J. S. Keltie and I. P. A. Renwick. '_' The Statesman's Year Book." London. Annual.
W. Gotz. " Die V'erkehrswege im Dien'ste 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, 1S90.
E. R. Johnson. ' Ocean and Inland Water Transportation." London, 1906.
J. R. Smith. " The Organization of Ocean Commerce." Philadelphia, 1905.
heraldic Colour Scbctne ror Tla^s.
t. y\rger\t= White.
2. Or = Yellow.
3. /\zure=Blue.
4. Sable = Black.
5. Gules = Red.
6. Yert=Creem
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, stretcliing 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
dojs 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, how^ever, 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 territor}^ 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
s nail bavs, 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
f j ords 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 an^^les of Ireland,
"Jn 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.
Between these great highland areas there stretches an area of lowlands
mainlv 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 features
are of two classes — {a) mountain ranges or systems, (b) 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
Fig. 49. — Europe, shoicing circles of 600 and 1,200 miles
radius from Cracow
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 Collo 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 round 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.
^iifigitration 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 IVIont Blanc, 15,775 ^^^t, 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 Vonilpen, 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 teet) 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 key 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
,uro
pe
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 tirst 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 Rhcetoriim), 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 Septmier 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 a remarkable railway tunnel
()\ miles long (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 by
a railway tunnel of even
greater length (about 12;^
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 the 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 Holy 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
modern style laid across it (1772) ; and the first to get a raihvay 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
Fig. 51. — The Alps ami their chief Passes.
128 The International Geography
streams, the Alps form 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,
Vencr, 2,409 square miles, Vetter, 758 square miles, this last accord-
ingly, though the smallest of the live, 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, and 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, except 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 is 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 winds. The result is that all kinds of cultivated
products, whether 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.
Cb| Exi5hn9 Glaciers. (-"~]Ancierit Ice Sheet.
Fig. 52. — 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 the 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 is thus a tendency for the winds
to be drawn to the ocean from the adjoining parts of the land, a tendency
/ / 7'^''~-~~-T^
/_ i^,,^^r-^yV'\ ^ 1
/^\^ /•''■"' \
^^^ ^'
P^g^
^^S
c:^>f^
Fig. 53.— 27/e Distribution 0/ Rain/all in Europe.
Euroi
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 IVIediterranean 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 Palaearctic
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 niacchia, from Latin, macula, a spot. Changed by the French (in Corsica)
into muijuts^
132 The International Geography
a peninsula of Asia, for the Pal^earctic 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 13'nx, 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 m
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 w^hich 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 than 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 ckief non-Ar3'an languages of Europe are those of the Fiinio-Tafar
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 ^gean 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 ability 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. Tiiese 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, and
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 w^hich, though gradually contracted,
w\as not finally overthrown till the end of the fifteenth century. Less
difrable 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 Turk^? 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. 15 17 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 ^ee 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 15 16
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 dynast}'.
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 18 15, 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
mad^ an independent kingdom in 1830 and extended in 1881 ; 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 powortul
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 Expi ^ oS from
Paris through Vienna,
Budapest and Belgrade
to Constanunople ; and the Northern Express route from Paris through
Berlin to St. Petersburg, are the longest on which trains run without
change of carriage.
STATISTICS.
THE COUNTRIES OF liUROPE IN ORDER OF SIZE.
Area sq. miles. Pop.
Russia . . 2,0)5,500 i2q,ooo.ooo
Austria- Hungary 2i)i.ooo 45,400,000
German Empire 210,000 56,400,000
France . . 207. 200 38,()00,ooo
Spain .. IW5.000 18,300,000
Sweden .. i7i,o<.-o 5,100,000
Norway .. i25.f>oo 2,200,000
United Kingdom 121,700 4i,«X)o,ooo
Italy .. 111,000 32.400,000
Turkey .. 65,000 6,100,001")
Rumania .. So.ikxd 6,000,000
Bulgaria . . 37.30o 3,700,000
Portugal .. 34,500 5,400,000
0. .00 «o ««.-.•.
m
^-i^R/u/s S 1 a(
:;V:ffis^fe
^^s
r^C_X/
. ". '. ^ • ■. '.v-.TfrmncTv
^^&
'^Sw
m
s
Fig. 54. — The Main Railu'i2\s of Europe.
Area sq. miles.
Pop.
Greece
25.300
2,400,000
Sci-Aia
iS,7co
2.500,000
Sw:t;:eil;nd . .
1 6,000
3.300,000
Denm.irk
15.300
2.400,000
Netherlands. .
12,700
5,180,000
rdgium
ii..>73
6,700,000
Montenegro..
3,500
228.000
Luxenibcrg . .
1,000
236,000
Andorra
175
6,000
Lievhtenstein
61
10,000
San Marino ..
23
8,000
Monaco
8
13,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
G. G. Chisholm. " Europe." 2 vols. In Shnifoids Ccmpauliiim of Geography and
1 ravel. London, 1899,11)03.
A. Kirchhott' (edittM). - Euiopa." 2 vols. In I'nser Wisscn von ckr Erde. Vienna, 1887.
i8t)0.
M, Block. "' L'Europe, Poiit que et Sociale." Pans. 1892.
E. A. Freeman. *' Historical Geography of Europe." 2 vols. (Ed. by J. B. Bun'.)
London, 1)03.
A. Philipp'^on. " Europa " Leipzig, 100 1.
Sir E. Hortslet. " The Map of Europe by Treaty." 4 vols. London, 1875, 1801.
J. Partsch. "* Central Europe." London, igo^.
R. F. ScharfF. " The History of the European Fauna." London, 1809.
A. Supan. " Die Territoriale Entwicklung der Europaischen Kolonien." Gotha 1906.
CHAPTER XII.— THE UNITED KINGDOM OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
I.— GENERAL
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 to 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 10° 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 Shetland
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 variety
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
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
^ Over 1,500 ft. /
tan 500 1,500 ft. ^-^
r~l Under 500 ft.
Fig.
. — Conjigiiration of the British Islands.
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-
11
140 The Internationa] 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 ol.^ 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. ^b,-Frequency 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' F^rg 38-42 rTTTI 42-50
Fig. 57 —Temperature of the British
Islands in January.
m^ 50-60 (^:j Above 60
Fig. s^-— Temperature of the British
Islands in ^tdy.
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
m latitude secures to them the same amount of heat from the Sun and the
The United Kingdom
141
f
«N
fia Mai A»i.M*t. Jcm. Jui tuc Sip Oct *•« Die i"
60
55
60
45
40
35
30
26
,
'•
--
2
1
^
'^
■^
^
Vs
^
-
^
^
f
[^^
-1 -
i
_
1
-
- 1
h-
-— -^' " ^- -■ ^
^11
t j... ■ :
■m.
m
J
Greemwich Yalentia
Fig. 59. — A'.'cragt wcnthly tcmpeni-
ture and raiiiftill for Greenwich
and Vakiitia.
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
and south-west of Ireland the temperature
averages from 43° to 45° in January. The
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.
........ .......................I
eo
55
50
45
40
35
30
26
20
15
10
8
6
10
ao
10
le
17
16
15
14
13
12
10
9
3
7
6
5
4
2
^
-
^
/
\,
■m
/
k
/-
'''
"■^
\
--
.,^
/
...
f-
^•s
1
-
...
P
m
i
m
m
ITT
r^
M
M
1
S
W>i
1
■■E
1
1
i
W::
i:
:i
;::::
Fort WiLLiAv Ben Nevis
Fig. 60, — Average monthly tempera-
ture and rainfall for Ben Nevis
and Fort William,
142 The International Geography
Rainfall and Storms. — The rainfall depends conjointly on the
prevailing wind and the height of the land. The west coast is naturally
the wettest. In Ireland and the outer Hebrides the average annual rainfall
is 40 inches, and is very uniformly distributed, as the rain-bearing wind is
not stopped by any continuous high land. In Ireland also the numerous
lakes and great expanses of damp bogs maintain the moisture of the air.
In Great Britain the barrier on the western edge of the Scottish Highlands
precipitates a rainfall of over 80 inches, and the rainfall on the heights of
the Southern Uplands, the Lake District, Wales and the peninsula of
Cornwall and Devon also exceeds 60 inches ; but the whole of the east of
the island receives less than 40 inches, while along the east coast less than
30 inches fall ; and in a broad district from the Humber to the Thames
the annual rainfall is less than 25 inches. The heavy fall of the west runs
off the steep slopes of the land very quickly, while the more moderate
supply of the east flows off slowly, and the clay of which much of the
plains is composed allows the small rainfall to remain a long time in the
soil, thus tending to equalise the conditions in the west and east so far as
agriculture is concerned. The weather as a whole is changeable ; fogs
are common in all large towns in winter, and the absence of any meteoro-
logical stations west of the British Islands often makes it impossible to
predict the paths of the frequent and sometimes dangerous cyclonic storms
which sweep in from the Atlantic.
Flora. — In the highland regions of great rainfall little soil remains on
the steep mountain slopes, and the land presents a bare surface of stones
or rock. On the gentler slopes covered with thin soil only moss, fern and
heather can grow, and this forms the characteristic vegetation of the high
moorlands of Scotland, Wales, and the Irish mountains, which glow with
a wealth of purple blossom in autumn. Most of the rest of the surface is
covered naturally with rich grass suitable for pasturage. The yellow
blossoms of the whin or gorse appear in every month of the year, and in
spring the wild flowers of the low grounds are rich and varied.
At the dawn of history Great Britain was a densely wooded island ;
but now less than 4 per cent, of the land is under trees, and little of the
original forest remains. The clayey plains and peaty moorlands were
largely occupied by morasses, most of which have been drained and
reclaimed, the most characteristic which remain being the great bogs of
Ireland. The native flora of the British Islands is identical with that of
continental Europe with the addition of a few American species. The fact
that there are fewer species common to the continent and Ireland than to
the continent and Great Britain is one of the strongest proofs of the earlier
separation of Ireland from Great Britain, than of Great Britain from
continental Europe. Pyrenean types found in the south-west of Ireland,
but not in Great Britain, may point to a former land connection with south-
western Europe. The chief indigenous trees are the oak and beech in the
lower grounds, and the Scots pine and birch in the higher and more
The United Kingdom 143
northern districts. Many trees and all cultivated plants have been intro-
duced ; and those plants common on the continent but rarely seen in
Great Britain, such as the sugar-beet, vine, and tobacco could be success-
fully reared in many parts of the country if proper care were bestowed on
them. The mildness and moistness of the climate gives to the vegetation
of the British Islands a characteristic freshness at all seasons.
Fauna. — The native animals of Britain in the time of the Romans
included the brown bear, wolf, wild boar, and beaver, all long since
exterminated, and the wild ox, of which a few herds have been preserved.
The red deer is still found in the highlands of Scotland, Exmoor, and the
south-west of Ireland, the fallow deer is common in parks, the fox, badger,
otter, wild-cat, rabbit and squirrel are found nearly everywhere. The roc-
buck, polecat, common brown hare, many varieties of the weasel family, the
mole and the whole family of voles or held mice are absent from Ireland,
although abundant in Great Britain. The Irish hare resembles that of the
highlands, which turns white in winter. There arc only about twentv
species of mammals native to Ireland, compared with forty known in
Great Britain and ninety in Germany. This fact is another proof of the
earlier separation of Ireland than of Great Britain from the continent.
There are numerous species of indigenous birds, but the great bustard
and the capercailzie have died out. The stork, so common on the eastern
side of the North Sea, is practically unknown ; and the nightingale,
although abundant in southern England is rarely heard in Scotland and
never in Ireland. Migratory birds visit the islands from the Arctic regions
in winter, and from southern countries in summer. The viper is the one
poisonous snake, and is not common, while no snakes of any kind are
found in Ireland, where the only reptile known is a lizard. All the animals
of economic value, and a large number of those protected for sport, have
been introduced from other countries. The fish round the coast are those
common to all north-western Europe. Flat-fish, as well as cod, haddock
and whiting swarm in the shallow North Sea and on banks in the Atlantic ;
and shoals of herring and pilchard appear off the coasts at certain seasons.
The oysters, famous in the days of the Romans, retain, if they have not
increased, their reputation. The salmon of the northern and western
rivers are also renowned.
History of the British Peoples. — Widely scattered remains of very
early date show that the first inhabitants entered the British Islands while
they were still part of the continent of Europe. When Pytheas, the Greek
colonist from Massilia, discovered and sailed along the east coast of Britain
about B.C. 330, he reported that the inhabitants practised agriculture, brewed
beer, and mined tin. At a later date successive invasions of Keltic tribes
took place across the English Channel, and when JuHus Caesar landed in
B.C. 55 he found the coast occupied by the Belgie ; and in the interior there
were less civilised Kelts already being pressed towards the western moun-
tains and islands. To this day Keltic names are preserved for rivers — e.g.,
144 ^^^ International Geography
Fig. (yi.—The Union Fla,!^,
combining the Crosses of
St. George, St. Andrew, and
St. Patrick, the patron
saints of the three countries.
Afon (Avon), Don and Uisge (Ouse, Usk, Esk, Exe)— and for hills, in every
part of the British Islands. The Keltic word Dun, a fortified height, gave
rise to the names of both London and Dunedin (tlie early form of Edin-
burgh). The Romans, without mixing much with the people, governed
Britain for four centuries, erecting great walls across the northern parts of
England and the central plain in Scotland to protect the settled people
of the south from the Picts and other wild tribes of the north, and laying
out a complete system of roads, many of which still run across the country
j,s straight as ruled lines, in contrast to the poor
and winding tracks which came into use later. On
the fall of the Roman Empire Teutonic tribes
from the continent descended on Britain and par-
ticularly on England, some as invaders, others as
defenders of the British tribes, but all settled in
the land, dividing it into separate kingdoms. The
Angles brought their name of English, which ulti-
mately became the general designation of the
language, although they did not predominate in
number or strength over the other tribes. The
Saxons settled great tracts in the southern half of England, the names
of the old kingdoms of the East Saxons, Middle Saxons, West Saxons
and South Saxons surviving in Essex, Middlesex, Wessex and Sussex.
The organisation of the township or early English unit of government
is due to these German tribes. Simultaneously with them the pirate
ships of the Scandinavian vikings descended on the coasts, both east and
west, to plunder or to rule. The Northmen settled mainly on the shores
of Scotland and the north-east of England, where most of the place-names
even now have Scandinavian endings, such as by, ay,
and ster. The Danes for a time ruled the larger part
of England, but the greatest Scandinavian influence
on the country was brought to bear in 1066, when the
descendants of the vikings, who had settled in the
north of France and named it Normandy, conquered
the Saxon or English lands. They unified the southern
part of the country, annexing Wales and Ireland, gave
the English language a notable impulse towards its
present form, and ingrafted a French culture on
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 liighlands
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-
FIG. 62. — The Royal
Standard, quartering
the arms of England
{twice), Scotland, and
Ireland.
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 admissioii 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. m'ile. England & Wales. Ireland. Scotland
1801 .. i6,ooc,ooo .. 131 .. 56 .. 34 .. 10
1901 .. 41,600,000 ., 344 .. 78 .. II •• II
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 of
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 most
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 tlie 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 of
Lords or the Crown refuses to pass or to assent to any Bill passed by that
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 United Kingdom, although they exist —
even against the mother-country — in almost all
other parts of the British Empire. 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 Enghsh 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 utihsed 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
Fig. 63.— The British Empire
on a Colonial postage
stamp.
The United Kingdom
147
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
Fig. 64. — The White Ensign in the eighteenth century new textile factories
Naty/''^ 0/ the BnUsh ^^^^.^ ^^^^^^^ j^ ^j^^ ^,^^^.y^ ^^ ^j^^ 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
^ 12
Fig. 6S-— The Red Ensign—
the flag of the British
Merchant Sen'ice.
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
344 per square mile at the Census of 190 1 ; but in
England, which contains three-quarters of the whole
population, the density is 558 per square mile. The
bare and unproductive Highlands are almost un-
inhabited, the density of population in Sutherland-
shire being only 1 1 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. t^.— England & Wales.
Fig. 6^.— Ireland
Fig. 6q. — Scotia nc
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-growing region 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 Kingaom
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 hve-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 whole east
and south coast, thus reproducing the effects of the introduction of steam-
power in manufactures.
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 I
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
ore is the red hematite F'«- z^--^^"- ^''^'"-^ ^^" ^^^^''' ^^'^''"^ ^ "
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 aloae 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 tlie 190,000,000 tons annually raised are exported ; but indirectly by
1883 M 85' 8« (t> 08 S9 W 9
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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 hst 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 Tydlil, 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 12 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 kept open at great cost.
(3) Cardif (including Barry Dock), with 12 million tons of shipping,
prospers by the enormous export of coal from the South Wales coal-field.
(4) The Tyne Ports, including Newcastle and North and South Shields,
have a movement of 9 million tons, mainly exporting machinery and coal,
(5) Hull and Grimsby, on the H umber, with about 7 million tons of
1871 ji2_13 T
82 83 84 85_^..87 .98 89
96 97 98^9'I900 01
820
800
780
760
740
720
700
t-%
t
:bE
U^JIitt
KLNLlilLQA
220
UK
KLli
Fig. 71. — The progress of the Total Trade of the chief com-
mercial nations from 1871 to 1901.
movement between them, are the principal
harbours 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, Grangemouth, and Kirkcaldy,
have between them about 6 million tons of movement, mainly exporting
coal.
(7) Glasgow, with a movement of 3I 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.
C8) Southami>ton, with a movement of 3 million tons, is mainh' con-
152 The International Geography
cerned in the passenger trade, to South Africa and America ; its proximity
to London by rail enabUng 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, Humber, 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 the average of that of the three 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 ;^7oo,ooo,ooo, or ;^i8 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 •
2-5
353
21-5 ..
100
Exports ..
53,
04
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 denudatioa
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 vScots, 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 1745 broke
up the Clan system finall}^ 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-
Fjg.
■Xainnil dhisions of
Scctlatid.
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, ajid 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 crust 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 Archaean 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 Ihe 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 mJgrate 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 swelling 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 Campbell ton in Cantyre is almost the only town of
which distilling is one of the chief resources.
The North-W^estern 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 Strome Ferry on Loch Carron, whence steamers ply to the
herring-fishing port of Stonioway, 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 the 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 crow^n 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 Fasroes 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 Mainland, is the only town. It usea 10
be the last port touched at by Arctic whalers, a large proportion of their
crews being Shetlanders ; and the islands still produce man> 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. They 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 utihsed for the production of electric power for an aluminium
factory, a foretaste of the possible revival of Highland industries by
modern 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 — 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 between 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, small 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 Peierlicad was long famous for its Arctic
Scotland 157
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
hibour, of huge breakwaters which will not be completed until 192 1.
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 miiterials form ranges of hills parallel to
the general lines of the countr}^, especially the Sidlaws, Ochils, and
Campsie Fells on the north, and the Pentlands, and Lammermoors 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 convergin^^
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. Perth 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 by 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
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. They 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 utihsed for the production of electric power for an aluminium
factory, a foretaste of the possible revival of Highland industries by
modern 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 — 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 between 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, small earthquakes are common, a sign probably that the strata
are still yielding to the internal stresses.
South-Eastern Highland Counties. — The county of Inyerness
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 Pderlicad was long famous for its Arctic
Scotland 157
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 192 1.
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 Lammermoors 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 convergin,'^
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. Perth 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 Cowrie, to Stirling by the Allan valley
skirting the Ochils on the west, and to Edinburgh by 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 w^as 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
Fig. 73. — Dundee ami the Tay Bridge. , ,
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 Bumf island 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,
stands on 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 ancient
game " of golf. Edinburgh, originally a castle on a lofty crag (see section
from west to east in Fig. 25), grew into a w^alled 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.
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 docs a large shipping trade.
The Western Low^land To"wns. — 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. — Edmbiirgh 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. Glasgoiv 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 Clj^de 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. 75.-Glasgow. forming 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 " Waverley
Route" passes up Liddesdale and descends the valley of the Teviot,
crossing the Tweed at Melrose, and running thence direct to Edinburgh.
Fig. 76. — Section across England (after Ramsay). The letters o and c indicate
the Oolitic and Chalk escarpments.
III.— 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 Palaeozoic
or igneous formation, occur-
ring in irregular and confused
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 ph3'sical divisions which have also a cer-
FlG. 77. — Natural Dmisions of England
and Wales.
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 Cumber\a.nd.
H^^//i'.s- is from a Saxon word meaning "foreign," and the name reappears
in Connvall. The tribes were organised in warlike clans, the chieftains
sometimes united under a common head, more frequently at war with each
other, and 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 Sohvay 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 like 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 Kesicick, 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 wath 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 Holy head, 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 railwaysandlined 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 Xcufort 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 C3'non 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 industrv 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
The South Wales Coal-field.
1 66 The International Geography
an ancient lake-bed, in the desolate pastoral region of central Wales.
and flows to the Severn. This river, rising farther south and west, sweeps
across and around the margin of the ancient rocks to flow southward down
its broad valley over Triassic strata, collecting the whole drainage of the
eastward slopes of Wales, and receiving only one important tributary, the
Avon, on the left from the Central Plain of England. The names of
Gloucester, Worcester, and Chester testify to the military importance the
Romans attached to the line of communication through the Severn and
Dee valleys, flanking Wales. The fine cathedrals of Gloucester, Worcester
and Hereford afford evidence of the value of the Welsh border when
agriculture was the one source of wealth, and they all continue to be
thriving market towns and the seat of various minor manufactures.
Gloucester is made accessible to ocean-going vessels by a ship canal from
the Severn estuary. The commercial importance of this estuary was
anciently due mainly to Bristol, which grew up as a seaport on the
southern Avon, and in the fourteenth century was second only to London.
From this port Cabot sailed on his voyage of discovery westward,
and a great trade with America was kept up for two centuries in sugar
and tobacco ; the tobacco trade still continuing important, as well as
that in chocolate and in timber. The first steamer to cross the Atlantic
sailed from Bristol in 183H, but the introduction of steam has benefited
other seaports more, and for a time it declined in importance. There
are considerable manufactures, coal being obtained from a small coal-field
in the neighbourhood. A tunnel four and a half miles in length, the longest
in England, under the Severn, connects Bristol with South Wales.
The Cornw^all and Devon Peninsula. — The peninsula of Cornwall
and Devon forms a natural region of ancient Pateozoic rocks separated
from the newer rocks of the east along a line drawn from Bridgwater Bay
to Torquay. It may be viewed as a synclinal trough like those in the
south of Ireland, running east and west with Old Red Sandstone strata on
the north and south (which derived the alternative name of Devonian from
thus occurring), and Lower Carboniferous rocks, not containing any coal,
forming the lower ground between. The northern outcrop of the Devonian
strata forms a barren upland sloping gently southward from Exmoor,
where its highest point exceeds 1,600 feet, but falling steeply to the sea.
The coast is picturesque with lofty cliffs and rocky shores dotted with
frequented summer resorts at the mouths of short deeply cut valleys. The
river Exe flows almost due south from its source, only four miles from the
Bristol Channel, to its estuary on the English Channel. The Devoniac
strata on the south do not stand out so prominently ; but they are pierced
by several of the greatest outbursts of granite in England, which form
prominent uplands. The largest is the plateau of Dartmoor, rising in
many points to over 1,500 feet, and in Yes Tor to over 2,000. The surface
is wilder and more barren than Exmoor, affording only a little pasture in
summer. The granite weathers into clay which allows great marshes and
England and Wales
i6
peat bogs to form. In the centre of the moor in one of the most desolate
regions of all England a great convict prison has been established.
Separated from Dartmoor by the valley of the Tamar, which runs south
to Plymouth Sound, dividing Cornwall from Devon, Bodmin Moor,
another granite boss, culminates in Brown Willy, 1,370 feet. A third mass
of granite gives character to the Land's End peninsula, its cliffs carved
into fantastic forms by atmospheric erosion. Lizard Head is formed by a
similar mass of the rarer rock, serpentine. The contact of the granite with
the rocks which it pierces marks the richest part for veins of metallic ore,
especially copper and tin ; the latter is still largely worked, tliough most
of the copper mines are closed. The decomposed granite itself forms
China-clay, a valuable product which is not found on the granites of
Scotland or northern England, whence all soft material was swept by the
ice-sheet. The rocky coast is highly picturesque on account of the
diversity of its geological structure, and
shelters numerous fjord-like natural har-
bours and bays. These are evidence that
the coast has been undergoing subsidence,
which is confirmed by the existence of sub-
merged forests, records of land washed
away, and the tradition of the sunken land
of Lyonesse between Cornwall and the
Scilly Islands. Penzance, on Mounts Bay,
is the headquarters of the pilchard fishery.
Faliuoiiih and Dartmouth were formerly
important harbours. Plymouth, standing
at the junction of the estuaries of the
Tamar and Plym, really consists of " The
Three Towns " — Plymouth, Devonport,
and Stonehouse. Plymouth Sound, pro-
tected by a breakwater, is one of the finest harbours in England, and it is
one of the headquarters of the British fleet. The arsenal is protected by an
extensive series of modern fortilications. The south coast of the peninsula
having the mildest climate in Great Britain, has attracted many residents, and
abounds in picturesque health resorts. Of these Torquay is the largest and
best known. The southern coast-lands are very fertile, and fruit-growing
is extensively carried on, especially the growth of apples for cider-making.
The low plateau of Lower Carboniferous rocks in the centre of the penin-
sula has rich grass-land and excels in cattle-raising.
The Scilly Islands consist of 140 islets aiid rocks lying about 30
miles west of Lands End. The larger of the islands are inhabited, and
advantage is taken of the exceptionally mild climate to raise flowers and
early vegetables for the London market. Here accordingly there is no
agricultural depression, and the few inhabitants are prosperous. Com-
munication takes place by steamer with Penzance.
Fig. 79. — Plyiiioiiih Soiiud.
1 68 The International Geography
The Pennine Chain. — The Pennine Chain is a backbone to
northern England, and its bold configuration determines the river systems
of the whole country north of the Tees-Exe line. It is formed throughout
of a great anticline or arch of Carboniferous rock, which was originally
ridged up from east and west. Rivetted, if one may use a metaphor, to
the Southern Uplands of Scotland by the great granitic mass of the Cheviot
hills, and numerous long volcanic dykes which run east and west, the
Pennine chain extends southward until the heights spread out into finger-
like ridges which sink to the level of the Enghsh Central Plain, and the
Carboniferous rocks dip under the Triassic formations. The Coal Measures,
the highest member of the Carboniferous series, have been stripped off the
top of the ridge by denudation, leaving the Carboniferous limestones and
Millstone Grit exposed ; but they appear here and there along its flanks.
On the eastern side the great coal-field of Northumberland and Durham
occurs in the north, and that of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the south.
These are separated from the newer rocks by a belt of Magnesian Limcr
stone running due south from the mouth of the Tyne almost to the Trent, and
forming a picturesque escarpment towards the west. On the west side the
fault which separates the Pennine Chain from the rocks of the Lake
District destroys the symmetry in the north, though the Cumberland coal-
field in a way corresponds with that of Northumberland ; but in the
south the coal-field of Lancashire corresponds closely to that of Yorkshire.
The Carboniferous limestone exposed in the northern and in the southern
parts of the ridge weathers into very picturesque heights and valleys, and
subterranean erosion has formed in it many caverns and underground
stream-courses. The highest summits are in the Crossf ell group (2,900 feet),
overlooking the Eden valley in a grand escarpment, the bold form of
which is intensified by an intrusive sheet of basalt ; and the somewhat
lower but more picturesque uplands of the Peak district (highest summit,
2,800 feet). The middle portion of the chain, formed of Millstone Grit, also
weathers into fine peaks of a different type, and grass-covered uplands.
It is crossed by a depression between the valleys of the Wharf e and
Ribble, the highest point of which only reaches 500 feet Beyond the
limits of the Pennine Chain the Coal Measures, which had dipped below
the Triassic rocks, come up like islands as the coal-fields of Staffordshire
and Leicestershire, while the coal may be reached in many places by deep
mines carried down through the younger overlying rocks. Most of the
great manufacturing towns of England are situated on the Triassic plain
bordering the Carboniferous uplands. The rivers flowing from the
Pennine chain form long valleys, or dales, furrowing the uplands and
affording sites for the towns. Their estuaries are important harbours,
especially the Ribble and Mersey on the west, and on the east the Tyne,
Tees, and the many streams converging from east and south to enter the
Humber. Yorkshire, Lancashire and Northumberland, the three chief
counties of the Pennine Chain, are known for the sturdy independence,
England and Wales
169
great perseverance, and industrial capacity of their people. Small towns
in picturesque situations and in the neighbourhood of mineral springs
have risen into fame as watering places and health resorts ; such are
Harrogate, Buxton, and Matlock.
The high moorlands are adapted for sheep pastures, and it is natural
that the villages and market towns in the sheltered dales should, from an
early period, have been engaged in the wool trade and the weaving of
woollen goods. The fertile plains surrounding the uplands as naturally
became valuable for agriculture and stock-raising. The minerals were
worked from early times, but it was not until the era of machinery was intro-
duced by the inventive genius of the people ot the district, that the stores
of iron and coal localised the greatest seat of textile manufactures in the
world. The lines of communication from north to south were necessarily
carried along the bordering plains. That on the east ran through the Vale
of York and then along the coastal plain, where Berwick, with its long
bridge over the Tweed, was an important stopping place, and until the
end of the fifteenth century was frequently taken and retaken by Scottish
and English armies. The North-Eastern Railway now follows this route.
On the west the road followed the coastal plain, but turned northward up
the Lune valley to Carlisle, always an important border town. This is now
the route of the London and North-Western Railway, but the Midland
Railway runs along the watershed of the Pennines, and descends by the
Eden valley to Carlisle, the importance of that junction being further
enhanced by the cross-countny line from Newcastle through the Tyne
valley, and the three main lines from Scotland.
'otiierFomt
\^
Fig. So.— The Tync Ports.
The Northumberland and Durham Coal-field. — The counties
of Northumberland and Durham are separated by the river Tyne, which
runs across the middle of the coal basin to the sea. Newcastle takes its
name from a castle erected immediately after the Norman conquest close
to the site of the ancient Roman bridge which gave origin to the town.
The shipping of coal from Newcastle (called " sea-coal " in the old days)
has gone on from the thirteenth century, and it is still the greatest coal-
lyo The International Geography
shipping port for coasting trade. The Tyne for ten miles, from Newcastle
to the sea, has been deepened to admit large vessels, and the harbours of
North and South Shields at its mouth are included with the docks which
line the river as the Tyne Ports for custom-house purposes. Gateshead, on
the south side of the river, shares the industries of Newcastle, which are
chiefly the manufacture of iron, machinery, and chemicals. The great
Elswick Works, where the largest warships are built, rank with the works
at Essen in Germany and Le Creusot in France. One characteristic of
the manufacturing region surrounding Newcastle, as of that in South
Wales, is the absence of factories employing women. This gives rise to
quite different social conditions from those prevailing on the other coal-
fields where factory work predominates. Sunderland, at the mouth of the
Wear, almost rivals the Clyde in shipbuilding, and like the Hartlepools,
just north of the Tees, it has a considerable coal export. The picturesque
cathedral city of Durham contains a university, the science college of
which is in Newcastle.
The West Riding Coal-field.— The ancient woollen industries of
the Pennine villages have developed by the aid of mechanical power and
perfected communications until the valleys of the Aire and Don, with their
tributaries, are now amongst the most densely peopled of manufacturing
districts, although the uplands between them are still desolate moors.
Half a dozen railway lines connect this coal-field across the central ridge
with the Lancashire coal-field on the west, and communication with the
south and east is still more complete. Most of the raw wool is now
imported through Liverpool, and the export of finished goods takes place
both through that port and through Hull. Leeds, the largest town of the
district, stands near the point where Airedale opens on the Vale of York,
and while it has become one of the chief cloth manufacturing towns and
the leading cloth market in Europe, it does not rely on one staple. Iron,
smelted in the town, supplies great engineering works at which heavy
machinery of all kinds is turned out. Bradford, about eight miles further
west, specialises in the manufacture of worsted yarn and cloths woven
from it. Halifax and Huddersfield, on the extreme west of the coal-field,
and many other large towns in the neighbourhood, each manufactures some
special class of woollen goods. Sheffield depends not on woollen but on
steel manufactures. It is beautifully situated in a picturesque amphi-
theatre of hills at the junction of several streams with the Don. It has
been famous for its cutlery for many centuries, and has always imported
Swedish iron for use in this manufacture which is said to have been
promoted by the existence of good grindstone quarries in the neighbour-
hood. All branches of steel manufacture are now concentrated here,
including" steel rails, armour plates for battleships, and machinery.
Outside Yorkshire, Nottingham, where the south-east of the coal-field
practically touches the Trent, is a great textile manufacturing town,
the staple of its trade being cotton hosiery and lace. Derby, in a similar
England and Wales 171
position where the south-western corner of the coal-field nearly touches
the Derwent, a tributary of the Trent, has somewhat similar manufactures,
and has in addition the works of the Midland Railway Company whose
main hne traverses the coal-field.
The East Yorkshire Plain and the Humber. — The escarpment
of Magnesian Limestone which marks the eastern boundary of the Coal
Measures is separated by a narrow arm of the Central Plain from the Oolitic
escarpment. This plain, underlain by Triassic or New Red sandstones,
stretches northward through Nottinghamshire from the point where the
Trent begins to turn northward, to the estuary of the Tees. In some parts of
it coal can be reached by deep mines, but the surface being covered by rich
soil its value is mainly agricultural. Thi richness of the land and quiet
beauty of the country, varied by the remains of Sherwood and other
ancient forests, have led to the building of many fine country mansions,
and one part bears the familiar name of the " Dukeries," on account of the
number of ducal seats. It is, as a whole, a low and level plain, dipping
gently from both sides to the Humber, the Trent running northward along
its eastern margin, and the Ouse with its tributaries running southward.
The Vale of York, famous for its farms and for its horse breeding, is
covered with alluvial and glacial deposits. In the middle York is situated,
the ancient walls still encirchng the town, and its magnificent Minster being
claimed as the finest church in the British Islands. The central position,
midway between London and Edinburgh, which made it, as Eboracum,
the capital of Roman Britain, now secures it importance as a railway
junction. HiiU^ although situated in the Chalk Belt, owes its importance
entirely to being the deep-water harbour on the North Sea nearest to the
coal-fields of the West Riding and Lancashire, with which it is in close
railway connection. It is the natural complement of Liverpool, serving
for the export of manufactures to the Baltic and Continental ports. Its
old trade in fish still continues although surpassed by other interests.
The Lancashire Coal-field. — The Lancashire manufacturing region,
including the portions lying in the neighbouring county of Cheshire,
has a population as large as that of Scotland, and there is probably no
other part of the world of equal extent so densely peopled. The coal-field
only yields enough for local consumption in the innumerable factories and
engineering and chemical works, and there is no export of coal. Although
the towns are marked on ordinary maps as separate and distinct, this only
refers to the different municipalities. The area covered by buildings is
almost continuous for a radius of eight miles round the centre of Man'
Chester on the low western plain, and large towns are clustered close
outside, while strings of industrial villages run up the narrow dales of the
Pennine Chain to the east between the moorland pastures. The woollen
industry was originally as common in this district as on the Yorkshire
side ; but the imported cotton has long since taken the first place, the
moist climate favouring its manufacture. The twin centres are Liverpool
13
172 The International Geography
and Birkenhead, the gate for exports and imports, and Manchester and
Salford the depots for distributing the raw material to surrounding
manufacturing towns, and collecting the finished goods. The opening of
the Manchester Ship Canal which allows ocean steamers to come direct
to the mland ceptre has not yet materially affected this relation. Liverpool
runs for six miles along the right or eastern bank of the Mersey estuary,
and for this distance there is a continuous row of docks, outside which
a floating landing-stage allows the largest steamers to come alongside for
embarking and landing passengers. The tides of the estuary are very
rapid, but a serious bar which used to prevent large vessels entering at
low water has been completely cut through by dredging, and the port is
always accessible. As well as a great exchange and other business edifices,
Liverpool possesses fine public buildings and museums, and one of the
colleges of the Victoria University. Birkenhead on the left bank of the
estuary is approached
by ferry steamers and
by a tunnel under the
Mersey. Apart from
its docks it is a resi-
dential suburb of
Liverpool. Although
there are extensive
engineering works,
some shipbuilding,
and a large number
of manufactures of
every kind, the real
importance of Liver-
pool lies in its harbour
and the associated
railway system. The lower course of the Mersey between Manchester
and Liverpool is over a low, flat and imarshy plain, which was originally
almost impassable on account of bogs, and the construction of the
first railway between the two towns (30 miles) across the Chat Moss
in 1829, was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the
time. This bog and many others have since been drained and converted
into solid ground. Manchester forms practically one town with Salford,
though separated from it by the narrow stream of the Irwell, which
like most rivers of the district is as black as ink from dye refuse. The
centre consists mainly of vast warehouses, for Manchester itself is mercan-
tile rather than manufacturing; the Royal Exchange is said to be the
largest building of its kind in existence, and the Town Hall is also a superb
structure. Owen's College is the chief college of Victoria University. The
factories are in the suburbs and in the ring of neighbouring towns. Ashton,
Oldham. Rochdale, Bury, and Bolton (or Bolton-le-Moors) lie close up to
Liverpool and Birkenhead.
England and Wales
173
the steep rise of the Pennine moorlands along the third part of a circle
from east to north-west of Manchester, and all are within ten miles of its
centre. Oldham is by far the most important for manufactures ; in fact it
contains one-third of all the cotton spindles in England. Bolton speciaHses
in the finest qualities of cotton 3'arn, and Bury and Rochdale retain a con-
siderable woollen manufacture, although cotton-spinning predominates.
Close to the northern edge of the coal-field Preston stands at the head of
sea navigation on the Ribble, where the main line of the London and
North-Western Railway crosses the river. Here Arkwright set up the first
spinning frames worked by mechanical power in 17^)8. and the com on
If -\ > EnqliahMiles
Fig. 82.— The Maiuhesler District.
industry is still of great importance. At Blackburn, in a vajley nine miles
to the east, Hargreaves had established his "spinning jennv" in 1767, and
it is still one of the chief seats of cotton -weaving. The canal from Liver-
pool to Leeds and a railway pass eastward through Blackburn and up the
valley which leads across the Pennine ridge to Airedale, through Accring-
ton and Burnley. All these towns depend on cotton. The number of
factories on this coal-field creates an enormous demand for machinery,
and the towns consequently contain large engineering works. There are
extensive chemical, glass and soap works at St. Helens, and other towns
surrounding Liverpool. The great industrial population of the region
174 The International Geography
requires the creation of a number of health and pleasure resorts on the
breezy uplands of the Pennine Chain, and along the fine sand-beaches of
the coast where Soiithport and Blackpool are the largest of a host of
watering places.
The Central Plain. — The Central Plain of England may be looked
on as extending from the Mersey and De.e estuaries, and the southern
slope of the Pennine Chain on the north to the Welsh hills on the west, and
the line of the Oolitic escarpment on the south and east. It corresponds
to the region of the Triassic red rocks and of the Lias ; only where the
strata have been raised into gentle north and south folds in the west,
patches of the Coal Measures have been exposed by denudation. Here the
surface is comparatively high and undulated, but it forms one low plain
traversed by the Weaver on the north-west, and another followed by the
Avon to the south-west, while on the east the rivers flowing from the
Pennine dales and the short streams from the Oolitic escarpment converge
on the Trent, the course of which is guided northwarcl by the low escarp-
ment of one of the hard beds of the Lias. This plain comprises the greater
part of the counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Worcester, Warwickshire,
Leicestershire, and Nottingham. It is very rich agriculturall}^, and was
formerly covered by extensive woods ; the names of the Forest of Arden
and Charnwood Forest being still applied to large districts. Now
pasturage is of the greatest importance, the cattle of the west and the
horses and sheep of the east being famous. It is full of scenes of historical
interest ; castles round which hang romantic traditions of all ages of
English history, battlefields where the destinies of the nation have been
decided, and crossing points of natural routes which were guarded by
Roman camps in ancient days, and are served by railway junctions like
Crewe, Stafford, Rugby, and Leicester, in our own time. It is the centre
of England, and the scenery around Stratford-on-Avon, which inspired
Shakespeare, may be taken as typical of all that is most characteristic of
rural England. Across this plain there is a network of canals which
practically places all the navigable rivers of the country in communication
with one another.
The Cheshire Plain and Potteries.— The Cheshire Plain is one of
the richest grazing districts, and celebrated especially for its cheese.
Chester is remarkable for the perfection with which its Roman wall
surrounding the town has been preserved, and for the quaint mediaeval
streets with arcaded pavements. It was a seaport in Roman times, but the
head of the estuary of the Dee has now been silted up and it is cut off from
the sea. The Trias rocks contain great beds of rock salt which are worked
in the Weaver valley, especially at Norihwich ; but it is cheaper to get the salt
by pumping brine from the mines, water being allowed to enter in order
to dissolve it. As a result of this method of working, subsidences of the
ground are continually taking place, and sunk, cracked, or twisted houses
are common in the towns. Where the Coal Measures rise to the surface
England and Wales
175
in North Staffordshire, there is a dense population in the upper valley of
the Trent grouped in numerous small towns around Biirslcm and HanJey.
The district is known collectively as " The Potteries," on account of the
great industry in earthenware and china promoted by the quality of the
clay found in the neighbourhood.
The Black Country. — From very early times the great forest of
Arden had supplied charcoal for smelting iron ore, and various iron and
steel industries bad developed in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and many
other small towns in the neighbourhood. Familv workshops were the
rule, and even the women and children were brought up to blacksmith's
K
Pa
T'^'^KM
is i r-
PlS!i±}
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-tields 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 new University with its modern Faculty of
Commerce educates 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. Wolverhaniyion 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 Towns of the Plain. — Burton-on-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 w^oollen 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 fine 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
in 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 on 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 brouglit down from these hills to the Tees
is smelted at MiihUcsbroiigJi by coal brought from the Durham held. 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 orginalh^ a consequence of the
fine-woolled sheep pastured on the hills ; but it has not undergone a
modern development, as in the Pennine district, and Bradford-on-Avon,
Fronte, 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 Kirameridge 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
178 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. Bedjoni is a type of the market
towns, with small manufactures of agricultural implements, which aie
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 Kingdom. 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 a popu-
lation approaching 100,000 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 ia 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 flovi
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 estuar}^ of the
H umber. 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 of 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
Towns of the Chalk Country.— As in the Jurassic Belt, the
towns, though 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 w4th 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 Reaiiiiig 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 H umber. It has a large general trade, and
is distinguished by being the chief market for sea fish in the United
Kingdom, London exceptt'd. 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
very thick, the whole H older ness 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 formerlv 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,
14
i8o The International Geography
Each now bears a little town, of whicii 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 deeplv 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
..^.---^rii;^;:::-'-^^^^^ oval exposure of earlier rocks,
across the east end of which the
Fig. 84.— Section across the Weald from mrth g^rait of Dover has been cut,
to Sou til, cc Chalk, gi^ Greensand escarp- '
merits, w Wcalden sandstones. leaving part of the Wealden
region on the mainland of Europe
in 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. 16), 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 CJiichesfcrlies, and those of the Arun with Arundel, 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, Winchehea, 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 imiportant.
BhgJiton 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 similar resorts on a smaller scale. To the
north Margate and Rainsgate, Qn 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 Hasleniere 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 coa^t is usually low, and is broken by the branchuig
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. Soutliampton, 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.
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 nortli-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 whe;r
%
cc-tifirtiifbur}
We^hi
fsdnjth-e.
Wo^/^
^ J
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
ex'tends 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 the 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 traffic
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, reorganised in 1901, has still its repu-
tation to make, but it includes famous colleges, and the great medical schools
of 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 manv special museums and art galleries. The
Fig. 87. — Raihi-ays radiating from London.
1 86 The International Geography
scientific societies of London are the headquarters of all branches of
British science. The publishing 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
Fig. 88.-77,. Isle of Man. The circle f granite. The northern portion is a drift-
has a rail I IIS of 45 in lies. ^ ^
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 Ramsay, Douglas, and Castletown on the east
coast, and Peel 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 grouping 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 langite d'oil, and modern
French is used officially, but the use of English is
rapidly spreading. Ecclesiastically the}^ form part of
the See of Winchester, and for some purposes they are
attached to the county of Hampshire ; but the islands
are self-governing, and retain many curious privileges and quaint customs.
There is compulsory military service for all men in the militia. The
islands enjoy a mild climate, and each possesses a special breed of cattle
Fig. 8().— The "Arms'
of the Isle of Man.
Fig. 90. — Anns of the
Channel Islands.
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 awav, ^^/a«. L—J/tw.
and to \\ eymouth and Southampton, 90 and 1 50 ,„^^„ y,^^^ {"Globus," 1894).
miles distant. Jersey, the largest island, has its
chief town at St. Helier, and Guernsey, which is not much smaller, has a
harbour at Si. Pierre. In addition to its farm produce Guernsey exports
granite, particularly for paving.
IV.— IRELAND
By Grenville A. J. Cole,
Professor of Geology in the Royal College of Science for Ireland.
Position and Outline. — The name /r^ /a wt/ or £/r^-/a«rf, according to
tradition, comes from that of Eire (earlier Eriu), one of the queens of the
Tuatha De Danann. Ireland stands on the 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-lme is deeply indented, and obviously reproduces 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 cast 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
I go The International Geography
The compaLt grey limestones of the central counties, and the fine-
grained sandstones of Donegal are used for city-buildings. The black
marbles of Galway and Kilkenny, 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 elsLJwhere. Hard flags occur in Co. Clare. The cost of carriage and
of working retards the Irish stone industry. The one material excavated
\\\ih unfailing regularity is peat — locally called turf — which is extensively
libcd for fuel.
Fauna and Flora. — The exceptional features of the fauna and flora
of Ireland have been previously referred to (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
msular position laid her open to attack from a variety of nations, at a time
when journeys by sea w^ere simpler than those by land. The early settlers
m 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 found men of the Stone Age already in occupation. Though the
characteristic civilisation and language of the country thus had a Keltic
origin, anthropological research shows that the people are non-Keltic and
of still earlier type. The distinctive characters of the peasantry are not
confined to those wlio 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 djminant
tribe became ultimately known as the Scots, who occupied^ the plain,
holding the country from the centre, much as the Magyars now hold Hun-
gary. These 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 .'^.D. onwards checked ex-
ternal enterprise ; but the development of the tov/ns 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 Cloritarf in
1014. They held Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford till the Norman inva^
Ireland 191
sion under Richard de Clare in 1170. The 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. This 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 i8oi, 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 1901 the Roman Catholics numbered 74 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 dechne 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 ut'l^se 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 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, the
construction of "light railways," and the new department of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction have done much to stimulate industry. Many lines
192 The Internationa] Geography
of steamers connect the eastern ports with England and Scotland ; and
American liners call at Queenstown, and at Moville on Lough Foyle.
Divisions and To"wns. — The division of Ireland into provinces,
under an over-lord, dates from prekistoric 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,
Carlow and Wexford. The north consists largely of a Carboniferous
limestone plateau, used for grazing. The Boyne rises in the bogs near
Edenderry, and 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
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, w^as accessible both to Norsemen and EngHsh ; and Dublin
became the capital of the invaders. It is the seat of the Viceregal
court, and of the Dublin University, founded in 1591 ; also of the Royal
University. There are several important libraries and museums. The
quays on the Liffey serve for a good import and export trade ; the
mails cross to Holvhead from Kingstown, a fine harbour six miles down the
bay. The citv 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 pubhc
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 1810 to some 350,000
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 to Britain is from
Larne, 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 Fo^'le, 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 feet) being conspicuous summits.
Connaught includes the five counties 01 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 MacgiUicuddy'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 Queensiown, 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 Sti 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
35,241,482
.291
1891.
120,979
38,104,975
314
DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION.
England.
1881 .. 24,613,926
1891 . . 27,483,490
1901 .. 30,805,466
Area, sq. miles 50,867
Wales.
1,360,513
I0I9.035
1,720,609
7.442
Scotland.
3,735.573
4.025,647
4.472,103
29,785
Ireland.
5,174.836
4,704,750
4,456,546
32,583
Isle of Man.
53,558
55,608
54,758
227
Channel
Islands.
87,702
92,234
95.841
75
1901.
120979
41.605.323
344
Abroad i
215.374
224,211
THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTIES 2 IN 1901.
Name.
London
York ..
Lancaster
Lanark
Kent . .
Statford
Durham
N'ame.
Nairn
Kinross
Peebles
Area, sq. miles.
118
5.939
1.757
882
1.519
1,142
999
Population.
4.536,063
1,891,726
1.827.391
1,339.289
936,003
879,618
833.614
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 2 IN 190
Area, sq. miles. Population. Name.
195 6,291 Bute . .
73 6,980 Rutland
355 15.066 Radnor
Area. sq. miles.
218
152
471
Population.
816,503
792,225
601,070
437,210
404.813
488,647
461,240
Population
18.786
19.708
23,263
Takes account only of soldiers and sailors.
2 County boroughs not included.
United Kingdom
195
THE LARGE TOWN'S OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.i
Name.
1881.
1891.
1901. I
Name.
1881.
1891.
1901.
London (County) 3,816,483
4,232.118
t.536.063
Plymouth
73.795
87.480
105,404
Glasgow-
. 674,095
793.320
735.906
Hanley ..
75.912
86..M5
100,290
Li VERPOOL
• 552.508
584-499
684,947
South Shields. .
56.875
78.391
97,267
Manchester .
341,414
505.368
543.960
Dudley . .
87,527
90.252
96,988
Birmingham
, 400,774
478,113
522,182
Huddersfield ..
8i,>S4i
96.4^5
96,383
Leeds
. 309,119
367506
428,953
Burnley . .
63,638
86,034
95.816
Sheffield ..
. 284,508
324.243
380.717
Swansea . .
73,971
90,349
94.514
Dublin ..
. 349.648
352.277
379.861
Stoke-upon-Trent
64,091
ZS'^^''
^9°-3
Belfast . .
208,122
255.950
348,876
Ystrad-y-fodwg . .
—
88,351
88.968
Bristol ..
206. S74
286,231
321,908
Halifax . .
73.630
89.832
88,909
Edinburgh
236,002
261,225
316,479
Walsall . .
59.402
71.789
86,440
West Ham
128,953
204,902
267,308
Hartlepool ..
46.990
64,882
86,310
Hull ..
165,690
200.044
239,876
St. Helens
57.403
71,288
80,722
Nottingham
. 186,575
213.877
239.753
Paisley . .
55.638
66,418
79.355
Bradford . .
183,032
216,361
228.667
Stockport..
59.553
70.263
78,871
Salford . .
176,235
198,136
220,956
Ch.atham
46.788
59.210
78,746
Newcastle
. 145.359
186,300
214,803
Grimsby . .
45.351
58,661
78,198
Leicester ..
122,376
174.624
211.574
Devonport
63.980
70.204
78.059
Oldham ..
"1.343
183,871
194.197
Leith
59.485
67,700
76.667
Wolverhampton
164.332
174.365
192,750
Rochdale . .
68.866
71.401
76.122
Portsmouth
127,989
159-251
189.122
Northampton . .
57.544
70,872
76.073
Cardiff . .
82,761
128,915
164,420
Cork
80,124
75.345
75.978
Dundee ..
140.239
153.051
160,871
York
61,166
67.004
753^1
Sunderland
116,542
142,248
159.359
Dewsbury
6c),566
72.896
74.349
Brighton . .
. 107,546
142.129
153.393
Wednesbury
68,142
69.083
72.478
Aberdeen
. 105,189
121,623
143.922
Stockton-on-Tees
55.460
68,875
71,812
Croydon . .
78.953
102,697
133.885
Greenock
65.884
63.096
67,645
Bolton . .
105,414
118,730
130.602
Newport (Mon.)
38.427
54.707
67,569
Blackburn
104.014
120,064
127.527
Il-SWICH ..
50.546
57.360
66.622
Merthyr Tydfil
91-373
104,02 1
122.536
Reading ..
46.054
60,054
65.468
Southampton
84,384
93.5«9
120,302
West Bromwich..
56.295
59.474
65,172
Preston . .
96.537
111,685
118.220
Warrington
45.253
55.349
64,702
MiDDLESBROUG
H 72,6CI
98.932
116.539
Coventry . ,
46.563
'^+Z^''3
63,817
Norwich ..
. . 87,842
100.970
111,728
Hastings ..
47.619
60,878
62,913
BlUKENHEAD
84,006
99.857
110,926
Wigan . .
48,194
55,013
60,770
Gateshead
65,803
85.692
109.887
Bury
53.240
57.212
58,028
Derby . .
81,168
94,146
105,785
Bath
53-875
54,551
52.751
AGR
ICULTU
RE' OF TF
IE UNITED KINGDOM.
Wheat. B
arley. Oats.
Turnips.
Potatoes.
Acres in 1874 . .
. .
3,819,011 2,.
500,217 4,076,570
2.466,823
1,412,851
1,353.808
« „ 1886 .
..
2,355.457 2,.
j23,o6o 4.403.579
2,302
219
„ „ 1895 ,
. .
1,454.
73 2,
«7.929 4.512,306
2.229,183
1,251.703
„ „ 1900 .
1.898,863 2,
164,438 4.131,138
1,986,465
1.215.440
MINERAL PRODUCTION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
Pig Iron
Coal. Iron Ore. manufactured.
Amount, tons. Value. £. Amount, tons. Value, £. Tons.2
1878 .. 132,654,887 46,429,210 15,726,370 5.609,507 6,300,000
1S88 .. 169,935.219 42.971,276 14.590.713 3.501.317 l^^^-'^T,
1896 .. 195.361,260 57.190,147 13,700,746 3.150,424 o'^"^ A
1900 .. 225,181.300 121,652,596. 14,028,208 4-224.400 8,959,691
TOTAL IMPORTS OF RAW COTTON INTO UNITED KINGDOM.
(Jn million pounds weight.)
Year 1820. .. 1840. .. i860. .. 1880. .. 1901-
Amount 152 .. 592 .. i,39i •• 1.629 .. 1,830
ANNUAL TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-^5-
Imports ^^360,204,000 .. .. ;^399,584,oco .. .. £417791000
Exports3 239,502,000 .. .. 232,272,000 .. .. 226.969.000
Re-exports4 .. .. 58,184,000 .. .. 63,038,000 .. .. 60,533,000
s 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 previously imported.
196 The International Geography
THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 1901.^
(Approximate.)
United Kingdom
Indian Empire
Colonies : —
Gibraltar
Malta and Gozo
Aden and Perim
Ceylon
Straits Settlements
Hongkong
Basutoland
Cape Colony
Natal
Orange River Colony
Transvaal Colony
Gambia
Gold Coast
Lagos
Sierra Leone
Mauritius
Seychelles
Ascension and St. Helena
Dominion of Canada
New foundland and Labrador . .
Bermuda
British Honduras
Bahamas
Jamaica and Turk's Island . .
Leeward Islands
Windward Islands
Barbados
Trinidad and Tobago
British Guiana
Falkland Islands
Fiji
British New Guinea
New Zealand
Queensland
New South Wales
Victoria
Tasmania
South Australia
Western Australia
Total, United Kingdom, India,
and Colonies
Protectorates, &c. : —
Asia
Africa
Pacific Islands
Area, sq. miles.
121,000
1,640,000
120
80
25,400
1,500
400
10,300
277,000
29,200
48300
119,100
70
40,000
3.500
4,000
880
150
80
3,049,000
162,000
20
7,500
5-400
4,400
700
500
170
1,800
120,000
7.500
7,700
90,500
104,000
670,000
310,000
88,000
26,000
903,000
976,000
Total, British Empire..
8,856,000
120,000
2,160,000
800
11,137,000
Population.
41,500,000
294,000,000
27,000
183,000
4 1 ,000
3,600,000
580,000
384.000
250,000
2,350,000
930,000
207,500
1,094,000
13.500
1,500,000
42,000
75.000
394,000
20,300
10,000
5,370,000
210,000
17.500
37,000
53.700
758,000
128,000
160,000
195,000
272,000
288,000
2,000
120,000
350,000
772,000
497,000
1,353,000
1,200,000
166,000
363,000
182,000
359,875,000
1,200,000
35,000,000
30,000
396,100,000
Shipping : tonnage
entered and cleared.
98,500,000
8,600,000
8.700,000
7,ooo,oco
4,900,000
7,400,(500
13,300,000
14,000,00c
9,500 000
2,800,000
260,000
1,400,000
1,070,000
1,290,000
670,000
320,000
300,000
14,170,000
1,450,000
730,000
340,000
1,110,000
2,030,000
1,650,000
2,570,000
1,360,000
1,200,000
700,000
160,000
190,000
40,000
1,680,000
1,650,000
8,100,000
5,870,000
1,230,000
3,690.000
3,200,000
233,920,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Lord Avebury. " The Scenery of England." London, iqoi.
J. G. Bartholomew. "Atlas of Scotland," 1S95 ; " Atlas of England and Wales," 1903.
Cassell's "Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland " 6 vols. London, 1893-98.
W. P. Coyne (editor). •' Ireland, Industrial and Agricultural." Dublin, 1902.
W. Cunningham. " Growth of English Industry and Commerce." 2 vols. Cambridge, 1890, 1892.
Sir A. 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 Geographv of the British Islands." London.
A. J. Jukes-Browne. " The Building of the British Islands." London, 1888.
E. Hull. " Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland." London, 1878.
H. J. Mackinder. " Britain and the British Seas." London, 1907.
Sir A. C. Ramsay. " Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain," edited by H. B. Woodward,
London, 1894.
Many special articles of importance are to be found in the publications of the Geological Survey,
the Royal Geographical Society, and the Royal Scottish Geograph.cal Society.
» Generalised from The Statesman's Year Book for 1902.
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 west coast 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 coast of Sweden. The Oresund, or Sound, separates Scania,
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.
Norwa}' 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.
Geology. — The Scandinavian peninsula is built up for 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 attains
8,380 feet, and Galdhopiggen 8,400 feet, and further west Store Skagestols-
tind, 7,8ji 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 district, cut
off from the mountains of the north b}^ the depression of the large lakes.
Numerous snovvtields and glaciers are formed in the great mountains,
especiall}^ in the north and towards the west coast. In the south of
Norway the Folgefonn, Jostedalsbr^, Aalfotebrae, and Hardangerjokcl are
The Scandinavian Peninsula 199
the most important, and in the north Svartisen, Heldalsisen, and Frostiseti.
The largest expanse of snow is the Jostedalsbras, which reaches a height
of 6,800 feet, and is surrounded by other great snowfields ; twents -four
glaciers of the first rank flow 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 fjords and bays, but in most places innumerable off-lying
islands forming the Skjaergaani (" Skcvry wall") protect the coast, and give
it a d'stinctive 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 islands tremendous currents are formed
by the tide, amongst them the famous Malstrom
between Viero 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 Vestfjord,
east of the Lofoten Islands.
Lakes and Rivers. — While the average proportion of Europe occu-
pied by lakes and rivers is onlv 0*5 per cent, of the area, the percentage of
Ih3 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 eastern 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. ]\Iany long
rivers with numerous lakes in their course cross Sweden from west to east
t'lroughout 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 bv Lake Vetter, and discharged eastward by the large IMotala
river to thj B iltic. The lakes of this depression are four in number —
Fig. 94. — Portion oft lie Coast
of Xorway 70 miles by 40,
showing 07'er 400 islamis.
200 The International Geography
Lake Veiier (2,100 square miles in area, the third greatest lake of Europe) lies
on the west, and drains to the Kattegat through the Gotaelf , the continuation
of the Klarelf, then Lake Vetter (730 square miles), and north-east of it
Lakes Hjelmar and Malar draining to the Baltic. 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 tlie
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
Ullensvang 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 climate.
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 6i^° N. it is 74 ; but the
general rainfall along the Norwegian coast
is estimated at from 32 to 35 inches. At
Christiania the rainfall is only 28 inches,
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
.„,„....»...„... ...„.„„...,»..,.l
60
5S
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
IS
10
6
5
10
ao
•30
40
60
60
20
2
1
/
'>
^
^
f
\
\
V-
/
/
\
\
\
s
s/
1
,
\
1
1
1
\
/-
i
1
1'
-f
\
—
n n
7
;.
,.
'■-,
-^.
V
dI)
■'^Vrnu^^v^.-i.,-:' I'S
"-
__
"'
"
' '
__
Fig. 95. — Monthly Rainfall and
Temperature for Bodo (Norway)
and Verkhoyansk (Siberia).
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 txvo originally independent peoples, the Svear in the north, and Gotar 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 tlieir 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
Nor^vegian 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 powc-ful 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.
Tlie 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.
202 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 accord-
ance with the spirit of the agreement of 1814, was
a source of growing friction, and in 1905 the union
was peaceably dissolved, Sweden retaining the old
King, while the people of Norway adopted as their
monarch a prince of the Danish royal house.
The former flags of Norway and Sweden passed
out of use, being altered to suit the new condition
of things by the omission of the badge of union.
The Lutheran church has been established since the sixteenth century
in both kingdoms.
Fig. 96. — The Former
Norwegian Merchant
Flag.
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
and eastern Gothland.
districts are in the provinces of Scania and Halland, ^'^ gj.— Average popn-
the Baltic Islands, the coast of Smiland and western of Sweden.'^"'"'' """^
. 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 tonnage 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 bcrgslagcr. At the present time the
immense deposits of very rich iron ore in Lappland, especially at Gellivara,
Fig. gS.— Swedish
Merchant Service Flag.
Sweden
203
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 country 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
FIG. qg.-^wedhh Naval ^^e 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 routes to the continent
are from Stockholm to Trelleborg, and thence across the Baltic to Sassnitz
on Riigen; and from Goteborgto Copenhagen by railway ferry at Helsing-
borg (Fig. 107). Telegraph and telephone systems are 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
To"wns. — Sweden has
been divided from remote
times into two great parts,
Svealand and G6taland>
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
15
Fig. 100. — The Site of Stockholm.
20^ Ihc International Geography
original city on an island the modern town has extended widely on all
sides. It contains a great palace facing the quays, which is the chief 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 in 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, Sundswall,
Henwsand, Umea, Lulea, 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 thence across 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 Halmsiad, and on the Sound, Hehing-^
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 Smaland, Jonkopingy at the
south end of Lake Vetter, and on the Motala river, the great manufacturing
town of Norrkoping, 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 Caiisborg. 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 20 per cent, of that of the whole countn,-. The peasants
live mostly in farms, but in the south they also dwell in villages.
Fig, ioi. — Average
population 0/ a
square mile 0/
Norway.
NORWAY
Government, People and Resources. — The native name of
Norway is Norge from Norvegr, which means the Northern Way. The
King exercises his functions through a Ministry of
State and at least seven Councillors or Ministers.
The government is that of a democratic monarchy ;
the royal veto being limited to the extent that if a bill
to which the royal assent has been refused is passed
by three consecutive Storthings it becomes law. The
legislature is in the hands of the Storthing (Parlia-
ment), elected by delegates who are chosen by uni-
versal suffrage. This assemblage has also exclusive
power in finance.
The people of Norway are to a great extent agri-
culturists, although the country cannot produce corn
enough for its inhabitants, and needs a great import. 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 1901. 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 SuHtelma (copper), being the
best known. Most of the foreign trade is done
with the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and
Denmark. The fisheries of cod and herring are of
great importance, especially 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 on the Arctic Sea.
Several lines of steamers 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.
Fig. 102. — The Norwegian
Flag.
2o6 The International Geography
Fig. 103. — Norivegian
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 m 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 Towns. — From old times
Norwa}^ has been divided into two great divisions,
the Nordenfjeldske and Sondenfjeldskcor Northerh
and Southern Districts ; the Vestenfjeldske or Western District has been
formed later. The Sdndenfjddske includes the lowlands around Ctiristiania
Fjord and Lake Mj5sen, together with the great central' ■ valleys.
Christiania (sometimes spelt Kristiania), is the real centre, of .the.countr}!',
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
181 1, 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 centre 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 Fredcrikstad, one of the chief centres of the timber trade.
Dmminen, on the western side of Christiania Fjord, another centre of the
export of timber. Horten, with Carljohans%'acni, the chief station of the
Norwegian navy ; Tonsberg, the oldest town of Norway, and one of the
head-quarters for Arctic sealing ; Chnsiiansand, 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, 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. Christ uinsund is an
important place for fishing. Trondhjem, 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, centres for
fishing in winter and for tourists in summer, including Bodo, Tromso, and
near the North Cape, Hammerfcst. Beyond the North Cape are Vardo, 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. igoo.
Area of Norway in square miles .. .. 124,454 .. 124,454 .. 124,454
Population of Norway 1,813,424 . . 2,000.917 . . 27239,880
Density of population per square mile . . 15 . . 16 . . 18
1890 1900.
Population of Christiania 151.239 .. 227,626
„ „ Bergen 53.684 .. 72,251
„ „ JProndhjem.. 25,065 ,. 38,180
„ „ Stavanger 23,899 .. 30,613
ANNUAL TRADE OF NORWAY {in founds sterling).
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-9S
Imports 6,300,000 .. 8,100,000 .. 11,900,000
Exports . , , , , , . , . , 4,880,000 . . 5,700,000 . . 7,000,000
2o8 The International Geography
SWEDEN.
1880. 1890. igoo.
Area of Sweden in square miles .. .. 170,722 .. 170,722 .. 170722
Population of Sweden 4,5^5.668 .. 4.774.4W .. 5,136.44°
Density of population per square mile . . 26 . . 28 . . 30
Population of Stockholm 168,706 . . 246,454 . . 300.624
„ „ Goteborg 76,500 .. 104,657 .. 130,619
„ Malmo 38,082 .. 48.504 •• 60.857
,. „ Norrkoping 26,924 . . 32,826 . . 41,008
„ „ Gefle 18.749 .. 23,484 .. 29,522
ANNUAL TRADE OF SWEDEN (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95-
Imports 12,400,000 17.700,000 19.500000
Exports 10,700,000 13,500,000 17,700,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
G. Sundbarg (Editor). '^ Sweden, its People and its Industry." Stockholm, 1904.
M. Hoyer. " Konungariket Sverige." 4 vols. Stockholm, 1875-1884.
T. Fr. Nystrom. " Handbok i Sveriges geografi." Stockholm, 1895.
' Norges Land og Folk," in many volumes not yet completed. Christiania, 1885 to date.
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 Funen, 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 everywhere underlain by recent rocks.
The hills and vales of Denmark were originally thickly covered with beech
Denmark
209
Fig. 10^.— Average popu-
lation of a square
mile of Denmark.
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
Sweden, and in 18 14 Norway was separated from
the Danish crown. The German-speaking 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 ;
and 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
Service Flag.
2IO The International Geography-
railway system is very complete, the trains being ferried across arms of
the sea in steamers, and most of the lines belong to the State.
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 low,
and the castle stands at the level of the sea.
Copenhagen (KjdbenJiavn=MGrcha.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 occupying 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 Striib on the Little
Belt.
Jutland. — Jutland, though nearly twice as large as the islands, con
tains rather fewer inhabitants. Almost all the 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
■' ' ^— -^
-.r-
K.let
^yro?^
£)
)
4^^^
^r.
TfSWEDEN I
lr^sy\j
•J <•
(?
\l
n
jPO^Vihnf^.^
\^jp__
y
V
!\ /^
■®^^
5^7
>
} / ;
ws#
yt
"/M
;S
S
|§^
^
w
Fig. 107. — Railzi'iiy and Steamer roulcs in
Denmark.
Denmark
211
Horsens, Veile, and Kolding, stand each at the head of a short fjord in
the heart of beech forests. Fredericia is the railway harbour for Striib
in Fiinen, on the route to Copenhagen which has the shortest sea passage.
Esbjerg on the North Sea is an important and growing port.
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 hghthouse 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 cHmate 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.
Area of Denmark (square miles) . . . . 15,280
Population of Denmark 1,980,259
Density of population per square mile . . 129
Population of Copenhagen (without suburbs) 235,254
„ Aarhuus .. .. .. 24,831
„ Odense 20,804
„ Aalborg 14.152
1890.
1^,289
2.185335
143
312.859
33.308
30.277
19.505
1900.
15.289
2,449,540
160
378,2r,
51.8x4
40,138
31.457
ANNUAL TRADE OF DENMARK {in founds sterling).
Average 1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 6,000,000 . . 14.000,000 . . 18,800,000
Exports 4,700,000 .. 10,000,000 .. 14,100,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Both. " Kongeriget Danmark." 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1882-85.
H. Weitemayer. " Danemark, Geschichte und Beschreibung," and English translation.
London, 1891.
16
212 The International Geograpny
III— ICELAND
By Dr. Thorvald Thoroddsen/
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 —
Faxafloi and Breidafjordur, and north of the latter a nearly isolated
Fig. 108. — Iceland
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 Vatnajokull 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.
» Translated from the Danish by Fru Backer-Lund.
Iceland 213
The highest parts of the country are in the south-east, the highest point
in the southern ridge of Vatnajokull being Oraefajokull, 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 Jokulsa in Axarf jord, 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 area of 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
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 of 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 a 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 ceiitury 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 five 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
calling at Leith in Scotland, and the Faroes. In summer there is also a
Iceland 215
regular steamer service all round the coast. A telegraph cable connects
Iceland through the Faeroes with Scotland. 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 collec-
tion of antiquities, and a national bank. In the centre of the town 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. 1895.
Population of Iceland 72,445 . . 70,927 1 . . 73,449
„ „ Reykjavik 2,567 .. 3,886 .. 4,222
ANNUAL TRADE OF ICELAND {in pounds sterling).
Average 18S1-85. 1891-95.
Imports 340,000 . . 356,000
Exports .. ,, 310,000 .. 340,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Th. Thoroddsen. "Geschichtedes Islandischen Geographic. Uebersetzt von A. Gebhardt."
Vols. i. ii. Leipzig, 1897, 1898.
J. Coles. " Summer Travelling in Iceland." London, 1882.
W. Bisiker. " Across Iceland." London, 1902.
1 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
Kurope, the kingdom of the Netherlands {N ederland=\ovj 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 I 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 fertihty. 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 haff or lagoon against the land. It is in such
» Translated from the Dutch by J. T. Bealby.
316
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. log.— 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 thetPj
2 1 8 The International Geography
the superfluous water being at the same time pumped out and led away.
B}^ 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, Gelderiand,
Overysel, Utrecht, and Limburg there are hills of gravel and sand ranging
from 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 Gelderiand.
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
incHnation of the diluvium, but flow in the direction of the general
slope of the country, or from south-east to north-west. The east tq
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 William Navigation, uniting various rivers with one another ; and
the canals which terminate at the Helder and the Dollart. Minor canals
The Netherlands 2ig
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
•>6 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 li per cent, of the
country, are found principally on the gecst or higher grounds along the
edge of the marshes 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 occur
on 18. The wind blows from the sea from directions between south-west
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.
2 20 The International Geography
Consequently in the 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 little 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 f^ct 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. The races are now welded together
into one people by the possession of a common written language, Dutch
(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
Fig. l^o--Flag of the colonising State under the Statholders of the
Netherlands. ^
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
Nethe. lands. 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 ancj 1,123 communes ; the former
The Netherlands 221
governed by the Provincial States and a Royal Commissioner, the latter
by the communal council and magistrates with a burgomaster or mayer.
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- "^T^.^^^f/J^X^t;;
ports. Very many of the trading steamers sail under of the Ketherlamis.
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-
222 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 popula-tion. 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 ; ZwoIIe and Devcnier, 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, attract 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, Tilbiirg, s'Hertogenbosch {Bois-Ie-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 institurioas. 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, showing 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 ; Delfl, 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 scat of an ancient university, with a
flourishing market, and a still considerable manufacture of cloth and cotton ;
Schiedam, 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.
Area of the Netherlands (square miles)
Population of the Xetherlands . . 4,01
Density of population per square m
Population of Amsterdam
„ Rotterdam
„ The Hague
Utrecht
„ Groningen
„ Haarlem
_ Amhem
1879.
2,728
2/93
3i6
1889.
12,728
4.511.415
353
399.424
197,722
153.340
83.304
56,038
50.500
49.727
1899.
12,728
5,104.137
401
520,602
332. 18S
212,211
104, 194
67,563
65,189
57.498
THE DUTCH POSSESSIONS ABOUT 1897.
The Netherlands
Java
Other Islands of Dutch East Indiesi
Dutch Guiana I
Dutch West Indies .. .. w
Total
Area sq mis.
12,728
50,554
68^.846
46,060
403
795.591'
Population.
5.104,137
26,125,053
7,964.947
67,128
51.693
39,312,958
ANNUAL TRADE OF THE NETHERLANDS {in founds sterling).
1872-76 1882-86 1892-96
Imports 56,750,000 .. 89,750,000
Exports 43,000,000 .. 68,500,000
:,,.. STANDARD BOOKS.
120,500,000
98,000,000
" Algemeene Statistiek van Nederland." Leiden. (Published by the Dutch Government
Statistical Society), 1870-onwards.
H. Blink. " Tegenwoordige Staat van Nederland." Amsterdam. 1895-96,
R. Schuiling. " Aardrijkskunde van Nederland." ZwoUe, 1897.
11— BELGIUM
By J. DU F I E F,^
Professor of Geography in the Athenee royal of Brussels.
Position and Configuration.— Belgium (La Belgique) is situated
between 49^° and 5i|-° 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
I Estimates. = Translated from the French by the Editor
2 24 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 not 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 are 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 marl 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 Escaut)
traverses the low and level country of western Belgium, and the towns of
Tour nay, Oudenard, Ghent, Termonde, and Antwerp have grown upon its
Belgiu
m 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 canalised. 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 the Campine.
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 storre 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
2 26 The International Geography
Fig. 113. — Average popu-
lation of a square mile
0/ Belgium.
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 principahties 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 IL 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 18 15 they formed part of the French Republic and Empire.
In 1815 they were united with Holland as the Kingdon 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, . . .|m|||||||||i|i[||ri| The Belgians have continued since their inde-
•'•■•'•■■' B peiidence, as they were in the past, to be dis-
■"■'■'" 'I I tinguished in science and in the arts. The
• • • • richness of the soil and the aptitude and intelli-
' ■ ' ■ i gence of the people have caused the country to
/////J||ill| ||||| || ||| rank amongst the greatest producing regions of
the Earth, and to support an extremely dense
Fig. ii4.—Bcli^ian Flag. , ,•
^ "^ -^ population.
Government. — The form of government is a hereditary constitu-
tional monarchy; the constitution promulgated . in 183 1 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, executive and judicial
fu actions. 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 arc almost all Roman Catholics (there are only about 10,000
5. — 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 i-s 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 fini> •»•
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 Vobges ; 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 Archaean 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 Archaean base of these volcanic structures reveals itself between
3,200 and 3,900 feet. Apart from minor irregularities, the Archaean 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 Palaeozoic 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 light of the geo-
logical and topo-
graphical relations
which prevail in the
Central Plateau we
may believe that, near
the end of the Tertiary
period, it ought to
have been reduced to
the condition of a
peneplain, on the average not much above sea-level, with old rivers
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.
_^^^^^-^ /^ f "^i^^
,V [ /^^^^^
ENOU'S'J
m ^„ • ^^^^m\
"^r^-^^^^ Par IS \ ^^ /
^M
^^^^^
•^A "
X Mk///^
V
•7.
<♦ L V ^ V V '' vf v^v^ ^ W\| W'.iim liUI
^
**
/\ x,M^^^ liir
? sT — "^/yy^^^y}^ \i 1
1 A qiU^ai rm\yy^ (^ ^ Wk^
^^"^"^'^^
J \ ^iK-^^s^ /^
^
BllI|]j>j^^rw^S"l<5lir^^
?
y^S?§IllIfc^ MEDITERRANEAN
|"vX| Archagan
Primary
Fold-
rangcs
Fig. iiS.—TJie Physical Structure of Frmice.
France 235
Both were acquired before the tilting was inaugurated. So the main
Unes of river-flow are inherited from the time when the flat Archaean
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 PakT^ozoic
sediments, was an island early in Mesozoij limes, 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-continued 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 Bcauce,
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 P}Tenees, 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 Montagne Noire soon was united with the foot of the newl-
17
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 PHocene Sea, which had penetrated through this depression to the
neighbourhood of Lj^ons, 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 dift'erent 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 sorts 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
rismg 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 chff,
are trenched. As the development of this structure proceeded /><;7n/)asst/
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 enl^mced 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 cre^t of which maintains an elevation
between 6,500 and 10,000 feet ; (2) in the eastern border of the Cent ml
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
4,6o3 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.
238 The International Geography
Climate. — Thanks to such a disposition, the climate of France is a
temperate one. As the trne 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 i,topped by any obstacle before they reach the
highest summits. Nevertheless, on account of the neighbourhood of the
snowtields 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 19^^ inches on the Medi-
terranean coast from Perpignan to Narbonne,
and i^^ 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- 53-
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 exceptionally 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 Pala?ozoic deposits ; the Jurassic limestones, mostlv oolitic, which
are nowadays extensively quarried in Lorraine, Burgundv, Berry, Poitou,
Lyonnais, &c.; the fire-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
F.
J»«. Ftl. M«l AP«. HAt. ii 1 , .
from the Central Plateau or the Alps to Pans,
Lyons and Marseilles for work with the prospect of returning, and
also of permanent displacement. The population of the department
of the Seine in 1896 was made up of people coming from other parts
of the country to the extent of 56 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, w^hile the
urban population increases ; thus the rural population amounted to 75
per cent, of the whole in 1846, but only to 61 per cent, in 1896. 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 69 in 1901 . 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 very
numerous in the large towns and in the departments near the frontiers,
forming, for instance, one quarter 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 about 10,000 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 working population (46 per cent.) is occupied in
agriculture. Peasant proprietors are very numerous and cultivate their land
with tireless assiduity. Agricultural societies are gradually extending the
use of fertilising 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 19 bushels per acre on the average), the French, being great
eaters of white bread, require, when the harvest is poor, to import wheat
from the United States and Russia. Maize, for which a moist and warm
climate is necessary, grows mainly in the basin of Aquitainc ; barley associ-
ated with hops supplies many breweries in the north and cast, and beetroot,
cultivated on a large scale in the plains of Flanders, Picardy, Brie, Beauce
and Limagne, is used for thb 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 market 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,
whence there has been a regular export of wmc 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
18
244 The International Geography
reduced to 550 million gallons in 1887 ; but the vineyards have now been
restored by the introduction of American plants, and in 1900 the production
of wine in France exceeded 1,500 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 33 million tons of coal (in 1900) is insufficient,
and an annual import of from 12 to 15 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 7s. 6d. per ton in the northern
coal-fields to lis. 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 29s. 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
FiGo 122. — The range of the vine in France-
shown by vertical shading.
Nancy and Briey, the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle yielding 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 five million
tons in 1900, 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 arc closely associated
France
245
On the other coal-fields, St. Etienne manufactures ribbons, Roanne cotton
cloth, and Lyons is the queen of the silk 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 I sere, 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. — T r a n s -
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 roadSjthe mag-
nificent engineering of
which is a heritage from
ancient France, 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.
Waterways. — 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 Fiance.
24^ The International Geography
Works carried on between 1878 and 1886 have established a depth ot wat^^.r
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 w^hich 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 Gise 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, Montlu^on, Roanne, and Chalon-sur-Saone.
Rail-ways. — 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 Alen^on, from
Tours to Vierzon and Chalon-sur-Saone, and from Bordeaux to Cette.
The Northern Railway {Chemin de Fer dii 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 3
hours, from Paris ; Brussels 193 miles, or 4^ 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 7 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 14 hours via Chalons-Chau-
mont ; with Nice via Paris in 20 hours, and with Brindisi, the port of the
Far Eastern mails, via Paris and Modanc in 40 hours. 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 56 miles an hour.
The Eastern Railway [Chemin de Fer de I'Est), has a system of 2,900 miles
France
247
THE RAILWAYS
OF
F
RQUeuNCS
fj.,,^,!; ^^".l,) .--. ^^
-iiSr— ^,.' \ yw-
"AV'''" /^"^ f ». ^11^ A ^ ^ ^.ICro-uh io/ Ik, S=> /'"^i>''' '« ''^'
•fCem) ISkaU) (*~l>^' j (".•'•I lAri(illlA)iili(J'.U^Ju_^^^p^ (Wot.,.-*! (an.K9h.U) (C.««.b) (?T.f.9.ii/|H»UPf»ro5.^ .On.) l^Zlfn..!) (O^) ('^■•J) taM(>«)
-^•^^A^-W ^ ''~ "L--- """- ■— -.. S-R ^^^^^-
^*^^~ i/ m/Vfi < 'P ■ so ""^"""Ty r^mT/.j ^^^^^
/Cf7o«l«^ > ■ , ■ tcifmmtttri
Scale 1 : U-00 000 .ffM
Fig. 130. — Profile across Switzerland, from Basel to Bclliiizoiia. Showing the Folds of the
Jura and the Alps; the dotted curve representing the Upper Jurassic Strata {partly
hypothetical) as they may have been before being zcorn 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 Schaffhausen, and rapids somewhat lower
down. Its different higher tributaries descend from the St. Bernardin and
Spliigen Passes, from the Julier Pass, Albula Pass, &c. The great Lake of
Constance (Bodensee) forms part of its course. The Lintli 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 tc
the Rhine. The TJifele (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 Neuchateland 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,ooD 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 St. Gothard group, cut off on all
sides by important passes. Between the Reuss, the Rhine, and the Walen-
see extend th,e Alps of Glarus and Schwyz, with the Todi (11,887 ^^et) in its
centre and the hotel-crowned Righi (5,906 feet) in its north-western corner.
Farther to the north-east the romantic Setiiis 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 Cervin (14,705 feet). Over thirty other
sunnnits exceed 12,000 feet. The next group to the east are the Alps oj
Switzerland 259
Ticinu, 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 io,ooo feet, including Piz Kesch, and Adula, and
separated by the high passes of St. Bernardin, Spliigen, 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 w^ould 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
s4opes. 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 vvhole area can be cultivated. Betwet^ij
26o The International Geography
6,500 and 4,000 feet forests are composed of RoUe pines (Pinus cembra),
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 {Tetrao 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 C^sar, and Helvetia remained under Roman rule down to the
great migrations from the north. Then it was occupied by three peoples :
the AUemanni in the north and east, th- Biirgiindiaus in t-he west, and the
Ostro-Goths in the south.
The AUemanni 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-
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 Griitli in 1307, and resisted and defeated the Austrians at Morgarten.
In the first half of the fourteenth century Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug and
Bern joined 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 in 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
l.uiguages. Of the total population, 72 per cent, speak a German dialect, 5 per
Fig. 131. — The Languages of Sicitzerlaiid.
Switzerland
26
cent. Italian (in Ticino), i per cent. Raetho-Romanch dialects (in Grisons),
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,
Fig. 132
Religions of Srcitzerland.
T h u r g a u , Vaud and
Zurich are almost en-
tirely Protestant ; those
of Fribourg, Lucerne,
Schwyz, Ticino, Unter-
v.'ald, 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
th J 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 vQte. 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, Ziirich 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
Grisons (34), it is very low.
Industries and Trade. — Agriculture is as well developed as it can
Fig. 133. — Average Popii-
l lit ion of a square
mile of Sic'itserland.
262 The International Geography
Amsteg <^
j(i Wassen
\ •.;• 3064ft.
o\0oe«ch6nen
J 5619 ft.
:
ip
is* Andermaff
J" 4838 «•-
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
J Lira 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. Five railways cross the
FIG. 134— Map of the St. Gothard Railway, j^^^^ r^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^_
alpine lines, one carried under the St. Gothard (see plan in Fig. 134, and sec-
tion in Fig. 130), and the other, which is the longest tunnel in the world,
twelve miles, under the Simplon, from the Rhone valley. 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, Zirrich and
eastward through the Arlberg tunnel: and from the south of France
to Bavaria, through Geneva, Bern, Zurich and Winterthur. For the
convenience of tourists a great many mountain railways have been con-
The St. Gothard Railway.
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 To^vns. — Soil, climate, 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 3'et noteworthy
because of its situation at the convergence of many frequented passes.
Davos, in a high valley, is much res rted to as a winter sanatorium. The
Engadine, the elevated valhy 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 GoescheJien, where it
enters the long horizontal tunnel of St. Gothard.
But the carriage road continues over the Devil's
Bridge to the valley of Andcnnatt, where four
passes meet, now defended by fortifications The
canton of Unter-walden Hes among the mountains
south of the lake of Lucerne traversed by the rail-
way to the Briinig pass. The canton of Schwyz, Fig. 135.— r/zt Swiss Fhig.
the centre of Swiss freedom, touches the lakes
of Lucerne and of Zurich. Schuyz 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. SdiaJfJiausen
and Xculiaiisen 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. Z it rich is
the largest town in Switzerland. It possesses a university, the federal
Polvtechnicum, the national museum and important manufactories for silk
and lUachinci"}'. Winierthur is very important as a manufacturing towiic
264 The International Geography
The canton of Zug, with its pretty capital, is concerned with textile manu-
factures. The canton of Lucerne contains the town of Lucerne, with
its old towers, its covered wooden bridges and other attractions, which 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 con-
fluences of the Rhine, Aar, Limmatt, and Reuss. Aaraii is known for its
manufacture of mathematical instruments. Near Brugg stand 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 alwavs been conspicuous because of its situation which makes it the
busiest railwav 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
lor its cheese, but is still more active in weaving and spinning. The
Bernese Jura with Btenne (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,
Intcrlakcn is a haunt of tourists visiting the grand scenery of the Oberl^^xid.
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 invahds 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 265
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. Lcukcrbad (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 Zennaii lies at the foot of the
Matterhorn. Farther up Bricg 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. 1890. igoo.
Area of Switzerland square miles 15964 .. 15.964 •• 15.964
Population 2,827,572 .. 2,938,009 .. 33I5.443
Density of population per square mile .. 177 .. 184 .. 207
Population of Zurich 75.96o . . 96,900 . . 152.942
„ Basel 61,400 .. 63.500 .. 113,000
„ „ Geneva 68300 .. 74.800 .. 105,139
„ „ Bern 44 loo . . 46.500 . . 64,864
STANDARD BOOKS.
M.Wirth. " AUjiemeine Beschreibungund Statistik der Sjhweiz." 3 vols. Ziirich, 1871-75.
F. Umlauft. " Die Alpen." Vienna, 1887, and translati-j
M
76
70
68
60
66
60
46
40
35
>0
ae
10
«
8
7
6
5
4
a
1
h'
/;
/~-
s
^
/I
\
k
1
..
-y
..\...
--
—
V
— -
1
^
^
1
V
\
5?
r-^
/
S3
^
—
^
"^
^
•J
m
Hambumo Berlin
138. — Mean Monthly Tempera-
ture and Rainfall Curves fot
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
i6,o-Jo 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 pecuHar 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
Germanv is so closely connected in soil and climate. Thus there are com-
paratively few species peculiar 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 dissLppeared 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 the south-west, and scarcely half of the species are found in other
parts of the countr}^ 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 RoUe pine {Pinus cembra) grows there only. Proud forests
of the silver hv {Eddtanne) strll 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 mach further north. The cha-
racteristic tree of the Central Highlands is the spruce {Fichie), 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 limited by the climate from K5nigsberg 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 storm}'- 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 closeh'-related Lithuanian group,
coming from the east, settled themselves in East Prussia from the Vistula
to beyond the Alemel. 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, b}- no means driven out.
20
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 itz 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 million Frdwc/^-speaking inhabitants, mainly
in Lorraine, about half as many Da«/sA-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 Piatt- 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 settHng 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 ol
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 prankish
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.
_ ^, _ ^ Fig. 139. — The German
Government. — Ihe 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.
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-
TTir^ T.^ T7 r tion ; but he is not the monarch of German v — the
rIG. 140. — Ihc Genua Ji
Flag. authority he exercises is vested in him "in 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 Bafiaria,
Witritemberg, 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 b}' 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 Liibeck, 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 Hohcn-
zollern 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 — Cujus regio, ejus reJigio. 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 Wurttemberg 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 Rhme Fig 142.-^2^,^. /.o/)»-
•^ ^ lation of a square mtle
Highlands, of course are much 0/ 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 m 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 oj a square mile
of Germany.
zSo 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. 143.— German Xaval centres of manufacturing industry are springing
nsign. ^p . ^^^ 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 chmatic
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, but partly alsc
foi distilling. The excessive drinking of spirits which formerly exercised a
Map of the
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES
Ofthe GERMAN EMPIRE.
mm Rye & Oats. 'S Wheat & Barley
Bwinc. ES] Tobacco
E3 Hops. I^ Beet Sugar.
SlIDisHlling.
Fig. 144. — Agricultural Map of Gennany.
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 plahis of the Alpine Foreland
and of the north are the best for horse-breeding ; cattle are kept every-
where for beef and for dairy purposes from the coast marshes to the Alps.
The high farming now oractised and the fall in t\^- nrice of wpol 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 ^^arned 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
qenturies, and German miners are now to be found in every continent. On
many of the mountains of the country, particiUarly the Erzgebirge, the
diminution of the output of ore from the old 'mines has led to the
development of many forms of domestic industry thfOugh 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,
a;id in potassium salts of enormous industrial importance, which accompany
the common salt. Almost all the salt-lpearing 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 introduQtion of factories and steam-power has swept
The German Empire 283
away many of the old village workshops, but has brought more hicrative
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 S 2, 000,000,000
per annum, or I40 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
587
63
1000
Exports..
92
—
191
717
1000
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 Siberia, and thus to the whole of
eastern Asia. The central position of Berlin in the railway system ol
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 Danube 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 Wurttemberg as far as the Iller ; and
at the point where that river enters the Danube at the commencement oi
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 lies 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 good?
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 (Miinchen), on the Isar, has grown
-Munich ^P ^^^^^ ^^^ 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 q| South G^rJnan 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
{Ratisbon), 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, Stidtgart, 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 onl}^ 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,
Ni'miberg {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.
Frankfort-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 the north coast. It was the
true centre of the earUest 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 Odenvvald, 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 magnilicent
ruins of an ancient castle destroj^ed 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, Carlsnihe, was built in 1715 at the
,, ^ . command of the Prince round a hunting
castle, from which, as a centre, the straight
main streets radiate. Konstanz (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.
Strassbiirg, 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). Miihlhausen, in the south of Alsace, is the most
important cotton manufacturing town of southern Germany. The strong
fortress of Mctz protects the Mosel valley, which forms the most natural
line of communication between F'rance and Germany. It was the ancient
capital of the Keltic Mediomatr^ker.
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 \ving 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 alluvial or loess soil. Here in the Rheingau at the
base of the Taunus and on the slopes of the steep slate banks of the Rhii^.e
and Mosel, frequently crowned by the ruins of ancient castles, the best
wines of Germanv are grown. Here also, close to the thinly peopled
plateaux untouched by trade, is one of the most thickly peopled and
busi&st 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 Berhn. 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 WestphaHa. 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 Co^/dw/z {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
ViG. i^l.^The Railways of the Rtchr Coal-field. ^^^^ coal-field, a close
swarm of industrial towns has grown up, including on and near the Wupper,
the con'iguous 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, and is called as far as Miinden by the Upper German
dialect name of Werra. The Eder flows east to the Fulda from the slopes
The German Empire 289
of the Rhine Highlands, and the Diemel north-east to the Weser below
Miinden. 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 tw^o famous mediaeval abbey-towns of Fulda and
Hersfeld 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,
^he 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 WcstfaUca. 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 to
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 Aller, 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 Osnabriick 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 Detmoldj
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.
2 go The International Geography
Thuringia and the Hartz. — The Thuringian basin lies between
the elhptical 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. Meiningen 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 Rudolstadt on
the Saale, where the beautiful Schwartzathal opens ; Schwarzburg-
Sondershausen with Sondershausen, entirely surrounded by Prussian
territory to the north of Erfurt ; Reuss of the older line, with Greiz on the
The German Empire 2gi
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 table-topped
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 industrial and 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 important inland trade centre of Germany,
und 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 of 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 Mbravian 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 Landshut 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 establishment 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 (Schlesieii).
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 ; Oldenburg 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 Aller, is covered
with heather and now has many oases of tree plantations. Beyond it the
scenery becomes more and more like that of the neighbouring country
of Holland, quite flat 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 1890.
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 Mecklenbarg-Schwerin stretches from the lower
Elbe to Pomerania containing the pretty capital Schwenn 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 Aller. 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 lies 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 Minister 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
WiUiclmsliaven 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 i^
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
jtlje Baltic, and the navigable Oder is linked by canals to all parts of
northern Germany, including the Elbe system. Lilbeck, on the, Trave,
which falls into the head of the Baltic bay, which reaches farthest to the
south-west, has since \hQ
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
Fig. 148. — Hamburg.
command the whole German trade witli 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 the most south-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 AUoiia, in Schleswig-Holstcin, shares the favourable
situation of Hamburg, and is now united 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 Krcfcld, some distance from the left bank of the
Rhine, which is now the chief silk manufacturing town in Germanv,*and
Diisseldorj, 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,
Frankfort-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 hues of communication with Hamburg and Breslau, with
296 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 CJiarlottenburg 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.
^M
M'J
^to^L^^^^
i^,^*.^ DajE^^^
^^^3
m
M^-^/mr^
(mg='''^^KL£-SSS
Fig. 150. — The Surroundings of Berlin.
STATISTICS.
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE GERMAN STATES.
Area in
State. Style. sq. miles.
Prussia (including Haffs) . . Kingdom .. 136,116
Bavaria „ .. 29.291
Wiirttemburg .... „ .. 7.535
Baden Grand Duchy . . 5.822
Saxony Kingdom . . 5.789
Alsace-Lorraine . . . . Imperial Territory 5,500
Mecklenburg-Schwerin .. Grand Duchy .. 5,i35
Hesse . . . . . . , . „ . . 2,966
Oldenburg „ .. 2,481
Brunswick Duchv .. 1,418
Saxe Weimar . . . . Grand Duchy . . 1,396
Mecklcnburg-Strelitz .. „ .. 1,131
Saxe Meiningen . . . . Duchy . . . . 953
Anhalt „ .. .. 906
Saxe Coburg-Gotha . . . . „ . . . . 756
Saxe Altenburg .. .. „ .. .. 511
Population. ,
In 1890. I" 1900.
persq. .. . P" SQ-
Number. mile.
Number. mile.
9.957.367
223
5,594.982
191
2,036,522
270
1,657,867
285
3.502,684
605
1,603,506
286
578,342
113
992.883
335
354.968
143
403,773
283
326,091
235
97,978
87
223,832
235
271.963
300
206,513
273
170,864
332
34,472,509
6,176,057
2,169,480
1.867,944
4,202 216
I 719.470
607.770
1,119.893
399.180
464.333
362,873
102,602
250,731
316,085
229,550
194.914
253
2IO
288
320
"^^
306
118
377
161
326
260
90
263
348
304
380
The German Empire
297
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE GERMAN STATES— (con/iMM^d)-
Population.
State. Style.
Lippe Principality
Waldeck
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt . . „
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen „
Reuss, younger line . . „
Hamburg Free Town
Schaumbarg Lippe.. .. Principality
Reuss, older line . . , . „
Liibeck Free Town
Bremen „
German Empire
In 1900.
persq.
Number, mile.
138,952 296
59,918 133
93.059 255
80.898 242
139,210 435
768,349 4,862
43.132 329
68,396 559
96.775 841
224,882 2,269
210,248 49,42S,470 236 56,367,178 269
Area in
sq. miles.
469
433
363
333
3^9
158
131
122
115
99
In 1890.
per sq.
Number, mile.
128,495 274
57,281 132
85,863 236
75,510 227
119,811 376
622,530 3,949
39,163 299
62.754 514
76,485 665
180,443 1,823
POPULATION OF THE LARGEST GERMAN TOWNS.
V 1890. 1900.
Berlin 1,578,794 1.888,326
Ha:mburg 569,260 705,738
Munich (Miinchen) . . 349,024 499,959
Leipzig 357,122 456,126
Breslau 335,1^6 422,738
Dresden 289.844 395,349
Cologne (Koln) .. .. 281,681 372,229
Frankfort-on-the-Main .. 136,819 288,489
Nuremberg (Niirnberg).. 142,590 261,022
Hanover 174,455 235,666
Magdeburg 202,234 229.663
Diisseldorf 144,642 213,767
Stettin 116,228 210,680
Chemnitz 13^,954 206,584
Charlottenburg .. .. 76,859 189,296
Konigsberg 161,666 187,897
Essen 78.706 182,135
Stuttgart 139,817 176,318
Altona 143,249 ' 161,507
Elberfeld
Bremen
Halle
Strassburg
Dortmund
Barmen
Danzig
Mannheim
Aachen (Ai.\-la-Chapelle)
Brunswick
Kiel
Posen
Krefeld
Kasscl
Carlsruhe
Duisburg
Augsburg
Miilh.iuscn
Wiesbaden
1890.
93.538
125,684
101,401
123,500
89,663
116,228
120,338
79.058
103.470
101,074
69,172
69.627
105.376
72,477
73.684
59.285
75.629
76,8g2
64,670
ANNUAL TRADE OF THE GERMAN ESIRIRE (in pounds skrliug).
1900.
156,937
156,718
1§6.61I
150,268
142,418
141.947
140,539
140,385
135,235
128,177
121,790
117,014
109,119
106,001
97.161
92,729
89,109
ik),Ol2
Imports
Exports
Average for 1872-75.1
187,041,000
124,720,000
1881-85.
157,207,000
I58,039|030
1891-95.
212,960,000
172,100,000
THE GERMAN FOREIGN POSSESSIONS {estimates).
Area in square miles.
German East Africa 384.180
Kamerun 191. i30
Togoland 33,700
German South-West Africa 322,450
German New Guinea 70,000
Marshall Islands 150
Caroline and Marianne Islands 610
Total .. .. 1,002.220
Population.
8,000,000
3,500,000
2,500,000
200,000
110,000
13,000
40,000
14,363,000
Das
STANDARD BOOKS.
G. B. Mendelssohn. " Das gennanische Europa." Berlin, 1836.
A. Pen.-k. " Das Deutsche Reich." Vienna. 1887.
R. Lepsius. " Geologic von Deutschland und den angrenzenden Gebieten I Teil.
westliche und siidliche Deutschland." 1887-1892.
"Geologische Karte von Deutschland " (Atlas in 27 sheets). 1892-93.
C. Vogel. " Karte des Deutschen Reiches" (Atlas in 27 sheets). 1892-93.
O. Drude. " Deutschlands Pflanzengeographie. ' I Teil. 1896.
" Forschungen zur Deutschen Landes- und Volkskunde." Edited by R. Lehmann, and later
by A. Kirchhoff (in progress). 14 vols. Stuttgart, 1886-1902.
The earlier statistics are less satisfactory than the later.
CHAPTER XVIII.— THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN
MONARCHY
I.— AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
By Dr. Albrecht Penck,
Formerly Professor «f 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 26° E. long. Whilst
France has the sea on three sides and has longer coast-hnes 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-hne. 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
Fig. \i,\.~Mean Monthly Rainfall Summits in the Alps and Carpathians have
and TempcraUtre Curves of Vienna ^^e mean annual temperature of the Arctic
and Trieste. ^ r j
regions. Extensive forests are found, es-
pecially in the mountain districts. The eastern plains in the interior
of Hungar}^ 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
2Q8
.■— ....... -..,....1
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
26
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12
10
9
8
7
6
1
2
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Vienna Triest
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 P^uropean 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
Cathohc 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 t e 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 hfe
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
21
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
Oesterrcich (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 I stria. Finally, in 1878, the
adjoining parts of Turkey (Bosnia and Hercegovina) 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 pre-
The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 301
served their own organisations, and their inhabitants retained their own
languages ; but by the fact that German colonists were and are active
nearly everywhere 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
and Hungary may be
compared to those be-
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 {Ausgleicli) 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 Hercegovina. The ofticial 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.
EH
Fig. 152. — Aiisiria-Huvgnry, shcnctng countries and
pnn-inces. Austria white, Hungary stippled.
Fig. 153. — Austro-Hun-
garian Merchant Flag.
302 The International Geography
II.— AUSTRIA
By Dr. Albrecht Penck,
Fo7-Mterly Professor of Ccogi-cfphy in the Uni\>ersiiy 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 (I stria 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, called StaWi alter, and its own
provincial diet or parliament. They are all represented together in the
Reidisrat, or Austrian parliament, 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. ISA—Average popn- mountains, from west to east. They separate a cen-
latiou 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 ; tlie 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 b}
deep valleys and low passes. In so.ne parts there are beautiful lakes
in these hollows, e.g., the Garda-lake, Achen-lake in Tirol ; and the lakes
of the Salzkaminergut. The Northern Belt is cut through by three
important rivers, whijh 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 tlie eastern forelands. In the southern rovv of valleys, how-
ever, the main river, the Drave, flows eastward, and parallel to it farther
south is anotlier Alpine afthiunt of the middle Danube, the Save. Onlv
one river of the southern line, the Adige, or Ktsch, 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 Sa^e and tlie Tagliainento are connected by a
set of passes lower than 2,700 feet.
North of the Alps there is a narrow strip of Hat, undulating land, which
sinks eastward from 1,500 to 600 feet in elevation. It is narrowel in tlie
middle by the pro,ejting southern corner of the Bjian plateau to a w'dth
of only six miles, forming the important Aiislrian (uip. To the vi'est an>.l.
east this forelan.l 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 braiuh off into the Hungarian plain, a corner of which penetrates
basin-like between them westw^ard. The frontier between the two
countries cuts off the branches and leaves the Styrian basin with Austria.
It is a hilly country, Nwhich 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 fo.md 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 IMeran lie in a climatic oasis. The
northern valle3's, 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 temperatare,
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 Vomrlberg, and the Duchies of Salzburg and
Carinthia or Kiirnten) 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 85 per
square mile. The Alpine forelands, however, are excellent agricultural
lands. In the eastern parts of the northern and in the Styrian basin there
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 {Unier-
and Obcr-OcsterrcicJi), which extend from the Alps over their northern fore-
lands and the opposite slope of the Boian plateau, have (without Vienna)
184 inhabitants per square mile, while the Duchies of Styria {Steiermark)
and Carniola {Krain), which extend over the eastern parts of the Alps, the
Styrian basin and the Karst, have 149.
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 live
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 Bleibcrg) and Carniola ;
and mercury at Idria in Carniola. .The Styrian iron, worked only with
charcoal, already known to the Romans as Xorian, 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, wiierc 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 Tow^ns 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 be-
tween the Alps and 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, Li 112, 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 Saldnirif, 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 ofHces, 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 LaibacJi {Liibiaiia), 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-
fiirt, 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
truck, 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 (Trenio) is the capital of the industrial part of
Tirol with Italian population. A third railway across the Eastern Alps
is in course of construction between Salzburg and Sorizia. The long
northern row of longitudinal valleys has special importance for Austria, as
they estabhsh a direct connection with Switzerland, which is made prac-
ticable by a tunnel almost 6^ miles Iflng through the Arlberg.
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-tifth 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 the Garda lake. The hot springs of
Gastein in the Central Alps and those at 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 Palaeozoic 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 Mountams) 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 lou'land,
from 600 to 900 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 Ricscnge-
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 w^hich 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 product! v'-e. -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-lifths 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 TepJiiz,
Dux and Bri'ix, and near Egcr. 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 porceliiin.
3o8 The International Geography
The rapid rivers of the Sudetes supply power for many spinning factories :
cotton manufactures ai'e 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. TepIHz,
Karlsbad, Franzcnsbad 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 315 per
square mile ; but in the industrial parts of the north it rises to 1,000 and
1,200. Of the people 37 per cent, are German, occup^^ing 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 {Prag, Praha). 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, \yhich raise the
number of the mainly Chech population to over 470,000, arc 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-Tetschen are considerable riv.r-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 Moravian Gap between the Boian plateau and the
Carpathians. It allows of the construction of a canal connecting the
Baltic and Black Seas, the summit level on which is less than 1,000 feet.
Austria 309
In the north of both countries, r.t the sources of the Oder and the
March, the eastern extremity of the Sudetes forms a plateau 2,000 feet
hi^^h, and rising in the Altvat^.- to n'^arly 5,000 feet. In spite of the
rou<^h chmate there is a cro-.;ded German population, carrying on the
Austrian linen manufacture. In the suth the low ground penetrates
basinlike between the Boian pla'jau and the Carpathians; the climate
of these parts is mild, and agricr.ltuie ii urishes ; 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 Austrian frontiers ; Wiikon'itz and Miiliiisch Ostia:i 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 wealtli. The
Margravatc of ^loravia and the Duch- of Silesia have an average density
of population of 295 per square mile , the industrial north liaving 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 Hoian plateau is the principal way of connnunication of
the Monarchy. Its rivers are not navigable, but it is followed bv 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 countr}'. The capital of the margravate is
Briinn {Brno), on tlie edgj of the Boian plateau, where the main route
from Boliemia enters the lowlands. It is the chief centre of Austria for
woollen manufactures, and has two technical schools. One-half of its in-
habitants are German. Another u'OoUen manufacturing place is Iglnu, a
German-speaking town on the heights adjoining Bohemia. The former
capital of Moravia, Ohuiitz, is situated in a fertile basin of the Upper
March, and has, though it is the ecclesiastical centre of the country, onlv
local importance. The capital of Silesia, Troppaii, is an active place with a
German population close to the Prussian frontier.
Vienna. — The two main routes in the eastern and northern Alpine
forjlmls an 1 the Moravian route along the south-east side of the Boian
pl itcau meet at Vienna. In the east there is a whole series of gaps
between the Al;')s 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 o:'
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, Berlin 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. — The 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 [FJoridsdorf) 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 from Klosterncuburg in the north to Modling
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 af^riculture, and rich museums of fine art and natural
history. Commerce has at its disposal 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 p^rt are modern ; the Ringstrasse is one of the
most magnificent modern boulevards in the world. The quickly
increasing 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 f"brm 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 5,000 feet in western Galicia ; at the point where the direction of the
chains turns at a right angle there are 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 one of 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 fiats 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 angle between the Vistula
and the San, where it is too 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.
Tlie 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 Gahcia 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,
especiafly 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 Galicia.
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 (55 per
cent.), who are dominant, the east to the Ruthenians (42 per cent.). In
Bukovina the latter meet with the Rumanians, and there are 22 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 Biikovina.
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 Galicia. Cracow (German, Krakaii, Polish,
Krakoii') 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. Lemberg (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 Ruthejiian 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 Taniow, on the
Dwnajec, and Pizcmysl, a strong fortress, which defends the eastern
Bcskids, on the San. On the two lines from Lemberg to Russia the chief
towns are Brody and Tarnopol ; the continuation of the main line to the
south-east passes through Kolomea, 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 ; Jew^s, 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,
5,000 to 6,000 feet in height, which consists of limestone, and shows all the
irregularities of the Karst phenomena. Deep vallej^s 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.— r/;e Karst The map measures 300 especially along the Karst, the
nulesbyiso Karst region white ; AdriaUc g -^ ^ frequent COld and dry
drainage, black ; Danube drainage, stippled. ^ -^
wind coming from the interior,
and the charms of the Mediterranean climate can only be enjoyed at
places like Abbazia, w^hich 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 Truest, the Margravate of Istria, and of the King-
dom of Dalmatia has a density of 168 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 1,000 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, /?i7f^//sa F'G. i-^-j.—Ansiro-Hnn.
,, Tirjj, . -1 1 • r 1 u r *u garian Naval Ensign.
was m the Middle Ages the chief harbour ot the
whole Dinaric coast ; now' it is a dead place, but there is a narrow-gauge
railway to the interior of Hercegovina and Bosnia.
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 (boccJic) of Cattaro, where the
sea penetrates in several basins among cHffs 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.
III.— HITNGARY
By Dr. Bela Erodi,
President of the Hungarian Geographical Society, Budapest
Position and Extent. — The Kingdom or State of Hungary
{Magyarorszdg=L3.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
smill 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
Tdtrd), 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 feet, 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 nuny 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 Hungarian
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 {N eusiedler) lake and the Rabcza river. This plain, called also
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 gountry, 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
(Thciss) traverses its greatest length. This plain, appearing as an unend-
ing, and for tne 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 villages, fringed by rows of shady
trees, especially acacias, stand at great distances apart, but arc 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. isS.—Thc Chief Canal at the Iron Gates.
only two streams having their sources in the High Tatra flow to the
Vistula. The Danube (Duua), 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 Pozsony and Komdrom, 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
3 1 8 The International Geography
tiic country. In the Hungarian coat-of-arms four silver stripes represent
thv.- Danube, the Tisza, the Drave and the Save (Fig. 159.) Hungary contains
onl • 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
inountainous peninsula of Tihany. On its banks mineral springs of acid
water burst out at Balaton-Fiired, 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 highla-ads,
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 w^hich
not only supplies the country but furnishes a great export. The mountains
are chiefly formed by granite, upon which rest crystalHne 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
*ypes 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 deJibdb, 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 \'ery 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 c^
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,
and organised the Hungarian State according to
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 poHtical. 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 principality 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
Parhament accepted the Pragmatic Sanction, which estabhshed 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 religions, 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
#%
■' •'/
"■•>*<
<:
'
\
„....„.. \
Fig.
I5g. — Hungarian
State Flag.
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.
Fig. 160— Average pop- ^^ ^j^^ people speak the Hungarian language— a
uhition of a square r r r o 00
mile of Hungary. proportion which is increasing every year. It nmst
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
religion, the greatest part of the population belongs to the Roman and
Greek Catholic 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 Catholics, 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 chiefiy 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 railwa3^s, 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 (7'ar;«£'^v^), at the head of which stand the prefects (/i'7s/>a«)
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 $5 first-
class, which is the maximum fare for any journey in the kingdom.
Hungary 'Proper.— Buchi pes f 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
{Szcnt GcUerthegy), 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 ParHa-
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 Plam.
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 [Pressbiirg) 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 Parliament 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 flourishing 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. Eszlergom (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.
KolozsiKir (Klausenbiirg), situated on the banks of the river Szamos, is
the capital of Transylvania {Erdely), after Budapest, the first centre of
Hungary 323
intellectual 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. Gyiilafeliavdr {Kurlsbiirg the Roman Apiiliim), 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 Daltnatia form a self-governing political
unit inside the dominion of Hungary, and on that account bear the name
of Borderhind {Partes adnexcv). 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 dc facto it is united to Austria. Croatia was united
to Hungary under Kings Ladislaus and Kalmdn, and King Kalman was the
first, who in the year 1102 was crowned King of Croatia and Dalmatia.
The local government is concerned only with home affairs, religious
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 Parliament.
Zagreb (Hungarian, Zdgrdb ; German, Agram), near the Save, is the seat
of thj Banus (governor), of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Croatia, and
of th:i 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 Terrik)ry, annexed to Hungary in 1779 by Queen
Maria Theresa as a separate body (corpus separatum), is represented in
the Hungarian Parhament, but administered by a special governor. The
town of Fiume lies in the north-east corner of the Gulf of Quarnero, in the
Adriatic S>ia. It was formerly an insignificant fishing village, but since its
union with Hungary it has developed into a considerable seaport and a
com.iiercial 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. Pexck.
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 Poljcs, which are drained by subterranean channels
and are inundated during the wet season. In the east slates and
sandstone prevail ; the mountains are (iovered 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 Sa\ j, 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
Catholics, 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 Kinds,
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 Mostar, on the Narenta.
STATISTICS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
(Without Bosnia and Herzegovina.)
1R80. 1890. 1900.
Area of Austria-Hungary (square miles) 240,1)42 . . 240,942 , . 240.942
Population ,. .... 37,883,609 .. 41,358,886 .. 45,242,889
Density of population per square mile . . 157 . . 171 . . 187
Austria-Hun
gary
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 3,105,000
Slovenian
Servian and Croatian
Italian and Ladin
Rumanian
Magyar . .
Gypsies . .
1, 17^1,000
645,000
675,000
2og,ooo
8,000
Total 23,895,000
Hungary.
2,107,000
1,910,000
383,000
94,000
2,604,000
2,592,000
7,426,000
82,000
17,463,000
Total.
10,568,000
7,382,000
3,719,000
3.488,000
1,270,000
3,240,000
675,000
2,801,000
7,434.000
82.000
41,358,000
AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY (in poumh sterling.
1876-1880. 1880-1885. 1891-1895.
Imports 46,861,000 ., 51,525,000 .. 55,491,000
Exports 54,609,000 ,. 60,448,000 .. 64,205,000
STATISTICS OF AUSTRIA.
1880.
189c
).
1000.
Area of Austria (square miles)
..
115.92s
115,925
11
5.02s
Population of Austria
.. 22,144,244
.. 23,895,413
26,150,597
Density of Population (per square mile)
192
207
226
POPULATION OF AUSTRIAN TOWNS.
1880.
1890.
1900.
1880.
189a
190a
Vienna .. 1,112,025
1,364,548 1,674/(57
Triest
. . 144.844
157.466
134,143
Prague .. 177,026
182,530 20I,5.S(>
Briinn
■82,(XX3
94.462
101^,346
Lemberg 109,746
127,043
I5«^.i43
Cracow
. . 66,o<,5
74,593
91,323
Graz . , 97.791
I12,0C>CJ
THE LAN
138,080
[DS OF THE
Czernowitz 45,600
AUSTRIAN CROWN.
54.17
4
67,622
»
Mean Density
Ii
ihabitants.
per Square
Mile.
Area Sq. Miles.
1880.
1890.
1900.
1880.
1890.
1900.
Lower Austria
7/>54
2,330,621
2,661,799
3,100,493
303
347
405
Upper Austria
4,627
759,620
785,831
810,246
163
170
175
■Salzburg . .
2,762
163,570
173,510
192,763
60
62
69
Styria
8.650
1,213,597
1,282,708
1.356,494
IJO
148
156
Carinthia . .
3,988
348,730
361,008
367.337
88
91
92
Carniola . .
5,«44
481,243
498,958
508,150
124
129
132
Tirol & Vorarlberg
11.307
912,549
928,769
981,949
80
83
86
Alpine lands . .
42,841
6,209,930
6,692,583
7,327,282
145
156
171
Bohemia . .
20,058
5,560,819
5,843,094
6,318,697
277
293
315
Moravia . .
8,580
2,153,407
2,276,870
2,437,706
251
264
284
Silesia
1, 987
565,475
605,649
680,422
282
306
342
Boian lands . ,
30,625
8,279,701
8,725.613
9.436,825
270
285
308
Galicia
30,307
5.958,907
6,607,816
7,315,816
196
218
241
Buivovina . .
4.032
571,671
646,591
730,195
142
161
181
Carpathian lands
34,339
6,530,578
7,254,407
8,046,011
190
211
234
Maritime Provinces
3,077
647,934
695.384
756,546
210
225
249
Dalmatia ..
4,956
476,101
527,426
593,783
96
106
120
Dinariclands ..
8,033
1,124,335
1,222,810
1,350,329
140
152
•168
STATISTICS (
)F HUNGARY.
1S80.
1890.
1900.
Area of the Hungarian Crown
Lands, square
miles
125,039
125,039
I
25,039
Population of Hungarian Crown
Lands
.. 15,
739,375 17,709,375
19,254,550
Density of population, per square mile
126
139
153
X From The Statesman's Year Book.
326 The International Geography
POPULATION OF HUNGARIAN TOWNS.
1880.
Budapest (without military) . . , . 360,551
Szeged 73.675
Szabadka (Maria Theresiopol) .. .. 61.367
Debreczen 51.122
Pozsony (Pressburg) 48,006
Zagreb (Agram) 28,388
Kolozsvar ( Klausenburg) 29,923
Fiume and territory 20,981
1890.
505.763
87,410
73.526
58.952
56048
40,268
34.858
30,337
190a
732,322
102,991
82,122
75,006
65,867
61,002
49.295
38,955
STATISTICS OF THE HUNGARIAN CROWN LANDS.
Area Population.
square miles. 1880. 1890.
Hungary, with Transylvania 108,258 13812,446 15,232,159
Croatia and Slavonia . . .. 16,773 1,905.295 2,200,977
Territory of Fiume . . . . 8 20,981 30,337
Density of Population
1900. 1880. 1890. 190&
16,838,255 127 139 155
2,416,304 113 130 147
38,955 — — —
(For analysis of population according to language see Statistics of Austria-Hungary.)
STATISTICS OF BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA.
Area of Bosnia and Hercegovina (sq. miles)
Population „ „
Density of Population
1879-
1885.
1900.
19,734
19.734
19.734
,158,453
. 1,336,091
. 1,568,092
59
68
80
STANDARD BOOKS.
H. F. Brachelli. " Handbuch der Geographic und Statistik des Kaiserthums Oesterreich."
Leipzig, 1861,
. •' Statistische Skizze der Oesterreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie."
13th edit. 1892.
Grassauer. " Landeskunde von Oesterreich-Ungarn." Vienna, 1875.
F. Umlauft. " Die Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie. Geographisch-Statistisches
Handbuch." 3rd edit. 1896-7.
I " Die Lander Oesterreich-Ungarns in Wort und Bild." 15 small volumes.
Vienna, 1880-89.
H. Neumeyer-Vukassowitsch. " Oesterreich-Ungarn nach eigenen Beobachtungen ge-
schildert." Leipzig, 1885.
A. Supan. " Oesterreich-Ungarn." Vienna, &c., 1889.
"Die Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild. Auf Anregung und
unter Mitwirkung Seiner k. und k. Hoheit Kronprinzen Erzherzog
Rudolf." Vienna. 17 volumes. 1887-1900.
R. Sieger. " Geographischer Jahresbericht iiber Oesterreich." Vienna, annually since
1894.
C. Diener (and others). " Bau und Bild Oesterreichs." Vienna and Leipzig, 1903.
CHAPTER XIX.— THE DANUBIAN AND BALKAN
STATES ^
By Dr. A. Philippsox,
Lecturer on Geography iit ilie Unhersity of Bonn,
I.— RUMANIA
Position and Boundaries. — The >^reat mountain chain of the
Carpathians on tlie east of Transylvania runs trom 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 artilicial 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 Central Europe.
Surface and Resources. — The great wall of the Carpathians,
which rises in several summits above 8,000 feet, slopes down to the
Rumanian plain in beautiful wooded declivities 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
WaJachia occupies the southern slope from the Transylvanian Alps. It
forms a low plain of pebbles and clay, which is crossed b}' the broad, fiat
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
I Translated from the German by the Editor.
327
328 The International Geography
S 1 1
^
—""^
^ Tultch.
^^^^^^s
^ Babada^
^
^
•— >
3
i
Kustenji
^ ip tp w ♦.» sp
Miles.
Fig, 162. — The MouiJis of the Danube.
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 bank, 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 Kilia,
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.
Climate. — In cHmate, 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 3^ear 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 Dacia. 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
wore originally Roman colonists, others that they
we e Romanised natives of the Balkan peninsula,
who came into the country in the Middle Ages. Fig. 161.— The Ru
The in lependent 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
188 1 it was declared a hereditary kingdom, the power of the king being
— ^^-
II
l|jj{!
==
tiiianian
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 Greek Catholic Church ; the remainder
arc 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 Bukarest as its centre, is well de-
veloped. Three lines enter the country from
Austria- H ungary ; 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 (Kustenii), on „,^ , ,
^ •' '' Fig. 164. — Art'iiice fop-
thc Black Sea, with direct communication to Con- uhiHon of a square
stantinoplc ; and there are also two lines into Russia. ""'^ ''■^' ^^"«»"""«-
Tov/ns. — The capital is Biikarcst, 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. T\v2 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 Boiosani in the extreme north.
The principal commercial harbours, particularly for the export of grain,
are Galaiz 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
Constantinople.
330 The International Geography
STATISTICS.
1887. 1899.
Area of Rumania (square miles) S0.700 .. 50,700
Population 5-50o,ooo .. 5,912,520
Density of population per square mile 109 .. 116
POPULATION OF TOWNS.
1876.1 1899.
Bukarest .. 221,000 .. 282,071
Jassy, .. 90,000 .. 78,067
Galatz .. 81,000 .. 62,678
1 876.x 1899.
Braila .. 28,000 .. 58,392
Craiova .. 23,000 ., 45.438
Ploesci .. 33,000 .. 42,687
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
Average 1870-75.2 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 3,300,000 .. 11,700,000 .. 15,800,000
Exports 6,000,000 .. 8,800,000 .. 11,900,000
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 la'nd 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 Bosporus), the small Sea of Marmora {Propontis), and the Strait
of the Dardanelles {Hellesponf). 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 compHcated series of long, 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
« These figures are estimates, not the results of a census. 2 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 poHtics.
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 pictures [ue gorge between Bazias and
Turn Severin, The numerous rapids, the most dangerous of which is
called the Iron Gates, w^ere 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-
tinuation 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 intermont basins of which the
most important is that of Sofia. From the Sofia basin the river Isker flows
northward, cutting through the Balkans in a narrow gorge. South of this
series of basins several 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 horizontal Cretaceous and Tertiary strata,
covered with the fertile earth of the steppes, and well cultivated. The
north-running 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.
23 c
332 The International Geography
The Thraco-Macedonian Region.— In contrast to the younger
folded mountains, the rehef of the ancient highlands of crystalline 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 lines 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 ^gean
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 Striictiire of the Balkan Peninsula. ^.nd the secOnd is the
Steppe-like basin of Adrianople, which reaches to the Marmora and ^gean
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-
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 cre;!^
to more than 6,500 feet above the sea ; and in other places showing the
peculiar 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 ^gean Sea, and the
Lower Danube Plain, vvhich h:A'e 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 civilisjd population, were it not for the thousand years
of confusion and misgovernment v.-hich 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
whiters 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 ^gean 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 rainfall on the Adriatic coast is heavy at all seasons,
334 The International Geography
espcciall}^ 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 liivc 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
occu^^ie:! 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 Ill3Tians (the present Albanians) into the south-west of the peninsula.
These Slavs consisted essentially of tw^o 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 fourteenth 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
Turl:s before whom the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453, 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 Dahnaiia, Bosnia, and Herzogovina, 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, ojcupying the north-eastern part of the peninsula on both sides of
tlie Balkan Mountains. (5) The Ottoman Empire, or Turkey, in the south.
Servia
335
The ethnographical boundaries do not correspond with the pohtical.
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 sol.liers. 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.
Fig. 166. — The Sliriiikiiig 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 IMorava 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,
WWW^WWW^
Fig. i6y.—Tlic Servian Flag.
Fig. i68. — Average popu-
lation of a square
mile of Seivia.
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 poHtics
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 concentrates
the national life of Servia ; it contains the
Servian University and Government build- p,^. i6g.— Belgrade.
jngs, 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.
Montenegro 337
STATISTICS.
1890. 1900.
Area of Servia in square miles 18,650 . . 18.650
Population 2,162,759 ,. 2,493,770
Density of population per square mile 116 .. 134
Population of Belgrade 54.249 •• 69,097
„ Nish 19.877 .. 24,451
ANNUAL TRADE OF SERVIA (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1884-88. 1891-95-
Imports 1,200,000 .. 1,600,000 .. 1,500,000
Exports 1,300,000 .. 1,500.000 .. 1,900,000
IV.— MONTENEGRO
Position and Surface. — On the stony limestone mountains which
rise above the steep coast of southern Dahnatia, the Black or Barren Moun-
tains (Montenegro in ItsiViSin, Chentagora 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 PodgorUza,
on the Zeta, are little more than villages.
338 The [nternational Geography
Fig. lyo.—Thc 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 literature. The Russo-
Turkish War secured to the principality of Bulgaria an autonomous
government under Turkish suzerainty, and the Treaty of Berlin 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 hills 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 warm, 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
misgovernment. A keen desire exists amongst
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-
Fig. 171. — Average pop-
ulation of a squa '.
mile of Bulgaria
Bulgaria 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-growing 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 timbi^r ; and the
water-power is utilised for industrial purposes, particularly wool-weaving
and small ironworks. The mineral resources are insignihcant. 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 Kushchuk on the Danube with Varna, and
a branch from the great Orient railwa}', 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, So/ia, 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. Riishchnk is the most important, but
Vidin and Silistria have played a great part in military history. Plevna in
the east of the Bulgarian plateau w\is, from its commanding position, the
scene of the decisive battle in the last Russo-Turkish War.
STATISTICS.
1893. 1900.
Area of Bulgaria (square miles) 37.282 .. 37.282
Population of Bulgaria 3,309,816 ,. 3,733.189
Density of population per square mile 89 . . 100
Population of Sofia 47,000 . . 67,920
„ Philippopolis 36.000 .. 42,849
„ Varna 28,000 . . 33 443
„ Rushchuk 28,000 . . 32,661
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling).
1880-84.2 1891-95.
Imports 1,900,000 .. 3,300,000
Exports 1,600,000 .. 3,100,000
^ 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.
24
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 ^Egean 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 ^gean 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
th€ 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. i^ 2.— Turkish Naval burden of mihtary service. The Christian popu-
Ensign. j^^Jqj^ jg practically '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
[73- — Turkish M et-
ch tint 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 hand-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 hues from Belgrade by Sofia to Constantinoplj
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-oftices 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 Catholics, 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
Fig. 174 — Ai'cnige pop-
II hit ion of a square
tit He of European
Turkev.
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 bouncs
a triangular hilly peninsula on which the Greek colony of Byzantium was
founded about 700 B.C. The Roman Emperor Constantine, changing iis
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 miUion inhabitants, half of them
Mohammedans, the other half almost equally divided between Armenians,
Greeks and foreigners, most of whom are Greek subjects ; about 5 per cent,
of the population are Jews. On the wider and less picturesque strait of the
Dardenelles, also protected by numerous forts, stands the harbour of
GaUipoli.
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
CliainliiaL
The Bosporus.
European Turkey 343
Passes, the town of Adrianople, the most important mihtary 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 riot 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 jMacedonia. Albania, Monie-
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
Uskiib 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 feuds 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 the 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
Constantinople (with European
suburbs, 1 1885) 874,000
Salonica 150,000
Adrianople 71,000
Monastir 50,000
Prisrend 40.000
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
Gallipoli
Janina
Seres
Skutari
Uskub
30,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
20,000
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE {estimates).
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 173,700
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
-^gina are now united by a ship
canal. Numerous islands diver-
FiG. iy6.— The Isthmus of Corinth Ship Canal. ^^^^ ^^e ^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 filled with the continuation of the
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 closijly 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
Peleponnesus, 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 ^gean Sea on the south. The north-east of Greece is traversed by
the continuation of the crystalline rocks of Thrace and Macedonia, which
buil.i the mountains of Thessaly, including the fabled mount of the gods,
Oly.npus (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
su nmit of these mountains is Parnassus, rising in the very heart of Greece
to thj 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 formafion.
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
disappL'ar 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 {Grccci, Greeks) a branch of
the Aryan family. The intellectual supremacy of Greece in antiquity was
the foundation of modern civiHsation, 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 popu-
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
I considerable. One-half of the value of the exports
S B consists of currants, then follow lead and zinc
^ J ores, wine, oil, tobacco, figs, sponges and valonia
(acorns). The exports go principally to the United
Kingdom, France, Austria- 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, formerly for the most part mere mule-tracks,
are being improved ; and railways are also being developed. The only
lines of importance 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, well pro-
vided for.
Fig. lyS.—The Greek
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 j,s
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 an 1
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
Boeotia, is now merely a
village. The large moun-
tainous island of Euboea
is celebrated for its
wine-growing, and is
separated from the main-
land by the very narrow
Strait of Euripus. The
Fi(. i-<)— Athens and the Piraiis. 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
n.arble and ores. Six miles from the sea, in one of the little plains opening
southward on the beautiful island-studded Gulf of ^gina stands Athens, i\\Q
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 ^gean 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 Pircxus which now forms a suburb of
Athens.
Peleponnesus. — The Peleponnesus, approached from Central Greece
^^
y^Jg
^^^T^^
/i\r~2;)^^^^w
t> 1 e a
y*^ *9/
^^^ ^X^s^^^l
Greece 349
by the Isthmus of Corinth, contains in the luxuriant plains of the north and
west coasts the richest part of Greece ; the districts of Achaia, Elis 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 the 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 Repubhc 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 ^gean 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 Hcrmoiipolis,
which has risen during the nineteenth cen-
tury into the most important trading centre
of the whole ^gean ; but it is now de- Fig. 180.— s,;;;/^;-/;;. ($ca less than
,. . ,, , 1, • 1 1 ji i 100 fathoms is shown white.)
chnmg. Several small islands on the east
coast of the Peleponnesus, Hydra, Spetsae and Paros are inhabited by
Albanians and carry on considerable shipping trade.
STATISTICS.
1889. 1896.
Area of Greece (square miles) 25,152 .. 25,152
Population of Greece 2,187,208 .. 2,433,806
Density of population (per square mile) 87 .. 96
Population of Athens 107,251 .. 111,486
„ „ (with Piraeus and suburbs) .. .. 148,924 .. 179,755
„ Piraeus 34327 • • 43001
„ Patras ., .. , 33.529 •• 37,985
„ Trikkala 14,820 .. 21,149
„ Syra.. 22,104 •• 18,760
„ Corfu 19,025 .. 18,581
„ Volo 11,029 .. 16,788
ANNUAL TRADE OF GREECE ^.n dollars).
1871-75. 1879-83. 1891-95.
Imports « .. 20,000,000 .. 24,500,000 .. 22,500.000
Exports 15,500,000 .. 13,500,000. .. 17,000.000
350 The International Geography
Fig.
i8i.— r^e Cretan Flag
of 1898.
VIII.— CRETE
Crete. — The Island of Crete (modern Greek Kriii, Italian Candia) 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 dechned
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 {Canea) in the west, Rethymnon further east,
and the largest town, Iraklion {Megalokastrom 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.
1900.
Area of Crete in square miles 3-324
Population of Crete (estimated) 303.543
Density of population per square mile 91
Population of Candia 22,331
Canea 21,025
Rhetymnon 9.3ii
Crete
351
STANDARD BOOKS.
Th. Fischer. " Die drei siideuropaische Halbinseln " in Kirchhoff's " Unser Wissen von
der Erde." Vienna.
F. Kanitz. "Serbien." Leipzig, 1868.
" Donau, Bulgarien und der Balkan." Leipzig, 1882.
K. Hassert. " Beitriige zur physischen Geographic von Montenegro." Gotha, 1895.
A. Boue. " Die Europaische Turkei." 2 vols. Vienna, i88g.
C. Neumann and J. 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.
T. A. B. Spratt. "Travels and Researches in Crete" 2 vols. London, 1865.
E. de Lavelaj'c. " La peninsule des Balkans." 2 vols. Brussels, 1 886. English transla-
tion, London, 1887.
E. A. Freeman. " The Ottoman Power in Europe." London, 1877.
CHAPTER XX.— ITALY AND MALTA
I.— ITALY
By Dr. Theobald Fischer,*
Professor of Geography in tJie 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
Appennine forelands ESJ Alluvium
Remnanfs of Tyrrhenian crustblock.
^^ Fold system of Alps and Appennines.
Fig. 18^.— Tectonic Map of Italy.
also brought together the severed portions of an older pre-Miocene
Appennine range which had not been incorporated by the last folding
movement ; thus Gargano 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
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
^gadian 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 Tertiar5' 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 great 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 Eufeinia, 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
rijh 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 Italian Alps
(Fig. 51), 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 tributaries 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
tlie 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 Appcnnine 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
,, . , . Fig. 184.— The Plain of Lombardy.
their lower courses m an -^ j
easterly direction as is shown in the Ticino, Adda, Oglio, and ^lincio, 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 lines 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
i)so as a dividing line of climates, 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 contam
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
intermont basins.
The Southern Appennines, heginning at the Vinchiaturo Pass (1,800 feet),
may be divided into a Neapolitan and a Calabrian portion. The NeapoHtan
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 gneisses,
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 Phlegrasan 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
35^ The International Geography
on the Adriatic side. At the beginning of that period a strait ran from
the Gulf of Taranto 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 Palaeozoic
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..e.-..U.M,..«„..CS..0.,.„0.. .o|
eo
76
•70
66
60
66
60
45
40
36
11
/
^
/
s
\
•V
\
y
/
\
'
,
— _J.
/
"
_
-.
-]
■'1
A
/
—
.
h--<
::;
m^
^ I ] I t
'•"^ [ f li-
or
_
'
■ ^
'--
Fig. 185. — Rainfall ami Tempera-
litre of Turin ami Naples.
Mediterranean, a sea filled to its greatest depth with water over 50° F. in tem-
perature. The winters are mila 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 Sicily 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-
l-iG 186. — The Malarial Districts
of Italy, shoirn in stipple.
360 The International Geography
inhabitable and uncultivable in spite of the fertiHty of the soil, which can
only be utilised for winter pastures, and it hampers the railway service.
One-sixth of the population 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 region, 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 (Uzards), 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-
riaiis in Liguria, the Italians in the greater part of central and southern Italy,
the lUyrians, in Venetia and Apulia, and the Etruscans, amongst whom the
A'i'/Zi 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 Italian, 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 million
Friaulians preserve their Rhaeto-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. i8y.— The Italiiin
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 i 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 ;
tlie 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 Amalli
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 Lombardy 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 climate 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
362 The International Geography
Fig. iSS.—TIie Merchant
Flag of Italy.
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 18 per cent,
of the land is under cultivation, and the average
for the whole country is 37 per cent., while only
II 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 Comtnunications. — 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 liffh 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 gram 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 mcreasing 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 0/ 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 purpoi>es. Five of these
divisions — Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia, Emilia, 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, Piaccnza 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. iQi.-TAe Environs of Rome. on the 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.
25
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3^4 The International Geography
Towns of Centrs^l Italy. — This division includes the regions of
Tuscany, the Marches, Umbria, Rome, Abruzzi, and Mohse, and contains
21 per cent, of the population. The coasts are unfavourable, and the only
seaport requiring mention i-s the artificial harbour of Leghorn (Livonio) 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), cind 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
B A J^ or '^^^'
irAPLE 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.
Tow^ns of Southern Italy. — The regions of Campania, Apuha, the
Basilicata, 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 Fozzuoli
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 Tarento 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
1901.
(Census.)
110.684
32,449,754
293
POPULATION OF LARGE TOWNS.
Naples (Napoli)y ..
Rome (Roma)
Milan (Milano)
Turin (Torino)
Palermo
Genoa (Genova) , .
Florence (Firenze)
Venice (Venezia) ..
Bologna
i88i.
. 463.000
. 273,000
, . 296,000
, . 230,000
. . 206,000
, . 138,000
. . 135.000
, . 129,000
, . 104,000
1901.
564,000
463,000
491,000
336,000
310,000
235,000
205,000
152,000
152.000
Catania
Leghorn (Livorno)
Perrara
Padua
Lucca
Alessandria..
Bari
Verona
Brescia
1881.
96,000
79.000
28,800
47.300
20,400
30,700
58.200
60,700
43.300
IQOI.
150,000
08500
87,700
82,300
74.700
71.300
79,700
74,200
70,600
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85.
Imports 52,600,000 59,400,000
E.\ports 48,200,000 49,800,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
H. Nissen. " Italische Landerkunde," Bd. I. Berlin, 1883. Bd. II, "Die Stadte."
Th. Fischer. "Landerkunde von Europa herausgegeben von A. Kirchhott," Bd.
285-515. Prag, 1893.
— " La Penisola Italiana." Turin, 1902.
G. Marinelli. "L'ltalia, La Terra," vol. iv. Milan, i8q2.
W. Deecke. "Italien." Berlin, 1899— and translation, " Italy." London, 1904.
1890-94.
52,000.000
42,500,000
Berlin, 1902.
II. 2. Hahle s
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.
366 The International Geography
This litiie State, with an area of only 23 square miles and a population of
8,000, is entirely surrounded by Italian territory, but remains quiie 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 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 miles 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. — Valetta and the Harbour.
Malta
1^1
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 a:ttempts 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 To'wns. — The government now con
sists of the Governor-General, who is also connnander-
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 modem Italian words. Valdia, the capital on
the grand harbour of Malta, is full of splendid build-
ings : the great object of admiration is the Church F^g. \^)^,. — Colonial
r ol T u 1 ui r -^ 1 • . • 1 • ^- Badge of Malta.
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.
STATISTTCS
1900,
Area of Malta and adjacent islands in square miles 117
Population ,, „ 183,679
Density ot population per square mile i,57o
Population of Valetta , 65,ooo(?)
CHAPTER XXI.— THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
I.— SPAIN
By Dr. Theobald Fischer/
Professor of Geography in the University of Marburg,
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 rathei 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 the Mediterranean nor between the
Mediterranean lands and north-western Europe. In the course of 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-long 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
national 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 Meseta ; on its margins two
younger land masses were upheaved by tangential thrust into lofty border-
I Translated from the German by the Editor.
3^8
Spain
369
ing ranges, the Pyrenean-Cantabrian on the north and the Andaliisian 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 Devonia'^
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 tlvj
Paheozoic 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 "■....... central »(*ters^ c.««.^sc*RPMtMT«.
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 dc Gredos, and the Pico de Pefialara,
7,890 feet, in the Sierra de Guadarrama, yet these summits only rise
about 5,000 feet above the level of the plateau. The so-called Sierra
Morena is nothing more than the steep southern edge of the ]\Ieseta 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
■r-.f Gikr»lt«(
Fig. 195. — Physiail Stnuiiii
U^ IBEM*" Plateau (Meseta)
)/■ the Ibcriau Pcninsiihi.
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 outlines 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 Palaeozoic 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
Rnd Minorca), and some smaller ones, continues in the same direction
i
Spain
371
and their structure shows that they are the continuation of the folded
chain.
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 Palaeozoic
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 boundar}- river
Bidassoa, there is an oceanic cUmate 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 in 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
26
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
Fig. 196. — Mean Monthly Tempera- all parts of the peninsula, giving rise to
Madrid^ ^'""■^''" '^ ^'""^"' ""''^ 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 fgoting 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
^ id not sufiice to change the established Roman language and affected the
.^..,.....,..-....0 3. CO, .,...,■,!
80
75
70
65
eo
55
50
45
40
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
/"■
'\^
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^
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s
--
^
■^
i^
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-
7
7
J
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\
m
:■'■■■.■
fe
=z
-:
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h
CoiMBRA 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
Range. 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 tniits 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 colonies 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
Provencal, 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
thj exports. In the Mediterranean belt of huertas, the rock has to be
!V i^ted and then powdered with hammers to form soil, the slopes of all the
1 ll-sides are terraced, and every available fertilising agent, even the
-w.-epings of the streets, is utilised, while artificial irrigation of a highly
L^laborate kind is resorted to in order to produce the utmost possible yield.
O 1 the other hand vast stretches of fertile land on the plateau remain entirely
untilled, 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
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 many 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 dowu
in winter to the warm and low-lying districts of
Fig. igy.— 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 foi
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 b}^ 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.
ei iiin
\y'^-- ■:■:■:'':■■ ■■■■'■■
111 nil!
Sp
am
375
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 P'rench com-
panies, and one-third of the foreign trade is done
with that country, more however by sea than by land,
trade is with the United Kingdom.
Fig.
198.— r/u' Metchaut
Flag of Spain.
One quarter of the
The value of ihe 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 whicli 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
cent, of the area. There the people live in thickly
sown villages, and in the Basque province and Galicia
in 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 01 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. 199. — Avera>gepopH-
lation of a square
mile of Spain.
37^ The International Geography
Fig. 200. — The Harbour of
San Sebastian.
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 Valladolid. 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
Madrid.
Spain
377
Grauada 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 Almcria 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 Palnia. 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.
Tliere 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.
1877.
Area of Spain (including Balearic Is.), square miles. . 192,004
Population „ „ 16,341,201
Density of population per square mile 85
1887.
192,004
17,246,688
89
1897.
192,004
18,089.500
92
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
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
Cartagena
Cadiz
Jerez
Palma . .
Lore a
Valladolid
Cordoba . .
Bilbao . .
1887.
1897.
472,228
512,150
272,481
509,589
171,000
204,769
143,000
146,205
134.000
125.579
98,500
108,408
92,400
98,188
73.000
75,054
1877.
75,900
65000
64,500
58,200
52,900
52^00
47,800
35.200
1887.
84,000
62,500
61,700
60,500
58,300
62,000
55.600
50,800
1897.
86,245
70,177
60,004
62.525
59,624
68,746
57,313
74.093
Imports
Exports
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling).
1866-70. 1881-85.
18,128,000 31,244,400
• 12,388,000 27,704,000
1890-94.
35,088,000
32,096,000
n.— GIBRALTAR
By Sir R. Laimbert 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
west side, the east and south sides
are very rugged and almost per-
pendicular. 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,
and 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 lay
out a protected harbour with an area of about 450
acres. It was to be enclosed by solid moles, alongside Fig. 20^. — Colonial
of which the largest battleships could lie. Three large
graving docks were to be provided, and the dockyard establishment fitted
to undertake every kind of repair. The northern mole was to be reserved
for merchant steamers, with facilities for coaling from the very large
stocks of coal kept in the stores.
TIL— PORTUGAL
By Captain Ernesto de Vasconcellos,
Portuguese Royal Xaiy.
Position and Coasts. — Tlie kingdom of Portugal occupies the most
western part of the Iberian peninsula, washed on the south 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 Serras 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-
montanOy 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
Traiisfiigaiw, 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
Soiraia tributary of the Tagus and the river Sado, the latter being
g .Ml jrally 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
rem ir'v.i'oie plains or Veigas of Chaves and Valenga.
Geology. — Almost all the geological formations are to be found in
loraigal : granite in the north, in Minho, in a part of Traz-os-Montes, and
ii the centre of Beira and Alemtejo; porphyry in a part of Alemtejo;
b'lsalt 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 Melgago 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
b;itvvcen 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 tributaries, 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 Rata Mol-
lidihi (wet-border). Then it curves slightly
to the south-west, running thrbugh a deep
and rocky bed, till it flows ihto 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 flnds its outlet through marshes and salt-
pans at th(i 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.
V
^» Villa
Fr^nc^ <
/tintra J
,m/
>^^^ Gal let*
^afe^*"^^
V^.rr^
v7i
C.Espkhel
^
Fig. 204. — TIu- loiccr Tiifius, sJiowing
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
coantry. In Algarve the fig trees and alfarrobeira (carob tree) are abundant.
The fauna and the domestic animals of Portugal are similar to 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. 2os.-PoHtigiiese 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, Agores, 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 a 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, whicii connects Faro, the most southern
town of Portugal, with Valen^a 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 piG 206. Average popn-
Azores and the Madeira Archipelago forming part la tion 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 concellios, or municipalities, and these again
subdivided into firgiiczias, 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
Cinini, loved by Byron, with its castle rising on the mountain crags ;
Mafm, 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
uniformlv mild climate. Lisbon is the seat of the Government and Court,
384 The International Geography
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. Setiibal, at the
mouth of the Sado, is the third port in rank.
The Adjacent Islands. — The Azores 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 Agores). 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 Seie 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
Fig. 2oi.-The Azores Archipelago. Agores are 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 district
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, and 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 arc also some less valuable possessions in Asia.
Portugal
385
STATISTICS.
1878.
Area of continental Portugal, square miles 34.345
Population 4,160,315
Density of population, per square mile . . 121
Population of Lisbon (Lisboa) .. .. 242,297
Oporto (Porto) . . . . 105,838
Braga i9,755
Setubal 14-798
„ Coimbra 13,369
Area of Adjacent Islands, in square miles . . (?)926
Population 390,384
Density of population, per square mile . . (?)42i
Population o) P'unchal 19.752
Ponta Delgada 17.635
1890.
34.345
4,660,095
135
301,206
138,860
23,089
17.581
16,985
(?)926
38^^.634
(?)420
18.778
16,767
1900.
34.345
5,428,629
158
357.000
172,421
24,309
21,819
18,424
(?)926
407,002
439
(?)22,000
17,675
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 6.875,000 t .. 8,040,000 .. 8,875,000
Exports 5,142,000 .. 5,100,000 .. 7,625,000
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
Population.
114,000
845,000
4.119,000
3,120,000
572.000
379,000
9,217,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Ibafiez. " Resefia geografica y estadistica de Espafia." Madrid, 1888.
Tb. Fischer. " Die Iberische Halbinsel. Kirchhoff's Liinderkunde von Europa." Bd. U
Leipzig, 1893.
h- Williams. " The Land of the Dons." London, 1902.
CHAPTER XXII.— THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
By D. AixoFF.^
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
3ast. The southern side is marked by mountains and steppes, the Turko-
man Steppe, Alai-tat^h, Tian Shan, Tarbagatai, Sailugem, Sayan, Yablonovyi
Khrebet, Khingan, Sikhota-alin. The fourth side is open towards Europe,
and is bounded b}^ arbitrary lines which, for a certain distance, follow the
slopes of the Carpathians, separating Russia from the Austro-Hungariar
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-twenty-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
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
Fig. 208. — The Russian Empire from a globe.
Russian Empire — General 387
of Poland extinguished. Finally, it was in the Russian plain and not in
Brabant that the empire of Napoleo.i 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,oco
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 depression, that of
the Caspian, larger 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. Striking 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 Governm^^nt 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 Carpathia. 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 b}- 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 cast by the
steppes between the
Volga and Ural, the
Obshchii Syrt, and
the chain of the L'ral,
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 (sa}'' 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
front 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 w^est.
The top of the entire region in which the principal rivers rise is a land of
sw-mns, 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-
FlG. 209. — Ccnfnil Riissiii — Area above 600 feet in
elevation shoii'H 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
rrjouth. 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 Mnhilev, 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 ; a!id the course of the stream is obstructed by rapids (poroghi), whicb
were nuntioned 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 lias 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 vessel.^ 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 rv.^ducc 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.
Sou h- Western Russia. — This region, which we suggest might be
named Carpatliia, extends on the north to the low plains of the Vistula
and i^ripjt, on the east to the valley of the Dnieper, while on the west it
is prolo T^ed into Austria- Hungary and Rumania as far as and beyond the
Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps. Elisee 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
dift'erent 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 w^est
[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 re^ulir oscillations." The culminating point of this district, cut
up here and there into superb escarpments and beautifully diversified by
39^ The International Geography
forests, is in Poland, where the St. Catherine beacon on the Bald Mountain
{Lysa Gord) reaches a height of 2,003 ^^^^ '> ^^^ ^^ Russian territory the
Castle of Kremenets reaches 1,309 feet. The rivers of this region are the
Bag, the Dniester, and the Pruth, a tributary of the Danube. The Dnicstet
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 som3 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, indeSd, 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
aid Finland and of Lake Ladoga, the zone of separation being frequently
a tr I ;t of almost 1 jvel marsh. Amongst the more important lakes of Finland
m ly be msntoned the little-known Enere, Saima, which has been united by
canal since 185 ) with the Gulf of Finland, and Paijanne, which empties by
the Kymmene Elf into the same gulf. The rivers which unite the h kes
so netimes 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 Ladoga 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° F., 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 ^idc, 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 90 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 T]ie 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 5,060 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-ear.t, 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, Samarcarid,
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
27
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 m 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 " Geographic 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 a few 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 Amii-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 onlv
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 dimmishing 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 the author's reduction of the 70 maps of Idrisi's Geography in Schrader's
Historical Atlas. Paris. Hacliette.
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 insufficient, 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 difftcult 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 Tran'sbaikalia, bounded
on the south- w^est 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 Klirebet) 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 Capt), 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 Irt^'sh, 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 havo 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 Ural 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 w^estern
Europe (i;^ 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 MongoHa, 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.— CLIMATE 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 w^ay against any warm breezes from
the tropics. Thus the climate of every
region, indeed, of every town in the Russian Empire is more rigorous and
more extreme as one 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 quite so near the pole as is Bodo. The isotherms of summer, on
.„.,.„.. ....,.»,«. ,..l
70
66
60
66
60
46
40
35
30
26
20
15
10
>^-
>,
10
/
;
'N
S
\
--
-
-
1
f"
-
\
\
\
,'
J
\
L
A^
"»-
J
f
-
^
\
\
1
-
rr:
'■:?'
m
—
M
";"
MM
A
^_
J
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Fig. 211. — Rainfall and Temperature
of Moscow ami Sei'astopol.
40 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 temperature 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 forests, 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 Eaiih 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 milhon 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 siielter 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 Salmonidae 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 most of Russia and
Poland in compact masses, speaking different dialects. The north-west
and the north are occupied by the Fmns. Scattered amongst the Slavs
in tribes and families there are many Asiatic races — 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, Aryans like the Armenians and Kurds, and Mongol
Kalmuk tribes.
28
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 White 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 taken 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 0/ population.
Fig. 213. — Average pop-
ulation of a square
mile of European
Russia.
Russian Empire — Resources 405
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
Chentoziom, 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 lisiieries 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, and 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
Fig. 214 —Aj'erage poi>- ^^^"^^^^ Russia has been making itself more and more
uiation of a square independent of foreign manufactures. There are now
mte of 1 ena. ^^ 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 {Kusfan). The first place amongst the industries belongs
to the distilleries and breweries ; cotton factories and sugar refineries
4o6 The International Geography
come next, and 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 many 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 impor-
tance ; the greatest
of these, 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-
V o 1 o c h e k . The
canals uniting the
-The Resources of the Russian Empire. gj^^j^ g^^ ^j^j^ ^^^
Baltic by the Dnieper on the one side, and the Duna, the Nieman and
the Vistula on the other, are less important, being only available for barges.
Considering the area of the country, the railway system is not as yet very
extensive, though growing steadily. The cart roads are generally very
bad, 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, Petropavlovsk, 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
I Black Earth Distritt
Fig. 21=;.-
Russian Empire — Government 407
always and everywhere closed by ice ; the seas of Bering, Okhotsk, and of
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 j'ear.
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 recent tendency to
expansion towards Constantinople and the Mediterranean on the one hand,
and towards the Yellow Sea on the other, where Port Arthur and Dalni
(Ta-lien-wan) were held for a time. 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 ; oji
the Black Sea, Odessa, Nikolayev, Kherson, Eupatoria, Theodosia, Kerch,
Berdyansk, Taganrog, Mariupol, Rostov on the Don, Yeisk and Poti ; on the
Arctic coast, Arkhangelsk and Alexandrovsk ; on the Caspian, Astrakhan,
Derbent and Bakf, and on the eastern coast the Pacific ports, Vladivostok,
Port Arthur, and Dalni.
Government. — The Russian Empire was an absolute autocratic
monarchy, in which the Emperor or Tsar was the temporal chief of all his
subjects. He made the laws, declared war and concluded peace in his own
name, and on his own responsibility. The only dignitaries who took part
in the legislative powers of the emperor were the eleven Ministers, the Coun-
cil 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 had no right of initiative
for the preparation of new laws. The ''Directing Senate " created by Peter
the Great was charged with the registration and publication of the imperial
ukases, and it also served as the supreme court of appeal in judicial matters.
The Ho/y 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, while a lay procurator, nominated by the
Emperor, represents the wishes of the sovereign. In 1905 an elective
parliament called the Duma was convened by the Emperor, who however
retains his personal power and legislative initiative. In 1864 the statute
of territorial institutions had been promulgated, which recognised the elec-
tive principle in the conduct of business for each government and for
each district. These local institutions bear the name of Zemstov, 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 clemency 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
Fig. 2i6. — Tlie Russian Flag.
Russian Empire — Towns 409
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
;^2,6oo,ooo, or ^i for 50 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
;^9,ooo,ooo, or more than £1 for every five in-
habitants.
Army and Navy. — Military service is uni-
versal and compulsory ; the period of service in
the regular army is five years for the illiterate, but
reductions are made in proportion to the degree of education of the con-
scripts. The effective strength of the army on a peace footing is about
42,000 officers, and more than 1,000,000 men. In case of war Russia can
place in the field upwards of 4I millions of men, and more than half a
million horses. The most important fortresses in European Russia are
Warsaw, Ivangorod, 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 there 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
annual cost is about one-fifth that of the army.
The chief fortified seaports are SveSborg in Fin-
land, Cronstadt and Ust Dvinsk on the Baltic, Sevastopol and Nikolayev
on the Black Sea, Vladivostok and Port Arthur (on Manchurian territory
leased from China) in Asia.
Fig. 21'].— The Russian
Naval Ensign.
IV.— TOWNS
The To^vns 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 acserve 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 nowon-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 Vassih Ostrov (Basil Island), the University,
Fig. 218. — St. 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 houses of five or six
stories, but there aie few public gardens and no thoroughfares planted
with trees. The chmate 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 saiUng 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 Library 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 and pleasure
resorts at Pcterhof, Omuioibaiim and Pavlovsk. The village of Piilkovo,
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 CiviisicuU, on an island, forms the centre
of the chain of impregnable fortitications which protects the mouth of the
Neva.
North-Western and Northern Towns.— Rii^n is situated at the head
of the Gulf of Riga on the Haltic, 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. iSIore 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 exchange hemp, flax,
grain, tallow and timber. The old Hanseatic town still presents a
medi-eval 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 EngUsh navigators seeking the North-East Passage arrived there
by chance in the sixteenth century, when it was the only Russian seapoit.
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 mouth of the
river Kola, is an ice-free port which will be of value when placed in com-
munication with the railway system.
To^vns of Finland. — Helsingfors, 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
Trungsiind, a strongly fortified roadstead eight miles further south. The
chief export is timber.
Towns of Poland. — Warsaw {Warszawa in Polish), siti^ated 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
aicient 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. CzcstocJiown
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.
Moscow. — 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
principal port of France, ^'^- '-'^-^^'''^-''
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 Kitaigowd, the commercial city
containing many remarkable buildings, including the famous church of
Basil the Blessed {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
414 The International Geography
empire, especially between 1830 and 1848. Moscow is a great centre of
publishing, and the books and prints produced there are carried to the
most remote provinces of Russia to be sold or exchanged for the products
of the country. It is one of the chief industrial centres, the manufactures
of the government of Moscow amounting to one-fifth of the whole pro-
duction of the empire.
Tula is the chief station on the railway between Moscow and
Kharkov, in the centre of a manufacturing district. Several thousand
workmen are employed in the manufacture of arms in one factory which
produces 70,000 rifles as well as swords and instruments of iron and steel,
Tula is great in making cutlery, mathematical instruments, machinery and
metal work of every kind ; no less than 200,000 of the samovars, of which
every Russian family possesses one, are turned out each year.
Towns of the Volga Basin. — Nizhnii-Novgorod, a town of 100,000
inhabitants, is one of the most important in Russia on account of its
great annual fair, which is not only the most frequented in the empire
but in the world. The town stands 320 feet above the river at the con-
fluence of the Oka. Kazan is first mentioned in the Russian Annals in
the year 1376. The town having been removed in the fifteenth century
more than three miles back, i^ no longer situated on the left bank of the
Volga, except during floods, when the great river spreads over the plain
and reaches the base of the little hill on which Kazan stands. All the
houses are modern wdth the exception of the ancient red brick tower of
Sumbek. Kazan contains a university and a Tatar printing establishment,
which produces a great number of books, as well as an ecclesiastical college
dating from 1646. It is also an important commercial town, half of its
inhabitants being engaged in manufactures and trade. Saratov is the
largest city of the lower Volga, possessing factories of every kind and
forming the centre of trade for the German colonies established along the
river. There is considerable river navigation, w'hich has increased in amount
since the establishment of direct railway communication with Moscow.
The ancient town of Astrakhan occupies the site of Atel or Itil, one of
the capitals of the kingdom of the Khazars. The minarets of the mosques
rise here and there amongst the spires and gilded bulbs of the churches,
and with the numerous canals crowded with the shipping of the Volga and
the Caspian give an air of variety very unusual in Russian towns.
Perm is situated in the middle of a great mining region almost at the
confluence of two great fluvial waterways, the Kama and Chusovaya. It
is an important .place for trade between European Russia and Siberia,
especially since the construction of a railway across the Urals to Tyumen.
Tliis line passes through Ytkderinbiirg, the residence of the Director-
General of the Ural mines, where there are assay offices, gold smelting
furnaces, and establishments for cutting the precious stones found in the
neighbourhood.
Towns on the Dnieper.— A o'^y (Kieff), the " Holy Town," was
Russian Empire — Towns 415
destined from the first by its position to be one of the centres of gravity
of Russian history. It is situated ahnost in the centre of the basin of
the Dnieper, below the confluence of all the upper tributaries, where the
main stream concentrates in one channel their collective waters and
trade. Kiyev stands on a terrace from 300 to 400 feet above the
level of the river ; the houses are ranged along the stream, but at some
distance from the water, for a length of six miles. Some of the avenues
are as wide as squares ; masses of poplars growing here and there
on the slopes contrast their greenery with the glitter of the gilded
cupolas. The Church of St. Andrew, the Cathedral of St. Sophia and
the Monastery of Pechersk, the holiest place in all Russia, are the most
famous of the many religious edifices in the town. The university
ranks third amongst those of Russia ; there is also an ecclesiastical
college which attracts students from all Slavonic countries, and a poly-
technic institute. Two great bridges cross the Dnieper below the town.
Kherson, near the mouth of the Dnieper, is the capital of the government
which bears the same name and is an active business town, less important
than Odessa or Nicolayev, but yet exporting large quantities of wood,
cereals and hides. Nuolaycv may almost be considered as a town of the
Dnieper estuary, although situated at the junction of the Hug and Ingul.
It is the chief naval station on the Black Sea, and is equipped with exten-
sive dockyards, machine-shops and provisioning depots, which employ
thousands of workmen. There are strong fortifications, and a great
floating dock anchored in the Bug can receive the largest battleships.
Apart from its pre-eminence as a naval port the harbour is acquiring a
considerable amount of export trade, and the town is growing rapidly.
Yekatcrinoslav, a new town, has acquired importance during the nine-
teenth century on account of its position at the great bend of the
Dnieper above the rapids, where the river is crossed by a bridge more
than three-quarters of a mile in length.
Other South Russian Towns. — Odessa is the most important
seaport of the Black Sea, affording safe anchorage for ships. Being a
town of recent formation it has, next to St. Petersburg, the most European
aspect of all the towns of Russia. It presents a beautiful appearance from
the sea, as it is situated on the highest part of the terrace of the steppe.
Handsome houses line a promenade on the edge of the cliff whence a
monumental stairway leads down to the quays and the harbour. In the
central part of the town the houses, built in the Italian style, are laid
out in wide and handsome streets. The university of Odessa is one of
the smallest in Russia. The population is extremely mixed, the principal
merchants being Jews, Italians, Greeks, Germans and Frenchmen. Kharkov,
which was a simple village in the middle of the seventeenth century,
has grown, thanks to its position intermediate between the Dnieper
and the Don, and between Kiyev and Taganrog. The fairs held in
Kharkov are amongst the most active in Russia, and the commerce and
41 6 The International Geography
industry of the town is well developed. It is also an intellectual centre
of some importance, having a flourishing university, founded in 1804.
Rostov, on the Don, is a great commercial town where nearly 3,00c
coasting vessels come each year laden with cereals, flax, wool, tallow and
other commodities. It is the gathering place of the harvesters, haymakers
and vine-dressers who assemble to offer their services to the proprietors of
the surrounding country ; but the town has no other claim to consideration.
Kishinev is a large village in Bessarabia, with wide streets thick with
mud or smothered in dust, according to the season, and serving as a market
for the grain and live stock of the surrounding agricultural country.
Orenburg, formerly a fortress, is important from the strategic point of
view, for it is situated on the right bank of the Ural river which separates
Russia from the Kirghiz steppe, and inhabited by nomads who were tur-
bulent and semi-independent some fifty years ago. It has lately become
an important town, and the industrial population has steadily increased
during recent years, while a railway is being built to Tashkent.
Sevastopol is a fortress celebrated for its great siege by the allied armies
in 1854, and now it mingles ruins of modern date with those of high
antiquity extending back to the times of the Scythians and the Greeks.
Ruined by the disasters of the Crimean war, the population of Sevastopol
was reduced to 6,000 in 1865 ; but the construction of a railway which
attaches it to the continental system, and its situation on a fine bay have
restored the town to prosperity. Stores for grain have been built in the
neighbourhood of the port, a monumental railway station takes the place
of an old redoubt, and the famous hill of the Malakhov has been converted
into promenades. The port has recently been reserved for Russian naval
vessels.
Caucasian Towns. — Tiflis stands on the two banks of the Kura on a
valley floor surrounded by grey heights, rising to 1,200 and 1,500 feet above
its level. The town is divided into two parts, an Asiatic quarter which
recalls Constantinople, and the new town which has sprung up since the
Russian conquest, and contains fine shops and all the equipment of a
European city. One-third of the inhabitants of Tiflis are Armenians ; the
Russians only compose one-fifth of the population. There are no buildings
of special interest, but a valuable Natural History Museum. Tiflis
contains several scientific societies ; its Geographical Society has published
many standard works on the geography and ethnography of the Caucasus.
Baku, an ill-built, irregular dusty town of Asiatic appearance, is an active
seaport on the Caspian. A railway connects it with Poti and Batum on
the Black Sea, and another line has been opened to Derbeni, which unites
it to the railway system of European Russia. All the inhabitants of the
neighbourhood are occupied in refining petroleum and preparing bitumen.
Towns of the Trans-Caspian Railway. — ^I'he railway across
the Trans-Caspian district of Turkestan is of immense strategic value, for
it can throw a great body of troops with extreme rapidity against the
Russian Empire — Towns 417
Afghan or Indian frontier. The line was commenced in 1884 ^"d now
extends to Tashkent on one side and to Kushk in the vicinity of Herat in
another. The chief towns through which the railway runs are Askhabad,
the administrative capital of the Trans-Caspian province ; Mcn\ which
disputes with Balkh the title of the " Mother City of Asia," once a centre
of science; and Bokhara which, under Russian protection, only since 1873,
shines in the history of human thought. Bokhara, formerly a town of poets,
doct*. rs, and illustrious men of science, now retains only the dead shell of
its old intellectual life. Routine Moslem instruction is still given in more
than a hundred "madrassees" (schools), but the science has vanished.
There are still, however, some interesting Industries, including the manu-
facture of fine cotton fabrics, ornamental leather and silk. From a com-
mercial point of view the capital of the Emirate of Bokhara has always
been great as the meeting-place of merchants from the markets of Russia,
India, Afghanistan, Persia, and China. Samarcand was in ancient days an
illustrious city in the development of human knowledge, and also one of
the largest towns of Asia. When besieged by Jenghiz Khan it was garrisoned
by an army of 100,000 men. Subsequently it was Timur's capital, but most
of the palaces and mosques of that period are now in ruins. A few scattered
relics remain, here a piece of wall, there a tower or a cupola ; the mosque
containing Timur's tomb in particular is surmounted by a cupola of rare
beauty. A still finer mosque is that of Shah Zindeh, the most splendid in all
Central Asia. The Russian quarter of Samarcand has regular streets, gardens,
and wooded avenues, contrasting with the irregular plan and ruined archi-
tecture of the native city. Tashkent is scattered over a space about eight
miles long and five wide. The houses, most of which are low, are hidden
by the verdure of poplars, willows, and other trees which border the
irrigation canals. The Russian quarter, in spite of the recent occupation,
is alreadv of importance, and consists of one-storied houses built of sun-
dried bricks, the roofs made of willow branches and reeds covered with a
layer of clay and turf. The chief industries are the weaving of silk stuffs
and the tanning of leather. There is an astronomical observatory and a
geographical society in the town. Kokan, which in 1870 was the capital
of an independent State of the same name, is a modern city for this part of
41 8 The International Geography
s
Ul
rv
the world, with fairly wide and regular
streets, large gardens, and the best
equipped bazar in Russian Turkestan.
Khiva. — The capital of the Khanate
of Khiva is only an agglomeration of mud
hovels through which wind narrow roads
of deep mud or thick dust according to
the season. Before the Russian expedition
of 1873 it was one of the chief slave-
markets in Asia, but the industry and
trade of town and State are now of little
importance.
Towns on the Great Siberian
Railway. — Although the Russian Empire
is far behind other European States in the
extent of its railways when compared with
the area of the country, it actually possesses
the greatest length of railway lines after
the United States. From Alexandrovo, on
the German frontier, the iron ways run
without a break to the northern shore of
Lake Baikal, and on from the southern
shore to Vladivostok and Port Arthur
on the Pacific, a distance of 5,000 miles
as the crow flies. The great railway
across Siberia has a very high impor-
tance, not only for Russia but for the
whole world, since it places western
Europe in direct and rapid comminication
with China and Japan. The line com-
mences at Samara on the Volga, and passes
through Ufa on the Belaya and Zlatoust
situated in a smiling valley of the Urals, a
town of metallurgical works and manu-
factories of small-arms, especially rifles
and sporting guns. Omsk, farther on upon
the Irtysh, is an important centre of
Western Siberia in the midst of the steppes,
but Tomsk, which possesses the one uni-
versity of Siberia, is left on one side of the
railway, and the line goes on through
Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei, the chief town
of the government of Yeniseisk and the
commercial centre of the neighbouring
valleys rich in mincs. Irkutsk, a town of
Russian Empire — Towns 419
wide and straight streets, was founded on the right bank of the Angara,
near its exit from Lake Baikal, in 1669. It possesses the oldest building in
Siberia, a fort inscribed with the date 1661. It is not only an industrial
centre, but a focus of intellectual life as well. The Geographical Society-
publishes important works on Russian Asia and the neighbouring
countries. Farther east, beyond Lake Baikal, the line passes Chita, the
capital of Transbaikalia. A branch of the great railway follows the Amur
valley to Nerchinsk, the chief trading centre of a great mining region
where silver-lead, mercury, copper and iron are worked ; and to Sreiensk.
From Chita the great Siberian railway runs south-eastward through Man-
churia to Kharbin, a new Russian city, and thence one branch goes to
Vladivostok, and another to Port Arthur and Peking.
Vladivostok is situated on the only sea freely open for almost all the
year, which bathes the shores of the Russian Empire. With the increase
of agricultural population and the stimulus of its approaching position as
a railway terminus, Vladivostok promised to become the Constantinople of
the East as its founders hoped when they established it in i860, the name
they gave meaning Rule the East. Though the population of the town
has grown to nearly 30,000 its future prospects were compromised by the
rise of the leased harbours of Port Arthur and Dalni, but the loss of these
in 1905 as a result of the war with Japan restores its earlier importance.
FlQ. 222. — Railways of European Russm.
42 o The International Geography
STATISTICS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
Area
Great Political Divisions. in sq. miles.
European Russia 1,902,202
Poland 49,159
Finland 144.255
Caucasia 180,843
Siberia 4.833.496
Steppes 908,073
Turkestan .
Total.
471,371
8,489,399
Population
in 1897.
94,215,415
9,455,943
2,527,801
9,248,695
5,727,090
5,451,385
. 4'270,299
130,896,628
Largest administrative division, Yakutsk
Most populous „ „ Kiyev..
Area in sq. miles.
1,533,400
19,690
Density of Popula-
tion per sq. mile.
51
193
17
54
Population.
261,531
3,576,125
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS IN 1897.
St. Petersburg and suburbs . . i
Moscow and suburbs . . . . i
Warsaw
Odessa
Lodz
Riga
Kiyev
Kharkov ..
Tiflis
Vilna
Tashkent . .
Saratov
Kazan
Yekaterinoslav ..
Rostov-on-the-Don
Astrakhan
Baku
Tula
Kishinev . .
Nizhnii-Novgorod
Nikolayev
Samara
Minsk
Voronezh . .
Kokan
Kovno
Orenburg . .
Dvinsk (Dunaburg)
,267,023
,035,664
638,208
405.041
315,209
256,197
247,432
174,846
160,645
159,568
156,414
137,109
131,508
121,216
119,889
113,001
112,253
111,048
108,796
95.124
92,060
91,672
91,494
84,146
82,054
73,543
72,740
72,231
Yaroslav . .
Orel
Kherson
Vitebsk
Yekaterinodar
Zhitomir . .
Revel
Libau
Belostok . .
Namangan
Penza
Yelisavetgrad
Cronstadt . .
Kremenchug
Tsaritsj'n . .
Yekaterinburg
Samarcand
Ivanovo- Voznesensk
Berdichev . .
Tver
Poltava
Kursk
Tomsk
Novocherkask
Taganrog . .
Irkutsk
Sevastopol
Lublin
70,610
69,858
69,219
66.143
65,697
65,452
64.578
64,505
63.927
61,906
61,851
61,841
59,539
56,648
55,967
55.488
54.900
53.949
53,728
53.477
53.060
52,896
52,005
52.005
51.965
51,434
50,710
50.152
MEANS OF TRANSPORT IN 1896.
European Russia.^ Asiatic Russia. Total
Miles. Miles. Miles.
Railways 29,300 5.3002 .. 34,600
Waterways (total) .. .. 48,000 52,000 .. 100,750
„ nav. for steamers . . 17,000 30,000 ,. 47 .000
SHIPPING TRADE OF CHIEF PORTS
(in million tons of merchandise).
Foreign Trade.
Coasting Trade
Imports.
Exports.
Total
Total.
0-35
2-6o
. 2.95
1-82
it. . . . 1-93
102
2-95
0-17
0-44
I"i3
1-57
024
0-02
1*36
. 1-38
0-09
0-20
o'8o
i-oo
012
0*09
o-8i
0-90
0-27
o-oi
074
075
0-26
O'Ol
0-52
0-53
oil
001
0-50
0-51
oil
0-02
045
• 0-47
0-04
Port.
Odessa
St. Petersburg and Cronstadt. .
Riga
Nikolayev..
Libau
Batum
Rostov
Sevastopol
Novorossiisk
Taganrog
I Including Finland.
3 To this should be added 1,600 miles of the Siberian railway in Chinese territory.
Russian Empire — Statistics 421
ANNUAL TRADE OF RUSSIAN EMPIRE
(in millions of rubles).
1885-89.
Exports 634-8
Imports 415-9
Difference .. ,, ,. 218-9
1890-94.
1895.
1896.
628-6
689-1
668-7
436-2 .
526-1
540"2
192-4
1630
128-5
ANNUAL TRADE OF RUSSIA
{in pounds sterling, approximate).^
Imports • • • . • •
1871-75. 1881-85.
. . 52,000,000 . . s^, 000,000
1891-95.
46.900,000
60,000,000 .. 58,000,000
62,800.000
PERCENTAGE
COMPOSITION OF SPECIAL EXPORTS.
1885-89. 1890-94- 1895.
6o-2 . . 57-0 . . 56-8
1896.
. . 55-6
34-6 . . 37-7 . . 378
374
Animals • •
2-1 .. 2-2 .. 2-3
2-2
Manufactures ..
3'l •• 3*1 .. 3"i
19
RUSSIAN TRADE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES
{in millions of rubles. i896).2
Total
Total
Countries.
Exports.
Imports.
Trade.
Countries.
Exports.
Imports.
Trade.
Germany
. 1840
190-2
374-2
Fmland
.. 17-7
20-5
38-2
United Kingdom
. 160-9
111*3
272-2
Persia
. . 14-5
17-5
32-0
France
. 58-2
23-4
81 -6
Turkey
.. 14-3
6-1
20-4
Netherlands . .
. 708
5-8
76-6
Eg>-pt
.. 3-8
13-6
17-4
United States
1-6
657
'67-3
Sweden
.. . 6-4
5-8
12-2
Austria-Hungary
• 29-9
22-9
52-8
Denmark
91
23
11-4
China . .
Italy ..
5-4
. 36-4
41*3
46-8
46-4
Other Countries
. . 52-5
53-9
106-4
Belgium
. 23-1
19-5
42-6
Total ..
.. 688-6
589-8
1,278-4
STANDARD BOOKS.
K. E. von Baer and Gr. von Helmerson. " Beitrage zur Kenntniss des russischen Reichs."
25 vols. St. Petersburg, 1852-1872.
A. Erman. "Archiv fiir wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland." 25 vols. Berlin,
1841-67.
P. Semenoff. " Geographxo-Statistical Lexicon of the Russian Empire " [in Russian]
5 vols. St. Petersburg, 1863-85.
" Industries of Russia," translated by J, M. Crawford. 5 vols. St. Petersburg, 1893.
A. Kovalevsky (editor). " La Russie a la fin du 19* siecle." Fans, 1900.
Lodijensky (and others). " Russia, its Industries and Trade." Glasgow, 1901.
A. Krausse. " Russia in Asia." 2nd edit. London, 1900.
" Official Guide to the Great Siberian Railway. ' St. Petersburg, 1900.
C. Aulagnon. " La Siberie Economique." Paris, 1901.
" Finland in the Nineteenth Centurv, ' by Finnish Authors. Helsingfors, 1894.
D. W. Freshfield and V. Sella. "The' Exploration of the Caucasus." 2vols. London, 1896.
P. Kropotkin. "General Geographical Sketch of Eastern Siberia" [in Russian]. St.
Petersburg, 1875.
H. Wild. " Die Temperatur-Verhaltnisse des Russischen Reiches." 1881. " Die Regen-
Verhaltnisse des Russischen Reiches." 1887. With AUases. St.
Petersburg.
A. F. Rittich. " Die Ethnographic Russlands." Gotha, 1878.
' The pubhcations of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society at St. Petersburg, and
of its branches throughout the empire, contain most important works on the geography
of European and Asiatic Russia in the Russian language.
I The value is calculated at the average rate of exchange for each period.
3 The ruble averaged 2s. in 1896, hence moving the decimal place one to the left
gives the value in pounds, e.g., 184 o million rubles = 1840 million pounds.
BOOK II.: ASIA
CHAPTER XXIII.— THE CONTINENT OF ASIA
By a. J. Herbertson, M.A., Ph.D.,
Reader /« Geography^ University of Oxford,
Position and Dimensions. — Asia is by far the largest of the
continents. Its area, \'~i\ miUion square miles, is more than that of the
whole of the New World, and includes almost one-third of the land
surface of the globe. It lies wholly within the northern hemisphere ; but
its southern point, Cape Buru, at the tip of the Malay peninsula, comes
within 90 miles of the equator. Cape Chelyuskin, the northern point, Hes
nearly half way between the Arctic circle and the North Pole : the direct
distance between these extreme points is 5,350 miles. Between Cape Baba,
the western extremity of Asia Minor, and Cape Dezhneff (East Cape) on
Bering Strait there is a distance of 6,000 miles, and a range of 164° in longi-
tude, corresponding to eleven hours' difference of time. On all sides, except
the west, Asia is bounded by the ocean : on the north by the icy Arctic
waters, on the south by the tropical Indian Ocean, on the east by the
Pacific, whose northern waters are frozen near the shores in winter. On
the west Asia is extended into Europe, and it is joined to Africa by the
narrow Isthmus of Suez. Yet between Europe and Asia the Aralo-
Caspian depression placed the Arctic and Mediterranean seas in free com-
munication in Quaternary times, giving to Asia a more distinct continental
individuality than now appears. The continent, as seen on a globe, has a
quadrilateral core from which many peninsulas jut out. Professor H.
Wagner chooses as the angular points of this core the southern shore of
the Yugor Strait, Cape Dezhneff, Canton, and the north-western point of the
Persian Gulf, Thus defined the core of Asia forms 80 per cent., and the penin-
sular part nearly 14 per cent, of the whole surface. The coast line of Asia is
3-2 times the minimum which could circumscribe its area. By this index its
coastal development is less than that of Europe or North America, but greater
than that of the three southern continents. It is only on the east that the
boundaries differ greatly from those of the continent proper. The islands
lying in wreaths on the cast of Asia outline the eastern margin of thexonti-
nental block. Those in the south-east form a great archipelago between
Asia and Australia, and no definite geomorphological line divides them
into an Asiatic and an Australian group. "Wallace's Line," following the
422
Asia 423
depression which forms the Makassar Strait and runs between Bali and
Lcnbok, is at most a faunal boundary, and is sometimes chosen as the
division between Asia and Australasia. But the line of young volcanoes
is continuous through Sumatra, Java, the Sunda Islands and the islands
between Timor Laut (Tenimber) and Ceram, and can be traced
through the Moluccas and Philippines. Thus New Guinea and the Aru
Islands are counted Australian, the others west of a line passing east of
Timor, Timor Laut, the Kei Islands and the Moluccas are reckoned
Asiatic. The islands of Asia, thus delimited, have an area of over a
million square miles ; and the insular and peninsular parts of the continent
amount to one-fourth of the area of the core. In this respect also Asia
ranks next to North America and Europe, and comes before the southern
continents. These relations, however, depend on a somewhat arbitrary
definition of what constitutes a continental core or a coast-line, and are not
to be strongly insisted on.
Coasts. — The northern coast lies almost entirely north of the Arctic
circle. It is on the whole low and flat,
running out in the Taimyr peninsula to the
most northern point, Cape Chelyuskin. The
great estuaries of the Ob and Yenisei open in
the western part of this coast, which is here
penetrated by fjords and fringed with islands,
and according to Nansen, shows every evi-
dence of having been glaciated. The island
of Novaya Zemlya encloses the Kara Sea
which has a bad reputation for ice, but has
recently been crossed every year by ships Fig. 22},.— The Coniincutal Core
seeking the Yenisei during the few weeks
of A sill.
when the ice is broken up. East of the Taimyr peninsula the rivers
form great deltas contrasting with the estuaries on the west, and
indicating that the land has long been stationary with regard to the sea-
level, not subsiding as in the west. Nordenski51d alone has sailed round
the north coast of Asia, and his name is perpetuated in the Nordenskiold
Sea between Taimyr and the New Siberian Islands. West of these islands
Nansen let the Fmm become fast in the ice, and his soundings proved
that the Asiatic continental block does not extend far beyond the Siberian
coast, and that the Arctic Sea is a depression of very great depth.
The north-eastern peninsula of Asia reaches within 36 miles of the
north-western peninsula of North America, from which it is separated by
the shallow Bering Strait. The northern part of the Bering Sea, between
Kamchatka and Alaska, is also very shallow. Thus the Arctic and Pacific
basins are clearly separated, and in this region land communication
between Asia and America probably existed in the past. There are two
eastern coasts to consider, that of the continent itself, and that of the
fringing islands on the edge of the continental block. Both are as a rule
424. The International Geography
irregular and steep, showing evidence of being sunken coasts except where
the great rivers have built vast deltas, the flat shores of which have simple
outlines. They are not sinking at the present day except perhaps in
eastern China. The inner coast has a north-east to south-west trend, and
projects southwards in the volcanic Kamchatkan and mountainous Korean
peninsulas whose southern ends approach the outer fringing islands. The
islands of Sakhalin and Formosa are other links by which the outer island
groups approach the continental shore. Four fringing seas lie between
these peninsulas and islands, each bounded to the east by a loop of
the island wreath. In the north the Sea of Okhotsk is bordered by the
Kuriles, further south the Japanese Islands mark off the Sea of Japan,
next the East China Sea is defined by the Luchu Islands, and in the
south the South China Sea is bounded by the Philippines and Borneo. The
northern part of the shallow East China Sea between Korea and the main-
land is called the Yellow Sea. Its western shores are formed by the low
deltaic plain of the Yellow River (H wang-ho), which carries down the yellow
earth that gives the name both to the river and to the sea. The rocky
Shantung peninsula rises like an island above the level alluvial land, and
projects eastwards forming rocky coasts with good harbours, and cutting
off the Gulf of Pechili from the Yellow Sea. A similar inner gulf is cut
off from the East China Sea by the mountainous island of Hainan. The
south-eastern margin of the continental block towards the Pacific follows
the Philippines and the Moluccas, and within it lie the fringing seas of
Sulu and Celebes. The bold convex arc of the Sunda Islands and their
northern prolongation in the Nicobars and Andamans towards the Indian
Ocean enclose the fringing seas of Banda, Java and Andaman. Borneo
and Celebes are the largest islands lying between the two sets of fringing
seas ; and the south of the South China Sea might be regarded as a
midland or mediterranean sea. The south-eastern, or Indo-Chinese, penin-
sula of Asia ends in the long narrow Malay peninsula, which is only 45
miles wide at the Isthmus of Kra, where a ship canal would greatly
shorten the voyages from western to eastern Asia. The gulfs of Siam in
the east and of Martaban in the west, are alike in having the rapidly growing
deltas of great rivers at their head.
Asia projects into the Indian Ocean in two massive peninsulas, the
Dekkan and Arabia, which are not fringed by islands, but rise with ter-
raced sides from the coastal plain, which is usually narrow. The triangular
Dekkan with its severed southern portion, the island of Ceylon, still
nearly united by Adam's Bridge, lies between two wide round-headed
gulfs, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The rectangular Arabian
peninsula, on the other hand, is defined by the narrow rifts of the Persian
Gulf and the Red Sea, the former silted up by the sediments of great
rivers, the latter of great depth and terminated in one arm by the narrow
sandy Isthmus of Suez across which a ship canal has been cut to the
Mediterranean. The other arm runs, as the Gulf of Akabah, in the line of
Asia 425
the great Dead Sea rift ; and between the two the rocky Sinai penin.^ula
rises. The entrance to the Persian Gulf is through the shallow and narrow
Strait of Ormuz, that to the Red Sea through the narrow-er if less shallow
Strait of Bab el-Mandeb.
The plateau of Asia Minor projects westwards and sinks abruptly to
the Mediterranean and Black Seas. In the west the indented ria-coast is
fringed by many picturesque islands which unite with those of the Balkan
peninsula to form the Greek Archipelago. The Sea of Marmora, joined to
the ^gean by the Dardanelles and to the Black Sea by the Bosporus,
serves as the historic dividing line between Europe and Asia.
Surface and Chief Divisions. — Asia is divided into four great
natural divisions, each of which has marked physical characteristics.
(i) The Northern Lowlands, a vast plain rising gradually to the south
and to the east. One quarter of the continent is less than 600 feet above
the sea-level, and by far the greatest part of this is in the north. These
northern lowlands are continuous and homologous with the northern plains
of Europe, and together they form the Old World Lowland Area.
(2) The Central Mountains, a band of lofty folded mountains and
plateaux widening to the east and running from west to east across Asia.
More than one-twelfth of the continent lies above 10,000 feet, and most
of the elevated land is in this mountainous region, which is continuous and
homologous with the folded mountains of Europe, and together they form
the Old or Mid-World Mountain Area.
(3) The Southern Tablelands, of the Dekkan and Arabia are table-
lands and not folded mountain regions, with little land over 6,000 feet.
They form the north-eastern outliers of the great Indo-African or Old
World Tableland Area. They are separated from the rest of Asia by the
low Indo-Gangetic and Mesopotamian flood plains, and from the African
portion of the Old Wi'orld Tableland by the rift valley ot the Red Sea.
(4) The Eastern Volcanic Mountains, a belt of mountains bordering the
eastern and south-eastern edges of the continental block, and rising as
fringing islands above the waters that cover the continental shelf. This
region has no exposed plateaux, and is largeh' volcanic ; it forms part of
the Pacific Volcanic Area that girdles that ocean. They are separated from
the rest of Asia by the eastern fringing seas.
Asiatic Portion of Old World Lowland Area. — The simplest
subdivisions of this area in Asia are the river basins, which gi\e five
distinct regions, one of inland and four of oceanic drainage.
(i) Turan, or the region of inland drainage, mainly to Lake Aral.
These plains are covered with wind-blown desert sand, except near the
mountains along the river courses and round the lakes, where w-ater-borne
deposits of recent origin are found, and in the Ust Urt upland of
Teritary rocks between Lake Aral and the Caspian Sea. The surface of
the land round the Caspian is below sea-level. In the east the surface
rises to the bordering mountains whence the rivers flow. The most
426 The International Geography
important are the Amu-daria (Oxus) and Syr-daria (Jaxartes) flowing to
Lake Aral, and the lU to Lake Balkhash.
The region of oceanic drainage belongs to the Arctic drainage area and
is known as the Siberian Plain. Here, as in the European Lowlands, the
main valley-lines {Thalwegs) strike from south to north, and are joined by
others running mainly from east to west. A generalised section of Siberia
from west to east shows a series
of very gradual ascents broken
by shorter and steeper falls, with
the great rivers flowing in the
hollows (Fig. 225).
(2) The Ob-Iriysh Region lies east
of the Urals, from whose steep
eastern slopes several rivers flow
to the Tobol, which lies in the
south to north valley-line. The
great tributaries all enter from the
east. Most of the basin is overlaid
with recent deposits, but Mesozoic
rocks appear in the lower course of the river south of its great estuary.
(3) The Yenisei and its three tributaries— the Lower Tunguska, the
Middle or Stony Tunguska, and the Unper Tunguska or Angara — form
another great river system. T^c Angara drains Lake Baikal, a deep
and long trough in the crystalline mountains. Most of this basin is a low
tableland of Palasozoic rocks, with Mesozoic deposits south of the mouth
of the Angara and round its course after it leaves Lake Baikal. Some
recent eruptive rocks are found on the Lower Tunguska.
(4) The Lena Basin is composed of a similar succession of rocks.
Unlike the two western rivers the Lena has no estuary, but forms a great
delta where it enters the Arctic Sea. Some of the secondary valley-lines
run from west to east. The main river rises west of Lake Baikal and
does not turn north until near its junction with the Aldan in 130^ E.
Fig. 224. — Old World region of Internal
Drainage {stippled.)
Miles
1000
2000 3.000
feet
u«' Ob
,./ Irtish °^,
Yencsei
1 »„. '. Indie'rWa Anadjrr
:
1 -J. ; y,
Fig. 225. — Section across Siberian plain from W.S.W. to
E.N.E about lat 60° N.
(5) The extreme North-East of Asia forms a distinct region bordered by
the Verkhoyansk-Stanovoi heights, composed probably mainly of Palaeozoic
rocks, which run from the Lena delta to St. Lawrence Island. The Yana,
Indigirka and Kolyma are the chief rivers draining this little-known region
to the Arctic Sea. During the summer months the great Siberian rivers
are navigable, but they possess the great disadvantage of flowing from
Asia
+27
warmer to colder climes where the ice covers the sea most of the 5'ear.
In spring the upper portions of the rivers thaw long before the lower
reaches, and great and dangerous floods are consequently frequent
Asiatic Portion of the Old World Mountain Area. — At first
sight the Asiatic mountains seem a complicated and unrelated series of
ranges ; but a closer examination shows a certain S3'mmetry that has
attracted many students, whose views of their relationship are not always
concordant. Professor Suess sees in the region between the Yenisei, near
Krasnoyarsk and Chita, east of Lake Baikal, a centre round which the various
Asiatic mountain ranges can be grouped from Sakhalin to Java, from the
Himalaya to the Persian Gulf, without asserting that this was the centre
of action whence these rana;e£ were folded. From the pre-Cambrian to the
latest times the same forces have been at work folding the strata along
the same lines ; the youngest folds being those at the periphery.
Richthofen, Naumann
and others have also
drawn maps showing
the fundamental axes
of folding and their
relationship to each
other. For most pur-
poses it is more con-
venient to consider the
mountains from the
centre of the Pamirs,
a region separating the
lower western ranges
and plateaux from the
loftier mountains and
plateaux of the east.
The Pamir region is
called by the dwellers there the "roof of the world," and, as the name Pamir
really indicates, consists of a series of valleys and ridges. The ridges
rise several thousand feet above the valleys, whose floors are at the great
average elevation of 11,000 feet above sea-level. From the Pamirs the
mountains spread out both west and east. The eastern ranges separate as
they pass eastward. The western ranges are drawn together in the
Armenian plateau to another node, which is neither so compact, so exten-
sive, nor so lofty. Two very different regions spread longitudinally
throughout this vast mountain area ; a northern one of relative depression,
a southern one of relative elevation. The Yalta (Crimea), Caucasus, Tian
Shan, Altai and Yablono\yi mountains rise steeply from the Old World Low-
lands and form the northern ranges of the Mountain Area. South of these lie
the hollows of the Black and Caspian Seas with the Kura depression between,
and the Kara-kum and Shamo basins, with the Kizil-su vallev between.
Fig. 226. — Mountain Systems of Asia.
428 The International Geography
The central ranges, Pontus, Elburz, Hindu Kush and Kwen-lun, rise steeply
from these depressions, but have much shorter slopes on the south to the
plateaux of Asia Minor, Iran, an^d Tibet. These plateaux are bounded on the
south by the Taurus, South Persian, Sulaiman, and Himalaya ranges, which
have short slopes to the plateaux on the north, but very steep slopes to
the flood plains which separate the Old World Mountain Area from the
Tableland. Most of these mountains have an axis of Archaean rock with
sedimentary strata of different ages, down to the early Tertiary, which were
formed before the last uphea.val, on either flank. Great glaciers descend
from the snow gathered in their loftiest hollows, whence many large
rivers flow to southern and eastern seas. The Euphrates and Tigris rise in
the Armenian plateau, collecting tributaries from the southern ranges that
meet there, and flow to the Persian Gulf, forming the Mesopotamian
flood plain. The Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra carry water from
the southern ranges to the Indian Ocean. They make great flood
plains which separate the mountain area from the Dekkan. The Salwin
and Mekong rise in the east of Tibet, and flow in deep valleys between
the three great mountain
ranges of the south-eastern
peninsula to the sea. The
western or Burma-Sunda
range passes through Ara-
kan, the Andaman and
Nikobar islands, Sumatra,
Java, and the smaller
Sunda Islands. A minor
range separates the river
great Malay range passes
Miles ^
1000
aooo
30f«)
feet.
30.000
■a
1
J
Hi A
1
Siberia
25,000
20,000
15,000
to.ooo
5,000
; 1 ~">— ' ■ ; : : : ;
; 1 : ; : !! ;
1 A ' . 4 : ! 4
1
1
mmtk i
■
1
im^
\
*•
" A
Fig 2:~.- Section across Asia from south to notih, along
the meridian of 90° £,
Irawadi from the Salwin, east of which the
from the north along the Malay peninsula. East of this another minor
range separates the Menam from the Mekong valley, which is bounded
by the Annani range. These mountains are composed of old crystal-
line and FalEEOZoic rocks, but the Burma-Sunda range contains abun-
dant recent volcanic rocks and many active volcanoes. South and north of
the Kwenlun, known as the Tsing-Hng in China, two great rivers flow
from Tibet to the east — the Yangtse-kiang and the Hwang-ho, or Yellow
river. South of the Yangtse-kiang is a region consisting of older moun-
tains formed by a succession of faults, and not by folding of the strata,
which consist of Palaeozoic marine layers and Mesozoic deposits not of
marine origin. In the south the land is drained by the Si-kiang or West
river and by the Song-ka or Red River of Tongking. The Hwang-ho has
cut its channel deep into the loess of northern China, and formed a vast
fertile flood plain above the level of which it flows for the last few hundred
miles.
Asiatic Tablelands.— Ceylon, the Dekkan and Arabia, differ from the
rest of Asia in their geological as well as in their tectonic condition. Old
Asia
429
crystalline rocks predominate ; but in the north-west of the Dekkan and in
Arabia great flows of recent eruptive materials are found. The Dekkan
trap forms a rich h3^groscopic soil, especially favourable for cotton cultiva-
tion. There are also old sedimentary rocks in this area, which differ from
those of the rest of Eurasia by containing a flora, characterised by the
fossil Glossopteris, which is related to that found in similar rocks in
Australia, South Africa, and parts of South America, thus pointing to
geographical changes of vast dimensions since the time when Gondwana-
land stretched across what is now the Indian Ocean.
The Eastern Volcanic Mountains are characterised by their
young volcanic rocks and the number of still active volcanoes ; which
stretch from Kamchatka through the Kurile Islands and Japan, through the
Philippines, the Moluccas, and the Sunda Islands. Old crystalline and
Palieozoic rocks are not wanting ; Tertiary and Quaternary deposits are
much commoner than
those of Mesozoic age.
These mountains rise
from profound oceanic
depths, and over the
actio area earthquakes
and other seismic dis-
turbances are frequent
and often severe.
Climates of Asia.
The vastness of Asia
makes the climate of
large areas severely
continental, with great
extremes of cold in the
north and of heat in
the south. Only the south and south-east coastal lands have fairly
uniform temperatures throughout the year. The mean annual temperature
(Fig. 228) corrected for altitude is nearly the same across the whole breadth
of the continent in the same latitude ; but is somewhat lower on the east
coast than in the west. In winter (Fig. 229) this condition remains unaltered
in the south ; but in the north the air temperature falls from all sides
towards a pole of cold in north-eastern Siberia, where at Verkhoyansk, 400
feet abo/e the sea, the mean January temperature is — 60° F., a degree of
cold unknown in the Polar regions. In summer (Fig. 230) the north of the
continent shows a uniform temperature from west to east in the same lati-
tude, but in the south there is a heat centre in north-west India, Baluchistan
and Arabia, in which the mean temperature for July exceeds 95° F., and
round which less heated air is found on every side. The vast height of the
Mountain and Plateau region brings about great local differences of tem-
pLT.iture, the temperature of Tibet being always low. The seasonal tempera-
FlG. 22S.
430 'Ihc International Geography
ture changes determine two well-marked pressure conditions — a winter
high-pressure system which is most powerfully developed over Mongolia,
and a summer low-pressure system which is most intense between the middle
Indus and the Gulf of
Oman. The winter
winds of the continent
are consequently out-
flowing, the summer
winds are inflowing.
The cold outflowing
winds of winter are
dry, and over the whole
of Asia hardly any rain
falls at this season, ex-
cept in regions where
the winds are deflected
upwards by mountains,
especially after passing
Fig. 22Q. — -fan nary isotherms for Asia. {After Bnchaii.) . r^,
-^ -^ ' over the sea. The
Malay Archipelago and Peninsula and Ceylon, as well as the extreme south
of the Dekkan, are near enough the equator to have the double rainy
seasons characteristic of sub-equatorial regions. The rest of the continent
receives rain from the inflowing winds of summer, and these fall most
heavily where the course of the surface wind is normal to that of the great
mountain ranges, e.g., the western mountains of the Dekkan and Burma,
and the eastern ranges of the east coasts. Local topographical variations
deflect the rain-bearing
wind ; and thus the
southern slopes of the
Himalaya and of the
Khasia Hills receive
abundant rains. Only
the interior regions,
shut oft from oceanic
mfluences by very high
mountains, have little
or no rain in summer,
and are in consequence
deserts.
Climatic Areas.
— Asia mav be divided
into five great climatic ^^'^- '^30-y"/>- tsotlter,u. fo> As:a. (After Buchan.)
areas — (i) The Arctic Cold Dry Area, with a mean temperature not exceeding
50° F, in the warmest summer month, and a mean rainfall never over i inch
in th'j wettest month. This is a small region ahnost entirelv within the Arctic
Asia 431
circle. (2) The Siberian or Temperate Coniinenial Area has great severity of
winter cold, but the summer temperatures range from 50° to 70° or 75° F. The
temperature extremes are greater in* the east than in the west. Hardly any
rain falls here in winter, but in the short summer a mean monthly fall of
from 1 to 2 inches is observed. (3) The Central or Arid Area, including
Arabia, Iran, Turan, Taklamakan and Gobi, is one of varied elevation
and of varied temperature conditions. Most of it is very dry, but slight
winter rains characterise the -v^est, whereas what precipitation occurs in
the east falls mainly in summer. The extreme south of Arabia is also
a region of summer rains. This area exhibits in a high degree the
desiccation characteristic of the central plateaux of great mountain ranges.
The arid basin of Taklamakan, for example, abounds in ruined cities ot a
time when rain must have been abundant, land fertile, and population dense.
(4) The Monsoon Area includes India, Indo-China, and the eastern coastal
lands, where rain falls when the inflowing summer winds blow. The south
of this area is much warmer and more equable in temperature than the
north, where cold winters are the rule. The regions within tiiis area which
have winter rains are the south-east of India, and of Indo-China, and the west
of Japan. The monsoon winds set in and cease at different times in different
parts of the area. During their prevalence the atmospheric conditions
remain relatively steady, but at the periods of change they are ver\
unstable, giving rise to the dreaded cyclones of the Indian Ocean, and the
typhoons of eastern waters, which often do great damage both on land and
to ships at sea. (5) The Sttb-dquatorial Area, characterised by two rainy
seasons, is always warm and always wet, so that we should speak of its
possessing two less wet rather than two dry seasons in the year.
Minerals and Soils. — The mineral wealth of Asia is very great.
The precious stones and metals have long been famous : the diamonds
anciently cut and sold at Golconda, the Ceylon sapphires, the Burma
rubies, the jade of Turkestan, and the gold of the Caucasus and of
Japan. Gold is found in tiie Ural, Altai, and the mountains of the north-
east, and this gold zone probably extends across the Pacific to the Yukon
region. These mountains are also all rich in many other minerals, and so
are the mountainous provinces of China. The tin of the Malay peninsula, the
copper and mercury of Japan, the silver, copper and graphite of Siberia,
the rock salt of India and the salt in the dried up lakes of the deserts may
be mentioned as useful minerals already largely utilised. Iron is found in
many regions, but is little worked by modern methods. Rich petroleum
wells occur in the Caucasus, Burma, and Sumatra ; and the immense
coal-fields of China, and some of the eastern islands, including Sakhalin,
Japan, and Hainan, which are hardly yet used, lock up vast stores of wealth.
Large areas of northern Asia are enriched with loam. ]\Iuch of
the dry centre is covered with wandering sand dunes, beyond which
the fine loess is blown over vast tracts of land which are highly fertile
where water also exists. The Indian and Indo-Chinese peninsulas have a
432 The International Geography
surface of laterite, a clay rich in iron formed in warm, wet, tropical regions.
The flood plains of the great rivers are covered with a fertile alluvium
whereon rich crops are grown.
Northern Vegetation Zones. — The soils determine three great floral
areas. The ^/rtc/Vi;/ or ////27i7//7t^ so/7s of the north and east support forests,
the cvolian soils of the centre and south-west are steppe lands or deserts,
and the laterite regions of the south and south-east are wooded. But the
climate is the chief factor determining the distribution of the different pLait
associations ; and the three great typical soil areas, w^hich are themselves
largely conditioned by climatic factors, can be subdivided into smaller
districts with different types of vegetation. In the Arctic climate area
only the surface of the soil is thawed duri':ig the brief summer, and it is a
frozen desert most of the year. Here no trees can grow, and the plant
association is termed Tundra ; the vegetation includes low shrubs of birch,
willow, larch, spruce, and other plants that are trees in better conditions,
and berry-bearing bushes such as the cranberry ; but the most characteristic
plants are lichens and mosses. During the brief sujiimer poppies, saxi-
frages, and many of the plants found on European mountains burst into a
brief season of bloom, when the land is gay with many coloured flowers.
The Siberian climate area where loam exists is a land of Forests. The typical
plants associated together are coniferous, the larch {Larix Siherica) and
firs {Abies Siberica) predominating; but birches, poplars, and other trees
familiar in temperate Europe abound. The forests can be traced farthest
north along the river valleys. In the south the deciduous trees become
more abundant, and alter the aspect of the forest ; and still farther south a
belt of birch woods forms the transition from forest to steppe land. The
forests are thick and in many places impenetrable. Brehm has given a
vigorous description of the forest primeval, with its contrasting glades of
living trees and thick underwood of clematis, rhododendron and honey-
suckles, climbing over dead, fallen and rotting trunks. Meadow lands
with bright summer flowers exist in the Siberian area, and predominate in
the rich grass steppes further south. Towards the east the proportion of
European species in the forests diminishes, and in the Amur basin comes
to a minimum, while Chinese and Japanese species increase in number.
Steppes and Deserts. — The dry conditions which permit the
transference and accumulation of wind-blown soil militate against the
development of large trees. The loose porous soil and the extremes of
heat and cold serve to promote a rapid growth of grasses and other annuals
during the short moist season, but these perish even more quickly than
they rose, and are preserved until the next moist season by their hardy
seeds or roots. The Steppe lands are of two kinds, grass steppes bordering
the forests, and poor steppes passing into sterile deserts. The grass
steppes of south-western Siberia lie between 50° and 55° N., and reach as
far east as the Ob. Similar steppes exist east of the Altai and south of the
Sayan and Yablonovyi mountains, in the upper valleys of the great rivers
Asia
433
rising in eastern Tibet, at the base of the mountains enclosing the Tarim
basin, rising from Turan and in the south-west of Iran. The snows of the
high mountains are a source of water for these steppes ; and where peren-
nial streams flow, rich oases are formed along their courses. The irrigated
regions yield fine fruits, vegetables and cereals. Poor steppes are found
round the true desert regions, and all steppes may be divided by their rela-
tion to the three low and the three lofty areas of inland drainage — (i) The
Turanian or Caspian-Aral-Balkhash region passes from salt desert through
poor steppe with saxaul {Borsczowia anilo-caspica) to the mountains, round
which are fertile regions watered by the rivers. (2) The Taklamakan or
Tarhn region has much the same characteristics, the saxaul being the
typical plant. (3) The Gobi or Mongolian region where grasses live, but
hardly a bush is to be found. (4) The Arabian region is a continuation of
the Sahara, with date-palm oases. (5) The Anatolian and Iranian desert
regions have few plants, some, such as the Astragalus Tragacantlia, yielding
gum tragacanth ; and (6) the Tibetan region has a desolate tundra-like appear-
ance, with coarse grasses and a few stunted trees in the less elevated parts.
The moister sides of the mountains rising out of the steppe land may be
wooded, but the vegetation in most places passes from rich grassy steppe
to poor steppe, and gradually into tundra just under the snow line.
Warm Zone. — In the north of the Warm Zone we find the Sub-
tropical Forest Area, the western region of which has winter, and the
eastern region summer rains. The Western or Mediterranean region,
yields olives, figs, pomegranates, Aleppo pines, cedars, myrtles, evergreen
oaks, and other trees on the lower mountain slopes, and Oriental
planes higher up. The Eastern or Sino-'fapanesc region has tea trees,
camellias, and rich flowers, many of which, grown in European gardens,
may be recognised by their specific names sinensis or japonica. The
upper slopes of the mountains of Japan and Korea are covered with
beeches and conifers such as Fagiis Sieboldi or Abies Firma. The
Sa7'anna area of Asia is found in the south of Arabia, in India, Indo-
China, and the higher parts of Ceylon and the ]\Ialay Archipelago.
Southern Arabia forms part of the African savanna area. The other
regions may be grouped as the south Asiatic savanna area, and they are
characterised by great grasses such as the alang-alang (/;;//>6'm/ 'J
lation of a square in good preservation, but the town itself is ruinous
miU of Cyprus. ^^^ ^j^j^^^ -pj^g harbour is the only one in the island
that could be made available for large vessels, but it is silted up with sand,
and the unhealthiness of the site renders it unfit for a military station.
Larnaka, on the south coast, the ancient Kitium, the rival of Tyre, and the
birthplace of Zeno, founder of the Stoics, is the principal commercial
emporium of the island, and the residence of the foreign consuls. It has
no harbour, and the roadstead is exposed to the south and east. The old
town is about a mile and a half from the sea ; the newer portion, along
the shore, is called La Scala, or Marina. The antiquities of Cyprus are as
varied as they are numerous, and there is hardly a museum in the world that
has not a collection of objects found in Cypriote tombs. The local museum
at Nicosia contains a good collection of the treasures unearthed since the
British occupation.
STATISTICS.
Area of Cyprus
Population of Cyprus
Density of population, per square mile
Population of Nicosia
STANDARD BOOKS.
I89I.
I90I.
3,584
3.584
209,286
237,022
58
66
12,515
14.752
L. P. Di Cesnola. " Cyprus, its Cities, Tombs. &c." London. 1877.
C. D. Cobham. "A Bibliography of Cyprus," 3rd ed. Nicosia 1894,
Asiatic Turkey— Mesopotamia 447
III.— MESOPOTAMIA
By General Sir Charles W. Wilsox, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Position and Surface. — Mesopotamia includes all Turkish territory
south of Diarbckr, which lies between the eastern edge of the Syrian
desert and the foot of the mountains that buttress the Persian plateau.
Mesopotamia proper, the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris,
has a gradual fall of 950 feet from the spurs of the Taurus range to an old
coast-line south of Hit. Thence an almost unbroken plain extends to the
Persian Gulf. The great plain of Upper Mesopotamia is broken by low
ranges of hills between which the Khabur and its tributaries flow to the
Euphrates. Between the Khabur and the Euphrates lies the Bibhcal
Aram-Naharaim, a fertile district watered by the BeHk, once cultivated
and thickly peopled, but now waste. On the plain east of Mosul, between
the Tigris and the Khazr, was the heart of the Assyrian Empire. The
mountain district that borders the plain and extends to the Persian
frontier forms part of Kurdistan. The lower plain (ancient Babylonia),
south of Hit, was formerly a vast expanse of fertile land intersected and
irrigated by canals. It is now almost uncultivated and partially covered
with fever-breeding swamps. At Kurna the Euphrates and Tigris unite,
and their combined stream forms the Shatt el-Arab. The delta of the
great river is advancing at the rate of about 72 feet per annum, but the
land is Hable to .requent inundation. The hills of Upper Mesopotamia
are limestone. The plain south of Jebel Sinjar is a dreary flat, with a
subsoil of gypsum and marl, intersected by nullahs. At Hit, Hammam
Ali, and other places are petroleum, bitumen, sulphur, and salt springs.
The climate is good in winter, but so hot in summer that people usually
pass the day in underground chambers (scniab). The lion, leopard, wild
ass, wild boar, and gazelle are found in certain localities.
History and People. — The early history of Mesopotamia is one of
constant struggles for supremacy between contending nations. But the
country remained rich and prosperous until the battle of Kadisia (a.d. 635)
placed it at the mercy of the Arabs. As the nomads pressed forward the
peasants were driven from their lands, the great irrigation works were
neglected, and the Euphrates, no longer controlled, spread out into wide
marshes. What the Arabs commenced Turks, Mongols and Tatars com-
pleted, and one of the most fertile regions of the Earth was abandoned to
nomads. The majority of the population is now Arab, sedentary and
nomad ; but the original inhabitants are still represented by Kurds, Yezidis
or " Devil Worshippers," Nestorians, Chaldaeans or Roman Catholic Ara-
maeans, and Jacobites in the north ; and by Sabaeans in the south.
Trade, Communications and To^vns. — The only manufactures
are for home consumption. The chief exports are cereals, dates, wool,
gum, rice and hides ; and the imports sugar, cloth, coffee, indigo, iron and
448 The International Geography
copper. The foreign trade is chiefly with the United Kingdom, India and
Persia.
On the Tigris passengers and merchandise are carried from Diarbekr
to Baghdad on rafts of inflated sheepskins. Below Samara sailing boats
are used. From Baghdad river steamers run to Basra, whence there is
steam communication with India and England. In flood time a steamer
ascends the Euphrates as far as Meskineh, but there is no trade. All land
transport is by mule or camel.
There are four vilayets and one separate sanjak in Mesopotamia.
Amongst the towns are Diarbekr {Amida), at the head of raft navigation
on the Tigris ; Ui-fa (Edessa) ; Harran, "the City of Nahor" ; and Mosul,
on the Tigris, opposite the mounds Kuyiinjik {Nineveh). Baghdad, the
city of Harun er-Rashid, has a large transit trade. It occupies an un-
rivalledi position as a centre of trade, but has lost much of its former
wealth. Basra, on the Shatl el-Arab, is the port of transhipment from
river craft to ocean steamers, and has a large trade in dates. Nejef and
Kerbela, the burial places of AH and Hussein, lie west of the Euphrates,
some miles from the mounds of Babylon. They are the "Holy Places"
of the Shia Moslems, and every 3'ear large pilgrim-caravans arrive from
Persia bearing corpses to be buried within the sacred precincts.
IV.— SYRIA
By General Sir Charles W. Wilsox, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Position and Surface. — Syria, which includes Palestine, stretches
southward from Anatolia, and is separated from it by the deep gorges of
the Jihun and its tributaries. Its western limit is the Mediterranean : its
eastern the valley of the Euphrates. On the south Wadi el-'Arish separates
it from Egypt, but no natural feature parts it from Arabia. The coast
towards the north is rocky ; towards the south low, and in places sandy.
There are no good harbours, but several open roadsteads and small ports,
at which steamers call — Iskanderun, Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Haifa, and
Jaffa.
Syria and Palestine comprise a coastal plain of varying width, two
p irallel ranges of mountains between which lies a remarkable depression,
and a plateau falling eastward to the Euphrates. On the north the
mountains approach the sea, and here the coastal plains are small and
narrow. But south of Mount Carmel the hills recede from the shore and
leave room for the broad fertile plains of Sharon and Philistia. The coast
range is known under different names. The Giaour Dagh {Mons Amanus)
extends from tlie gorge of the Jihun to the valley of the Orontes, and,
though rarely more than 6,000 feet high, is crossed by only two good
passes — the Amanian and Syrian " gates." Between the Orontes and the
valley of the Nahr el-Kebir {El c nth ems), "the entrance of Hamath," are
Turkish Empire— Syria 449
the rugged Ansariyeh mountains, over which there is no good pass. South
of the Eleutherus is Mount Lebanon, which has its culminating point in
Dhahr el-Kosdib (10,050 feet), and is crossed by only one good pass. The
gorge of the Litany (Leonies) separates Lebanon from the hills of Galilee,
which gradually break down to the plain of Esdraelon and valley of the
Kishon. Southward of Esdraelon stretches the hill country of Samaria and
Judaea, which falls away, south of Hebron, to the desert plateau of et-Tih.
East of the coast range is the great rift-valley, or depression, in part below
the level of the sea, that extends from the base of the Giaour Dagh to the
Red Sea, and probably far into the heart of Africa. In this valley flow the
Orontes and its tributary, the Kara Su ; the Leontes and the Jordan. The
Orontes and Leontes rise near each other between Lebanon and Anti-
Lebanon, and one flows north, the other south until both cut their way
westward to the sea. The Jordan rises west of Mount Hermon, and after
spreading out into Lake Huleh and the Sea of Galilee discharges its waters
into the Dead Sea, 1,292 feet below the level of the sea. From Lake Huleh
to the Dead Sea, which is salt and has no outlet, the course of the Jordan
is below the sea-level. Between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akabah the
depression is known as the Arabah. The range east of the depression is
^
— iuS&SSaj ?«Ba»•^
,'sssr
Kii^r-iyman i-'rirj»
:±=i-
k^^^^d:
t»^:rr^:r?»»swrW^-:-ttti2!=r^^
.. ^fft^
Fig. 2-^S-— Section from the Mediterranean across the Dead Sea. (Heights exaggerated 8 times.)
not always well defined. In the north it is a long unbroken ridge of lime-
stone, called the Kurt Dagh. Farther south it is continued by Anti-
Lebanon, which ends abruptly in Mount Hermon (9,200 feet) ; and it
is then represented by the hills of Bashan, Gilead, Moab and Edom.
Eastward of this range the ground falls gradually to the Euphrates.
North of Aleppo, where the distance between the Mediterranean and
the river is only from no to 140 miles, the plateau presents the character
of rolling downs broken by rich well-watered valleys. South of Aleppo
the plateau gradually broadens out into an extensive pastoral district, with
a scant supply of water, which east of the Dead Sea is between 500 and
600 miles wide. This district, known as the Syrian desert, stretches
southward into Arabia. With the exception of the sandstone and granite
hills of Edom, limestones prevail throughout the country. Igneous rocks
appear in a few localities west of Jordan, and east of the river there are
large areas of basalt — the Leja, Hauran, &c., which correspond to the
Harras of Arabia. The most important geological feature is the great
rift or valley hollowed out along a line of fracture and displacement of the
Earth's crust before the Cretaceous period. Bitumen and bromine are
obtained from the Dead Sea, and petroleum would probably be found
45 o The International Geography
by boring. Near Tiberias and near Umm Keis {Gadara) there are hot
sulphur springs.
Climate and Resources. — The climate of the coast and hill country
is not unlike that of southern Italy, but in the Jordan valley, near the Dead
Sea, it is almost tropical. Snow falls heavily on the mountains of northern
Syria, and occasionally as far south as Jerusalem. The summers on the
eastern plateau are intensely hot.
The cedars of Lebanon are now represented by small groves, and there
are no large forests such as exist in Anatolia. In certain localities, how-
ever, the hills are well-wooded, and in the Jordan valley the vegetation is
sub-tropical. Wheat is grown on the coast and upland plains, the olive,
fig, and vine are cultivated in the hills, and the downs of the eastern
plateau afford pasturage for countless flocks of sheep. But the ground is
still for the most part waste, and though the ancient terrace-culture is in
places being restored, it will be long before the country can recover from
the ruin and desolation of centuries. Bear and panther are found in the
northern districts, deer and gazelle occasionally in the south. There is a
close affinity between the fauna of the Jordan and the rivers of tropical
Africa. The crocodile still lives in the Nahr ez-Zerka, south of Carmel.
History and People. — At the earliest period of which there is any
record northern Syria was in the hands of a strong power — the Khita, or
" Hittites," whose capital was at Kadesh, on the Orontes. Palestine was,
at the same time, occupied by a number of petty States sometimes free,
sometimes subject to Egypt. Later the Phoenician cities, including Tyre
and Sidon, rose to great power and splendour ; and the Jews entered
Palestine, where they created a kingdom that attained its widest extent in
the reign of Solomon. Hittites and Jews were alike conquered by Assyria,
and the whole country afterwards passed first to Persia, then to rival
Seleucids and Ptolemies, and next to Rome. Syria and Palestine fell an
easy and early prey to the Arabs, and, like Anatolia, they were either
wholly or in part overrun by nomad Seljuks, Mongols and Tatars.
Agriculture was destroyed, towns were deserted, and the rich lands
turned into a wilderness. In the eleventh century the ill-treatment of the
Christians by the Moslems at Jerusalem and in the Holy Land led to the
Crusades. Jerusalem was taken in 1099, and a Latin kingdom established
in Palestine, which lasted for eighty-eight years. At the same time
Antioch, Tripoli, and other places were erected into principalities or
countships. In the sixteenth century Syria was conquered by the Osmanli
Turks, in whose possession it still remains. The most momentous events
in the history of the country are those connected with the birth and
ministry of Christ and the spread of Christianity after His crucifixion.
In the Giaour Dagh and the country eastward to the Euphrates the
people, excepting in a few Armenian villages, are of Turk or Mongol
origin, and speak Turkish. To the south Arabic is spoken, but the popu-
lation is of varied origin. The Ansariyeh are partly descendants of the
Arabia 451
original inhabitants of the mountains, and partly of Persian origin. They
worship the Sun and Moon. The Maronites of Lebanon are Christians belong-
ing to an indigenous race akin to the Ansariyeh. The Druses, who dwell
in Lebanon and the Hauran, are partly indigenous and partly of Persian
origin. South of the Litany the peasantry (fellahin), whether Christian or
Moslem, are for the most part of Canaanite origin, but there has been a
great fusion of blood. In most of the inland towns the Moslems are of
Arab and the Christians of Aramaean origin. Jacobites are thinly scattered
over the country. The Syrian desert is occupied by nomad Arabs, who
at times advance to the vicinity of Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and the
Jordan. Colonies of Germans, Jews, and Circassians have been estab-
lished during the last thirty years, and Palestine is dotted with monasteries
occupied by Greek, Latin, Russian, and other monks.
Trade, Communications and Towns.— Silk, half -silk stuffs,
soap, and articles for sale to pilgrims are manufactured, but the principal
occupation of the sedentary population is agriculture. The chief exports
are wheat, fruit, wool and hides; the imports mainly textile fabrics and
iron goods. There is an excellent carriage-road from Beirut to Damascus,
and inferior roads run from Iskanderun to Aleppo, Haifa to Nazareth, and
Jaffa to Jerusalem. Lines of railway connect Beirut with Damascus and
Jaffa with Jerusalem, and a steam tramway runs from Damascus to the
Hauran. Other inland transport is by mule or camel.
In Syria there are two vilayets, one separate sanjak, and one district
(Lebanon), with a special constitution guaranteed by the European Powers.
Amongst the towns are : Iskanderun {Alexandrcita), the port of Antioch,
Aleppo, and parts of Mesopotamia, near the Beilan pass. Beirut, the
port of Damascus, and the largest maritime town in Syria. Ainiab, east
of the Kurt Dagh, with a large Armenian community and an American
college. Aleppo, a place of military and commercial importance from the
earliest times. Antioch, on the Orontes, the ancient capital of Syria.
Damascus, the largest town in Sjrria, built amidst extensive gardens,
on the edge of the desert, beneath Anti-Lebanon. Jerusalem, in the
heart of the hill country of Judaea, is sacred alike to Christian, Jew and
Moslem. The city, which contains the sepulchre of Christ and the rock
from which Mohammed is said to have ascended to heaven, is annually
visited by numbers of Christian and Moslem pilgrims. Hebron, in the hills
south of Jerusalem, is the burial-place of the patriarchs.
v.— ARABIA
By General Sir Charles W. Wilson, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Position and Coasts. — The Arabian Peninsula stretches southward
from Edom and the Syrian desert, of which it is a direct continuation. Its
size is about one-third that of Europe^ and its form is strikingly regular.
452 The International Geography
On the north, where there is no natural frontier, a line joining the head of
the Gulf of Akabah with that of the Persian Gulf (very nearly the parallel
of 30° N.) is generally adopted as the boundary. On the west, south and
east its shores are bathed, respectively, by the waters of the Gulf of
Akabah and the Red Sea, of the Indian Ocean and of the Persian Gulf.
Isolated thus in a measure, and traversed by no important trade route,
Arabia had little in common with the great empires of the ancient world.
But her position was favourable to maritime enterprise, and the keen com-
mercial instinct of her people soon led them to push their fortunes beyond
their own shores. At a remote period the south coast became the seat of
a sea-borne trade with south-eastern Africa on the one hand, and India
and the further East on the other.
The west coast is almost a straight line. It has open roadsteads,
difficult of approach on account of shoals and coral reefs, but no true
harbours. Towards the south there are small islands, of which the most
important is Perim, at the entrance to the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb. The
south coast, from the strait to Ras el-Hadd, is slightly convex towards
the Indian Ocean, and has some good harbours — Aden, Dafur, and Keshum.
The east coast, from Ras el-Hadd to Cape Masandam, is nearly parallel to
the west coast, and has the almost land-locked harbour of Muscat. At
Masandam the oceanic coast line ends. Beyond it lies the shallow Persian
Gulf, with its low, sandy shore stretching eastward and northward to the
harbour of Koweit, or Grane, near its head. Close to the narrow entrance
to the gulf are several islands (Jishm, &c.) ; and the coast of Katar, beyond
Masandam, is bordered by islands (Bahrein, &c.), celebrated for their
productive pearl fisheries.
Configuration. — The relief of Arabia is also regular. The table-land,
which extends southward from the Syrian Desert, is buttressed by coast-
ranges that attain their greatest altitude in the south, and are often rugged,
and precipitous in outline. The centre of this mass is occupied by a
plateau with long, undulating slopes, covered with pasture, and deep,
narrow valleys in which lie irrigated gardens and plantations. This is
Nejd, the true home of the Arabs. In the latitude of Mecca a ridge joins
Nejd to the western coast-range. Elsewhere it is bordered by arid desert,
or wastes of shifting sand, the Nefuds. Between the coast-ranges and the
sea there is a low-lying strip of sand and coral debris, with a hot climate,
and forbidding aspect. This is the Tehama, a name specially applied to
the Red Sea littoral south of Mecca. As the valleys of Arabia originate in
no well-defined ridge, the line of water-parting is irregular. Many of the
districts are well supplied with water, but no stream of any size reaches
the sea. The central plateau, the desert, and the coast range (including
the Tehama), each occupy about one-third of Arabia.
Geologically, the peninsula apparently consists of granites, traps, and
old basalts, on which lie Cretaceous sandstones continuous with those of
Petra. Limestones, sometimes with flints, overlie the sandstones, and in
Arabia 453
the north (Arabia Petrcea) the surface is covered with flint gravels. At
intervals, on a line, approximately parallel to the Red Sea depression, are
vast lava beds ijiarra) with their craters, which may be compared with
those in Syria and Palestine. The largest are Harrat el-'Aue, near Medain
Salih, and Harrat Khaibar, north of Medina.
Climate and Products.— The climate varies greatly. The coast
districts are hot and unhealthy. The mountain districts of Oman are
healthy and cool. On the central plateau, where heavy rains fall in spring
and autumn, the days are hot, and the nights cold. In Yemen the winter
temperature often falls below freezing, whilst in summer it is rarely over
80° F. in the shade ; rain falls in March and again in July, August and
September. As far north as et-Taif, east of Mecca, rain lasts about live
weeks in autumn. In the north rain is rare and falls in winter.
The most fertile district of Arabia is Yemen, where coffee, fruit and
vegetables are extensively cultivated. Senna grows in southern Hejaz and
the Tehama, balsam in Safra, near Mecca, henna on the west coast, incense
in Hadramut, indigo on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and the date palm
m many places. Coco-nut, betel, banana, &c., have been introduced from
India, and thrive well. The only important routes in Arabia are those
along which pilgrims travel to Mecca from Syria, Egypt and Persia.
The horses of Arabia have always been celebrated. The best, for
which high prices are demanded, are bred in Nejd, where the pedigrees
are carefully kept. Riding camels (dromedaries), with good pedigrees,
come from Nejd and Oman. Common camels are often reared and kept
for their milk, wool, and flesh. The large white donkevs of Hassa and
eastern Nejd are much prized in Egypt and Turkey. Broad-tailed sheep
are bred in Yemen and Nejd, goats in Hejaz, cattle with a hump in Yemen,
Oman and Nejd, and cattle without a hump in the north. Ostriches are
found on the central plateau, small tigers in Oman and Nejran, and the
panther, lynx, hyaena and gazelle in several localities. The pearl-fisheries
on the east coast are said to yield nearly £300,000 per annum.
People. — The population is very sparse. The inhabitants, excepting
Turkish officials and soldiers, belong to two great septs — the Joktanites
and the Ishmaelites, both having Arabic as their language, and Islam as
their religion. The Joktanite tribes occupy the southern districts, and are
the more ancient. They are descendants of Shem, through Joktan
[Kahtan), the father of Hazarmaveth {Hadramut), Sheba (Saba), Ophir, and
others. The sept is divided into three stems descended from Saba (Abd
csh-Shems, "servant of the Sun"), through his son Himyar, and his grand-
sons, Malik and Arib. Hence they were called Sabaeans. The Ishmaelite
tribes, also called Nizarites, are descended from Ishmael, through el-Yas,
and Keis Alan the grandsons, and Rabiah, the son of Nizar. The tribe of
Koreish, to which Mohammed belonged, was a branch of el-Yas; The
most important historical events are the foundation of a new religion,
Islam, by Mohammed, and the rapid rise of the Arabs to power. The
454 The International Geography
flight {Hejra) of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina (Friday, July i6,
622 A.D.) is the date from which Moslems commence their era. The
Prophet died in 632, and ten years later the Arabs had conquered Palestine,
Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, and North Africa. At present the
tribes in Hejaz, Yemen and Hassa are subject to Turkey ; those in Nejd
are practically independent, and those between Aden and Muscat pay no
tribute to, and have no communication with, Turkey.
Hejaz and Yemen. — The western coast-range of Arabia, which
continues the mountains of Moab and Edom, has no defined crest line.
Here and there it is broken by broad valleys, and one of these, Wadi Hams,
separates Madian (Midian) from Hejaz. The Turkish province of Hejaz
extends from Madian to Yemen, and is from 60 to 150 miles wide. The
pilgrim routes from Syria and Egypt pass through it, and the southern
end in which Mecca lies is known as the Haram, " sacred territory." The
water is brackish, and, in some of the wells, tepid. Mecca, the birth-
place of Mohammed, is about fifty miles from Jedda, its port on the Red
Sea. A pilgrimage to Mecca is incumbent, once in his life, on every
Moslem, and every year the holy city is crowded with pilgrims, most of
whom travel by sea, and disembark at Jedda, the seat of government.
Medina also lies inland from its port Yambo. The trade, except during
the time of pilgrimage, is small.
The Turkish province of Yemen occupies the south-west corner of
the peninsula. Beyond the Tehama the mountains rise rapidly to a height
of from 6,000 to 10,500 feet. They are cut up by deep ravines, and their
slopes are terraced for the cultivation of coffee, wheat, fruits and vege-
tables. The highlands of Yemen consist of a succession of gently sloping
valleys, which are terraced and cultivated, and form the plateaux^ of
Nejran on the north, Sanaa on the south, and Mareb on the east. The
roads in Yemen are zigzag paths, with massive, perhaps ancient, paving.
The soil, disintegrated trap rock, is rich, and generally bears two crops a
year. The capital, Sanaa (yjv'^oo feet), has a population of about 35,000,
including 5,000 Jews. Its port is Hodeida, where the coffee and hides of
Yemen are shipped. Yemen was the seat of the oldest and most important
of the Arab monarchies, and its merchants traded with India at an early
date.
Aden.^— The British settlement of Aden is almost the most southerly
point on the Arabian coast, being situated in 12^° N. latitude an.l 45° E.
longitude. It is a peninsula of an irregular oval form, of about 15 miles in
circumference, connected with the mainland by a narrow, sandy isthmus.
The town and part of the mihtary cantonments lie in a large crater
enclosed by precipitous hills, the highest peak of which is 1,775 feet above
the sea. The whole place appears utterly sterile, but it is not without a
flora of a very interesting character, containing at least 100 species of plants.
» gy the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair.
Arabia
455
The climate during the north-east monsoon, from October to April, is
cool and agreeable, but during the rest of the year the heat in the crater is
very great, although at Steamer Point, on the western side, the sea breezes
are refreshing.
Aden became a British possession in 1839, when the town was a
complete ruin, with not more than 600 inhabitants. Now it is large and
flourishing, with about 30,000 inhabitants, Arabs, Somalis, Jews and
Indians, without including the garrison and European officials. A large
part of its supplies comes from the British Somaliland protectorate on the
African coast. The harbour is aboiit three miles wide at the entrance, and
affords shelter in all weathers for vessels drawing less than 20 feet. It
is unsurpassed by any on the Arabian or adjacent African coasts, and is
one of the most important coaling stations in the world. Recent defensive
works have made it practically impregnable. Being a free port, like
Gibraltar, it has become the principal entrepot for the trade of all the
neighbouring countries. The natural water supply is very limited, but
condensers have been erected at the
harbour, and the magnificent ancient
reservoirs, capable ot' containing twenty
million gallons of water, have been
thoroughly restored to catch the rare
rainfall.
Perim.' — An importa.nt dependency
of Aden is the island of Perim, at the
mouth of the Red Sea, which was an-
nexed during the war between Great
Britain and France in 1799, when it
was feared that Napoleon contemplated a junction with Tipu Sultan in
India. Subsequently, owing to the increase of steam communication
through the Suez Canal, it became necessary to facilitate the dangerous
navigation of the Red Sea, and Perim was again occupied, a lighthouse
being built upon it. It is not fortified, and its hne harbour is leased by a
private company as a coaling station.
For administrative purposes Aden and Perim are placed under the
government of Bombay.
HadramtJLt (Hazarmaveth), the centre of the ancient trade in myrrh
and frankincense, is a broad valley in the sandstone district which, for one
hundred miles, runs nearly parallel to the south coast, and discharges its
waters into the sea east of Saihut. The capital, Shibam, is in the valley ;
the port is Makalla. East of Hadramut are Dhofar, the old frankincense
country, and Mahra, with fertile coast plains, and mountains clothed with
tropical vegetation.
Oman, a mountainous district, lies between Ras el-Hadd and Cape
Masandam. The principal range, Jebel Akhdar (10,000 feet), is partially
» By the late Sir R. Lambert Playfair.
Fig. 236. — Aden Harbour.
45^ The International Geography
covered with vegetation, and its coast plain is fertile and cultivated.
There is a small trade at Muscat, the capital. The kingdom of Oman
attained its greatest splendour early in this century, when it included the
islands of Sokotra and Zanzibar. Its proximity to India has often involved
it in relations with that country. West of Masandam, and north along
Hassa, a district of the Turkish province of Basra, there is little cultiva-
tion except near Katif and Grane.
Central Arabia. — The northern portion of Central Arabia (i,ooo to
2,500 feet in elevation), which has a hard gravel surface with stunted bush,
and sparse grass, is intersected by two wadis that terminate in the oases
of Jowf and Teinia {Tema). South of Jowf lies a desert of sand, drifted
by the wind into high ridges called Nefud, and sometimes difficult to
cross on account of want of water, and the simum — a circular storm
of heated, sand-laden air — that moves slowly across the desert like
a cyclone. Further south are Harrat Khaibar (5,400 feet), with broad,
well-cultivated valleys ; the fertile depression of Kasim (2,000 feet), and
the Towik plateau, or Nejd. The plateau, over 5,000 feet, is about
Qrie hundred miles wide, and is separated from the coast districts of
Hassa and Katif, on the east, by a desert of reddish sand from fifty to
^ixty miles wide. On the west it is connected with the coast-range by
a ridge about 4,000 feet high. Politically the plateau is divided into
the districts of Sedeir, Woshin, Ared, and Aflaj. South of the plateau are
the hot, fertile district of Yemama, the peaks of Haruk (2,000 feet), and
the Dahna desert of burning, reddish sand, which extends from Yemen to
Oman, and is estimated to cover 50,000 square miles.
STATISTICS OF ASIATIC TURKEY.
Division.
Anatolia
Mesopotamia
Syria
Arabian Provinces
(Estimates.)
Area in
Square Miles.
270,200
100,200
109,500
173,700
Population.
12,005,500
1,350,300
2,711,900
1,050,000
Total Asiatic Turkey
Independent Arabia
653,600
1,230,000
17,117,700
3,500,000
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
Smyrna
Damascus
Aleppo
Beirut
Brusa, .
210,800
180,000
115,000
110.000
70,000
Baghdad
Jerusalem
Kaisariyeh
Trebizond
Sivas . .
65,000
58.000
48.800
45,000
43.100
STANDARD BOOKS.
Erzerum
Mosul . .
Basra . .
Density of
Population.
44
13
25
6
26
42.500
40,000
40,000
Vital Cuinet. " La Turquie d Asie " 4 vols Paris, 1S90-95.
" Syrie. Liban ct Palestine ' Pans, 1901
W. M. Ramsay. --Histoiual Geography ot .Asia Minor " London, 1890.
G. A. Srhith. '• Historical Geography of the Holy Land,'' London, 1897.
Sir R. L. Playfair. " History of Arabia Fcli.x. iiKludmg an account of Aden." Bombay, 1859.
James Bryce. 'Transcaucasia and Ararat.' 4lh edit Loudon, 1896.
Sir C. W. Wilson. " Handbook (Murray s) tor Asia Minoi, Transcaucasia, &c." London, 1895.
K. Kannenberg. • Kleinasiens Xaturschalze ' Beihn, 1897.
H. F. B. Lynch. " Armenia 2 vols. London, 1901.
D. G. Hogarth. " The Nearer East. London, 1902.
CHAPTER XXV.— THE COUNTRIES OF IRAN
I.— PERSIA
By Major-General Sir Frederic (^oldsmid, K.C.S.I.
Position and Boundaries. — Persia is the Pars or Fars of Ezekiel,
a name now given to a southern province of the Shah's kingdom only.
The native name Iran apphes to the whole upland country from Kurdistan
to Afghanistan, of which the older inhabitants were "Aryans." Ancient
Persia, as existing some centuries before the Christian era, was an immense
range of territory extending west and east from the Mediterranean to the
Indus, and north and south from the Jaxartes to the Arabian Sea. Modern
Persia is said to comprehend an area of some 650,000 square miles, on the
western and larger portion of the great Iranian plateau. Yet its extreme
breadth measured along the parallel of 34° N. from the Turkish to the
Afghan frontier, is scarcely 1,000 miles, while the length from the Daman-
i-kuh, the mountain range on the Trans-Caspian Russian frontier, to the
sea coast about the meridian of 57° E., may be reckoned at 900. The
northern frontier is formed by the Aras river, the southern shore of the
Caspian and the Atrek ; the southern is the sea coast, and on the west the
mountains of Kurdistan divide Persia from Turkey. On the east an
irregular, but in parts well-de lined, frontier commences somewhat west of
Herat on the Hari-rud, runs southward bordering Afghanistan, turns
abruptly to the Helmand follows the foot of the Baluchistan hill-range,
and making a curve to the west crosses Mekran southerly to the sea in
longitude 610 53' E.
Configuration. — Persia is an elevated tableland dropping to the
Caspian Sea along nearly one-third of its northern frontier, and to the
Persian Gulf along its southern limit. In the central highlands there are
few rivers, and the country is either composed of parallel mountain ranges
and broad intervening plains, or of irregular mountain masses with fertile
valleys, basins and ravines. About one-third of the area is occupied by
deserts and saline wastes, quite irreclaimable and useless. For irrigation
the plains and valle3's depend on the mountains which collect rain and
snow. The valleys are more fertile than the plains, often affording bright,
picturesque, and grateful prospects, while the latter are usually barren and
sandy wastes, scored, or streaked, as it were, rather than ornamented, with
patches of green oases. With the exception of those dividing the coasts
of the Caspian from the inland plateau, and those bordering the Arabian
Sea and Persian Gulf, the parallel mountain ranges generally stretch from
457
458 The International Geography
north-west to south-east. They are considered to present the same
geological features as the Zagros chain which consists of Cretaceous
nummulitic rocks. The Zagros is the whole mountain range from Ararat
to Shiraz, forming the gigantic frontier wall between Persia and Turkey.
The occurrence of metamorphic rocks has also been noticed, as well as ai\
extensive area of volcanic formations, some of very recent origin. Both
the northern and southern slopes of the lofty Elbiirz range are rich in coal
and iron. The highest peak of this range, which overlooks the southern
shore of the Caspian, is Demavend, a beautiful mountain not less than
19,000 feet in height. Of the southern border-land of the Persian plateau,
Blanford remarks that the part traversed by him appeared to consist of
low ranges running east and west, which, except near the sea, were almost
entirely composed of unfossiliferous sandstones and shales associated with
a few beds of nummulitic limestone, apparently belonging to the older
Tertiary epoch.
Rivers. — Among the few rivers which merit special mention are the
Safid-rud and Karun. The former" flows into the Caspian near Enzeli, the
ordinary port of embarkation for passenger traffic with Russia ; the latter,
from its position and proximity to the Persian Gulf, offers immense
advantages to Indian traffic and is, practically, and that only with
reference to small steamers, the one navigable river in the kingdom.
Many of the rivers of the interior have an inland drainage, flowing into
lakes or losing themselves in the sand, for instance the Helmand, of which
the upper part is wholly in Afghanistan. This lack of rivers is a great bar
to agricultural development ; and the uncertainty of rainfall compels the
cultivator to trust too largely to the primitive karuits or underground
galleries, which conduct water, so long as procurable, from the mountains
to the centres of cultivation. Famine and drought are unfortunately no
uncommon visitations in the " land of the Lion and Sun," and if snow fail
as well as rain, and springs cease to issue, the result is truly deplorable.
When there is irrigation, the productiveness of the soil is remarkable.
Climate. — The climate of Persia varies much according to locality.
In the high tablelands, that is over Persia generally, it is intensely cold in
winter, and though hot in summer, the dry clear heat is temperate
compared to that of Sindh and the Panjab. In the north the lowlands of
the Caspian are covered with forest, and the atmosphere is damp, feverish
and relaxing. The maritime tracts on the south are so dry and barren
that even the hot and violent winds which blow over them afford a certain
amount of relief to the inhabitants during the prevalence of a scorching
summer. Spring and autumn are the best seasons ; October is perhaps, in
its invigorating freshness, the most enjoyable month in Tehran and the
southern lower slopes of the Elburz ; while February, owing to its bitterly
cold winds, is to be avoided by the traveller, posting or otherwise making
his way to the capital from Tabriz.
From the absence of statistics of the rainfall the estimate of experienced
Persia 459
residents must be employed to supplement the returns. Rain is fairly
abundant in the north-western mountains, and on the shores of the Cas-
pian the amount probably varies from about 20 to over 40 inches. At
Tehran the annual fall is about 12 inches; and on the plateau generally
considerably under 10 inches. While more than 14 inches fall at Bushire
on the Persian Gulf, there are less than 6 inches at Yask. Summer is the
driest season. Remains of water-channels, used for irrigation, show how
carefully the scanty supply was husbanded in former days.
Flora and Fauna. — Forests are rare and not dense. No part of the
country is so thickly wooded as the low tract south of the Caspian.
Among the trees are the oak, beech, birch, elm, walnut, plane, sycamore,
ash, yew, box and juniper. Amongst the flowers the roses are particularly
celebrated. Numerous gardens and some beautiful trees are commonly
found in the neighbourhood of large towns, not cared for as in Europe,
yet pleasant in their wildness.
Among the wild animals are the lion, tiger, leopard, lynx, wolf, jackal,
wild ass, wild sheep, gazelle, and deer. The tiger is peculiar to the
Caspian provinces, but is not a man-destroyer.
Among game birds, three kinds of partridge are well
known, the sand grouse, and Hubdrd or common
native bustard. Of domestic animals the horse, mule
and camel occupy an important position ; oxen also
are used for tilling purposes. The " Persian cats,"
so celebrated in Europe, are confined to a few
localities.
People and History.— Persia of to-day, despite Fig. 2^7. —Average popu-
..,...,, , • 1 i • -A lation of a square
its dimmished area, may be said to comprise quite ^^^-^^ . Persia.
ail. much settled and consolidated territory as at
any period of its authentic history. The several invasions by neigh-
bouring nations on its land frontiers, have naturally affected the
character of its population. On the north, Mongol, Tatar and Arab
settlers have mixed with the older inhabitants of Khorasan, and the
Iranian element has lost much of its original purity. Again, on the west
and south-west, the Turkish Kashkai, the Arab Katnisa, and many like
tribes are foreigners amid the descendants of the old Persian stock ; and
the same may be said of the Afghans, Baluchis and peoples who hail from
east of Kerman and Mekran, and even from the Indian peninsula. The
physique of the Persians is intrinsically fine, but seldom fairly developed.
As a rule, the rich and middle classes, in spite of high abilities and
reasoning power, ruin their constitutions by sensuaHty and dissipation;
while the poorer and working classes, with less power of reasoning, but
healthier tastes and habits, have barely sufficient sustenance to give nature
fair play. There are two distinct classes of inhabitants, dwellers in towns
or villages and dwellers in tents. The former class remains stationary
during the greater part of the year, only the richer people leaving the
31
460 The International Geography
towns during the summer heats. The nomads move from place to place
according to the season. They include Arabs, Kurds, Lurs, Gipsies and
Turks ; but are generally classed as Iliyats, and serve their own particular
leaders, all acknowledging a hereditary chief called the Ilkhdni. The close
adherence to ceremony and etiquette, ready adaptation to foreign habits,
together with the capacity for using and love of receiving the finest forms
of flattery, which in the days of Herodotus were found the notable
features of the national character, are still to be observed in the capital.
For an Oriental, the Persian is a bright companion, more active in mind
and body, and more intelligent thap the Turk, and not so much a slave
to custom. He is obstinate and enduring, but without perseverance ;
though often a spiritual dreamer, he refuses to think steadily on common
things.
Ninety per cent, of the people are Mohammedans of the Shihite
division, who maintain that the legitimate Khalifa or successor of the
Prophet was Ali his son-in-law ; in opposition to the views of the Sunnis
to which sect most of the rest of the population belong. This distinction
_ is the cause of constant internal conflict, and is
fatal to that political unity for which a common
faith offers the surest guarantee.
Government. — The Shah is regarded as
Vicegerent of the Prophet ; consequently his
acts are those oi an absolute monarch, and his
will is the acknowledged law of the State.
Oriental despots, especially those professing
Fig. 22,^.— Persian Royal the faith of Islam, have usually the same
standard. besetting proclivities, and are educated on
one pattern, so that the regeneration of a kingdom like Persia can
only be looked for by the exercise of healthy influence from without.
If truth or honesty exists in Persia, it must be looked for in the
poorer and humbler classes, rather than among those who adopt the
veneer of European civilisation. Provinces and districts are sold to
1 13 most lavish bidder, who if not wealthy enough to pay the heavy
vtLiCd himself must do so by practical robbery in the name of taxation.
1 1 is not uncomm.on, however, to make the Hakim, or ruler of one of the
1 irger provinces, perhaps a Shahzada or one of royal birth, only 2
nominal head, and to associate with him a really competent and
intelligent Wazir or Minister, who does the whole work of administration,
and, in his way, does it well. In such cases there is a kind of real justice
dispensed. With Turkey on one flank, Afghanistan and Baluchistan on the
other, and the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf on the south, Persia finds her
northern frontier wholly occupied by Russia, and Russian influence in
trade and in the development of the country is predominant all over
the north. The profession of a common Mohammedanism does not
njcessarily draw the Turk or Afghan towards his Persian brother, and
Persia 461
there is comparatively little intercourse with west and east. On the sea
side, or southern line of boundary, the United Kingdom has more direct
relations than any other State and dominates the commerce of the south.
Not only is Indo-Persian traffic facilitated by ready communication with
Bombay and Karachi ; but the existence of a British Protectorate for the
waters west of Ormuz and the presence of a British Consul-General at
Bushire, enable the Shah's Government to maintain its authority on the
northern littoral of the Persian Gulf.
Trade and Communications. — The natural products of Persia are
tobacco, silk, wool, cotton, grain (mainly wheat and barley), wine and
opium. In a more restricted sense- may be added rice, jute and sugar ;
but the cane has been indifferently cared for, and beetroot has not been
made freely available to supply its place. There are also many medicinal
and dye yielding plants ; gums such as assafoetida, rhubarb and liquorice
for the most parts wild and abundant. Fruit of many kinds esteemed in
Europe and Asia is good as well as cheap and plentiful.
The carpets are justly celebrated among Persian manufactures. Those
made in Kurdistan,* Khorasan, Ferahan(a 20' E. to Chinese Turkestan in 74° 50', runs jaggedly side by side with
Russian territory for 1,000 miles. Zulfikar is in 35° 35' N., and from that
point the line in irregular loops gains the Oxus at Kamiab, which is more
than 300 miles from Herat. The frontier then runs up the historic river
and its main feeder, the Ab-i-Panja, to Lake Victoria. Its farthest north
point is at the top of the Oxus curve (38° 35' N.) caused by the northward
thrust of the great spurs of the Hindu Kush ; its most southerly is opposite
Chitral where barely ten miles of mountain land divides Russian from
British authority. Some 60 miles eastward of Lake Victoria this long-
stretched northern boundary ends at a peak in the Sirikol range, which
divided the Chinese from the Little Pamir and not far from Wakhi-jui, the
joining place of mountains.
The south of Afghanistan is bordered by tracts controlled actually or
nominally by the government of India. The boundary should be drawn
in crimson, for blood has been lavishly shed to mark it out. From the
Sirikol mountains the wavy line keeps a south-westerly course for 900
miles, until at a spot south-west of Quetta (29° 50' N.) it alters to nearly dae
4^6 The International Geography
west, being carried across the great arid desert common to southern
Afghanistan and western Baluchistan. At first this boundary follows the
crest of the Hindu Kush as far as the lofty Dorah and Mandal Passes
leading to Chitral and Kafiristan respectively. It then runs along the
eastern watershed of the Bashgul valley of Kafiristan which separates that
country from Chitral. Passing over the Chitral river just below the village
of Arnawi, and, still upon a mountain range, the line borders the Kunar
valley on the east, and crosses the main road between India and Kabul
west of the Khaiber Pass nearly 40 miles from Peshawar. Next, by the aid
of the Saf ed Koh mountains, it forms a western triangular out-thrust bringing
the Kuram valley into British territory. Thence the frdntier marks
traverse the territory of wild tribesmen more than 100 miles west of the
Indus, and at the latitude of the British frontier outpost of New Chaman,
which is half-way between Quetta
and Kandahar, that distance is
doubled. From the Quetta district
the remainder of the ' southern
boundary towards Baluchistan is
over desolate wastes of sand, for
some distance parallel to the Hel-
mand, the only considerable river
of its latitude between the Tigris
and the Indus. The western or
Persian frontier, about 450 miles
long, starts in 60° 50' E., and after
running through the great Seistan
swamps, where the Helmand river
ignominiously terminates, it turns
northward again, and with little
further variation limits Persian
Khorasan and passes with the
Hari-rud river to Zulfikar.
Surface and Communications. — The lowest elevations to be shown
in an orographical map of Afghanistan as under 4,000 feet would be the
Kabul valley at and below Jelalabad, and all the country south and west
of a line drawn between New Chaman and Herat ; the highest parts (over
7,000 feet) of the Afghan plateau are great tracts just west of Kabul and
south of Ghazni. Far from the sea, Afghanistan is difficult to enter;
where huge mountain chains and toilsome passes do not hinder the
traveller, there appears heartbreaking sand which, in the south-west of
the country, is swept during summer by a deadly hot wind. Two of the
chief trade roads are those from Mashad and from Bokhara to Herat, the
centre of a well irrigated and richly cultivated district, which is connected
with fanatical, unruly Kandahar by a main highway of commerce touching
at Farra and crossing the Helmand river at Girishk. There is traffic
Fig.
•600ft LZJ Under I500fi.[llll500t0 6000ft
^^eOOOto 12000ft. ■ over 12000ft
242. — Configiivation of Afghanistan
and the Pamirs.
Afghanistan 467
between Bokhara and Kabul by way of Balkh (Bactria, the mother of
cities) and by Khulm. Chief of all the caravan routes is the grim Khaiber
Pass, naked and savage, two marches west of Peshawar, the terminus of
the Indian railway system, and a famous bazar for Central Asian fabrics.
This historic pass has resounded to the clangour of every great invasion of
India, except that of Alexander, who passed it to the north, until the West
sent its stubborn warriors up from the sea. It is held by sections of the
Afridis who have blackmailed every Indian dynasty for centuries. They
periodically exact a tribute of slaughter from the Indian government in
addition to the customary tale of isolated murders ; but the passionless
grasp of British authority is closing upon them inexorably. Kabul, a
sorrowful name to the British, 190 miles west of Peshawar, stands on the
Kabul river nearly 6,000 feet above the sea. There lives the despotic
Amir ; its narrow winding streets are blocked with the picturesque katilas
of Oriental merchants. It has modern arsenals and a gun factory ; but all
Afghanistan is of political rather than of commercial interest. The Gomal
Pass, the main traffic road between the Panjab and Ghazni, is held on both
sides by ruffianly Waziris. To it the merchant adventurers from near
Ghazni tight their way annually, then lay down their arms and trade
peaceably in India, to return and resume their weapons and tight their way
home again before the end of the year. Still further south is the Bolan
Pass, through which the railway runs to Quetta and New Chaman. New
Chaman, the furthest British military post, is about the same distance from
Kandahar (80 miles) as the Russians are at present from Herat. A
trader's road leads down the Helmand valley to Persia from Kandahar,
a square walled city with a history remarkable, even in Afghanistan, for
hatred and strife. Thither all western roads lead, making it hardly less
important as a guardian of commerce than it is as a strategic fortress.
Tribes. — The Afghan State comprises tribes great and small, mixed
with odd fragments of peoples, the whole loosely held together as a
cementless Afghan field-wall is held together, wonderfully but precariously.
First comes the great dominant tribe of the D 11 ranis. Next, the ferocious
Ghilzais, a Turki people with traditions of past ascendancy, who exter-
minated the British force retreating from Kabul in 1842. Then follow
Aimaks and Hazaras of Tatar blood, Iranian Tajiks, Hindkis, yats and the
mixed folk of the towns. The Usheks of Afghan Turkestan were not one
people, but a confederation of numerous Turk and Tatar tribes. Less
numerous are Persians, transplanted from their native land in the eighteenth
century, Arabs, Jews and derelicts. Finally come the Kafirs, the interest-
ing non-Moslem people of the Hindu Kush who, after centuries of savage
freedom, were subjugated by the Amir of Kabul in 1895. They are
probably the descendants of tribal fugitives from eastern Afghanistan,
hurled forth, like sparks from the anvil, by the fervid swordsmen of Islam
eight hundred years ago. Descending, no doubt calamitously, upon the
feeble folk inhabiting the trackless slopes and perilous valleys of modern
32
4^8 The International Geography
Kafiristan— themselves possibly prehistoric refugees before a stronger
people— these fugitive pagans, aided by the terrible difficulties of their
country, maintained themselves in a state of chaotic independence against
all the fanatical crusades of the surrounding Mohammedans, until Abdur
Rahman, the great king of the Afghans, brought them under his stern
discipline.
The statistics of Afghanistan are mere guesses, as no accurate survey
has been made, nor any attempt at a census.
STATISTICS.
(Approximate Estimates.)
Area of Afghanistan (in square miles) , . , , 250,000
Population 4,ocx),ooo
Density of population per square mile 16
Population of Kabul 140,000
„ Kandahar 15,000 to 100,000
„ Herat 12,000
„ Ghazni 3,000 to 10,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
H. W. Bellew. "Afghanistan and the Afghans." London. 1879.
A. H. MacMahon. " The Southern Borderlands of Afghanistan." London, 1897.
Sir G. S. Robertson. "The Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush." London, 1896.
C. E. Yate. " Northern Afghanistan." London, 1888.
' " Khurasan and Sistan." London, 1901.
Sir T. H. Holdicb. " The Indian Borderland." London, 1901.
CHAPTER XXVI.— INDIA AND CEYLON
I.— THE EMPIRE OF INDIA
By Sir Athelstan Baines, C.S.I.
Name. — The earliest people of whose migration into the country
we are now in the habit of calling India we have any historical
knowledge entered by the north-west, and gave the name of Situiliu, the
*' flood " or " ocean," to the first great river which obstructed their south-
ward progress. In the mouth of the Iran, or Persians, their kinsmen and
rivals, the initial S was softened into H, and the Greeks, who became
acquainted with the country through the Persians, dropped, in their turn,
the aspirate, calling the frontier river the Indus, and the country beyond
it, India. Their example was followed by the early geographers and
travellers of the West, and from them the name has descended to our day.
It has never been recognised, however, by the inhabitants of the country
itself, who continue to make use of their various racial and topical terms,
restricting the modern Persian Hindustan to a comparatively small tract
in the north-west of what Europeans know as India. The later and more
comprehensive title, accordingly, may be taken as connecting the sphere
of British rule, by which a mere geographical expression has been
converted into a definite political unit.
Position and Extent. — India extends from Mekran, in the west, to
the Mekong in the east ; from Cape Comorin, in the south, to Kashmir
and the foot of the Pamirs in the north. By latitude it would stretch from
Algiers to thci Gold Coast, or from Venezuela to North Carolina, whilst
from west to east it extends over nearly forty degrees of longitude. It
may be roughly described as a triangular peninsula, lying almost wholly
within the tropic of Cancer, surmounted by a larger continental region,
with considerable extensions east and west, beyond the base of the
peninsula. The coast-line of the latter, in spite of its length, is singularly
devoid of indentations, except at the mouths of the larger rivers and
towards the northern portion of the west coast. The only harbours
accordingly, except for light-draft vessels, are found a little way up the
deltas of the chief rivers, or where, as at Bombay, a group of islands
affords adequate shelter from the open sea. The eastern coast, in par-
ticular, is provided with little more than a few imperfectly protected
roadsteads. The southern portion of the west coast is distinguished by a
series of backwaters, or lagoons, parallel with the coast, and affording a
safe and convenient waterway for small vessels, when the season of high
winds makes the ocean unnavigable.
469
470 The International Geography
The Himalaya. — Although India is so sparingly provided with
natural facilities for maritime commerce, it is remarkable that from the
earliest times of which we have records, all peaceful intercourse between
that country and the rest of the civilised world has been by sea, whilst,
with the single exception of the British occupation, which was due to
naval supremacy, all hostile invasions have been by land ; and this, in
spite of the immense mountain barrier on the north, which constitutes
the principal feature in the configuration of India. This mountain system
cannot accurately be termed a chain, consisting as it does of several
parallel and converging ranges, intersected by enormous valleys and
extensive tablelands. The nucleus of the system is situated just beyond
the Indian frontier, in the region known as the Pamirs, or locally, as the
" roof of the world." From
this centre to the high
land round the sources
of the Irawadi, in the
east, an unbroken wall of
mountains extends along
the north of India, pierced
only bypasses from 17,000
to 19,000 feet above the
sea, overtowered by peaks
reaching an elevation of
from 23,000 to 29,000 feet.
The latter is the culmi-
nating point of the Earth's
surface at present ascer-
tained by scientific means.
The Himalaya thus con-
stitutes a continuous wall,
which, if transported to
Europe, would link Cader
WBK^
^^^Sh
■
■ill
^8
Z^m
r\
--N}
wS'^\
1 -K
(^
BENGAL '
\
1
•
•
\zi/
v\
..•
V^
Fig. 243. — Configuration of India.
Idris with the Caucasus. Flanking ranges are thrown out from the main
mass into Burma on the east, and Afghanistan on the west (Fig. 242). They
are of comparatively small elevation, however, and are traversed by many
passes, presenting no insuperable obstacles to traffic. It is through these
cracks in her armour that India has been from time immemorial subject to
invasion from the north-west, and Burma from the north. This rampart
is also of physical importance to India, for it exercises a powerful influence
on the climate and rainfallc •
The Plains. — Immediately below the Himalaya He the plains of the
great rivers of India, the course of which determined, in prehistoric times,
the direction of the earliest civilisation from west-central Asia, as to which
we have still only the shadowy and mythological traditions of Brahmanic
writings to inform us. Of these rivers, two main streams and two affluents
India
471
take their rise to the north of the Himalaya, and all four, strangely enough,
from within a comparatively small lacustrine district between the main
range of the Himalaya and the tableland of Tibet. The Indus, after a
north-western course, bursts through the mountains at an acute angle,
collects in a deep and rapid stream the tributaries which give their name
to the Panjab, or " land of the five rivers," and ends by performing for the
great province of Sindh, so called from its chief feature, the office which
Egypt owes to the Nile. The Satlaj, rising south of the Indus, joins the
latter, after a very short course to the north of the Himalaya, and a long
one through the Panjab. Starting due east from its source, the Sanpu
enters Assam, at the extreme north-east of India proper, bends sharply
south and west until free from the mountains, and finally, under the name
of the Brahmaputra, mingles its turbid waters with those of the Ganges
in the innumerable channels of the great Bengal delta. The third great
river alone rises south of the Himalaya, and though popular tradition and
practice must be accepted, and the stream of the combined Jamua and
Ganges be held to be the main contributary to the sacred river known by
the latter name, it appears that the volume of the tributary which rises on
the north of the range, known as the Gliogra, entitles it to that honour.
The richness of the two great rivers, the Ganges and tiie Brahmaputra, in
fertilising silt, is the making of lower Bengal, and the amount deposited
every year is estimated at not less than 40,000 million cubic feet, enabling
the cultivator to dispense with manure of any sort over the inundated area.
Sinrlarly, Sindh and the north-west of India are the gift of the Indus, for,
though the inundation fertilises only the lower part of its course, the canals
which take off from the upper, render cultivation possible where rain is
too sparse to be of material aid to it.
The Vindhyas and the Dekkan. — The great plains are separated
from the rest of India by a belt of liilly, rather than mountainous, country,
running, at different elevations, from coast to coast. The country rises
slowly from the Gangetic valley to the plateaux of Central India, edged
by the Vindhya range, below which, on the south, the Narbada river seeks
the Gulf of Cambay. Parallel to that range runs the Saipura range, similarly
bounded by the valley of the Tapti. Eastwards the country is more
broken, the plateaux smaller, and the wide but irregular belt of hills ends
in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Bengal, after giving birth to only one
river of considerable size, the Mahanadi. On the west, the large plain
of almost rainless country called the Indian desert, divides the tablelands
of Central India from the valley of the Indus and the small peninsulas of
Kachh and Kathiawar.
The core of the peninsula proper is the Dekkan Plateau. This may
be said to begin from the southern edge of the Tapti valley. Its limits
are well defined on the west by the range called the Sahyadri, or Ghats
(steps), from their abrupt rise out of the strip of coastal plain, which
extends, with varying breadth, to the extreme south of Malabar. In like
47 2 The International Geography
manner, the plateau ends abruptly in the south in the mass of the Nilgiil
or Blue Mountains. The surface slopes gradually from the top of the
Ghats to the eastward, and finally subsides into the flat coast of the Bay of
Bengal. A broken line of hilly country runs parallel with the coast from
the Central Belt southwards, to which the name of the Eastern Ghats is
sometimes given, though it possesses none of the special features of the
western system bearing that title. The Dekkan is traversed by two
principal rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna, rising in the Ghats and
falling into the Bay of Bengal. To the southward the Kavari seeks the sea
after a short passage through the southern portion of Mysore and south of
Madras. No stream of importance enters the Indian Ocean south of the
Tapti, and the almost unbroken chain of the Ghats makes the uplands of
the Dekkan difficult of access from the coast, except by a few passes
through which roads have been made by the British. The south-
east of the peninsula, on the other hand, is a comparatively level
plain, of great fertility everywhere within range of the waters of the river
deltas
Burma.— Finally, the province of Burma consists, first, of the coast line
from Arakan to Tenasserim, broken only by the delta of the Irawadi and the
bay formed by the mouth of the Salwin river. North and east of the
Irawadi the country is 'hilty and thickly covered with forest as far as the
borders of Assam and Bengal on the west, and the frontier of China and
Siam on the north and east. The Irawadi attracts the population and
commerce of central and upper Burma, leaving a fringe of semi-civilised
tribes on each side.
Geology. — The geology of India determines the general characteristics
of the main divisions specified above. So far as the Himalaya have been
explored, they appear to contain three systems, chiefly of gneiss mixed
with mica-schist in the more northern portion, and with syenite and
granite in two bands in the central range. In the lower ranges to the
south, the beds are often found inverted, with old gneiss overlying sedi-
mentary rock. The sub- Himalayan system of later Tertiary, includes the
SiwaliU formations, well known for their remarkable deposits of fossil
mammals. In the Salt range of the western Panjab, which is in some
respects a continuation of this region, a uniform succession of formations
from Silurian downwards is found. The two great river-systems of the
Indus and the Ganges are separated by no marked ranges, and the rise
from the sea-level to the watershed is very gradual, a slight change in
elevation would suffice to turn the upper waters of one into the other.
Such changes have probably occurred in times past. The Plain, as a
whole, belongs apparently to the Eocene period, antecedent, therefore, to
the formation of the Himalaya, which was upheaved in later Tertiary
times. The close resemblance, however, in the outline of these two
geographical features, seems to indicate that the depression of the
plain is related to the upheaval of the mountains. The Central Belt of
India
473
hilly country shows three systems of gneiss, overlaid with transitional
rock succeeded by the Palaeozoic, possibly pre-Silurian, formation of
the upper and lower Vindh)^a, from which the older rock is sharply
demarcated towards the east, but less well defined westwards. The
sandstone and shale of this formation is remarkable for its entire freedom
from fossils. On the other hand, the Gondwana series eastward and
southward of the Vindhya, contains vegetable remains of considerable
interest and value, while the portion towards Bengal ends in the coal-
bearing strata known as the Damodar series. The series is interesting,
too, from its containing marks of glacial action, which one would not
expect to find at comparatively low elevations within the tropics. The
greater part of the Dekkan is occupied by the basaltic formation of the
Cretaceous period, known as the Dekkan Trap, some of which is more
than 6,000 feet thick. The denuded edges of the flows form some of the
most prominent hill ranges, and the scarped tops have been, from time
immemorial, utilised, with the aid of a few wings and flanking walls, as
forts of vast extent, and, in the days of short-range artillery, of no incon-
siderable strength. The disintegrated basalt, weathered out, forms the
fertile black soil to which the Dekkan owes its repute, in parts, as a cotton
and wheat-growing tract. From the point where the Ghats approach the
sea, on the west, the basalt is fringed, and in some places overlaid, by
laterite, and the same feature is found also along the greater part of the
east coast, south of the Mahanadi delta.
In Burma, the early Tertiary prevails in Arakan, or along the northern
coast. Between the Irawadi and the Sittang rivers the formation changes
to Miocene, with fossil vegetation of probably the Pliocene or newer
Tertiary, in the western portion of that tract. Tenasserim differs from the
rest of Burma in its formations. In the north is the lower Carboniferous ;
in the centre, Silurian ; and in the south, probably Tertiary, and also coal-
bearing.
Minerals. — The mineral resources of India, although of little im-
portance in comparison with those above ground, are not scanty. Coal
exists in large fields in the Damodar valley of western Bengal, where
it is in good demand for the railway ; in the Narbada valley it is
being worked for local use ; there are fields too in the hilly country
of Chutia Nagpur, south of the Ganges valley, which have not yet
been fully explored, and finally, attention has been directed to a supply
in the South Godavari valley. Beyond this, the peninsula is coalless.
Small fields of excellent quality, however, have been lately discovered and
worked in the far north-east of Assam. Iron is found in considerable
purity in the coal-bearing tracts of Bengal, and near Salem in the Madras
Presidency, but it is little worked because of the want of limestone within
easy range for smelting. Gold exists in small quantities in the valleys
of the Himalaya and the Central Belt, where it is washed by a few of the
lowest classes. In Mysore it is more plentiful, Tin is confined to the
474 The International Geography
south of Burma, and copper and lead chiefly to the Himalaya. The plains
of North Bihar yield a good deal of saltpetre. Salt is both dug from the
rock in the western Panjab, and obtained
by evaporation along the coasts and from
the brine lakes in Rajputana. Rubies are
still found in a small tract in Upper Burma,
but the diamond of India, though known to
legend, is now scarcely extant. Petroleum,
the use of which for lighting and lubricating
has largely increased in India during the
last twenty years, is found chiefly in Burma,
upper Assam, and parts of the Panjab, but
does not yet compete successfully with the
imported supply.
Climate. — The peninsula lies wholly
south of the tropic, whilst the continental
portion of India stretches nearly 14° to the
north of it. The range of temperature is
accordingly very wide. (See isotherms of
Asia, Figs. 228, 229, 230.) Along the coasts
it is high but equable throughout the year,
and the air is charged with moisture. Inland,
the plateaux show a wider annual range,
and are dry and hot during one part of the
year, dry and cold during another, with a
comparatively short interval of warm wet
weather. Except along the coasts, therefore,
the mean annual temperature is a meteoro-
logical figure of little significance in the life
of the people,-and the extreme range between the mean of the warmest
and of the coolest month is a factor of
importance. This range, in upper Sindh, is
as great as 30° F. in the year ; in the Panjab,
27°, and in the Dekkan, 25° ; whilst in Cal-
cutta it is but 16°, fafling along the west
coast to 12°. The variations in the annual
rainfall are still more remarkable. Through-
out India the fall is periodic, and the
prevailing influence is the air-current, or
monsoon, which sets in from the Indian
Ocean about May, lasting until the middle
or end of September. The direction of this
air -current, determined by the updraught
caused by the heated surface of the con-
tinent, is from the south-west. Its strength appears to depend to a
F" Jan Hi Mai Ap«. May. Juk. Jul Aug Sep Oor Nov Oic. ir.j
90
85
80
75
70
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
— ...
..,
■j^
— '
'-^
—
—
— '
laZ,
—
- -■
,^
""
**>
'-*
■
-
i
1
'''
m
"*'
mm
'M
■€1
M
i
'■Mi
w
'm.
Cochin TRicHiNOPou
Fig. 244. — Teiupnahire and Rain-
fall of Cochin and Trichinopoli.
.-..„.. .„„.....^.M «.....,.....,..)
100
90
BS
80
75
70
68
60
58
50
45
40
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
6
4
3
2
/'
7^
X
■-/
/_
5,
I-
_.
1^
L
--
— .
- ..
.^.
V
__
y
'
\
\
/
1
—
t\
\
/
/
^
fwn
:--
—
'
_
"M
MuLTAN Calcutta
Fig. 245. — Teniperaiure and Rain-
fall of Midtan and Calcutta.
India
475
-Rainfall of India dtiritig South'
West Monsoon.
considerable extent upon the snowfall upon the immense mountain system
of the north, the cooling influence of the heavy fall tending to weaken
the force of the moisture-bearing
wind as it approaches the wall of
the Himalaya, which bars its further
progress. Before reaching this,
however, it has to encounter the
serious resistance of the Ghats,
directly across its main direction,
depriving it of a considerable pro-
portion of its moisture in favour of
the coast strip, to the detriment of
the highland of the Dekkan imme-
diately to the east of the impedi-
ment. Access to the plains of the
southern part of the Gangetic sys-
tem is afforded by the wide valleys
of the Tapti and Narbada, and the
main air-current, which does not
'each the plains of north-western India direct, is deflected and condensed
m. its attempt to surmount the almost vertical expanse of from 5,000 to
14,000 feet of perennial snow presented by the Himalaya. A second
branch of the same air-current, however, finds its way up the Bay of
Bengal, and, after bestowing a plentiful watering to the low-lying fieLls
of the great Delta, and on the plains of Lower Burma, meets the Assam
range of mountains in full force, resulting in an annual fall of little less
than 500 inches, and establishing
on one occasion the "record" fall
of 805 inches. Later in the year
a sort of reaction sets in, and thir.b^ ir *^ y^^
^v^
!^>te-
S 1 A M
%. '^ r|""
KV
1 ^^^
7^
^.^\ Jf"
^/ M.I...
^0 .,,0 «o<
C.H.
Fig
The Divisions of French
Indo-China.
5i8 The International Geography
plain of Annam. They are a race of tillers of the soil, of small stature and
feeble appearance, but are hard-working and peaceable. From the earliest
centuries of our era they have been under the influence of the Chinese,
whom they resemble in their religious beliefs (ancestor-worship,
Confucianism and a modified Buddhism), and in their written language.
The spoken language, on the contrary, is entirely different, although, as in
Chinese, the musical value of the tones is of great importance. Annamite
society is characterised by absolute equality ; the family is strongly
organised and paternal authority has preserved all its strength. The
Cambodians or Khmers were a powerful nation in the eighth century ;
their ancient greatness is attested by many magnificent ruins, including
in particular those of Angkor-wat, situated not far from the great lake
Tonle Sap. Much taller and stronger than the people of Annam, the
Khmers are yet an apathetic people, and were probably destined before
the French occupation to be subject to the yoke of their more energetic
neighbours the Annamites or the Siamese. The influence of India
appears very clearly in their social organisation, which is based on the
system of caste ; in their religion, a mixture of
Brahmanism, Buddhism and old animistic beliefs;
and in their ancient monuments. Finally the Lao
people and the inhabitants of the Shan States form
a branch of the Thais, the same race as the Siamese
and the Burmese. A puzzling group of this race,
taller and less yellow than the Annamites and of a
much less marked Mongolian character, also in-
Fig. 26i.-Averagepop- ^^^^^.its the high valleys of Tongking under the name
ulation of a square of Thos. They are a gentle and an idle people, and
Thina ^"^'"'^ ^"'^''' appear to be of very mixed descent. Besides the
three great groups, some very primitive tribes,
who seem to be descended from the ancient inhabitants of Indo-
China driven out by conquering races, are found scattered through the
forests and on the barren mountains. These tribes are called Peunong
amongst the Cambodians, Moi by the Annamites, and Khas by the Laos,
each of these names meaning simply savages. Some of them resemble the
Indonesians of the Sunda Islands, and especially the Dyaks of Borneo.
There is also a Malay tribe known as the Tsiani and the Meas in the high
regions of the north, who seem to have come recently from southern China
where they were known as Man. The remnants of ancient peoples who
have been driven to take- refuge in the wooded and unhealthy mountains
have best preserved their original character, those living in the more
open ground have been absorbed by Chinese civilisation. The Chinese
dominate the native trade of the whole of French Indo-China.
Productions.— Cochin-China is at present the most prosperous part
of the French Asiatic possessions, as it has been colonised for the longest
time. It produces scarcely anything but rice, more than three-quarters of
French Indo-China 519
the cleared land being devoted to that crop, which is favoured by the
periodical inundation of the country and the remarkable uniformity of the
seasons. During the twenty years preceding 1895 the production has
increased six-fold, and since 1899 the annual export has exceeded 600,000
tons, forming 90 per cent, in value of the total exports of the country. It
is sent mainly to Hongkong, Singapore and to France. The other parts of
French Indo-China are still only to be viewed as lands of promise. In
Annam there are untouched forests of teak, ironwood and lacquer trees,
covering the great mountain range and the plateaux ; the valleys on the
coast only produce a little rice on account of the want of suitable low
ground, but they already yield a certain amount of cinnamon, pepper,
cotton (at Than Hoa), sugar-cane, coffee in the plantations near Turan,
and tea ; the last two products appear to have some future before them.
Tongking produces rice principally, but on account of the density of
population, notwithstanding a very large production, the quantity available
for export is much less than from Cochin-China. Silk, cotton, oils and
lacquer are also produced, and much is hoped from the cultivation of
coffee, tobacco and jute. The elevated northern districts of Luang Pra-
bang, Tranh-Ninh and Sib-Song-Panna are on the border of the tropical
and temperate regions, and produce some of the products of each.
They promise ultimately good returns from the forests of teak and
Jther valuable woods, from gum-benjamin, cardamoms, cinnamon and
,ea plantations ; while there are great undeveloped mineral deposits
including gold, iron, antimony, copper and lead.
The thinly peopled Lao countr}-, poorly provided with means of
communication, without any great demand for trade on the part of its
inhabitants, and still tributary to Siam commercially, is in the very
infancy of colonial enterprise. It is known, however, that cotton grows
there without being cultivated.
Ail along the coast of the China Sea the fisheries are actively pro-
secuted, whole fleets of junks, usually manned by Chinamen, carrying
on the trade. Coal mining has already made some progress in Tongking,
the coal of Hongay being exported to the extent of -276,000 tons in
1899, and going to Hongkong, Canton, Singapore, and even San Fran-
cisco. The Coal Measures of the Bay of Along appear again on the Red
River at Lao Kay, near the frontier.
Trade and Towns. — As in many of the French Colonies, the trade
of Indo-China is mainly carried on with foreign countries. The imports
of cotton yan?, textiles, manufactured articles, machinery and petroleum
are of Australian, British, American and even Japanese origin. Energetic
efforts have recently been made to open up internal trade in two directions.
First new transverse routes are being opened across Annam in order
to reach the Lao country and the Shan States (Luang Prabang), starting
from Vinh, Turan and Saigon. A railway between Saigon and xMytho
is being extended to Tantinh. Navigation on the Me Kong has been
520 The International Geography
facilitated by works in the Island of Khone and by laying down buoys. The
second object is to develop trade between Tongking and Yunnan by the Red
River, and so stimulate commerce with southern China. For this purpose
a steamer service has been estabHshed on the Red River, various treaties
have been made with China, French consulates established at Mong-tse
and Long-cheou and a port has been acquired in the peninsula of Lei-chu
opposite Hainan. A railway runs from Haiphong to Hanoi and by Phulang-
thuong and Lang Son, to the frontier of the Chinese province of Kwang-si.
Another line joins Hanoi to Ninbinh, and will be prolonged to Vinh.
In Tongking the life of the country is mainly concentrated in the
capital Hanoi, and in Haiphong, the port which monopolises the whole
external trade in spite of its natural disadvantages. In Annam the port
of Turan (Tourane) is one of the few really good harbours on the coast,
and is near coal-fields which assure its future. Saigon in Cochin-China,
where there is a French population of 2,000, not only concentrates
the trade of Cambodia and southern Indo-China, but is one of the
smartest and most attractive towns in the Far East.
Tongking
Cochin-China
Cambodia
Annam
Laos Country
Total of French Indo-China
STATISTICS
{Estimates about 190c.)
Area, sq. miles.
46,400
22,000
37,400
52.100
98,000
. 255.900
Population.
7,500,000
2,300,000
1,500,000
6,400,000
500,000
18,200,000
Density of Populatio;
per sq. mile.
162
145
40
121
5
71
ANNUAL TRADE OF FRENCH INDOCHINA (in pounds sterling).
1893. 1900.
Imports 3,060,000 ., 7.440,000
Exports 4,124,000 .. 6,240,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Doudart de Lagree and F. Garnier. "Vovage d'exploration en Indo-Chine, 1866-1868."
2 vols, text and atlas. Paris, 1872.
C. B. Norman. "Tonkin or France in the Far East." London, 1895.
A. Bouinais and H. Paulus, " La France en Indo-Chine." Paris, 1890.
Prince Henri d'Orleans, "Autour du Tonkin." Paris, 1894.
J. de Lanessan. " La colonisation fran(;aise en Jndo-Chine." Paris, 1895.
Cupet. Friquegnon and Malglaive (Members of the Pavie expedition). " Carte de ITndo
Chine, i : 2,000,000." Paris, 2nd edit., 1899.
P. Pelet. " Atlas des Colonies Fran(;aises." Paris.
L. Aymonier. " Le Cambodge," 2 vols. Paris, 1900-01.
L. de Reinach. " Le Laos." 2 vols. Paris, 1901.
CHAPTER XXVIII.— THE CHINESE EMPIRE
By George G. Chisholm, M.A., B.Sc.
I.— CHINA PROPER
Position and Extent. — The Chinese Empire is made up of China
Proper and the bordering provinces of Manchuria, Mongolia, Eastern
Turkestan, and Tibet, The total area is above 4,000,000 square miles, and
the empire occupies the greater part of central and eastern Asia ; but the
importance of China Proper much exceeds that of the vast thinly-peopled
provinces which lie to the west and north.
China Proper is a country which, in spite of its vast extent (above
1,500,000 square miles) and great diversity of physical features, is on the
whole well marked off by natural boundaries (bounding tracts, however,
rather than boundary lines) from surrounding countries. And although
including foreign ethnical elements in considerable numbers, it is yet
inhabited by a people remarkably homogeneous in race, language, customs
and ideas. On the north, the boundary runs along mountains or through
sparsely peopled steppes, separating it from Mongolia and Manchuria.
There are extensive remains of a great wall built about 212 B.C., which
long formed the frontier on the north, and still does so exactly or
approximately in tlie west, though now China Proper extends far beyond
it east of the middle portion of the Hwang-ho. On the west, China is
bordered by the lofty tableland of Tibet. On the south-west it is divided
from the Indian peninsula and Burma by a succession of lofty mountain
ranges and profound valleys. On the south, the boundary runs in part
right across these mountains and valleys, and partly along the water-
parting between the basins of the Si-kiang (West River) and the Song-koi
(Red River).
General Configuration. — Broadly speaking China is composed of
two extensive low plains in the north-east, and of mountainous and hilly
country in the west and south, together with an isolated mountainous
peninsula between the Gulf of Pechili and the Yellow Sea. The two
plains differ very greatly in extent. The larger extends from the Gulf of
Hangchou to the mountains north of Peking, a total length of about 700
miles ; the greatest width, near the parallel of 32° N., being about 400
miles. A large part of this plain is so low and level as to be very liable to
inundation, the rivers being only with difliculty restrained within their
banks. The most destructive of such inundations have been caused by the
521
Fig. 264 — The changes oj the Hwaiig-ho
^2 2 The International Geography
changes in the bed of the Hwang-ho, " China's sorrow," which has altered
its course, or had its course altered, at least eleven times within the last
twenty-five centuries, flowing now north, now south of the mountainous
peninsula of Shantung. The minor plain is that of the middle Yangtse and
the lower Han, comprising all the
lake district of the region of the
great zigzag of the Yangtse be-
tween Ichang and Kiukiang. It is
cut off from the larger plain by
the comparatively low hills con-
taining the water-parting between
the Yangtse and the Hwai-ho.
Both in length and breadth it
measures about 140 miles.
The mountainous country in
the west and south is partly com-
posed of an intricate system of
mountain chains and spurs, with
narrow intervening valleys, and
partly of more undulating country with broader valleys, the latter type
predominating in the south-east. The highland regions of the north and
south present another contrast. The valleys of northern China are all to
a large extent filled with loess. This is an earthy deposit generally of a
yellow colour, differing from clay in being highly calcareous and from
marl in being remarkably porous, and that in a peculiar manner. The
pores are vertical, and are believed to be due to the former presence of
the stems of plants rich in lime. This characteristic brings about a
tendency to weather into vertical precipices. Equally characteristic of
the loess are horizontal terraces, a structure not so easy to explain. The
loess of China is believed to be due to the gradual accumulation of dust
blown from the interior tablelands of Asia. In some places this fertile
soil is cultivated even at the height of 8,000 feet. In southern, or at
least south-eastern China, on the other hand, the higher slopes are
generally too steep for cultivation, and, notwithstanding the warmer
climate, cultivation is in most parts confined to the zone below 2,000
feet ; but in the upper ■ part of the basin of the Yangtse-kiang, in
the region where numerous tributaries converge from north and south
before the great bow-like bend to the north, the presence of a
rich red soil, filling what is hence known as the Red Basin, has caused
most of the hill and mountain sides to be terraced for cultivation to
their tops.
From an orographical point of view a marked dividing line between
the mountains of northern and southern China is formed by the easterly
continuation of the Kwen-lun range. In China Proper this runs for the
most part nearly due east and west, but finally turns round to the south-east.
The Chinese Empire 523
In the west these mountains are known as the TsinUng-shan, and in the
east as the Funiu-shan. Their importance arises chiefly from the fact that
they form a serious barrier to communication between north and south,
especially in their middle portion, where they cut off a fertile populous
plain, the valley of the Wei,, on the north, from the whole of southern
China. In this section there are only two frequented passes separated by
an interval of about two hundred miles, and crossed merely by difficult
bridle paths. The eastern pass, whose summit is upwards of 4,000 feet
above sea-level, is reached by a route running south-east from Singan, the
chief town in the valley of the Wei, which is thus brought into connection
with the plain of the middle Yangtse by way of the valley of its chief
northern tributary, the Han. It forms the division between the Tsinling-
shan and the Funiu-shan. The western pass connects the valley of the
Wei with the Red Basin, but the road across it, after descending into a
parallel valley (the upper part of the Han), has to cross another difficult
bridle path before that basin is reached. The passes further west, also
crossed by mere bridle paths, are less important, as they connect less
populous regions.
Configuration of Northern China.— North of the line of
separation formed by the series of ranges, the mountainous areas of China
are naturally divided into two great sections, respectively west and east
of the deep and narrow gorge in which the middle Hwang-ho plunges and
rushes from north to south till it turns sharply eastwards on receiving the
Wei. The western section is a much diversified loess-covered region,
through which there runs only one important highway leading north-west-
wards from the Wei valley, and finally running along the northern or north-
eastern base of the Nanshan range to Mongolia and Eastern Turkestan.
The last portion of this route is through a narrow neck, where the lofty
range just mentioned, rising to about 20,000 feet in height, forms the
boundary between China Proper and Tibet and the Great Wall forms
that between China and Mongolia. This neck, at all times the great
avenue from central and western Asia to the north-west of China, is
known to the Chinese as the Yu-men or Jade Gate, from the fact that
it is by this route that that much prized mineral has been introduced
into the country for ages.
The eastern section of the northern highlands of China is as
diversified as the western. It is composed, first, of a tract between
the gorge of the Hwang-ho and the great plain, in which the moun-
tains have a more or less southerly trend, and are divided into two
minor sections by the important valley, of the Fen-ho, the mouth of
which communicates with that of the Wei, and, second, of a more
northerly tract in which the ranges have a north-easterly trend
gradually becoming more easterly towards the east, where they form a
series of terraces, shutting off Mongolia on the north from! the great
plain on the south.
35
524 The International Geography
Configuration of Southern China. — The mountainous part of
China south of the Tsinling-shan and Funiu-shan may be conveniently
divided first into two regions, respectively north and south of the
Yangtse. The portion on the west adjoining Tibet and extending as
far east as the bridle path leading into the Red Basin, is a wild and
intricate region with a scanty population. East of this bridle path there
is first a range called the Tapa-shan running eastwards and sending
off numerous spurs northwards to meet ihose running south from the
parallel range of the Tsinling-shan, so that the intervening valley of the
upper Han is in most parts extremely narrow, and the course of the river
itself is interrupted by a continuous series of rapids. Southwards from
this a series of more
or less parallel ranges
runs to the Yangtse
partly through and
partly to the east
of the Red Basin,
forming a great hind-
rance to communica-
tion between that
rich region and the
eastern plains.
South of the
Yangtse there is in
the west an elevated
region with an ex-
tremely diversified
surface, which may
be called the plateau
of Yunnan. Almost
everywhere even the
valley bottoms, all of
small extent, are above 5,000, some even above 7,000 feet in elevation,
and on all sides there is a sharp descent to the surrounding regions.
To the east the mountains are so arranged as to form fairly well-
marked isolated river basins belonging in the north, mostly to the
great basin of the Yangtse (they include the Kwei, the Tungting lake,
and the Poyang lake), in the south to that of the Si-kiang, and in the
south-east to minor independent streams. In the south-east the most
important independent basin is that of the Min. The general name
of Nan-shan (" Southern Mountains ") is given to the highlands separating
the northern from the southern and south-eastern basins. Just east of the
Red Basin the spurs of these mountains advance in many places close up
to the banks of the Yangtse, thus impeding communication eastwards on
this side also, while a further hindrance is presented by the series of gorges
Fig 265. — China, showing the Chief Routes and Mountains.
The Chinese Empire 525
obstructed by more or less difficult rapids through which the river flows
between Chungking and Ichang.
Geology and Minerals. — The geology of China is, as a rule, very
imperfectly known, especially in the south. The Tsinling-shan and Funiu-
shan systems are nearly as marked a dividing line from the geological as
from the orographical point of view. They are almost entirely composed of
ancient granites, gneisses, and other crystalline rocks, along with various
eruptive rocks. To the north, underneath the loess, the prevaihng rocks
belong to the Carboniferous system, while to the south there extends a
vast area of Jurassic strata embracing all the Red Basin. At various
places on both flanks of the dividing ranges, especially in the east, there
are extensive deposits of what have been designated the Sinic (Chinese)
formations, which lie at the bottom of all the fossiliferous strata of
China, and are held to correspond with the Cambrian and Huronian
deposits of Europe and America. These reappear largely along with
ancient non-fossiliferous crystalline rocks in other mountainous regions
of the country.
China is remarkably rich in minerals, above all in coal. In the
Carboniferous area of the north the Coal Measures crop out in many
places, and the largest known coal-field in the world is found among the
highlands in the south-east of the province of Shansi, where thick seams
of excellent anthracite extend for a length of about 200 miles, with a
varying breadth. This region also abounds in fine iron ores, in limestone,
and in potter's clays. The only drawback is the difficulty of access. The
west of Shansi is almost equally rich in bituminous coal, and many detached
coal-fields are known to exist 'further west beyond the Hwang-ho. Other
small, but important coal-fields lie among the mountains both east and
west of Peking, and in the west of Shantung. In the south of Hunan, on
the rivers Siang and Lei, the deposits are much more important, for
although the coal is not generally of very good quality, it is more largely
worked than anywhere else in China, owing to the ease with which it can
be conveyed by water to the towns on the Yangtse. At various places on
or near the Yangtse there are other small coal-fields, and the province of
Sechwan is very rich in coal of post-Carboniferous age, which is largely
mined and carried by river to different parts of the Red Basin. Among
other important minerals may be noticed copper, which is scattered all
over Yunnan, a province which also contains silver, lead, tin and gold
— the tin in an isolated high valley, not far from the frontier of Tong-
king in the south-east, the gold in the south of the province. Salt
occurs in the south-west of Shansi, near the abrupt angle of the
Hwang-ho, in the middle of the Red Basin, and in the south-west of
Yunnan.
Climate. — ^The main characteristics of the climate of China depend,
first, upon its situation on the east side of the greatest land-mass in the tem
perate zone of the northern hemisphere, and second, upon its situation within
526 The International Geography
the region subject to motisoon winds. The first of these circumstances
explains the character of its chmate as rega-ds temperature. Throughout
it is a country of extremes, or at least of a high range of temperature, hot
summers alternating with cold winters, though, of course, the extremes are
much greater in the north than in the south, where part of the surface lies
within the torrid zone. The temperature in January averages 55° at Canton
in the south, and only 23° at Peking in the north, while in July the average
for Canton is 82°, and for Peking 79° ; the average for the whole year is
17° lower at the northern than at the southern station. Throughout China
there is that predominance of summer rains
which is one of the distinguishing features
of monsoon areas, but the contrast be-
tween winter and summer rain is much
more marked in the north and south than
it is in middle China. This alternation
of rainy and dry seasons necessarily
brings about a corresponding alternation
of high and low water in the rivers, and
where the physical configuration leads a
multitude of streams into one channel the
differences betw^een the summer and winter
level in the main river are enormous. At
Ichang, just below the rapids of the
Yangtse, a difference of nearly 48 feet
has been observed in the level of
the river, and the ordinary annual
difference is not less than 40 feet. The
period of high water lasts from the
beginning of July to the early part of
October.
Flora and Fauna.— Among the native vegetable products the first
place may be assigned to the bamboo, not, of course, as being peculiar to
this country, but on account of its universal practical importance, espe-
cially in the south. More peculiarly Chinese are the wax tree, the tallow
tree, the paper mulberry, the camphor and varnish trees, cassia, and the
sweet orange, which was introduced from China into Europe only after
direct trade had been established by the Portuguese. One of the most note-
worthy circumstances regarding cultivated products is that the coincidence
of the rains with summer temperatures enables some crops that are in
most parts of the world confined to tropical and sub-tropical latitudes to
be grown with success in northern China. Hence cotton is as character-
istic of this part of the country as wheat and the ordinary European
cereals, together with beans and other pulses. Opium also is now largely cul-
tivated in the extreme north. In southern China the characteristic products
are rice (grown even in the high valleys of Yunnan at 6,000 feet and
■...»....«.. ...M.........C.S..OC,.,0, 0.0. ..|
00
85
80
70
66
60
66
60
45
40
30
25
20
16
10
5
•5
10
20
20
^■-
-
-
.-
-
.-
c
^
--
L.
--
/
/
t
/
-
\
.,
/
\
/
\
I
...
\
/
1
\
/
^
■■:ffi
\
...
m
■:■:■:■:■.
•■■■:■:■.
1
:::;■;
m
w-
1
1
— j
~
■M
m
F-U
Peking — Hongkong
Fig. 266. — Temperature and Rain-
fall Curves for Peking and Hong-
kong,
The Chinese Empire 527
upwards), lea, silk, sugar, and opium. Besides the silk obtained from
" worms " fed on the leaves of mulberries cultivated for the purpose, large
and rapidly increasing quantities of silk are obtained from wild cater-
pillars which feed on the leaves of forest trees ; chiefly in the north where
extensive forests are still found.
In the greater part of China the larger wild animals have been
exterminated by the progress of civilisation, but in the wilder moun-
tainous tracts there are elephants, rhinoceroses, and tapirs, a peculiar
species of tiger, several kinds of leopards, bears, and badgers, and
wolves in some parts, e.g., Yunnan, are still numerous, bold and
destructive.
The Chinese fisheries both in the sea and inland waters are very }no-
ductive ; a characteristic mode of fishing is with the aid of cormorants,
which are prevented from swallowing the large fish that they catch by
rings or pieces of string round their necks. In the inland waters the
breeding of fish for food is largely practised.
People, History and Language. — The people, of ^longolian
stock, who have spread their language, institutions,
and ideas, with remarkable success over so large
and diversified a country, are known to have been
originally immigrants. They entered the country
at a very remote period, thousands of years before
the Christian era, by the north, and almost certainly
by the avenue known as the 'Yu-men (p. 523). The
place of their original seats is still a matter of dis-
pute, but it is generally admitted that they were in
western Asia, that the oases of Eastern Turkestan Fig. 2b'j.—A7'erage popu-
r J 1 J 1 1-- 1 i.1. • hitioii of a square
formed prolonged haltmg-places on their progress „„•/, ,,^ a,^,,^^ P,'.^^,^
eastw^ards, and that accordingly they were skilled in
irrigation work before they entered China. The first areas settled by
them in which they had room for expansion, and the first seats of empire
were the freely intercommunicating valleys of the Wei and the Fen
(Shensi and Shansi). The empire was frequently divided, but whether under
one or several rulers the Chinese language and institutions gradually
spread eastwards and southwards. Not till after the building of the Great
Wall (212 B.C.) did it permanently extend beyond the Yangtse-kiang. In
later times the extension has been less by conquest than by the gradual
process of ousting by superior assiduity the non-Chinese races who were
not assimilated and absorbed. Among the mountains in the south-west and
south there are still some considerable tracts occupied by unabsorbed and
unsubdued descendants of older inhabitants, generally known by terms of
contempt applied by the Chinese as Miaiiise or M anise.
The unity of the Chinese language is apparent rather in its written than
in its spoken form. The writing is not alphabetic but ideographic — that is
there is a different character for every root idea. Hence the knowledge
528 The International Geography
of about ten thousand different signs is required for the complete know-
ledge of the Chinese language. These signs have the same meaning in all
parts of the country, and even in Korea and Japan, but the equivalent
sounds differ greatly in different dialects, just as the Arabic numerals have
the same meaning though different names in all European languages.
The confusion of the spoken language is, however, to some extent
reduced by the fact that the educated classes generally speak an official
dialect.
Government. — The government combines a high degree of centrali-
sation with the universal and long-established practice of popular govern-
ment as regards local affairs. The central government is imperial, and the
dignity of Emperor is hereditary in the reigning family, though not by any
fixed rule of descent. The reigning emperor has the right to nominate his
successor. The present dynasty, dating from 1644, is of Manchu origin.
It was by this dynasty that the Manchu custom now universal in China, of
wearing the hair hanging down behind plaited into a long queue, or " pig-
tail," was introduced. All government officials, known to Europeans as
Mandarins (a term of Portuguese origin), are appointed in the emperor's
name, but must be selected from those who have
passed the necessary public examinations, which
are open to all, and are more or less severe ac-
cording to the rank for which they quality. All
Chinese institutions concur in impressing on the
people respect for authority and the established
order. None is more influential in this respect
Hg. 268.— Chin se Imperial than the system of examination, for all of the
Standard. . , , , , , , ^ ,
exammations test merely the knowledge of the
ancient Chinese classics first sj'^stematised by Confucius, and give no
encouragement to the spirit of scientific inquir3\
What may be called the universal religion of China is a form of ancestor
worship inculcated in these classics, and no religion incompatible with this
idea has obtained a wide hold on the Chinese. The Buddhism of India
and the native Taoism have both proved thus adaptable, and have many
adherents. But this is not so with Mohammedanism, which is professed by
some millions in the north-west and south-west, and Christianity, which
counts a few hundred thousand adherents, chiefly in the west ; hence
Christians and Moslems are looked upon as foreign elements by the great
body of the Chinese.
Industries and Trade. — The prevailing and most esteemed occu-
pation in China is agriculture. In token of the honour in which this in-
dustry is held, every year at the vernal equinox, the emperor at the capital,
and his representatives in other parts of the empire with their own hands
hold the plough and sow the seeds of the chief cereals. In every way the
climate encourages farm work. The regular winters maintain the energy
of the people. The coincidence of warmth and moisture in summer invites
The Chinese Empire 529
and rewards the labour of the husbandman. Nowhere else in the world,
perhaps, are such scenes of quiet but varied and charming rural industry
presented as in some of the more favoured valleys of China. Pleasant farm-
houses roofed with red or blue tiles are scattered about the valley bottom,
or amidst the carefully cut terraces on the hill slopes. From the river,
on which there is a ceaseless coming and going of large and small boats,
water is raised by waterwheels, driven by the labour of men or buffaloes, to a
canal above, from that to a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, until it reaches
the tops of the hills, and it is made to impart life and freshness to every
rood of soil in its descent. Seen from above, these canals seem like bands
of silver encircling an infinite variety of green. In the most abundantly
irrigated tracts there is the vivid and tender green of the rice-fields, or
the darker verdure of the sugar-cane. Elsewhere are tea-plantations,
fields of cotton decorated with their large yellow blossoms, rows of orange
trees, clumps of palms yielding fibres and other useful products, oil trees
and tallow trees, and many a thicket of bamboos with panicles waving in
the wind at the height of twenty to thirty feet above the ground.
Chinese manufactures are for the most part domestic, and the few that
have long been localised and carried on on a large
jcale are mainly those dependent on supplies of
mineral products such as potter's clay (including
china-clay) and iron ore. The principal textiles
of the country — silk, cotton, and rhea fibre or
China grass, the last being laFgely used for summer
clothing — are mainly worked up by the women at
home or in small establishments. Quite recently Fig. aOg.— Chinese Mer-
European influence has led to the introduction of '"^''"'^ ^"''"' ^^''^■
steam machinery ; silk filatures worked by steam have been set up in the
silk-producing provinces, and cotton mills have been erected round
Shanghai and elsewhere with such success as to give great promise of
rapid progress.
The only important articles of export from China are such as have a
high value in proportion to their bulk, or such as can be produced in con-
siderable quantity within no great distance of the seaboard or the great
waterway of the Yangtse. For thousands of years silk and silk fabrics
have held the first place of importance. Almost equally long, porcelain, a
Chinese invention, has been an important export to the west, though now
that the industry has been introduced elsewhere it takes a subordinate
place. During the nineteenth century the second (occasionally the first)
place has belonged to tea, which still holds that rank among the exports,
though latterly the amount exported has diminished in consequence of the
severe competition of India and Ceylon. Much of the tea is exported by
land, large quantities of it being compressed into " bricks " or " tablets."
Brick-tea is usually of inferior quality, and is chiefly consumed in Tibet
and Mongolia ; but tablet-tea is of high quality and finds its chief market
1 llf!!!!!!!!!!!!!?''''''''''''"'"'"''
Ill ■
530 The International Geography
in Russia. Among other noteworthy exports are raw cotton (chietly seui
to Japan), beans and bean cake, straw braid, mats and matting, skins, hides
and furs. The chief imports are cotton yarn and tissues, opium, rice,
metals, and a variety of manufactured articles, including in recent years
rapidly increasing quantities of machinery. Foreigners are allowed to
settle for trade and introduce goods directly only at certain ports, mostly
fixed by successive treaties since 1842, and hence known as treaty-ports;
these are now thirty-four in number. The collection of the customs at
these ports is entrusted to a foreign board, called the Imperial Maritime
Customs, the head of which is an Englishman.
Means of Communication. — The cause of the limitation of the
exports of China is the remarkable defectiveness of the means of internal
communication, except where there are convenient waterways. In northern
China such waterways are the exception, though during the summer several
rivers, ultimately uniting in the Pei-ho above Tientsin, are available for
transport. The great northern river, the Hwang-ho, is too rapid and too
shallow to be a convenient waterway, and is navigated only by small boats
in sections of its course. An important artificial waterway, the Grand or
Imperial Canal, runs from Hangchou in the south to Tientsin in the north.
It was constructed early in the seventh century, chiefly for the conveyance
of rice from the southern provinces as an imperial tribute, and it still forms
a fine waterway navigable by boats of at least five feet draught in its
southern section as far as the old bed of the Hwang-ho. In southern
China, including all the basin of the Yangtse, the rivers are the principal
means of communication, but many of them have their courses so impeded
by rapids that the cost of transport is greatly raised, and navigation is
rendered so difficult that hardly anywhere out of China would it continue
to be practised at all. The one great inland waterway is the Yangtse, which
is without a parallel in the world in respect of the length of navigation it
offers for ocean steamers through a densely peopled country. Vessels of
over 1,000 tons burden can reach Hankow, 680 miles, or three days' steam
from the sea. Steamers of about 600 tons can ascend to Ichang, just below
the rapids, while 150- ton boats are the largest that can pass the rapids.
The ascent of the last stretch, about 400 miles, takes nearly three weeks.
A further difficulty is created by the fact that the stretch between Hankow
and Ichang is easiest at high water, while the rapids can scarcely be
ascended at all during that period. The Han, a great left bank tributary
of the Yangtse, is comparatively easy of navigation in its lower course,
where it flows in a southerly or south-easterly direction, but not higher up.
Of the southern tributaries the best waterway is the Siang-kiang, the chief
feeder of the Tungting Lake. It is said to offer a course ten feet in depth
as high as Hengchou, about 140 miles due south of the lake, but above
that rapids are numerous, as they are also in the Kan-kiang, the corre-
sponding southerly feeder of the Poyang Lake. The navigation of the
Si-kiang is much imneded by rapids aboye Wuchou,
The Chinese Empire
531
Roads fit for cart traffic are very rare in the south, the principal wheeled
vehicles being wheelbarrows. In northern China roads for cart traftic are
more common, except among the mountains, where the few roads of this
kind run in many places through long defiles so narrow that two carts
cannot pass. In all parts of China accordingly the chief means of trans-
port, where boats cannot be used, are pack animals (including camels in
the north) and human porters. Hence, in spite of the extremely low cost of
living, and the very small wages of labour, the cost of transport, where
there is not good water carriage, is high, generally at least two or three
times as high as in countries provided with railways.
The introduction of railways was long opposed by the official classes
and regarded with dislike by the people. The first railway laid in China,
that from Wusung to Shanghai, opened in 1876, was bought up and
destroyed by the authorities in the year following. But this opposition has
at last given way. Railways now run from Taku at the mouth of the Pei-ho
to the Kaiping collieries, which have for many years been worked under
European management, and thence through Shanhaikwan to Sinmin-tung
and Niuchwang, and from Taku to Tientsin and Peking. The railway from
Wusung to Shanghai has been relaid and was reopened in 1898. Great
railway schemes have received official sanction. Among these are a line
from Peking to Hankow, already partly completed, from which there is to
be a connection by rail with the great anthracite field of Shansi, another
from Peking southwards to Shanghai and Ningpo, one from Hankow to
Canton, and one from Kaulun (opposite the island of Hongkong) to the
same port. Telegraphs have for some years extended to the remotest
parts of the empire.
THE PROVINCES OF CHINA PROPER
Pechili or Chili is the north-eastern province of China. It is naturally
divided into two parts, that within and that beyond the Great Wall. The
former portion is made up of the northern part of the great plain, and
belongs mostly to the basin of the Pei-ho. Its western frontier lies
beyond the plain, and is marked by
another great wall running south along
the mountains. It contains Peking, the
capital of a kingdom as far back as iioo
B.C., and of the Chinese Empire as early
as 1 15 1 A.D , but not without intermission.
It is entirely rectangular in shape, and is
composed of two parts, a square to the
north forming the Manchu city and en-
closing the imperial quarters, and a more
extensive oblong quadrangle to the south forming the Chinese city. It
lies on a somewhat dreary alluvial sandy plain, swept in winter by cold
dust-laden winds ; but it has the advantage of a good site strategically, as
36
Fig. 270. — Peking.
532 The International Geography
it commands the roads leading north-west through the Nankow Pass, too
narrow for carts, and thence into MongoHa through Kalgan or Changkiakou,
north-east through the Kupei-kou Gate in the Great Wall to Chengte or
Jehol which contains the summer-palace of the emperor, and eastwards
along the base of the mountains to the narrow pass between sea and
mountains at Shanhaikwan (" Mountain-sea-gate ") which forms the entrance
to Manchuria. Even more populous than Peking is Tieiitsin(-fu) ' on the
Pei-ho, the port of Peking, a treaty-port, and the northern terminus of the
Grand Canal.
Shansi (" Western Mountains ") is the province to the west of Pechili,
and, like it, is divided into two portions by the Great Wall, but in this case
both portions are alike mountainous, and for the most part sparsely
peopled, the chief natural resources consisting in the mineral wealth
above described. In the west this province has an unmistakable natural
boundary in the profound gorge of the Hwang-ho, and the same river
forms part of the boundary on the south-west. An important feature of
the province is a line of narrow valleys running from north to south
through the middle, in the central and largest expansion of which stands
Taiyuen{-fu), the capital of the province.
The province of Shensi adjoins Shansi on the west. Its most populous
area is the valley of the Wei, but though this valley has such a marked
physical barrier on the south, the province includes also the valley of the
upper Han beyond that barrier, extending as far as the mountains border-
ing the Red Basin. In the Wei valley stands the capital of the province,
Singan{-fu), the site of which makes it of necessity a great centre on
account of commanding the main through routes from north-west to the
east and south-east. When the mainlines of railway are all made in China
they must include lines along all the existing routes, the north-western line
forming the only possible connection between central China and western
Siberia, so that Singan is bound to be reinvigorated. The inhabitants
show a business capacity and enterprise answering to the advantages of
the situation, and own many of the most important industrial establish-
ments in distant parts of China.
Kansu is a mountainous province with deep valleys and loess gorges
reaching in the north-west just to the end of the Great Wall. Its capital,
Lanchou{-fu), stands on the great north-western road, on the right or south
bank of the Hwang-ho, close to the point where that river begins its great
northern bend. It is noted for its tobacco factories, most of which belong
to the capitalists of Singan.
Shantung ("Eastern Mountains ") includes, beside the mountainous
peninsula to which it owes its name, a belt of populous plain swathing the
mountains round on the west. The capital is Tsinan{-fu) at the norths
western margin of the hill country, a short distance from the Hwang-ho.
* The termination in parenthesis (-/«, -hien) merely indicates the status of the towa
and is often omitted.
The Chinese Empire 533
The mountainous part has a much indented coast-Hne. On one of the
northern bays is the small treaty-port of Chijii{-hien), another further east
now forms the British naval station of Weihaiwei (acquired in 1898). On
the south the chief inlet, Kiau-chou Bay, was leased to Germany in 1897.
Honan in the east occupies all of the great plain south of Pechili, and
in the west it consists of mainly mountainous country. It is traversed in
the north by the Hwang-ho, and south of that river by the numerous head-
streams of the Hwai and its tributaries. The capital is Kaifeng{-fu) in the
plain, on the great road from Peking to Hankow, about eight miles south of
the Hwang-ho. In the west Honan{-fu) stands in a fertile valley amidst
the mountains just south of the Hv.-ang-ho.
Kiangsu includes all the low flat seaboard studded with large and
small lakes extending from the north-eastern shore of Hangchou Bay to
Shantung. It is thus divided into two parts by the wide estuary of the
Yangtse, the smaller southern portion, which includes the last spurs of the
Nan-shan, being by much the richer and more populous. In-this portion
is the busiest of all the treaty-ports, SJningluii{-Jiien), the great entrepot for
all northern China. It is, in fact, the outlet of the whole Yangtse valley,
though not situated on the river itself, whose low and silted shores afford
no site for a great port, but twelve miles up the Wusung river, the one
drawback to which is a bar at the mouth with a depth at high water of
ordinary spring tides of only 23I feet and 20 feet at neap tides. Here
is the chief Chinese arsenal. In the same part are the great silk-manufac-
turing towns of Siichou (-///) on the Grand Canal, and Kanking{-fii), the latter
on the Yangtse, at the west end of a chain of hills stretching from the
Grand Canal, the capital of the province, and for about a century before 142 1
the capital of the empire. It was once a magniticent city celebrated for
its porcelain tower, which was destroyed by the Taiping rebels who held
the town from 1853 to 1864. ^^ contains another Chinese arsenal.
Nganhwei is the province to the west on both banks of the Yangtse,
traversed in the north also by the navigable portion of the Hwai. Its
capital is \ganking{-fu), on the left bank of the Yangtse, 100 miles directly
south-west of Nanking ; its treaty-port is Wiihu{-hien), on the right bank of
the river, about forty miles from the same city.
Kiangsi, south-west of the previous province, is almost identical with
the drainage area of the Poyang Lake. It is a great tea-producing district.
Its capital is Nanchang{-fu) on the Kan-kiang, not far from the south shore
of the lake at its summer level. North-east of the lake is Kingtecheij{-Lic)i),
the principal place of manufacture of earthenware in China, and the seat
of the imperial porcelain factory. Its treaty-port is Kiiikiang{-fu) on the
Yangtse.
Hunan is a similar province to the west, corresponding closely with
ihe drainage area of the Tungting Lake. Its capital is Chaugsha{-fii) on the
Siang, thirty miles south of the lake. Siangian, on the same river, is reported
to be one of the largest cities in China, and is a great centre of the drug
534 The International Geography
trade. Yochou(-fu) at the outlet of the Tungting Lake, not far from the
Yangtse, is a treaty-port opened in 1898.
Hupe, to the north of both the last mentioned provinces, comprises
the whole of the plain of the middle Yangtse, except what belongs to the
basin of the Tungting Lake, along with a mountainous region to the west.
The capital is Wuchang{-fu), a treaty port at the north end of a range of
hills on the right bank of the Yangtse near the north end of one of the
chief bends of that river, directly opposite the confluence of the Han. It
is one of three towns enjoying the advantages of the same commercial
situation, the other two being Hanya}ig{-fu), at the mouth of the Han on
the right bank, and the treaty-port Hankow{-hien) opposite the latter on the
left bank, all of which are at the meeting-place of great waterways from
the south-east (up the Yangtse), south-west (down the Yangtse), west, and
north-west. This situation gives these towns, whose aggregate population
is not less than 1,200,000 (according to some estimates more than twice as
much), commercial importance not only for the adjacent country but also
for more distant provinces, and they have the greatest river traffic of any
place in China, probably in the world. Shasi or Shush i{-hien), a treaty-
port on the Yangtse, higher up, at the west end of a waterway connecting
that river with the Han, is the chief market for cottons in central China,
and Idiang{-fii) is a treaty port at the lower end of the Yangtse gorges.
Sechwan extends westward from Hape to the frontier of China, and
includes nearly all the Red Basin, together with a mountainous region to
the west extending beyond the Yangtse (here called the Kinsha-kiang or
River of Golden Sand), the borders being sparsely peopled and inhabited by
a non-Chinese (Tibetan) population. Its capital is Chengtu{-fu) situated
near the margin of the Red Basin in a rich alluvial plain about 2,400 square
miles in extent, irrigated in every part by works constructed about 200
B.C., and ever since carefully maintained. The chief river port of the
province is Chungking{-fu) now a treaty-port, situated at the confluence of
the Kialing-kiang or Siao-ho (Little River) with the Yangtse, the one out-
let eastwards of the trade of the province. It was reached by a British
steamer, the first to ascend the rapids of the Yangtse, in March, 1898. To
the south-west of the alluvial plain of Chengtu{-fu) is Yachoii{ fu) a great
centre of the trade in brick-tea with Tibet and central Asia, but most of
the factories belong to capitalists of Singan. The province of Sechwan
includes the chief towns of the elevated, and in its first stages very difficult,
trade route leading westwards to Lhasa.
K-weichou is the mountainous province to the south-east of Sechwan,
containing headstreams of rivers draining to the Yangtse and to the Si-
kiang. Its capital is K-d.'eiyang{-fu) on a small central plain.
Yunnan comprises nearly all the rugged elevated region, rich only in
minerals, in the south-west of China, together with marginal portions of
the surrounding valleys. Its two chief towns lie on the shores of its two
chief lakes ; its capital Yunnan(-fu), at the north end of a lake near the
The Chinese Empire 535
middle, centralises the trade of the province with Tongking ; the second
town, Tali{-fit), is important for the trade with Burma, and stands on the
West side of the lake called Erh-hai, in the west of the province. In the
south is Sumao, the centre of trade in Puerh tea, which enjoys the highest
reputation throughout China.
East of Yunnan are two provinces comprising most of the basin of
the Si-kiang, Kwangsi and Kwangtung (" the western " and " the
eastern Kwang"). Kwangsi is mainly a rugged, poor and sparsely peopled
province, whereas Kwangtung has always been one of the richest parts of
the empire, containing as it does the largest and most densely peopled
tropical delta east of the Ganges. It is this delta which has always given
importance to Canton, the great southern seaport of China, for the sake of
the trade with which the Portuguese sought and obtained possession of
Macao in 1586 and the British of Hongkong in 1842. Canton, in Chinese
Kwangchou{-fu), Canton being a Portuguese corruption, is a town^most
happily situated at the west end of a series of hills, where the Canton
or Pearl river affords a channel to the south for ocean vessels, the Si-kiang
forms a waterway to the west for steamers drawing seven or eight feet as
high as the treaty-port of \Vuchoii{-fu) in the adjoining province, the
Tung-kiang, or East River, forms a navigable channel to the east, and the
Pei-ho, or North River, leads to the northern confines of the province, and
there by a fortunate arrangement of the physical features forks into two
waterways, one leading north-west so as to communicate by a low water-
parting and short portage with the main waterway of Hunan, the other
north-east so as to communicate similarly with that of Kiangsi. About
300,000 of the inhabitants of Canton live in boats moored in the
river.
Fokien, or Fukien,is a rich tea-growing maritime province with a much
indented coast line to the north-east of Kwantung, having as its capital the
ancient city of Fuchou{-fu), a treaty-port at the mouth of the Min. There
is another treaty-port, Amoy, in the south-east, and a third, Funing(-fu),
opened in 1898, in the north-east.
Chekiang is a similar province further to the north-east, extending to
Hangchou Bay, of which it embraces both sides at the northern end. Its
northern part is drained by the Tsientang-kiang, remarkable for the
violence of its tidal bore. It has three treaty-ports, Ha}igchou[-fu), the
capital of the province, at the head of the bay, Ningpo{-fu) on a creek
on the south side of the bay, and Wenchou(-fu) in the south-east of the
province.
Statistics of China. — The censuses that have been taken of China
are too untrustworthy, and the estimates of population too uncertain for
any comparison of estimates at different dates to serve any useful purpose.
The utmost that can be said is that it is not improbable that the total
population of China Proper may amount to as much as 350 million or even
more. Neither can statistical returns of the value of the external commerce
536 The International Geography
be drawn up so as to allow of a comparison of different periods, for the
returns collected by the Imperial Maritime Customs now always include
those for native junks, but these are not obtainable before 1887.
STATISTICS OF CHINA PROPER.
{Approximate for 1891-95.)
Area in square miles
Population
Density of population per square mile
1,300,000
350,000,000
270
PROBABLE POPULATIONS OF SOME IMPORTANT TOWNS.
Canton
Hankow
Tientsin
Siangtan
Chengtu
Singan
Fuchou
Hangchou
Lanchou
1,600,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
800,000
700,000
650,000
500,000
500,000
Peking
Shasi
Suchou
Wuchang
Shanghai
Changsha
Chungking
Ningpo
Taiyuen
500,000
500,000
500,000
450,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
250,000
250,000
Kaifeng
Tsinan
Wuchou
Chinkiang
Nanking
Chifu
Amoy
Wenchou
200,000
200,000
200,000
140,000
130,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in dollars, for 1891-95).
Imports 146,000,000
Exports 149,000,000
II.— EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS IN CHINA
Hongkong/— Hongkong (Hang-kiang, "fragrant streams") is one
of the small islands off the Chinese coast, east of the mouth of the
Canton River, nearly in the position of 22" N. and 114° E., and only
separated from the mainland by a channel half a mile wide. The island
was acquired as a British
colony in 1841, and in
1861 the southern portion
of the Kaulun (Kowloon)
Peninsula, on the opposite
mainland, was added. In
1898, the whole of the
large peninsula forming
the southern part of
Kwangtung province
was leased from China
so as to secure the de-
fences.
Surface and Re-
sources of Hong-
kong. — The northern
coast with the opposite
Fig. 271. — Hongkong and Kaulun.
48 miles by 37.)
(The map includes
mainland encloses one of the finest harbours in the world, covering
an area of about 10 square miles, and on this the prosperity of the
colony entirely depends. The island is composed of igneous rocks, granite
and basalts. It is traversed east and west by hill ridges, intersected by
By the Editor, assisted by E. J Hastings.
Hongkong 537
depressions or " gaps," and rising in Victoria Peak, the highest point, to
1,825 feet. The only product of importance is granite, which is extensively
quarried. Forests which formerly covered the island have been completely
destroyed, but a system of reafforesting is being successfully carried out.
The climate is hot, but subject to great variations, the mean monthly
temperature ranging between 40° and 90° F. During the winter months,
November to March, the air is pleasant and bracing. The average rainfall
is about 90 inches. Hongkong has outlived its old, evil reputation as an
exceedingly unhealthy place.
People and Government of Hongkong. — The native population
consists chiefly of Chinese, about one-third of whom are British subjects
by birth. Natives of India form a small proportion. Besides the members
of the British naval and mihtary establishments, there are representatives
of various nationalities, as Hongkong is the greatest traffic centre on
the Chinese coast. The government is that of a Crown Colony, the
Governor being assisted by a nominated Legislative Council. The city
of Kaulun in the leased territory is exempt from direct ^ ^__
British jurisdiction. Hongkong is a very important / j;^^^;^^^^
strategic point, commanding the approach to Canton, /^ "^fe^r^^^^
90 miles distant It is strongly fortified, and is the ^^^^m£^^3
headquarters of the British naval squadron in Chinese ^^^^^^^^®
waters. It is also a great commercial emporium, an ^^^^^ ^^^ y
absolutely free port without any Custom House, and ^^^^^^
is the principal distributing centre for European pro- Fig. 272. — Badge
ducts in the Far East. The United Kingdom has the Hongkong.'''"^ "^
largest share in the trade, which is really part of the
trade of China. The chief imports from Europe are cotton goods, and the
chief exports tea, silk, and hemp from China.
Victoria, the capital, stretches along the north shore of the island for
about four miles, and rises in terraces up the sides of Victoria Peak, some
of the garden-enclosed residences being as high as 600 feet. The town
contains several fine public buildings. The Praya, or main street, runs
along the shore, and for about two miles of its central part is protected
by the Praya sea-wall, specially constructed to withstand the force of the
typhoons which sometimes sweep along the coast, and provided with
wharfage for the ocean liners and other vessels calling at the port. Six
Hocks and large workshops afford every requirement for the repair of
large naval and mercantile ships. The movement of the port, excluding
native junks, is over 14,000,000 tons of shipping entered and cleared
annually, a figure only equalled by two or three seaports in the world.
STATISTICS.
1881. 1891. 1901.
Area of Hongkong (square miles) . . . . 30 • . 3°
Population of Hongkong 160,402 .. 221,441
Density of populat on per square mile .. 5346 .. 7,3^i
Area of leased territory in Kwangtung .
Population of leased territory
30
283.975
9,466
376
lOOLOOO
538 The International Geography
Macao.' — Macao, the only Portuguese possession in China, practically
consists of the city of that name, on an island at the mouth of the Canton
river. It may be called a commercial colony of average prosperity. The
islands of Taipa and Coloane, important fishing centres, are under the
same administration. Macao is a healthy town with fine streets and build-
ings. The mean temperature is 73° F. It has belonged to Portugal since
1586, and is by far the oldest of the European possessions in China. The
population of the town, which is a centre of the opium trade, is 78,000.
Kiau-chou.' — Kiau-chou, in lat. 36° S., 120° E. long., is a large bay of
180 square miles area on the southern coast of the peninsula of Shantung.
It takes its name from the " Glue city," 22 miles north of it. »The Kiau river
coming from the mountains in the eastern portion of Shantung brings down
much sand, which causes the bay to silt up. The entrance of the bay, be-
tween two narrow spits of land, is about two miles wide and 20 fathoms deep.
The landspits, together with the islands in the bay, are leased by Germany
from China, while the German sphere of interest extends all round the bay
for a distance of 31 miles (50 kilometres). The climate is excellent, and
quite that of the temperate zone ; ice occurs in
winter, but as it hardly ever covers the bay it does
not form such an impediment to navigation as the
fogs which are frequent on the coast further south,
from which Kiau-chou is'perfectly free. The greatest
rainfall occurs in July and August. The inhabitants
are agriculturists who have carried a system of
^ irrigation to great perfection. The tidiness of their
' settlements is a mark of their prosperity. Kiau-
chou is expected to prove valuable as an outlet for the great mineral
wealth of Shantung, and the railway intended to run round the base of
the western mountains of Shantung is now completed from Tsiiigtau to
beyond Wei{-hien).
III.— REMOTE PROVINCES OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE
Manchuria. — Manchuria lies to the north-east of China Proper, and
is made up of three provinces, Shengking in the south, Kirin in the middle,
and Helungkiang in the north. Shengking consists of the broad valley
of the lower Liau stretching upwards of 200 miles north-eastwards between
bare mountains in the west and forest-clad mountains with fertile alluvial
valleys in the east. The southern portion of the main valley is a dreary saline
tract, but there is more fertile country further north. Mukden, situated at
the base of the hills, on a tributary of the Liau-ho, is the capital of the pro-
vince and country. At the mouth of the Liau is the so-called treaty-port
of Niuchwang (Newchwang), the town of Niuchwang being situated some-
what inland. The extremity of the mountainous peninsula of Liautung
» By Captain Ernesto de Vasconcellos. ' By Graf von Pfeil.
The Chinese Empire 539
("East of the Liau "), called Kwantung, was leased to Russia; here are the
naval station and arsenal of Port A7'thur, together with Talietiwan and the
free-port Dabii, all three being termini of the trans-Manchurian railway (see
Fig. 222), and now in the occupation of Japan.
The northern provinces lying to the east of the Khingan mountains are
composed of the rich valleys of the Sungari, Nonni (a left bank tributary
of the Sungari) and Usuri, all navigable streams. The chief towns are Kirin
(or more propefly Girin') at the head of navigation on the Sungari, and
Tsitsihar at that of the Nonni. The population of Manchuria is variously
estimated at from 15 to 23 miUions, the great bulk being in the southern
province. For many years there has been a steady stream of immigration
from China Proper, and Chinese now form the great mass of the popu-
lation of the provinces. In recent years the flow of immigrants into the
northern provinces has been peculiarly rapid. Russian influence is now
paramount, and is being made permanent by the railways (p. 419).
Mongolia. — Mongolia is the vast region surrounding the desert of
Gobi or Shamo, the latter term being Chinese, and signifying Sea of Sand,
though the region is for the most part sufficiently moistened by summer
rains to produce a fair amount of pasture and fodder-shrubs for sheep, horses
and camels. The altitude of the Gobi is from 3,000 to 3,300 feet. The
fixed settlements of Mongolia are chiefly in the north, where it is traversed
by extensive spurs from the Altai, Tian Shan, Sayan, and Yablonovyi
mountains. The chief trade routes are from Kalgan in Pechili and Kwei-
hwacheng in northern Shansi, northwards by Urga to Maimachin on the
right bank of the Amur opposite Kyakhta, and north-westwards by Uliasuiai
and Kobdo to western Siberia. The inhabitants, from whom the region
takes its name, are mainly Buddhists in religion, and are now a peaceable
race engaged chiefly in the rearing of sheep, camels, horses and other
animals, and having none of the qualities whichrendered their ancestors so
formidable throughout Asia and Europe in the thirteenth century under
Jenghiz Khan and his successors.
Eastern Turkestan. — Sinkiang, or Sintsiang, is the name now given
to the province comprising all the rest of Chinese Central Asia north of
Tibet. It is naturally divided into two sections by the Tian Shan range,
Kashgaria, by much the larger, to the south, and Dzungaria to the north.
In Kashgaria the population is for the most part settled in irrigated oases
on the banks of rivers at the base of the Kwen-lun and Altyn Tagh, the
Pamirs and the Tian Shan ; but in the east there is another series of oases
between 94° and 96° E. due to the existence of wells stretching from
Ngansichou, or Ansifan, in the south to Hami in the north. This chain of
watering places forms the shortest route across the dreary waste of sand,
and is the direct continuation of the great north-western highroad of China.
Westward the route is continued either south of the Tian Shan by the oases
' Manchurian, Girin ; Chinese, Kilin ; Kirin is neither.
540 The International Geography
of Turfan, Karashahr, and Kuchar to Kashgar (the Tien-shan-nan-lu or Tian
Shan south road), or north of the Tian-shan by Barkiil and Unimisi (or
Urumchi) to Kulja in the fertile valley of the Hi. There is now no regular
trade route south of the desert in Kashgaria, but among the important
oases here are Yarkand, Khotan, Keria and Cherchen in the order given
from west to east.
The greater part of Kashgaria may be described as belonging to the
basin of the Tarim, though many of the streams which* give life to the
oases dry up before reaching the main river. The Tarim flows along the
north of the desert, and then curving south finally makes an abrupt turn to
the east and terminates in the lake known as Lob (or Lop) Nor, at an
altitude of about 2,200 feet. Although without outlet this lake contains
fresh water, a circumstance which can only be explained, as Dr. Sven
Hedin points out, by the fact of its very recent formation, the lake beds
being frequently filled up by desert-sand, and forming afresh in a new
place. In its neighbourhood the wild horse and wild camel were found by
the great Russian explorer Przhevalski, but it is questionable whether
these may not be descended from domestic animals escaped long ago from
servitude. The wild ass which roams in great herds on the bordering
mountains to the south is undoubtedly native ; it is a fleet and graceful
creature, larger than the common donkey. The interior of the Tarim basin
is a continuous shccession of sand dunes slowly moving westwards. In
their progress they have in the course of ages overwhelmed ancient cities,
the ruins of which yield interesting relics of a long-forgotten civilisation.
Two of these cities were recently found by Dr. Sven Hedin between the
rivers Khotan and Keria ; and the latter stream was found to reach at high
water much further north than is represented on maps.
Kashgar, on the Kashgar river, one of the two chief headstreams of the
Tarim, is the administrative capital and the chief centre of trade with
Russian Turkestan (across the Terek-davan and Terekti passes). Yarkand,
on the Yarkand-daria or Zerafshan, the second of the two chief headstreams
of the Tarim, is the chief centre of trade wuth Kashmir (across the Karakoram
Pass), and is the rival of Kashgar in wealth and population. In the gorge
of the Pamirs through which the upper waters of this river flow is the
place from which all the jade (nephrite) introduced into China was formerly
obtained. Khotan is another populous oasis, and in the sixth and seventh
centuries was the seat of a powerful kingdom. The total population of
Sinkiang, consisting mainly of Mohammedans of Turki race and speech, is
about 1,000,000 or 1,500,000. Both in Mongolia and Sinkiang the govern-
ment is mainly carried on through native rulers (Ambans) under the
control of Chinese mandarins, and the principal centres are garrisoned by
Chinese troops to guard against the revival of a native kingdom like that of
Yakub-beg, who ruled Turkestan from 1869 to 1876.
Tibet. — The great plateau of Tibet, the most elevated region in the
world, stretches through about 12° of latitude (28° to 40°) between the
The Chinese Empire 541
Himalayas and the Kwen-lun, Altyn Tagh, and Nan-shan, and through 24"
of longitude (79° to 103° E.). It consists of extensive mountain-traversed high
plains with an elevation of 14,000 to 17,000 feet in the west, and from 9,000
to 14,000 feet in the north-east ; while in the east and south-east the
intricate system of ranges and gorges containing the headstreams of the
Me Kong, the Yangtse, and the Hwang-ho form the border towards China.
Numerous large lakes are scattered over the surface. Among them are
Kuku-nor in the extreme north-east. Charing and Oring-nor on the head-
stream of the Hwang-ho, Tengri-nor to the north and Palti or Yamdok-tso
to the south of Lhasa, and the two Manasarowar lakes in the extreme
south-west, the western of which is the source of the Indus. The climate
is necessarily bleak and inclement on account of the great altitude.
Frightful snow-storms occur in winter, and agriculture of any kind is only
possible in the most sheltered valleys. The great bulk of the inhabitants
live in the valley of the Tsanpo or Brahmaputra on the south, and in the
valleys immediately adjoining, where barley, wheat and peas are grown,
although pastoral pursuits are the chief occupation of the country. The
yak (a peculiar kind of ox), the sheep, and the goat all occur both wild and
domesticated, and all three, besides horses and mules, are made use of as
beasts of burden. The people are of Mongolic stock, speak a peculiar
language, are Buddhists (Lamaists) in religion, and are extremely exclusive.
The idea of " making merit " by repeating prayers, or offering them
mechanically by prayer-wheels turned in the hand or actuated by wind or
water-power, possesses the Tibetan mind to the exclusion of all enterprise
or independent thought.
Even the Chinese control appears to be slight. The governing classes
live in monasteries, which are said to contain a third of the population,
and thus form a terrible burden on the rest of the inhabitants. Though
there are Chinese resident ofticials, the government appears to be
practically exercised wholly in the name of the Dalai-Lama, who resides at
Lhasa, in one of the northern valleys tributary to the Brahmaputra, and
that of the Teshu-Lama who lives further west just south of the Brahma-
putra. Lhasa, which is considered the capital of the whole country, had
been entered by only three Europeans, — Mr. Manning- in 1811-12, and MM.
Hue and Gabet in 1845-46, — until it was temporarily occupied by a British
force coming from India in 1904. It is a holy city, and a great centre
of Buddhist pilgrims. A large trade with India might probably be main-
tained across the Himalayan passes by exporting wool, borax, perhaps
gold and other mineral products, in exchange for tea and manufactured
goods, but this trade is greatly restricted by customs duties and other
obstacles, in consequence of which brick-tea of wretched quality is
imported by a most difficult route from China. Not till 1894 were
British subjects allowed to reside in any part of Thibet, but in that
year residence was allowed at Yatong or Yatung, near the frontier of
Sikkim.
54^ The International Geography
TABLE OF PROVINCES OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE.
Area in square miles.
Pechili (within the wall) . . . . 57,916
Pechili (without the wall). . . . 57,916
Shansi (within the wall) . . , . 66.410
Shansi (without the wall) , . . . 15,444
Shensi 75,291
Kansu 125,483
Shantung 55,985
Honan . . . . . . . . 67,955
Kiang-su 38,610
Nganhwei 54,826
Hupe 71,430
Kiangsi 69,499
Hunan 83.398
Chekiang 36,681
Fokien 46,332
Area in square miles.
86,873
13.166
77,220
67182
146,719
154,440
Kwangtung .
Hainan ».
Kwaiigsi
Kweichou
Yunnan
Sec h wan
Total (China Proper, round
numbers) . . . . 1,533,000
Manchuria 364 000
Mongolia 1,093,000
Sinkiang 550,000
Tibet 738.0CO
Grand Total, Chinese Empire
(round numbers) . . 4,278,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Abbe E. R. Hue. " Recollections of a Journey through Tartarj', Thibet, and China
during 1844-46 " (from the French). London, 1852.
P. Landon. " Lhasa." 2 vols. London, 1905.
Rev. Justus Doolittle. " Social Life of the Chinese." 2 vols. London, 1866.
R. Shaw. "Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar." London, 1871.
Baron Ferd. von Kichthofen. " China " (German). 3 vols. 4to. Berlin, 1877, &c.
R.K.Douglas. "China." London, 1882.
S. Wells Williams. " The Middle Kingdom." Revised edition. 2 vc\s. London, 1883.
Rev. James Gilmour. "Among the Mongols." London. 1884.
E. C. Baber. "Travels and Researches in Western China." London. 1886.
Emile Rocher. " La Province Chi noise du Yiin-nan." 2 vols. Paris, 1879-80.
W. W. Rockhill. " The Land of the Lamas." London, 1891.
Bela Szechenyi. "Die Wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse der Reise des Grafen B.S., in
Ostasien. 1877-80." Vienna, 1893.
A. Hosie. "Three Years in Western China." 2nd edit. London, 1897.
A. J. Little. " Through the Yangtse Gorges." Revised edit. London, 1898.
Sven Hedin. " Through Asia." 2 vols. London, 1898.
A. H. Smith. "Chinese Characteristics." New York and London, 1894
" Village Life in China." New York and London, 1899.
E. and O. Reclus. " L'Empire du Miheu." Paris, 1902.
K. Futterer. "Durch Asien." Berlin, 1901.
E. Tiessen. " China" (in Kirchhoff's series). Berlin, 1902.
KOREA
By Mrs. Bishop, F.R.G.S.
Name. — Korea, or Korai, is known locally as Ch'ao-sien [Fresh mom-
ing), but the name was changed officially in 1897 to Dai Han {Great Han).
Position and Extent. — Korea is a definite peninsula of north-
eastern Asia, lying between 34° and 43° N., and between 124° and
131° E, Its coast-line is roughly estimated at 1,740 miles, its length
at 600, and its extreme breadth at 135. Its eastern coast is steep and
rocky, with deep water, few but excellent harbours, never ice-locked, and
an insignificant tidal rise and fall. The western shores are mostly shelving
and oft-times low, cut up by muddy estuaries, and fringing off into a
remarkable archipelago with dangerous tideways, and the tidal rise and
fall is from 20 to 38 feet. There is no lighthouse system. Many of Lhe
adjacent islands are fertile and inhabited, and Quelpart, on which is the
volcanic cone of Hal-la-san (6,000 feet), has a large population, and breeds
ponies to a considerable extent. The Tumen and Yalu rivers form the
natural boundaries between Korea and Russia and Manchuria.
Korea 543
Surface. — The general aspect of Korea is hilly. In the north there are
several mountain groups with definite centres, Paik-u-san (8,000 feet), in
which both the boundary rivers rise, being the most important. A range
running southwards from this centre divides Korea into two unequal
sections, the eastern being a narrow and fertile strip between the moun-
tains and the Sea of Japan, while the western consists of innumerable
rich and well watered valleys and slopes, lying among the lateral spurs
which the ran^e throws off. The Korean mountains present striking
examples of denudation. The great axial range, forest-covered in the
north and for 40 miles of its passage through the Kang-won province,
is usually bare like the coasts, or is covered with oak and chestnut
scrub. Towards the southern coast it falls away into rocky hills and
frequently into infertile plains. The lakes are few and insignificant, and
the plains are of very limited extent. Mesozoic rocks occur, but granite
and metamorphic rocks predominate. North-east of Seoul are very
extensive lava beds, and lava and volcanic rock occur frequently in the
north. The Han and Tai-dong flow frequently through Hmestone
formation. The rivers are numerous, shallow, and impetuous, and navi-
gable only for a short distance from the sea. The exceptions are the
Yalu, Nak-tong, Mok-po, Tai-dong, and Han, which last, rising thirty
miles from the Sea of Japan, after cutting Korea nearly in half reaches
the sea on the west coast near Chemulpo, the port of Seoul and the
terminus of the Seoul railrpad, and in spite of many and severe rapids
is an important highway of trade for about 160 miles.
Resources and Climate. — The soil is rich, eminently fitted for
successful agriculture, and yields from two to four crops annually. The
rainfall is ample and reliable, and irrigation is only necessary for the rice
crop. All cereals and root crops, as well as tobacco, cotton and hemp,
flourish. ' The mineral wealth consists in rich but undeveloped iron and coal
mines, silver, galena, copper, and gold, which though exported in consider-
able quantities is obtained only by a rude form of wasl|ing. For more than
nine months of the year the climate is superb. The rainy season is hot
and damp, but the heat is tempered by the sea breezes, and Europeans
and their children are exempt from diseases of locality. The average
rainfall at the capital is about 36 inches. The summers are hotter and
the winters colder than those of central Japan.
People and History. — The Koreans are undoubtedly of the Tun-
gusic stock. Their features are decidedly Mongolian. Their language
differs widely from Chinese and Japanese. It is polysyllabic and possesses
an alphabet. The Koreans are physically a fine people, and mentally are
liberally endowed. The earliest notice of the country is in a book, "Roads
and Bridges," by an Arab geographer, Khordadbeh, in the ninth century a.d.
Oral tradition, fairly worthy of credit, asserts that Korea was inhabited by
the same race as at present when the Chinese General Kit-ze, after con-
siderable conquests, introduced Chinese civilisation in the twelfth century
54-4- The International Geography
B. c. After many subsequent vicissitudes, the kingdoms of which Korea
is composed were united under one monarch, and became tributary to
China until the war of 1894; after the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 Korea
came under the protection of Japan. The government is a hereditary
and absolute monarchy of a strictly Oriental type, the Imperial Edicts
constituting law. There is a standing army of 6,000 men, clothed, drilled,
and armed in European fashion. The chief sources of revenue are the
land tax and Customs duties. Korea is solvent. The Empire contains 14
provinces and 340 prefectural districts. Goods are carried by land on the
backs of men, ponies and bulls. The roads are everywhere bad. A rail-
road from Chemulpo to Seoul is being extended to Songdo and to Suwon.
Korea has regular communication with Japan,
Russia, and China, chiefly by Japanese steamers.
Industries, Trade, Religion, Education.
— Apart from agriculture, which claims three-
fourths of the population, the chief industries are
the manufacture of cotton and grass cloth, thin
silks, horse-hair gauze, salt, and iron and brass
FIG. 274.-27te Korean flag, u^ensils, all for native use. Rice, beans, hides, and
ginseng are exported. Cotton piece goods and cotton yarn are the chiet
imports. Buddhism, introduced from China at an early period, has been
discredited for three centuries. The officials observe the Confucian rites.
The real cult of the people is Daemonism. Christianity is making rapid pro-
gress. Education, though with some recent modifications, is on the Chinese
system, and consists in acquiring the Chinese ideographs and classics.
The pure Korean language and script are used almost solely by the lower
classes. The arts are nil. Korea has an efficient postal and telegraph
system. The country was closed to Europeans until 1882 ; but there are now
ten open ports and a resident foreign population of about 22,000, over
16,000 being Japanese. Korean history since the war with China of 1894 has
been made up of reforms and retrograde movements. Trade has increased
rapidly. The east and south coast fisheries are prolific, but are worked
chiefly by Japanese. The fauna of Korea is headed by tigers and leopards.
The country is rich in native and migratory birds. The economic plants are
few, ginseng being the most important. Seoul, the capital, is the centre of
government and of all public interests. It is nearly without antiquities.
STATISTICS [Estimates).
E^stimated area of Korea (square miles) 82.000
Population of Korea by first census, 1897 17,000,000
Christian population in 1898 39,000
Population of Seoul, 1897 219,815
Total Exports from Korean open ports (1896-1900) £700,000
Total Foreign Imports at Korean open ports (1896-1900) ;£i,ooo,ooo
STANDARD BOOKS.
Mrs. Bishop. " Korea and Her Neighbours" 2 vols. London, 1897.
W. E. Griffis. " Corea, the Hermit Nation." New York and London. 1882.
CHAPTER XXIX.— JAPAN
By W. B. Mason,
Tokyo.
Position and Extent.— The Japanese call their country Nihofi (in
another form, Nippon) or Dai Mppon, which means "Great Japan," the
Land of the Rising Sun. The chief islands which constitute Japan proper
are Honshu, the central and largest (often erroneously called Nippon),
Shikoku, Kyushu, and Yezo, separated from each other by narrow straits.
The most important islands in close proximity to them are Sado, Tsushima
Oki, and Iki, in the Sea of Japan ; the Goto group, and Amakusa^ in the
Tunghai, Awuji, in the Inland Sea ; Tanegashima, and Yakunoshima, in the
Pacilic. The Japanese possessions also include the Luchu group {Rvukyu),
lying to the south-west of Kyushu ; Formosa {Taiwan), and the Pescadores
{Ho-ko-id), ceded to Japan after the war with China in 1894-5 ; the southern
half of Sakhalin acquired as a result of the war with Russia in 1905; the
Kuriles iChishima), extending in a north-westerly direction from Yezo to
Kamchatka, and a vast number of small islands, no less than 487 in all
being considered worthy of administrative recognition. The Bonin Islands
{Ogasawara-J I'ma) , a small and unimportant group, lying far off in the
southern seas in about 24° N. and 140° K., are also ruled by the Japa-
nese. The main islands stretch along the east coast of the continent of
Asia in the form of a crescent, the northern horn of which turns in towards
Siberia, and the southern towards Korea. Between the two flows the Sea
of Japan.
Surface. — The eastern shores of the archipelago are washed by the
waters of the North Pacific Ocean, from whose immense depths rise range
upon range of imposing mountain heights, often crowned by still more
imposing volcanic cones. But the islands are not solely of volcanic origin.
Many of the higher formations are giant masses of granite overlaid with
igneous rocks. Earthquakes, seismic-waves, and an excessively humid
cHmate have contributed, in no small degree, towards giving Japan its cha-
racteristic physical features. In the Main Island the central mountain
range follows the trend of the land itself from north-east to south-west,
while various smaller ranges run parallel with or branch out from it,
often descending precipitously to the sea and forming bays and harbours
capable of sheltering the largest ships. Almost all are luxuriantly
wooded, and the numberless valleys winding amongst them are culti-
vated to the utmost limit. Solfataras and thermal springs of various kinds
545
54^ The International Geography
150°
155°
/\S E A OF i^ ^''^'■«'""»*''«' 1^
X \v ^\.
4i
<^ OKKtrrs»i/| |\
45*
rv \ / \ 3 xx
sv\ / Xi^*^ /^
sAvTW \ X ^ /
(XoK ^"--^
.0-
135
m
V^^^tx^^*^""**'^''*' '
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\ s^'^ii^-^^"'*" \
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\ \ y^ 'fcndi^' ^^^"•^''''*
35*
13d
/ J A K>^ N ^pl /
30
^ -y^,|^p \ z'
125
V^ ^*fT' y
25
y\ ^'-1 \ /
x^ \ -^ s \ /
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20'
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rAM^^ \ /
1 «* \*i. * i \ y^
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abound in every part of the
country. The chief mountain
peaks comprise the famous and
beautiful Fuji-san (12,400 feet),
a perfect cone rising from the
plain, the Hida-Echu range,
with Tateyama, Yari-ga-take,
Ontake, and others, all about
10,000 feet above sea-level, and
another similar lofty range
running from north to south
between the rivers Fujikawa
and Tenryu-gawa. The active
volcano of Asama-yama, in the
province of Shinshu, attains a
height of 8,280 feet. In Shikoku
the main system slopes towards
the Pacific on one side and to-
wards the Inland Sea on the
other. Kyushu is likewise very
mountainous. It possesses two
notable active volcanoes, Aso-
san (5,630 feet), rising from the
bed of an ancient crater, said
to have the largest circum-
ference of any in the world,
and Kirishima-yama (5,530
feet). There are also some
conspicuous volcanic cones in
the island of Yezo. Fully
three-fourths of the area of
Japan are mountainous, and
less than 16 per cent, under
cultivation.
Rivers. — The rivers mostly
partake of the character of
torrents. They cut their way
impetuously through deep
rocky gorges and wooded
ravines until they reach the
lower land, where, owing to
the detritus carried down from
the heights, their beds often
attain a width of several miles.
They are rarely navigable for
Fig 2-]^— Japan.
Japan
547
any but the shallowest craft, being for the greater part of the year little
more than fordable streams. It is only in late summer, after the close of a
period of drought, that they assume dangerous proportions, the torrential
rains causing them to rise from ten to fifteen feet above their normal height,
and spread destruction for many miles around. Of the few rivers of any
length, the most noteworthy are the Tone-gawa which, rising in the province
of Kotsuke flows into the Pacific Ocean at Choshi, and has a remarkable
system of lagoons near its mouth ; the Shinano-gawa and the Kiso-gawa
both rise in the province of Shinshu, the former reaching the Sea of Japan
at Niigata, the latter the Pacific Ocean, near Nagoya ; the Kitakami-
gawa, after traversing the provinces of Rikuchu and Rikuzen from
north to south, falls into the Bay of Sendai. The longest river in Yezo
is the Ishikari-gawa, noted for its salmon. Lake Biwa, in the province
of Omi, is the only large sheet of fresh water worthy of special mention.
It is 36 miles long by 12 miles in width, its greatest depth about 300 feet ;
and its shores, which are classic ground to
the Japanese, famous throughout the land
for their beauty.
Climate. — Japan, at one extreme, lies
within the tropics, and at the other, though
just touching the latitude of the south of
England, experiences the rigours of arctic
cold. The climate of the chief islands is
considerably influenced by their proximity
to the mainland of Asia and to the Kiiroshiwo,
an ocean current like the Gulf Stream,
which carries the heated waters of the
equatorial seas along the east coast of the
archipelago, while a branch of the same,
entering the Sea of Japan through the Strait
of Korea, strikes the north-west coast of the main island. The prevailing
winds being southerly in summer and northerly in winter, the effect of
these ocean currents is consequently greater upon the amount and distri-
bution of precipitation than upon the temperature. Snow falls in every
portion of the main islands, but, except on the west coast and the moun-
tains, does not lie for any length of time. Yezo alone remains snow-bound
for several months, and even the sea freezes on a part of its coast. The
hottest period is usually from the middle of July to the middle of Septem-
ber. Japan has an abundant rainfall. The wet weather sets in early in
April, and with occasional intermissions, lasts until the beginning of
August. Again, in September, at the end of the summer heat, heavy rains,
sometimes accompanied by typhoons, or revolving storms, cause immense
damage to property. Thunderstorms are not frequent except in the
mountainous districtSo The driest months are November, December, and
January, when a clear sky with high barometer prevails on the Pacific side
y
jiw til ««*• tPi Men as 4s., that for 1881-85 at 3s., and that for 1891-95 at 2S.
CHAPTER XXX.— THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO
By Henry O. Forbes, LL.D.
I.— GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Position and Physical Divisions. — The Malay Archipelago
occupies that immense island-strewn region lying on both sides of the
equator, between the 95th meridian east of Greenwich and the western
coast of New Guinea, an area embracing 40 degrees of longitude, and
extending 30 degrees south of the 20th parallel of north latitude. The
region, though invariably spoken of as a geographical whole (as politically
it almost entirely is), is far from being homogeneous, so that its usual
appellation is not altogether appropriate. Its physical and biological
characters clearly divide it into two distinct parts. From the Strait of
Sunda east to about 118 degrees east there lies a submarine plateau
hardly 50 fathoms deep, while be-
yond that line all the way to a
bank close to the coast of New
Guinea, extends a deep sea with
deeper basins.
The boundary line between this
plateau and the deeper sea, known
as Wallace's Line (after the dis-
tinguished naturalist who first in-
dicated its existence), lies close to
the east of Borneo, and may be pro-
longed through the outer margin of
the Philippines and Formosa to the
Asiatic mainland. The biological features of the region show that, in all
the islands to the west of Wallace's Line, the forms of life are the same
as, or closely related to, those of the Asiatic continent, while on most of
the islands to the east they as unmistakably point to Australia as the
centre whence they have spread. This line, therefore, clearly follows what,
in very recent geological times, was the shore of the continent of Asia.
With the exception of Celebes the islands to the east, rising out of deeper
water — the result of longer continued subsidence — have also at various
times formed part of a greater Australasian continent than the present.
From the Asiatic plateau rise the Philippines, and the Greater Sunda
Islands (Java, Sumatra, Borneo). Over the deeper eastern seas are spread
37 555
Fig. 280. — The Malay Archipelago showing
Wallace's Line.
55^ The International Geography
the Celebes; the Moluccas (Halmaheira and the intervening islands to Ke)
and the Lesser Sunda Islands, a chain 1,200 miles in length, from Lombok
to Timor-laut.
The remarkable specialisation of the fauna and flora in the Philippines,
demanding a long period for its accomplishment, indicates that this group
was earlier separated from the continent than any of the Sondaic Islands,
as the deep water in its neighbourhood would also imply. Indeed, but
for the Palawan and Sulu banks it would be isolated from the plateau.
The results of a comparison of the forms of life in Java with those in
Sumatra or Borneo are held to warrant the belief that the latter were
connected with the mainland after the separation of the former, which
must have occurred during the great climatic changes of the Pleistocene
period. Later subsidences severed Sumatra from Borneo, and finally
separated the latter from the Malay Peninsula. Of the islands east of
Wallace's Line, Celebes is surrounded by very deep seas, and in pre-
senting a fauna (whose affinities are Asiatic), with a degree of speciali-
sation exceeding any in the Archipelago, it proclaims the still greater
antiquity of its separation from that continent, and its entire isolation
ever since, by the absence of forms that ought otherwise to have been
present. Of the island-groups with characteristically Australian affini-
ties the Lesser Sunda Islands were probably detached from the Australian
mainland before the Moluccas, which appear to have been separated subse-
quently to the submersion of the Asiatic plateau.
The most notable physical feature of the Archipelago is its vulcanicity.
A chairtsof cones, some extinct, some dormant, and others active, sweeps
in a semicircle round its border from Sumatra eastward to the Philip-
pines. The geological structure of many of the islands is still unknown.
In Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Celebes, and Timor, ancient rocks
occur ; but most of the others are composed mainly of Tertiary strata,
over which the ejecta of the volcanoes are piled to an enormous
depth, and form the bulk of the high land in the Archipelago
(see Fig. 19).
Climate.— The climate is tropical and humid, and with the exception
of. the Philippines, part of which lie within the region of typhoons, the
Malay Archipelago is not subject to violent extremes. Along the equa-
torial belt, about four degrees wide, the wet and dry seasons, which
occur with great regularity beyond those latitudes on both sides, are
ill-defined. In this region rain falls more or less throughout the year.
Sowth.ofj the equator the wet season lasts from November till March,
the period which north of the line is the dry season (see Fig. 323).
Flora and Fauna. — On the west side of Wallace's Line, vegetation
carpets the ground from the water's edge to an altitude of 7,000 feet, with
palms, bamboos. Euphorbias, Papilionace^, and Artocarpeae ; with giant
Altingias, laurels, oaks, and Dipterocarpeae. Monkeys, tigers, rhinoceros,
tapirs, elephants, and ruminants roam the islands ; woodpeckers, trogons,
The Malay Archipelago 557
barbets and pheasants people the forests. On the east side, Eucalyptus,
Casuarinas, phyllode-bearing Acacias, Podocarpeie, and Cycads, unknown
in the west, mark the Australian character of the liora. The terrestrial
mammals just named are absent. The Cuscus and other marsupials take
their place. Cockatoos, megapodes, cassowaries, and Birds of Paradise
meet the eye, while woodpeckers, barbets, and pheasants are conspicuously
absent.
Native Peoples. — Viewed generally the archipelago is peopled by
Malays, who are mostly Mohammedans, and Melanesians, who are nearly
all pagans. Although predominant to the west of Wallace's Line, the Malay
has spread to the nearer Sunda Islands, and many of the Moluccas. The
Melanesians occupy the more eastern islands. The Malay is typically a
short olive-brown Mongolian, with a round head, straight hair, bare face,
wide cheeks, and slightly oblique eyes. In temperament he is sedate,
morose, ceremonious, yet revengeful and cruel. The Melanesian is a
sooty-brown Ethiopian, tall, with a long head, covered with a mop of
frizzly hair, a narrow face, often well bearded, and with a prominent nose ;
in temperament he is lively and boisterous. The origin of these races is a
complex problem. The Malays, as known to us in purer Atjinese and
Sundanese — a race developed through the commingling of Caucasian and
predominating Mongol blood in Indo-China — were the last incursionists
into the region. They followed an earlier pure-Caucasian migration —
known as Polynesians, whose last remnants in the Archipelago linger
in the Mentavi islands on thfe west coast of Sumatra — who drove
the Negrito autochthones of the Archipelago out into the remote in-
terior of the Philippines and other islands, and were themselves over-
whelmed by half-breeds of Mongol and predominating Caucasian blood,
now known as Indonesians, of whom the Battaks and Dyaks are
survivors.
In like manner the Melanesians of the Solomon and New Hebrides
Islands, migrating westward into the eastern part of the Archipelago, partly
supplanted, partly commingled with the Negrito autochthones; and then
Caucasioid (Polynesian) pre-incursionists, whose strain appears still in
many of the people, as well in their language as in their customs.
Throughout the Archipelago low Malay is the lingua franca on the coasts ;
but each island has its own dialect, or language, and sometimes many
languages are spoken in one island.
Political Divisions. — Politically the Archipelago was long divided
between the two European Powers, Spain and Holland. The Philippines
have passed from the possession of Spain to that of the United States ;
and except for the eastern moiety of Timor, which is Portuguese, and
a considerable area of the north-west of Borneo, which is a British
Protectorate, the remainder of the Malay Archipelago forms the magnifi-
cent possession of Netherlands-India.
558 The International Geography
Biou^sn U
•; *"^*^' ^^^^a^s's*^
Pig. 281. — Philippine Islands. The map
includes 700 miles by 500.
II.— THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
Extent, History, People and Trade.— The Philippine Islands,
numbering some 1,200, separated by narrow channels, covering an area
not quite so large as the British Islands, with a population of 'j^
millions, lie between 21" and 4° N. and
from 116° to 128° E. Most of the
islands are extremely irregular, high
and intensely volcanic. The loftiest
mountain in the group attains 10,000
feet of elevation. The rainfall is heavy,
the vegetation luxuriant, and there are
innumerable lakes and rivers. The
mean temperature is about 84° F., and
the annual range under 40°. Though
fever and many zymotic diseases, pre-
ventable by better sanitary supervision,
prevail, the Philippines are fairly
healthy. The inhabitants are Malays,
much crossed with Chinese blood,
Negritoes, and a few Indonesians.
Discovered in 1521 by a Spanish
squadron, under Magellan — who lost
his life on the occasion, fighting with the people of Zebu — the Philip-
pines were called St. Lazarus Islands, which twenty years afterwards
was changed to their present name, in honour of Philip II. Only in
1565, however, forty years after their discovery, first Zebu, then Panay,
and finally Luzon, were taken effective possession of by a force under
Miguel de Legaspi. After that date Spain held the whole group, though
several of the southern islands hardly acknowledged her authority. By
the capture of Manila in 1898 the United States of America undertook
the control of the islands and the Spanish forces were withdrawn.
The chief products of the group are tobacco leaf,
cigars, hemp and sugar, which make up nine-tenths
of the value of the exports ; and also coffee, indigo,
copra, rice, and pine-apple fibre. The Philippines,
under the Spaniards, were administered by a Captain-
General, under whom were the four Governors of
Luzon, Bisaya, Mindanao, and the Adjacent Isles.
Every religion was forbidden except the Roman
Catholic, whose priests consequently became very
influential.
Since occupied by the United States the group has been organised into
39 provinces, each under a Governor, while municipalities have been
formed and schools established. There is also a Governor for the whole
group, assisited bv % legislative body of seven.
FIG.282. — Average popu-
lation of a square miU
of the Philippines.
British Borneo
559
Principal Islands and Towns.— Luzon I-;land is the largest and
most fertile of the group. Sugar and tobacco arc largely cultivated.
There are a few miles of railway and telegraph lines, and it is proposed
to extend the railway system by the construction of a trunk line 600 miles
long ; a transverse line from Manila to the east coast ; and various branch
lines. Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was captured and founded
in 1571. It is protected by Cavite, nearer the sea, on the Bay of Manila,
a forlitied harbour with an arsenal and dockyard, which was taken by
Admiral Dewey for the United States in June, 1898. The Manila Obser-
vatory, founded by the Jesuit, P. Federico Faura, in 1865, has a world-wide
celebrity. The volcano, Mount Mayon, 9,000 feet in height, is noted for
its disastrous eruptions. Iloilo, in the Island of Panay, with an excellent
harbour, is the second city in the Philippines in commercial importance.
It largely exports sui^ar, tobacco, Manila-hemp, and perfume. Coal beds
are found in Samar and in Zebu, whose cliief town of the same n;nne is
the oldest settlement of the colony. On the island of Mactan, m its
harbour, Magellan, the navigator, was
killed before ]\e had completed the hrst
circumnavigation of the globe.
Mindanao island, the next in size to
Luzon, is very fertile. It contains gold,
quicksilver, and coal in considerable
abundance, and there are valxiable forests
of ebony and teak. Zaniboango is its chief
town. The Sulu islands, which form part
of the government of the Philippines, are
ruled by a tributary but very powerful
sultan. Palawan and Balabac islands are
geographically and biologically part of
Borneo. Puerto Princcssa is the chief town and port. Burial caves of
vast antiquity, containing bones, vases, and ornaments of Chino-Japanese
origin, indicate an early Mongolian occupation, of which all tradition
is lost.
Fig. 2*3. — Manila Bay.
Ill— BRITISH BORNEO
British North Borneo. — Although most of the Malay Archipelago
fell into the possession of the United Kingdom in 181 1, it was returned
to its former rulers in 1817, and now only a part of Borneo, about
the area of Great Britain, is under British protection. British North
Borneo occupies the northernmost part of the island. Ceded to a
company under grants from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu, which
were confirmed to it by Royal Charter in 1881, it was in 1888 pro-
claimed a British Protectorate, to which Labuan Island was annexed in
the following year. Tobacco, coffee and pepper are largely cultivated
560 The International Geography
These, with forest products of the same kind as those described under
Dutch Borneo, form its export trade. The revenue is derived from the
opium and spirit rents, import duties, Hcenses, and royalties. Sandakan,
on the north-east coast, is its chief town, and a telegraph cable connects
the Protectorate with Singapore.
Brunei is a small native State lying between British North Borneo and
Sarawak, and is ruled by a Sultan, who came under British Protection in
1888. The name of this State has come, in a. slightly modified form, to be
applied to the whole great island.
Sarawak, considerabl}^ larger than British North Borneo and Brunei
combined, has a coast line of 400 miles on the north-west side of the
island. It was in 1842 made over to an Englishman, Sir James Brooke, by
the then Sultan of Brunei, and administered for nearly fifty years by that
gentleman and his successor. In 1890 it was proclaimed under British
Protection. Sir Charles Brooke is the present Rajah.
His capital is Kuching, on the Sarawak river, a little
over 20 miles from its mouth. The exports are the
same, and the revenue is raised on the same subjects as
in British North Borneo. Gold, and other precious
metals, diamonds, and coal beds, are amongst the
YiG.^:H:=:n^ badge "^^"^^1 products of the territory.
of British North The natural features of British Borneo, which, as
Boreno. ^ whole, includes practically the entire north-western
drainage area of the island (see Fig. 287), are described along with those
of the Dutch possessions.
IV.— THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
Government and Administration. — With the exception of the
Philippine Islands, British Borneo, and half of the island of Timor the
whole Archipelago is a Dutch possession, Netherlands-India {Nederlandscli
Oost Indie) or the Dutch East Indies. The area of these colonies is sixty-
two times as great as that of the mother country ; they are all ruled by a
Governor-General appointed by the States-General in Amsterdam, assisted
bv a Council {Raad van Indie). Under the central authority the whole
of the islands is divided into Governments and Residencies according
to the importance of the provinces. Each governor or resident has
under him assistant residents, subordinate to whom are controllers, one
for each district. These officers exercise almost unlimited administrative
and judicial powers. In the tributary States the resident advises the
native potentate to whom he is accredited, who carries out these instruc-
tions by his own subordinates. In the provinces which are directly
governed, the controllers assume the same attitude to the native chiefs,
who are held responsible for the due execution of the government
Dutch East Indies
5^1
behests. The army, composed partly of natives and partly of European
mercenaries, under Dutch officers, numbers about 40,000 men. The
navy consists of about 80 vessels, of which the majority are colonial and
the remainder of the Dutch Royal Navy.
Since 1830 the Dutch have farmed all the more valuable cultures in
Java, and also in West Sumatra and the Minahassa, in Celebes, as
monopolies, which the natives have been forced — as the tax they were
best able to pay — to plant and crop gratuitously, and to deliver the
produce at the government stores at a fixed price. The result was a large
yearly revenue to the government, and to the native, remuneration
abundantly sufficient for all his needs. The general prosperity of the
people under this regime is evidenced by the continued (and in some
places extraordinary) increase in the population of the islands. The
monopolies, except coffee, have now been abandoned, and forced labour,
except for one day a week on the roads, has been commuted for a small
yearly money tax.
Under the Dutch there live in the Archipelago about 35,000,000 people,
of whom only 63,000 are Europeans and half a million Chinese. In the
Courts of Justice, Europeans are tried according to the laws in force in
Holland, and the natives by the same modified according to Malayan
customs and institutions.
The revenue of the Possession is mainly derived from the Government
monopolies — the railways, the farming of salt and opium — and the sale of
coffee grown under forced labour, with duties (import and export), and
taxes. Coffee and sugar are by far the most important exports ; tobacco,
tea and indigo following. There is a small inter-insular trade done in
krises, for which the native blacksmiths are famed, and in articles of dress,
particularly sarongs, peculiarly dyed (or batek-ed) in Java.
GREATER SUNDA ISLANDS
Java. — Java, although not the largest of the Greater Sunda Islands, is
the most important of the Dutch possessions. It is the most fertile,
the most highly cultivated, and the
most densely populated island in
the Archipelago. It lies entirely
between 6^ and 8° S., and is 590
miles in length, from west to east.
The south coast is bold and rocky,
the northern low and fringed with ^ " ^,_ ^o, Z ~ 7*7^
* Fig. 285. — The lolcauoes of yava
mangrove swamps. The whole
surface of the island is mountamous, with only a few elevated plateaus,
the highest summit reaching 12,000 feet, and there are a score over 9,000
feet. No equal area of the globe contains so many volcanoes ; the whole
island is practically covered with the mud — they rarely discharge lava—
562 The International Geography
which they have thrown out. The few sedimentary rocks which occur,
are entirely of Tertiary age. The rivers are numerous and fairly
large, but none are navigable, and there are practically no lakes. Luxuri-
antly clothed with vegetation, Java is a paradise to the botanist. Monkeys
[Semnopiiheci), apes {Hylobafes), tigers, leopards, rhinoceros and wild
cattle {Bos banteng) are its more conspicuous mammals. Over 200 species
of birds, including pea-fowl, are found in its jungles and mountains.
A fossil {Pithecanthropus erecius), remarkable for its combined human
and simian characters, has been discovered in Tertiary strata in the
Bengawan valley.
People and History of Java. — The west of Java is peopled by the
Sundanese, the east by Javanese, and the island of Madura at its eastern
extremity, which is always included with Java, by a distinct race, the
Madurese. All of them are Malays, but in the Javanese there is a strain of
Hindu blood. In addition there is a large population of Chinese, Arabs and
other nationalities. In some districts the density of the population is as
high as 900 to the square mile. The three chief languages differ from each
other widely. Javanese, however, is the most elabo-
rate and highly developed. It possesses both a court
and a vulgar dialect, and has a script, peculiar to itself,
which had its origin in India. All three peoples are
Mohammedans, tinctured in the west with Paganism,
and in the east with Brahmanism. They are at.
very skilled agriculturists, and employ a most elabo-
rate system of irrigation.
Fig. 286.— Average popu- The first immigration into Java, so far as known,
laiioji of a square mile by races subsequent to the Malay occupation, was
'^J ^^^'"■^- by Hindus, probably about 800 years before their
power was broken by Arab Mohammedans in 1478. They introduced
their religion and a high civilisation into eastern Java and the island of Bali,
which is attested by the ruins in those regions of great cities, and vast and
finely sculptured temples. Between 151 1 and 1550 the Portuguese reached
the island and did some trading with the people of Bantam, where the first
Dutch post was established in 1595. In 1602 the Dutch East India Com-
pany was formed, and in 1609 a fort was erected at Batavia, but it was not
till sixty years later that the first territorial acquisitions were made, which
have extended into the splendid possessions of to-day. In 1685 the English,
who had also been attracted to Bantam, but had been forced to give way
to the Dutch, moved to Benkoolen, in Sumatra, leaving Java free to their
rivals. In 1798 ''The Company," as the ruling power still continues to be
called by the natives, was dissolved, and the mother country assumed the
direct government of Netherlands-India.
Divisions and Towns of Java. — For administrative purposes,
Java with Madura is divided into 22 residencies. Batavia, the capital, is a
large town situated on a low plain, at the mouth of the Tji-liwong. It con-
Dutch East Indies— Java 563
sists of the original Batavia, and the new town, a couple of miles to the
south. The former contains the native quarter, the Stadt-house, and the
business offices and godowns ; the latter the hotels, the European residences,
the official palace of the Governor-General, and the government offices,
surrounding a large park — the King's Plain. Canals everywhere traverse
both towns, lined by trees which shade the streets that run beside them.
Nearly every dwelling — native and European — is embowered in vegetation.
A few miles east of the Tji-liwong mouth, a fine harbour has been built at
Tandjong Priok, whose stone piers are capable of accommodating the
largest vessels. It is connected with Batavia by canal, road and railway.
On the hills, 35 miles south, is the town of Buitenzorg, at an elevation of 750
feet, a delightful sanatorium, surrounded by high mountains and amid most
beautiful scenery. It is the usual residence of the Governor-General, whose
palace stands in the richest and most t)eautiful botanical garden in the
world. Bantam, on the north-west coast, one of the most important cities
of the East in the sixteenth century, was the site occupied by the Portuguese,
Dutch and English, on their first reaching Java. Samarang, a seaport
situated about the middle of the north coast, is commercially important,
but its open roadstead is often a rough and unsafe anchorage in the west
monsoon. It is connected by railway with the main line through the
middle of the island. Some 30 miles south is Soerakarta, the most populous
town in Java. It is the capital of the independent territory of the Susu-
'.lunan or emperor, who resides there ; but while retaining his court and
state, he is guided and " advised " by a Resident. Still further south, Djokdjo-
kaiia, also the capital of a dependent sultanate, was long the rival of
Soerakarta. Both are now stations on the Central Railway.
Ruins of the temples of the Hindu period are widely spread over the
whole of this region ; those of Boeroboediir are celebrated for their extent
and magnificence. Tj Hat jap, a free port, and the only good harbour on the
south coast, is connected with Samarang and Soerabaya by railway. Soera-
baya, at the mouth of the Solo river, at the eastern extremity of the island, is
one of the largest towns in Java, and the most important commercially. It
has grown up on a natural harbour that cannot be excelled. A short dis-
tance from the town are the ruins of Madjopait, the ancient Hindu capital,
which the Arabs destroyed in 1478.
Neighbouring Islands. — Large clusters of small islands are scattered
along the northern coast of Java. The traveller entering the Strait of Sunda
is face to face with his first evidences of the volcanic nature of the region
in a series of symmetrical cones, of which Krakatao, shattered by the
memorable outburst of 1884, is the most remarkable. On emerging from the
strait into the Java Sea, he has to thread his way amid clumps of verdure,
set in the alabaster basins of their coral beaches, known as The Thousand
Islands, as far as the Roads of Batavia, which for centuries was the great
anchorage of the East, till the harbour of Tandjong Priok was built.
Karimon Java. Bawean and Kangeang are tlie remaining more important
5^4 The International Geography
clusters. Two or three small islands off the south coast are so close to the
mainland that they may be reckoned as part of Java itself.
Bali. — This island lies near the eastern edge of the submerged Asiatic
plateau, separated by a shallow and narrow strait from Java. It is usual to
reckon Bali as the most westerly of the Lesser Sunda Islands ; but, con-
nected as it is with the Asiatic plateau, it is geographically, as it certainly is
biologically, a part of Java, and ought never to be disassociated from the
Greater Sunda Islands. It is very mountainous and volcanic ; the highest
peak, Gunong Agong, rising to 10,000 feet, is a dormant volcano. The
streams are numerous but small, and there are few lakes. The Balinese
are Malays with a strain of Hindu blood, who still retain the Brahmanical
religion, which elsewhere in the Archipelago is lost. They possess an
extensive literature in a language of their own, written in slightly modified
Javanese characters. In the working of iron and gold their artificers have
a high reputation. As agriculturists they are very successful owing to
their skill in the irrigation of the soil. Bali produces coffee, rice, and
tobacco ; these, with copra and cattle, are the chief exports. Various small
rajahs divide the ownership of the island among them. Buleleng, the chief
town and port, is the seat of the Residency, which includes Lombok.
Sumatra. — The second island of the Archipelago in size is Sumatra,
which forms the western boundary. It extends in a north-west and south-
east direction for six degrees on each side of the equator ; it is over 1,000
miles in length, and in greatest breadth about 300. Including the sur-
rounding islands, it is more than three times larger than Java, although its
population is only one-seventh of that of the more favoured island. It is
separated from the Malay Peninsula by the Strait of Malacca, and from
Java by the Sunda Strait. . The main physical feature of Sumatra is a
high narrow mountain chain — the Barisan — buttressed by plateaux in some
parts and studded with dead, dormant and active volcanoes along its west
coast, and a wide alluvial plain on the east side, from north to south,
formed by the deposits resulting from the long denudation of the Barisan.
In the mountains, Palaeozoic slates, schists, and limestones have been
found ; but Secondary rocks appear to be entirely unrepresented in the
island, which is chiefiy composed of Tertiary strata, containing extensive
deposits of coal. The rivers on the west side are numerous, but short,
rapid, and unimportant ; those flowing to the east are also numerous, but
large, placid, and navigable, many of them for several hundred miles
across the alluvial plains. The more important from north to south are
the Rakan, the Kampar, the Indrigiri, the Batang-hari, and the Palembang,
of which the last two carry to the sea the waters of four degrees of lati-
tude. There are numerous lakes — Toba, high up among the mountains in
the north, Kormtji, and Ranau being the largest. Since Sumatra is crossed
by the equator the seasons in the north are the opposite of those in the
south. Along the equatorial belt there are no definite monsoons, and rain
squalls occur throughout the year. The plains, from thdr humidity and
Dutch East Indies— Sumatra 56^
high temperature, are very unhealthy ; but on the mountains, at elevations
over 3,000 feet, no better climate can be desired.
The flora of Sumatra is exceedingly rich ; the whole surface of the island
is forest clad. Gutta-percha trees — from whose abundance Sumatra derived
its name of Piilo Perija — are among the most valuable denizens of its
forests. Camphor trees, Dipterocarpeae, many of the species attaining to a
great altitude, and Pinus Merkusii are also notable. Among its mammals
the tapir, the mountain g07it{Antilocapra sumatrana), the elephant, and the
orang-utan are characteristic, while among its birds the Argus pheasant and
the Bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant may be specially named.
People and History of Sumatra. — The people are pure-blooded
Malays, but among them are interspersed colonies of Melanesians {e.g., the
Battaks), a Malayo-Caucasian race. High Malay, or dialects of it, is the
language spoken throughout Sumatra. In the Lampong, Palembang, and
Battak regions it is written in a character whose origin has been traced to
the Indian mainland and to Phoenicia. In the eastern plains the people
are mostly Mohammedans ; in the mountains they are mainly Pagans.
At an early but unknown date Sumatra received a large incursion of
Hindus, whose traces are left over a wide area in numerous stone sculp-
tures, which, however, are far ruder in execution than those in Java. The
first European to visit the island appears to have been Marco Polo who
remained for some months in 1291. Varthema, the Italian, is doubtfully
credited with touching at Atjeh in 1505. In 1598 the Dutch formed their
first settlement there. During the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and of James L
English ambassadors were sent to reside at the Court of the Sultan of
Atjeh (Achin), who appears to have been then a great potentate. In 1685
the British traders, on being ousted from Bantam by the Dutch, established
themselves at Fort Marlborough, in Benkoolen, which they occupied till
1824, when it was exchanged for Malacca. Since that date the whole of
Sumatra — except Atjeh, with which there has been a chronic state of war
now it is said successfully concluded — has been effectively occupied by the
Dutch.
The trade and industries of Sumatra are similar to those of Java, but
more tobacco is cultivated. Black pepper, largely grown in the Lampongs,
?o.nis an important article of export. The forest products are extremeh'
V iluable. These are principally gutta-percha, camphor, dammar, beeswax,
m.l gambler. Gold occurs abundantly in Jambi and northern Palembang.
In I he Padang highlands there are valuable beds of coal. The native
nKuuitactures are few, krises, sarongs, gold and silver filigree work being
thj chief, but made only for sale or barter among the natives themselves.
Only a few miles of railway have yet been laid down ; all the chief towns
are, however, connected by telegraph with Batavia.
Divisions and To\vns of Sumatra. — Including the Riow Archi-
pelago, and Banka on its east coast, Sumatra is divided, for administrative
purposes, into nine Residencies.
5^6 The International Geography
Tclok-bdong, the chief town of the Lampongs, situated at the head of
a long gulf of the same name, is the principal port for the shipment of
black pepper. It suffered severely by the sea-wave following the final
outburst of Krakatao in 1884. Padang, a large and important seaport
about the middle of the west coast, is the seat of the Residency, and has a
large export trade from the Padang highlands, and the island groups to
the westward. The Peak of Korintji, in the south of the Residency, the
highest mountain in Sumatra, attains 12,000 feet in height. The large
lake of the same name on the east of the Barisan, drains into the Jambi
river. Oleleh, on the north coast, is the port for Kota-raja, the capital of
Atjeh. From Deli, on the east coast, tobacco, grown on the numerous large
plantations, which extend inland, forms the chief export. The leaves,
which are used to form the outside wrappings of the best cigars, fetch a
high price in the European market. Hence is reached the country round
Lake Toba, which has an area of 500 square miles, and is inhabited by the
Battaks, an Indonesian pagan race, who practice cannibalism on their
enemies, but who nevertheless possess an alphabet, invented by and
peculiar to themselves. Janihiy the capital of the Sultan of that territory,
is situated on the Batang-hari river, which is navigable by steamers for
nearly 500 miles. In the south-east Palembang, on the river of the same name
is separated from the sea by 40 miles of half-submerged alluvium. It is the
capital of the Residency, and has a mixed population of Malays, Chinese
and Arabs, making it the largest and busiest mart of the island, and the
" receiving house " for the produce of a vast and rich area, brought by raft
and boat from the base of the Barisan. The city, a great part of which is
built on floating platforms, is quaint and picturesque, and altogether one of
the most interesting towns of the Archipelago. Mount Dempo, one of the
peaks of the Barisan, is its highest mountain. In the south-east corner of the
Residency is Ranaii, a district surrounding a lake of the same name, noted
for the excellence of its tobacco.
Islands of Sumatra. — Of the satellite islands lying off the east
coast — the Riow Group, Banka and Bileton — the two last are the most
important in containing the famous tin mines (discovered in 1709), which
yield annually an average of nearly 10,000 tons of ingots. Off the west
coast, and some 70 or 80 miles off, lie the Nias, the Nassau, and the
Mentawi Islands, the last named forming the largest and most important
group. Its islanders are noteworthy as being the only remnants now
inhabiting the Archipelago of the Caucasioid stock from south-eastern
Asia, who ousted the Negrito autochthones, and for a time occupied
probably all the islands east to the Pacific, where they are now found.
Borneo. — The largest island of the Archipelago, and the third on the
globe not ranking as a continent, lies across the equator between 7° N.
and 4° S. The Balabac Strait and the Sulu Sea separate it from the
Philippines, and the Macassar Strait from Celebes. The island is irregularly
triangular, and its northern and southern coasts are more irregular than
Dutch East Indies— Borneo
5<37
those on the east and west. Its geological structure proves it to be a
fragment of a continental land. The central mass of Tabang, with its
radiating range of mountains, contains strata of all ages from Primary to
Quaternary. Between its mountain arms, low level alluvial valleys extend
far back into the country, which would by a small amount of subsidence
in the south and east be overflowed by the sea to the centre of the island.
Few of the mountains, except Kinabalu in the north, are high, and none
are volcanic. There are no lakes of any magnitude ; but of its rivers,
which are numerous and tortuous, a few are large. The Barito, flowing due
south, the Kapuas, running west almost on the equator, the Bulangan,
flowing due east, the Redjang, flowing due west to a great delta on the
Sarawak coast are the chief. Most of them can be navigated by boats far
into the interior.
The meteorological conditions and climate of Borneo are very similar
to those prevailing in Sumatra — an equatorial belt of variable weather
divides the northern from the southern
regions, which are regular, but opposite
in season. The fauna and flora also agree
very closely indeed with those of Sumatra,
but the tiger and the tapir are absent.
Borneo has, however, a peculiar anthro-
poid — the Nosed Monkey {Nasal is larvatus)
— and is rich in birds, over ^500 species
inhabiting its forests and mountains.
People, History and Trade of
Borneo. — The inhabitants — Dyaks and
Kayans, by name — now much mixed with
Chinese blood, are largely Indonesian
pagans who occupy the interior of the
island. The coasts are tenanted by
Chinese, Arabs, and chiefly Malays from western ^lalaysia, of whom
the tribes known as Bajans still live by piracy. Some of the southern
districts seem at one time to have been occupied by Hindus. In
the north-west of Borneo, the Sulus predominate. The Dyaks~are less
civilised than the Sumatrans ; they have no literature, and no script. They
live in large communal pile dwellings, and are spoken of as likeable
savages by those who have lived among them. Their head-hunting— the
sign amongst them of manhood — is practised, not from bloodthirstiness,
so much as from conformity to inexorable custom which demands it as an
essential to matrimonial success. They have no manufactures beyond the
fabrication of a few krises, ornaments of gold, or silk sarongs — all of high
repute — for their own use or barter. Rice, sugar, and a little tobacco are
all the products the people cultivate, and those mainly for their own use. •
The export trade of Dutch Borneo consists of Chinese or European
cultivated tobacco, sugar and pepper, and the native-collected forest produce
Fig. 2S-J.— Borneo.
5^8 The International Geography
of edible birds' nests, bees-wax, dammar, and gutta-perclia, with some
beche-de-mer and tortoise-shell. The natural resources of the island are,
however, still almost entirely undeveloped. Vast fields of coal of Tertiary
age, composed mainly of large dicotyledonous trees, occur in the south,
near IMartapura ; and though there are abundant deposits of the more
valuable minerals and metals, gold and diamonds are alone extensively
worked.
Ludovic Varthema was the first European to visit Borneo, early in the
sixteenth century ; the Spanish squadron which put into Brunei on its
way from the Philippines in 1521 next reached the island. Then some ten
years later the Portuguese, who had touched in 1526 on their way to the
Moluccas, established a few ports from which they carried on trade for
over 150 years. It was not till the close of the sixteenth century, however,
that the Dutch reached Borneo, where they also settled and traded for
70 years. Close on their heels came the rivals of both, the English, who
fixed their stations at Bandjermassin, where they remained till the beginning
of the eighteenth century, when, owing to the hostility of the natives, they
left the island. Onwards from 1733, when the Dutch returned, and
especially since 1825, Holland has slowly increased her territory, till now
the whole of Borneo, except the region on the north-west coast under
British protection (p. 559), is under her dominion.
Tcwns of Borneo. — Dutch Borneo is administered under two
Residencies — those of South and East Borneo combined, and of West
Borneo. The former province has an area thirteen times as large as
Holland, though its population is less than a million. Its chief town
is Bandjermassin, on tiie Riam-kina, a tributary of the Barito ; most of
the inhabitants live in floating raft-houses, and pile dwellings. It is a
large port, keeping up frequent communication with Batavia, the rest
of the Archipelago, and Singapore. Pasir and Tangarong, on the north-
east coast, are the chief towns of small semi-independent sultanates,
inhabited chiefly by Kayans. The Western Residency is about one-third
the size of the Eastern. Its chief town is the large port of Pontianak,
on the delta of the Kapuas river, fifteen miles from the sea, and situated
on the equator. It does a large export trade, of which gutta-percha is
the most valuable commodity,
CELEBES
Celebes, which lies east of Borneo, west of the Moluccas, and south
of the Philippines, between 2° N. and 6^ S., is remarkable for its singular
configuration. Four long, mountainous peninsulas radiate from a high
central mass, and there are no alluvial lowlands of any extent. Orographi-
cally, it seems to be composed of parallel ranges, separated by valleys, in
part occupied by lakes. Near the centre a high peak, Mount Koruvi, is
thought to be over 10,000 feet high. The rivers are mostly short and
unnavigable, but the Koro, in the west, is a large stream. The oldest
Dutch East Indies — Celebes
5^9
strata are sandstones, crystalline schists, and limestones of pre-Cretaceous
age, possibly in part Palaeozoic, as biological evidence indicates for the
island a great antiquity and early continental character. A deep sea pro-
bably existed in Cretaceous times, while a movement of elevation began at
the close of the Eocene.
Its northern part has an equatorial climate, and the southern the definite
dry and wet seasons of its latitude. Celebes is considered to be one
of the healthiest islands in the Archipelago.
The people are Malays, partly pagan, partly Mohammedan, except in
the Minahassa district in the northern peninsula, where they are Chris-
tianised. The southern Mohammedan races, of whom the Bugis are the
best known on account of their wide trading voyages over all the Archi-
pelago, use a script resembling but not identical with that used in Sumatra.
The Makassar and Minahassa districts are alone effectively occupied by
the Dutch ; the rest of the island being ruled by rajahs, who can hardly be
said to acknowledge the sovereignty of Holland. The first Dutch establish-
ment in the island was effected at Makassar in 1618. In the middle of the
seventeenth century they ousted the Portuguese, and have since then
remained the nominal masters, except for
the short period when (during the Penin-
sular War) the Dutch possessions were
held by the United Kingdom. Makassar,
in the southern peninsula, is the greatest
native mart in the Archipelago ; through
it passes the whole of the trade of the
islands to the east up to and including
New Guinea — beche-de-mer, tortoise shell,
pearl shell. Birds of Paradise skins, and
spices. From Dongala on the west coast,
the seat of an independent rajah, excellent
horses are exported. Menado is
chief town of the Minahassa, one of the
richest and best cultivated provinces in
the Dutch possessions, long famed for the excellence of its coffee. The
people, who are Christians, cultivate these government coffee gardens
under the forced-labour system ; but, exercised as it is under a kindly
paternal government, the people are prosperous, happy, and contented,
as, indeed, they are almost nowhere else in the Archipelago. The
Minahassa plateau, rising to 2,000 feet above the sea^ is one of the most
beautiful and fertile in the world. Kema, on the opposite side of the
peninsula, twent3^-three miles from Menado, is the port of the province
during the west monsoon, during which a dangerous surf prevails at
Menado.
Numerous island groups surround Celebes, the chief are the Sanghir
Islands in the north ; Butung, Tukang Bessi and Salaier, off its southern
peninsulas.
P^
MacassAr
i" -toe
the '::
-^^g» ^^<-
Fig. 2%%.— Celebes.
57^ The International Geography
THE MOLUCCAS
Moluccas. — Under the general name of the Moluccas or Spice
Islands are included three groups of small islands clustered respectively
round one or more larger islands, the principal being Halmaheira, Buru,
Ceram (or Serang) and Ke. The Moluccas are traversed by the great
volcanic chain of the Archipelago. Many of its islands are volcanic cones ;
some are raised coral reefs and others are composed of crystalline rocks
of Palaeozoic age. The majority are as yet but little explored. The
vegetation is luxuriant and of Papuo-Australian affinities. The nutmeg,
clove, and cardamom trees are the species which first made the region
famous as the Spice Islands. In its fauna marsupials take the place of
mammals. Kangaroos, cassowaries, and Birds of Paradise appear for the
first time in our journey east. Butterflies are, like the birds, remarkable
for their abundance and beauty. The climate of the Moluccas presents
the variety and the differences, already noted, of a region extending on
both sides of the equator. Here, however, the seasons are somewhat
modified by the proximity of the islands to New Guinea.
Three races commingle in the Moluccas. A few remnants of the
Mongolo-Caucasian forerunners of the Malays still linger, Malays and a
larger proportion of frizzly-haired Melanesians of Papuan stock, with
hordes of mixed Chinese, Arab and European blood. Most of the islands
have a language of their own, but without a script. The discovery of the
Spice Islands is lost in antiquity ; their fame however long antedated
their geographical localisation by the Western world. This was at last
accomplished by the Portuguese officers D'Abreu and Serrano in 151 1.
The islands were annexed to Portugal in 1522, but in 1583 the natives
expelled their masters. In 1613 the Dutch came on the scene and, partly
by treaty, partly by force, acquired the whole of the possessions of the
Sultans of Ternate and Tidore, which embraced Mindanao, the Moluccas,
and the whole of north-western New Guinea, all of which, except
Mindanao, still belong to the Netherlands.
Halmaheira (or Gilolo) and its surrounding islets form a very
mountainous and volcanic group. They are inhabited by Melanesians, of
Papuan stock somewhat mixed with Malayan blood, and it is curious that
they are Mohammedan in religion, though the Melanesian strain is in the
ascendancy. Ternaic, consisting of the peak of that name, 6,000 feet in
height, is famed throughout the Archipelago for its beautiful harbour.
The Sultan has his residence there. Tidore is a minute islet, but the seat
of the great rival sultanate to Ternate, through which it became a name
famous in the Archipelago. Baijian, a considerable island, but sparsely
populated, is zoologically interesting from contaming a genus of Birds
ot Paradise peculiar to itself.
Buru, a large island to the west of Ceram, is in its western half high
and mountainous, and has on its eastern side a wide alluvial plain. In the
Dutch East Indies 571
centre of the island, at an elevation of 2,000 feet above the sea, is the lake
of Waikolo. The inhabitants are Malayo-Papuan, and their chief industry
is the manufacture of kajuput oil from the leaves of Melaleuca kajuputi.
Kajeli is the only town of consequence.
Southern Moluccas. — The largest island of the southern Moluccas
is Ceram, which as yet is very little explored. The people on the coast are
Malays, and in the interior more or less pure Melanesians. Sago is the sole
export. Amboyna (with Saparna, Haruku, and Nusa-laut), though small in
area, is the most celebrated and one of the most interesting of the Spice
Islands. To Amboyna it was that the lucrative and coveted clove-monopoly
was restricted by the Dutch, and secured by exterminating the tree in every
other island. The monopoly has now been abandoned in favour of a tax
levied on the adult male population. This island group is mountainous,
volcanic, and richly clad with vegetation. Amboyna itself is one of the
healthiest islands in the Archipelago. The people are Mohammedan Malays,
Melanesians (Ceramese) and Christian descendants of Europeans by native
mothers. Amboyna, the chief town and capital of the Residency, is a large
military station. Banda, 140 miles south-east of Amboyna, is a small cluster
of volcanic islands rising from the depths of the Banda Sea. On Banda-neira
stand the town and fort, facing west to the smouldering island-cone ot
GunungApi. On Lontar, the largest of the group, are laid out the principal
nutmeg gardens, for which the islands are famous, and from which the
world's supply is almost cutirely drawn. The value of the spice is
estimated at about $450,000 annually.
The Ke Islands, consisting of between thirty and forty narrow
mountainous islets, separated by small channels, extend for sixty miles
north of the 6th parallel of south latitude. Numerous rajahs divide
between them the ownership of the group, whose inhabitants are, with the
exception of a few Malays, mainly Melanesians of Papuan origin. Their
fame as boat-builders and as artistic wood-carvers has spread throughout
the Archipelago.
THE LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS
The Lesser Sunda Islands form the long chain stretching from
Lombok eastward to Timor-laut. Many of the links of this chain rise from
the same submarine bank and thus combine into island-clusters, which must
at a former time have been more closely connected together than they are
now. Of these the islands from Lombok to Ombay comprise one cluster ;
Sumba and Timor, with Wetta and the Serwatty islands are independent
links, each rising out of deep water, while the Timor-laut bank gives origin
to another closely inter-related constellation. As a whole the group is arid,
and less verdure-clad than the islands farther west, and both biologically
as well as in appearance it is Australian. This greater dryness of these
islands, especially those further to the east, is due to their proximity to the
heated interior of the continent to their south and east. With few excep=
57^ The International Geography
tioiis they are mountainous and very volcanic ; many of them, however,
are still but slightly known.
Lombok-Ombay Group. — The most westerly member of the chain
is Lombok, separated from Bali by the Lombok Strait, only a few miles in
width. The islar.d is only twenty-five miles long, and its rivers are necessarily
small, while the lakes it contain are only old craters. Rinjani, the highest
summit, which rises to 12,000 feet, has an ever-smoking top, and is often a
clear landmark far at sea, when th3 rest of the island is hidden from view.
With the exception of a few Hindu Balinese, the inhabitants of Lombok,
known as Sassaks, are Mohammedan Malays, with a slight infusion of
Hindu blood. They have a language of their own written in the Balinese,
character. For half a century they lived under the tyrannous yoke of the
Balinese, by whom they had been subjugated, but in 1894., unable to bear
their oppression longer, they successfully appealed to the Dutch to take up
their cause. The Sassaks are skilled irrigators of their fields, which yield
large crops of rice and maize. They export the same products as the
Balinese. Ampauam is the port of the island, and Mataram, a. few miles
inland, was the residence of the Balinese Rajahs. The next island, Sumbawa,
a larger island, is nearly cut in two by an immense bay, on the east end of
which rises the famous volcano Tamboro, 9,100 feet high, whose eruption in
1815 was only less disastrous and far reaching in its effects than that of Kraka-
tao in 18S4, Bima and Sumbawa are the capitals of the two sultanates into
which the island is divided. It is celebrated throughout the Archipelago for
its fine breed of horses. The island of Flores, separated by a small islet
and two straits from Sumbawa, is 220 miles in length, and although very
narrow, the interior is hardly known. Its inhabitants are mainly frizzly-
ha'red Melanesians of Papuan origin, occupying the interior, and Malay
traders on the coast. Laraniuka, the administrative capital, is its best
known town and its most frequented port. The islets of Adenara, Solor,
Lomblen, Pantar and Ombay, standing on the eastern end of the Lombok-
Flores bank, are very sparsely inhabited.
Sumba, which diverges in a north-west and south-east direction from
the general trend of the chain, is almost surrounded by deep water. The
inhabitants, who are pagan Malays, are excellent agriculturists, and large
exporters of cattle and horses, which are shipped from N angamessi by
Makassar traders.
Timor. — The little islet of Savu, having a Hindu population, forms a
stepping-stone to Timor of which Rotti, which lies under its west corner,
is but a separated fragment. Timor, the largest of the Lesser Sunda
Islands, 300 miles long, diverges from the line of the Sunda island chain.
On both sides the depths exceed 1,000 fathoms. Its rocks are largely of
Palaeozoic age. Few of its rivers are large, none are navigable, and
many of them meander through deep and w^de valleys full of shingle,
in which gold occurs in apparently considerable quantity. The people
are of very mixed pedigree. They appear to be Melanesians (with
Dutch East Indies— Timor 573
indications of Indonesian or Polynesian intermixture), Malays, and
mongrels form the intermixture of these. At the coast there are Chinese,
Arabs, Bugis and Solorese. Their agriculture is very poor ; maize being
the main staple of their food. Numerous pigs are reared by them.
Their religion is paganism, tinctured here and there with Christianity.
The country has been all parcelled out into " kingdoms," each ruled
by a Rajah or Dato ; nearly every one of which has its own language
or dialect, though only a few miles may separate their capital villages.
The Portuguese, who occupied the whole island prior to 1613, were
driven from the western moiety by the Dutch, who have since retained
possession of it with Cupang as the capital.
Portuguese Timor.'— The greater part of the island of Timor
belongs to Portugal. The Portuguese portion includes the north-eastern
end of the island, with Dilli, the best seaport, as the capital of the colony,
which is an autonomous district for which a special administrative
organisation is being introduced. The geological structure of Timor is in
part coral formation and in part schistose. The reported existence of
active volcanoes has not been confirmed. There are only small streams,
the most important of them being the Lois. The climate is healthy in the
mountainous districts ; but has a bad reputation on account of the fact
that Dilli is built on low and marshy ground. Timor coffee is oi
superb quality, and the plantations are progressing greatly. Cocoa,
lutmeg, pepper, and sandal-wood grow well. Petroleum occurs and,
when regularly worked, will become a source of wealth to the island.
There are traces of gold, but no veins have been found. The area of
Portuguese Timor is about 7,000 square miles, and the population amounts
to about 300,000.
Eastern Sunda Islands.— Wetta and the Serwatty Islands are
inhabited partly by Christianised Malays and partly by Papuan Melane-
sians. The Timor-laut group, terminating the Lesser Sunda chain, con-
tains three larger islands — Larat, Yamdena, and Selaru — and about
thirty smaller. They are mainly upraised coral-reefs, peopled by Papuan
Melanesians, and Malays with Polynesian and Papuan blood in their veins.
Very little is known of even the larger members of the group, and all
the smaller are perfectly virgin ground to the geographer and the bio-
logist.
• By Captain Ernesto de Vasconcellos.
574 The International Geography
STATISTICS OF MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
(Mainly estimates aboiri 1895.)
Province.
Area in sq. miles
Philippine Islands
115,000
Luzon
Bisava
—
Mindanao . .
—
Adjacent Islands . .
—
British Borneo . .
84,000
British North Borneo
31.000
Brunei
3.000
Sarawak
50,000
Netherlands-India 1
584,000
Java and Madura . .
50,500
Sumatra and Islands
184,000
Dutch Borneo
212,700
Celebes
71.400
Moluccas . .
43,800
Lesser Sunda Islands 2
65,600
Density of
Population
Population.
pe
' s ^ mile.
7,500,000
65
3,057,000
2,-^3,000
—
750.000
—
22,OOf
—
4'^3.ooo
6
175.000
5
18,000
6
300,000
6
34,000,000
58
25.700,000
509
3,450,000
19
1,180,000
1,998,000
28
400,000
9
1,164,000
17
Malay Archipelago
783,000
42,000,000
POPULATION OF TOWNS.
Manila {Philippines) . .
150,000
Djokdjokarta {5^az'a) ..
90,000
Soerakarta (Java)
150,000
Samarang „
80,000
Soerabaya „
130.000
Palembang (Sumatra)
50,000
Batavia „
100,000
Bandjermassan (Dutch Borneo)
45,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in ponnds sterling).
(Estimates about 1895.)
Philippines. British Borneo. Netherlands-India
Imports .. .. .. 2,100,000 .. .. 900,000 .. .. 13,500,000
Exports 4,100,000 .. .. 1,200,000 .. .. 18,700,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. R. Wallace. " The Malay Archipelago. A Narrative of Travel [in 1854-62]." London.
New edition, i8qo.
F. H, H. Guillemard. "Malaysia and the Pacific Archipelagoes" in Stanford's Com-
pendinm. London, 1894.
H, O. Forbes. " A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago from 1878 to
1883." London. 1895.
A. H. Keane. " Eastern Geography." 2nd edit. London, 1892.
D. C. Worcester. "The Philippine Islands." New York and London. 1808.
Jesuitae El Archipielago Filipino. 2 vols, and Atlas. Washington, 1900 : and Translation
in " Report of the Philippine Commission." 2 vols. Washington,
1900-01.
P. A. vander Lith. " Encyclopedic van Nederl Indie." Leiden, 1895.
P. J. Veth. " Java, Geographisch, Ethnologisch, Historisch." 3 vols. Haarlem, 1S75-84.
T. Posewitz. " Borneo ; Enldeckungsreisen und Geologischen Untersuchungeii. ' Berlin,
1889. Translation, London, 1892.
Molengraaff. Geologische Verkehningstochten in Central Borneo. 2 vols, and Atlas.
Leiden, igoo. Translation, Leiden, 1903.
Nieuwenhuis. " In Central Borneo." 2 vols. Leiden, igoo.
'■ Quer durch Borneo. " 2 vols. Leiden, 1904, 1907.
K. Marten. " Reisen in der Molukken." 2 vols. Leiden, 1894.
" Report of the Philiopine Commission to the President." 4V0IS. Washington, 1900-01.
F. H. Sawyer. " The Inhabitants of the Philippines." 1900.
P. and F. Sarasin. " Entwurf einer geographisch-geologischen Bcschreibung des Insel
Celebes." Wiesbaden, 1901.
"Reisen in Celebes." 2 vols. Wiesbaden, 1905.
^ Not including Dutch New Guinea.
Including Bali.
BOOK III.
AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA
CHAPTER XXXI.— THE CONTINENT OF
AUSTRALIA
By C. H. Bartox, B.A.,
Ma rybowiii^li, Qiitriislu mi.
Australia. — Australia, the least of the five continents, with its
southern satelhte, Tasmania, stands aloof, both in character and situation,
from the world at large. Unlike any of the other great land masses, it lies
wholly within the southern hemisphere, without either encroaching on the
equatorial region or approaching, even remotely, the antarctic circle. Nc
other continent is so evenly parcelled out among the torrid, subtropical,
and temperate zones ; none so deeply lapped in great ocean expanses as
to form the one prominent land area in vi'hat is known as the "water hemi-
sphere." Severed from Africa by an average interval of 4,500, and from
South America by 8,500 miles, it differs from both not merely in outline,
but in the proportion that its longitudinal extent — 41°, or about 2,360 miles,
bears to the average width from north to south — 17^^°, or 1,050 miles. In
neither of the zones most exposed to prolonged solstitial heat is thereto be
found another example of a land so proportioned, and at the same time so
entirely withdrawn from equatorial or polar influence. Long ages of
seclusion from the rest of the world have impressed on this outlying region
a marked singularity in aspect, climate, and natural products. Isolation is
the predominant characteristic ; indications of affinity with other regions
are few and obscure. Only on the north-west, where the myriad isles of
Malaysia suggest a former connection with Asia, does Australia make any
advance towards the clustered continents of the " land hemisphere." Even
in this direction the nearest opposite points — North Cape in West Australia,
and Cape Romania, at the extremity of the long-drawn Malay peninsula —
are still 1.800 miles apart ; while the average interval between the Asiatic
and Australian continents exceeds the breadth of the North Atlantic betweerl
the British Islands and Newfoundland. Of neighbouring islands. New
Guinea separated from the north coast of Australia by the Arafura Sea,
Torres Strait, and the Coral Sea ; and the New Zealand group, some 1,200
miles distant on the south-east, are the most important. The south-eastern
575
57^ The International Geography
peninsula of New Guinea, together with New Caledonia and Norfolk
Island, form stations in a vast curve running approximately parallel to the
east coast of Australia, while a second and larger curve can be traced
through New Ireland, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, and the
Kermadecs, to Cape Runaway in northern New Zealand. The outer or
more easterly of these two curves is studded with volcanic vents, the inner
one only at the southern extremity, where both are merged in a series of
active volcanoes, Tongariro, Ruapehu, and Ngauruhoe, the culminating
points of the New Zealand plateau.
Coasts. — The continent of Australia is renif orm in outline ; the western
lobe imperfectly rectangular, while the curvature of the eastern describes
about two-thirds of an irregular ellipse. Simple and compact, the continent
presents only two important deviations from the general outline — Arnhem
Land and Cape York Peninsula, both projecting northward towards New
Guinea, and enclosing the spacious, almost land-locked. Gulf of Carpentaria.
The only other striking indentations of the coast are the Great Australian
Bight, extending from Cape Pasley to Cape Catastrophe ; and the twin
gulfs Spencer and St. Vincent, between Cape Catastrophe, Yorke Penin-
sula, and Cape Jervis. The Bight and Carpentaria jointly determine the
division of the continent into a western and an eastern half, differing not a
little from each other in aspect and physical conditions. Thus the western
half has a more angular contour, studded with bold prominences ;
more and larger estuaries, but fewer rivers, and not half a dozen that are
navigable above tidal influence. Long tracts of coast show no sign of
drainage to seaward, and there is but one solitary example (Sturt Creek)
of a watercourse of any length flowing towards the interior. There is
much uniformity of surface, and except in the far north-west and north,
barrenness and poverty of organic life are the prevalent characteristics.
The eastern half possesses, on a less accentuated outline, more available
harbours, roadsteads, and rivers, together with some 1,500 miles of inland
navigation. The mountain systems are higher, more intricate and con-
tinuous ; they play a greater part in attracting and distributing moisture,
in diversifying the surface, and so favouring the development of a richer
fauna and flora.
Islands. — Of the islands belonging to Australia, the great majority are
mere rocks, others are practically unexplored, or are uninhabited, or have
only local importance. Tasmania, the largest, alone claims special
mention. Cut off by Bass Strait from the south-eastern portion of the
mainland, a former connection with which is still attested by chains of
intervening islets, the offshoot differs greatly in outline from the parent
mass. The heart-shaped contour presents a concave northern front to the
prominent convexity of the opposite main ; the broken coast is studded
with projections and indentations ; and the southerly position of the island
— between lats. 40^° and 43^° — exempts it from the peculiar climatic con-
ditions that affect Australia proper.
Australia
577
Configuration and Hydrography. — Superficially, Australia re-
presents the exposed portion of an irregular, partly submarine plateau,
with an average submersion of 600 feet, the remains of an oldei
lozenge-shaped continent, reaching from lat. 50° S. to the equator,
and including Tasmania, New Guinea, Timor, and the Moluccas. Proof
of a subsidence sufficient to break up the continuity of the mass is
found in the extreme shallowness of the Arafura Sea and Carpentaria
Gulf ; the sw^ampy shores of the latter ; the concentric trend of the
rivers that empty into it from the south ; and above all in the Great
Barrier Reef, extending nearly 1,000 miles along the north-east coast at an
average distance from land of about 30 miles (Fig. 294). Of the inland
area, nearly two- thirds is occupied by the Great Austral Plain. Flanked on
every side by mountains or tablelands, and sloping more or less gradually
towards a central depressed lake-region, the outfall of a vast system of
inland drainage, this en-
grossing feature is by no
means the unbroken level
that its name implies.
Heights of land or un-
dulating downs indicate
the water-partings ; fiat-
topped hills, the ruins of
a once continuous rock-
cap, with, here and there,
some scattered mountain
groups of bolder aspect,
subdivide it into lesser
concavities of varying ex-
tent. Of the subdivisions
thus created, the basin
f .. . ,, . Fig. 289. — Hx'dwgniphy of Australia.
of the river Murray, m ^ ~ i> r ^ j
the eastern half of the continent, alone has an outlet to the sea. All
the other subdivisions constitute systems of inland drainage ending in
saline lake basins, where not absorbed by the soil or lost through evapo-
ration. The outer portions of the great plain merge into tablelands
buttressed to seaward by mountain chains, whose trend follows, ap-
proximately, that of the coast. Chief among them is the Great Divide,
reaching from long. 142° E. on the south coast to Cape York, parting the
Pacific waters from those that flow westward, throwing out secondary
ranges on both sides of the main axis, and giving rise to the not
very numerous class of Australian watercourses that deserve the name of
rivers. The courses of those on the Pacific slope are of no great length,
but they carry ample volumes oi water, and are liable, in rainy seasons, to
frequent but brief overflows. Those on the landward slope have courses
of great length, carry but little water, and are flooded only at long intervals.
578 The International Geography
The Murray, the main artery of the Murray-DarHng system, is an excep-
tion, being regularly fed during the dry season by the melting snows of the
Austrahan Alps.
The south-western coast, between Cape Leeuwin and Shark Bay, is
flanked by another but shorter mountain chain, the scarp of a huge granite
plateau extending inland, whose scanty drainage is discharged through a
series of defiles into the Indian Ocean. On the semi-peninsular projections
that diversify the coast north and north-east from Shark Bay, other less
regular mountain masses are planted whose radiating trend roughly corre-
sponds with the prominences of the shore line. The south coast, as far as
the head of the Great Australian Bight, for more than 700 miles con-
sists of a line of cliffs over 500 feet in height, merging further eastward
into extensive sand-dunes. This side of the continent presents the
phenomenon of a coast line nearly 1,000 miles in length, unbroken by the
discharge of even the smallest watercourse into the ocean.
The drainage area of Carpentaria Gulf is bounded on the south by high
downs, in which the coastal rivers discharging into it take their rise.
Nearly equidistant from the east and west coasts a system of parallel
chains, with a general west-north-west and east-south-east strike, occupies,
with some intervening tablelands and valleys, the centre of the continent.
Lastly, the wedge-shaped bulk of Flinders Range striking north from gulfs
Spencer and St. Vincent, and finally bifurcating to the east and west,
indirectly connects the central system with the more distant outlying spurs
of the Great Divide.
The rivers of Tasmania all drain into the sea. The two principal, the
Derwent, flowing south, and the Tamar, north, both rise in the central
lake-studded tableland round which the mountains cluster in detached
masses up to 5,000 feet in height. A smaller plateau of similar character
occupies the south-western angle of the island, and from one or other of
these elevated regions the larger rivers derive their chief supply.
Geological Structure. — Geologically, Australia ranks among the
oldest existing lands. Two-thirds of the surface is overlaid with the debris
of Mesozoic and Tertiary sandstones, which must once have covered the
interior with an unbroken sheet. In the south-west denudation has
exposed the underlying granite over an area of from 25,000 to 30,000
square miles, while the central ranges, and those of the western part of
Arnhem Land, afford strong evidences of metamorphic agency. On the
west and south-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria is a large irregular area of
Jurassic age, and strata belonging to the same system reappear on the
opposite side of the Gulf, in association with crystalline and trap rocks, in
the south and middle of Cape York Peninsula. In the Great Divide, the
granite combines with Silurian, crystalline, and Carboniferous rocks to form
a solid, terraced axis, on whose slopes the sandstones rest. Coal seams of
good strength and high quality are worked at various spots along the
Pacific coast. There is apparently some reason to believe that the Blue
Australia 579
Mountain sandstone was formed by the action, not of water, but of wind ;
the process of the consoHdation of wind-drifted sand into sandstone being
visible at Fraser Island (Hervey Bay), at Warrnambool on the south coast,
and elsewhere. Flinders Range is mainly of Silurian origin, as is also the
greater portion of Eyre Peninsula, on the west of Spencer Gulf. While
there is no active volcano known to exist in Australia at present, evidences
of recent volcanic action are found in " Australia Felix," a district between
Port Phillip and Cape Jaffa, within which no less than eighty-three distinctly
marked volcanic cones, from 700 to over 2,000 feet high, have been counted,
besides numerous lesser vents and crater-lakes (Fig. 301). Other volcanic
indications are found in north-eastern Australia, where they are dispersed
over an area of some 30,000 square miles. Such are the basaltic flows
about the Cape River, the Upper Burdekin, and the Lower Burnett ;
such the congeries of dome-shaped craters and cones found, at intervals,
about the 20th parallel.
Tasmania is, in the main, of Silurian age. Much of the interior, how-
ever, and part of the east coast is Carboniferous or Jurassic, the two
systems being separated by an intervening belt of crystalline formation,
along which, as in most places on the mainland, the richest and most
profitably worked mineral deposits are found. Both continent and island
are remarkable for their immunity from severe earthquakes. There is,
however, an ironstone region about 450 miles due north from the head of
the Great Australian Bight, ih the Central Ranges, where, about the
summer solstice, earthquakes of considerable force are stated to recur
almost daily during the hotter hours of the afternoon. Apart from this
isolated phenomenon, due, no doubt, to local causes, the seismic energy
displayed elsewhere is but feeble, a fact attributable, perhaps, to the
numerous volcanic safety valves, which, at a safe distance of from 1,000 to
2,000 miles, protect the continent on the east, north-east, and north-west.
Climate. — The climate, though in the main healthy, is subject to
strange vicissitudes. The summer solstice of the hemisphere coinciding
with the Earth's position in perihelion, the heat at that season is intense,
even in latitudes far south of the tropic line. The enormous longitudinal
extent of the continent, over which the Sun, when nearest, is vertical for
nearly three hours out of the twenty-four, combines with a generally shade-
less surface to favour so continuous an absorption of heat as is only
paralleled in the African Sahara, where the summer Sun is more than a
million and a half miles farther away. The absence of lofty cloud-con-
densing peaks in the central region, and the tendency of coastal chains to
rob the sea-winds of their moisture, and deflect them from a horizontal to
an ascending course, combine with the radiation of the Sun-parched
interior to produce severe and protracted droughts. On the approach of
winter, when the Earth is tending towards aphelion, the obliquity and the
distance of the Sun increase together ; the column of light, superheated
air that rises from the inland region rapidly cools down into a dense
580 The International Geography
Fig. 290. — Mean Annual Rainfall of Australia
{after Supan).
cushion of heavy cold air, exercising a strong lateral pressure on all sides,
and manifesting itself to the warmer coast regions as a nipping, bitterly
cold land-wind, lowering, the temperature many degrees below the lati-
tudinal average for the season.
Rainfall. — The rainfall is so unevenly distributed, that whole districts
may be suffering from drought,
while others, not far distant, are
the scene of great and destructive
inundations. At irregular intervals,
sometimes extending over several
years, the most arid parts of the
interior will thus for a few days
assume the appearance of a bound-
less, though shallow, inland sea.
While the north-west and north
coasts derive their rainfall from the
monsoons ; while the east coast is
bathed in showers condensed from
the south-east trade wind by the
Great Divide, varied with the ampler
discharge from an occasional tropical disturbance ; and while the southern
parts of the continent, north to some 30° of latitude, owe their rainfall to a
series of progressive cyclonic movements travelling eastward from their
source in the higher latitudes of the Indian Ocean — a very dry zone, from
5° to 7^* wide, stretches across the interior from the west coast to about
141° E., over which the annual rainfall hardly averages 5 inches.
Temperature. — While subject to sudden diurnal changes, mean
temperatures vary but slightly with the latitude ; height and dis-
tance from the sea being the principal modifying factors. Within
the marine influence frost seldom occurs
and insular conditions, as a rule, prevail ;
whereas inland, even at slight altitudes,
strong contrasts of heat and cold will be
felt even in the torrid zone. Coincidently
with the setting in of the tropical rains, the
south and centre are liable to hot winds
and dust storms, which, however, serve to
dispel miasma and purify the atmosphere.
The climate of Tasmania has little in com-
mon with that of the mainland, esembling
rather that of South Devon or the Channel
Islands. The west coast, however, is at all times liable to severe gales ;
the summer is short, and the winter wet and boisterous.
Flora. — Organic life in Australia is in keeping with the singular natural
conditions that mark the region. The nativ j flora, where not obscured by
.„„..„ — ...................1
90
86
eo
76
70
65
60
65
60
— 1
N
^
■M
i
^t^
^r.
r'
^->.
s.
m
mm
w
^
._ji.-
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ff"
iMM^t'
'■'■■'^
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rh
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lii
f^f
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if
~
pt
.R1
H Sydney
Fig 291 — Temperature and Rainfall
at Perth, W.A., and Sydney. N.S.W.
Australia
581
the intrusion of East Indian types, bears a decidedly archaic impress.
The numerous genera of arborescent myrtles, the proteads, casuarineas,
araucarias, cycads, ferns, lycopods, and other orders, whose maximum
development reaches back to Oolitic, Triassic, and even Carboniferous
times, recall conditions of plant development once universal, though at
present centred in, if not absolutely limited to, the southern continent.^
The survival of these old-world forms was no doubt rendered possible by
a long-continued process of slow adaptation to the increasing aridity of
the climate, as the ancient watercourses became obliterated through the
weathering of the former sandstone crust. Thus, in the more typical
genera, the foliage has acquired a tough, leathery texture that enables
it to resist the wilting effect of excessive evaporation ; or its functions are
assumed by otJier organs, like the phyllodia or modified leaf-stalks of
certain acacias, and the branches of the
casuarina ; or again, in virtue of a shght
twist of the stalk, it presents no reflecting
surfaces, but only narrow edges to the
vertical sunlight. Throughout the great
myrtaceous order, which far outnumbers
all other Australian types, the power of
resistance is increased by abundant se-
cretion of volatile oils, which renders the
cellular tissue impervious fo the heat rays,
and diffuses the delightful aroma peculiar
to the Australian " bush." Some of the
eucalypts or " gum-trees " rival in dimen-
sions the Californian Sequoia giganiea. The
tallest authenticated specimen of Euca-
lyptus amygdalina, felled on the Black
Spur, near Melbourne, in Victoria, measured
420 feet from the butt to a point where
the top had been broken off, and at 300 feet from the ground still had
a diameter of 6 feet. In the glens of the river Warren, Western
Australia, Eucalyptus colossca attains a height of 400 feet, and the
Tasmanian blue gum. Eucalyptus globulus, is but little inferior. Leguminous
plants, chiefly represented by the genus Acacia, of which there are 300
species, whereof some 250 are peculiar to Australia, rank next to the myrtles
in number and extent of range. In company with the strange order of
proteads {Banksia, Grevillea, Hakca, H dicta, &c.), with the desert-loving
conifers (Frenela and Callitris), and with certain beef -woods (Casuarina),
they flourish where the hardiest eucalypts refuse to grow. The heaths,
so abundant in northern Europe and South Africa, are here represented
I South Africa and South America, for instance, both have proteads, and South America
an araucaria, while a species of casuarina is common to the greater part of Polynesia.
But the three orders are nowhere found in association, excep; m Australia.
>•■" lU FIS M>l AH.M.T Jj. *)l »UC S€F Oc. «o» Oie "■• 1
90
85
eo
76
70
65
60
56
60
46
40
36
30
25
ao
15
10
6
\l
:v
■^
"V
^
--
\
-V
■^
/
/
\
/
.
-n
V
.y
/
^
!
1
— »
pl
„,
-:■
— .
W;.
PO
RT
DA
RW
N-
-^
uc
ES
PRINCS
Fig. 292. — Temperature and Rainfall
at Port DafU'in and Alice Springs.
582 The International Geography
by the allied genus Epacris, of which some 300 species are enumerated.
In addition to the orders already mentioned, Australia is rich in composites,
figs, mallows, capparids, night-shades, spurges, rue-worts, sterculiads, grape-
vines, madder-worts, asclepiads, succulents, labiates, chenopods, vervains,
water-peppers, sandal-woods, orchids, lily-worts, palms, and sedges. Among
the more striking forms may be mentioned the baobab or " gouty-stem "
tree [Adansonia Gregorii), the only other existing species of which {A.
digitatd) belongs to the African continent ; the various species of grass-
tree {Xanthorrhoea), arborescent rushes of strange aspect ; the equally
uncouth bottle-trees (Sterculia) ; the parasitic mistletoes {Loranthiis) with
their variable foliage and brilliantly-coloured flowers ; the " giant lily "
{Doryanthes excelsa) with a flower-stalk thirty feet high ; the stinging tree
(Laportea) ; and the gorgeous " waratah " {Tclopea), with crimson flower-
heads visible half a mile away. Most of the coast region and much of the
interior is mantled with valuable grasses, of which seventy genera, com-
prising some 300 species, are indigenous.
Fauna. — The animal kingdom, so far as typically Austrahan, is as
quaint in aspect as the vegetation. Excluding sundry bats, a few rodents,
a feral dog, and certain marine forms, the native mammalia all belong
to the primitive marsupial sub-class, and thus confirm the geological record
of the antiquity of this zoological region. They comprise some forty-five
species of Macropodidiv (kangaroo tribe) ; about twenty species of phalangers
— variously misnamed " opossums," " flying squirrels," " native bears," &c.
four Phascolomydce or wombats ; ten of the Peramelidce or bandicoot tribe ;
and twenty dasyures or marsupial carnivores, including the " striped wolf "
and " devil," both confined to Tasmania, and now nearly extinct. The
recently discovered pouched-mole, constituting by itself a distinct family,
Notoryctida, seems to be confined to a patch of sandy desert north of Lake
Eyre. Of still lower development than the marsupials are the monotremes
or egg-laying mammals, of which there are two genera, the duck-bill
{Ot nitlwrynchus) d.nd spiny echidna. Their semi-reptilian Anatomy deter-
mines for these strange creatures a still higher antiquity than for the
marsupials proper.
The numerous avifauna includes, besides those common to other regions,
many characteristic forms. Such are the emu, cassowary, laughing-king-
fisher, lyre-bird, black swan, bower-bird, and the mound-building mega-
podes. Among the reptiles are to be noted two species of crocodile ;
frilled, thorny, and basking lizards ; many venomous and harmless snakes,
and sundry long-necked tortoises . The fishes, a more cosmopolitan race,
yet comprise several peculiar types, such as the lung-fish (Ceratodus),
freshwater herring (Diplomystus), and cod-perch (Oligorus), barramundi
{Ostcoglossum), and others ; most of them belonging to genera unrepresented
elsewhere. Insects differ Httle from those of other continents. Some
curiosities of the arthropoda are a " whistling spider " from the western
interior, two species of Peripatus, and a burrowing cra3^fish, which builds
Australia 583
and fills for itself an underground tank, wherein to spend the dry season.
Among annelids, it will suffice to mention the giant earthworm of Gipps-
land, which in favourable situations attains a length of six feet.
Aboriginal People. — Although there is little doubt that the north-west
coast of Australia has from time immemorial been frequented by Malayan
trepang fishers, the first reference to the aborigines occurs only in 1644,
when Abel Tasman, the Dutch navigator, found himself seriously hampered
in his attempted examination of the west coast, by the hostility of the
" Indians," as they were then called. And it was nearly half a century
later when the first details of their personal peculiarities and habits were
recorded by the explorer Dampier. What their numbers may have been
at that time it is impossible to conjecture, but calculations based on the
rate of their diminution during the last half century, give warrant for
assuming that when settlement by Europeans first began, the aboriginal
population was at least three times more numerous than at present.
Of black, or more precisely, dark brown hue, the Australian has few
other negroid characteristics. In his high facial angle, straight or wavy
hair, lustrous eye, ample beard, well-shaped limbs, and spare, muscular
build, he approximates more to the Caucasian than to either the Ethiopian
or the Mongolian variety of mankind. Except for some slight resemblance
in physical appearance, language, and habits to the jungle Veddas of
Ceylon, the affinities of the aborigines of Australia with the outside world
are so obscure as to baffle inquiry. That they are virtually a survival
from the long dim past thart dragged on unrecorded for centuries before
the earliest dawn of civilisation, there is no room to doubt. Nor is there
any vahd reason for regarding them as otherwise than truly indigenous,
i.e., coeval with the existing condition of the continent they inhabit. After
a full century of contact with this rapidly vanishing people, all that we yet
know about them amounts to very little. As to their social development,
it is still that of the earlier phases of the Stone Age, with which their
weapons and implements, the practice of infanticide, ritual mutilation and
cannibalism, the modes of sepulture, and the absence of chieftainship or
any other authority exactly correspond. That they have occupied the
continent from remote antiquity is inferred not only from the occurrence
of enormous shell-mounds, the accumulation of many centuries, but from the
discovery of innumerable human tracks and other impressions, together with
ancient cooking places and ash-heaps, within the substance of a laminated
sandstone found on the south-west coast of Victoria. Amid much diversity
of speech, customs, and traditions there is yet such a general likeness as
amounts to proof of a common origin. A complex code of social observ-
ances, especially in relation to marriage, prevails, with little variation,
throughout the numerous tribes into which the nation is spHt up. Boys,
on reaching puberty, are subjected to more or less cruel tests of endurance,
and for every condition of life vexatious and trying prohibitions of certain
kinds of food remained in force ; the apparent aim of the system being to
584- The International Geography
weed out all the weaklings, to check the natural increase of population,
and to guard against any tendency on the part of neighbouring tribes
towards mutual fusion.
The languages, although constructed on one general plan and scarcely
more than dialectically distinct, yet show much diversity in the degree of
elaboration or development ; some varieties being almost devoid of internal
mechanism, and correspondingly obscure, whilst others, such as the
Kamilaroi and the Parnkalla, have evolved a whole series of fairly regular
grammatical inflections, and thereby gained vastly in precision.
The present number of the race is variously estimated at from 60,000 to
80,000, of whom, perhaps, two-thirds frequent the settled districts, while a
dwindling balance still roam their native wilds unsubdued.
The Tasmanian aborigines, now extinct, had no kinship with the
Australians ; their physical characteristics pointing to a Papuan or Mela-
nesian origin. Their number probably never exceeded 3,000.
These " provisional " types of mankind are now being superseded by a '
civilised population of European, and predominantly British lineage, with
a slight and jealously watched infusion of Asiatic and Oceanic elements.
Discovery and History. — Although Australian history turns mainly
on discoveries, it is doubtful when its shores were first sighted from a
European ship. Traces of a belief in the existence of an Austral continent
are found more than two centuries before our era, due perhaps to vague
rumours spread by the Malayan trepang fishers. The geographer Ptolemy,
in A.D. 150, regarded it as an extension of the antarctic land region which
modern research has restricted to the polar circle, and this notion con-
tinued to sway the earliest known account — by Wytfliet in 1598 — in which
" Terra AustraUs " is recognisable as the Australia of modern maps.
Wytfliet describes it as " separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait,"
as beginning at " one or two degrees from the Equator," and as deserving
to rank as " a fifth part of the world." The discoveries of De Torres, who,
eight years afterwards, navigated the strait which now bears his name, and
of De Quiros, who designated the New Hebrides as "la Austriaha del
Espiritu Santo," did not tend to clear up the confusion of ideas expressed
in Le Testu's map of "Jave la Grande" (1542) and DesceUiers' "Terre
Australle" (1550). The Dutch explorations of the north, west, and south
coasts during the seventeenth century, and Tasman's discovery of Van
Dieman's Land and New Zealand (1642) gradually fixed the position and
dimensions of the continent, thenceforth known as New Holland. Yet
the most important and fertile region, that of the east coast, remained
wholly unknown until examined by Captain Cook in 1770.
With the arrival of the " First Fleet " at Botany Bay under Governor
Phillip in 1788, the history of Australia as a civilised land begins. Its
earliest chapter deals with the struggles of the young settlement against
difficulty and privation until 1813, when a track was found across the Blue
Mountains, which had hitherto barred access to the interior. This event
Australia
585
gave the first impulse to inland exploration, while the circumnavigation of
Tasmania (then called Van Diemens Land) by Bass and Flinders in 1799
led, four years later, to the official occupation of that island and its
subsequent separation (1825) from New South Wales. The examination
of the coasts of the mainland, too, was proceeding apace. Flinders, in
1801-2, had surveyed the southern coast-line, and during the next year
circumnavigated Australia for the first time. O.xley's exploration of the
marshy tracts towards the west and north-west gave rise to the long and
stubbornly maintained theory of an inland sea, while his discovery of the
river Brisbane in 1823 was followed within two years by the formation of
a branch settlement at Moreton Bay. In 1824 the upper course of the
river Murray and the central parts of the present colony of Victoria were
traversed by Hovell and Hume. Persistent rumours of an intended occu-
pation of Australia by the French now led to the planting of military
posts (since abandoned)
at Western Port, at King
George Sound, Melville
Island, Raffles Bay, and
Port Essington. The
years 1827-30 were
memorable for Cunning-
ham's exploration of the
Darling Downs, f cr Sturt's
discovery of the river
Darling, his boat voyage
on the Murray to and
from Encounter Bay, and
the founding of the Swan
River settlement. In ,,,......„
_ . , , Fig. 2Q^. — Political Divisions and Railways of Australia.
1834 stations were formed
at Portland Bay, in the subordinate province of Port Phillip, and on the
lower Yarra, where Melbourne now stands. In 1836 explorations thence
to the west and north revealed the rich volcanic district of Australia
Felix — as it was then called.
Adelaide, the capital of the independent colony of South Australia, was
founded in 1836, and thenceforth exploration in the centre and the west
proceeded rapidly. A further impulse to occupation and settlement was
given by the influx of population that resulted from the discovery of gold
in 1851-52. Grey's explorations on the west coast ; Eyre's journey round
the Bight to King George Sound ; Leichhardt's overland route from
Darling Downs to Port Essington ; Sturt's expedition to the Barrier Range
and the Stony Desert ; Mitchell s discoveries in north-eastern Australia ;
Stuart's crossing of the continent from Adelaide to Van Diemen Gulf ; and
the wanderings of the brothers Forrest and Gregory in the west and
north ; with the relief parties sent out after Burke and Wills, and the still
586 The International Geography
more numerous expeditions dispatched in search of Leichhardt after his
disappearance in 1847 — soon shed so much light on AustraHan geography
as to leave little for future explorers to fill in. The distant dependency of
New Zealand had in 1840 been withdrawn from the control of New South
Wales, and in 185 1 the Port Phillip district likewise attained its majority
as the colony of Victoria. Shortly after (1855) responsible government
was conferred on all the eastern colonies ; Western Australia alone
continuing under Crown control, until the rapid increase of population
consequent on the gold finds of 1890 paved the way for its autonomy.
The contemporary history of Australia, as a whole, closes with the pro-
clamation of a sixth colony in 1859, when the Moreton Bay District, after
a protracted struggle for separation from New South Wales^ became a
self-governed State under the name of Queensland.
In 1901 the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland,
Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia, were federated into the
Commonwealth of Australia, of which they became the original States.
The King is represented by a Governor-General, and the legislative
authority is vested in a Senate and a House of Representatives.
STATISTICS OF AUSTRALIA.
1901.
Area of Australia, including Tasmania and lesser islands (square miles) . . 2,972,906
Population, excluding aborigines 3.771,715
Density of population per square mile • •• 1*27
LAND IN CULTIVATION.
1880. 1890. 1901.
Acres S.837,013 •• 7,679.525 •• 10,279,090
LIVE STOCK.
1880. 1890. 1901.
Horses 1,068,402 .. 1,509.669 .. 1.625.042
Cattle 7.527,142 .. 9.903.599 .. ^-464.724
Sheep 59.175.024 .. 97,878.619 .. 72,126,626
EXTERNAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
Average 1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95-
Imports 36,945.000 .. 46.316,000 .. 52.542.000
Exi)orts 37.344.000 .. 45.316,000 .. 55.879.000
STANDARD BOOKS.
C. H. Barton. " Outlines of Australian Physiography." Maryborough, 1895.
T. A. Coshlan. " A Statistical Account of the Seven Colonies of Australasia." Sydney.
G. CoUingridge. " Discoverv of .\ustralia." Sydney, 1895.
E. Curr. " The Australian R'ace." 4 vols. Melbourne, 1886-87.
E. Favenc. " History of Australian E.xploration." Sydney, 1888.
Gordon and Gotch. '" Australian Handbook." London, .4»««aZ.
G. Ranken. " F^ederal Geographv of British Australasia." Sydney, 1891.
W. Saville-Kent. " The Naturalist in Australia." London, 1897. . .. ,
Baldv^'in Spencer and F. J. Gillen. " The Native Tribes of Central Austraha. London,
1899.
J. E. T. Woods. •' Discovery and Explorations in Australia.'" 2 vols. London, 1865.
J. W. Gregory. " The Dead Heart of Australia." London, 1906.
CHAPTER XXXII.-THE EASTERN STATES OF
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
I.— aUEENSLAND
By C. H. Barton, B.A.,
Maryborough. Queensland.
Position and Coasts. — The colony of Queensland occupies the
north-eastern portion of the Australian continent for an extent of 1,200
miles from north to south, and 900 from east to west. The Gulf of
Carpentaria and South Australia bound it on the west ; the Pacific
Ocean on the east ; and New South Wales and South Australia on the
south. It contains an area of
about 688,000 square miles,
being more than twice as large
as New South Wales. The sea-
board extends north and west
from Point Danger in lat. 28° S.
to Cape York in 11° S., and on
to long. 138° E. on the south
coast of Carpentaria Gulf, thus
including the great Cape York
Peninsula, a tract larger than
Ireland, and the boldest promi-
nence on the Australian conti-
nent. The Pacific coast, over 15°
of latitude, is protected from the
swell of the outer ocean by the
vast natural breakwater of the
Great Barrier Keef, thus ad-
mitting of coastal navigation
along a smooth-water channel
1,000 miles long and from ten
to thirtv miles wide. Other
Fig 294.— r/ic? Great Barrier Reef
noteworthy features of the coast are the Wellesley Islands opposite
Point Parker in the Gulf of Carpentaria, enclosing a roadstead capable
of developing into a first class port ; Endeavour Strait, between Cape
York and Prince of Wales Island at the extreme north ; and a series
of prominent headlands separating bays along the east coast. Amongst
these are Edgecumbe and Repulse Bays, creating, with Gloucester and
39 587
588 The International Geography
Cumberland Islands, the beautiful scenery of Whitsunday Passage ,
Capes Palmerston and Townsend, enclosing two spacious estuaries,
Broadsound and Shoalwater Bay ; Keppel Bay, with Cape Capricorn on
Curtis Island, almost on the tropic ; Port Curtis, one of the best harbours
on the Pacific coast ; and Moreton Bay, partly sheltered by Moreton and
Stradbroke Islands.
Configuration and Rivers. — The " Great Divide," receding from
the Pacific shore and striking north-west to the i8th parallel as it passes
into Queensland from the south, secures for that province a more diversified
surface and ampler distribution of water channels than Australia, as a
whole, enjoys. The main axis of the water-parting throws off to right
and left numerous spurs of considerable length, trending north-east
towards the coast and south-west inland. Most of these branch into
secondary spurs of equal or greater height, which on the seaward slope,
averaging some 300 miles in width, give rise to a number of well-defined
river systems, of which the Brisbane, Burnett, Fitzroy, Burdekin, Herbert,
Normanby, and Kennedy are the chief. On the landward, or south-
western slope, the great tributaries of the Murray- Darling basin, together
with numerous feeders of inland drainage systems, flow south-west or
south to their respective points of absorption. The Carpentarian Plain,
with the western slope of the Cape York Peninsula, forms a distinct
system draining into the gulf ; the principal effluents being the Leich-
ardt. Flinders, Gilbert, and Mitchell.
Geology. — Geologically, Queensland presents three parallel belts^
traversing the territory from south-east to north-west, in accordance with
the general strike of the Pacific coast. The most westerly, of Cretaceous
origin, but surrounding a large wedge-shaped enclave of metamorphic
rocks, covers about two-fifths of the territory. It includes the Blythes-
dale Braystones, an older stratum of the same series, and a prolific source
of artesian water. The second belt, on the western slopes of the Great
Divide and extending to Cape York, consists of sandstones of later, mostly
Tertiary, age, with patches of intrusive crystalline and volcanic rocks.
The third belt, comprising the rest of the province, exhibits the Primary
rocks (granitic, Silurian, Devonian, Permian, and crystalline) characteristic
of the Australian Cordillera, with extensive Jurassic and Carboniferous
areas, where coal-seams of excellent quality are worked. Gold-bearing
quartz reefs and other mineral lodes are widely disseminated.
Climate. — Although Queensland is not exempt from the climatic
vicissitudes to which all Australia is liable, their effects are less marked
than elsewhere. The extreme heat, fiery winds, rapid thermal changes,
and bitter frosts common in the south and centre of the continent are
almost unknown. Even in the hot and dry south-western region, the
temperature rarely rises higher than 95° F., while the Cape York Peninsula
— within only 10° to 15° from the equator, enjoys, by reason of its sea-
board and towering highlands, a more equable climate than many countries
Queensland 589
classed as " temperate." The rainfall is very unequal. Over the Pacific
slope it ranges from about 50 inches near the southern border to as much
as 100, and even 150 inches about lat. 17°, where the ocean vapours are
arrested and condensed by the twin peaks of the Bellenden Ker Mountains,
5,000 feet high. The rainfall of the Carpentarian plain and littoral,
depending on the partly spent north-west monsoon, is much less, seldom
exceeding 40, and often as low as 20 inches. In the west and south-
west it is even more uncertain, some locahties getting only 10 to 12
inches per annum, while others, not far off, receive 30 to 40. In all parts
of the colony droughts of greater or less duration occur at times, and again,
the balance may be suddenly restored by widespread and destructive
floods.
Flora and Fauna. — The flora, while conforming generally to the
Australian type, is enriched by the intrusion of eastern and oceanic forms,
giving to the denser forests, or " scrubs," a distinct Indo-Malayan character.
Here are found the red cedar, flindersia, alphitonia, hoop pine, and other
excellent timbers, intermingled with a dense growth of palms, bamboo and
lawyer canes, caper shrubs, tree-ferns, orchids, and countless climbing or
parasitic plants. Several of the most striking and valuable trees, such as the
Bidwill pine, " turpentine," " silky oak," bottle tree, kauri pine, Leichardt
tree, calophyllum and " Queensland nut " are strangely limited in their
habitat ; hence, some are on the verge of extinction as members of the
wild flora. There are at least two indigenous species of banana, two of the
citrus tribe, many edible figs, well-flavoured wild grapes, a mangosteen,
cashew and other nuts, the "Herbert-cherry" {antidcsma), the "sour
plum" {pwenia), nonda {pariuarium), jujubes, raspberries, and other fruits.
Hundreds of square miles are covered with wild rice, tobacco, indigo,
*' salt-bush," " Mitchell grass," and similar valuable herbs ; screw-pines and
mangroves fringe the coast, while the inland pools are gay with the
fragrant red chalices of the " sacred lotus," or the blue, white, or purple
petals of various nymphaeas.
The native fauna comprises most of the common Australian species,
besides some pecuHar to the region. Such are the tree-kangaroo {dendro-
lagus), the five-toed kangaroo-rat {hypsiprymnodon), and several phalangers.
The dugong {halicore), a marine Sirenian, frequents the weedy estuaries
and bays on the coast. Fruit-bats {ptcropusj harpyia ; carponycteris) are a
great plague, and, like that greater plague, the imported rabbit, seem to be
on the increase. Among the birds typical of this region are the pelican,
jacana, regent-bird, bronze-winged and nutmeg pigeon, jabiru, and
cassowary. There are two species of crocodile, and snakes (venomous
and otherwise) abonnd. The lung-fish (cemiodus) is confined to the rivers
Mary and Burnett; the highly-prized barramundi (osteoglossum) to the
Burnett, Dawson, and Carpentarian river-system. Turtles of fine quahty are
caught off the coast, where the shallows swarm with edible and pearl oysters,
sea-slugs {holothuria), sponges, corals, and other forms of marine Hfe.
5 go The International Geography
Aborigines. — The aborigines of north-eastern Australia differ but
slightly from their brethren in other regions, save in being taller and more
muscular ; an advantage attributable to the ampler food supplies and other
more favourable natural conditions. They show some skill in the con-
struction of their winter huts, canoes, weapons, implements for gathering
and dressing food, woven l^ags and baskets (frequently watertight), neck-
laces and other personal ornaments ; and, wlien first met with, had
evidently taken a step or two on the ascending plane, which, in the course
of ages, might have led them on to civilisation. Many of the strongest
and fiercest tribes arc now extinct, or represented only by a surviving
handful, the whole number probably not exceeding 20,000 (1898).
History and Government. — The territory now known as Queens-
land was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770. For fifty years it remained
unvisited, save by runaway convicts, until in 1825-6, a branch penal
establishment, subordinate to Sydney, was founded at Brisbane, Moreton
Bay. The dependency was first thrown open to free settlement in 1842,
between which date and 1861, when the first census was taken, the
population, originally insignificant, increased to 30,000. Separation from
New South Wales was effected, after years of agi-
tation, in 1859. For a long time afterwards, the cost
of immigration from England, Germany, and other
European countries was defrayed by the State. At
present Asiatic and Pacific sources are being tapped
in order to meet the demand for low-priced labour.
As a result, the population is more mixed than in any
Fig 2()S'—The Badge other Australian province.
of Queensland. „„ i^ • r i^i ,/ m 1 » ^^ j
The government IS of the "responsible pattern, and
differs from that of the United Kingdom chiefly in the wider suffrage, in
payment of an annual allowance of $1,500 to each elected member of the
legislature, and in the functions of Grand Jury devolving on the Attorney-
General. There is a Governor appointed by the Crown, a nominee
Legislative Council of indeterminate number — usually about 35 — and a
Legislative Assembly of 72 members, elected by 61 constituencies.
Primary education, free, secular, and (nominally) compulsory, is under
the care of the State. Higher education is imparted in ten grammar
schools, governed by elective trusts,* and liberally subsidised by Govern-
ment. There are also ten " orphanages " under Government inspection,
and maintained chiefly from State funds.
Resources, Industries and Trade. — Amongst the resources of
Queensland, pastoral wealth — such as wool, hides, meat and tallow — stands
first, closely followed by the yield from the many rich gold, coal and tin-
fields ; silver, copper and other mines. The chief agricultural products
are sugar and rum; maize, wheat, -rice; sorghum, guinea-grass; wine,
arrowroot, bananas, sweet potatoes, tobacco, coffee, cotton ; oranges, pine-
apples and other tropical and European fruits. The ^'orests abound in
QuecnsJand 591
cedar, pine and other useful timbers, and a large fleet of vessels find em-
ployment in the pearl-shell, trepang, oyster, turtle and dugong fisheries.
In 1896-7 pastoral leases covered nearly two-thirds of the whole sur-
face, whence live stock, hides, horns and bone-dust ; frozen, preserved
and salted meat ; tallow, and wool were exported to the value of three-
fifths of the total exports. The mining industry, pursued on twenty-two
proclaimed gold, silver, copper and tin-fields, was accountable for nearly
two-thirds of the balance. The value of agricultural exports — sugar, fruit,
molasses, maize, arrowroot, rum, hay, wine, was about one-tenth of the
whole. Manufactures, in the ordinary sense of the term, are limited to
the supply of home requirements. Sugar factories, saw-mills, flour-mills,
breweries, and co-operative cheese and butter factories are the most im-
portant. All the towns above the status of mere villages are lighted either
by gas or electricity, and supplied with water by pressure through service
pipes. Boring artesian wells, to supplement the scanty rainfall of tlie far
west, is being carried on with satisfactory results ; 341 water-yielding bores
in 1898 sufficed by their surphis supplv to convert
many water-courses formerly dry into permanent
streams. This yield, which is steadily increasing,
already equals in irrigating effect a yearly rainfall of
12 inches over 108,500 square miles.
Communications. — In addition to steamers
that ply regularly along the xoast, internal traffic is
promoted by more than 2,500 miles of State railways
(Fig. 293). Of the four main lines, the Southern and Fig 296.— The average
X1T i. J. T^ • L -^.1 o J i.1 population of a square
Western connects Brisbane with Sydney on the one mile of Queensland.
hand and with Charleville and Cunnamulla on the
other ; the North Coast Line connects Brisbane with Gladstone, by
way of Gympie, Maryborough and Bundaberg ; the Central extends from
Rockhampton to the river Thompson ; and the Northern, from Townsville
to Hughenden and Winton. Numerous branches assist the traffic along
these routes, while shorter detached lines connect Mackay with the sur-
rounding villages ; Bowen with the Burdekin delta ; Croydon (gold-field)
with Normanton, on the Gulf of Carpentaria ; Cairns with the table-
land of Cape York Peninsula, and Cooktown with the Palmer gold-field.
Numerous coaches ply to and from all terminal stations, connecting
with places outside the railway system. The postal and telegraph arrange-
ments are very complete.
Divisions and Towns. — For administrative purposes Queensland is
divided into twelve districts ; numerous counties (which are added to from
time to time) ; about 120 divisional boards and six shires for local taxation
and improvement ; together with a still larger number of parishes, which
ill-chosen term refers solely to land survey and not to any scheme of
ecclesiastical rule. Thirty-one of the centres of population, mostly mere
villages, are under municipal government.
59^ The International Geography
The coast-line is dotted with harbours, most of which are becoming
active industrial and commercial centres. Brisbane, on a river of the
same name, and the seat of government, owes its growth chiefly to
that circumstance, to the proximity of the rich pastoral and agricul-
tural lands of Darling Downs, and to lavish expenditure on the legisla-
ture and civil service. The site of the city is low and exposed to
floods, and the twenty miles of river that form its port are kept open
for over-sea vessels only by incessant dredging. Ambitious public build-
ings, planned on a scale out of proportion to present needs or means,
overlook the leading thoroughfares. Well-kept botanic gardens, acclima-
tisation grounds, museums, libraries, schools of arts, an art gallery, a
technical college, and numerous scientific and other societies make for
the " gentle life " ; while the infirm and aged poor find a comfortable
retreat in the asylum at Dunwich, a beautifully-wooded island in Moreton
Bay. St. Helena, another of the same group, is the enforced abode of
Queensland's felonry.
Northward along the coast follow in succession : Maryborough, on a
bend of the river Mary, twenty miles from Hervey Bay, with large
foundries, saw-mills, cane and orange cultivation, and ihe shipping port for
the Wide Bay district and Gympie goldfield ; Bundaberg, near the mouth
of the Burnett, on the edge of a large area of rich volcanic soil, a com-
munity wholly given over to the manufacture of sugar ; Gladstone, with its
splendid deep sea harbour. Port Curtis — in 1847 the scene of an abortive
attempt to found a colony provisionally named North Australia — the
outlet of a large mineral district, and one of the few places on the coast
adapted for embarking horned cattle ; Rockhampton, the destined capital
of central Queensland, the main outlet for wool and other pastoral
produce, and the gate leading to Mount Morgan, the richest gold mine
in the world. Then, longo intervallo, come Mackay, another sugar town ;
Bowen, renowned for its harbour and the length of its jetty, but unfavour-
ably placed for inland traffic ; Townsville, the principal shipping port
of northern Queensland, and connected by rail with the gold-fields of
Ravenswood, Charters Towers, and Cape River ; Cairns, where the
teeming jungle soil yields rice, coffee, sugar, cacao, and other tropical
crops in perfection, while a railway, that ranks as the boldest engineering
fe;it ever attempted in Australia, leads towards the rich mineral fields of
Herberton, Chillagoe and Etheridge. The most northern settlement
on the Pacific coast is Cooktown, on the Endeavour River, where Captain
Cook careened and repaired his ship. It is connected with the Palmer
gold-field by a railway 31 miles in length.
Thursday Island, about 30 miles north-west from Cape York, is a
fortified imperial coaling-station, the headquarters of the pearl-shell
fishery, and a place of call for the Indo-European mail steamers.
The most northerly inland town is Charters Towers, the leading gold-
field ; others are : Gympie, on the site of an earher gold discovery, and
New South Wales 593
rivalling the former in importance ; Ipswich, at the confluence of the
rivers Bremer and Brisbane, the oldest inland settlement, with woollen
and cotton factories and adjacent coal mines ; Toowoomba and Warwick,
much frequented sanatoria, 2,000 and 1,500 feet above sea-level, and
prosperous seats of that agricultural industry (principally concerned with
wheat cultivation) which flourishes on the rich, black loam of Darling
Downs ; Mount Morgan, with its " mountain of gold," which has paid four
and a half million sterling in dividends since its discovery in 1885 ; and
numerous other centres of less note.
STATISTICS.
1881. 1891. 1901.
Area of Queensland (square miles) 668,497 . . 668,497 . . 668,49^
Population of Queensland (excluding aborigines) .. 213.525 .. 393,718 ., 503^266
Density of population per square mile 034 . . ' 071 . . 075
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
1881. 1891. 1901. I ' 1881. 1891. 1901.
Brisbane (lo-mile radius) 36,i69» 101,554 119.428 Ipswich 7,576 7,625 15,246
Charters Towers .. 4,385 4.597 20,976 | Gympie 7,659 8.450 14431
Rockhampton .. .. 12,41* 13.380 19,691 Toowoomba .. .. 6,270 7,007 14,087
TownsvUle .. .. 7,860 8,564 15.506 I Maryborough .. .. 8700 .9,281 12,900
ANNUAL TRADE OF QUEENSLAND {in pounds sterling).
Average 1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 2.596,000 . . 5,888,000 . . 4,875,000
Exports 3,583,000 .. 4,056,000 .. 9,028,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
"Queensland, Past and Present." Brisbane, Annual.
A. Meston. " Geographic History of Queensland." Brisbane, 1895.
RSemon. " Im Australischem Busch und an den Kiisten des Korallenmeeres." Leipzig,
1896. (Translation, London, 1899.)
W. Saville-Kent, " The Great Barrier Reef of Australia." London, 1893.
II.— NEW SOUTH WALES
By Edward A. Petherick.
Position and Extent. — New South Wales, the oldest of the Austra-
lian colonies, originally comprehended the eastern half of the continent,
and the jurisdiction of the earlier governors extended also over Tasmania,
New Zealand, and other islands of the Pacific. Since the foundation of
the province of South Austraha in 1836, and the erection into separate
colonies of Victoria in 1851 and Queensland in 1859, the boundaries of
New South Wales have been roughly within 28° and 37^° S., and 141° and
153' E., and its area a little over 310,000 square miles. The fronta^r fo
the Pacific Ocean, including the inlets of Port Jackson, Botany Bay, Port
Hunter (or Newcastle), Port Stephens and Twofold Bay, is over 800 miles.
Configuration of Coastal District. — The Great Dividing Range
or Cordillera of Australia, which extends from Cape York to Wilson's
Promontory, passes through New South Wales in broken ranges at a
» Without suburbs.
594- "1^^ Jniernationai Geography
distance of 30 to 120 miles from the sea, and with an elevation of 4,000
to 7,000 feet. West of Sydney, where they present a precipitous barrier,
and are composed of horizontally stratified sandstone, broken by canyons,
deep gullies, and chasms due to aqueous erosion, they are called, from
their appearance, the Blue Mountains. The more northerly are known as
the New England and Liverpool Ranges, and those to the south as the
Cullarin, Gourock, Manaro, and Muniong Ranges, the last-named forming
part of the Australian Alps, their highest point being Mount Kosciusko
(7,336), 700 feet above the limit of perpetual snow, and the loftiest peak on
the continent. The coastal district on the eastern slope of these ranges
is about 50,000 square miles in area and very fertile, being watered by a
number of rivers, nearly all of which are navigable for a considerable
distance from the sea. From the valleys of the Alps the Snow^ river
makes a circuitous course and passes southward to the ocean, through
the Gippsland district of Victoria.
Configuration of the Interior. — Behind the Cordillera, which
presents its abrupt front to the ocean, broad, elevated tablelands and
undulating plains form the chief pastoral districts of the colony. The
northern plateau is drained by tributaries of the Darling or Barwan, which
also receives streams from the south of Queensland. With these waters
the Darling is navigable in rainy seasons for 1,700 miles. The southern
plateau is drained by the Murrumbidgee, which rises in the Australian
Alps and is navigable for 500 miles, the Lachlan, its tributary, and a
number of smaller streams traversing the Riverina District. These, as
well as the waters of the Darling, flow to the Murray, which is the
only outlet for a drainage-area of over 300,000 square miles. It is a land
of drought and flood, for all the rivers mentioned, except the Murray,
which is fed by the snows of the Alps, stop running in dry seasons ; and
in very wet seasons the lower lands of the far interior are inundated for
weeks. West of the Darling, and on the South Australian border, the
Grey and Stanley or Barrier Ranges rise from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. The
streams flowing from, them are soon lost in the desert. The only lake
of importance in New South Wales is Lake George, 25 miles long and 8
miles broad, situated in the southern ranges, 2,100 feet above sea-level. It
is salt, and for a long period before 1852 its bed was quite dry.
Climate. — The cHmate naturally varies according to locality. The
northern part of the coastal district is dry and sub-tropical, the central and
southern parts more temperate. The air is clear and the sky generally cloud-
less. At Sydney, though occasionally rising above 100° in the shade, the
mean temperature is 63° ; snow is unknown and frost never severe (Fig. 291).
At Albury on the upper Murray, at Deniliquin in the Riverina District, and
at Bourke on the Darling, the range is greater, winter being much colder and
summer much hotter. The extreme of heat is felt inland, where tempera-
tures of 130° in the shade have been reported. Hot winds accompanied
by dust blow during the height of summer, but they are not unhealthy.
New South Wales
595
In the coastal district the rainfall varies from 30 inches in the south to 73
in the north, the average at Sydney being 50 inches. In the highlands on
the Queensland border it is 35, at Deniliquin 17, at Wentworth, the junc-
tion of the Darling and the Murray, the lowest part of the interior of the
colony, it is 12, and in the Barrier ranges on the west only 9.
Flora. — Open forests cover nearly the whole of the tablelands and
interior plains, the characteristic tree being the eucalyptus in its many
varieties. The plains west of the Darling and on the lower Murray are
covered with stunted bushes or mallee scrub. A considerable portion of
the coastal district is covered with brush forests, the valleys being filled
with tree-ferns, a red and white cedar, silky oak, tulip-wood, a lofty ash,
colonial pine, and other timber trees. Economic plants are very numerous ;
their productions include oils, perfumes, drugs, dyes, tans, fibres, gums,
and resins. There are many useful and some noxious grasses. European
trees and the beautiful Norfolk Island pine have been acclimatised,
while European plants and flowers
bloom all the year round. Un-
fortunately, imported briars, burrs,
and thistles have spread all over
the country.
Fauna. — The indigenous ani-
mals of New South Wales are
the egg-laying monotremes — the
platypus and native porcupines
{echidna) ; marsupials — including
several varieties of kangaroo,
" opossums," native bear, wombats,
bandicoots, native cat, several
species of rodents, insectivorous
bats, and the flying fox. Sperm and whalebone whales, other cetacea,
and seals are found off the coast. Snakes, harmless and venomous, are
numerous, and so are lizards (including iguanas six feet in length),
tortoises, tree and swamp frogs. Birds exist in extraordinary variety
and are notable for plumage, song and powers of mimicry. They include
birds of prey, cockatoos, parrots, parroquets, and lories ; the '' laughing
jackass," and other kingfishers ; the beautiful lyre and bower birds,
ground-thrushes, doves, wood-pigeons, numerous game birds, and one
of the largest of running birds, the emu, which being treated as a
noxious animal, like the kangaroo, native dog, "opossum," and rabbit,
is rapidly becoming extinct. The multiplication of the common rabbit
has seriously affected pastoral pursuits in many districts, and 17,000 miles
of rabbit-proof fencing have been erected in the eftort to subdue the pest.
The whole western frontier is fenced in this way. The camel has been
acclimatised in the Darling districts. Over 300 species of fish (of which
more than 100 are edible) are found in the rivers and on the coast.
40
Fig. 297. — Tlie rabbit-proof fences of New
South Wales.
59^ The International Geography
Aborigines. — Although the aborigines were estimated at one million
when the colony was founded, probably their number never exceeded five
hundred thousand on the whole continent, and in New South Wales they
now number about 7,000, of whom 3,000 are half-castes. Low in the
present scale of humanity, some of their usages and customs seem to
imply a higher origin or the adoption at some distant period of usages and
customs of a superior race, perhaps castaways or shipwrecked survivors
from another continent. Internal quarrels, the loss of their natural food
and their destruction by firearms or adoption of the vices of the European,
have been the chief causes of their rapidly diminishing numbers, and the
race is now fast fading away.
Resources. — Though New South Wales is very rich and varied in its
mineral wealth, the chief resources are wool and other animal products.
Of wool, over 200,000,000 lbs. are annually exported, but owing to drought
this is less than in the early nineties ; some flocks number over 100,000
sheep, chiefly merinos. Silver and gold, tin, copper, iron, and many
precious stones are found. Coal is abundant in the coastal districts,
especially at Newcastle, lUawarra, and Lithgow, the annual output being
5,500,000 tons ; that from Newcastle alone exceeding 3,000,000, and the
seams now being worked are calculated to be sufficient to keep up the
present rate of production for 500 years. Manufactures are numerous, but
not at present sufficient for home supply. Breweries, meat-preserving
factories, boiUng-down and wool-washing establishments employ over
50,000 hands. Most of the trade is with the United Kingdom and British
possessions.
Discovery and Exploration. — The coast of New South Wales may
have been seen by Spanish vessels as early as the middle of the sixteenth
century, but from the time of Mendana's discovery of the Solomon Islands
in 1568, the voyage of Torres in 1606, and that of Tasman in 1642, no
European vessel is known to have been in the sea between New Zealand
and Australia until Cook crossed it and came upon the Australian coast in
1770. He .surveyed the whole of the eastern coast, took possession, and
named it New South Wales. Several attempts to scale the perpen-
dicular cliffs of the Blue Mountains were made, but no one effected
their passage until 1813, when they were crossed by Wentworth, Blax-
land, and Lawson, who discovered the extensive tablelands at their
summit. Evans and Oxley continued the exploration, discovering the
Macquarie in 1815, the Lachlan and Castlereagh, Liverpool Plains, and
another passage to the north near Port Macquarie during 18 17 and
1818. Several expeditions were undertaken into new country to the south
during the following five years. Hume and Hovell crossed the Murray and
some of its upper tributaries and reached the sea at Port Phillip in 1824 and
1825. The northern tablelands, including the Darling Downs, the rivers
Dumaresq, Gwydir, and Condamine, were discovered by Allan Cunning-
ham in 1827. Sturt traced the Lachlan and the Murrumbidgee to the
New South Wales 597
Murray, and the Murray to the sea in 1829 and 1830, and Mitchell
completed the solution of the problem of the river system west of the
Great Dividing Range by tracing the courses of the rivers discovered by
Oxley and Cunningham to the Darling, and the waters of the Darling to
the Murray, between the years 183 1 and 1836. The country and ranges to
the west of the Darling, Cooper Creek, and the desert beyond in the
heart of the continent, were explored by Sturt in 1844 and 1845, himself
and party suffering terribly from heat and thirst.
Settlement and History. — New South Wales was founded as a
penal colony for the relief of English prisons and hulks as far from
civilising influences as it was possible to go, and the first twenty years of
its history is a record of hardship, famine and deprivation. The first
fleet under Governor Phillip arrived in Botany Bay January 20, 1788,
but finding a more suitable position for a settlement at Port Jackson,
landed there on the 26th of January. The transported people were for
many years utterly dependent for food and other necessaries upon
supplies sent intermittently and irregularly from the other side of the
world, at a time when voyages each way averaged seven months in
duration. Disheartening calamities also came upon the few free settlers
farming the banks of the Hawkesbury ; several times their homesteads
and produce were swept away by floods.
Under the early governors who, as a rule, were naval officers absolute
and arbitrary in the exercise, of their power, the military officers secured
the monopoly of all trade, including that in spirits. Governor Bligh,
already noted in the eventful history of the Bounty, having stopped
this trade, and quarrelled with Macarthur (who was engaged in laying
the foundation of Australia's future industry by importing the finest
breeds of merino sheep), the military party arrested and shipped him
out of the country. This ended the quarter-deck government and
brought about a change in the policy as well as in the character of
the governors. After an interregnum of two years General Lachlan
Macquarie, the next governor, laid out Sydney and other towns, made
roads across the mountains, erected public buildings, encouraged ex-
ploration, and took a paternal interest in the settlers. At the end of
his twelve years' administration the colony was prosperous and flourish-
ing. The population then numbered 40,000, more than half being free
or emancipated persons. A measure of representative government was
conceded about 1825 in the shape of a legislative council of nominated
members. After ten years' fierce agitation transportation to this colony
ceased in 1839. The next twelve years is a record of the extension of
legislative privileges — representative and municipal government having
been introduced in 1842 — of considerable progress in pastoral, grazing,
and agricultural pursuits, unfortunately marked by much speculation in
land and live stock ; this, and the cessation of imperial expenditure
for transportation, and the cost of free labour, caused a financial
59'^ The International Geography
collapse, the country being saved from ruin by the introduction of a
new industry, tallow production by the " boiling-down " process.
The districts south of the Murray were separated as the colony of
Victoria at the beginning of 185 1, and a few wrecks later by the gold
discoveries in the Bathurst District, New South Wales emerged from the
purely pastoral state into a vigorous national existence, stimulating industrial
enterprise, claiming constitutional rights, and receiving responsible govern-
ment in 1855. From the time of the arbitrary governors the public affairs of
the colony had been administered nominally under successive Ministers of
the Crown (in reality under the control and direction of irresponsible
officials) in London. The Moreton Bay district and territory to the north
was constituted a separate colony under the name of Queensland at the
end of 1859, leaving the older colony her present territory and a population
of 300,000. Thenceforward the material progress of New South Wales,
though for a time out-distanced by that of Victoria, has been steady and
continuous, and she stands once more at the head of her sister States in
population as well as in material wealth and its attendant advantages.
Government. — There are two Houses of ParHament and an executive
chosen and presided over by the Governor, who is appointed by the Queen,
the depository of the prerogative of mercy within the
colony, and who also nominates the members of the
Upper House or Legislative Council, assents to or
vetoes Bills or reserves them for consideration of the
sovereign, as he may be advised by the law officers of
the Crown. The Governor of New South Wales is
Commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the colony,
¥iG2gs.--The Badge and was, prior to 1855, "Governor-in-chief," or
0/ New South Wales. ^^ ^ L, 1 .. r ,, .u a ^ i- 1 •
"Governor-General of all the Australian colonies.
The members of the Upper House hold their seats for life ; members of
the Lower House or Legislative Assembly are elected by manhood
suffrage, and by ballot ; parliaments are triennial and the members are
paid. For political and territorial purposes the colony is at present divided
into 141 counties. Three-fifths of the population is under municipal
government. The administration of justice, as in the other Australian
colonies, is similar to that of England, local enactments being founded
upon the laws of the mother country. There is no established church ;
primary education is compulsory, and free to children of parents unable
to pay school fees. There are numerous technical schools and work-
shops, libraries and schools of art, agriculture and engineering, grammar
and high schools, and a university in Sydney founded upon the model of
University College, London.
Railways and Communications. — A network of ^^ood coach-
roads covers the settled districts ; the telegraph penetrates to 3.V occupied
territory, and four trunk lines of railway with their branches, bring the
most important, and some of the more distant towns, into daily communi-
New South Wales
599
cation with the capital, which is also connected by direct lines with
Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide (Fig. 293). Several great engineering
efforts have been necessary in the accomplishment of these public works,
notably the bridges over the Hawkesbury and Murrumbidgee, and most
important of all, the zigzag line over the summit of
the Blue Mountains.
To'wns. — There are i88 boroughs and municipal
districts outside the metropolis, but most of these are
small towns ; the only one at the census of 1901 which
could boast of a population exceeding 20,cxk> being
Broken Hill.
Sydney^ the capital and the oldest city in Australia,
founded in 1788, on one of the coves of Port Jackson, Fig. 2^^.— Average poi>-
now spreads over both the northern and southern shores %''^ZtoVthwlks^
of that capacious, land-locked, and sheltered harbour,
which with its bays and coves possesses a deep-water frontage of over
one hundred miles. There is ample anchorage for fleets, and large vessels
are accommodated at the wharves and quays of the city proper, which is
four miles from the mouth of the harbour. Sydney is the present terminus
for all mail steamers between Europe and Australia ; excursion steamers
and ferry-boats ply to all the marine suburbs, and the port is generally
crowded with coasting vessels and steamers trading to other Australasian
ports and to the Pacific Islands. From the fact tliat Sydney is circum-
scribed by bays and promontories, the streets present an old-world aspect ;
it possesses noble public buildings, cathedrals, and churches, colossal
warehouses, and very fine
shops, and the residential
suburbs are as a rule well
built, the older buildings
giving place to new and
substantial edifices, while
the shores of the harbour
become more and more
picturesque with the ad-
dition of villas and man-
sions and private and
public gardens. Govern-
ment House IS situated in
a princely domain over-
looking Farm Cove, in
which a man-of-war
usually lies at anchor, and adjoining the oldest botanical garden in
Australia. Centennial Park lies on the south side of the city. The
National Park, a few miles further south, contains 35,000 acres of the
loveliest woodland, forest, mountain, and river scenery, and has a frontage
Fig. :5oo. — The Site of Sydney.
6oo The International Geography
of eight miles to the Pacific Ocean. One hundred miles west of Sydney,
in a deep valley of the Blue Mountains, are the marvellous limestone
Jenolan caves, as yet but partially explored.
Parmmatia, literally "head of the waters," is at the head of the harbour,
fourteen miles from the capital. It is the next oldest town in the colony,
and, being extensively planted with oaks and other English trees, it is
essentially English in its appearance. It possesses orchards and orangeries,
which have a world-wide reputation, public buildings, residences of Sydney
merchants, and the homes of many old colonial families. A few miles to
the south, connected by a tramway with the main Southern line, are the
small towns of Camden, Campbelltown, and Narellan, on the Nepean river,
important only from their situation in the midst of the estates of the Mac-
arthurs, Macleays, Cowpers, and other founders of Australian wealth and
prosperity. Goulburn, 134 miles south-west of Sydney, on the main Southern
line, and 2,070 feet above sea-level, is the centre of the southern inland trade.
Wagga-Wagga, on the same line, and on the Murrumbidgee river, is the
most important town of the Upper Riverina District. Albury, sometimes
styled " the Federal City," is on the north bank of the upper Murray, and
the station where trains are changed for Melbourne. Newcastle, the
principal seaport town north of Sydney, distant therefrom 62 miles by
water and 102 miles by rail, is the greatest coal-mining centre of the
southern hemisphere, and the outlet for the agricultural produce of the
Hunter river district. In addition to its coal industry, which employs
nearly 10,000 men, the town contains several factories and smelting works.
Twenty miles up the river, which is so far navigable, hes Maitland, a town
of enterprising citizens, possessing fine public buildings, churches, schools,
and factories. The town, known as East and West Maitland, suffered
formerly from disastrous floods, but is now protected by stone embank-
ments. There are coal mines in the vicinity. Grafton, chief town of the
Clarence river district, 45 miles from the sea, has a large shipping trade,
is the centre of a rich agricultural district, and near mines of copper and
antimony. Tamworih, on the Peel river, 160 miles from Maitland and 280
from Sydney; Armidale, the centre of a gold-mining, pastoral, and agri-
cultural district, over 3,300 feet above sea-level ; and Tenterfield, are rising
and important towns on the Great Northern line, the last-named close to
the Queensland border. On the Western and North-Western line Bathnrst
stands 144 miles west of Sydney. It was founded in 1815, well laid out with
broad streets, and now has fine buildings, factories, railway workshops.
It 2S the centre of an agricultural, pastoral, and goid-mining district.
Orange^ 190 miles west of Sydney, and nearly 3,000 feet above sea-level,
has a bracing climate, produces late fruit and the finest wheat. The
railway terminates at Bourke, on the Darling, 503 miles from Sydney.
Lower down the Darling are Wilcannia and Wentworth ; the latter, at
the junction of the Murray, has a large river trade. Hay, on the lower
Murrumbidgee, and Deniliquin, on the Edward river, are the chief towns
New South Wales
60
in the Western Riverina District ; the latter is connected by railway with
Echuca and Melbourne, and most of the trade with the Riverina District,
therefore, passes through Victoria. Silverton and Broken Hill, towns in
the Barrier Ranges silver-mining district, 800 miles west of Sydney and
close to the South Australian border, are more easily reached by rail from
Adelaide.
Dependencies of New South Wales. — Norfolk Island, situated
about 29° S. and 168° E., 1,100 miles distant from Sydney, discovered by
Captain Cook in 1774, was occasionally used as a penal settlement for
reconvicted criminals. The island was annexed to Tasmania in 1844 ^^^
again used as a reformatory prison, but in 1855 the establishment was
withdrawn, and most of the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty
removed thither in 1856, though many returned later to Pitcairn. Since
1865 Norfolk Island has been the headquarters of the Melanesian Mission.
The inhabitants, who are lodged in well-built houses, occupy themselves
with planting, herding, and whaling, and the island is once more a depen-
dency of New South Wales, with separate laws and regulations. It has a
fertile soil, but no good harbour.
Lord Ho\ve Island, a small island situated between Norfolk Island
and Sydney in 31^° S, and 159° E., discovered in 1788, and used as a place
of call, is at present occupied by a few settlers, who supply vessels, chiefly
whalers, with vegetables. A magistrate has been resident on the island
since 1879.
' STATISTICS.
1881. 1891. igoi.
Area of New South Wales (square miles) 310,700 310,700 310,700
Population 751.468 1,132,234 1,359.537
IJensity of population (per square mile) 2 4 4
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
Sydney and suburbs
. 308,270
Newcastle and suburbs .
19,027
Broksn Hill
—
Parramatta
. 10,287
Goulburn . .
8.343
Maitland (East and Wes
t) 8,910
Bathurst
8,810
1896.
410,000
27,000
18,580
12.500
12,300
10,600
9,200
Grafton
Orange
Albury
Tamworth . .
Wagga-VVagga
Armidale
1886.
4,000
3.795
5.000
4,400
4,000
2,668
RESOURCES OF THE COLONY IN 1896.
Value of
No. of No. of No. of Value of Value of Silver and
Sheep. Cattle. Horses. Wool. Gold. Silver-lead.
48,319,000 2,226.000 510,600 ;g8,776,ooo ;^i,o73,ooo ;gi,785,ooo
i8g6.
6,000
5.850
5.650
5.400
4,600
4.700
Value of
CoaL
£1,125,000
Imports
Exports
AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1873-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
11,957,000 .. 21,168,000 .. 19,212,000
, 12,611,000 .. 17.489,000 .. 22,670,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
T. A. Coghlan. "The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales." Sydney, Annual.
Annual Reports published by the Government of New South Wales on the Lands, RaU*
ways and Mines.
F. Hutchinson. " New South Wales." Sydney, 1896.
6o2 The International Geography
III.— VICTORIA
By Edward A. Petherick.
Position and Extent. — Victoria, the most southerly of the colonies
on the Australian mainland, and the latest settled, lies between 34° and 39° S.
and 141° and 150° E., having New South Wales on the north, the Province
of South Australia on the west, the Southern Ocean, Bass Strait, and the
Pacific Ocean on th'# south. Its greatest length from east to west is 420
miles, its greatest breadth 250 miles, and its area nearly 88,000 square miles,
about one-third that of New South Wales, of which it formed part until
1 85 1, or one thirty -fourth part of the whole continent.
Coastal Features. — Two lofty capes, Otway and Wilson Promon-
tory, the latter a granitic mountain peninsula, forming the southernmost
point of Australia, project far into Bass Strait, and, with King, Flinders,
and other islands, geologically link Tasmania with the continent. The
principal inlets on the Victorian side of the Strait are Port Albert, Western
Port, and Port Phillip — an almost land-locked bay, 800 square miles in area,
off which open Hobson's Bay, the port of Melbourne, and Corio Bay, the
port of Geelong (Fig. 304).
Surface and Natural Divisions. — Mountain chains and hilly ranges,
forming part of the Great Dividing Range, traverse the country east and
west, at a distance of 50 to 70 miles from the sea, throwing out spurs which
divide their northern and southern slopes into several basins, known as the
Murray (or North-eastern), Gippsland (or Eastern), Loddon (or Northern),
Port Phillip (or Central), Wimmera (or North-western), and Portland (or
Western) districts. The eastern chains, or Australian Alps, rise to an
elevation of over 6,000 feet, amid magnificent scenery. There are
evidences of past glaciation, but snow now remains in summer only in
sheltered spots on the loftier summits. The highest peaks measured in
Victoria are Bogong (6,508 feet), and Feathertop (6,303 feet). Westward
the ranges are lower, descending from 4,000 to 2,000 feet. The Murray
District, on the northern slopes of the Alps, is drained by the Mitta Mitta,
the Ovens, the Goulburn, and other tributaries of the Murray. The
southern slopes of the Alps form the Gippsland District, watered by the
Margalong or Snowy river, which rises in New South Wales and flows to
the sea direct, and a number of smaller streams, which mostly unite and
pass to the sea through a chain of tidal lakes. Count Strzelecki, who
explored Gippsland in 1840, called it a noble province of arcadian beauty,
possessing lofty mountains, magnificent streams, and fertile plains. The
Loddon District is so called from the river of that name, which, with the
Campaspe and their affluents flow to the Murray from the northern slopes
of the Dividing Range and the Pyrenees. The southern slopes of these
mountains form the Port Phillip District, drained chiefly by streams
which find their way to Port Phillip Bay, the principal river being the
V n^LWiia
v^U
Yarra Yarra. The Wimmera District occupies the north-western part of
the colony, mostly flat country covered with stunted bushes or scrub,
known as mallee. Several streams take their rise on the northern and
western slopes of the hills known as the Grampians, the Victoria and
Black ranges, but these dry up without reaching the Murray, or lose them-
selves in salt lakes. The Portland District lying south and west of the last-
mentioned ranges is well watered by numerous streams which unite with
the Glenelg and other rivers flowing to the sea. This region is volcanic,
characterised by numerous detached and isolated hills, from i,ooo to 2,000
feet in height, some showing extinct craters, and there are many salt and
fresh lakes. Hills, plains and valleys are well grassed, and are, for
sheep pasturage, perhaps the best in the world. Only two of the rivers,
the Murray and the Goulburn, are navigable for any distance.
The geological structure of the colony has been indicated in the general
cnapter on Australia. Palaeozoic strata prevail with intrusions of granite
and large masses of volcanic rock abounding in minerals. The weathering
of these rocks gives rise to a
variety of soils adapted for
the growth of a wide range
of products.
Climate. — The cUmate
is more temperate than that
of any other part of Australia.
The thermometer rises oc-
casionally above 100° in the
shade — a dry heat — and may,
for a few nights in the year,
fall below freezing point,
the mean annual tempera-
ture over a long series of years being 57°. Spring is marked by sudden
changes. In the summer months— December, January and February —
hot winds laden with fine dust occasionally blow from the north, but
mtense heat is succeeded by thunderstorms and refreshing showers. The
winter months are June, July and August, but sunshine is rarely absent,
the atmosphere usually being as clear as that of Italy. The rainfall varies
from 25 to 40 inches in the east and south, and from 14 to 20 in the
north-west.
Flora. — Vegetation is sparse in the plains, giving the country a park-
like appearance. In the ranges it is more dense and subtropical in its
forms, but the predominating feature is the eucalyptus or gum-tree, hard
and durable, valuable for making piles, railway sleepers and girders, yet
capable of a high polish for cabinet work. In the Gippsland District
specimens of immense girth have been measured, 50 to 80 feet in circum-
ference, and also of extraordinary height — considerably over 300 feet — one
fallen tree has been estimated at 480 feet. The blue gum, famous for its
Fig. ^or.
-The extinct volcanoes of south-western
Victoria.
6o4 The International Geography
medicinal properties, has been acclimatised in malarial districts of the
south of Europe, in India, and in California. The consumption of timber
for mining purposes has been enormous, yet it is estimated that over six
million acres of hardwood trees are yet untouched. Several species of
acacia, or wattle, supply bark for tanning purposes. The gullies also
abound with a species of fan-palm, and with fern trees of gigantic growth ;
there are multitudes of smaller ferns, altogether not less than i6o species.
The desert tracts and mallee country of the Wimmera District are more or
less interspersed with pasture grass and a great variety of salt bushes. Fire,
in time of drought, has been a very destructive agent. The ravages in the
forests are, however, soon repaired, for Australian vegetation is as remark-
able for celerity of growth as for abundance and variety, the eucalyptic
species surpassing all other trees in this respect.
Fauna. — The animals of Victoria are similar to those of the adjacent
colonies ; the dingo and native cat, the only carnivora, are practically
exterminated ; the kangaroo driven out of the settled districts, and the
"opossum," owing to ruthless pursuit for its skin, largely reduced in
numbers ; the wombat and platypus are now rare. There are many
species of lizards ; snakes are numerous, but only two or three species are
venomous enough to cause death. Of birds, the emu and native com-
panion are also rare, the lyre bird extremely so, but the smaller birds —
cockatoos, parrots, parroquets, laughing jackass, snipe and quail are
plentiful. Cattle, deer, and sheep, and the Angora goat have been
acclimatised ; rabbits and sparrows have become pests.
Aborigines. — When the colony was first settled, the aborigines were
still in the hunter and fisher state, nomadic, and without habitations. Their
numbers were then estimated at from 6,000 to 15,000. Although protected
and cared for in villages and reserves, they have dwindled to less than 600.
Being very agile, intelligent, and acute in their sense of sight, they were
of some service to the early settlers as shepherds, and in the police force.
Resources. — The chief products are wool, the finest brands obtainable
in the world being those of Victorian growth, meat, hides, and other pro-
ducts of cattle, grain and breadstuffs, potatoes, timber, bark (for tanning
purposes), tobacco, hops, fruit and wine, all of which are exported, as well
as live stock, especially horses. Next to wool, gold (after an aggregate
yield of the value of ;^26o,ooo,ooo) is still the principal product, although
the number of miners employed is now under 30,000. Nearly all gold is
now passed through the Melbourne mint and the total value exported in
sovereigns and half-sovereigns is over ;^3,ooo,ooo annually. Extensive beds
of brown and black coal are now worked in Gippsland ; building stone,
limestone, and marble exist in large quantities, as well as kaoHn and other
clays. Fisheries are also an important industry, the principal supplies of
fish coming from the Gippsland lakes, Port Albert and Western Port.
Fruit of all kinds is largely grown and exported. The manufactures are
of importance for home supply in almost all departments, but are not yet
Victoria 605
exported to any appreciable extent. The principal imports are gold from
the other States (for minting), cottons, woollens and clothing, sugar, tea,
coal, iron, and steel. Over 80 per cent, of the total imports come from
Great Britain and British possessions, of which in some years more and in
some years less than half is from the United Kingdom, India and Hong-
kong. The remainder comes from the other Australian States and foreign
countries, chiefly the United States and Germany.
Discovery and Exploration. — Part of the south-eastern coast was
sighted by Captain Cook in 1770, and Wilson Promontory was probably
seen during Cook's second voyage, by his lieutenant. Captain Furneaux, in
March, 1773. Ten years after the settlement of Port Jackson, George
Bass, exploring the coast southward in a whale boat, rounded Wilson
Promontory and entered Western Port, 5th January, 1798. A few months
later Flinders and Bass demonstrated the existence of the Strait by circum-
navigating Tasmania. The coast west of Cape Otway was discovered by
Lieut. Grant in the Lady Nelson in 1800, and Lieut. Murray, continuing
these explorations in the same vessel, discovered Port Phillip Bay in 1802,
entered and took formal possession of it on March 9th. This port was again
explored by Flinders in the following month, and a French expedition
being then on the coast, the importance of a settlement in the strait was
urged upon the Home Government who sent out two transports with
convicts, their wives and children, a number of free settlers, and a military
detachment under Colonel Collins, in 1803. Collins landed his people on
an arid ridge, inside Port Phillip Heads, and finding it unsuitable for a
settlement soon removed to the Derwent near the present site of Hobart,
Tasmania. For twenty years the shores of Victoria were visited only by
whalers and sealers. Again, there were rumours of an intended French
occupation, and a military detachment was sent from S3'dney to Western
Port by sea, and Hume and Hovell undertook an overland journey in
1824-25, but being forced westward by the mountains they came out on
the western shores of Port Phillip Bay near Geelong. The Western Port
party was soon withdrawn. Ten years later, Mitchell, continuing Sturt's
exploration of the river system of eastern Australia, ascertained that the
Darling joined the Murray, and crossed the latter into Victoria. The
country, which he traversed m two directions, appearing to be more
temperate, richer, and more beautitul than any he had seen before, he
named it — the better to distinguish it from the parched deserts of the
interior — Australia Felix.
Settlement and Gro'wth. — Pasture land being mostly taken up in
Tasmania, applications were made as early as 1827 to the S^-dney Govern-
ment for the use of lands at Western Port, but were not granted. Pioneer
settlers removed their stock to Portland. Bay in 1834, and others crossed to
Port Phillip in 1835 and purchased from a number of wandering aborigines
a tract of land 600,000 acres in extent, the consideration being an immediate
present and a yearly tribute of goods. These proceedings were disallowed,
6o6 The International Geography
and the settlers warned that they were trespassers. At the same time
their services to the colonisation of the country were recognised, and they,
or their heirs, were afterwards compensated. During the year following
Mitchell's explorations, a number of squatters on the Sydney side drove
their flocks and herds over the Murray, more followed from Tasmania,
and the news reaching the mother country, the tide of emigration began
to flow towards Port Phillip in 1839.
An arbitrator was chosen from among themselves by the first settlers
until a police magistrate was sent to them from Sydney. Governor Bourke
visited the settlement in March, 1837, and approved of plans for a town on
the Yarra, to be called Melbourne, a second at Geelong, and a third,
Williamstown on the harbour, which, having been surveyed by Captain
Hobson of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, was named Hobson Bay. As incon-
venience was caused by the necessity of referring matters to S3^dney, a
Superintendent was sent out from England in 1839, and provision made for the
local administration of justice. Melbourne was declared a free port in 1840
and incorporated a town in 1842. Representative government being con-
ferred on New South Wales in the same year, six
members were allotted to the districts south of the
Murray, the population of which was 23,000, but the
inhabitants desiring the control of their own local affairs
petitioned for separation. This, after several years'
agitation and a long period of financial trouble, was
granted at the beginning of 1851, with a Governor and
Fig. s,o2.— The Badge Legislative Council, composed of elective and nomi-
of Victoria shmvmg ° rr.ii- r ii-/^i-r-
the constellation of nated members. The discovery of gold m California
the Southern Cross, having drawn away some of the population, and
the more recent discovery of gold in New South Wales (February,
1 851), threatening to draw away more, a substantial reward was offered
for the discovery of a gold-field within the colony. In a few days
former "finds" were verified, gold was unearthed in the nearest ranges,
and in a short time richer fields were revealed than any previously
known. Melbourne was soon emptied of its male inhabitants, and in a
few weeks Tasmania and South Australia were largely depicted. By the
end of the year immigrants came flocking in from all parts of the world.
This influx continued for four years, the arrivals being from one to five
thousand weekly, the population increasing (in spite of departures) from
78,000 in 185 1 to 400,000 in 1856. A Commission assisted the Governor in
Council in controlling the operations on the gold-fields, which soon
extended over the greater part of the colony.
Government. — Responsible government was conferred upon the
colony in 1855 in the form of two Houses of Parliament, the lower house,
whose members are paid, being elected by ballot and manhood suffrage,
and a Cabinet of Ministers, responsible to Parliament, presided over by a
Governor appointed by the Crown. The population as in New South
Victoria 607
Wales, is largely concentrated in the capital. From the beginning of
the influx of population the government was beset by the difficulty of
settling the people upon the unoccupied lands. Acts and regulations
more and more favourable to that end continued to be passed ; lands were
surveyed expeditiously, and all possible facilities granted. Public works
also were undertaken upon an extensive scale — main roads and bridges,
railways and telegraphs, waterworks and reservoirs for towns and mining
operations as well as harbours and lighthouses — with the result that more
than half of the present largely-increased population is now settled in
rural districts, 15 per cent, in country towns and not more than one-third
in the metropolitan area, which is a very large one. As a further induce-
ment, in recent years, over 150,000 acres have been set aside in eighty-five
different localities for homestead and village communities financially
assisted by government, and labour colonies are also in operation to fit
men for the duties of country Hfe. Irrigation settlements at Mildura, on
the lower Murray, have, despite financial difficulties, met with a large
measure of success, and shown to what use the waste lands of the
"Mallee" country may be turned. National irri-
gation works in the valleys of the Goulburn and
lower Loddon, and storage works at Horsham in
the Wimmera District, are entirely under State
control, and, like the railways, are the property of
tiie State.
Primary education is free, unsectarian, and com-
pulsory, frse passes on the railways being granted YiG.zo^.-Average popu
to the children of the scattered settlers. There are uuion of a"" square
many pubhc and private schools of a higher grade, ""^^ ^^ iictona.
technical colleges, and a university in Melbourne. There is no Estab-
lished Church.
Towns. — Municipal government having been granted early in the
history of the colony local improvements have been carried on simultaneously
with national works, with the result that the annual death rate is much
below that of any European country-; being under fifteen per thousand.
Ninety-nine per cent, of the territory is locally governed in 60 urban
districts and 150 shires. Besides the capital, eight cities or towns have
a population exceeding 25,000 each ; hut most of the country towns
are small. In addition to public offices, churches, schools, mechanics'
institutes, and libraries, a special feature of the principal towns is their
parks and recreation grounds. Scattered over the country also are the
homesteads and mansions of the squatters and other magnates. A
considerable part of the population, as in all young countries, is
migratory in its habits ; for instance, nearly 100,000 migrated from
Victoria to Western Australia and the adjacent colonies during the
financial troubles in 1893 and 1894 — over 50,000 left Melbourne alone.
Some of these have since returned.
6o8 The International Geography
Melbourne, the capital, the most populous city in Australasia and the
seventh city in order of size in the British Empire, with its suburbs,
including Port Melbourne and Williamstown, occupies over 200 square
miles. It is situated on the Yarra Yarra and Saltwater rivers, which are
crossed by fine bridges. Steamers of 8,000 tons now pass through a
new channel from the port to wharves (eight miles in length) in the heart
of the city, and a dry dock at Williamstown can accommodate the largest
vessels. Ninety per cent, of the imports and exports of the colony passes
through Melbourne. The city possesses all the public buildings and com-
mercial facilities of a first-rate European capital and seaport ; the houses
of parliament, vice-regal residence, university and affiliated colleges, as
well as the parks, botanic and zoological gardens, may be particularly
mentioned. In pictu-
resqueness of situation
and in beauty of archi-
tecture — civil, ecclesiasti-
cal, and domestic — Mel-
bourne and its suburbs
rank with the finest cities
of the old world. It has
ample water-supply for
all purposes, railways and
cable-tramways, and a
comprehensive scheme of
sewerage is approaching
completion. There are
many favourite resorts
of excursionists in the
vicinity on the shores of
the bay as well as in the
nearer mountain ranges.
Fig. 304.— Por^ Phillip and Melbourne.
while the "Alps" can be reached by rail in a few hours.
Ballarat, the second city m Victoria and fifth in Australia, 75 miles
north-west of Melbourne, stands at an elevation of 1,400 feet above
sea-level, and has been for half a century the centre of the richest gold-
yielding district in the world. The "Welcome" nugget, weighing 2,217
ounces, was found at Ballarat and sold for ;^ 10,500. The city, which
is in the midst of agricultural and pastoral districts producing the finest
wool, is well laid out, has fine streets and public buildings, and an
artificial lake. Six lines of railway branch off to other mining towns
in the neighbourhood and all parts of the colony. Bendtgo, formerly
Sandhurst, 100 miles north of Melbourne, is the headquarters of another
rich auriferous district, occupying 22 square miles, and containing 700
distinct quartz reefs. This city possesses many fine buildings, a botanic
garden, a park, and various factories. Eaglehawk, four miles from
Victoria 609
Bendigo, contains many rich quartz mines, and is an important town m
itself. Geelong, situated on tlie Barwon and Corio Bay, 45 miles south-west
of Melbeiirne, is reached by steamer and rail. It possesses a fine harbour
and all the public buildings of a prosperous commercial and manufacturing
town. It is the chief seat of the woollen industry in Victoria, and the
railway connects it with Colac, Camperdown, Warrnambool, and Port
Fairy, passing through the richest pastoral and agricultural districts.
Warrnambool is a seaport town, having a fine jetty and breakwater. Its
chief export is dairy produce, and it possesses many fine buildings and
factories, sea-baths, colleges, museums, gardens, and the coolest summer
climate in Australia. At Framlingham, 18 miles from Warrnambool, the
remnant of the Western District aborigines is sheltered. Between Geelong
and Oueenscliff, the pilot-station and the fortified entrance of Port Phillip —
also a favourite watering-place — lies the most highly cultivated district in
the colony, the formation being sand over clay.
Rail^vays. — The above-mentioned towns are all connected by rail,
the lines radiating from Melbourne (Fig. 293). The North-Eastern and
Northern Railways tap the Riverina District of New South Wales at seven
points on the Murray, the navigable frontage of that river being nearly
eight hundred miles. The North-Eastern line for 9}'dney crosses the river
at Wodonga for Albury, but change of carriage is necessary owing to
a difference of gauge. The Northern Railway crosses the river, by an iron
bridge 2,000 feet long, at Echuca, the principal town on the Murray, the
entrepot for intercolonial trade, and junction for Deniliquin, the chief
town of the Riverina District. Echuca is also the centre of an agricultural
and wine-growing district, and possessbs immense wool stores and factories.
Branches of the same lines touch the river at Yarrawonga (where there is
another fine bridge), and at other points. There are other important
towns in the northern and north-eastern districts rich in cattle, agricultural,
and mining products, including Mooroopna and Rutherglen, centres of the
largest wine-producing districts in Australia, and Beechworth, a mining centre
and picturesque holiday resort, situated 1,770 feet above sea-level. From
Bright, a small town in the same district, there is an easy ascent to some
of the highest peaks of the "Alps." From Ballarat the North-Western
trunk line passes through thickly-timbered country to Ararat, the centre of
a pastoral, agricultural, and wine-making district, and sends branches to
the mining town Stawell and to Poitland, the oldest settlement in the
colony, situated on the bay of that name, which affords anchorage for the
largest vessels, and is the natural outlet for the Western District. From
Ararat the main line proceeds to Horsham, the chief town of the Wimmera
District and a market for live stock, grain and fruit, and thence to Adelaide,
crossing the South Australian border at Serviceton, no change of carriage
being necessary. The South-Eastern main line from Melbourne passes
through the Dandenong State forest and the recently discovered coal
districts to Sale, the chief town in Gippsland, and to the Gippsland lakes.
6io The International Geography
STATISTICS.
1881.
Area of Victoria (square miles) 87,884
Population 862,346
Density of population (per square mile) . . 10
1891.
87,884
1,140,405
13
1885.
Melbourne and suburbs. .345 380
Ballarat 41,110
Bendigo 36,570
Geelong 20,890
Eaglehawk 7.650
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
1895.
460,371
46,276
42,000
25,000
8,476
Warrnambool
Maryborough
Stawell
Castlemaine
Echuca
RESOURCES OF VICTORIA IN 1896.
No. of Sheep. No. of Cattle. No of Horses. Value of Gold raised.
14,000,000
Imports
Exports
1,900,000
435.000
£3,220,000
ANNUAL TRADE OF VICTORIA (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85.
, 15,241.000 .. 18,091,000
14,787,000 . . 16,089,000
1901.
87,884
1,200,914
14
1885.
5.398
3,800
4.900
6,000
4.065
1895.
6,60c
5.460
5,200
5.100
5,000
Value of Wool.
£5,250,000
1891-95.
15,422,000
14,420,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
f. J. Fenton. " Victorian Year Book." Melbourne, .dnnuat
r. Bonwick. " Port Phillip Settlements." London, 1883.
IV.— TASMANIA
By THE Editor.^
Position and Coasts.— Tasmania, the fourth and most southerly
Australian colony of the eastern tier, is an island separated from Victoria
by Bass Strait (about 140 miles wide), and lying between the parallels of
4o|° and 43^° S. Its area is scarcely less
than that of Scotland, and it is the smallest
as well as the most temperate of the
Australian colonies. The north coast of
Tasmania faces the continent in a concave
curve from the two ends of which lines of
islands, the Furneaux group on the east
and Hunter and King Islands on the west,
stretch northward across Bass Strait, like
chains suspending a heart-shaped pendant.
The indentations on the north and west
coasts, although affording a few natural
harbours — notably the narrow estuary of the
Fig SOS -The South-Eastern corner Tamar on the north, and Macquarie Harbour
0/ Tasmania. ^
on the west — are neither numerous nor
important. The east coast is a little more broken ; but in the south-eastern
corner the edge of the island is wrought into a singular complex of
fantastic peninsulas, amongst which the form of a recurved hook is re-
Assisted by E. J. Hastings.
Tasmania 6 1 1
peated again and again en different scales of magnitude. In the heart of
this rocky maze the estuary of the Derwent opens, access to it being
hampered by many serious dangers before the days of Hghfhouses.
Configuration and Rivers. — Tasmania is essentially a highland
region built up mainl}' of ancient Palaeozoic strata through which harder
igneous masses have been intruded. The result of the initial form and the
diverse materials is that the full rivers fed by the rain of the "roaring
forties '' have carved the surface into picturesque gullies and bold moun-
tainous slopes. An irregular range, or series of ranges, runs close along
the east coast, rising in Ben Lomond to over 5,000 feet. It consists largely
of trap which has broken through the overlying sandstone, limestone, and
other strata now found in the valleys and lowlands. Volcanic forces have
been active in recent geological time, covering large tracts of the east and
centre with lava, which, in decomposing, formed a very fertile soil. West
of this mountainous belt, the valleys of the Tamar, Macquarie, and Coal
rivers, and connecting lowlands form a line of depression affording means
of direct communication between north and south, utilised by the main
trunk railway of the island. Farther west, the whole centre is occupied by
a plateau much of which exceeds 3,000 feet in elevation, dominated by
short mountain ranges and isolated summits, including Mount Cradle
(5,070 feet), the culminating point of the island. Bordering the plateau on
the south and west there are several ranges of metamorphic rocks rising
to a considerable height. The highest part of the plateau in the north-
east, not far from the centre of the island, is occupied by a remarkable
group of fresh-water lakes, situated in picturesque scenery, and likely to
prove one of the most valuable resources of Tasmania by attracting visitors
from the mainland colonies in the summer months. Great Lake, the
largest, is about twelve miles long and four wide, and is situated at an
elevation of 3,800 feet above the sea. The principal rivers are the Der-
went, which rises in Lake St. Clair and flows south-eastwards for about
130 miles to Storm Bay ; the Huon, about 100 miles in length, flowing
through a rich forest region to D'Entrecasteaux Channel; the Tamar in the
north, properly an estuary formed by the union of the rivers Esk and
Macquarie which drain the great eastern depression, coming from the
Eastern Ranges, and receiving tributaries from the central lakes.
Mineral Resources. — Tasmania is rich in minerals. Tin has been
the most extensively worked hitherto, the principal mining centres being
at Mount Bischoff on the north-west, and at Branxholme in the north-east.
Valuable deposits of copper and antimony are being opened up at Mount
Lyell, and silver in the vicinity of Mounts Zeehan and Dundas, in the west.
Iron is widely distributed, and large beds of coal, some of good quality,
are found in different parts ; the mines of the Fingal basin in the east
supply the Tasmanian railways. Other useful minerals are bismuth ore,
slates, marble, and excellent building stone.
Climate, Flora and Fauna. — The climate, on account of the pre-
6i2 The International Geography
vailing westerly winds, which moderate the heat, is the mildest and most
equable of any part of Australasia and shows well-marked seasons. It
resembles that of the south of England ; and, as in the British Islands, it
gives a definite character to the land and its productions. The mean
temperature in winter on the coast is 47°, and in summer 62° F. ; but
in the highlands the winters are more extreme. The rainfall is moderate,
but, compared with that of the continent of Australia, ample and uniformly
distributed. At Hobart the average is a Httle less than that of London.
The vegetation is mainly of the Australian type, eucalypti being the most
widely distributed. One species, known as the Tolasa Blue Gum, is said
to attain a height of 350 feet. The Huon Pine is abundant in the south.
The island was once almost entirely forest-clad, and large woodlands still
remain yielding much valuable timber. The fauna also is, in general, similar
to that of the Australian continent, but a few forms are peculiar to the
island, the most noteworthy being two species of carnivorous marsupials,
the famous Tasmanian devil and the native tiger, or striped wolf, both of
which have been hunted almost to extinction by the settlers on account of
the destruction they caused to sheep. Of 170 species of Australian birds
about 15 are common to Tasmania, including a " reed
warbler " and one species of quail as large as a partridge.
The platypus is more common in Tasmania than in the
Australian continent. Fish of various kinds are abun-
dant, and a very large and much esteemed crayfish is
an article of export to the neighbouring colonies.
History and Government. — Tasmania, or as it
Fig. ^06.— The Badge was first named Van Diem en's Land, was discovered
of Tasmania. ^^ Tasman in 1642. Towards the end of the follow-
ing century it was visited by several navigators, amongst whom was
Captain Cook, who landed at Adventure Bay on the south-east coast
in 1777, but did not recognise the insularity of Van Diemen's Land,
which was not proved until Bass and Flinders circumnavigated it in 1798.
In 1803 it was formally taken possession of on behalf of the British Crown,
as a dependency of New South Wales, and a small convict settlement was
formed at Risdon on the Derwent. This was transferred in the following
year to the opposite side of the river, the site of the present capital. The
i-land continued to be a dependency of New South Wales till 1825, when
it was constituted a separate colony, but transportation of convicts to Van
Diemen's Land continued until 1853. In 1856 the colony was granted
responsible government, and the name changed to Tasmania. The
Governor represents the Queen ; the Parliament consists of a Legislative
Council and a House of Assembly, the members of both being elected.
Aborigines. — The Aborigines, who at the time of the British annexa-
tion numbered perhaps 4,000 or 5,000, are now quite extinct. A few half-
breeds only remain on the Furneaux Islands. The history of the dealings
of the British settlers with the aborigines is deplorable. From 1804, soon
Tasmania 613
after the planting of the first convict settlement, until 1832, when the
natives were almost exterminated, a " Black War " was waged, marked on
both sides by cruelty and treachery. In 1830 an
attempt was made to drive the surviving inhabitants
into a corner of the island, but it utterly failed. Sub-
sequently after five years of effort, marked by countless
dangers and hardships, some philanthropic individuals
succeeded in gathering the remnant of the race to-
gether in Bruni Island, whence they were afterwards
removed to other stations, but it was too late, and
, , , • , , , • • ■, , Fig. 307. — Average pop-
although considerable attention was paid to the last uiation of a square
of the Tasmanians they had dwindled to sixteen in '"'^^ ^/ tasmama.
1850, and the last survivor, an old woman of seventy-three, died in 1876.
Industries and Trade. — Sheep-rearing and agriculture are the
principal occupations. Besides the crops grown for domestic supply, the
most important are fruit and hops. Much attention is devoted to the
former, and fruit, both fresh and preserved, constitutes the chief agri-
cultural export. The leading exports are wool, gold, silver and tin, and
the imports textiles, various manufactured goods and provisions. The
bulk of the trade is carried on with the neighbouring colonies of Victoria
and New South Wales, and with the United Kingdom. The main line of
railway runs from north to south between Hobart and Launceston, and
there are several secondary lines. Coaches connect the principal town-
ships, but facilities for internal communication are, as yet, very limited.
Towns. — Hobart (formerly called Hobart Town), is pleasantly situated
on the Derwent, on rising ground at the base of Mount Welhngton (4,160
feet). The city is well laid out and has various handsome churches and
other pubHc buildings. Local industries include flour mills, jam factories,
woollen mills, tanneries, and important iron works, where materials for
railway and bridge construction and steam machinery are produced. The
harbour is spacious, deep and well sheltered. Launceston, on the Tamar, is
the second town in the colony, and the chief port of the north. It stands
in a valley at the head of the estuary, between the Cataract and Windmill
Hills ; the former takes its name from picturesque falls in Cataract Gorge
on the South Esk.
STATISTICS.
1881. i8qi. 1901.
Area of Tasmania (square miles) . . . . 26,215 . . 26,215 • • 26,215
Population of Tasmania "5.705 •• 146,667 .. 172,475
Density of population per square mile . . 4 • • 6 . . 7
Population of Hobart 21,118 .. 24,905 .. 24,654
Launceston 12,752 .. 17.108 .. 18,022
AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE OF TASMANIA (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 1,027,000 . . 1,669,000 . . 1,336,000
Exports 911,000 .. 1,533,000 .. 1,400,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
T. Bonwick. "The Last of the Tasmanians." London, 1870.
I, Fenton. " History of Tasmania." Launceston, 1884.
T. C. Just. " Official Handbook of Tasmania." London, 1892.
CHAPTER XXXIII.— CENTRAL AND WESTERN
STATES OF THE COMMONWEALTH
OF AUSTRALIA
I. — SOUTH AUSTRALIA
By Edward A. Petherick.
Position and Extent. — The Province of South Australia lies between
26° and 38° S. latitude, and 129° and 141° E. longitude, having Western
Australia on the west, New South Wales and Victoria on the east, the
Southern Ocean on the south, and an area of 380,000 square miles. The
territory extending north of the Iwenty-sixth parallel to the shores of the
Indian Ocean, Arafura Sea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria, lying between
129° and 138° E., the boundaries respectively of Western Australia and
Queensland, and containing 523,000 square miles, has also been under the
administrative control of the South Australian Government since 1863,
The " Province " and the " Northern Territory" together are 1,800 miles
in length from sea to sea, and in area are three times as large as New
South Wales, comprising indeed nearly one-third of the continent.
Coast. — The southern coast is deeply indented by Spencer G.ulf,
which penetrates nearly 200 miles and includes Ports Lincoln and
Augusta, and by St. Vincent Gulf penetrating 100 miles, Yorke Peninsula
lying between. Spencer Gulf is bordered on the west by Eyre Peninsula,
beyond which comes the Great Australian Bight. To the east of St.
Vincent Gulf, Lake Alexandrina forms the outlet of the river Murray, and
a remarkable sand-spit runs south-eastward along the coast for nearly
90 miles, locking in a long narrow lagoon — the Coorong — against the
land. South of the gulfs is Kangaroo Island, 85 miles long, separated from
the mainland by Investigator Strait and Backstairs Passage.
The northern coast comprises the western side of the Gulf of Car-
pentaria bordered by several islands, and the much-indented north and
east coasts of Arnhem Land. Coburg Peninsula and the two islands of
Melville and Bathurst enclose a considerable area of water in Van
Diemen Gulf, the south coast of which contains the inlet of Port Darwin.
Queen's Channel, the estuary of the Victoria river, forms the south-westerly
corner of Arnhem Land.
The Interior. — Ranges of hills running northward from Cape Jervis
parallel with St. Vincent Gulf— the highest points. Mount Lofty (2,330
feet) and Razorback (2,830 feet) — divide the waters flowing eastward to
the Murray and a few streams flowing to the Gulf. This part of the
614
South Australia
615
country is almost wholly arable land. The south-eastern district is largely
composed of the same eruptive rocks which occur in the adjoining
part of Victoria ; the most conspicuous of several ancient volcanoes is
Mount Gambler. The Flinders Range runs east and north of Spencer
Gulf, and Gawler Range westward, crossing Eyre Peninsula. Beyond are
low-ljang lands, and Eyre, Gairdner, Torrens, and other salt lakes which
in wet seasons receive the waters of a vast extent of back country, in-
cluding streams from western Queensland. The waters thus received are
absorbed or evaporated during seasons of drought, when the interior
plains become an arid and burning desert. The surface of Lake Eyre
is a few feet below sea-level. Further north, in the centre of the con-
tinent, is an elevated tract of country, Larapinta Land, formed by the
Macdonnell and James Ranges, composed of rugged and barren rocks
nearly 5,000 feet above sea-level. From these ranges occasional heavy
rains rush down numerous channels to the Finke (native name, Larapinta)
river, flooding and fertilising the hot moving sands of the surrounding
country, and rapidly producing a luxuriant growth of vegetation. Lake
Amadeus lies west of this region and partly wdthin Western Australia.
The coastal districts of the Northern Territory are fairly well watered
with streams from ranges at no great distance inland, the chief rivers
being the Roper, which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria, the East,
North, and South Alligators, the Adelaide. Daly, and the North-Western
Victoria flowing into the Indian Ocean.
Glimate. — The temperature of the Province varies considerably. At
Adelaide, during a long period of years the maximum observed for the
month of January (midsummer) was 112°, and the mean day temperature
86°; the maximum for July (midwinter or rainy season) was 69°, and
the mean during the day 58° ; the minimum observed was 34°. In the
Mount Lofty ranges, within an hour's journey of the capital, the tempera-
ture is from 10° to 15° lower in summer, and in winter snow sometimes
falls. The prevailing winds, except in midsummer, are south-east ; in
summer they blow from the north, are hot and enervating, especially to
those in feeble health, and severe upon tender or unprotected plants. In
proof of its general healthfulness it may be noted that the colony has
never been visited by any epidemic. South Australia suffers more from
drought than the other colonies — serious visitations occurring at intervals
of about eleven years ; the last -was in 1896-97. In Larapinta Land the
climate is milder on account of altitude, with warm clear days and bright
cold nights with light breezes, hot winds being rare — conditions which
have a marked influence on the indigenous life of that region. The
average rainfall varies from 13 to 30 inches at Adelaide — mean for 52
years, 21 inches — and from 11 to 5 inches further north and west. In the
Northern Territory upon and near the coast which is affected by the
monsoons, the mean rainfall is over 50 inches ; at Port Darwin it is 63
inches, and the mean annual temperature 82°. At AHce Springs, the central
telegraph station, the rainfall is 1 1 niches and the mean temperature jo°
6i6 The International Geography
(Fig. 292) ; at Port Augusta, head of Spencer Gulf, 9 inches and 6(f ; at
Eucla, on the Australian Bight, 10 inches and 63°.
Flora and Fauna. — South Australia and the Northern Territory,
between the northern and southern gulfs, occupy the depressed area once
covered by the sea between eastern and western Australia, which were
geologically two islands, and its sparse vegetation partakes of the character
of both regions. The eucalyptus predominates, though the trees do not
grow to the size they reach in the other colonies. Grass trees, with
edible roots, and shea oak abound in the south-eastern district ; the
sandalwood tree on Yorke Peninsula ; saltbush in the northern districts,
and '* scrub " or mallee more or less over the whole Province. The
vegetation of the Northern Territory is Australian, though with tropical
grasses and sedges, mangroves on the coast, and the paper bark tree,
which forms impenetrable thickets for hundreds of miles on the banks of
the rivers.
The animals of the Province and the Northern Territory are generally
the same as in other parts of Australia except that alligators abound in
the northern rivers, and the wombat is found only in the south. Animal
life is abundant in Larapinta Land on account of the favourable climatic
conditions, and includes a remarkable mole-like marsupial. Among
insects, the white ant in the north is very destructive, necessitating the
use of iron and steel for telegraph poles and railway sleepers. Seals,
once found in great abundance on the shores of Kangaroo Island, are
now rare ; and the marsupial, which was so numerous when Flinders
named the island, has there been long extinct.
Aborigines. — In 1876 the number of aborigines in the Province
was under 4,000, in 1891 they had dwindled to about 3,000 ; the number
in the Northern Territory is about 20,000. Those of the extreme north
were reported by early explorers to be cannibals, but there is no evidence
of this since the settlement of Port Darwin. In Melville Island they are
fierce and intractable. The aboriginal of Larapinta Land is described as
the living representative of the Stone Age, performing the most daring
surgical operations with his flint knives ; naked, hairy, merry, a mimic,
wonderfully agile, possessing an unerring hand that works in perfect
unison with an eye keen as that of an eagle ; without habitation, living
entirely upon the spoils of the chase ; untameable ; with no belief except
in an evil spirit, or in traditions, he yet practises with scrupulous exact-
ness the most painful and hideous customs, of the origin or reason of
which he knows nothing. Adopting the debasing habits of the white man
he will soon have passed away.
Discovery and Exploration. — The northern coasts were regularly
visited by Malays in search of trepang before the advent of Europeans to
the Malay Archipelago at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The
first comers were Portuguese, from whose observations early accounts of
the country and the inhabitants are no doubt derived. The Dutch
South Australia 617
surveyed the same shores during the following century. Ships of the
British navy finally took up the work, Flinders in 1803, King in 1820,
and Stokes in 1839, when Port Darwin was discovered and named. The
Great Australian Bight was sailed along in January, 1627, by a vessel
named the Golden Seahorse, which carried the Dutch ambassador, Pieter
Nuyts, to Japan, hence the name " Nuyts Land." This country being
situated in the most favourable degree of south latitude, the Swiss pro-
jector, J, P. Purry, proposed to settle it as* a vine-growing colony in 1717
and 17 18. It does not, however, appear to have been seen again until
January, 1793, when D'Entrecasteaux visited the coast in search of La
Perouse. Lieut. Grant, making the first outward voyage through Bass
Strait in the Lady Nelson in 1800, came upon the coast further east.
Flinders discovered Kangaroo Island and completed the survey of the
southern coasts in 1802. At Encounter Bay he met and gave copies of his
charts to Admiral Baudin, who brought them to Europe where they were
published with French nomenclature, Spencer and St. Vincent Gulfs
appearing as " Buonaparte " and " Josephine," and the whole country
between Nuyts Land and New South Wales as "Terre Napoleon."
Nothing was known of the interior until Sturt sailed down the Murray in
1830, and Adelaide was founded in 1837, when Eyre and others made overland
journeys from New South Wales and Port Phillip. In 1841 Eyre, who had,
meantime, discovered Lake Torrens, accomplished his more extraordinary
journey round the Great Bight to King George Sound. Sturt made his
last expedition (in 1844-45) to Cooper Creek (the Victoria of Mitchell) and
the great stony desert, whence he was driven back after terrible privation
and partial loss of sight. Although exploring journeys were kept up, it
was not until 1862 that M'Douall Stuart, in a third attempt, succeeded in
crossing the continent to Port Darwin. Burke and Willis's successful ex-
ploration, partly through the same territory, to the shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria was accomplished the year before, but they perished at Cooper
Creek on their return journey. Exploration in the interior has been con-
tinued in private and government expeditions conducted by Warburton,
Forrest, Gosse, Giles, Lindsay, Favenc, Tietkins, Carnegie, and others,
who have left little of the interior that is quite unknown. Conducted by
Winnecke, the Horn Scientific Expedition explored Larapinta Land in
1894.
History and Government. — South Australia was founded by Act
of Parliament upon principles advocated by Gibbon Wakefield, whereby
revenue from sales of land w^as to be devoted to the promotion of immi-
gration. The first colonists were sent out in 1836, preceded by a survey
party to examine Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln, and other parts. A site
for a town was chosen where Adelaide now stands early in 1837, and
town and country lands soon allotted. Divided authority, disputes
between the officials and the colonists, and experiments in finance
which destroyed the self-supporting character of the colony, led to the
6i8 The International Geography
recall of the first two governors, and to the constitution of South
Australia as a Crown Colony. The new governor, Sir George Grey,
brought the affairs of the colony into shape, though for a time the
necessary retrenchments pressed sorely upon the community. The
discovery of copper ore in 1843 advanced South
Australia upon a career of prosperity and enterprise,
interrupted, however, by the gold discoveries in New
South Wales and Victoria in 1851, which drew away
nearly fifty thousand men and for a time stopped all
local trade. Many returned in the following years,
and land being cheap, the colony was saved from
Fig. 308.— 77ze Badge ruin by the energetic development of its agricultural
of South Australia. ^ ■, ^^ u r • 1 ....
resources, and the farmaceous colony, as it was
facetiously called, became for a long period the granary of Australia.
Responsible government was conferred upon the colony in 1856. The
members of the Upper House or Legislative Council are elected upon a
property qualification, those of the Lower House or Assembly by man-
hood suffrage. South Australian statesmen have led the way in many
progressive measures of policy with good effect on the prosperity of the
people. Public works and unleased lands are controlled by local author-
ities. Hydraulic works have made many districts r— ^
independent of an uncertain rainfall, and artesian '^ -
wells, sunk in various places, chiefly along the over-
land line of railway, have conclusively proved the
existence of enormous subterranean supplies of water.
An irrigation colony, Renmark, similar to that of
Mildura, is in operation on the lower Murray.
Afforestation is under the direction of an Agricultural
Department, and 7,000,000 trees have been planted
in the Province since 1876. The chief products are
wheat, which is largely exported, and copper, of which
over ;^2o,ooo,ooo worth has been raised in the State
since 1845 ; wine is an increasing industry. The
total value of exports per head of population is far
in excess of that of any other of the Australian
States, and the acreage under cultivation exceeds
all these colonies with the exception of Victoria.
The imports consist chiefly of British manufactured
goods. The most important public works yet under-
taken have been the transcontinental telegraph, and
? 'S^ M
Railways >
Tel£graphJ
telegraph lines to the borders (connecting the pio. sog.—The Tnms-
Australian systems, as well as those of Tasmania and continental Telegraph
New Zealand, with other parts of the world), and ^" ^' ^^^'
trunk lines of railway to the Murray and Victorian border, to Broken Hill
in New South Wales, to Spencer Gulf, and nearly half way across the
South Australia 619
continent towards Port Darwin. Primary education is compulsory, secular
and free ; secondary education is afforded in private establishments, and
there are government schools of mines and industry, of painting and
design, agricultural colleges and schools, a museum of natural products,
botanic garden, libraries, observatory, and university.
Tcwns. — Essentially an agricultural and pastoral country, the
Province of South Australia possesses few towns containing more than
live hundred inhabitants, and with the exception of the capital and its
suburbs there are only ten with upwards of a thousand. Adelaide, the
capital, sometimes called the " model Australian city," is well situated on
a plateau, on the river Torrens ; it has fine avenues and buildings, is
surrounded by a belt of park-land, several suburbs, including Glenelg and
Port Adelaide, and is within eleven miles of the summit of Mount Lofty,
the ascent to which is easy. The other important towns are Mount
Gambier, at the foot of the extinct volcano in the
south-eastern district, centre of the "garden of the
colony " ; north of the capital are Gawler, on a river
of the same name, situated in an extensive wheat-
growing district ; Kapunda, noted for its copper
mines, worked from 1843 to 1879 ; Kooringa, con-
taining the famous Burra mine. Moonta and
Wallaroo, possessing rich copper mines and the ^q^^^^.- Average popi
largest smelting works in Australia, are on Yorke lation of a square mile
Peninsula ; and Port Pirie and Port A ugusta on Spencer ^-^ ^^"^^' ^ ustraiia.
Gulf. All these towns are connected by rail with Adelaide. Port Lincoln
has a commodious harbour, and is the chief town on Eyre Peninsula,
which is occupied mostly by sheep farmers.
Northern Territory. — Settlements were formed on Melville Island
in 1824 and at Raffles Bay in 1827, but both were abandoned in 1829.
Another settlement was formed at Port Essington on Coburg Peninsula in
1838, as a military post and harbour of refuge, but this also was abandoned
in 1849. Palmerston, the capital (founded in 1869), occupies an elevated
site overlooking Port Darwin, one of the finest harbours in Australia, and
contains the offices of the government Resident, the officials of the territory,
and of the telegraph departments. The transcontinental railway, which
has its terminus here, now extends to Pine Creek, 146 miles inland. The
country is well adapted for tropical and semi-tropical products, and is
believed to be rich in minerals. A large extent of the territory is at
present leased for pastoral pursuits. Pearl fishing is carried on chiefly
at Melville Island. This island, about fourteen miles from the main-
land, is 75 miles long by 37 broad, covered with mangrove swamps
and dense forests, and inhabited by Australian animals and intractable
aborigines.
41
620 The International Geography
STATISTICS.
1886. 1896. 1901.
Area of South Australia Province (square miles) . . . . 380,070 380,070 380,070
„ Northern Territory (square miles) 523,620 523,620 523^620
Population of South Australia 304,336 355,286 362^604
Northern Territory (exclusive of aborigines) — ' 4,934 4,096
Density of population. South Australia Province .... i i i
Population of Adelaide and suburbs 128,377 140,406 163,430
„ Port Pirie — 5,000 —
„ Kapunda _ 3,800 —
„ Mount Gambler — 3,cxx) —
RESOURCES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND NORTHERN TERRITORY, 1897.
No. of Sheep. No. of Cattle. No. of Horses. Value of Wool. Value of Copper.
5,092,000 540.000 180,000 £"1,790,700 ;^238,000
ANNUAL PRODUCE OF WHEAT IN BUSHELS.
1883-84. 1891-92. 1893-94- 1896-97.1 1897-^8.1
14,649,000. 6,436,000 13,618,000 2,804,000 4,014,800
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
J™Ports 3,397,000 5,856,000 7,420,000
'Sports 4,223,000 5.338,000 8,255,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
T. D. Woods. " Province of South Australia, and Northern Territory." Adelaide, 1894.
E. Hodder. "The History of South Australia." 2 vols. London, 1893.
II.— WESTERN AUSTRALIA
By THE Hon. David W. Carnegie.
Position and Extent. — Western Australia includes all that portion
of the Australian continent extending to the west of the meridian of
12/ E., and is situated between the parallels of 13^° S. and 35° S. Its
most westerly point, Dirk Hartog Island, is in longitude 112'' 52' E. The
State includes all the islands adjacent to the coast of the mainland in the
Indian and Southern Oceans. The greatest length is 1,480 miles, and the
greatest breadth about 1,000 miles, with an area of 975,920 square miles,
or nearly one-third of the whole continent of Australia, or equal in extent
to' one-fourth of Europe.
Surface and Agricultural Resources. — The coast-line is short
eonipared with the large extent of the territory, being little broken by bays,
gulfs, or river mouths. Consequently, natural harbours are wanting. The
principal anchorages used are open roadsteads, only partially protected,
the. most noticeable exception being Princess Royal Harbour, the inner
bay of King George Sound. At Fremantle, at the mouth of the Swan
river, on the west coast, harbour works of large extent are nearing com-
pletion. King Sound and Cambridge Gulf in the northern portion of the
colony are inlets of considerable size, and would appear to be fine natural
harbours ; but their value must be discounted by the great tidal range.
' Droughty seasons.
Western Australia 621
The rise and fall of ordinary tides in Cambridge Gulf is 20 feet, in
King Sound 46 feet. Further south the difference decreases, until on
the south and south-west coasts there is no tidal rise worth mentioning.
A striking feature on the south coast is the entire absence of rivers or
even streams of any size until the extreme south-western corner of the
territory is reached. High chffs along the south coast form the abrupt
termination of an elevated limestone tableland, which extends some 200
miles inland between the meridians of 121° and 129° E. This tableland
in winter has the appearance of magnificent pasture land, there being
probably a fair rainfall. No surface water occurs, with the exception of
small rock-holes, and consequently the land has not been settled. In
this district cylindrical cavities in the rock are frequently found, reaching
to unknown depths, and known as "blow-holes" from the sound of rushing
wind that they emit. Along the south coast, west of 121" E., eucah'ptus
forest land begins, and extends over the whole south-western corner of the
colony, forming one of its richest resources. Here the immense Karri
and jarrah trees attain a height of between 200 and 300 feet. Jarrah
timber is extraordinarily durable, resisting the white ant and the Teredo
navalis, and consequently admirably adapted for railway sleepers, and
piles for bridges or sea jetties. Karri timber is largely exported, being
used chiefly for wood paving. The forest land when cleared is eminently
suited for agriculture.
Along the west coast there are numerous rivers ; of these the Swan
river is the most important, those further to the north being for the most
part mere storm channels filled only during the rainy season. The
occupied portion of the colony extends along the west coast for about
1,200 miles, the most thickly peopled part being that lying roughly
between Geraldton and Albany (King George Sound). Here farming and
viticulture is carried on, the area for the cultivation of cereals lying south
of 28° S. The total area under crop is about 202,000 acres, the principal
crops being wheat, barley, oats, maize, potatoes, hay of all kinds, green
forage, onions, and other root crops, and vines. As well as the grape a
great variety of fruit is grown, particularly oranges, lemons, apples, and
peaches ; and these are capable of being produced in large quantities.
Between 28° S. and 20° S. the occupied portion of the colony follows the
western coast-line with a breadth of some 250 miles. In the valleys of
the numerous rivers, cattle and sheep stations have been established.
North of the De Grey river an unbroken stretch of coast-line known as
Eighty-mile Beach, a flat sand plain, the western extension of the great
inland desert, intervenes between the pasture lands of the north-west and
the rich Kimberley country, where, in the valleys of the Ord, Margaret,
Fitzroy, and Lennard rivers, cattle, sheep, and horses are reared with
success. The total number of live stock at the end of 1900 included 68,00c
horses, 340,000 cattle, over 2,400,000 sheep, and nearly 4,000 camels,
imported from India and South Australia. The pearl fisheries on the
62 2 The International Geography
north-v;est coast are important. Coal is found in the south-west of the
colony ; copper, lead, tin, iron, antimony, zinc, manganese, and asbestos
form the chief mineral resources, other than gold, as yet undeveloped, but
likely in the future to afford valuable returns.
Mountains and Deserts. — The mountains of the state are not of
great height nor of frequent occurrence. The most important range is the
Darling, which extents from the extreme south-western corner, running
parallel to the coast-line at a distance of 20 miles, for 300 miles to the
northward. Its highest point, however, is only 1,500 feet. The Stirling
Range, 40 miles inland from Albany, attains a height of 3,500 feet, and
from its isolated position on the low coastal plain is visible for an immense
distance. Mountainous country follows the western coast-line at a distance
of 200 or 300 miles inland, giving rise to the rivers of that coast. High
country is found in the north, in Kimberley Division, where the Leopold
and Aliiller Ranges attain a height of 2,300 feet. No mountainous country
of any extent occurs in the far interior, though numerous isolated hills and
ranges of sandstone are met with. South of 19° S. and east of 122^° E. an
elevated sandy tableland, roughly estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 feet above sea-
level, cuts off the settled portions of the colony from the' populated
districts of South Australia. Between 26° S. and 31° S. the Queen Victoria
Desert lies, uninhabited except by a few scattered tribes of aborigines.
Undulating sand-hills, or sandy plains covered with dense acacia scrub,
almost devoid of surface water, met the eyes of the few that have pene-
trated far inland. Low ranges and cliffs occur at intervals along the
parallel of 26° S. latitude. North of this lies Gibson Desert, a barren
expanse of stones and gravel, reaching to the Tropic of Capricorn. Beyond
this the great sandy desert rolls away to the northward, ridge succeeds
ridge of drifted sand, parallel one to another, and stretching nearly due east
and west. These sand ridges, doubtless formed by the winds, vary in
height frorn a few feet to one hundred, the average distance between them
being about 300 yards. It is an uninhabitable desert, waterless, and barren
of all vegetation excepting that plant of spines and prickles commonly
known as Spinifex (Triodia).
The so-called lakes of the interior are merely vast sheets of stiff mud.
sparkling with salt in the dry seasons, and covered after the rain to a depth
varying from a few inches to four or five feet with water which rapidly
becomes salt. To the west of the Darling Range numerous salt and
fresh-water lakes occur, but many of them also dry up in the summer
months.
Geology and Mineral Resources.— Geologically, Western Aus-
tralia is built up of crystalline and schistose rocks ; including a great de-
velopment of granite with auriferous quartz, quartzite and ironstone, in the
southern portion. On the west coast is a long strip of Tertiary formation,
and older deposits extending from the Carboniferous to the close of the
Cretaceous run in a comparatively narrow band along the north-west coast.
Western Australia 623
The strip of Tertiary strata is separated from the Secondary formations bj
a narrow transverse band of volcanic rocks.
Settlement has now penetrated over 500 miles inland, owing to the
discoveries of rich gold deposits. The gold-fields may be said to form a
belt, unbroken save by the Eighty-mile beach, running parallel with the
coast-line from Kimberley in the north to Dundas in the south, including
Pilbarra, Ashburton, Gascoyne, Murchison, East Murchison, Yilgarn,
Mount Margaret and Coolgardie. The KalgurH and Coolgardie gold-tields,
extending to the 125th meridian, as well as other fields, are being rapidly
developed. The export of gold was 1,880,000 ounces for the year 1901,
and the total amount exported from the State from 1895 to 1931 mclusivc
was about 5,700,000 ounces. Gold, therefore, forms one of the States
richest sources of wealth, and the excitement caused by its discovery has
attracted a great increase of population. The imports chiefiy consist of
provisions, machinery, ironware and clothing, while the exports are
hiainly wool, gold and timber, but also include some tin, copper, guano,
sandal- wood, pearls, pearl-shells, and kangaroo hides.
Climate.— The climate generally is good and healthy, naturally
varying considerably owing to the extent of the State. In the north it is
tropical, with a wet season between December and March, that is during
the hottest months. The heat is extreme, but away from the coast the air
is dry. On the north-west the same conditions hold ; but during the rainy
months tremendous cyclonic disturbances occur, causing great damage to
live stock and property. In the south and south-west the climate is
temperate for the greater part of the year, December, January, and
February being the hottest months. In the interior the heat is extreme,
but not enervating, on account of the dryness of the air. During the
winter months, June and July, the weather is often cold, and slight frost
is experienced at nights ; in the far interior the thermometer has recorded
as low a temperature as 17° F. in the very early morning. The annual
rainfall varies from 33 inches at Perth to 21 inches in Kimberley, 10
inches in the north-west, and 9 inches in the Coolgardie district, and from
37 inches at Augusta in the south-west, to practically nothing in parts of
the far interior.
Aborigines. — The aborigines of Western Australia differ in no great
degree from those of the other parts of Australia. Their origin is
uiiKnown, and since they possess few traditions and no written language,
it is likely to remain so for all time. Their dialects, habits, weapons and
characteristics vary considerably. Those of finest physique are found in
the north, and it is thought by some that a strain of Malay blood may
account for this. Wallace's description of the natives of Australia applies
fully to those of the western state. In height they fall but little short of
the European, though inferior in muscular development, the limbs often
being little more than bone. The cranial formation is narrow and long,
with high cheekbones, the lower portion of the forehead about the brows
624 The International Geography
projecting, the upper receding ; the nose, narrow above, becomes broad
and squat further down ; the ears are incHned forward, the mouth is large
and unshapely, with white, well-formed teeth ; the jawbone is contracted,
and the chin small. The complexion is dark brown, almost black, while
the hair is pitch black, and sometimes inclined to curliness. Their intelli-
gence is not of a high order, though they show a certain quickness of
apprehension, and great imitative powers. The tribes are nomadic
though confined to certain bounds. In no part are villages or kraals built,
and amongst the inland tribes even houses or huts of grass or branches
are unknown. They are seen now in greatest numbers in the Kimberley
district, and in the ranges from which the rivers of the west coast take
their rise. In the south and south-west they are rapidly decreasing in
number, and will soon be extinct. Small tribes are found in the interior,
living from hand to mouth on lizards, iguanas, and other reptiles, depend-
ing for their water supply on wretchedly supplied rock-holes and native
wells, naked and houseless, always forced by the stern nature of the
country to be moving on. Kangaroo, emu, pelicans, ducks, fish, and edible
plants form the food of the coastal tribes ; their weapons, well suited to
their purposes, include the boomerang, spear, throwing
stick, club or waddy, and the wommera, mero, or
wanner, the flat board with which their spears are
thrown. The spears vary in size and manufacture.
In the north they are formed of cane and bamboo,
and tipped with delicately-chipped heads of quartz,
opaline, or since the advent of the white man, of
Fig. 311.— The Badge glass, or the material of telegraph insulators. Spears
of Western Australia . ^.,, ' , -ij-j j j.
With sharp and cunnmgly devised wooden and bone
barbs are used further to the south, whilst in the interior spears with
sharpened wooden points are found. Though to all appearances little
above the beasts of the field in their mode of life, they have laws and
ceremonies of great mystery and import. Several missions have been
established amongst them, and in some cases with good results. A good
many aborigines are employed on cattle and sheep stations, where they
soon learn to become useful and clever servants. Habitual cannibalism
does not seem to be practised, though some authenticated cases have been
reported in th^ north-west and in the north.
Colonial History, — With the landing of the emigrants from the Par-
melia, the history of Western Australia as a British colony begins, on the
2nd of June, 1829. The first camp of settlers was known as the Swan River
Settlement. Closely following the Parmelia and Sidphiir a number of
vessels arrived, rapidly adding to the band of pioneers, and bringing the
necessary live stock for colonisation. Since the time of its foundation
the authorities and people of the colony have never given up the woi'k of
exploration, and from 1829 to 1899 no year has passed in which new
districts have not been opened up, new pastures or minerals found,
Western Australia 625
whether by government or private enterprise. From the seventy pas-
sengers of the Parmelia the population had grown in 1901 to the number
of 184,000, exclusive of coloured people. At first a Crown Colony, under
a Lieutenant-Governor, Western Australia received Responsible Govern-
ment in 189c, and became an Original State of the Commonwealth. The
railway system of Western Australia has made great strides. There were
more than 2,000 miles of railway open in 1902. The Great Southern line
connects the capital, Perth, with Albany, on King George Sound, and the
Eastern connects the capital with Fremantle, and Kalgurli, Coolgardie,
and other mining towns in the interior. The Midland and Northern lines
join Perth to Cue. There is direct telegraphic communication with the
outer world through Java by a cable from Roebuck Bay in the north-
west, and also by a land line in the south, through Eucla to Adelaide.
The Chief Towns. — Perth, the capital, is prettily situated on the
Swan river, some ten miles from its mouth. It is the seat of Government,
the residence of the Governor, and contains the Houses of Parliament,
a museum, mint, botanical gardens, obser-
vatory, cathedral, and public parks. A
causeway bridge, connecting it with South
Perth, crosses the Swan river, at the mouth
of which Fremantle, the chief port of the
colony, is situated. It has railway, road,
and river communication with the capital.
Extensive harbour works are being carried
out, which will enable the mail steamers to
make this their port of call, and so shorten ^^^ si2.-kmg George Sound
the time of transit for mails from England. and Albany.
While of advantage to the general com-
munity, the completion of this harbour will deal a blow to Albany, on
Princess Royal Harbour, in King George Sound, the present port for mail
steamers, the terminus of the Great Southern Railway, and a coaling station
for the British navy. The entrance to the harbour is defended by forts in
which a permanent force of artillery is kept, under the command of an
imperial officer. The junction of the railway systems at Perth makes
possible a through journey of over 500 miles from Albany to Geraldion, on
Champion Bay on the west coast (Fig. 293). This is the port for the
Murchison district, which is rich in minerals, and for agricultural and
pastoral purposes. Seven thousand bales of wool are annually exported.
A railway connects Geraldton with Cue, the chief town of the Murchison
gold-fields, nearly 300 miles inland, and in the not distant future it will be
possible to travel by rail from Geraldton, through Cue, to Menzics and
Coolgardie, the capital of the gold-fields of that name. In 1892 a mere
camp of tents, in 1891 a part of the silent bush, by 1S98 Coolgardie could
boast its stone and brick buildings, hotels, stock exchange, churches, and
electric light, railway and telegraph. It is surrounded by gold mines in
626 The International Geography
active operation, saw-mills, brick and tile works, and other progressive
industries. The water supply is brought in pipes from the Coast moun-
tains, not far from Perth, a distance of more than 300 miles. The railway
from Perth passes through Southern Cross, for long the last outpost of
civilisation, and Kalgiirli, some twenty miles beyond Coolgardie and
nearly 400 miles east of Perth, as far as Menzies. Kalgurli has eclipsed
Coolgardie, and has become the scene of the most active gold-mining
operations in the colony. The most important centre for pearl fisheries is
at Broome, on Roebuck Bay, on the north-west coast ; the landing-place
of the submarine cable from Java. The centres of farming and agriculture
are York and Northam, about forty miles east of 'Perth. Coal is obtained
at Collie in the south-west
STATISTICS.
1881.
Area of Western Australia in square miles 975,920
Population (excluding Aborigines) . . 29,708
„ Perth 5,044
„ Fremantle 3.641
„ Coolgardie —
„ Kalgurli —
1891.
975,920
49,782
9,617
7,077
1901.
957.920
184,124
36,274
20,444
ANNUAL TRADE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (in pounds sterling).
Imports
Exports
1871-75.
288,000
353.000
1881-85.
520,000
469,000
1891-95.
2,011,000
1,036,000
1901.
6,454,000
8.51S.000
STANDARD BOOKS.
M. Fraser. " Western Australian Yearbook." Perth, Annual.
Sir John Fewest. " Explorations in Australia." London, 1875.
E.Giles. " Australia Twice Traversed." London, 1889.
D. W. Carnegie. " Spinifex and Sand," London, 1899.
CHAPTER XXXIV.— NEW ZEALAND
By the Hon. W. P. Reeves,
High Coniynissioner /or New Zealand.
Position and Extent. — The Colony of New Zealand is an archi-
pelago, with a total land area of 104,471 square miles, lying in the South
Pacific, about 1,200 miles east-south-east of Australia, and almost entirely
between the parallels of 34° and 47° S. Its two main islands, called North
and South respectively, and a third and much smaller island, named
Stewart, lie close to each other. Of the other and smaller groups the
Kermadecs, about 500 miles to the north of the main islands, the Chathams
about the same distance to the east, and the Aucklands about 200 miles to
the south are the chief. Others are the Campbell, Antipodes, and Bounty
groups, all of which are uninhabited, and, from their isolated position and
cold, bleak cUmate, likely to remain so. The long, narrow, irregular chain
formed by the main islands is distinguished by height and variety, by an
extensive coast-line — 4,330 miles — and a climate passing by degrees from
subtropical to the cooler temperate. The extreme length of North Island
is 515 miles, and its breadth varies from 6 to 300 ; of South Island the
length is 525 miles, the greatest breadth 180.
Coasts. — On the whole the coasts are high, sometimes grandly pre-
cipitous. Deep water is nearly always found close to the shore. The
inlets are numerous, but the harbour accommodation not very conveniently
distributed. In the south-west of South Island many sounds or fjords
penetrate, and are overhung by the towering ranges of the Southern
Alps. Their combination of mountainous grandeur and lavish vegetation
makes them at least rivals of Norway or Alaska, and as anchorages they are
not easy to surpass. But they give access to nothing better than storm-
beaten and well-nigh uninhabitable mountains. When, north of these
fjords, a more practicable country is reached there are no harbours but the
mouths of bar-bound rivers. This is true also of the whole western coast
of North Island, though some of its bar-harbours are very commodious
when once they are entered. The eastern side is, on the contrary, well
provided with harbours in its more northern portion. Among them
Waitemata, the port of Auckland city, is one of the best in the southern
hemisphere. South of the Bay of Plenty, however, there is no such thing
as a good natural harbour found right down to Cook Strait. Fortunately
this channel, which divides North and South Islands, and is but sixteen
miles across in its narrowest part, is well furnished with havens, on one of
which. Port Nicholson, Wellington (the political capital of the colony) holds
42 627
628 The International Geography
an unrivalled commercial position with easy access by steam to both coasts
of both islands. On the southern side of the strait is another series of
sounds, beautiful, though not equal in magnificence to the fjords of the
south-west.
Little natural shelter is afforded by the eastern coast-line of South Island.
But about half-way along the coast a large volcanic peninsula, named by
Captain Cook after his friend, the distinguished naturalist. Sir Joseph Banks,
juts out in picturesque hills, the highest of which is slightly over 3,000 feet
in height. Several of its inlets provide excellent refuge for shipping ; one of
them, Akaroa, is an admirable natural harbour, and another, Lyttelton, has
•been artificially made one of the most commodious in New Zealand. Further
south Port Chalmers, a large bar-harbour of the less impracticable class,
has also been greatly improved by dredging and other works. On
Foveaux Strait, by which Stewart Island is separated from South Island,
The Bluff is the port of the large district of Southland. Twenty-nine
coastal lights have been erected by the colonial government, eight of the
first class, fifteen of the second, three of the third, and three yet smaller.
This is exclusive of harbour lights. The coast is stormy, but fogs are rare.
Mountains. — The most striking physical characteristic of New
Zealand is the parallel system of mountain ranges which form its back-
bone. Starting in the extreme south-west, they run north-eastward, are
interrupted by Cook's Strait, but end only near East Cape, at the point
of the shoulder which forms the south-eastern corner of the Bay of Plenty.
They reach their greatest height near 40° S., where they are known as the
Southern Alps, and there Mount Cook or Aorangi attains to 12,349 feet, the
noblest of many fine peaks. In this part of the Alps there are glaciers
exceeding those of Switzerland in size. On the west side some of them
descend to within a thousand feet of sea-level, and penetrate the forest
zone. Further north the Alps fork, so as to reach and overlook both the
east and west shores of South Island under the names of the Kaikoura
and Tasman Ranges. In the former Tapuae-nuku is 9,462 feet high.
The continuation of the chain in North Island is at a lower elevation.
Near its north-eastern end Hikurangi, 5,606 feet, is at once its highest and
most picturesque summit. Westward of and quite apart from the main
range three remarkable volcanoes present a striking appearance. Two
of them, Ruapehu, 9,008 feet, and Tongariro are still active, and from the
three craters of the latter, of which the highest is Ngauruhoe, 7,515 feet,
steam and noxious vapours constantly issue. The fine cone of the third,
Egmont, 8,260 feet, slopes in solitary beauty to the western sea-shore, and
in the symmetry of its form is considered to equal its famous Japanese
congener, Fujiyama. Ruapehu and Tongariro are at the south-eastern
end of an interesting volcanic Ime which is prolonged to White Island,
an insular cone in the Bay of Plenty, incessantly active and noted for
its sulphur deposits. On either side of the line lies the Hot Lakes District,
abounding in hot and warm springs and pools, geysers, solfataras, and
New Zealand 629
fumaroles. The chemical properties of many of the thermal waters,
some sulphur-acid, some sulphur-alkaline, are potent for the cure of
illness, especially gout, rheumatism, skin-diseases, and disorders of the
throat, liver, digestion and nerves. A number of bathing establishments
and a government sanatorium are already the resort of invalids and
tourists.
The lakes of the islands are many : the largest, Taupo, about twenty
miles long, and as many broad, lies in the very centre of North Island, but
on the whole the most picturesque sheets of water are the deep, ribbon-
like Wakatipu (54 miles long), Te Anau (132 square miles), and the
strangely irregular Manapouri, all found amongst the Southern Alps.
Surface of South Island. — The western half of South Island may
be summed up as a mountainous country, fit chiefly for miners, shepherds,
and timber cutters, and in places not even for these. West of the water-
shed the mountains are, as a rule, clothed with forest and drenched with a
copious rainfall, which in the fjord region is as heavy as 170 inches per
annum. Here and there in river valleys or coastal strips are patches of
arable land, fertile, but usually troublesome to drain and clear. East of
the watershed the ranges are for the most part bare of timber, and below
the snow line carry sparse but nourishing native grasses. Here and there
an elevated plain is found, such as the Mackenzie or Maniototo, useful, but
bleak in winter. Towards the east coast, however, there are considerable
tracts of level or undulating country. The largest of these, the Canter-
bury plains, which is about 160 miles long and 30 miles broad in its
widest part, is almost a dead level. At the south end of the island
wide expanses of arable land occur in the district of Southland.
Stewart Island, on the other hand, is broken and forest-clad
tlnoughout, has beautiful inlets on its eastern side, and presents a
bleak, bold western coast to the fierce south-westerly gales from the
Antarctic. From the Kaikouras to Foveaux Strait the treeless and, on
the whole, fertile character of the country rendered it easy of occupation
by graziers and farmers, and a belt of almost unbroken settlement of an
avciage breadth of 25 miles from the coast may now be found there.
In certain localities agriculture has ceased to be rough and primitive,
and is now carried on with no small outlay of skill and capital.
Surface of North Island. — In North Island the two most valuable
tracts of country are those on the middle parts of the east and west coasts.
On the east coast the district round Hawke Bay is rolling and in part a
dead level of great fertility, though rather exposed to floods. On the west
co.ist the country is more undulating, swelling in places, and in others
made up of low, steep hills of a blue calcareous clay called " Papa," the
soil of which is exceedingly well fitted for pasture. From about thirty
miles to the north of the city of Wellington as far as the harbour of
Kawhia, a fertile territory extends which was formerly covered with forest,
now to a large extent cleared away, and is without a superior in the
630 The International Geography
colony for dairy farming and for some kinds of sheep. Another useful
piece of country is the central plain of the Wairarapa lying between
mountains in the southern part of the island. The Hot Lakes District is,
however, for the most part covered with pumice-sand too porous to carry
grass well. The Onetapu and Waingaroa Plains there, at a mean elevation
of about 2,000 feet above sea-level, seem empty and desolate. Further
north the soil of a large portion of the province of Auckland is made up
of stiff white or yellow clay, fertile only after assiduous tiUing. Here and
there, however, this is relieved by strips and patches of alluvium of great
fertility, and some of considerable extent.
Rivers. — Throughout the islands it is scarcely possible to travel more
than two or three miles anywhere without encountering a river or stream
of greater or less size. Nearly all are perennial, and the volume of water
discharged into the sea by some of them is surprisingly great in proportion
. to their length. But the narrow, elevated
nature of the country gives most of the
rivers the character of mountain torrents —
swift, cold, liable to sudden floods, and of
but little use for navigation. Among the
exceptions to this, however, is the longest
river in the colony, the Waikato, which
flows northward from Lake Taupo. It is
traversed by river steamers for a great
part of its course. Several of the western
rivers of North Island, notably the Wan-
ganui, flow between high cliffs thickly
clothed with vegetation of remarkable
richness and beauty. Many of the rivers
of South Island wander about beds of
shingle, sometimes miles in breadth, ' and
constantly change their swift and shallow
costly and puzzling to road-makers and bridge-
t-
jAt,
lU,
I/.A-
ftPh
MAr
JUN
Jul, Hue Sep Oci. Nov die
70
65
60
56
50
46
40
'^
=-
"»5
^
-y
1>
--
".~
i;|
-^,
11
:^
^
y^
■;■:::
HOKITIKA ChRISTCHURCH-
---1
Fig 313. — Temperature and Rainfall
of Hokitika and Christchurch.
courses in a fashion
builders.
Climate. — Though singularly healthy and on the whole agreeable, the
climate of New Zealand is distinctly warmer than even the southern part
of Great Britain. The average temperature of the air in South Island is 4°
and in North Island 7° higher than that of London. It is, however, more
equable. The variation between the extremes of daily temperature is 20°
only, and the average difference between the mean of the warmest and the
coldest month is 5° less than in Jersey. Except on the saturated and almost
uninhabited south-west coast, almost the only serious climatic drawback is
wind. The narrow mountainous islands lie in the "roaring forties," and
the gales in Cook and Foveaux Straits, and in the neighbourhood of some
of the alpine gorges are frequent and severe. The average annual rainfall
in the more important centres of settlement is, at Auckland 42 inches, at
New Zealand 631
Wellington 50, at Christchurch 26, at Dunedin 36. At Hokitika on the
west coast of South Island it is 120 (Fig. 313).
Flora. — The flora of New Zealand is striking, varied and beautiful.
Nearly half the colony, including almost the whole west coast, was until
recently clothed with dense forest. The eastern half of the islands except in
the far north and the extreme south-east corner, is usually open and covered
with wiry indigenous grasses, or in the swamps with the tall Phormiiim
ieiiax, or native flax. The forest trees are evergreens, and the larger,
mostly pines (which, however, bear little resemblance to the pines of Europe)
or small-leaved beeches. In the northern half of North Island, the huge
kauri pine, often from eight to twelve feet in diameter, yields a fine timber,
as well as the resin or kauri gum of commerce. Lianas, flowering creepers,
one palm (the nikau), and a palm-like lily, add to the beauty of the forest,
but to botanists the most engrossing division of the New Zealand flora is
the ferns of which there are scores of species, mostly peculiar to the islands.
Tree ferns as high as sixty feet are met with. In the more closely settled
districts, imported willows, poplars, Australian eucalpytus, and CaHfornian
pines make up the plantations. All English flowers and fruits, and, in
North Island, oranges and lemons, are cultivated. Some ten million acres
are sown with English grasses.
Fauna. — Animal life in New Zealand, before colonisation, was remark-
able for the paucity of land mammals and reptiles. A rat with round ears
like a mouse, a smallish dog, and two kinds of bats alone represented the
mammals, and of these the dog is now extinct, and the rat rarely seen.
Lizards were the only reptiles, and a small and not widely distributed frog
the sole amphibian. The native birds are numerous and interesting,
especially in the forests. Several, notably the tui and the mako tnako, sing
very sweetly. The islands were formerly the home of the gigantic wing-
less moa, whose skeletons are now prominent in museums. Wingless birds
still live in the shape of the kiii'i and iakehc, the latter extremely rare.
The weka, called wood-hen from its likeness to the domestic fowl, has
rudimentary tufts of feathers in place of wings, and the kakapo, or
ground-parrot, has wings but cannot fly. No large fresh-water fish are
indigenous though eels were common and sometimes grew to a great size.
All English domestic animals have been introduced by the colonists,
and have thriven ; this is true also of such English birds as the
skylark, blackbird, starling, house-sparrow, and goldfinch, and certain
game-birds, notably the pheasant. Pigs introduced by Captain Cook have
run wild, and afford sport, as do red and fallow deer, hares and rabbits.
Rabbits are now a serious plague, though stoats, weasels and ferrets have
been imported to prey upon them. Trout have been acclimatised, but
not salmon, despite many attempts. Sea fish are fairly plentiful ; the
schnapper, flounders, and a kind of whitebait are especially good eating.
People and History. — When discovered by Europeans the islands
were sparsely peopled by the 'Maori, a brown Polynesian race which had
632 The International Geography
colonised them some five or six hundred years before. They were intelli-
gent and physically active, tall, and well-built, good canoemen, fishermen,
and tillers of the soil. They showed considerable skill in wood-carving,
but had no knowledge of writing, metals, or pottery. They were ferocious
cannibals, constantly engaged in tribal wars. Their religion was a vague
polytheism, and their government a rule of priests and chiefs enforced
largely by the famous tapu (taboo). The first European to encounter them
was the Dutch sea-captain, Tasman, who lighted upon the islands in
December, 1642, but did not land. Not recognising their insular character,
he gave them the name of Staaten Land, which was afterwards changed to
New Zealand. Not until 1769 were they again visited, but then Captain Cook
circumnavigated them in successive voyages, and mapped out their coasts
with great care and accuracy. He took possession of them, but the British
government repudiated his action, and for seventy years the country re-
mained a No Man's Land. Early in the nineteenth century it became the
haunt of whalers, sealers, and traders in timber, flax, native weapons and
mantles, and tattooed heads. Samuel Marsden, Anglican chaplain in New
©South Wales, established a mission there in 18 14.
Some years later the Maori began to obtain muskets
and powder, and in twenty years a fourth of their race
perished in war. After about 1825 the missionaries
began to make numerous converts, and by 1838 the
wars died away. The growing number of white ad-
venturers, however, domiciled in the country, and their
Fig. 314— /n((/^ft' of enormous land claims made some sort of settled govern-
ment necessary. The French decided to annex the
islands, but they were anticipated by the New Zealand Company, an
English colonising association, founded by Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
This Company forced the Colonial OiBce to take possession of New
Zealand by despatching emigrants thither, who reached Wellington on
January 29, 1840. A week earher, however. Captain Hobson had
landed in the Bay of Islands, with a dormant commission in his pocket
authorising him to annex the country. This he did after entering
into a treaty with the principal native chiefs, 512 of whom signed it.
The British flag was hoisted in South Island in July of the same year,
only a few days before the arrival there of a French frigate sent to take
it. Until 1853 the colony was personally ruled by Governors. Parliamentary
government was not fully established until 1856. After various modifica-
tions it has taken the form of a bicameral system, under which members
of the Upper House are nominated for seven years, and those of the Lower
elected for three under a universal franchise possessed and freely used by
women as well as men. The British Viceroy has the right of dissolution,
and may — and occasionally does — reserve laws for the consideration of
the Imperial government. Foreign affairs are expressly and currency law
virtually excluded from the purview of the parliament.
New Zealand
^33
The settlement of the colony was pushed not from one centre but
from nine or ten different points on the coasts. Hence arose a
strong local feeling which still exists. The colonists
are almost entirely British — English, Scots and Irish
in order of strength. A small German and Scandi-
navian element is now almost absorbed. Chinese
immigration is checked by a £^o landing-tax, and the
Chinese have diminished from eight thousand to three
thousand. The Maoris, who, after more than one
obstinate war with the settlers have been at peace
for nearly a generation, are still slowly declining,
though half-castes increase. The birth-rate amongst
the whites falls steadily but the death-rate is the lowest in the world. As
to numerical strength the religious bodies rank thus : the Church of
England, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and Methodist, Roman Catholic. Edu-
cation is free, secular and compulsory. There are good secondary schools,
and a university with five colleges.
Industry and Trade. — The chief occupation of the people is the
grazing of sheep and cattle, and certain industries cognate thereto,
such as cheese and butter making, the freezing of mutton and beef for
Fig. 315. — Average pop-
ulation of a square
mile of New Zealand.
export, wool-scouring, bone-crushing,
boots and shoes, and woollen stuffs.
tanning, and the manufacture of
The best frozen mutton imported
into Great Britain comes from
New Zealand. Agriculture comes
next to grazing, and gold and
coal mining follow agriculture.
Timber-cutting and kauri gum
digging are of importance. Brick
and tile making, furniture making,
iron founding and machine making,
flax-dressing, printing, jam making
and brewing are other industries.
Distilling is prohibited by law.
Most manufactures are more or
less protected by customs duties,
often as high as 20 and 25 per
cent, ad valorem. Butter and
cheese are of excellent quality,
and are made in factories on the
Danish system for export to Great
Britain. Three-fourths of the trade
of the colony is with the mother
country, and nearly all the rest
within the British Empire — with Australia, India and Fiji. The colony is
well ^.^royided with State-owned railways, telegraphs and telephones,
Fig 316.— r/je Railways of New Zealand, 1S99.
634 The International Geography
commonly speak of them.
The four chief ports are fortified with batteries and torpedoes. In
case of war about eight thousand fairly efficient volunteers could be imme-
diately mustered. A British warship, towards the cost of which the colony
contributes, is stationed in New Zealand waters.
To"wns. — For many years New Zealand was divided into provinces.
Though these were legally abolished in 1876, the names of the Provincial
Districts are still used for the sake of convenience, and the colonists
They are Auckland, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay,
Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Canter-
bury, Westland, Otago, Southland. The
four principal towns are Auckland, Christ-
church, Dunedinand Wellington. Auckland
is the most attractive to the eye, and its fine
harbour is important for trade. Wellington,
though still the smallest, is the capital, and
is overtaking the others in population. Un.
like the others, which are by the sea, Christ-
church stands inland on the Canterbury
FIG. S17.— Auckland Harbour. pj^j^^^ j^^y ^^le towns are railway termini,
Dunedin is the centre of the Presbyterian Church, Christchurch of the
Anglican. All are fairly well paved, and lighted with gas or by electricity,
and are provided with churches, theatres, halls, and recreation grounds.
Most of the buildings are of wood. The rather. mean architecture is
pleasantly redeemed by the trees and gardens in which most of the
residences stand. The towns are well drained and healthy. The hours
of labour seldom exceed eight and a half a day, with a weekly half-holiday
Football is the favourite athletic sport, and horse-racing very popular.
STATISTICS.
Area of New Zealand (square miles) 104,471
North Island
South Island
Stewart Island
Chatham Islands
Other Islands
Number of acres under cultivation (1898)
Population
Density of population per square mile
1881.
530,000
5
1891.
688,651
6
44.468
58.525
665
375
438
11,483,127
1901.
815,862
POPULATION OF TOWNS.
1891. 1901. 1891. 1901.
Auckland (with suburbs) 51,297 .. 67,226 | Christchurch (with suburbs) 47.846 .. 57.041
Wellington ,, „ 34,190 .. 49,344 | Dunedin „ „ 45.869 .. 52,390
ANNUAL TRADE OF NEW ZEALAND {in founds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
6,323,000 . . . . 7,837,000 . . . . 6,579,000
5,324,000 .. .. 6,745,000 .. .. 9,229000
Imports
Exports
STANDARD BOOKS.
W. p. Reeves. " The Long White Cloud." London, 1899.
F. von Hochstetter. ' ' New Zealand, its Physical Geography," etc. London, 1867.
W. Gisborne. " The Colony of New Zealand." London, 1888.
G. E. Mannering. " W^ith Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps." London, 1891.
CHAPTER XXXV.— MELANESIA
Position. — The great island of New Guinea, or Papua, occupies an
intermediate position between the continent of AustraHa and the Malay
Archipelago ; but the character of its fauna and flora shows clearly that it
belongs to Australasia. The aboriginal people, on the other hand, are dis-
tinct from those of both the great regions to north and south, but show
affinities with the Melanesians who inhabit the chain of oceanic islands
immediately to the east. New Caledonia, coming half-way between New
Guinea and New Zealand, may also be considered as a Melanesian island.
I.— BRITISH NEW GUINEA
^
NEW CUflVEA
w^j^^rr^
^^>
&';/"~AUsfftAUAi \
'■'^'
By Sir William Macgregor, G.C.M.G., C.B., M.D.,
Formerly Lieutenant-Governor of British Xcw Guinea.
Position and Surface. — The colony of British New Guinea, formally
annexed in 1888, occupies the south-east of New Guinea and a number of
small islands. The total area of
the colony is about 90,500 square
miles, of which 2,700 square miles
represent the small islands. With
the exception of the low coral
islands of Kiriwina, Nada, part
of Murua, and a few others of
;mall dimensions, the islands are
.mountainous and principally of
schistose formation ; the highest,
Goodenough, rises to 8,000 feet.
The eastern end of the main-
land part of the colony is also mountainous, and as the mountains
extend westward they rise and coalesce to form a massive central chain,
which attains its greatest altitudes in the Owen Stanley Range, the
highest point of which is Mount Victoria, 13,200 feet, and in Mount
Scratchley, the Wharton Range, and Mount Albert Edward (about
13,000 feet). Further west the range becomes more broken and lower,
while pursuing nearly the same general trend towards the north-west.
The western end of the colony is for nearly 300 miles generally low and
swampy for a long distance inland. The mountains near the east end, on
the mainland, are of igneous origin ; the great masses of the central part of
the main range are all schistose, while in the west sandstone predominates,
but there are outcrops of igneous rocks such as Mount Yule (about 10,000
feet). On the Fly river near the point of junction of British, Dutch, and
635
Fig. 318. — Xeia Guinea.
636 The International Geography
German territory, and in other low grounds in the west, there are hmestones
with fossil corals. The whole possession is remarkably well watered ;
the mountains and most of the lower country are covered by forest.
Rivers. — Most of the principal rivers converge upon and enter the Gulf
of Papua. The head streams of the Fly, the largest river in the island,
spread over a large area in the centre of the island, its basin being
shared by the three different territories. Its course is about 620 miles
from the sea to the British-German boundary. The influence of the tide
is felt over a hundred miles up the Fly ; and it is navigable by a steam
launch for over 500 miles. The Purari river is navigable by steamer for
120 miles. The Mambare, the chief river of the north-east coast, is
navigable for about fifty miles.
Climate and Natural Resources. — As the colony lies between
5° S. and ii^° S. lat., the cHmate of the lower part of the country is warm.
It is outside the range of the hurricanes that pervade the southern part of
the western Pacific. At Port Moresby, near the middle of the colony, the
average temperature at 9 a.m. for three years ending 1897 was 81° F.- The
extreme range of temperature was from 94° to 74° F. at 9 a.m. The hot
season is from November to May, hottest in January and February ; the cold
season is from June to October, coolest in August. During the hot season
unsteady north and north-west winds blow on the south coast ; during the
cold season they are from the south-east and are much more regular. At
Port Moresby the rainfall of three years averaged 37 inches, at Daru in the
western division 82-5 inches, while at Samarai near the south-east end of
the mainland it was i26"5 inches in one year. It is much greater, but
undetermined, on the central mountain ranges. The climate is generally
agreeable at an altitude of 3,000 feet, a height that can be reached in one
day from Port Moresby. At 5,000 to 6,000 feet it becomes distinctly cold
at night, the thermometer sometimes reading 55° F., and at 10,000 feet ice
is met with in the early morning. Malarial fever, of a type that is as a
rule comparatively mild, is not rare on the low grounds. The obstinate
scaly ring-worm common in many parts of the Pacific exists, and rheuma-
tism is not unknown ; but many of the infectious diseases of Europe have
never been introduced. The climate is favourable to the cultivation of all
tropical products, including rice and maize.
Flora and Fauna.— The flora is as varied as the cHmate. On the
tops of the highest mountain chains there are many species of grasses,
buttercups, forget-me-nots, daisies, rhododendrons and heaths. The forest
there is principally cypress ; from 7,000 to 10,000 feet it is chiefly myrta-
ceous, often covered by trailing bamboo or mixed with pandanus ; and
from 2,000 to S,ooo feet evergreen oaks are common. Native cloth is
made by beating out the bark of the paper mulberry and other trees.
Fibre is obtained from the banana, the coco-nut and the aerial roots of
certain species of pandanus. There are no dangerous carnivora in the
colony, although wild swine are conim9n. Tl]ere are several varieties of
British New Guinea 637
wallaby, phalanger and echidna ; and no deer, hares or rabbits. The
most dangerous creature is the crocodile, which causes considerable loss
of life, and there are poisonous snakes nearly related to those of Australia.
The birds include the cassowary, many Birds of Paradise, pigeons, the
hornbill, cockatoos, geese, ducks, quail, and on the mountain tops, snipe
and woodcock.
People. — All the native tribes of the colony that have up to now been
met with seem to belong to the same race ; they present, however, well
marked differences in physical appearance, disposition, language and
customs. No clear trace of an old or earlier race than the existing one has
been discovered. The present inhabitants doubtless arrived in the country
when it was already covered by dense forest, which had its effect in
separating them into secluded, shy and suspicious communities. Differ-
ences in the nature of the food and of the water also help to differentiate
the people. Some live almost exclusively on sago, others on yams and
taro, some on bananas, others principally on sweet potatoes. Many tribes
live continuously in a heavy, moist, warm atmosphere near the coast line ;
others in the light and bracing climate of the mountains. The average
size of a Papuan is less than that of an average European. The race affini-
ties with the Pacific are strong ; and on the coast line there is a smooth-
haired Malay-like element that is absent in the interior. There is a well
marked relationship to the languages of Polynesia, but the isolation of the
different communities has led to such diversities of dialect that people
living only a few miles apart cannot understand each other. The dialects
are easy to acquire, containing few or no sounds that cannot be represented
by the English alphabet, or be easily pronounced by an English-speaking
person. English is now making considerable progress. The European
population is about 500 ; the native population is estimated at about 350,000.
There has been, however, no native census.
Government. — The possession has the constitution of a Crown Colony,
but the cost of administration is chiefly defrayed by
the Commonwealth of Australia, ilie exact relation of
which to the Government of New Guinea was not de-
fined up to 1903. There was no form of government
among the native population. A certain measure of
chiefly influence is being created now by a few men
under government authority, but control over the
natives is best acquired by the gradual creation of a ^][p-3.i9— ^^'^^^/^^^^Z
. , ^ JO British New Guinea.
force of village policemen. The administration has at
its disposal an armed constabulary consisting of over a hundred natives
enrolled from many different districts. There is a local Legislature nomi-
nated by the Crown, and consisting, with one exception, of officers of the
government.
Trade. — The chief industry worked by Europeans is alluvial gold
mining ; the number of miners has varied at different times from xoo to
638 The International Geography
800 men. The gold-bearing country is extensive, but very difficult to
prospect. There are indications of auriferous reefs. The valuable mineral
osmiridium has been found from the Gira river to the Owen Stanley Range,
and coal exists in the Purari sandstone district. The pearl and pearl-shell
fishery is of considerable importance, the shell being widely distributed
over the eastern seas of the colony. Beche-de-mer is found on most of the
reefs, and turtle shell is common. Sandal-wood is sometimes found in the
form of large trees, so far only in the central district on the mainland, and
is exported. The rubber industry is important and promising ; the indi-
genous trees alone yield this article at present, but both soil and climate
should be favourable to the better sorts of foreign rubber trees. There
are some good varieties of timber, including cedar and ebony. There can
be no reasonable doubt that the sugar-cane, which is native and present
in a great many varieties, sago, cotton probably also indigenous, coffee,
tea, vanilla and tobacco, which is domesticated if not actually indigenous
and of exceptionally fine quality, will eventually be very valuable. The ex-
ternal trade of the colony is chiefly with Queensland and New South Wales ;
it amounts to about ;^i30,ooo annually. The tariff is comparatively light.
A steamer runs regularly to the possession, starting from Sydney and
calling at Port Moresby and Samarai, and proceeding to the Solomon
Islands and thence back to Sydney. Much of the internal communica-
tion will be carried on by the rivers. Tracks have been cut right across
the colony from north to south and in many other directions, and the
natives are becoming accustomed to travel alone or with Europeans for
great distances ; but there are few roads.
Political Divisions and Towns. — The colony is divided into four
magisterial divisions, in each of which there is a Resident Magistrate.
The Central Court, which possesses the jurisdiction of an ordinary Supreme
Court, sits wherever there is occasion. The principal seat of Government
is at Port Moresby, which is centrally and picturesquely situated on a
large and sheltered harbour, easy of approach and provided with sub-
stantial wharves. The population consists of about i,coo natives and
some 40 Europeans. The immediate neighbourhood is not suited for
ordinary cultivation on account of the rather scanty rainfall. Samarai,
the most important place, is situated on an islet lying about a mile
from the mainland in the east. It is the headquarters of the
Resident Magistrate of the district, and the European population is
generally greater than at Port Moresby ; there is no native village. The
third port of entry for the colony is the island of Daru, the headquarters
of the Resident Magistrate for the western division. It has a good and
safe harbour, the only one the colony possesses in the west, and is visited
by many boats engaged in the pearl-shell lishery of Torres Straits.
STANDARD BOOKS.
Rev. J. Chalmers. " Pioneer Life and Work in New Guinea." London, 1895. "
Sir W. MacGregor. " British New (Guinea ' London, 1897.
' "Annual Reports ' Brisbane, 188K-1898.
J.P.Thomson. " British New Guinea." London, 1892.
German New Guinea 639
II.— GERMAN NEW GUINEA
By Graf von Pfeil.
Position and Surface. — The coast of Kaiser Wilhelmsland, oi
German New Guinea, on the north-east of the island, runs nearly in a
straight line from north-west to south-east for 600 miles. Two inden-
tations. Astrolabe Bay and Huon Gulf, flank a peninsula on which rise the
Finisterre and Rawlinson mountain ranges. Beyond this promontory no
morphological development is noticeable along the coast, which yet has
a number of good harbours formed by coral reefs bordering it. There
are besides some good roadsteads sheltered by small coral islands and
a few bays cut into marshy lowlands. So far no mouth of the numerous
rivers of New Guinea has been found available as a harbour. The navi-
gable rivers offer no building sites near their outlets, the banks of their
lower course being mostly marshy plains suitable for rice-growing ; those
rivers which are not navigable have mostly too small an entrance from the
sea to render them suitable. The Ramu has been found to be navigable,
and when the Margaret river is explored, it is justly surmised that it also
will prove navigable. The Kaiserin Augusta river has been ascended with
a sea-going steamer for 180 miles. All the rivers carry a surprisingly large
quantity of water, a circumstance no doubt due to the great elevation of
the mountains which crowd this huge island, the interior of which is as
yet almost unknown. The few expeditions that have ventured to open
up the country found progress exceedingly difficult. There are no paths,
the territory is terribly rugged, and covered with so dense an undergrowth
of shrub that a road must be cleared with hatchets ; a day's toilsome
march may result in the advance of one mile. On the steep hillsides
water is not alwavs met with, so that expeditions suffer from thirst. From
the sea, chains of tall mountains may be discerned far inland. Above all
tower the two loftiest peaks of the Bismarck Range, Mounts Wilhelm
and Herbert, exceeding 13,000 feet. It seems probable that these mountains
form a continuation of those in Dutch New Guinea, on which, it is re-
ported, snow has been observed, and that they lead on to the Owen
Stanley Range, thus forming a central backbone. Of the geological
character of these mountains absolutely nothing is known. In Huon
Gulf the rivers bring down pebbles derived from ancient volcanic
rocks, while north-west of the peninsula mentioned above more recent
formations seems to prevail. A zone of coral rock forms the coast for
some distance no'rth-west of the peninsula and rises in a number of peculiar
and very striking terraces to a great height. As far as can be ascertained
this coral zone does not extend more than a few miles inland.
Climate, Flora and Fauna. — The climate is hot and moist, the
yearly rainfall being very considerable, though subject to great variations;
a difference of 70 inches has been observed. The seasons are not clearly
640 The International Geography
defined and there is no strictly rainy or dry season, but rain falls in
nearly every month of the year. A very remarkable local influence on
the distribution of the seasons seems to be exercised by the Finisterre
Mountains ; when the greater rainfall takes place east of them, their
western part enjoys a dry season, and vice versa. Heat, moisture and a rich
soil combine to produce a most luxuriant vegetation. The whole country
is covered with dense dank forest, the upper boundary of which has not
yet been ascertained. Timber and a great variety of wood, valuable for
cabinet makers' purposes, is plentiful, but difficult to obtain on account of
the rugged character of the country. Banyan trees of gigantic size, with
labyrinths of aerial roots, are frequently met with, the mango is found
wild, huge tree-ferns delight the eye, and tangled lianas render progress
next to impossible. Orchids of rare colour and shape are often found,
and there is no doubt that the nutmeg also exists. The few plains known
in New Guinea near Hatzfeldhafen and on the banks of the Kaiserin
Augusta river, and also the coral terraces, are covered with tall grass
instead of the customary forest. The fauna, very poor in quadrupeds,
has only a few marsupials — among them the wallaby — and rodents, but
the many varieties of the Bird of Paradise which are found are the
most beautiful birds in the world, and only the large specimens of butter-
flies the country produces can vie with them in the splendour of theii
colouring. The cassowary has been met with, and the tufted pigeon as
large as a goose is well known. Snakes are not very numerous, though
mostly venomous. Large crocodiles are sometimes found in the rivers.
The Bismarck Archipelago, containing New Britain and New
Ireland, forms a part of this South Sea colony, and is a name given
to several groups of islands, of which the Solomons are one. Of these
only the three largest belong to the archipelago. The only well-explored
districts are the Gazelle Peninsula, which forms the northern part of New
Britain (Neu Pommern), and the small islets of the Duke of York
(Lauenburg) group. On the small coral islands some of the trading
firms have their establishments ; on the Gazelle Peninsula several planta-
tions are carried on successfully. The soil is a rich loam formed of
volcanic ashes, which spread over a large area after they had been
ejected by the three now extinct volcanoes, which are the distinguishing
features of this peninsula. New Britain offers greater facilities to
European settlers than any of the other islands of the archipelago. Its
coast-Hne is well . indented with numerous bays, the mountains which
fill the interior seem to be less precipitous, the valleys between them
wider and easier of access than those of New Guinea. The other
islands, though all of considerable size, are almost unapproachable, their
coasts are steep and unbroken, and man is almost wilder than nature.
Confirmed cannibals, the natives are nearly all very w^arlike, and offer
strenuous opposition to all attempts at European ingress. Some islands
have suffered from the Australian labour traffic. The natives in the
German New Guinea 641
archipelago differ considerably from each other, according to the island
which they inhabit. Three types can clearly be distinguished. The
people of New Britain, of New Ireland (Neu Mecklenburg), and those
of the Solomon Islands, who again divide into a darker and a lighter type.
All again differ from the inhabitants of New Guinea, who are physically
inferior. It seems probable that we have to deal with two races, a darker
and a lighter one. In every small district a separate dialect is spoken, and
so far as we know the people have no traditions which might point out
their history. The islands of the archipelago are covered with primeval
forest of a different character from thaf in New Guinea. The bread-fruit
tree is found on the coral islands, almost all of which are fringed with a
broad belt of coco-nut palms. The sago palm is common, timber less
plentiful, the mango apparently wanting. Birds of Paradise are not found ;
cockatoos and several species of parrots are plentiful. Pigeons are found
in immense flights, but certain kinds only inhabit certain islands. The
bats, called flying-foxes, occur in thousands, and are eaten by the natives.
The interior of these islands is probably the least known corner of the
whole world.
Government. — The colony is directly administered by the
Imperial German Government ; but the develop-
ment of its resources remains in the hands of the
German New Guinea Company. Friedrich Wil-
helmshdfen, the best natural harbour in New
Guinea, has developed into a permanent settle-
ment. As this bay gives access to wide fertile
plains tiiere is no doubt that the settlement on its
border has a future. Other ports of some promise ^IfanNe^GlZefcompany.
are Berlinhafen, Konstantinhafen and Finschhafen.
In the Bismarck Archipelago the chief settlements are Matupi, a small
island in Blanche Bay, entirely occupied by the establishment of a
successful trading firm. Ralum is a flourishing and steadily growing
plantation, and Herbertshohe is the seat of administration. All those
localities are situated on the Gazelle peninsula, which is the centre of
traffic. All other settlements are trading or missionary stations at which
a few Europeans live in comparative solitude. Gold occurs in the
Bismarck Range of New Guinea, but plantation products and mother-of-
pearl are the chief exports.
STANDARD BOOKS.
" Nachrichten iiher Kaiser Wllhelmsland." Berlin (published periodically by the German
New Guinea Companv).
Krieger, M. " Neu-Guinea" [in Kirchhoff's series]. Berlin, 1899,
^
6^2 The International Geography
III.— DUTCH NEW GUINEA
By Dr. C. M. Kan/
Professor of Geography in the University of Amsterdam.
Position and Exploration. — The western or Dutcn half of New
Guinea extends from about twenty miles south of the equator to 9° S., and
from longitudes 131° to 141° E. It is larger than British and German New
Guinea taken together. The voyages of the Dutch to New Guinea in the
early days of the Dutch East India Company, undertaken by Willem
Yansz, Carstensz, Pool, Tasman, Vink, and others, were limited to par-
ticular parts of the coast, such as Telokh Berau, and Onin. Torres Strait
was long unknown, and the north coast of New Guinea was sought for north
of the equator, the whole being looked upon as part of the great hypothetical
southern continent. The explorers of the nineteenth century have outlined
the coast and made preliminary surveys which allow it to be represented
on maps with some approach to accuracy. Subsequently mission stations
were established in Dorei and Geelvink Bay, and traders came from
Banda, Ternate, and Celebes, while occasional visits of men-of-war ex-
tended the knowledge of the coast. Since 1858, several scientific travellers
have visited the island, chief amongst them being Wallace, Bernstein, Meyer,
Van Rosenberg, D'Albertis, Maklukho Maklay, Braam Morris, De Clercq
and Horst. The interior still remains entirely unknown.
Surface. — The south coast may be divided into two parts, lying res-
pectively west and east of Cape Buru, opposite Geelvink Bay. The western
half is best known on account of the repeated surveys and thorough studies
of Versteeg and De Clercq, and is characterised by off-lying islands, and
three deep bays named MacCluer Gulf, Arguni and Etna Bays. A few
small rivers, including the almost unknown Karufa, enter on this part of the
coast, and a steep line of cliffs about fifty feet high, composed of coral lime-
stone, sandstone and flints, commences in the neighbourhood of the flat
Sebekar Bay, and is repeated further east between Arguni Bay and Cape
Buru. The other half of the south coast is still very little known ; for the
most part it seems to be low with no deep bays, and is dangerous for navi-
gation, and very difficult of approach even off the mouths of the rivers.
On the north coast the eastern half from Humboldt Bay to Geelvink Bay is
characterised by numerous small inlets, while the rivers, on account of the
proximity of the coast mountains, are but little developed. The only
important stream is the Amberno river, which flows from the Van Rees
mountains in the far interior. In the western half the great incurve of
Geelvink Bay contains a number of large and small islands, the largest,
including Japen Island, extending in a double chain across the mouth of the
bay, and further west the land has the form of a flat coastal plain backed
by mountains which give rise to numerous small rivers. The only part of
^ Translated from the German by the Editor.
Dutch New Guinea 643
this coast that is fairly well known is that in the neighbourhood of Dorei
and Andai and where Meyer crossed the island opposite MacCluer Gulf.
The mountains and rivers are very imperfectly known. East of Arguni
Bay, a range with an elevation of about 3,000 feet runs from Mount Genoffa
(about 5,000 feet) in a north-easterly direction. Further east, in the interior,
the long range of the Charles Louis mountains has been seen from the
coast running west and east between the meridians of 135° and 138° E. They
rise into plateau-like summits much higher than the coast range, and are
often covered with clouds. The height, as measured from passing ships,
appears to reach 12,000 and even 16,000 feet, but it is still uncertain
whether they rise above the snow-line as has • been reported. The coast
mountains appear to be formed of a Tertiary limestone, and from the
evidence of the pebbles in the river beds, the great mountains of the
interior consist mainly of slates and sandstone with some volcanic rocks.
On the north coast the Cyclops mountains (about 7,000 feet), near the
newly discovered Santani Lake, are perhaps of volcanic origin. On
account of the insuperable difficulties of the cataracts of the Amberno river
the Van Rees mountains remain entirely unknown. Further west the edge
of the central plateau approaches the coast. Along Geelvink Bay and in the
Arfak mountains (about io,odo feet), some great heights and isolated peaks
occur, but they are scarcely known. Only the mouths of the rivers can be
laid down on the maps ; the breadth and depth of the mouth of the Oetanata
appears to indicate that it is a river of some length. We are absolutely
ignorant as to the connection, if any exists, between the mountains of
Dutch New Guinea and the east of the island.
Climate, Flora and Fauna. — The central mountain chain acts not
only as a watershed, but as a climatic boundary. The north coast, with a
rainfall of about seventy inches per annum, receives most rain during the
north-west monsoon, from November to April, the dry season lasting from
June to September at the utmost. The seasons on the south coast are
reversed, the rainy season occurring between July and September, during
the south-east monsoon. The climate of the south coast is influenced by
the proximity of the Australian continent, the direction of the coast line,
and the latitude. The temperature is high at all times of the year, the
average being 79° F., and the range is small. The natural vegetation of
primeval forest, palms, hanas, acacias, &c., is transitional between the flora
of the Malay Archipelago and that of Australia. The cultivated plants are
rice, sugar-cane, maize, yams, bananas, bread-fruit, and the Massoi tree
which supplies spices, medicine, and dyes. Amongst the land animals the
most characteristic are the marsupials, including a tree-kangaroo, and
amongst birds the Bird of Paradise is pre-eminent ; indeed, out of eighteen
species recognised by Wallace, no less than fourteen, including the most
magnificent in plumage, belong to New Guinea and the neighbouring
islands. The green pigeon and emu are also found. The trepang or
beche-de-mer occurs in about twenty varieties in the water off the coast
644 The International Geography
People and Government. — The population is small. The aborigines
are Papuans mixed with Malays, as they are mixed with Polynesians in
the east. The Mountain-Papuans, sometimes called AJfiirs, are distinct
from the coast-dwellers, and from the inhabitants of the more eastern part
of the possession, who are well known for their savagery and cruelty.
On August 24, 1828, the western half of New Guinea, over which the
Sultan of Tidore claimed a certain jurisdiction, was placed under Dutch pro-
tection by proclamation, and the post of Merkusoord was established along
with Fort Dubus (which was given up in 1838), and in 1848 the boundaries
and the relations with the Sultan were revised. The occupation is practi-
cally limited to the occasional visits of Dutch war-vessels to the coast for
the prevention of intertribal war, and the protection of the few trading
and missionary stations. Quite recently a post has been established under
a Dutch official {Controleiir). There are trading and mission stations at
Sorong on the west coast opposite Salawati, Sekar, Skroe on or near
MacCluer Gulf, and Sileraki near the eastern boundary. On the north
coast Dorei, and Mansinani in the north-west of Geelvink Bay are mission
stations, while Roon and Ansoes on the island of Japen are trading posts.
All these stations are regular calling places of the trading vessels which ply
along the coast as far as Humboldt Bay.
STATISTICS (Estimates).
Area of Dutch New Guinea in square miles 151,800
Population „ „ (rough estimate) 200,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Robide van der Aa. " Reizen naar Xederlandsch Xieuw Guinea." The Hague, 1879.
Haga. " Nederlandsch Xieuw-Guinea." Batavia and The Hague, 1884.
For the more recent literature cf. C. M. Kan. " Geographische Untersuchungen in der
Westhalfte von Neu-Guinea," in Repoii of VI. International Geo-
graphical Congress, London, 1895.
IV.— NEW CALEDONIA
By Professor Augustin Bernard,*
Algiers.
Position and Configuration. — New Caledonia {Nouvclle CaU-
donic) is almost equally distant from Australia
(900 miles east) and from New Zealand (970
miles north-west), and New Guinea (1,100 miles
south-east). Its form is that of an elongated
ellipse, lying north-west and south-east, with a
length of about 250 miles and a breadth of only
25 to 30. It is prolonged on the north by the
Fig. 32i.-New Caledoma. gg^gp islands and on the south by the Isle of
Pines. Archaean rocks occupy the north-east ; Triassic and Cretaceous
strata form a narrow band along the west coast, and eruptive rocks,
* Translated from the French by the Editor.
New Caledonia 645
principally Serpentine, are greatly developed, covering two-thirds of
the island. The surface is essentially mountainous, as, although of no
great height (Mont Panie, 5,400 feet, and Mont Humboldt, 5,360 feet, are
the highest summits), the slopes are steep and the country very broken,
particularly in the north where two mountain ridges frame the valley of
the Diahot, the only important river. Every variety of coral reef is found
along the coast ; the great barrier reef, which is second only to that of
Australia, surrounds the east and west coasts and is continued to the north
for more than 150 miles from the land. The chain of the Loyalty Islands
(Uvea, Lifu and Mare) is formed entirely of masses of dead coral, and lies
parallel to New Caledonia, separated by a channel 50 miles wide.
Climate and Vegetation. — The climate of New Caledonia is
characterised by a rainy season in summer (December to May), and a
comparatively dry and cool season for the rest of the year ; but the seasons
are not very sharply separated, and no month is absolutely rainless. The
average rainfall at Noumea, in the south, is 45 inches per annum, which is
less than that of most of the Pacific islands. The vegetation, like the
climate, resembles in part that of Australia and in part that of the New
Hebrides. Bush, analogous to the Australian scrub, covers at least half of
the island ; the rest is occupied by grassy pastures and by the niaouli
(Melaleuca leiicadendron), the most characteristic tree of New Caledonia,
which takes the same place in its vegetation as the eucalyptus in that of
Australia. Although the island lies wholly in the tropics, tropical forests
in the strict sense of the word occupy only a small area.
People. — The basis of the population of the archipelago is a woolly-
haired dolichocephalic Melanesian race, to which a small proportion of
mesocephaUc light-complexioned Polynesians with almost straight hair has
been recently added. As in all the Pacific Islands these natives, called
kanakas, are rapidly diminishing in number.
New Caledonia was discovered by Cook in 1774, and was annexed by
the French in 1853. Although acclimatisation is easy for Europeans there
are as yet scarcely 8,000 free colonists, leaving the military guards and the
officials out of account, of which the half live in Noumea and its neigh-
bourhood. The slow rate of progress is due to the transportation system,
which has produced only bad results ; the public works carried out by the
convicts are insignificant, the concessions of land which have been made
to them have scarcely succeeded, and the liberated prisoners infest the
country. Now, however, the situation tends to improve ; successful efforts
have been made to attract free cultivators and to reduce the number of
convicts, from whose presence there is reason to hope the island may soon
be entirely relieved.
Resources and Trade.- -The principal vegetable produce of the
island is coffee, which succeeds well, and the area of the plantations is
being extended. Sugar-cane, tobacco, vanilla, pine-apples, bananas, maize,
and manioc, are also cultivated. Stock-rearing, not however carried on
646 The International Geography
in the Australian manner on account of the hmited area of the pastures,
forest produce, and fisheries all have a certain importance.
The mineral resources of New Caledonia are particularly rich ; gold and
copper occur amongst the primitive rocks, mines of iron, chromium,
cobalt and nickel are worked in the serpentines, and coal occurs in the
Cretaceous strata. Hitherto nickel-ore only has been largely worked, and
this industry has undergone frequent crises on account of the lowering of
the price by the competition of other producing countries, especially of
Canada. The condition of the industry will be improved by the erection
on the spot of reducing furnaces which will diminish the weight of {he
cargoes by about 92 per cent, and increase, their value. As yet there are
few roads, but the means of transport are improving. A service of local
steamers connects the capital with various points on the east and west
coasts. Monthly steamers of the Messageries Maritimes run between
Noumea and Marseilles, calling at Sydney and Melbourne, and make the
passage in 38 days. A submarine cable also unites New Caledonia with
Australia and the rest of the world. Noumea, the capital, has an excellent
harbour sheltered by the island of Nou-and the peninsula of Ducos. The
future prospects of New Caledonia are good on account of its wealth in
coffee and nickel, and the prospect of free colonisation taking the place of
the present convict system.
STATISTICS.
Area of New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands (square miles) 7,150
Population „ „ „ „ 52,000
Density of population per square mile 7
Population of Noumea . . . . 4,600
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
Average 1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
Exports 32,000 .. 200,000 .. 280,000
Imports 360,000 . , 320,000 . . 480,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. Bernard. " L'Archipel de la Nouvelle-Caledonie." Paris, 1895.
M. Petit. *' Les colonies frangaises." Paris, 1901-2.
v.— SMALLER MELANESIAN ISLANDS
By the Editor/
New Hebrides. — The New Hebrides, including the Banks and
Torres groups, stretch north-west and south-east for about 480 miles
between 13° and 20^° S. Some of the islands are of coral, and others of
volcanic formation, mountainous and extremely fertile. The bread-fruit,
coco-nut, banana, sago-palm, sugar-cane, nutmeg and other tropical pro-
* Assisted by E, J. Hastings.
Smaller Melanesian Islands 647
ductions flourish. Fish, pearl-shells, beche-de-mer, and tortoise-shell are
obtained on the coasts. The natives are mainly of the Papuan or Mela-
nesian race, but Polynesians are found on some of the islands, and many
different languages are spoken in the group. Most of the people are
still heathen, and cannibalism is not yet extinct. The islands were dis-
covered in 1606 by Quu-os, and explored in 1774 by Captain Cook.
Espiritu Santo, the largest island, rises to about 5,500 feet, is densely
wooded and intersected by deep ravines. Antumey (Annatom) is the
most southerly of the group, and the one in which missionary effort
has been most successful. Ambrym and Tanna have active volcanoes,
the eruptions of which are sometimes very destructive. The New
Hebrides have long been a favourite recruiting-ground for the labour-
traffic, the natives (kanakas) contracting to work on the Queensland
plantations for a term of years.
Santa Cruz. — This group, crossed by the parallel of 10° S., lying
north of the New Hebrides and east of the Solomon Islands, was dis-
covered in 1595 by Mendana, who named it Santa Cruz. Forgotten for
nearly two centuries, the islands were rediscovered by Carteret, who
named them after Queen Charlotte. They are of volcanic and coral
formation, and surrounded by coral reefs. The inhabitants belong to the
Polynesian race intermixed with the Melanesian ; they are of good
physique, dwell in large villages, and surround their houses with stone
fences. Agriculture and fishing are their chief occupations, and the men
are hardy sailors. The climate is humid ; both the north-west and the
south-east monsoons bring rain. Santa Cruz, the largest island, occupies
more than half of the total area. Vanikoro, the most southerly, is the best
known.
Solomon Islands. — The Solomon Islands, forming an archipelago
comprising twelve larger islands or groups, and numerous smaller ones,
extend north-west for about 600 miles, between the parallels of 5° and
1 1° S. from near Santa Cruz to the Bismarck Archip<'lago. They contain
examples of the typical low coral and lofty volcanic islands, the latter
rising in several points to 4,000 feet and over, and in the island of
Bougainville to 10,000 feet. The islands are in general surrounded by
coral reefs, and there are several good harbours. Much of the surface is
covered with dense forest, and, in many instances, belts of mangrove
border the coast. The soil is fertile, the yam, bread-fruit, banana, taro,
betel-nut, pepper and coco-nut are widely cultivated. The fauna combines
Melanesian and Polynesian types. Anthropoid apes are said by the natives
to inhabit the woods, but this statement lacjvs confirmation ; crocodiles are
numerous, and this is the most easterly group in which they are found.
The inhabitants belong mainly to the Melanesian race, with an admixture
of Polynesian elements ; they are skilled in carving and in the construction
of canoes ; but are still mostly in a savage condition, and cannibalism is
practised. In the interior other inhabitants, probably a Negrito people,
648 The International Geography
known to tlm English traders as Bushmen, are in course of being exter-
minated by the Melanesians. The cHmate is rather unhealthy ; temperature
ranges between about 75° and 90° F., and the prevailing winds are the
north-west and south-east monsoons ; the rainfall considerably exceeds
100 inches. The islands were discovered by Mendaha in 1567, but they
remained almost unknown for two centuries, when they were visited
successively by Carteret and Bougainville. The people are ruled by native
chiefs, but the most northerly and largest island in the group, Bougainville
Island, is a German possession, and the remaining islands are all British.
The principal islands of the British group are Choiseul, and Isabel. The
others are Rennell, San Christoval (Bauro), with one of the best harbours
in the group, Ugi, with a British coaling station, Guadalcanar, which rises
in Mount Lammas to 8,000 feet, New Georgia (Kausagi), and Malaita or
Mala Islandi -
STATISTICS AND STANDARD BOOKS.
See etiU of Chapter XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXVI.— THE ISLANDS OF THE
PACIFIC OCEAN
By the Editor/
I. — GENERAL
General Description. — The islands of the Pacific Ocean, or South
Sea, are sometimes grouped together with Australia, sometimes without
that continent under the name Oceania. They are divided by different
geographers into various subdivisions, that most widely adopted being into
Micronesia, or the Small Islands in the west, north of the latitude of New
Guinea, Melanesia, or the Islands of the Blacks between New Guinea and
Fiji, ?in6. Polynesia or the Many Islands scattered over the rest of the ocean,
and inhabited by a race of men wonderfully homogeneous when one con-
siders the vastness of the area of dispersal and the smallness and isolation
of the scattered island-homes. The whole land area of all these islands —
New Zealand excepted — is only about 60,000 square miles. Except for a
mistake as to the extent of scientific knowledge regarding the coral polyp,
the description of this region by Robert Louis Stevenson in his book
" In the South Seas," is true as well as graphic : —
" That wide field of ocean, called loosely the South Seas, extends from
tropic to tropic, and from perhaps 120° W. to 150° E., a parallelogram of
one hundred degrees by forty-seven, where degrees are the most spacious.
Much of it lies vacant ; much is closely sown with isles, and the isles are
of two sorts. No distinction is so continually dwelt upon in South Sea talk
as that between the ' low ' and the ' high ' island, and there is none more
broadly marked in nature. The Himalayas are not more different from
the Sahara. On the one hand, and chiefly in groups of from eight to a
dozen, volcanic islands rise above the sea ; few reach an altitude of less
than 4,000 feet ; one exceeds 13,000 ; their tops are often obscured in
cloud ; they are all clothed with various forests, all abound in food, and
are all remarkable for picturesque and solemn scenery. On the other
hand, we have the atoll ; a thing of problematic origin and history, the
reputed creature of an insect apparently unidentified ; rudely annular in
shape ; enclosing a lagoon ; rarely extending beyond a quarter of a mile
at its chief width ; often rising at its highest point to less than the stature
of a man — man himself, the rat and the land-crab, its chief inhabitants ;
not more variously supplied with plants ; and offering to the eye, even
when perfect, only a rim of glittering beach and verdant foliage, enclosing
and enclosed by the blue sea." The ring of the atoll may be of any
Assisted by E. J. Hastings.
' 649
650 The International Geography
diameter from a few hundred yards to many miles ; it is always narrow,
composed of broken blocks of coral and without a blade of grass. Mono-
tony of surface is broken by groves of the coco-nut palm, " that giraffe
of vegetables, so graceful, so ungainly." The narrow rim is often partially
submerged, so that instead of an annular strip the atoll becomes a ring of
islets surrounding a lagoon with several entrances. But the grand contrast
in all low coral islands is that of the two beaches, the inner beach facing
the lagoon, which is the harbour and the site of all houses, and the outer
beach on which the ocean surf always thunders, filling the whole island
with its unceasing noise, and this beach is deserted, shunned by the
natives as the haunt of the spirits of the dead. •
The Island Groups. — Although the Pacific appears on the map to be
thickly sprinkled with islands, these are really grouped along certain
lines, with vast
sca/e of Milt*. \ vacant breadths of
sea between, and
it is to be remem-
bered that Magel-
lan, when he left
the Strait which
bears his name
and ventured for
the first time on
the unknown
waters of the Pa-
cific, crossed the
whole breadth of
the ocean, and in
three months of
voyaging saw no land except one barren and waterless rock. Speaking
generally, the depth of the Pacific appears to exceed 2,000 fathoms
from 80° W., close to the coast of South America, to 180° W. Across
the western half of this vast abyss a narrow rise runs in the latitude
of the northern tropic roughly from east-south-east to west-north-west,
and upon it the volcanic islands of Hawaii appear. A broader and
much longer rise, edged by smaller parallel ridges, stretches east and
west along the southern tropic, bearing the innumerable atolls of the
Paumotu, or Low Archipelago, the Society Islands and Cook Islands.
Smaller scattered elevations of the sea-bed occur to the north and
north-west, each bearing a cluster of islets — including the Marquesas,
and some smaller groups. The less deep water east of Australia and of
the Malay Archipelago is traversed by two great rises, curved nearly
parallel to the coast, and each studded by a chain of island groups. The
outer line taking a bold sweep at first north-eastward from New Zealand
forms the foundation whence spring the Fiji and Friendly Islands- and the
LandEU Sea more "than 2000 fms deep ■§
Sea less than 2000fms deepd Island Chain-—.
Fig. 322. — The Island Chains of the Pacijic.
Fiji
651
Samoa group (in 12° S.) ; thence wheeling north-westward, it bears in
succession the Elhce Islands, and the Micronesian archipelagoes consisting
of the Gilbert group (on the equator), the Marshall Islands and the
Carolines, and the rise finally curves inwards towards Jilolo. In 145° E.
another rise branches off northward towards Japan, bearing the Marianne
or Ladrone Islands, also included in Micronesia. The inner rise, which
also starts from New Zealand, forms a sharper north-westerly curve, and
its course may be traced on a map by New Caledonia, the New Hebrides,
the Solomon Islands, and the Bismarck Archipelago, for all of w^iich it
forms the foundation. It terminates in New Guinea. The more important
islands of the Pacific (Fig. 322) may thus be treated as belonging to (i.)
the Inner or Melanesian Chain, (ii.) the Outer or Micronesian Chain, (iii.)
the South Tropical or Paumotu Chain, anJ (iv.) the North Tropical or
Hawaiian Chain. As a matter of con-
venience the islands of the Melanesian
chain were considered with New Guinea.
Political Divisions. — Amongst the
scattered groups and islands in the Pacific
2orming British possessions are Fiji, the
Solomon Islands (southern), Santa Cruz,
Gilbert Islands, Ellice Islands, Phoenix
Islands, Union Islands, Tonga or Friendly
Islands, Cook Islands, Manihiki group,
Pitcairn Island, besides many others, some
mere rocks, and uninhabited. These are
under the jurisdiction of the High Commis-
sioner of the Western Pacific, whose autho-
rity extends over all lands in the western •"=■ '.^^.S^Hr/^^'i.'""^''"
Pacific, not being dependencies of any of
the British Colonies or of any other civilised Power. The only important
unattached group is that of the New Hebrides, controlled by a joint
British and French commission. The French possessions come next in
number and importance, including New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands,
the Marquesas group, the Society Islands, with Tahiti, and most of the
islands of the South Tropical Chain. The total area does not exceed that
of a small French department, and their total population is under 29,000.
The islands administered by Germany include the Bismarck Archipelago
and Bougainville Island in the Melanesian Chain, the Marshall, Caroline,
and Marianne Islands in the Micronesian Chain, and part of Samoa. The
United States are responsible for Guam in the Marianne Islands, part
of Samoa and Hawaii. A few of the islands in the Eastern Pacific belong
to South American countries.
II.— FIJI
Position and Extent. — The Fiji Islands, a scattered group about
2,000 miles east of Queensland, consist of two large and a great number
43
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652 The International Geography
Kadavu »
l»tt of Ort%nmi<.h
\
\Wflewot6r
Fig.
of small islands, islets, and rocks, lying between 15° and 22® S., and
traversed by the i8oth meridian. The island of Rotuma, in 12° S. and
177° E., is a dependency of Fiji.
General Description. — The two largest islands, Viti Levu and
Vanua Levu, lie on the west and north-west of the group, separated from
the cluster of small islands called
the Lakemba group, on the east, by
the islet-starred water of the Goro
or Karo Sea. Most of the islands
are surrounded by barrier reefs,
which form admirable natural break-
waters, crossed by deep channels,
giving access to the enclosed har-
bours and roadsteads. The larger
islands, all composed of volcanic
rock, are mountainous, with summits
324.-r//e Fiji Islands. ^-^j^g ^^ ^^ ^^^^ exceeding 4,000
feet. Numerous streams descend from the mountains and are utilised by the
natives for irrigation. Earthquakes are not uncommon, and the great sea-
waves which often follow them sometimes cause great destruction on the
low shores. The scenery is in many parts grand and picturesque. There are
no large native animals. Cattle have been introduced, and many now run
wild. Turtle and pearl-shell are obtained on the reefs, and fish off the
coasts. Dense forests clothe the windward side of the islands, where the
south-east trade-winds bring a copious rainfall. The coco-nut, banana,
pineapple, and many tropical fruits flourish. Sugar-cane is the chief
plantation product, but rice and maize are widely grown, and the taro and
yam form the principal native foods.
People, History, Government and Trade. — The Fijians belong
to the Polynesian race, are of a dark copper colour, well-built and hand-
some. Their numbers have greatly decreased since the
advent of Europeans, and in 1875 about one-third of the
population was carried off by a terrible epidemic of
measles. The islands were discovered by Tasman in
1643. In 1835 the Wesleyan missionaries commenced
their labours amongst the islanders, many of whom were
then cannibals ; and now Christianity is professed by
all the inhabitants. The first British consul was ap-
pointed in 1859 ; in 1864 the leading chiefs offered to
cede the sovereignty, but it was not until 1874 ^h^t the
islands were taken over by the British Government, and shortly after-
wards constituted a Crown colony. The Governor is assisted by an
Executive and a Legislative Council, and the local administration is carried
out by native chiefs. Native labour is msufficient for the increasing
plantations, and labourers have to be imported from other islands. The
Fig. 325.— r/ze Badge
of the Crown Colony
of Fiji.
Micronesia 653
leading exports are sugar, copra and fruit, especially bananas. The prin-
cipal imports are cotton goods, machinery and hardware, and food-stuffs.
Trade is carried on chiefly with the United Kingdom and the Australian
Commonwealth.
Suva, the capital, situated on the south of Vlti Levu, is a small town
with a good harbour. Lev iika, on the small island of Ovalu, east of Viti
Levu, the former capital and a port, occupies a narrow coast-strip backed
by mountains rising almost perpendicularly to over 2,000 feet.
STATISTICS OF FIJI.
1881. 1891. 1901.
Area of Fiji (square miles) 7.740 . . 7.740 . . 7.74°
Total Population of Fiji 127,095 .. 121,180 .. 117.870
Number of Native Fijians 114.748 .. 100,321 .. 94.397
Density of Population per square inile .. ' 16-4 .. 157 .. 15-2
ANNUAL TRADE OF FIJI {in pounds sterling.
_^ 1875-79. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 125,000 ,. 365,000 .. 279,000
Exports 140,000 .. 278,000 .. 436,000
III.- THE MICRONESIAN CHAIN
Friendly Islands. — To the east of Fiji, and clustered round the
parallel of 20° S., several small clusters of high and low islands, some
atolls, and one an active volcano, were discovered by Tasman in 1643.
Their present English name is due to Cook, who wished to preserve the
memory of his kindly reception by the natives. The native name is Tonga,
or, in the new spelling. Toga, for the local chiefs are all subject to the
King of Tonga, who resides in Tonga-tabu, the largest island of the group.
The climate is hot, oppressive and humid, and hurricanes frequently occur
in February and March. Yams, bananas, coffee, coco-nuts and arrowroot
are amongst the chief productions ; but copra — dried coco-nut — is practi-
cally the only export. New South Wales and New Zealand send most ot
the imports. The people are Polynesians, and most of them now profess
Christianity. The islands are under British protection.
Samoa. — The Navigator or Samoan Islands, lying near 14° S. and
172° W., have become more known than most of the neighbouring groups
because they lie in the direct line of the mail steamers between Australia
or New Zealand and Hawaii on the way to the western ports of
North America. The islands are of the usual high or low type, and
usually surrounded by a barrier reef. The lofty slopes facing the south-
east trades are well watered and luxuriantly fertile ; and the climate,
although hot, is not of the worst. Disastrous hurricanes occur, and none
of the harbours, otherwise good, are safe from their fury. The productions
resemble those of other tropical Pacific islands, copra being the chief.
The trade is in the hands of British, American and German firms ; but the
islands, which were for a time under the control of the consuls of the United
654 The International Geography
Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, are now divided. Upolu and
Savaii form a German possession ; the capital is at Apia, which has a fair
harbour on Upolu. Tutuila, with its adjacent small islands, is a possession
of the United States, and contains the best harbour in the group at Pago-
pago. The people are amongst the least spoiled of the Pacific folk in spite
of the measure of civilisation they have assimilated ; they are feelingl);
described by Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent his last years in Samoa.
Ellice and Gilbert Groups. — The Ellice or Lagoon Islands to the
north-west' of Samoa stretch for 360 miles between 1 1° and 5° S. They
consist of nine large atolls or ring-like clusters of low coral islands, and on
account of the typical forms assumed by the atoll of Funafuti it has been
made the subject of an interesting experiment in physical geography.
The Royal Society of London and the Government of New South Wales
sent out an expedition in several successive years to put down a deep
bore-hole through the coral in order to discover the nature of the under-
lying rocks and so to test the rival theories as to the origin of coral
islands. Although the bore was carried down 1,200 feet no rock but coral
was found. The people of the Ellice group are for the most part Christian
Polynesians, governed by their own chiefs, under British protection.
The Ellice group is followed on the Outer Australasian Curve by the
Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands, a line of atolls and low coral islets which
follows the same trend and crosses the equator. The chief trees on
these islands are the coco-nut and pandanus, but the soil is less fertile
than in most of the Polynesian groups. The inhabitants are active and
intelligent ; and they retain practical independence under the rule of their
own chiefs, supported by British protection.
The Marshall Islands.' — This group is formed by a number of
coral reefs, or atolls, with a total area of 160 square miles, which run in
two nearly parallel rows from north-west to south-east, and extend over 9
degrees of latitude, with their centre about 7^° N. The eastern line of 15
atolls is called the Radak, the western containing 18, the Ralik group. The
islands, pure coral formations, are of very small size ; they rise only a few
feet above the surface of the sea, and only on one has the wind heaped up
so much sand that it forms an elevation which might be called a hill. Each
atoll, though of most irregular shape, encloses a deep lagoon, into which
ships can enter through passages between the islands. On none of them is
there any deep soil ; a thin layer of earth has been formed by the decay of
vegetation, in which the coco-nut palm stands most prominent. Bread-fruit
trees, various kinds of pandanus, bananas, and a fibrous plant which is
used for mat making, nearly complete the flora. Taro is grown for food.
The fauna is very poor. Fish and Crustacea abound in the lagoons and
on the reefs, where the natives catch them in large quantities as the only
animal component of their chiefly vegetable diet. The climate is hot and
> By Graf von Pfeil.
Micronesia 655
very moist, the rainfall being nearly the same in all months of the year,
with the exception of perhaps January and February, which are drier.
It is remarkable that, although these islands are in the northern hemi^
sphere, the warmest month in the year is January and the coolest July.
The inhabitants are Micronesians, their colour varies between lighter and
darker shades of coffee-colour ; they are well grown, and their features are
pleasant. Great navigators, they construct curious charts with little sticks,
but these are not intelligible to Europeans. The population is increasing.
The islands form a German colony, and the Landeshauptmann stands at
the head of the administration, the expense of which is defrayed by the
Jaluit trading company.
Caroline Archipelago. — The Carohne Archipelago, including the
Pelew Islands, stretches from east to west between the equator and io°N.,
and consists of about thirty-live groups. Some of the islands are volcanic,
but most of coral origin, and all surrounded by reefs. They are generally
well-wooded and fertile ; their products being the usual wealth of coco-
nuts, bread-fruit, bananas, pine-apples, taro, and yams. The inhabitants,
who are called Micronesian, are of a very mixed descent. They are
governed by their own kings or chiefs. The Caroline Islands were dis-
covered by the Portuguese in 1526, and in 1686 taken by the Spaniards and
named after Charles II. of Spain ; but they were little known to Europeans
before the nineteenth century. The Pelew group had, however, previously
acquired an honourable name through the kindness shown by the inhabi-
tants to the crew of the Antelope wrecked in 1783. In 1899 the Caroline
Archipelago and the Ladrones were sold by the Spanish government to
Germany. Although so near the equator, the climate is pleasant, the
heat being tempered by sea-breezes. The volcanic island of Ponape in
the east is the largest of the archipelago, with a good harbour at Kiti.
The central Truk, or Hogolu Islands, form the largest group. Yap, or Guap,
is the most important island in the west. These islands contain a
number of remains of an ancient people skilled in the building of Cyclopean
masonry, but as yet presenting an unsolved problem as to their origin, the
period when their great works were carried out, and their ultimate fate.
Ladrones. — The Marianne or Ladrone Islands run north between
13° and 21° N. along the meridian of 145° E. They include two distinct
groups : a northern, containing ten high volcanic islands, with still active
volcanoes ; and a southern, with live low coral islands. The flora has
been modified by the introduction of plants from the Philippines. Maize
is the principal cereal ; but potatoes, yams, sugar-cane, and various fruits
are also cultivated. The aboriginal inhabitants — Chamorros of Indonesian
origin — scarcely exist now as a distinct race, owing to admixture with
Talages from the Philippines, and Spanish. The climate is healthy, and,
although two seasons are recognised, the rainfall is distributed throughout
the 3'ear. Destructive hurricanes sometimes occur, and slight earthquakes
are frequent. The islands were the first discovered by Magellan in 152 1,
656 The International Geography
and called, from the habits of the people, Ladrones or Robbers. In 1688
they were taken possession of by the Spaniards, and re-named after the
Empress Marie Anne of Austria. Guam is the largest island of the
archipelago, occupying more than half of the total area and containing
most of the population. The coasts arc mostly rock-bound ; but the port
of San Luis de Apra, or Caldera, is the best in the archipelago, and on
the island is Agaila, the principal town. The name of Guam has acquired
a curious significance for Pacific traders wishing to keep their destinaiion
secret, often clear from Australian ports for Guam, the most distant
harbour among the islands, and one to which there are many routes. It
belongs to the United States ; the rest cf the Mariannes are German.
IV.— SOUTHERN POLYNESIA
Cook and Tubuai Islands. — A narrow line of small rises running
from 18° to 28° S., parallel to the wider elevation of the ocean-bed which
bears the Low Archipelago, is crowned by the volcanic groups of the
Cook Islands in the north-west and the Tubuai Islands in the south-
east. The people, who exhibit Malay affinities, are darker in complexion
than the Tahitians. The mountainous islands are fertile, producing the
plantation products common to the latitude and the soil. Government
is administered through native chiefs, though under the superintendence
of European Powers. The Cook or Hervey Islands are now annexed to
the colony of New Zealand. Raratonga is the largest (thirty square
miles) and most picturesque of the islands, a volcanic mountain richly
wooded and surrounded by a coral reef. The Tubuai or Austral Islands,
five in number, are French possessions.
The Society Islands. — The broad band of island groups, which
stretches between 10° S., and the tropic of Capricorn, from 155° W. to
i3P° W., forms several groups, some of which have been under French
protection since 1842, and almost all are now administered by the French.
The Society Islands, lying between 16° and 18° S., form the most
important groups in the South Pacific. They comprise Tahiti and many
smaller islands arranged in two groups, the Windward, and the Leeward.
They are all volcanic and mountainous, well watered by numerous
streams, densely wooded, and surrounded by coral reefs. Copra and
mother-of-pearl are the chief commercial products ; but coco-nut-oil,
cotton, vanilla, oranges, and an edible fungus much appreciated by the
Chinese, are exported. The inhabitants belong to the Polynesian race.
Tahiti was discovered by Quiros in 1606 and named La Sagittaria ;
in 1767 it was re-discovered by Captain Wallis, who gave it the name of
King George Island, but its native name, formerly spelled Otaheite, is now
alone used. Tahiti was Captain Cook's favourite centre when exploring
the Pacific, and here he observed the Transit of Venus on his first great
voyage of circumnavigation in 1769. On this occasion he gave the name
Southern Polynesia
657
of Society Islands in honour of the Royal Society of London. English
missionaries settled in the island in 1797 and met with some success for
a time. A French protectorate was declared in 1842, and subsequently in
1880 the two groups were formally annexed by France. Tahiti con-
sists of two mountainous peninsulas united by
an isthmus. The coasts are low, but the central
parts of the islands are traversed by a ridge
of mountains whose highest summit ap-
proaches 7,500 feet. From this ridge wooded
spurs extend on each side, enclosing fertile
plains and valleys. Matavai Bay, in the north
of the island, is the best harbour, but there are
several others. Papeete, the capital and seat of
government of French Oceania, is a modern
town picturesquely situated at the foot of
mountains on the north-west, and surrounded
by groves of coco-nut, orange and guava trees
northerly point in the island, was the
Venus in 1769. Owing to the many
.'^'•
J^ ,
•••.
-7<^,
^s^&
^^^
mm
w
^
^%
^^
19
a?
'-^*-'- ,
MiUw
Fig. ^26.— Tahiti, a
high island.
typical
Point Venus, the most
station for observing the Transit of
observations which have been made,
its longitude, 149° 28' 21" E., is said to be the most certainly determined
in the Pacific.
Low Archipelago. — The Tuamotu, Panmotu, or Low Archipelago,
contains about eighty low coral islands and numerous islets lying between
14° and 24° S. to the east of the Society Islands. The inhabitants, who
are under French administration, belong to different branches of the
Polynesian race ; some resemble the Fijians, others the Tahitians. They
are honest, industrious and thrifty, quaUties which often distinguish
the dwellers on coral islands where hard work is necessary for a liveli-
hood from the lazy and careless inhabitants of
the fertile volcanic islands, where life is easy.
There is considerable trade in copra, pearl-shell,
and pearls. Anaa, discovered by Cook in 1769,
is one of the smallest but most populous of
the group, well cultivated and yielding about
one-fourth of the exports. Huo Island was dis-
covered by Bougainville in 1768, and it is inte-
resting as having been the scene of some early
investigations on the structure of coral islands
carried on by Sir Edward Belcher.
Fakarava, the atoll on which Roioava, the
capital of the archipelago, is situated, owes this
distinction to the fact that its lagoon has two
good channels — one to windward, the other to leeward — so that the small
sailing-vessels which carry on the trade of these islands can enter and leave
with a fair wind.
Fig 327 — Fakarava, a typical
atoll or low island. Dryland
black, partially submerged
reef dotted. The atoll vua-
surcs 40 miles by 15.
658 The International Geography
The Manga Reva or Gambler Islands are a small group of French
islands lying south-east of the Low Archipelago, with which they are
sometimes included.
v.— SCATTERED GROUPS
Marquesas. — The two groups forming the Marquesas or Mendaha
Islands lie between 8° and 10^° S, The islands are of volcanic formation,
mountainous and rugged, intersected by ravines and valleys of exquisite
beauty, and generally fertile. The soil is well adapted for the growth of
cotton, which, with a fungus for the Chinese market, forms the principal
export. The natives keep a good many cattle. The climate is sultry, the
temperature seldom falling below 73°, but the islands are nevertheless
healthy. The inhabitants are of the Polynesian race and nearly allied to
the Tahitians ; their moral standard is very low, worse than in the old
days of heathenism, and the European vices and diseases, which are
rapidly killing them off, have become subordinate to the Chinese vice of
opium-eating. Formerly the natives of the Marquesas were celebrated
above all Polynesians for the beauty of the tattooing with which they
ornamented their whole bodies. Some of the islands were discovered by
Mendaha in 1595 j ^^e others by Cook in 1774. They were taken posses-
sion of by France in 1842. Nuka-Hiva is the largest island of the archi-
pelago ; it affords the best anchorage in the bay where Tai-o-hae, the seat
of the French Resident, is situated.
Central Groups. — Between the Society Islands and Hawaii the bed
of the ocean rises in a series of isolated elevations forming a line directed
towards the north, and each is crowned by one or several islands of the
familiar Polynesian type. The scattered coral Manihiki islands lie about
10° S., and of them Penrhyn Island, the largest of the group, is the only
one regularly inhabited, the people living by pearl-shell fishing ; the others
are only visited occasionally by collectors of coco-nut produce and guano.
Maiden, Jervis, Christmas, Fanning, and Palmyra Islands carry on the
chain, the last named being situated in about 6° N. The whole are now
under British protection.
Juan Fernandez Islands, situated near 34° S., between 400 and 500 miles
from Valparaiso, were discovered by Juan Fernandez about 1563. The
largest island, Mas a Tierra, is famous for the five years' residence of Alex-
ander Selkirk, the possible original of Robinson Crusoe. The islands now
form a Chilean possession.
Galapagos Islands. — On the equator, in 90° W., the volcanic group of
the Galapagos {i.e. Tortoise) Islands lies at a distance of 750 miles from
the coast of Ecuador, to which country they were annexed in 1832.
Albemarle, the largest island, is sixty miles in length, and there are
four other islands of fair size, and eight smaller. The climate is cooler
than that of any other equatorial land at sea-level, on account of the
Pacific Islands 659
reduction of temperature by the Humboldt current. The lower ground of
the islands suffers from want of rain, which, however, falls in sufficient
quantity on the higher slopes, and some plantations are worked. The
flora and fauna of the islands are peculiar. No palms of any kind grow
on them, and out of about 400 species of plants w^hich have been found,
nearly 200 are absolutely confined to this group. All the reptiles are
without representatives elsewhere ; but the giant tortoise, from which
the islands took their Spanish name, is likely to become extinct if not
protected ; it has already vanished from some of the islands. Very
large turtles frequent the coasts. Amongst the birds there are some
sea-fowl of antarctic species, another result of the cool current from the
south.
Pitcairn Island. — Pitcairn Island in 25° S. and east of the Low
Archipelago, is a small mountainous and rock-bound but fertile island.
Bounty Bay, one of the two possible landing-places for boats, is the
place where vessels communicate with the inhabitants by means of their
canoes. Yams and potatoes form the staple food of the islanders.
There are no springs on the island, and the water supply is derived
from rain. The island was discovered by Carteret in 1767. In 1789
some of the Bounty mutineers with Tahitian wives reached it, and
remained absolutely unknown to the outside world for twenty years.
Owing to the resources of the island becoming inadequate for the growing
population, then numbering nearly two hundred, they were, by agree-
ment, removed in 1856 to Norfolk Island. Some of these, however,
returned to Pitcairn Island, in 1859 and 1864, where they and their
descendants remain, now numbering 140 persons.
Easter Island. — The remotest islet of Polynesia, far to the east
of every other group, is Easter Island, or Rapa Niii, in about 27° S.
and 109^° W. It lies 2,030 miles west of the coast of Chile, to which
it belongs. It is of volcanic origin, triangular in form, highest in
the north, where it reaches 1,970 feet, and contains several distinct
craters. Cook's Bay or Hanga river on the west is the principal
anchorage, and round it the inhabitants chiefly dwell. The vegetation is
scanty, and there are no trees, though the soil appears to be not infertile.
The climate is temperate and healthy. The island is remarkable, for in
spite of its overpowering isolation, it harbours a clue to the migrations
of an earlier and vanished race of men, whose colossal works are also
found in the Carolines, 7,500 miles away at the opposite .corner of the
island world. These take the form of sculptures, including numerous
gigantic stone busts carved out of trachyte, sculptured stones and a
number of well-preserved stone houses of unguessed antiquity. No
existing Polynesian race is competent to produce such work. According
to native tradition, their ancestors came from Rapa, 1,900 miles to the
west, in two large canoes. Easter Island was discovered by Roggewein
on Easter Sunday, 172 1 — hence its European name. During the first
44
66o The International Geography
half of the nineteenth century, the population numbered about 3,000
divided into tiibes, and ruled by an elected king. In 1863 a party of
Peruvians carried off nearly half the population to work the guano in the
Chincha Islands. There many died, and of those who were sent back the
few survivors brought with them diseases which have since caused great
ravages. Hence the population has rapidly decreased and is now small.
A Tahitian firm has formed a station on the island, and large numbers of
cattle and sheep are being raised.
VI.— HAWAII
«^^
Ism
KAUAI
So
100
1^0 ^ vo
Miles,
^2d
HAWAII,
Northern Tropical Chain. — Hawaii, formerly called the Sandwich
Islands, stands on the long narrow rise which runs across the centre of the
North Pacific Ocean. The actual island chain (Fig. 328) extends for 340
miles from west-north-west to east-south-east between the parallels of 19°
and 22° N, and the
meridans of 155° and
160° W. North of the
main group, a slender
chain of uninhabited
islets and rocks stretches
west by north for about
1,350 miles.
Character of the
Land. — The islands
rise abruptly from deep
water, for the oceanic
rise whence they spring
is an elevation only
when compared with
the enormously deep
abysses surrounding it. The coasts are usually steep and uniform, with
occasional narrow strips of beach, but having few openings where ships
may find shelter. The whole group is purely volcanic, and contains the
loftiest summits of any oceanic islands, the cones of Mauna Loa and
Mauna Kea, in Hawaii, soaring to the majestic height of close on 14,000
feet. Valleys and deep gorges, eroded by the ample rainfall, intersect the
slopes, and wide areas even of the more level ground are covered with the
lava outpoured in successive eruptions. The subterranean forces are
extinct in the western section of the islands, but in the eastern they
are still fiercely active and present the most colossal workings of volcanic
energy known on the surface of the Earth. Much of the surface
water sinks through the porous soil, forming springs at lower levels ;
and small streams vivify the surface in every island. The scenery is
Fig. 328.— r/?t' Hcnvaiian Islands.
Hawaii 6b i
varied ; in parts wild, rugged and bare ; elsewhere softened by rich
forests, the picturesque valleys adorned with a rich variety of ferns ;
and the low slopes and coast-lands set with groves of coco-nut palms,
bread-fruit trees, and screw pines. The flora is extensive, and about
half the species are peculiar to the islands. Amongst characteristic
trees are the koa, the candle-nut tree, and the ohia (mountain or wild
apple) ; the latter forms, especially in IVIaui, large natural orchards,
yielding refreshing fruit. There are no indigenous mammals larger than
the rat, unless, indeed, the dog and pig may be so considered, no snakes,
and few insects ; birds are better represented, and fish abound. Horses,
cattle, sheep, and other domestic animals have been introduced, and are
now numerous.
Climate. — The climate is remarkably moderate ; owing partly to the
influence of the oceanic currents the temperature is about io° lower
than that of other countries in the same latitude. The mean tempera-
ture ranges between 52° in winter and 91° in summer, the mean for
the year being about 74° F. Only two seasons are recognised, and
the greatest rainfall takes place in winter. In the higher parts the air is
bracing. The climate is, on the whole, healthy. Leprosy is, however,
endemic.
People, History and Government.— The people are fair for
Polynesians, well built, good-tempered, and fairly industrious. The race,
however, appears to be slowly dying out here as in the other Pacific
islands. Captain Cook visited Hawaii (which he described by the name of
Owhyhee) in 1778, but there is evidence that the islands were previously
known to the Spaniards. On Cook's return to the islands in 1779 he was
murdered by the natives on account of a misunderstanding. Durmg 1^v-
latter part of the eighteenth century, Kamehameha I. brought all the isla .s
under his personal sway. The familiar Polynesian system of Tabu, by
which persons, places, or things were interdicted or declared sacred, was
the great lever for the exercise of authority. The son and successor of the
founder of the monarchy broke the Tabu, disavowed the old idols, and
encouraged the American missionaries who settled in the islands in 1820.
In 1840 a constitutional government was established under Kamehameha
III. and recognised by European Powers. In 1893 a dispute occurred
b.tween Queen Liliuokalani and her ministers which led to the establish-
nK-nt of a repubUc ; and in 1898 the islands were annexed by the United
Siaies as a territory. A telegraph cable unites the islands with America.
The position of Hawaii " at the cross-roads of the North Pacific " on
the line of vessels trading between the ports of western North America,
on the one side, and those of Japan, China and Australia on the other,
has greatly promoted its commercial development. Regular lines of
steamers touch at Honolulu from San Francisco, Vancouver, Yokohama,
Hongkong, Svdney and Auckland. Good roads have been constructed,
and more than 100 miles of railway. The soil is in great part fertile, and
662 The International Geography
almost all tropical and subtropical products flourish. Agriculture is the
principal industry. Sugar is the staple product, and accounts for all but
a small proportion of the exports. Coffee, rice, hides and bananas are
next in importance. The chief imports are provisions and manufactured
goods, and practically the whole of the trade is with the United States.
Honolulu, the capital, is situated on the south coast of Oahu Island, and
contains an extraordinarily cosmopolitan population. It has several
handsome public buildings. South-west of the town is the picturesque
promontory of Diamond Head, and at its base Kapiolani Park.
Islands- — Hawaii, the largest and most southerly of the group, is
occupied in the central part by a plateau from which rise the extinct
volcano of Mauna Kea (13,800 feet), the active crater of Mauna Loa
(13,650 feet), from the rim of which fields of bare lava slope outwards and
downwards for about 4,000 feet, and Hualalai (8,300 feet), which was last
active in 1.811. The chief crater is, however, not at the summit, but at
Kilauea, about eighteen miles distant on the eastern slope, at an altitude of
about 4,000 feet. This is about nine miles in circumference, the depth
varying from 700 to 1,100 feet, with the rise and fall of the molten mass.
The greater part of the surface is covered with lava solidified in rugged
masses, but openings occur in the crust in which the intensely heated
liquid lava rises and falls, sometimes thrown high up into the air, where it
is caught by the wind and drawn out into long threads, like spun glass,
called by the natives " Pele's hair," from one of their old goddesses. The
island contains many interesting buildings connected with the ancient
worship and the former kings.
Maui is an island formed of two lofty peninsulas connected by a low
isthmus. In East Maui is the extinct volcano of Mauna Haleakla,
"Temple," or " House of the Sun," about 10,000 feet high, with the largest
crater in the world, about twenty miles in circumference. Molokai is a
small mountainous island ; on its northern coast the leper asylum of
Hawaii is situated. Oahu, on which the capital stands, is picturesque with
the fertile plain of Ewa in the centre. Kauai, sometimes called the
garden island, is the most northerly of the main group, and in parts well
adapted for agriculture.
STATISTICS OF HAWAII.
1884. ' 1896. 1900.
Area of Hawaii (square miles) 6,640 . . 6,640 . . 6,640
Population of Hawaii 80,578 . . 109,020 . . 154.001
Density of Population, per squat e mile .. 12 .. 16 . . 24
Population of Honolulu 20,487 .. 29,920 .. 39.305
Population (1900) : Hawaiians, 29,834 ; Japanese, 58,500 ; Chinese, 25,742 ; White, 28.533.
ANNUAL TRADE OF HAWAH (in pounds sterling).
1891-95-
Imports 1.156.500
Exports 1.852,400
Pacific Islands
663
THE PRINCIPAL ISLAND GROUPS OF THE PACIFIC.
Area Approximate
(square miles). Population. Protectorate.
I.— Melanesian Chain :
New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands 7,630 60,000 French
New Hebrides 5,300 75,ooo Brit. & Fr.
Santa Cruz 360 5,000 Native
Solomon Islands 12,000 70,000 British
Bougainville Island S.ooo 20,000 German
II.— MicRONEsiAN Chain :
Fiji 7,754 118,000 British
Tonga Islands 374 19,250 „
Samoa 1,700 39,000 Ger. & U.S.
Ellice Group 14 2,400 British
Gilbert Group.- 166 35.200
Marshall Islands 158 15.000 German
Caroline Islands 370 40,000 „
Pelew Islands 190 3,000 „
Marianne Islands 420 10,200 „
III.— SOUTH Tropical CHain :
Cook Islands 142 8,400 British
Tubuai Islands no 880 French
Society Islands 630 16,300 „
Low Archipelago and Gambler . . 390 Si470 >•
IV.— Scattered Groups:
Marquesas Group 480 4,450 „
Pitcairn Island 2 130 British
Easter Island 55 15° Chilean
Juan Fernandez Group . . . . 150 —
Phcenix Islands 16 60 British
Manihiki Group 12 1,000
Tokelau 12 526 „ .
Galapagos 2,950 200 Ecuadorian
v.— North Tropical Chain :
Hawaii 6,700 154,000 United States
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. Agassiz. "The Coral Reefs of the Tropical Pacific." 4 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1903.
A. Kramer. " Die Samoa-Inseln." Vol. I. Stuttgart, 1902.
F. H. H. Guillemard. " Malaysia and Pacific Archipelagoes " in Sto/i/orrf's Compendium.
London, 1894.
A. G. Findlay. " Directory for the Navigation of the South Pacific Ocean." 5th edit
London, 1884.
H. B. Guppy. " The Solomon Islands. ' 2 vols. London, 1887.
" Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific." 2 vols. London, 1903,
1906.
R. L. Stevenson. " Letters from the Pacific." London, 1897.
" Handbook to Fiji " (official). Suva, i8q2.
C. F. Gordon Gumming. " The Kingdom of Hawaii " 2 vols. London, 1883.
A. Marcuse. " Die Hawaiischen Inseln." Berlin, 1894.
BOOK IV. : NORTH AMERICA
CHAPTER XXXVII.— THE CONTINENT OF
NORTH AMERICA.
By William Morris Davis, •
Professor of Physical Geography in Haward University.
Resemblances bet^veen North and South America. — The
number of continents interrupting the great ocean is so small that it is
difficult to determine what are essential and what are unessential con-
tinental features. The overgrown land area of Eurasia and the small
continent of Australia are so unlike in structure and form that no just
comparison can be drawn between them without straining the slight
resemblance of parts that are imagined to correspond with one another.
If all the continents were as much alike as North and South America, the
problem would be much simpler. Here distinct resemblances with an
assured basis in geological history may be discovered ; and perhaps for
this reason the repeated features of these two land masses are often taken
as the essential features of continental form.
In a very general way, the two Americas each have a greater belt of
mountainous highlands along their western side ; and two lesser highlands
on the north-east and south-east. The greater highlands include many
volcanic cones and lava sheets, and intermont basins ; and the drainage
of the latter frequently fails to reach the sea. Eruptive and mountain-
making disturbances have here been in operation in relatively recent
geological periods. The lesser highlands owe their deformed structures
to ancient disturbances, although their present altitude above sea-level
may have been gained by uplift at a comparatively modern date in the
Earth's history. North-east of each of the north-eastern highlands lies an
archipelago ; but the islands of the two archipelagoes are very unlike in
size and origin. Between the western and eastern highlands lies an
extensive belt of plains at a moderate altitude above the sea-level, and
with ill-defined divides between the chief river systems. The Mackenzie
and Orinoco flow northward, the St. Lawrence and Amazon flow eastward,
and the Mississippi and La Plata flow southward.
Contrasts bet\veen North and South America. — Although
differing in a host of minor details, these large resemblances serve to
establish true continental homologies ; but their value would be lost if
the comparison were pressed too far. The most important points of con-
664
North America * 663
trast result from the situation of North America chiefly in the north tem-
perate zone, while South America has its greatest width in the torrid zone.
The Arctic archipelago includes one of the two great glacial sheets now
existing ; and its shores are bound by the ice foot every winter. The
West Indies rise through warm ocean currents into the warm trade winds;
their largest island bears elevated coral reefs, and living coral reefs border
many of their shores. The freezing waters of Baffin and Hudson bays
and the cold Labrador current that they give forth have no hkeness in the
"caldrons" of the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, or in the warm
current that flows from them. Under the severe climate of the far north
the lichens and mosses of the " barren lands " west of Hudson Bay, and
the coniferous forests "of the inhospitable uplands of Labrador have little
likeness to the grassy llanos of the Orinoco and luxuriant tropical forests
of Guiana. The direct and indirect results of glaciation, so pronounced in
North America, include features so important as the Great Lakes of the St.
Lawrence system, for which the Amazon, under the equatorial rain belt,
has no parallel. Tropical North America, with mangroves and coral reefs
along its shores, malaria on its coastal lowlands, and an agreeable climate
on its plateaux, forms a striking contrast to the narrowing southern ex-
tremity of South America, whose inclement climate illustrates the real
character of the misnamed " south temperate zone."
Resemblances bet-ween North America and Eurasia. — A com-
parison may be drawn between North America and Eurasia in which
climatic as well as structural and topographical features have certain
striking resemblances ; but here the repetition is like that of the two
hands, Eurasia being on the right and North America on the left of the
axis of symmetry. The correspondence extends to so many structural
features that it has been an embarrassment to the science of geology, by
giving some basis for the belief that all the world was made on the pattern
which north-eastern North America so largely duplicates from Europe.
The Laurentian highlands correspond to Scandinavia and Finland ; com-
posed of very ancient and greatly denuded rocks, highest and deeply
fjorded on the Atlantic side, decreasing in altitude inland, and lately (as
the Earth views time) depressed and submerged in Hudson Bay and the
Gulf of Bothnia. Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces, with the
adjacent shallow ocean waters on the fishing grounds of the Banks, may be
paired with Great Britain and Ireland, and the shallow waters of the con-
tinental shelf there adjoining. The St. Lawrence system, from its broad
gulf to the great lakes is represented by a more submerged belt from the
North Sea through the Baltic to the Gulf of Finland ; while the extensive
lak£s further north in. Canada are represented by the larger lakes of north-
western Russia. The Appalachians, with their basins of deformed coal
measures stretching from Nova Scotia to Alabama, may be likened to an
ancient coal-bearing mountain system of similar date, which extends from
Wales across Belgium and far eastward into Germany. From th^
666 The International Geography
Laurentian and Scandinavian highlands, extensive ice sheets have spread
over the adjacent lands in geologically recent times ; advancing chiefly
south and south-westward in North America, and south and south-eastward
in Europe ; leaving the land dotted with lakes, and creating new landscapes
in the heavy drift deposits left on the peripheral areas (Figs. 52 and 329).
The fertile prairies of the Ohio and upper Mississippi basin and further north
to Winnipeg, underlain by widespread Palaeozoic formations, correspond
to the Russian plains of horizontal Palaeozoic strata. The treeless plains
formed largely by Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments, slowly ascending
towards the base of the Rocky Mountains, match the Asiatic steppes of
Tertiary deposits, slowly ascending towards the great mountain chains of
central Asia. In both these regions of great horizontal extent and small
vertical relief, the rainfall decreases with distance from the Atlantic, and
the innermost districts are sub-arid or desert. Not until the massive
mountain chains of central Asia are reached can we find the homologue of
the western mountainous highlands of North America.
East Coast. — The coast lines of North America offer many illus-
trations of the manner in which relatively slight movements of elevation
or depression of a continental mass cause important changes in its
boundary, and introduce peculiar controls over the occupations of
its inhabitants. From New England north and west nearly to the
mouth of the Mackenzie river, the land now stands somewhat lower
than its average position during a considerable part of Tertiary
time ; hence the coast is generally bold and rocky, many deep bays
indent the land, outlying islands stand off shore, and the submerged
lowlands broaden the continental shelf. The Gulf of Maine with its
branch into the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of St. Lawrence heading in a
great estuary that leads tide water seven, hundred miles inland, Hudson
Bay and the many channels between the Arctic islands must all be
regarded as occupying "drowned lowlands." It is true that in geologically
recent times a movement of uplift has carried wave-cut cliffs, wave-built
beaches, and bay-floor sediments above the present sea-level around a
great part of this continental border, thus partly restoring to the lands
what they had previously lost ; but as the shore line is still fringed with
bays, inlets, and fjords, the uplift cannot have been so great as the depres-
sion that preceded it. The outlying area of Greenland is a great plateau
of ice and snow, burying a rugged land, whose shore line is fjorded like
that of its neighbours.
From New York city southward, the dominating continental movement
of recent times has been upward ; for the coastal plain of the Atlantic
States and of the Gulf of Mexico (see Figs. 353 and 360), demonstrates
elevation as clearly as the bays and fjords further north demonstrate
depression. Here the coast is low and flat, fringed with sand reefs built
by wave action on the shallow sea bottom. The elevation is complicated
with recent depressions of slight amount, by which certain open valleys
North America 667
along the coast from New Jersey to North Carohna have been transformed
into shallow arms of the sea ; but this depression is evidently of less
extent than the general uplift that preceded it, for the arms of the sea
seldom reach to the inner border of the coastal plain. In spite of the
depression, the continent retains some of the breadth gained by elevation,
a welcome addition to the land surface in a latitude of mild climate, fully
compensating for the submergence of certain lowlands further north,
where the sea water is probably as valuable in providing fishing grounds
and harbours as the lost lowlands would be for farming under the colder
air of those higher latitudes.
West Indies. — Although the West Indies were in an earlier para-
graph associated with South America, they may here be briefly described
with the northern continent. They offer three distinct types of land forms.
The larger islands, trending east and west, are the crest of great ridges
that divide the adjoining seas into well separated compartments, and these
ridges are best regarded as the submarine beginnings of an Antillean
mountain system. Many of the Lesser Antilles, arranged in a curved line
that recalls the island loops bordering eastern Asia, are of volcanic origin.
The Bahamas are low islands of organic growth, formed in large part
of wind-blown coral sand, of flat surface, and now partly submerged by
recent depression. They have steep submarine slopes to the north-east,
where the land rapidly descends to great depths beneath the Atlantic.
West Coast. — The western coast of North America repeats certain
features of the eastern coast, but with diminished breadth. North of
latitude 48°, there is the ragged outline that results from recent sub-
mergence ; but the measure of submergence appears to lessen along the
western side of Alaska, where the great delta of the Yukon would imply
that the land has been more stable than further south-east. The Aleutian
Island chain, chiefly volcanic, is the first of the series of loops fringing
the eastern border of Asia. For this reason, as well as for certain other
features of resemblance, the frozen lowlands of north-west Alaska may be
rather closely associated with those of north-eastern Asia, the two being
separated only by the narrow and shallow waters of Bering Strait. Along
the coast of southern Alaska and British Columbia, submergence has led
the sea far into the valleys of the mountainous highlands. Some of the
inner longitudinal valleys, beyond the outer ranges, are now under water,
forming " canals " of great value for coastwise navigation; the enclosing
range stands forth in a chain of hilly and mountainous islands. The land
hereabout commonly plunges at so steep an angle into the sea that level
ground is wanting along the shore, except where rivers have built their
deltas forward in protected bay heads.
Further south, the western coast of the United States and of Mexico
exhibits signs of comparatively recent elevation, of increasing distinctness
southward. Elevated beaches are described in Washington and California.
Strips of coastal plains occur along the Mexican coast, but they nowhere
668 The International Geography
attain the breadth of those bordering the Atlantic, and moreover, dis-
orderly movements have disturbed many of the littoral structures of
California in comparatively recent times ; these movements being associ-
ated with the modern periods of growth of the western mountain system,
and having no analogy along the Atlantic coast. Notable among illus-
trations of these littoral disturbances are. the islands that lie off the coast
of southern California, separated by deep-water channels from the main-
land, and having the appearance of disordered and dissected blocks of the
Earth's crust, here rising above the level of the sea. Appropriate to a
region of recent disturbance, the continental shelf is of very moderate
development, averaging not more than ten miles in breadth along the
coast of California. It is trenched at numerous points by "submerged
valleys," which are taken to indicate that for a relatively brief period the
continental border stood higher than at present, but the submergence by
which the present relative attitude of land and sea were gained did not
suffice to produce a coast of very irregular outline, and this downward
movement may be regarded as only an episode in a more general move-
ment of irregular elevation.
On the coast thus fashioned, the attack of the sea has cut cliffs on the
headlands, and has formed concave shores of sweeping curvature in the
re-entrants ; well protected harbours are therefore relatively rare. The chief
re-entrant of the southern coast is the Gulf of California ; this seems to be
a trough of local depression, while the enclosing peninsula of Lower
California is a mountain range of local and irregular elevation. The
Valley of California between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range is
another trough of local depression ; but here the trough is filled with land
waste washed from the adjoining mountains, and forming a fluviatile plain.
The sea enters a short distance inland from San Francisco, here making
the only strong re-entrant for a long distance along the Pacific border ; it
ha i n iLurallv become the site of the metropolis of western North America.
Laurentian Highlands. — The chief subdivisions of North America
may now be reviewed in a general way. The Laurentian Highlands, with
outlier-^ in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and in the rugged
uplands of northern Wisconsin and north-eastern Minnesota, consist of very
ancient rocks. Their coarsely crystalline texture shows that the rocks now
visible once lay far under ground ; for only deep within the crust can such
rock texture be produced. Their greatly deformed structure indicates
that the rock masses which formerly rose above the present surface once
possessed a vigorous mountain form ; for mountains are the only form
appropriate to such structures at the period of their deformation. The
comparatively even surface of the highlands of to-day must therefore be
regarded as the denuded platform of an ancient mountain system ; for only
by great denudation can the former mountain cover of the existing textures
and structures have been removed. But all this must have happened in the
dawn of geological time, for the ancient mountains were worn low early
North America
66,
enough for some of the oldest fossihferous strata to be laid upon their flanks
when their borders were submerged beneath an ancient sea. The Laurentian
Highlands may therefore be viewed as part of a very ancient land ; one of
the earliest and most extensive lands of the globe.
Since the time when all this happened the geological history of the
region has been uneventful. It has probably suffered repeated move-
ments of elevation and depression, with corresponding alternations of denu-
dation and deposition ; but as all the flanking Palaeozoic strata are still
essentially horizontal, no disorderly crushing and no great uplifts and disloca-
tions can have taken place since their deposition. During certain periods
of moderate elevation, valleys were eroded in the borders of the highlands ;
and these, now partly drowned, determine the bays and fjords of the coast.
Glacial Action. — Most notable of all events since the great denudation
of early time is the glaciation of the Laurentian region in a very modern stage
of the Earth's history ; a time
when these highlands resem-
bled the Greenland of to-day.
The ice sheets crept far south
and west overland, and the
results of their invasions on
the bordering regions are of
great geographical import-
ance. The highlands them-
selves, scoured under the ice
sheets, present a succession of
rocky mounds and irregular
hollows, drained by disorderly
and undeveloped streams.
Here we find ragged lakes,
often having more than one
outlet ; forested swamps and
grassy marshes traversed by sluggish streams ; split rivers including large
" islands " tens of miles in length, between the divided channels ; stretches
of smooth streams in open valleys alternating with falls and rapids in rocky
gorges. This great region, barren in the north-west, forested in the south-
east, is an irredeemable wilderness.
■ A short distance outside the highland border, where the Palreozoic
strata lie upon the floor of the older rocks, broad plains alternate with large
lakes that occupy depressions in the weaker layers ; ten or more important
water bodies lie in a curve from Lake Ontario to Great Bear Lake. The
history of these lakes has gained an almost dramatic interest in recent years,
for it has been shown that they are the residuals of much greater lakes that
for a time occupied the lacustrine belt when the present outlets were closed
by the retreating ice sheet of the last glacial invasion. The expanded
waters of the glacial-marginal lakes carried silt from the melting ice, and
>] Existing Glaciers 1^ I Ancient Ice She.et.
Fig. 329. — The Glaciation of North America.
670 The Internationa] Geography
the lake floors now laid bare form smooth prairies of fine deep soil, yielding
great crops of wheat if not too far north. Their fertility coupled with
modern means of transportation have seriously affected the commerce in
the food supply of the world. The lakes still remaining afford a marvellous
system of inland waterways.
South and west of the lake belt, glacial action has been on the whole
constructive, instead of destructive. For tens of miles together, not a ledge
of rock is to be seen ; the surface is heavily sheeted with glacial drift, the
greater part of which has a fine and fertile soil. Although commonly
treated as if pertinent to geology, it cannot be questioned by those who
know the appearance of this vast drift-covered prairie region that glacial
action has many geographical consequences.
Appalachians. — The Appalachian highland, extending from New-
foundland to Alabama (and probably reappearing west of the Mississippi in
Arkansas and Indian Territory) is
one of those old mountain ranges,
made in the earlier and middle
ages of the Earth's history; so long
ago that the original mountains
have been for the most part worn
down to lowlands ; their present
moderate height is due to the local
success of the most enduring rocks
in resisting complete denudation,
or to a relatively modern uplift of
the region to upland height ; or to
both causes combined. Being co
old, the Appalachians have none
of the bold and irregular forms of
younger and more vigorous moun-
tains, where lofty peaks rise be-
tween deep passes. Ridges with
Fig. 330. — Coufigiiratioii of North America.
even crest lines and broad uplands separated by open and populous
valleys are the prevailing forms. Only the culminating parts of the
svstem, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Black Moun-
tains of North Carolina, retain distinctly conical or peak-like forms, and
even here, forests clothe most of the mountain slopes, only occasional
summits rise above the tree line, and bare, angular crags are seldom seen.
The middle part of the system, known as the Allegheny Mountains in
Pennsylvania and Virginia, is of moderate elevation, and is intersected by
many and broad valleys. Immigration into the Ohio valley was here less
obstructed by the mountain ridges than by the Allegheny plateau which
lies west of them.
Trends in a north-east and south-west direction predominate in the
Appalachians, as may be seen in the land arms and fjords of Newfound-
North America 6yi
land and Nova Scotia, as well as in the ridges and the valleys of the
Alleghenies in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The boundaries of the system
are of interest in connection with its physical history. From New York
to Newfoundland the Appalachian belt of New England and the Provinces
dips under the sea on the east and north-east ; its structures do not end, they
simply descend beneath the sea and are lost to sight on account of a recent
continental depression. As the uplands slant down to lowlands near
the coast they are occupied b}^ a large population, especially in the
harbour cities where manufacturing and commerce are active. Further
inland the population is almost limited to the open valleys. From New
York to Alabama, the Appalachian structures decrease in height to the
south-east and south, and disappear under the coastal plain of the Atlantic
and Gulf States ; the inner margin of the plain roughly marks the shore
line of an earlier period of continental depression. Here a rural popula-
tion occupies the broader valleys and the lower uplands ; the chief cities
being associated with the inner border of the coastal plain, where rapids
in the outflowing rivers afford water power ; and again with the outer
border of the plain where the bays and the estuaries give harbourage to
seagoing vessels. Only on the north-west is a true termination of the
mountain system discovered. Here the deformations that give so distinct
a trend to the upland ridges and valleys of the Appalachians die out. The
Laurentian uplands and the Adirondacks, consisting of ancient rocks long
undisturbed, adjoin the Appalachians of the Provinces and of New
England ; the Allegheny plateau, of nearly horizontal sedimentary strata,
adjoins the Appalachians of the middle and southern States.
The Allegheny plateau is known as the Catskill Mountains in New
York, and the Cumberland tableland in Tennessee and Alabama. Between
these two extremes much of its hilly surface is known as the Allegheny
Mountains, although this term should properly be restricted to the long,
even-crested ridges that lie next to the south-east from Pennsylvania to
Tennessee. Taking the plateau altogether, it descends by a strong escarp-
ment into the valleys of the Alleghenies on the south-east, while it
gradually decreases in altitude towards the prairies of the middle Ohio
and Mississippi on the west. Throughout this plateau, as well as among
the Pennsylvania ridges on the east and under certain of the prairies
further west, lie the great stores of coal on which the industrial prosperity
of the eastern United States largely depends.
Rocky Mountain System. — The western highlands of North America,
or the Rocky Mountain system in general, is widest in latitude 40° ; and
thence narrows to its end in the Alaskan range about latitude 63°, and to
its termination near the great Mexican volcanoes in latitude 18° Its eastern
boundary is generally well defined by a sudden descent to the Great Plains.
Its western border touches the sea for nearly all its length. Within its
area there is a great variety of structure and form. The Selkirk Range,
crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the broad St. Elias Alps in
6^2 The International Geography
Alaska, are truly Alpine in form, with great snow-fields and long glaciers.
The Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon and the southern ranges of
Mexico are crowned with great volcanic cones. Extensive plateaux of
horizontal structure are found in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, bearing
dissected volcanic cones and lava flows on the uplands, and trenched by
deep canyons, of which that of the Colorado is the most famous. Vast
lava plateaux occupy interment basins in Idaho and Washington, where
they are cut down in the canyons of the Columbia and Snake rivers ; that
of the Snake being less known but hardly less marvellous than that of the
Colorado. Many ranges of moderate dimensions inclose intermont
depressions that are now occupied by aggraded or waste-filled plains ; the
plateau of Mexico being only an extensive development of these basins
between the eastern and western ranges of the Sierra Madre.
As is the rule among mountains, the individual ridges generally result
from the erosion of valleys in broadly uplifted ranges, rather than from
direct and local uplift. Many of the separate ridges of the Rocky Moun-
tain ranges in Canada and Montana are thus produced ; the view from
their summits disclosing a " sea of mountains," ridge following ridge to the
horizon, like waves on the ocean. The peaks frequently attain, but seldom
exceed, a height of 12,000 or 14,000 feet. Greater elevations are found
in the far north-west where Mounts St. Elias and Logan exceed
i8,030 feet on either side of the Alaskan boundary, and in the far south,
where the Mexican volcanoes rise above the snow line to similar but
slightly less altitudes.
In certain parts of the w^estern highlands, dislocation is more
directly responsible for the existing relief of the land ; and this as
well as the great general altitude of the region places it in strong
contrast with the lesser eastern highlands. Certain of the mountain ridges
and ranges are the immediate result of the uplift of the crust-blocks whose
initial form has not yet been wholly effaced by the carving of valleys on their
flanks. The Sierra Nevada is, in a large way, a great tilted block, or series
of blocks, the eastern face being short and steep, the western slope being
long and relatively gentle ; both faces are now scored by deep valleys
through which the mountain waste is carried out to form the adjacent
plains. The lofty plateaux of Arizona are bounded by great cliffs, the
edges of the huge plateau-blocks, that have been uplifted to altitudes
differing by a thousand feet or more, and now made rugged by
gnawing streams. Further east, basins among the mountains of Colorado,
Wyoming and Montana, are the obverse of the ranges that have been
uplifted around them, the basins being heavily aggraded with the
mountain waste. It is believed that lakes occupied some of these basins
for a time, but that stage is now past ; the outflowing rivers have
cut down the enclosing ranges in deep gorges, still so narrow as to be
impassable except to carefully constructed railroads. It is in the basins
that most of the population gathers in the mountain region.
North America 673
South of latitude i8°, the mountains of Central America are largely
volcanic, with little relation to the features of the Rocky Mountain system.
Where ridges appear, they generally have east and west trends, and thus
seem to be associated with the Antillean Mountain system, of which the
greater part is submerged in the Caribbean Sea and made known only by
soundings as submarine ridges.
The Great Plains.— The Great Plains slope eastward from the base
of the Rocky ^lountains. They are broadest between latitudes 35° and 55°.
Further north, they are narrowed by the convergence of the lacustrine
belt on the east and the mountains on the west ; further south, they merge
into the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico ; beyond southern Texas their
width is measured only in tens of miles. Over their widest expanse they
present a vast surface of moderate yet varied relief. They are frequently
interrupted by embossed mesas and escarpments, or by incised valleys ;
yet the name of " plains " is well applied, for the view from every little
eminence is almost as boundless as upon the sea. On the east, the plains
merge into the prairies ; on the west they are interrupted by foot-hills and
outlying ridges near the base of the mountains. A mountain group in
Dakota known as the Black Hills, named from the dark forests that
crown it, diversities the treeless plains and introduces mining and
lumbering in the midst of open cattle ranges. The Ouachita ridges extend-
ing westward from Arkansas, break in upon the plains about latitude 35° ;
further south they are known in Texas as the " Llano estacado " with bold
and ragged escarpments on nearly all sides.
Like the vast plains of eastern Europe and western Asia, the Great
Plains of North America stretch over so great a distance on theEarth "s
convex surface that they are more varied in climate than in form. Far
north, they are frozen and barren. Between latitudes 50° and 60°, they
are forested, the temperature here not being low enough to prevent tree
growth and not high enough to cause active evaporation and leave the
surface arid. From 55° southward into Mexico, the plains are treeless for
the most part, this being a direct result of their dryness, which in turn is
due almost as largely to their summer warmth as to their light rainfall.
In Mexico and Yucatan, where the rainfall increases under the trade winds,
the lowlands have a tropical flora of increasing richness southward ; in
contrast to the mild climate of the plateaux, the narrow coastal plains are
here known as the " tierra caliente,"
Climate. — The varied climates of North America afford many com-
binations of the geometrical zones of temperature, wind, and rainfall,
appropriate to the globular form of the Earth, with the irregular or
arbitrary arrangement of these climatic factors caused by the non-
geometrical outline and relief of the lands.
Zonal arrangement is seen in the decrease of temperature and rainfall
from almost equatorial conditions at the Isthmus of Panama, to almost polar
conditions bordering the Arctic Sea. It is displayed with equal distinctness
,1.— A\;//; Anurica, Isothenm. for yamiary.
{After Biichan.)
674 The International Geography
in the easterly winds of the torrid belt that cover the peninsular and
insular lands on the south, and in the stormy westerly winds that prevail
over a broad belt of middle and higher latitudes. The irregular distribu-
tion of the climatic factors is seen in the far northward summer migration
of the heat equator to the
deserts of Arizona and western
Mexico as compared with the
moderate migration on the
oceans, and in the great annual
temperature range with ex-
treme winter cold on the
central plains of Canada, in
contrast to the moderate
ranges prevailing over the
oceans in similar latitudes.
It is found again in the plen-
tiful rainfall of the western
mountain slopes in temperate latitudes, while the intermont basins and the
eastern slopes are dry, and in the abundant rainfall of the eastern slopes in
the trade wind belt, where the western slopes are relatively arid. Nothing
can be more striking than the contrast between the moderate change of
seasons along the Pacific coast from Alaska to California, and the violent
changes from winter to summer in the interior and along the middle
Atlantic border. These unlike conditions are dependent partly on the
arrangement of ocean currents as guided by continental barriers, and
partly on the distribution of temperatures by the prevailing winds. The
British Islands have, under the benign influence of the North Atlantic drift,
the most abnormally mild climate for their latitude in the world ; Labrador
in the same latitude has one
of the most severe of climates.
It is a frozen and snow-
covered wilderness in winter ;
it might have a comparatively
high mean temperature in
summer, but for the chill that
is received when the wind
blows inland from the cold ice-
laden current along its coast.
♦ Following upon these great
interior changes of tempera-
ture, the prevailing winds ex-
hibit something of a monsoon
effect in certain regions. They frequently blow from the Gulf of Mexico up
the Mississippi valley in summer, and down the valley to the Gulf in winter.
Some indications of inflow and outflow may also be perceived in summer
V - ^^v_ "
__*^.Ji^CT'
^
^^
-^^ ^T
^^^•^^ »^— '^^-~^^wL
w^
C"^^
y-
^W-
2^
^
-^^
""^'
^1"
^^_r
^
¥-
r?'iv.
Fig
532. — Xorth Aiucriia. Isotherms for y iily.
{After Buchau.)
North America
75
F» J«H Ftl. Ma« /IP«. Mat Jun. Jul Ijc Sep. Ocf. Mt OtC. 1" |
80
75
70
65
60
55
60
45
11
.-
,'
/
\
f —
' — ■
■
',^
rr
d
_,
._
.^
-V
-^"
/
—
...
_
ii_
35
2S
"vli-t^
b
^ .ri :•
San Francisco — NewYork-
-4
Fig. 333. — Tenipcratiiie and Rainfall
Curves for San Francisco and Nciv
York.
and winter along the Arctic coast. There is furthermore a breaking of the
wind belts merely from the occurrence of transverse land barriers. It is
chiefly on account of the obstacle formed by
the western highlands that a branch of the
prevailing westerly winds turns towards
the trades off the Pacific coast, especially in
winter when the low continental tempera-
ture discourages the entrance of winds
from the ocean. Similarly, the trades give
forth branches to the westerly winds east
of the Mexican highlands, especially in
summer when the high continental tempera-
ture persuades the winds to blow inland.
The ovals of high and low pressure,
known as cyclonic and anticyclonic areas,
which so markedly characterise the westerly
winds of temperate latitudes, are not only well developed as they drift across
North America, but they have been abundantly charted in the great series of
official weather maps for the United States and a bordering belt of Canada.
While the anticyclones are generally associated with fair weather, the
cyclonic areas provide most of the heavy clouds and rainfall on their path.
During the passage of these atmospheric disturbances across the interior
plains, they determine the strong changes of weather for which the region
is noted ; the vast extent of comparatively
low open country permitting a free im-
portation of air currents from frigid and
torrid latitudes on either hand.
Rainfall and Vegetation.— While
the extremes of temperature are the con-
trolling climatic factors in determining the
vegetable products and human industries
between the far north and south, variation
of rainfall exercises the most important
climatic control across the great breadth
of the continent in middle latitudes. A
vast extent of country in the interior, shut
off by the mountains from the moist winds
of the Pacific, is too dry for ordinary
processes of agriculture, unless resort is
had to irrigation. Where most arid, the
surface is a desert, although seldom so
absolutely barren as the driest deserts of
the Old World. Where a light rainfall
is received, a thin growth of grass that once supported vast herds of
bisons now gives scanty pasture to ranging cattle. Trees are wanting
r- J»». Pu, Ma« APR Mat.Jjn.Jui.Auc Sep Oct Km Dec iu |
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
-5
-10
■
7
6
5
4
2
_^
-N
/
\
\
/
9-
/
A,
^^
/
/■
/
/
\
\
/
L
\
\
i;:;^
—
._,
\
\
^-
V— i
—
VrVra
i
fjr
iS
.•■■■■.■••• ^^
rr
\
m
w.
_
1
i'i-
/
\
/
\
Winnipeg Ne.w Orleans—
Fig 334. — Temperature andRainf all
Curves for Winnipeg and New
Orleans.
I^'IG. 335. — The Mean Annual Rainfall of North
America. {After Supan.)
676 The International Geography
over a great space of broad plains and intermont basins west of the
looth meridian ; but the mountain slopes are forested, especially as
the Pacific is neared, the western descent of the Cascade Range being
j..--r . ^ '-N^''^^^--v^ svrs'^N ^ q densely occupied by trees of
X;-''.'.": .^^ ^-T^^A h ^ \ great size. East of the 90th
meridian, excepting for the
prairies of the Mississippi
and Winnipeg region, and
the barren grounds of the
far north, forests originally
covered the entire country,
for here the beneficent sub-
mergence under the Caribbean
and Mexican Mediterraneans
of what would otherwise be
an American Sahara permits
a plentiful rainfall over the
eastern part of the continent. When first explored, great tracts of forest
were found to have been devastated by fire. Although the forests have
now been extensively cut for timber and cleared for farming, the living
trees at present are believed to be not greatly decreased below the number
that were growing at the time of first settlement.
Aboriginal People. — Four hundred years ago. North America was
for the most part thinly populated by savage or barbarous peoples. In
Mexico and Central America the inhabitants had developed an elaborate
stone architecture, shown now in the temples whose ruins are often con-
cealed under heavy forest growth. Further north, numerous earthworks
and fortifications mark the sites of pre-Columbian settlements, as in the
Ohio basin ; these are by some attributed to an extinct people ; by others,
to the immediate ancestors of the wandering warlike tribes, to whom
a memorial of Columbus's faulty reckoning of longitude still clings in
the name of " Indians." The early Americans had learned to do simple
weaving, to make rough pottery, to carve shells, to hammer the native
copper of Lake Superior, and to chip flints and polish stone imple
ments in the neolithic fashion. They seem to have had no horses when
first discovered, but the tribes of the open prairies and plains became
expert horsemen in later times. In the western desert interior there
are " pueblos," or villages, built for protection on isolated mesas, still occu-
pied, and probably to be associated with the abandoned cliff dwellings
of the neighbouring canyon walls. On the north-west coast there are
tribes remarkable for their fantastic wood carvings. In the far north the
Eskimos are made torpid, as far as development goes, by the extreme
rigour of their surroundings. Striking differences of language prevailed
among many of the tribes, especially those on the Pacific slope.
History. — The early discovery of North America by the way of
North America
77
Iceland seems to be authenticated in the " Sagas," but no traces of previous
settlements were found by later comers. The Columbian discovery sooner
or later led the Spaniards to found colonies from Florida southward, the
French from Louisiana and Acadia (now Nova Scotia) northward, and the
British along the middle Atlantic coast. Conquest, treaty and purchase
have now placed the Anglo-Saxon element in possession of the continent
from Mexico northward. The defeat of the French at Quebec in 1759
brought to the British crown all the St. Lawrence region except some small
" enclaves " on or near Newfoundland. The last quarter of the eighteenth
century witnessed the stormy separation of the Atlantic colonies from the
United Kingdom, and their union in the first of the great modern republics
— the United States. Purchase in 1803, when the Emperor Napoleon was
in need of money, brought Louisiana (the western basin of the Mississippi)
to the United States, and
in 1867 added the pre-
viously Russian territory
of Alaska to the Republic.
Mexico and the other
Central American States
secured their indepen-
dence from Spain in
the first quarter of the
nineteenth century, and
adopted republican forms
of government (Fig. 350).
The attempt to bring
Mexico again under Euro-
pean control, at a time
when the United States
was distracted by civil
war, fortunately met early failure. In the meantime, fed by a great number
of European colonists, the several northern British colonies (except New-
foundland) have united in the Dominion of Canada, which now stretches
from the Atlantic and Pacific to the Arctic ; the territory of the United States
has been extended west to the Pacific, partly by exploration, partly at the
expense of Mexico ; and, as a result of the war of 1898, Cuba has been
separated from Spain, and Porto Rico fallen to the share of the United
States as one of the first non-Continental possessions which the future
seems to have in store for it.
The rapidity wath which the northern New World has been turned to
the uses of civilisation is an appropriate consequence of the century of
steam, electricity, and the wholesale production of steel. Railw^ays and
telegraphs now unite the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of North America,
and serve as political as well as commercial bonds between the east and
west. Steamships and cables bring Europe and North America into the
t'lG. I2)b.— Chief Railways of North America.
6^8 The International Geography
closest relations as to people and commerce. Even so small a matter as
getting the time by one's watch is now done in concert, not with the
people of North America alone, but with those of western Europe as
well, for the greater part of the northern New World is divided into
" time belts," whose noon hour falls four, five, six, seven or eight hours
earlier than noon at Greenwich. Isolated villages in the backwoods may
still hold to the old-fashioned habit of keeping local time, but the larger
communities which use the railways as the basis of nearly all activities,
adopt Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific time, according to
their position.
STATISTICS.
THE COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA.
Area in square miles. Population.
United States of America (including Alaska) . . 3,501,000 . . 75,560,000
Duininion of Canada 3,300,000 . , 5,370,000
Mexico 767,000 . . 13,500,000
Newfoundland (and Labrador) .. .. .. 161,000 .. 217,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
N. S. Shaler. " Nature and Man in America." New York and London, 1892.
E. J. Payne. " History of the New World called America." Oxford. 2 vols. 1892, 1899,
E. Deckert. " Nordamerika " (ed. by Sievers). 2nd ed. Leipzig and Vienna, 1904.
H. H. Bancroft. Historical Works. 39 vols. San Francisco, 1883-90.
F. Parkman. Historical Works. 12 vols. New York and London.
I. C. Russell. " Lakes of North America." Boston and London, 1900.
■ "Glaciers of North America." Boston and London, 1901.
P. Fountain. " The Great Deserts and Forests of North America." London, 1901.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.- COLONIAL NORTH
AMERICA
I.— THE DOMINION OF CANADA
By J. B. Tyrrell, M.A., B.Sc,
Formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada.
Position and Boundaries. — British North America, including under
this name Canada and Newfoundland, occupies the whole of the northern
part of the continent of North America, except Alaska, which belongs to
the United States. It lies between longitudes 53° and 141° W., and touches
the 42nd parallel on the south. The total area is rather over three and
a half million square miles, or slightly larger than the United States, including
Alaska, and somewhat smaller than the whole of Europe. Its greatest
length, on a line drawrv from Cape Race, in Newfoundland, to Mount St.
Elias, on the boundary of Alaska, is 3,400 miles.
Its only land boundary is with the United States, being separated from
the territory of Alaska by the meridian of 141° \V., and an undemarcated
line parallel to the Pacific coast. The southern frontier, 3,260 miles in
length, passes through the straits of Juan de Fuca and Haro on the west,
along the parallel of 49° N. to the Lake of the Woods, east of which it
takes a very irregular course, passes through the middle of Lakes Superior,
Huron, Erie, and Ontario, then follows the highlands north of the State
of Maine, and finally turns southward to the mouth of the St. Croix river
on the Bay of Fundy.
Coasts. — The eastern continental shore extends from the mouth of
the St. Croix river in a very sinuous course northwards to Cape C.hidley.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is its most conspicuous and important
hydrographic feature, is a pear-shaped sea 500 miles long, cut off from
the main Atlantic by the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton,
and receiving on the west the great river St. Lawrence. The islands
of Prince Edward and Anticosti lie within it. The northern coast of
the mainland extends from Cape Chidley to Demarcation Point, on the
border of Alaska, north of which is the immense Arctic archipelago,
the islands for the most part being separated by rather shallow water,
Hudson Bay, which is a great indentation on this northern coast, is one
of the most important physical features of the Dominion of Canada,
extending, as it does, southward until it reaches to within 300 miles of the
679
68o The International Geography
north shore of Lake Superior. It thus divides the land-mass of Canada
into two great parts, the smaller lying east and south-east, and the larger
west of its shores. It is an inland sea, 1,300 miles in its greatest length,
and 600 miles in maximum breadth, with an average depth in the
centre of 60 fathoms. Its water, except in James' Bay, is clear and
salt like the Atlantic, with which it is connected by Hudson Strait. The
Pacitic Coast-line, beginning at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, runs north-
westward to the southern extremity of Alaska, a distance of 530 miles. It
has an extremely irregular outline, on account of the many fjords and
off-lying islands.
Configuration and Geology. — The land-surface of Canada, and
Fig. 337. — The Geological Structure of Canada.
in fact of the whole of the North American continent, has been built up
around a great V-shaped area of Archaean rocks, which extends from the
northern and eastern shore of Labrador round the north of the Great
Lakes, and thence north-westward to the Arctic Sea. In the centre of this
V lies Hudson Bay, while around it are the fertile plains of eastern and
western Canada. This area, which has been called the Laurentian
plateau, has a gently undulating rocky surface, in which the existing
streams have nowhere cut deep valleys. In the depressions are some
considerable areas of fertile land, but as a rule the region cannot support
a large agricultural population. The eastern and w^estern borders of the
Dominion of Canada 68 1
continent risb in two main S3'stems of mountain chains, known respectively
as the Appalachian and Cordilleran systems, the former dying out in eastern
Canada and Newfoundland, while the latter, which forms the backbone
of the continent, runs to its highest summits in north-western Yukon,
where Mount St. Elias has an altitude of i8,oio feet, and Mount Logan a
reputed altitude of 19,500 feet. Between the Laurentian plateau and the
Appalachian Mountains lies the fertile plain of the Great Lakes and the
St. Lawrence valley, which as yet contains the larger portion of the
population of Canada, while between the Laurentian plateau and the
Cordilleran chain lie the vast plains and prairies of western Canada. The
country has been divided by the late Dr. G. M. Dawson into : — (i) Eastern
lowlands and hills, almost entirely based on old and hard Palaeozoic rocks.
(2) The Laurentian plateau. (3) The inland plains, principally based on the
comparatively soft rocks of Mesozoic age, which still lie nearly as flat as
when they were originally deposited. (4) The Cordilleran or western
mountain region.
Hydrography. — The mainland of Canada may be divided into four
hydrographic basins.
(i) In the Atlantic basin the principal stream is the St. Lawrence,
which rises. far in the interior of the continent, and after a course of
2,100 miles, in v^liich it chains the most magnificent series of fresh-
water lakes in the world, empties by a wide and deep estuary into the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its basin -has an area of half a million square miles.
From Lake Erie, the Niagara river is broken by the Niagara Falls,
where the whole drainage of the four upper lakes plunges 167 feet over a
rocky ledge.
(2) The drainage basin of Hudson Bay is the largest in the Dominion,
and into it converge streams flowing from the east, south, and west. Of
these the Saskatchewan-Nelson is the most important for length, drainage-
area, and the fertility of the land it drains.
(3) The principal stream in the Arctic drainage-area is the Mackenzie
river, whose sources are mainly in the Rocky Mountains. The Finlay
and Peace form the longest of the tributaries, though the Athabasca, rising
farther south, is usually regarded as the main upper branch of the river.
Athabasca, Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes — three of the largest of the
many great bodies of water which lie along the edge of the Laurentian
plateau — are tributary to the Mackenzie.
(4) The Pacific area is in part drained by rapid streams which flow
more or less directly into the ocean, among which the Fraser is the
most important ; and in part by the Yukon which rises behind the Coast
Range and flow^s more or less parallel with that range, northward through
the Yukon district, and westward through Alaska, 644 miles being in
Canada.
Climate. — In so extensive a region the cHmate necessarily exhibits
great diversities, but for the most part it may be said to be continental.
682 The International Geography
Dr. G. M. Dawson divides the whole country into three climatic areas.
(i) The Eastern region characterised by great range of temperature and
ample rainfall. This includes all the older
provinces of Canada, with Newfoundland,
and extends westward nearly to Winnipeg.
It is naturally the great forest region.
(2) The Inland region, adjoining the last
and stretching westward to within a short
distance of the Pacific Coast. This is
characterised by very great range in
temperature and moderate rainfall. It
includes the great prairies and open
plains, but is also in large part more
or less wooded. (3) The Pacific Coast
region, which does not include the
whole Pacific slope, but only a narrow
belt on the seaward side of the western
¥iG. 33ii.— Temperature and Rainfall mountain range of the Cordillera. The
of New Westminster and Montreal. ,. , • • -ii n r
chmate is oceanic, with small range of
temperature, and great rainfall and humidity.
The following table of mean temperature illustrates these climates : —
v Jan Feb. Mta Am. May. Juk. Jul Auc. Sep. Dci. II«v Dec In
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
15
10
5
10
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
r
r-
\,
/
/"
\
s
/
^
—
—
/
-
--
--
-
.-
-\
s:'
--
■^
y
;ns
—
/
::^
V
,1
/
^
_
-r.
'\
i
1
I
m
7^
M
•ti
1
1
1
w.
A^
.w Westminster — Montreal—
-
Summer.
(July, August
September.)
Eastern.— Charlottetown, P.E.I.
61-9
St. John, N.B.
58-5
Halifa.x, N.S.
6r6
Montreal. Que.
648
Toronto, Ont.
641
7»/a;;rf.— Winnipeg, Man.
597
Paa>c.— Victoria, B.C.
570
Winter.
Range between
(January, Feb-
Mean Summer
ruary, March.)
and Winter.
198
421
22-3
362
247
369
171
477
246
395
1-5
582
410
160
Forests. — Speaking generally, British North America is a region of
forest, and east of Winnipeg almost all of the land which is now under
cultivation has been cleared of the heavy growth of timber which once
covered it. Extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and with a width
of from 200 to 300 miles, is the vast sub-Arctic forest which is composed
largely of black and white spruce {Abies nigra and A. alba) and larch
{Larix Americana). These trees have essentially the same northern limit,
the black spruce dwindling to a shrub before it disappears, while the
others retain throughout their tree-like character. The northern limit of
the forest, and the southern edge of the " Barren Lands " is not determined
by winter cold, or mean annual temperature, but is controlled entirely by
the length and warmth of the summer ; the northern limit of the forest
closely follows the line of a mean summer temperature of 50° F.
In eastern Canada this sub-Arctic forest merges on the south into a forest
of deciduous trees, characterised by the great number and variety of its
species, there being sixty-five species in Ontario alone. In western Canada
the trees of the more southern forest continue chiefly coniferous in type,
Dominion of Canada 683
but on account of the moistness of the climate many attain to gigantic size.
In central Canada the coniferous forest is skirted by a belt fifty to a
hundred miles wide of intermittent forest of aspen (Populus tremuloides),
south of which are the open grassy plains, where the climate is too dry for
the growth of continuous woods.
Fauna. — One of the most interesting animals to be found on the con-
tinent is the musk-ox (Ovibos moschattis), which lives, even in winter, on
the Barren Lands and on the Arctic islands. Barren-ground caribou
{Rangifer grcenlandictis) roam in great herds over the same plains in
summer, but in winter most of them go south within the edge of the
forest. The five remaining species of deer, including the moose {Alces
Americanus), and the waskasew, or American elk {Cerviis Canadensis) inhabit
different parts of the woodland area to the south. Bison {Bos Americanus)
formerly ranged in countless herds over the plains and prairies east of the
Rocky Mountains, but in the wild state they are now practically extinct.
Prong-horned antelope are still fairly numerous on the plains, and moun-
tain sheep and mountain goats are to be found in most of the more
inaccessible parts of the Cordilleras. The sub-Arctic forest is the home of
the most important fur-bearing animals, including the beaver, bear (brown
and black), marten, musk rat, otter, fisher, fox (black, red, and w^hite), mink,
lynx, skunk, and wolverine. Most of the birds are migratory, breeding
during the summer in the north, and going south as the winter sets in.
Perhaps the most interesting bird is the Canada jay, or whiskey-jack
{Perisorens Canadensis), which hves throughout the year in the sub-Arctic
forest, and nests and hatches its young in February and March, during
the severe cold of the winter season. The coastal waters, rivers and lakes
abound in fish, among which the most important are the cod, salmon,
herring and whitefish.
People. — When the country was discovered by Europeans, it was
occupied by a scattered native population, who were
then called Indians. Their descendants are still
scattered throughout the whole Dominion, those in the
more thickly inhabited districts having adopted the
habits and modes of life of the white people in the
vicinity, while those in the more remote regions still
live by hunting and fishing. The Indians now number
about 100,000, or about one-fiftieth of the population.
They are divided into a large number of tribes, ^ulali^on ofT%tfre
which belong to about ten or eleven distinct linguistic ""^^ of the Dominion
stocks. Of these the Algonkian is much the largest
and most important, for its people occupy the greater part of the sub-
Arctic forest from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and they are,
par excellence, the fur hunters of Canada. They travel chiefly on the lakes
and streams, the birch-bark canoe being their peculiar boat, and the birch-
bark tent, or wigwam, their home. The Crees, Ojibways, and Blackfoot
45
684 The International Geography
belong to this stock. North of them, to the edge of the Barren Lands
between Hudson Bay and the Pacific, are the tribes of the Tinne stock, who
are for the most part deer hunters. Further north the Eskimo, or Innuits
(Inwi), inhabit the whole northern coast from the Strait of Belle Isle to
Alaska, including parts of the shores of Hudson Bay. They are strong
and well-built, good hunters, endowed with remarkable perseverance, and
capable of enduring great fatigue. They live chiefly on marine animals,
which they kill with a spear or harpoon, but there is also an inland tribe
on the banks of Kazan river, west of Hudson Bay, which subsist almost
entirely on reindeer. The Iroquois were the ablest, both intellectually and
physically, of all the North American Indians, and their Confederacy,
known as the Six Nations, for a long time held the balance of power
between the early English and French settlers. They now live in the
settled parts of Ontario and Quebec. The Sioux, or Assiniboines, live on
the western interior plains, while
the Haida, Kwakioor, Tsimshiian,
Salish, and Kootenay live on the
coast or in the broken mountainous
districts of British Columbia.
Of the population of Canada in
1 891, 86 per cent, were born in
Canada, and 10 per cent, in other
parts of the British Empire. Of
these 29 per cent, speak French,
while almost all the rest speak
English. Forty-one per cent, are
Roman Catholics, while most of
the remainder belong to various
Protestant denominations.
In the unoccupied parts of the
western provinces and territories,
land may be obtained either free or at a nominal cost by any Dne willing to
settle upon and work it. This land is held as the property of the Dominion
Government until allocated, and the Dominion Land Survey is charged
with surveying the unoccupied country and marking it out into rectangular
townships, each of six miles square divided by lines running north and
south and east and west into thirty-six sections of one square mile each.
Thus every piece of land is readily identified.
Internal Communications. — The great rivers and lakes of Canada
have furnished means of access from the coast to the interior from the
dates of the very earliest settlements. This is especially true of the St.
Lawrence, which is navigable to Montreal for ocean-going steamers
drawing i']\ feet of water. Thence steamers can ascend to the head
of Lake Superior, the obstructions in the rivers being overcome by eight
canals and fifty-four locks, which have a depth of fourteen feet or more.
Fig. 340. — A typical Township Plan of 36 square
miles showing Sections and Quarter-sections.
Canada — Nova Scotia 685
The Saskatchewan and its branches are continuously navigable for
steamers of light draft for 1,200 miles ; the Mackenzie and its tributaries
have 4,300 miles of navigable waters, broken at only three places by rapids
or falls. In the Yukon basin there are about 2,600 miles of continuous
navigation.
An extensive system of railways now unites the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean, serving the whole of the settled part of the country and opening up
much of the interior to settlement. The total length of these railways in
1902 was 18,714 miles (see Fig. 336), and large schemes of railway extension
have been proposed.
Government. — The Dominion of Canada is a federation of self-
governing colonies associated for common affairs. The Dominion
Government consists of (i) a Governor-General appointed by the British
Government to represent the Crown for a term of live years ; (2) a Senate
of 81 members appointed by the Crown (on the advice of the Privy Council
of Canada) for life; (3) a House of Commons of 213
members, elected for five years on a very liberal fran-
chise, liable to be dissolved by the Governor-General
on the advice of the Ministry ; (4) an Executive
Ministry composed of 13 or more members, having
seats in the two Houses of ParHament, and holding
office only so long as it has the support of the majority
of the members of the House of Commons; (5) a
Dominion Tudiciarv composed of six judges, acting as _
a Court of Appeal from all the provmcial courts, Bearings of the Domi-
though its decisions are subject to review on appeal nion of Canada.
by the Judicial Committee of the Queen's Privy Council in London.
In each of the provinces there is a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by
the Governor-General in Council for a term of live years ; a Legislative
Assembly composed of members elected for terms of four or five years ;
and also in Nova Scotia and Quebec a Legislative Council or upper house
appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council for life. There is also
an Executive Council of from 5 to 12 members, who hold office as long as
they are supported by a majority in the popular Assembly. A Judiciary
in each of the provinces is appointed by the Governor-General in Council.
Besides these there are in most of the provinces municipal or local
councils, who have the control of their local affairs, and have the power to
tax for the support of schools and the prosecution of public works of a
local character.
NOVA SCOTIA
Position and Coasts. — Nova Scotia, the most south-easterly pro-
vince of the Dominion of Canada, consists of a long and rather narrow
peninsula, extending in a south-west and north-east direction, and the
large island of Cape Breton, lying off its north-eastern end. It lies
686 The International Geography
between 59^° and 66° W. long., and 43^° and 47° N. lat., being thus in the
same latitude as Switzerland and the south of France. Near the middle
of its north-western side it is connected with New Brunswick by an
isthmus which at one point is only 16 miles in width.
The south-western portion of the peninsula has the Bay of Fundy and
Chignecto Bay on the south, while the north-eastern end of the peninsula
and Cape Breton Island are bounded on the north by Northumberland
Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Gut of Canso, only a mile and
a half in width at its narrowest part, separates Cape Breton Island from
the mainland, and the island itself is almost divided by an arm of the sea
known as Great Bras d'Or. The Athmtic coast is bold and rocky, and is
indented by many bays, almost all of which furnish safe anchorage for the
largest ships. On the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy the coast is
much less broken, and the northern shore forms a moderately regular coast
from Bay Verte round the north point of Cape Breton. Pictou Harbour
is the most important of the several good harbours on the north coast.
Along the southern coast of the province, where the waves of the
Atlantic Ocean have carved the shore into very irregular shapes, there are
many small rocky islands. Sable Island lies 85 miles out in the open
Atlantic. It is a chain of sand dunes, 20 miles long and a mile wide,
resting on a more elevated part of the submarine banks, and forming a
great danger to shipping. Lighthouse and life-boat men are the only
inhabitants.
Configuration. — The surface of the province is rather irregular,
being formed of ridges, often diffuse and indefinite, which run more or
less parallel to the long axis of the peninsula, and intervening plains and
valleys. These ridges, which nowhere rise more than 1,200 feet above
the sea, are formed, like those of Newfoundland, by the outcrops of
harder rocks. The highest range, known as the Cobequid Mountains, runs
from the Bay of Fundy eastward to the Gut of Canso. A high bold
ridge of trap, known as North Mountains, forms the southern shore of
the Bay of Fundy, extending from Brier Island to Cape Blomidon, on
the south side of which, underlain by Triassic sandstone, is the Annapolis
valley, the garden of the province. Farther south, where the country is
underlain by Cambrian schists, quartzites, and intrusive granites, agricultural
land is mainly confined to the river valleys.
Climate. — The climate of this and the adjoining provinces of New
Brunswick and Prince Edward Island is more humid and much more
variable than that of central Canada, and fogs are common along the
northern and eastern coasts, where the cold Arctic currents hug the shore.
People and Industries. — Nova Scotia was probably the land dis-
covered by Lief Ericsen, the Northman, in a.d. iooo, and it was redis-
covered by Cabot in 1498, shortly after which its shores and harbours were
resorted to by French and Portuguese fishermen. In 1605 the French
founded the first European settlement on the shores of Annapolis basin, and
Canada— Prince Edward Island 687
for the next century, until the Peace of Utrecht was signed between France
and the. United Kingdom, Acadia (French, Acadie) remained in the hands
of the French ;-then under the name of Nova Scotia it became a British
colony and entered the Dominion of Canada on its formation. Most of
the present population have been born in the province, but their ancestors
were immigrants from different parts of Great Britain. Living within the
sound of the sea, and near a coast indented with many good harbours,
they naturally turn to the ocean for their means of subsistence. The
fisheries therefore, especially of cod and lobsters, form the most important
industry in the province. More than 14,000 boats and vessels and 27,000
men are engaged in this industry.
In the northern part of the province coal mines are extensively worked,
the total amount raised in 1901 being 4,200,000 tons, while in the southern
portion of the province gold is mined. Iron and gypsum are the other
chief mineral products,
Halifax, the capital, is situated about the middle of the south-east coast,
on a magnificent natural harbour, the nearest to Europe on this continent
that is open and free of ice all the year round. It is an important coaling
station for the British l^eet, and is strongly fortilied and garrisoned by
Imperial troops.
PRINCE ED^WARD ISLAND
Position and Surface. — Prince Edward Island, the smallest province
in the Dominion of Canada, lies within the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between
latitude 46° and 47° N., being separated from New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia by Northumberland Strait which is only ten miles wide at its
narrowest point. The island is 145 miles long, with a breadth of from 5 to
35 miles. Its coast is very irregular, projecting in long low points, and cut
into deep bays, many of w-hich have bars of sand stretching across them,
though these bars are usually broken through sufficiently to allow vessels
of light draught to enter. The island is underlain by soft red sandstones
of Permo-Carboniferous and Triassic age, which weather down readily
and evenly, and on this account the surface is without strongly marked
prominences and nowhere rises more than 500 feet above the sea.
Resources and People. — The soil, like the underlying rock, is red
in colour, and is very fertile, so that agriculture occupies the attention
of the people to a large extent. Potatoes and oats are the chief products,
but cheese and butter are ilso now becoming important. Many fine
horses are also reared. Next to agriculture fishing is the chief industry,
the lobster-fibhing being the most important, while the oyster-beds furnish
more than half the oysters collected in Canada. The province is the
most thickly peopled in the Dommion, tlie average density being 54 to the
square mile. The people are mostly native born, but about half are of
Scottish descent. The province joined the Dominion in 1873. Charlotte'
town, the capital, is situated on an excellent harbour on the south coast.
688 The International Geography
NE^Wr BRUNS^WICK
Position and Surface. — New Brunswick is roughly rectangular in
shape with a greatest length from north to south of 205 miles. Exclusive
of islands it lies between 45° and 48° N., "being thus in the same latitude as
central France, or southern Hungary. It has land boundaries with the
province of Quebec on the north, the State of Maine on the west, and
the province of Nova Scotia at the isthmus of Chignecto in the east. Its
coasts face the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy. There are
many good harbours, though the east coast is for the most part low, with
outlying sandy shoals. Bay Chaleur, to the north, is 85 miles long, and
free of rock and shoals, while the Bay of Fundy on the south is noted as
having the highest tides in the world, the spring tides at the head of the
bay rising 50 feet.
The central tract, underlain by rocks of Carboniferous age, is a
low-lying plain, seldom rising more than a few hundred feet above the
sea, and sloping gently towards the east coast. Both it, and much of
the higher country in the north-west portion of the province, underlain
by Silurian rocks, are well adapted for agriculture, but as yet only a small
portion is cultivated. The country underlain by disturbed and altered
crystalline and Cambrian rocks along the south coast, and stretching
diagonally north-eastward through the province, is much more rugged and
broken, the latter belt rising into numerous high peaks ; Bald Mountain,
the highest, reaches 2,470 feet. The whole country, both highlands and
lowlands, is almost everywhere covered with a forest of spruce {Picea alba).
Rivers. — New Brunswick is a land of many and beautiful rivers,
which flow either southward into the Bay of Fundy or eastward into the
Gulf of St. Lawrence ; several of them are navigable by river steamers.
The St. John, 450 miles long, rises in the State of Maine, and at its mouth
it flows through a rocky gap only 400 feet in width, where, at ebb tide,
there is a heavy fall towards the harbour, while at flood tide there is a fall
in the opposite direction. Four times a day, at half tide, ships can pass
in or out through the narrow gap. Above this reversible fall the river is
navigable for river craft for 212 miles to Grand Falls.
People and Resources. — The province was originally settled by the
French, but the present inhabitants are chiefly descendants of British
emigrants. Hitherto the forests have been the chief sources of wealth to
the people. Pine was formerly abundant, but has now become very scarce,
the forests being almost entirely composed of spruce. Only the larger
trees are cut, while the smaller ones are carefully preserved, so that
in this way any district can be economically " cut over " every ten or
fifteen years. Fishing is the industry of second importance, though it is
chiefly carried out along the shore, but few vessels being engaged in deep-
sea fishing. A considerable number of people are engaged in agriculture,
all the ordinary products of temperate cHmates being produced.
Canada— Quebec 689
To'wns. — 5/. John^ the largest and most important commercial city
in the province, is situated on a rocky peninsula where the St. John
river flows into the Bay of Fundy. It has an excellent harbour, open
all the year round, for in winter it is kept clear of ice by the tides, which
here rise 25 feet. It is thus busy in winter when the St. Lawrence is
frozen. In the days of wooden ships St. John was a famous ship-building
town, and even now a very large number of vessels are owned in the
city. Frederidon, the capital of the province, is situated on the St. John
river, 86 miles from its mouth, and the tide ascends the river to a short
distance above it. Moncton, on the Petitcodiac river, is a considerable
manufacturing centre.
QUEBEC
Position and Boundaries. — The province of Quebec lies between
59° and 79^° W., and between 45° and 53° N. It is bounded on the
west by the province of Ontario and a short section of the east coast of
Hudson Bay ; on the south by the States of New York, Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine, and the province of New Brunswick ; on the east
by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that portion of Labrador attached to New-
foundland ; and on the north by the district of Ungava. Its total area is
about one-sixth less than the combined areas of France and Germany.
Its coast line, with the exception of 100 miles on Hudson Bay, is entirely
confined to the Gulf and Estuary of the St. Lawrence. The north shore,
from the Strait of Belle Isle westward, is bold, rocky, and quite bare of
trees as far as Cape Whittle, beyond which it becomes slightly lower ; trees
appear in some of the valleys, and in a few places small patches of land
have been brought under cultivation. Close to the shore are many bare
rocky islands. The south shore of the estuary is formed of bold, rocky
hills, most of which are covered with forest.
Of the islands included in the province the Magdalens, a cluster of
rocky knolls, often connected by bars of sand, very dangerous to shipping,
rise in the centre of the southern half of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Anticosti, which lies in the mouth of the estuary of the St. Lawrence, is
140 miles long, but has no good harbours, and is almost uninhabited.
Configuration. — The province is naturally divided into three parts.
(i) The Laurentian Plateau is an undulating rocky country north
of the St. Lawrence, lying between 500 and 2,000 feet above the sea,
chiefly underlain by granites, gneisses, and other rocks of Laurentian
age, while here and there are areas underlain by highly altered sediments
of Huronian age. In the vicinity of lakes St. John and Mistassini
small outliers of comparatively unaltered Cambrian and Silurian rocks are
also included. The region has all been severely glaciated and there is
little residuary soil remaining anywhere. The summits of the low,
rounded hills are bare, while the depressions are either occupied by
irregular lakes of beautifully clear water, or are filled with stony clay.
690 The International Geography
which is usually covered with a scattered and stunted forest of spruce and
larch, and a deep bed of moss. On the better-drained land, along the
streams and lakes there are often extensive forests of large pine and spruce.
Seen from the valley of the St. Lawrence the edge of this plateau has the
appearance of a range of low rounded mountains, to which the name
Laurentide Mountains has been applied. Among the highest points arc
Les Eboulements, 2,547 feet, and TrembHng Mountain, 2,380 feet.
The streams flowing from the small lakes form a succession of quiet,
lake-like reaches of water separated by short, rapid chutes or falls. This
feature, which is characteristic of most of the streams throughout the
great Archaean continental nucleus, has rendered it possible to travel very
extensively in canoes or small boats, which with their cargoes may be
carried on "portages" over narrow rocky ridges, and past intervening falls.
Most of the streams flowing southward to the St. Lawrence are of this
type until they reach the edge of the plateau, or " Fall line," where they
plunge in one or more heavy falls to the plains below. Montmorency Fall,
near Quebec, 224 feet high, is a fine example of these cataracts.
(2) The St. Lawrence Plain has an area within the province of about
10,000 square miles. It is a long and comparatively narrow belt between
the foot of the Laurentian Plateau and the highlands south of the river.
Beginning a short distance below the city of Quebec it gradually rises, until,
at the west end of the province, it has a maximum elevation of between 300
and 400 feet above the sea. It is underlain by more or less flat-lying Silu-
rian limestones and sandstones. Towards the close of the Glacial Epoch,
when the land was much lower than it is at present, the estuary of the St.
Lawrence extended far beyond the site of the present city of Montreal, and
a varying thickness of sand and clay was deposited in it. Since the land
has been again uplifted these sands and clays form the fertile soil on which
the agricultural prosperity of the province depends. On this plain a few
hills of trappasan rock, such as Mount Royal behind Montreal, rise above
the general level.
(3) The Highlands south of the St. Lawrence form the northern con-
tinuation of the Appalachian Chain which extends northward through the
eastern United States. They are known as the Notre-Dame Mountains in
the southern portion of the province, and the Shickshocks in the Gaspe
peninsula, the highest points in the latter portion of the range rising to
nearly 4,000 feet. They are formed of parallel ridges of rock, usually
standing at high angles, and varying in age from Archaean up to Devonian.
Much of the country is thickly forested. South of the St. Lawrence, lakes
are not numerous and all the principal streams run in the moderately high
country beyond the Notre-Dame and Shickshock Mountains and flow
northward through these mountains in deep, narrow channels.
Climate. — The climate is continental. The winters are clear, with
a mean temperature of 14° F., while the summers are warm and bright,
with a me^n temperature of 60° F. The average precipitation is about
Canada— Quebec
91
36 inches per annum. In the southern portion of the province all the
ordinary cereals usually grown in temperate climates come to perfection.
History and People.— The discovery of Quebec dates from 1534,
when Jacques Cartier entered the St. Lawrence river, but it was not until
1608, when the city of Quebec was founded as a fur-trading station, that
any successful attempt was made at settlement. From that time onwards
for a century and a half, settlers from France spread over the country, most
of whom were engaged in the double occupation of collecting rich furs
from the Indian hunters, and clearing and tilhng the fertile soil. In 1760,
during the Seven Years' War, the country fell into the hands of the British
through the capture of Quebec by Wolfe. In 1774 the French, who at
that time numbered 70,000, were, assured by the " Quebec Act " the right
to be governed by their own civil laws, which right they still enjoy.
Eighty-five per cent, of the people of Quebec province are of French
race and Roman Catholic religion, and the French language is used
officially as well as English.
Resources. — Most of the population are engaged in agriculture ; oats
barley, wheat, maize, hay and tobacco are the chief products, while
fruits, such as apples, pears and plums, are' extensively grown. Horses
and cattle are also raised in large numbers, and much attention is paid
to the making of cheese and butter. The timber industry is next in
importance to agriculture, white pine, spruce and larch being the principal
woods brought into the market. Fishing is important in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. Gold is found in alluvial deposits on the Chaudiere river.
Asbestos is largely mined in the country south of the St. Lawrence, while
copper, iron, mica and graphite are also worked to some extent.
Towns.— Montreal, founded in 1642, is situated on an island at the
junction of the Ottawa and the
St. Lawrence rivers at the head
of ocean navigation, any vessel
that can enter the harbour of
New York or Boston being able
to steam up to its wharves. The
extensive system of inland navi-
gation, which reaches into the
very heart of the continent,
begins above the city, and the
St. Lawrence is crossed by its
first bridge. It is the principal
seaport, and the largest city in
the Dominion, and is the main
eastern terminus of the Grand
Trunk and Canadian Pacific rail-
ways. It is an important manufacturing centre
than half of French extraction.
40
Fig. 342.— S/7t' of Montreal.
The population is more
6g2 The International Geography
Quebec, one of the oldest cities on the continent, was founded by
Champlain in 1608. The present city is situated partly on a bold pro-
montory on the north side of the
St. Lawrence, and partly at the
foot of the cliffs close to the river
bank. In front of it is a mag-
nificent basin, in which the largest
ships afloat can ride in safety. It
is the capital of the province, has
beautiful parliament buildings,, an
important Roman Catholic uni-
versity, and its citadel, situated on
the summit of the rocky cliff over-
looking the river, has often been
spoken of as the " Gibraltar of
America." The population is
mostly of French descent, and
French is more spoken than English. Hull, on the Ottawa river, and
Shevbrooke, near Montreal but south of the St. Lawrence, are also thriving
manufacturing towns.
ONTARIO
Site or Ouclvc.
Position and Boundaries. — The province of Ontario lies between
42° and 52° N., and 74° and 95° W. It is bounded on the south and south-
west by the States of New York, Michigan, and Minnesota ; on the east by
the province of Quebec, and on the nOrth and north-west by the district
of Keewatin. Its total area is somewhat larger than either France or
Germany, and its greatest length from east to west is about 1,000 miles.
The province lies almost entirely inland, for the only place where it
reaches the sea is on the shallow coast of Hudson Bay, with no harbours
that will accommodate large ocean-going vessels. But most of its
southern border lies along the Great Lakes, which, with their connecting
rivers, give it a shore line, acces-
sible for about eight months of the
year, of 1,700 miles. The steamer
traffic on the great lakes may be
judged from the fact that a greater
tonnage passes through the " Soo "
canals, which avoid the rapids at
Sault St. Marie between Lake Huron
and Lake Superior, than through
the Suez Canal. The Canadian
shores of Lakes Ontario, Erie, and
part of Huron are low and moderately regular. The northern sliore of
^ ike Huron lies along the edge of the Laurentian Plateau, and is fringed
fmxww:m7^^
Fig. 344.— r//^ " Soo " Canals.
Canada — Ontario 693
with a vast number of small rocky islands ; the northern shore of Lake
Superior is very bold, Vv'ith deep bays and comparatively few islands, all
of which are rugged and picturesque.
Configuration. — The surface contour is but shghtly accentuated,
most of it being less than 1,200 feet above the sea, while very few, if any,
points rise to a height of 2,000 feet. It is divided naturally into four main
subdivisions, (i) A relatively small area sloping gently northward towards
Hudson Bay, and underlain by flat-lying Silurian and Devonian limestones.
This is very largely covered with swamp or morass, and much of it is
thinly wooded with small spruce and larch. Except a few fur-traders and
missionaries it has no white inhabitants. (2) The Laurentian Plateau,
a continuation westward of the same region in the province of Quebec,
forms by far the largest part of the province, though most of it is yet
a wilderness. It is almost entirely underlain by Laurentian and Huronian
rocks intricately folded and squeezed together, the former being essentially
granitic in type. The Huronian rocks consist of sandstones and clays
associated with traps and other igneous and intrusive rocks, and are of
especial importance on account of the rich minerals associated with them.
Where the character of the rock varies greatly within comparativel)^ short
distances, as near the north shore of Lake Superior, there are high hills
and deep valleys, but in other places the surface is mamillated with many
low rounded hills and shallow rock-bound basins filled with clear water
or mossy swamps. Usually the summits of the hills are almost naked
rock, supporting but a stunted forest growth, the valuable forests of spruce
and pine being confined to the richer and moderately well-drained valleys ;
but near the great lakes the rock is often covered by extensive deposits
of sand and clay, laid down in the beds of these lakes when, towards the
close of the Glacial Epoch, their waters stood at much higher levels than
at present, and on these lacustral deposits grow some of the finest pine
forests in Canada. The southern end of the Laurentian Plateau crosses the
Ottawa river at the Chats Rapids and strikes southwards to the Thousand
Islands on the St. Lawrence. (3) East of this boundary comes the
western extension of the St. Lawrence Plain underlain by flat-lying
Cambro-Silurian rocks, over most of which is a Pleistocene deposit of
;iiarine sands and clays. As yet it is not very thickly settled except along
Lhe banks of the rivers. (4) From the Thousand Islands the southern edge
of the Laurentian Plateau strikes w^estward to Matchedash Bay, at the
south-eastern extremity of Georgian Bay, and south of this line is the
district known as the Ontario peninsula which is the most fertile and
thickly peopled portion of Canada. It is underlain by flat-lying Silurian
and Devonian rocks, chiefly limestones, over which there is almost every-
where spread a covering of till or glacial detritus from the old northern
ice-sheets ; this till forms some of the richest soil to be found on the
continent. In places the till is again overlaid by lacustral deposits formed
in the beds of the great post-glacial lakes. This district is divided by
6 94 The International Geography
the Niagara escarpment, a bold cliff of Silurian shales and limestones,
which crosses the Niagara river at Queenston, skirts the south shore of
Lake Ontario to Hamilton, and thence strikes northward to the Bruce
Peninsula, between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, finally forming the
backbone of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron.
Smaller Lakes and Rivers.' — Lake Nipigon, with an area of 1,45c
square miles, is probably the largest of the many lakes occupying depres
sions in the Laurentian Plateau, while the Lake of the Woods (Fig. 47), oi
the extreme western edge of the province, is of about equal size. Along
the edge of the Laurentian Plateau a narrow chain of lakes has been
formed, among which are those of Balsam and Scugog, In the Ontario
peninsula, north of the Niagara escarpment, there are a few very pictu-
resque lakes, Lake Simcoe being the largest, and well linown as a summer
resort.
The streams of Ontario province belong to three different drainage-
areas — (i) those flowing southward into the great hikes ; (2) northward
into Hudson Bay, these being the longest in the province ; and (3) west-
ward into Lake Winnipeg.
History and Resources. — Ontario v*^as first settled in 1776, after the
close of the American Revolution, by United Empire Loyalists, men who
had left the United States, and their property there, for the love of the
United Kingdom and British institutions. That patriotism was strength-
ened in 181 2 when the armies of the United States invaded the country
and were repulsed on every side after heavy loss. In 1791 the district
was erected into a province, and since that time the population has grown
quietly, mainly in the peninsula. Four-fifths of the inhabitants are
Canadian born.
A large number are engaged in agriculture, farming being the most
important industry in the province. Wheat, oats, barley, maize, potatoes
and hay are the principal crops. Stock-raising is also extensively carried
on, and wool is of some importance. Cheese-making and dairying are also
great and growing industries. Fruit is extensively grown, the principal
kinds being apples, pears, peaches, plums and grapes. The chief fruit
districts are in the peninsula near the shores of the great lakes. Lumber-
ing is next in importance to agriculture, the timber-lands being leased for
this purpose by the Government to private companies or individuals. The
fisheries are confined to the great lakes where about 3,000 men are
employed.
With the exception of petroleum, the mineral industries of the province
are yet in their infancy. Nickel ores occur in extensive deposits near
Sudbury on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and an almost
unlimited supply of the metal could be obtained if there were a sufficient
demand. Copper is usually associated with the nickel in these ores. Gold
is found in the Huronian rocks of the western portion of the province, and
it is not improbable that many rich gold mines will soon be worked there.
Canada — Manitoba 695
Natural gas exists at several places in the southern portion of the peninsula.
Salt and gypsum are also produced in considerable quantity.
Towns. — Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion, is beautifully situated
on the south bank of the Ottawa river just below the Chaudiere Falls.
The Dominion Government buildings are of imposing character and finely
situated. Ottawa has the most important lumber interests of any city in
Canada. Several railways pass through it, and the Rideau Canal joins
it to Kingston on Lake Ontario. Toronto is both the commercial and
political capital of the province. It is built on a series of low terraces on
the north shore of Lake Ontario between the mouths of the Don and
1 1 umber rivers, and in front of it is an excellent harbour about 3I- square
miles in extent, formed by a long sandy island which projects westward
from the foot of the cliffs at Scarboro' Heights. It was founded by
Governor Simcoe in 1793, on the site of an old French fort that had been
built forty-four years before. It is the seat of numerous manufactories,
several large industrial institutions, and being an important railway ter-
minus is the principal distributing centre of the province. It is also a
banking centre, many of the largest financial institutions in the Dominion
making it their headquarters. Hamilton, situated at the head of a sheltered
bay at the west end of Lake Ontario, is a manufacturing town. London
is situated on the Thames river, in the centre of one of the finest farming
districts in tlie province. Kingston^, at the east end of Lake Ontario, is
the oldest city in the province, and besides other educational institutions
it contains a military college.
MANITOBA
Position and Surface. — The province of Manitoba lies in the very
centre of the continent, being almost equidistant from the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts, and from the Arctic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In
outHne it is almost square, with sides about 270 miles in length. It
extends along the 49th parallel of latitude, which is here the boundary
with the United States (Minnesota and North Dakota) from the Lake
of the Woods westward to the meridian of 101°, which forms the western
boundary. On the east it is bordered by Ontario, and the North-West
Territories lie on the north and west.
The province falls naturally into three principal divisions, running in
a general north-westerly and south-easterly direction, (i) The Laurentian
Plateau, which lies east of the east shore of Lake Winnipeg, with its
characteristic undulating rocky surface, dotted with small lakes, and
traversed by many crooked, irregular streams. It is chiefly underlain
by Laurentian rocks of granitic type. (2) The Lacustral Plain, or First
Prairie Steppe, which includes rather more than half of the province,
occupies part of the basin of an ancient glacial or post-glacial lake,
which has been called Lake Agassiz. The thick beds of clay and silt
deposited in that lake now form the rich wheat-producing soil of the
696 The International Geography
Red River valley. It is almost entirely underlain by flat-lying Silurian
and Devonian limestones, and in its southern portion the original in-
equalities of the rocky surface have been almost entirely levelled up
by the lacustral deposits, while further north the rocky surface was
more irregular, and was not so completely covered with clay, having
long wide ridges and hollows, the most important of the latter being
now occupied by Lakes Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Manitoba. Much
of the country south of these lakes is open grassy prairie, while
farther north it is more or less thickly wooded with spruce and poplar.
(3) The Manitoba Escarpment borders the lacustral plain on the w^est,
rising from 800 to 1,400 feet above the plain at its base. West of
this escarpment comes the Second Prairie Steppe, in which the relief is
more strongly pronounced, the rivers often flowing in valleys which they
have cut to a depth of several hundred feet, while many of the stony hills
are rough and steep'. Much of the soil is of excellent quality, and in the
southern portion of the province will grow large crops of wheat ; further
north and on the higher tracts abundant crops of oats, barley, and the
more hardy cereals and roots can be grown. This plateau is underlain
by soft shales and sandstones of Cretaceous age.
Winnipeg river, a large stream, broken up by many rapids and falls,
flows into Lake Winnipeg from the Laurentian plateau on the east. The
Red River of the North rises in the United States and flows northward
to empty into the south end of the same lake, while its tributary, the
Assiniboine, drains much of the western portion of the province.
History and Tcwns. — The retired employes and dependents of
the North-West and Hudson's Bay Fur-trading Companies formed the
nucleus of the present population of the province, originally called the
"Red River Settlement." In 1870 the population was about 12,000, while
in 1901 it had risen to 255,000. Almost all the inhabitants, who include
many immigrants from the United States as well as from Europe, derive
their support, directly or indirectly, from agriculture. The principal
crops are wheat, oats, barley, potatoes and flax, and of these the exports
consist mainly of wheat, the arrangements for collecting and transporting
which are highly organised. In the more northern parts of the province
many farmers devote themselves to raising cattle, and to the making of
cheese and butter. White-fish of the finest quahty are caught in the large
lakes of the province, and of late years the fishing industry has assumed
considerable proportions.
Winnipeg, the capital, and chief city of the province, is situated on the
level lacustral plain, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers.
It is the distributing point and commercial focus of the whole of the
Canadian North-West, one of the most important stations on the Canadian
Pacific Railway, and a railway centre for lines from the United States as
well. Brandon and Po/iage la Prairie are prosperous towns in the centrq
of rich wheat-growing districts on the Canadian Pacific line.
Canada— British Columbia
BRITISH COLUMBIA
'97
Position and Area. — British Columbia, stretching from the Rocky
Mountains to the sea, is the largest province in the Dominion, having an
area three times as large as the United Kingdom. Its greatest length,
measured in a north-westerly direction, is 1,250 miles. It is bounded
on the south by the United States, the parallel of 49° separating it from
Montana, Idaho and Washington. On the west the Paciiic Ocean, and
farther north a narrow strip of the United States territory of Alaska, are
the boundaries. On the east and north it is bordered by the North-West
Territories, which separate it from the eastern provinces.
Coasts. — Viewed as a whole the coast has a general trend in a north-
westerly direction, but in detail it is very irregular, reaching back into
deep, narrow fjords, and fringed by a maze of islands of all sizes. The
fjords and straits are submerged valleys both in line with and transverse to
the general direction of the mountain ranges. Of the fjords, Dr. G. M.
Dawson writes : '* Their width is usually from one to three miles, their shores
rocky and abrupt, and rising towards the heads of the longer fjords into
mountains from 6,000 to 8,000 feet in height. The water is deep, usually
much too deep for anchorage, but at the head of each arm a delta-flat,
formed by an entering river, is commonly found. Many good harbours
exist along the coast, but the two best and most important of those on the
mainland are Burrard Inlet, upon which the city of Vancouver is built,
and Port Simpson, near the northern end of the coast of the province."
Vancouver Island is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Juan
de Fuca on the south, and the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte
Sound on the north-east, these two being connected by narrow channels
which at Seymour Narrows are less than half a mile in width. It has a
length of 285 miles, and a greatest width of 80 miles.
Mountains. — British Columbia is essentially a country of mountains.
In the portion of the province north of latitude 54°, the breadth of the
Cordillera or mountain belt, from south-west to north-east, is about 400
miles. The mountains, as a rule, run in a north-westerly and south-
westerly direction, and the two most conspicuous and important ranges
run along opposite sides of the rhomb, the Rocky Mountains proper along
the eastern side, and the Coast Range along its western side. At the
international boundary the Rocky Mountains have an average width of
about 60 miles, and many of the peaks reach heights of 10,000 feet,
being snow-capped and abounding in fine glaciers. Further north the
range decreases both in width and height, until in the vicinity of Peace
river, in latitude 56°, it is only 20 miles wide, and but few of its peaks
rise above 5,000 or 6,000 feet. This range is composed of stratified
limestone, quartzites, and other rocks from Cambrian to Cretaceous ;
granites and other crystalline rocks are almost entirely absent. The
Rocky Mountain range is bounded on the west by the great Columbia-
698 The International Geography
Kootenay valley, which in its course north-westward is occupied succes-
sively by the upper portions of the Kootenay, Columbia, Fraser, Parsnip,
Findlay, and other rivers, which usually break through its western border
to the sea. South-west of this great valley are the Selkirk and Gold ranges.
The gold and silver recently discovered in southern British Columbia
occur in these mountains. Between the Gold and the Coast ranges, the
interior plateau attains an average width of 100 miles. To the south, it
does not much exceed, on the average, a height of 3,000 feet, but it
gradually decreases to 2,000 about latitude 54°, beyond which it is cut
off by transverse ranges of mountains. In places it is so deeply dissected
by streams and atmospheric agencies that it has lost all semblance of a
plain, but in other places there are extensive almost level tracts, among
which is much land suitable for ranching and agriculture.
The Coast Range begins about latitude 49°, and runs north-westward,
near the coast, for about 900 miles, with an average width of about 100
miles. Many of its summits rise to heights of 7,000 and 8,000 feet, while
its submerged valleys form deep fjords. Its seaward slopes, clothed
with magnificent forests, rising to snow-capped peaks form some of
the grandest scenery in the world. The mountains forming the back-
bone of Vancouver and Queen Charlotte islands are a subsidiary and
partly submerged chain of the main range. The Coast Range is chiefly
composed of granitic and highly altered sedimentary rocks.
Hydrography. — In conformity with the structural lines of the
country, the numerous lakes are long and narrow, lying either between
the mountain ranges, or in the bottoms of the deeper parts of river
valleys, which have been obstructed in some way. The Peace and
Liard rivers rise in the north-eastern part of the province, and drain
a large area eastward into the Mackenzie river. A small area in the
extreme northern portion is drained by the headwaters of the Yukon.
The remaining rivers flow towards the Pacific coast in very irregular
channels, running between and across the ranges, and often doubling
back parallel to their upper courses. Of these the principal is the
Fraser, which rises on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, close
to the source of the Athabasca, and flows at first north-westward, and
then southward, to empty into the Strait of Georgia, having a total length
of about 750 miles. The upper waters of the Columbia river flow through
the province, the river being twice crossed by the Canadian Pacific
Railway. The Skeena and the Stikine are both large rivers, navigable for
small steamers in their lower courses. *
Climate. — The climate varies from temperate insular on the coast and
islands, to extreme continental on the high interior uplands. The total
annual precipitation in the valleys of the interior is about 15 inches ; at
Victoria it is 40 inches, while in some parts of the coast to the north it
exceeds 100 inches. It is thus, in some parts of the interior, possible
to grow crops only with the aid of irrigation, while along portions
Canada— British Columbia 6g(^
of the coast the excessive humidity practically precludes agriculture
(see Fig. 338).
History and People. — The coast of British Columbia was discovered
and partly explored by Spanish voyagers, and by Cook in the course of his
last voyage in 1778. In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie first crossed the interior
on his journey from Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean, and early in the
nineteenth century David Thompson explored and opened up trade routes
into the country from the upper waters of the Saskatchewan and
Athabasca rivers. In 1849 Vancouver Island was granted a Governor, and
in 1856 it elected its first legislative body. The discovery of gold in 1857
brought a rush of population to the province, and in 1866 Vancouver
Island and the mainland were united under the name British Columbia.
In 1871 it entered the federal union of the Dominion, one condition of
federation being the construction of a railway to the eastern provinces.
Mines. — The wealth of the people depends very largely on mineral
products. Gold was first discovered in auriferous sands and gravels on
the Thompson and Fraser rivers and their tributaries in 1857 and 1858,
and in the early " 6o's " stories of the rich finds in the remote Cariboo
district were common throughout the EngUsh-speaking world. Until
recently this gold was almost entirely obtained from placer diggings, but
rich gold-bearing lodes have been found in the West Kootenay district,
which has consequently been made accessible by railwa3's and steam-
boats, so that the dwindling placer mines of the Cariboo district are
thrown in the shade by the rich and rapidly developing lode mines of
the south. In 1897, silver derived almost entirely from the silver-lead
mines of the West Kootenay district, jumped to the first place among
the mineral products, the total silver product exceeding in value that
of gold. The amount of lead produced is very considerable, and some
copper also is obtained. The coal mines of Vancouver Island have long
held an important place on the Pacific coast, as they not only supply the
province itself, but lead the market in the coast cities of the adjoining
republic. Large coal-fields also exist in Queen Charlotte Islands, and
in the interior, notably in the Crow's Nest Pass of the Rocky Mountains,
through which a railway has been carried to the Kootenay gold and
silver mining districts.
ResDurces and To'wns. — Throughout the province there is a vast
extent of country covered with forest, chiefly of conifers, among which the
most valuable tree is the Douglas fir. Along the coast, and on Vancouver
Island, there are many saw-mills which are supplied with this fir from the
adjacent forests, and from which lumber is largely exported. The fisheries
are another important source of wealth to the people. Salmon abound
in many of the streams, and are caught and put up in cans for export in
enormous quantities. Halibut, herring, rock-cod, &c., are also caught off
the coast. The pelagic sealing fleet is also largely owned in this province.
There is much good agricultural land in the southern portion of the
yoo The International Geography
interior plateau, on the deltas, and in the valleys of the principal rivers
where, in addition to cereal crops, fruit of many kinds is now beginning
to be successfully cultivated. Difficulties of transport have heretofore
limited farming, but stock-raising is an industry of considerable import-
ance in the southern part of the interior,
Vicforia, the capital of the province, is situated on a good harbour at the
south end of Vancouver Island. The provincial Parliament House is one of
the finest buildings in Canada. Three miles to the west is the great naval
harbour Esqiiimalt, the principal station for the North Pacific Squadron
of the British fleet. Vancouver, the western terminus of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, is situated on the south shore of Burrard Inlet, one of the
best harbours on the Pacific coast,
and the point of departure of
regular lines of steamers to Japan
and New Zealand. New West-
minster, the iirst capital of the main-
land province, a short distance up
the Eraser river, was founded in
1858. Rossland, on the gold-fields
near the Columbia river, has sprung
into existence as a city second in
population only to Vancouver and
Victoria, and provided with railway communication with the United States.
In all the towns of the province there is a large Chinese element, most of
the domestic servants and many labourers being Chinamen. Japanese
immigrants are also met with ; but in spite of the mixture of races British
Columbia is perhaps the most English of all the provinces of Canada in the
life of the people as well as in the climate.
Ftg 345. — Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.
THE TERRITORIES
Territories. — Outside of the organised provinces of the Dominion
there are vast areas which have long been known as the North-East and
North-West Territories. Recently these have been divided into districts,
some of which are provided with representative government, while others,
whose only inhabitants are a few scattered Indian hunters, are governed
by the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa. These districts are nine in number.
Ungava. — The district of Ungava comprises the northern portion ol
the Labrador peninsula, north of the province of Quebec, except the
eastern strip of coast which for 700 miles is under the jurisdiction of
Newfoundland. The western side of the peninsula is the rocky eastern
shore of Hudson Bay, indented by many deep narrow bays, and skirted
by a large number of rocky islands. The interior is a gently undulating
plateau underlain by Archaean and highly altered Cambrian rocks. The
main watershed is about the middle of the southern boundary of the district.
Canada— The Territories 701
and from there the rivers flow northward, westward, and eastward, and
also southward through the province of Quebec. On the long Hamilton
river, which flows south-eastward to the Atlantic, are the Grand, or McLean
Falls, where the stream plunges 300 feet over a cliff into a narrow rocky
gorge. The country is more or less sparsely wooded as far north as the
south end of Ungava Bay.
Keewatin. — The south-western and western sides of Hudson Bay,
and the country adjoining, are comprised within the great district of
Keewatin. Its coast on Hudson Bay is exceedingly low and flat south
of 61° N. lat., while north of that latitude it becomes much more bold and
rocky. The lagoon at the mouth of the Churchill river is the only good
harbour on the more southern portion of this coast, and it remains unfrozen
on the average for live months in the year. Most of the country is under-
lain by Archaean rocks. South of 60" N. the district is generally forested,
scattered woods of small black spruce and larch growing on swampy
tracts. North of 60° N. it is almost entirely treeless, often forming an
undulating stony plain, thinly covered with short grasses and sedges. Count-
less herds of a small variety of reindeer roam over these plains. These are
almost the only living creatures in this country, the fur-bearing animals
being confined to the forests further south. The district is entirely beyond
the limits of settlement, and, as in Ungava, except a few white fur-traders
the only inhabitants are Indians and Eskimo.
The Organised Districts. — Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta,
lie between Manitoba and part of Keewatin on the east, and British
Columbia on the west, and between latitudes 49° and 55°. They are spoken
of as the organised districts, for they have a Lieutenant-Governor, an
elected Parliament, and an Executive Council to attend to their local
affairs, while at the same time they have representatives in both Houses of
the Dominion Parliament in Ottawa.
At its north-eastern corner the district of Saskatchewan touches the
hummocky Laurentian plateau, and is underlain by rocks of Laurentian
and Huronian age. South-west of this is a narrow strip underlain by
Silurian limestones, while the whole remaining portion, to the foot of the
steep cliffs of the Rocky Mountains, is underlain by soft clays and sand-
stones of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, often covered by a thick mantle of
drift. The rise from the Archaean plateau to the foot of the mountains
averages 5^ feet to the mile. This rise is not regular, though it indicates
the general slope of the country, but is most pronounced along the line of
the Manitoba escarpment which marks approximately the eastern edge of
the Cretaceous rocks, and along the Missouri Coteau, which separates the
second from the third or highest prairie steppe.
The Saskatchewan river, with its tributaries, drains the greater part of
these districts. Most of its branches rise on the eastern slopes of the
Rocky Mountains, some of the more northern ones being fed by glaciers,
and, flowing eastward, unite into one great stream which empties into the
702 The International Geography-
north end of Lake Winnipeg. At the mouth of the river is a heavy rapid,
with a descent of seventy feet, but above this the main stream is navigable
for river-steamers for 900 miles, while the south branch is navigable for
400 miles above its confluence. A small area in the south is drained
southward towards the Missouri, while north of latitude 54° most of the
country is drained northward either to the Mackenzie or to the Churchill
rivers. The surface is very generally dotted with small lakes and ponds,
usually shallow, which lie in hollows in the general covering of drift.
Many of these are without outlet, and some are quite saline, chiefly from
the presence of sulphate of soda.
The whole of Assiniboia, and large tracts in the south of Saskatchewan
and Alberta are treeless, except in the deep valleys, consisting of grassy
plains or prairies, which usually extend to the horizon on every side. Or
the level plain may be varied here and there by sandy or stony hills,
appearing as high ridges in the distance, but on closer approach dwindling
to grassy downs. A few plateau-like elevations, such as the Cypress and
Hand Hills, rise 1,0:0 feet or more above the surrounding plain. The
total area of this prairie country north of 49° N., including the prairie
portion of Manitoba, is about 193,000 square miles. North of the treeless
prairies comes a belt of varying width, consisting of open grassy glades
alternating with groves of poplar, north of whicli again is the coniferous
forest, composed chiefly of spruce and larch.
People and Towns. — The inhabitants are partly Indians, while the
remainder are immigrants from many parts of Europe and the eastern
provinces of the Dominion. The attention of the people is almost entirely
devoted to agriculture and raising live stock. In the more eastern parts
of Assiniboia and in the partly wooded country near the banks of the
Saskatchewan river, wheat, barley, and oats are grown to great perfec-
tion. In the drier country farther south and west, most of the people
are engaged in the raising of cattle, horses and sheep. Extensive beds
of coal and lignite underlie large areas, ensuring an abundant supply of
fuel.
Regina, the capital of the North-West Territories, stands on a level
plain on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and is the head-quarters
of the North-West Mounted Police, who keep order over the whole region.
Calgary, also on the railway, in the southern portion of Alberta, is the
centre of the ranching country, and its handsome stone-built houses con-
trast with the wooden or iron dwelUngs common in newly-settled districts.
A branch line runs north to Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan.
North-Western Districts. — The four districts of Athabasca, Mac*
kenzie, Yukon, and Franklin, together make up a full third of the Dominion
of Canada. With the exception of Yukon, all of these districts are without
white inhabitants, except a few fur-traders who have gone out into the
wilderness to barter with the Indian hunters. The Indian population is
estimated at about 32,000. Athabasca and Mackenzie are essentially
Canada — The Territories 703
similar in character. Their eastern half lies on the north-western extension
of the Archiean plateau. Their western half is underlain by stratified
limestones, shales, and sandstones, varying in age from Devonian up to
Miocene. The north-eastern corner of Mackenzie lies within the area of the
Barren Lands, beyond the limit of the growth of trees, while most of the
remainder is covered with a forest of stunted spruce and larch, of no
commercial value. In the south-western part of Athabasca there are open
poplar woods, with some rather large tracts of open grassy prairie. Some
portions of the country west of Athabasca have a height of 3,000 feet;
while east of that river there are elevations of about 1,700 feet. From there
the country has a gentle and fairly regular slope northward through
Mackenzie to tlie Arctic Sea. The most conspicuous breaks in the general
level of this plain are the cliffs on the north shore of Great Slave
Lake, and the Copper Mountains, near the Coppermine river. The
Athabasca-Mackenzie river traverses the wliole length of the district.
The furs secured by the Indians throughout the forests of this northern
country are its principal source of wealth. Fish abound in the lakes and
streams and furnisli valuable supplies of food for the traders and Indians.
Franklin consists of the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, varying in
size from Baffin Land down to small reefs. These are underlain
generally by rocks ranging in age from Archaean up to Carboniferous, the
latter containing some good seams of coal, while in a few places Mesozoic
and Tertiary rocks have been recognised. The greater part of the surface
is not very high, and in general character is similar to the Barren Lands
of the continent. Here the musk ox, polar bear, and reindeer have, as yet,
a safe retreat. A few Eskimo are now the only inhabitants.
Yukon. — Yukon Territory lies between the northern limit of British
Columbia and the Arctic Sea, and between the summit of the Rocky
Mountains on the east, and the boundary of Alaska on the west. In
general character it is a northern extension of the mountainous region of
British Columbia, though the ranges are not so distinct or regular. The
streams which drain it are nearly all tributary to one great river, the
Yukon, which is navigable by river steamers for 2,400 miles from one
of its sources in Teslin Lake to the Bering Sea. Since 1897 discoveries
of rich deposits of placer gold on the tributaries of the Yukon have
attracted a large number of prospectors and miners from all parts of the
world to this remote region, where the gold of the Klondike river has
led to the growth of the town of Dawson. The gold produced in 1900 and
1901 averaged ^4,000,000 per annum in value. Access to Dawson is had
bv rail from the United States port of Skagway in Alaska over the moun-
tains to the navigable upper waters of the Yukon. Yukon Territory, in
^jn^equence of its position in relation to the Pacific and the ameliorating
c- lects of the prevalent westerly winds, is by no means so rigorous in its
704 The International Geography
climate as those parts of the continent further to the east. Except in the
extreme north, the lowlands are generally wooded, and hardy crops may
be grown with some chance of success almost to the Arctic Circle.
STATISTICS.
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA.
Area in
Provinces. square miles.
Novia Scotia 20,600
Prince Edward Island . . . . 2,000
Xcw Brunswick 28,200
Quebec 347-350
OnLirio 222,000
Manitoba 73 960
British Columbia 3!^3.300
Territories.
Assiniboia .. .. 89.535>^
Sasliatchewan 107,092
Alberta 100.000
Keewat n 756.000
Atiiabasca 251,300
Mackenzie 5^3.200
Yukon 198,300
Un'4ava 456,oco
Franklin Unknown
Great Lakes of St. Lawrence . . 47.400
1881.
440.572
108,891
321.233
1,359.027
1,926,922
62,260
49.459
56,446
Population.
1^91.
450,396
109,078
321,263
1,488.535
2,114.321
152,506
98,173
66,799 ■
32,168-
1901.
459 574
103,259
331,120
1,648,898
2,182,947
255.211
178,657
67.385
25,679
65,876
8.546
6,615
5,216
27,218
5,113
Totals
3.653.950
4,324,810
4.833,239
5,371,315
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
Montreal
Toronto
Quebec. .
Ottawa..
Hamilton
Winnipeg
Halifax. .
155.237
96,196
62,449
31.307
35.960
7.985
36,100
1891.
216,650
181 220
63,090
44.154
48,080
25,642
38,556
1901.
267 730
208,040
68,.S40
59.928
52.634
42.340
40,832
St. John, N.B. .
London, Ont. .
Vancouver, B.C.
St. Henri . .
Victoria, B.C. .
Kingston . .
Brantford
1881.
41.353
26,206
6.415
5,9^5
14.091
9,616
1891.
39.179
31.977
13.685
13.413
16,841
19,263
12,753
1901.
40,711
37.981
26,133
21,192
20,816
17.961
16,619
AREA AND ELEVATION ABOVE SEA OF THE LARGEST LAKES.
Superior
Huron
Great Bear
Great Slave
Erie
Winnipeg
Area in
square miles.
31,200
23,800
11,400
10,100
9,960
9,400
Elevation
in feet.
6005
580
340
520
572
710
Ontario . .
Athabasca
Winnipegosis
Manitoba
Nepigon
Area in
square miles.
7,240
2.850
2,000
1,710
1.450
Elevation
in feet.
245-5
690
828
810
850
Exports
Imports
AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1871-75. 1881-85.
16,500,000 .. 19,200,000
23,500,000
23,300,000
1891-95.
22,500,000
24,400,000
II.— NEWFOUNDLAND
By J. B. Tyrrell, M.A., B.Sc,
Formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada.
Coast and Surface. — The large island of Newfoundland, lying across
the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, extends from 46^° to 51^° N. lat.,
separated from the mainland of Labrador by the Strait of Belle Isle,
12 miles wide, and from Cape Breton by Cabot Strait 60 miles wide.
Newfoundland 705
It is roughly triangular in outline, each of its three sides being between
300 and 400 miles in length ; but while the north-western shore is
moderately straight, the southern and north-eastern shores are indented
by many deep baj^s, and fringed with a great number of rocky islands,
which form many magnificent harbours. The coast is for the most
part bold and rocky, and its total length is about 2,000 miles. The
large bays usually run in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction,
and their shores are broken by many smaller bays. The bays of Notre-
Dame and Bonavista on the north-east coast are marvellously fretted by
little peninsulas and fringed with small islands. Heart's Content, on the
north side of Trinity Bay, is the landing-place of the Atlantic cables.
Burin Peninsula, with a length of 82 miles, lies between the great bays
of Fortune and Placentia, while the peninsula of Avalon, in the south-east,
on which the larger part of the population is settled, is almost cut off from
the rest of the island by Placentia Bay on the south and Trinity Bay on
the north, the neck of the peninsula being only three miles wide in its
narrowest part. St. Mary's Bay and Conception Bay make great indenta-
tions into this peninsula.
The interior of Newfoundland is underlain chiefly by Archaean and
early Palaeozoic rocks, arranged in long folds in a general north-easterly
and south-westerly direction, parallel to the north-west coast, the older and
harder rocks forming the ridges, while the softer and later rocks occupy
the depressions. The Long Range, on the west side, is the highest and
most important of the ridges, varying in height from 1,000 to 2,000 feet.
The undulating surfaces of the rocky hills are dotted with an immense
number of small ponds and lakes, from which flow many brooks to form
the larger streams, the most important of which are the Exploits and
Sanchau, discharging on the north-east coast, and the Humber river, dis-
charging into the head of the Bay of Islands on the west coast. The tops
of the rocky hills and ridges are for the most part scantily wooded or
barren, while the river valleys and the land at the head of the deep bays
are usually thickly wooded with large and valuable timber, chiefly white
pine, spruce, larch and birch.
Climate. — The Arctic current, bearing extensive fields of ice and
many icebergs, flows southward past the east side of the island, and tends
to lower the temperature in summer, but very extreme temperatures are
unknown, the thermometer rarely falling- below zero F. or rising above
85° F. Dense fogs often hang over the south and east shores, but these
do not extend many miles inland, and the weather in the interior is usually
clear and bright.
Resources and Industries. — Though there are large areas of good
agricultural land in the interior, it has as yet been almost entirely
neglected, for the surrounding ocean contains such an abundance of fish
and seals that the catching and curing of them occupies almost the entire
attention of the people. Early in March steamers and sailing vessels
7o6 The International Geography
^
5 /■
TJa 1
'
.
0&-
'5^
'^-' J ^ -^^
WAn^"^
_
/^•f'-
P-^"\,:
\ -^i!-»--s,v.w
^SUohfts
k^. ""^-^'t
J
v.-
Grdnd
1
V
'"> '■-/--'-''
^"-
,^8anKs
£
f
-„«--'''
^■^--«-<'
i
Fig. 346. — Newfoundland and the Grand Banks.
The French shore is shown by a double line.
put to sea heavily manned, and seek the ice-floes drifting down from the
north, on which the seals have brought forth their young. The sealing
season lasts from March i6th to April i6tli. After the sealing is over the
season for cod-fishing begins, and lasts from June to November. The vast
submarine plateau which extends
around the south and east shores
of Newfoundland, known as the
Grand Banks, and covered with a
depth of from 10 to 160 fathoms
of water, is the greatest fishing-
ground for cod in the world, and
ships of many nations congregate
there to gather the rich harvest
from the sea ; and the bold and
well-trained sailors from New-
foundland, being nearest to the
Grand Banks, and provided with
a plentiful supply of bait (capelin,
squid, &c.), which swarm on their
shores, come in for a full share
of this harvest. The fish, when
caught, are cleaned, salted and
dried in the sun on stages, which
may be seen almost everywhere. Herring, capelin, and other fish are caught
in considerable quantity along the shore. Salmon are caught in the rivers,
and of late years a considerable industry has grown up in the catching and
canning of lobsters. Almost 90 per cent of the exports of Newfoundland
consist of the products of the fisheries, more than half being dried codfish.
Iron pyrites, copper and iron ore are the principal minerals at present
worked, the first-named being exported to England for the manufacture of
sulphuric acid. Coal is reported to exist in considerable quantity, chiefly
on the west side of the island, and lead and nickel are also said to occur.
The timber is cut to some extent for local use.
Population and History. — Newfoundland was discovered by John
Cabot in 1497, at which time it was inhabited by the
Beothuks, or Red Indians, a tribe whose exact affinities
are now unknown, for the last survivor is supposed to
have died in the early part of the nineteenth century.
The fame of the cod-fishing off its shores soon spread
through the maritime nations of Europe, and many
ships from France, Spain, Portugal and England re-
sorted every year to the Grand Banks, using the many
harbours of the island as bases of operations. In 1582
an English Governor was appointed, and during the next fifty years several
futile attempts were made at colonisation. Then for more than a century
Fig. 347.-7;?^ Badge
of Newfoundland.
St. Pierre and Miquelon 707
Fig. S^S.— Average pop-
ulation of a square
w'c of N eu-foit ndlaud.
and a half colonisation was discouraged, the Enghsh merchants, who were
amassing large fortunes by cod-fishing, not wishing to have to compete with
inhabitants of Newfoundland. It was not till 1791 that a Supreme Court
of Judiciary was erected in the island. At present there is a Governor
appointed by the Crown, a Legislative Council, appointed for life by the
Governor in Council, and a Legislative Assembly
elected for four years by the whole people. The
executive is in the hands of a Ministry having the
confidence of the Assembly. For administrative pur-
poses the coast of Labrador is considered as part of
the colony of Newfoundland.
The usual means of communication between one
place and another has been by boats along the coast,
but a railway now crosses the island from St. John's
to Port aux Basques, passing through the most fertile
and well-wooded districts, and it is expected not only to open much of the
interior to settlement, but also to form a part of a line of rapid communi-
cation between Europe and America.
Towns. — St. Johns, so called because the harbour was first entered
by John Cabot on St. John's Day, is the capital. It is situated on the east
side of Avalon Peninsula, at the head of a magnificent land-locked harbour
a mile long and half a mile wide, which is entered through a deep, rocky
passage only 200 yards wide at its narrowest part. In it the largest ships
can ride in safety. It is the centre of the fishing trade of the island, and
may become one of the most important ports on the Atlantic seaboard,
when the railway across the island is connected by fast steamers with the
Canadian railway system, for it is nearer Europe than any other port in
America, being only 1,675 miles from Cape Clear on the west coast of
Ireland. Harbour Grace, the next town in size, stands on Concepcion Bay.
STATISTICS.
Area of Newfoundland (square miles)
„ Labrador (square miles)
Population of Newfoundland
Density of Population of Newfoundland (per square mile)
Population of Labrador
„ St. John's
„ Harbour Grace
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling).
Imports
Exports
I89I.
1901.
42,200
42,200
119,000
119,000
197,934
217.037
47
52
4,106
3.947
29^007
29.594
6^466 .
5,184
1881-85.
1891-^5.
1,630,000
. 1,400,000
1,574,000
, 1,350,000
III.— ST. PIERRE AND MiaUELON
By M. Zimmdrmann.*
St. Pierre and Miquelon.— The two little islands of St. Pierre and
Miquelon with a permanent population of a few thousand persons, remain
» Translated from the French by the Editor.
7o8 The International Geography
in the possession of France as the only rehcs of the magnihcent colonial
empire she founded in North America, They lie close to the south of
Newfoundland and, small as they are, only 93 square miles, they possess
a real importance to the mother country on account of their proximit}^ to
the Grand Banks where large fleets of French fishing-boats are engaged in
the capture of cod. The islands form the basis of the fish trade with
France, and the exports of fish from the port of St. Pierre, on the island of
the same name, are steadily increasing, their value in 1894 exceeding
five million dollars. Miquelon, although the larger island, has very
few inhabitants, and the rainy climate with its frequent fogs does not
encourage immigration. In connection with these islands France retains
certain fishing rights on the west coast of Newfoundland, which on that
account is termed the French Shore (Fig. 346).
St. Pierre
Miquelon
STATISTICS (1892).
Area in square miles.
10
83
Population.
Density of Populatioa
5.700
570
550
7
IV.— BERMUDA
By the Editor.
Position and General Character. — A solitary bank rising abruptly
from the depths of the North Atlantic in 32° N. and 65° W. bears a group of
small islands of remarkable formation known as the Bermudas. Farther
north than any other coral islands,
they are of coral formation ; a
consequence of the warm water
carried northward by the great
oceanic whirl of which the Gulf
Stream forms part. The islands
occupy a space of only twenty
miles by five, but are surrounded,
especially on the north and west,
by a growing reef through which
a few intricate channels admit
vessels. Unlike other atolls the
Bermudas are in parts hilly, the heights, which rise to 260 feet, being formed
of blown coral sand, cemented by the action of rain into solidrock ; they
are in fact petrified dunes. The sweeping curve of the hook-shaped main
island brings it so close to the smaller members of the group that many of
them are reached by bridges or causeways. The situation is as remarkable
as the formgition. From Bermuda as a centre a radius of 800 miles would
sweep the coast of North America from Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras ;
and a radius of 1,000 miles would sweep the east coast of Florida and thj
whole line of the Antilles from Cuba to Antigua. This gives the Httle
Fig.
349. — Bermuda Islands and reefs,
map includes 30 miles by 20.
The
Bermuda 709
group remarkable strategic value. Another element of importance is
the climate, which is remarkably mild and equable. The temperature
has never been known to fall below 40° ; the monthly mean of February,
the coldest month, is nearly 63° ; that of August, the hottest month, does
not exceed 80°. Hence in spite of poor soil the islands have become
noted for the growth of early vegetables of excellent quahty, and for
many subtropical products ; the staple crops for export to New York were
in 1896, onions, early potatoes, and lily-bulbs. There is no lake nor stream
in the islands, and the wells yield somewhat brackish water, so that the
inhabitants rely mainly on rain-water caught and stored in cisterns.
History, Government and People. — The group was discovered in
15 15 by a Spanish navigator, Bermudez, and from the usual pronunciation
of his name it became known as the Bennoothes, a form perpetuated by
Shakespeare when he laid the scene of " The Tempest " there. In 1609
the shipwreck of Sir George Somers gave them the alternative name of
Soniers' Islands, and also led directly to the first settlement and colonisa-
tion from Virginia and England. Bermuda is now a British colony under
a Governor, who is assisted by an Executive and a Legislative Council
nominated by him, with an elected Legislative Assembly as a Lower House.
Of the population little over one-third is white, the rest being negroes and
coloured people as in the West Indies. The main occupation is market
gardening, but the increasing use of Bermuda as a winter resort for wealthy
Americans is also important. Steamers ply regularly to New York. A
telegraph cable connects the islands with Nova Scotia, and may be pro-
longed southward to the West Indies. Bermuda is an important British
naval station for the North American squadron on account of its central
position ; the approaches to the channels are accordingly fortified, and
a garrison of about 1,500 British troops is permanently stationed in this
Malta of the western North Atlantic. The chief town is Hamilton, situated
on the main island.
STATISTICS.
1885. 1895.
Area of Bermuda (square miles) 20 ,, 20
Population.. 15.036 .. 15.794
Density of population per square mile 751 .. 789
Population of Hamilton (the capital) 2,100 ., 1,296
STANDARD BOOKS.
S. E. Dawson. " Canada and Newfoundland." In Stanford's Compendium. London,
i8q7.
" British Association Handbook to Canada." Toronto. 1897.
Sir J. G. Bourinot. "Canada .inder British Rule," 1760-1900. London, 1900.
G. R. Parkm. " The Great Dominion " London, 1895.
M. Harvey. " Newfound'and in 1897." London, 1897.
A. Heilprin. " Bermuda Islands." Philadelphia, 1889.
The publications of the Canadian Geoloi^ical Survey contain many valuable
reports on exploration in all parts of the Dominion.
CHAPTER XXXIX.— THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
By William Morris Davis,
Professor of Physical Geography in Harvard University.
I— HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
Discovery and Settlement.— The New World is fortunate in lying
with its lesser highlands towards the narrow Atlantic which separates it
from western Europe, the home of active and inventive Caucasians, and
in presenting its greater highlands to the broad Pacific, which separates it
from eastern Asia, the home of the unprogressive Mongolians ; for to this
accident of position — if such it be — the discovery and colonisation of the
New World by the best race of the Old World may be ascribed. A
century of discovery along the eastern coast led to a century of colonisa-
tion, this to a century of rapid colonial growth, and this again to a
century of independence and expansion for the middle colonies of the
Atlantic border. At the close of these four centuries the United States
has become one of the foremost nations of the world in extent, variety, and
value of territory, and in number, intelligence, and wealth of population.
The English colonies of the Atlantic coast between the St. Lawrence
and Florida were established at first with relation to the harbours that gave
protection to the vessels by which, intercourse with the mother country
was maintained. From the harbour settlements as centres, large areas of
land were claimed under the authority of royal grants ; thus the coast was
subdivided among a dozen colonies, some of which laid claim to an
indefinite extent of inland country. Progress into the interior was in most
cases opposed by the aboriginal Americans, of tribal organisation, to whom
the name of " Indians" was given by the early discoverers as if to set a
lasting mark on their faulty reckoning of longitude. Idealised in romance,
too often abused in the rough realities of frontier life, the Indian was a
rude savage. He probably lived as closely to his ideas of virtue and duty
as the colonists did to theirs, and when fairly treated, as by the Quakers
under Penn, he was peaceful ; but the ideas of natives and of new-comers
were usually unlike, even irreconcilable. Each one often accused the
other of injustice, and the intercourse between them was constantly
interrupted by petty warfare, resulting in an aggressive advance of the
whites into the lands of the Indians. The progress of the backwoodsman
among the Alleghenies in the eighteenth century, of the frontiersman on
the prairies, plains and mountains, and of the Indian agent, acting for the
710
The United States
711
governme-it under profitable contracts in the nineteenth century, does not
make a glorious history to review, so fai as it deals with native tribes.
Hardly less fortunate than the narrowness of the Atlantic is the north-
ward trend of its coast lines, as a result of which the inland progress of the
early English colonists, and of the later immigrants from many countries,
carried them westward across North America within the limits of a single
climatic belt, instead of northward across many. The belt thus naturally
marked out includes the greatest area of the best land on the continent. The
early boundaries of the belt lay near the St. Lawrence on the north, where
the Frencl^ had planted colonies, and near the Gulf of Mexico on the
south, where Florida was colonised by the Spaniards. From these
beginnings a great expansion was accomplished in the century of inde-
pendence ; and the new territory, at first in charge of governors appointed
at Washington, was gradually, part by part, brought into the fellowship
of States, until at present only New JMexico, Arizona, a remnant of Indian
Territory, and the re-
mote Alaskan province
are still outstanding.
The Declaration of
Independence on the
4th of July, 1776, was
the natural result of
unjust legislation on
the part of the British
government imposing
burdens upon the colo-
nies without offering
equivalent privileges to «^''Ongln,. St.t« -Boundan.sof DIuo ..-Mo<.e.n Stat« Boundaries
them, and Great Britain ^^^- 35°--2V'^ ^■^^'"^''^» of the United States.
was compelled to recognise the independence of the colonies in 1783.
Florida was bought from Spain in 1819, Louisiana (the western half of the
Mississippi basin) was bought from France in 1803, Oregon was acquired
by right of exploration, the south-west from Texas to California was gained
from Mexico between 1845 and 1853, after a manner which the Americans
had aptly inherited from their ancestors in Europe, and Alaska was bought
from Russia in 1867. Finally, Hawaii was annexed, the Philippine Islands
and Porto Rico were ceded by Spain, and the protection of Tutuila in
Samoa was assumed in 1899.
The States and the United States. — Since the formation of the
Union, and particularly since its cementation after the Civil War of
1861-65, ^^^ geographer may turn his attention from the single States to
the United States, and this is now done even -n the descriptive pages of
school gL-ographies, the best of which divide the United States into
physical districts, and refer to the separate States chiefly as a means of
giving location to the physical features and their industrial consequences.
712 The International Geography
The individual State is still a unit for the politician and the lawyer, but
it is a fraction for the geographer, and very often an improper fraction.
The Ohio and Mississippi rivers are exceptional in serving as natural
boundaries for many States ; but even the great Mississippi does not
divide States at its head or at its mouth. The Appalachian mountain-
system is most irregularly partitioned among the older States. The
western States are generally bounded by lines dependent on the form and
rotation of the globe, after a method that has become habitual when
civilised man wishes to divide thinly settled and unsurveyed territory.
The strong front range of the Rocky Mountains, rising abruptly from the
plains, forms no State boundary, but is crossed by the borders of Montana,
Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Commerce is free to cross State
limits, while the principle of protection regulates the trade of other
nations with the United States as a whole. Many manufacturing and
mining companies are incorporated in one State where local laws give
them some advantage, carry on their business in another State, and
perhaps have their financial office in a third. Railroads truly must have
charters from every State that they cross ; but this is merely a legal
technicality, of no consequence to the passengers or the freight that are
carried over the tracks. Several lines of transatlantic steamers, nominally
bound for New York City, land their passengers in New Jersey ; and but
for the accident of a State boundary that runs through New York
harbour, Jersey City would have probably been included in the Greater
New York, recently formed by consolidating several cities with the
metropolis. State capitals are often of less importance than the com-
mercial cities, whose growth follows physical controls. Many business
men in border cities reside in the adjoining State, and cross the boundary
to and from their work every day : Philadelphia has suburbs across the
Delaware in New Jersey ; St. Louis across the Mississippi in Illinois ; and
Kansas City itself spreads across the line between Missouri and Kansas.
Government. — The republican form of government adopted by the
United States is in many ways paralleled by the
governments of the individual States. There is a
national constitution, under which each State has
its individual constitution. The Union, like the
separate States, has the three usual divisions of
governmental functions — legislative, executive, and
judicial. The President of the whole country has
^?; ¥VtJ^!' ^[".^ / ^^'' his Cabinet of the heads of departments ;" the
United States — the Stripes ^
represetitiii,iiiJie IT, original Governor of a State has similar councillors. A
States and the ^stars the Supreme Court sits at Washington, and district
present number. ^
federal courts sit in different parts of the country
to act upon questions in which the interests of citizens of more than one
State are involved. Each State has a similar judiciary for the decision
of local matters. The Congress of the United States consists of the Senate
The United States 713
and the House of Representatives ; the Legislatures of the States are
similarly divided. The national Senate includes two members from each
State — not a satisfactory method of representation to-day, since Nevada
(whose population is decreasing), Rhode Island, and Delaware are placed
CKi an equality with New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. The represen-
tatives are chosen on the basis of population. The laws passed by Congress
are uniform for the whole country. Within limits thus defined, the several
States frame laws for themselves, often of great diversity in different parts
of the country. Many laws regarding slavery formerly obtained in the
southern States ; liquor laws, restricting or prohibiting the sale of intoxi-
cating liquors, have been passed in several northern States. The right to
vote has been extended to women in some of the western States, where
conservative traditions have less hold than in the east. With the desire to
increase their population, other States have been over-liberal regarding
divorce laws ; and the desert State of Nevada has even gone to the offensive
extreme of permitting prize fights, as if in the vain hope of staying its
recent loss of numbers.
People. — The remoteness of the United States from formidable neigh-
bours has fortunately not required the withdrawal of many persons from
industrial pursuits into the army and navy ; and as long as the territory
under the national government remains compact it is probable that the
burden of an elaborate, expensive, and unproductive military and naval
establishment may be avoided. There is little need for forts and soldiers
within the country itself. It is true that individual differences have been
too often settled by violence rather than by appeal to the courts ; but
when the rapidity of settlement and the heterogeneous nature of the
population are considered, and when it is remembered that even during
the century of independence a large part of the population has had
personal experience of the rude conditions of frontier life, the prevalence
of good order becomes the striking feature of the country. This must be
ascribed chiefly to the plentiful and profitable occupation that the vast
extent of new land gave to all comers during nearly all the century of
independence ; for even with a decennial increase of from five to ten
millions there has been land enough and to spare. Another beneficent
effect of plentiful occupation has been the rapid assimilation of immigrants,
whereby the foreigners from many lands have soon been Americanised.
A failure of this process is seen to a greater or less degree in large cities,
in certain mining regions, and in ^ some parts of the north-west where the
settlement of immigrants, derived largely from a single European country,
causes the retention of at least a foreign language if not of other customs
foreign to the United States, But in ^pite of these deficiencies, the leading
fact remains that, as a whole, the great population has become naturalised
to its new continental home with a success that recalls the spread of
thistles in Argentina and rabbits in Australia ; and although uncompli-
mentary, the comparison is based on sound biological principles.
714 fhe International Geography
Religious freedom and public education have contributed largely to
the good results which plentiful and profitable occupation have chiefly
controlled. There is no established church, and the several larger
religious bodies are so strong that no one is likely to overpower the others.
Illiteracy is rare, except among the negroes and poor whites of the south.
Besides the public schools, for which provision is made with constantly
increasing liberality, there are State colleges in most of the States, and
there are only too many sectarian colleges, especially in the north and east
of the plains, established as if for the religious safety of the young of the
several denominations. Large gifts have been made to educational
institutions by wealthy men ; and the strongest universities of the country,
Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins,
Chicago, and Stanford, have thus been supported in great part. Public
libraries are numerous ; they are frequently the gifts of successful men to
the homes of their boyhood. The establishment of scientific Government
Bureaus has greatly contributed to the development of the national
resources. Notable among these is the Geological
Survey, now engaged in mapping the entire national
domain ; and the liberal method of disposing of its
publications at a nominal price, in order that they
shall be widely used, deserves imitation elsewhere.
The Weather Bureau of the United States is unique
in the area covered, and in the promptness of pub-
lication of its daily maps.
^uiaUo't~of^T%iiare With the aid of education, and the incentive of
mile of the United industrial opportunity, the people of the northern
States have been remarkably fertile in mechanical
inventions, to say nothing of the application of perverted ingenuity to the
development of " rings " in politics and " corners " in the markets, and of
monopolies and over-profitable trusts in corporations.
Towards the close of the nineteenth century certain unfavourable
reactions followed the rapid growth in population and wealth. Immi-
grants of a less desirable class than the early comers have made
their appearance in increasing numbers, chiefly from eastern and southern
Europe. Many of them remain in crowded seaports instead of entering
further into the country. Disputes between incorporated employers and
the employed have become more and more serious in their nature. The
multiplication of factories and the competition among manufacturers
compels such economy in production as to reduce wages, and for this
reason more than any other, new markets for manufactured products are
now eagerly looked for. If the twentieth century witnesses a territorial
expansion beyond the present boundaries, the change will be made largely
on commercial grounds ; for with nearly all the valuable public lands now
disposed of to incorporated or to individual owners, and with a rapidly
increasing excess of production over consumption, the demand for new
The United States 715
opportunities on the part of the "business men" may prove stronger than
the resistance of those conservatives who feel that a repubHc of wide-
spread territory is not compatible with the Declaration of Independence
and the principles of the Constitution. That such a result should have
already come within the range of possibility only emphasises the marvel-
lous changes of the United States during the century of independence.
Trade. — The foreign trade of the United States is mainly carried on
by the seaports of New York (through which almost one-half of the trade
of the country passes), Boston (which comes next with only one-tenth),
New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. It is carried
on mainly under foreign flags, only one-ninth of the value of the export
and import trade being done in vessels bjlonging to the United States.
On the other hand, no foreign vessels are allowed to engage in coasting trade
from one port of the United States to another. The value of the exports
considerably exceeds that of the imports. The former consist mainly of
agricultural produce — wheat, animals, preserved meat, &c., from the
prairie States, and raw cotton from the south Atlantic and the Gulf coastal
plains ; these together make up two-thirds of the exports. Manufactures
are exported nearly to the value of one-third, most of the products of
mines and forests being required for home use. The imports are mainly of
products which cannot be produced in the United States, or not in suffi-
cient quantity for the demand, such as coffee, sugar (the largest import,
amounting to one-seventh of the value of the whole), raw wool and silk,
and certain manufactured goods. The import of such articles as can be
manufactured in the United States is discouraged by the imposition of a
heavy tariff, which raises the price to the consumer, and so benefits the
manufacturing class with less advantage to the farmers. Nearl} half of
the exports go to the United Kingdom ; Germany comes next in import-
ance as a customer, and Canada, France, and Holland follow. The United
Kingdom sends one-fifth of the total imports, Germany and France come
next with one-fifth between them. The imports are drawn from a wider
field than that over which the exports are distributed ; thus, while at least
76 per cent, of the exports are sent to Europe, only 55 per cent, of the
imports are drawn from that continent. The recent development of the
total trade is shown in Fig. 71.
II.— REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY
THE APPALACHIAN BELT
The Appalachian Belt.— The chief geographical features of the
eastern United States cannot be appreciated until it is understood that a
great part of the region has been uplifted by tectonic forces, worn down
to a nearly level surface by erosion, and after being again more or less
uplifted is now once more in process of dissection. The Appalachian
47
7i6 The International Geography
Mountains were first formed by disturbances so long ago that once at
least in later times the mountains have been worn down to an extensive
lowland of moderate relief, close to the level of the sea ; and the mountains
of to-day are either the occasional unconsumed remnants of the lost ranges,
or the product of renewed uplift and dissection. Thus viewed, the Appa-
lachian belt may be easily subdivided and described ; thus described, a
close connection will be found between its geological history and its
present form ; and again, between its present form and its control over
human conditions.
Divisions of the Appalachian Belt. — An eastern division of the
Appalachian belt consists of ancient crystalline rocks, such as schists and
gneisses, with many areas of granites and other igneous intrusions. A
western division consists of a great series of Palaeozoic strata, chiefly
derived from the waste of the older rocks on the east, and now greatly
tilted and folded. Both of these divisions were well worn down to low-
lands over the greater part of their area during Mesozoic time ; but the
hardest parts of the crystalline division survived in residual mountains, for
which the generic name monadnock is coming into use, after a fine residual
mountain of this name in south-western New Hampshire. The White
Mountains of New Hampshire and the Black Mountains and other ranges
in North Carolina seem to be groups of such monadnocks.
If viewed in Cretaceous times, the Appalachian region would have been
seen as a broad, gently rolling lowland, here and there surmounted by
monadnocks, singly or in groups. Since then the lowland has been raised
into an upland, bearing the monadnocks on its back. The quiet streams
of the lowland were thus revived into new vigour, and new valleys have
consequently been incised beneath the upland surface. Unlike the earlier
mountain-making disturbances, the later uplift was of a gentle nature,
producing a broad swell, whose arch-line follows the Appalachian trend,
and whose side slopes fall off slowly to the south-east and north-west.
Much of the Appalachian system is therefore not mountainous to-day ; near
the sea it may even include extensive areas of low land. The broadly
uplifted portion has regained the appearance of mountains chiefly by the
excavation of valleys along the belts of weak rocks, or along the paths of
its larger streams. The mountains and ridges of to-day must therefore be
regarded as forms of circumdenudation, like those of the Scottish High-
lands, in contrast to mountains of direct uplift, such as occur in certain
parts of the western United States.
' Following principles of wide application, it may be briefly stated that
the valleys worn by the larger streams in the uplifted lowland are now
deep where the lowland was raised highest, and shallow where the least
uplift occurred. Again, the valleys are broad where the rocks are rela-
tively weak ; here, indeed, lowlands of a later generation have been
developed, above which the local belts of harder rocks stand as residual
hills and ridges of the second order. Where the rocks are resistant the
The United States 717
valleys are still narrow, time enough not yet having elapsed since the
uplift to permit the valleys to grow wide. The varied combinations of
these controlling factors give rational explanations to a great variety of
geographical forms.
The Older Appalachian Belt. — The eastern or crystalline division
of the Appalachians — the Older Appalachian Belt, as it may be called
(O A in Fig. 353) — consists so largely of resistant rocks that its uplands
preserve the altitude given to them by uplift over large areas, and the
valleys worn out by the streams are relatively narrow. The western or
stratified division — the Newer Appalachian Belt (N A in Fig. 353) — includes
a much larger proportion of easily weathered rocks; hence its valleys
are well worn down, and its narrow ridges occur only where the harder
strata are found. The even crest lines of the ridges, a striking feature of
the Newer Appalachians in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee, are
analogous to the even uplands of the Older Appalachians. The breadth
of the older and newer belts is very variable. The older belt is narrow
and low between New York and Washington, and broad and high in
New England and North Carolina. The newer belt is represented chiefly
by a broad valley north of Albany ; it is still broader, with many ridges
and valleys in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
After thus recognising the division of the Appalachians into two chief
longitudinal belts, there are certain contrasts between the northern and
southern part of the system that deserve attention. North of New York
City, a comparatively recent depression of the Appalachian region, in-
creasing towards Newfoundland, has drowned the borders of this geo-
graphical province beneath the waters of the Atlantic, bringing the sea
against the resistant rocks of the once deep-seated mountain structures.
South of New York, an elevation of the region, increasing towards Ala-
bama, has revealed the unconsolidated deposits of a former sea bottom in
the coastal plain of the southern States. Few simpler examples of the
manner in which crustal movements determine geographical forms can be
found than this, and few in which the arrangement of geographical forms
has a more direct influence on the conditions of human life.
The Atlantic Shore Line. — The shore line of the northern Appa-
lachians is extremely irregular ; many long arms of the sea enter between
low rocky headlands and outlying islands ; comparatively deep water is
carried into the re-entrants of the coast, making numerous and excellent
harbours ; but the rugged hill country follows almost immediately inland,
discouraging agriculture. Mount Washington, the highest of the White
Mountains, and many other monadnocks are in sight from the sea.
The shore line of the southern coastal plain is usually fringed with sand
reefs, broken by tidal inlets and enclosing shallow lagoons. The sea is
shallow, deepening very gradually towards the outer edge of the con-
tinental shelf, where the rapid descent to the true ocean basin begins, a
hundred miles or more from shore. The land is very flat, ascending slowly
7i8 The International Geography
inland; no hills surmount its surface. It is traversed by rivers whose
courses have been extended forward from the former shore line at the
inner border of the coastal plain, but the river valleys are eroded only to
a very moderate depth ; not until the inner border of the plain is ap-
proached is the surface so well dissected as to be called hilly. Agriculture
is promoted on the more fertile parts of the plain, and upon the deep soils
of the smooth uplands of the Older Appalachian Belt, next inland. When
it is remembered that the rugged surface of New England was settled by
religious refugees, whose convictions were as rugged as the country they
peopled, and that the southern States were settled by colonists whose
motives were generally commercial rather than rehgious, a long sequence
of historical consequences may be traced from the association of unlike
people on unlike lands.
The movements of the land whereby the configuration of the shore line
has been effected must be pursued one step further. A slight depression
has followed the elevation of the coastal plain from New Jersey to North
Carolina ; thus the broadened valley floors of the chief rivers have been
submerged, forming bays and estuaries, from that of the Delaware to that
of Pamlico Sound. On the other hand, a recent movement of elevation has
partly counteracted the previous movement of depression in New England,
for the littoral districts of Maine and New Hampshire contain smooth plains
of marine clays that interlock with the rocky arms of the land.
The order of settlement, the arrangement of State boundaries and the
occupation of inhabitants in this region had been profoundly affected by
the ph3"sical features, thus briefly sketched. The early colonists in tide-
water Virginia found protected harbourage in the many branching bays of
the Chesapeake and lower Potomac ; for many years communication
between them was more easily carried on by water than overland through
the forests. Although the drowning of these former valley lowlands has
been a loss to agriculture, there is some compensation for the loss in the
valuable fishing grounds which they afford. Their importance in deter-
mining political units is manifest. The largest ba\^s of the coastal plain
divided the colonies of Virginia and IMaryland. Another bay led to the
establishment of Pennsylvania and Delaware, leaving New Jersey on its
eastern side. The south-pointing peninsular areas defined by the bays
determined the small area of the three colonies that occupied them, in
contrast to Virginia and Penns3'lvania, which at the time of the Revolution,
claimed all the land westward to the Pacific.
The Atlantic Coastal Plain. — Various features of the coastal plain,
constantly reflected in the distribution and occupation of the people, may
well serve as types for this class of land forms. The outer border of the
plain, fronted by shallow water and fringed with sand reefs from New
Jersey to North Carolina, attracts no commercial settlements, but is in-
creasingly frequented as a holiday resort : Atlantic City on an off-shore reef
in southern New Jersey is the largest town of this kind (Fig. 354). Along
The United States
719
720 The International Geography
the North CaroHna shores, the sand reefs, locally known as " banks," have
a peculiar concave outline to the sea, meeting in sharp points or cusps>
forming Capes Hatteras, Fear, and Look-out. These are believed to
be due to the interaction of several large back-set eddies of the long-
shore waters, which seem to turn in local circuits between the Gulf Stream
and the continent. The cusps are the most perfect examples of such shore
forms anywhere known. The " banks " are occupied by small communities
of isolated people, known as " bankers." A small breed of horses, known
as "banker ponies," here run wild, subsisting on the coarse grass that
grows on the sandy soil ; in the absence of brooks, the ponies find fresh
water by pawing away the sand in the depressions between the dunes.
The islands along the coast of South Carolina are peculiar in being
interrupted by numerous tidal inlets, a direct result of the increased strength
of the tides in the "Carolina bight" of the Atlantic coast. Here the off-
shore islands are not entirely composed of sand reefs, but in part resemble
detached portions of the mainland ; their soil is rich and produces the
famous "Sea Island cotton" ; they
ly^^f"/' '~~\ M I are exposed to dangerous sea-
floods, when on-shore hurricane
winds conspire with a rising tide.
The tidal waters behind the islands
are much reduced in area by the
growth of extended marshes,
whose inner stretches produce
abundant rice crops.
The important commercial cities
of the coastal plain are generally
situated on embayed valleys and
estuarine rivers; some are near
Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, S.C,
the inner border of the plain like
Fig, 354. — Part of the Atlantic Coastal Plaifu
the coast line, like Norfolk, Va.,
and Savannah, Ga. ; others are at
Trenton, N.J., Philadelphia, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., and
Richmond, Va., these cities b_ging at or near the head of tide water.
Others, like Raleigh, N.C., and Columbia, S.C, are at the "falls" of
their respective rivers, above the reach of tide, but at the head of
river navigation ; the " falls " being formed where the streams, coming
forward from the interior, pass from the resistant rocks of the older
land to the unconsolidated strata of the coastal plain. If an observant
traveller should traverse the coastal plain along any of the transverse
inter-stream strips or " doabs," into which it is divided by the chief
rivers, he would find that its soil, the surface expression of its loose tex-
tured strata, is arranged in belts that trend nearly parallel to the Atlantic
shore line ; cleared and farmed where marly or limey, barren and left to
pine forests where sandy ; the forest, however, yielding large quantities of
lumber and resinous products in the southern States. Southern Virginia
The United States 721
and North Carolina include extensive fruit and vegetable farms on the
smoother parts of the coastal plain, from which the markets of the northern
cities are now largely supplied. Part of the plain near the shore is so low
and flat that the growth of vegetation builds up its surface, forming exten-
sive swamps, of which Dismal Swamp, on the borders of Virginia and
North Carolina is the largest example. Unlike many other swamps, these
occupy the highest ground in their district, and streams run out of theni;
not into them ; where drained and cleared they have been transformed into
good farming land.
On passing inland, an increasing diversity of relief is found ; the low
flat plain near the shore is gradually replaced by a surface in which the
valley slopes of the intrenched streams have the appearance of hills ; but
if our language would permit it, this district should be called a valley rather
than a hilly country. The more resistant layers of the plain, generally half
cemented sand-stones, sometimes come to surmount the less resistant and
more denuded layers further inland, giving a belt-like arrangement in form
as well as in soils. Thus a low upland encloses an inner lowland from Newark
to Camden, N.J., important as a natural pathway between the chief Atlantic
cities and characterised by many pits and potteries on its clayey substratum.
Artesian water supply is a marked feature of the outer part of the
coastal plain, where its importance increases with the growth of the popu-
lation, and with the better understanding of the menace to public health
in shallow surface wells and polluted streams. The larger shore resorts
on the sand reefs are supplied in this way as well as the mainland.
Certain towns in peninsular Maryland sink their artesian wells into water-
bearing strata or " aquifers," that reach the surface and gather their rainfall
west of Chesapeake Bay.
People of the Coastal Plain. — As the southern colonies grew
on the coastal plain and the people pressed inland, they found an
open country, easily occupied as far as the residual mountains of
the Blue Ridge and its fellows in Virginia and North Carolina; but
these and the Allegheny Plateau were long-enduring obstacles to
the settlement of the further interior. In North Carolina particularly,
where the old Appalachians are broadest and most mountainous,
movement from east to west was almost forbidden ; and to this day an
unusually large share of the descendants of the early colonists remain on
the coastal plain, on the piedmont slopes, or among the valleys of the inner
mountains, with comparatively little gain by immigration from Europe.
Nowhere else in the United States is so large a part of the population
" native born " and " born of native born." Local habits of speech and home-
spun clothing are no rarities in villages among the mountains, which form
a fitting geographical environment for conservative ways of life.
Ne^v England. — On the New England coast, examples of geographical
controls are no less distinct than further south. Here the distinction
between upland and lowland depends chiefly on the distribution of strong
722 The International Geography
and weak rock structures in the Older Appalachian Belt. The strong struc-
tures still preserve something of the upland surface gained by- the uplift of
the worn-down old Appalachians ; they are low only near the coast, where
they were little uplifted. The weak structures are already worn down to
lowlands again. In the present depressed attitude of the region, the
stronger structures stand forward in headlands on the coast line, like that of
Cape Ann, Mass. Gloucester, on a good harbour on this headland, sends out
a large fleet of fishing vessels to the Newfoundland Banks : the headland
granites are quarried at Rockport, and sent away in heavy-laden schooners to
more southern ports. The valleys and lowlands are more or less drowned,
forming embayments like Boston Harbour ; and Boston has outstripped
the neighbouring settlements of Plymouth and Salem, its rivals in early
times, in great part because
it stands further inland,
and therefore in better con-
nection with the interior
population of later growth.
In New England many of
the towns borrowed names
from the mother country ;
but the chief colony took
the name of a monadnock
a few miles south of Boston,
and now reserved as a
metropolitan park, and
known to the Indians in
colonial days as " Massa-
chusetts " or Great Hills,
the first land to rise over
the sea horizon on ap-
proaching Boston from the
east.
Fig. 3S5.— The Site of Boston, Mass.
The rugged uplands, gradually gaining height inland, were slowly settled,
and still offer only hard conditions to their occupants, however well the
villages and cities in the valleys may thrive. After a trial of the higher
uplands as dwelling places in the eighteenth century, many families moved
out west to the prairies in the nineteenth century ; towards the close of the
latter period, the " hill towns " of western Massachusetts exhibit a very
general decrease of population. Here the Old Appalachian Belt is so broad
that no river crosses it. Its gain of height (apart from the scattered or
grouped monadnocks that rise above it) is so well maintained northward
and westward, until reaching a sudden descent from its culmination into
tlie Appalachian valley, that the crest line naturally suggested colonial and
international boundaries ; thus New York, led inland northward by the
Hudson valley, acquired the land west of the Taconic and Green Mountains ;
The United States 723
and Canada on the north would have been hmited hv the divide between
the Atlantic waters of Maine and the branches of the St. Lawrence, had not
such a boundary lain further north than was expected. Here in the north,
the barrier of the Older Appalachian Belt, broad and rugged like that which
separated the CaroHna colonies from the interior wilderness, divided New
England and its Puritan stock from Canada and its French population.
It was to a lowland, etched out beneath the general level of the upland
and then partially submerged in Narragansett Bay that Roger Williams and
his independent followers removed from the Massachusetts Colony ; thus
the city of Providence and the little Colony of Rhode Island were founded.
Newport, on an island at the entrance to Narragansett Bay, has become a
popular seaside resort on account of its agreeable climate. Parties of
settlers around Boston finding themselves crowded, and like an over-
stocked hive of bees, as a contemporary writer said, ready to swarm,
crossed the hilly uplands in 1637, and entered the Connecticut valley low-
land, a broad depression worn down on a belt of comparatively weak
Triassic sandstones. Some of the towns thus founded remained members
of their parent colony ; others asked for a new charter, and thus the small
colony of Connecticut was formed ; it is crowded, like Rhode Island,
between its larger neighbours. Its chief cities, Hartford and New Haven,
lie in the lowland that attracted its early settlers.
Further north the uplands are so extensive, the monadnocks are so
numerous, and the valleys are often so deep-cut, that the population has
grown slowly. Northern Maine is still a forested wilderness ; outlying
settlements there are to this day called " plantations," in the sense of the
word used by the early colonists, and not with the acquired meaning of
" an extensive farm," usual in the southern States. Remnants of Indian
tribes still remain here. Only the southern part of Maine is well peopled ;
Portland having a fine harbour on the coast; Augusta, the capital, and
Bangor, a great lumber market, being situated at the head of tide on
the estuarine waters of the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers. The coastal
border is here almost too much dissected by the drowning of its valleys
and lowlands ; for its village communities are thus isolated to disadvantage
on islands and long slender land-arms ; local travel in small boats is not
always easy on account of the tides, whose strong rise and fall often make
landing troublesome, and whose rapid currents frequenth^ overcome oars
and sails. In the last thirty years a large " summer population " has
resorted to these islands, where the cool water gives the air a mild tem-
perature. Mount Desert, already mentioned, containing a number of sum-
mits over a thousand feet in height, the boldest land on the eastern coast
of the United States, is the most famous of these summer settlements.
New Hampshire has the advantage of a good harbour at Portsmouth,
and of a fine river in the Merrimack ; but its uplands are thinly peopled,
and its mountains are visited only by lumbermen and vacation tourists.
Deforestation is already giving cause for alarm here and in Maine, especially
48
724 The International Geography
since even the smaller trees are taken to feed the pulp mills, called mto
being by the many pages of the modern newspaper. The State of Ver-
mont has no seaport and an over-large share of rugged highland. Its
industries are rural rather than manufacturing or commercial ; its popula-
tion is increasing slowly.
In all the New England States building stone is an important product.
Granite and similar crystalline rocks are quarried extensively, many
quarries having the advantage of a situation on or near a navigable tide
water. Marble and slate are found in the Green Mountain valleys. Sand-
stone is taken in large quantities from the Connecticut valley for use in
ornamental architecture.
Glacial Action in New England. — The imprint of glacial action
is strong in New England. The deep soils of the southern States,
gradually passing into firm rock at depths of from thirty to fifty feet, are
here replaced by an immediate change from the surface drift, of very
variable thickness, to the glaciated surface of firm, unweathered rock.
Many ledges on the upland hills have been left almost bare of soil ; a thin
deposit of drift in the crevices, slightly increased by post-glacial weathering,
suffices only to support tree growth. Elsewhere the uplands are blanketed
over with unstratified drift or till, a compact deposit of rock scrapings
from further north accumulated under the slowly moving ice sheet where
more waste was brought than could be carried further forward. The till
frequently assumes the form of rounded, oval hills, known as drumlins,
half a mile or more long, and from 100 to 300 feet high. These are
sometimes so plentifully covered with boulders that they hardly serve even
for pastures ; but more generally they are cleared and farmed. In certain
districts drumlins are so plentiful as to give their pleasing expression to the
landscape : southern New Hampshire, and eastern and central Massachu-
setts contain them in great numbers ; the islands of Boston Harbour (Fig.
355) ^re nearly all drumlins, cliffed by the waves and furnishing drift
for the construction of extensive beaches.
In the valleys and on the lower ground near the coast, various forms of
washed drift generally bury the ledges out of sight. Extensive terraces
occupy the larger valleys ; their higher levels are rather too sandy for the
best farming land ; their lower levels, flooded by the rivers, offer attractive
meadows of which none is more beautiful than that of Deerfield, on a
branch of the mid-Connecticut, the scene of early settlement and of
disastrous struggles with the Indians. It is chiefly in connection with the
irregular distribution of the valley drift that the numerous small lakes of
New England are to be explamed. Their basins were first accounted for
by glacial erosion, but at present it is more generally believed that they
mark the sites of lingering remnants of the melting ice sheet, while the
evacuated space about them was filled with sands and gravels. The lakes
form natural reservoirs for the water supply of the villages and cities ;
the water being pure except in autumn, when, the temperature beinf?
The United States 725
uniform from surface to bottom, overturnings are easily caused by the
winds, and the impurities gathered in the deep water during the summer are
discharged. Ice from the lakes is an important winter harvest ; and at
one time Wenham ice, from a small lake near Salem, was famous even
in India.
Water Power in New England. — The rivers, entrenching their
courses in drift-clogged valleys have repeatedly lost their former channels
and cut down upon rocky ledges ; thus dividing their courses into smooth-
flowing reaches and hurried rapids and falls. The latter supply the great
water power of New England, on which its vast manufacturing industries
began. Fall River, on an eastern branch of Narragansett Bay, was at first
satis tied with the power derived from a small stream ; now its myriad
spindles are driven by steam. The mills here and in New Bedford, a
little further east, profit from the high humidity of the atmosphere near the
sea, an important factor in spinning cotton. The sites of Lowell, Lawrence
and Manchester were occupied by farms seventy years ago. Enterprising
capitalists and engineers took control of the great water powers of the
Merrimack, and to-day the river, supplemented by steam in dry seasons,
drives more cotton mill spindles than any other river in the world.
Thousands of French Canadians now make their homes in these factory
cities, working as operatives in the mills.
In Maine the falls of the Saco gives rise to the paired cities of Saco and
Biddeford ; those of the Androscoggin determine the sites of Lewiston and
Auburn. It is noticeable that these manufacturing towns in Maine are near
its south-western corner ; numerous water-powers in other parts of the
State are too remote from the chief markets of the United States to be
utiHsed to their full value at present. In Connecticut, on the other hand,
near the great commercial centre of New York City, hardly a single
waterfall is idle. Here a certain feature of water-powers of indirect
glacial origin deserves notice. In the normal river, the trunk stream has,
as a rule, graded its course so as to secure a steady flow ; it may even be
navigable. Rapids and falls are found only on the upper waters, where the
smaller branches, working in districts of greater altitude and frequently on
roclcs of greater resistance, have not yet been able to wear down their
cli.mnels to an even slope. Although falls are here abundant, the volume
of water is deficient, and the prevailing ruggedness of the head-water hills
IS disadvantageous to large settlements. But the falls on rivers of drift-
terraced valleys are placed at haphazard, as well on the lower trunk stream
as near the head, and the glacial period is so recent that even the trunk
rivers have not yet extinguished their falls. Manufacturing cities situated
at falls near the river mouths have the great advantage of large water
volume and of neighbourhood to the sea in a low and comparatively open
country ; repeated illustrations of the benefits of these favouring circum-
stances might be named. The lakes are also of practical value as natural
reservoirs by which the volume of the lower stream is rendered relatively
726 The International Geography
constant. Many lakes are dammed at their outlets, and in a dry season the
volume of the faiHng river is maintained by opening the flood gates. In
the absence of important agricuUural resources, New England has turned
so largely to manufacturing that even its abundant water powers do not
suffice for its needs. With little or no water power, Worcester and Provi-
dence produce machines and tools. Lynn and Brockton are "shoe towns."
Waterbiiry makes brass ware and clocks, and Danbury makes hats. The
goods from these active centres find a market, though with increasing
competition, in all parts of the country.
Cape Cod and the Outlylng.Islands. — The most extensive moraines
of the New England region are those that mark some of the furthest
advances of the ice sheet on the southern coast and on the outlying islands
of Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. A foundation of Creta-
ceous and Tertiary strata, similar to those of the coastal plain of New
Jersey and beyond, but much deformed and denuded before the last ice
advance, constitutes the preglacial structures from Long Island to Cape
Cod. Belts of morainic hills with numerous boulders increase the relief by
a hundred feet or more, giving a pleasing undulation to the surface. Broad
plains of washed gravels extend southward from the moraines to the sea,
now more or less cut back in the cliffs, as on the east side or "back" of
Cape Cod ; or fronted with long sand reefs, as along the southern border
of Long Island (Fig. 356). In the eighteenth century, when the traveller
from Boston to New York went more comfortably by sailing packet
than by land, even the outermost island of Nantucket was not the
out-of-the-way place that it is to-day ; and for some time after overland
travel was established a thrifty Quaker stock and an active whaling
industry made the island prosperous ; but when whales became scarce
and when rock-oil replaced whale-oil, the trade and population of
Nantucket dwindled, its wharves decayed, some of its houses were carried
away to the mainland, and it was almost in danger of being deserted, until
in recent years when its value as a quiet summer resort was recognised.
Provincetown, a land's end village on Cape Cod, is peculiar in containing
a colony of Portuguese, the families of fishermen and sailors. Here on a
great wave-built spit, covered with sand dunes, the Pilgrims first landed ;
but seeing the morainic hills of Manomet across Cape Cod Bay, they sailed
on and founded Plymouth, where the fafnous rock on its shore is only a
glacier boulder of modest size, too small to be chipped off for keepsakes
by the many descendants of the Pilgrims.
Gateways to the Interior. — The narrowing of the Older Appalachian
belt between New York City and Washington, due to ancient subsidence
of a part of the ranges, has been of great importance in determining points
of entrance of immigration towards the vast Mississippi basin ; for nearly
all the many thousand emigrants from Europe have reached the interior
by gateways through this least formidable part of the mountains. There
can be little doubt that the important commercial cities of New York,
The United States 727
Philadelphia, and Baltimore owe their growth to the easier access thus
allowed to the interior of the country behind them. Ports like Providence,
Boston, Salem and Portland, further north, and ports like Norfolk,
Wilmington, Ch'arleston and Savannah, further south, chiefly serve local
needs ; they cannot compete in international traffic with the three inter-
mediate cities, of which Boston and Norfolk are the only important rivals.
The pre-eminence of New York among the middle ports is dependent
partly on its good harbour, partly on being nearer Europe than the ports
further south, and much more on the navigable waters of the Hudson that
reach inland almost across the Appalachian Belt.
The Newer Appalachian Belt. — The last point may be better
appreciated after a fuller account of the Newer Appalachian Belt (N A
in Fig. 353), whose inter-ridge lowlands are worn down on the weaker
Palaeozoic strata. They extend from the Gulf of St. Lawrence (beyond the
territory of the United States) along a curved path past New York to Alabama,
and there disappear under the overlapping strata of the Gulf coastal
plain. In the north the newer belt is limited on the inland side by the
Laurentian plateau of Canada, and by an outlying area of similar structure
and more rugged form, known as the Adirondack Mountains, in northern
New York. From Albany to Alabama, the inland boundary of the ridge-and-
valley belt is formed by the escarpment of the Allegheny plateau. In New
York the ridges are few and the lowland is broad and open, but from New
Jersey to Alabama, long, narrow, even-crested mountains of curious zigzag
pattern, i,ooo to 3,000 feet high, formed on the outcropping edges of
resistant sandstone layers, are very numerous. They divide the lowlands
into many compartments, with difficulty connected by roads over the
mountains, but open to one another where rivers have cut transverse
notches or water gaps. The ridges are highest in Virginia, where some of
the crests rise to 4,000 feet ; and here most of the valleys between them
are so narrow and deep as to be of small value for settlement. Much of
the better timber has been cut from the ridges, but they are still left to
forest growth, for their slopes are cloaked with coarse, slow-creeping
blocks of sandstone, the waste of the ridge-making strata.
The valley floors between the ridges are sometimes underlain by lime-
stone, especially along the eastern border of the Newer Appalachian Belt ;
here the rich soils are occupied by some of the best farms in the country,
albeit they have not the unlimited expanse of those on the western prairie.
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania is in the midst of these thrifty
surroundings. Beds of anthracite coal and plentiful deposits of iron ores
among the ridges of Pennsylvania have contributed greatly to the wealth
the Keystone State — so called from being th3 middle one of the thirteen
colonies in the time of the Revolution. Mining industries have here
attracted colonies of European labourers, where foreign languages are
often more prevalent than English. The iron ores of the southern part of
the belt, near the coal-fields of the plateau on the west, have been an
728 The International Geography
important factor In the development of the " New South " since the Civil
War ; the centre of the iron industry in Alabama having ambitiously taken
the name of Birmingham.
The continuity of lowland along the eastern side of the Newer Appa-
lachian Belt has given this part of its floor the general name of the Great
Appalachian Valley ; it is locally known as the Hudson Valley in New York,
the Kittatinny Valley in New Jersey, the Cumberland Valley in southern
Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and the Valley of East Ten-
nessee. The Great Valley is peculiar in being drained by a number of inde-
pendent rivers that find exit through the deep gorges cut in the uplands on
the east or west. Exceptions to this rule are seen in the longitudinal escape
of the St. Lawrence with its branch from Lake Champlain in the north-
east, and of the Coosa in the south-west ; both of these rivers run out
lengthwise at the extremities of the valley. The Hudson, Delaware,
Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Potomac and James all rise in the valley, or on
the plateau to the west of it, and reach the Atlantic through steep-sided,
narrow gorges in the uplands of the Older Appalachian Belt. The New-
Kanawha and the Tennessee rise in the Older Appalachians of North
Carolina, and escape westward through deep gorges in the Allegheny
plateau to the Mississippi system and the Gulf. It is interesting to note
that the six Atlantic rivers all cross the Old Appalachian Belt in or near its
low and narrow middle part ; their valleys serving as so many entrances to
the interior, and thus emphasising the contrast already noted between the
lower middle and the higher terminal districts of the Atlantic highlands.
Transverse Valleys in the Old Appalachian Belt. — The physical
relation between the lengthwise lowlands of the Great Valley and the
transverse gorges by which its rivers escape has been generally misunder-
stood. The broad lowland and the narrow gorges are the work of erosion
in the same period of Tertiary time. The rivers had much the same pattern
as to-day when all this region had about the altitude of its uplands and ridge
crest. Since then the excavation of the broad inner valley and the incision
of the narrow gorges have gone on together : indeed, the incision of the
gorges on the transverse course of the several rivers in the harder rocks
of the Older Appalachian Belt was the essential antecedent to the deepening
of their channels in the weaker rocks of the newer belt ; but while the
gorges have widened very slowly in the harder rocks, the weaker strata of
the inner belt have, as it were, melted away under the weather, and the inner
valley has become as broad as the belt of weak strata that guide it. Since
the general form thus described was developed, a moderate uplift of the
region has again set the rivers at work, and they have cut narrow trenches
in the valley floors.
The Hudson and St. Lawrence are unlike all the other rivers of the
Great Valley in having their valleys partly flooded by sea water, in con-
sequence of the moderate depression of the northern lands already men-
tioned in describing the bays of the New England coast. The lower St.
The United States
729
Lawrence is thus broadly expanded into a funnel-shaped bay, misnamed a
gulf ; but the drowned Hudson is closely hemmed in by the steep walls of
the highlands. It thus retains the appearance of a river, although its
volume is by no means an appropriate measure of the rainfall on its basin.
It is a deep navigable waterway, open to large vessels to the head of tide
at Albany and Troy, 150 miles from New York. It is the only deep-water
passage through the Atlantic highlands ; and on this fact chiefly depends
the metropolitan rank of New York City among the Atlantic seaports. The
northw^ard extension of New York Colony and State, from its first settle-
FlG. 356.— r/t« Site of New York City.
ment at the mouth of the Hudson, repeats the northward extension of Virginia
and Pennsylvania from the colonies on their lower bays. Just as the latter
colonies claimed possession of long belts of territory westward to the
Pacific, and thus confined Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey to small
areas, so the former claimed control of all the land west of the northern
Older Appalachians, and thus determined the small dimensions of the New
England States. Had the Potomac been drowned, not only in its course
across the coastal plain as far inland as Washington, but through its gorge
in the Blue Ridge to Harper's Ferry, Norfolk might have tried to rival
New York City ; yet, even then, the upper Potomac would have had no
730 The International Geography
branch valley comparable to that of the Mohawk, by which^ as will be
shown further on, New York City has so greatly benefited.
New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. — The relation of
New York City to the interior of the United States has determined its relation
to Europe. Commercialism is here supreme. The banker, the broker, the
importer, and the railway director are the leaders of business activity.
Standing as the chief port of entry for commerce and immigration, the
city has gathered colonies of all the peoples of Europe. Germans, French,
Italians, and many other nationalities here group themselves together, pre-
serving their foreign ways even to the second generation ; much concern
is felt by the sociologist over so congested a population. The government
of the city is one of the most difficult of political problems, and it has by
no means been made easier by the recent consolidation of Brooklyn and
other independent municipaUties in " Greater New York." The profes-
sional politician and the " boss " accomplish their selfish ends by most
elaborate and successful management of the people. The narrow island
between North (Hudson) and East rivers has become inconveniently
crowded ; elevated railroads, running to the northern suburbs, make the
streets resound with their many trains, although the New Yorkers seem to
accept the noise as a proper part of the bustle of their great city. A huge
suspension bridge connecting New York and Brooklyn very imperfectly
accommodates the crowds that throng it morning and evening.
Philadelphia has been favoured in another manner. It began with the
thrift of the Quaker
followers of William
Penn ; it has profited
from the presence of
many industrious Ger-
man immigrants on the
rich farming lands of
the Great Valley, near
at hand ; it has had a
commercial advantage
in being the southern-
most Atlantic port in
the non - slaveholding
States. Furthermore it
has had great physical
advantage from abun-
dant open ground on
which to expand, so
that the proportion of houses to families is very large ; from the
water power of the Schuylkill, whereby it has come to be a great
manufacturing city ; and from the small altitude and width of the Older
Appalachian Belt in the background, so that the communication with
^^^^
The Site of Philadelphia.
The United States
731
the interior of Pennsylvania has been comparatively easy. The uplands
are narrow here because of the strong overlap of the coastal plain.
They are low, because they have been but little uplifted since they were
worn down in Cretaceous times ; but more than this, they happen here to
include a tract of weak Triassic sandstones and shales (like those of the
Connecticut valley and the Bay of Fundy), which occupies a large part of
their small breadth, and indeed obliquely traverses them from east to west.
The sandstones and shales are now worn down to a lowland, like the Great
Valley next adjoining on the west. Nowhere else are the Older Appalachians
so inconspicuous as here. Indeed, if traced by the empirical guide of
height instead of by their geological composition and their physical cha-
racteristics, they might be overlooked, as has often happened in geo-
graphical descriptions. Extensive railroad systems connect Philadelphia
with the coal-fields of Pennsylvania, and with the Ohio Valley ; but so
great is the importance of New York, that all these roads now continue
their trains past Philadelphia to the metropolitan city (see Fig. 336).
Baltimore is practically the civic representative of Maryland. In con-
trast to Philadelphia, it is the northernmost commercial city of the south.
It is physically the result of the far inland reach of Chesapeake Bay, and of
the access to the further interior afforded by the valleys of the Potomac
and Susquehanna rivers. The bay brings in ocean-going vessels and
develops international trade, as well as supporting an active fishing
industry ; oysters being included under fisheries on commercial rather
than zoological grounds. The Potomac valley leads a great railroad from
the harbour city towards the Ohio region ; but the difficulties encountered
in crossing the Allegheny Plateau and the comparatively small population
on the way, have made
this line less successful
financially than the chief
railroads further north.
Educationally, Baltimore
has in Johns Hopkins, the
southernmost university
of wide resort, as Boston
has (in its suburb of
Cambridge) Harvard, the
northernmost great uni-
versity ; the latter is an
outgrowth of an early
colonial beginning in 1636.
It is noteworthv that ^^'^- SS"^-— H'^s/nn^/on and the Disliid of Columbia
the three great commercial cities just described are not the capitals of their
States. The State governments have their seats in Albany on the Hudson,
Harrisburg on the Susquehanna, and Annapolis on Chesapeake Bay.
Washington, whose situation on the lower drowned Potomac corresponds
73^ The International Geography
to that of Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay, is purely a governmental city.
The great water power of the Potomac, where it runs from the Old
Appalachian Belt to the Coastal Plain, is not yet utilised for manufactures.
THE ALLEGHENY PLATEAU
The Allegheny Plateau (A P in Fig. 353) is the westernmost division
of the Atlantic highlands. It retains much of the forest which originally
covered nearly all the region east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio.
Its altitude ranges from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. It extends as far south-west as
the mountain belt, and like it disappears under the coastal plain of the
Gulf. It is terminated on the east by a strong escarpment, known as
Allegheny or Cumberland Mountain in different parts of its front ; but on
the west or north-west it as a rule decreases in height gradually, and thus
merges into the prairie region of the Ohio basin. On the north-east, the
plateau is known as the Catskill Mountains, overlooking the Hudson and
Mohawk valleys. Throughout this extensive region, the same great series
of Palaeozoic strata that is broken, tilted, and folded in the mountains of
the Newer Appalachian Belt, lies nearly horizontal. Productive coal-beds
underlie most of the surface. The well defined north-east and south-west
trends that prevail in the uplands, ridges and valleys of the Appalachians,
are here exchanged for a systemless maze of digitate spurs dissected by
repeatedly branching valleys. The greater part of the region is drained by
branches of the Ohio, of which the most interesting is the Kanawha, whose
canyon, 1,000 to 1,500 feet deep, is the strongest river valley in the eastern
part of the country. The Kanawha is furthermore remarkable in having
maintained its course to the Ohio against an arching uplift of the plateau
in late geological times, whereby the district traversed by its middle waters
was elevated about 1,000 feet more than that about its upper waters ; but
in spite of this discouragement, the river cut down its channel and held
to its former path ; thus acquiring a right to membership in the interesting
class of antecedent rivers. There is not another river in the whole
Appalachian region that so well preserves its ancient course.
The Southern Plateau. — Beginning on the south-west, as it emerges
from the southern coastal plain, the features of the Southern Plateau may
be called coarse-textured, inasmuch as tablelands that measure several
miles across rise between broad-floored valleys. Here the uplands are
known as the Cumberland Plateau or Tableland, for the most part a forested
wilderness. Although containing great stores of coal, there has been little
mining until within recent years, in the return of prosperity to the southern
States after the civil war. The plateau is peculiar in falling off on the
north-west by an escarpment almost as strong, but much less straight than
that by which it is limited on the south-east. The surface thus descends
as if by a great step to a platform of less elevation, underlain by limestones ;
here occur the numerous caverns of Tennessee and Kentucky, of which the
Mammoth cave is the most famous. Further to the north-west the platform
The United States 733
is underlain by sandstone, furnishing an infertile soil, and discouraging an
impoverished population, in remarkable contrast with the fortunate occu-
pants of the limestone lowlands next beyond, the famous Blue Grass
country of Kentucky and the less known but equally fertile Nashville basin
of Tennessee (B G and N in Fig. 353}. Looking back from the extensive
farms of the limestone lowlands, one sees a wooded bluff, several hundred
feet in height, known as the Highland Rim. It was from a point on that
part of the rim known as Muldraughs hill that Daniel Boone, late in the
eighteenth century, first saw the beautiful lowland that his followers
settled, and thus founded what afterwards came to be the State of Ken-
tucky.
The Middle Plateau. — The middle part of the plateau, in eastern
Kentucky and West Virginia, reaches altitudes of 3,000 and 4,000 feet, so
that its dissected uplands fully deserve the name of mountains, by which
they are locally known; and the people appropriately call themselves
" mountaineers." As in Tennessee, the region is a great forested wilder-
ness. The separate uplands are s^eldom broad enough to support more
than a small community ; often not more than a single family, who find
life hard and lonesome. Farming is unprofitable, for most of the surface
consists of steep hillside slopes, belted around with contouring sandstone
ledges ; if the forest were cleared and the ground ploughed, much of the
soil would soon be washed away. Roads are rough and steep, badly
washed by heavy rains ; to keep them in good condition would cost large
sums of money, far beyond the means of the county treasuries. The
valleys are deep, and their narrow floors are exposed to destructive Hoods
that rise suddenly in wet weather. Bridges are an expensive luxury that
only the more important highways can maintain : when streams cannot be
forded in time of high water, travel is for a time suspended. The railroad
that follows the deep canyon of the Kanawha through the plateau brings
the lower lands on the east and west into close connection, but it has little
effect on the people among the hills. Even the branch lines that carry out
coal and lumber leave the greater part of the plateau country untouched
and untamed. The people still live in primitive log houses ; hand looms
are no rarities ; wild game is almost as important a food supply as garden
produce ; the rifle is as familiar as the spade. Feuds are kept up for years
between rival families, and personal differences are settled by an appeal to
arms rather than to the courts.
The Northern Plateau. — A less altitude prevails in the plateau within
the limits of Pennsylvania, where 2,000 feet will measure most of the
upland heights. Here a greater degree of settlement has accompanied the
fuller development of the great natural resources of the region, both of
these advances being promoted by the neighbourhood of the great manu-
facturing communities, at first in the north-east, and afterwards in the north-
west as well, where a ready market is found for the bituminous coal, the
rock oil or petroleum, and the lumber of the plateau. Railroads are numc-
734 The International Geography
rous and monopolistic corporations dominate the politics of the State.
Pittsburg has attained an altogether unusual population for a city in the
plateau district; it was favoured at first by its situation at the junction of
the head branches (Allegheny and Monongahela) of the Ohio, down whose
ample current so many early settlers of the western prairies found easy
transportation ; later by the marvellous development of industries and rail-
roads in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is now one of the
greatest manufacturing centres in the United States ; the ironworks in and
near the city are the admiration of the technical world.
The north-east extremity of the plateau, known as the Catskill Mountains,
contains summits as high as those of West Virginia. No mineral products
of value, other than too abundant building stone, are found here ; hence
the mountains remain thinly populated, and are chiefly noted as a summer
resort for the crowded population of New York City. Further west, along
the southern borders of New York State, the plateau is less elevated, and
its rolling uplands and open valleys contain an agricultural population.
It happens that this portion of the plateau contains no coal, and com-
paratively little rock oil ; the productive fields being almost entirely south
of the Pennsylvania boundary.
Outliers of the Laurentian Highlands. — The rugged Adiron-
dack Mountains of northern New York, and the highlands of northern
Wisconsin and Michigan are outlying representatives of the Laurentian
highlands of Canada. They consist of extremely ancient rocks, for the
most part thoroughly indurated and very resistant. Although their
structures are greatly disordered, their relief is of moderate measure ;
in the Adirondacks, the highest summit, Mount Marcy, is but little more
than 5,000 feet above sea-level, with valleys one or two thousand feet deep
around it ; in northern Wisconsin, the altitude of the highlands is not so
great, and their local dissection is much more gentle. Both of these are
forested wildernesses, unattractive to the farmer, but tempting to the
lumberman. The ancient rocks contain valuable stores of iron ore, less
important in the Adirondacks than in upper Michigan, where they are
extensively mined and shipped down the Lakes to furnaces near the coal
regions. The uplands bordering on Lake Superior are peculiar in contain-
ing deposits of native copper, unknown elsewhere in the world. The
Adirondacks are separated from the Laurentian region by an ancient
trough that has been filled with Palaeozoic rock layers and re-excavated in
comparatively modern geological times. It is followed by the St. Law-
ence river, an important waterway, but so young on its present course
that in spite of its great volume, many rapids still interrupt its channel.
The Wisconsin-Michigan uplands (O L in Fig. 353), are separated from
the Laurentian plateau in Canada by the broad and deep trough of Lake
Superior of uncertain origin, but of great value as a member of the vast
system of inland waterways by which the wheat of the north-west, the
ores of the uplands, and the lumber from the forests are carried to the
The United States 735
more populous States. The outlet of Lake Superior is interrupted by
rapids ; hence its name, the Sault (pronounced Soo) Ste. Marie. These are
passed by a canal that has been constructed around them on the southern
side (see Fig. 344); the tonnage passing through this canal rivals in
quantity, although not in value, that of the Suez canal.
The Adirondack region, and to a less degree the highlands of Wis-
consin also, serve as camping and hunting grounds in the summer vacation
season, when civilised man seems to enjoy a temporary return to the
wilder ways of his remote ancestors.
THE OHIO REGIONS AND PRAIRIES
The Ohio Region. — The region north of the Ohio and east of the
Mississippi is one of the most valuable parts of the United States. The
surface is of moderate relief, nearly everywhere open to occupation. The
soil is rich, the climate encouraging. Into this magnificent territory has
poured a tide of immigration during the nineteenth century with which the
history of the world has no parallel. The struggles for the acquisition of
the land w^ere practically completed before the century opened ; struggles
in which the stronger invaders repeated too often the harsh treatment that
a higher race inflicts upon a lower, but which nevertheless lead forward to
progress in the end. The northern Atlantic States, as well as the countries
of north-west Europe, furnished hundreds of thousands of able-bodied
workers under whose hands the Ohio basin region has grown to marvellous
productiveness, activity, and wealth, fully warranting the opinion of Lewis
Evans of Philadelphia in 1750, when he urged Great Britain to gain
possession of this " great extent of good land in a happy climate," arguing
that whatever nation wins it must inevitably gain the balance of power on
the continent.
The Ohio Region as an Ancient Coastal Plain. — The physical
features of the Ohio region are best explained by regarding it as an ancient
coastal plain, skirting the older Laurentian lands of Canada and their out-
liers in the Adirondacks and the Wisconsin highlands. Travelling
southward from the rugged Laurentian highlands of Canada on the
meridian of Niagara, a traveller would see the rugged country merge into
the fertile lowland of Ontario, partly submerged under the lake of that
name ; all this low ground being an " inner lowland " worn down on the
weak under layers of the ancient coastal plain. Crossing to Niagara, the
ascent of a bluff or escarpment of strong limestone, two or three hundred
feet in height, makes a distinct break in the general smoothness of the
lowland and leads to a broad upland, which then gradually slopes south-
ward to the ti*ough of Lake Erie, a second lowland underlain by weak
strata, and in turn enclosed by the hills that form the northern border of
the Allegheny plateau. Thus two inner lowlands and two uplands form
belts along the border of the Laurentian country ; and the rest of the Ohio
region may be described in terms of these elementary forms.
73^ The International Geography
The Mohawk Valley. — Following the fading Niagara escarpment
eastward beyond its disappearance near Rochester, one sees the two low-
lands of Ontario and Erie blend into one, forming the rich farming country
of western New York ; then narrowing as the Adirondacks come forward
from Canada and thus define the Mohawk valley between their southern
slope and the escarpment of the Helderbergs, which here forms the north-
eastern extremity of the Allegheny plateau. It is the confluence of the
Mohawk valley with the navigable tidewater of the Hudson that opened
the Great West to the port of New York City. At first an Indian trail, then
the path of the frontier settlers driving their waggons up the valley road,
next the course of the famous Erie canal whose construction in the first
half of the nineteenth century was a fit achievement for the Empire State,
now followed by important railroad lines, the Mohawk valley was always
a leading line of movement between the east and west. There can be
little question that the port that stands in closest connection with its
eastern end shall long be pre-eminent on the Atlantic coast. It is true
that Philadelphia stands nearer the Ohio region, and that the great railway
leading thence to Pittsburg and beyond has the advantage of least distance ;
but its way leads over the Allegheny plateau where gradients are heavy.
It is true that a shorter railway has been constructed from New York to
Buffalo than that which follows up the Hudson and the Mohawk ; but the
shorter line crosses the Allegheny plateau where it is broader than in
Pennsylvania, and it has had to pay dearly for its defiance of natural
pathways ; indeed, had English investors known more of the form of the
land when this venturesome road was projected, they would not have
become so largely its owners. Binghampton and Elniira are the only
considerable cities on its way among the hills; while the Hudson valley,
the Mohawk valley, and the southern border of the Ontario lowland include
a much greater population in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Troy,
Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Auburn and Rochester.
The Great Lakes and the Prairies. — In tracing the Ohio region
westward, it is interesting to note the relation of its belted lowlands and
uplands to the basins of the Great Lakes and to the path of the inter-
national boundary. The northern border belts of the Ohio region are
neither straight nor persistent ; they vary greatly from the type section on
the Niagara meridian. The basins of the Great Lakes exhibit a close
relation to the lowland belts. Ontario, Georgian Bay and Green Bay (on
the west side of Lake Michigan) occupy depressed parts of the inner low-
land ; Erie, Huron and Michigan occupy corresponding parts of the
second lowland. Between the lakes, the lowlands offer excellent farming
districts. The upland of the Niagara limestone, between the two lowland
belts, with its bluff looking across the inner lowland towards the rugged
old Laurentian land, may be traced with varying strength even beyond the
Mississippi ; it is of moderate height, and is not rugged enough to dis-
courage settlement. Its course (N on Fig. 353) leads north-west across
The United States 737
the Province of Ontario to the belt of islands that divides Georgian Bay
and Lake Huron ; westward through the eastern arm of upper Michigan
State ; southward through eastern Wisconsin in the ridge that divides
Green Bay from Lake Michigan ; and then curves through northern
Illinois into north-eastern Iowa. Artesian wells afford an abundant water
supply in this ancient coastal plain south of the Wisconsin highlands. The
Allegheny upland, bounding the lowlands in southern New York, fades
away westward in Ohio ; an isolated upland, coal-bearing and forested like
the Allegheny plateau, but subdued in form, occupies lower Michigan
between Lakes Huron and Michigan. The lumber from this region has
led to the growth of the city of Grand Rapids, where household furniture is
largely made.
It is but natural that the international boundary should have followed
the manifest line of the lakes and rivers, rather than the more irregular and
less distinct line that marks the inner border of the ancient coastal plain ;
and if by thus departing from one physical guide for another the United
States have lost peninsular Ontario, they have gained the great mineral
deposits of the upper Michigan highlands. It should be remarked that
Lake Superior is unlike the other lakes in being unrelated to the belts of
the ancient coastal plain. Its basin is an anomaly, a puzzle to the
geomorphologist, who has not yet been able to give a good account of it.
The basin must be of recent origin, for if ancient, it would long ago have
been filled with sediments and converted into a plain.
The hills of the Allegheny plateau are not seen in Ohio west of Cleve-
land ; and with their disappearance a broad expanse of country opens
towards the Mississippi, originally wooded in the east, a treeless prairie
further west. This great extension of the Erie lowland is now divided
into the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Little wonder that the early
farmers of the rugged New England hills sent their sons out to this
wonderful farming land of deep and rich soil. Little wonder that such
of the European immigrants as did not stop in the Atlantic cities passed
the uplands of the Allegheny plateau before settling upon their new
homes. Little wonder that those who found so bountiful a welcome on
the prairies, became Americanised in the first generation ; never has so
composite a population been so rapidly unified. With free movement,
with rapidly growing population, with wonderful increase in wealth, one
here sees few of the old-fashioned ways of living that still remain in the
enclosed valleys of the Atlantic highlands. The rough cabin or log house
was usually replaced by a well-built frame cottage within the life of the
first settler ; and his sons and grandsons, leaders in the growing com-
munities, often occupy mansions of some pretension, albeit their architecture
seldom follows classic lines.
The rivers at first served as important lines of travel and transportation.
The growth of Cincinnati was for many years as much dependent on the
trade that followed the Ohio river as on the rich farming country that
738 The International Geography
surrounded it. Canals were cut between the headwater branches of the
Ohio and Mississippi and the waters of the Great Lakes ; the lakes them-
selves, consecrated to peace after the war of 1812, lie with extended shore
lines along the northern border of the great fertile country, and a whole
series of important cities has been built on their southern side — Buffalo,
Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee. But important as the
rivers have been and as the lakes are still, it is to the marvellous develop-
ment of railroads on the level prairies that the industrial and commercial
activity of the region is most largely due. Distance is their only obstacle,
and that they overcome by building single tracks ; they have few cuttings
or embankments, they cross each other on the level, and gather in tangled
ganglia in many prairie centres like Columbus, Indianapolis, and Spring-
field. An open country, occupied by a few Indians a century ago, has
suddenly become populous and rich, and the manufacturer and the rail-
road magnate take the place of the feudal baron of Europe.
Glacial action in the Ohio region. — Various geographical features
have already been traced backward to their origin in past geological
processes, and forward to their control over human distribution and
occupations. This phase of geographical study nowhere receives more
striking illustration than in those elements of form that have resulted
directly or indirectly from the action of the ice sheets of the glacial period.
It has been too generally the custom to set such subjects aside, as if they
belonged only in the province of the geologist ; but in the Ohio region as
in New England events without number, great and small, from trifling
matters of individual action to momentous problems of national importance,
have turned on the geographical results of ice action. Once recognised,
their meaning cannot be neglected. The soils on which the richness of
the Ohio region depends are almost wholly of glacial origin. Smooth
sheets of till were spread out under the invading ice sheet where.it could
drag along no further the rock waste that it brought from nearer its
source ; still smoother sheets of silt were deposited in various marginal
lakes, large and small. Sheets of loess, ascribed to wind action by many
observers, to turbid fluviatile waters by others, are found in the south-
western part of the district, and reappear in greater force beyond the
Mississippi. Far from being a destructive agency, the ice sheets and their
associated processes were here largely constructive ; they buried the pre-
existent topography, extinguished the pre-glacial drainage, and made the
surface over anew. The soil of the till plains is more or less stony ; that
of the silt and loess plains is almost impalpably fine. All are rich soils,
for they consist in greatest part of pulverised rock, not exhausted by
vegetable growth while weathering, but worn mechanically from its parent
ledges under the desert ice sheets and in the ice-fed rivers.
The plains of till, silt, and loess are so extensive and continuous, that
rock ledges are unknown for many miles together ; pre-glacial hills and
valleys are completely buried over large areas ; it is only in the sides of
The United States 739
young valleys, recently cut through the glacial deposits, that the ledges are
exposed. The geologist hardly knows where to draw the boundaries of
rock formations ; he has to trust largely to the samples brought up from
the wells and deep borings that have been made in search of oil and gas.
The absence of trees on the prairies has been ascribed by some to the
fineness of the soil ; by others, to Indian fires. It appears probable that
both these causes have had effect. The climate of the region is certainly
favourable, for trees flourish when planted. On the other hand, trees are
absent from the western plains because of lack of rainfall ; and the blend-
ing of plain and prairie west of the Mississippi has sometimes given rise to
the wrong idea that their treelessness was due to a common cause.
It may now be understood how strikingly the soil and the surface of
the prairies north of the Ohio differ from those further south, as in the
Blue Grass region of Kentucky. There the soil is of local origin and varies
with the nature of the rock beneath ; hence the sharp contrast between
the fertility of the Blue Grass district and the barrenness of the adjoining
sandstone uplands already mentioned. In the glaciated region, local and
distant materials are well mixed ; there is generally an excess of local
material, but it seldom prevails in such quantity as to make the soil very
much better or worse than the average. The hills of south-eastern Ohio,
outside of the glaciated district, should be regarded as a part of the
dissected Allegheny plateau ; but whatever hills there once were in north-
western Ohio are now buried under the drift. One part of the State has
many coal mines, the other has extensive farms. In the same way southern
Indiana and Illinois, beyond the border of the drift, exhibit local details
of topographic form dependent on rock structure, and accompanied by
relatively sudden changes in the character and value of the soils, similar to
those found south of the Ohio river in Kentucky ; the central and northern
parts of these States are smoothly drift covered for scores of miles.
Corn (Indian corn, or maize) is the characteristic crop of the drift region
from Ohio to Nebraska. Its growth is favoured by hot summer weather.
Travelling by rail, one may pass miles and scores of miles of corn-fields,
waving green in early summer, dull brown or gray in early autumn.
Other grains are also raised in abundance. Great herds of cattle are"
pastured on the drift prairies, rivalling the product of the western plains.
Roads very generally follow the north-and-south or east-and-west lines by
which the land was originally divided for sale from the government to the
people. Road-making is generally done by a scraping machine, which
throws the soil from a ditch on either side to an arch in the middle ; in
wet weather they have many sloughs, where waggon wheels sink hub-deep.
In the villages and cities vitrified brick is coming to be largely used for
paving, in the absence of good road metal. Barbed wire is now almo t
universally used for fencing on the treeless prairies.
The broad surface of the drift plains is here and there interrupted by
looped belts of low hills, convex southward ; these are the termini'!
740 The International Geography
moraines of the ice lobes into which the front of the glacial sheet was
divided ; each trough of low ground on the north allowed the ice to move
faster and further forward, while each district of higher ground, like the
Allegheny Plateau of eastern Ohio, the uplands of lower Michigan, and the
highlands of Wisconsin, retarded the advance. Although of moderate
relief, the morainic belts are usually the only hills visible over hundreds of
miles of prairie, hence they commonly serve to define the subdivides
between river headwaters, although not ranking as equals in this respect
with the upland belts of the ancient coastal plain. The moraines have a
moderately rolling surface, they are sometimes strewn with boulders ; their
hollows contain numerous ponds and marshes.
Effect of Glacial Action on Drainage. — Rivers running from the
glaciated area bore with them an abundant load of waste, and thus built
up their valley floors into broad flood plains ; but since the disappearance
of the ice and the decrease of the waste furnished to them, the rivers have
trenched the valley flood plains, forming terraces, and sometimes pro-
ducing falls and rapids where the entrenching streams have cut down
upon buried ledges ; but the water power thus provided is much less than
in New England, on account of the small relief of the region and the slow
descent of the valley floors. The lakes which gathered on the land that
sloped towards the retreating ice sheets marked their shore lines with
beaches, many of which are so well preserved that they are used as
naturally graded roads. The outlets of these glacial lakes wer6 at the
lowest passes across the height of land on the south. Strong rivers ran from
the greater lakes, scouring out broad channels, now abandoned except by
the waters of such small side streams as happen to enter them. A well-
defined channel of this kind is incised to a slight depth across the drift-
covered surface of northern Indiana, where the waters of the expanded
Lake Erie (when its present outlet was obstructed by ice) ran out by the
Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers. Another channel discharged the
expanded waters of Lake Michigan to the headwaters of the Illinois river
across the south-western border of the lake basin ; there an Indian portage
was naturally found when white settlers entered the region ; a military
outpost. Fort Dearborn, was established on this travelled path early in the
nineteenth century, and there Chicago has since grown. The old channel
of overflow has been a little deepened, a current of water is drawn through
it from the lake to the Mississippi system, and the drainage of the city is
thus to be disposed of in the future.
Chicago is the epitome and climax of the prairie and lake region.
Its lofty buildings disclose a boundless prairie to the west and south, and a
boundless blue lake to the east. No other city in America is the focal
point of so many lines and systems of railroads. No other lake port has so
valuable a commerce. No other city in the world has grown to so huge a
population in so short a time — an empty prairie in 1830 ; more than a
million of population at the close of the century. From an idle military
The United States
741
SeaUtrfMUu
■% ■■
post, Chicago has risen in seventy years — the span of a single lifetime — to
a sensationally active market for traffic in cattle, grain, and lumber ; as the
centre of trade for a vast region, it feeds the east and furnishes the west.
The immediate site of the city had few advantages for the seat of a great
population. The ground was so low and flat as to be poorly drained, and
after the growth of the city had been w^ell begun, the buildings and streets
had to be raised to a higher level than that of the natural prairie. The lake
shore was open to storms, and the little river that alone gave protection to
shipping had to be enlarged like a canal before it could admit many
vessels. To counterbalance these disadvantages, Chicago stands in the
midst of a vast prairie region, at a point where all overland travel from
the east must turn round the southern end of Lake Michigan on the way
to the great North-West ; and to
this fact of general relations much
more than to any immediate local
advantage has the great city owed
its growth. Rapid growth has not
been altogether an advantage, for
a city that has increased in popu-
lation so fast as Chicago cannot
have exercised a careful selection
in the choice of its new members.
Like other great cities, it exhibits
many of the unattractive sides of
human nature, but from about the
time of the Columbian Exhibition
of 1893, various signs of better
growth have appeared. The in-
numerable railroads all originally
crossed each other's tracks on the
level, but the correction of this
difficulty is now actively in pro-
FlG. 359.— T/?t' Site of Chicago.
gress. The immense wealth gathered in the city has found new application
in the establishment of a university and a museum, whose development
has advanced by wondrous strides. Already the centre of population has
passed the meridian of Chicago. However important the harbour cities
may be in relation to Europe, the great interior City on the Lake promises
soon to outrank them in all domestic relations.
Niagara and the Great Lakes. — A whole series of events reaching
from the close of the glacial period past the present into the future,
associate Niagara river, the Great Lakes, and the city of Chicago in a
most curious history. The lakes, except Superior, occupy lowlands or
depressions which, as has been pointed out, are closely dependent upon
the structure of the ancient coastal plain between the Laurentian high-
lands of Canada and the Ohio prairies. Although the problem of the
742 The International Geography
origin of the lakes is still unsolved, their history during the retreat of the
latest ice-sheet has been well deciphered durjng the last twenty years, and
now offers a consecutive story of extraordinary interest and importance to
the geographer. As the ice withdrew from its last great advance numerous
small disconnected water bodies were formed along its margin ; but as
the retreat of the ice continued, the many small lakes coalesced into a few
lakes of much larger size ; and ultimately perhaps all these were reduced
to a single sheet of water of very irregular outline, escaping to the
Mississippi by a single outlet at the site of Chicago. This outlet was
probably maintained while the ice still lay heavily on the lands to the
north-east ; but as the ice front withdrew, lower outlets were offered, first
eastward by the Mohawk to the Hudson, then north-east by the St.
Lawrence as to-day. As the change from the southern to the eastern
drainage was approaching, a considerable river ran along the trough
defined by the northern slope of the Allegheny Plateau in central New
York, and the southern slope of the ice front ; this being known by the
channels cut across the spurs of the plateau in the neighbourhood of
Syracuse, where they are conspicuous features. Later on, when the
eastern discharge was fully established, and the Chicago outlet was
abandoned, the great marginal lake was divided into a larger western and
a smaller eastern part by the Niagara upland between the Erie and the
Ontario basins ; the latter overflowing down the Mohawk while the ice
still filled the St. Lawrence valley, and afterwards sinking to a lower level
when the St. Lawrence valley was opened. Several lines of discharge for
a time fiowed northward across the Niagara upland, and fell down its
north-facing bluff into the lowland beneath ; but of these only the Niagara
river has survived ; its fall has now been worn back nearly seven miles
from its original position.
During all these remarkable changes the land was slowly rising in the
north-east, as if relieved of the weight of the ice by which it had been for
a time depressed ; this being known by the gentle north-eastward ascent
of the earlier lake-shore lines. The change of level thus brought about had
much influence in determining the location of the successive lake outlets.
As the ice sheet uncovered the lowlands of south-western Ontario, a line of
discharge was opened eastward from Georgian Bay at a lower level than
the roundabout flow through Lake Erie ; and for a time the upper lakes
were allowed to discharge directly eastward. During this interval only
Lake Erie fed Niagara, and the part of the gorge then cut by the reduced
river is much narrower than that of earlier and later dates. As the land
rose in the north-east, the path of the discharge eastward from Georgian
Bay became too high for the lake outlet ; hence the waters of the upper
lakes again ran round through Erie, Niagara \\2iS restored to the full
volume which it has since maintained, and the gorge was cut to full width
again. A consequence of the variation in the width of the gorge is seen
in the position of the two great railroad bridges by which it is crossed ;
The United States 743
they are close together, spanning the narrow portion of the gorge that was
cut while the volume of the Niagara was diminished by the diversion of
the upper lake waters to the more direct outlet across the Ontario district.
The rise of land in the north-east not only turned the discharge of the
upper lakes back to Erie and Niagara, it raised all the lake waters on their
south-western shores ; thus a number of little valleys were flooded into
bays, furnishing harbours such as that which determined the location of
Toledo at the south-west end of Lake Erie. By a similar movement, the
water at the southern end of Lake Michigan has been raised again from
the level that it must have had while the land was lower in the north-east
and the eastward outlet was maintained from Georgian Bay ; thus the
Michigan waters have returned very nearly to the level of the earlier time,
when the northern end of the lake was blocked by ice, and the outlet ran
south-westward past the site of Chicago. Not only so ; the rising of the
land in the north-east and resulting change of water levels still continues,
and at a rate rapid enough to be discovered in the brief period during
which accurate measurements have been made of the lake waters. An
examination of a number of authentic records by Gilbert has shown that
there is a tilting of 0*42 feet in a hundred miles in a century. If continued,
the backing up of the waters on the southern end of Lake Michigan will
be much faster than their lowering on account of the work of Niagara in
wearing down its falls ; and in two or three thousand years all the lakes
but Ontario will again be tributary to the Mississippi river.
The Upper Mississippi River. — No one can say where the source
of the Mississippi River lay in pre-glacial times. Its present head in Lake
Itasca is not determined by the long and slow adjustments characteristic
of river sources in mountainous regions, such as the Older Appalachian
Belt of North Carolina, but by the accidental position of a small lake in
a morainic region. Its upper course strays across a comparatively open
countr}^, guided as much by the irregular deposits of drift as by the
form of the underlying rock. It has incised a narrow and shallow valley,
but is still too young to have worn down its many falls and rapids.
Settlements have sprung up at many of the water powers thus determined.
The most important of these is Minneapolis, at the lowest and the largest
of the falls, those of St. Anthony, now famous for driving extensive flour-
mills, where much of the wheat of the north-west is ground. Between the
neighbouring cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul the narrow valley of the
young Mississippi joins a broader valley now occupied by the Minnesota
river, but formed by the large overflow of the glacial Lake Agassiz. The
broader valley is thenceforward followed southward, St. Paul standing on
its border at the head of navigation ; and thus the " twin cities," too close
together for the needs of the region, are forced into an over-active rivalry.
Lake Pepin, a short distance below St. Paul, is an expansion of the
Mississippi caused by an abundant deposit of drift that was washed into
the valley by the Chippewa river from the north-east, probably at a time
744 The International Geography
when the volume of the latter was enlarged by contributions from the
melting ice sheet. Further on, the river generally possesses a flood plain
a few miles in width, bounded by strong bluffs which ascend to the rolling
prairie ; here the valley probably follows the course of the pre-glacial
Mississippi ; but occasionally the river trough is much narrower, as if the
prc-glacial course had been obstructed by drift, and a new course had been
carved in post-glacial time. Masterful as the river is, it cannot pretend to
great antiquity. It is the modern representative of an ancient river, but it
departs in many ways from the habit of its predecessor. A number of
thriving cities of moderate size — Dubuque, Davenport, Burlington, Quincy
— are built on the valley floor or border ; their first advantage coming
from the great north-and-south waterway ; but to-day the river is of little
importance as compared to the railroads running east and west. Indeed,
the river is- now more of an impediment from having to be bridged, than
an advantage as a public highway.
The Ohio River. — The Ohio and its northern branches resemble
the upper Mississippi system in many ways. Its trunk stream is now old
enough to have opened a good flood plain between the.enclosing hills. The
head waters rise on drift barriers, by which the pre-glacial drainage system
has been greatly modified. Many valleys that formerly discharged to Lake
Erie are now blocked by moraines, and turn part of their waters to the
Ohio. There is growing reason for the belief that a number of streams
from as far south as the West Virginia plateau originally ran northward
across Ohio to Lake Erie ; that an ice blockade of their lower (northern)
courses in an early epoch of the glacial period caused them to rise in lakes
and overflow westward across the hills at the lowest passes they could
find ; and that in this accidental way the upper and middle Ohio valley
was developed. If so, this river, by which so many settlers found their
way to the prairies, is an indirect consequence of glacial action, like the
water powers on which the manufactures of New England at first
depended. Only the southern branches of the river can lay claim to great
antiquity. Cincinnati and Louisville are the chief cities on the middle
Ohio ; both profiting more largely to-day from the rich agricultural districts
behind them, and from the railroads that lead across country, than from
the rivers to whose advantages their location was originally due. Coal
and lumber is still floated down the river from the hills of the Allegheny
Plateau ; but the large river steamboats and their voyages from Pittsburg
to tlie Mississippi are almost things of the past. Small river-boats to-day
have a share of local traffic, but the railroads absorb nearly all the long-
distance transportation.
All these rivers are subject to severe floods, those of the Ohio being
especially disastrous ; many of its branches, especially in the plateau
district, gather rainfall rapidly from their steep valley sides. No lakes are
present to equahse their discharge, the Ohio being strongly contrasted
with the St. Lawrence in this respect. A destructive rise of from forty to
The United States 745
sixty feet, submerging the whole valley floor, and drowning the streets of
many a village, must be expected once if not oftener in a decade.
The Climate of the Ohio Region. — Cold winters and hot summers,
with an equable distribution of rainfall through the year, are the leading
features in the climate of the Ohio region. The hot summers are so
productive that the cold of the winters is easily survived. The position
of the region between the warm Gulf of Mexico on the far south, and the
open plains of Canada on the far north-west, gives an unpleasant violence
to its weather changes. The light southerly winds that prevail in front
of cyclonic areas in midsummer cause excessive temperatures with high
humidity under a hazy sky ; prostration from sunstroke is of common
occurrence in the cities during these spells of true " sirocco " weather.
The Atlantic cities are subject to the same affliction, but seldom of so great
severity as on the prairies. As the cyclonic centre passes eastward, the
wind shifts to west or north-west, the sky clears to a bright blue, and the
temperature falls to a moderate degree. Violent thunderstorms and
tornadoes often mark the transition from one weather type to another. In
contrast with these excessive heats of summer and their cool waves are
the mild southerly winds of winter and their cold waves ; the latter are
piercing blasts that sweep suddenly down from the Canadian plains,
reducing the temperature to zero or lower, and causing sudden frost after
the thaw of the southerly winds. Like the warm waves of summer, the
cold waves of winter reach the Atlantic coast, even as far south as Florida,
but with diminished intensity as they move forward from their remote
northern source.
THE SOUTHERN COASTAL PLAIN
The Southern Coastal Plain. — The account already given of the
Atlantic Coastal Plain as far south as the Carolinas prepares the way for
following its extension westward, where it wraps around the southern
Appalachians and turns into the Mississippi embayment. The mountains
gradually decrease in height, although preserving their disordered
structures in full strength, and thus disappear below the covering strata of
the coastal plain in northern Georgia and Alabama. With the burial of
the mountains, the granite and marble quarries of the older belt, and the
coal and iron mines of the newer belt, give way to the agricultural
industries of the plain. The plain is well dissected and hilly in the interior,
with local relief of from two to four hundred feet ; it gradually descends
towards the coast, and there falls to broad prairies, recently emerged from
the waters of the Gulf, still flat and marshy. Pine forests cover much of
the region, yielding valuable lumber as well as resinous products. The
population is generally rural or gathered in small villages ; even the largest
cities are of moderate size. Middle Alabama offers the only peculiar
feature that deserves special description ; this is a belted arrangement of
form, such as has been described for New Jersey. An inner lowland
74^ The International Geography
Fig. 360.— r^e Alabama
Coastal Plain.
borders the older land of the Appalachians ; an upland known as
Chunnenugga Ridge encloses the inner lowland ; and the outer slope of
the "ridge" descends to the flat coastal prairies. The inner lowland has
been worn down on a weak, loose-textured lime-
stone ; its flat surface is covered by a rich soil,
and here is the chief cotton belt of the State with
the largest cities of the agricultural district.
Being without good road metal, the roads are
often impassable in the spring ; the traveller
must then mount a horse and take to the fields.
The "ridge" stands up> because its strata are
more resistant than those of the inner lowland ;
being sandy for the most part, their soils are
relatively infertile. The coastal prairies are low,
because they have never been uplifted high ; they
are smooth because they cannot be dissected
while standing near sea-level. Mobile, at the head
of a bay formed by drowning the lower valley
of Alabama river, the result of a slight depres-
sion of the region, is the chief port of the Gulf coast, east of the Mississippi.
Slavery. — The Southern Coastal Plain is chiefly responsible for the
grievous affliction of slavery that so long blighted the southern States and
poisoned the whole country. The settlements of the whole Atlantic coast
were at first to blame for the iniquity, for slaves were originally held in
New England as well as in Virginia and the Carolinas ; but in the north
slave labour was of so little profit that sordid motives did not deceive the
awakening conscience of the people ; and before the system gained a
strong hold it was uprooted. In the south, on the other hand, slave labour
on the plantations became extremely profitable ; and moreover, the heat of
summer, it has often been asserted, was too severe for white labourers.
The principles of the people very naturally followed their profitable
practice, and slavery became an established institution. The population
was thus divided into three chief classes, the white slaveholders, the land-
owners and leaders, financially and politically, of the south, men of wealth,
ability, and high position ; the poor whites or " white trash," in large part
the descendants of very undesirable colonists of early days, owning no
slaves and very little property, lazy, ignorant, and poverty-stricken, despised
by both the other classes ; and the negro slaves, with no property or
influence whatever. To these three classes a fourth may be added ; the
sturdier people of the uplands, inland from the coastal plain, often owning
no slaves, sometimes owning a few, not profiting enough by the system of
slavery to be strongly attached to it, yet not sufficiently wealthy or politi-
cally important to exert much influence, and too generally casting what
influence they had with the more ardent slaveholders as against the people
of the north.
The United States
747
Fig, 361
-The Old Slave States and the present
Distribution of Negroes.
If the distribution of the ^vealthy and the influential slaveholders were
charted, it would be found to be closely associated with the Southern
Coastal Plain, and especially with the belts of richer soil. The piedmont
border of the Appalachian belt, the inland Appalachian valley (the Shenan-
doah valley of Virginia and the Valley of East Tennessee), the flood plain
of the Mississippi and the isolated limestone basins of western Tennessee
and northern Kentucky (the Blue Grass country) were also profitable slave-
holding districts ; but the stronghold of the system was on the coastal
plain. Better that the
plain should never have
grown a pound of cotton,
better that its fertile
strata should never have
emerged from the waters
of the sea, than that
slavery and its direful,
long-lasting consequences
should have come upon
the United States. Now
after a dreadful struggle,
slavery is abolished and
better conditions are
ushered in. Considerable sums of public money are devoted by the several
States to the education of the negroes, but always apart from the whites ;
many schools are supported by contributions from the northern States ;
some advance is made in the ownership and cultivation of land and in the
practice of trades ; but political rights are practically withheld from the
former slaves ; there is still a great body of poor and ignorant negroes
— often a majority of the population — set apart from the whites by all the
prejudices that divide the races of mankind. The coastal plain has much
to answer for, in so far as it led to this unhappy condition.
Florida is an anomalous out-growth from the Southern Coastal Plain,
a low up-arching of the sea floor, nowhere reaching more than a few
hundred feet above sea-level. Much of its interior is underlain by lime-
stones ; here numerous lakes are found as if occupying cavities dissolved
out of the soluble rock, and many streams disappear in " sinks," emerging
elsewhere in large springs. Nearer the coast the land is low and often
marshy, especially in the south where the grassy Everglades form an
impenetrable wilderness, and where the shore line is often bordered by
mangrove swamps, especially on the western side. Remnants of Indian
tribes are still found in this untamable country. The eastern coast is
bordered by extensive sand reefs with remarkably even shore lines,
enclosing long narrow lagoons. In Florida, as well as further north to
Carolina, there are strata so rich in phosphatic deposits — largely derived from
he bones of sea animals — as to be valuable as fertilizers ; they are already
49
748 The International Geography
excavated in shallow pits and exported in considerable quantity ; but this
industry is only in its infancy, awaiting the further exhaustion of the soils in
the northern farms for its full development. The southern extremity of
Florida and the outlying islands are coral reefs ; in part slightly elevated
and worn down again ; in part growing at sea-level ; thus resembling the
extensive banks of the Bahamas to the south-east.
The far southern reach of Florida between the Atlantic and the Gulf
waters gives it an almost torrid climate. It has a plentiful rainfall, with a
stronger maximum in summer than is found anywhere else in the United
States. Tropical cyclones frequently pass the Florida coast in the late
summer or early autumn, on their curved track between the West Indies
and the North Atlantic. They sometimes cause disaster on the low coastal
lands by brushing the sea-water ashore in storm tides, as well as by over-
whelming the unwary mariner ; but their coming is generally announced
by the Weather Bureau. The mild winters of Florida attract many
invalids from the more severe climates of the northern States. The
high mean temperature permits the cultivation of subtropical fruits,
which are sent in large quantities to the northern markets ; but a cold
wave occasionally sweeps down from the north-west in the late winter
and freezes the orange trees and early vegetables ; hence fortunes have
been lost as well as made in the orchards and farms of Florida. Key West,
on an island off the south end of the peninsula, is the United States naval
station for the Gulf.
The Lo"wer Mississippi. — During the deposition of the strata of
the Southern Coastal Plain, a strong embayment occupied the place of
the lower Mississippi. As the region was elevated, many rivers, formerly
independent, were engrafted on a single trunk, and thus the " father of
waters " was formed. The upper Mississippi deserves no higher rank than
the Ohio and the Missouri ; indeed, in the matter of age, the Ohio head-
waters in the Black Mountains of North Carolina and the Missouri head-
waters in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, are
much more venerable than the post-glacial parvenus of the upper Mis-
sissippi in Minnesota ; but the lower Mississippi combining them all is
truly a great river. The early French explorers of North America entered
the interior by its two chief waterways, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi.
Their presence is revealed by many names still in use, such as Quebec
and Montreal, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Louisiana.
The defeat of the French at Quebec transferred all their possessions on
the northern river to British control. The purchase of Louisiana brought
a western empire into the possession of the United States. In both cases
the upper basin of the river followed the fate of the mouth.
Although bearing a heavy load of silt, the great volume of the Mis-
sissippi enables it to establish a channel of very gentle slope. Its vigorous
meanders, swinging now this way, now that, have alternately worn back
the bluffs on the east and west so that the flood plain has gained a breadth
The United States
749
The greater part of
of from thirty to sixty miles over a length of 600 miles
the plain slopes gently away from the river
banks, and is therefore liable to be flooded at
times of high water. Hardly a year passes but
a moderate flood occurs in one part or another ;
hardly a decade without a devastating inunda-
tion. Near the. river the plain is partly cleared
and cultivated : its rich soil produces abundant
crops of cotton and sugar cane. Further back
upon the river a great part of the plain is
not yet cleared. Southward, the flood plain
continues into the delta, which is rapidly build-
ing forward into the Gulf. The river there
divides into a number of outgoing branches or
distributaries, each of which is enclosed in its
furthest advance by low and narrow banks of
mud. Few deltas in the world more clearly
exhibit in their digitate outline the intention of
their river ; few are more indifferent to the
desire of the waves to turn their front into a
smooth convex curve. The mouths of the dis-
tributaries are known as "passes"; at one of
them, jetties have been formed to confine the
river breadth, increase its velocity, and thus
cause it to scour out a deeper channel for the
advantage of navigation. No large cities have
grown upon the flood plain except New Orleans,
the chief city of the Gulf coast, the harbour
city where internal and external commerce meet. Its population contains
many Creoles— Americans of French ancestry — and many Italian immi-
grants. St. Louis, although
above the mouth of the Ohio,
may be regarded as standing
at the head of the great flood
plain. In earlier years, when
river transportation was at its
best development, the two
cities of the lower Mississippi
were intimately connected ; a
voyage on a Mississippi steam-
boat was an experience sm
'generis, in the way of boat con-
struction and navigation, as
Fig. s^i'—The end of the Mississippi Delia. 11 • i.i u r 4-
■^ ^^ well as m the chance of meet-
ing with planters and gamblers, and of seeing a cargo of " slaves, cotton
Fig
—The Mississippi Flood
Plain (zvhitc).
e a 10 MlUs
750 The International Geography
and other merchandise," The trip may still be made ; there are still shift-
ing sand bars on the " crossings " between the river curves, and there is still
a great extent of unoccupied forest along
the river banks ; but here, as well as
further north, the rapid transportation
of the railroad is largely replacing the
slower movement of the river boat,
except for local traffic supplied by the
settlfimcnts on the flood plain itself.
Betw^een New Orleans and St. Louis,
the chief settlements are at points where
the swinging river touches the bluffs
on one or other side of the plain. Hap-
pening in this century to lie nearer the
eastern side of the plain than the west-
ern, Memphis, Tenn., Vicksburg, Miss.,
and Natchez and Baton Rouge, La., are
on the eastern bluffs. Helena, Ark., is the only important city on the
western bluff below St. Louis. To these must be added Cairo, III., at the
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi.
If engineering skill ever suffices to control the floods of the Mississippi,
to restrain the shifting of its meandering channel, and to drain the " back-
swamps" of its flood plain, the whole surface may be cultivated. Already
some steps have been taken toward this profitable end. A Mississippi
River Commission has constructed elaborate maps of the river, and exten-
sive dikes or " levees " are constructed along its banks. Another century
may see great advance made from this beginning, and then the product of
the Mississippi flood plain will be proportionate to its vast extent and its
inexhaustible fertility.
Fig. 364. — The Site of New Orleans.
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI STATES
The Trans-Mississippi States.— The tier of States from Minnesota
to Louisiana immediately west of the Mississippi presents an epitomised
review of what has already been described. Northern Minnesota is an
extension of the Laurentian highlands, a region of ancient rocks worn
down to moderate relief, rich in iron ores. It is abundantly strewn over
with sheet drift and heaped moraines enclosing innumerable lakes. Its
northward slope, with that of eastern North Dakota, drained by the Red
River of the North, was the seat of the vast glacial-marginal Lake Agassiz,
stretching far north into Canada against the retreating ice, and overflowing
at a dip in the height of land on the south, where the channel now followed
by the Minnesota river was cut. The shore lines of the lake and the
deltas of inflowing rivers on the east and west are not less distinct than the
channel of its outlet, although now abandoned by the waters that made
them. As with the Laurentian glacial lakes, the shore lines of Lake
The United States
751
Agassiz now rise northward at a slight inchnation, proving an elevation of
the land in the north during and since the disappearance of the ice sheet.
The lake-floor, a vast treeless prairie, one of the most nearly level tracts on
the face of the Earth, has been occu-
pied by great wheat farms ; the fine
texture of its soil, the smoothness of
its surface, and its freedom from forest
growth have promoted its rapid settle-
ment, while the rolling drift country
on the east and west, with its stony
moraines, its abundant forest growth,
and its many lakes and swamps, is less
generally occupied. Here as elsewhere
in the north-west, Scandinavian immi-
grants are numerous.
Southern Minnesota, Iowa, and
northern Missouri — and the adjoining
parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, and
Kansas — resemble the western prairie
States of the Ohio region. The sur-
face is underlain by nearly horizontal
strata of ancient date, similar to those
which stretch southward from the
Wisconsin highland. There is the same general concealment of rock
ledges, except in the banks of the post-glacial stream courses ; the same
wide expanse of gently undulating plains of till, the same ornamenta-
tion by belts of hilly moraines. Most of the surface is treeless prairie,
very fertile and widely cultivated. Many villages and small cities have
sprung up, but there are as yet no large cities. Railroads are almost as
plentiful as east of the Mississippi. There is no part of the United States
in which the succession of earlier and later drift sheets is so well displayed.
In the northern part of this district the forms produced by the ice are
hardly modified, except close to the sharp-cut stream lines ; the till plains
are still undissected, lakes are still present in the moraines : here the drift is
very young. In the southern part there are no lakes and the surface of the
drift is well carved by numerous branching streams into an undulating sur-
face : here the drift is comparatively old. The interval between the earliest
and latest ice advances must have been much longer than between the latest
advance and the present day. The fertile loess mantle that so generally
cloaks the more southern drift is distinctly associated with one of the
earlier advances ; the latest advance produced no loess, but gave forth
energetic rivers that bore streams of gravel along the valleys far beyond
the terminal moraines.
Tornadoes of the Mississippi Basin. — The plains immediately
to the west of the Mississippi vie with those immediately to the east of the
Fig. 365. — The Site of St. Louis.
752 The International Geography
river in affording opportunity for the development of tornadoes during the
spring and summer months. These violent and destructive whirlwinds
are now shown to be almost limited to the south-eastern quadrant of large
cyclonic or low pressure areas, in that part of the cyclonic track and in
that season which provides strong contrasts of temperature and humidity
in the inflowing winds. The same great cyclonic storm, a thousand miles
in diameter, may be followed in its eastern progress all across North
America, and far out upon the North Atlantic even to north-western
Europe. The general circulation of its whirling indrafts is alike during
its entire journey of five or ten thousand miles ; but only on passing
the middle Mississippi basin in spring or summer are tornadoes frequently
developed. They occur within thunderstorms, but by no means within
every such local storm ; hence it may be inferred that their development
depends on highly specialised conditions, such as warm and moist southerly
winds in the lower atmosphere, and a probable overflow of cool and dry
westerly winds aloft. The destructive tornado whirl, within which hangs
a writhing funnel-shaped cloud, is seldom over a thousand yards in
diameter. It travels rapidly, usually from south-west to north-east, avera-
ging thirty miles an hour, while the velocity of the winds themselves must
exceed a hundred miles per hour. The storm comes out of the cloudy
west with little warning, lays waste its narrow path with a frightful roaring,
and quickly disappears across the prairie. Trees and buildings are
violently destroyed in a moment, if the full force of the whirl comes upon
them. Little wonder that those who have witnessed but escaped a tornado's
fury are nervously apprehensive when dark clouds gather over the western
horizon in sultry summer weather.
The Missouri Highlands.— The Missouri river roughly follows
the border of the drift area on the west of the Mississippi, as the Ohio
does on the east. There is some reason for thinking that the course of
the river was determined when an early ice sheet lay on the country to the
north-east of it, thus increasing its resemblance to the Ohio. It is now a well
established river, with a fiood plain generally several miles wide,- incised one
or two hundred feet below the uplands on either side. Many towns, like
Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri, occupy the bordering uplands where
the swinging river impinges against the base of the bluff ; thus showing
that here, as on the Ohio, river travel was important before the days of the
railroad. Now many steamboats are rotting at their wharves.
South of the Missouri, the land rises gradually to the Ozark Plateau (Oz
in Fig. 353), a broad flat dome of Palaeozoic strata, in general less dissected,
but singularly like the Allegheny plateau in many respects. The uplands
include a number of ragged ciicstas , that is, reliefs determined by the
harder members of the plateau strata whose gently inclined position causes
them to form escarpments of irregular front, two or three hundred feet in
height on the outcrop side, but descending slowly to lower ground in the
direction of their dip ; the belt of lower ground between the back slope of
The United States 753
one cuesta and the escarpment of the next being the surface expression of
the weaker strata that He between the cuesta-makers. The chief river
valleys are cut down beneath the level of the belts of lower ground, and
are therefore doubly deep in their passage through the uplands of the
cuestas. They are generally steep sided and narrow floored : some of
them have singularly meandering courses, like that of the Osage. The
population is gathered on the broader interstream uplands, and is almost
exclusively engaged in agriculture. The chief exception to this statement
is found in the St. Frangois Mountains, eastward from the higher parts of
the plateau, where iron mining flourishes ; this being the natural result of
the emergence here of several ancient mountain summits that rise through
the stratified rocks of the plateau from a buried Archcean land surface.
Iron Mountain is one of these summits ; Pilot Knob, a landmark seen
from afar, is another. The plateau slowly decreases in height and increases
in ruggedness on approaching its border in northern Arkansas. Across its
whole breadth, there is an increase in the abundance of natural tree
growth, in contrast to the treeless prairies of Iowa ; the rugged southern
part of the Ozark Plateau is abundantly forested and thinly inhabited.
The Arkansas Highlands. — The lower country of central Ar-
kansas, next beyond the southern border of the Ozark Plateau, is deter-
mined by the upturning of the strata, which from the beginning of their
overlap on the Archaean floor of northern Minnesota had been almost
horizontal. The denuded folds of the crushed rocks form the Ouachita
Mountains, occupying a belt that trends east and west across middle Ar-
kansas, disappearing under the embayment of the Southern Coastal Plain
to the eastward, and extending far into the dry country to the westward
(Ou in Fig. 353). Here so many repetitions of the Appalachian structure
and form have been found that the Appalachian mountain-making disturb-
ance of Permian time is now recognised as extending far beyond the limits
originally assigned to it in Alabama. The harder strata stand up as ridges
of moderate height, turning in angular zigzags of true Appalachian habit ;
the streams cut through the ridges in sharp water gaps ; the farming
country lies in the basins and "coves" divided by the ridges. Certain
sandstone layers in the ridges are of extremely fine texture and are exten-
sively quarried for whetstones.
The uneducated population of the South is at its worst in the " piney
woods" of central Arkansas. Whether because of inferior ancestry or
because of the blight of slavery, the people of the country districts, white
as well as black, are here miserably degraded. As so often elsewhere in
the South, the shiftless farmers ofte:i buy seed for spring planting with
money borrowed on the prospect of the autumn's harvest. They show
little desire to improve their condition^ and remain ignorant, badly housed,
roughly clothed, and poorly fed from generation to generation. Some of
the inertness of the people may be charged to the extreme heat of the
summers ; but from whatever cause, their slow progress makes a sad
754 The International Geography
contrast to the rapid emergence from frontier conditions in such States as
Wisconsin and Iowa. Amid rural surroundings so deplorable, it is natural
that the urban population should grow slowly, and that manufacturing and
mercantile activity should be at the lowest ebb. Helena on the Mississippi
and Little Rock on the Arkansas, the chief cities of the district, are only of
local importance.
The Red River Rafts. — Southern Arkansas is overlapped by the
coastal plain which continues through Louisiana to the shore of the Gulf
of Mexico, repeating many of the conditions already described for the
region east of the Mississippi. Much of the surface is still forested,
and the population is almost entirely rural and agricultural. The flood
plain of the Red River deserves mention among the physical features on
account of the famous " rafts " by which the river channel through it has
been encumbered for distances of twenty or more miles. The rafts are
formed by the accumulation of tree trunks that have been swept in time
of flood from the forested flood plain further up the valley. The older
trunks rot away at the lower end of the raft, while new ones gather at the
upper end ; thus the raft slowly moves up stream. In recent years a
navigable channel has been opened through the raft above Shreveport,
and kept clear by patrolling '* snag-boats." Appropriate to the slow pro-
gress of the region, river transportation has not been so generally super-
ceded by the railroads here as in the north. Partly on account of the
obstruction of the river current by the raft, partly on account of the large
amount of sediment brought down from the upper waters in the Llano
Estacado of Texas, the flood plain of the Red River is rapidly aggrading
or building up the valley floor. The side streams in Louisiana, unable to
aggrade their valleys at the same rapid rate, expand on approaching the
main valley, and thus form a number of lakes of unusual origin. The
coastal prairie offers little temptation to settlement. Its surface is so low,
flat, and marshy as generally to be unfit for cultivation ; its shore possesses
no good harbours, and is subject to storm floods from the sea.
The Coastal Plain of Texas.— The Southern Coastal Plain extends
south-westward into Texas. Its shore line sweeps in a long concave curve
from the fingered delta of the Mississippi to the rounded delta of the Rio
Grande. For nearly all this distance the low margin of the plain is
bordered by off-shore sand-reefs, built by wave action in the shallow waters
of the Gulf. The reefs are of extraordinary continuity, by reason of the
weakness of the tides. Padre Island, the reef that extends northward from
the Rio Grande delta, measures nearly a hundred miles without a break,
and in this respect is strikingly unlike the broken reefs and sea islands of
South Carolina, where the much stronger tides maintain many openings
leading from the mainland to the sea. Texas is so poorly provided with
harbours that its chief port, Galveston, is situated on one of the off-shore
sand reefs, where it was devastated by a hurricane and simultaneous sea-
flpod in 1900. The other ports are on shalloxy bays (yalleys in the
The United States 755
coastal plain, slightly drowned), accessible only to vessels of moderate
draught through narrow inlets of the sand-reef.
The coastal prairie is treeless except along the watercourses ; it forms a
vast grazing country. Further inland, the surface rises slowly, is dissected
into a hilly expression, and is more generally wooded. Then follow^s the
black prairie of smoother surface and more fertile soil, a great cotton district,
like that enclosed by the Chunnenugga Ridge of Alabama. Here are the
chief interior cities, including Austin, the capital. Finally, the long slope
of the Grand Prairie, a Cretaceous cuesta of large dimensions, ascends to
uplands of considerable altitude before descending by a ragged escarp-
ment to the " central denuded region," a farming district of ancient rocks
and diversified structure, form, and resources. The Cretaceous cuesta is
traversed by valleys that lead rivers outward from the interior denuded
region ; but between the valleys its upland surface is relativeh^ continuous,
a great uniform expanse. Here already the rainfall is becoming deficient,
foreshadowing the aridity of western Texas. The " Northers " of the
Texas coast are winds that sweep down from the Great Plains, when a
cyclonic area lies on the Gulf : in winter they are cold waves.
THE GREAT PLAINS
The Great Plains. — A vast sub-arid region, extending from the
trans-Mississippi tier of States to the base of the Rocky Mountains, is
known as the Great Plains. The eastern boundary of this division is
indefinite ; the dry plains merge into the more fertile prairies in the
eastern part of the second tier of States west of the Iviississippi. The
plains are more varied in form than the name implies, and are indeed hilly
enough over large districts to be called rugged. Even where most nearly
level, they generally roll in broad swells, whose variation of height is
frequently to be measured in scores of feet. Moreover, most of the rivers
of the plains have incised their valleys to depths of fifties or hundreds of
feet below the interstream surfaces ; and the branch streams, gnawing
headwards, produce a broken country on either side of the main valleys
that is anything but plain. A dry climate excludes growth of trees,
except along the streams, or on the higher hills and escarpments ; and the
name of the region is more an expression of the almost boundless view
disclosed from every eminence than an indication of its precise form.
The dryness of the plains predestines them. to a small population. To-
day, with the advantages of many railroads, the traveller is impressed with
the great amount of unoccupied space. Yet from this vast region, once
deemed almost a desert, cattle are now shipped in great numbers to the
more eastern cities, although they require a much greater grazing area than
on the prairies. The Coteau of the Missouri in North and South Dakota,
where the Great Plains enter the United States from Canada, is a broad
upland, that descends with some approach to abruptness on its eastern side
50
756 The International Geography
into the lower ground drained by James River : it is the topographical
expression of a series of Cretaceous strata which extend far west and south
under the plains, and which here crop out to the eastward ; it may be
taken as marking the transition from the moister climate and more plen-
tiful grass covering of the prairies further east, and the dryer climate and
scanty grass covering further west. The upland is belted over with many
moraines of rolling, hummocky, boulder-strewn surface, not high enough
to be formidable, but uneven enough to be fatiguing to the drover,
teamster, or horseman, and too stony to yield easily to the plough. In the
absence of landmarks, one may easily be lost among the morainic hills
and hollows. The abandoned channels of large glacial rivers are charac-
teristic features of the drift-covered uplands ; one may sometimes ascend
the gentle grade of their broad floor between well-marked banks, and at
last emerge on the top of a morainic belt, with a broad stretch of lower
ground beyond ; here the channel heads against the air, and here the
source of its extinct river in the edge of the ice sheet must be inferred.
The blizzard finds its best development on the broad Coteau. It is a
violent cold-wave wind, at a temperature near zero F. or lower, drifting
clouds of fine snow by which all landmarks are hidden. A guide of rope
is needed in going a few hundred feet from a house to a barn in one of
these freezing, blinding storms. Travellers on foot should be roped
together, as if climbing Alpine peaks.
Beyond the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains in. Montana, there is a
great space of comparatively even plains, interrupted only by occasional
eminences and by the sharply incised valleys of the larger rivers and their
short branches. The eminences are of various types. The Little Rocky
Mountains, near the Canadian boundary, are local upheavals of the under-
lying strata in a dome-like structure, now much denuded. The Bear Paw
Mountains, also far north, are a group of peaks formed by the dissection of
an ancient volcano. The High wood and the Crazy Mountains, between
the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, owe their altitude to the network of
igneous dykes and stocks which have locally indurated the enclosing
strata. Various ridges, buttes, and mesas are the consequence of the
better resistance to erosion of dykes and lava sheets, than of the weak
strata of the plains. Taken altogether, these embossed forms prove that
the surrounding plain is not smooth because it retains the form of the sea
floor in which its strata were laid down (like the coastal prairies of Texas),
but because it has been well worn down from whatever initial upper
surface it once possessed. It is a true plain of denudation, with the rem-
nant hills and mountains here and there to serve, like once overwhelmed
nilometers, as minimum measures of the height to which the entire
surface once rose. As a plain of denudation, the region must have been
worn down so low that the rivers wandered idly upon its surface. The
sharply intrenched valleys of to-day prove that the denuded plains have
been broadly uplifted, with an inclination eastward, and this only long
The United States 757
enough ago to allow vigorous rivers to erode narrow valleys. There are
few better examples of composite topography than this.
Hills of the Great Plains. — The hills and mountains that rise over
the plains bear trees on their upper slopes. The plains are absolutely
treeless, but offer good grazing ranges, and are now stocked with
wandering herds of cattle. Although the winters are cold, the snowfall is
very light ; the cattle are left unsheltered on the open ranges all the year
round, to get along as well as they can ; they generally endure their winter
privations, but severe losses occur during blizzards. Sheep cannot survive
without protection and food. There is a tendency among the ranchmen to
carry the name of '' Prairie " far west to the thinly grassed upland plains,
but thus used, the word is a deceptive misnomer. The uplands are out of
reach of irrigation, but the valley floors, half a mile or more in width, are
often watered by canals from the rivers : here cultivated fields produce
good harvests. All the settlements are on the rivers : Bismarck, where the
Northern Pacific railroad crosses the Missouri, Fort Benton, an early
military station at the head of navigation of the Missouri, and Great Falls,
where the revived river has developed a number of cataracts on a series of
resistant sandstone layers, are examples ; the latter uses its water power in
various industrial works, as well as in driving street cars and in furnishing
electric light. The homes of the cattlemen are likewise in the valleys, out
of sight of one another and widely separated by the unoccupied plains.
Important Indian reservations lie near the mountains, where the Red Man
still remains in large numbers. The denuded plains extend along the
Rocky Mountain border far south into Colorado, repeating the features
above described except that the residual hills are comparatively rare.
Here the upland surface is often strewn over with sheets of river-washed
gravels, derived from the mountains, and of practical importance as water-
bearing deposits. As in Montana, the rivers are now intrenched in valleys
beneath the upland surface.
The Black Hills, in South Dakota and Wyoming, occupy an oval
upheaved area, measuring about a hundred miles in its longer north
and south diameter (BH in Fig 353). It is a dome-like mountain uplift
on a scale intermediate between that of the Little Rocky Mountains of
eastern Montana and of various members of the Rocky Mountains proper.
Although the covering strata of the dome-like uplift have been greatly
denuded, the hills surmount the plains by one or two thousand feet, and thus
induce a local increase of rainfall. The Black Hills are, therefore, well
forested, and their dark appearance, when seen in the distance, has given
them their name. They supply much lumber to the ranches on the sur-
rounding plains. The denudation of the originally arching strata has worn
them back to concentric rimming ridges, and has revealed their foundation
rocks of very ancient origin : and as these bear gold and silver, mining has
come to be an important industry in the hills. Two railways have pushed
their lines from the prairie States across the eastern plains to the Black
758 The International Geography
Hills, and now compete for freights from the mines as well as from the
cattle ranges on the way. Here, as so often elsewhere, strong buttcs
mark the site of heavy " necks " of volcanic rocks and testify to the great
and general denudation that the hills and plains have suffered. Mato
Teepee, north-west of the hills, is the most remarkable of these forms, a
great bare rock-shaft of columnar structure, six hundred feet in height,
without a rival in the world.
The Bad Lands — the maiivaises terres pour traverser of the early
French voyageurs — are named from their excessively rough and barren
surface, the result of minute and detailed dissection by wet-weather
streams. They are found in many parts of the western arid country,
nowhere in better or greater development than along the branches of the
Missouri north and south of the Black Hills. The fine-textured strata
thus carved are in many cases of lacustrine or fiuviatile origin and of
Tertiary age ; the result of accumulation in broad basins formed by sliglit
warpings of the Great Plains. A wonderful series of mammalian fossils
has been entombed in them. The dry climate of the plains allows only a
scanty covering of vegetation ; the fine texture and imperfect consolidation
of the lacustrine strata promotes their denudation. Similar strata in a
moister climate would be so well covered by vegetation that little work
would be done b}^ small streams and rills ; most of the waste would wash
evenly from the slopes to the larger valleys, or would creep slowly down
hill in soil-cap motion, and the forms of the surface would be smoothly
rounded. It is curious to note that in such cases, the vegetation sup-
ported under the greater rainfall largely counteracts the work that the
rainfall would do alone ; it is in dry regions that the direct work of small
streams is best displayed, even though their action is intermittent.
The Sand Hills. — North of the Platte River a large extent of the
Great Plains in Nebraska is occupied by low sand hills, or dunes, heaped by
the wind from incoherent sandy strata. There is a scanty growth of grass
in the hollows between the hills, and here, as well as elsewhere on the
plains, great herds of buffalo wandered in the first half of the nineteenth
century. But explorers and emigrants looked on the region as a desert,
for it gave them little support during the slow progress of their waggons
or " prairie schooners " across its monotonous waste. Yet to-day a railroad
traverses this "desert" on its way to the Black Hills, and carries many
cattle from ranches among the sand hills to eastern markets.
The loose texture of the strata of the plains exert an influence on the
behaviour of its rivers as well as on the form of its bad lands and its sand
hills. The rivers are so abundantly supplied with the waste of the land
that they need a relatively strong slope on which to gain a velocity that
will enable them to wash along their load. Hence, in spite of the con-
siderable altitude of the plains — 3,000 or 4,000 feet over vast areas — the
valleys are of moderate depth, and the local relief is, therefore, less than it
would be if the strata were more thoroughly indurated, and the valleys
The United States 759
more deeply cut. The Platte illustrates this principle in a striking manner,
for its broad channel is little sunk below the adjoining plains. Its visible
volume decreases by sinking underground from a good supply near the
mountains to a comparatively slender stream wandering on a broad bed
of sands in the sand-hill region. Only in occasional floods is the channel
filled from bank to bank.
The Plains of Kansas ascend westward in a series of broad benches
that are separated by east-facing bluffs of moderate height and ragged
outline. These are similar to the belted uplands or cuestas of southern
Missouri : each bench is underlain by a relatively resistant stratum, whose
outcrop forms its limiting escarpment. The flood-plained valleys of the
larger streams have little relation to the cuestas, but traverses them
irregularly. While the eastern part of this region generally has a sufficient
rainfall, the western part of Kansas reaches an arid region whose settle-
ment has been attended by much misfortune. The practice of borrowing
money with which to stock a new farm was here organised by loan
companies ; and it happened that between 1880 and 1890, when this
business was at its height, the rainfall on the Great Plains was heavier
than usual, and for a time all went well. Many enthusiasts believed that
the climate had been favourably changed by the cultivation of the ground.
Then in one of the times of decreasing rainfall, common to all semi-arid
regions, crops failed, the disappointed settlers left their farms, and the
eastern investor found himself the owner of a distant patch of worthless
ground on the boundless plains. The legitimate use of borrowed capital
in eastern Kansas and Nebraska, as well as on the prairies, has been
beneficial both to borrowers and lenders in many cases where the farms
were favourably situated, but the plains are still desolate ; little settlements
here and there in the valleys only emphasise the emptiness of the uplands.
Omaha, in Nebraska, and Kansas City, on the border of Missouri and
Kansas, both on the Missouri river, are the chief cities of the western
prairies, near the eastern borders of the plains. They have grown rapidly
during the latter decades of the century, with the extension of railroads
across the plains and the growth of cattle ranching. They are rivals as
railroad centres and as cattle markets.
The Llano Estacado. — The Ouachita mountain range of middle
Arkansas extends westward into Indian Territory and Oklahoma, interrupt-
ing the plains for several hundred miles, but disappearing beneath them
before reaching the Rocky Mountains. This region is not yet well
studied owing to its having been long set apart as a home for various
tribes of Indians when they were removed from their original homes. It
is followed on the south-west by the Llano Estacado, an even-topped
plateau in northern Texas, confluent with the Great Plains in the north-
west, gnawed on the north-east, east, and south by the head waters of
many rivers that flow to the Mississippi and the Gulf, and divided from
the mountains on the west by the valley of Pecos river. As a source of
760 The Internarional Geography
sediment for fertile flood plains in a moister climate near the coast, the
Llano is well placed ; but its upland surface is too arid for profitable
occupation, unless by wandering herds, and for these the scarcity of water
is a formidable difficulty. In summer the plateau is intensely hot by day,
and it is probably from this region and its fellows beyond the Mexican
boundary that the "hot-winds" of Kansas and Nebraska are derived.
These south-west- winds are veritable scourges, for with a temperature of
95° or more and an extremely low humidity, they blight the fields over
which they pass. They frequently affect narrow belts in the direction of
their progress, as if their excessive heaf was limited to a small current in
the general movement of the winds. Fortunately they are of rare
occurrence in their greater severity. It has been suggested that, like
similar winds observed in northern India, the high temperature of these
fiery blasts is immediately derived from compression during their descent
from a considerable altitude ; but it is manifest that they must have been
previously heated when near the ground.
Denver is the only important city on the Great Plains. Thirty years ago
it was reached only by stage-coach ; now it is the focus of many railroads,
some coming from the Mississippi valley, others entering the Rocky
Mountains which rise a dozen miles away. There was originally nothing
in the immediate surroundings of Denver to give it eminence over a score
of other frontier settlements. It is built on Cherry Creek, which, like
many another stream in tlie dry country, is a bed of sand and gravel during
much of the year, but which occasionally rises in furious floods from
cloud-burst rains. The neighbouring plains for a hundred miles are
occupied partly as cattle ranges, partly as irrigated farms. The mountains
beyond have mining towns here and there. The successful growth of
Denver depends partly on the long distance by which the Rocky Mountains
are separated from the ciiies of the Mississippi valley, partly on the
contrast between the Plains and the Mountains ; for even in the days of
railroads, centres of trade must not be too far from their constituents.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
The Rocky Mountains.— The Great Plains are terminated abruptly
on the west by the front range of the Rocky Mountains, which rises from a
base of 4,000 or 6,000 feet to summits of 10,000 or 14,000 feet. Many other
ranges of similar height fellow further west ; each has its local name, as
the Teton Range in Wyoming, south of the Yellowstone Park, one of the
grandest mountain groups in the west ; the Sawatch Range beyond. the
upper waters of the Arkansas in Colorado, with its chief peaks, Harvard,
Yale, and Princeton, named ;ifter eastern colleges ; the Uinta Range in
Utah, exceptional in having an east and west trend nearly at right angles
to its fellows ; the Wahsatch Range in Utah, overlooking tb.e arid basin
of Great Salt Lake on tlie west. Although often of bold and vigorous
The United States 761
form, " needles " and " horns " are comparatively rare. Talus-covered
flanks of uniform slope are extensively developed. The upper slopes
stand high above the tree line, yet they gather only small snowfields and
bear no glaciers except in northern Montana. The moraines of extinct
glaciers are, however, abundant in many valleys. The middle and lower
slopes are generally forested, except in the far south.
Geology of the Rocky Mountains. — The geological series in
the mountain ranges extends from the ancient crystalline rocks through
the Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic to the early Tertiaries. Well-defined
Devonian horizons usually have small thickness. The Carboniferous is
a heavy marine limestone with no trace of coal. Workable beds of coal,
chiefly lignite, occur in the upper Cretaceous and louder Tertiary. The
long maintained conformability of the rock series, sometimes without a
break from Cambrian to Cretaceous, gives an interesting contradiction
to the early doctrine that a great break is ahvays to be found between the
Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. The prevailing absence of metamorphosed sedi-
ments is a notable peculiarity. Igneous rocks are common in the form
of intrusive sills and laccoliths, and in the Yellowstone region there are
extrusive flows and agglomerates of great thickness and extent.
The structure of many ranges is anticlinal. The axis of the front range,
south of the Missouri, is largely composed of granite, from which the
bedded formations dip away wuth much regularity on either flank. The
Uinta Range is still arched over by Carboniferous strata for much of its
length. The Wahsatch is peculiar in being of synclinal structure, with an
east to west axis at right angles to the range, and broken across by a great
fracture that marks the eastern border of the Great Basin and exposes a
vast natural section on the western slope of the mountains. North of the
Missouri river, and extending into Canada, the front range also assumes a
synclinal structure, with a great overthrust fault near its eastern base :
here the lower Palaeozoic formations are extremely heavy, while further
south, where the anticlinal structure prevails, they are comparatively thin.
Massive laccoliths form the resistant centres of some mountain groups in
western Colorado ; they are greatly denuded and elaborately carved,
forming some of the most picturesque scenery of the region.
On passing from the modern, undisturbed strata of the Great Plains to
the ancient, disordered structures of the Rocky Mountains, the pastoral
industries of the one region give place to the mining industries of
the other. Important deposits of gold, silver and copper have been
profitably worked at Cripple Creek, Leadville and Butte ; hundreds of less
valuable deposits have led to moderate returns or to unknown losses ;
countless " prospects " have been tested by pick and shovel in all parts of
the mountains, high and low. Modern methods of drilling rocks and
treating ore are so rapid that already many mining districts are nearly or
quite worked out ; their excitable population, with the feverish accom-
paniments of saloons and gambling houses, have moved away to some
762 The International Geography
newer " camp." In spite of the scant half century of exploitation, deserted
villages are no rarities.
Intermont Basins. — Many basins are found among the mountains,
where broad surfaces of moderate relief attract the ranchman to raise
cattle and wheat. Here railroads make their way between the ranges, and
permanent settlements spring up. To this steadier class of population, as
well as to the speculative and excitable miner, the future welfare of the
region will be due. The basins are in all cases due to a deformation or
warping of the mountain structure ; they serve as gathering grounds for
the rock-waste swept down from many centripetal valleys : deposits of
gravel and sand a thousand feet or more thick having been formed in this
way. The outflowing river of each basin escapes through the enclosing
range in a gorge or canyon, usually so narrow and steep-sided as to be
useless for roads, and passable only with great difficulty by railroads. In
many cases the river has worn its canyon so deep that the floor of the
basin is now dissected into bench land and flood plain : the latter is
irrigable and serves for wheat land, the former is dry and serves only for
pasture. In some cases the strata of the older basins, tilted by later
disturbances and now more or less denuded, form low ridges lateral to
the ranges that once supplied their sediments.
The intermont basins present at first sight every appearance of having
been formerly occupied by lakes. In some cases the appearance is con-
firmed by the occurrence of fine silts appropriate to lacustrine conditions
of deposition ; but it often happens that layers of coarse texture and
irregular stratification form a large part of the basin deposits, and hence it
must be concluded that in such cases the warping of the basin did not
proceed much faster than the filling of its floor and the cutting of its
outlet, and that the deposits are fluviatile and not lacustrine. This con-
clusion is particularly fitting for those basins in which the floor is not
level, but inclines from the margins to the river of discharge, after the
fashion of piedmont slopes of mountain waste, the world over. Even if
lakes were formed at brief times of more rapid warping, their depth was
probably small and their duration short.
The San Luis Valley, an oval depression about sixty miles long,
between two ranges in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico,
is a good example of an intermont basin. The surface round the margin
has a gentle slope towards the centre, and here the deposits are stony
and gravelly ; here the streams run out from the mountains in good
volume. The central area is "as flat as a billiard table"; here the
materials are sands and silts, and here the smaller streams wither away
in the dry air. The stronger streams unite 10 form the Rio Grande, which
makes its exit southward by a dark gorge through the mountains. Here,
as in New Mexico generally, there are many traces of Mexican occupation
in names and people. The Big Horn Basin, enclosed by a range and
drained by a river of the same name in Wyoming, once resembled the
The United States 763
San Luis Valley in having a smooth floor, but now it is dissected to a depth
of two or three hundred feet by the centripetal and the exit streams. The
Green River Basin, in western Wyoming, drained by the Green river in a
deep canyon through the Uinta Range, is now dissected so as to convert
its once even floor into a labyrinth of bad lands, with local reliefs up
to a thousand feet. The " Parks " that occur west of the front range in
Colorado are intermont basins of greater height than usual — 6,000 or 7,000
feet — with rainfall enough to support here and there a park-like growth of
pine trees.
The Yello^vstone Park. — An extensive intermont basin in north-
western Wyoming has a plateau-like surface, built up by heavy lava beds ;
the numerous geysers which occur in it have led to the reservation of the
region as the Yellowstone National Park. There are picturesque mountains
bordering the basin ; a few dissected volcanoes, like Mount Washburn,
surmount the lava beds ; but as a whole the scenery is relatively mono-
tonous. The broad plateau is clothed with a pine forest through which
the stage roads wind from one group of geysers to another. The geysers
are associated with hot springs, around which siliceous deposits of great
beauty have been formed. Yellowstone lake and Yellowstone canyon are
grateful variations from the sameness of the forested lava plateau. This
"park," which is nearly as large as Yorkshire, will always be preserved in
a state of nature and serve as a refuge for native animals.
The Colorado Plateaux.— South of the Uinta Range in Utali, New
Mexico, and Arizona, there is an extensive region of great altitude (over
6,000 feet) that is traversed by the Colorado river and its few branches in
deep canyons. A heavy series of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic strata, lying
nearly horizontal, has been greatly denuded, so that the stronger
layers now form great platforms ending in rugged cliffs and escarpments,
while the weaker layers are worn back until they are hidden under the
talus of the cliffs. In the north-western part of this area, great fractures
divide the country into blocks, ten or twenty miles wide ; and the adjacent
blocks are moved unevenly, so that the edges of the higher blocks, now
more or less battered by the weather, form cliffs one or two thousand feet
high. Volcanic action has been plentiful. The deep-seated intrusions of
cistern-like form, known as laccoliths, were first recognised in the Henry
Mountains, a group of rugged forms in a greatly denuded region west of
the Colorado river. Lofty volcanic cones, like San Francisco mountain,
and extensive lava flows are scattered about near the Colorado canyon ;
some of the former are more or less dissected by radial valleys, others are
symmetrical cinder cones hardly affected by erosion ; some of the latter
form mesas surmounting a more denuded surface, others are of modern
date, still black and unweathered, occasionally forming stony cascades over
the fault cliffs. This volcanic centre constitutes a striking exception to
the rule that volcanic action is limited to continental margins and to the
ocean floors- It is owing to a comparatively recent uplift of this denuded
764 The International Geography
region, after the cliffed platforms had been carved, that the larger rivers
have incised their extraordinary canyons, 3,000 to 5,000 feet in depth.
The highest plateaux receive sufficient rainfall to be forested ; the less
lofty uplands are barren deserts, unattractive to the ranchman or the
miner, however wonderful to the geographer and geologist. Where the
plateaux have been most vigorously dissected into a labyrinth of branching
spurs, a few tribes of warlike Indians still remain unsubdued. Where
isolated mesas offer natural protection, several tribes of gentler nature
have made their homes. Shallow caves under overhanging cliffs contain
the abandoned stone dwellings of a people who probably chose these
singular sites for the safety that they gave from attack. A few settlers are
found in valleys or basins where water can be had to irrigate their fields.
Some lumbermen have attacked the forests on certain of the volcanoes near
a railroad line that crosses the desolate plateaux. Government surveyors
have traversed and studied the region, and it would almost seem that the
greatest gain to be derived from this almost uninhabitable country will
bj its teachings as to the origin of land-forms by wholesale denudation.
The Columbia Plateaux. — A great extent of country drained by the
Coln'iibia and Snake rivers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, is built up
of vast lava sheets, which have converted a broad depression between the
Rocky and the Cascade Mountains into an extensive plateau. The shore
line of the lava flood may often be traced, entering the mountain valleys
in level embayments, indented by the mountain spurs which advance into
it liki promontories. Isolated hills and mountains occasionally rise above
the lava plain like outlying islands. The lava floods must have taken place
at different dates ; tor while some are smooth, unweathered, and barren,
as if very recent, others are more or less upheaved and dislocated, and
dissected even by small streams. The Blue Mountains in south-eastern
Washington are only an uplifted and deeply dissected part of the lava
plateau ; here the canyon of Snake River has a depth of 4,000 feet with
intricately carved walls. At certain points the stream has laid bare some of
the underlying mountains ; one of these, composed of resistant quartzite,
is cut down 2,500 feet by the river, although capped by 1,500 feet of
bedded lavas. Elsewhere the dissection is of gentler nature ; from every
interstream swell of the surface a vast expanse of treeless undulations
s-tretches away to a horizon almost as level as that of the sea. Gray sage
brush is found everywhere ; scattered tufts of grass suffice for ranging
horses and cattle. Near the Rocky Mountains, where the rainfall is some-
what greater than over the centre of the plateau, there is a plentiful soil on
the uplands, partly supplied by local weathering, partly wind-borne from
further west ; here is one of the newer wheat districts of the great interior
country. Although the land is not at first sight inviting to the farmer, it
repays his labour abundantly without the need of irrigation. Spokane,
where two transcontinental railway lines come together, is the growing
metropolis of this region.
The United States ' 765
One of the most remarkable features of the lava plateau is the former
path of the Columbia river, known as the " Grand Coulee," carj/ed when
its northern detour was obstructed by ice streams that descended from the
mountains on the north and west in the glacial period. Although now
nearly dry, the Grand Coulee may be traced for over a hundred miles across
the plateau ; here narrow and deep-cut in the uplifted lava beds, there
broader and shallower in a lower upland ; generally with an even floor ,
but at one place broken by the cliffs of a former cataract that must havi ;
greatly exceeded Niagara in height, breadth and variety of form. Th(!
pools that were excavated by the plunge of the extinct cataract contain
clear blue lakes, but the cliffs are dry and bare.
The Basin Ranges. — West of the Wahsatch Range and the Colorado
plateaux, south of the Columbia plateaux, and east and south of the Sierra
Nevada, there is an arid region embracing all of Nevada, part of Utah and
Arizona and the south-eastern corner of California, and extending into
Mexico. Only one important river, the Colorado, reaches the sea from
this desert empire. Nearly all the scanty rainfall dries away in the
dessicating atmosphere. The region is diversified by many independent
mountain ranges of north and south trend and of varied structure. Some
bear trees on their upper slopes ; others are barren to their crests. In the
north-west, adjoining the lava plains of Oregon, some of the ridges are
notable for the very recent date of their uplift, their form being as yet
hardly modified by erosion from the original shape of their tilted blocks.
In the middle of the region the ridges are elaborately carved by valleys
and branch valleys. In the south-west some of the ridges appear to be
nearly worn away, only low residual knobs remaining.
The confluent depressions between the isolated ranges are floored with
long piedmont slopes of stony and gravelly waste that has been washed
from the mountain valleys. Two approaching slopes unite in forming an
interment trough whose floor may stand at altitudes of 4,000 or 6,000 feet
in Utah and northern Nevada, thus rivalling the height of many plateaux ;
yet it differs from a typical plateau in the prevailing absence of valleys,
for the waste slopes are built up by the streams that issue heavily charged
with detritus from the mountain gorges. Thus the depressions are filling
up while the mountains are wearing down. In the south-west the floor of
the depressions is of moderate altitude ; indeed, in south-eastern California
the arid floor of the Coahuila desert descends 300 feet beneath sea-level.
This depression represents the head of the Gulf of California, now isolated
by the delta of the Colorado and evaporated to dryness. An outflowing
branch or distributary of the Colorado occasionally turns northwards on
the delta at times of high water, and flows into the desert basin, forming a
short-lived lake. In south-western Arizona some of the gently inclined
piedmont slopes are rock-floored, bearing only a thin veneer of waste here
and there ; the streams, issuing from the mountains after a shower, find no
channels, but spread out in a sheet a mile or more broad and one or
766 The International Geography
two feet deep, washing the gravel veneers forward down the inclined
rock floor ; this peculiar style of drainage has been termed a " sheet
flood."
Nearly all the streams from the mountains wither away on the dreary
piedmont waste slopes. Sage brush is the prevailing vegetation ; spiny
yuccas and thorny cactus occur in the arid and warm south-west. The
larger streams unite to form shallow salt lakes in the lowest part of the
intermont troughs. Others form shallow water sheets, a few inches deep,
in the wet season, where smooth plains of barren sun-baked mud, or
" playas," remain in the dry months. There are few parts of the country
less inviting to settlement than the region of the Basin Ranges, yet here,
as on the Colorado plateaux, the scientific explorer has reaped a rich
harvest. Comparable with the record of a past glacial climate in the
region of the Laurentian lakes is the record of a past humid climate in the
arid basins of Utah and Nevada. The basin of Great Salt Lake in Utah
and that of several indepen-
dent lakes in north-western
Nevada each formerly held
large lakes that rose nearly a
thousand feet on the adjoining
mountain flanks, and there
marked their shore lines in
cliffs, bars and deltas. The
records have been deciphered
and are elaborately described
in monographs or the United
States Geological Survey. No
other ancient lake basins have
been so well studied.
People and Towns of
the Basin Ranges. — The
settlements of the Basin Range region may be grouped under three classes :
the Mormons originally about Salt Lake in Utah, the mining towns in the
mountains, and scattered ranches of Mormons and Gentiles, where streams
can be used for irrigation. The Mormons exhibit in their polygamous
and superstitious creed an example of religious atavism. Their converts
have been gathered from the eastern United States and from western
Europe. Their history includes many deeds of violence and cruelty, yet
much may be said in their favour. Their settlements in Utah were estab-
lished half a century ago without the intemperance of every kind that has
characterised the frontier towns of those who would in a census be classed
as "Christians." Their desert home has been transformed into a productive
farming country by persevering industry and thrift. Polygamy, now for-
mally abandoned, was never practised by more than 4 per cent, of the mar-
riageable men ; the Mormons should be classed as merely one more of the
Fig. 366. — The Ancient Beds of Lake Bonneville
{in Utah) and Lake Lahontan (in Nevada). The
Map measures 550 by 420 miles.
The United States
7b7
many superstitious sects of the so-called civilised nations. Salt Lake City
on the shore of the lake is the centre of Mormon activity.
The most famous mining town of the Basin Ranges is Virginia City in
north-western Nevada. Many millions of gold and silver have been taken
from the Comstock Lode, above wliich the city was built, and many other
millions have been spent in efforts to prolong the life of the mines there
opened. The discovery of the lode about i860, at a time when the yield
of gold in California was decreasing, caused the greatest "rush" known in
the history of western mining. Thousands of persons hurried over the
Sierra Nevada, in the hope of locating a paying claim ; other thousands
followed to open saloons, gambling resorts, and " opera houses," and thus,
like parasites, to live upon the miners. The rapid growth of Virginia City
and a few other mining " camps " was the excuse for the admission of
Nevada as a State in 1864 ; a most unfortunate political necessity, for in
spite of its enormous area, exceeding that of many eastern States com-
bined, its population has fallen under 50,000, less than that of many cities
of the second class. Virginia City is now reduced to a mere shadow of its
sliort-lived greatness. The population of the State must always be scanty,
scattered, and isolated.
THE PACIFIC SLOPE
The Pacific Ranges, broadly separated from the Rocky Mountains,
include the lofty Sierra Nevada of California, the Cascade Mountains of
Oregon and Washington, and several smaller coast ranges. The highest
summits are in the granitic southern part of the Sierra Nevada, where
Mount Whitney nearly reaches 15,000 feet. The Sierra is precipitous on
the east, descending abruptly into the Basin Range region and shedding
great slopes of stony waste, varied about Mono lake by superb moraines of
extinct glaciers. The descent on the west is much more gradual ; here many
of the interstream highlands have the appearance of somewhat uneven
inclined planes, separated by deep-cut canyons. All these features suggest
that the range as a w^hole may be regarded as a huge block, uplifted on
the east long enough ago to be deeply scored by the streams from its crest.
Among the valleys the Yo-Semite is phenomenally deep, with precipitous
walls of granite. The Hetch-hetchy valley is of similar form, but of
smaller dimensions, a little further north. The range is crossed only by
Pitt river, which rises on the western part of the Columbia plateau,
trenches through tlie range and joins the Sacramento system. Great flows
of lava and sheets of volcanic conglomerates lie on the western slope of
the range about its middle, the date of their eruption being earlier than
that of the valley cutting. Further north volcanic cones and recent lava
flows become more abundant.
The higher summits of the Cascade Range are all volcanic cones, more
or less dissected by radiating valleys, the chief being Mounts Rainier, St.
Helens, and Hood. They bear heavy snowfields and glaciers. Mount
7^8 The International Geography
Shasta, in northern Cahfornia, is an isolated volcano, west of the higher
ranges, one of the most symmetrical and least dissected of the larger cones.
Crater lake in southern Oregon occupies a huge caldera ; once a lofty cone,
furrowed by radial valleys, the upper part has been removed by engulf-
ment, leaving a great cavity, with precipitous inner walls, four miles in
diameter and one mile deep. The lost summit of the cone has been chris-
tened Mount Mazama by a club of mountain climbers of that name, who
have done much to make the caldera better known. The Columbia and
Klamath rivers break through the mountains in deep gorges on their way
from the lava plateaux to the sea.
The Coast Ranges are of moderate altitude, well dissected by numerous
valleys, and frequently descending directly to the ocean shore in pre-
cipitous cliffs and headlands. Many signs of change of level are found
in raised beaches and submerged valleys ; but owing to the general
parallelism of the ridges and the coast line, and to the absence of recent
strong depression, the shore has few strong re-entrants. The range is not
rich in metalliferous deposits, save at New Ahjiaden, where there has been
a large yield of mercury.
The broad troughs between the Coast Ranges and the higher moun-
tains further inland are floored with waste from the mountain valleys. In
California the waste-strewn floor makes a plain of great extent, the flat
fans of detritus that are spread out before every mountain valley being
admirably adapted to the distribution of water by irrigating canals. The
intermont trough is much less distinctly developed on the path of the
Klamath river, where the adjacent ranges approach one another in a node
of irregular relief. Further north it reappears, and is partly occupied' by
the branching waters of Puget Sound. Here recent studies lead to the
conclusion that the waste-built lowlands adjoining the sound are glacial or
aqueo-glacial deposits, while the trunk and branches of the sound are the
spaces once occupied by many confluent ice streams that came down from
the mountains in the glacial period. The many degrees of latitude that are .
traversed in passing along the Pacific slope from the desert lowlands
between the Basin Ranges of south-eastern California over the great
valley of California to the forested valley of Puget Sound, explain the
climatic contrasts between the arid and humid extremes of this belt. They
resemble each otHer only in their relatively small seasonal changes, one
being persistently warm and dry, the. other persistently cool and wet.
People and Towns of the Pacific Coast.— The settlement of the
Valley of California by Spanish Americans was well advanced before the
discovery of gold caused the inrush of fortune-seekers from the eastern
United States and Europe in 184Q and 1850. Spanish names still prepon-
derate, as in Sacramento, the capital, San' Francisco, the great Pacific port
at the only break in the California coast range, Los Angelas and San Diego
on the coast further south. The old Spanish mission churches are the only
antiquities of the State having European associations. In those early da3^s
The United States
7^9
cattle raising on the great valley plain was the main industry, and hides
were the chief article of export. With the acquisition of the territory by
the United States and the incursion of gold seekers, a new order of things
was inaugurated ; a rough and violent order at first when "vigilance com-
mittees " put their prompt measures in the place of the slower procedure
of the law courts.
The newcomers made their way thither b}" long voyages in sailing ships
round Cape Horn, by shorter voyages with a land passage across the
malarial isthmus of Darien, and by a difficult and dangerous overland
journey in white-covered waggons or " prairie-schooners." The hardships
of the overland passage across plains, 'mountains, and desert basins, are
long to be remembered ; Indian ambuscade, thirst in the dry country, and
cold storms in the Sierra overcame many a pioneer emigrant. The sur-
vivors are justly proud of their record as '' '49-ers." Gold was taken from
quartz veins in the metamorphic rocks of the lower Sierras, and from
" placers " or gravel deposits in the
foot hills ; but in the ten years from
1850 to i860 the great increase of fvl^saj.Bl';^
population and the exhaustion of ^^ ^-~--~-
many mines and " diggings " turned
attention to the fertility of the great
valley plain, the cattle ranches were
replaced by farms, and California
became a great wheat-raising State.
The second decade was marked by
the construction of a trans-conti-
nental railroad, completed in 1866,
and California then ceased to be
a distant part of the Union. In
later years the number of railroads
across the continent (Fig. 336) has increased to five — not counting the
Canadian Pacific Railway — each line now being largely dependent
on carrying cattle and farm products by the way, as well as on through
passengers and freights. Beautiful winter resorts attract thousands of
people to the tempered Pacific coast from the violent climate of the
interior. The irrigated plains of southern California are now occupied by
extensive vineyards and fruit ranches, from which eastern markets are
largely supplied. At the same time the more northern railroads have pro-
moted the growth of Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle on the harbours of the
far north-west ; the great forests on the littoral slopes of Oregon and
Washington are being sawed into lumber for the distant plains and
prairies. The purchase of Alaska and more recently the discovery of the
Klondike gold-field, has encouraged traffic along the north-western coast.
Trans- Pacific commerce has in the meantime grown apace, and with it
came an incursion of Chinamen, patient and indubirious workers, livmg on
Fig.
367. — The Site of San Francisco.
770 The International Geography
a fraction of what would be required for an ambitious American, not
making the United States their home, but hoping to return to China ahve
or dead ; a useful element in a country where serfdom prevailed, but not
desirable citizens for a free republic. The manifest lesson to be drawn
from the great intelligence and prosperity of the people in the north-
eastern quarter of the United States is that all immigrants must make this
country a permanent home for themselves and their children ; that they
must accept the rights and duties of citizenship as well as the responsi-
bility of self-support and self-improvement ; and that from the unified
mass thus formed no barrier of race, religion or foreign fealty shall
obstruct the rise of leaders, to guide the people in the further develop-
ment of the United States.
Alaska. — The north-western extremity of North America, constituting
the territory of Alaska, 580,000 square miles in area (about one-sixth of the
area of United States) 'was bought from Russia for ^7,200,000 in 1867. It
has a small native population of various Indian tribes, and a growing white
population bent on the development of its resources. The compact land
body, approaching within 54 miles of Asia, and bounded on the east by the
141st meridian, has an arm 500 miles long extending south-east along the
coast, and including a narrow strip of mainland as well as the countless
islands of the Alexander Archipelago. Sitka, the territorial capital, is
situated on Baranof Island in this group. There is a second arm, 1,500
miles in length, composed of the volcanic Aleutian Islands, looping across
the northern Pacific from Alaska Peninsula towards Kamchatka. The
coast line is extremely irregular on the south, measuring in total 18,000
miles, or more than that of all the United States.
The southern coast is bold and mountainous. Mount St. Elias, practi-
cally on the frontier at the base of the south-eastern arm, rises higher
than 18,000 feet. The heavy snowfall forms immense glaciers, descending
to the sea, the largest being the Malaspina glacier, fed by snow-fields on
the St. Elias range. Muir glacier, further south-east, is annually visited
by many tourists. The temperature on the mountain flanks is moderate
and equable, favouring the growth of heavy forests along the coast as far
as Kadiac Island, at the base of the Aleutian chain. The interior is little
known, except along the course of the Yukon, one of the great rivers of the
world. Its climate is drier than on the coast, and the seasonal changes of
temperature are greater ; extreme cold is felt in winter, and the ground is
frozen to a depth estimated at 100 feet. Here the vegetation is chiefly a
dense cover of moss. On the north coast, far within the Arctic circle,
layers of ice are seen beneath the surface soil.
The economic products of Alaska come at present chiefly from the seal
fisheries of the Pribilof Islands (north of the Aleutian chain), and from the
gold-fields of the Yukon valley and the coast of Bering Sea. The seals
have been reduced from their originally countless numbers by too reck-
less destruction, but if their capture is properly restricted they must
The United States
771
yield a large revenue to the Government as well as a profit to the sealers
for many years to come. Gold deposits of moderate value have been
worked for about thirty years past at various points on the Alexander
Archipelago. In the autumn of 1896 the Klondike field in the Canadian
Yukon District was discovered, and when the news of its richness readied
the United States in the following spring, there was a " rush " of would-be
miners that recalls early Californian days.
Alaska is of especial interest as the first outlying territorial addition to
the United States. Its purchase provoked much criticism, and even
ridicule, yet as a financial investment it has been profitable. Its adminis-
tration has been thus far comparatively simple, for its population has been
far too small for any question to arise as to its accession to Statehood.
Quite different political problems must arise in the more populous detached
territories in a genial climate which have recently been brought under the
sway of the United States,
STATISTICS.
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.
Alabama.. ..
Arizona ..
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida ..
Georgia . .
Idaho
Illinois ..
Indiana ..
Indian Territory
Iowa
Kansas . .
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts . .
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
M ssouri . .
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada . .
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico , .
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota . .
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon . .
Pennsylvania . .
Rhode Island . .
South Carolina. .
Area.
sq. miles.
52,250
113,020
53.850
158,360
103.925
4.990
2,360
70
58,680
59.475
81,800
56,650
36,350
31.400
56,025
82,080
40,400
48,720
33.040
12,210
8.315
58,915
83,365
46,810
69,415
146,080
77,510
110,700
9,305
8.175
122,580
49,220
52,250
70.795
41,000
39,030
96,030
45.215
1,250
30,570
1880.
1,262,505
40,440
802,525
864,694
194.327
622,700
146,608
117,624
269,493
1,542,180
32,610
3,077.871
1,978.301
1,624,615
990,096
1,648,690
939946
648,936
934.943
1.783.085
1.636,937
780,773
1,131.597
2,168,380
39.159
452,402
62,266
346,991
1,131,116
119,565
5,082,871
1,399,750
135.1772
3,198,062
174,768
4,282.891
276,531
995,577
Population.
1890.
1,513,017
59,620
1,128,179
1,208,130
412,198
746,258
168,493
230,392
391,422
1,837.353
84,385
3.826,351
2,192,404
1,911,896
1,427,096
1,858,635
1,118,587
661,086
1,042,390
2,238.943
2,093,889
1,301,826
1,289,600
2,679,184
132,159
1,058,910
45.7611
376,530
1,444.933
153,593
5.997,853
1,617,947
182,719
3,672,316
61,834
313,767
5,258,014
345,506
1,151,149
1900.
1,828,697
122,931
1,311.564
1,485.053
539.700
908,420
184.735
278,718
528,542
2,216,331
161,772
4,821,550
2,516,462
392,060
2,231,853
1.470,495
2,147.174
1,381,625
694,466
1,188,044
2,805,346
2,420,982
1,751,394
1,551.270
3,106,665
243,329
1,066,300
42,335
411,588
1,883,669
195,310
7,268,894
1,893,810
319,146
4-157,545
398,331
413,536
6,302,115
428,556
1,340,316
Date of
Territory.
1817
1863
1819
1861
Original
1791"
1822
Original
1863
1809
1800
1838
1854
1805
Original
1805"
1849
1798
1812
1864
1854
1861
Original
1850"
Original
1861"
i8go
1848
Original
Admission.
State.
1819 Ala.
— Ariz
1836 Ark.
1850 Cal.
1876 Col.
State. Cona
Del.
— D. C.
1845 Fla.
State. Ga.
1890 Id.
1818 111.
1816 Ind.
— I. T.
1845 Iowa.
1861 Kans.
1792 Ky.
1812 La.
1820 Me.
State. Md.
Mass.
18:57 Mich.
1S58 M,nn.
1817 Miss.
1821 Mo.
1889 Mont.
1867 Nebr.
1864 Nev.
State. X. H.
„ N. J.
— N. M.
State. N. Y.
X. c.
1889 N Dak
1802 O.
— Ok. T.
1859 Ore.
State. Pa.
R. I.
„ S. C.
« Decrease-
2 Including South Dakota,
77^ The International Geography
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES-
South Dakota . .
'J'ennessec
'IV.xas
Utah
Vermont..
\ ir^inia . .
Washington
West Virginia . .
Wisconsin
Wyoming
United States
Area. Population,
sq. miles. 1880. i,Syo.
77.650 See N. Dakota. 328.808
42,050
265,780
84,970
9.565
42,450
69 180
24,780
56.040
97,890
1.542,359
1,591.749
143.963
332,286
1,512,565
75,116
618.457
1,315,497
20,789
1,767.518
2,235 5^3
207,905
332,422
1,655980
349390
762,794
1,686,880
60,705
1900.
401,570
2,020,616
3,048,710
276,749
343,641
1,854,184
5i«,i03
958,800
2,069,042
92,531
-{continued).
Date of Admission.
Tei ritory.
1861
[850
1796
1845
1696
— 1791
Original State.
1853 1889
— 1863
1836 1848
1868 1890
State.
9 S. Dak
Tenn.
Tex.
U.
Vt
Va.
Wash.
W. Va.
Wis.
Wy.
3,022,600 50,155,783 62,622,250 76,085,794
POPULATION BY BIRTH.
1890.
909,092
100,079
242,231
1,871,509
England
Wales..
Scotland
Ireland
United Kingdom
Germany
Canada and Newfoundland
Sweden and Norway. .
Russia and Poland " 330,084
I taly
Aus'tria-Hftngary .'* 303,812 .. ..
China 106,688
Other Foreign Countries 819,514
Total Foreign Born 9,249,547
Coloured, Native Born 7,470,040
White, Native Born 45',902',663
[22,911
784,894
980,938
800,706
1900.
842,078
93,682
233,977
,618,567
2,788,304
2,666,990
1,181,255
910,025
807,606
484,207
579,042
81,827
857,388
Total Population of United States (e.xcluding Alaska) 62,622,
250
10,356/^44
8,840,388
57,888,762
77.085,794
POPULATION OF THE LARGER CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
1890. 1900.
1890.
1900.
New York, N.Y. .
. 1,515,301 3-437,202t
Worcester, Mass.
. 84,655
118,421
Chicago. 111...
. 1,099,850 1,698,575
Syracuse, N.Y. . .
. 88,143
108,374
Philadelphia, Pa. .
. 1,046,964 1,293,697
New Haven, Conn.
. 81,298
108,027
Brooklyn, N Y.
. 806,343 -
Paterson, N.J. ..
. 78,347
105,171
St. Leuis, Mo.
• 451,770 575,238
Fall River, INIass.
. 74,398
104,863
Boston, Mass.
• 448,477 560,892
St. Joseph, Mo. . .
• 52,324
102,979
Baltimore, Md.
434,439 508,957
Omaha, Neb.
.. 140,452
102,555
Cleveland. O.
261,353 381,768
Los Angeles. Cal.
. • 50,395
102,479
Buffalo, N.Y.
255,669 352,387
Memphis, Tenn...
. 64,495
102,320
San Francisco, Cal.
. 298,997 342,782
Scranton, Pa.
• 75,215
102,026
Cincinnati, O.
296,908 325,902
Lowell, Mass.
. 77,696
94,969
Pittsburg, Pa.
238,617 321.616
Albanv, N.Y.
• . 94.923
94,151
New Orleans, La. .
242,039 287,104
Cambridge, Mass.
. 70,028
91,886
Detroit, Mich.
205,876 285,704
. Portland, Ore. . .
• 46,385
90,426
Milwaukee, Wis. .
;204,468 285,315
Atlanta, Ga.
• 65,533
89,872
W'ashin^ton, DC. .
230,392 278,718
Grand Rapids, Mich.
. 60,278
87,565
Newark. 'N.J.
181,830 246,070
Davton, 0.
. 61,220
85,333
Jersey City, N.J. .
163,003 206,433
Richmond, Va. . .
. 81,388
85,050
Louisville, Kv.
161,129 204,731
Nashville, Tenn...
. 76,168
80,^^65
Minneapohs, Mmn.
164,738 202,718
Seattle Wash. ..
. 42,837
80,671
Providence, R.I. .
132,14ft 175,597
Hartford, Conn...
. 53,230
79,850
Indianapolis. Ind. .
105,436 169,164
Reading, Pa.
. 58,661
78,961
Kansas Citv, Mo. .
132 716 163,752
Wilmington, Del
. 81,431
76,508
St. Paul. Minn.
133,156 163,065
Camden, N.J. . .
. 58,313
75,935
Rochester, N.Y.
133.896 162,608
Trenton, N.Y. . .
• 57,458
73,307
Denver, Col.. .
106,713 133.859
Bridgeport, Conn.
. 48,8(.6
70,996
Toledo, 0. . .
81,434 131,822
Lvnn, Mass.
• 55,727
68,513
Allegheny, Pa.
105,287 129,896
Lawrence, Mass.
. 44,654
62,559
Columbus, 0.
88,150 125,560
LAND UNDER
Des^Moines, Iowa
CROPS IN 1901.
. 5*: ,093
62,139
Crop . . Indian C
)rn. Wheat. Oa
ts Cotton. Ba
rlev. Potatoes.2
Acres.. 9i,35o,c
)00 49,896,000 28,5^
1,000 2^,532,000 4,2
96,000 2
In 1900.
,611,000
I Includes
Brooklyn.
The United States
773
State
Million bushels
CHIEF WHEAT-GROWING STATES, iqoi.
Kansas. Minnesota. N. Dakota. S. Dakota. Nebraska. United States.
991 Soi 593 517 4^0 748-5
CHIEF COTTON-GROWING STATES, 1899.
Texas. Georgia. Mississipi. Alabama. S. Carolina. United States.
State . .
Bales of Raw Cotton 2,438,000 1,346,000
1,204,000 1,005,000 831,000
9,143,000
Product
Amount — tons
Value — £
CHIEF MINERAL PRODUCTIONS IN 1901.
.. Bituminous Coal. I Anthracite. Pig Iron. Gold. Silver.
201,030,000 60,242,000 15,878,0002 — —
47,300,000 22,500,000 48,400,000 15,730,000 14,270,000
Date . .
Miles open
GROWTH OF RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES
1830. 1850. 1870,
52,922
1890.
1 69,698
1900.
194.334
Imports
Exports
ANNUAL TRADE OF UNITED STATES (in pounds sterling).
1871-75-
115,600,000
97,200,000
1881-85.
133,400,000
154,900,000
1891-93-
157,000,000
174,500,000
DESTINATION AND ORIGIN OF FOREIGN TRADE.
(Percentage of total in 1896.)
Countrj-. Exports to. Imports fron:
United Kingdom 463 . . 23-1
Germany 12-1 . . 14-5
France 5-4 . . 8-9
British North America 57 . . 5-3
Brazil 1-2 . . 90
Netherlands 4-8 . . 17
Belgium 3-1 .. 17
Italy 2-1 . . 2-5
Mexico 22 . . 23
Japan 13 .. 31
China i'2 . . 2*6
Other Countries 14-6 . . 25-3
Total 100 o 1000
Total Trade.
364
13-1
6-8
56
44
35
2-6
2-2
iS
19-3
STANDARD BOOKS.
J. Bryce. "The American Commonwealth." 2 vols. London, 1893-95.
** Reports of the Eleventh Census, 1890." ca. 20 vols. Washington.
"Reports of U.S. Bureau of Ethnology." Volumes published at frequent inten^'als.
Washington.
" Reports of U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey." Annual. Also special mem-
oirs on different districts. Washington.
" National Geographic Monographs " (by various authors). Washington.
Elisee Reclus. " Nouvelle Geographie Universelle." Vol. xvi. Paris, 1892, and Eng-
lish translation, London.
N. S. Shaler (Editor). "The United States of America by various Writers." 2 vols.
London, 1894.
F. Ratzel. "Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika." 2nd edit. 2 vols. Munich, 1893.
H. Gannett. " The United States " in Stanford' s Compendium. London, 1898.
J. D. Whitney. "The United .States." 2 vols. Boston, 1889 and 1894.
J. Lane Allen. "The Blue-tirass Region of Kentucky." New York, 1900.
Burroughs, Muir, and others. "Alaska." 2 vols. New York, 1902.
A. P. Brigham. "Geographical Influences in American History." Boston, 1903.
Ellen C. Semple. " American History and its Geographical Conditions." Boston, 1903.
A. H. Brooks. "The Geography and Geology of Alaska." Washington, 1906.
* For development of coal production (Anthracite and Bituminous) see curve in Fig. 70U
3 In 1902 the production exceeded 17,800,000 tons.
CHAPTER XL.— MEXICO
By Angelo Heilprin,
Professor of Geology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Position and Extent. — The Republic of Mexico (Spanish, Mejico),
which bounds the United States on the south, lies between latitudes 32^°
and 14^° N., and the meridians 86^" and 117° W. of Greenwich. In
its north and south extent it thus lies almost equally within and without
the tropics. The boundary line with the United States, which was deter-
mined by treaties in 1848 and 1853, has a length of 1,833 iTiiles, of which
1,136 are constituted by the Rio Grande, from the mouth of that stream
in the Gulf of Mexico upwards. The boundary with Guatemala, which
was finally adjusted by treaty in 1895, fixes the southern point of the
republic almost at the mouth of the Zuchiate river. The area of the
country, inclusive of a few small -©utlying islands, is some 767,000 square
miles, or approximately three times that of Austria- Hungary. Mexico has
two peninsular parts — the peninsula of Lower California (officially, Baja-
California) and Yucatan, the latter properly comprising the two States of
Yucatan and Campeche. The great Gulf of California, which separates
the main mass of the republic from Lower CaHfornia and receives at its
northern extremity the Colorado River from the United States, occupies
seemingly the position of a sunken block of the Earth's crust which broke
continuity between what is now the peninsular apex and the protruding
coastline of the State of Jalisco.
Configuration. — Mexico is pre-eminently a region of mountain eleva-
tions, but this is not always to be recognised in the interior on account
of the development of a broad elevated tableland whose flat or gently
undulating surface, rising from the depression of the Rio Grande to
graduated altitudes of 6,000, 7,000, and 8,000 feet, or even more, masks^
the configuration of the land. Much of this plateau has been formed
through a progressive and long-continued accumulation of detrital material,
representing in part the distributed products resulting from mountain
destruction and in greater part the discharges from an almost endless
number of volcanic openings. These have, as it were, filled the original
valleys to their lips, and it is thus upon the new surface that the more
recent or existing valleys have been imposed. In this conception, the
great central plateau of Mexico is not of tectonic construction, but merely
a fiUed-up series of troughs, not wholly unlike the snow-accumulated
tableland of Greenland, through whose margins alone the buried moun-
774
Mexico 775
tains protrude their sumrnit-peaks. In Mexico, too, especially in the loftier
parts of the plateau, buried mountains rear their summits as ''islands" above
the enveloping mass ; elsewhere they make continuous ridges or chains,
whose crest-lines may be as much as 10,000 feet above the sea. The east
and west flanks of the plateau clearly reveal their mountain origin, and
in their sudden plunge to the lowlands the Sierra Madre Oriental and the
Sierra Madre Occidental — as the two main lines of bulwarks and their
ramifications are vaguely designated — present some of the most marked
physical features, and at the same time some of the sublimest views of
nature, that are to be met with on the Earth's surface. What relation the
Mexican Cordilleras bear to the main Rocky Mountain system of North
America has not yet been definitely determined, but that they do not con-
stitute that integral part which was at one time assumed, is certain ; and
it remains for further investigation to ascertain the relationship, if any
such exists, with the South American Andes.
Volcanoes. — The volcanoes of Mexico are very numerous, and they
constitute the highest relief of the land. The loftiest of these are :
Citlaltepetl, the " Star Mountain " — commonly known as the Peak of
Orizaba — (18,250 feet), ranking, with the possible exception of Mount
Logan, as the highest summit of the North American continent ; Popo-
catepetl, the " Smoking Mountain " (17,520 feet) ; Ixtaccihuatl, the " White
Woman " (16,960 feet) ; Nevado de Toluca (14,950 feet) ; Malinche (Mat-
lalcueyatl, 13,460 feet) ; Cofre de Perote (Nauhcampatepetl, 13,400 feet) ;
Nevado de Colima (14,210 feet) ; Volcan de Colima (12,990 feet) ; Cerro de
Apisco (12,700 feet); and Tancitaro (12,650 feet). The first two of these,
both resting with one foot on the plateau, might properly be considered
as dormant cones, since they continue to exhale from perfectly preserved
craters aqueous and sulphurous vapours ; they are amongst the most
beautifully formed of volcanic mountains. Ixtaccihuatl is manifestly
a broken-down and dismantled volcano, having to-day the contour of
some of the silenced volcanic peaks of the equatorial Andes, such as
Antisana ; similar wrecks are the Nevado de Toluca (in whose crater
IS one of the most elevated lakes of the globe) and the Cofre de Perote.
Colima is the most active volcano of the land, its eruptions having been
almost unremitting for many years. Ks position off the plateau, on the Pacific
slope, allies it with Jorullo — a mountain of only Vesuvian proportions, made
famous by Humboldt's recital of its terrific constructive eruption of 1759-63.
Heated columns of air, with a temperature of 167° F., still rise from the
crater-walls of this forest-clad mountain. Some efforts have been made
by geographers and geologists to prove that the principal volcanic cones
are situated on one or more main lines of fissure which traverse the region
in an extended east and west course ; and it has even been contended that
the southern edge of the plateau was coincident with one of these lines,
but this still remains to be demonstrated. The snow-line in the region of
.be higher summits being found but httle below 15,000 feet, only three
77^ The International Geography
of the peaks— Orizaba, Popocatepetl, and Ixtaccihuall— are perpetually
snow-clad, although the names of two other summits — Nevado de Toluca
and Nevado de Colima — signify ice-mountain. The writer has seen the
Nevado de Toluca entirely destitute of either snow or ice. Only on
Ixtaccihuatl does the ice-cap acquire a development sufficient to form true
glaciers.
Rivers and Lakes. — Mexico is singularly deficient in large permanent
streams, and the Mexican rivers offer but little opportunity to navigation.
Apart from the Rio Grande, which at times becomes almost dry between
El Paso and Presidio del Norte in consequence of irrigation tappings in
New Mexico, the most important waterways are the Rio Conchos in the
north, the Rio Lerma, or Santiago, and Rio de las Balsas (Mescala) — both
flowing to the Pacific — in the soutlT, and the Grijalva and Usumacinta,
in the State of Chiapas, east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. About fifteen
miles from the city of Guadalajara the Lerma is precipitated over the
magnificent fall of Juanacatlan, the " Niagara of Mexico." Nearly all
parts of the country are gashed by deep troughs or excavated water-
channels {barrancas), many of which are waterless during the dry season ;
but, after the rains, are wild with the tumult of tumbling waters, to whose
revivifying influence a luxurious vegetation responds.
There are no really large lakes in the republic, that of Chapla on the
Lerma, in the state of Jalisco, being the largest ; but Cuitzeo and Patzcuaro,
in the State of Michoacan, are ex-
tremely picturesque. Six lacustrine
basins, covering considerable area,
but with very insignificant depth,
occupy much of the valley of the
City of Mexico, or the true plain
of Anahuac, but their waters are
merely relics of the much larger
extent which they formerly occu-
pied. At the time of the Spanish
conquest, the City of Mexico was
a city of islands, being completely
surrounded by the waters of Lake
Texcoco. At the time of Hum-
boldt's visit the western borders of that lake occupied a position about one
mile to the eastward of the city limits ; now, except in time of floods, this
distance is about doubled. The depth of water in the lake at the present
day, under normal conditions, hardly exceeds two feet over a large
part of its area. The Mexican capital has at various times been
inundated by the flooding of these lakes, and on account of the sewage
of the city discharging into a lake without outlet epidemic malarial and
gastric fevers have been common, and their ravages have only been checked
by the benefits of a climate of 7,000 feet elevation. As it is, the death-rate
Mexico 777
in the Mexican capital, 40 per i,030, is the highest of any city in the
civihsed world. The problem of drainage has thus become so serious that
the greatest drainage system and one of the most remarkable engineering
enterprises in the world was commenced in 1866 and completed in 1898.
This desagiie, as the work is called, comprises a canal forty-three miles in
length and a tunnel somewhat exceeding six miles, the latter discharging
into the valley of Tequixquiac, due north of Lake Zumpango.
Climate. — The tropical position of Mexico, combined with its high
elevation, necessarily ensures to the land a variety of climatic conditions.
What is ordinarily considered to be a stifling tropical temperature charac-
terises the lowland region — at least, its southern half — for the greater part
of the year, the maximum temperature at Merida (Yucatan), Mazatlan,
and Colima, not infrequently reaches 105° F. Ordinarily the summer heat
is not more oppressive than in the southern or central United States, and
along the immediate ocean border it is tempered by indraughts of cool
sea-air. Over the greater part of the plateau-surface a mild temperate
climate prevails, the temperature in summer rarely rising above 88° or 90°,
or in winter falling much below the freezing point. Snow in the Mexican
capital is an extreme rarity, but it is not absolutely unknown.
In a general way the Mexicans recognise three superimposed zones of
climate : the hot zone, or tierra calicnte, extending from sea-level to about
3,000 feet of elevation ; the temperate zone, ticrni tcmplada, between 3,000
and 5,000 feet ; and the cold zone, tierra f ha, comprising the land above
7,030 feet. Manifestly this zonal distribution of climate, in a region whose
meridianal extent is upwards of 1,203 miles, differs considerably for the
northern and southern sections of the country. Two well-marked seasonal
conditions characterise much or most of the region. The rainy season,
which occurs between May or June and October or November, brings joy
to the landscape of Mexico, when the slumbering forces of vegetable and
animal nature are again called into activity. During the height of the
rainy season torrential rain falls almost daily, especially between the hours
from two to four in the afternoon. In the dry season little or no rain falls.
The highest rainfall appears to be at about Monterey, in the State of Nuevo
Leon, where an annual average of about 130 inches has been established ;
in the region about the City of Mexico, which represents the conditions
of a large part of the plateau, the annual precipitation is about 25 inches.
At Jalapa, situated (at an elevation of 4,400 feet) on the coastal slope of the
Gulf of Mexico, the number of rainy days per year has been known to
exceed 200. The conditions of rainfall throughout much of the land have
unquestionably been greatly modified since the period of the Spanish
conquest, as a result of extensive deforestation.
Flora and Fauna. — The Mexican flora naturally combines most
diverse features. Dense and exuberant tropical jungles cover much of
the low-lying tracts and the basal 2,000 to 3,000 feet of the mountain
declivities. The forest is still in greater part virgin, and access to it
7/8 The International Geography
is obtained chiefly along the highways and the different waterways that
irregularly thread through it. Among the dominant arboreal types of this
tract may be mentioned the palms, figs (rubber-trees), caesalpinias, and other
acacias, the rosewood, and mahogany ; the huge fig-trees are especially
remarkable with their buttressed trunks. Hardly less imposing are the
giant mangroves at various points on the coast of Yucatan. The zone
between 4,500 and 6,000 feet, characterised by a superb growth of ever-
green oaks, of melastomas, and in its lower part of an almost bewildering
variety of orchidaceous plants, may be said to constitute the transition
tract between the distinctively tropical and temperate floras ; above, it
is succeeded by the ordinary types of oaks and by the pine, spruce and
fir among conifers. The latter ascend the high volcanoes to about 13,000
feet, forming magnificent forests at elevations of 9,000 to 10,000 feet. The
" zones of vegetation," so called, can be made out with fair regularity, but
the overlaps are remarkable for their vertical displacements. Thus, on the
limestone ridges of the Yautepec, south of the central plateau, palms grow
luxuriantly up to 7,500 feet ; per contra, the pine is not infrequently met
with down to an elevation of 3,000 feet or less. The most striking exhibi-
tions of cactus growth — in which Mexico stands pre-eminent — are found
on the lower plains of Yucatan and in the arboreal masses, which, at an
elevation of some 6,000 feet, clothe the mountains south of Tehuacan.
Mexico enjoys a wealth of tropical and subtropical fruits, such as the
orange, pine-apple, banana, coco-nut, pomegranate, anona, sapote, mango,
and papaw, and loses correspondingly in the quality or flavour of most
fruits of temperate climes. Among the special products of cultivation,
indigenous or introduced, are the sugar-cane, cacao, coffee, vanilla, and
agave, or American aloe. The last named, in Yucatan chiefly, furnishes
the sisal hemp or fibre, while in major Mexico, an aUied species yields the
fermented national beverage known as pulque — the curse of beggardom,
and the wealth of the endless puJqiierias where it is sold.
The fauna of Mexico is necessarily a mixture of the faunas of South
America and of the United States, the lowlands representing the elements
of the former and the highlands of the latter. Zoogeographically it is a
transition tract. The larger or more distinctive quadrupeds include the tapir,
jaguar {tigre, with a range extending nearly or quite to the Texan frontier),
ocelot, puma or cougar, coyote (prairie-wolf), peccary (ranging to Arkansas),
ant-eater, and armadillo. Several species of monkey find a congenial home
southward of the 19th parallel, but at least one form, as in the sapotales
or sapote forests of the northern coast of Yucatan, reaches the 21st parallel.
The birds are of great variety. Standing at the edge of the great plateau
the traveller may be beguiled by the tones of the robin of mocking-bird,
and three hours later by foot-walk his feathered companions will be the
toucan, chattering parrots, the humming-bird, and cassique, or hangnest.
Alligators, and perhaps even the American crocodile, are abundant in some
of the lowland streams, as well as in bays and estuaries, and ordinarily they
Mexico 779
are much more in evidence than the ophidians, large and small, which
belong to the forest tract. Non-venomous water-snakes are singularly
numerous in some of the plateau lakes. As special faunal elements should
be mentioned the remarkable tailed amphibian axolotl, and from among
insects, the traveUing or foraging ants and nest-constructing termites.
People. — The inhabitants of Mexico resolve themselves into three
categories : native Indians, of some 40 to 50 tribes ; Spaniards, or the
descendants of the conquerors of Mexico, together with representatives
of other European races ; and the mixed people resulting from a union
of these two, who are often spoken of simply as Mexicans. Probably
about 19 per cent, of the people are of European descent, 38 per cent,
are native Indians, and 43 per cent, mixed races
(Mexicans). It would appear that the native popu-
lation has been steadily decreasing since the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century. The Mexican
Indians, with certain exceptions (Apaches, Comanches,
Seris), are of a less warlike disposition than the
Indians of the farther north, and, on the whole, may
be said to be a hard-working, moral, and sober people,
distinctly inclined to the arts of peace. Little or no Fig. zbc).— Average pop-
. ,. . , • . iv J 1 tilalion of a square
prejudice exists against them as a race, and where „„7g qj- Mexico.
by station or education they have advanced to a
special grade of civilisation, they are accepted in marriage among the
highest families of Spanish blood. They are kindly, courteous and
dignified in mien and disposition, easily recognising the position which
they occupy, and law-abiding to a most generous extent.
The most important of the hundred modern languages of :Mexico arc
the Mexican (Nahuatl Aztec), Comanche - Shoshone, Mixteco - Zapoteca,
Maya-Quiche and Otomi. The Nahua tribe of the Mexica (Mexicans)
derives its name from Mexitl, a word of obscure origin and meaning, but
often assumed to be synonymous w4th Huitzilopochtli, the Mexican God
of War. That Mexica and Azteca (the people from Aztlan, '' the land of
the white heron ") define the same people— a people migrating in from the
north — admits of. no doubt ; hence, we may assume that Mexicans and
Aztecs (including the Toltecs, who appear to have been only Mexicans
from the region about Tula, and not an earlier independent migratory
horde) represent in part the people who were ruled by the various kings
and monarchs styled Motecuzoma, Moctezuma or T^Iontezuma.
To what period of construction belong the monumental ruins that are
scattered through southern Mexico — in Uxmal and Chichen-Itza in Yucatan,
of Palenque in the State of Chiapas, or of Mitla in the State of Oaxaca—
still remains to be determined, although recent research does not seem
to demand an antiquity exceeding 700 to 1,000 years.
History and Government.— When conquered by Cortez in 152 1
Mexico was called the Province of New Spain : it rem lined a
51
780 The International Geography
dependency of the Spanish crown for precisely three centuries, and was
ruled successively by Governors, Audencias, and Viceroys. On September
27, 1821, the Spanish power in Mexico finally terminated, after a struggle
of eleven years. An Empire was proclaimed early in 1822 ; but this was
followed by the proclamation of a Republican
Constitution in 1824. A generally stormy period
led up to the war with the United States (April,
1846, to September, 1847). After some deter-
mined resistance on the part of the Mexicans,
Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, as the represen-
tative of Napoleon III. of France, was placed upon
FIG ^^o.-Mexican Flag. ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ Mexico in 1864, and thus was consti-
tuted the second Empire. After the fall of the empire and the execution of
the emperor in 1867 the Republic was re-established and became prosperous.
Mexico is now organised as a Federal Republic, composed of twenty-
seven States, two territories, and one federal district, whose political
organisation is almost identical with that of the United States. The powers
of the government are vested in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
bodies, the first-named consisting of a House of Representatives and of
a Senate, representation in which is brought about by the suffrages of the
people. The Executive or President is elected by electors popularly chosen
and holds office for four years ; there is no provision forbidding re-election.
Industries. — Mexico is one of the richest mining countries of the
world, her mineral resources, which are as yet only partially developed,
comprising gold, silver, platinum, copper, lead, iron and mercury. The
annual output of silver is now claimed to be in value nearly ;^i 2,000,000,
and of gold about ;^i, 000,000. The main silver mines are comprised in
the mining districts of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Catorce. An extensive
industry is carried on in opals (principally from the region of Queretaro),
and in the so-called " Mexican onyx," a beautifully shaded stalagmitic
calcite which occurs in interbedded layers in the State of Puebla.
There are extensive manufactures of cotton and woollen goods (cloths,
blankets, shawls), of leather (saddles and accessory trappings, shoes), and
of felt and straw (hats) ; the pottery of Guadalajara is famous.
The cultivation of coffee is destined to become one of the foremost
industries of the land, the lower tracts of the tierra caliente being particularly
favourable to its growth. The coffee of Cordoba ranks but little inferior
to the best coffee of the New World. Agriculture, although extensively
practised, has in many districts hardly passed a primitive or experimental
stage, and it is no uncommon thing to see the ancient forked or hooked stick
serving for the plough-share. An equally primitive condition of the road-
ways and of transportation equipments prevails, transport over large areas
being still almost exclusively by donkeys. During late years there
has been an astonishing development of railroad enterprises, the length
of roads operated by steam being, in 1901, over 9,500 miles. Two trunk
Mexico
781
lines — the Mexican Central and the Mexican National — connect the City
of Mexico with the United States frontier. The Mexican Railway, con-
necting the capital with Vera Cruz, was officially opened in 1873, and
remains one of the most remarkable pieces of railroad construction.
Towns.— A/dv/co (Fig. 368), the ancient Tenochtitlan, capital of the
Federal District and of the Republic of Mexico, is situated at an elevation of
7,350 feet above the sea-level. It combines the sumptuousness of a little
Paris with the beggardom of Naples, the activity of a city of the north with
the full inactivity of cities of the south. Here was established, in 1536, the
pioneer printing-press of America, and, in 1693, the first newspaper
(Mercurio Volatile) of the New World. Schools, colleges, hospitals, and
asylums flourish in abundance. The National Museum contains a most
important collection of American antiquities — a treasure-house to the
archaeologist and ethnologist. The School of Fine Arts, or Academy of
San Carlos, occupies the site where Fray Pedro de Gante, in 1524, founded
the first school in the New World. The architectural features of the city
are predominantly Spanish, the " palaces " of the wealthier classes down to
the dingy shops of the poorer tradespeople, together w4th the arcades,
municipal buildings, and churches, having fully accepted the controlling
lines of Old Spain. The most striking edifice is the cathedral, the largest
and most sumptuous church of America, erected on the site of the pyramidal
temple of the titular god of the Aztecs.
The most important ports or harbours of Mexico are, on the Pacific
side, Mazatlan, San Bias, Manzanillo, and Acapulco ; and, on the Gulf
coast, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Coatzacoalcos, Campeche, and Progreso (the
last two in Yucatan). Acapulco has been described as the most beautiful
Pacific port of all America, and, after Sydney, the finest harbour in the
world. Vera Cruz, which has so long held supremacy as the eastern port,
is destined to be supplanted by Tampico, the open coral-reef waters, in
their exposure to the sudden and powerful north winds (el Norte), being
unsuited for protracted anchorage.
STATISTICS.
Area of Mexico in square miles
Population of Mexico
Density of population per square mile
Population of —
Mexico City
Puebla . .
Leon
1879.
767.005
9,908,011
13
Imports
Exports
1879.
1900.
241,110 .
. 344.721
68,634 .
. 93.521
. 58.426
1900.
767.005
13.545.462
18
Population of — 1900.
Guadalajara 101,208
Monterey 62,266
San Luis Potosi 61,019
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling).
Average 1871-75. 1881-85.
5,500,000 .. .. 6,170,000
5,000,000 . . . . 6,830,000
1891-95-
7,600,000
7,500,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
W. H. Prescott. " History of the Conquest of Mexico." London.
H. H. Bancroft. "Resources and Development of Mexico." San Francisco, 1894.
M. Romero. " Geographical and Statistical Notes on Mexico." New York and London, 18
Prince R. Bonaparte and others. "LeMexique." 2 vols. Paris, 1904.
BOOK v.:
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
CHAPTER XLI.-CENTRAL AMERICA
By Dr. Carl Sapper,
Coban.
Central America. — The Central American republics — Guatemala,
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica — and the colony of British
Honduras, occupy the greater part of the area of the land bridge
between the North and the South American continents. They are bounded
6,5
l^AfAICA"
THE REPUBLICS OF
I
CENTRAL AMERICA — ^
Showing suggetted
/nferoeean/c cans/s.
•"• iBoundir/ea ^^ cUals"
• OO 900 9oe 400
"* Scal't of Milts
Fig. 371. — Ceiitml America.
on the north by the repubhc of Mexico, and on the south by the Colom-
bian State of Panama, and lie between the Pacific Ocean and the
Caribbean or Antillian Sea of the Atlantic. Both coasts are fairly
uniform, forming only a few large bays, the Gulf of Honduras or Bay
782
Central America 783
of Amatique on the Caribbean, and the smaller gulfs of Fonseco, Nicoya,
and Golfo Dulce on the Pacific side.
Orography and Geology. — Central America is very mountainous,
the greatest heights occurring among the mountains of Guatemala and
Costa Rica, while the ranges between them are only of moderate elevation.
The beautiful cones of numerous volcanoes rise in a long, broken row
near the Pacific coast ; only where the land narrows in Costa Rica do
they stretch across to the Atlantic side. The soft volcanic ashes which
have accumulated are of great importance, forming plains in the mountain
region, and, together with river deposits, along the coasts, where they
materially increase the fertility of the soil. In the neighbourhood of the
volcanic belt earthquakes are common and sometimes very severe, as the
frequent destruction of towns testifies. Amongst the specially memorable
catastrophes are those of Guatemala in 1773 and 1902, of San Salvador in
1854 and 1873, of Jucuapa (Salvador) in 1878, of Cartago (Costa Rica) in
1841 and 1851, of Rivas (Nicaragua) in 1844, and of Leon (Nicaragua) in
1609. Earthquakes are rarer and less severe in the non-volcanic districts
and least frequent on the Atlantic coast. They are very rarely felt in
British Honduras.
Surface of Guatemala.— In the northern republic of Guatemala
it is easy to distinguish three orographic zones, the northern hilly
plain of Peten, merging into the southern hilly district and northern
plain of British Honduras ; then the mountain chain of Central
Guatemala, which attains heights of 12,500 feet, and the massive
range of South Guatemala, which reaches 11,900 feet in Cerro Cotzic,
and is continued towards the east into Honduras and Salvador.
On the southern ridge of the last-named range numerous volcanoes
rise, the highest, as determined by the triangulations of the inter-
continental railway commission in 1892, are Tajumulco, 13,814 feet,
Tacana, 13,334 feet, and Acatenango, 12,992 feet. The Pacific coast plain
stretches at the foot of the volcanoes. The plain of Peten is composed
for the most part of horizontally stratified recent Tertiary limestones.
The northern chain of the Central Guatemala system, which appears to
have been upheaved in middle Tertiary times, is composed of strongly
folded and up-tilted early Tertiary and Mesozoic strata including an Upper
Cretaceous limestone, which plays a large part. The middle chain is
Palaeozoic, including schists and Carboniferous limestones, and both chains
are broken through by the transverse valley of the Rio Chixoy. The
southern chain (Sierra de Las Minas and Del Mico) is of Archaean formation,
principally mica-schist. Outbursts of granite, diorite, and serpentine
pierce these ancient rocks. The cordillera in southern Guatemala is built
up of recent eruptive rocks, partly andesite and partly basalt. Most of the
volcanoes of Guatemala are extinct ; during historic times eruptions have,
however, been recorded of Tacana, Cerro Quemado, Fuego and Pacaya.
Surface of Salvador. — In the republic of Salvador the mountain
784 The International Geography
chains of recent eruptive rocks rarely exceed 5,000 feet in height, and
are broken through by the transverse valley of the Rio Lempa. Steep-
sided spurs of the Honduras Mountains in the north are separated from
one another by deep-cut river valleys. The Pacific coast plain is rather
narrow, and the main mountain ridge behind it contains most of the
volcanoes, none of which reach 8,000 feet. During historical times the
volcanoes Santa Ana, Quezaltepeque, San Miguel, Conchagua, and
Conchaguita, have been active ; Izalco was formed in 1793 and has since
been continually in eruption ; on the other hand, a new volcano which
appeared in Lake Ilopango in 1880, has since nearly disappeared. The
mountains of this republic have on the whole been little explored.
Surface of Honduras. — In the south of Honduras the mountains
of recent eruptive rock are separated into different groups by deeply-
trenched valleys, and some considerable depressions of the crest. In
northern Honduras the mountains present the appearance of a chain,
although eruptive flows play a considerable part in their structure : quartz
porphyry in the southern, Mesozoic and granite in the northern, chain
of Archaean rock. The latter reaches its greatest height in Congrehoy
Peak, 8,040 feet. The mountainous Bay Islands, Roatan, Utila, and
Bonaca are remnants of a former parallel chain. There are almost no
volcanoes in Honduras except the extinct volcanic islands in the Gulf
of Fonseca on the Pacific.
Surface of Nicaragua. — A great alluvial plain, similar to that
of British Honduras, stretches along the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua,
and behind it the extensive highlands of Segovia, Matagalpa and
Chontales, composed of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic strata with granite
and basalt intrusions, reaches a maximum height of 7,000 feet. Beyond
it there is a broad and remarkable depression occupied by the Gulf
of Fonseca in the north, and further south by the great lakes of
Managua and Nicaragua and the valley of their effluent, the San Juan
river. On the west this depression is bordered by the low mountains
of the coast cordillera. Numerous volcanoes rise from the volcanic
ashes and tuffs with which the depression is covered, and many of
them are active. Omotepe, on an island in Lake Nicaragua, is one
of these, and the eruption of Coseguina in 1835 is famous as one of
the most tremendous and disastrous known to history.
Surface of Costa Rica. — Two parallel mountain ranges run
through Costa Rica, separated by the depression of Cartago ; on the
northern range there are several active volcanoes, two of which,
Turrialba and Irazu, exceed 11,000 feet in height. The southern chain
has also numerous lofty mountains, but its highest peak (the volcano
Chiriqui, 10,150 feet) lies beyond the southern border. The geological
formations are similar to those of Nicaragua.
Hydrography. — The rivers of Central America flow partly to the
Atlantic Ocean and partly to the Pacific, but a few find their way into
Central America 785
lakes which have no outlet. The main watershed runs near the Pacific
coast and thus the rivers entering the Atlantic are longer, and some of
them are navigable in places for light-draught boats, it was proposed
(before the United States took up the Panama Canal) to utilise the San
Juan river flowing from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean Sea in the
formation of a ship canal, to join the two oceans through the threat lake.
The Usumacinta and its chief tributaries, the Chixoy and Rio de la Pasion
in northern Guatemala are navigable, but rapids on the border of
the Mexican province of Tabasco interrupt communication with the
sea. There are numerous lakes, chief amongst them the great Lake
Nicaragua, with an area of over 3,000 square miles, and Lake Managua,
which discharges into it. Lake Yzabal (Golfo Dulce) in Guatemala and
the numerous very beautiful mountain tarns and crater-lakes in most parts
of Central America are distinctive features. Lakes without outlet are
common in the limestone region of northern Guatemala, the largest being
Lake Peten ; in the rainy season many shallow temporary lakes {Akalches)
are formed in the hollows of the same region. Numerous lagoons of
brackish water occur along both coasts.
Climate. — Central America lying completely within the tropics in 8°
to 18° N., where the trade winds prevail, the climate would necessarily
be damp and hot were it not for the prominent mountain system, which
influences both temperature and rainfall. While the mean annual tem-
perature on the coast is about 80° F., in Quezaltenango, at an elevation of
7,700 feet, it is only 58°. The annual range is comparatively small ; the
average temperature of the coolest month, December or January, is only
from 6° to 12° below that of the hottest month, April or May. The
direction and extent of the mountain ranges exercise the principal
influence on the atmospheric humidity and rainfall. Where the east or
north-east trades blow, the slopes facing the Atlantic are moister than
those of the Pacific ; on the latter coast only the southern slopes of the
highest elevations in Guatemala extract a heavy rainfall from the sea
breezes. The driest regions are those which are protected by mountain
ranges from both oceans. All Central America is subject to numerous
thunderstorms during the summer rainy season (Invierno), which reach a
maximum shortly after each solstice. On the Atlantic coast the summer rainy
season passes gradually into the trade wind rains, characterised by a mini-
mum of thunderstorms but many rain showers of long duration, and leading
to a winter rainy season with moderate precipitation, from February to April.
On the Pacific slope a dry period {Vcmno) prevails from November to
May. As an example of the influence of mountains on the distribution of
rainfall it may be mentioned that the annual fall at Tual on the northern
slope of the Central Guatemalan Chain (2,700 feet) is about 195 inches, in
Coban on the top of the mountains (4,300 feet) 100 inches, and in Salama
(3,050 feet) on the dry inland district of central Guatemala only 27 inches ;
while in Guatemala city (4,850 feet) on the crest of the Southern
786 The International Geography
Cordillera the rainfall is 57 inches. The zone of maximum rainfall lies
between 2,000 and 3,500 feet in elevation, above that precipitation
often a^^sumes the form of mist, and at heights above 10,000 feet, of snow.
Flora and Fauna.— Corresponding to the climate, the moist Atlantic
side of Central America is covered with luxuriant primeval forest, which in
the interior is rich in valuable wood, including mahogany and logwood,
as well as in palms, creepers, and in the higher parts, tree-ferns, and
epiphyte orchids. On the high mountains, oaks, alders, pines and cypresses
are found. In the dry parts of the interior of the Pacific slope thin pine
and oak woods cover the mountains, while the* plains form grassy
savannas diversified by thorny bushes. The driest parts of all are
characterised by succulent plants such as the agave. On the Atlantic
coast extensive deposits of sand are covered with grass and scattered pine
trees, and known as Pine Ridges in British Honduras and on the Mosquito
coast. According to the temperature there are three distinct floral zones,
(i) Tierra Caliente, or hot land up to 2,009 ^^^^> ^^^^ principal zone of cacao
cultivation, of the india-rubber and mahogany trees and of the coco-nut
palm. (2) Tierra Templada, or temperate land from 2,000 to 6,000 feet,
containing the principal belt of coffee cultivation. (3) Tierra Fria, or cold
land above 6,000 feet, the principal grain and potato growing region.
Cultivation stops at 10,500 feet, and forests at 12,500.
Animal life is also richer and more varied in the moist than in the dry
regions. The principal mammals of Central America are the jaguar, the
cougar, and smaller felidag, wild swine, deer, monkeys, squirrels, and
opossums. Bird-life is particularly rich, and the most beautiful bird of
Central America, perhaps of the whole Earth, is the quetzal, which is
limited to the forests of the moist and cool region. Snakes, some of them
very poisonous, abound in the moist and hot region. Alligators and turtles
are found in the waters of the hot land, and everywhere insect life is
superabundant.
People and History. — In contrast with the luxuriance of plant and
animal life in the moist, warm region, the human
inhabitants flourish in the drier parts, where agri-
culture presents fewest difficulties and the conditions
of health are favourable. The hot forest districts are
very thinly peopled or even uninhabited, while a con-
siderable density of population is found in the driest
parts of the country. The prevalence of malaria in
the low ground, both moist and dry, leads similarly
1-10.372. — Average pop- ^ ' ^ ,^. ,,.,,,
illation of a square tniie to a concentration of population on the highlands,
of Central America. which are free from malarial fevers. Human habi-
tations are found as high as 10,500 feet, but above that level the mountain
slopes are uninhabited. On the low, hot plains of Peten, in Guatemala,
there is only one person to two square miles, while in the high department
of Totonicapan the density of population is 285 to the square mile.
Central America 787
The aboriginal inhabitants at the beginning of the sixteenth century
were much more numerous than now, and were divided into many small
tribes, always at war with one another. The only considerable kingdom
was that of the Quiche, which had already begun to decline when some of
the rebellious vassals of the Quiche king sought the aid of the Spaniards
against their sovereign. Craftily taking advantage of the disunion amongst
the Indian tribes Pedro de Alvarado, in 1524 and 1525, took possession of
the greater part of Guatemala and Salvador with a handful of Spaniards,
whose horses and firearms were objects of peculiar terror. Some years
later the Verapaz district was peacefully brought under Spanish control
through Fray Bartolome de las Casas, the famous historian of the Spanish
conquest of America. Costa Rica was occupied by the Spaniards from
Panama in 1522, and Honduras was taken in 1523. Cortez himself made
an extremely difficult campaign through northern Guatemala and into
Honduras in 1524-25. The agricultural native tribes of Guatemala, who
were in possession of an old and highly developed culture and possessed
organised government, were easily overcome in war, but so stubbornly
did they resist the introduction of new ideas and customs, that to the
present day a large number of them have remained free from intermixture
and preserved their ancient language. The other Indian tribes, who
stoutly resisted the Spaniards in arms, were gradually overcome or
absorbed, and thus it happens that over 880,000 aboriginal Indians now live
in Guatemala, while only 70,000 exist in the rest of Central America. The
number of Indian languages now spoken is about thirty, but most of the
Indians also speak Spanish. The majority of the population now consists
of Spanish-speaking Ladinos or Mestizos, i.e., offspring of Europeans and
Indians. There are perhaps 30,000 Whites, Creoles and immigrants, and
a larger number of Negroes, Mulattoes, the offspring of Negroes and whites,
and Zambos, the offspring of Negroes and Indians.
In the seventeenth century the Mosquito Indians, who lived on the east
coast, entered into friendly relations with the British Government, and by
British intervention the Indians of the Mosquito coast, which now forms
part of Nicaragua, retain special privileges. Logwood cutters from
Jamaica settled on the coast of Yucatan in the seventeenth century, and
the colonists, by defeating a Spanish attack in 1798, definitely established
the colony of British Honduras. In the sixteenth century Central America
and Chiapas formed one Spanish colony, the Captain-generalship of
Guatemala, which became independent in 1823, when Chiapas was
included in Mexico, and the rest formed the United States of Central
America. In 1839 they broke ' up into five separate repubhcs, and
attempts at reunion, although frequently made, have hitherto come to
nothing. In 1896 Nicaragua, Honduras and Salvador formed themselves
by the Treaty of Ampala into the Republica Mayor de Centroamerica, with
common representation in foreign countries, but the agreement did not
continue. Although there is complete religious freedom in all the
53
788 The International Geography
Central American republics, by far the most of the people are Roman
Catholics.
Productions and Trade. — As yet minerals are only worked
extensively in Honduras and the north of Nicaragua, where gold and
silver are mined. There is a little gold-washing and some lead mines in
Guatemala, and lignite deposits are known in several places, although not
worked. There is scarcely any manufacturing industry except the
weaving of silk, wool and cotton on a small scale. Altos in Guatemala
has woollen factories and a great annual m^ket is held at Esquipulas, in
the same republic. The export of mahogany and logwood, india-rubber
and other forest products is considerable ; Balsam of Peru is sent out
from Salvador, and a certain amount of vanilla and sarsaparilla are also
exported. Most of the people live by agriculture and the collection of
forest produce, the nature of the cultivation depending on the climate, as
each particular branch is concentrated in a special zone. Cattle-breeding
is mainly carried on in the dry regions of the savannas and the scattered
oak and pine woods, which form natural pastures. Honduras and
Nicaragua are specially favourable for cattle-rearing, while the highlands
in the high district of Guatemala are important for sheep. The cultivation
of the cochineal insect was once important, but has now ceased. The
cultivation of the soil is even more influenced by chmatic conditions,
although the most important crops, maize and beans, which form the
staple food of the people, flourish in every climate and at all altitudes up
to 10,000 feet. Other cultivated plants are confined to the warm, moist
land, like cacao ; to the warm, dry land, like indigo ; or to the warm and
temperate belt, hke coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice and cotton ; while
others are confined to the cold land, like grain, potatoes and apples.
Some products are insufficient for home use ; the cacao production
barely suffices for the home demand and even flour must be imported
from abroad. The only plantation product, except indigo from Salvador,
which is exported in large quantities is coffee, which is of very fine quality,
principally in Alta Verapaz and Costa Rica. Guatemala and Salvador
have the largest coffee export, Costa Rica and Nicaragua produce about
one-quarter as much, and in Honduras the export is only beginning.
Means of Communication. — The most important seaports of
Central America are : in Guatemala, on the Pacific coast, the open
roadsteads, San Jose, Champereco and Ocos, which carry on a large
trade in coffee ; and on the Atlantic, Livingston and Puerto Barrios, the
latter a good natural harbour, but not well situated for trade. The chief
harbours of Salvador are Acajutea, Triumfo and La Union j in Honduras,
on the Atlantic coast, Puerto Cortez ; and Amapala on the Pacific.
Nicaragua has on the Atlantic side, Bluefields and San Juan del Norte
{Greytown) ; on the Pacific, Corinto and San Juan del Sur. The harbours of
Costa Rica are on the Atlantic side, Puerto Limon ; on the Pacific coast,
Puntu Arenas. The means of communication in the interior are still
Central America 789
somewhat undeveloped ; quite recently railways have been constructed o"
planned to the principal centres of coffee production, and lines joining the
Atlantic and the Pacific seaports are open or under construction in Costa
Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. Regular steamer communication is kept
up on a number of the lakes. The system of roads, on which goods arc
conveyed in two-wheeled o.x-carts, is still very imperfect, and in the moun-
tainous parts of the interior only mules and other beasts of burden can be
employed. The Indians still continue to carry loads on their backs in
wooden vessels supported by a strap round their foreheads.
Political Divisions. — Central America is divided into six republics
and one colony, the principal divisions and towns of which can merely be
enumerated.
Guatemala is divided into twenty-two departments. The capital,
Guatemala, an inland town, is the seat of an archbishop, of a university
and other educational establishments. The other important places are
Quezaltenango, Antigua Guatemala, which was formerly the chief town of
Central America, Chiquimula, and Coban.
Salvador is divided into fourteen departments ; its capital, San
Salvador, is the seat of a bishop and of a university, and stands near its
^ort, Libertad. S. Ana, S. Vicente and S. i^//^//t7, are the other towns.
Honduras is divided into fifteen departments, Tegucigalpa is the
present capital, but that rank was formerly held by Comayagua, which
is still the seat of a bishop ; both towns stand on the high plateau.
Nicaragua has thirteen departments. Its capital is Managua, on the
lake of the same name, but Leon is a larger town and the seat of a bishop.
Granada on Lake Nicaragua, Masaya and Chinandega are also large towns,
and Greytown, at the mouth of the San Juan river, will become important
when the projected Nicaragua Canal is carried out.
Costa Rica contains seven provinces. Its capital, S. Jose de Costa Rica,
high up on the mountains, is the seat of a bishop, and Car/ago, the former
capital, is also an important town.
Panama. — Formerly a province of Colombia. See p. 828.
British Honduras.*— The Crown colony of British Honduras, for-
merly dependent on Jamaica, was given a separate organ-
isation in 1884, It is divided from Mexico by the river
Hondo, and by the river Sarstoon from Guatemala in the
south. The western boundary is an arbitrary line. The
coast is bordered by a maze of small islands and coral
reefs, rendering navigation difficult. The principal river
is the Belize, crossing the centre of the colony, and sepa-
rating the hilly southern part, where the Cockscomb ^IfnHtilh'Honchc^^
Mountains reach 4,000 feet, from the flat northern por-
tion, a great part of which is occupied by swamps and lagoons, or shallow
lakes.
1 By the Editor.
790 The International Geography
Practically the whole area is under forest, and forest products, which
attracted the " Baymen " in the seventeenth century, continue to be the
staple exports of the colony. Mahogany and logwood trees are felled in
the- forests of the interior, and floated down to the coast, the quantity of
the roughly hewn logs sent out each year largely depends on the amount
of water in the rivers available for floating them. Coco-nuts and bananas
are largely grown for the American market.
The population contains only one per cent, of Europeans ; but, for the
tropics, British Honduras is considered not unhealthy, many of the whites
being descended from early immigrants. Besides the usual mixed races
there are Caribs in the south, the remnant of those deported from the
West Indies. Belize, the one town, is named after Wallace, an old
buccaneer. It has no harbour, steamers having to anchor a mile or more
from the river-mouth and work their cargo from lighters.
STATISTICS {Approximate).
Area in
Density of pop.
Largest
sq. miles.
Population.
per sq. mile.
Town.
Population.
Guatemala
42,400
1,365,000
32
Guatemala
65,000
Salvador..
8,100
780,000
96
San Salvador
25,000
British Honduras
7,500
31,000
4
Belize
7,000
Honduras
46,300
382,000
8
Tegucigalpa
12,600
Nicaragua
47,800
313,000
7
Leon
34.000
Costa Rica
20,800
263,000
3,134,000
13
160
S. Jose
19,000
Central America
172,900
STANDARD BOOKS.
T. Belt. "The Naturalist in Nicaragua." London, 1874.
A. R. Colquhoun. " The Key of the Pacific— the Nicaragua Canal," London, 1896.
tR. Gibbs. " British Honduras." London, 1883.
. Gonzalez. " Geografia de Centro-.America. ' San Salvador, 1877.
C. Sapper. " Das Nordliche Mittel-.Amerika." Brunswick, 1897.
' " Mittelamerikanische Reisen und Studien aus den Jahren 1888 bis 1900."
Brunswick, 1902.
A. H. Keane. "Central and South America. Vol. IL Central America and West
Indies" [Stanford's Compendium]. London, 1901.
C. N. Bell. "Tangweera " [on the Indians of the Mosquito Coast]. London, 1899.
T. Brigham. " Guatemala, the Land of the Quetzal." London, 1887.
CHAPTER XLII.— THE WEST INDIES
I— GENERAL FEATURES
By J. Rod WAY,
Georgetown, Demerara.
Position and Structure. — The West Indian Islands extend as a
natural breakwater in front of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico,
from 27° N. off the coast of Florida to 10° N. near the shores of Venezuela.
They contain colonies of the Danes, French, Dutch, territories of the
United States, and independent republics, but the United Kingdom holds
the greater number of the islands. The islands vary in size from Cuba,
85 80 7S 70
Fig. 374. — The West Indies.
which is one-third larger than Ireland, to tiny rocks and keys (or cays) just
rising above the sea. They differ also in geological structure ; some pro-
bably once formed part of the continent, some are composed of volcanic
rock, others only of coral. Most of them have central ridges of mountains,
and many signs of active volcanoes may be seen in the Caribbees, where
eruptions and earthquakes are still experienced at intervals. Taken as a
whole the islands appear to form a great mountain chain, similar to th«
791
792 The International Geography-
Andes, but deeply submerged. Rushing mountain torrents are common
in all the islands ; their gullies, at one time nothing more than beds of
sand and pebbles, are at another full and overflowing.
Rising from the deep blue sea, covered with rich green forests, and
bathed in the splendour of tropical sunlight the rocky islands are
exceedingly beautiful. In sailing or steaming along from one to another
they look like ocean gems ; here a mountain enwrapped in clouds, there a
field of yellow-green canes, again a little town embosomed in precipices.
Climate and Vegetation.— The climate is purely tropical. The
sea-level temperature over the whole of the West Indies exceeds 80° F. on
the average from May to October, and in the cooler months rarely falls
below 75° F., the annual range being very small. Rainfall and local
varieties of climate are dominated by the trade winds, which blow all the
year round. From October to March the north-east trades blow strongly ;
as summer advances they become rather weaker, and eddy, so as to blow
from the east and south-east over the whole group, gradually returning to
a north-easterly direction about September. One consequence of the
steady easterly winds is that the windward or eastward coasts of the
Caribbees are beaten on by a continual surf, while the leeward or western
coasts have usually calm water, and deep, unsilted harbours. All the
important towns of the Lesser Antilles lie on the west of the islands. The
rainy season takes place towards the end of summer, October being the
wettest month as a rule, and the dry season is at its height between
December and April, when the northerly component predominates in the
wind. From August to October hurricanes are frequently experienced.
The local climates vary considerably in the various islands. The Bahamas
are cooler and more healthy than the Caribbees, and in Jamaica the
inhabitants have the cool mountain slopes to which they can retire when
the coast is uncomfortably hot.
Most of the land is fertile, and in some islands particularly rich, although
in others, such as the Bahamas, it is almost barren. There are few wild
animals, but birds and insects are plentiful, while the flora is particularly
varied and interesting. All tropical fruits and vegetables can be grown,
but the staple has hitherto been sugar cane. Latterly the low price of
sugar consequent on the bounties given by European countries to en-
courage beet growing has reduced many of the West Indian islands to a
very low condition, a state of things intensified in some of the islands by
civil war and bad government.
People. — Since the discovery of the West Indies by Columbus in 1492
the original inhabitants have almost entirely disappeared, leaving only a
few degenerate half-breed Caribs in St. Vincent. The great labour
experiment of negro slavery was tried on a vast scale, and, whatever may
have been the evils of that system, there is no doubt that it was successful
from an economic point of view. It has resulted in peopling the islands
with a tropical race which seems well fitted to carry out their development,
Cuba
793
and may perhaps some day make an impression on the world. Without
the negro these beautiful islands would possibly have been abandoned long
ago, for since the emancipation of slaves the whites are becoming f^wer
and fewer every decade, except in Cuba and Porto Rico. Experiments
have been made in bringing labourers from India and China with good
results in Trinidad, but the general position of all the islands in 1899 may
be considered as almost stagnant. Yet they were of great value in the
past, when they were ** bones of contention " between the four great
nations which fought for them, and with them the sovereignty of America.
Spain was put in the background by Holland, France, and the United
Kingdom, and, after many changes, the existing partition of the islands
was brought about. The future of the West Indies is bound up with the
future of cane-sugar ; other tropical products seem likely (1898) always to
remain of secondary importance.
The islands are linked together by telegraph cables, which connect
with North and South America. There are several lines of steamers run-
ning regularly between the West Indies and Europe
II.— CUBA
By Robert T. Hill,
Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey.
Position and Coasts. — Cuba, the largest and richest of the West
Indian Islands, lies just within the tropics ; its most northerly point
is within 100 miles of Key West, its most southerly within 100 miles of
Jamaica. The island is 720 miles long, and from 25 to 100 miles wide.
Its area, including 1,300 keys
(cays) or islets, is 45,000 square
miles, of which 10 per cent, is
cultivated, 4 per cent, forest-land,
and the rest unreclaimed. Cuba
has three natural divisions, the
eastern mountains, the central
plains with occasional hills, and
the western central axial moun-
tains bordered by sloping valleys.
Excepting the swamp region, the
island is thoroughly dramed. The
coast-line measures 2,000 miles ;
with embayments and islets it is
over 6,800 miles. Except on the
south central side the coast is abrupt, and bordered by a narrow bench
of coral reef elevated 15 feet above the sea. The eastern coast, 600 feet
high, is rugged, with stair-like terraces. The land-locked harbours with
narrow entrances are adapted for commerce and defence. The keys,
Fig 375. — Havana Harbour — a typical natural
harbour 0/ Cuba.
794 The International Geography
which border one half the coast, are coral or mangrove islets growing up
from shallow platforms ; lack of good water makes them uninhabitable.
Configuration. — The higher eminences in the interior are true
mountains of deformation, composed of disturbed.sedimentary rocks with
igneous intrusions. They occur in three independent groups in the eastern,
western and central portions. The highest range, the Sierra Maestra, domi-
nates both coasts of Santiago de Cuba. Its loftiest crest, Pico del Turquino,
has an estimated height of 6,800 feet ; its lower slopes are terraced.
The central high mountains are less angular than the Sierra Maestra,
and their summits (the highest. El Potrerillo, 2,900 feet) have radiating
slopes. They are composed of semi-crystalline limestones and shales,
doubtfully considered Palaeozoic, flanked by disturbed Cretaceous and
Tertiary beds. The Sierra de los Organos forms the island's axis west of
Havana, and is an elongated ridge of various geological formations. It
culminates in the Pan Guajaibon, altitude 2,532 feet. Low hills and mesas
of circumdenudation capped by Tertiary limestone, 3,000 feet of which
once enveloped the island, form an extensive plateau north of the Sierra
Maestra, with terraced cliffs towards the sea ; they include the Mesa Toar
and Junki de Baracoa, sometimes mistaken for craters. The upper edge
of this plateau is cut into knife-edged salients ; the lower stair-like benches
are crossed by vertical canyons, through which the drainage finds outlets
to the sea. In Matanzas and Havana provinces, the arch of the plateau,
whose crest on the northern side presents a cliff topography, descends
nearer sea-level, develops a longer but gentle slope toward the south
coast, and ends in the Zapata Cienaga and the shallows between Cuba and
the Isle of Pines. The brackish swamp, Zapata, occupies 600 square miles
on the southern coast. The famous valleys of Cuba are either wide plains
threaded by rivers reaching the sea, or amphitheatres within the limestone
plateau.
The rivers are voluminous in proportion to their catchment areas. The
streams run through widely sloping valleys ; canyons are not developed
until the coastal rim of harder limestone at the entrance of the pouch-
shaped harbours is reached. Many streams flowing southward disappear in
vast swamps. In limestone formations the drainage is mostly subterranean,
and beautiful caverns abound, the largest underlying the eastern Cuchillas.
There are also waterfalls, natural bridges, mineral springs, and baths, the
usual accompaniments of such karst phenomena.
Glimate. — There are no extensive climatological records except for
Havana, and these do not apply throughout Cuba. Rains are most
abundant from May to October ; those brought by the trade-winds are
heaviest and most frequent on the higher eastern slopes. At Havana the
annual rainfall is about 52 inches, of which 32 inches fall in the wet season.
The average number of rainy days in the year is 102. The air is usually
charged with 85 per cent, of moisture. Snow has only once been recorded
in Cuba, in 1856. At Havana the mean annual temperature is 77" F. ; in
Cuba 795
July and August the average is 82° F., fluctuating between 88° and 76° ; the
highest temperature recorded there during ten years was 100°. In
December and January the thermometer averages 72° with a maximum
of 78° and a minimum of 50° ; but on the interior elevations the freezing
point is reached in winter. The diurnal range of temperature averages 10°.
At Santiago the temperature is higher than on the northern and western
coasts, and averages 80°, with a difference between the warmest and coldest
months of 6° F. The easterly trade-wind prevails, but from November to
February cool north winds of short duration occur in western Cuba, where
also a refreshing sea-breeze blows in the afternoon. The island is subject
to hurricanes.
Flora. — A voluptuous flora covers the surface and includes cha-
racteristic forms of the West Indies, southern Florida, and the Central
American seaboard. Many large trees of the Mexican Tierra Caliente
reappear in western Cuba. Numerous palms, including the royal palm,
occur, and the pine tree is associated with palms and mahoganies in Pinar
del Rio and the Isle of Pines ; other woods are the lignum-vitae, the grana-
dilla, coco-wood, out of which reed instruments are made, and Cedrela
odorata, used for cigar boxes and linings of cabinet work ; fustic, logwood,
and mahogany are largely exported from Santiago. There are still about
13,000,000 acres of uncleared forest. Nutritious grasses are found ; the
pine-apple, manioc, sweet potato, and Indian corn are indigenous. More
than 3,350 native plants have been catalogued.
Fauna. — The peculiar fauna includes only a few indigenous land
mammals. One rodent, the agouti, is as large as our domestic rabbit ;
another is the solenodon, whose family has other representatives only in
Haiti and Madagascar. There is a species of iguana, but there are no
poisonous snakes. The crocodile, on the Isle of Pines, is the. species which
occurs in southern Florida, Jamaica and Central America. There are few
fresh-water fishes. A large lepidosteus, similar to the alligatorgar of the
southern United States, occurs. Insect life abounds, and there are many
arachnids. Land molluscs with gorgeous colouring are found. Birds are
numerous, and the parrot is conspicuous ; there is only one indigenous
humming bird. Collectively, the fauna proves the long isolation of Cuba
from continental lands.
History and People. — Beginning on the west, Cuba is divided into
six provinces, Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto
Principe, and Santiago. A century before the Anglo-Saxon settlement of
the New World, Spaniards colonised Cuba and built Baracoa, Santiago,
and Havana. A search for gold yielded little return except the ornaments
of the soon exterminated natives. Pastoral pursuits developed ; the
indigenous tobacco, and sugar-cane imported from the Canaries, were
cultivated and African slavery introduced. Morro Punti and other
fortresses were begun before 1600. The second century of occupation saw
increased agricultural development and colonisation, and fear of English
796 The International Geography
buccaneers and French and Dutch pirates resulted in the primitive fortifi-
cations of the coastal cities. The wise administration ©f Las Casas and its
after influences held Cuba loyal to Spain, even during the times (1794- 1820)
when the latter lost her mainland colonies and San Domingo. The
Spanish decree of 1825 gave the Captains-general despotic authority, ended
domestic peace, and initiated insurrections which only ended with the fall
of Santiago in July, 1898. During the nineteenth century Spain made
various pretences of extending Cuba's political privileges, but all lacked
the true essence of local self-government, and absolute power remained
with the Spanish Captain-general. The Spanish government was devoted
to the enrichment of officials and to retaining Cuba as a colony. The
United States resolved in 1898 to put a stop to bad government in Cuba,
and after a short war with Spain the island was taken under American
protection on January i, 1899. ^ constitution was adopted in 1901, and
in 1902 Cuba became an independent republic. The people of Cuba are
for the most part descended from the early Spanish settlers, reinforced by
later immigrants from southern Europe, and affected in part by a con-
siderable infusion of negro blood. It is impossible to obtain accurate
statistics of the changes of population, because no reliable census was
taken ior many decades. About 32 per cent, of the population are black
or coloured, using the latter word to mean a mixture of the black and
white races. The Spanish language is in universal use, and almost all the
people are Roman Catholics. There is a university at Havana, and there
are now many schools.
Resources. — The products of the island are sugar-cane of a superior
quality, tobacco, coffee, bananas, Indian corn, oranges and pines in the
order named. Cuba leads the world in sugar production, the amount of
which in 1893-94 was 1,054,000 tons, all of which except 30,000 tons was
exported. During the revolution the production sank to one-third, but in
1900-01 it had risen again to 600,000 tons. The sugar lands are upland
soils, and more fertile than those of the other West Indian islands ; the
cane is planted only once in seven years ; no fertilisers are used ; the
estates possess recent inventions for the cultivation of the cane, the
extraction of its juices, and their conversion into the crystal. Thus sugar
cultivation in Cuba has remained profitable in spite of the general defpres-
sion in the cane-sugar trade.
Tobacco, while secondary to sugar, is far more profitable in proportion
to acreage. This product grows well throughout the island, but the chief
seat of its cultivation is the southern slopes of the Sierra de los Organos, in
Pinar del Rio — the famous Vuelta Abajo region. Good tobaccos are
exported from Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Santiago. There are Jiarge cigar
factories in Havana, and great exports of baled tobacco from eastern Cuba
are sent mostly to the United States. Coffee (introduced by the' French
from Martinique in 1727) was once extensively exported, but the trees have
been replaced by sugar-cane or destroyed during revolutions. Bananas
Cuba
797
have been an important export in eastern Cuba. Delicious oranges grow
everywhere. Pine-apples are exported from western Cuba and the Isle of
Pines. Besides the large estates there are many small farms devoted to
fruit growing, market gardening and dairy products.
On the fertile grazing lands of Santa Clara, Puerto Principe and
Santiago, fine animals of Spanish stock are produced. Horses are bred
throughout Cuba. The developed mineral resources are iron ores,
asphaltum, manganese, copper and salt. A little gold and silver were
mined in past centuries. Iron ore has proved the chief metallic resource ;
the Sierra Maestra mines produce mixed brown and red hematite, contain-
ing from 65 to 68 per cent, of pure iron. They occur in the white
limestone that for 2,500 feet incrusts the seaward face of the por-
phyritic and granitoid core of the mountains. The production in 1890 was
362,068 tons, amounting to one-fourth the total importation of iron ores
into the United States for the same period. Rich deposits of manganese
occur in the Sierra Maestra range near Ponupo. Asphaltum of unusual
richness is found near Villa Clara, beneath the waters of Cardenas Bay and
in beds of late Cretaceous and early Eocene age. Copper occurs at many
places ; from 1524 to 1867 it was mined at Cobre. Salt is made abundantly
along the northern keys. There are natural salt pans along the margin of
Cayo Romano, depressions twelve to sixteen inches deep, separated from
the sea by coral banks over which the waves wash in stormy weather.
Clays for brick and roofing tiles abound in the non-calcareous formations,
especially in the eastern provinces. The universal building material is
limestone and lime products, such as plaster and cement.
Communications. — The larger part of the thousand miles of public
railways is comprised in the United System of Havana, which extends west
and east from Havana
through the tobacco and
sugar districts of the
Vuelta Arriba and Vuelta
Abajo and, within a day's
journey, reaches the prin-
cipal cities west of Cien-
fuegos and Sagua la
Grande. The western
terminus is Pinar del Rio, ^ , ,
., - „ ' Fig. S7(y-— The Rathaays of Cuba.
106 miles from Havana ;
the eastern terminus is Villa Clara, 150 miles distant. One line runs south
from Havana to Batabano and meets the south-coast steamers. On sugar-
estates narrow-gauge railways are freely used in handling cane ; they
communicate with the interior, in connection with coasting steamers and
broad-gauge lines. Good highways are short and few ; and even common
roads for wheeled vehicles hardly exist, except near larger towns.
Trade. — Most of Cuba is accessible to maritime transportation. The
^^r^^^
798 The International Geography
chief harbours on the north coast are Bahia Honda, Cabanas, Havana,
Matanzas, Sagua, Nuevitas, Gibara, Nipe, and Baracoa ; and on the south,
Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Manzanillo, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. The
shipping trade, both foreign and coastal, is extensive ; steamers coast the
island, the north coast being served from Havana and the south from
Batabano, the southern out-port of Havana. Although Cuba naturally
commands the commerce of the American Mediterranean, trade and
communication with the adjacent regions, other than Mexico, have not
hiiherto been encouraged. The essentials of Cuban commerce are : (i) a
large balance of trade in favour of the island ; (2) preponderating con-
sumption of the exports by the United States ; (3) the division of the
imports between other countries ; and (4) the absence of trade with the
neighbouring regions — except the United States — of which the island is
the natural commercial centre. The trade of the United States with
Cuba, which has recently been summarised by Mr. John Hyde, statistician,
reached its high-water mark in 1892-93, when it amounted to £20,460,000,
the ratio of imports, ;^I5, 741,000, to exports ;^4,72 1,000, being approxi-
mately as ten to three. In 1901 the total was ^14,200,000, of which the
exports amounted to ;^5, 300,000, showing a remarkable proportionate
increase.
STATISTICS [approximate).
Area of Cuba, in square miles 45,ooo
Population (1899) 1,572,845
Density of population per square mile 36
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS, 1902.
Havana (Habaiia) 275,000 1 Matanzas 36.374
Santiago 43.090 Cienfuttjos 30,038
Puerto Principe .. .. .. 25,102 | Cardenas .. .. .. . 21,940
There are no trustworthy trade statistics on account of the long period of political disturbance
in the island.
III. — POETO RICO
By Robert T. Hill,
Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey.
Position and Configuration.— The island of Porto Rico lies in the
same tropical latitude as Jamaica, and is separated from Cuba by the
island of Haiti. Although discovered by Columbus in 1493, and con-
quered in 1508 by Ponce de Leon, it has never yet been systematically
explored. The island is 95 miles long, 35 miles wide, and has a coast-line of
360 miles. It presents a picturesque hilly landscape. Central mountains
with broken slopes extend through its greatest length, and culminate in
the Yunque of the Sierra Luquillo, 3,609 feet high. Remnants of the
virgin forests are still found on the sierra heights. The slopes are gently
rolling divides, succeeded towards the littoral by well-drained plains. The
undulating surface is adapted to pasture and the more ordinary kinds
01 cultivation, and is intersected by numerous perennial rivers.
Porto Rico
799
According to Cleve, the Swedish naturahst, the northern hills are
fragments of a thick series of limestone strata which have been cut
through by water. They have little inclination, and dip seaward from
the axis of the island at a low angle. The mountain summits are covered
by the Antillean Tertiary limestone, a formation which is usually hard
•and yellowish- white. In the mountains of the interior an older formation
of conglomerates and metamorphic rock, similar to the older rocks of
Jamaica, is visible below the limestones. The rocks of the littoral are pro-
bably elevated coral reefs. Great living reefs abound along the south coast.
The numerous streams have contributed to the wealth of Porto Rico ; some
are navigable for small vessels, but have troublesome bars across their mouths.
Climate. — The mean monthly temperature hardly varies 6°, and the
extreme limits observed are within 40° of each other. The hottest months
are June, July, August and September ; the coolest, December, January
and February. The average daily temperature is 80° F., but a cooling
north breeze prevails during the hottest days. The thermometer averages
88° F. at noon, sinks to 81° at night, and sometimes falls to 61° F. The
highlands are cooler, but snow never falls, and hail rarely. Disagreeable
land winds are unusual ; but tropical hurricanes are frequent between July
and October. The central mountains cause frequent showers on the
northern side, while the southern district remains without rain for months.
The average annual rainfall for twenty-five years at San Juan is 54 inches,
that at a station in the Yunque, 134 inches. The driest months are
January and February, the wettest are October and November.
Resources. — According to Cleve, mercury is found in the Rio Grande,
and gold in loose pieces In the Sierra Luquillo and Corozal rivers ; placer
gold was mined by early Spanish settlers. Specular iron is reported,
notably on the Rio Cuyul, and magnetic iron ore from Gurabo and Ciales ;
agate of good quality, malachite and other ornamental or precious
minerals occur.
Porto Rico contains many large trees ; in the higher parts the forests
are open, and largely without parasitic vegetation. The species include
several palms, two tree ferns, cedar, ebony, sandal-wood and many trees
suitable for building purposes ; while there are numerous medicinal plants
and others used for condiments, dyes and tanning.
Agriculture is sufficiently diversified to produce food for the inhabitants
besides large crops of sugar and coffee for export. The land is mainly
divided into small independent holdings belonging to the peasantry of the
interior. Small fruit farms are the most numerous, but there are many
small and some large coffee estates, and a number of sugar estates, cattle
farms and some tobacco plantations.
The island contains no native mammals, except a single species of
agouti, although introduced domestic species flourish. In the mountains
there are many birds ; flamingos and other water-birds frequent the coast;
fish abound in the fresh water, and a gigantic tortoise is found.
8oo The International Geography
People and Government. — Porto Rico for three centuries was
only a penal station. The aborigines, of Arawak or Carib stock, were
nearly exterminated in 1811 after an uprising against the Spanish. The
present native people are of four classes : the Creoles, who call
themselves Spaniards ; the lower class of white peasantry, or Gibaros ;
the coloured people, or Mestizos ; and the blacks. In 1615 a decree
invited colonists to the island on most liberal terms. Lands were allotted
gratis ; the settlers were free from direct taxes, and for a certain number
of years from tithes, alcabala, and export duties, which then formed an
impolitic feature of the Spanish system. With this decree the prosperity
of Porto Rico began, and Spanish capitalists driven from San Domingo
and the Spanish Main about the same period, helped to develop the
resources. The negroes of Porto Rico are in a minority. When eman-
cipation was given in 1873 industry survived, the planters continuing
their agricultural operations without financial ruin or social disorgani-
sation.
For administrative purposes the island was divided into seven depart-
ments, including seventy villages. These departments, named after their
chief towns, each contain about 100,000 inhabitants. Three small islands
adjacent to Porto Rico constitute parts of its political organisation. These
are Mona on the west, and Culebra and Vieques on the east.
Porto Rico was assumed as United States territory at the close of the
Spanish- American war of 1898, when Cuba was taken under American
protection. The Catholic bishopric of Porto Rico was founded in 1504,
under Pope Julian II., and was the first established in the New World.
Instruction is divided into primary, secondary and superior. There are
eight superior schools for boys, four for girls, and many elementary classes
and private schools, while in San Juan there is a college, with courses in
medicine and law, and a normal school for both sexes. Eighty-seven per
cent, of the people are, however, illiterate.
Trade and Towns. — The industries are limited to the preparation
of sugar and coffee for market, and the manufacture of tobacco, chocolate,
wax, soap, matches, rum and straw hats ; but there are a few foundries for
manufacturing iron machinery. The productions for export are sugar-
cane, coffee, tobacco, cacao and cotton. Sugar-cane on the lower slopes
and plains yields about 6,000 pounds to the acre. A peculiar variety of
upland rice, together with yuachia and plantains, are staple foods of the
labourers ; bananas, maize, beans, yams, sweet potatoes, mangoes, pine-
apples and other fruits are also of importance.
The larger commercial towns, mostly seaports, are : San Juan, Ponce,
Mayagiiez, Aguadilla, Arecibo, Fajardo, Naguabo, Arroyo, and San German.
The principal ports are San Juan on the north ; Fajardo and Enshhada
Honda on the east ; Ponce and Guanica on the south ; and Puerto Real
de Cabo Rojo on the west. Playa is the best port.
The island has communication by steamer with Europe, the other
Haiti and Santo Domingo 80 1
islands of the West Indies, and the two neighbouring continents; two
lines of steamers circumnavigate it, stopping at the various ports. There
are about 150 miles of railroad in operation, and as much under con-
struction.
STATISTICS.
Area of Porto Rico in square miles 3.668
Population of Porto Rico in 1899 953.243
Density of population per square mile 260
Population of Ponce 27,952
San Juan 32.048
COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION.
White. Coloured. Negro. Total.
589,426 .. .. 304.352 .. .. 59.390 .. .. 953,243
IV.— HAITI AND SANTO DOMINGO
By J. RoDWAY,
Georgetown, Demerara.
Physical Features of Haiti. — The island of Santo Domingo, better
known by its old Carib name of Haiti (rough land), or by the name
Hispaniola bestowed on it by Columbus in 1492, is separated from Cuba
by the Windward Passage, and from Porto Rico by the Mona Passage,
both much frequented by vessels entering the Caribbean Sea. The
outline of the coast is remarkable, and the island is nearly as large as
Ireland, the length being about 400 miles and the greatest breadth 160.
Four chains of mountains corrugate its surface, running nearly parallel to
each other, separated by depressions, and all trending nearly east and
west. The Monti Cristi range, parallel to the north coast, is succeeded
by the great Cibao Chain, which forms the north-western peninsula and
runs to the extreme east end of the island ; it bears the highest summit in
the West Indies, Loma Tina (10,300 feet). Between these ranges lies the
broad plain called by Columbus Vega real or the royal garden, a region of
great fertility, traversed by large rivers. The southern range forms the
south-western or Tiburon peninsula, and runs along the western half
of the south coast. Gold, silver, copper and other minerals arc found,
while for the variety of its vegetable productions it is unexcelled by any of
the other islands.
History and People. — This magnificent island was the first to be
colonised by Spain, and horrible persecutions and massacres of the natives
took place, which led to the entire extinction of the aborigines within about
fifty years. Haiti was then almost deserted for a time, save as a place of
call. Plantations were neglected ; cattle, hogs and dogs ran wild and
increased to a wonderful degree, until the French buccaneers settled in
some of the western bays, and especially on the small island of Tortuga.
They lived by hunting the wild cattle and by piracy, until gradually taking
8o2 The International Geography
possession of a great portion of Hispaniola, about one-third of the island
was ultimately ceded to France by treaty in 1697. From that period the
portion now known as Haiti became the most flourishing colony in the
West Indies, until by the blunders of the first French Republic and then
of Napoleon I. it was entirely lost. The Republic declared the rights of
man and freed the slaves ; Napoleon, on the petition of the whites,
rescinded this resolution, and ordered the negroes back into slavery. The
result was a series of massacres, ending in the erection of a negro republic
where no white man could hold any real property. Since 1810 there have
been negro emperors, kings, and presidents, Haiti has been joined to
Santo Domingo, which proclaimed its independence in 182 1, and again
separated, and the whole island has been almost ruined. There are,
however, no reasons why it should not be very prosperous, save the want
of good government and the virtual absence of white men.
The Republic of Santo Domingo. — The eastern republic of
Santo Domingo is divided into six provinces and six maritime districts,
and is governed by a President and a Congress of twenty-four members,
who are elected for two years. The exports are coffee, timber, tobacco,
cacao and sugar. The capital is the old Spanish city of Sa7t Domingo on
the south-east coast, and there is a port on the north named Puerto Plata
of about the same size. The Spanish language is universally spoken ; but
the people are almost entirely negroes and half-breeds.
The Republic of Haiti. — The western portion of the island known
as Haiti is smaller in area, but of greater importance than its sister repubhc,
still retaining the superiority which existed while both were European
colonies, and that due to its command of the great western gulf between
the two long mountainous peninsulas. The government is administered
by a President, Senate, and House of Representatives, but it is generally
considered to be rather that of a military despotism than of a republic.
The capital is Port-au-Prince, the towns of Cape Haiiien, and Aux Cayes are
also important. A patois derived from French is commonly spoken, but
pure French is the tongue of the better classes. There are but few whites,
and these labour under civil disabilities that may almost be compared with
those formerly laid upon the coloured people under French rule. The
exports are coffee, mahogany, logwood and cotton.
There are several islands off the coast ; the largest is Gonave, 37 miles
long by 9 wide, but on account of its being destitute of springs, it is
hardly habitable. There is also the old rendezvous of the buccaneers,
Tortuga, which is 22 miles long by 8 broad, and La Saona, nearly as
large.
STATISTICS {estimates about 1890-91).
Area Popu- Density Imports Exports Popu-
sq. miles, lation. of Pop. £ £ Capital. lation.
Santo Domingo . . 18,045 610,000 34 537.000 585,000 Santo 15,000
Domingo
Haiti .. .. 10,204 1.400,000 140 2,012.000 2,833 000 Port au Prince 50,000
Jamaica 803
v.— THE WEST INDIAN COLONIES
By J. RoDWAY,
Georgetown, Demerara.
THE BAHAMAS
Bahamas. — The Bahama Islands are the most northerly of the West
Indies, comprising about 3,000 low coral islets, rocks and banks. The
whole group is a British possession, and about twenty of the islands are
inhabited. The most important are New Providence, Abaca, Harbour
Island, Eleuthera, Inagua, Mayaguana, Ragged Island, Rum Ca}-, and the
Biminis, all of which are ports of entry. Besides these there are the
Great Bahama, Crooked Island, Cat Island and Watling Island (San
Salvador), Columbus's supposed landfall. Compared with the southern
islands most of the Bahamas are little more than barren wastes, rising
but a few feet above sea-level, in some places so low that salt lagoons
penetrate to great distances beyond the shore. The most conspicuous
plant is the agave, from which sisal hemp is obtained as an article of
commerce. Some of the islands are covered with its rosettes of spiny
leaves almost to the exclusion of other weeds.
People and Industries. — Three-fourths of the population are black
or coloured people ; but the English language is the only one spoken.
The islands were originally taken possession of by the English at the first
settlement of Virginia, but for a long period they were little more than
harbouring places for pirates. The early colonists suffered from the raids
of Spaniards and French, and in 1781 the islands were captured by the
former, to be restored to Great Britain, however, at the peace of 1783.
The main industries are sponge-iishing and salt-raking ; from natural
ponds, where sea-water is continually flowing in and evaporating, the
crystals of salt are raked into flat-bottomed punts and piled in heaps on
the shore until ready for removal. Coral, shells and turtle-shell are also
obtained by fishing and diving ; fruit and early vegetables are grown for
the American market, and some of the islands yield guano. The capital
and only town of importance is Nassau on the island of New Providence.
JAMAICA
Position, Surface and Productions. — About 100 miles west of
Haiti, and 100 miles south of Cuba comes Jamaica, the largest of the
British West Indies. From east to west its greatest length is about 150
miles, and its breadth from north to south 50 miles. A range of mountams
runs through the axis of the island from east to west with numerous
projecting spurs ; the highest peak of the Blue Mountains rises to 7,400
feet. Numerous small rivers flow from both sides of this range, but none
are navigable. The name "Jamaica" comes from a native word meaning
8o4 The International Geography
" land of springs." The climate differs according to altitude, that of the
lower levels being typically tropical, while the temperature on the hills is
lower according to the height. There are extensive forests, and the moun-
tain streams are broken by numerous falls and cataracts.
All tropical productions can be grown to perfection,
and the exports are more varied than those of the
other British West Indies. The sugar plantations, once
so famous, have now dwindled to an area of only 26,000
acres, and although other products have been largely
increased by the introduction of banana and orange
Fig. syy.—The Badge planting for the American and British markets, the
oj 'j^amaica. island has never regained the prosperity which it lost
on the emancipation of the slaves. Its chief exports are now bananas,
oranges, sugar, rum, coffee, ginger, pimento, logwood and cacao.
People, History and Government. — The population consists
mainly of black and coloured people, the whites numbering only 2^
per cent, of the whole, and the proportion of East
Indians is about the same. The island was first
settled in 1509 by the Spaniards, and was con-
quered in 1655 by a British force sent out by Oliver
Cromwell, since which time it has remained in the
hands of Great Britain. Charles II. granted it a
constitution in 1662, but in 1866 this was surrendered
in favour of a Governor and Council, partly official
and partly elective. The island is divided into yig. ^yS.— Average pop-
three counties, Cornwall in the west, Middlesex in tiiation of a square
.. , - ^ . i 1 . i 1 u «"^^ of Jamaica.
the centre, and Surrey m the east; these are sub- ^ -^
divided into parishes the unit of local government being the Parochial
Board.
Resources and Towns. — There are few industries beyond the raising
of agricultural produce. Jamaica rum has long been iamous throughout
the world, and is unique in flavour. Jamaica coffee and ginger are also
well known, while pimento is obtained almost exclusively from this island.
Attempts have been made to introduce tobacco^rowing and cigar making,
but hitherto with only moderate success. The capital is Kingston, which
is well situated on a good harbour in the south-east of the island. The
town was practically destroyed in 1907 by an earthquake, similar to that
which submerged the greater part of the town of Port Royal on the opposite
side of the harbour in 1692. The seat of government was formerly Spanish
Town, which lies a few miles inland. A railway extends from Kingston
to Montego Bay, in the north-west, 1 1 3 miles distant, another to Ewarton
on the mountains, and a third to Port Antom'o, on the north-east coast,
a distance of 54 miles. The roads in the island are fairly good, but liable
to injury by floods. From an economic point of view Jamaica is much
behind Cuba and Porto Rico, but it may be safely predicted that it
Danish West Indies 805
is destined to become prosperous in the near future as one of the fruit
gardens for the United States, and as a winter resort for North Americans.
Turks and Caicos Islands, the most southerly of the Bahamas,
are under the jurisdiction of Jamaica. They consist of about twenty islands
and cays, forming two groups. The Turks Islands were so called from
the prevalence of the turk's-head cactus, which gives a character to the
barren soil. The most important of the group is Grand Turk, which is
6^ miles long by 2 wide. In South Caicos the small town, Cockburn
Harbour, is a port of entry, and there is another port on Salt Cay. Most of
the black and coloured people are descended from the slaves of loyalist
refugees who left the southern States during the American War of
Independence. Up to late years these people have been living a half
savage life, but latterly, by the introduction of sponge-fishing, salt-raking
and the cultivation of sisal hemp, some progress has been made.
The Cayman Islands are also under the jurisdiction of Jamaica,
from which they are distant about 180 miles to the west. Grand Cayman
is 17 miles long by 7 broad, in some places rock-bound, and in others
protected by coral reefs. The Morant Cays and Pedro Cays are small
islands with a few inhabitants engaged in turtling and collecting guano
DANISH ^WEST INDIES
Virgin Islands. — Immediately to the east of Porto Rico commences
the line of the Lesser Antilles or Caribbees, which form a perfect bow
with the convex part stretching into the Atlantic. The first group, going
south, is that of the Virgin Islands, rising from the extensive bank which
runs east from Porto Rico. Thirty-two of them belong to Great Britain
and two to Denmark.
The Danish Islands are St. Thomas and St. John in the Virgin group,
and St. Croix. They were once under cultivation to a considerable extent,
but they are now almost bare, only covered with a scrubby vegetation
consisting mainly of lantana, or sage bush,
from amidst which the ruins of plantations
can here and there be discerned. But al-
though once largely supplied with plan-
tations, their old prosperity was perhaps
more due to the fact that when the other
nations ruling the West Indies were at war,
Denmark remained strictly neutral. St. ^ ' ^'^'~ ' ''""^^'
Thomas, with its commodious land-locked harbour, was a free port,
and as such it reaped to the full its remarkable advantages of position.
Pirates, privateers, men-of-war and merchant vessels of all nations
met within its harbour in peace and safety, and obtained supplies
from its traders. Of late years, however, St. Thomas has very much
declined, and it is now little more than a port of call. The area of
the island is 23 square miles, and its population 12,000, most of whom
8o6 The International Geography
live in the capital, Charlotte Amalie, which is also the capital of the
Danish West Indies. St. John has an area of 42 square miles, but a
population of only 900. The island, in fact, is virtually ruined. Santa
Cruz or St. Croix, is the largest of the Danish West Indies, with an area
of 74 square miles. Once noted for its plantations, it has much diminished
in the output of sugar, rum and molasses. The capital is Chrisliansted.
Very little Danish is spoken either here or at St. Thomas, Enghsh being
generally used ; the St. Thomas negro, however, is noted for having a
smattering of several languages, which is a necessity from the island being
the resort of so many nationalities. It has often been rumoured that the
United States were about to buy these islands.
DUTCH ^WEST INDIES
Dutch Antilles. — In the group south-east of the Virgin Islands are
the small Dutch possessions of Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Martin's (an
island half of which belongs to France). These are included under one
government with Curagao, Buen Ayre, and Aruba, which are situated far
away, off the coast of Venezuela. The whole have an area of 400 square
miles and less than 50,000 inhabitants. Saba consists of a single volcanic
cone rising 1,500 feet above the sea. Steps lead from the shore to a height
of 800 feet, where, within the ancient crater, the settlement has long been
established. The inhabitants, who number nearly 2,000, grow fruit and
vegetables, which they sell to other islands, and they are also expert boat-
builders and fishermen. In St. Eustatius also, the main part of the island
is a volcanic cone, but there is a stretch of fertile land on the lower slopes.
It was once, like St. Thomas, a depot for privateering and smuggling
adventurers, but it has now entirely lost its former trade. St. Martin's has
been divided between France and Holland since the year 1648. The
Dutch portion is at the south of the island, and contains an area of 17
square miles, with a population of nearly 4,000. A little sugar and salt are
exported, but the colony is by no means flourishing.
Dutch Leeward Islands. — The principal group of Dutch islands
lies far within the bow of the Antilles and about 40 miles from the coast
of Venezuela. Cura9ao is 36 miles long by 8 broad. Down to the end
of the last century it was the chief depot of the smuggling trade with
Spanish America, and was largely cultivated to supply fresh provisions to
the numerous traders calling there, but now it is much depressed. The
chief product is salt, but a little sugar and tobacco are grown, as well as
the fruit used in flavouring the well-known liqueur named after the island.
The small town of Willemstadt is the capital and the seat of government
for the whole of the Dutch West Indies. The administration is carried
on by a Governor and Colonial Council, and each island has a chief, all of
whom are appointed by the sovereign. Willemstadt stands on a very safe
harbour, which can be easily secured from outside enemies. Buen Ayre,
or Bonaire, and Aruba are smaller islands lying respectively to the east
and to the west of Cura9ao.
British Leeward Islands 807
LEE^WARD ISLANDS
British Lee-ward Islands. — This colony includes the Virgin
Islands and the chain of British islands as far south as Dominica. It in-
cludes, amongst others of the Virgin Islands, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Tortola,
Joost van Dyke, Peter's Island and Salt Island, with an aggregate area of
about 60 square miles. The chief town is Road Town, Tortola. A small
quantity of sugar is grown, but the few inhabitants mostly live by growing
provisions, raising cattle and fishing, their surplus produce being taken to St.
Thomas. Antigua, with its dependencies Barbuda and
Redonda, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitt's or St. Christo-
pher's, Nevis, The Dogs, and several smaller islands, also
belong to the "Leeward" colony. These islands were
federated under one Governor and Legislative Council
in 1871 ; and although so numerous, their total area is
only 700 square miles. Structurally, they form the peaks
of two parallel volcanic mountain chains, that to the F^^. ^So.— Badge of
west including Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Kitt's, Nevis, '^ eccvan
Redonda, and Montserrat, and that to the east Sombrero, Anguilla, St.
Martin's, St. Barts or St. Bartholomew's, Barbuda, and Antigua.
Antigua is 28 miles long by 20 broad ; its coast is deeply indented
and broken into bays and peninsulas with high and rocky shores, in con-
trast to the usual uniform outline of these islands. The whole island is
beautifully diversified by hill and dale, and the highest elevation, the
Shackerley Mountains, reaches 1,500. The chief productions are sugar
and pine-apples, and there are many small estates in cultivation. Little
more than one-twentieth of the population are whites. The island was
settled by the British in 1632, and except for a short French occupation
it has since remained under the same flag. English is commonly spoken.
The chief town is St. John's, well situated on English Harbour.
Barbuda and Redonda are dependencies of Antigua. Barbuda
is very flat, with a large lagoon on its west side ; its exports are salt and
phosphates. Redonda is a narrow islet, only one mile long, but is valuable
for its mines of phosphate of alumina, of which about 7,000 tons are
annually exported.
Dominica, lying between the French islands of Guadeloupe and
Martinique, is 29 miles long by 12 broad, with bold precipitous coasts and
a picturesque mountainous interior. The loftiest summmit, Morne Dia-
blotin, is 5,314 feet high, and from the mountains many rushing torrents
descend, which vary much in size according to the rainfall. There are
several hot sulphur springs. Good anchorage can be obtained to leeward,
but there are no harbours. Roseau, or Charlotte Town, is the capital; the
only other town is Portsmouth, or Prince Rupert's Town. The colony was
founded by the French, and a patois of that language is most commonly
spoken. The Grand Soufriere is an active volcano, and in 1880 there was
8o8 The International Geography
an eruption which covered the houses of Roseau with ashes and scoriae
to a depth of two or three inches. The chief exports are coffee, cacao,
sugar and Hme-juice.
Montserrat is 1 1 miles long by 7 broad. It is so rugged and moun-
tainous that only one-third of its small area can be cultivated, the re-
mainder being covered with magnificent forests. The highest elevation is
the Soufriere Hill, 3,000 feet. Plymouth, the chief town, stands on an open
roadstead on the south-west coast and near the fertile part of the island.
The chief product is sugar ; lime-juice is also of some importance for
export. In 1896 a great hurricane, earthquake and flood devastated the
island. The English language is universally used, and the island is said to
be the most healthy of the Antilles.
St. Kitt's, or St. Christopher's, 23 miles long by 5 broad, tapering in
the south-east to a long narrow peninsula, consists of a single peak, Mount
Misery, 3,700 feet high, with gentle slopes formed by old lava streams
deeply furrowed by the floods of the rainy seasons. The slopes are very
fertile, and the alternating forests and cane fields produce a most pleasing
effect. There are hot springs in several places which emit sulphurous
vapours. This is the oldest British settlement in the West Indies, having
been founded in 1623 ; but on account of an amicable arrangement for its
division between the British and French, it was for a long time a " bone of
contention " between the two nationaUties. The chief town is Basseterre, at
the junction of the long peninsula with the main island. The chief pro-
ducts are sugar, molasses, and rum, arrowroot, coffee, cacao and tobacco.
Nevis is joined to St. Kitt's for administrative purposes, and is only
separated naturally by a narrow strait. It is about eight miles in diameter,
and consists of a single volcanic moun-
tain rising from the sea to an elevation
of 3,200 feet, with fertile land on the
slopes. The only town is Charlestown,
and its products are sugar and salt.
Anguilla is also included in the
same administration. It is 16 miles long
by 3 broad, its name meaning "eel,"
having reference to its long narrow and
Fig. I?.!.— Anguilla. curved form. Its exports are phosphate
of lime and salt, and there is a small
town called Rode Bay. The small islands called The Dogs are dependencies
of Anguilla.
FRENCH WEST INDIES
By M. Zimmermann.
The French West Indies. — The main group of the French West
Indies occupies the portion of the Lesser Antilles between 14^ and 16^" N. ;
it includes the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, and
Windward Islands
809
Desirade of which only the two first are important ; and there are also the
islands of St. Martin and St. Bartholomew in 18° N. These are all that
remain to France of its flourishing West Indian settlements of the seven'
teenth century. Guadeloupe is composed of a volcanic island, Grande
Terre, and a coral island, Basse Terre, united by a narrow isthmus, while
Martinique is purely volcanic. Both are exposed to hurricanes and earth-
quakes, and the eruption of Mont Pelee on Martinique in 1902 wiped out
the seaport town of St. Pierre and destroyed 30,000 people. Both islands
are undergoing a serious economic crisis ; their former sources of wealth,
sugar and rum, have been unable to compete with the products of the
beet. The trade of Guadeloupe diminished by one-third between 1878
and 1898, and Martinique is no better off. Efforts have been made to
restore prosperity by the cultivation of cacao, tobacco, and especially pine-
apples and bananas. The population is very dense on both islands ; the
negroes and mulattoes have entirely taken the place of the old planters.
W^IND'WARD ISLANDS
British Windward Islands. — South of Martinique comes the
federation of the Windward Islands, which includes
St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines.
The total area of these islands slightly exceeds 500
square miles, and of their population less than five
per cent, are whites.
St. Lucia is 24 miles long by 12 broad ; it is of
volcanic formation, very picturesque from the fantastic
shapes of the rocks. The soil is decomposed lava Fig. 382.— Badge of
, ... . , . . .,, -. the Windward Islands
and very fertile. A volcanic crater with a fuming
soufriere is among the sights of the island. The scenery is of peculiar
beauty, and Castries on the north-west, with its two peaks 3,000 feet high,
called the Pitons, can hardly be equalled in grandeur. The harbour
of Castries is probably the finest
in the West Indies, and has
been adopted as a naval station.
The people are mostly black
and coloured, and speak a
French patois similar to that of
Dominica, but English is gene-
rally understood. The island
was settled mainly by the French,
but it was taken and given up
again several times by the British
before it finally came into their
possession in 1803. Castries, on
Fig. 383. — Castries Harbour.
its fine harbour, is the capital ; the town of Soufriere lies on a less impor-
tant bay in the north-west. The exports are sugar, cacao, logwood and spices.
8io The International Geography
St. Vincent is i8 miles long by ii broad. A stretch of volcanic
hills forms the backbone of the island, and extends here and there into
spurs with rich valleys between them. The highest peak is the Morne a
Garou, 4,000 feet ; the Soufriere, 3,000 feet, is an active volcano. In 1812
a most disastrous eruption took place, which utterly ruined the greater
part of the cultivation, and in 1902 eruptions did immense damage.
Between the two mountains there is a lake nearly a mile in diameter,
occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, and without either inlet or
outflow. In early times the island was left in the hands of the Caribs, and
was afterwards alternately French and British. The Caribs were, how-
ever, so troublesome to the settlers that in 1796 the British authorities
deported them, to the number of 5,000, to the island of Rattan, off the coast
of Honduras. The chief exports are sugar, rum, cacao, spices and arrowroot.
The capital, Kingstown, is situated on an extensive harbour in the south-west.
The Grenadines, a line of small islands, extends between St. Vincent
and Grenada. Bequia belongs to St. Vincent, and is long and narrow,
with an area of six square miles ; being badly watered, however, it is
not favourable to settlement. Carriacou, Union, and Mustique belong to
Grenada.
Grenada is 21 miles long and 12 broad, rugged and picturesque in
scenery, and traversed from north to south by an irregular mass of volcanic
mountains, the highest, Mount St. Catherine, rising to 2,750 feet. The
island contains several small but picturesque crater lakes. The soil is a
dark mould, very fertile, especially in the valleys. Unlike the other islands,
it has ceased to grow sugar, which has been replaced by cacao, which
forms a valuable export, as well as coffee, kola and spices ; the colony has
been called " The Spice Island of the West." Fruit and vegetables are
also grown for the markets of Barbados and Trinidad. Grenada was
ceded to Great Britain in 1783, after being in the hands of the French for
over a century, and the Creole patois is commonly spoken. Of the popu-
lation much less than one per cent, are whites. St. George's, the capital,
stands on a fine harbour in the south-west.
BARBADOS
Barbados, the most easterly of the West Indies, is 21 miles long by
14 broad, and lies 100 miles east of St. Vincent. It was partly federated
with the Windward Islands until 1885, when it was entirely separated,
and is now a distinct colony. The island is lower than most of the
others, the highest elevation being only 1,145 ^^^t. Surrounded by coral
reefs, its formation is Tertiary sandstone and limestone, probably raised by
volcanic agency. A kind of bitumen called manjak is now being mined
and utilised, and a crude petroleum known as Barbados tar has long been
collected and used as a medicine. There are numerous springs, some of
which are impregnated with mineral substances, but no rivers. The soil
is so fertile and so free from rocks that there is verv little waste land in
Trinidad and Tobago
8ii
the island. It was first settled by the British in 1625, and it enjoys the
unique position of having never been in the possession of any other nation.
The whites once preponderated, and by them Virginia and Jamaica were
largely colonised. At present only about 10 per cent, of the inhabitants
are white. The density of population, 1,120 per square mile, is perhaps
unique for any separately governed colony or State. Barbados has never
experienced the difficulty so conspicuous in the other colonies of want
of labour ; even the emancipation caused but little distress. Sugar has
always been the staple product, and now that the price is so low the
island is passing through a period of depression hardly known before.
The English language is universally spoken, and the Barbadian is proud
of his connection with the mother oiuitry. His island is "Little
England," and he is " neither Carib nor Creole, but true Barbadian born."
The constitution is old and on the lines of the mother country ; the
Governor represents the King, the Legislative Council the Lords, and
the House of Assembly the Commons. Bridgetown, the capital, stands
on the shore of an open roadstead named Carlisle Bay, in the south-
west, and a railway runs thence round the south and east of the island.
TRINIDAD
Trinidad is only separated from the continent by narrow straits, and
physically belongs to South America rather
than to the West Indies, its mountains
being the continuation of the Venezuelan
system. Next to Jamaica it is the largest
of the British West Indian Islands, being
48 miles long by 35 broad. It is generally
level, but three chains of hills run across
it from east to west ; that in the north,
the termination of the Venezuelan Coast
Range, is the highest, reaching a maxi-
mum of about 3,000 feet. The most re-
markable feature is the Pitch Lake at La Brea, in the
south-west, which was known from a very early period*
for even the buccaneers caulked their ships with its
asphalt or bitumen. The lake covers about ninety
acres, and its product is a valuable article of export,
being largely used for pavements.
The climate is hot and damp, but agreeable, the
soil fertile and capable of growing all tropical
products. The forest, which covers a large part of
valuable for its timbers, and, Hke that of the neigh-
The island was
Fig. z^^.— Trinidad.
Fig. 385.— fiarf^e of
Trinidad.
the island, is
bouring mainland, is very interesting botanically
discovered by Columbus in 1498, and was colonised to a small extent by
the Spaniards, who continued to possess it till 1797, when it was con-
53
8 12 The International Geography
quered by Great Britain. Remnants of Spanish laws still exist, anl the
Spanish language is spoken to some extent ; but on account of a French
immigration, which took place in 1783 and following years, the Creole
French patois is more prevalent. Enghsh is, however, generally under-
stood. Together with the island of Tobago it forms a Crown colony ; it
is administered by a Governor, Executive Council,
and Legislative Council. The inhabitants consist of
black and coloured people, with a small proportion
of whites, East Indians who have been imported as
labourers to the great benefit of the colony, and a
few Chinese.
The chief products are sugar, cacao, and asphalt,
and, like the other sugar colonies, it is much de-
pressed at present from the low price of its staple ;
less so than others, however, for Trinidad cacao is an
exceedingly valuable product. There are about eighty
miles of railway open on the island connecting Port of Spain, the capital, in
the north-west, with Saw Fernando, in the south-west, and with the interior.
Tobago lies about 20 miles north-east of Trinidad, and is 26 miles
long by 7^ broad. Its formation is volcanic, with conical hills and ridges
rising to a height of 1,800 feet. It exports sugar, coco-nuts and live stock
from the little town of Scarborough, on the south coast.
Fig. 386. — Average pop-
ulation of a square
mile of Trinidad.
STATISTICS OF BRITISH WEST INDIES.
Colony.
Area.square miles . .
Population, 1881 ..
1891 ..
„ 1901 . .
Density of pop. 1901
Annual exports :—
Average, 1871-75 ..
1881-85 ..
1891-95 ..
Annual imports : —
Average, 1871-75 ..
1881-85 ..
1891-95 ..
Bahamas.
4.466 .
43.521 •
47.565 ■
54358 .
12 ,
135.000 .
145,000 .
127,000 .
203,000 .
207,000 .
185,000 .
Jamaica
and Turks
Islands.
4.372 .,
585.536 ..
. 644,235 .,
771,900 ..
177 .
Leeward
Islands.
704 .
122,046 .
127,723 .
127,440 .
181 ,
1,364,000 . . 482,000
1,445,000 .. 545,000
1,896,00c . . 457,000
Windward
Islands.
509 ..
. 121,502 ,.
. 136.483 ..
. 162,800 . .
320 ..
. 539.000 ..
. 508,000 . .
. 515,000 . .
Barbados.
166
171,860
182,306
195.600
i,i8o
Trinidad and
Tobago.
1,868
. . 171,179
200,028
. . 279,700
150
1,193,000 . , 1,613,000
1,159,000 .. 2,503,000
911,000 .. 2,157,000
1,654,000 .. 430,000 ,. 419,000 .. 1.149,000 .. 1,381,000
1,500,000 .. 463,000 .. 407,000 .. 1,097,000 .. 2,566,000
2,094,000 ,. 442,000 .. 446,000 .. 1,151,000 .. 2,195,000
PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
Town.
Nassau
Kingston
St. John, Antigua . .
St. George's, Grenada
Bridgetown . .
Port^of Spain..
Colony.
Bahamas
Jamaica
Leeward Islands
Windward Islands
Barbados
Trinidad
Population, 1881.
ca. 5 000
3^^.566
ca. 10,000
ca. 5,000
20,947
31,858
Population, 1891
ca. 5,000
48,504
9.738
ca 5,000
21,000
33-273
STANDARD BOOKS.
R. T. Hill. " Cuba and Porto Rico with the other Islands of the West Indies."
York and London, 1898.
J. Rodway. "The West Indies and the Spanish Main." London, iSg'S.
" Report of the West India Royal Commission, 1897." 4 vols. London, 1897.
G. P. Musson and T. L. Roxburgh. "The Handbook of Jamaica." London, 1896.
L. G. Tippenhauer. " Die Insel Haiti." Leipzig, 1893.
New
CHAPTER XLIII.— THE CONTINENT OF SOUTH
AMERICA
By a. J. Herbertson, M.A., Ph.D.
Reader in Geography, University of Oxford,
Position and Outline. — South America is little less in area than
North America. Its seven million square miles form nearly one-seventh
of the land surface of the globe. The greater part of the continent lies
south of the equator. The northern point, Punta Gallinas, lies in 12^° N.
(the latitude of Gambia), and the southern point, Cape Horn, in 56° S.
(corresponding to the position of Edinburgh in 56° N.). The extreme
east point, Cape Branco, is in 35° W., and the extreme west point is Punta
Parifia, which lies a little further west than 8i<» W., the continent as a
whole lying farther east than North America.
South America is almost surrounded by the ocean : by the Atlantic on
the north and east, and by the Pacific on the west ; and it is joined to
Central America only by the narrow isthmus of Panama, about 45 miles
wide. The continent as seen on a globe has a roughly triangular shape,
without notable peninsulas and with few islands ; less than one per cent,
of the area is insular. In this respect it is even more compact than Africa.
The South American coast line is not quite twice as long as the minimum
line that could circumscribe its area, which is a greater proportion than
that found in Africa. The fjords of the south-west are the chief source of
the relatively more extended coast line of South America. Nevertheless,
the coast line is only three-quarters as long as that of Europe, whose area
is little more than half as great.
Coasts. — The north coast borders the Caribbean Sea, which forms two
gulfs, that of Darien in the west, and that of Venezuela in the centre, the
latter opening into the lagoon of Maracaibo. The water of this lagoon is
fresh in the south, but brackish in the north, where it is partly separated
from the sea by a bar from six to twelve feet below the surface. The
coast here is low and sandy, but it is steep on the west coast of the lagoon,
where the mountains approach the sea. Curagoa, Margarita, and other
islands off the north coast are sometimes named the Leeward Islands, but
they must not be confused with the group of British West Indian
possessions so named. Trinidad lies as a detached part of the continent
off the eastern point of this northern coast, which trends south-east
beyond it. South of Trinidad the great delta of the Orinoco forms a flat
coast, and this continues to be the nature of the Atlantic shores throughout
813
8 14 The International Geography
Guiana, which is bordered by a flat coastal plain. The coast south of the
Amazon is broken only by the Gulfs of Sao Marcos and Bahia, but it
is bordered by a sandstone reef as far as 20° S. Beyond this, as far as the
mouth of the Rio de La Plata, a series of lagoons run parallel to the sandy
coast, except in the mountainous region between Cape Frio and Santos,
which is of the Dalmatian type, and contains the magnificent harbour
of Rio de Janeiro (Fig. 426). The Patagonian tableland forms a steep,
though not lofty coast, with numerous gentle outcurves and incurves of
which the bays Blanca, San Matias and San Jorge are the chief. The
Falkland Islands rise from the continental shelf to the east. South of 42° S.
there is a fjord coast in the west, which is bordered by numerous islands.
The great island of Tierra del Fuego is separated from the mainland by a
series of fjords forming the Strait of Magellan (Fig. 405). Queen Adelaide
Archipelago, Wellington Island, Chonos Archipelago, and Chiloe Island
are the most important masses of land separated from the mainland by the
western channels. North of this the coast is steep, with few breaks. It
runs almost due north to 18° S., then north-west to Punta Parina, north
of which comes the one large bay on this long coast line, the Gulf of
Guayaquil.
Configuration — Chief Divisions. — The mean elevation of South
America, approximately 2,000 feet, is the same as that of North America
and of Africa. But the vertical distribution of its
land differs in character from that of these two
continents. South America is distinguished for
the large proportion of its area under 600 feet
(42 per cent.), and also for the relatively large
proportion over 10,000 feet (6 per cent.), which is
only exceeded in Asia.
Three elevated areas stand out clearly in the
structure of the continent : (i) The Western
Cordillera ; (2) the Guiana Highland ; (3) the
Brazilian Highland. The flat Orinoco plain lies
between the Cordillera and the Guiana Highland ;
the great Amazon plain is bounded by all three ;
and the Paraguay- Parana plain stretches from the
Cordillera to the Brazilian Highland and the sea.
The Guiana and Brazilian Highlands possess many similar characteristics,
and may be viewed as one area — the Eastern Highlands— broken into two
parts by the Amazon Valley. There are thus three great natural regions
in the continent : The Eastern Highlands ; the Central Lowlands ; and
the Western Cordillera.
The Eastern Highlands. — The Eastern Highlands of South
Americar-form one of the ancient land masses of the Earth's surface. Their
basis is of Arch^an and old Palaeozoic rocks, covered with sandstones, the
age of which is uncertain owing to the absence of fossils. They are not of
387. — Configuration
South America.
South America
815
marine origin, and are perhaps Palieozoic, perhaps Cretaceous in the north.
They are probably Cretaceous in the centre and south, but it is quite
possible that some of the southern rocks may be of Triassic age. Too
little is known about the geology of the interior to justify definite state-
ments. In the south, coal-bearing layers lie over the Carboniferous or
Permian conglomerate, and contain a glossopteris flora. This resembles a
series of similar rocks, similarly situated in South Africa, India and Australia,
and suggests the possible existence of ancient continental connections.
Narrow strips of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks skirt the coast. In the
Eastern Highlands no folding of the strata has occurred since Palaeozoic
times, and the f aultings have produced the masses of table-shaped mountains^
and erosion by running water the valley landscapes.
The Eastern Highlands vary from 1,000 to 3,000 or 4,000 feet in
average elevation, and are loftiest in the north and in the south, while the
centre is a hollow, forming the lower valley of the Amazon. The
Brazil Highland reaches nearly 8,500 feet near the tropic, where the average
elevation is between 4,003 and 5,0:0 feet. This loftier region is close to
the coast, and the long rivers therefore fiow west like the Rio Grande and
other streams running to the Parana, the Sao Francisco, the Paranahyba,
and the Tocantins, and its great tributary the Araguaya. South of the
tropic the highland is lower and narrower. The Guiana Highland is highest
in the west, where the maximum height is supposed to be 11,000 feet in
Icutu. The Branco, a tributary of the Rio Negro flowing southwards,
and the Essequibo flowing northwards separate this higher region from
the lower land on the east. Here, as in Brazil, typical table mountains
and terraces have been formed in the horizontally bedded rocks. ^
The Central Low^lands. — The Central Lowlands may be divided'
into two areas : the Patagonia- Pampa Area and the Area of Grekt River'
Basins, the latter consisting of three regions ; the basins respectively of the
La Plata, the Amazon, and the Orinoco. -' '''^'
The Patagonia- Pampa Area consists of the low Patagonian plateau, ancf'
the still lower Pampa region north of the Rio Colorado, the waters of
which do not reach the sea. Both are composed of a sandy clayey marl of
Tertiary age, recalling the mollasse of Switzerland, through which basalt
flows have pierced, over which glacial waste has been spread, and loess
blown, which in many places is weathered into loam. No foldings or fault-
ings occur in these strata, wliere Darwin found many remains of f^ianf'
mammals. The pampa, however, is crossed by folded outliers of the
Western Cordillera, composed mainly of ancient crystalline rocks. ' ''' '- *
The Great Basin Area occupies about two-thirds of the continent. The
three basins are not all of the sarrie age, and each has its speeidt^ charac-
teristics.
The La Plata lowland consists of a flood plain formed by the river
alluvium covering the glacial morainic and inter-glacial loess and loam
which here and there are found on the surface. The rivers rise in the
8i6 The International Geography
higher regions surrounding this lowland. The Uruguay drains the lower
part of the Brazihan highland, in the higher tropical regions of which the
Parana and its tributaries rise, the Paraguay flows from the Matto Grosso
height^ and its headwaters are only a mile or two removed from those of
tributaries of the Amazon, and three great rivers flow south-eastward from
the Bolivian plateau.
The main stream of the Amazon flows in alluvium of its own moulding
which is bordered by Tertiary layers, which may have been formed in
brackish water before the mighty stream extended its flood plain so far to
the east. The navigable Mararion and Ucayali from the Andes join at
Nauta, about i,8oo miles from the Atlantic, but only 370 feet above the sea
level. The southern tributaries come from the Andes, the divide with the
Paraguay, or the Brazilian highland. They are themselves mighty rivers,
with falls between 10° and 8° S., above and below which they are navigable.
The northern tributaries also have falls and rapids in their middle course.
The main stream flows south of the equator, which it reaches only at its
mouth. The basin narrows in this region, and the river forms a great
estuary, up which powerful tidal bores rush. Although the Amazon is by
no means the longest river in the world, its basin is the largest, and the
water it conveys to the sea the greatest of any river, a fact easily explained
by the heavy tropical rains which fall over most of the drainage area.
Very little is yet known about the geology of the Orinoco basin. The
river rises in the loftier western region of Guiana. The upper waters of
the river divide, and part flows by the Cassiquiare south-west to the Rio
Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, while the rest sweeps in a curve round the
base of the Guiana highland, and forms a great delta. The river receives
many tributaries from Guiana and also from the eastern ranges of the
Colombian and the southern slopes of the Venezuelan Cordillera.
The Western Cordillera or Andes.— The Andes, forming the
mountainous western portion of South America, run from south to north
with increasing breadth as far as 18° S., and then curve almost in a semi-
circle convex to the west, so that the northern ranges border the north-
west of the continent. This semicircular belt is low and narrow in the
region where the Gulf of Guayaquil cuts into the coast ; and at that point the
tectonic character of the mountains alters, allowing a distinction to be
drawn between the Main Cordillera south of 4° S. and the Northern Cor-
dillera north of that latitude.
The Main Cordillera of the Andes is comparatively simple as far north
as Aconcagua, its highest summit (23,080 feet). A main range rises from
the plains in the east. A line of heights borders the Pacific, separated by
a great parallel longitudinal valley from the main range. In the south,
where glaciation has been great, this valley becomes submerged, and is
represented by a series of sounds ; in the north it is filled by recent
geological deposits and forms the fertile valley of Chile. The glaciated
region south of 38° S. is cut up by many fjords which divide the western
South America 817
heights into great islands and peninsulas. In the extreme south the moun-
tains trend east and west. 'J'he southern Andes consist of granite with a band
of Cretaceous rocks in the east, and must be distinguished from the rest of the
Main Cordillera north of 40" S. From 40° S. to 4° S. the western and eastern
regions of the Cordillera differ both in composition and age. The eastern
ranges contain Archaean, Palaeozoic, and petroleum-bearing Mesozoic rocks
probably of Cretaceous age. The eastern ranges were folded earlier than the
western ranges, where the folds are more marked. Besides old crystalline
rocks the western ranges contain Jurassic and porphyritic rocks of similar
age folded together. Both are remarkable, the Jurassic because they are the
only marine sediments of that age south of the equator, the porphyritic, so
called by Darwin, who first described them, because they are the only
evidence we possess of volcanic activity in Mesozoic times except in the
oldest Triassic strata. A series of young volcanic rocks comes between the
eastern and western regions ; and along a line which clings to the eastern
foot of the western or main range, there are numerous active volcanoes.
The western and eastern ranges include between them a plateau.
The eastern ranges in the south have a more or less meridianal trend, but
traces of them can be found in the Pampean ranges, in the mountains of
Cordoba, Tandil, and Ventana. In the north, on the other hand, they
strike from north-west to south-east, and can be traced in the heights of
S. Miguel west of the Paraguaya in 18° S. The Plateau can be divided into
three regions — the smaller or Argentine
region, part of the inland drainage area of
the Pampa ; the central or Bolivian plateau,
an interment basin with its own drainage
system to Lake Titicaca ; and the northern
or Peruvian region drained to the Amazon-
T, r . ,. i. J 11 i XL Fig. 388. — Seciion across the Andes.
It was for a long tmie suspected that the
Andes might be proved to attain their greatest height on the eastern
side of Lake Titicaca, but the researches of Sir Martin Conway in
1898 showed that this is not the case. The peaks of Mount Sorata
(Ancohuma and lUampu) do not reach 22,000 feet, nor is that altitude
surpassed by lUimani.
The western range remains uniform in structure throughout its vast
length, but the southern part lies parallel to the meridian, whereas the
northern part strikes from south-east to north-west, and disappears about 4°S.
The Northern Cordillera begms at the point of disappearance of the
main western chain. Here the marine Jurassic and the porphyritic
rocks are comparatively rare. The Palaeozoic rocks of the eastern ranges are
also absent in the north, where Archaean and Cretaceous rocks predominate.
From Loja to the Knot of Pasto the Ecuadorian Andes form two chains,
with many giant volcanoes, separated by a narrow but lofty plateau (Fig. 397).
North of Pasto the Cordillera is divided into four chains, with deep valleys
between, through which large rivers flow to the north and north-east.
F«t
1
l1
1=
n
1
; :; : ; : . 1
15001
< ^
m
;
:'l ^^
m
'
1
wM
^ 1
Arf
^^1^
8i8 The International Geography
The Eastern Colombian Range divides, and one branch flanks the Gulf of
Maracaibo, while the other runs eastward along the coast as the Caribbean
or Venezuelan Range, whose continuation can be traced in Trinidad,
Barbados, eastern Guadeloupe, Porto Rico, and Cuba.
Climate. — The greater part of South America has a tropical climate,
subtropical and temperate conditions occurring only in the south. The
lofty western mountains divide the country into two very different climatic
areas, the west ruled by the Pacific, the east more dependent on the
Atlantic. South America is distinguished from other continents by not
having a marked conti-
nental climate, for the
term can be applied only
to the pampa region west
of the Plata estuary. At
all seasons the isotherms
in the west run on the
whole from north-west
to south-east. West of
the Cordilleras the tem-
perature of the north-
eastern region is always
a little over or under
75° F., but the centre of
highest temperature fol-
lows the Sun, and in the
Fig. 389. — Isotherms of
South America for
'January.
Fig. 390. — Isotherms of
South America for
July.
south-east the summer isotherms are convex to the south, while those of
winter follow the parallels of latitude.
This distribution of temperature is explained by the study of the pre-
vailing winds and ocean currents. Much of the west coast lies on the east
side of the South Pacific subtropical high pressure area ; all the winds
have a component directing them northwards, and the winds drive the
surface waters in a northerly direction, and also cause an upwelling of
colder water from below. Hence the waters near the coast are relatively
cold, and the air is also relatively cool at all seasons. The extreme north
and south are not affected by this regime. The tropical regions are warmer
in the north in the northern summer and in the south in the southern
summer. The centre of low pressure has a synchronous movement, and
ocean winds penetrate to the heart of the continent in summer, and clouds
screen the land from the burning Sun. In winter the south-east of South
America lies in the west of an anti-cyclone, and at all seasons the currents
off most of the east coast flow from equatorial regions and are warm.
The contrast between the climate on the east and west sides of a high
pressure area are well illustrated in South America.
The- rainfall is also dominated by the conditions just described. In the
anti-cyclonic areas of the west coast practically no rain falls, even although
South America
819
OH
1
^....
Hn%
9
I^Hjr
n
W"
1
I
Unaerio ■□
Fig. 3QI. — Mean Annual
Rain/all of South Atntrica,
the air is often saturated with water vapour near the coast, forming wintei
mists. This is partly due to the rapidly rising
temperature gradient from the coast inland, when
the humidity is low. North of 4° S. both tempera-
ture and rainfall increase. In Guayaquil rain falls
from December to May, and round Buenaventura
the scanty, and perhaps not quite trustworthy,
records show enormous precipitation almost every
month of the year. The westerly storm winds
bring much rain to the western slopes of the
southern mountains at all seasons, and the northern
limit of these storm rains sways north and south
with the Sun. The south-east is dry all the year,
but north of the Plata estuary the summer rains
characteristic of inter-tropical and sub-tropical
regions prevail. The equatorial double rainy
season is not well marked in South America save in the equatorial moun-
tainous regions. This resembles the Indian
monsoon rains, and is due to the hot low
pressure area formed round the southern
tropic in summer causing an inflowing of
winds from the north, which moisten the
Guianas and the north of the Brazilian
plateau; the dry period of inter-tropical
South America occurs when the vertical
midday Sun has moved southward from
the northern tropic, but is still overhead at
noon north of the equator. In the interior
of the north-east of the Brazilian highland
there is hardly any rain in winter. The low-
lands north of 4° N. have less abundant
rains than the other inter-tropical regions.
The influence of the heavy rains on the
y )uk Fii. MAI in. M«r. in. Jul. Auc Sep. Oct. Mv Mr >•> |
76
70
66
90
55
60
46
40
36
as
ao
16
10
6
...
"'
^
_^
^
-^
*~
W.
m.
_.
■
P
W:
wk
r— 1
--
—^
mm.
m
W
niit-r
D>i-> •
ji 1
A
Fig. 392. — Temperature and Rainfall
of Tropical South America.
increase of the eroding powers of rivers is
beautifully illustrated in two regions. In
the south-west the rivers have cut into the
Cordillera until their valleys are so deep
that they pass east of the main line of
heights and drain the eastern slopes. The
reverse has occurred in equatorial regions,
where the rainfall is heaviest in the east,
and the upper waters of the Amazon and
its tributaries flow in the heart of the
mountains. The lowering and narrow-
ing of the ridge near 4° S. is probably partly due
54
Fig. ^gT,.— Temperature and Rainfall
of temperate South America.
to excessive erosion.
820 The International Geography
Minerals and Soils. — South America abounds in minerals. The
Guianas, the Eldorado of the early voyagers, are rich in gold; the Brazilian
gold and diamonds developed in the schists, but usually found in con-
gloffiierates or rock waste, attracted early explorers. Iron, copper, lead,
bismuth, antimony, and other metals, as well as precious stones, are sought
for and obtained. The gold and silver mines of the Andes have yielded
treasure for centuries, and are not yet exhausted. The Potosi mines alone
have supplied over three hundred million pounds sterling worth of silver
since the Spaniards first took possession of them.
Laterite covers most of Brazil and Guiana. The Orinoco and Amazon
valleys consist largely of recent alluvium, which exists in the lowlands
through which the other rivers pass. Patagonia is covered mainly with
glacial waste, and loess and loam are found over the pampa and parts of
the Plata basin, and even as far south as the Amazon. Much rough
rock waste clings to the mountain sides, and along the young volcanic strip
fertile volcanic soil is found. The dry western coast lands are covered with
shifting sands, and in the south with loam. Salt deposits are common in
the pampa and in the Atacama desert, whence nitrates are exported.
Flora. — The rainfall and vegetation maps of South America present
many resemblances if the higher mountainous regions, which have a suc-
cession of floral regions running up to the snow-line, are excluded. The
south-east Patagonian region covered with glacial waste is characterised by
dwarf plants suited to the dry climate. This passes into a rich grass-steppe
land in the north round the Plata estuary, and into a poor salt steppe
inland nearer the foot of the Andes, in the drier districts where the
extremes of temperature are at a maximum. The grass steppe of the
pampa has woods along the water-courses, and the intermediate land
covered with a thick carpet of grasses, composites, and papilionaceous
plants. Further north trees are much more plentiful, and are largely ever-
green, and once more we have to separate the moister, richer lands of the
coast from the drier regions nearer the Andes, which forms the Gran Chaco,
or "great hunting ground." This is a subtropical region where palms
flourish. The mate or Paraguay tea {Ilex paragtiaycnsis) is found in the
eastern region ; and the wax palm (Copernica cerifera) is typical of the
whole Chaco. In eastern Brazil the savanna area is divided into a southern
Campos region, where grasses often three or four feet high predominate,
and a northern Catingas or " light woods " region, with a dry climate and
thorny bushes. The Matto Grosso— the " great woods " — region belongs
to the savanna area. The Beni region is probably also a savanna land
with lower rainfall than the surrounding regions.
Most of the lowland of the basin of the Amazon is covered with dense
tropical jungle— giant trees to whose tops strong hanas climb while round
their base thick impenetrable underwood abounds. These Selvas, as the
tropical forests are called, are the area of densest vegetation on the globe,
and they persist owing to the abundant rains which fall most of the year
South America 821
and the never failing high temperature. Palms, mimosas, tigs, bamboos
are among the characteristic trees, over which bignoniaceous and other
creepers twine, among whose branches epiphytes, including gorgeous
orchids, flourish, while in the pools of water the Victoria regia spreads
its great leaves and opens its gorgeous flowers.
North and west of the Orinoco, where the rainfall is scantier, are
savannas, here called llanos, with tall grasses and isolated trees, many
of them palms. Savannas also characterise the northern plains of
Colombia.
The rainy northern part of the west coast has dense tropical forests, the
rainless region is a desert, and temperate forests cover the hillsides watered
by the rains accompanying the westerly storm-winds. Occasionally in the
desert area scrubby olives, tamarinds, and mimosas are found, but in the
Atacama desert almost no vegetation exists, except here and there a miser-
able acacia bush. The temperate forest contains araucarias and conifers ;
but there is a gradual change in the north to the desert conditions, and in
the south to the dwarf beech and other bushes of southern Patagonia and
Tierra del Fuego.
The Cordilleras contain many desert regions, here and there bush is
formed when the moisture suffices, in the north Stipa and other hard
grasses form the Puna region. The eastern slopes over 5,000 feet (the
tierm iemplada), where rain is more abundant, have beautiful tree ferns,
and the invaluable cinchona tree flourishes in the forests.
Quinine from the cinchona, cocaine from the coca, are among the
medicines obtained from South America. Mate and cacao, with their
valuable alkaloids, potatoes and tapioca, maize and tobacco, india-rubber
and a variety of gums and wax, in addition to much valuable and beautiful
timber mainly used by the cabinetmaker, are largely exported to Europe.
The earth nut, Brazil nut, Spanish pepper, yams, batatas, and many other
products of the forests and fields are abundant. Among the plants
introduced within the last four centuries are rice, sugar, arrowroot, agave,
cotton, coffee and others that flourish in inter-tropical regions.
Fauna.— South America forms a separate faunal region with a charac-
teristic series of animal forms, exhibiting different association of animals
with the different plant groups, forming a physiological rather than a
morphological unity. The tamed llama and alpaca of the Chilean region
are among the useful native animals of South America. At the time of the
Spanish conquest dogs were used by the natives ; and the Incas protected
the birds whose deposits formed the great guano wealth. Most of the
other useful animals have been introduced. Horses flourish on llanos and
pampa, cattle are found in the wetter, and sheep in the drier and colder
regions of the southern grass lands, and pigs are plentiful, many of them
half wild.
People. — South America has, at a rough estimate, 37^ million inhabi-
tants, giving a mean density of population of 53 per square mile. .The
82 2 The International Geography
c?t3astal lands, the river valleys, especially the alluvial plains of the
Plata basin, are the most densely peopled. The inhabitants of the interior
of the forest regions and in Patagonia consist mainly of aborigines, of
many races differing in language more than in racial characteristics. The
natives of the warmer regions are yellower than the brown inhabitants of
the mountains, but all possess the same dark, lank hair and scantiness of
beard. The Caribs of the lower, the Nu-Aruak of the upper Amazon, the
Tupi between the Amazon and Plata, and the Guaykuru of the Paraguay,
the Ges of eastern Brazil, and the Patagonians and Fuegians of the south
are among the most important of their races east of the Andes. The
Araucanians of Chile, the old civiHsed Quichua, who formed the Inca
State overthrown by the Spaniards, and the Chibcha of Colombia are
among the Andean tribes. The name Andes was itself derived from the
tribe of the Antis. The inhabitants of the more densely peopled areas are
of European and African origin as well as American. Pure whites,
negroes, and yellow men exist, but the majority are of mixed race; so
that here, as Reclus has pointed out, men containing the greatest number
of characteristics of all races can be found, the most typical average
specimens of humanity.
History. — At the end of the fifteenth century the Chibcha of Colombia,
the Aymara and other Peruvian tribes, under the Incas of Cuzco, were in
a relatively high state of civilisation, but could not resist the Spanish
invaders, who had more difficulty in overcoming the Araucanians of
Chile, a people who still form an important element of the population in
the south-west. With these the Spaniards have mixed, and also in the
Plata basin with the natives of the Gran Chaco and Verua. When
Pope Alexander VI. divided the world between Spain and Portugal the
latter received only the eastern tip of Brazil, but by the Treaty of
Tordesillas in 1494 the boundary was moved westwards and passed from
the mouth of the Amazon due south. The Spanish conquered from the
west, the Portuguese from the east. Here the Portuguese settled and soon
introduced negroes from Africa to carry on the manual work. Slaves
continued to be imported for over three centuries, and a large black
element is found in the east from the Plata to Darien, but is most
numerous in Brazil and the Guianas. In this region the greatest miscegi-
nation has taken place ; and the complications have been increased in
British Guiana in recent years by the immigration of Hindu cooHes. A
Steady stream of Italian emigrants seeks the east of South America, and
British, German, and French settlers are found there and in the south-west.
For three hundred years Spain was overlord of the continent outside
Brazil and part of the Guianas ; but in the first quarter of the nineteenth
century the Spanish yoke was thrown off and various federal republics
were formed on the model of the United States — an indirect outcome of
the establishment of the Napoleonic Empire in Europe. In 1889 the
Empire of Brazil also became a federal republic. Racial as well as
South America
823
personal rivalries have had much to do with the state of recurring revolu-
tion which characterises the Latin American republics.
Few of the national boundaries in South America were definitely fixed
until about the close of the nineteenth century, and boundary disputes
were frequently the cause of revolution and war. Recently, however,
most of the acute frontier difficulties have been settled by arbitration.
The religion of the whole continent, save for a few unconverted
savages, is Roman Catholic ; the social and public life is derived from
that of Spain and Portugal.
Country.
Area sq. miles
Brazil . .
3,210,000
Argentina
1,136,000
Bolivia ..
515.130
Colombia
513.850
Peru
439,000
Venezuela
594,000
Chile ..
290,820
Country.
Area sq. miles.
Pop.
Ecuador . .
118,630
1,204,200 —
Paraguay
97,722
330,000 (1887)
British Guiana . .
88,650
278,000 (1891)
Uruguay. .
72,170
793,000(1893)
Dutch Guiana . .
46,000
70,500 (1892)
French Guiana..
30,460
29,600 —
Falkland Islands
6,500
2,000 (1901)
THE COUNTRIES OF SOUTH AMERICA.
. " Pop.
14,332,000 (1890)
4,894,000 (1900)
2,520,000(1893)
3,320,500 —
2,629,600 (1876^
2,323,500 (1891)
2,963,700 —
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. von Humboldt. " Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent from
1799 to 1804." 3 or more vols.
J. Ball. " Notes of a Naturalist in South America." London, 1887.
W. Sievers. " Sud- und Mittel-Amerika." 2nd ed. Leipzig and Vienna, 1904.
E. Reclus. " Nouvelle Geographic Universelle." Vols, xviii. and xix. Paris, 1893-94.
Also English translation.
Sir C. R. Markham and A. H. Keene. *' Central and South America." Vol. i. " South
America," in Stanford's Compendium, 1901. . , .
P.Fountain. " The Mountains and Forests of South America." London, 1902. '
CHAPTER XLIV.— THE ANDEAN COUNTRIES
I— COLOMBIA
By Dr. Fritz Kegel,"
Professor of Geography in the University of Wiirzbtirg.
Position, Extent and Coasts. — The Republic of Colombia occupies
the north-west of South America, and its former department of Panama,
now a separate republic, gave it a share of Central America bordering
on Costa Rica. It is bordered by the Caribbean Sea in the north and by
the Pacific Ocean on the west. On the south its frontier is principally with
Ecuador, except between 70° and 73° W. long., where the Maranon sep-
arates it from Peru. On the east from about 4° S. to 4° N. lat. it touches
Brazil, and thence northward to the sea in 12° N., Colombia marches with
Venezuela. The short frontier towards Costa Rica, and that towards
Venezuela, determined in 1891 by Spanish arbitration, are the only bounda-
ries as yet definitely fixed ; on the other borders, Ecuador claims a broad
strip on the south, Peru claims the south-*east corner, and the Brazilian bor-
der is by no means definite. The small islands of the south coast of Panama
also form part of Colombia.
Configuration. — The Isthmus of Panama is occupied by fairly high
mountains, the Cordilleras of Chiriqui, of Veragua, and of San Bias, com-
posed of crystalline schists and recent eruptive rocks ; and they are only
loosely connected through the Isthmus of Darien with the most westerly
ranges of the Andean system. The South American portion of the country
may be divided into the Andes region, and the great plains of the east.
The Andes Region contains four mountain chains : (i) The still almost
unexplored coast-range or Cordillera del Choco begins in latitude 4^° N. on
the Gulf of Buena Ventura, and is defined on the east by the valleys of the
Rio San Juan and Atrato. (2) The Western Cordillera the direct continua-
tion of the western range of Ecuador, forms a long stretch, of mountain
wall, bearing the high summits of Cerro Munchique, 10,000 feet, and the
Farrallones of Cali and Citara, 11,000 feet ; further north near Paramillo
(about 11,000 feet), the range breaks up into several spurs which sink to the
low ground of Bolivar. The eastern border is marked by an inter-Andean
depression, occupied in the south by the Rio Patia and in the north by the
Cauca. (3) The Central Cordillera is the continuation of the inner or
eastern Cordillera of Ecuador, and extends between the Cauca and the
Magdalena valleys. The southern portion is characterised by lofty vol-
canoes built up of andesitic lavas, tuffs and ashes, including Pasto, 8,350
. « Translated from the German by the Editor.
824
Colombia
825
feet ; Cumbel, 16,000 feet ; the Sugar Loaf, 16,000 feet ; Puraca, Huila,
Tolima, 18,300 feet ; Santa Isabel and Ruiz, whose broad snowy dome
is the most northerly of the giant volcanoes of the Cordillera, and rises
almost as high as the graceful cone of Tolima. The range, which is com-
posed mainly of crystalline schists, sinks and broadens into the highlands of
Antioquia, the northern spurs of which occupy the space between the
Cauca, Neohi and Magdalena ; although falling to the level of the northern
plain, they are prolonged structurally to the snowy heights of the Sierra de
Santa Marta on the coast. (4) The Eastern Cordillera, or Cordillera of
Bogota, adjoins the Cordillera of Ecuador as a separate mountain system in
the south of Colombia, and bears almost the same relation to the Central
and Western Cordilleras as the range of the Jura does to the Alps. It con-
tains no volcanoes, and crystalline schists only appear in the north, the
range as a whole being built up of strongly folded Cretaceous and Tertiary
strata. Occasional plateaux, like that of Bogota, are covered with more
recent sediments. The Cordillera of Bogota spHts up towards the north,
the western fork, called the Cordillera of Perija, runs due north to the
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta ; the central chain breaks off about 8° N.lat.,
while the eastern fork runs north-eastward into Venezuela. The highest
part of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia is the Sierra Nevada de Cocui,
the summit of which exceeds 16,000 feet in height.
The great plains or llanos in the east of Colombia are covered by
savannas in the north, the territories of Casanare and San Martin, while in
the south in the territory of Caqueta, there are huge primeval forests or
selvas. The soil is generally river alluvium, which conceals the Tertiary
strata. The great rivers in the north, including the Meta and Guaviare,
flow to the Orinoco, and further south to the Amazon, whose tributaries
include the upper Rio Negro, the Caqueta or Yapura, Putumayo or Iga
and, in the extreme south, the Napo.
Climate. — The climate corresponds generally to the purely tropical posi-
tion of the country, but on account
of the great elevations in the west,
it presents many varieties. Four
typical gradations of climate can
be recognised in a vertical direction
before coming to the region of per-
petual snow on the summits of the
two highest mountains. These are
(i) the Tierra Caliente, or hot region,
in the low ground of the north-
west, the large river valleys, and the
great plains of the east ; this zone
reaches to about 3,000 feet above
sea-level, a mean annual temperature of from 83° to 75° F. prevails, and the
products of the soil are purely tropical. (2) The Tierra Tanplada, or tempe-
FlG. 394. — Diagram of Andean Climate Zones.
826 The International Geography
ate region, on the lower elevations, the foot-hills, and many of the upper river-
valleys extends from about 3,000 to 6,500 feet ; the mean temperature is
from 75° to 65° F., and maize and coffee predominate as products. (3) The
Tierra Fria, or cold region, on the high plains and in many mountain districts
of the Cordillera, extends from 6,500 to 10,000 feet, with mean temperatures
from 65° to 54° F. (Bogota for example, at an elevation of about 8,200 feet,
has a mean temperature of 58° F.). Wheat, vegetables and northern fruits
are cultivated in this zone. (4) The Paramos, the bleak, stormy, and almost
uninhabited region of the mountains from 10,000 to over 13,000 feet, prin-
cipally in the Eastern Cordillera, have a mean temperature from 54° to
43° F. Trees are often found near the lower limits of this zone, but the
typical Paramos begin above the tree line.
The rainfall in the north and east, as far as the Guaviare, occurs mainly
in two rainy seasons (April to June and September to December) separated
by two dry seasons, in the north tropical rainfall district ; while in the
remaining districts one of the dry seasons (that in July) diminishes more
and more, and the final result is that the year is divided into one extended
rainy season {Invierno), and the principal dry season {Verano) in the equa-
torial rainfall region, where the primeval forest takes the place of the
savannas in the plain.
Flora and Fauna. — Corresponding with the climatic zones and the
complex conditions of the surface, the flora is unusually rich and varied,
it bears, generally speaking, the character of the South American floral
region. In the woods of the hot, low plain there is a great abundance of
leafy trees and many varieties of palms ; extensive bamboo thickets {giia-
duas) fill many of the river valleys, ivory nuts (Phytelephas) and dividivi wood
{Caesalpinia coriacea), royal palms {Orcodoxa regia) and coco-nut palms are
widespread. Other varieties of palm, together with many tree ferns, are
found in the mountain forests, and higher up the cinchona tree. Lastly, in
the misty region from 8,500 to 10,000 feet on the Quindiu Pass, there grow
the lofty wax palm {Ceroxylon andicola) ; a few epiphytes, principally
varieties of orchids, parasites, and ferns live on the high forest trees.
On the Paramos there are beautiful flowering shrubs, innumerable
"frailejons" {Espeletia and Culcitium) and certain grasses and similar
plants which show many interesting adaptations to the rough mountain
climate.
The fauna is typically South American with a number of Central
American forms in the mountains. It includes amongst the mammalia,
monkeys, the ounce and puma, tapir, capybary, the manatee in the Magdalena
and Atrato rivers, the ant-eater, armadillo and opossum. The country is
particularly rich in birds, amongst which humming birds, parrots and the
toucan may be mentioned. Caymans, tortoises, very numerous lizards
and snakes, toads of great size, particularly in the hot region, and
many fish are found in the Atrato and Magdalena. Large spiders,
scorpions, and centipedes are common, and the insect life is extraordinarily
Colombia
827
rich in large and beautiful butterflies, innumerable ants, locusts, and
grasshoppers, and such plagues of humanity as zancudos, mosquitos, fleas
and bugs.
People and History.— Before the Spanish conquest, which took
place between 1536 and 1560, Colombia was inhabited by numerous Indian
tribes, of whom the Chibchas inhabiting the eastern high plains, were a'.dii
to the Quichuas of Peru. Besides the written sources of information, the-
numerous discoveries in the Central and Western Cordillera of graves con-
taining gold, stone and clay utensils, are of special importance. The
civilised Indians of the Eastern Cordillera, still form an important con-
stituent of the population in the east and south of Colombia. Indios bravos,
that is uncivilised tribes, are now found principally in the eastern plains,
the northern mountains, particularly in Santander and in the Sierra Nevada
de Santa Marta {Arhiiacos), in the Guajira peninsula (Guajiros), in the
primeval forests of the Cordilleras of Choco, and to
some extent in western Antioquia. In the extreme
south the Indians closely approach to the Quichua
type. The bulk of the present inhabitants are the
descendants of the invading Spaniards, who mixed
with the Indians as well as with the negroes intro-
duced as slaves from Africa. A great part of the
original Indian population was killed out by perse-
cution. The negroes and mulattoes form a large
fraction of the population of the hot region. The predominant language
everywhere is Spanish, and the religion Roman Catholic ; with an arch-
bishop in Bogota and nine bishops.
The Spaniards founded in 1547 the Captain-Generalship of New
Granada, which became a Vice-royalty in 171 8. Independence from Spain
was secured between 18 10 and 18 19, when Bolivar united New Granada
with Venezuela, and in 1822 Ecuador was added to the union. This large
republic of Colombia lasted only a few years ; in 1829 Venezuela sepa-
rated, and in 1830 Ecuador followed its example. The constitution of
the country has frequently changed since 1 831, when it was known as
the Republic of New Grenada ; in 1857 its eight States formed the Grena-
dine Confederation; in 1861 it was the United States of Colombia with
nine States. In 1886 the present republic, with its capital at Bogota, was
formed, and in 1903 the province of Panama broke off under the guar.
antee of the United States. These provinces are Cundinamarca containing
the capital, Boyaca, Santander, Magdalena in the north-east, Bolivar in
the north, Tolima and Antioquia in the centre, Cauca on the west, and
Panama; the formerly independent territories of the thinly-peopled
eastern plain are divided between Cauca and Cundinamarca. Each pro-
vince has its own financial administration. The central government
consists of a President, seven responsible Ministers, a Senate of twenty-
seven members, each department being represented by three, and the
Fig. 395. — The Colombia n
Flag.
828 The International Geography
Chamber of Deputies, who number 68, one being elected for every 50,000
inhabitants.
Productions, Commerce and To'wns. — As a rule the soil is culti-
vated only for the domestic supply, but recently the coffee plantations of
Santander and Antioquia have acquired some importance for export. The
principal plants grown in the hot region are sugar-cane, bananas and
cacao ; maize, coffee and yucca in the temperate ; and wheat, vegetables
and fruit in the cool region. Tobacco is an important crop near Ambalema
in Cundinamarca, and great herds of cattle are kept on the llanos, in the
Cauca district, and elsewhere. There is a certain amount of mining, in-
cluding gold, particularly in Antioquia, silver, copper, iron, salt and coal,
while emeralds of great value are found near Muzo in Santander. Industry
is as yet little developed and practically is confined to articles for home use ;
most necessaries of life have to be imported, including even flour. Trade
is much hindered on account of the bad means of communication.
There are only about 250 miles of railway, and almost no roads, only mule
tracks and footpaths with far too few good bridges. Education is in a
neglected condition ; the province of Antioquia is the best supplied with
schools. Progress has been greatly retarded by the frequency of civil wars
and changes of government.
The population is principally concentrated on the mountains and high
plains of the Eastern and Central Cordilleras, and the upper Cauca basin ;
and also, of course, in the seaports. The only large
town is the loftily situated Bogota. The principal
harbours are on the north coast ; on the thinly-
peopled west coast PcDianui and Bmnavoitura were
alone of importance. The fine and strongly fortified
harbour of Cariagcna formerly carried on a great
trade with the interior, but now the " Queen of the
^lo.z^b.-Avcragepop- Indies" is thrown into the shade by Barranquilla on
ii'laiio'ii of a square the Magdalena, and its sea-harbour, Sabanilla, now
wile of Colombia. ^^^j^^i Puerto Cotombia. In 1890 two-thirds of the
imports passed through Barranquilla, and the Magdalena remains the
principal artery of trade, although its navigability leaves much to be
desired, and vessels ascend only as far as the neighbourhood of Honda.
The well-peopled western portion of Colombia is also reached by the
Cauca, the largest tributary of the Magdalena, and by the Atrato which
flows into the Gulf of Uraba (Darien), and is navigable throughout almost
its whole length to Lloro. The statistics of Colombia are very unsatisfactory.
In Panama the railway from Co/on to Panama, about 45 miles long, is
important for transit trade from one ocean to another. A o reat canal designed
to allow vessels to cross the isthmus was commenced in 1881 by 'a French
company, but abandoned after immense financial loss. The work has now
been undertaken by the United States Government with every prospect of
success.
Ecuador
829
STATISTICS.
Province. Area in sq. miles.
Antioquia 22,790
Bolivar 27,040
Boyaca 33,320
Cauca (including Caqueta Ter.) . . 257,480
Cundinamarca (including San Martin Ter.) 79,700
Magdalena . . . 26,950
Santander 16,290
Tolima 18.^^0
Colombia 482,0
Density of Population
Population. per sq. mile.
465,000
945,250
517,000
460,000
537,500
137,500
432,000
- 305,250
3,099,500
6-5
120,000
40,000
40,000
Population of Bogota
Medellin
" Barranquilla
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling) 1891-95.
Imports 2,500,000
Exports 3,400,000
REPUBLIC OF PANAMA.
Area, 31,570 sq. miles. Population, 340,000. Density of population, 11 per sq. mile.
STANDARD BOOKS.
F. Regel. "Colombia." Berlin, 1898.
A. Hettner. " Reisen in der Kolumbianischen Anden." Leipzig, 1888.
" Die Kordillere von Bogota " (Erganzungsheft No. 104 zu Petermanns
Mitteilungen). Gotha, 1892.
Rothlisberger. " El Dorado." Bern, 1898.
F. Perez. " Geografia General Fisica y Politica." 2 edicion. Bogota, 1883.
F. J. Vergara y Velasco. " Nueva Geografia de Colombia. Tom. i. Bogota, 1902.
11— ECUADOR
By Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Position. — The three repubHcs of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, on the
western side of South America, occupy the territory which once com-
prised the empire of the Incas. The great chain of the Andes forms their
backbone, and includes the principal part of all three countries. All three
contain vast forest-covered territory to the east of the Andes, and the two
first also include a coast region between the mountains and the Pacitic
Ocean. The general configuration is the same, and they may be con-
sidered as ore division of the continent, each divided into three very
distinct regions, the Andes, the Coast, and the Montana or eastern forests.
Ecuador, as the name implies, is crossed by the equator, and it includes
the equatorial group of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific.
The Andes of Ecuador. — The Andes form two chains of mountains,
the eastern being composed of gneiss and schists, with some granite in the
south ; and the western of porphyritic rocks, diorite and greenstone. The
ranges are connected by mountain knots which divide the plateau between
them into ten basins, much broken by spurs and ravines, but sometimes con-
taining plains of considerable extent. Their drainage generally finds its
way to the Pacific, but in four places rivers force their way through the
830 The International Geography
main eastern chain and join the Amazon. The great volcanic eruptions,
which form so prominent a feature of the Andes, have thrown up magnifi-
cent peaks, and so overlaid the original formations by volcanic rocks that
the earlier ranges are almost obliterated, except in the south. The loftiest
peak of Chimborazo, 20,498 feet above the sea, overlooks the coast region ;
but, with this exception, the grandest snowy masses are on the eastern
chain, including Cotopaxi (19,613 f eet), Antisana (19,335 feet), and Cayambe
(19,186 feet). The vol-
canoes of Cotopaxi, Tun-
garagua (16,690 feet) and
Sangai (17,464) are still
active, and are by far the
loftiest active volcanoes
in the world ; while Pich-
incha, overhanging the
city of Quito (15,918 feet),
has only been dormant
since 1660. The average
height of the Andes of
Ecuador is 11,400 feet, and
that of the habitable basins
between the ridges about
8,000 feet.
The Andean Basin.
— From the most northern
basin, that of Ibarra,
streams flow westward to
form the Mira, the bound-
ing river, in the coast
region, between Colom-
bia and Ecuador. The
lake of San Pablo, nine
miles long in this basin, is
the only large lake in the
Andes of Ecuador. The
next basin to the south,
that of Quito, is watered
by streams forming the
rirer Guallabamba, a tributary of the Esmeraldas, which traverses the
coast region and falls into the Pacific. The two basins of Latacunga and
Riobamba are watered by streams uniting to form the Pastaza, which crosses
the eastern chain through a narrow ravine, and, forming a sublime cataract,
dashes down a profound gorge into the Amazonian plain. Here there is
some of the grandest scenery in the world. The rivers Caute and Zamora,
draining the basins of Cuenca and Loxa, also f^nd their way tlirough the
Fig. 397. — The Andean Basins of Ecuador.
Ecuador 831
eastern chain. A spur from the Western Cordillera runs parallel with the
main range for 60 miles, commencing to the north of Chimborazo, and
forms a valley down which the river Chimbo flows southward, and unites
with the Chanchan coming from the Alausi basin, and both unite to join
the Guayas. The Caiiar (Naranjal) and Jubones basins send rivers of the
same names to the Gulf of Guayaquil, and the most southern Zaruma basin
is drained by the river Tumbez, which separates Peru from Ecuador on the
coast. Other rivers flow from the outer slopes of the Andes, such as the
Ventanas and Doule to the Pacific coast, and the great river Napo on the
eastern slope of Cotopaxi.
The Coast Belt. — The Pacific Coast of Ecuador, which extends from
ii° N. at the mouth of the Mira, to 3^^° S. near the mouth of the Tumbez,
presents two entirely different aspects. From the ^lira river to a short
distance south of the equator it is clothed with dense tropical vegetation,
and some of the reaches of the river Esmeraldas present scenes of
surpassing beauty. To the south vegetation is stunted and the coast
becomes barren. In the interior of the coast region, which is about 80
miles wide, up to the foot of the Andes, there are long spurs, and an
isolated chain of hills of Cretaceous formation. The great feature of the
coast is tlie gulf of Guayaquil at the extreme south, with its large island of
Puna. The river system of Guayas converges to form a large estuary on
its north side, and the vegetation again becomes rich. Along the shore of
the Canal de Jambali, on the east side of the gulf, there is a very fertile
district famous for its cacao plantations, but the desert again commences
on the south side.
The Amazonian Slope. — The spurs from the Eastern Andes gradu-
ally subside into the vast forest-covered Amazonian plain which, within
the limits of Ecuador, is traversed by the rivers Napo, Pastaza, Santiago
and Tigre. The boundary with Peru in this direction is unsettled. Ecua-
dor claims as far as the mouths of the rivers in the Amazon (Marafion),
while the Peruvians maintain that the courses of the rivers as far as they
are navigable belong to them.
Climate and Vegetation. — The temperature on the low ground is
very high, the annual average at Guayaquil being 82° F. On the Andean
basins the great height moderates the heat, the mean annual temperature at
Quito (over 9,000 feet) being 55^° F. (Fig. 392). There and on the western
slope a hot, wet season lasts from December to May, with March as the
wettest month. The eastern slopes are subject to the heavy rainfall brought
across the Amazonian plain by the trade winds.
The northern part of the coast region is covered with magnificent
forests, and here the Castilloa kind of india-rubber is found. On the
banks of the Guayas system of rivers vegetation is also rich ; while on the
western slopes of the mountains there are great varieties of flowering
shrubs. This, too, is the home of the Red Bark tree, the richest in alkaloids
of all the Cmchonie. The eastern forests abound in graceful palms of
832 The International Geography
many kinds, enormous forest trees, many of them yielding valuable woods;
and in the forests of Loja are the famous trees of Cinchona officinalis (or
Condaminea), the first species that was used for the cure of fever. In
the basins of the Andes, from their great elevation, the vegetation is
scanty, chiefly consisting of Compositas, and on sandy tracts the cactus and
the agave grow.
People and History.— The natives of the Andes of Ecuador are
?? of a race closely allied to the Inca Indians of Peru,
copper coloured, with long straight hair, no beards,
black eyes, and wide faces with large mouths.
They are broad shouldered, with great powers of
endurance as travellers, and strong as carriers.
Owing to long ages of oppression they are melan-
holy, phlegmatic and taciturn. In the eastern
Fig. 398.— r/if Flag of forests there are numerous wanderini^ tribes of a
Ecuador. '^
different race. Chief among them, in numbers and
importance, are the Jeveros, a warlike, brave and astute people who
can tolerate no yoke ; they are cultivators as well as hunters, and range
between the rivers Pastaza and Santiago. The Zaparos, in the basin of
the Napo, are less warlike and of different race, their physiogonomy being
Mongolian ; separate branches of the tribe are composed of fishermen,
hunters and cultivators. Apart from the aboriginal Indians the popula-
tion consists of Creoles of more or less pure Spanish descent, negroes,
mulattoes, and mixed races who speak Spanish ; but at least two-thirds of
the inhabitants of Ecuador are Indians, speaking the Quichua language.
Almost all the inhabitants are of Roman Catholic faith, and education is
much neglected. Originally an independent people
under their own "Scyris" or kings, they had their
capital at Quito. These Indians were conquered in
about 1450 A.D. by the Incas, who introduced large
colonies from Peru and enforced the use of the
Quichua language. In 1534 the Spaniards arrived in
the country, and from 1564 Quito was governed by a
President of the Court of Justice, under the Viceroy
of Peru. In 1729 the Presidency of Quito was
placed under the newly created Viceroyalty of New
Granada, and so it continued until independence of Spain was secured by
the victory of Pichincha on May 22, 1822. For eight years it was part of
the great Republic of Colombia, but in 1830 it commenced a separate
existence under the name of the Republic of Ecuador, with its capital at
Quito.
Productions. — There are no manufactures of any consequence,
Panama hats being the chief manufactured export. Wheat and barley
are grown in the Andean basins, but only sufficient for home consumption,
cereals being imported from abroad for the use of Guayaquil and the
Fig. 399. — Average pop-
Illation of a square
mile of Ettcador.
Ecuador
833
coast. Cattle are raised in some districts, and maize is largely used.
There are large cacao estates on the east side of the bay of Guayaquil
and on the banks of some of the tributaries of the Guayas, and some
coffee is alsd raised. The chief article of export is cacao, then follow
Cinchona bark, sarsaparilla, Panama hats, india-rubber, coffee, hides and
sugar. There are some gold workings in the basin of Zaruma, and there
were formerly gold washings in the eastern streams, but minerals scarcely
figure in the customs returns. There is steam and boat communication on
the Guayas and its tributaries, and a railroad from Duran, opposite to
Guayaquil, passes Chimbo, and is being extended towards Quito. The
roads in the interior are merely tracks formed by the traffic.
Divisions and To"wns. — The republic of Ecuador is divided into
eleven provinces in the Andes, corresponding with the basins already
enumerated, and four on the coast. North of Quito are the two provinces
of Carchi and Imbabura, with capitals called Tulcan and Ibarra, both
small towns. Quito is in the province of Pichincha, at an elevation of over
9,coo feet, and possesses the* usual public buildings of a national capital.
South of Pichincha come the provinces of Leon with the town of
Latacunga, Tungaragua with the town of Ambato, and Chimborazo with
Riobamba. South of Chimborazo is the province of Bolivar, with Guaranda
as its capital ; and the province of Canar, containing very interesting
Inca ruins, has two towns, Azoques and Canar. The three most southern
provinces are Azuay, with the large and charmingly situated town of
Cuenca ; Loja, with the town of the same name; and Oro, where gold
mining has been commenced round the little town of Zaruma. Each of
the Andean towns occupies the central position in a lofty but habitable
basin surrounded by mountains. The four coast provinces are Los Rios,
with the Bodegas de Babahoyo as capital ; Guayas, with the great port of
Guayaquil : Manabi, and Esmeraldas. Finally the Oriental province com-
prises the vast forest-covered region to the eastward of the Andes.
The great geographical interest attaching to Ecuador, the classic
ground of Condaraine and Humboldt, lies in the magnificent series of lofty
active and extinct volcanoes. To the^ antiquary it is a region very inte-
resting from the remains of a past indigenous civilisation. Rich in all
the varied products of the temperate and tropical zones, it is a country of
magnificent future possibilities, but needing population for its development.
STATISTICS (Estimates).
Area of Ecuador (square miles) 120,000
Population of Ecuador 1,300,000
„ Guayaquil 50.000
„ Quito 40,000
„ Cuenca 25,000
Riobamba 12,000
Value of Exports in pounds sterling 1,400,000
„ Imports „ , 1,200,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
T. Wolf. "Geocrafia v Geolo.cia del Ecuador." Leipzij:, 1S93.
E. Whymper. •"' Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator." London, 1892.
834 The International Geography
IIL-PEKU
By Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Coast Region. — Peru, like Ecuador, is divided into three well-marked
regions, the Coast, the Sierra, or region of the Andes, and the Montaria, or
tropical forest within the basin of the Amazon. The strip of land between
the Pacific and the Andes, averaging 20 miles in width, consists of a desert
traversed at intervals by rivers. Its coast extends from 3^° to 18° S., and
trends south-south-east and south-east from 81° W. at Point Parima to
70° W. The absence of rain on the coast of Peru is caused by the action
of the lofty wall of the Andes on the trades, wringing from those winds the
last particle of moisture that a very low temperature can extract. Dry
winds consequently descend the western mountain slopes to the coast.
The constantly prevailing wind on the coast is from the south, and a cold
ocean current flows from the same directio*n. From November to April
there is usually dryness on the coast, with a clear sky, but from June to
September the sky is obscured for weeks together by mist, which is
often accompanied by drizzling rain. The wind never exceeds a gentle
breeze all through the year. When it is hottest and driest on the
coast, it is raining heavily in the Andes, and the rivers are full. When
the rivers are at their lowest, the mists and drizzling rain prevail on
the coast.
The surface of the deserts between the rivers is generally hard, but there
are often accumulations of drifting sand in the form of half-moon shaped
dunes called medanos, convex towards the trade winds. When the mists
set in the low barren hills, near the coast, called lomas, are covered with a
blooming vegetation of wild flowers. In hollows which are reached by
moisture, the desert supports a few trees, such as the algaroba {Prosopis
horrida). A striking contrast to the desert is afforded by the banks of the
rivers, rich with groups of palms, fine old willow trees, fruit gardens, and
wide expanses of sugar-cane, cotton, or vineyards.
The Andean Region. — The Peruvian Andes increase in height from
north to south. The mountain system consists of three ranges. The
Maritime and Central Cordilleras, running parallel and near each other on
the western side, are of. identical origin, and on them are the volcanoes and
many thermal springs. But the great Eastern Cordillera, properly called
the Andes, is distinct. The narrow space between the maritime and
central chain is for the most part a cold and lofty tract known as the Funa.
Tiie Sierra is the much wider region between the central and eastern
chains, cons.'sting of lofty spurs, wide plains, valleys and deep ravines.
The Eastern Cordillera is a magnificent continuous range, in great part of
Silurian formation, with talcose and clay slates, and intrusions of granitic
rocks. It is cut through by six rivers in Peru, i^amely the Mararion,
Peru 835
Huallaga, Mantaro, Apurimac, Vilcamayu and Paurcartambo, the four last
being tributaries of the UcayaH, a main affluent of the Amazon. The
Central Cordillera is not cut through by any river, although several sources
of coast streams are to the eastward of the line of highest peaks. It, how-
ever, forms an unbroken water parting. It consists of crystalline and
volcanic rocks, with Jurassic strata, often thrown up almost vertically, on
its flanks. The Maritime Cordillera is of the same formation, the two
lines being merely separated by erosion. The habitable tracts within the
Cordilleras are from 5,000 to 12,500 feet above the sea ; and the average
height of the Puna and lofty ridges is from 12,500 to 14,500 feet ; the
peaks rising to from 16,000 to 19,000 feet.
Rivers of the Andes. — At the frontier of Ecuador the Maritime
Cordillera is of moderate height, but rises further south, and for 350
miles it forms the western side of the basin of the Maranon, which
rises in the lake of Lauricocha, on the inner slope of the Central Cordil-
lera. The river forces its way through the eastern chain at the famous
rapids called the Pongo de Manseriche. The Huallaga, following
a parallel course between the Central and Eastern Cordilleras, forces its
way out at the Salta de Aguirre, and joins the Maraiion. In this
northern section of the Peruvian Andes the central chain attains a
height of 20,000 feet. Here the river Santa rises in the alpine lake
of Conococha at 10,000 feet, and flows northward down a gorge be-
tween the central and maritime chains for a hundred miles, then turns
west, cuts through the mountains at a height of 9,000 feet, and reaches
the coast. This is the remarkable Callejon de Huaylas, analogous
to the valley of Chimbo in Ecuador. South of the sources of the two
great rivers Maranon and Huallaga, the mountain knot of Cerro de
Pasco, in 10° 48' S., unites the three Cordilleras which to the south
become loftier and more closely defined. From the knot of Cerro de
Pasco to the knot of Vilcafiota in 14° S. the Andean region is drained by
the tributaries of the Ucayali. The rivers sometimes cut profound gorges,
but generally they form fertile valleys, with grassy mountain slopes. The
source of the Apurimac, an affluent of the Ucayali, is the most distant from
the mouth of the Amazon, but the Maranon has the greatest volume, and
the lake of Lauricocha, where it rises, must, therefore, be acknowledged as
the true source of the mightiest river in the world.
Beyond the knot of Vilcafiota is the basin of Lake Titicaca, which
extends into Bolivia, and has a total area of 16,000 square miles. This
basin is so lofty that the vegetation is scanty, the lake itself being 12,545
feet above the sea. The northern part is drained to the lake by a number
of rivers flowing over grassy plains, separated by low ranges.
The Amazonian Region. — The tropical forests of Peru, within the
Amazonian basin, are traversed by the great navigable rivers flowing from
the Andes, the Maranon, Huallaga, Ucayali, Yavari, and Madre de Dios.
The region is naturally divided into two sections, the subtropical forests
Fig. 400 — Average pop-
ulation of a square
mile of Peru.
836 The International Geography
in the ravines and on the slopes of the Andes, and the denser tropical
vegetation in the plains.
People and History. — The races of Peru are very distinct in the
three main divisions. The Inca Indians occupying the Andean regions,
and speaking the Quichua language, in 1876 made up 57 per cent, of the
whole population, and the half-castes 23 per cent. On the coast there was
once a race with a peculiar language and civilisation, but it is nearly
extinct, and the population now consists of negroes and Chinese. The
Creoles of Spanish descent are chiefly in the cities of the coast, but they
are also established in the towns of the interior, and they all use the
Spanish language. The wild Indian tribes in the
eastern forests are calculated as including 350,000
people. The empire of the Incas, with its capital at
Cuzco, was founded early in the eleventh century,
and had flourished for more than four centuries,
gradually extending its conquests and absorbing the
numerous tribes, when Pizarro arrived on the coast.
After the conquest Peru formed the centre of a large
Spanish viceroyalty, with its capital at Lima near
the coast. A great but vain effort was made in
1780-82 by the Inca Indians to throw off the Spanish yoke. The indepen-
dence of Peru was proclaimed at Lima on July 28, 1821, and was secured
by the complete defeat of the Spanish Viceroy at Ayacucho in 1824. The
form of government in Peru has since been republican, the executive'
consisting of a President, two Vice-Presidents, and Ministers, with pre-
fects appointed by the president in each department, and sub-prefects
in each province. The legislative power is lodged in a Congress of two
chambers.
Resources and Trade. — Peru is richly endowed with natural
resources of all kinds, but the great need is population to utilise them. On
the coast the guano of the Chincha Islands was
a source of wealth for nearly thirty years, but it
was exhausted in 1872, and much smaller quan-
tities are now obtained from the Guahape, Macabi,
Malabrigo, and Lobos Islands further north. In
i860 the idea of refining the extensive supplies
of petroleum found in the desert between the
rivers Tumbez and Chira was conceived. The Fig. 4oi.-ThePcn,vian Flag.
fertile coast valleys produce cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, wine and
spirits from the vineyards of Yea and Pisco, Moquegua and Locumba.
The cultivable area on the coast will some day be quadrupled by
the extension of irrigation works. In the Andes there are numerous
mines of silver, copper, gold and coal, the chief centres of the silver-
mining industry being at Cerro Pasco and Puno ; the total output
of silver is nearly half a million pounds sterling; and of copper little
Peru
837
less. The yield of wool from the flocks of alpacas, and from the
wild vicunas is a source of wealth peculiar to Peru. The vegetable
products of the Andes include the finest maize in the world, the potato and
several other edible roots, and there are vast areas admirably adapted for
raising wheat and barley, and rearing cattle. In the ravines, on the eastern
slopes of the Andes, cacao, coffee, tobacco, and coca, another valuable
product peculiar to Peru, all of excellent quality, are produced. Among
the wild products are the cinchona bark and india-rubber. The chief
exports of Peru are sugar, silver, cotton, wool, rubber and coca leaves.
Most of the trade is with the United Kingdom, Germany coming
second.
Rail'ways. — In 1902 the length of the railways in Peru was 1,035 miles.
Those on the coast, twelve in number, are intended to bring the produce
of the various fertile tracts on the river
banks to the ports. The work on the
marvellous railroad over the Maritime
and Central Cordilleras from Lima to
Cerro Pasco was commenced in 1870,
and is not yet completed. It threads
the intricate gorges of the Cordilleras
by a winding giddy pathway along the
edge of precipices, and spans chasms
by bridges hundreds of feet high, and
it tunnels the Andes at an altitude of
15,645 feet. Another line crosses the
Cordilleras from Mollendo, by Arequipa
to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the summit being crossed in a
cutting 14,660 feet above the sea. The Hne is 232 miles long, and is to be
continued to Cuzco, Steamers keep up the communication between Peru
and Bolivia on Lake Titicaca ; and the Amazonian rivers, within Peruvian
territory, are navigable by steamers for 740 miles.
Coast Departments and Towns. — Peru is divided into eighteen
departments, of which eight are on the coast, eight in the high interior
and two entirely on the navigable eastern rivers. Piura, the most northern
department on the coast, has as its capital San Miguel de Piura, founded by
Pizarro. It is in a fertile valley, and a railway runs to its seaport, Payia.
Next, along the coast, comes the new department of Lambayeque, also
with a railway to the port of Etcn. Libertad contains the old city of
Truxillo, founded by Pizarro in 1535, and now the most important place
north of Lima. It had an excellent road to its port of HuancJmco, and
now has a railway to tlie port of Salaveriy. Ancachs is partly in the
mountains, and partly on the coast. It includes the Callejon de Huaylas.
Hiiaraz, the capital, is 172 miles from the port of Chunbotc, with which it is
connected by railway.
The department of Lima contains Lima, the capital of Peru. The city
Mites "^-vP/,
'y ^9° ay ) MoltMido^r
Fig. 402.
-The Chief Mountain Railtcays
of Peru.
83^ The International Geography
was founded by Pizarro in 1535, and called "the City of the Kings, in
memory of the epiphany, and also of the two sovereigns, Juana and her
son Charles V. The name of Lima is a corruption of " Rimac/' an oracle
in Quichua, and the name of the river on which Lima is built. The houses
and churches are of adobes or sun-dried bricks, and great pains were
bestowed on the decoration of the facades of the churches and on some
houses. Lima has railways to the port of Callao, to the bathing resorts of
Chorillos and Magdalena, to Chancay in the north, and to the interior.
Callao is provided with fine piers and a mercantile dockyard. Y(-a, the
coast department to the south of Lima, has the capital of the same name
connected with the seaport of Pisco by a railway ; it is a pleasant town
surrounded by cotton and vine estates. In this department excellent wine
is made, and great quantities of a spirit called Pisco which is universally
drunk in Peru. The great department of Arequipa in the south has as
capital, Arequipa, founded, like so many other towns, by Pizarro, in 1536.
It is separated from the sea by a desert of 60 miles, and stands 7,260 feet
Fig. 403. — Lima and Callao.
above the sea-level, with a temperate climate. The magnificent cone of
the volcano of Misti, 20,000 feet high, rises immediately behind the town,
which is built of white volcanic stone, constructed solidly with vaulted
ceiHngs, to resist the shocks of earthquakes. Arequipa is in the midst of
a fertile plain, which is covered with fields of corn and lucerne, diversified
by fruit gardens, and dotted with villages. Part of the most southerly
coast department of Moquegua is still occupied by the Chileans.
Cordilleran Departments and To-wns. — Within the Cordilleras
the most northern department, bordering on Ecuador, is that of Caxa-
marca. The capital of the same name is historically interesting from
having been the scene of the capture and death of the Inca Atahualpa,
at the hands of Pizarro and his conquistadores. Huanuco borders
on Caxamarca to the south, much of its area being covered with
forest round the head waters of the Huallaga. Its capital of the same
name is a pretty town. The department of Junin contains Ccrro dt
Pasco, 13,200 feet above the sea, the centre of the great silver-mining
industry. Jaiija is a picturesque town, with an almost perfect climate,
Peru 839
and Tarma is beautifully situated in an amphitheatre of mountains clothed
with waving fields of barley, on the high road to the most promising and
best settled of the forest districts, that of Chanchamayu. The department
of Huancavehca occupies the loftiest parts of the Western Cordilleras, and
its towns of HiiancavcUca and Castro-vireyna owe their existence to the rich
silver mines and the quic^ksilver mine of viceregal times. Ayacucho, named
after the liattle which secured independence for Peru, has as its capital
the ancient city of Giiamauga, founded by Pizarro in 1530, and re-named
Ayacucho since 1824. It is a fine town with stone houses, roofed with red
tiles, and is beautifully situated, 5,850 feet above the sea, surrounded on
all sides but the west, which commands a glorious view, by mountains on
the steep slopes of which are fields of maize, fruit gardens, and thickets of
prickly pears. The department of Apurimac contains the lovely and
fertile valleys of Andahuaylas and Abancay, each with its picturesque town
surrounded by scenery of surpassing beauty. Cuzco is the central depart-
ment of Peru. The city of Cuzco, capital of the Empire of the Incas, in
13^° S., is situated on a tableland surrounded by mountains, 11,380 feet
above the level of the sea, at the foot of the famous hill of Sacsahuaman,
which is crowned by the Inca citadel consisting of three lines of massive
walls, built of Cyclopean masonry, one of the stones being 27 feet high by
14 feet. The houses of Cuzco are of stone. The lower stories are, to a
great extent, of Inca masonry ; the upper stories, roofed w^th red tiles,
being of later date. The fine cathedral and church of the Jesuits are built
upon Inca palaces, and the church and cloisters of San Domingo consist of
masonry of the Temple of the Sun. This city is only a few miles from the
warm and delightful vale of Vilcamayu, one of the most charming spots in
this favoured land. The most southern department, partly in the basin of
Lake Titicaca, is that of Puno, which includes the ravines and forests of
Caravaya. Puiw, the capital, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, owes its
existence to the rich veins of silver ore in the surrounding hills. It is now
the terminus of the railway from Arequipa and Mollendo, and the junction
of the JuHaca Hne with extension towards Cuzco (Fig. 402).
Parts of the forests of the Eastern Andes are included in the depart-
ments of Puno, Cuzco, Ayacucho, Junin and Huanuco ; but there are
two departments wliolly within the Amazonian basin. Amazonas, with its
capital at Chacliapoyas, and Loreto, with a centre of river stream navigation
at Iquitos, below the mouth of the Ucayali, on the Marahon. Thence
steamers can ascend the Ucayali and Pachitea to Puerto Prado, in 9° 56' N.
and 75° 45' W., the nearest navigable point on the Amazon to Lima.
Peru is one of the most favoured countries in the world, except as
regards tiie one essential of population. Embracing every climate and an
infinite diversity of soils and aspects, she is, or might be, the producer of
every product, and all of unequalled excellence. Whatever Peru produces
is the best of its kind, while the v/orld owes to the Incas the potato,
quinine, coca, and the silky fleeces of the alpaca and vicufia.
840 The International Geography
STATISTICS {at last census, 1876).
Area of Peru (square miles) 4^3747
Population 2,621,844
Density of population per square mile . . . . 5'6
Population of Lima 100,000 .. (103,000 in 1891
„ Callao 15.000 . . (35.000 in 1880
„ Arequipa 35.oco
„ Cuzco 22,000
ANNUAL TRADE (z« t>oiiiids sterling— Estimates).
Exports 2,000,000
Imports 1,500,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Sir C. R. Markham. "Peru." London, 1880.
W. H. Prescott. " History of the Conquest of Peru." 1847.
E. W. Middendorf. "Peru." 2 vols. Berlin, 1893.
A. Raimondi. " El Peru." 3 vols. Lima, 1874,
IV.— BOLIVIA
By Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Position and Configuration. — Bolivia, formerly known as Alto
Peru, occupies the southern half of the basin of Lake Titicaca, and the
southern continuations of the Andes and the Maritime Cordillera. Chilean
conquests deprived Bolivia of her coast province in 1883 ; and the country
is now entirely inland. An important district extends far to the eastward
of the Andes within the Amazonian basin. The boundary with Peru
crosses Lake Titicaca ; but to the eastward it is still in dispute.
Lake Titicaca, 12,545 feet above the sea, is 120 miles long by 40 broad,
and is divided into two parts by the peninsula of Copacabana. The
southern division, called the Lake of Huaqui, is 24 miles long by 21 broad,
and is united to the greater lake by the narrow strait of Tiquina. The
islands of Titicaca and Coati contain ancient ruins, and were held to be
sacred in the time of the Incas. The volume of water received from
rivers during the rainy season is lost by evaporation between April and
September ; and the shores of the lake are steadily receding under the
combined influence of solar evaporation and the silt brought down by the
rivers. The deepest part is on the Bolivian side ; on the south-west there
are large shoal areas covered with tall rushes. Much water is taken off
from the lake by the river flowing southwards, called Desaguadero or
"the drain," which has a course of more than 150 miles, and disappears in
the salt lake of Paria, Aullagas, or Poopo.
The Andes on the eastern side of Lake Titicaca were formerly
supposed to contain the loftiest summits of the system, but recent
explorations have shown that neither of the peaks of Sorata (Ancohuma or
Illampu) nor lUimani exceeds 22.000 feet. The Bolivian part of the
Maritime Cordillera also contains peaks of great height, that of Sajama
Bolivia 84- 1
being believed to be 21,028 feet and that of Tacora 19,000 feet above the
sea. The plateau between the two ranges has an average altitude of
12,000 feet, with a length of 500 miles and a breadth of from 90 to 100
miles. Four rivers flow from the eastern slopes of the Andes, two to the
Amazon, the Beni and Rio Grande forming the Mamore, chief feeders
of the Madeira ; and two to the Paraguay, the Pilcomayo and Bermejo.
The Bolivian Cordilleras contain the silver mines of Potosi and Oruro
which have been famous for three centuries, but the real wealth of the
country lies in the ravines of the Eastern Andes and the forest-covered
plains of the Beni and Alamore. It is at the head of these eastern ravines
that the principal modern cities are situated.
People, History and Government. — The Indians of Bolivia
belong to the Colla race, to whom the name of Aymara was erroneously
given by the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century. They formed
part of the empire of the Incas, by whom they had been conquered. The
Aymara are massive without being large ; short, thick-set, broad-shouldered,
with long body and short legs. The features and
profile are good, the general expression sad, with a
strong admixture of determination. Their chief
pecuHarity is that the thigh is rather shorter than the
leg, and the whole build is admirably adapted for
mountain climbing. The Aymara is very resolute,
and he can march great distances ; seventy miles in one
day is not uncommon. Their language is a dialect
of Quichua, containing many words of very ancient fig. 404. — Probable
origin. Their numbers have been much reduced by population of a sguan
.. 1.-1 • 1- 1 1 • r i-- i- *"'^^ of Bolivia.
disease, but there is no reliable information respecting
the population of Bolivia. In the Bolivian part of the Amazonian basin
the principal tribes are the ISloxos on the Beni and Mamore, who are
Christianised, and number about 30,000 souls, being settled in mission
villages, cultivating the soil and rearing cattle. The Chiquitos form a
numerous group of tribes between the head-waters of the Itenez and
Mamore. They are a peaceful race of cultivators, raising cotton and sugar
cane. There are also several wild hunting tribes. The people of Spanish
and mixed descent form only 15 per cent, of the population.
After a brave struggle the Collas (Aymaras) were conquered by the
Spaniards in 1538 ; and in 1559 Upper Peru, or Charcas, was constituted a
Presidency, with a Court of Justice under the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1778
Charcas was transferred to the new Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. In 1809
the insurrection against Spain commenced, but independence was not
secured until 1824, and in 1825 a general assembly of the people at
Chuquisaca decreed that Upper Peru should be named Bolivia in honour
of General Bolivar, the Colombian general who had come to assist in the
liberation of Peru. There is "a Congress of two Chambers, and there is
universal suffrage for all men able to read.
842 The International Geography
Once the great industry of Upper Peru was mining, and the mines of
Potosi were famous throughout the world. There are still important silver,
copper and tin mines, the output being valued at over two million pounds.
Wool and hides are also exported from the lofty plateaux. The rich valleys
to the eastward are called Yungus, and they are the home of the Calisaya
species of cinchona which yields the largest percentage of quinine ; while
the cacao and coffee grown in the Yungus is the best in the world.
Coca is also largely grown and exported. In the Amazonian plains, within
Bolivian territory, the establishments for extracting india-rubber are
numerous and increasing.
Divisions and Towns. — There is a service by steamers across Lake
Titicaca which connects La Paz, the chief city of Bolivia, with the railway
from Puno to the coast, A railroad has recently been constructed from the
Bolivian city of Gruro to the Chilean port of Antofagasta on the Pacific
coast, and others have been projected.
Bolivia has been divided into departments, of which there are eight.
La Paz is the most northern department. Its capital is the chief city of the
republic and well situated for trade. It was founded by order of President
Gasca in 1548, and the native name of Chuqui-apu was changed to La
Paz. The famous capital of the department of Potosi has lamentably fallen
off. Situated on the silver-bearing Cerro de Potosi, its population in
Spanish times was 160,000, and now it is barely 12,000. Oruro, on the
salt plain north of Lake Aullagas, is the capital of the department of the
same name, and it also has fallen from its glory in Spanish times, yet it is
still the centre of a silver and tin-mining industry, and is connected by
railway with Antofagasta. The plains of Gruro yield good crops of
potatoes and barley, and afford pasturage for flocks of llamas and sheep.
The department of Chuquisaca lies within the basin of the Pilcomayo,
a tributary of the Paraguay. Its capital, originally named La Plata, was
founded by order of Pizarro, in 1539 ; the native name is Chuquisaca, but
the first Republican Congress ordered it to be called Sucre, after the first
President. Though the nominal capital of the Republic, and the seat of a
university, it is not nearly so important a place as La Paz. Cochabamba, in
a province of the same name in the Amazonian basin, on a tributary of the
Mamore, in the midst of a fertile and well-cultivated plain, is the most
agreeable place of residence in Bolivia. Still further east is the depart-
ment of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Beni is the department which embraces
the region of dense forest, and the fluvial highways of the Beni and its
tributaries. The most southern department, bordering on the Argentine
Republic, is that of Tarija, which lies in the basin of the Bermejo, a tribu-
tary of the Paraguay. The town of Tanja, surrounded by fruit gardens,
enjoys a charming climate.
STATISTICS {Estimates).
Area of Bolivia in square miles 567,000
Population of Bolivia 2,000,000
Density of population per square mile 3-5
Chile 843
Population of La Paz 40,000
„ Cochabamba 25,000
„ Sucre . . , . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . 20,000
„ Potosi 20,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in dollars).
Imports 3.000,000
Exports 12,500,000
STANDARD BOOK.
M. V. Ballivian and E. Idiaquez. " Diccionaria Geographico de la Republice de Bolivia."
La Paz, 1890.
v.— CHILE
By Alejandro BiiRTRand,
Professor 0/ Topography and Geodesy at the University of Santiago ; Chief Engineer of the
Commission of Delimitation with the Argentine Republic.
Configuration, Geology and River Systems. — Chile is a
relatively narrow strip of land stretching from 18° to 54° S. between the
Cordillera of the Andes and the western coast-line of South America. The
width of the country varies from 70 to 140 miles, except close to the
northern and southern extremities, where it widens to 250 miles.
The general surface of the land, whilst sloping rapidly from the Cor-
dillera to the sea, slopes also, but
more gently, from north to south ;
so that the central part of the strip
which at the northern extremity
rises to 3,000 feet above sea-level,
is covered by the sea in the south,
where the valleys form numerous
channels or fjords, and the higher
ground a swarm of islands. North
of 41° S. the coast is destitute of
deep bays, and owing to the abrupt
rise of the land towards the interior
Fig, ^oS— Southern Chile and Magellan Strait.
it presents the appearance of a chain of hills when seen from the sea.
Natural harbours are scarce along this coast, and nearly all are without
shelter from the north. In the southern archipelago, on the contrary, they
are numerous and well sheltered, but none of any size.
The upheaval of the Cordillera of the Andes, which separates Chile
from the Argentine Republic, was the result of crustal movements
occurring long after the formation of the rocks composing the range,
the chief of which are porphyry, sandstones, and metamorphic rocks.
The Chilean-Argentine Andes contain the highest peaks of America, one
of which, Aconcagua, attains an elevation of 23,000 feet. Parallel to
f.~ ^ Translated" from the Spanish.
55
844 The International Geography
the Andes, and nearer the coast, runs a succession of lower mountains, of
much older formation, in which granite and gneiss predominate ; and
between these two ranges a plain 30 miles wide and known as the Central
Valley of Chile, stretches from 33° to 41° S. It is covered with drift or
alluvial deposits which form a very rich soil, traversed and irrigated by the
numerous rivers descending from the Andes. The hydrographic basins
of these rivers are disposed with some uniformity ; as a rule, the principal
valleys or canyons of the Cordillera run from north to south, and very
frequently from south to north ; after the junction of the chief affluents
they cross the central valley and are deflected by the coast-hills, along
the eastern side of which they run until they meet with the gaps through
which they throw themselves into the sea. The river Maule, which enters
the sea about 35° S., is the first northerly one navigable for lighters or
small craft from the central valley. The rivers Imperial, Valdivia, and
Bueno, farther south, are navigable for small steamers in the lower parts
of their course. From the structure of the country all the rivers are
necessarily short.
Natural Resources. — The greater part of the surface of the
country is occupied by lofty mountains which, in the northern districts,
are treeless and almost absolutely arid. But deep in their recesses
valuable lodes of copper, lead, silver and manganese ores lie con-
cealed. In the nearly desert region of the provinces of Tarapaca and
Atacama, between 19° and 26° lat., the configuration of the central valley
and bordering ranges is the same as in the south ; and on the western
borders of this rainless district deposits of nitrate of soda (Chile saltpetre)
occur on the surface. It is one of the best nitrogenous manures, and
more than 400,000,000 tons have been extracted and exported, mainly
to Europe. Metallic lodes, chiefly copper and iron-pyrites, also abound
throughout the country, especially in the spurs of the Andes. About
37° S. beds of lignite are to be found. Alluvial gold occurs nearly all
over the country, but the placers yield a poor return. In the central region
there is an abundant supply of calcareous rocks useful for the manufacture
of lime and cement. Native sulphur occurs abundantly in the Cordillera,
and gypsum is still more widely distributed. Fine granite and especially
trachyte is quarried and makes excellent building material. Throughout
the country there is clay for brick-making, and kaolin for manufacturing
porcelain is also plentiful. In almost all the valleys of the Andes there
are mineral springs possessing medicinal properties. Wood for fuel and
coal exist in nearly every part of the country. From the 34th parallel
southward indigenous trees are found in increasing quantity, but with-
out much variety of species ; the timber they yield is firm and hard, but
somewhat heavy. European trees, especially the poplar, are very easily
acchmatised ; the Austrahan blue gum {Eucalyptus globulus) has also
increased considerably. A large portion of what was formerly wooded
land has been cleared and converted into fields and pastures.
Chile 845
The native fauna is not abundant in species, even in the woodlands.
The only noxious carnivorous animal is the puma {Puma felis), which is
about the size of a large dog. The imported quadrupeds and birds mul-
tiply with great facility.
Climate. — In Chile there are all climates. The temperature is in
general lower than that corresponding to the same latitudes on the
northern hemisphere on account of the cold Humboldt current,
which flows along the coast from south to north. In the north, as far
as 30° S., rain is the exception, although dense clouds are of frequent
occurrence ; on the other hand, from 36° S. southwards, rain falls on
most days, especially in winter ; the largest rainfall occurs about
41° S. The winds which prevail on the coast are chiefly from the
west and south-west. The climate of the central valley and of the coast
between 32° and 36° S. is one of the most pleasant in tho world, the
thermometer seldom rising above 77° F., or falling below 32°. This region
is, at the same time, one of the healthiest to be found anywhere, because
the slope of the land secures good drainage and prevents the formation of
marshes.
People.— The principal of the aboriginal peoples of Chile and the only
one of which genuine representatives now remain in
the country, leaving the Fuegians out of account, is
that commonly known as the Araucanian, a race
distinguished by its endurance, its valour and its in-
domitable character. Of the blood running in the
veins of the present population of Chile, especially
of the lower classes, a large proportion is Araucanian ;
this ancestry entails many good qualities, but also pj^,. ^cy6.— Average pop
some vices, chiefly a propensity to drink. The edu- ulation of a square
cated classes consist almost entirely of the descen- "" ^ '^^ " ^'
dants of the Spanish conquerors who settled in Chile in the sixteenth
century ; and these have preserved the language and religion of Spain,
without alteration, as well as most of the habits and social customs of the
mother country.
History. — The conqueror and first governor of Chile was the
Spanish soldier Pedro de Valdivia, who founded the capital, Santiago,
in 1 54 1. According to the Spanish system of colonising, the companions
of Valdivia, and also their successors and descendants, divided amongst
themselves the natives of the conquered land, and employed them
for working the mines, extracting gold and cultivating the soil.
Although Spanish colonies were settled all over the Araucanian territory
soon after the conquest, the dauntless natives succeeded in regaining
a large part of their lands ; and it can be said that, up to the middle
of the nineteenth century, a stretch of territory extending for about
150 miles between the rivers Biobio and Valdivia, remained in the
hands of the Araucanians. In 18 10, the royal power of Spain having been
846 The International Geography
suspended in the Spanish colonies^ the first national government of Chile
was established. Three years later, th'e forces sent from Peru by Spain
reconquered the country, but, in 181 7, Chile suc-
ceeded in finally regaining its independence, and
General O'Higgins, the head of the government,
assisted by the celebrated naval volunteer, Lord
Cochrane, and the Argentine general, San Martin,
attacked the Spanish army of Peru. With the ex-
ception of a few revolutions of no lasting character,
YiG.^oT.— The Chilean Flag. Qj-jije \^^^ gince been able to pursue its develop-
ment peacefully, and its democratic institutions have been gradually taking
root. In 1879 a war broke out between Chile and the neighbouring
republics of Peru and Bolivia, which resulted in the acquisition by Chile
of the territories of Antofagasta and Tarapaca.
Government and Administration. — The form of government is
republican. All the functionaries in the department of Administration are
designated by the President. Prior to 1890, the government, or rather the
president, was in reality the chief elector of Congress ; but since the revo-
lution of 1 89 1 the country has asserted its electoral rights, and Ministers
are now appointed by Congress. The wealth accruing to the Chilean
treasury from the tax on nitrate of soda, since 1880, has been the means of
giving a great impulse to the administration, to education, to the navy, the
army, and the railways, which almost all belong to the State. Tne munici-
palities, which were formerly departmental and directly subordinate to the
central government, are now communal and have complete local self-
government ; but they are for the most part poor, and require assistance
from the national Treasury.
Industries and Commerce. — The staple industry of the country is
the extraction of nitrate of soda, of which substance between one and one
and a half million tons are exported annually. The annual exports of
iodine extracted from the nitrate amount to about 300 tons. Next in
importance comes the working of the silver, copper and gold ores, borax
and coal, the export of which yields about two and a half million pounds
sterling yearly.
Agriculturists are concerned mainly in the cultivation of cereals,
tobacco, vegetables, vine-growing and cattle-breeding. The most
advanced agricultural industries are flour-milling, wine-making, and the
preparation of cheese, dried and preserved fruits and honey. Other
industries, such as tanning, shoemaking, distilling and brewing are not
very advanced, and are chiefly carried on by the German colony in the
province of Valdivia.
Means of Communication. — There are tw^o fines of British and
German steamers with fortnightly sail'.ngs for Europe via the Strait of
Magellan, and a weekly steamer service to Panama, as well as coasting
steamers. The journey from Santiago to Buenos Aires through the Cordil-
Ch
lie
7
Icra takes three days and a. half, and is closed by snow from June to
October, the winter months. Santiago is connected with Valparaiso and
Concepcion by a railway which extends to Valdivia, and there are various
other hnes. The plains are netted with roads, and there are roads, in
general mere cattle tracks, in the Cordillera also.
The Chief Towns of Chile.— Santiago (33° 30' S.), the capital, is
situated at the foot of the spurs of the Andes, on the banks of the little
river Mapocho, which flows through the town in a stone channel 130 feet
wide, and on the eastern border of an extensive and fertile plain watered
b)^? canals from the river Maipo. The town rests upon a tirm subsoil of
great depth covered by deep layers of vegetable mculd. The streets of
Santiago are wide, straight and laid out at right angles. The steep slope
from east to west facilitates drainage, and ensures the good sanitary
conditions of the town. Its special features are the Santa-Lucia hill, a
picturesque rocky eminence 230 feet high, close to the business quarter,
which has been converted into a handsome promenade, and the Alameda,
an avenue over a hundred yards wide and two rniles long, which is the
chief highway. Santiago possesses the State University, beside numerous
establishments for technical and superior instruction.
Valparaiso (33° S.) is the chief £ort on the west coast of South America.
It is the terminus of im-
portant lines of steamers
for Europe via the
Strait of ^lagellan and
Panama, and the centre
of the coasting services.
It contains a numerous
foreign colony, com-
posed chiefly of British,
German and French
traders. The harbour
is well sheltered on the
south and south-west,
but is completely open
on the north ; as a
matter of fact, however, the wind seldom blows from that quarter. There
is a Custom House wharf, alongside which steamers of ordinary tonnage
can moor ; but most of the loading is done by lighters from a quay sur-
rounding the town. The whole of the harbour is defended by modern,
well-mounted batteries.
Iquique (20° S.), built in the middle of the desert, is the most important
port on the Tarapaca coast for the shipment of nitrate. This town has,
among other f^rcat public works, a supply of drinkable water brought down
from the Cordillera by a large canal. Copiapo (27° S.) is now insignificant,
but it was formerlv, wlicn silver commar.ded a high price, a silver-mining
:BA.T OF VAI^AMdJSO
<■
P^.Wx^.-C^
Sr,gb^ laim
Fig. 408.— r/re Site of Valparaiso.
848 The International Geography
centre of very great importance. The Copiapo valley, though narrow, is
very fertile, and is the most northerly point of Chile to which agriculture
has been carried. La Serena (30° S.), situated close to one of the best
Chilean ports, Coquimbo, is the chief town of a province boasting a most
delightful climate, but owing its importance to its mineral wealth, and its
numerous metallurgical establishments.
Concepcion (36° 20' S.), situated at the mouth of the Biobio, the largest
river in Chile, is the commercial centre of the whole southern region as
far as the river Cautin, about 38° 30' S. A railway connects it with
Santiago ; with old Araucania, an agricultural, wooded region of consider-
able importance ; and with the coal-bearing coast region to the south.
The port of Concepcion is at TalcaJiuano, situated in the beautiful and
extensive bay of Concepcion. Talcahuano has a tirst-rate dry dock, built
of stone, round which a large military port is being constructed. For the
defence of the bay modern batteries have recently been erected. Chilian
is the centre of a large trade in cattle, chiefly cattle and horses. Talca
(34° 40' S.) is an inland town, situated in the middle of the old agricultural
district, the natural outlet of which, before the trunk railway was built,
was the port of Constitucion, at the mouth of the river Maule.
Valdivia (40° S.) at the mouth of the Calle-Calle and Puerto-Montt in the
Gulf of Reloncavi, are two important ports of the southern region ; their
development is due chiefly to the German colonists who settled in that
part of the country about 1850. Punta Arenas (53° S.) is the capital and
only town in the territory of Magallanes, which now contains a little
over 5,000 inhabitants. The breeding of animals producing wool is the
chief industry in this region, but there is a little gold-mining. In the
western archipelago seal-hunting is carried on on a large scale. Punta
Arenas being situated in the middle of the Strait of Magellan, is, in spite
of its remoteness, a calling station for European steamers.
STATISTICS.
1885. 1895.
Area of Chile (square miles) 293,000 . . 293,000
Area inhabited before 1880 115,000 ,. iisiooo
Population of Chile 2,527,000 .. 2,980^000
Density of Population per square mile 9 . . 10
POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.
1895. 1898.
Santiago . . 256,400 . . 302,000
Valparaiso .. 122.500 .. 140,000
Concepcion. . 40,000 . . 50,000
1885. 189s.
Talca . . .. 33,200 . . 40,000
Iquique ., 33,000 .. 33,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Jjnports 6,930,000 8,755,000 12,444,000
Exports 6,440,000 10,706,000 11,603,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Espinoza. "Jeografia de Chile." With Maps. Santiago.
"Sinopsis Jeografia Estadistica de Chile." (Published annually by the Bureau of Statistics
Santiago,
Agustin Ross. " The Trade between Chile and Great Britain." 1892.
Barros Arana. " Historia Jeneral de Chile." (Seventeen volumes already issued). Santiafio.
W. A, Smith. " Temperate Chile." London, 1899.
CHAPTER XLV.— THE RIO DE LA PLATA
COUNTRIES
I.— THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
By H. D. Hoskold, F.G.S.,
Director-General of the Department of Mines and Geology, Argentine Republic.
Position and Extent.— Argentina, or the Argentine Republic, termi-
nates the South American continent, being situated between the parallels of
22" and 55° S. From the apex at Cape Horn to the Island of Martin Garcia,
in 34° S., and 58° W., it is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and
the Rio de la Plata or River Plate ; and further north its north-eastern and
northern limits are determined by the republics of Uruguay, Brazil, Para-
guay and Bolivia. The western limit, forming the boundary with Chile,
runs from 23° S. to 43° S. along the high summits of the Cordillera of the
Andes where it coincides with the continental watershed ; from 43° S. to
52° S. it continues in some places along the mountains of the Cordillera,
in others along the continental watershed close to the eastern foot of the
Andes. The boundary between Bolivia and Argentina was delimited by a
mixed commission in 1903. The country has been constitutionally divided
into fourteen Federal Provinces, and the less developed regions have
been divided into nine Territories. Six of the first-named are mining
and agricultural, and others are purely agricultural provinces. From
38° S. southward, the east coast is usually low but irregular in level.
It is much indented, forming various important bays such as Bahia
Blanca, the Gulf of San Matias, and those of San Jorge, Deseado,
San Julian, and others. The principal ports are at Buenos Aires, Bahia
Blanca, and La Plata ; they are of artificial construction, and suffi-
ciently large to accommodate an immense shipping traffic. The military
port of Bahia Blanca is in construction, and other ports are projected along
the Argentine coast, but natural harbours are few. No special trigono-
metrical survey has, as yet, been attempted by the government, but the
great meridianal extent of the country (more than 33° of latitude) would
give especial scientific interest to an exact survey which might throw new
light on the figure of the Earth.
Surface and Configuration. — The surface is naturally divided into
extensive tracts of low and nearly level land, and elevated regions. The
plains extend from Buenos Aires northwards to the Chato, westward to the
town of Mendoza, and southward through Patagonia ; but their monotony
is relieved by various small chains or groups of mountain ranges, such as
those of San Luis, Cordoba, Tandil, Ventana, Pampa Central, Rio Negro,
and Chubut, which divide up the plains. Minor groups of hills also occupy
840
850 The International Geography
small areas in the western portion of the province of Entre Rios, and San-
tiago del Estero. The foot-hills and slopes of the Andes form extensive
groups or chains of mountains of great altitude, occupying large areas of
the provinces of Tucuman, Salta, Jujuy, Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, and
Mendoza. This system of mountain chains extends southward, especially
in the western portion of the national territories of Neuquen, Rio Negro,
Chubut, Santa Cruz, and also in Tierra del Fuego. In the north-eastern
portion of the republic, in the territory of Misiones, extensive but lower
highlands occur, a continuation of the eastern mountain system of Brazil.
Th^highest mountains rise along the Andean Cordillera, the culminating
summit of which is Aconcagua (23,080 feet). The immense rocky mass
of the Andes, with its various ramifications, covers a large area both of
the Argentine and Chilean republics. The Andean provinces of the
Argentine Republic are very rugged and broken, leading up to the crest-
line which is divided by various passes, and abounding in profound gorges.
Geology. — The Andean region has been subject to various depres-
sions and elevations, the last occurring at the close of the Tertiary period.
Denudation has removed from the Argentine Andes a great thickness of
rock, leaving the gneiss and granite visible over large areas. The usual
intrusive rocks are common, and patches of Jurassic, Rhaetic, Triassic and
Silurian exist in places. The Tertiary underlies the Pampean, and is seen
along the banks of the Parana, in Entre, Rios, Cordoba, Corrientes, along
the Patagonian coast, Strait of Magellan, and Tierra del Fuego. Masses
of basalt occur inland along the river Santa Cruz. The Tertiary is believed
to meet the Pampean formation along the Rio Negro. The geology of the
northern and north-eastern part of the republic is little known, no official
geological map having, as yet, been made.
Rivers and Lakes. — The principal rivers are the Parana and Uruguay,
uniting to form the great estuary of La Plata. Further north, the Parana
takes the name of Paraguay, the chief tributaries being the Pilcomayo (the
boundary of the republic towards Paraguay), and Bermejo, from the
Andes, each of which receives various smaller streams. The province of
Cordoba is watered by the rivers Primero, Segundo, Cuarto, and Tercero,
the last named joining the Carcarana, a tributary of the Parana. The river
San Juan, flowing from the Andes, is joined by the Mendoza, Diamante and
Atuel, and enters the river Colorado which flows into the Atlantic Ocean
south of Bahia Blanca. The Neuquen and Limay are tributaries of the
Rio Negro, running parallel to the Colorado further south, and also
falling into the Atlantic. Patagonia is drained by the rivers Chubut,
Santa Cruz and Gallegos. The lakes situated along the base of the
Andes are numerous, and some of them very beautiful, such as Lake
Nahuel-Huapi, one of the sources of the Rio Negro, and especially Lake
Fontana, a source of the southern affluent of the Chubut. Other lakes of
a different type occur on the lower ground, many of them, such as the
large Mar Chiquita in the province- of Cordoba, being without outlet.
Argentine 851
Climate. — The Argentine Republic may be divided into four zones of
varying temperature. The first includes the low plains of the north, situated
between the parallels of 22° and 31^° S., and is of a tropical character; the
second comprises the section of the plain from 31^° to 42° S., and is tempe-
rate ; while the third, or southern part of the plain, from 42° to 55° S., is
almost frigid. The fourth, or mountain zone, extending the length of the
country, affords a variable climate, depending upon the seasons of the
year, the difference of altitude and latitude.
During summer, great heat occasionally prevails in the open, low and
elevated plains or campos, some of which are situated as plateaux inclosed
by high mountain chains. Some of these campos are covered to a con-
siderable thickness with finely pulverised pumice, deposits from volcanic
ejections, which causes the heat to accumulate and become almost unbear-
able. The northern divisions of the plain, including Buenos Aires, Santa
Fe, Entre Rios, Corrientes and Chaco, are not subject to anything like
severe winters. From Buenos Aires, southward, the hot season is modified
by the influence of the Atlantic Ocean and by thunderstorms'. . Generally
the provinces are very healthy and the people take no harm from sleeping
in the open, a very common practice. Smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera
are not native diseases, but have been imported from Brazil and Italy.
Such epidemics have not been known since 1886. Since that epoch strict
sanitary measures and great vigilance have kept Buenos Aires free.
These regulations and the water and drainage system of the capital have
placed Buenos Aires as a healthy city in the first rank.
Flora and Fauna.— Extensive forests of algarroba trees {Prosopis alba),
Quebracho, cedar, and many other varieties exist in the territories of Chaco,
Formosa, Misiones and the provinces of Santiago del Estero, Tucuman,
Jujuy and Salta. Several companies are established in the Chaco, converting
the timber to commercial uses. In these forest regions there is a dense
tropical undergrowth, consisting of shrubs, climbing, flowering and
medicinal plants of the greatest variety. The Yerba-mate from Misiones
has great commercial value, the leaves being collected and used in the
same manner as tea. Nearly all the lower-level valleys in the interior
provinces are well wooded. The open campos are generally covered
with a stunted thorny scrub, almost impenetrable ; but frequently mixed
with algarobas. Cardone {Cacii gigantia) grows on the mountain slopes
of La Rioja, and in some other places. The western mountains running
southwards through the territories of Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut and
Santa Cruz, are covered with dense forests, including several varieties of
beeches and pine, from a considerable height down to the margin of the
plains. The mountains surrounding the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del
Fuego are covered with immense forests of beech. Winter-bark trees
iprimyswinieri) are common in these regions, and various shrubs yielding
edible berries. Orchids of grtlat beauty and variety are also plentiful. The
gigantic seaweed. Alga macrocystis, is common on the southern coasts and
56
852 The International Geography
Tierra del Fuego. Such fruit trees as are common to Europe are found
here in great abundance, including various tropical fruits such as orange,
lemon and other trees. Grapes of all kinds are cultivated extensively,
and wine is made. Yet, in spite of these extensive woodlands, the
central parts of the Argentine Republic are almost treeless, forming vast
level expanses of grass land known as pampas, admirably adapted for
cattle raising, and possessed in many parts of a fertile soil repaying
cultivation.
The principal wild animals are American tiger (;a^Mar) and lion (puma),
species of wolf, fox, mountain cat, guanaco, vicuna, and chinchilla. Two
kinds of bears are reported to exist in the northern parts. Several species
of deer, the tapir, ant-eater, a very small armadillo, and a great variety of
monkeys also occur. The condor of the Andes is the chief bird of prey, and
the falcon family is largely represented. The large American ostrich and a
smaller representative of the same family in Patagonia are numerous.
Parrots, paroquets, and humming birds are remarkable for their number,
variety and beauty. Fish abound in the rivers and lakes. Amongst
insects, probably the blood-sucking vinchuca {Conorhinus infestans), in the
western provinces and in the Chaco, a small red insect that penetrates
under the nails and skin, are the most odious.
People and History. — The ruins of ancient buildings and pottery
have been discovered proving that at least one of the
tribes of Indians inhabiting South America possessed
a high degree of civilisation, and it is possible that this
tribe represented the original inhabitants. At the
conquest in the sixteenth century the Spaniards mixed
to a great extent with the Indians, the consequences
of which are still to be traced. The admixture of
Fig. 4og.— Average pop- Indian blood is not so marked in the Argentine as in
uiation of a '^square some of the Surrounding republics, a fact due prin-
miie of Argentina. cipally to the great influx of immigrants from all Euro-
pean nations. The country gained its independence in 1810, and was formed
into a federal republic. The legislative affairs are managed by a Congress,
formed of Senators and Deputies from all parts of the republic, and the
President and his Ministers form the adminis-
trative power. The national and official language
is Spanish, but many others are spoken in the
large towns. The State religion is Roman Catholic,
but all others are tolerated. The Government is
based upon liberal, tolerant and equitable princi-
ples, and although the two classes of government.
Federal and Provincial, at one time gave rise to
internal aggressions and civil strife, this has long
since ceased to be the case. Foreigners may become citizens at pleasure,
but there is no legal compulsion.
Fig. 410. — The Argentine
Flag.
Argentine
853
Communications and Resources. — The level surface of the eastern
and central plains has led to a great development of railways, bringing the
chief provincial towns into touch with the capital and chief seaport, Buenos
Aires. The vast area of good unoccupied land promises great future pros-
perity when the resources
of the country are fully
utilised.
Economic minerals of
nearly all kinds exist ; those
most abundant are copper
ores mixed with gold and
silver ; auriferous mine-
rals, silver, antimony, lead,
tin, bismuth, iron ore,
coal, salt, nitrates, borax,
marbles, sulphur and pe-
troleum also abound. In
the provinces of Jujuy, La
Rioja, and San Luis, and
in the territories of Neu-
quen, Chubut, and along
the Patagonian and Tierra
del Fuegian coasts, there
are alluvial gold deposits.
Agriculture is followed
to a considerable extent ;
and so is stock raising,
large herds of cattle and
immense flocks of sheep
being kept. Various estab-
lishments are engaged in the preservation of meat, and the preparation of
meat-extracts, cheese and butter. The staple exports consist or live
animals, wool, corn, meats, hides, timber, sugar and minerals.
The Littoral Provinces. — The fourteen federal provinces of the
republic may be conveniently grouped into the Littoral or Coast Provinces
on the sea coast or on the great navigable rivers, the Central Provinces, the
Andean Provinces in the west, and the Northern Provinces. As a rule the
capital of each province bears the same name, and is the focus of the com-
mercial as well as of the social provincial life. In addition to these pro-
vinces, and m:iking up fully two-thirds of the area of the country, are the
nine large thinly- peopled national territories, situated to the north and the
south of the compact group of the provinces.
Buenos Aires is the capital of the republic, situated on the right bank of
the river Plate in 34^° S. and 581° W.. and only 33 feet above sea-level.
It possesses a large port sufficient for the accommodation of a great trade ;
Fig. 411. — The Railway System of Argentina.
bue:^os atbes
854 The International Geography
the construction of the harbour on so shallow a shore was an engineering
feat of no little difficulty. It contains many elegant public buildings, and
is the principal centre of
the railways and commerce
of the country. The affairs
of the national government
are carried on in this city,
the cosmopolitan character
of which is indicated by
nearly all the languages of
the world being spoken.
The large and handsome
squares which embellish it,
are adorned with com-
memorative monuments, to
departed heroes and illus-
FlG. 412. — Plan of Buenos Aires. , . r r^i j
trious persons. La Plata
is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, one of the largest in the
Federation, and is situated in 35° S. and 58° W. It is a very handsome
town, with a port ; its prosperity depends upon general commerce and the
produce of the province, which is principally agricultural. Rosario, in the
province of Santa Fe, on the margin of the river Parana, stands in 33° S.
and 60^° W. It is an important city, and a great railway centre. Its exports
are shipped direct to Europe, competing in some measure with the trade
of Buenos Aires, as it is the principal river port not only for its own
province but for others surrounding it. Santa Fe, the capital city of the
province of the same name, is also situated on the Parana, but further up
the river, at an altitude of 393 feet above sea-level; it also has a port.
Agriculture, stock raising, and the production of fruit, corn, butter and
cheese are the staple industries of the province. Parana, on the left
bank of the Parana river, opposite Santa Fe, is the capital of the pro-
vince of Entre Rios, which, as its name implies, occupies the land
between the rivers Parana and Uruguay. It is generally level, but undu-
lating, or even mountainous in parts, and is well watered. Agriculture and
stock raising are carried on extensively. It exports corn, cheese, butter and
live stock, and is in a very flourishing condition. Corrientes, on the Parana,
is the capital of Corrientes, north of Entre Rios and the most easterly
province of the republic. Like the other provinces of this group it is
devoted to agricultural pursuits. The territory of Misiones stretches to
the north-east, between Brazil and Paraguay.
Central Provinces. — Cordoba city is situated rn a depression of an
undulating plain in 31^° S. and 64° W., 1,440 feet above sea-level. It is
very irregularly built, but it has a university and a cathedral, while the
national astronomical observatory is situated upon a rise overlooking the
city. It is supported chiefly by commerce, some agriculture, stock raising
Argentine 855
and mining ; the mines, however, are not much worked. At no great distance
it is surrounded by mountains of moderate height, but the valleys between
them are well watered, with woods and patches of beautiful scenery. The
Northern Railway passes through the city on its way from Buenos Aires
and Rosario to Tucuman and Salta. San Luis town, situated almost due
east of Mendoza on the Western Railway, is the capital of the province of
S:in Luis, a stretch of undulating land west of Cordoba and intermediate
between the plain and mountains. It carries on mining, agriculture and
stock raising. Santiago is the capital of the province of Santiago del
Estero, north of Cordoba. The position of the town is 28° S. and 64° W.,
and its elevation is 530 feet above sea-level. It is mainly an agricultural
province, but suffers as yet from inadequate means of transport.
Andean Provinces. — Mendoza city stands in a nearly level plain in
32^° S. and 69° W., 2,320 feet above the sea. Viticulture, stock raising, corn
growing, and mining are the industries of the province, which borders on
the Andes, and has a very small rainfall. A terrible earthquake occurred
in 1 86 1, destroying many buildings and causing great loss of life in the
city. It stands on the Western Railway, which has been continued from
Buenos Aires into the Cordillera of the Andes in order to connect with the
Chilean lines, but is not finished. San Juan, the capital of a province of
the same name north of Mendoza, is situated upon an almost level plain in
30^° S. and 69° W., at an altitude of 2,165 feet. Like Mendoza, the town of
San Juan is sheltered on the west by the Andes. It depends upon viti-
culture, agriculture, stock raising, and mining. La Rioja is situated in
29° S. and 67° W., at an altitude of 1,670 feet. The province of which it
is the capital depends chiefly upon mining, but has some viticulture, agri-
culture and stock raising. Its aspect is generally mountainous, with level
plains between the descending spurs of the eastern Andes. It is connected
by a branch line with the Northern Railway. Catamarca is the capital of
the province north of Rioja, and stands on an undulating plain, surrounded
at no great distance by mountains at the foot of the eastern Andes, in
28° S. and 66^° W., 1,722 feet above sea-level. Mining, viticulture, some
stock raising, and agriculture are carried on in this province. A branch
of the Northern Railway from Buenos Aires reaches the town.
Northern Provinces. — Tucuman, the capital of the smallest province
in the Federation, is situated in 27° S. and 65° W., at an altitude of 1,520
feet. Sugar cane is largely grown in the neighbourhood, and there are
various sugar manufactories, the produce of which is largely exported.
jMaize and other grain and tobacco are grown. Ancient mines exist in the
mountains of this province, but they are not exploited. The province con-
tains forests of timber, and tropical undergrowth, and is traversed by the
Northern Railway. Salta, in the valley of Lerma, is situated in 24^° S.
and 65° W., at an altitude of 3,790 feet. Mining is carried on in the moun-
tainous province of the same name, and also some agriculture. There are
important forests of timber in the eastern part of the province. Coffee and
856 The International Geography
tobacco are grown. The province is bordered on the east by the terri-
tories of Chaco and Formosa. Jujuy is one of the most northerly towns
in the repubHc, being situated in 24° S. and 65^° W., on the verge of the
tropic, but at an altitude of 4,050 feet, on an undulating plain surrounded
by mountains. Mining is carried on in the province together with a
certain amount of agriculture. Sugar-cane is grown extensively, as well
as coffee and tobacco, and there are forests of timber trees.
The Territories. — Taken as a whole one quarter of the inhabitants
of the Argentine Republic live in the larger towns of the federal provinces.
Of the total population in 1895 only 103,400 were returned as inhabiting
the nine national territories (giving a density of population of o*i per
square mile), although the total area of these territories is more than
twice as great as that of the fifteen federal provinces which had a density
of population exceeding 7 to the square mile. The three northern
territories, Misiones, Chaco and Formosa, are tropical. South of the pro-
vinces there are six territories, the Pampas and Neuquen, next to the settled
portion, those of the Rio Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz in Patagonia, and
the isolated eastern half of Tierra del Fuego in the far south.
STATISTICS.
1869. 1895. igoo.
Area of the Argentine Republic, square miles .. 1,135.840 .. 1,135,840 .. 1.135,840
Population of the Argentine Republic .. .. 1,877,490 .. 4,044,911 .. 4,894^149
Density of population per square mile .... I.. 4.. '4
Number of foreigners in the Republic . . . . . . 1,004,527 . ,
POPULATION OF THE CHIEF TOWNS.
1895- I90I. 1895. igoi.
Buenos Aires. . .. 663,854 .. 836,381 La Plata .. .. 43,406 .. 35,410
Rosario .. .. 23,169 .. 112.461 Mendoza .. .. 28.808 .. 29,500
Cordoba .. .. 42.783 •• 50,000 Santa Fe .. .. 22,244 •• 25.500
Tucuman .. .. 34,297 .. 50,000 Parana .. .. 24,099 ,. 25,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95-
Imports 11,900,000 .. 15,300,000 .. 19,800,000
Exports 8,700,000 .. 13,200,00c ., 21,500,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
W. H. Hudson. "The Naturalist in La Plata." London, 1892.
■ " Idle Davs in Patagonia." London, 1893.
M. G. and E. T. Mulhall. '" Handbook of the River Plate." London, 1893.
C. Wiener. " La Republique Argentine." Paris, 1899.
II.— UEUGUAY
By Alexander F. Baillie,
Consul for Paraguay in London.
Position. — The official name " La Repubhca Oriental del Uruguay," or
Republic on the eastern bank of the river Uruguay, very clearly locates the
position of this small South American State, lying south of Brazil between
the 30th and 35th degrees of south latitude and 52nd and 58th degrees of
west longitude. On three sides it is bounded by water ; on the east by the
Atlantic Ocean, and on the south and west by the rivers Plate and Uruguay
which form the division between it and the Argentine Republic.
Uruguay 857
Configuration. — The country on the coast of the Atlantic and river
Plate may be regarded as a gently undulating plain covered uuth magnifi-
cent pasture lands, well watered but sparsely timbered ; while in the
interior it is broken by several low mountain ranges, rising to an elevation of
little more than 2,000 feet, and the forests are larger, though the trees are
nowhere of any great size. The mountain chains form the watershed of
the numerous rivers that intersect the land. The Uruguay itself, from which
the republic takes its name, has its origin in Brazil and is upwards of 1,000
miles in length, but navigation is impeded by the lofty cascade at Salio, a
town of some importance, situated about 20 miles below the river Arapey,
and about the same distance above the Daiman, which are tributaries draining
the surrounding mountainous ranges into the main river. Other tributaries
are the Queguay and the Rio Negro, the latter of which divides the whole
country from north-east to south-west into two nearly equal portions. The
Santa Lucia and San Jose unite together and flow into the river Plate
above Montevideo, while the Yaguaron, the Tacuari, and the CeboUati
drain the area east of the Cuchilla Grande, and feed the great lake of
Merim, which is partly situated in Brazil, and is a remarkable hydrographi-
cal feature on the eastern side of the country.
Climate and Resources. — The climate is mild and healthy. The
cold is never excessive, and frosts are unknown ; in summer the heat is in-
tense, but is tempered by the breezes from the Atlantic Ocean. Uruguay
has no Indians on the frontiers to disturb the peace, and it has no ferocious
animals to devastate its flocks and herds. It is a remarkable fact that the
Biscacha, or Peruvian hare, which burrows the land in all directions on
the western side of the Uruguay to the great detriment of sheep and cattle-
farmers, has never been found on the eastern border of that river. The
only indigenous mammal of any size is the Cervus campestris, a species of
deer common to all the pampas of the river Plate. The capybara, or
water-hog, is the largest rodent in the world. Birds are numerous, and
include ostriches [Struthio rhea), vultures, and carrion-feeding hawks,
great numbers of ground-partridges {Northura major), and a variety of
song birds, among which the most remarkable is a mocking-bird called
by the inhabitants " Calandria." The rich undulating pasture lands are
well adapted for the breeding of vast herds of horned cattle, which are
said to be larger, and to carry a heavier hide than those in the neigh-
bouring Argentina, on account of the phosphates and alkaline silicates
in the soil, but the sheep are smaller, and the wool inferior in quality.
Moreover the plains are better tim.bered than the true pampa of Buenos
Aires, and the trees, although stunted and of small value in themselves,
afford protection to the herds from the great heat of the sun. The breed-
ing and slaughtering of cattle are the most important occupations of the
inhabitants, for very little has been done in the promotion of agriculture.
Paysandu, on the river Uruguay, and Montevideo, the capital, are the great
centres of the " Saladero " business. At the former, about 250,000 head of
858 The International Geography
Fig. 4 13. — Average popu-
lation of a square mile
of Uruguay.
cattle are killed annually, and the carcases are prepared to meet the
requirements of the different markets to which they are consigned. "Carne
seca," or sun-dried beef, is largely exported to Brazil, while corned-beef and
tinned ox-tongues find a ready sale in Europe. At Fray Bentos, south of
Paysandii, there are large establishments for the manufacture of extracts of
meat, which, with hides, tallow, horns, bone-ash, wool and sheep skins, are
the principal articles of export trade
Gold, silver, iron and copper ores occur over a large area. The riverine
department of Salto yields jasper, porphyry, alabaster and agate, which
are exported, chiefly to Germany.
People and Government. — The original stock of the present popu-
lation of Uruguay differed widely from that of the neighbouring republics.
The latter are inhabited by races which have sprung
from the alliances of the European conquerors with
the aborigines, but the early settlers in the Banda
Oriental were already a mixed race at the time of
their advent. The City of Montevideo was founded
in 17 1 7, as a military outpost, by the Royal Governor
of Buenos Aires, and so remained until 1726, when
a large immigration from the Canary Islands took
place. The inhabitants of these islands were des-
cendants of Spaniards and of the native " Guanchos,"
mingled also with Norman, Flemish and Moorish blood. The aboriginal
Guanchos were a brave, peaceful shepherd race, who regarded the trade
of " butcher " as being so degrading and ignominious, that no member
engaged in that occupation was permitted to associate with his fellow
countrymen. The fact is noteworthy, seeing that the descendants of
these people are probably the greatest cattle-slaughterers in the world.
In 1821 the country was annexed by the Empire of Brazil, but in 1828
its independence was recognised, and was guaranteed by the British
Government. Of the people 70 per cent, are native born, the residue
consisting of Europeans of several nationalities, but chiefly Italian.
Government and Towns, — The administration consists of two
Houses of Parliament, the Senate and the Chamber
of Representatives, and the Executive is given by
the Constitution to a President who is elected for
four years. Uruguay is, however, one of the worst
governed of all the civilised nations of the world.
The administration is in the hands of a few indi-
viduals who have the control of the army, and who
make and unmake the Presidents, of whom no
less than three have been assassinated during
30 years. The language spoken is Spanish, and the State religion is Roman
Catholic, but there is complete toleration. The republic is divided into
nineteen departments.
Fig. 414. — TJie Uruguay
Flag.
Paraguay
859
Montevideo, the capital, takes its name from the Cerro, or Mount, which
stands at the extremity of a semicircular bay. The city is built on a
promontory between the bay and the estuary of the river Plate. If a
breakwater, which is urgently required, could be constructed for the pro-
tection of shipping, it
would become one of the
most important cities
on the eastern coast of
South America. The
largest inland town is
San Jose, 50 miles from
the capital, and Colonia
on the river Plate, Pay-
sandi'i, Salio, Fray Bentos,
and Santa Rosa, all do a
considerable trade, but
in no case does the
population of any one
of them exceed 5,000.
The means of communication in the southern districts of the State are
fairly good — more than 1,000 miles of railway are open to traffic, and the
more distant northern towns are connected with the railway termini by
means of coaches. There are also over 4,000 miles of telegraph lines.
Fig. 415.— r//t' Site of Moutei'ideo.
STATISTICS {estimates).
Area of Uruguay in square miles 7i,7oo
Approximate population (1896) 840,000
Density of population per square mile 12
Popula'tion of Montevideo 243,000
Imports in dollars (1892-96) 22,000,000
Exports „ „ 30,000,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
" Handbook of Uruguay " (Bureau of American Republics). Washington, 1892.
R. L. Lomba. " La Republica Oriental del Uruguay." Montevideo, 1884.
W. H. Hudson. "The Purple Land that England Lost : Banda Oriental." London, 1885.
III.— PARAGUAY
By Alexander F. Baillie,
Consul for Paraguay in London.
Position and Extent. — The name Paraguay was at one time applied
to a very large portion of "the gigantic province of the Indies," as the
Spanish possessions in South America were generally entitled in the reign of
the Emperor Charles V. It formed a province of the Viceroyalty of Peru
and included parts of the present republics of Bohvia and Brazil, and the
whole of the vast area between those countries and the rock-bound coast
86o The International Geography
of Patagonia. International treaties, and armed conflicts, have from time
to time reduced its limits, but its area is still considerably larger than
that of Great Britain and Ireland. The country lies on both sides of
J the river Paraguay; the eastern portion of Par;i-
H||||||||||||||||||||l guay proper, which is nearly in the shape of
llllllllllllllllllllllll^ a parallelogram, lies between latitude 22° and
27° S. and longitude 54° and 58° W., while the
triangular figure of Western Paraguay, or the
Gran Chaco, extends from 25° to 21° S., and in
longitude from 58° W. to an undetermined
FIG. 416.— r//e Paraguay dividing line supposed to be about 62° W. The
country is surrounded on the north and north-
east respectively by Bolivia and Brazil, and on the south and west by the
Argentine Republic.
Configuration and Rivers. — On the eastern frontier of Paraguay
proper the low Sierra de Amambay stretches from north to south ; it is
crossed from east to west by several other chains of mountains, and is
divided about latitude 24° into two branches, one of which takes a
southerly course and forms the Cordilleras of Caaguazu, of Villa Rica and
of Los Altos, while the other proceeding in an easterly direction under the
name of the Sierra de Mbaracayii, crosses the Parana, and by creating an
obstacle in that river forms the celebrated cataract of La Guayra or Sete
Quedas. The altitude of these ranges nowhere exceeds 1,400 feet, but
with the numerous spurs which spread from them, the whole surface of
the country presents a continuance of undulations watered by innumerable
rivulets and streams which in some places expand into swamps.
The hillsides and the great plains that they surmount are covered with
majestic forests, interspersed with rich alluvial tracts, forming magnificent
pasture lands for large herds of horned cattle, and offering vast areas of
fertile soil for the cultivation of many of the most valuable products of the
tropical and temperate zones. The Chaco, or Western Paraguay, has only
been partially explored, and would appear to be an immense and fertile
plain, with very few elevations, and large areas subject to frequent inunda-
tions. The great rivers Parana and Paraguay are the principal features in the
hydrography of the country. They both rise in Brazil, and for a consider-
able distance flow in parallel courses from north to south on either side o:
Paraguay proper. The Parana is by far the larger, but is only navigable
for a distance of 250 miles, while the Paraguay is accessible to vessels of
light draught to a point 1,200 miles from the sea. The Paraguay receives
numerous tributaries, the principal on the left bank being the Apa, Aqui-
daban, Ipane, and Tebicuari, which are useful for the transport of forest
produce by boat and rafts, from short distances in the interior. Those
on the right bank are the Rio Verde, Araguay, Confuso and Pilcomayo.
Climate of Paraguay. — The climate is hot and dry, but the winds,
which are very variable have a great effect on the temperature. From
Paraguay 86 1
the south and south-west they are cool and refreshing, and the most trying
are those from the north and north-east. In summer the temperature some-
times rises to ioo° F., but seldom exceeds it, and the mean is 85° to
90°. In winter, that is to say from May to August, the mean is 62° to 65°,
and sometimes it falls as low as 40°. Throughout the year, some sort of
covering is required during the night, and in winter a thick blanket is
very necessary. There is no fixed rainy season, but the fall is greater
during the summer months, September to April, than in the winter, and
offers the great advantage of neutralising the effects of the rapid evapo-
ration produced by the rays of the sun in the hottest period of the year.
Flora and Fauna of Paraguay. — The country is so highly favoured
by nature, and its innate resources are so great that when for some
twenty-six years it remained under the remarkable tyranny of the dictator,
Dr. Francia, and was prohibited from holding intercourse with other
nations, it was not only self-supporting, but actually accumulated wealth.
Its vast forests furnish timber in infinite variety adapted for all pur-
poses, and unrivalled for elasticity, hardness and durability ; textile and
medicinal plants grow spontaneously ; dye-woods, gums, cotton, indigo
and india-rubber are found in their natural state ; and groves of orange
trees yield fruit unsurpassable in size and flavour ; while wherever culti-
vation is attempted sugar-cane, tobacco, rice, mandioca, maize and many
other products are raised in profusion. Yerba-mate {Ilex Paraguaiensis),
or Paraguay tea, is a natural product of the soil, and is extensively consumed
throughout South America. The gathering employs a large number of
labourers, and the export tax placed upon it, adds considerably to the
revenue of the State.
Animal life is abundant. Of wild animals, the jaguar, puma, tapir and
ocelot are the most formidable, and deer of several species, wild boars
and peccaries, the more numerous. The woods are full of monkeys ; and
there are said to be upwards of 450 distinct species of birds, the largest of
which is the rhea, or American ostrich, and the smallest the viudita, a
little parrot about the size of a canary. Brilliant macaws and jays, toucans
with their enormous beaks, wild turkeys, and several distinct species of
partridge are common. Alligators and carpinchos bask in the sun on
the banks of the rivers and lakes, and fish of many kinds swarm in the
waters. Snakes are both numerous and venomous. A remarkable feature
of the inland waters is the existence of enormous water-serpents, which
have been known to upset canoes, and drag the occupants below the
surface.
The mineral resources of the country have never been carefully examined.
A little gold is found, probably washed down from the province of Matto
Grosso, in Brazil ; but copper occurs in some places, and iron and man-
ganese are spread over large areas.
People and History. — The indigenous inhabitants were tribes of the
widespread Guarani nation, and were conquered in 1536 by a Spanish
862 The International Geography
expedition under the command of Juan de Ayolas, a lieutenant of SebaS'
tian Cabot. Two remarkable incidents in the history of the republic have
attracted world-wide attention ; the domination of the
Jesuits (i 609-1 767), and the long dictatorship of Gaspar
de Francia (1816-1840). In 1865 a disastrous war
was commenced with the allied forces of Brazil, the
Argentine Republic, and Uruguay, which brought the
country to the verge of ruin, and only terminated in
1870. The present form of Government is that of a
Fig 417.— Average popH- democratic republic ruled by a President who is
lotion of a square mile elected for four vears, and a Congress consisting of a
of Paraguay. - ' & te
Senate and Chamber of Deputies elected by universal
suffrage. The religion of the State is Roman Catholic, but all forms of
worship are tolerated. Education is free and compulsory.
Trade and Towns. — The principal industries are the distillation of
spirits from sugar-cane ; the fabrication of liqueurs, essences, oils, soaps
and tans ; the manufacture of cigars, earthenware, bricks and furniture ;
and the raising of herds of cattle. Hides, both green and dried, horns,
bones and horse-hair are largely exported, and also tobacco, oranges,
timber barks and yerba-mate, but the greater part of the products are
introduced to the European markets as proceeding from the River Plate.
Asuncion, the capital, is extremely well situated on the left bank of the
Paraguay, which at this point is a thousand yards broad, in latitude 25°
S. Other towns of lesser importance are Villa Rica, Villa Conccpcion ■a.nd
Villa del Pilar. The total population, exclusive of the Indians of the Chaco,
is 450,000. There is a regular service of steam vessels between the ports
of the River Plate and Asuncion, and communications with the interior
are maintained by means of the rivers, and by several good trunk-roads.
There is also a railway 150 miles in length connecting Asuncion and Villa
Rica, the second town of the Republic, and then diverging in a southerly
direction towards the Parana with a view to its ultimately joining the
Argentine railway system.
STATISTICS [Estimates).
Area of Paraguay in square miles 140,000
Population 450,000
Density of population per square mile 3'2
Population of Asuncion 45.000
„ Villa Rica 19,000
ANNUAL TRADE {in 1896).
Imports, ^492,000. Exports, £454,000.
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. F. Baillie. "A Paraguayan Treasure.'" London, 1887.
A. M. Du Gratz. " La Republique du Paraguay." Brussels, 1862.
"Handbook of Paraguay " (Bureau of American Republics, W^ashington).
" La Republique du Paraguay " (Prepared tor the Brussels International Exhibition. 1897)..
E. Bourgade La Dardye. " Paraguay." Pans, i8Sy, and translation, London, 1892.
The Falkland Islands
863
Fig. 41S.— 27u' Falkland Islands
IV.— THE FALKLAND ISLANDS
By the Editor."
Position and Physical Features. — The Falkland Islands rise on
the margin of the continental shelf of South America, east of the Strait of
Magellan, between 51° and 53° S., and 480 miles north-east of Cape Horn.
The coasts are generally low and very much indented, especially on the
outer sides of the principal islands where
they are broken up into a number of
jagged peninsulas, separating deep arms
of the sea. East Falkland is almost cut in
two by opposite gulfs, the connecting
isthmus being only four or five miles wide.
The surface is wild, rugged, in parts hilly,
or even mountainous, rising in Mount
Adam on West Falkland to over 2,300 feet.
Quartz rock predominates in the higher
parts, and clay slate in the lower, and
among the geological puzzles of the islands
are " stone rivers," lines of broken stones
which in the course of time gradually make their way down hill without
the aid of water. Peat is abundant and furnishes fuel. There are no
trees, shrubs being the largest form of vegetation. Tussac grass growing
in clumps to a height of six or seven feet, forms the characteristic feature
of the flora, still abundant in the islets, though in the larger islands it has
almost disappeared. There are extensive tracts of moorland, on which a
species of cowberry takes the place of heather ; grain and vegetables are
scarcely cultivable. The only indigenous four-footed animal is a species
of fox. Cattle, horses and sheep have been introduced. The last are now
reared in large numbers, and constitute the chief wealth of the colony.
Penguins and other sea-fowl are very numerous, and
fish abound off the coasts.
The climate, although not cold, is raw, and the
summers are not genial. The mean annual temperature
is about 42°, and often lower, with a mean range between
30° and 65°; the rainfall does not exceed 30 inches
annually, but rain falls on two days out of every three
and mist frequently prevails. Strong gales often occur.
History and Government. — The islands were
discovered by Davis in 1592, but it was not until the latter part of the
eighteenth century that any attempt was made at colonisation. French,
Spaniards and English successively essayed to form settlements, and the
islands were seized now by one, now by another of the rival Powers. At
^ Assisted by E. J. Hastings.
Fig. 419. — Badge 0)
the Falkland Islands.
864 The International Geography
last, in 1833, they were permanently taken possession of by the British
Government for the protection of the whale and seal fishery in the
Southern Ocean, and they were for some time used as a convict station.
The Government is that of a Crown Colony. The inhabitants are almost
entirely of European origin. The principal means of intercommunication
is by water, for which the peninsular character of the islands affords great
facilities. The islands are mainly of importance as a station for refitting
and provisioning ships on the boisterous passage round Cape Horn.
Sheep farming is the only important industry, and furnishes the staple
export — wool, that of frozen mutton is increasing ; the minor exports,
hides, tallow, &c., are derived from the same source. Trade, which is in
the hands of one company, is almost exclusively with the United Kingdom.
Stanley, the capital, seat of government, and only town, is situated on a
nearly land-locked harbour on the north-east of East Falkland. There
are facilities for repairing vessels. Port Darwin, a village on Darwin
Harbour, at the head of Choiseul Sound, commemorates in its name the
visit of Darwin, during the voyage of the Beagle in 1833.
South Georgia, an inhospitable and generally ice-bound land, with no
permanent inhabitants, is a distant dependency of the Falkland Islands.
It was discovered in 1675 by a French navigator, La Roche, and exactly
100 years later was taken possession of for the British crown, and named
after the king. A German astronomical expedition visited it in 1882 to
observe the transit of Venus, and remained till the following year.
STATISTICS.
1881. 1891. 1901.
Area of Falkland Islands in square miles. . .. 6,500 .. 6,500 .. 6,500
Population of Falkland Islands 1,414 .. 1,789 .. 2,043
Density of population per square mile . . . . 0"2 . . 03 . . 0*3
Population of Stanley , 700 ., 694 .. 916
CHAPTER XLVI.— THE UNITED STATES OP
BRAZIL
By J. Batalha-Reis.
Name, Position and Extent.— The word Brazil comes from brasil,
brisil, or verzino, the name of a dye-wood used in Europe in the Middle
Ages, and applied to another dye-wood found in the American forests.
The United States of Brazil occupy about one-half of South America, and
extend across seven-eighths of its greatest breadth. The country is
twenty-seven times as large as the United Kingdom, and larger than all
Australia or the whole of Europe. It lies almost entirely between the
tropics, and is crossed by the equator. Brazil and the territories included
by the Plata- Paraguay, as shown in the accompanying maps, reproduce
exactly the outline of the whole continent.
Orography and Hydrography.— Brazil is made up of highlands
occupying 700,000 square
miles, and forming an
" Island," as it were, sur-
rounded on the north-
east and east by the
Atlantic Ocean, and on
the north-west and west
by the continuous valleys
of rivers, the Amazon-
Madeira-Guapore, and
the Paraguay - Parana-
Plata ; and by lowlands
comprising a large part
of these valleys (the
Amazon basin having an
area of 1,900,000 square
miles), including the
southern slopes of the
Guiana Mountains. The
Fig. 420. — Configuration and Hydrography of Brazil.
harbour of Rio de Janeiro, in the middle of the Atlantic coast of the
Brazihan " Island," is the centre of a real mountainous region, the highest
part of which, probably the highest of Brazil, the Itatiaia (Mantiqueira), is
under 10,000 feet. This region is the last remnant of a colossal moun-
tain mass, the worn-down fragments of which have formed the sur-
rounding lands. The highlands grouped as water-partings, either stretching
865
866 The International Geography
parallel to and along the sea-coasts, or diverging towards the interior,
may be considered as forming three connected systems, the names of
which often correctly characterise their geographical functions : —
(i) The Sea Mountains {Serras do Mar) or General Range {Serra Geral),
form the south-eastern slopes of the great plateau of the Brazihan Island,
towards a strip of lowland along the Atlantic. (2) The Backbone
{Espinhafo), or Axis (Espigcio), or Serra Central, is an extension of the
Mantiqueira, and therefore of the maritime highlands southward towards
the Uruguay, and northward in the basin of the Sao Francisco, which it
separates from the rivers flowing more directly into the Atlantic. (3) The
Water-partings (r^r/^«/^5) between north and south separate the basin of the
Amazon-Tocantins and Sao Francisco in the north, and that of the Plata-
Parana-Paraguay in the south. From these central highlands of the
" Brazilian Island " the streams run into the deep surrounding valleys. On
the north and north-east the rivers Tocantins-Araguaya, Xingu, Tapajoz, and
Madeira flow to the Amazon ; on the south-
west and south the river Guapore flows to
the Amazon, and the system of the Parana-
Paraguay- Uruguay to the Plata. The north
and north-east are partially drained by the
Sao Francisco flowing to the Atlantic. The
ancient mountainous cordillera is now worn
down as the result of ages of denudation
into vast plateaux, extensive elevated plains
(called variously Chapadoes, Taboleiros, Cam-
pos, Geraes), the more resistant parts of
which project as sharp hills rather than
Fig. ^21.— Diagmin of Hydrogiaphy real mountain ranges. The States of Minas
and Orography of Brazil. ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^-^^ ^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^-^^^^
of some 3,500 feet, occupy the most elevated plateaux in the centre of
the " Brazilian Island," followed westward by the Matto Grosso plateaux,
averaging 2,500 feet and more, and in the extreme north-east by the lands
draining directly northward to the sea which, from the upper Maranhao
to Piauhy and Pernambuco, sometimes reach elevations of 4,000 and 5,000
feet. From the eastern slopes of the " Brazilian Island," south of the
mouth of the Sao Francisco, shorter streams run straight to the Atlantic'
Running from the Colombian Andes and the highlands of Venezuela
and Guiana, the waters, in the northern part of the immense Amazon valley,
gather into the rivers Iga, Japura, Negro-Branco, Jamunda. Trombetas,
an.d Jari. North of the mouth of the Amazon in the northernmost ex-
tremity of Brazil the Oyapok, Cassipore, and other rivers run from the
slopes of French Guiana to the sea. The highest valleys of the Guapore
and the Jaurii-Paraguay, with hardly four miles between, are often en-
tirely covered by the same floods ; the Amazon is actually united to the
Orinoco by the Rio Negro, through the Cassiquiare, to the Essequibo by
Brazil
867
the Trombetas ; and the Tocantins is in permanent communication with
the Sao Francisco by the Somno-Sapao. More than half of the surface
of Brazil belongs to the Amazon-Tocantins basin ; about one-quarter to
that of the Parana-Paraguay ; and the other quarter to the Sao Francisco
and the shorter Atlantic rivers.
Geology and Minerals. — Two elliptical zones of Primary (Archaean-
Palaeozoic) rocks, which are in juxtaposition from north to south, are
coincident from east to west, along the central region of the water-parting
between the Amazon and Plata basins, forming, indeed, the central moun-
tainous district of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Minas Geraes, Goyaz, and
Matto Grosso. These Primary zones surround respectively two central
masses of Mesozoic lands. The northerly Primary zone is itself half
encircled on the north and east by a long strip of Tertiary forma-
tions, intersected by Secondary
rocks, north of which again t\ ' ■ — - — W
Primary rocks form the slopes
of Guiana, apparently separated
from those of the " Brazilian
Island " by the Tertiary and
Quaternary deposits of the
Amazon valley. The Paraguay-
Parana basin and several smaller
valleys are also covered with
Quaternary sediments. In the
central part of the Archaean for-
mation, from the upper valley of
the Sao Francisco to the sea, the
gold and diamonds which once
made Brazil famous were found
in situ. But both gold and
diamonds were at first, and are
still, worked mainly in alluvial
lands, principally in the vast region which has its centre in the district of
Minas Geraes {i.e., many mines), but which also stretches northwards to
Bahia, westwards to Goyaz and Matto Grosso, and southwards as far as
Rio Grande do Sul. In the same localities mercury, copper, zinc and
manganese ores are found, and also the topaz, amethyst, tourmaline, beryl,
agate and other precious stones, but never real emeralds. Large deposits
of iron have been found, especially in Minas Geraes and Sao Paulo. Coal
also seems to be abundant in the Carboniferous strata of Sao Paulo, Santa
Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul. Lignite exists in the Tertiary forma-
tion of the Amazon, Minas Geraes, and the east coast. The decomposi-
tion of the crystalline rocks (diorite, diabase, gabbro, melaphyre)
produces red soil {terra roxa or Massape) celebrated for its immense
fertility.
Recent CZD
Tertiary ^^
Mesozoic EHJ
Palaeozoic^
Archaean ^^
Fig. 422. — Geology of Brazil.
868 The International Geography
Climate, Flora and Fauna.— With the exception of the three
smaller southern States (Parana, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul),
the whole of Brazil, ranging from 5° N. to 33° S., is included in the
tropics: the vast region of the north in the great central valley of the
Amazon lies right under the equator. Hence the climate is almost
everywhere of the characteristic tropical type, except as modified by
altitude. The combined influence of high temperature and constant
moisture (the rainfall of the Amazon basin is excessive) produces extensive
and complex tropical forests. These find their chief development in four
regions — (a) In the vast Amazon valley surrounding the north and north-
west of the " Brazilian Island " (called Selvas or Hylced), where palm-trees
(Igapd) grow from 60 to more than 200 feet high, often rooted beneath
floods 60 feet deep. Amongst the characteristic species are the Mauritia,
Copernicia, or wax-palm, Hcvea, Hancornia, Micrandra yielding rubber,
Cacao, and the Bertholletia giving Brazil nuts. (6) On the Guiana slopes,
(c) On the banks of the deep valleys of the affluents of the Amazon, even in
the heart of the " Brazilian Island," in the
upper course of the Parana, and in the
entire valley of the Sao Francisco, {d) On
the Serras do Mar {Mattas virgens) where,
amongst other species. Ipecacuanha, Pilo-
carpus, Jacaranda or rose-wood, Dialium
ferrum, Caesalpinia echinata giving Brazil
dye-wood, and Araucaria flourish. The
eastern forests are under the influence of
the moisture-laden easterly trade winds
wherever they blow perpendicularly to the
coast, the prevailing directions being from
south-east in the north, east in the centre,
and north-east in the south. The dense
forests of the great valleys are interrupted in certain parts of the Amazon
valleys by savannas. The highlands of the interior of the " Brazilian Island'"
in Minas Geraes, Sao Paulo, Goyaz, and Matto Grosso have a less mild
climate, and are covered with shrubs, arboreal cacti and grasses, intersected
by subtropical forests. At the north-eastern extremity, in Ceara and Rio
Grande do Norte, where the trade winds blow parallel to the coast an
especially dry season occurs periodically from June to December every
ten years. In the forests of the flooded valleys, plants, submerged at the
base and mutually shaded, become creepers and epiphytes in order to
reach the light of the Sun.
The animals are also often modified for climbing or aquatic habits.
Many species of monkeys, sloths, reptiles, humming birds and parrots are
typical forms. The peccary, agouti, tapir, armadillo, paca, puma, coati,
and the rhea, or American ostrich, are all characteristic of Brazil.
Aboriginal Peoples. — The tribes found by the European dis-
——•—"-—-'"
80
7»
70
68
60
66
60
«&
40
30
30
26
^
T-
-■
>
5
\-*
/
7^
^
P-'
^i
P
::;;;;
'■:::■:.
W:
1
1
~
— (
S
1
W:
Mv
;;;;;;
m
__.
w
m^:
:-r:T
■:■■:■■:.
i
r:;:::
i::::
m
Liiii
m
M:
CuYABA Rio de Janeiro--'
Fig. 423. — Rainfall and Tempera-
ture in Brazil.
Brazil 869
coverers, and still in existence, although all belonging to the American
" Indian " stock, seem to have come from several different centres.
Four great migrations have already been determined, one from the
north, two from the south, and one from the east. The first line of
migration was from north to south and south-west, by which the
Nu-Aruaks (Maipure and Ipurina) came from the West Indies to the
valley of the Amazon, diverging south-westwards to the rivers Japura,
Jurua, and Purus, and continuing southwards to the Paraguay. The Tupis
or Guaranis moved from south to north and north-east from the Paraguay
to the Atlantic, along the coast, and also gained the valley of the Amazon
and Guiana by passing down the valleys of the Xingu and Tapajoz. The
second migration from the south was that of the Caribs (Carahibs), who
came northward and north-westward to the valleys of the Amazon
(Japura) and to Guiana. From the east the Ges (Aimores, Acroa, Caiapo,
and Botocudos in part) moved westward from the eastern half of Brazil
and from the Maranhao to the Xingu, penetrated southward to Rio
Grande do Sul. Many other tribes are only known by their more local
movements, the chief amongst them being the Goitaca or Vaitaca, who
migrated from northern Parahiba to the Rio Doce and Minas Geraes, and
the many peoples of the interior of the Amazon valleys, such as the
Miranyas, Panos, Caraya, and Guayacuru. The Ges seem to have been
displaced by the migration of the Tupi, who formed most of the tribes
found by the Portuguese explorers, and the Jesuit missionaries tried to
introduce the Tupi dialect as a general Brazilian language. Some of the
Tupi and other Indians were at first forced to work as slaves for the
conquering Europeans, but were afterwards liberated, and in many places
they have been from time to time collected in settlements or villages to be
educated. Their place as labourers has been taken since 1549 by African
negroes, who were introduced as slaves.
Present Population.— After four centuries of contact with European
and African races the best known inhabitants of Brazil seem to exist
in the following relative proportions — the Europeans
being for the most part of Portuguese descent.
Europeans. Americans,
(more or Pure Mixed
less pure). Negroes. (Caboclos). (Pardos). Total.
38 20 4 38 100
Many Indian tribes, still living in a state of native
savagery, have never entered the Brazilian statistics,
and are not taken account of. Towards the end yig. 4,2^.— Average popu-
of the sixteenth century the population of Brazil was ^«^'^» of a square
estimated at some 60,000. In 18 19 the first census
showed 4,000,000 inhabitants, wliile in 1890 the population numbered about
15,000,000, having thus apparently quadrupled in seventy years. The
immigrants, who form a great part of this increase, were principally
Portuguese and Spanish. Italians have predominated during recent years,
870 The International Geography
and especially settled in the temperate southern States, Sao Paulo and Rio
de Janeiro. In the south also some German agricultural and pastoral
colonies have been established. These settlers continue to a certain
extent to use their own languages ; but the official language of the
country is Portuguese, although considerably modified.
Phases of History. — The modern history of Brazil exhibits six
distinct phases : (i) The struggle of the Portuguese against the French
and Dutch for the possession of the newly discovered land; (2) the
struggle with the South American Spaniards, and the question of boun-
daries ; (3) the internal dissensions due to trouble with the Indians and
Jesuits ; (4) geographical and economical exploration and the question of
slavery ; (5) the growth of the provinces into the present quasi-autonomous
States ; and (6) Brazihan nationality and independence.
Discovery. — The northern coasts of what is now called Brazil were
seen in January, 1500, by an expedition of Vicente Janez Pinzon, and
had probably been sighted by other Europeans half a century or more
earlier. The centre of what the Portuguese first called the " Land of the
True Cross" {Vera Cruz), and afterwards, probably since 1503, "Brazil,"
was visited by Pedro Alvares Cabral in 1500 at Cabralia Bay in the south
of the State of Bahia, which thus became the starting-point of Portuguese
exploration and colonisation. By 1505 the whole coast from Maranhao
to the Plata had been generally reconnoitred, and during the next few
years many Portuguese settled in different parts of the new land and
married Indian women. From 1532 to 1535 Brazil, then extending from
the equator to 30° S., was divided into twelve parallel districts, each
running due west from the Atlantic, but with unequal length of coast and
indefinite hinterlands. These were called " Captaincies," and granted as
sovereign fiefs to independent captains ; more were subsequently created,
but in the middle of the eighteenth century they all reverted to the
Portuguese Crown.
Settlement and Exploration. — Two great centres of exploration
were formed in course of time, Bahia in the north between 10° and 15° S.,
and Sao Vicente (afterwards Sao Paulo) in the south, between 23° and 25° S.
In the coast regions of the northern division, including Bahia, Pernambuco,
and Maranhao, which were the first discovered and the most intensely
colonised up to. 1680, the climate was hostile to the establishment of
Europeans, and demanded the cultivation of tropical products. Planta-
tions of sugar-cane, introduced from Madeira in 1532, and of cotton were
accordingly established. The first important Portuguese settlement was
at Sao-Salvador-da-Bahia-de-Todos-os-Santos (All Saints' Bay), which
became the seat of the first central colonial Government in 1549. In the
southern division (Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), the white population took
kindly to the new soil. The more temperate climate allowed all sorts of
crops to be cultivated ; and mines were discovered by the active explora-
tion of the interior. A national Brazilian character was naturally formed
Brazil 871
in these more favourable surroundings, and the centre of administration
and economical activity was shifted in 1762 from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro.
From the very first years of the discovery the Portuguese had to light
other European nations for the possession of Brazil. In 1504 the French
commenced to trade to Brazil for dye-wood ; subsequently they built forts
and established a colony, but they were finally expelled in 161 5. The
Dutch made their first hostile appearance at the end of the sixteenth
century. They afterwards took Bahia, and established themselves on the
coast between the Sao Francisco and the Rio Grande do Norte ; but in
1661 the Portuguese finally expelled them from Brazil. In 1640, at the
time when Portugal ceased to be part of the dual Spanish Monarchy,
Brazil was divided into two States and created a kingdom, united to
Portugal and governed by a Viceroy. The interior had been already
explored in many directions in the search for gold and emeralds, and for
the purpose of procuring forced labour. In 1539-40 Orellana navigated
the Amazon, in its most important branch, from Peru to Para ; and a century
later its central course was again entirely visited by Pedro Teixeira. At the
end of the sixteenth century the exploration of the Sao Francisco valley
was commenced, and fifty years later the colonists of Sao Paulo reached
northern Paraguay, and thence the high Andes of Bolivia, afterwards
exploring Matto Grosso, Goyaz and Minas Geraes. From the end of the
seventeenth and during the whole eighteenth century the exploration of
the basin of the Amazon was actively continued. Of the more recent
explorers in Brazil it is impossible even to record the names and dates ;
but, numerous as they were, and energetically as their explorations were
carried on, great tracts of land still remain quite unknown.
Native Problems and Slavery. — In 1549 the Jesuits entered
Brazil as missionaries, catechising the Indians, in many cases succeeding
in collecting and fixing them in villages, opposing their employment
and their subjugation to a formal state of slavery by the Portuguese
colonists, but making them work for the benefit of their Jesuit churches
and establishments. A long and terrible struggle was the inevitable
result of this situation, and the Jesuits, who often aUied themselves
with the Spanish settlers of the south and west, were expelled from
the southern province of Brazil in 1640 by the Portuguese colonists. They
returned more than once until they were ofticially banished in 1759. The
enslavement of the Indians was condemned by a Papal Bull in 1640, and
abolished by law in 1680. Negro slaves from Africa, who had been
employed ever since the middle of the sixteenth century, had, in the mean-
time, become very numerous. The struggles with the Jesuits led to wars
with the Spanish colonies and States surrounding the south and west of
Brazil, which lasted during the whole of the eighteenth, and part of the
nineteenth century, often modifying the southern frontiers. The " Colonia
do Sacramento " (founded by the Portuguese in 1680), which had grown
to be the State of the " Banda Oriental," or Uruguay, became in 182 1 the
872 The International Geography
" Cisplatine province " of Brazil, coveted by the Argentine Republic. A
war between the two nations led to the ultimate independence of Uruguay
(1825-28). The war between Brazil and Paraguay (1864-70) was the last
episode of the great historical struggle. In 1830 the slave trade was
prohibited. Between i87i,when there were 1,800,000 slaves, and 1888,
when there were only 150,000, slavery was gradually but totally abolished.
The ports of Brazil were in 1808 opened to foreign trade. Half a century
later the navigation of the great affluents of the Plata, in 1866 that of the
Amazon, the following year that of the Sao Francisco (up to Penedo) were
declared free to all nations. The constitution of the republic and a law
of 1892 reserved coasting and trade between Brazilian ports for Brazilian
ships.
Independence. — From the middle of the seventeenth century move-
ments towards independence can be traced in Brazil. In 1808 Queen
D. Maria I., then insane, and her son, the Regent, transferred the
Portuguese court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, and remained in Brazil
during the French occupation and the revolution
which established parliamentary institutions in
Portugal. On returning to Europe in 182 1, King
Dom Joao VI. left hi^ son Dom Pedro as Regent
of Brazil. But in 1822 the Brazilian Empire was
established, and Dom Pedro proclaimed Emperor
with a parliamentary constitution. In 183 1 he
abdicated, and his son Dom Pedro II. succeeded,
and reigned until 1889, when the present republic
of the United States of Brazil was proclaimed, each province becoming a
State under a constitution which follows the type of that of the United States
of America.
Resources and Trade. — Even in the sixteenth century a current
rumour pointed to the existence of a golden centre {El Dorado)
in the Guiana mountains. Gold was, however, first discovered in Sao
Paulo in 1560. Up to the middle of the eighteenth century gold and
diamonds were found and worked in the province of " Minas," which was
named from the fact. Coffee was introduced in the plantations of Rio de
Janeiro and the south of Sao Paulo in 1761. From the remarkable
prosperity of this crop Rio de Janeiro became the economic centre of
Brazil, and now coffee is the staple production of the country as far as
export is concerned, the railway system having been largely developed in
order to provide communication between the plantations and the seaports.
India-rubber, collected on the Amazon from wild trees, is also of great
importance. The trade of Brazil is mainly carried on with the United
Kingdom, the United States, Portugal, Germany and France. Most
imports are subject to a very high tariff.
Natural Regions and Political Divisions. — The twenty-one
States or main divisions of Brazil correspond to a great extent with natural
Fig. 425.— T/te Brazilian
Flag.
Brazil 873
regions, and can easily be considered in six natural groups : (i) The valley
of the river Amazon is now divided into two States, the lower part form-
ing Para, the upper Amazonas. (ii) South of these the lands which slope
up from the Amazon plain to the plateau, forming all the vast western
hinterland, belong to the State of Matto Grosso, and the heart and hydro-
graphic centre ol the " Brazilian Island " is the State of Goyaz. (iii) Along
the north-eastern coast and stretching inland from it the comparatively
small States of Maranhao (part of which is a continuation of the Amazon
and Tocantins plain), Piauhi, Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Parahiba,
Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Sergipe, succeed one another from north-west
to south-east, (iv) The two large central States of Bahia and Minas Geraes
occupy the valley of the Sao Francisco and other rivers draining to the
Atlantic. In these the mining and industrial activity of historical and
modern Brazil has been to a great extent concentrated, (v) The small
State of Espirito Santo and the State and Federal District of Rio de Janeiro
bordering the coast just within the tropic, form the political centre of
Brazil, and a sort of transition to the more temperate climates and the
more European population of part of Sao Paulo and the whole group of
(vi) southern States, Parana, Santa Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul.
Amazonian States. — The vast inland plain, all nearly on the same
level as the central part of the Amazon valley between the rivers Branco
and Madeira, forms the State of (i) Amazonas, a region of dense tropical
forests, thinly peopled by uncivilised Indians. It is like a palmately or
digitateiy-veined leaf, its principal ribs, besides the central course of the
Amazon, being the rivers Negro on the north and Madeira on the south,
on which secondary tributaries, themselves great rivers, are pinnately
inserted. Manaos, near the confluence of all the converging waters, is the
capital of the State, and the natural hydrographic and economic centre
of the immense region, which can be traversed only by its waterways.
Steamers run on the main rivers, and native canoes follow the smallest
branches. The valley of the Trombetas on the north and that of the
Tapajoz on the south, divide the State of (2) Para, which occupies about
one-third of the whole valley of the Amazon. The highlands project from
both sides and constrict the valley between Obidos and Santarem at the
western extremity of the State. The capital, Belem or Para, seventy miles
distant from the Atlantic, stands on the right bank of the Tocantins. This
river is in direct communication with the great stream of the Amazon proper,
and really forms part of its system, being only divided from it by some
islands, the largest of which is Marajo. The mouth of the river Para or
lower Tocantins has been, up to the present, the real maritime and com-
mercial entrance of the Amazon, Belem being therefore the exporting
centre for the rubber, vanilla and other products of both the Amazonian
States.
Central States. — The State of (3) Matto Grosso occupies the slopes
which lead from the low valley of the Amazon to the plateau of the
874 The International Geography
" Brazilian Island," and the whole western part of the latter, with a mean
altitude of 3,000 feet. It occupies nearly one-half of the total width of Brazil,
from Bolivia to the river Araguaya, and more than one-half of its length,
from the middle Tapajoz and Xingu to the middle Parana at the republic
of Paraguay. This State is almost without inhabitants, and much of it is
still unexplored. The capital, Ctiyabd, and some few settlements, are on the
rivers of the Paraguay hydrographic system, therefore the principal com-
mercial outlet is naturally towards the Plata. The State of (4) Goyaz
is almost exclusively formed by the great valleys of the rivers Tocantins
and Araguaya, south of their confluence, stretching for 15° of latitude from
north to south through the water-parting {Verteutes) in the Santa Martha
and Pyrenee ranges (which reach 4,500 feet), down to the northernmost
branch of the hydrographic system of the Parana. Goyaz is not so devoid
of population as Matto Grosso. The capital, Goyaz (formerly Villa Boa),
is very remotely situated in the central region whence the waters flow
to the Amazon and to the Plata.
North-Eastern Littoral States. — In the extreme north-east the
Parnahiba, which carries the greatest volume of water of any river between
the valleys of the Sao Francisco and the Tocantins, forms the eastern
border of the State of (5) Maranhao, the littoral of which is a continua-
tion of the Amazon forest zone. The higher lands form savannas, with an
average height of 800 feet, which are continuous on the west with those of
Para. The capital, Sao Luiz, is on an island in Sao Marcos Bay, at the
common mouth of numerous rivers which drain the whole State from south
to north, and form, on approaching the sea, a large, low and swampy
region, edged by many small islands. The eastern half of the basin of the
Parnahiba forms the State of (6) Piauhi, which has a coast-line of only
eighteen miles, scarcely more than part of the mouth of the river, but expands
broadly to 380 miles towards the south. It is covered with forests in the
lowlands and with shrubby catingas on the higher lands ; and is only
thinly peopled. Therezina, the capital, was established far inland where
the Poti, the most important tributary, coming from the north-east enters
the Parnahiba. The State of (7) Ceara, on the east, occupies the basin of
the Jaguaribe, and has a long coast-line on the Atlantic with few harbours.
At Foi'taJcza (or Ceara), the capital, cargo has to be landed in surf-boats on
the beach. The State of (8) Rio Grande do Norte in the north-eastern
angle of Brazil includes Gape Sao Roque, and occupies the valley of the
lower Piranhas and other streams. Its capital is the small port of Natal.
The State of (9) Parahiba do Norte follows to the south, occupying the
valleys of the upper Piranhas, Parahiba and other streams. The three
States last named are alike in sharing a low forest-clad coastal plain which
rises to a mountainous region of savanna character where they meet on
the watershed in the interior. The important State of (10) Pernambuco,
with over a million inhabitants, covers the space between the eastern
curve of the Sao Francisco and the north-eastern highlands of Brazil.
Brazil 875
Its capital, Pernambuco or Recife (named from the reef which guards its
harbour), in front of Olinda, at the mouth of the Capiberibe, is a sea-
port doing a large trade, and the centre from which a fairly complete
railway system penetrates the State and brings down the produce of
numerous rich plantations of sugar and cotton. The interior land is
formed by savannas, with a mean elevation of between 1,500 and 2,000 feet,
but tropical forests clothe the eastern slopes. The island of Fernando de
Noronha, which lies 340 miles off the coast to the north-east, and is used
as a convict station, is officially a part of this State. The last two littoral
States of the north-eastern group are very small and lie one on either side
of the lower Sao Francisco. They are (11) Alagoas on the north, and
(12) Sergipe on the south, the smallest in all Brazil.
Central Eastern States.— In the very centre of the eastern zone of
the ''Brazilian Island," and both limited to the west by the elongated region
of Goyaz, the two great States of Bahia and Minas Geraes occupy succes-
sive sections of the wide valley of the Sao Francisco, and of the eastward
slope of its eastern watershed. The State of (13) Bahia may be divided
into two different regions — (a) the middle and northern part of the Sao
Francisco valley and {b) the valleys of the littoral rivers Itapicuru,
Paraguassu, Contas and Pardo. Its capital Sao Salvador da Bahia, or
simply Bahia, which was the first capital of colonial Brazil, lies on the
south-eastern side of the vast Bay of All Saints. It is the second harbour
of Brazil, and continues to be one of the most important towns, and the
residence of the Roman Catholic Primate. The lands around the bay,
enriched by the massape soil, are of extreme fertility and covered with
plantations of sugar-cane, tobacco and other products. The most
populous State in Brazil is (14) Minas Geraes, which Hes entirely inland,
and is penetrated only on its margins by railways from the seaports of Rio
de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It is formed of three different regions — (a) the
higher basin of the Sao Francisco and Parnahiba with its mountainous
borders rising to elevations of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet ; (6) the higher
valleys of the Jequitinhonha and Doce which rise in the Espinha^o and
flow eastward to the Atlantic ; and (c) the valleys of the higher Rio Grande-
Parana. This State is the richest part of Brazil as regards mineral
resources. Ouro Preto, which succeeded the old and rich centre of mining
Brazil, Villa Rica, is still its principal town ; but the official capital of the
State was recently removed to Bello Horizoute. Plantations in the south,
and cattle-breeding, have more recently acquired importance.
South-Eastern States. — The Httoral of Minas Geraes, between the
Serra do Mar and the sea, forms the small State of (15) Espirito Santo.
To the south of it follows the very small State of (16) Rio de Janeiro,
formed by the highest mountains of Brazil at an angle where the coast
turns from a southerly to a south-westerly trend. It is the most densely-
peopled of the Brazilian States, and the best served by railways. The
capital is Petropolis on the mountainous district. On the grand bay of Rio
57
876 The International Geography
Fig. 426.— The Bay 0/ Rio de
Janeiro.
de Janeiro, facing Nidheroy, is the largest city of Soutli America, Sao
Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, familiarly known as Rio. Surrounded by
the (17) Federal District under the direct
administration of the central national govern-
ment, it has been the capital of imperial and
is now that of republican Brazil as it was of
the old Portuguese colony. The city possesses
one of the finest botanic gardens in the world,
and an observatory. It is famous for its gar-
dens and tree-planted avenues, but is never-
theless unhealthy. As a harbour 'the bay of
Rio de Janeiro is only to be compared with
Port Jackson, which it surpasses in the gran-
deur of its mountain scenery. It is the
chief emporium of Brazil, carrying on a
great trade with all parts of the wo-rld.
South of Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro the long rectangle between
the Atlantic and the river Parana is divided by some of the affluents of the
latter into four parallel zones, forming as many States, which have a short
steep versant to the Atlantic, and slope gently inland to the great river.
The most northerly touching Minas Ger.:tes, Rio de Janeiro, and Matto
Grosso, and for the most part within the tropics, is the State of (18) Sao
Paulo. It consists of two parts — {a) the basin of the Parana between its
two branches Rio Grande and Paranapanema ; (6) part of the central
mountainous region where Mantiqueira reaches 5,462 feet, and of the
Serras do Mar and the adjacent littoral. Through the very centre of the
State flows the Tiete, carrying the collected waters to the Parana. The
population is concentrated in the east where the principal port is Santos.
The capital, Sao Paulo, in the interior, stands at an altitude of 2,390 feet.
Numerous islands lie along the coast. The State is one of the most enter-
prising and progressive in Brazil, with a great production of coffee, and
well served by railways in the eastern half. Italians preponderate now
amongst the immigrants.
Southern States. — South of Sao Paulo, between the Itarare-Parana-
panema and Rio Negro-Iguassu, is the State of (19) Parana. The
harbour of Paranagud is the chief commercial town, exporting the
products of the State, amongst which Yerba-mate (Paraguay tea) is im-
portant. The State of (20) Santa Catharina stretches from west to east,
between the rivers Iguassu and Uruguay, to the Argentine territory of
Missiones. The capital is Florianopolis {Desterro), on the island of Santa
Catharina. The chief resources of the State are plantation products in the
east, and cattle in the west. There are many groups of German and
Italian colonists. Last, between the river Uruguay and the republic of
that name, and forming the north part of a sort of peninsula between the
Pelotas-Uruguay-Plata and the sea, comes the most southerly State, which
Brazil
877
seems to be only attached to the rest of Brazil by the Serra do Mar as by
a narrow isthmus. This is (21) Rio Grande do Sul (or Sao Pedro do
Rio Grande do Sul), drained by the river Ibicui, which belc^ngs to the
Uruguay system, and by the Jacacahi-Jacuhi flowing to the great lake of
Patos, a littoral lagoon, at the northern end of which, Por/o Alegre, the
capital, is established. At the mouth of the lagoon, in the south, Rio Grande
do Sul is an important seaport. Another lagoon. Lake Mirim, also stretches
along the Atlantic. Like the other southern States it prospers by cattle-
raising on its extensive pastures. There are many German settlers.
STATISTICS.
1890.
Area of Brazil in square miles 3,209,878
Population of Brazil 14,332,530
Density of population per square niile 45
THE STATES OF BRAZIL IN 1890.1
State.
Amazonas
Matto Grosso
Para
Goyaz
Minas Geraes..
Maranhao
Bahia
Piauhi
Sao Paulo
Rio Grande do Sul . .
Parana
Pernambuco . .
Ceara
Parahyba
Santa Catharina
Rio de Janeiro
Alagoas
Rio Grande do Norte
Espirito Santo
Sergipe
Federal District
Area
in square miles
732,500
532,700
443,600
288,500
222,000
177,600
164,600
116,000
112,300
91,300
85,400
49,600
40,200
28,800
27,400
26.600
22,600
22,200
17,300
7,370
538
Population.
148,000
93,000
327,000
227,500
3,184,000
431,000
1,820,000
267,500
1,385,000
897,500
249,500
1,030,000
805,500
457,000
283,500
977,000
511.500
268,000
136,000
311,000
522,600
Density of
Population.
0-2
02
07
07
143
24
no
23
123
9-8
2-8
207
200
157
10-3
366
221
12-8
7-2
42-2
971-5
POPULATION OF THE CHIEF TOWNS.
Rio de Janeiro
Bahia
Pernambuco
Sao Paulo . .
Belem
Porto Alegre
Imports
Exports
Estimate 1883.
350.000
140,000
130,000
40,000
40,000
35,000
1892.
522,600
200,000
190,000
loo.ooqf
65,000
55,000
Parahiba
Maranhao
Ceara
Pelotas
Ouro Preto
Estimate 1883.
?
35.000
?
45,000
20,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
{Largely Estimates.)
1871-75- 1881-85.
19,000,000 .. 21,350,000
22,500,000 .. 23,200,000
1892.
40,000
38,000
35,000
30,000
22,000
1891-95-
30,000,000
35,500,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
A Journey in Brazil."
L. Agassiz. " A Journey in Brazil." London, 1868.
H. \V. Bates. "A Naturalist on the River Amazons " London, 2nd ed!t., 1892.
A. Russel Wallace. " Travels on the Amazon an 1 Rio Negro." London.
A. Moreira Pinto. " Chorographia do Brazil, Atlas-Texto." Paris, 1895.
E. Levasseur (and others). " Le Bresil." Paris, 1889.
E. Liais. " Climat. geologie, faune et botanique du Bresil." Paris, 1872.
J. P. Oliveira Martins. "O Brasil e asColontas Portuguesas." Lisbon, i838.
I A census was taken in 1900,
officially
but the results were considered fallacious and not accepted
CHAPTER XLVII.— NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA
I.— THE COLONIES OF GUIANA
By J. RoDWAY,
Georgetown, Demerara.
BRITISH GUIANA
Position and Surface. — British Guiana, the only British possession
on the South American continent, lies between Dutch Guiana and Vene-
zuela, from which latter its line of division was settled by a tribunal of
arbitration in 1899. From the river Corentyne, which divides it from
Dutch Guiana, to Point Playa, which was 4ixed as the northern boundary,
the coast-line extends to a length of about 250 miles; the depth of the
colony inland to the sources of
the Essequibo river is about 600
miles. The newly defined area
of British Guiana is shown un-
shaded in Fig. 427.
For fifty miles from its flat
alluvial shores the sea is dis-
coloured by the immense volume
of muddy water poured in by its
rivers. Hardly rising above high
water mark, the coast for about
twenty miles inland was once
nothing more than a mangrove
swamp in front and a sedgy morass
behind ; but this has been changed
to a great extent through the in-
genuity of the first possessors of
the colony, the Dutch, who, imi-
tating the dams and dykes of
their mother country, succeeded in empoldering the greater part of the
coast, and in laying out a line of sugar and cotton plantations. Cotton
has, however, long been abandoned, and sugar has probably seen its best
days ; nevertheless, this line of empoldered land, which rarely extends
beyond five miles from the shore, is virtually the only portion of the
colony under cultivation and almost the only part inhabited. Behind this
depth of alluvium come reefs of white quartz sand, the sea beaches of
some former age, and beyond these again a rocky, hilly country covered
878
Fig. 427. — Sonic of the boundaries suggested
between British Guiana and Venezuela,
British Guiana 879
with primeval forest, only in the far interior broken b}' open savannas on
a sandstone formation. The rocks belong to ancient igneous and sedi-
mentary formations, consisting mainly of granite, quartz, and red and
white clays, in which gold is found.
Rivers and Mountains. — The longest of the rivers is the Essequebo
which rises in the extreme south almost on the equator, and, including its
numerous windings, is over 600 miles long ; the Corentyne is about the
same length, the Berbice 400 miles, and the Demerara 250. Other rivers are
the Barima, Waini, and Pomeroon, besides which there are the two great
affluents of the Essequebo, the Cuyuni and Masaruni as well as hundreds
of smaller rivers generally called creeks. The Corentyne, Berbice,
Demerara, and Barima are navigable for over a hundred miles from their
mouths, but the Essequebo, Cuyuni, and Masaruni are obstructed by rapids
about fifty miles up. The joint estuary of the three last-named rivers,
which is about 20 miles broad, contains a large number of islands, the
largest of which are Wakenaam, Leguan, Hog Island, and TrooHe
Island.
There are three principal ranges of mountains in the west, the Acarai,
Pacarima or Humirida, and Canuku. The culminating point of the Paca-
rima is the famous Roraima, 8,740 feet in height, the upper portion of
which is an immense rock rising with precipitous sides about 1,500 feet
above the slope. Other mountains range from 3,000 to 4,000 feet
and those in the Pacarima, of sandstone formation, are exceedingly
picturesque from the weathering of the rocks, and the number of falls and
cataracts on the rivers.
Climate and Vegetation. — The climate, from the position of the
colony, 1° to 9° N., is naturally hot ; owing to the heavy rainfall, which
sometimes amounts to 140 inches in a year, it is moist, and in the forest
steamy. Nevertheless, as there is no appearance of aridity, and as on the
coast there are always sea breezes to moderate the temperature, the heat is
never unpleasant. The range of the thermometer is from 74° to 90° F.,
but it more commonly remains at 80° to 82°. Unlike the West Indian
Islands the colony is perfectly free from hurricanes and earthquakes.
The forests, which cover the greater portion of the interior, are
peculiarly interesting to the naturalist from the multiform character of the
vegetation, and the beauty and variety of the quadrupeds, birds and
insects. The most interesting of the higher animals are the tapir, the
cavies (allied to guinea-pigs), the ant bear, and the series of cats which
culminates in the jaguar or American tiger. Alligators and immense fish
swim in the rivers, and parrots, macaws, toucans and humming-birds
perch upon and hover about the trees. Epiphytal orchids and monster
creeping plants deck the branches, and on the river banks palms, tree
ferns, and aroids decorate the foreground. From the Berbice river the
huge Victoria Regia water-lily was first brought to Europe, to be after-
wards distributed over the whole civilised world.
88o The International Geography
People and History. — The inhabitants are varied in race as well as
nationality. The native Indians belong to several tribes ; some of them
live in much the sam^; condition as their forefathers did when America
was discovered. The Africans are represented by a few thousand rcul
Guinea negroes, and a hundred thousand born in the colony ; Asiatic
races are represented by almost as many East Indians (introduced to work
on the plantations), as there are negroes, and a number of Chinese ; while
the Europeans are mainly Portuguese and British.
The colony originally consisted of two settlements on the Essequebo
and Berbice rivers, founded early in the seventeenth century by the
Dutch, to which, in 1745, that on the Demerara was added as an offshoot
of the first. Essequebo and Demerara were for a long period under the
control of the Dutch West India Company, which also owned Berbice, but
having granted that river as a fief to another mercantile company it was
quite independent. The settlements suffered much at different times fro-m
privateers, and in 1781 they fell into the hands of the British, to be recap-
tured, however, the following year by the French
allies of the Dutch. They were again captured by the
British in 1796, given up at the Peace of Amiens in
1832, and a third time captured a few months later in
1^03, to be finally ceded to the British at the Peace
of 1815. The colony, which was first called British
Guiana on the union with Berbice in 1831, is adminis-
FiG. 428.— The Badge tered by a Governor and Executive Council nomin-
0/ British Guiana. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ g^^^j^j^ Colonial Office ; there is a legislative
body of eight officials and eight electives called the Court of Policy to
which is adjoined to vote supplies an elected body called Financial
Representatives.
Commerce and Towns. — The most important industry is the grow-
ing and manufacture of sugar and its by-products, rum and molasses.
The annual export of sugar in 1896-97 was a trifle over ico,ooo tons.
There has been a considerable reduction (about 30,000 tons) in the exports
during the last few years, which, together with the great lowering of value,
has caused much depression in the colony. Gold washing first became
one of the industries of the colony about 1880, and the exports of 1897
were valued at over £400,000, but it has undergone no expansion since.
Gold mining has been attempted, but hitherto without much success. It
appears that -two zones of gold-bearing strata extend in the west of the
colony from Venezuelan to Brazilian Guiana ; in some places the
"pay-dirt" is very rich, but on account of the long journeys in open
boats, the danger of the rapids, and the drenching rains and floods, the
diggings have not been fully developed.
Communication along the coast and for short distances up the principal
rivers is carried on by a line of steamers ; there are good roads in the
inhabited districts and two short railways. It is intended to run railways
British Guiana 88 1
along the whole coast line to connect with that on the east coast, and some
of these extensions have already been commenced.
The colony is divided into three counties which correspond with the old.
settlements — Essequebo, Demerara, and Berbice, and retain these names.
Demerara, being the most important, has long been used as a general
name for the whole colony, c.i^., Demerara sugar, which is not simply
the product of one county, but of all three. A portion of Essequebo
known as the North-West District, lay within the ^ territory disputed
by Venezuela, and is under separate jurisdiction. Georgetown, Demerara,
the capital of the whole colony, is situated on the right bank of the
Demerara at its mouth, with a second frontage on the sea, where it is
secured from inundations by a stone wall over a mile long. Like the other
parts of the coast it is below high-water mark, and has to be drained by
canals with sluices, which are opened at low water, and by steam pumps.
Notwithstanding its flatness, the city is made beautiful by the number of
palms and other trees planted in its streets and gardens, in fact when seen
from the lighthouse it looks as if embosomed in a wood. The chief town
of Berbice is New Amsierdam ; in Essequebo is the small town of Batiica,
a point of departure for the gold diggings, and there is the nucleus of
a town in the North-West District called Morawhanna. Villages are.
numerous along the coast, where they generally alternate with the
plantations.
British Guiana has been called a magnificent province. Although
almost as large as the United Kingdom, hardly one-hundredth part of its
area has been touched, and not one-tenth of the fertile alluvium is in cul-
tivation. Enough sugar to supply the mother country could be easily
grown ; cotton, coffee, cacao, rice and tropical fruits also flourish to per-
fection. With all these advantages the colony is virtually at a standstill,
mainly on account of the bounty system on beet sugar practised by the
continental countries of Europe.
STATISTICS.
1881. 1891.
Area of British Guiana, square miles 109,000 .. 109,000
Population „ 252,186 . . 278,328
Density of population per square mile 2-3 . . 2-5
Population of Georgetown , 47,i75 •• 53.176
f, New Amsterdam 8,124 •• 8,903
COMPOSITION OF POPULATION IN 1891.
{Native Indians excepted.)
British and
Negro and coloured. East Indians. Portuguese. other Europeans. Chinese-
144,617 .. 105,463 •• 12,166 ,. 4,558 .. 3,714
ANNUAL TRADE {in dollars).
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Exports 12,500,000 .. 13.000,000 .. 11,000,000
Imports .. .. 9500,000 .. 9,500,000 .. 8,500,000
882 The International Geography
DUTCH GUIANA
Position and Surface.— Dutch Guiana, known also as Surinam, is
separated from the British colony by the river Corentyne, and from the
French by the Marowyne. The coast-line is about 240 miles long, and the
colony extends to about the same distance inland. What has been said
of the physical geography of British Guiana applies also to the sister
colony, for the geological formations, the forests, the climate, and rainfall
of the whole country are identical. The principal rivers, besides those
which form the boundaries, are the Suriname, Saramacca and Coppename.
The few white inhabitants are mainly Dutch, and speak the language
of their country ; the native Indians, who number about 12,000, are in a
similar condition to those of British Guiana, and the negroes generally
speak a jargon compounded of English, Dutch and African dialects,
called talkee-talkec: Perhaps the most interesting people in the colony are
the " bush niggers," descended from runaway slaves, who gave the
colonists so much trouble in the latter half of the eighteenth century that
the government was compelled to make treaties with them and give them
large subsidies. Living in the forest, like tne Indians, these people are
savages of quite a different type, and are curious examples of the effect of
a new environment on the uncivilised negro race.
History and Trade. — The colony was originally founded by Lord
Willoughby, the British Governor of Barbados, in 1650, and was ceded
to the Dutch in 1667 in exchange for what is now New York. Like the
neighbouring colonies it suffered on several occasions from the raids of
French privateers, and was captured by the British at the same time as
its neighbour, but it may be stated that it was never so prosperous as
when under British rule during the Napoleonic wars, and may now be con-
sidered much less prosperous than British Guiana, notwithstanding the de-
pression of the latter. This is shown by the fact that the colony is subsidised
by the mother country. It is administered by a Governor and Council.
The main product of the colony was originally sugar, but this has
largely gone out of cultivation, to be partly replaced by cacao, coffee, and
bananas. Balata, a kind of gutta percha, is largely exported, also timber
and gold, of which last the production in 1899 exceeded ;^ioo,ooo. There
are no local steamers, no railways, and the roads along the coast are not
continuous. The capital is Paramaribo, conveniently situated at the
junction of the Suriname and Commewine rivers, ten miles from the sea-
STATISTICS.
Area of Dutch Guiana (square miles) 46,060
Population of „ (1896) o2,499
Density of population per square mile ^3
Population of Paramaribo (1896) 29,201
ANNUAL TRADE {in founds sterling).
1895.
Imports 460.000
Exports .. .. .. ,. ., ,. .. 430,000
French Guiana 883
FRENCH GUIANA
French Guiana, generally called Cayenne, is separated from the
Dutch colony by the river Marovvyne or Maroni, and from Brazil by the
Oyapok. It has followed, therefore, that the contested territory between
these rivers has, by agreement, been left as a neutral district until the matter
is settled by arbitration, which it is understood will soon be done. Unlike
the other colonies French Guiana has elevated land near the shore, and there
are several rocky islands off the coast, but otherwise the geological formation
is similar. The principal rivers are the Mana, Sinnamarie, Approuague, and
Oyapok. Settlements were first made here by the British in the early part
of the seventeenth century ; French settlers were in the Sinnamarie in
1624, and in Cayenne in 1627, but it was not until after several failures
that the present colony was established in 1664. Several unsuccessful
attempts were made to establish settlements of Europeans during the
eighteenth century, and ultimately, since the time of the Revolution when
it was first used as a penal estabUshment, it has gained a bad name.
Nevertheless it has all the capabilities of the other Guianas, and could be
developed with advantage. The colony is administered by a Governor
and sends one Deputy to the French National Assembly. There are but
few plantations, and on these cacao is grow^n ; the other products are gold,
balata, phosphates from the islands, and anatto. Latterly the gold export
has been very considerable, both from diggings, some across the Brazilian
frontier, and from dredging in the river Sinnamarie.
The capital, St. Louis, is well situated on what is called the island of
Cayenne, which, however, is only separated from the mainland by the
bi'tinrhing of two rivers. The population of the town is increasing from
the development of gold-mining.
STATISTICS.
1877. 1895.
Vrea 0/ French Guiana (square miles) 31,000 .. 31,000
Population of „ 23,663 . . 22,714
St. Louis (1895) 11,000 .. 12,351
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1889. 1895.
Exports 170,000 .. 374,400
Imports 360,000 . . 457,500
STANDARD BOOKS.
E. F. im Thurn. " Among the Indians of Guiana." London, 1883.
[. Rodway. " In the Guiana Forest." London, 1895.
" Handbook of British Guiana." Georgetown, 1893.
J. Strickland. " Documents and Maps of the Boundary Question between Venezuela
and British Guiana." London, 1896.
Sir Robert H. Schomburgk. "Description of British Guiana." London, 1840.
Richard Schomburgk. " Reisen in Britisch-Guiana in 1840-44." 3 vols. Leipzig,
1847-48.
H. A. Coudreau. " Dix ans de Guyane." Paris, 1892.
• " Chez nos Indiens— Quatre ans dans la Guyane Fran^aise." Paris
1893.
58
884 The International Geography
II. — VENEZUELA
By Dr. W. Sievers,
Professor of Geography in the University of Giessen.
Position and Natural Divisions. — Venezuela occupies the north
of South America from the Gulf of Maracaibo, where it borders on the
republic of Colombia on the west, to the Guiana plateau, where it meets
British Guiana on the east. Southward it is bounded by Brazil. It is
naturally divided into three parts : the highlands of Guiana, the great plains
or Llanos, and the high mountain systems of the Cordilleran and the
Caribbean Ranges in the north.
Venezuelan Guiana. — Very little is yet known of the interior of
Guiana. It is generally supposed to be a system of crystalline mountains
covered with enormous masses of Cretaceous sandstone. The sandstone
masses form the highest summits in the east (Mt. Roraima, 8,530 feet), while
overlying Cretaceous strata do not seem to exist in the west, the Sierra
Maraguaca and Cerro Duida (each 8,200 feet) being apparently composed
of granitic and gneissose rocks only. Towards fhe north the height of the
Guiana mountains decreases considerably, and only monotonous hills of
about 1,500 feet reach the Orinoco. The hills of inner Guiana are inter-
spersed with luxuriant savannas, which are covered with grass more than
ten feet high, and numerous shrubs, bushes, and herbaceous plants, remark-
able for the extraordinary splendour of their blossoms. The inner parts of
Guiana are pathless, and nearly inapproachable, owing chieily to the
numerous cataracts and rapids on the rivers. The west and north of
Guiana is encircled by the Orinoco, the third in size of the great indepen-
dent rivers of South America. Its sources lie in 2h° N. in the Sierra
Parima ; in its upper course the banks are grown with dense woods, but
there are hardly any human inhabitants or animal life. After passing
Esmeralda, the Casiquiare branch leaves the main river and flows to the
Rio Negro ; the tributaries Ventuari on the right, Atabapo, Inirida, and
Vichada are received on the left, and the Orinoco leaves the woods near the
mouth of the river Zama. It then breaks through the crystalline rock
border of Guiana with the vast rapids of Maypures and Atures, receives
the rivers Meta and Arauca on the left, and, increasing rapidly in breadth,
turns towards the east even before receiving the Apure from the west. In
its course to the sea the Orinoco seems to follow the northern slopes of the
Guiana plateau, but in fact the channel is cut deeply into them ; and various
narrows {angosiiims)2iTe produced, the most famous one at Ciudad Bolivar.
Near Barrancas the river begins to form its denselv wooded delta of about
the area of Wales.
The great gold mines of Callao, in the Yuruari territory, which produced
nearly a million pounds sterling in 1884, have declined since 1887, and now
yield only one-fifth of that amount. Forest produce is also collected and
Venezuela 885
exported. The only town is Ctudad Bolivar on the Orinoco, a river which is
by no means the great artery of commerce it ought to be.
The Llanos. — In the west and north the Orinoco is surrounded by the
llanos, extensive plains insensibly sloping down from 800 feet in altitude
to the river. They are composed of detritus, gravels, sands, clay and fer-
ruginous breccias, resulting from the denudation of the neighbouring
mountain chains, and probably overlying Tertiary marine strata. The
monotonous plains are cut by the rivers into portions called mesas, remark-
able for dryness in comparison with the humid ground of the actual
valleys. In the west, especially near the Cordillera, the plain produces exten-
sive primeval forests or selvas, while in the State of Bermudez, between
Maturin and Ciudad Bolivar, there is a typical desert, with drifts of sand
and barren hills. The palma moriche {^Mauriiia flexiiosd) borders the
rivulets on the mesas in double rows, while groups of trees appear where-
ever subterraneous water exists. The scenery of the llanos therefore
frequently resembles that of an English park. The principal river is the
Apure ; but the hydrographic axis is formed by the Cojedes and Portu-
guesa with the lower Apure into which they flow.
Most of the rivers of the llanos converge to this line,
which leads backward to the division between the
Cordillera and the Caribbean Mountains. The Unare
river is the only one whose valley penetrates deeply
into the llanos from the sea, while in the east all the
rivers flow eastward to the Orinoco delta and the
Gulf of Paria.
Fig. 429. — Average pop-
The llaneros, or people of the llano, live chiefly ulation of a square
by cattle-breeding, which is almost their only occu- ""'^ ^/ Venezuela.
pation, agriculture supplying only the barest necessaries of life. The
settlements consequently are 3'ards for cattle {hatos), taverns (pulpcrias),
and small villages ; larger villages and towns are very rare in the interior
of the llanos, but on the northern border there are many. The principal
river ports, San Fernando dc Apure and Nutrias, export live stock and
produce derived from them.
The Northern Mountains. — The mountainous country of the north
consists of two principal sections — the Cordillera of Merida, with the
mountain systems of Coro and Barquisimeto, in the west ; and the Caribbean
system, or the Venezuelan Coast Ranges, on the east. These chains are
almost entirely interrupted at two points : in the continuation of the
Cojedes-Portuguesa line between the Cordillera and the Caribbean system,
in the west, where the elevation of the watershed is only 1,150 feet ; and
again on the coast between Cabo Codera and Cumand, where the Gulf
of Barcelona invades a breach in the northern chain. A third breach
separates the island of Trinidad from the mainland.
The Cordillera of Merida is a great folded chain, 15,400 feet in
maximum altitude, with an Archaean crystalline zone in the centre, and two
886 The International Geography
sedimentary flanking zones of Cretaceous sandstones and limestones. The
Cordillera, a continuation of the Colombian Cordillera of Bogota, is free from
all volcanic rocks ; the five highest summits of the most elevated mountain
ridge, the Sierra Nevada de Merida, are covered with perpetual snow. The
most important rivers are the Chama in the middle (on which Menda
stands), the Motatan in the east (Trujillo) and the Torbes in the west
(Tachira). Vast forests cover the northern and southern slopes of the
Cordillera up to 10,000 feet ; higher up are alpine pastures, and the inhos-
pitable paramos, and below 5,000 feet plantations, chiefly of coffee, sugar-
cane, bananas, even of cacao, and fields of wheat and maize. Up to 8,000
feet beans, peas, potatoes and barley can be cultivated.
The population of the Cordillera contains more Indians and fewer
negroes than any other district of Venezuela ; the former live chiefly in the
highest, the latter in the lowest parts of the mountains, the white people
occupying the intermediate zone. The exports, consisting especiially of
coffee and cacao, pass through the two principal commercial towns of San
Cristobal and Valera to MaracAibo ; the railwa3's employed are that from Ci'icuta
to Puerto Villamizar in Colombia, and that from Valera to La Ceiba; the
middle section from Merida has a tolerable outlet by means of the Santa
Barbara railway.
The Northern Lowlands. — The lowlands to the north of the
Cordillera form an enormous alluvial region, built up by the rivers which
carry the detritus from the surrounding mountains into the depressed area
between the Cordillera de Merida and the Sierra de Perija occupied by the
Lake of Maracaibo, which is decreasing in area as its margin is being-
silted up. The shallow, brackish lake is closed by a bar, which prevents
the entrance of large vessels, nevertheless Maracaibo, as the capital of the
State of Zulia, and principal port for the Cordillera de Merida and the
adjacent parts of Colombia, has grown to be a considerable town. The
bar separates the Lake of Maracaibo from the Gulf of Venezuela, which is
surrounded by the peninsula of Guajira in the west, and by the coast of
Coro and the peninsula of Paraguana on the east. Both these peninsulas
are built up of eruptive rocks and Tertiary strata ; they are dry and
almost waterless, but have a numerous population. The Guajira aboriginal
tribe have never been subjugated ; the Coro side is occupied by cattle-
breeding Venezuelans.
The Coro Range. — The Cretaceous mountain system of Coro rises
in its two principal chains to less than 5,000 feet. Between these chains a
broad Tertiary plain of about 1,200 to 1,500 feet in elevation is traversed by
the longest stream of western Venezuela, the Rio Tocuyo. Coro, or the
State of Falcon, is divided into two quite dissimilar parts, the western as
far as 69^° W. is covered with cactus, thorn-bushes, shrubs and dry woods,
rain being rare, and water scarce ; agriculture, therefore, is little developed.
The old town of Coro, founded in 1527, is in this district. The coast of
the eastern part is fringed by coral reefs and mangrove woods, and unlike
Venezuela
887
western Coro, it suffers from immoderate rainfall, leading to inundations
which discourage agriculture. Tucacas, the principal port of eastern Coro, is
thriving, being connected by railway with the copper mines of Aroa and
the capital of the State of Lara, Barquisimeto. The State of Lara, lying
between the Cordillera, the Coro mountains, and the Caribbean ranges,
resembles Coro in cUmate and vegetation. Its western part does not
exceed 2,600 feet in elevation, is dry, and in the main waterless, although
the river Tocuyo passes through it ; the east, Yaracui, is a fresh, humid,
wooded land, with large plantations of coffee and cacao trees.
The Caribbean Range. — The Caribbean system of mountains is
separated by the depression of Barcelona into a western and an eastern
section of similar structure. Both are composed of crystalhne schists in
two parallel eastward running chains, between which lies a hollow con-
taining in the west numerous dry
4p?
LA CUAIRA
Heights in feet
Fig. 430. — The Railway from La Giiaira to
Caracas.
ancient lake beds, and one, the
lake of Valencia, still filled with
water. In the east, besides the
Gulf of Cariaco, a great shallow
lagoon and swampy lands separate
the two chains. In both sections
the northern chain forms the
rugged coast of the actual ocean,
the southern the former coast of
the Tertiary Llanos Sea ; but in
the west the northern chain is the
higher (Naiguata reaches 9,127
feet, and Silla de Caracas 8,743
feet), while in the east the southern
chain is the higher, with Turumiquire 6,562 feet. The eastern and western
sections of the chain present many minor differences in geological and
orographical structure, and they also differ in vegetation. In the east,
forests are found only up to 2,600 feet, the higher parts being grassy
pasture grounds, while the western part is richer in wood, and far better
cultivated.
The two principal towns of the republic, Caracas and Valencia,
lie in the midst of the richest and most cultivated coffee regions of Vene-
zuela, and so do many important provincial towns. The two chief ports.
La Guaira (with Maiquetia) and Puerto Cabello, are connected by railway
with Caracas and Valencia. Between the small port of Carenero at the
beginning of the railway to the cacao centre of Rio Chico and Barcelona,
the coast is a level shore without any important anchorage or settlement.
Guanta, the best port of the east, is still almost tradeless, although
it is connected by railway with Barcelona, the capital of the State« of
Bermudez, and the Cretaceous coal mines of Naricual. The trade of Cum-
and, one of the oldest towns in America, is larger, but it has no railway con-
888 The International Geography
nections ; the principal road of the east of Venezuela leads from it through
the dry and woodless mountains to Maiurin. Cariipano, a mediocre port at
the" foot of the northern chain, exports cacao, the most important produce
of the humid country near the canyons of the Gulf of Paria. Margarita, a
double-topped island, composed of Archaean schists, is the highest (4,450
feet) of the coast islands, and is densely peopled, while the other small
islands off the coast, forming the territory of Colon, have few inliabitants.
Government. — The United States of Vene-
zuela are politically divided into nine States, five
territories, and a federal district, Caracas and
surroundings, with a constitution similar to that
of the United States of America. The language
of the country is Spanish, and the Roman Catho-
lic religion prevails. The southern boundary is
still unsettled. Coffee is the chief export of
Venezuela, and is sent mainly to France,
Fig. 431. — The Venezuelan
Flag.
Germany, the United States, and Italy.
STATISTICS.
1881.
Area of Venezuela (square miles) 594,000
Population of Venezuela 2,0^S,2AS
Density of Population per square mile 3
Population of Caracas
„ Valencia
„ Maracaibo \\
„ Ciudad Bolivar \\
„ Barquisimeto * *.
Exports average ;£4,ooo,ooo annually ; there are no recent statistics for im
1891.
594.000
2,323,527
4
72,429
27,538
29,180
12.877
9,093
ports.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF VENEZUELA IN 1891.
States.
Name.
Los Andes (Cordillera)
Bolivar (Guiana)
Bermudez (Oriente) . .
Carabobo (Valencia) . .
Falcon (Coro)
Lara (Barquisimeto) ..
Miranda (formerly Guzman
Bianco)
Zamora (Western Llanos)
Zulia (Maracaibo)
Area sq.
Popula-
miles.
tion.
14,700
336.146
88,700
56,289
32,000
300,597
3,000
198,021
10,000
139,110
9,300
246,760
34-®oo
484.509
25.000
246,676
26,000
85.456
Territories.
Name. miles,
Distrito Federal (with Caracas) 45
Amazonas (Alto Orinoco) . . 200,000
Guajira . . . . . . 3,600
Yuruari 81,000
Delta (of the Orinoco) . . 25,000
Colon (Outer Islands) . . 166
Areasq. Popula-
tion.
80,133
45 197
65,990
22,392
7,222
129
STANDARD BOOKS.
W.Sievers. "Venezuela, mit einer Karte der Venezolanischen Cordillere." Hambur|i
i888. ~
" Zweite Reise in Venezuela in den Jahren, 1892-93." Hamburg, 1896.
G. Orsi de Mombello. " Venezuela y sus Riquezas." Caracas, 1890.
BOOK VI.— AFRICA
CHAPTER XLVIII.— THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA
By Edward Heawood, M.A.
Librarian to the Royal Geographical Society.
Position and Coasts. — Joined at its north-eastern corner to Asia by
the Isthmus of Suez/ Africa forms a vast peninsula, of remarkably regular
outline, stretching to the south-west of the great land mass of the Old
World, and balancing, so to speak, the great island of Australia lying to
the south-east. On its northern and north-eastern sides it faces, across
comparatively narrow seas, portions of Europe and Asia respectively, while
on all other sides it falls rapidly beneath the surface of the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans. As is the case with South America the main mass of the
continent runs from north to south, crossing the Equator near the middle
of its length, and gradually tapering southwards. In its northern half,
however, it has an important westerly extension forming a rounded limb
which almost rivals in area the main southward-pointing portion, while on
the opposite side a smaller, more tapering mass runs eastward in the shape
of a blunted horn. The distance between the extremities of these two
projecting segments is little less than the whole length of the continent
from north to south. Lastly, in the north-west a narrow rectangular block
projects somewhat beyond the general line of the northern coast, forming
near its western end the nearest approach — at the Strait of Gibraltar — to
the neighbouring continent of Europe.
Apart from these irregularities, the outHne of Africa is remarkably
uniform. There are no deep gulfs running into the land and consequently
no well-marked peninsulas. Between the western and southern limbs
runs the wide Gulf of Guinea, divided near its apex into ' two rounded
bights, while on the north coast a shallow indentation forms the Great and
Little Syrtes (Gulfs of Sidra and Gabes). Elsewhere the coast runs in
gradual curves, broken on a minor scale only by inlets or projecting head-
lands. This uniformity is further seen in the absence of important islands.
The one large African island — Madagascar — is separated from the conti-
nent by a channel far deeper than the Red Sea which separates Africa
from Asia, and more continuously deep than the Mediterranean, the
I The Suez Canal, sometimes said to make an island of Africa, is such a mere surface
scratch that it may be disregarded in considering the natural relations of the continents
to one another.
880
890 The International Geography
dividing sea on the side of Europe ; so that it stands in no close relation
to the main continental mass. The islands which lie off the coasts are all
of small size, and none of any importance occur round the whole southern
coasts for a distance of 4,000 miles.
Relief. — A general sameness is also noticeable in the relief of the
continent. Folding and crumpling of the surface strata seem to have
played a much less important part in Africa than in other continents, and
in consequence there is a marked absence of mountain ranges, as dis-
tinguished from irregular groups of mountains or isolated peaks. The
typical form of surface is that of elevated plateaux, from the surface of
which higher ridges or summits often rise abruptly. These plateau lands
fill up the great bulk of the continent, their outer slopes or terraces
occurring everywhere comparatively close to the sea and nowhere leaving
room for extensive low plains. The
highest ridges occur as a rule near
the outer edge of the plateau, and
round the outer escarpments there
is generally a narrow fringe of low-
land, but in places the highlands
rise almost directly from the sea.
In elevation there is an important
distinction between the plateaux of
the northern and southern halves
of Africa, those of the north being,
on the whole, far lower than those
of the south. Drawing a curved
line from the coast of the Red Sea
in the east to the head of the Gulf
of Guinea in the west, we may say
Fig. 432.-7/16 CovM^iration of Africa that whereas land over 2,000 feet
above the sea is the exception to the north, to the south it is the exception
to find land below that elevation except close to the coasts.
In spite of the lower average elevation of North Africa, it contains the
Atlas, the one important mountain range. It runs parallel to the most
projecting part of the northern coast, rising in its most pronounced,
western, half to a height of 14,000 feet and more. Owing to its direction
it does not help to form any well-marked peninsula such as that of Italy
on the opposite side of the Mediterranean, though as it plunges below the sea
to the east it forms, for Africa, an unusually prominent angle of the coast.
To the south the Atlas falls suddenly, and near its eastern end there is a
depressed area actually below sea-level ; the range is therefore quite
unconnected with any of the other highlands of North Africa. These
occur chiefly in three lines with broad expanses of lower country between
them. One runs nearly north and south along the western shore of the
Red Sea; a second runs from north-west to south-east across the very
y iP 9 M>
Africa 891
centre of northern Africa ; while the third — wider but somewhat lower
than the two first — forms a strip of plateau parallel to the northern shore
of the Gulf of Guinea. The intermediate areas probably nowhere rise to
a height of 2,000 feet except in isolated groups of peaks.
In the southern half of Africa the greater part of the plateau rises to an
average elevation of little less than 4,000 feet. One noteworthy break in
this uniform high level occurs in the western half, where, on either side
of the Equator, there extends a vast circular basin, bounded on all sides
by higher ground, which seems to represent the bed of an ancient inland
sea. Abreast of this to the east a band of very high ground, continuous
with the eastern line of northern Africa, runs from north to south, attaining
its greatest average elevation in Abyssinia, and forming the most important
highlands of all Africa. It is marked, towards the south, by the presence
of a number of lakes of very large size, many of which occupy portions of
two vast furrows also running mainly north and south and forming one
of the most striking features in African geography. They seem to be due
to gigantic cracks or rifts in the Earth's crust, which have resulted in two
long lines of subsidence. Other evidences of subterranean disturbance
are present in the form of old volcanic cones, some of which, Kilimanjaro,
Kenya, and Ruwenzori, rise to heights of 17,000 to 19,000 feet, and are the
highest summits of all Africa. From the floor of the western furrow rises
a still partially active volcano (Kirunga), remarkable as occurring at a
distance of nearly 700 miles from the sea.
Though narrower and lower to the south, this eastern line of highlands
is continued in that direction to the extremity of the continent, forming
near its southern end the Drakensberg Range with peaks of 10,000 and
1 1,000 feet. A Hne of high ground accompanies the western coast also,
while the interior is filled by a plateau of somewhat lower elevation than
the bounding ranges, so that the whole of South Africa bears a general
resemblance to an inverted saucer.
Hydrography. — As the main lines of elevation run at no great
distance from the coasts, Africa has no central backbone dividing the
continent between eastward and westward flowing river systems. These
may rather be distinguished as flowing down the outer or the inner slopes
of the fringing highlands. Those which descend the outer slopes have of
course comparatively short courses, while the inward-flowing streams have
great distances to traverse before reaching the sea, and therefore form the
great river systems of the continent. As a rule they pierce the mountain
rim by narrow passages, during which their courses are much broken by
cataracts. As a continental water-parting the eastern line of highlands
plays the most important part, for from the north-east corner, where Africa
joins Asia, through about 43° of latitude, it gives no passage to a river, but
effectively separates the streams flowing to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans^
In about 12° S., however, the water-parting diverges to the west, crossing
the continent, and including within the basin of the Indian Ocean almost
8g2 The International Geography
the whole breadth of South Africa as far as 22° S., where it again strikes
across to the east.
Owing to the position of this water-parting, the largest river systems are
those which spring from its western rim, flowing west and north, and all
belonging to the Atlantic basin. The two largest are those of the Nile —
flowing from south to north but receiving its principal tributaries from the
main watershed to the east — and Congo, describing a vast bend to the
north and west and with its many important tributaries occupying the
circular hollow of the ancient inland sea. The drainage system of the
Niger, in the western limb of the continent, and therefore away from the
main watershed, is still within the Atlantic basin. It also forms a vast
curve, but the principal flow of its waters is towards the east and south,
or exactly the reverse of that of the Congo. With the exception of the
basin of the Orange in the south, the remaining Atlantic streams flow down
the outer continental slopes. The principal are the Senegal, Gambia and
Volta in the western limb, and the Ogowe, Kwanza and Kunene on the
western side of the southern limb. West of the great water-parting, and
therefore included within the Atlantic basin, there is a vast area of inland
drainage consisting of the central basin of Lake Chad, fed principally by
the Shari, and a still larger area in which any streams that exist are merely
temporary.
On the side towards the Indian Ocean the only great river system is
that of the Zambezi, enclosed within the westward curve of the main
divide. The greater part of it is on the central plateau, while all the other
streams flowing to the Indian Ocean — the Jub, Tana, Rufiji, Limpopo and
others — flow mainly down the outer plateau slopes and have a greater or
less importance according as these recede from or approach the sea.
Interpolated between the basins of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans,
along the broad uplands which form the continental divide in East Africa,
is a narrow region of inland drainage, the central furrow of which is
formed by the more easterly of the great lines of subsidence already
mentioned.
Geology.— The geology of Africa has not yet been fully investi-
gated, and even where the formations have been studied to some extent
it is often impossible to determine their age owing to the general
scarcity of fossils. A broad distinction may be drawn between the
Atlas range, with other parts of North Africa, and the rest of the
continent, inasmuch as ancient crystalline rocks are almost entirely
wanting in the former region, whilst elsewhere, and especially in the
inter-tropical zone, there seems to be a foundation of Archsean rocks,
which come to light especially along the axes of mountain ranges. These
old rocks consist of granite and of gneiss in East Africa, and schists and
other foliated rocks in West Africa. The chief sedimentary formations
which have been found to overlie these ancient rocks throughout the
greater part of Central and South Africa are of PaL-eozoic or early Mesozoic
Africa
893
age, the latter being particularly well represented in South Africa, where
the Karroo beds (Triassic) occupy a large area. Jurassic and Cretaceous
strata occur in parts of East Africa, and from the nature of its fauna it has
been thought that Lake Tanganyika is the remnant of a Jurassic sea which
stretched inland from the west. No Jurassic strata have, however, been
found in the intervening area. Horizontally bedded sandstone, mostly of
doubtful age, is common throughout Central Africa, while recent alluvium
covers the centre of the Congo basin, and shifting sands much of the desert
regions. In the East African highlands recent eruptive rocks have spread
over immense areas.
While, therefore, the later Secondary and Tertiary formations seem to
be but slightly developed in Central Africa, in the north they are well repre-
sented. In the Atlas, which forms, geologically, one of the best known
parts of Africa, the Cretaceous system occupies the widest extent of the
surface, in a series of beds comparable with those of Europe. It appears
also as a horizontal deposit over a broad region bordering on the Atlas to
the south and south-east, and a vast series of sandstones on the lower Nile
(known as the Nubian sandstone), is supposed to be of the same age.
Along the north-west coast, and in a few parts of the Atlas, Tertiary for-
mations, chiefly Miocene, occur, but these attain their maximum develop-
ment further east, the whole surface between the Gulf of Sidra and the
Isthmus of Suez consisting of Tertiary rocks.
^limate. — The uniformity characteristic of Africa is less marked in
the climate and productions, which neces-
sarily differ according to latitude ; but as
the equator cuts the continent almost at the
middle of its length, the climatic differences
are much less extreme than in other conti-
nents. This central position of the equator
results in a succession of climatic zones
stretching across the continent, those of the
north being reproduced in reverse order in
the south. The primary cause of variation
between the zones is of course the difference
in the amount of heat received from the Sun.
Both the northern and southern extremities
are fairly temperate regions, that to the
north being defined by the Atlas range, the
lands north of which, climatically as in other respects, rather resemble
southern Europe than the rest of Africa. Within the tropics the mean
annual temperature varies within comparatively small limits, though there
are differences in the distribution of temperature through the year. Near the
equator, and especially in the coast-lands and western basin, the climate is
generally equable, whilst elsewhere, especially in the elevated regions to
the east, there is a much greater difference between summer and winter.
Rain Records Imparttct
Fig. 433
Temperature and Rain-
fall of Tropical Africa.
894 The International Geography
and between day and night. The absolute extreme of temperature does
not occur on the equator but between the parallels of 10° and 20° N.,
where the average elevation is lower and the mass of land greater. Owing
to the altitude of much of the land within the equatorial zone, the climate
is often actually cool.
Far more important than differences of temperature is the variation in
amount and seasonal distribution of rainfall. Bordering on the north and
south temperate zones occur areas of minimum precipitation where desert
conditions prevail. Owing to the form of the continent the northern
desert zone, known as the Sahara, occupies an enormously greater area
than the southern, forming, in fact, the
largest continuous desert on the Earth's
surface. The Sahara forms part of the
great arid belt which stretches across the
Old World from north-eastern Asia to the
borders of the Atlantic Ocean. Virtually
forming part of the greatest land-mass on
the surface of the globe and thus little ex-
posed to the moderating influence of the
oceans, North Africa presents an example
of an extreme continental climate, with
great differences between the seasons. In
winter it forms an area of high pressure
and thus the winds blow outwards in all
directions, while in summer, although the
low pressure over the Sahara causes an
indraught of air from its circumference,
the intense heat constantly diminishes the
relative humidity of these air currents, and
they exercise a drying rather than a moisten-
ing influence. The southerly winds from
the direction of the equator do, it is true.
Fig. 43^.— Temperature and Raiufall bring a certain amount of moisture, but
of North and South Tropical Africa. ^^^ greater contrast in temperature be-
tween North Africa and the regions to the north causes the dry northerly
winds to predominate. By its position at the northern edge of the con-
tinent the Atlas range does its part in screening the desert from the action
of moisture-bearing winds, while the paucity of mountain ranges in the
centre of North Africa is a further reason for the small precipitation.
Where such exist, as, e.g., in the countries of Air and Tibesti, local rains of
some violence occur. Such rain-water soon sinks below the surface, often
travelling immense distances before coming to light again as springs, and
bringing fertility to isolated spots amid the barren wilderness, known as
oases.
Between the northern and southern desert regions the rainfall gradually
F° Jim (El M«a t» M
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"V,
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.-.,
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,'
rr;-
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^
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^
iM;
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r in.
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Al inCDRAl C
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Africa
895
increases in the direction of the equator, in the neighbourhood of which
the greatest rainfall occurs. But besides the variations of annual amount
there is an important difference in different latitudes in the seasonal dis-
tribution of the rainfall. At a distance from the equator all the rain falls
at one part of the year, the wet season commencing soon after the Sun
becomes vertical, and lasting for two or three months, while the rest of the
year is dry. But as we approach the equator, since the Sun is vertical
twice in the year, there are two rainy seasons separated by an interval of
dry weather, while near the equator itself rain falls more or less throughout
the year. Local differences of rainfall, apart from the influence of latitude,
of course occur, certain mountainous regions being especially rainy, while
tropical West Africa, on the borders of the Gulf of Guinea and in the
basin of the Congo, has a larger rainfall than the eastern part of the
continent between the same latitudes.
Flora.— The varying climatic conditions naturally exercise a most
important influence on the vege-
tation, and through it on the
animal life of the continent. The
northern temperate region has a
flora similar on the whole to that
of southern Europe, the forests
consisting largely of oaks, while
the olive, vine, fig, as well as the
cereals of Europe, thrive. Owing
to its isolation the southern tem-
perate region has a strongly marked
flora of its own, characterised es-
peciall}'- by the general brilliancy
of its flowering plants and the
abundance and variety of heaths.
Forests are not extensive, but much
of the surface supplies fodder for ^^g. 435—Vegetniwn of Africa.
cattle and sheep. The desert regions, as their name implies, are in many
parts — especially where the sand is piled up by the action of the wind into
dunes — almost entirely devoid of vegetation, and that which exists is stunted
and thorny, being differentiated so as to be specially adapted to the dry
climate. One of the most common bushes is the gum acacia. As a rule plants
grow in tufts with bare spaces between instead of forming a complete
covering of the surface. In the oases the date-palm, the characteristic tree
of the Sahara, forms dense groves. On the margin of the desert, proceeding
in the direction of the equator, the vegetation increases and a steppe-like
region ensues, still largely characterised by thorny acacias, while another
palm, the Dum or Hyplhrne, makes its appearance. The moister regions
of Central Africa fall broadly into two main divisions, the forest and
^avanna. Where an abundant and cvcnlv distributed ranifall is com-
Grass and CuUivatKi
land* viCtt-Crits
'"orestS
896 The International Geography
bined with an equable temperature a luxuriant forest growth is developed,
such being the case generally in the whole of the tropical coasts of West
Africa together with the lower parts of the Congo basin. Forests also
occur on the east coast and generally on the slopes of mountains exposed
to moist winds from the sea. The whole of the remainder of tropical
Africa forms the region of savannas, remarkably uniform in character,
and extending from the Senegal in the north-west to Abyssinia in the
north-east, and thence through East Africa round the western forest region
until it reaches the west coast again south of the Congo. Trees are usually
found along the courses of streams, where they form what are known as
" gallery forests," and are often dotted over the surface in groups, giving it
a park-like appearance.
The savanna regions are characterised especially by the occurrence of
the massive Baobab tree {Adansonia digitatd), and in the drier parts by the
curious candelabra-like Euphorbia. An immense variety of trees is found
in the western forest region, which is the special home of the wine and oil
palms {Rapliia vinifera and Elms guinecnsis). A special flora occurs on
many of the higher African mountains, which present a succession of
zones of vegetation varying with the altitude. Bamboos form regular
thickets above the true forest zone, whilst higher still occurs a peculiar
type of vegetation consisting largely of tree lobelias and a giant species of
Senecio. Lastly, a type of vegetation deserving mention is that growing by
the swampy margins of streams especially in the upper Nile and Congo
basins ; it is marked by the luxuriant growth of papyrus and other aquatic
plants.
Fauna. — The distribution of animal life upon the continent follows
very closely the broad subdivisions of the flora. The desert regions,
however, apart from the negative characteristic of scarcity of animals,
are less individualised in this respect, forming rather areas of transi-
tion between the regions on either side of them. The main dividing
line of the continent has, in fact, been drawn across the centre of the
Sahara at the Tropic of Cancer ; all to the south of this line makes up what
is known as the Ethiopian Region, while the smaller area to the north
has more in common with the countries north of the Mediterranean.
Especially characteristic of the Ethiopian Region is the abundance of
ungulates and carnivorous animals, the former including two families, the
hippopotami and giraffes, found nowhere else in the world. But the
family best represented is that of the antelopes, which occur in extra-
ordinary numbers, while the deer are almost entirely wanting. Four
species of rhinoceros represent a group common to Africa and south-
eastern Asia. The carnivores include the lion, leopard, several hyaenas,
the jackal, and a large number of civets and their allies, but the tiger, fox
and wolf are wanting. The African elephant was formerly found through-
out nearly the whole of the Ethiopian Region, but its range is now much
restricted owing to the persecution it has met with for the sake of its ivory.
Afi
rica
897
Monkeys, especially the baboons and their allies, are widely distributed,
the crocodile abounds in all the rivers, and snakes and other reptiles
are common everywhere. Birds are less varied than in some other parts of
the tropics, but a few striking forms occur, including the ostrich, the
largest existing species. Within the Ethiopian Region the savanna areas
with their abundant pasture, are fitted to be the home of large ruminants,
and of the carnivores which prey on them. The forests, on the other handy,
are little adapted to the life of large animals except the elephant, and in
some parts are strikingly devoid of animal life. They are, however, the
special home of the great man-like apes, which hardly extend at all
beyond the forest boundary. Thougli poor in wild animals the northern
deserts are pre-eminently the home of the camel, among domestic animals,
while all the drier parts are particularly suited to the ostrich.
People. — Four different races inhabit the African continent, the two
northern, Semitic and Hamitic,
belonging to the White type of
mankind and the two southern to
the Black type. The dividing line
between the dark and lighter races
cannot be drawn with any pre-
cision, as along the borderland
there is a large number of mixed
tribes w^hich cannot be placed in
either division. It occurs, broadly
speaking, near the southern edge
of the northern arid regions, which
are principally peopled with Se-
mites and Hamites ; the larger
part of the continent is thus occu-
pied by the black races, and of this
all but a small corner falls to the
Negro race, which preponderates
still more in point of numbers, as its habitat includes but a small area
of arid country. Its domain may be divided into two sections sepa-
rated by a line running roughly eastward from the head of the Gulf
of Guinea. Along the coasts of that gulf and eastwards towards the
centre of the continent the population is regarded as typically Negro, as
the broad, everted lips, projectmg jaws, and deep black skin characteristic
of that race, are there particularly marked. As this region has long been
know to the northerners as Beled-es-Sudan, or " Land of the Blacks," the
term Sudan Negroes has been applied to this branch. Although physically
alike, the Sudan Negroes speak a great variety of languages. The rest of
the Negro domain, occupying the greater part of the southern limb of the
continent, is peopled by tribes differing much in physical character, but
all speaking nearly allied languages, and on this account grouped together
Fig. 436. — Races of Mankind in Africa.
898 The International Geography
under the common designation "Bantu "(a corruption oi Abantu, "people
in the Zulu language). The Bantu are generally lighter in colour than
the Sudan Negroes, and many tribes show signs of admixture with
other races.
Only the extreme south-west parts are at present occupied by the other
dark-skinned race — that of the Hottentots and Bushmen, about whose
relationship considerable doubt exists. They differ from the Negroes
physically in their yellowish-brown colour, more prominent cheek-bones,
and certain other characters common to the two races, which are like-
wise connected by their languages, remarkable for their strange clicking
sounds. The most marked point of divergence is the taller stature of the
Hottentots, who seem, in some ways, to occupy an intermediate position
between Negroes and Bushmen. The latter are unusually small, and are
on this account sometimes grouped with other races of small stature
scattered throughout the more inaccessible parts of the Bantu domain
which may possibly represent an aboriginal population driven back before
more powerful intruding races.
The races of North Africa are much intermingled and no area of any
size can be laid down as exclusively the home of either. Their physical
differences too are not very pronounced, both Hamites and Semites
showing every variety of tint, while oval faces, aquiline noses, and
generally well-formed features may be seen in representatives of both
races. Whatever may have been their original home, the Hamites repre-
sent an earlier population than the Semites — many branches of whom
crossed over from south-western Asia within historic times. The ancient
Egyptians, of whom the Fellahin of the present day are thought to be the
descendants, seem to have belonged to the Hamitic stock, which includes,
besides, the Berbers of the Atlas region, the Tuareg of the central Sahara,
the Bisharin, or Beja, near the Red Sea coast, and the Gallas, Somalis, and
Masai in East Africa, while along the whole northern frontier of the Negro
domain a considerable mixture of Hamitic blood is to be traced. The
Semites include, besides the various Arab tribes of north and north-west
Africa, an important part of the inhabitants of Abyssinia, which was
invaded by the Himyarites of Arabia in very early times.
Social and Political Characters. — The occupations of the people,
although to some extent determined by the predisposition of the different
races, acquired perhaps in former habitats, are still more definitely con-
nected with the varying nature of the surface features. The Semites and
Hamites, inhabiting the dry regions of North Africa, are pre-eminently
pastoral, agriculture being practised to any large extent only in the Nile
valley, the Atlas region, and Abyssinia. Along the whole borderland
between the Hamites and Negroes the ruling class (Hamite) is devoted to
cattle-rearing, while the agricultural population (sometimes pure Negro)
forms a subordinate caste. The Negro race as a whole is agriculturist, and
t'r-Qughout the West African forest region where pasturage is scarce,
Africa 899
cattle-rearing is little practised. Yet certain tribes of the savanna region,
notably the Zulus and Kaffirs of the south-east, as well as the Dinkas and
others of the Upper Nile, practise it extensively in conjunction with
agriculture. The Hottentots, who inhabit the arid region of the south'
west, are again pre-eminently pastoral, while the Bushmen and other
tribes of small stature live chiefly by hunting.
The peoples of Africa are alike remarkable for the small amount
of political cohesion they exhibit, the few States of any importance which
have arisen since the time of the ancient Egyptians having been almost
entirely the result of external influence. The nomadic pastoral races of
the north dwell under the patriarchal rule universally associated with that
mode of life. Where agriculture can be practised, as in Abyssinia, politi-
cal organisation has proceeded further. The Negroes, on the other hand,
though agriculturists, show a marked incapacity for the establishment of
stable kingdoms, being split up into a great number of independent tribes,
ruled by petty chiefs, whose authority often extends over a few villages
only, and who live at constant feud with each other. The universal pre-
valence of polygamy, leading to intrigue among the families of the chiefs,
has tended to perpetuate this state of things, and still more the slave
trade, which has been the scourge of Africa for centuries, and which
encourages inter-tribal warfare for the supply of prisoners. The religion
of the Negroes is a compound of degrading superstitions, fetishism being
widely diffused, and this has done much to keep the race in a backward
state. Except in Abyssinia, where a debased form of Christianity prevails,
the Hamites and Semites are all adherents of Islam, which since its intro-
duction by the Arab invaders, has exercised a certain civilising influence,
and the few native States of any importance — on the Mediterranean
coast and among the mixed races south of the Sahara — may be as-
cribed to its agency. At the present day the southward advance of Islam
among the Negroes has an important bearing on the future of the
continent.
History. — Although North Africa, from its contiguity to the Mediter-
ranean, has from the earliest times participated in the life of the world at
large, the bulk of the continent, shut off on the north by the great Saharan
desert, and placed at a disadvantage on other sides by its massive form, its
want of navigable waterways, and its unhealthy coastlands which have
seen the rise of no powerful kingdoms and offered few inducements to
commercial activity, has, apart from a certain amount of intercourse
between its east coast and the south-west of Asia, remained entirely outside
the pale of civilisation. Such isolated episodes as the supposed journey
of the Nasamonian youths across the Sahara and the circumnavigation hv
the Phoenicians (related by Herodotus), or the voyage of Hanno, the Car-
thaginian, down the west coast, did but momentarily lift the veil of
obscurity, and though during the Roman epoch some light reached Europe
through the travels of merchants, the Nile expeditiQns initiated by Nero,
goo The International Geography
and the geographical investigations of Ptolemy of Alexandria, the Saracen
conquest of North Africa in the seventh and following centuries cut off
the rest of the continent from all intercourse with Europe, and for several
centuries the only additions to knowledge were supplied by the writings of
Arab historians, who left some record of the kingdoms founded by Arab
influence to the south of the Sahara. A new era dawned when, early in
the fifteenth century, Prince Henry of Portugal devoted himself to the
discovery of a sea route to the east round the African coasts, for his untiring
efforts, carried forward after his death by others, led to the rounding of
the Cape of Good Hope by Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, and the successful
voyage to India of Vasco da Gama in 1497-98. In course of time Portu-
guese settlements were formed both on the east and west coasts, and when
other European nations entered the field trading stations were estab-
lished by them on the coasts of Guinea and elsewhere, while in 1652
the Dutch occupied the site of Cape Town. At the opposite end of the
continent the Turks had established themselves along the Mediterranean
shores in the previous century. During the most flourishing days of
their rule the Portuguese penetrated some distance into the interior,
especially in Abyssinia, but it is uncertain how far their knowledge
extended. On the Senegal and Gambia, French and British adven-
turers attempted, without much success, to penetrate to the mysterious
city of Timbuktu.
The systematic exploration of the interior has, however, been almost
entirely the work of the past century. Between 1768 and 1772 James
Bruce made his celebrated journey to the source of the Blue Nile, but the
founding of the "African Association" in 1788 was the event from which
the modern period of exploration must be dated. The discovery of the
course and termination of the Niger — due chiefly to the journeys of Mungo
Park (1795-1805) and Lander (1830) — and the exploration of parts of the
Sahara and Sudan, with the discovery of Lake Chad — the work of Denham
and Clapperton (1822-27) — were the earliest fruits of the interest thus
aroused. The journeys of Laing (1825) and Caillie (1828) to Timbuktu also
deserve mention. In South-East Africa the Portuguese scientific explorer,
J. de Lacerda, made an important journey in 1798. In South Africa,
where the Dutch settlement finally passed into British hands in 1806, some
progress was also made, especially by the journeys of Dr. Andrew Smith
and Captain J. E. Alexander. The conquest of Algeria by France in 1830,
and of the Eastern Sudan by Mehemet Ali of Kgypt in 1820-21, paved the
way for an advance in these directions, and an Egyptian Expedition
ascended the Nile as far as 4° 42' N. in 1841.
A period of renewed activity began in 1849, in which year Dr. Living-
stone made his first exploring journey from the south, discovering Lake
Ngami, while reports of snowy mountains in East Africa came from the
missionaries Krapf and Rcbmann, and preparations were made for a British
Government expedition from the north to the central Sudan. Important
Africa 901
results followed in all three directions. Dr. Livingstone reached the
Zambezi, made his way to the Portuguese colony of Angola, and returned
across the continent to the mouth of the Zambezi (1851-56), while other
travellers, including Galton, Baines, and Mauch, filled in the details of the
country south of that river. In East Africa an expedition despatched by
the Royal Geographical Society, under Burton and Speke, reached Lake
Tanganyika and the Victoria Nyanza (1858) ; while Speke, returning with
Grant in 1859, further explored the Victoria Nyanza, and discovered its
outlet towards the Nile, thus virtually solving the problem of the Nile
sources. In 1864 Baker discovered the second Nile reservoir in the
Albert Nyanza. In North Africa the expedition, led at the outset by
Dr. Richardson and afterwards by Dr. Barth, traversed the central
Sudan in various directions, and threw a flood of light on its im-
perfectly known geography. Good work was also done later by Rohlfs
and Nachtigal.
The exploration of the great Congo basin, so far a blank on the maps,
was ushered in by Dr. Livingstone's last great journey (1866-73). Pro-
ceeding by way of Lake Nyasa (discovered by him and Sir John Kirk in
1858) he came upon a vast northward flowing river system, which he at first
considered to belong to the Nile basin, but which still retained its secret
when death overtook him on the shores of Lake Bangweolo. Cameron
threw additional light on this river system by his journey of 1873-76,
during which he discovered the outlet of Lake Tanganyika, but the solution
of the problem was supplied by H. M. Stanley, who, after important explora-
tion in East Africa, turned his steps westward and amid incomparable
difficulties and dangers traced the great Lualaba to its termination as the
Congo in the Atlantic Ocean. An important journey into the Congo basin
from the north had been made in 1869-71 by Dr. Schweinfurth, and
about the same time Egyptian sovereignty was extended to the Albert
Nyanza.
The largest share of African exploration had so far fallen to British
subjects, but the interest of Europe was now thoroughly awakened and
explorers of all nationalities flocked to the shores of the continent. Poli-
tical activity was also aroused. A vast undertaking, initiated by King
Leopold of Belgium, finally led to the formation of an Independent State
of the Congo, whose many branches have since been explored by the
State officials. France, likewise, pushed into the interior from Algeria and
her settlements on the Senegal and Gabun, in time extending her influence
over the greater part of the western Sudan, and even to Lake Chad and
the Nile watershed. In 1882 Great Britain acquired a preponderating
influence in Egypt by the suppression of the military revolt under Arabi
Pasha. In 1884 Germany obtained a footing in South- West Africa, in
Upper Guinea (Togoland), and the Cameroons (Kamerun), and soon
afterwards in East Africa, where in 1886 and 1890 the most fertile portions
were partitioned between that country and the United Kingdom. Before
go 2 The International Geography
this the journeys of Joseph Thomson had much enlarged the bounds of
our knowledge in East Africa, especially in the country of the dreaded
Masai tribe.
In 1884 a British protectorate was declared over the lower Niger, and
British influence is now recognised in this region as far as Lake Chad. The
extension of the older colonies of the Guinea coast has, however, been much
hampered by the French expansion. In South Africa the bounds of British
territory have been pushed far to the north, reaching beyond the Zambezi
and joining hands with another young settlement on Lake Nyasa. In the
Nile basin civilisation received a severe check by the Mahdist revolt of
1883, and not till 1898 was the eastern Sudan once more liberated by the
Anglo- Egyptian campaign under Lord Kitchener. Italy gained a footing
on the Red Sea in 1882 and subsequent years, and afterwards on the Somali
coast south of Cape Guardafui. Her attempts to establish a protectorate
over Abyssinia have, however, proved unsuccessful. Portugal has obtained
some extension of her old colonies on the east and west coasts, but has
failed to realise her dream of
uniting them across the continent.
These territorial acquisitions
first received international recog-
nition at the Berlin Conference
of 1884 ; and subsequent agree-
ments between individual Powers,
have brought practically the whole
continent under European influ-
ence. Important agreements con-
cluded in 1890-91 between the
United Kingdom and Germany,
France, Italy and Portugal deter-
mined the broad outlines of the
partition of the interior, but left
many points open to dispute,
especially between the United
Kingdom and France. These were finally settled by the Niger Conven-
tion of 1898 between those countries, and by the supplementary Declara-
tion of 1899. France has thereby made good her claim to a continuous
territory extending from the lower Congo round the eastern shores of Lake
Chad to Algeria in the north and the Senegal in the north-west ; and the
United Kingdom has established political ascendancy over the whole upper
Nile basin. Explorers have more and more worked from poHtical motives,
confining their attention chiefly to the spheres of their respective countries.
Among the host of names deserving credit for the filling in of details in
the map of Africa since Stanley's great journey of 1874-77, those of
Thomson, Teleki, and Baumann (East Africa), Wissmann and Grenfell
(Congo basin), Binger and Monteil (West Sudan), Foureau (Sahara), and
Fig. 437. — The Railways and Telegraphs of
Africa (1907).
Africa 903
Bottego (Galla and Somali-lands), stand out pre-eminent for the value
of their achievements.
With the increase of exploration efforts have been made to open up
the comparatively healthy plateaux by railways from the coast ; the pene-
tration is greatest from Cape Town in the south and Cairo in the north, and
it is hoped that these systems may be united in the not distant future.
Apart from the submarine cables, which form loops round the coast, over-
land lines have been carried into the interior in advance of the railways ;
the wire from Cape Town will soon be open along Lakes Nyasa and Tan-
ganyika to Uganda and ultimately to Cairo, while a line is being constructed
from Leopoldville on the Congo to Lake Tanganyika.
POLITICAL DIVISION OF AFRICA.
APPROXIMATE AREAS.
European Colonies and Protectorates : — Sq. miles.
French territory I 3,712,000
Biitishtenitorv2 2,165,000
Egypt (with Sudan to 5° N.) 3 1,135,000
Congo State (Belgian influence) 905,000
German territory 905.000
Portuguese tei ritorv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794.000
Tripoli with Fezzan (Turkish) 340,000
Itahan territory 230,000
Spanish territory .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 82,000
Natiye States outside European influence : —
Abyssinia 320,000
Marocco 180,000
Liberia 52,000
Unclaimed (Eastern Sahara) '. 630,000
Larger lakes 70,000
Total .. .. 11,520.000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Sir E. Hertslet. " The Map of Africa by Treaty." 3 vols. London, 1896,
A. H. Keane. " Africa," in Stanford's tomtendiiim. 2 vols. London, 1895.
\V. Sievers and F. Hahn. "Afrika." 2nd edit. Leipzig, igoi.
y. Scott Keltic. "The Paitition of Africa." 2nd edit. London, 1895.
A. Silva White. " The Development of Africa." 2nd edit. London, 1893.
E. Heawood. " Elementary Geography of Africa." 2nd edit. London, 1Q03.
A. Kno.K. " Notes on the Geology of the Continent of Africa." London, 1905.
1 Including Wadai and a large area of the Sahara still unoccupied
2 British East Africa is considered to extend to 5° X.
3 Under Turkish suzerainty, administered by Great Britaiu.
CHAPTER XLIX.— NORTH AFRICA
I.— MAROCCO
By Lieut. -Col. Sir R. Lambert Playfair.
Position and Extent. — The Empire of Marocco (often written
Morocco) extends on the north from Cape Spartel, a distance of 300 miles,
to the frontier of Algeria. The boundary between them, fixed by treaty in
1845, starts from the river Kiss and runs in a south-easterly direction to
a little beyond the 33rd parallel of latitude. On the Atlantic coast the
Empire extends for a distance of 450 miles, as far as the Wad Draa.
Condition and History. — Marocco is the last of the Barbary States
which has preserved its independence, and it is peculiarly interesting from
the fact of its standing alone as a monument of barbarism. The Sallee
rovers, it is true, no longer scour the seas as of yore, but the inhabitants
of the Riff country, who have given the word Ruffian to the English
language, are as much pirates at heart as ever, and they lose no chance of
plundering any vessel which may happen to come too near their inhos-
pitable shore. There is no country near Europe so little known. Up to
1820 the largest share of the information we had of it was derived from the
narratives of Christian captives, or of the envoys sent to effect their
ransom. Its geography and natural history have more recently been
illustrated by many eminent travellers.
Configuration and Rivers. — The configuration of the Atlas and the
hydrographical system of the country are not essentially different from
those of Algeria, but, inasmuch as the mountains are higher and in some
places covered with perpetual snow, the rivers on both sides of the range
are more considerable. The exact height of the loftiest peak is not known,
but Joseph Thomson ascended one in the southern Atlas 12,700 feet, and
another 13,000 feet above the level of the sea.
Marocco has no navigable rivers, but some could be made so if the
sandbanks at their mouths were removed. The only considerable one on
the Mediterranean coast is the Muluia, the ancient Molocath, which has a
•course of 400 miles. Those on the Atlantic coast are the Kus, the Sebu,
the Bou Ragreg, the Um-er-Rebia, the Tinsift, the Sus, and the Draa. In
summer they are half dry, but in winter they are raging torrents.
Productions and Communications. — Some of the plains and
valleys are of great fertility ; cereals are grown abundantly, though culti-
vated in the most rudimentary manner. Dates, olives, figs and many other
fruits are plentiful. Marocco, as a rule, is a treeless country ; the northern
slopes of the Atlas contain finely wooded valleys, but beyond this little
remains of the natural forests which at one time covered western Barbary.
There are rich mineral deposits in the Atias, quite unworked. The roads
904
Marocco
905
throughout the country are mere bridle-paths worn by travellers, beasts of
burden, cattle, sheep and goaLs throughout uncounted ages. No railways
exist in the empire.
People and Government. — The population of Marocco does not
probably exceed four milHons and has nearly the same composition as
in Algeria, except for the lack of the European element. Marocco has
been called a crumbling empire ; it is governed by an absolute Sultan,
and a turbulent aristocracy, but from a religious point of view it is the
last stronghold of Islamism. The only resources of the treasury are
exactions and authorised robbery from one end of the social scale to the
other. The trade is insigniticant compared with the size of the country.
Farm produce and manufactured leather are exported, and textiles im-
ported. The United Kingdom stands first in the share it takes both in
the export and the import trade.
Towns. — The three capitals where the Sultan resides alternately are
T|3filet
TendLif Jul ^
^.V^
'<'Lj
JofraO o* • Siwf Bah,
F E«5 Z A N Y^u^^ai f araf rafl
^Murzuk Co* Dakhelo tr/Y^
Tropic of^anccr ^ i -3trun T, .. iLV'tf^
S a" ^ ^^V^ A
c. g^Arauan / Kauar^ j£^sr,
Ti.b.Ktu^_% ^'TO '^'^Bilma ^i'^'^
'f ^^ 7\gades \
u
^L.ChadJ
N
Fig. 438.— r^^ Oase% of the Sahara.
Fez {Fas), Mckencs, and Merakish or Marocco city. The towns on the
coast, commencing from the Algerian frontier, are Tefuan, Tangier,
Laraich [El-Araish], Sallce (S'la), Rabat, Casa-Blanca or Dar-el-Beida,
Mazagan, Safi, and Mogador or Sueira. These have a varnish of civilisation,
but in the interior, though not without relics of past splendour, the towns
are masses of ruin and all-abiding filth. The most important, naturally,
is Tangier, where the diplomatic agents of foreign Powers reside. It is of
pecuHar interest to EngHshmen as it formed part of the dowry of
Catherine of Braganza on her marriage with Charles II. in 1662. After a
short and badly managed British occupation, it was evacuated in 1683. It
is now a favourite residence for winter visitors.
Saharan Oases. — All along the Saharan slopes of the Atlas there
are oases inhabited by more or less independent tribes owning the
suzerainty of the Sultan. The most important is that of Tafilei or Tafilelt,
9o6 The International Geography
about 200 miles east of Merakish. This remarkable place has been visited
recently by Mr. Harris, who went from Merakish, crossing the Atlas
range, through a district inhabited by Berbers, every part of which is
dominated by great castles, often 50 feet high, with richly decorated
towers. Tafilet consists of a strip of fertile land, growing vast quantities
of dates, extending along the parallel beds of the Wad Ziz and the Wad
Gheris, rivers which irrigate 400 square miles before being lost in the
sand. There is no city of the name of Tafilet ; the capital of the district
was Sigilmassa, so familiar to readers of mediaeval works on Marocco, now
a complete ruin. Here is the resting-place of Mulai Ali Sherif, the
ancestor of the reigning Sultan, whose tomb is held in great veneration.
About 100 miles to the east is the Wad Ghir, the upper part of which
was seen by the French soldiers of General Wimpffen's expedition in 1870,
who compared it, in volume, to their own Meuse. After receiving the
waters ot the Zusfana at IghH, the united stream flows southward under
the name of the Wad Messaud, and eventually becomes lost in the basin
of El- Erg. This is geologically the most extraordinary part of the Sahara ;
it is an immense tract of sand, seemingly impassable for man or beast, but
nevertheless there are valleys in which caravans are able to journey
with comparative facility. The basin between the two rivers is exceed-
ingly rich in subterranean water, and the wells there are capable of irrigat-
ing as many as eight millions of date-palms.
The other oases of this part of the Sahara— Tuat, Gurara, Tidikelt, and
Figig— over which Marocco formerly claimed some authority, have lately
been brought under the control of the French in Algeria.
STATISTICS (rough estimates).
Area of Marocco in square miles 219,000
Population of Marocco estimates vary from 3,000,000 to 9,000,000
Merakish .. „ 60,000
Tangier „ 25,000 to 30,000
„ Fez „ 24,000 to 140,000
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sUrling).
Exports 1,400,000
Imports 1,500,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Sir R. L. Playfair and R. Brown. "A Bibliography of Morocco." London, 1892.
Vte. Ch. de Foucauld, " Reconnaissance au Maroc." Paris, 1888.
Joseph Thomson. " Joumev to Southern Morocco .^nd the Atlas Mountains." London, 1889.
W.B.Harris. "Tafilet." Edinburgh, 1895.
Budgett Meakin. "The Moorish Empire." London, 1899. " The Land of the Moors," 1901.
" The Moors," 1902.
J. Canal. " Geographic General du Maroc." Paris, 1902.
II.— ALGERIA
By Lieut. -Col. Sir R. Lambert Playfair.
British Consul-Genera I in Algeria.
Extent and Configuration.— The PYench colony of Algeria, bounded
on the west by Marocco, is comprised between 2^° W. and 8^° E. longi-
tude. Southward, the colony proper reaches to about 32° N. latitude, but
Algeria 907
beyond this the Saharan districts under military rule stretch to about 26°.
Apart from these, the area is calculated at about 184,000 square miles.
Politically it is divided into three departments. Oran, which occupies
the western part, contiguous to Marocco. Algiers, the central and most
important department, which, owing to its closer relations with the countries
on the northern shores of the Mediterranean, is the centre of European
commerce and colonisation. The third is Constantine, which forms the
eastern part next to Tunisia. The natural divisions of the country also
are three : the Tell, the High Plateaux, and the Sahara ; but the political
divisions bear no relation to them.
The Tell is a strip of undulating, cultivated land, extending 50 to 150
miles inland from the sea, and forming the northern limb of the Atlas.
This range, covered with splendid forests, containing fertile valleys,
and in some places arid steppes, stretches eastward from the ocean to
which it has given its name, through Marocco, Algeria and Tunisia,
becoming interrupted in Tripoli and ending in the beautiful green
hills of Cyrenaica. The best known part of this mountain range is the
district called Kabylia, inhabited by a branch of the Berber race, who,
unhke the Arabs, build stone houses, and cultivate their land with the
care usually bestowed on market gardens. A less known but even
more interesting region is the Aures range, overhanging the Sahara,
enclosing fertile plains and valleys of great richness. These mountains
are the highest in Algeria: Shellia has an altitude of 7,611 feet and
Mahmel is nearly as high. Another mass, within the Tunisian frontier,
is the wild and beautiful country of the Khomair, with great stretches
of oak forests interspersed with glades of cleared and cultivated, land.
The region of the High Plateaux, extending from west to east, consists
of vast plams separated by parallel ranges of mountains. These terraces
increase in height as they recede from the Tell, and again decrease as they
approach the Sahara, Cultivation is only possible, within narrow limits,
in localities capable of irrigation. It is covered with alfa grass and abun-
dance of delicate aromatic herbs well suited for rearing sheep and goats.
The Sahara consists of two very distinct regions which may be called
the Lower and Upper Sahara. The Lower Sahara is a vast depression of
sand and clay, stretching eastwards as far as Tunisia ; the Upper Sahara is
a rocky plateau frequently attaining a considerable elevation, extending on
the west into Marocco. Moving sand occupies an extensive zone in boih
regions, but it does not cover one-third of the whole surface. The oascs,
or gardens of date-trees (Fig. 438), with which the Sahara is studded, exist
wherever water is found ; that only is necessary to make the desert sand
excessively fecund.
Geology and Minerals. — Space does not admit of full treatment of
the geology proper of Algeria ; but some notice is necessary of the economic
minerals. The ores of various metals are found in great abundance : lead
ore, more or less argentiferous ; copper, blende, calamine, antimony, chrome.
59
9o8 The International Geography
manganese and iron. Iron ore is the most important, and generally occurs
so near the surface that it can be worked in open quarries ; nearly half
a milUon tons are exported every year, principally from Beni Saf, near the
frontier of Marocco. Algeria is especially rich in decorative stones —
marble, breccia and oriental alabaster, some of which is probably the
finest that the world contains. It is worked near Kleber in Oran, and
also at Ain Smara, near Constantine. Phosphate of lime of excellent
quality and apparently inexhaustible quantity has recentl}^ been dis-
covered at Tebessa and in the south of Tunisia, and the industry has
been developed by the energy and intelligence of British subjects,
rousing much adverse comment from French and Algerian politicians,
who hold that foreigners should not be permitted to develop the in-
dustries of the country.
Hydrographic System. — The drainage area of the Tell is as
regular as in other countries and its streams all reach the sea. The
most considerable are the Mafrag, the Seybus, the Wed-el-Kebir, the
Makta, and the Shelif, which, during flood-time, discolour the water for
several miles at sea, but have not the strength in summer to force a
passage for themselves through the banks of sand accumulated in their
estuaries. With the streams descending from the southern slopes of the
mountains, however, it is quite different. Some part of their waters is
absorbed by irrigation in summer, but after the copious rains of winter
they reach the Sahara, where they either form large open lakes called
shotts, which, owing to evaporation, become salter than the ocean, or they
sink through the permeable stratum of sand till they come to an impermeable
one of clay, and thus form a vast subterranean reservoir. From time
immemorial artesian wells have been sunk in this district, and their waters
have everywhere spread life and wealth. The French have done a
splendid and beneficent work in multiply-
ing these wells wherever there was a pro-
spect of success. Between 1856 and 1890
no less than 794 were sunk. In one part of
the Sahara, the Suf, this water circulates
close to the surface of the soil, concealed
by a bed of sulphate of lime. One has only
to penetrate this layer of gypsum to create
a well. When it is intended to plant a date
grove the Suafa remove the entire crust
and plant their palms in the water-bearing
sand below.
Climate. — The cHmate of Algeria, for
winter visitors at least, is certainly the finest in the Mediterranean, though
not without a due proportion of wet and cold. The summer is rainless
and extremely hot. From an agricultural point of view the seasons are
too variable : sometimes it is too cold, and the tender crops are killed by
r.M..r...««»...u-..«.......s..o.,...o.c ..|
00
85
80
76
70
66
60
66
30
45
40
36
11
10
'
/
/".
\
1
/-
^
{/
^,
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■-
/
"'
"
'
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V
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::
f
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k5
.
en
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Algiers Laghouat
Fig. 439. — Temperature and Rain-
fall on the Coast and in the
Interior of Algeria.
Algeria 909
frost, or it is too hot and a blast of the sirocco destroys the produce of a
vineyard in a few hours. On the coast frost and snow are exceedingly rare,
but on the High Plateaux and on the most elevated parts of the Tell the
frost is sometimes severe and snow lies long and deep ; the highest peaks
of the Atlas retain some snow as late as June. The extremes of climate
increase towards the arid Sahara.
Flora and Fauna. — The flora and fauna of the eastern portion of
Algeria do not differ essentially from those of Sicily and Sardinia, while
on the west they resemble rather those of Spain. Of the 3,000 plants
found in Algeria, by far the greater number are natives of southern
Europe, and less than 100 are peculiar to the Sahara, where Africa may
be said to begin. Absolutely the same may be said of the fauna. There
are many mammals, fish, reptiles and insects common to both sides of the
Mediterranean. The fish of the Tell and High Plateaux belong exclusively
to the European system. Algeria possesses twenty-one species of fresh-
water fish, of which five are peculiar to itself. The Sahara alone is linked
to the African system by its Chromidas, which occur all over Africa as
far as Mozambique. It is by no means uncommon for fish to be ejected by
artesian wells ; as they are not bhnd, it is concluded that they inhabit the
subterranean reservoir or sea, which occupies the bottom of the Saharan
depression, and that they circulate between one open space and another.
Natural Productions. — Algeria is essentially an agricultural country,
and it is from its soil, in a great measure, that its riches and importance
proceed. Owing, however, to the uncertainty of its seasons, periodical
drought and increasing competition with more favoured regions, the cul-
tivation of cereals is yearly becoming less remunerative, although the
quantity produced has increased, and the area producing it has risen from
five and a half to seven million acres in twenty years. Algeria is rapidly
becoming one of the principal wine-producing countries of the world.
The vine prospers everywhere, even on the worst land and in the driest
years. Everywhere, but especially on the littoral, excellent wine is
produced, of infinite variety. All that is not consumed in the country
is exported to France. One of the most important of the vegetable
resources is the Alfa fibre, properly called Hulfa, or Esparto grass. This
grows spontaneously over vast tracts of country where cultivation of any
kind is impossible. Ten million acres are covered with it, yielding
paper-making material equal to three-fourths of all the rags used
throughout the world. The amount exported, however, continues
steadily to decrease, owing to the increasing use of wood pulp. The
surface of forest land is about seven and a half million acres ; and
Algeria thus occupies the sixth rank amongst the forest countries of
Europe. The principal trees are cork-oak, several other kinds of Quer-
cus, Aleppo and maritime pines, and the Atlantic cedar {Pinsapo Thuya),
which yielded the far-famed Citrus wood of the ancients. The most attrac-
tive forests are those of cedar, a never-ceasing source of pleasure to the
gio The International Geography
traveller, but hitherto they have proved of no very great commercial
importance. The cork forests have an area greater than those of Spain,
though not quite equal to those of Portugal, and much less productive.
People and Language. — Numerically the most important class of
the native population are the Arabs, who date back to the Arab occupation
of the country in the twelfth century ; they took possession of the most
accessible districts and drove the original owners, the Berbers, into their
mountain fastnesses. They are essentially a nomad race, living in tents
which they change from place to place as the pasturage around them is
consumed. The term Moors, at the present day, is one of European
invention, and is generally applied to Arabs who live in fixed habitations.
The Arabs who reside within the sphere of French influence have
acquired a certain varnish of civilisation, but the great mass of the
population are now as they were in the days of Ishmael, and such are they
likely to continue for generations. The Berbers constitute a division of
the great aboriginal race which inhabited North Africa as far as the Red
Sea. They live in the more inaccessible mountain
regions. The chief branches are the Kabyles of Jur-
jura, numbering about 200,000, and the Shauia of the
Aures, whose name is derived from the Semitic root
Sha, a sheep ; they have few or no cattle, but immense
flocks of sheep and goats. The Jews are said to have
established themselves in Algeria after the destruction
^ , . . of Jerusalem by Titus, but it is more probable that
Fig. 440 —Average fop- ^, •" ... f. ,u ■ 1 • r ^^
ulation of a square they did SO alter their expulsion from the various
mile of Algeria. p^j-^g of Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. The native languages are a more or less corrupt form of
Arabic, spoken by Arabs and Jews, and Berber by the Kabyles, Shauia
and other mountain races. Berber is the speech of over two-thirds of
Marocco, and may be traced everywhere in the Sahara almost as far as
Senegal. It has no written character, and all the " literature " it pos-
sesses is transmitted orally. The Shauia dialect is full of Latin words,
and in their daily life the people retain customs undoubtedly derived
from the admixture of Latin races in their ancestry. They use the solar
instead of the lunar year, and their names for the months are hardly
different from those in use in Europe.
Government. — When the French army, by a bold stroke, took
possession of Algiers in 1830, France was as much surprised as the rest
of the world. The expedition was sent to avenge an insult, and no one
contemplated the creation of a magnificent colony. The first part of the
modern history of Algeria was purely military, but as security began to be
established, European colonisation followed rapidly. The government of
the colony has undergone a complete transformation of late years. For-
merly the Governor-General united in his person the chief civil and mihtary
authority. Now an entirely civil rc'gimeh3.s been introduced. Each of the
Algeria
911
three departments is governed by a prefect as in France, but under the
supreme authority of the Governor-General, who is assisted by a Council of
Government ; there is also a superior Council to which delegates are sent
by each of the Departmental Councils. Each of the three departments
sends one Senator and two Representatives to the Parliament in Paris.
The military forces consist of the 19th Army Corps of France ; a
portion of territory in the extreme south is still under the government of
the commander-in-chief of this corps.
Industries and Trade. — Algeria can hardly be said to be a manu-
facturing country. A few objects, such as carpets, blankets and pottery,
are produced by the Arabs, principally for their own use, but these are
much sought after by European residents and visitors. The breeding of
sheep is one of the principal employments of the native population
on the High Plateaux. Although there is abundant pasturage for a
larger number, it is impossible greatly to increase the stock owing to the
scarcity of water during summer.
The external trade of Algeria is almost entirely with France, all other
countries together only participating to the extent of 10 per cent, of the
total. The chief exports are cereals, esparto grass, tobacco, iron-ore, wine,
and cork ; the chief imports are manufactured articles, coal and coffee.
Algiers is an important coaling station for vessels trading in the
Mediterranean, and its value in this respect is increasing.
Communications. — The railway system has made rapid progress of
late years. The aim of the administration is to have a central line from
Tunis to Marocco, passing through the most important points in the
interior, and various subsidiary lines joining this with the sea. This has
been almost completely carried out. The roads are magnificent, such as
no nation but the French seem able to construct, and they are nearly three
times the length of the railways.
To'wns. — Commencing from the frontier of Marocco, the towns along
the coast are, Nemours, Orajt, the capital of the province, with an excellent
harbour, Arzcii, Mosfaganem, Teiiez, and Cherchel. Algiers is the capital of
the central province and of the entire colony. The modern town consists
of regular streets and squares, fine public buildings and excellent hotels.
The old town, inhabited chiefly by Arabs, lies on the steep hill behind the
modern one, in the form of an irregular triangle, the apex of which is
the old Turkish kasba or fortress. The streets are narrow, tortuous
and irregular, joined together by alleys, in some of w^hich it is barely
possible for two men to pass. One of the principal features of these old
Arab houses is that, rising as they do, one above the other, and covered
with fiat terraced roofs, a magnificent view is obtained from them of
the city, the harbour and the distant mountains. Under the Turkish
government the roofs were reserved for the women alone, who used to visit
each other by climbing over the low parapet which divided the houses.
The inner harbour of Algiers was originally constructed by Kheir-ed-din
912 The International Geography
in 15 18, by connecting the island on which the Spanish lighthouse stood,
and still stands, with the mainland by a causeway. The present harbour
is French ; it is interesting as the first ever constructed with blocks of
concrete. The environs, especially Mustaplia Siiperieiir and El-Biar, are
covered with beautiful villas and splendid hotels, greatly frequented
by English and other visitors in the winter season.
To the east of Algiers are the towns of Delys; Bougie, with a fine natural
harbour, situated amidst magnificent mountain scenery ; Djidjellyj Collo;
Philippeville, one of the ports of Constantine, with a splendid artificial
harbour ; Bone, the ancient Hippo Regius, the home of St. Augustine, also
possessing a fine harbour.. Both the last have railway communication with
Constantine ; and lastly, La Calle, a town of considerable interest, as it was
here that the French first estabUshed themselves in 1520.
The towns in the interior, again commencing from the west, are
Tlentfen, the Roman Pomaria, a place not unlike and at one time hardly
less celebrated than Granada, or inferior to it in beauty of situation or
architectural interest. Next come Sidi Bel Abbes; Mascara, with its
memories of Abd-el-Kadir ; Tiaret; Orleansville, on the line of railway from
Gran to Algiers ; Milianaj Blidaj Setif, on the High Plateaux, and Con-
stantine, the " Lordly Cirta," always an important natural fortress, where
Syphax and Masinissa reigned, where Sophonisba died by her own hand,
where St. Cyprian was exiled, and the scene of the two most important
operations of the many undertaken by the French armies. In point of
scenic beauty and grandeur, probably no town in the basin of the
Mediterranean can equal it. South of it, on the border of the desert, is
Biskra, now becoming very popular as a winter station ; it is practically
rainless, but it has not the beautiful scenery and the amenities of life
which make Algiers so pleasant.
The most prominent fact that meets one at every turn is that France
has been transported to Africa ; the whole country is covered with French
towns and villages, and foreigners are held m disfavour, although the
foreign element has played a most important part in the colonisation of
the country, and even now, if the Spanish, Itahan and Maltese elements
were eliminated, work would be at a standstill. Another fact that strikes
the stranger is the permanence and solidity that pervades everything.
The railways are constructed as well and expensively as in France, the
roads are unsurpassed in any country, and the hydraulic and irrigation
works are splendid in their conception.
STATISTICS.
Area of Algeria (square miles) . . . . 184,474 . . 184,474
Population 3,817,306 . . 4,429,421
Density of population per square mile. . 21 . . 24
(1891)
Population of Algiers 74,792 .. 82,585
„ Oran 67.681 .. 74,510
„ Constantine . . . . 44,960 . . 46,581
, Bone 29,640 . . 30,806
„ Tlem9en 28,204 .. 29,544
896. 1901.
184.474
4.739.331
26
96, =42
87,801
41.138
32,288
22.273
Tunisia 913
COMPOSITION OF POPULATION OF ALGERIA.
Races. 1886. 1891.
French 219,627 .. 271,101
Jews 42,595 . . 47.564
Algerian and Tunisian Mohammedans 3,269,376 . . 3,554,067
Maroccans 17,445 •• 18,617
European Foreigners 203,153 .. 218,201
Total 3,805,684 .. 4,109,650
ANNUAL TRADE OF ALGERIA (in pounds sterling).
1871-75- 1881-85. 1891-95.
Exports 5,800,000 .. 5,900,000 .. 10,200,000
Imports 7,800,000 .. 12,400,000 .. 9,200,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
Sir R. L. Playfair. " Murray's Handbook to Algeria and Tunis." London, 1895.
" Bibliography of Algeria." London, 1888 ; with supplement, 1898.
P. Vuillot. " L'exploration du Sahara." Paris, 1895.
" Le Pays du Mouton." Algiers, iSq^.
F. Foureau. "Documents scientifiques de la Mission Saharienne." 3 vols, and Atlas.
Paris, 1903-05,
III.— TUNISIA
By Sir Harry H. Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.,
At one time British Constil-General at Tunis.
Position and Surface.— Tunisia, the ancient Roman province of
Africa (still called " Ifrigiah " by the natives), is the. most northerly pro-
jection of the Dark Continent. It is the most easterly prolongation of true
North Africa — that is to say, of all the temperate, fairly well-watered
regions north of the Sahara desert.* Tunisia is divided into four fairly
distinct regions— Tell, Sahel, high Tablelands, and Sahara (desert).
The Tell is the name generally given to the well-watered and well-wooded
mountainous country in the north of Tunisia, lying between the valley of
the Majerda and the coast of the Mediterranean, between the frontier of
Algeria and the Gulf of Tunis. Sahel — literally coast lands — is the less
well watered but still fertile eastern littoral of Tunisia, from Cap Bon to
the frontier of Tripoli. The interior tableland, of an average altitude of
2,000 feet above the level of the sea, Hes to the north of 35^" N., and
extends to the valley of the Majerda. This district is watered by no
perennial stream, but has a rainfall usually sufficient for raising grain crops
and maintaining pasturage. The real Sahara desert lies to the south of
this tableland and to the west of the narrow coast belt. A most important
and interesting region of Tunisia is that round the dried-up salt lakes, in
the south — the Belad-al-Jerid, or Country of Date Palms, an Arab name
really restricted to a very small portion of Tunisia, but made to cover a vast
1 The adjoining vilayet of Tripoli, which lies much further to the south, is entirely
Saharan in character, but beyond Tripoli again there is the northward projection of Barka
(the ancient Cyrenaica). which in some degree reproduces the characteristics of northern
Tunis, Algeria and Marocco.
914 The International Geography
area of the interior of Africa on maps of the eighteenth century. These
salt lakes, which now contain scarcely any water, are supposed to be a few
feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and almost certainly represent a
very ancient incursion of that sea. In the vicinity of these lakes innumer-
able springs gush from the limestone rocks and low hill ranges ; some of
them are cold and salt, and others are boiling-hot and fresh. Formerly
no doubt these springs, which actually form running rivers, filled up the
salt-covered depressions with water ; but for several centuries past the hot
fresh water, which predominates in quantity, has been almost entirely
used up for the irrigation of immense forests of date palms, orchards of
fruit trees, and plantations of vegetables. There is only one perennial
running river of any importance — the Majerda (Makar of the Carthaginians,
and Bagrada of the Romans), which rises' in eastern Algeria, and flows
right across northern Tunisia to the sea at Porto Farina.
The mountains in northern and western Tunisia are a prolongation of
the Atlas Range. The greatest height attained is under 7,000 feet. A
rather isolated and notable mountain (for picturesqueness) is Mount
Zaghwan (5,500 feet), forty miles south of Tunis, and the source of water
supply to that town now, as in Carthaginian and Roman times. The rather
high mountains of the Tunisian Sahara (5,000 feet at most) are really the
remains of an ancient plateau, and are mostly table-topped.
People, Trade and Government. — The really native population
possibly reaches to 1,800,000, and consists mainly of Arabs and Berbers.
The non-Tunisian or . European Christian population attains a total of
about 100,000 ; 50 per cent, of thein are of Italian nationality, nearly
30 per cent. French and the remainder chiefly Maltese, with over 1,000
Greeks.
The occupation of the native population is almost entirely agricultural.
Wheat is grown in the north and centre, barley in the east and south.
Camels, horses, cattle, sheep and goats are reared in large numbers. A
considerable area of the country is planted with olive-trees, the olive oil of
Tunisia being the finest in the world. The extreme south also produces
the best dates known to commerce. The forests of the north-west yield
cork of good quality, and the steppes bordering on the Sahara grow
quantities of esparto grass. In the towns are important manufactures of
carpets, and a little weaving of silk.
About 60 per cent, of the total trade is carried on with France and
Algeria. The United Kingdom and Malta have about 13 per cent, of the
trade, Italy about ii per cent, and Russia, Belgium, Austria, Tripoli,
Scandinavia and Spain the remainder.
In the sixteenth century the native Berber dynasty of the Hafsides was
displaced by Turkish invasion, which gradually settled into the military
despotism of a Bey.' From the beginning of the eighteenth century the
* Bey = Colonel The Bey was the commander-in-chief of the Turkish garrison.
Tunisia 915
3(\
^ rv^
1
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^ofehh
— ^
^^B:Ux\is ("^
^
TuFKish family of Hussein reigned over Tunis as hereditary satraps of
Turkey until 1881, when the country was placed under the protectorate
of France. Since that time, although the Bey is still maintained as
ruler, the country is practically governed by France through a Resident-
General.
Towns. — The capital of Tunisia is Tunis, a city existing from before
the historical period, at the head of the gulf of that name. Tunis is
separated from the sea by a shallow salt
lake, originally the embouchure of the Ma-
jerda River. Through this lake the French
have cut a maritime canal which brings
Tunis within easy access of the sea. The
site of Carthage is situated about twelve
miles to the north-west of Tunis. The town
next in importance is Sfax, on the south-
east coast of Tunisia. Bizerta, in the most
northern part of the country, is at the mouth ° 5 ^'^i^es
of a large and deep lake, and has been ^^^- ^'-'^^'' ^''' '^ ^""''^
made by the French into a great military port. An interesting city to
visit is the formerly sacred town of Kairwan, the original Mohammedan
capital, founded in the eighth century. Gafsa, in the south, is an old
Roman city with wonderful hot springs. Gabes, at the head of the gulf
of that name, possesses a short but perennially running river, and is sur-
rounded by an oasis of extraordinary fertility and beauty. The Island of
Jerba, lying to the southward of Gabes, is supposed to be the island of the
Lotus Eaters of the ancient Greek poets and geographers. In the Gulf of
Gabes the Mediterranean exhibits tidal influence to a considerable extent ;
in places along the coast of Jerba the highest rise and fall of the tide is
seven feet. Tunisia is celebrated, or should be so, for its wonderful
Roman ruins. These are chiefly remarkable at Dugga, in the valley of the
Majerda, at Sbeitla (the Roman Suffetula), at Feriana, at Gafsa, and at
various other places in the Jerid, at Zaghwan, and finally at El Djem,
which has the second largest amphitheatre in the world.
Railways. — The Bone-Guelma Railway Company of Eastern Algeria
owns all the railways in Tunisia except the line from Sfax to Gafsa. The
main line of the Bone-Guelma Railway runs from Suk Ahras in Algeria
down the valley of the Majerda to Tunis, with a branch to Bizerta, and
with other branches to Zaghwan, Susa, Kairwan, &c. A light mineral rail-
way has also been built connecting Sfax with Gafsa to work important
deposits of phosphates.
STATISTICS.
Area of Tunisia (in square miles) 51,000
Population of Tunisia, approximately 1,900,000
Density of population per square mile 37-2
Population of Tunis 180,000
„ Sfax 40 000
60
gi6 The International Geography
APPROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION OF TUNISIA.
Berbers more or less of pure race, say 500,000
Arabs, say 500,000
Mixed Arab and Berber peoples 500,000
" Moors " (chiefly the population of the principal cities, of mixed Berber,
Roman, Spanish-Moor, and Christian-slave races), say 100,000
Jews, say 100,000
Sudanese Negroes, natives of Marocco, Algerians, and Turks, say . . . . 100,000
Europeans, say 100,000
AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE (in dollars).
1896-97.
Exports 7,100,000
Imports 9,220,000
IV.— TRIPOLI
By Prof. John L. Myres.
Position and Surface. — Tripoli includes all the north coast of
Africa between Tunis and Egypt, with its hinterland as far south as Rhat
and Fezzan, but the land frontiers are ill-defined. The coast is parted by
the Gulf of Sert (the ancient Syrtis major), into Tripoli proper and Barka ;
in each division a limestone plateau approaches the sea, giving rise to
milder climate, greater rainfall, and fertile coast plains of varying extent.
The plain of Tripoli (Jefara) narrows from 70 miles south of Zuara to 30
miles behind Tripoli, while west of Khoms broken highlands reach the
coast. The narrow Meshiya belt round Tripoli and Tajura is irrigated
from wells, but the rest is now uncultivated, and parts are sandy desert.
East of Khoms the coast land is more varied, but the coast of the Gulf of
Sert is quite barren. The plain of Tripoli is abruptly bounded by the
limestone scarp of Jebel Nefusa, Yefren, and Gharian (2,000 feet), and the
Tarhuna plateau. This hilly country is intersected by dry river-beds
running towards the north-east. The Hamada el Homra, a very level,
waterless plateau of red sandstone (1,500 to 1,650 feet) separates Ghadames
and Rhat from Fezzan. East of the Hamada the volcanic Jebel es Soda
and Haruj es Sod divide the coast steppe of Sert from the limestone Heruj
el Abiad of northern Fezzan. To Fezzan also belong the oases of Jofra
and Zella at the northern foot of the volcanic range. Barka is a diversified
limestone tableland, rising seawards, and in the west to 3,300 feet (Jebel
Akhdar), cut off from the south by the white desert (Barka el Beida), and
fringed by coast plains of red alluvium. There are cavernous ravines with
dense vegetation near Benghazi ; otherwise the ancient forests have disap-
peared. The ruins of Ptolemais and Kyrene occupy strong positions on
spurs of the plateau : the " Fountain of Apollo," which fertilised the latter,
still flows (Ain Shehat), and similar streams from beneath the escarpments
water the gardens at Derna. South of the plateau lies a depressed area,
barren except for the oases of Augila, Faredgha, the headquarters of the
Senussi sect, and Siva, which, however, lies in Egyptian territory.
Tripo
!i 917
Climate. — In the coast plains the mean annual temperature is about
70° F. A daily sea-breeze is experienced, diversified bv occasional storms
of rain from the north-west and of sand from the south-east. The winter
storms make all the ports unsafe. In Barka the mean temperature is a .
little higher, with from 14 to 20 inches of winter rain. In the interior rain
falls rarely, and the mean temperature rises to 82° F. in Fezzan, and 86° in
Jofra, but with severe cold at night and even occasional snow on the hills.
Heavy rain falls in early spring in Fezzan, but everywhere the normal
water supply is subterraneous.
The date-palm grows wherever there is water, olives in some places,
almonds at Ghadames, and halfa (esparto grass) on the coast moors.
People and History. — The population is throughout fundamentally
Berber, but Jews have been numerous since Ptolemaic times in the coast
towns. The Arab conquest modified many tribes profoundly ; and Negro
elements, due to slave traffic, predominate southwards. Europeans, chiefly
Italians and Maltese, are seen only in the coast towns, ?nd Turks only
in the garrisons and among the higher officials. Arabic is spoken every-
where ; but Berber dialects survive, and Hausa is spreading along the
caravan routes. Tripoli is named from the " Three Cities " — Sabrata (Zuara),
Oea (Tripoli), Leptis (Lebda)— which were founded by the Phoenicians, but
later came under Greek influences, and passed subsequently into the hands
of the Romans. In the Roman period agriculture flourished even inland,
thanks to elaborate water storage in the gorges of the plateau, of which
frequent traces remain. Other Roman remains are numerous, testifying to
the immense prosperity of the land before the Arab conquest. Tripoli was
occupied by Spain under Charles V., and the Arab dynasty was finally
deposed by the Turks in 1835. Barka entered into very early relations
with Greece. Kyrene, the first colony, was founded in 631 B.C., and formed,
with Barka and three other towns, a " Pentapolis," which in the fifth and
fourth centuries B.C. rivalled Carthage in prosperity ; then became subject
to Egypt ; and was bequeathed to Rome in 95 b.c. But the Silphium plant
and the pastures, on which its wealth depended, were already disappearing,
and the Arab conquest completed the ruin.
Administration and Towns.— Tripoli is a Turkish vilayet, formerly
including Barka, which, since 1873, has been administered separately.
Tripoli is a walled town, the seat of the Vali and the principal garrison,
with an open harbour, extensive palm groves, and important market. It is
the terminus of caravan routes across the desert — (i) via Ghadames to
Twat and Timbuktu, and to Rhat, Kano and Sokoto ; (2) via Sokna or
Sebha to Murzuk, and so to Bornu, Wadai and Darfur ; (3) via Sokna and
Zella to Aujila and Siva, It imports manufactured articles and objects of
barter for the caravans, and exports ostrich feathers, ivory and skins from
the Sudan ; gold dust from Twat ; halfa from the coast hills ; dates and a
few cattle and horses from the littoral ; and baracans, goat-cloth and other
textiles. Benghazi, the capital of Barka, has a small trade, chiefly with
91 8 The International Geography
Malta, in wool, cattle, corn (in good years', salt, sponges and a little ivory.
The sponge fisheries are almost wholly in Greek hands. Gliadames
(ancient Cydanius), 300 miles south-west of Tripoli, lies between the
north-west border of the Hamada el Homra and the Algerian desert, in an
oasis watered by warm springs, and enclosed by a ruinous rampart. The
population is Berber and devoted to trade. Rhat, in a similar oasis south
of Ghadames and 540 miles from the coast, is inhabited mainly by the
Tuareg, and is the principal halt between Ghadames and Kano. Murziik,
a walled town in one of the central oases of Fezzan, is the principal halt
on the eastern route, and the junction with a route from Rhat to Zella and
Aujila.
STATISTICS [Estimates).
Area in square miles 400,000
Population ca. 800,000
Density of population per square mile • .. .. 2
Population of Tripoli city 30,000
„ Benghazi , ., 15,000
v.— EGYPT
By W. F. Hume, D.Sc, A.R.S.M^
Egyptian Geological Survey.
Position and Extent. — The political boundaries of Egypt cannot, as
yet, be quite definitely stated. To the north, in latitude 31^° N., the
Mediterranean forms its natural frontier ; to the west it is limited by an
indefinite line, generally west of longitude 25° E. through the waterless
deserts of the Sahara ; to the south, the provinces of the Sudan, which
were in revolt under the Khalifa, extend to about 6" N. latitude ; while east
the Galla country, Abyssinia, Eritrea and the Red Sea, form the eastern
border. To the north-east, the Gulf of Akabah, and an ill-defined line
running from the port of Akabah in longitude 35° E., through the Desert
of the Wanderings to Wadi Refah on the Mediterranean, separate Egypt
from Asiatic Turkey.
Thus Egypt, in its largest acceptation, has a length of over 1,800 miles,
from near Alexandria to the borders of Uganda, and a maximum breadth
of 800 miles in the latitude of Khartum. Its northern half, as above
defined, belongs to the belt of desert which stretches from West Africa
to the centre of Asia, while the southern portion is occupied by grassy
plateaux or wooded regions of enormous extent, which are watered by
numerous tributaries of the Nile. Only between the river and the Red
Sea, and in Sinai, does the height above sea-level much exceed 2,000 feet,
the higher mountains of the Arabian desert attaining elevations of from
5,000 to 7,000 feet, while in Sinai the principal peaks are over 8,000 feet.
Geology. — The Egyptian Sudan and Nubian desert form part of the
central core of Africa, characterised by the presence of igneous and
metamorphic rocks, which, extending into the Arabian desert, give rise
Egypt
919
to the mountainous region of the Red Sea Hills. The lower parallel
ranges of Jebel Esh and Jebel es Zeit on the western, and a long ridge
on the eastern side of the Red Sea, together with the principal chains of
the Sinai peninsula, are of similar character. The predominant rocks are
granites, gneisses, felsites, and dolerites, the hills produced by the first
mentioned being particularly characterised by ruggedness of outline and
steepness of slope. These are in almost all cases overlaid by a compact
sandstone passing into softer sandy beds above, the Nubian Sandstone.
From Assuan to Jebel Silsileh the Nile cuts through this formation, which
rises in high cliffs on both sides of the river, and extends some distance
into both eastern and western deserts. Thus it is known to the south-
west of the Khargeh and Dakhel oases, to the east, and has also been
worked by the Egyptians on the Kena-Kosseir road to the west. To the
north the sandstone is succeeded by the plateau-forming limestones, and
owing to their low dip to the north-west younger and younger strata come
to the surface in that direction ; these are mainly of Eocene age, except in
the desert near Suez, where representatives of the Miocene and Pliocene
are also present. The w^estern desert is also largely Eocene, but in the
oases and on the Nile, near Esneh, Upper Cretaceous limestones have also
been recorded. Contrary to the former belief, it has lately been found that
the Eocene strata rest unconformably on the Cretaceous. The same
succession of sandstone overlying the igneous and metamorphic rocks, and
succeeded by Cretaceous and Eocene limestones, is also observed in the
Arabian desert and in Sinai. In Sinai and Wadi Arabah the Nubian
Sandstone has been found to contain Carboniferous fossils, but the main
mass has by different authors been regarded as Triassic, Cretaceous, and
Eocene, the lack of organic remains rendering the determination difficult.
Climate. —Owing to the diversity in its surface features, the climate
of Egypt is of very varied character. In the equatorial lands of the
southern Sudan the rainy season lasts for ten months, and even in
November and December, the dry period, storms are not infrequent. In
latitude 8° N. the dry seasons are separated by two rainy periods, a light
and a heavj^ ; the former lasting from March to April, while the latter
begins about the middle of May, and often continues far into October.
But even in the wet season the thunderstorms and showers do not last
long, though recurring constantly after the midday heats. Further north,
between 'Khartum and Shendi, the rainy season is much shorter, while in
Upper Egypt and parts of the western deserts rain is almost unknown.
Thus there is a transition from regions of excessive rainfall to those
of absolute rainlcssness. The presence of the Mediterranean on the north
and the high mountains in Sinai and the Red Sea Hills, to some extent
increase the rainfall in their immediate neighbourhood. Thus the mean
for fourteen years at Alexandria is eight inches, at Cairo only one and a-half,
and at Kina practically nil, the rainfall thus obviously diminishing with
distance from the sea.
920 The International Geography
In the Sinai peninsula sudden thunderstorms are not infrequent in
December, January and February, accompanied by a heavy downpour,
the dry torrent beds becoming suddenly flooded, thereby occasionally
causing much destruction to life and property ; while on the highei
summits light falls of snow and the formation of ice are frequently
observed. This range forms a protection to the Arabian desert, in whose
hills these sudden storms are rare and less destructive, no important rains
having fallen between 1892 and 1898. The air of the desert is dry and
invigorating, and contrasts with the comparatively damp atmospheres of
Cairo and Alexandria, but especially with the moist conditions of the Sudan,
In northern Egypt the winds blow for the greater part of the year from
the north and north-west, the latter sometimes lasting for a month without
intermission, while from February to June south-easterly and south-
westerly winds are ;xnore prevalent. During these months the Khansin
— a sand-laden, dry wind— blows at frequent intervals, and is always
accompanied by a marked rise of temperature. The temperature is lowest
from the end of December to March, the lowest recorded in the Delta being
35° F., in Alexandria 40°, in Cairo 31°, and in Upper Egypt 41" F. In
the desert the temperature frequently falls below freezing point ; in Sinai,
at a height of 5,000 feet, 15° of frost having been recorded, and in the
Libyan desert 23° F. The heat begins to increase in April, but full
summer usually commences in June, when temperatures between 80° and
go° F. are the rule, even at midnight. The ten years' mean average for
the Delta and Cairo is 58° F. in winter, 78° F. in spring, 83° F. in summer,
and 66° F. in autumn, while during the period of hot winds as much as
114° F. in the shade has been recorded. Further south 109° F. in the shade
has been observed in Upper Egypt, while in the oases and the Sudan the
temperature occasionally rises to over 120° F.
The Nile.— The whole country is watered by one river-system— that
of the Nile. Rising between 2° and 3° S., where several branches unite to
form the Kagera, it flows through the Victoria Nyanza, and entering the
northern end of the Albert Nyanza immediately flows thence as the Bahr-
el-Gebel. In about 9° N. this river is joined by the sluggish Bahr-el-
Ghazal, or Gazelle river, draining the Bongo and Niam-Niam countries
on the west, and by the more rapid Sobat, rising in the Galla highlands on
the east. The joint streams form the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White Nile,
which meanders northward through the grassy plains, or dense thickets
and forests of the Sudan. About 16° N., where Khartum stands, it
receives one of its most important tributaries — the Bahr-el-Azrak, or Blue
Nile, a rapid and turbulent torrent, descending from the southern high-
lands of Abyssinia. Still further north, 180 miles below the confluence,
the Nile is joined near Berber on the east by the Atbara, which drains
the northern highlands of Abyssinia. From this point onward the Nile
assumes those characteristics which have made it the most remark-
able of rivers, flowing for a distance of 1,800 miles without receiving
Egypt
921
a single affluent, and running in a valley which is simply a cleft in the
desert plateau, the cliffs on both sides of its alluvial plain rising in many
cases to a height of over a thousand feet. The maximum breadth of the
river below Khartum is not more than 1,100 yards (near Minieh and Cairo
respectively), except during the period of flood, while the "cultivation," or
land which is subject to the influence of its fertilising waters, does not
exceed nine miles in breadth at any point. The actual Nile valley, how-
ever, is much broader, in parts of Egypt proper being over thirty miles
in width, but narrower in Nubia, where five to six miles is a fair
average. The river itself is navigable throughout its whole length, except
when it issues from the Albert Nyanza in a series of rapids near Wadelai,
and at the six Cataracts, between Khartum and Assuan, where it has forced
its way through granite and syenite barriers.
The long, narrow valley terminates at Cairo, where the Nile branches,
Fig. 442.— r/je Delta oj the Nile and Suez Canal.
mainly discharging its waters at the present time through two channels,
named — from the towns where they enter the Mediterranean — the Rosetta
and Damietta branches. The district included between these two arms
was called the Delta by the Greeks from its resemblance to the Greek letter
A, the apex of the triangle being at Cairo, and the base the Mediterranean
shore Hue between Alexandria and Port Said, over 150 miles in length.
The area thus defined embraces the most fertile region in all North Africa.
Thus there are three geographical divisions dependent on the character
of the Nile itself : — (i) The Eg^'ptian Sudan, including all the country
south of Khartum ; (2) the Nile Valley ; and (3) the Delta. There are in
addition two vast desert regions, separated by the Valley of the Nile, and
92 2 The International Geography-
standing in sharp contrast to one another : — (4) The Libyan Desert on the
west ; and (5) the Arabian and Nubian Deserts on the east.
The Nile Floods. — In the Nile valley the seasons are determined by
the rise and fall of the river, these movements depending on the amount
of rain which falls in the Abyssinian highlands. The waters begin to rise
in the upper reaches ''n the beginning of June, the rise being observed at
Cairo three weeks after it has commenced at Merawi. In early October
the maximum elevation is obtained, forty-one feet above ordinary Nile
level being at present the most favourable for agricultural purposes. On
the annual occurrence of the inundations depends the existence of the
Egypt of history and commerce ; its prosperity is due to the soil thus
brought down from Abyssinia, which, distributed over the alluvial plain, is
the source of the great fertility of this portion of the country.
The insoluble material in Nile mud is remarkable for the uniformity of its
grain, the particles being very minute. The coarser minerals, which them-
selves are minute, are mainly such as would be derived from igneous rocks —
viz., quartz, felspar, hornblende, and epidote, and recent borings have
shown that the delta mud, which is itself of great thickness, is underlain by
thick beds of gravel containing pebbles of limestone, granite and andesite,
clearly indicating a period of greater rainfall and more abundant torrent-
action in the past. Indeed, it has been held by many geologists that the
Nile was formerly a negative delta, or narrow arm of the sea, and it is a
noteworthy fact that the deepest borings undertaken in the Delta (375 feet
at Zagazig) have never yet reached bed-rock.
The construction of a great storage reservoir for the surplus flood waters
by building a dam across the Nile valley above Assuan was completed in
1902, and so a regular supply for irrigation in the lower valley and in the
Delta during the period of low Nile has now been secured.
Natural Resources. — For many centuries Egypt was practically the
granary of the Byzantine Empire, and wheat still plays an important part,
occupying 50 per cent, of the fields in Upper Egypt and 30 per cent, in the
Delta, and in the extent of its cultivation rivalling maize and durrah, or
Indian millet. Clover, beans and barley are also grown, but in recent years
cotton has tended to become the one crop of economic importance. The
cereal crops are usually sown between the middle of October and end of
December, and harvested from the middle of February to the end of April,
the seed time and harvest being earlier in the southern than in the northern
provinces. Cotton and tobacco are chiefly cultivated in Lower Egypt from
April to August; cucumbers and water-melons also form an important
local staple. Of recent years rice and sugar-cane have been introduced
with success, the moist lowlands of the Delta being especially favourable
to their development. Flax, henna, indigo, and castor-oil are also produced,
flax forming a not unimportant article of export.
Among fruit trees, the date palm holds the first place, groves of this tree
extend along the banks of the Nile as far south as Fashoda, i>"H it is grown in
Egypt
923
the oases and even in the wild valleys of the Sinai peninsula, but the dates
produced are mainly for home consumption. The vine, orange, mandarin,
lemon, melon and fig are also plentiful in the Nile valley, while bananas
are cultivated in the Sudan. The trees most common in the Nile valley and
the oases are the date palm, the Acacia Nilotica, or sunt, and the sycamore.
In the oases the two former are present, and the dates obtained are superior
to those of the rest of Egypt. The Sinai peninsula is also not so barren as
is generally supposed, the date groves of the Wadi Feiran being especially
striking, while tamarisk bushes abound in the principal valleys ; nor is the
Arabian desert devoid of vegetation, tamarisk and scattered examples of the
thorny acacia {A. seyal) and Majinga being found in the high mountain
valleys. In the Sudan, on the contrary, forests are frequent, but of mixed
character.
The chief domestic animals employed in transport are the camel, donkey,
horse, buffalo and ox, while flocks of goats and sheep, especially the long-
eared kharuf, constitute an important source of wealth. The lion and
leopard are now almost restricted to the Sudan, but a few leopards are met
with in the peninsula of Sinai. The hyrena and jackal lurk in the old
ruins and caves of the plateau hmestone, U'hile the long-eared fennec fox
is not uncommon in the desert. The ibex (7. sinaiticus, bedan, or tetel) is
limited to the mountains of Sinai and the Arabian desert, various species
of antelope and gazelle also wandering in Ihe lower desert valleys. The
elephant, hippopotamus, chimpanzee and o'^.her apes, and the giraffe, only
occur in the Sudan, while the crocodile is r/ow very rare north of Assuan.
Sand grouse, red partridge, and quail ai"e of frequent occurrence in
the desert, while geese, wild pigeon, and duck yield sport in the Nile
valley. The flamingo, ibis, sultan bird, and heron also breed in the Delta
and the Fayum. In the Sudan the ostrich m the desert, guinea fowl in the
woods, waders, darters, and cranes on the upper reaches of the river, form
part of the varied life of the tropical regions.
The mineral resources are at present of secondary importance. Ala-
baster has been quarried near Assiut. But the ancient Egyptians sought
most of their monumental stones further to the south, the sandstones,
diorites, &c., used in many of the large temples being quarried on the
Kena-Kosseir road in the Arabian desert, and the granite from the quarries
near Assuan. The Romans, too, busily searched this eastern desert, ex-
ploiting the beautiful red porphyry of Jebel Dokhan and granites of Mons
Claudianus, near 27° N. Nor less famous are the nov/ unworked enierald
mines of Jebel Zebara, and the turquoise and copper mines of Maghera
and other places in Sinai, which were once the centres of an active Egyptian
mining industry. In addition Jebel Zeit, on the Red Sea, was, within
recent times, exploited for petroleum. Speaking generally, however, the
old mines at present add nothing to the resources of the country.
Ancient History. — The records of Egypt that have been preserved on
monument and temple go back to so remote an antiquity that it might be
924 The International Geography
said the dawn of the history of Egypt is the dawn of history itself. It is a
remarkable fact that not only was the Egyptian Empire the most ancient,
but it was likewise the most durable the world has ever seen, with one
exception being unaffected by foreign invasion over a period exceeding
two thousand years. The explanation of this continuity is to be found
in the geographical position of Egypt itself, the sea in the then state of
navigation being an efficient protection on the one hand, and the desert
an effectual barrier on the other.
Menes, the founder of the first historical dynasty (in 4400 B.C., accord-
ing to Brugsch), founded Memphis, near the site of modern Cairo, which
occupied a strategical position commanding the Delta and the valley of the
Nile. Commencing with this monarch, historians have grouped the
Egyptian sovereigns, as recorded on the monuments, into twenty-six
dynasties, lasting till the Persian invasion. Civilisation was already highly
developed, especially as regards architecture and engineering. Cheops,
Chephren, and Mykerinos, of the later dynasties, are well known as the
builders of the three great pyramids of Ghizeh. Under the Xllth dynasty
Thebes became the capital, and Amenemhat III. was the first to utilise the
inundation of the Nile, by constructing Lake Moeris in the low-lying
Fayum ; it was also at this time that the sceptres of Upper and Lower
Egypt were united (2466 B.C., Brugsch). The one interruption in the long
line of Egyptian kings was a successful invasion by an unknown Eastern
race, who founded the two dynasties of the Shepherd Kings, or Hyksos
(XV. and XVI.), and it is during this period that Joseph is believed to
have been in power. The Theban kings of the XVI Ith dynasty ex-
pelled the invaders, but it was during the XlXth that Egypt reached its
greatest development, Rameses II., supposed to be the Pharaoh of the
Oppression, extending his sway south to Dongola, and north to Asia Minor-
During the reign of Tirhakah the Ethiopian (XXV.) Memphis fell into
the hands of the Assyrians, who set up creatures of their own in Lower
Egypt. This was regained by Psammeticus I., founder of the XXVIth
dynasty, with the aid of Greek mercenaries. Nevertheless, this tem-
porary foreign conquest was the first sign of decadence in the old
empire, which in 525 B.C. fell under the Persian domination of Cambyses.
A century later the Egyptians again reasserted their independence, but in
340 B.C. the Persians gave the death blow to the ancient monarchy. The
renewed Persian rule lasted but six years, when Alexander the Great took
possession of the country and founded Alexandria, which soon became the
centre of Greek culture and of the commerce of the then known world.
On the division of the Macedonian kingdom at the death of Alexander,
one of his generals founded the dynasty of the Ptolemies, which lasted to
42 B.C. With the death of Cleopatra after the battle of Actium, Egypt
became part of the Roman Empire under Augustus, with which it was con-
nected from A.D. 27 to A.D. 395, when, on the partition, it was merged with
the Eastern or Byzantine dominions. The most notable feature during the
Egypt
925
Roman occupation was the rapid spread of Christianity and monasticism in
the country, while somewhat later a Christian kingdom arose in Nubia.
Modern History. — In 638 a.d., only sixteen years after the flight of
the Hejira, Amr-ibn-el-Asi conquered Egypt and started the Mohammedan-
Arab domination, which lasted for about nine hundred years, the country
during the rule of the Fatimite sovereigns (969-1 171) being in an especially
flourishing condition. In 1240 Mehk-el-Salah founded the Mameluke
dynasty, having been placed on the throne by the Mamelukes, descendants
of slaves who formed the bodyguard of the Caliphs, but in 15 17, on the
deposition of Tuman Bey, by the Sultan Selim I. of Constantinople, Egypt
became a Turkish pashalik. The Mamelukes still retained a large share
of power down to 1798, when Napoleon I. stormed Alexandria and over-
threw them at the battle of the Pyramids. The defeat of the French fleet
at Aboukir by Nelson obliged the French to evacuate Egypt in 1801,
Mohammed Ali, the founder of the present reigning house, being appointed
Pasha of Egypt in 181 1. Though still remaining nominally under Turkish
rule, Egypt then became practically independent, except for the payment
of an annual tribute, and the necessity of each succeeding ruler receiving
a firman of appointment from the Sultan. In 1866 the Porte raised Ismail
Pasha to the rank of Khedive, or viceroy, which became hereditary.
During the reigns of Said and Ismail, French influence was predominant,
and in 1869 the construction of the Suez Canal was successfully accom-
pHshed by M. Ferdinand de Lesseps. Owing to the maladministration of
Ismail, the public debt increased enormously, and in 1879 ^^e European
Powers called upon Turkey to depose the viceroy. In 1882 as the result of
a revolt against European control, and upon France declining to join the
United Kingdom in an armed demonstration, the British fleet bombarded
Alexandria and the British army occupied Eg3^pt. Some of the effects of
the occupation have been the reorganisation of the Egyptian army, finances,
and judiciary, the abolition of compulsory labour, or the corvee, and the
carrying out of a more perfect system of irrigation, which had already been
partly planned by French engineers. Meanwhile, a rebellion had com-
menced in the Sudan (which had only been conquered under Mohammed Ali
and his successors), led by a chief who had taken the title of Mahdi, or
prophet. After several unsuccessful expeditions had attempted to quell the
revolt, Khartum was captured by the Mahdists in 1885, on the eve of being
relieved by a British force, and the Suds.n was abandoned for ten years.
In 1898, after two years of slow but steady advance southward, Lord
Kitchener at last crushed the forces of the Khalifa (the Mahdi's successor)
by the capture of Omdurman, opposite Khartum. The Khalifa was finally
defeated and slain by Sir R. Wingate in 1899,
People. — It appears probable that the first civilised Egyptian invaders
were of Caucasian origin, and came from an original home in Asia, but
of the peoples previously inhabiting the country no records have at
present been found. The Fellahin, or peasant dwellers on the Nile, are
926 The International Geography
probably direct descendants of those who were the cultivators in early
days. The reason of their conservatism as regards habits and made of
life is to be sought in the uniformity of the conditions by which they were
surrounded, depending on the regularity of the seasons determined by the
rise and fall of the river. They are of medium height and of somewhat
heavy build, with high cheek-bones, receding forehead, and thick lips, and
in colour varying from light to dark brown, according to the latitude. In
belief the fellah is a Mohammedan, but his religion is tinged with remnants
of the older Egyptian worship, many of the ceremonies still savouring
rather of the cult of Isis than of the creed of Islam. They number about
2,000,000.
The Copts, who are the remnants of the dominant Egyptian race, are
chiefly resident in the large towns, where they are watchmakers and
goldsmiths, and a:re very often possessed of considerable wealth. They
are usually , easily distinguished, as they wear a black turban, and in
build are somewhat below middle height, with small hands and feet, and
comparatively fair complexions. The Copts in religion are professedly
Christian, having many of their rites identical with those of the Greek
Church. They have preserved their faith in spite of the many centuries
of Moslem domination, still possessing a number of large churches and
many schools. They number at the present time 800,000 souls, and the
teaching of the Coptic language, a modified dialect of the ancient Egyptian,
is now compulsory in the schools supported by this community.
In the desert wander the nomadic Arab tribes generally classed together
under the name of Bedouin or Bedawin, the principal of these being the
Towarah, in Sinai ; the Maazeh, in the northern part of the Arabian desert
down to lat. 27° N. ; the Ababdeh, south of the Kena-Kosseir line ; the
Bisharin, in the deserts of Assuan ; and the Hadendoa, in the direction of
Suakin. Still further south are wild tribes including the Baggara, the
backbone of the Khalifa's army, while the Aulad 'Ali Bedawin inhabit
the western desert. All these tribes are nomadic, wandering from place
to place, and pitching their tents wherever food and water supply are
favourable. The free life gives them independence of Character, and a
pride which poverty cannot erase. The western Bedawin and the Maazeh
are often strict Mohammedans, and the southern tribes were famous for
their fanatical support of the Mahdi, but the others are very little affected
by their nominal religious beliefs, and the Towarah scarcely know anything
of Mohammed, Moses being their chief prophet. The typical Bedawin is
of slender build, with thin neck and limbs, and of a dark brown com-
plexion.
The Arabs of the towns are a somewhat indolent race, contact with
Turks and Europeans having caused them to lose the finer characteristics of
their desert neighbours, though they are often of ready wit, and amiable
in disposition. The great majority have delicate features, the complexions
being often whiter than those of the average European. Arabic is the
Egypt
927
common language in all the region north of Khartum, replacing Coptic
after the conquest of Egypt by .'Amr in 640 a.d.
A great part of the Sudan is occupied by about twenty different negro
races of too varied a character to permit of further description here.
Government. — The government of Egypt is under the control of
native Ministers, themselves subject to the Khedive,
there being in addition a British financial adviser,
without whose permission no financial decision
can be arrived at, but he is not an executive officer.
In addition, there is a Legislative Council of thirty
members, fifteen residing in Cairo and fifteen
coming from the provinces, to whom all general
laws are submitted for examination ; while a Fig. 443.— The Egyptian
General Assembly has to be summoned every two '"■
years, without the consent of ,which no direct personal or land tax can
be imposed. In addition the British Consul-General has large powers
of an undefined character.
Internal Communications. — The Nile is the chief medium of com-
municatior^ from the Sudan to Alexandria, while in the Delta a system of
canals radiate in every direction. Railways, too, now run from Alexandria,
Port Said, and Suez to Cairo, whence another line follows the Nile valley
southward, and was opened to Khartum in 1899. Communications with the
desert regions and shores of the Red Sea are only maintained by means of
camel caravans or steamers from Suez.
Political Divisions and Towns. — Egypt is divided into Governor-
ships and Mudiriehs, there being twelve of these in Lower Egypt, nine in
Upper Egypt and one for the Oases. The Mudirs have wide powers over
internal administrations, each town and village having in addition a Sheikh-
el-beled, or mayor, who is responsible to the Mudir. The two provinces
into which Egypt, north of the Sudan, is divided are of unequal size. Lower
Egypt being the smaller, but containing the Delta and Cairo, while Upper
Egypt mainly consists of desert country and the long Nile valley.
The principal town is Crt/ro, the largest city in. Africa, occupying the
commanding position at the junction of the valley of the Nile and the
Delta. It has the Khedive's palace, the usual government buildings, old
mosques, picturesque streets, and a great museum of Egyptian antiquities.
On account of its good European hotels and its dry climate it has become
a great winter resort for. wealthy Europeans and the centre for the tourist
traffic on the Nile. Alexandria, the principal port of Egypt, is a purely
commercial town trading with Europe ; Tantah, occupies an important
central point in the Delta itself ; Port Said and Suez derive their impor-
tance from being at the northern and southern terminations of the Suez
Canal. Assiut, Naghamadi Kina, Assuan, Wadi Haifa, Dongola, and Berber
are the principal towns on the Nile itself, while Khartum at the junction
.). the two Niles, was, and will again become the centre of Egyptian trade
928 The International Geography
^^^ Omdurman <
% CI Fojjf r KodHeda Ji
. _ „ . . ." ..-S*
Ceryo
1r^
Fig. 444. — T^c Provinces of the
Reorganised Sudan.
with the Sudan. A college in memory of General Gordon has been established
there as a centre of education for the natives. The Sudan has been re-
organised under joint British and Egyptian
control, with a military governor entrusted
with very large powers.
The Suez Canal. — This great water-
way connecting the Mediterranean and the
Red Seas, has become the main chanriel of
communication between Europe and the
East (Fig. 442). From Port Said to Suez it
has a length of 87 miles with surface breadth
of from 65 to 120 yards, and a depth of
26 feet, and runs for 21 miles through the
Great Bitter Lake and Lake Timsah. Under
a special convention it has been neutralised
by the Powers and is managed by an inter-
national commission. On the average ten
vessels pass through the canal every day, and seven out of every ten
are under the British flag. The value of the canal is mainly felt on the
routes to India, China and Australia ; steamers trading to New Zealand
find it as economical to spend a few more days on their voyage out by the
Cape of Good Hope and home by Cape Horn as to pay the heavy canal dues.
The Libyan Desert. — Beyond the narrow fertile belt nourished by
the Nile, in which the population of Egypt is concentrated, and on which
the importance of the country depends, there are vast deserts on either
side, many parts of which are unexplored. The Libyan desert, on the
west, is an immense stony plateau from 600 to 1,000 feet above the Nile
level, and rising in a series of gentle steps towards the interior, a few isolated
sandhills or low cliffs being the only elevations in the apparently horizontal
expanse. A series of deep depressions, sharply defined by the precipitous
walls of the plateau, occurs in this desert more than 100 miles from the
Nile, constituting the celebrated oases, named, beginning with the southern
— Khargeh, Dakhel, Farafah, and Baharieh. The last named is connected
by a number of minor uncultivated depressions containing salt lakes, with
Siva, the ancient oasis of Jupiter Ammon, which lies over 300 miles west
of Cairo, and is inhabited by the fanatical Senussi Arabs. South of Khargeh
this Hne of depression approaches the valley of the Nile. Owing to the
existence of numerous springs in these districts certain portions are ex-
tremely fertile, and during many centuries have been centres of population
and cultivation. To the west of them extend the unexplored wastes of the
Sahara, whose wind-blown sands are piled up into shifting dunes often
from 300 to 400 feet in height.
The Arabian Desert. — The Arabian or eastern desert is of a very
different character. To the south of the latitude of Assuan it forms a maze
of mountains and hills which have been but little explored, while sandy
Egypt
929
wastes are replaced by wadis covered with the angular debris derived
from the surrounding elevations. To the north of 27° N. the arrangement of
valley and mountain is more regular, the waterless, steep-sided limestone
plateau (which extends in places for over 50 miles east of the Nile) being
separated from the Central Red Sea Chain by the broad Wadi Kena, which
runs north-west for about a degree of latitude, the mountains also trending
in the same direction. Lesser hill and valley systems run more or less
parallel to each other, to the main range, and to the Red Sea. The flat
limestone plateau is about 1,200 feet above Nile level, while the Red Sea
Hills, which are characterised by the extreme ruggedness of their outline,
are over 6,000 feet high in the Ghattar and Um Delpha (Es Shayib)
massifs. At the northern end of the chain, Jebel Gharib nearly attains the
same elevation. North of 28° 45' N. the limestone plateau occupies the
whole region, giving rise to the desolate, steep-sided hills of Gallala, while
west of Suez and Ismailia the country consists of broken ridges, arid
sand and pebble desert. This inhospitable region is traversed in 2g° N.
by the wide Wadi Arabah, which runs east and west from the plateau to
the Red Sea.
The Peninsula of Sinai.— This peninsula, which is the sixth divi-
sion, is closely connected with the Arabian desert system, and consists of
a central mountain mass separated from the Red Sea by the plain of
El Gaah, and small ranges parallel to the same sea. On the north, sandy
plains and lower sandstone ranges intervene between the main chain and
the desolate plateaux of the Desert of the Wanderings, while on the east
runs the deep Gulf of Akabah, which forms part of the great rift valley
extending from the Sea of Galilee to Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa.
STATISTICS.
1882. 1897.
Area of Egypt (excluding Nubia and Deserts) .. .. 10,340 .. 10,340
Population "of Egypt „ ,. .... 6,575,958 .. 9,494,023 x
Density of population 636 . . 918
Population of Cairo 368,108 .. 570,062
„ Alexandria 208,755 .. 319,766
Tantah 33.725 • • 57,298
„ Port Said 16,560 .. 42,095
„ Assiut — . . 42,012
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling).
1881-85. ' 1891-95.
Imports 8,000,000 .. 9,000,000
Exports .; 12,200,000 .. 12,700,000
TRADE THROUGH SUEZ CANAL.
Year. No. of vessels. British vessels. Total tonnage. British tonnage.
1888 .. ., 3,440 .. 2,625 •• 8,183.313 .. 7.335.062
1896 .. .. 3,409 .. 2,162 .. 12,039,859 .. 8,057,706
STANDARD BOOKS.
Miss Broderick and A. H. Savce. " Murray's Handbook for Egypt." loth edit. London, 1902.
G. Ebers. " iEgypten in Bild und Wort." Stuttgart, 1879. Translation in 2 vols. London.
H. G Lyons " The Physiography of the Nile and its Basin." Cairo, 1906.
Count Gleichen. "The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan." London, 1905.
Sir A. Colvin. " The iMaking of Modern Egypt." London, 1906.
* Population of Nubia by Census of 1897 — 240,3
CHAPTER L.— EAST AFRICA
Xxj,}anaHon.
)ljl Wcdls of Rift ■
(SI valleys tXas •"■"
/*» floors cYRi/r ,.,
±a» with water ^
I— EASTERN EaUATORIAL AFRICA
By J. W. Gregory, D.Sc, F.R.S.,
Professor of Geology in the University of Glasgow.
Position.— Abyssinia, Eritrea, Somaliland, and British East Africa,
with the off-lying islands from Sokotra to Zanzibar, may be con-
veniently grouped together as Eastern Equa-
torial Africa. This section of the continent
is bounded to the east by the Red Sea and
Indian Ocean, to the west by the watershed
separating the Congo and Lake Chad from
the Nile, to the north by the deserts of
Kordofan and southern Nubia, and to the
south by the frontier of German East Africa.
Configuration and Geology. — The
general configuration of this area is simple.
The region is part of an ancient plateau
which once extended across tropical Africa,
and was probably continuous with the pen-
insular area of India. The height of the
country has been increased in places by
broad sheets of volcanic rocks, which are
sometimes piled up into lofty peaks and
craters ; in other places the level has been
lowered by the sinking of belts or broad
areas of land, as along the coastal plain, the
basin of the Victoria Nyanza, and the Nile
and Eritrean rift-valleys.
The arrangement of the river systems
has been mainly determined by the lines of
subsidence. The most important river is the
Nile, of which the Victoria Nyanza is the
principal source ; this lake discharges north-
ward by the Somerset Nile, which enters
the northern end of the Albert Nyanza.
There the main Nile is increased by the
rainfall on both flanks of Ruwenzori and by the surplus waters of the
Albert and Albert Edward Nyanzas. Leaving the former lake the Nile
930
Fig. 445.— r//e Eai>t African Rift-
Valleys.
Eastern Equatorial Africa 931
flows northward, and after a course of 500 miles is joined by the Bahr-el-
Ghazal, which drains the region north of the Congo basin and east of that
of Lake Chad. On the east bank the chief tributaries are the Sobat, the
Bkie Nile and the Atbara, which drain the highlands of Abyssinia. East
of the Nile is a zone of internal drainage along the Eritrean rift-valley.
The chief rivers of this system are the Hawash and Omo of southern
Abyssinia ; the Turquell and Kerio, which flow into the southern half of
Lake Rudolf, and the Murendat, which enters Lake Naivasha. The third
set of rivers flow ea^^tward into the Indian Ocean, the most important are
the Webi Shebeyli, the Jub, Tana and Sabaki.
The lake system is one of the most striking geographical features of the
region. The lakes are of two types, broad round lakes in depressions on
the plateaux such, as the Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tsana, and long narrow
lakes in the two rift-valleys. In the western rift-valley occur Tanganyika,
the Albert and Albert Edward Nyanzas ; in the eastern or Eritrean rift-
valley are Lakes Dembea, Abbaya, Stef mie, Rudolf, Baringo, Losuguta,
Elmetaita, Naivasha, and the dried up Lake Suess.
The mountains belong to four groups — (i) ridges and blocks of old
Archaean rocks, either left standing above the general level owing to the
superior hardness of certain bands, e.g., the Taita Mountains, or raised by
crustal movements as in the high snow-clad ridge of Ruwenzori ; (2) lines
of volcanic craters, e.g., the Kyulu Mountains of Ukamba ; (3) i related
volcanic peaks, e.g., Kenya (17,000 feet), Ruwenzori (18,000), and Elgon
(14,000) ; (4) the scarps of fault lines such as the Mau and Kikuyu scarps
of the Eritrean rift-valley, the Laikipia scarp, east of Baringo, or the
eastern face of the Abyssinian plateau.
Geologically, Eastern Equatorial Africa consists of a plateau of Archcnean
rocks (gneiss, schists, amphibolites, &c.). On the eastern flanks of ihQ
plateau are some fossiliferous rocks ; some Permo-Carboniferous shales
occur in the Sabaki valley, and some obscure older fossils have been found
near Mombasa, and a belt of Jurassic rocks may be traced from German
East Africa along the coast and up the Jub to Abyssinia, where some
Cretaceous rocks have also been found. Later, volcanic action began by the
eruption of some lavas (monchiquitesj on the coast, vast sheets of volcanic
material were spread over the plateau from the Athi plains to the uplands
of Abyssinia. Volcanic action continued for a prolonged period ; some of
the craters, such as Longonot near Naivasha, are quite recent, and some are
said to be still in eruption. Fumaroles and hot springs are common in the
districts where volcanic fires hngered longest.
Climate. — The region lies wholly within the tropics and is traversed
by the equator, but the heat is not as a rule excessive. On the coastal plain
and at Zanzibar the air is very moist, and the daily variations in tempeni-
ture are slight. On the plateaux, and especially on the bare, sandy plains,
the Sun's heat is very powerful in the day, while the nights are often cold.
Tiie rain falls at two seasons, the " big rains " of the spring and the " sm.alj
932 The International Geography
rains " of the autumn. The amount, however, is very uncertain. On the
sandy plains of the Nyika the rainfall is small. It is heaviest on the high
forest belts, where, moreover, the separation into wet and dry seasons is less
definite. Frosts are not uncommon above the height of 6,000 feet ; snow
falls on the higher mountains of Abyssinia and Elgon, and is permanent on
Ruwenzori and Kenya. The latter has a system of small glaciers.
Flora and Fauna. — The character of the flora varies largely with
the altitude. On the coastal plains and islands there are palm-groves,
fruit orchards, spice plantations, and common members of the Indian flora.
On the sandy plains there is a scanty growth of acacia, thorn scrub, scat-
tered tufts of dry grass, and trees with succulent stems like the candelabra-
shaped euphorbias and the fibre-yielding Sanseviera and aloe. Districts
that are better watered and have richer soil are covered with woody
flowering shrubs. On the plateau there are belts of forest with many
coniferous trees, and above these is a zone of bamboo jungle reaching up
to the level of over 9,000 feet. Still higher are alpine meadows with plants
belonging to Mediterranean genera ; many of these northern plants, such
as the groundsel, lobelia, and heath, which in Europe grow as small low
herbs, are represented on the East African mountains by tall woody trees.
The most conspicuous features in the animal life of the region are the
big mammals, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and giraffe ;
antelope are numerous, but there are no deer. Crocodiles, pythons, cobras,
and puff adders are the most important reptiles. Vast flocks of pink
flamingoes on the salt lakes, and of pelicans on the borders of the low-level
lakes and swamps, weaver birds on the river banks, and sun-birds on the
high mountain meadows of Kenya and Ruwenzori, are the most con-
spicuous of the birds.
Natural Resources and Trade. — In East Africa trade as yet is
unimportant. The soil, especially on the volcanic regions and alluvial river
plains, is very fertile — when well watered. The lowlands near the coast
and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba grow spices and the usual tropical
products. The sandy plains support abundant fibre-producing plants. The
vines and lianas that hang over the trees of the lowland forest belts secrete
india-rubber. Herds of cattle live on the plains, but they are periodically
decimated by rinderpest, and their distribution is restricted by the tsetse fly.
Useful timber is scarce, but it would grow in many districts that have been
deforested by man and prairie fires. The mineral wealth has not yet been
prospected. Iron ore is universally distributed, and is often of good
quality, but it is commercially useless owing to scarcity of fuel. Gold
occurs in Abyssinia, some silver and lead near Mombasa ; but there is no
proof that they are abundant, and the general conditions do not suggest
more than occasional patches of valuable ores. In the absence of mineral
wealth, the economic value of the country appears slight owing to the
thinness of the population, irregularity of rainfall and difficulty of internal
communications. At present the only valuable product of the interior is ivory.
Eastern Equatorial Africa 933
The main exports are ivory, rubber, copra, hides, cloves and gums. The
principal imports are cotton cloths, iron and brass wire, beads, and, where
not excluded by the enforcement of the Berlin Act, guils and ammunition.
There are no manufactures ; some of the inland tribes can work iron,
procured either as irOn-wire from trading caravans, or by collecting grains
of iron oxide from the streams ; most of the people can tan leather, and some
tribes such as the Waganda prepare a kind of cloth of bark. On the coast
lands grass mats and baskets are woven. The arts and agricultural methods
are extremely primitive.
The usual native method of internal communication is by caravans of
porters carrying loads on their heads (the Zanzibari), or on sticks resting
on their shoulders (Abyssinians). Donkeys are available in some districts,
mules in Abyssinia, and camels in Somaliland. Dug-out canoes are used by
the Pokomo on the Tana, and by the Shilluk on the Sobat and the Nile ;
but with the exception of the Nile the rivers are of little use as waterways.
The Native Peoples. — The natives belong to five chief groups.
The main basis of the population in the southern part of the region is
Negro, of the Bantu division. Members of this race occupy the islands of
Zanzibar and Pemba, and range along the coast as far north as the Jub ;
they extend westward as far as the eastern rift-valley, with occasional
outliers beyond. The principal Bantu tribes are the Wakamba, Pokomo,
Wataita, Wanyika. The members of these tribes are copper-coloured,
have curly hair, thick lips, projecting chins and broad noses. These
tribes are included with most of those of southern Africa in the Bantu
group owing to the general grammatical resemblance of their languages,
which are characterised by the inflexion of the first syllable, and by the
use of sentences which consist of several words fused into one. The most
important of the Bantu languages is Suahili, which serves as the lingua
franca of Eastern Equatorial Africa. The Suahili occupy the coast-lands
and islands between the Jub river and Zanzibar. The race is very mixed
and has been formed by the intermarriage of Arab traders with the natives
of various Bantu tribes. Similar mixed races occur on the northern and
western margins of the Bantu area. Thus the Waganda are Bantu improved
by an infusion of Hamitic blood, due to the conquest of Uganda by a band
of Wahuma warriors. The Kikuyu are probably a similar mixture of
Bantu and Nilotic races, and are therefore to be included among the
Negroid tribes. The Nile basin is the home of another race-group, the
Nilotic ; the Bari of the Upper Nile is the most representative tribe of
this group, of which another, the Masai, has forced its way along the
Eritrean rift-valley as far south as German East Africa. Abyssinia is
inhabited by a great mixture of races, Semitic, Hamitic, and Negroid. At
one time the dominant tribe was Semitic, but at present the Hamitic
Shoans hold the reins of power. Somaliland is occupied by Hamites,
whose ancestors crossed from Arabia ; to the south of the Somali are the
remnants of the nearly allied and once powerful tribe, the Galla. The
934 The International Geography
last group represented in Eastern Equatorial Africa are the dwarfs or
pygmies, probably the survivals of a once widely scattered race, now
almost extinct. Typical " Negrillo " dwarfs, similar to the " Akka " of
the Welle, occur on Ruwenzori, while hybrid tribes, such as the Doko of
Laikipia and Shoa, live in the forests of the eastern plateaux.
ABYSSINIA
Configuration. — Abyssinia (or Ethiopia) consists geographically of the
rugged plateau country, mostly 8,000 feet above sea-level, which surrounds
the head streams of the Atbara and Blue Nile. It is bounded to the
north by the deserts of southern Nubia, to the east and south-east by the
western wall of the Eritrean rift-valley, to the west by the Atbara and
the lowlands of the Nile basin, and to the south by the angle between the
Omo and the head streams of the Sobat. Politically the country is more
extensive, especially to the south-east, as since 1887 the Abyssinians have
held Harrar, and a large tract to the east of the Eritrean rift-valley ; to the
south Abyssinia claims districts which are also claimed as within the
British sphere. Ethnographically Abyssinia is a confederation of very
different and often hostile tribes ; the name of the people Abeshi, i.e.,
Mixed, refers to this fact.
The configuration of Abyssinia, in the geographical sense, is simple ;
the country consists of a block of Archaean gneiss and schists, which has
been intensely eroded by subaerial agencies ; it has been capped by sheets of
lava, and is flanked by Jurassic limestones ; in places huge piles of volcanic
debris form mountains reaching the height of from 15,000 to 16,000
feet, in Semien. In the centre of the country is a great depression
occupied by Lake Tsana (1,200 square miles in area), which is the principal
source of the Blue Nile.
People and History. — Unlike the other political divisions of East
Africa, Abyssinia has a history, which dates back to a very remote period.
The country is probably the Cush of the Scriptures, and according to
local belief it was the home of the Queen of Sheba. The "emperor"
claims his descent from Menelik, the son of Solomon by the Queen of
Sheba ; and one tribe, the Falashas, claim, though erroneously, to be of
Jewish origin. The country was early converted to Christianity by the
Coptic Church ; the language of the Abyssinian church is the oldest known
form of Himyaritic, and was once spoken in the province of Tigre.
Muhammed Granye, of Harrar, invaded Abyssinia from 1528 to 1540, in
order to convert the country to Mohammedanism, in which he nearly suc-
ceeded. Efforts to convert the people to the Roman Catholic Church led to
the exploration of the country by Portuguese Jesuits in the i6th and 17th
centuries. The Tigrians were then the dominant race, but when Bruce
travelled through Abyssinia at the end of the i8th century, the Amharites
held supreme power. The country was invaded in 1867 by a British
expedition sent to punish King Theodore of Amhara. His successor,
Eastern Equatorial Africa 935
John, was killed by the Mahdists in 1889, and on his death, by the aid of
tlie ItaHans, Menehk of Shoa seized the sovereign position of Negus
Negusti, or King of Kings. In 1889 the ItaHans proclaimed a protector-
ate over the whole of Abyssinia; but in 1896, after the destruction of an
Italian army by Meneiik at Adowa, this claim was withdrawn, and Italy
confined to the lowlands of Eritrea.
Trade and Towns. — The chief commercial products are gold and
coffee, but the trade of the country is at present unimportant.
The present capital is Addis Halem, but the position is periodically
changed when the supply of firewood is exhausted. Of the old towns the
most important are Gondar, the capital of Amhara, Adowa, the chief town
of Tigre, Aksum, the former ecclesiastical centre, and Harrar, an important
trade centre near the Somali frontier.
ERITREA
Eritrea, or Erythrnsa, a term derived from the classical name of
the Red Sea, is the Italian protectorate at the south-western end of the
Red Sea. It is a triangular tract of lowland which extends along the Red
Sea from Ras Kasar (18° N.) to the frontier of the French Somali Coast
(12° N.), and stretches westward to the scarp of the Abyssinian plateau.
Most of Eritrea is a barren, sandy plain, which in places sinks below
sea-level. The best harbour and only important town is Massowa, situated
on a small coral island connected with the mainland by a causeway. From
Massowa two short railways run westward across the coast plain to the
foot of the Abyssinian hills. The only important natural products are salt,
derived from a number of dried lakes and lagoons, and pearls which are
fished on the Dhalac Islands near Massowa. Salt is valuable as the prin-
cipal currency of southern Abyssinia.
Eritrea is mainly inhabited by Hamitic races, of which the most
important tribe is the Danakil. Italian political connection with Eritrea
began in 1880, when Assab was transferred from a trading company to the
Italian Government. Massowa was occupied in 1885 on the withdrawal
of the Egyptian garrison. By subsequent treaties the whole of Eritrea
was annexed and a protectorate proclaimed over Abyssinia. But after the
Italian defeat at Adowa the independence of Abyssinia was recognised,
and the Italian sphere limited to the arid coast plains. Except as a trade
route to Abyssinia, Kassala and the Atbara region of the Sudan, the
country is of little value, and most of the Abyssinian trade is now being
transferred to the French port of Jibuti.
FRENCH SOMALI COAST ^
French Somaliland, — The old harbour of Obok, opposite Aden, at
the entrance of the Red Sea, has been superseded si::ce 1896 by Jibuti in
a better situation on the south side of the Bay of Tajura. These coast
* By M. Zimmermann.
93 6 The International Geography
stations have been augmented by a hinterland which forms the Protectorate
of the SomaH Coast. It acquires considerable importance, not only from
its position, but from its proximity to Harrar, in Abyssinia, and from the
railway which has been commenced from Jibuti to Addis Abeba, the
capital of that country.
SOMALILAND
Somaliland. — The "Eastern Horn of Africa," which projects into the
Indian Ocean on the south side of the Gulf of Aden, is occupied by the
Somali tribes, and is accordingly known as Somaliland. The country
faces the north with a steep scarp running east and west from Cape
Guardafui to near Harrar. East of Berbera the scarp is separated from
the shore by a narrow belt of coastal plain and a few foot-hills. But west
of Berbera the coastal plain widens owing to the northward advance of the
coast. At the summit of the scarp a broad plateau slopes gently to the
south ; on its northern border is a belt of waterless desert, the Haud. The
southern slope leads down to the Webi Shebeyli, separated from which by
a scrub-covered plain is the River Jub, which divides Somaliland from
British East Africa.
The natives are mainly Somali, a Hamitic race of Mohammedans.
They are a pastoral, nomadic people, and have herds of camels, cattle,
sheep, and horses. Along the Webi Shebeyli are some Bantu tribes of
Negroes, while some Galla remain along the southern and western frontiers.
The northern coast as far as 49° E. is a British protectorate under the
Foreign Office. The British sphere extends inland to the 8th parallel
of N. lat. The rest of the country was an Italian protectorate ; but since
1896 Abyssinia claims a large share of Somaliland. By the treaty of Addis
Abeba in 1896 the Italian sphere was limited to a strip 180 miles wide
along the coast; by a treaty with the United Kingdom in 1897, some
8,000 square miles of British Somaliland were ceded to the Abyssinians,
who now possess all except the two coast protectorates.
The principal towns in British Somaliland are Berbera, opposite Aden,
Bulhar, and Zaila, of which the last is an important starting-place of
caravans for southern Abyssinia. Along the Italian or Benadir coast of
Somaliland the chief towns are Mogadishu, Barawa and Merka. The Italian
administration has its seat at the new settlement of liala, about 100 miles
north-east of Mogadishu.
The principal exports from Somaliland are ivory, gums, hides and spices.
SOKOTRA
Sokotra is geographically and geologically a dependency of Somali-
land, from the eastern promontory of which it is 150 miles distant. Some
smaller islands, the Brothers, help to link Sokotra to the mainland.
The island of Sokotra has an area of about 1,500 square miles, with a
population of probably about 10,000. Most of the island is a plateau about
Eastern Equatorial Africa 937
800 feet high, but it is traversed by a mountain ridge of which the peaks
rise to a height of over 4,000 feet. The natives are mainly descendants of
immigrants from southern Arabia and of fugitive Negro slaves. The
natives were once converted to Christianity by Portuguese missionaries,
but have returned to Mohammedanism. Since 1886 the island has been a
British possession. The capital is Tamarida^ a village on the north coast.
The trade is insignificant.
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Surface. — British East Africa is the largest of the political divisions
of Eastern Equatorial Africa. It extends from the coast of the Indian
Ocean to the Congo Free State, and from German East Africa to an
undelimited frontier on the north. Its general configuration is com-
paratively simple. It may be regarded as consisting of a series of zones,
approximately parallel to the coast. First is the low coastal plain, fringed
with islands formed by beds of coral lime-
stone or of alluvial deposits, separated from
the mainland by a series of branching creeks
and backwaters. The coastal plain is narrow
opposite Mombasa, but in the valleys of the
Sabaki and Tana it is of considerable width.
From the coastal plain a steep slope leads
up to the inland plateau, a broad tract of
undulating barren country known as the
Nyika ; it is covered with acacia scrub, has ^ig. ^6.— Mombasa Harbour.
no turf, and is in the main waterless. West of the Nyika extend the grassy
plains of the volcanic region. The Eastern or Eritrean rift-valley cuts
across this from south to north, lowering a belt of country now occupied
by a series of lakes and rivers without outlets to the sea. Beyond the
western wall of the Eritrean rift-valley there is a gradual slope downward
to the Victoria Nyanza basin and the valley of the Nile.
People and History. — The coast lands and off-lying islands of
British Ea^t Africa were once occupied by independent Bantu tribes.
Arab, Baluchi, and Hindu traders settled along the coast at different
points at an early period, and they held their stations without foreign inter-
ference until the arrival of the Portuguese at the end of the fifteenth
century. The Portuguese erected forts at Mombasa, Melindi and Lamu
and held the country as an intermediate station on the way to India.
W-ith the downfall of the Portuguese empire in India the East African
colonies became less important, and the coast north of Mozambique again
fell under the Arabs, who had maintained throughout their rule in
Zanzibar. British intervention began in 1824 by the temporary annexation
of Mombasa, an act, however, repudiated by the home government. In
1879 the Sultan of Zanzibar offered the United Kingdom a protectorate
over his dominions, which was declined. Germany in 1884 acquired a
"^^J
Ss^(
\
Port ^
KlUNDIKI
Miles.
1*3
938 The International Geography
foothold on the coast opposite Zanzibar, and a protectorate over Witu, in
and near the Tana delta, in 1885. The United Kingdom, in reply, occupied
Mombasa, and accepted administrative rights over the Sultan of Zanzibar's
territory on the mainland, which was entrusted by
charter to the British East Africa Company in 1888.
This company sent numerous exploring expeditions
through the country, established stations, and occupied
Uganda. Exhausted by these expensive efforts it
handed over the administration of the country to the
Crown in 1895, and since that time it has been ruled
Fig. 447.— r/te Badge by the Foreign Office. The trade as yet is small ;
of British East Africa. .■, • , • . j ^ /> • 1
■^ the imports m 1901-2 amounted to £421,000, mamly
piece-goods and food supplies.
The country now forms two divisions, the East Africa Protectorate,
which extends from the coast to the north-west shores of the Victoria
Nyanza, and the Uganda Protectorate which extends westward to the
western lakes and the Nile.
The British East Africa Protectorate is divided into seven pro-
vinces : the Coast Province, Ukamba, Tanaland, Jubaland, Kenya,
Naivasha, and Kisumu. Jubaland is imperfectly explored and its
boundaries indefinite ; but the main features of most of the rest
are known.
The Uganda Protectorate includes Uganda proper, which lies at
the north-western corner of the Victoria Nyanza, and the adjacent coun-
tries of Unyoro, Usoga, part of Kavirondo, Koki and Ankole. The southern,
south-western, and south-eastern boundaries are defined, but to the north
the limits are still indefinite on the side of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan,
which includes the Bahr-el-Ghazal and all the lowlands between the
Abyssinian highlands and the Nile. Uganda is a small country with
a population estimated at about 300,000, which has probably diminished
during the past twenty years. The country is not very healthy, but its
strategic importance is great. A band of Wahuma invaded the country
from the north-east, settled and intermarried with the original Bantu
people. As a result of this mixture of races the Waganda are of unusual
intelligence. The country was first visited by Speke and Grant in 1862,
and by Sir Samuel Baker in 1864. Stanley reached Uganda in 1875-6, and
called attention to its political importance. It was taken under the pro-
tection of the British East Africa Company in 1889 ; after a severe struggle
the British supremacy was maintained by Lugard in 1892, and in 1894 the
country was taken over by the British Government. A railway, completed
in 1902, now connects the Victoria Nyanza with the coast at Mombasa,
and this makes it possible to test the economic value of Uganda ; the
cost of transport by caravans of porters being ;^300 a ton no development
was formerly possible.
The Protectorate has been divided into the Central, Uganda, Western,
Nile, and Rudolf provinces. The native capital of Uganda is Mengo, and the
Eastern Equatorial Africa 939
Fig. 448. — Average pop-
ulation of a square
mile of Zanzibar.
British headquarters at Entebbe, on a point running into the lake. There is
httle game in the country, and the main food of .the ;iatives is the banana.
ZANZIBAR AND PEMBA
Zanzibar Island Hes thirty miles off the coast of German East Africa
in lat. 6° S. It consists of layers of sand and clay
associated with banks of coral limestone ; most of
it is low-lying, but in the north some hills rise to the
height of about i,ooo feet. The soil is fertile, and
nearly the whole island is cultivated ; cloves and
coco-nuts are the two chief products. The popu-
lation is dense. The natives are extremely mixed
in race, members of all the East African tribes
having been imported as slaves ; they have inter-
married among themselves and with Arabs, Persians
and Baluchi traders. A few of the original Bantu
inhabitants are represented by some settlements of Wahadimu in the north
of the island. The name Zanzibar, which means " the land of the black,"
is also given to the chief town, which is situated on the south side of a
bay on the west coast, and is the principal commercial centre in Equa-
torial Africa. Its imports in 1901 were worth ;^i, 196,000, and its exports
;^i, 168,000.
The importance of Zanzibar has arisen from its early adoption by the
Arabs as the capital of their East African settlements. The Sultanate was
long subject to the Imans of Muscat, but it became independent in 1856.
^^ Until 1884 the Sultan was the acknow-
9 s > iJ ^xigani *^*-^ ledged ruler of the East African coast
lands from Mozambique to Somaliland. In
1884 the southern part of his mainland
territory was acquired from him by Ger-
many. In 1890 a British protectorate was
formally proclaimed over the remainder.
The Benadir coast, i.e., the eastern coast
of Somaliland, was, however, transferred
to the protection of Italy. At present the
Sultan of Zanzibar theoretically rules the
coast belt of British East Africa, but prac-
tically this is administered from Mombasa,
and is treated as an essential part of the
British sphere.
Pemba. —The adjacent island of Pemba
is 40 miles north of Zanzibar, and is under
the jurisdiction of the Sultan. It is 40 miles in length, running parallel
with the coast of the mainland, at a distance of 60 miles, from Pangani
to Tanga. The soil is fertile, and the population consists mainly of
61
ar-es-Saiaafm
Fig 449. — Zanzibar and mainland
ports.
940 The International Geography
slaves and freed slaves engaged in the clove and coco-nut plantations.
The basis of the island appears to, consist of lines of raised coral reef.
The chief town is Chaki-Chaki, situated on the east coast. The language
of the aboriginal inhabitants, or Wapemba, is a dialect of Suahili.
STATISTICS
{Estimates.)
Density of Population
Area in sq. miles. Population. per sq. mile.
Abyssinia (excluding Somali terri-
tories) 300,000 . . . . 5,000,000 . . . . 17
Eritrea 88,000 . . . . 400,000 . . . . 4
French Somali Coast . . . . 8,600 . . . . 30,000 . . . . 3
Somaliland, British 68,000 \
„ Italian 136,000 1 .. .. 2,000,000 .. .. 7
„ Claimed by Abyssinia 100,000;
Sokotra 1,500 .. .. 10,000 .. .. 7
British East Africa 350,000 . . . . 5,000,000 . . . . 14
Zanzibar 625 . . . . 200,000 . . . . 320
Pemba 360 . . . . 90,000 . . . . 250
STANDARD BOOKS.
Sir S. Baker. " The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia." London, 1867.
Sir R. F. Burton. " The Lake Regions of Central Africa." 2 vols. London, i860.
H. M. Stanley. "Through the Dark Continent." London, 1878.
J. H. Speke. " Journal of the Discovery of the Sources of the Nile." Edinburgh, 1863.
J. Thomson. " Through Masai Land." London, 1886.
J. W. Gregory. " The Great Rift Valley." London, 1896.
W. W. A. Fitzgerald. ' ' Travels in the Coastlands of British East Africa." London, 1898.
P. L. McDerniott. "British East Africa." London, 1895.
G. F. Scott- Elliot. "A Naturalist in Mid-Africa." London, 1896.
A. d'Abbadie. " Geodesic d'Ethiopie." Paris, 1860-73.
" Geographic de I'Ethiopie." Paris, 1890.
G. Fumagalli. " Bibliografia Etiopica." Milan, iSgs.
II.— GERMAN EAST AFRICA
By Graf von Pfeil.
Surface and Configuration.— The coast of German East Africa
[Deutsch Ost-Afrika), about 620 miles long, shows little morphological
development, but is not destitute of excellent harbours, Tanga, Kilwa
Kisiwani, Lindi, Mikindani, and the best and principal harbour, Dar-es-
Salaam, deserve special mention. They all owe their origin to small
rivers whose discharge of fresh water caused a break in the growth of the
coral which built up this coast. Three islands of fair size, Pem^ba, Zanzi-
bar, and Mafia, show by the rocks of which they are composed that
they once formed part of that zone of coral limestone which, together
with clay schists and sedimentary deposits, forms a coastal plain of about
TO to 30 miles in width. South of the Rufiji, this plain, gradually rising,
extends towards the mountains on the eastern side of Lake N3'asa. West
of the coast-land the high plateau is composed of ancient rocks, gneiss
and mica-schists; near the northern end of Lake Nyasa Carboniferous
sandstone runs in a southerly direction towards the Rovuma river, near
which coal seams have been discovered. Igneous rocks, basalt, trachyte,
andesite, occur in the northern part of the protectorate between Kiliman-
German East Africa 94.1
jaro and the Victoria Nyanza. The great Unyamwezi plateau is simply
composed of granite. In some spots lacustrine deposits are found. In
a vertical sense East Africa shows comparatively little development.
Along its western border extends the continuation of the great western
rift-valley. The vast territory situated between it and the Indian Ocean
may be broadly characterised as a tableland. To understand its con-
figuration w^e might picture to ourselves that it was suddenly rent open
in a direction nearly parallel to the coast. The cleft thus supposed to be
produced is called the Eritrean rift-valley, and it divides the plateau
into two parts, each of which has been considerably disturbed from its
original level. The western portion retained its old height in the north,
while the western side and southern end subsided ; the eastern, and much
narrower part of the plateau, retained its elevation along its western border,
while the eastern side and southern end were probably tilted up. By
whatever Earth movements the present configuration of the country was
brought about, the result is to give the country its greatest elevation in the
region north of Lake Nyasa, where an altitude of about 9,000 feet is
attained by the highest peak. The average level of the plateau lies between
3,000 and 4,000 feet. The sides of the rift-valley are precipitous, so is the
drop of the tableland on the east side where it presents the appearance of a
tall mountain range when seen from the low coastal plain. Where the Eri-
trean rift-valley crosses the northern boundary of German territory the
volcanic forces, which opened all the rents radiating from this spot, seem
to have had their seat. From a rift which branches off in an easterly
direction, Mount Kilimanjaro rises, towering to an altitude of 19,200 feet
From its extinct crater an immense glacier descends, from which the
Pangani river derives its chief water supply. A longer rift called the
Wemberre, extends in an opposite direction ; its northern portion is
occupied by a shallow lake, and several smaller lakes are situated in the
neighbouring main rift. South-east of Kilimanjaro the mountains of Pare
and Usambara rise abruptly from the plains, a narrow strip of which
separates them. They approach much nearer the coast than any other
mountainous part of East Africa, and they are but loosely connected
through the mountains of Nguru with the central Plateau. The Pare and
Usambara mountains are covered with tall primeval forest. A similar
isolated group of mountains rises in the more southern district of Ukami.
Hydrography. — The country east of the great fissure sends its drainage
to the Indian Ocean. The Pangani is the channel through which Kiliman-
jaro and the Pare and Usambara mountains discharge the rainfall which
they receive partly from the south-east monsoon. The Wami rises in
the mountainous plateau border, while the Kingani, rising in the Ukami
mountains, belongs entirely to the littoral region. Only the Rufiji-Ruaha
has its origin on the plateau, its great tributaries, the Ulanga and the
Rovuma, have their sources at the foot of the mountains east of Lake
Nyasa, The Pangani is navigable for about 12 to 18 miles the Rufiji for
94^ The International Geography
more than 60 miles in its lower course, and its tributary, the Ulanga, for
a considerably longer distance. The plateau west of the fissure, much
drier than its eastern portion, sends its water through the Malagarazi
river to Lake Tanganyika, and thence to the Atlantic. The northern
portion of German East Africa, sending amongst other and smaller rivers
the Kagera to the Victoria Nyanza, becomes tributary to the Nile. Lakes
Tanganyika and Nyasa fill the deepest parts of the western rift-valley
while Lake Eukwa is only a huge swamp formed by the collection of K)cal
waters in a subsidiary rift, which to some extent links together the
disconnected portions of the main rift.
Climate, Flora and Fauna. — The chmate of East Africa is influ-
enced by the monsoons ; the wet and dry seasons are well marked, but
occur at different times of the year in different parts of the country. On
the coast a high temperature prevails subject to little change, with corre-
sponding moisture of the air. The mountainous regions enjoy a more
temperate climate with sometimes decidedly cool mornings and evenings.
The plateau has a more continental climate with frequent hot winds.
Malaria occurs often, but rarely in a serious form where the comforts of a
civilised mode of life are available. The vegetation of East Africa varies
according to the degree of moisture contained in air and soil. Where
rivers or monsoons supply moisture dense forests cover mountain side and
river bank. On the coast many useful plants and trees from India, such
as the mango tree, flourish, while coco-nut and other palms are common.
The river mouths are mostly fringed with dense growth of mangrove. The
plateau has a steppe character : on it various kinds of mimosa and the
baobab occur ; grassy plains are also met with, and the Marenga Mkali and
Magunda Mkali are arid deserts with next to no vegetation. The fauna is
very interesting through the varieties of antelope which swarm on the
plateau in great numbers. Giraffe and buffalo, and, with the exception of
the elephant, most pachyderms are still plentiful, so are lions and other
beasts of prey. Nearly all the rivers harbour a wealth of fish and many
crocodiles. Birds are numerous, but only a few are notable for brilliant
plumage ; amongst running birds the ostrich stands foremost. Of insects
ants deserve special notice. The white ant is a common plague of settlers^
and the so-called " siafu " wander everywhere in millions acting as
scavengers. The tsetse fly, which brings death to most domestic animals,
infests certain localities of the country. Locusts have repeatedly appeared.
People and Trade. — The population of East Africa belongs chiefly
to the Bantu race, which in its migration from the south met the
advance of Hamitic and Nilotic tribes coming from the north. The
Bantu race is best represented by the tribes round Lake Nyasa, the
Hamitic element by the Masai near Kilimanjaro. On the coast live the
Suahili of mixed origin, who are remarkable for a degree of Asiatic culture
and the fact that they have been able to impress a knowledge of their
language upon almost all the tribes of the interior. These native tribes are
German East Africa 94.3
mostly ruled by despotic chiefs, though small self-governing communities
are not uncommon. Many tribes, especially those on the grass lands, rear
cattle, but only a few are truly nomads. Nearly all till the soil with iron
hoes of their own manufacture. Their productions — ground-nuts (arachis),
maize, rice, sesame, beans, &c., together with those they collect in the
forest, rubber, copal, fibres, lichens, &c,, are exported in yearly increasing
quantities. Of industry they possess little ; unable to produce textiles beyond
a small attempt on the coast, they in some parts work a fine bark into cloth.
Almost everywhere they smelt iron, and forge fine spear-heads. Pottery
and wood-carving are much practised. Payable minerals have not been
discovered. There is little intertribal trade ; people from the interior,
chiefly Wanyamwezi, travel in caravans to the coast, where they barter
their produce for European goods. The staple article ot trade is calico
from Indian and American looms. The sale of guns, ammunition and
spirituous liquors is subjected to severe control. Coast trade is chiefly in
the hands of Indians, while European enterprise is mainly directed
towards plantations, on which only free labour is employed. Slave dealing
has been made a penal crime. A special coin of rupee value has been
introduced, but the old silvef- dollar is generally used as a basis of calcula-
tion where the use of coin has superseded the practice of barter, which is
still nearly universal.
Government. — East Africa was acquired by private enterprise in
November and December, 1884, when treaties
were concluded with influential chiefs which
were sanctioned by the German Government in
February, 1885. The colony is administrated by
a Governor with a deputy, who is also commander
of the forces. Each department of adminis-
tration is under the charge of a separate officer. Fig. 450.— r//e Flag of
Justice is administered in two law courts, one German East Africa.
in the Northern the other in the Southern Division. The governor, with
the assistance of a judge, presides over an appeal court. The colony is
divided into six coast divisions, and ten station districts in the interior, all
under responsible officers, whose chief duty is to maintain order in, and
amicable relations with the natives of, their districts. They are supported
by a police force. A regular four-weekly mail service exists between
Germany and the colony, in which a number of post-offices provide for
postal communication. No less than ten missionary societies endeavour to
spread culture amongst the natives — six of these are German, three English,
one French ; seven of them are Protestant, and three Roman Catholic.
Some of the coast settlements quite merit the appellation of " town,"
although less than a decade ago hardly any one of them contained a
habitable house. Now all government and most private buildings are
handsome edifices ; those of military character are built very substantially
of coral blocks, and are capable of withstanding a siege. Private houses
944 The International Geography
are constructed of lighter material, but are replete with all the comfort
which a thorough study of the climate can suggest. Foremost, with
regard to its appearance as in all other re-
spects, stands Dar-es-Salaam, which is pro-
bably the best harbour on the whole east
coast of Africa, On entering the bay the eye
is at once struck with the air of tidiness which
pervades the place. All round the bay runs
a broad street flanked on one side by hand-
some public buildings, all* fronting the water.
The Governor's sumptuous residence stands
in the midst of large gardens where many
plants are reared on trial. A number of deep
wells supply the town with good water for
drinking, and since they have been dug a neighbouring swamp has been
drained, so that it has become not only a handsome but also a healthy
tropical town.
Fig. 451. — Dar-es-Salaam.
F. Stuhlmann.
O. Bauraann.
P. Reichardt.
F. Fiilleborn.
STANDARD BOOKS.
" Mit Emin Pascha im Herz von Afrika." Berlin, 1894.
" Usambara." Berlin, 1891.
" Durch Massailand." Berlin, 1894.
" Deutsch Ost Africa." Leipzig, i8q2.
" Das Deutsche Njassa- und Ruwuma-Gebiet." Berlin, 1906.
III.— PORTUGUESE EAST AERICA
By Captain Ernesto de Vasconcellos,*
Portuguese Royal Navy.
Position and Extent. — The Portuguese possessions in East Africa,
formerly known in their entirety as Mozambique (or Mozambique), stretch
along the coast from the Rovuma, io|° S., to a short distance south of
Delagoa Bay, almost in 27° S., with a coast-line of 1,400 miles. In the
north the coast is much indented with many islands lying off it, and in
the south it is low, beset with sandbanks and bordered by many sand-hills
and lagoons. The most inland point in the Possession is Zumbo on the
Zambezi, 450 miles from the sea, and Mozambique includes the eastern
shores of Lake Shirwa and Lake Nyasa.
Surface. — The Zambezi, which forms a great delta on the coast,
divides the country into two nearly equal parts, to the north the province
of Mozambique, to the south that of Lourengo Marques. North of the
Zambezi granitic formations give rise to a mountainous country, in which
the Namuli mountains rise to 8,800 feet, and form a sort of liydrographic
centre whence flow the rivers Likungu southwards, Ligonia eastwards, and
Lurio north-eastwards. Mount Mlanje south of Lake Shirwa, and the Serra
* Translated from the Portuguese
Portuguese East Africa 945
Morumbala, which reaches 4,000 feet, may also be mentioned ; but there
are other important elements of the orography which space makes it
impossible to enumerate.
South of the Zambezi the Serra da Gorongoza rises to 6,500 feet, send-
ing its waters to the Zambezi and Pungwe, and the edge of the so-called
Manika plateau runs southward, with Mount Doe rising to 7,900 feet.
In the south the well-marked Libombo Range separates the Lourengo
Marques district from the Transvaal. There are numerous rivers, many
of which are navigable by light-draught vessels. The Limpopo, Save, and
Pungwe are the most important in the south. The Zambezi, however, is
the greatest waterway in East Africa, approached from the sea either
through the winding Quelimane branch, or the shorter and deeper
Chinde mouth. Its tributary, the Shire, coming from Lake Nyasa, is also
navigable.
Climate and Resources. — According to the latitude, there are
varieties of climate ; but generally the low coastal plain is malarious and
unhealthy owing to inundations from the rivers and the formation of
swamps. In the interior, where the effects of latitude are corrected by
altitude, the climate is bearable and sometimes good. Farther south, in
the part beyond the tropic including Inhambane and Lourengo Marques,
the climate is generally better adapted to Europeans. The mean
temperature in Lourengo Marques is about 75° F., but the minimum falls
sometimes below 65°.
The products are almost entirely derived from the forests ; olea-
ginous seeds, wax, gums, orchil, coffee, tobacco, and ivory being the
chief. .
People and Government. — The population is made up of various
races and tribes. In the north, between the Rovuma and Angoche rivers,
the Makwa people dwell, and farther in the interior the Ajaus, both belong-
ing to the eastern branch of the great Bantu race. In the ancient Tete
district are found the Maraves, Sengas, and other tribes ; south of the
Pungwe the Vatwa race inhabits Gazaland. The Portuguese call the
various races living near Inhambane, who have adopted the manners
and customs of the Vatwas or Manguni, Ladins ; the Tongas are people
of an inferior race living on the banks of the Motamba and around
Inhambane.
The colonial province forms a Governor-Generalship, and is divided
into the districts of Mo9ambique, Lourengo Marques, Inhambane and
Zambezia. A great part of its territories is under the administration of
chartered companies ; the Nyasa Company is supreme between Lake
Nyasa and the Rovuma ; the Mozambique Company is developing the
gold and other resources of Sofala and Manika ; and the Zambezia district
is managed by the Company of the same name, but without sovereign
rights
Towns and Trade. — The most active commercial town is Lourengo
946 The International Geography
Marques, on the large and safe harbour of Delagoa Bay in the south. Its
importance rests on the railway which runs for 57 miles through Portuguese
territory before entering the Transvaal, and thus forms the shortest outlet
for that colony to the sea. Beira, at the moutb
of the Pungwe, is somewhat similarly situated,
the head of navigation on the river being con-
nected by railway with Salisbury in Southern
Rhodesia, forming the shortest route to that
place from the sea. Chinde, on the Zambezi
delta, and Quelimane have been developed by
the transport trade on that river. The old
capital, Mogambique, situated farther north on
an island near the coast, has not profited so
much by the recent development. Portuguese
East Africa does not as yet carry on much trade with the mother country.
The commerce of its ports consists mainly of goods in transit, and takes
place chiefly with the United Kingdom, India, France and Germany.
STATISTICS [approximate).
Area of Portuguese East Africa in square miles 301.160
Population „ , 3,120,000
Density of population per square mile 10
Population of Mozambique 8,000
^ Louren^o Marques .. .* • 7.70o
Fig. 452. — Delagoa Bay.
IV.— BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
By Sir Harry H. Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.,
Formerly Commissioner and Consul-General administering British Central Africa.
Position and Boundaries.— British Central Africa is the name
given officially to the large territory under British protection in South
Central Africa, to the north of the Zambezi. This designation is, on the
whole, the most correct and the most comprehensive, and is that recognised
by the Foreign Office, which controls the administration of this territory.
Portions of British Central Africa, however, are sometimes styled Northern
Zambezia, or Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland.
British Central Africa includes within its limits almost the whole
northern watershed of the river Zambezi and its affluents ; it further
extends to the Lualaba or Upper Congo (which river rises within this
territory); to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika; to the western
and eastern shores of Lake Nyasa ; and to the eastern shores of Lake
Chilwa. It covers the whole of Lake Bangweolo, and a large part of Lake
Mweru within its limits. Further, it may be said that it is bounded on the
north by the Congo Free State, on the north-east by German East Africa,
on the south-east by Portuguese East Africa, on the south by the Zambezi,
and on the west by Portuguese West Africa.
British Central Africa 947
Configuration. — The physical configuration is that of a vast plateau,
deeply cut into on the east by the trench of Lake Nyasa (Lake Tanganyika
on the north continuing the line of this remarkable rift), and worn down
southwards into the valleys of the Shire, Luangwa, Kafue, and Zambezi.
Its principal rivers are the Zambezi,' the Shire (the next in importance
politically, though not as regards length of course), the Kafue, the Luangwa,
the Kabompo, and the Lungo-e-Bungo. All of these belong to the Zambezi
system, and have innumerable affluents of their own. The rivers joining
the Congo system which flow through British Central Africa are, amongst
others, the Chambezi, the Luapula, the Lohombo, and the Kalungwisi.
The river Saisi, which rises in the north of British Central Africa, is the
principal affluent of the salt Lake Rukwa, which lies beyond the territory.
The lakes of British Central Africa are : Tanganyika, Nyasa, Bangweolo,
Mweru, Moir Lake, the Mweru Salt Swamp, and Lake Chilwa. The two
last are salt lakes ; but there is a tendency in Tanganyika and Mweru
towards brackishness. The only great lakes, veritable inland fresh water
seas of great antiquity and relatively unchanged in area, are Tanganyika
and Nyasa. Lakes Bangweolo and Mweru are shallow depressions which
the Upper Congo has turned into lakes of varying extent. Lake Chilwa is
likewise shallow and swampy, and is possibly a former gulf of Lake
Nyasa cut off by the upheaval of a low ridge of ground. Lake Tanganyika
possesses actually a marine fauna, and it has been conjectured consequently
that it is the relic of a former extension of the ocean into the heart of
Africa in the Cretaceous period. Lake Nyasa is a curiously formed trench
dug into the central African plateau, as though a gigantic spade had been
driven eastward into the tableland at a slant, digging deep down on one
side, and throwing up the ground on the other into the form of the Living-
stone Mountains. The western shore of Lake Nyasa is shallow, but it deepens
towards the east coast, where its depths are so profound that they are in
many places much below the surface of the Indian Ocean. Immediately
above these great depths along the east coast rise the precipitous Living-
stone Mountains, attaining heights of from 5,000 to 10,000 feet. The water
of Lake Nyasa is absolutely fresh, and its fauna has no signs of marine
origin. Tanganyika drains intermittently into the Upper Congo by the
river Lukuga ; Lake Nyasa drains into the Zambezi by the Shire river,
and, but for an interval of sixty miles of rapids, is in direct water com-
munication with the Indian Ocean. The tableland of British Central
Africa is tortured here and there by Earth movements or by atmospheric
agencies into lumps and ridges and tilts which are styled mountains. So
far as is yet known, the highest altitude is attained at the extreme south-
* The name of this great river is relatively constant from near its source to its mouth,
and appears to be derived from an old root — mbiji or mbizi, which in many Bantu
languages means fish or meat — though this resemblance may be accidental. Preceded by
various prefixes the name of the river may appear as Liambiye, Liambiji, Dianibi/i,
Dombazi, Dzambezi, Zambezi ; but on tlie whole Zambezi, besides being long smce
sanctioned by custom, is the most generally recognised native name.
63
948 The International Geography
eastern corner of the territory by the beautiful mountain of Mlanje, an isolated
block of tableland which has given rise to a series of, volcanic craters that
further add to its height. The highest point of Mlanje is 9,683 feet.
Along the western versant of Lake Nyasa the tableland occasionally tops
altitudes of 7,000 and 8,000 feet. An altitude of 7,000 feet is occasionally
reached by points on the Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau and in the mountains
to the south of Lake Bangweolo.
Geology. — The geology of British Central Africa appears relatively
simple. The commonest formation, perhaps, is a mixture of metamorphic
rocks, grauwacke, clay, slates, gneiss and schists. The principal mountain
ranges consist mostly of granite ; and granite with its upper layers often
rotten, and even turned into red ferruginous clay, constitutes the surface
soil of most of the highlands. There is an outcrop of sandstone on the
north-west and north-east coasts of Lake Nyasa and west of the river
Shire, at the south end of Tanganyika, round about Lake Mweru, and in
the countries adjoining the river Luapula. Volcanic lavas and tuffs are
present on the upper plateau of Mlanje and at the north end of Lake
Nyasa. There is a good deal of quartz in the mountains to the west of
Lake Nyasa. The low flat hills in the upper Shire district and on the
north-west coast of Lake Nyasa are composed of marble. The valleys of
the Luangwa and the upper Zambezi are covered with alluvial soil. Gold
has been found to the west of Lake Nyasa, and is probably present in the
Shire highlands. It is found in some abundance in the valleys of the
streams which flow into the central Zambezi. Iron is found nearly every-
where except in the alluvial river valleys. Copper exists in the Luapula
basin, graphite has been found in Nyasaland, and deposits of coal are
present in most of the sandstone formations. The average annual rainfall
is about forty inches. The climate on all the plateaux is very agreeable.
It is not the climate which causes ill health, but the rank soil, which
requires to be chastened by many years of tillage before the country is
fitted for permanent settlement.
Flora and Fauna. — The whole of this area is covered with fairly
abundant vegetation, in some places reaching typical tropical luxuriance.
Nearly all the more important or valuable trees of tropical Africa are
represented, and there are live species of indigenous palms, including the
oil-palm of West Africa, w^hich extends its range to the west coast of Lake
Nyasa. There are four kinds of rubber produced in the forests, and a
valuable article of export is the sirophanthiis drug. A notable feature in
the flora of British Central Africa is the possession of two species of
conifer found growing on Mount Mlanje, and possibly on a few peaks to
the north. These are the only conifers known to exist in tropical Africa
with the exception of those found on the mountains of Abyssinia and
Mount Kenia. One of these conifers is the Widdringtonia whytei, a tree
resembling the cedar in appearance, but really related to the cypresses.
The fauna of British Central Africa is that of typical tropical Africa.
British Central Africa 949
It possesses some West African species, but several forms characteristic of
South Africa and the Sudan are absent, such as the ostrich, any species of
oryx antelope, the aard-wolf, all mountain zebras, and the secretary vulture.
The mass of African antelopes is abundantly represented — especially
notable in numbers are the sable antelope, the eland, the kudu, the pallah,
the hartebeest, and the water-buck. The African elephant is still found in
considerable numbers, and so is the rhinoceros. The low-lying parts of
the territory are infested with the tsetse fly, which there renders impossible
the keeping of horses and cattle ; but this pest is quite absent from the
highlands, and moreover tends to diminish in the low country as human
settlement increases.
People, — The native inhabitants belong entirely to the negro stock,
and to that section of it which speaks Bantu languages. There is, how-
ever, not much correlation between race and language where the Bantu
negroes are concerned, and the inhabitants of British Central Africa
evidently arise from a fusing of three negro stocks : the east coast negro,
physically more akin to the tribes of the Eastern Sudan ; the west coast
negro (the extreme development of the negro type) ; and an underlying
stratum of the Bushman or pygmy race, which undoubtedly inhabited the
country before it was invaded by the big black negroes from the north.
The tremendous race disturbances in South Africa in the early part of the
nineteenth century sent north-west across the Zambezi a Zulu invasion.
The invaders were akin to the Matabele, but were known as Angoni.
These Angoni constituted a ruling caste in the centre of the territory
between Lake Nyasa and the river Luangwa. Similarly Barutseland, on
the upper Zambezi, was invaded by Bechuana ; though later on the
indigenous race expelled its Bechuana rulers and set up a dynasty of its
own. The most important people of Nyasaland are the Yao, invaders
from the east, who with the aid of the Arabs would have conquered all
Nyasaland but for the intervention of the British. They are physically a
very fine race, with an undoubted future before them. The inhabitants of
Nyasaland proper are the Anyanja, a stock which furnishes the native
tribes of all but northern Nyasaland, and of the whole lower Zambezi.
The Barutse and kindred tribes are connected linguistically with the people
of Lower Guinea and the Congo basin rather than with the inhabitants of
the eastern half of this territory, who in language approximate more to the
Zanzibar group. The various tribes dwelling round the north end of Lake
Nyasa and the south end of Tanganyika and Lake Bangweolo, speak
languages which are remarkable for their archaic form and their approxi-
mation to the original mother tongue of the Bantu. The entire native
population of this vast territory probably does not exceed three millions.
Before the arrival of the Angoni and other recent invaders, there were a
few great chiefs of ancient lineage, but these are now all swept away or
much reduced in power. The only chief of any importance and indepen-
dence is the king of the Barutse. In the middle of the nineteenth century
95 o The International Geography
the eastern part of British Central Africa was invaded by Arabs and half-
caste Arabs from Zanzibar, who, but for their quarrel with the British and
consequent defeat, would have succeeded in founding powerful Arab
sultanates round Tanganyika and Nyasa. Very few Arabs now remain in
the territory.
Government and Trade. — The whole of British Central Africa was
brought under British protection between 1889 and 1891. The Chartered
Company of South Africa shared in the task, and has been assigned the
central portion of British Central Africa as a sphere for its administration,
Barutseland remaining under the intelligent rule of its enlightened chief,
and the eastern part of the territory, where Europeans were chiefly settled,
being controlled by a direct Imperial administration working under the
Foreign Office. Little or no commerce at present exists in any other part
of the protectorate but the last named. Here the trade amounts to an
annual value of nearly $750,000. The main staple of export trade is
coffee. The coffee-tree was introduced by Scottish planters in 1876 ; the
parent tree coming from the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. The
coffee grown in British Central Africa is equal to the finest Mocha, and
attains practically the same prices on the London
market. The output of coffee from the infant plan-
tations in 1897 was about 450 tons, and the coffee-plant
has been adopted as the colonial badge. Other articles
of export are ivory, gold, sfropJianihus drug, rubber,
rhinoceros horns, wax and hides. The system of in-
ternal communications is mainly along the natural
Fig. 453.-27/6' Badge waterways. The country is ordinarily entered by the
of British Central Zambezi at the town of Chinde on the Indian Ocean.
The Zambezi is navigable all the year round as far as
its confluence with the Shire, and the Shire is likewise navigable all the
year round as far as Chiromo. From this point roads, more or less
carriageable, have been constructed to Lake Nyasa, and a railway is in
contemplation. Lake Nyasa is navigated by several commercial steamers,
and is patrolled by three British gunboats. There are one British steamer
and several British sailing vessels on Lake Tanganyika. The British
South Africa Company has sailing boats on Lake Mweru. Elsewhere ofi
this main line of road the only means of communication are the native
paths, which criss-cross the country in all directions. Transport along
these routes is effected by native porterage. A telegraph line from South
Africa passes through the British Central Africa, and a railway from
Rhodesia reaches far into the interior. There are at present no towns of
any size. The largest settlement of Europeans is Blanty7'e ; the administra-
tive capital of the Protectorate is Zomba.
General Character and Statistics.— The essential characteristics
of British Central Africa are those of a great tropical dependency, which
may in time become peopled by many millions of black men, but which
British Central Africa 951
is not suited any more than India for European colonisation. Europeans
can maintain fair health on the more elevated districts, but the country
is emphatically not one where the European can make a permanent
home or be anything more than a temporary settler as planter or trader.
The country as a whole is unhealthy ; but as money is made very quickly
over coffee planting, and as there are considerable gold mining prospects
the European immigrants slowly increase. The entire European popula-
tion in the year 1898 scarcely exceeded 450 souls, of whom all but
a few are British subjects. Nyasaland is celebrated for its thriving
settlers of Scottish race, who have been the main agents in bringing this
territory within the sphere of British interests. The area of British Cen-
tral Africa can only be given approximately while the western frontier
with Portugal remains unsettled. It may be roughly stated at 300,000
square miles. The average value of the trade with Great Britain at the
institution of the Protectorate in 1891 was about $185,000. It has now
risen to about $750,000 in annual value. The revenues of the British
Central Africa Protectorate during the same period have risen from nil to
about $110,000 per annum. The deficit in the cost of admirfistration is
met by the Imperial Government. The responsibility and expense of
administering the Central Portion of British Central Africa are borne by
the Chartered Company. There are eight missionary societies — five
British, two French, and one Dutch — at work in this field.
STANDARD BOOKS.
Sir H. H. Johnston. " British Central Africa." London, 1897.
H. Drummond. " Tropical Africa." London, 1888.
CHAPTER LI.— WEST AFRICA
I.— SPANISH WEST AFRICA
By Edward Heawood, M.A.
Canary Islands. — The Canaries are a group of volcanic islands
upheaved, between 27° and 30° N., along the north-westerly slope of Africa
towards the Atlantic depression. The five principal islands, Langerote,
Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Palma, run in a curved line
from east to west, while Gomera and Hierro (Ferro) lie a little off the
curve towards the south-west. The moisture brought by the trade winds
(especially in winter and to the northern slopes) make the group less barren
than the opposite mainland, and the luxuriance of the vegetation increases
towards the west ; but the plains of basaltic lava are distinctly arid.
Perhaps the most characteristic plants are cactus-like Euphorbias. The
famous Peak of Tenerife (Pico
Teneriffe
Comera^
Ferro
>4 W
L&nzajrote^
Fuerteventura
Cr. Canana.
.LaisFWmas
iniura, rj
/p
Fig. 454. — The Canary Islands,, showing the assumed
mertdian of Ferro.
de Teyde), 12,200 feet high,
reaches far above the cloud-
belt. The vines, bananas and
other fruit trees of the lower
slopes give place in turn at
higher levels to forests of
laurels, oaks and pines ; a
species of tree-heath and a
broom (retama), grasses, and,
highest of all, a violet occurs, but all above 10,000 feet is barren. Three
different races inhabited the Canaries in ancient times, the best known
being the Guanch^, probably allied to the Berbers. Known vaguely to
the ancients as the Fortunatae Insulae, the group was first conquered in
1402 by the Norman De Bethencourt, but in spite of Portuguese efforts to
obtain a footing was finally confirmed to Spain in 1479. The chief towns
are Santa Cruz, in Tenerife, the seat of Government, and Las Palmas, in
Gran Canaria, whose port. La Luz, has been developed as a coaling station
for steamers on the South African route. Wines, cochineal, oil, cereals
and tobacco are the chief products of the group.
The meridian of Ferro, the most westerly known land in the days of
Ptolemy, was long accepted as the initial meridian for reckoning longitude,
and on the discovery of America was the dividing line between the
"Eastern" and "Western" hemispheres. In 1634 the meridian was
assumed to be exactly 20° west of Paris (17° 39' 45" west of Greenwich),
and this is still used as the zero of longitude on some maps.
952
French West Africa 953
Spanish Sahara. — The Spanish Sahara extends along the west coast
of the desert between Capes Blanco and Bojador, with an average width
of about 170 miles. It consists of a granite plateau with vegetation only
in the depressions, roamed over by predatory nomadic tribes. While the
early relations of the Portuguese and other nations with these coasts for
the purpose of trade and fishing were confined chiefly to Arguin, south of
Cape Blanco, the Spaniards of the Canaries established themselves in 1476
at Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeria, north of that cape, and at other posts, but
their fortresses soon fell into ruins. In 1878 they again turned their atten-
tion to these coasts, and a protectorate was proclaimed in 1884, but their
efforts to obtain a footing in the interior (Adrar) have been without result,
that country being recognised as French in 1900. The principal factory
is at Rio de Oro, a spot which was known at a very early date, as it is
shown on the Catalan map of 1375.
Spanish Guinea. — Spain owns a small area near Corisco Bay, just
north of the equator, but the territory is almost valueless for trade, as
French expansion has entirely cut it off from the interior.
Fernando Po.— Fernando Po is the largest and the nearest to the
coast of the four volcanic islands which run in a south-westerly direction
into the Gulf of Guinea in a line with the volcanic peak of Kamerun (Fig.
465). It has roughly the shape of a parallelogram, of which the northern
half is almost entirely filled by the great peak of 0-Wassa or Santa Isabel
(Clarence Peak), 9,356 feet high, an extinct volcano with a still existing
crater. It slopes steeply on all sides but the south, where it is joined by a
low ridge to the basaltic cordillera which runs east and west through the
south of the island. ^lost of the surface is clothed with dense forest, but
there are also some grassy uplands. The native inhabitants are the Bubi,
a Bantu tribe. The island was discovered by the Portuguese, but ceded
to Spain in 1778. Santa Isabel, on the north coast (occupied early in the
nineteenth century by Great Britain), is the only town. Some cacao, coffee
aiici cinchona are cultivated, but the climate is unhealthy to Europeans.
Annobon, the last of the four islands, is also the smallest.
STATISTICS.
Area (square miles) Poptilation.
Canary Islands 2,900 .. .. 292,000
Spanish Sahara 70,000 . . . . 100,000 (?)
Spanish Guinea 9,000 .. .. (?)
Ff-rnando Po and Annobon 800 . . . . 30,000
II.— FRENCH WEST AFRICA
By M. ZimmermannV
Of the " Annales de Geographic," Paris.
History. — The beginning of French influence in West Africa may be
traced back to the discoveries of Dieppe sailors on the coast of Senegambia
in the fourteenth century. The attractions of the gold of Bambuk and the
* Traaslated from the French by the Editor.
954 The International Geography
slave trade led to the origin of Goree, near Cape Verde, and the first
attempts at penetrating the interior, particularly those of Andre Brue from
1697 to 1723 ; but the real development of French interests only com-
menced with the able administration of Colonel Faidherbe (1854-1865).
He extended the colony of the Senegal from the coast towards the interior
and pointed to the upper Niger as the next object of French ambition. In
1866 France possessed only the Atlantic coast from Cape Blanco to Sierra
Leone (except Gambia and Portuguese Guinea) as well as the upper
Senegal ; the vast expansion of this territory has taken place since 1880.
As Faidherbe had conquered the Marabout El Haj Omar, his military
successors overthrew the Toucouleur empire of Ahmadou by a series of
glorious victories, conquered the Almamy Samory, and from 1883 to 1894
pushed the French arms from Bammako, the first post on the upper Niger,
to Timbuktu. Thus the colony of the French Sudan was added to those of
Senegal and the Southern Rivers (Casamance, Pongo, Mellacoree, &c.). The
French rights on the Ivory Coast have been acted upon since 1884, and
Dahome was definitely conquered in 1892. All of these colonies, including
Dahome since 1902, are combined in the General Government of French
West Africa {Gouvernement general de VAfrique Occidentale Fran^aise).
Since 1895, when, in consequence of the treaty of 1890 with the United
Kingdom, France lost all rights to the central Sudan, being confined to the
north of a line drawn from Say on the Niger to Barrua on Lake Chad,
French exploration and conquest have mainly been directed towards the
unknown region lying within the great bend of the Niger and forming the
hinterland of the Guinea Coast colonies. The convention of 1898 de-
finitely fixed the British and French positions in the Sudan, modifying the
Say-Barrua line to the advantage of France towards Sokoto and Zinder,
and moving its starting point down the Niger from Say to Ilo. Inter-
national rivalry in this region has had at least the one good consequence of
a great increase in geographical knowledge. The extent of the equatorial
forest and of the bush, the course of the coast rivers Volta, Komoe, Sas-
sandra, Bandama, Kavalle, the course and the characteristics of the Niger
itself, are all definitely fixed, and the work of Hourst, Toutee and their
fellows, crowns the labours of Mungo Park, Caillie and Barth.
Configuration. — The geology and the relief of French West Africa
appear to be fairly simple. As far as the Niger it forms an undulating
region of plains or low plateaux diversified occasionally by small granitic
areas rising to a greater height. In the bend of the Niger the elevation of
3,500 feet is rarely reached or surpassed ; although the peak of Komono, near
Kong, reaches 4,600 feet, and that of Hombori, in Masina, is between 2,500
and 3,000 feet. There are no continuous mountain chains ; the hypothetical
Kong Range has been effaced from the map by the expeditions of Binger,
but there are great plateaux of ancient rocks covered with red ferruginous
earth or laterite. These play an important part in determining the water-
sheds of the vast surrounding plains with their gentle and undecided slopes.
French West Africa 955
By far the most important is the plateau of Futa Jallon in which the
Senegal, the Gambia, the Niger, and a multitude of smaller rivers take their
rise. It is the great reservoir for the waters of this part of Africa. With a
length of about 200 miles from north to south it presents an abrupt face
towards the east, and descends in a gentle slope to the Atlantic on the west.
The high plains which compose it rarely reach elevations exceeding 2,500
or 3,000 feet ; but it is connected with the plateaux and mountains of from
3,000 to 4,000 feet which form the hinterland of Sierra Leone and the
Mandingo Mountains east of the Niger. The bend of the Niger contains
the plateaux of Sikasso, Kipirsi and Mossi, with elevations of about 2,000
feet, and a great number of scattered highlands. All the rest forms a plain
covered with sand or clay, usually red in colour. The great development
of Archaean and ferruginous rocks explains the particular richness of all
West Africa in gold and iron. Gold has been produced from a very
ancient time in Bambuk, on the Faleme, and in Wangara ; and at the pre-
sent day it is employed by natives in trade, and is worked in Futa Jallon at
Bure, and in various parts of the Niger bend.
Climate, Hydrography and Productions. — In West Africa, as
indeed in the greater part of that continent, climate is the most important
element of differentiation between regions. Between the Sahara and the
Gulf of Guinea it determines all the zones of transition from the arid desert
to the great equatorial forest. The northern border of Senegambia and
the Sudan, although visited by regular summer rains, has a very dry cha-
racter ; it borders immediately on the desert region from which there is an
important trade in typical products of arid countries — gums {Acacia verek),
ostrich feathers and salt. Further towards the south the rainy season is
longer, and the number of rainy days increases from 35 per annum on the
Senegal to 84 on the Casamance and 137 on the Rio Nunez in French
Guinea. The duration of the storms increases also from a few hours to
several days. The arid northern desert, dotted with acacias and other
thorny plants, and raising horses and camels, gives place to the open
woods of the Sudan with clumps of baobabs and karite, cultivated fields
yielding harvests of rice, maize, millet, hemp, cotton and sesame, and
herds of cattle and flocks of sheep on the plateaux of Futa Jallon and
Mossi. Finally, south of 8° or 9° N., stretching for a breadth of from 100
to 200 miles to the Guinea Coast, comes the belt of tropical forest, where
the principal commercial products are all derived from trees, especially
from the oil-palm {tl(sis Guincensis), various woods, india-rubber, kola-nuts,
mahogany, &c. The temperature of the forest region of the Ivory Coast
and Dahome, shows the typical equatorial uniformity, avei aging from 75°
to 80° F. ; and the year is divided into two dry and two wet seasons.
The hydrography corresponds to these divisions. The Senegal, 1,000
miles in length, and the Niger, with a length of 2,500 miles, draw the supply
of their upper courses in a large number of tributaries from the southern
Sudan ; but when they r^^gh the latitude of 15° N. both begin to shrink in
956 The International Geography
the desert area where no affluents reach them. The Niger, however, re-
enters the equatorial zone and again receives notable tributaries after its
great sweep to the north. Unfortunately jieither of these great rivers is so
valuable a means of transport as could be desired. The rapids of Kayes on
the Senegal, and those of Bammako, Ansongo, and Bussa (where Mungo
Park met his death) on the Niger, putting a stop to through navigation.
Peoples. — The ethnology of French West Africa is a confusion which
has not yet been satisfactorily disentangled. On the Senegal the Moors
(Braknas, Trarzas, Duaish) of mixed Hamitic and Negro blood are nomads
devoted to stock-raising and to the trade in gums and salt. They live on
the right or Saharan bank of the river, and also in the Sahel between the
upper Senegal and the middle Niger. Towards Timbuktu and the
northernmost part of the great bend of the Niger the French have to deal
with the Tuareg Berbers (Kel es Suk, Kel Antassar, Iregenat) and with the
Arabs, both peoples living amongst laborious populations of Negroes (Son-
rhai) whom they have enslaved. In the Sudan properly so called and in
the western colonies the dominant race is the Peulh or Fula, a pastoral
people of coppery complexion and of slender figure, whose origin is
obscure ; and the Toucouleurs, an enterprising warlike and very fanatical
race of mixed Fula and Negro blood. All the peoples named above are
Mohammedans, Islam being the sole, or at least the dominant, religion of
the desert, the banks of the Niger below Segu and of Futa Jallon. The
other peoples are of Negro race and practice fetishism ; the chief are the
Mandes or Mandingos (Sarrakole, Malinke, Bambara), who are an agri-
cultural and warlike people ; the Wolofs and Serere on the Senegal coast ;
and the Susu, Agni, and Ewe on the Guinea coast. The people inhabiting
the bend of the Niger are extremely complicated in their affinities ; it is
sufficient to mention the Diula, most of
whom are small traders. Finally the
marshes of Guinea and the equatorial forest
shelter the remnants of many conquered
tribes approaching extinction, people who
have become degraded and lead a purely
savage life, being often cannibals.
The Colony of Senegal.— As the
oldest colony, that of Senegal presents the
most regular development. It is a flat
country as far as Bakel, 400 miles up the
navigable river. The climate, although
tropical with summer rains, is subject to
the influences of the desert, and this in-
fluence is also to be seen in the often bare
and burnt soil, the thorny vegetation, the use of the camel, and the
mingling of the Moors with the Fula and Toucouleur elements of the
population. All the ports of the colony, Gorce, Rufisque, and especially
t^
W&:
f^,SenWT
1 ^1^
^ YarvS^
*^f
«t JOLOF
^"^
Miles.
10 JO 30 40 so
Fig. 455.— r;w5 St.
Railway.
Louis-Dakar
French West Africa 957
Dakar, on a magnificent bay, lie to the south of Cape Verde and are
united to the capital, St. Louis, at the mouths of the Senegal, by a railway
of 140 miles, with its terminus at Dakar (Fig. 455). St. Louis is one of
the finest towns of West Africa, and also one of the oldest. The trade
of Senegal deals principally with ground-nuts cultivated in the colony,
and gums coming from the desert.
French Guinea. — The old colony of the Southern Rivers {Rivieres du
Slid) now called French Guinea {La Guinee frangaise) includes (with the
exception of the three rivers of Portuguese Guinea) the basins of the
numerous coast streams which flow from Futa Jallon to the Atlantic
between the British colonies of the Gambia and Sierra Leone. Since 1897
Futa Jallon and its capital, Timbo, have been occupied by the French.
The low unhealthy Guinea coast peopled by the remains of beaten races,
Manjaks, Nalus, Bagas and Jolas, who are being driven towards the west by
the stronger Fulas and Mandingos, seems to be one of the most promising
parts of West Africa. It supplies a great abundance of india-rubber and
ground-nuts, and seems capable of also yielding coffee, cacao, and kola-nuts.
The port of Konakry has in recent years acquired real importance, and is
attracting the trade of Futa Jallon. French Guinea has also a special
importance with regard to communication with the Niger, and a road has
been constructed behind the territory of Sierra Leone, to bring the upper
Niger at Far anna into relation with the port of Konakry. The construction
of a railway between these points has also been begun.
The Ivory Coast and Dahome. — Both the Ivory Coast {La Cote
divoire) and Dahome form parts of the French establishments of the Gulf
of Guinea, although they are separated on the coast by the British Gold
Coast Colony and the German Togoland. The coast is bordered by sand-
bars shutting in marshy lagoons and overgrown by mangroves and dense
bush. The constant surf along the shore renders landing very difficult,
the rollers on the shallow margin of the sea acquiring tremendous force.
A wharf has been constructed at Kotonu in Dahome to overcome these
dangers as far as possible. The special importance of the Ivory Coast lies
in its large rivers, the Sassandra on the west, the Bandana in the centre,
and the Komoe to the east. The efforts of explorers have eventually resulted
in establishing communication between the upper parts of these rivers and
the Bani-Bagoe, a tributary of the upper Niger ; but unfortunately all these
rivers are broken by rapids not far from the coast. The Ivory Coast produces
a certain amount of gold at Baule and Attie, timber, especially mahogany,
palm-oil and palm kernels. The old warlike and bloodthirsty kingdom
of Dahome has now been pacified, and its trade consists mainly of the
export of palm-oil and kernels, while its imports are those of the whole
Guinea Coast — cloth, spirits and firearms. The principal stations on the
Ivory Coast are Bingerville (Ajame), Grand Bassam, Assinie and Grand,
Lahu, each on a sand-bar separating a great lagoon from the sea, while
those of Dahome are Kotonu, Agoe, Great and Little Popo and Whyda.
958 The International Geography
The Senegambia-Niger Territories. — These territories, formerly
the French Sudan, are the part of French West Africa which has awakened
the liveUest hopes and called forth the greatest efforts in France. To
afford it an outlet to the sea a railway was commenced in 1880 from Kayes
on the Senegal, which for a long time had its terminus at Baf ulabe, further
up the same river, but has now almost reached Bammako on the upper
Niger. With the same object the projects of a trans-Saharan railway from
Algeria, and of a trans-Nigerian railway from Konakry have been seriously
brouglit forward. These are only projects, but their m ignitude demon-
strates the remarkable isolation of the Sudan, shut in by the plateaux of
Futa Jallon on the west, the equatorial forests of the Guinea Coast on the
south, and the Sahara on the north, and measures the importance of open-
ing up communications with that promising country. It explains also the
enormous value of the navigable Niger, the upper and middle courses of
which, as far as Ilo, have been con-
firmed to France by the Franco-
British Convention of 1898. The
hope of being able to extend French
territory on the right bank of the
Niger below the rapids and so
secure direct communication with
the sea has had to be abandoned ;
but the convention concedes the
principle of making the Niger an
international waterway by creating
two French enclaves in the Niger
territory below Bussa to serve as
Fig. 456.— j/ie Surroundings of Timbuktu. ^iver ports for commercial pur-
poses. The convention also officially makes the French colonies of the
coast continuous with the French Sudan. It now remains to open up and
utihse this vast region, which as yet is merely held in military occupation
by small garrisons scattered over the country in many places, including
Siguiri, Segu, Bandiagara, and Timbuktu in the upper Niger country,
Wagadugu and Nikki in the Niger bend, and Zinder between the Niger
and Lake Chad. The native population of the region has been decimated
by long-continued wars.
French Congo.— The foundation of French Congo dates back to tlie
French settlements on the Gabun in 1843, while its immense territorial
development is due to the patient explorations and enlightened administra-
tion of Savorgnan de Brazza since 1875. Its area is about three times that
of France, and although its boundaries are not yet all defined, it includes
the basins of the Gabun, Ogowe (a river 500 miles in length), and the
Niari-Quillu, and stretches along the right bank of the Congo fioni Stanley
Pool to the Ubangi. Since 1890 the explorations of Crampel, Mizon,
Maistre, Clozel, Gentil and Marchand, have extended French Congo north-
wards beyond the Sanga River to Lake Chad, including the basin of the Shari,
N^angai
50
Liberia 959
and eastwards to the Nile watershed. The convention of 1898 gave
France the right to the eastern shore of Lake Chad. The right bank of
the Ubangi, the course of the M'bomu and of its tributaries are dotted with
French posts — Bangui, Bangaso, Zemio, Rafai and others. The great
difficulty is that of communications through the forests of the Crystal
Mountains from Loango, the chief seaport on the coast, to Brazzaville,
the capital of the colony, situated on Stanley Pool. A railway has been
projected, but not commenced. The people, mere remnants of conquered
tribes, the Pongos, Balumbos, Ashangos, or primitive dwarf races like the
Akoas, are but poor material for successful colonising ; they are besides
oppressed by the Fans or Pahoins, a robber tribe. Thus the colony yields
little save natural products, india-rubber, ivory and wood, and a little palm-
oil ; its trade as yet is only one-quarter of that of the Congo Free State.
The primeval forests of the Ogowe are the home of the gorilla, the largest
anthropoid ape.
STATISTICS.
(Estimates only.)
Trade in dollars.
Area sq. miles. Population. Imports. Exports.
Senegal and dependencies . . . . 96,000 200,000 6,000,000 2,000,000
French Guinea 42,000 ? 750,000 1,150,000
Ivory Coast 106,0001 1,250,000 750,000 700,000
Dahome 143,0001 ? 2,000,000 1,850,000
French Sudan, French Congo, &c. .. 1,000,000? ? 2,000,000 110,000
Total of French West Africa .. 1,387,000? ? 11,500,000 5,810,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
L. G. Binger. " Du Niger au Golfe du Guinee par le pays de Kong at le Mossi " (1887-89).
2 vols. Paris, 1892.
F. Dubois. " Tombouctou." Paris, 1896, and translation, " Timbuctoo the Mystericus."
London, 1896.
F. Foureau. " Au Sahara." Paris, 1897.
— Toutee. " Dahome, Niger, Touareg." Paris, 1897.
P. L. Monteil. " De Saint-Louis a Tripoli par le lac Tchad." Paris, 1895
III.— LIBERIA
By Edward Hea\vood, M.A.
Exterrt and Surface. — The Negro Republic of Liberia occupies abc^'
300 miles of the Guinea coast immediately to the west of Cape Palmas, tiie
point at which the rounding off of the western limb of Africa begins. Sierra
Leone lies to the west, while the north and east are surrounded by French
West Africa. Liberia is entirely confined to the basins of the coast
streams (the chief of which is the St. Paul), nowhere extending quite 150
miles into the interior. The coast is, as a rule, high, the series of lagoons so
characteristic of the more eastern coasts of Guinea being here but slightly
developed, owing possibly to the greater exposure to the Atlantic gales.
» To 9° N
960 The International Geography
Behind a narrow strip of mangrove and pandanus swamps traversed by
the lower courses of the streams, the country rises in one or more steps
which are marked by the occurrence of rapids in the rivers. The greater
part of the surface appears to be covered by forest, for as the interior
frontier is still undefmed, it is uncertain whether the republic includes
any large area of the open plateaux of the Mandingo country.
History and Government. — Liberia had its origin in a settlement
of freed slaves — named Monrovia, in honour of the Unii;ed States president
— formed by the American Colonisation Society in 1821. The territory was
gradually extended by the incorporation of successive strips of coast, and
in 1847 the settlers were placed under a republican
constitution. Treaties with native chiefs brought
large interior districts under the ' nominal pro-
tectorate of the republic, but in 1894 the territory
was curtailed by the agreement with France which
fixed the eastern frontier at the Cavalli river.
The Manna river is the boundary on the side of
Fig. ^Sl — The Liberian Flag. ^. _ „,, m • 1 1 • t- i- 1
Sierra Leone. Ihe ofhcial language is English.
The well-known Krumen are the most important tribe. No white man can
by law become a citizen. The products are those of the forests and of
plantations, including Liberian coffee, palm-oil and kernels, and sugar.
Besides Monrovia, the capital, the chief port is Great Bassa.
STATISTICS {estimates).
Area of Liberia (in square miles) .. .. .. 14,000
Population of Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000,000
" Monrovia 3»5oo
STANDARD BOOK.
Sir H. H. Johnston. '* Liberia." 2 vols. London, 1906.
IV.— BRITISH WEST AFRICAN COAST COLONIES
By Sir Harry H. Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.,
At one time Consul for the Niger Coast Protectorate and the Cameroons.
Historical. — ^The British West African colonies include the Gambia,
Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Nigeria, the last-named being formed in 1899
to include Lagos, the Niger Coast Protectorate, and the territory formerly
administered by the Royal Niger Company. The Gambia was an English
settlement in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and the Gold Coast settlements
date back to Charles II., in which reigri also the British hold on the
Gambia was strengthened. Sierra Leone was founded towards the close
of the eighteenth century out of purely philanthropic reasons for the
repatriation of African slaves. Lagos was taken in i860 in order to stop
the slave trade. The Niger Coast Protectorate was acquired between
The Gambia 961
1884 and 1888 for the purpose of protecting British markets from absorp-
tion by Germany and France. About 1883 all these West African colonies
were on the point of being connected almost without break of continuity
along the coast, but the British Government shrank from the responsi-
bility of supporting the zealous local officials, consular and colonial. The
gaps thus left open were promptly filled by France and Germany, and
therefore the British West African colonies at the present day are scattered
and of relatively small extent.
• THE GAMBIA
Position and Surface.— The colony of the Gambia (and in esti-
mating the area of these colonies the foolish and fine distinction between
colony proper and protectorate or sphere of influence is ignored) consists
of a narrow strip along the banks of the river Gambia from its mouth to
the cessation of navigability at a point about 220 miles from the sea.
Much of the land is low-lying and swampy, though above McCarthy
Island the country along the banks becomes a Httle more hilly. The river
Gambia is one of the few really satisfactory African rivers as regards
navigability ; there is never less than twenty-six feet of water on the bar at
extreme low tide. Why it is not more highly rated as one of the few good
harbours of the west coast of Africa the writer is at a loss to understand.
Climate, People and Resources. — This colony possesses a fairly
healthy climate for West Africa ; it is far less insalubrious than any other
British West African possession. Lying much further north than the
other colonies it has an appreciable winter, and from November till March
the climate is actually good. The rainfall is not more than 44
inches per annum, and is restricted mainly to the summer months. The
resources of the country are entirely agricultural, and the principal
product is the ground-nut (Arachis). Other articles of export are hides,
bees-wax, palm kernels, india-rubber and rice. The flora and fauna
belong more to the Ethiopian sub-region than to the West African ; there
are no anthropoid apes, but most of the big African mammals, such as the
giraffe and the larger antelopes, are present.
The natives chiefly belong to three different stocks, the Wolof, Felup
and Mandenga (or Mandingo). There are also a few Fulas in the north.
The Wolof are the handsomest of all negro races, very black, but with
almost European features. The Mandenga and Felup are of light brown
complexion, with hair which tends to be long and wavy rather than closely
curled. They are evidently negroid rather than negro, and in a greater
degree than the Wolof exhibit ^amitic affinities. The Felup, on the other
hand, belongs to a marked and ugly negro type. The languages which
they speak seem to offer a far-off resemblance in structure to the Bantu
languages of central and southern Africa. The Felup are chiefly pagans ;
but most of the other negro and negroid peoples of the Gambia are
Mohammedans.
962 The International Geography
Besides agriculture, cotton is grown, woven and dyed by the natives,
and these manufactures are often exported to other parts of West Africa.
" Gambia cloths " enjoy great local renown.
The system of intercommunication is almost entirely by water. A
Government steamer runs weekly to and from the capital, Bathurst, at the
mouth of the river, to McCarthy Island, about 150 miles inland. Bathurst
is the one town of any importance. The trade of the Gambia has
diminished of late years, and less than half is with the British Empire.
SIERRA LEONE
Boundaries, Surface and Climate. — Sierra Leone is bounded
on the north and west by French West Africa, and on the east and
south-east by Liberia. The northern half of the territory is moderately
mountainous, the hills even extending to the coast at the Sierra Leone
peninsula. The southern part is low and swampy, especially in the
Sherbro district. The climate of all Sierra Leone is unhealthy, but the
coast decidedly so ; yet some improvement is discernible, and there is
less loss of life amongst Europeans at Freetown than in former days,
when it was called " the white man's grave." The all-year-round tem-
perature is high, averaging 83° F. ; and the rainfall heavy, said to reach
the extraordinary average of 138 inches at Freetown, but diminishing
considerably in the interior, where it probably does not exceed 50 or
6o inches per annum. The country is traversed by a good many rivers,
the more important of which are the Great and Little Scarcies, the Roliel,
and the Bamopamo or Sherbro river, many parts of which are unexplored.
The Rokel is navigable for 40 miles from the sea, and the Sherbro
river for about twenty miles. Other means of communication are simply
the narrow African paths and human porterage, though there is a good
deal of canoe navigation on the lagoons and creeks which break up the
indefinite coast line in the south. Horses are in use amongst the natives
of the far interior, but will not thrive on the coast. The highest mountain
is Mt. Daro, 4,396 feet in height. On the northern versant of the range
from which these mountains rise the Niger takes its source.
Flora, Fauna and People. — The flora and fauna of the coast belt
of Sierra Leone are typically West African. The chimpanzee is still found
in the Sherbro district, the only part of West Africa where anthropoid
apes are known west of the Cameroons. The vegetation along the coast
is extremely luxuriant ; in the mountains of the interior, however, where
the rainfall is less, the land is much barer and forest only exists in
patches.
The native population is entirely negro or negroid, belonging to the
Mandenga and Timne stocks. The Mandenga form the bulk of the races
in the north-eastern part of the colony, but have pushed their way to the
coast in various places through the more truly negro peoples, with whom
Gold Coast 963
they are now to a great extent mixed. The Timne, Bulom, and other aUied
peoples are absolute negroes, belonging to a stock which forms the main
coast population between the river Gambia and the borders of Liberia.
They speak languages which in structure, though not in vocabulary, offer a
striking resemblance to the Bantu family. At Freetown and one or two
other points on the coast there are large settlements of Krumen, a race
probably indigenous to Liberia. The coast peoples are pagan or nominally
Christian, and those of the interior are Mohammedans, many of them
using Arabic characters for writing.
Government and Trade. — Patches of territory along the coast are
directly administered by the Colonial Government.
The interior still remains under the rule of native
chiefs supervised by travelling commissioners. There
are few or no manufactures, and agriculture is much
neglected. Trade chiefly takes place in the wild pro-
ducts of the country, such as palm-oil, kola-nuts,
india-rubber, copal, oil-seeds and ginger. Hides are
exported, and also cattle to a slight extent. A small Fig. 458.— r/ie Badge
trade is done in tropical fruits such as pineapples, ''■' '^''^^
which are exported to Great Britain. The only town of any importance is
Freetown, the capital at the mouth of the Rokel river, with the best harbour
in all West Africa.
THE GOLD COAST
Surface and Climate. — The British possessions on the Gold Coast
are bounded on the west and north by French territory, and on the east
by the German colony of Togoland. The country is generally low-lying,
with the exception of a range of hills stretching nort h-west from the lower
Volta into Ashanti. It is doubtful whether the land anywhere reaches a
height exceeding 2,000 feet. The principal river is the Volta, navigable by
small boats not more than 60 miles from its mouth, and rising very far in
the interior, right up in the bend of the Niger, in two long streams, the
Black and the White Volta. The river Ankobra is navigable for about 50
miles. The Pra was long remarkable as the boundary between Ashanti
and the rest of the Gold Coast in its upper waters. The rainfall varies
extraordinarily ; in the western districts near the coast probably exceeding
100 inches per annum ; in Ashanti and other interior districts ranging from
50 to 70 inches. The eastern part of the colony is much dryer, though its
low-lying and swampy nature makes it equally unhealthy. Round about
Accra there is a remarkable dry patch in which the annual rainfall
scarcely reaches 18 inches. The climate everywhere seems to be terribly
unhealthy for Europeans ; the two chief maladies are black-water fever
and dysentery. The mean temperature for the year is 85°.
Flora and Fauna. — The fauna and flora are those of the typical
West African region. As f^r as is kqown there 3.re no anthropoid apes,
964 The International Geography
The antelopes are chiefly represented by the genus Cephalophiis, a low and
primitive type of antelope, A guinea fowl (Agelastes), also of low type,
exists, and there is a great abundance of monkeys and baboons, including
the Diana and Colobus (the latter furnishing the monkey skins of com-
merce), and the great Mandrill baboon. The flora of the Gold Coast
is very little known, and would probably yield surprising results if in-
vestigated.
People and Government. — The natives are a fairly homogeneous
type of West African, except in the north, where there has been some slight
intermixture with a higher negroid race. The stock to which the inhabi-
tants belong is related linguistically (except in the extreme west) to the
races of the Lower Niger, and, in an extremely distant way, to the Bantu
group. In the west the people have more affinity to the Kru tribes of
Liberia.
The coast belt, and now Ashanti also, are directly administered by
the Imperial Government. Elsewhere in the interior the people are
governed by their native chiefs under the supervision of travelling com-
missioners. The Gold Coast Colony is the best governed and most pros-
perous of British West African possessions ; and though it is disastrous in
the loss of life it entails to Europeans, it is of great importance to British
commerce.
Trade and To^vns. — There are almost no manufactures, nor is
agriculture much developed ; nevertheless trade in the wild products of
the country is considerable. The chief articles of export are : india-rubber,
palm-oil, gold, kola-nuts, monkey skins, ivory and timber. In the eastern
part of the Gold Coast poultry of all kinds thrive remarkably, and are
exported as provisions for ships, mainly at Kwita. The rivers of the
western part of the colony roll down from the mountains the gold dust
which for centuries has given this country the name of the Gold Coast.
Gold mining might be carried on to a more considerable extent were it
not for the climate. The most important town is the capital, Accra, and
other trading towns are Cape Coast, Elmina, Kwita, and Axim. Native
towns where there are no European settlers vary so much from year to
year in extent or existence that they are hardly worth enumerating ; but
the capital of Ashanti, Kimiasi, will probably remain the administrative
centre of that district. Salaga, an important native city of an entirely
Mohammedan character, came definitely under British influence in 1899,
when the mountainous country to the north of the Volta, formerly a neutral
zone, was divided between the Gold Coast and German Togo.
Means of communication are very bad. The rivers are mostly unnavi-
gable, or only navigable by means of native canoes. The vegetation is
extremely luxuriant, and even the native paths are frequently blocked. In
the dry and open country of the far interior horses are in use, and in
the eastern districts they can be kept in good health and condition near
the coast.
The Niger Coast
965
LAGOS AND THE NIGER COAST PROTECTORATE
Position, Boundaries and Surface. — Lagos and the Niger Coast
Protectorate may be appropriately considered together, for they are
naturally conterminous and geographically similar, and though separate
for some purposes, they form part of Nigeria as one administration.
They are bounded on the west by the French possessions of Dahome
and Porto Novo, on the north by the part of Nigeria formerly the Royal
Niger Company's territory, and on the east by the' German colony of
Kamerun. Lagos lies entirely to the west of the course of the main branch
of the Niger, while the Niger Coast Protectorate occupies most of the rest
of the delta.
Much of this land on the Niger delta is, of course, flat and swampy ;
Fig. 459, — The Niger Delta. Creeks not accurately surveyed are dotted.
but high land is not very far away from the coast regions. There are hills
rising to over 1,000 feet — even, it is said, in places to 3,000 feet — in- the
protected States at the back of the limits of the actual colony of Lagos.
There are mountains of perhaps 6,000 feet at the extreme east of the Niger
Coast Protectorate, within the loop of the Cross River, which, under the
name of the Rumbi Range, are connected with the great volcanic peak of
Kamerun just outside British territory. To the north of the Cross
River the land is undulating, and probably rises into hills before the
territories of the Royal Niger Company are reached. A great deal of
the land of the Niger delta, though only a few feet above the level of the
sea, is free from marsh, and has even an exceedingly pleasant aspect, as in
the well-cultivated Ibo country. The river system is mainly composed
of the Niger river and its well-nigh innumerable offshoots or their
966 The International Geography
independent tributaries, and of the Cross River which, except near its
estuary, is quite separate from the Niger system. From the borders of
the Kamerun district to the east of Dahome — almost to the Gold Coast
on the west — there is a system of intercommunicating lagoons and creeks
all along the coast-line. If certain narrow creeks were annually cleared of
vegetation, it would be possible to pass in a native canoe from the German
Kamerun to the eastern border of the Gold Coast colony without going
out to sea (Fig. 459). Over all this territory the network of deltaic branches
affords the most remarkable facilities for transport by water. On the other
hand, the movements of any land force are seriously impeded, and the native
paths through the jungle are little used, except in the Cross River region,
a dry and fairly elevated country. Some of the mountainous region on the
eastern frontier of the Niger Coast Protectorate appears to be of volcanic
origin ; elsewhere the hills are masses of granite and disintegrated granite,
forming the hard, red soil which is the formation of the higher land, the
remainder of the country being purely alluvial, and formed by the detritus
brought down by the Niger.
Climate, Flora and Fauna. — The climate of all this region is
excessively unhealthy ; it is perhaps the unhealthiest part of Africa. Yet the
natural products are so rich, and trade is so profitable, that there is probably
a much larger proportion of Europeans here than in
other West African possessions, and life is more com-
fortable and in some respects more civilised. The
mean annual temperature is about 84°, and it is very
rarely indeed that the thermometer in the lowlands goes
below 75° ; while the rainfall is seldom less than 100
inches annually, and sometimes reaches 130 inches.
Fig. 460.— The Badge Iij the districts along the upper Cross River a far more
^gos. pleasant climate is attained, with cool nights, and
even an appreciable cold season. The rainfall there is not so heavy —
possibly not more than 70 or 80 inches per annum. With the hot sun
and abundant rainfall the forests are beautiful to a degree of luxuriance
scarcely equalled elsewhere in Africa, except possibly in parts of the
Gabun. The banks of the rivers within reach of the tidal influence
are bordered with gigantic mangroves, which rise in a tropical forest
of great density, singularly beautiful in places, and magnificent in its
scenic effects. The tree of trees of the Niger delta is the oil-palm.
This district produces the best palm-oil in all Africa. The fauna is
more disappointing to the eye, though the abundance and variety of the
lower forms of life makes up for tne comparative scarcity of mammals
and birds. The elephant still lingers in the uninhabited parts, even
quite near to the coast, and I have more often seen wild elephants in the
Niger Coast Protectorate than in any other part of Africa, even on
the river Congo. On the other hand, it is doubtful if anthropoid apes are
found anywhere in the lower Niger. A remarkable lemur (the Potto) is
The Niger Coast 967
peculiar to this district. The most prominent birds are the grey parrot
and the large blue plantain eater {Sc/iizoris).
People. — The inhabitants belong to several distinct stocks. They are
all absolute negroes, yet on the upper Cross River, people with finely-cut
features may be met with from time to time, and here, as among the Efik
people of Old Calabar, the skin is yellow-brown rather than black. Some
of the tribes in the almost unexplored parts of the Niger delta are singu-
larly savage-looking — black-skinned and low-browed, seeming to represent
some stranded stratum of very old type. Cannibalism is extraordinarily
prevalent except where European influence has long prevailed. The
people of the upper Cross River fatten slaves for months before killing
them. A rough classilication distinguishes : (i) The Yoruba-Jekri stock,
which would also include the Jebus and other peoples round Lagos ; (^)
The Bini stock, or the people of Benin and Sobo ; (3) The Ijos, or the
people of the central Niger delta near the coast (Bonny and Brass), who,
like the Bini, appear to have been the earliest settlers in the delta ; (4) The
Kwos of the district between Opobo and Old Calabar ; (5) The I bo of
the districts between the Lower Niger and the Cross River ; (6) The Efik
people of Old Calabar ; (7) The tribes of the upper Cross River ; (8) The
Akwa, between the Cross River and the Kamerun watershed (the last
five groups speak what may almost be called semi-Bantu languages) ; and
(9) the few tribes speaking Bantu languages on the extreme south-eastern
border of the Niger Coast Protectorate. This district appears to have been
very populous in- times past, so much so that the struggle for existence
created a gigantic traffic in slaves, which attracted Europeans, and even
produced a certain amount of half-indigenous civilisation. The kingdom
of Benin was a State of some antiquity which had apparently acquired
some knowledge of art and industry from the Niger districts, which in
their turn had been partially civilised by Mohammedan influence. The
civilisation of Yoruba is entirely Mohammedan, and almost all the people
of that country belong to that religion ; which also exists at Lagos, but
elsewhere in the Niger delta is quite unknown. The Yoruba people are
ordinarily amply clothed, and this style of Mohammedan clothing has also
extended in some degree to the town of Lagos ; but where untouched by
Islam the people are extraordinarily nude, even when to some extent
civilised by contact with Europeans. In the eastern part of the pro-
tectorate women go entirely nude before they are married, and do not
wear any appreciable clothing afterwards. Men were formerly so careless
on this score that chiefs of considerable wealth, even able to read and
write English, have had to be rebuked by the writer for appearing at his
consular court without a particle of clothing except a peaked cap. Where
Mohammedanism does not prevail the religion is a form of Fetishism.
Human sacrifices are the order of the day, and the religion is probably
more bloody and cruel than anywhere else in savage Africa.
Trade. — The total value of the annual trade of Lagos and the Niger
g68 The International Geography
Coast Protectorate is probably about twice as great as that of the other
British colonies on the coast taken together. The principal exports are
palm-oil and palm-kernels, rubber, kola-nuts, copal, gum, shea-butter, a
little coffee and a little ivory. With the exception of leather work, and
the weaving and dyeing of cotton garments in Yoruba and Lagos colony,
there are practically no native manufactures in the country. The people
of Old Calabar, however, have a pretty taste for carving ivory and decora-
ting brass plates, and these articles are sometimes exported as curiosities.
Administration and To"wns. — As regards political divisions : the
Government of Lagos in 1898 included the colony proper, which is a
small strip of coast between Porto Novo and Benin, a
number of small adjacent kingdoms, treated as pro-
tected States, and a sphere of influence which in-
cluded the large countries of Abeokuta and Yoruba.
Lagos is a crown colony under a governor, assisted by
an executive legislative council. Southern Nigeria is
under the charge of a High Commissioner, whose seat
Fig. 461.— The PrO' of government is at Asaba. Other important towns
tectorate Badge. ^^^ j^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ boundary of Northern Nigeria.
and Akassa at the Nun mouth of the Niger.
The principal towns of the Niger delta are Lagos, Brass, in the eastern
division of the Niger Coast Protectorate, Bonny, Opobo, Old Calabar.
There are also the following trading stations where Europeans reside : —
Badagry, Leki, Akorodu, New Benin, Forcados, Kwo-ibo, and New Calabar
(no connection with Old Calabar). In addition, towns of importance, either
for historical association or for trade, are Epe, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Odeondo,
Benin, Bende, Oguia, and Aron. The population of these towns varies
from 100,000 to 5,000 according to local circumstances, such as the
goodness or badness of their rulers, the state of trade, or the influence of
Europeans. None of them, except perhaps Abeokuta and Benin, are
of any permanence in the way of buildings. A railway has been con-
structed from Lagos to Abeokuta, a distance of 50 miles.
STATISTICS.
{Estitnates for the most part.)
Area
(square miles). Population.
Europeans. Exports.
Imports.
The Gambia
Sierra Leone
Gold Coast
Lagos and Niger
Protectorate . ,
2,700 150,000
30,000 3,500,000
53,000 2,000,000
Coast
80,000 (?) 6,000,000
50
250
800
1,000
$750,000
$2,250,000
$4,250,000
$8,000,000
$600,000
$2,250,000
$4,250,000
$8,000,000
POPULATION OF TOWNS (estimated).
In the Gambia :— Bathurst, 6,000.
In Sierra Leone :— Freetown, 30,000.
In Gold Coast : — Accra, 16,000 ; Cape Coast, 11,600 ; Elmina, 10,500.
In Lagos and the Niger Coast Protectorate :— Lagos. 30,000 ; Old Calabar, 15,000 ;
Brass, 10,000 ; Opobo, 10,000 ; Bonny, 6,000.
Nigeria 969
STANDARD BOOKS
Miss Kingsley. " West African Studies." London, 1899.
H. Bindloss. " In the Niger Delta." Edinburgh, 1899.
J. K. Trotter. " The Niger Sources." London, 1897.
A. B. EUis. " History of the Gold Coast of West Africa." London, 1893.
Various Works on the Peoples of the West African Coast. London, 1887 to
1894.
E. D. Morel. " Affairs of West Africa." London, 1902.
v.— NORTHERN NIGERIA
By Lieut.-Colonel A. F. Mockler-Ferryman
Position and Extent. — That portion of the south-western Sudan
in the Niger basin which was developed by the Royal Niger Company
had a coast-line extending from the Forcados River on the west, to the
Nun mouth of the Niger on the east, a distance of loo miles, being
wedged in between the various districts of the Niger Coast Protectorate.
Inland the boundaries were less clearly defined, though its limits north-
wards have been fixed by the Anglo-French Agreement of 1898 as a line
drawn from a point ten miles above Ilo on the Middle Niger to the point
of intersection of the 14th parallel of north latitude with the meridian
passing 35' east of the centre of the town of Kuka, on Lake Chad, such
line being so traced as to include within the Niger Company's territories
the whole of the Empire of Sokoto. On the west, the area was bounded
by the colony of Lagos, and by the hinterland of French Dahome,
while its north-eastern boundary to the south of Lake Chad runs with
the western boundary of the German Kamerun colony as determined by
the Anglo-German Agreements of 1885 and 1893. The tract of territory
described thus roughly — for the actual boundaries have not so far been
surveyed — includes an area of some 500,000 square miles, with a population
approximately estimated at thirty millions, within which there naturally
exists a great variety of country and of inhabitants. Practically theie
were two well-m irked zones, separated by the parallel of 7° N., the
sotithern part being now united with the Coast Protectorate under the name
of Southern Nigeria ; it is low-lying, swampy and unhealthy, with pagan
inhabitants. The northern part, now Northern Nigeria, is an undulating,
dry and healthy region, peopled principally by Mohammedans.
The River Niger.— The river system of this part of West Africa is
simple, for, if we except the portion of Hausaland and Bornu which lies
on the edge of the basin of Lake Chad, the whole of Nigeria is drained
by the river Niger and its numerous tributaries. After flowing past
Timbuktu, the Niger enters the territory to which it has given its name
at its junction with the Dallul Mauri, about 11° 45' N., from which point,
until it eventually empties itself into the Atlantic, it receives many minor
rivers and streams, none of which, however, add much to its volume except
during the rains. The fall of the river from its source to its mouths averages
barely a foot per mile, and in the dry months, even its largest tributary, the
970 The International Geography
Benue, is unnavigable by vessels drawing more than two feet of water.
The principal tributaries of the great river in its course from I lo down-
ward, are, on the left, the Mayo-Kebbi, or Sokoto River, from Sokoto and
its neighbourhood, and the Kaduna through Nupe ; while on the right the
small rivers that drain the countries of Borgu and Ilorin flow in, the
watersheds in each case lying outside the limits of Nigeria. At Lokoja,
in 8° N., the Benue river joins the Niger, which in the very wet season
it rivals in size. Taking its rise in the Bubanjidda mountains, this
magnificent waterway flows west and south-west, receiving throughout its
course of some 700 miles such lesser rivers as the Faro, Tarabba, Donga
and Katsena from the south, and the Kedara and innumerable small
streams from the north. From the Niger-Benue confluence to the sea is a
distance of about 300 miles. The Niger descends in one large stream
until it reaches the town of Abo in 5^^° N., at which point the delta
commences, and the river splits into innumerable interlacing channels,
the more important mouths being those of Forcados (Warri), Nun (the
principal), Brass, New Calabar and Bonny (Fig. 459J. The large Lake
Chad, to which the north-east angle of Nigeria reaches, receives only one
river of any size flowing from the territory, this is the Yobe or Yeou, which
rises some 450 miles west of the lake.
Surface and Productions. — The land is everywhere fertile, and
produces vast crops with the minimum of cultivation, while many articles
of commercial value are found among the natural products. Of these,
palm-oil, rubber, shea-butter, kola-nuts, various fibres, oil seeds and
spices may be' mentioned. Valuable timber trees grow in the southern
forests, iron in abundance is forthcoming in many parts, tin and galena
have been found in the Benue districts, and ivory is still offered for sale in
considerable quantities. Of the fauna it is sufficient to say that the
hippopotamus is met with in all the large rivers ; that herds of elephants
roam the forests, most abundantly in the neighbourhood of Lake Chad,
and in the country to the south of the Benue ; that various species of
antelope are found everywhere ; while lions, wolves, hyaenas, civet cats,
and many varieties of monkeys abound in Upper Nigeria.
People. — The inhabitants may be classified as members of two main
families, Negroes who are still pagans and Fulas who are Mohamme-
dans, with a cross between the two known as Negroids, and also of
Mohammedan faith. The aborigines were probably pure negroes, and
the Fula element is an introduction of recent times, while the
negroids are the result of Mohammedan conquest and subsequent
intermarriage. The Idzo, Ibo, and Igara on the Lower Niger, the Borgu
on the Middle Niger, and the Igbiri, Mitshi, and Juko on the Benue are
amongst the most important of the many tribes of pagan negroes, either
wholly independent or only partly under the influence of the Mohammedan
Fulas. The languages spoken by these tribes are all different and abso-
lutely distinct, though merging into one another on the borders. The
Nigeria 97 1
remainder of Nigeria, and certainly the most valuable part, is inhabited
by the Yorubas, Fulas, Hausas, and Bornus, with languages of their own
and, two centuries ago, forming separate nations.
Occupations and Trade. — The pagans are for the most part
agriculturists, though cultivating only to an extent sufficient to supply
their own wants ; fishing and hippopotamus-hunting are indulged in by
the tribes dwelling on the river banks, arid elephant-hunting by those
inhabiting the more inland parts. The collection and manufacture of
palm-oil and rubber occupy the attention of the bulk of the coast
population ; north of the limits of the oil-palm, the European traders
encourage the collection of various gums, fibres, oil seeds and spices.
The Nupes and northern Yorubas, though mainly occupying themselves
with husbandry, are far-famed among Sudan tribes as blacksmiths, workers
in brass, leather and glass, as weavers, and as canoe-builders ; while the
great Hausa nation furnishes the merchant and industrial classes of the
western and central Sudan. Hausa riierchahts convey their wares to all
parts of central Africa, to the Mediterranean, to the Atlantic, and even
into the countries bordering on the Upper Nile, the chief articles of
commerce being cotton-cloth and tobes woven at Kano (the Hausa capital),
leather-work, embroideries, and kola-nuts. The Fulas are w^arriOrs and
slave-raiders, but their original occupation of peaceful herdsmen is still
followed by a proportion of the people, who wander throughout the
country with their herds and flocks. The numerous waterways afford
excellent communications in the delta, while Northern Nigeria is intersected
by regular caravan routes, which are, however, merely narrow tracks trodden
down by the native carriers and beasts of burden. The trading steamers of
the Royal Niger Company ply on the main Niger and Benue for a distance
of several hundred miles from the sea, and good roads have been made in
the immediate vicinity of the trading stations.
Native Kingdoms. — The various native k'ngdoms are governed by their
own rulers, who in all cases, in return for an annual subsidy, acknowledge
British suzerainty. In the Niger delta the semi-independent chiefs are
innumerable, but Northern Nigeria consists, besides the minor kingdom of
Borgu and such few pagan tribes as have not as yet been conquered by
the Fulas, of the two great empires of Sokoto and Bornu (capital Kuka,
population 50,000). The Sokoto or Fula Empire, which comprises the
old Hausa States and the once-independent kingdom of Gando, contains
seventeen provinces, including Adamawa, Kano, Nupe, Yoruba (Ilorin), and
Lafia — the last three owing allegiance to Gando as well as to Sokoto. Each
of these provinces. is governed by an emir, who is virtually the sovereign
of a small kingdom, though liable to be deposed at the will of the Sultan of
Sokoto. The system of government and inspection is thoroughly organised,
with a complete scheme of taxadon for each province, the inspecdng officer
being responsible that the emirs pay their annual tribute, which usually con-
sists of slaves.
63
97^ The International Geography
Government and Towns of Nigeria. — The government of
Northern Nigeria passed from the hands of the Royal Niger Company
into those of a High Commissioner acting directly for the British Govern-
ment in 1900. The seat of administration is Zungeru, on the Kaduna.
At the confluence of the Niger and Benue is the small native town of
Lokoja, whose central situation caused it to be selected as the military
headquarters of the Royal Niger Company and provisionally of the new
Imperial forces. On the middle Niger the only towns worthy of notice
are Egga, Rabba, and Bussa, while Ilorin, the northern Yoruba capital, lies
about seventy miles south of Rabba on the great trade route between
Hausaland and Lagos. The Benue towns, with the exception of Yola,
the capital of Adamawa (population 10,000), are small and unimportant,
the principal being Loko, the port of Nassarawa, and Ibi, which is the
Benue headquarters of the Royal Niger Company, with populations con-
siderably under 6,000. The chief towns of the Fula Empire are the
capitals of the several provinces, of which may be mentioned Sokoto (popu-
lation 15,000), Wurno (5,000), Gando (6,000), Bida (15,000), Zaria (30,000),
Nassarawa (10,000), Kano (70,000), and Bauchi or Yakoba (100,000), the
estimated population in all cases being a mere approximation, and the
relative importance of each depending on its situation with regard to
the main trade routes of the country. There are no statistics of Nigeria
which can be looked on as definite, the organisation of the country having
been too recently undertaken to admit of complete surveys or censuses
being attempted.
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. F. Mockler- Ferryman. " Up the Niger." London, 1892.
" Imperial Africa." London, 1898.
C. H. Robinson. " Hausaland." London, 1896.
J. Thomson. " Mungo Park." (World's Great Explorer Series.) London, 189a
S. Vandeleur. " Campaigning on the Upper Nile and Niger." London, 1898;
VI.— GERMAN WEST AFRICA
By Graf von Pfeil.'
Togo. — The colony of Togo has not quite 60 miles of coast, which, run-
ning almost east and west near the west end of the Bight of Benin, consists
of a narrow low strip of yellow sand. Behind this a belt of forest separates
the sea coast from the long lagoon which runs parallel to nearly the whole
length of it. Some distance further inland there is a lake, which must be
considered as belonging to the lagoon system. There is no harbour on
the coast and landing is rather difficult through the heavy surf, the
" Kalema," which breaks upon the coast all the year round. Togo has a
number of rivers ; two, which nearly form the eastern and western
^ Having no personal knowledge of Togo the author has consulted mainly the
"Mittheilungen aus den Deutschen Schutzgebieten," and other works cited at the end.
German West Africa 973
boundaries, the Mono and Volta, are of considerable size, and the latter is
navigable in some part of its upper course. Two ranges of mountains
traverse Togo from south-west to north-east, and form the hilly southern
border of the plateau of the western Sudan. The plateau is an undulating
prairie with a slight incline towards the west, and with little vegetation
beyond tall grass. Vegetation on the coast is remarkable for the oil-palm,
wild coffee, shea-butter tree, rubber plants, baobab
and a very good quality of ebony. The climate is
not healthy ; it possesses the character of the
southern hemisphere, the hottest months being
December and January, the least warm July and
August. There are no people of Bantu race in this
colony, whose inhabitants belong exclusively to the
Sudanese tribes. On the coast fetishism is preva- ., ^ . ^, r-, ^ ^ ^i
^ tlG. 462. — The Flag of the
lent, while in the north Mohammedanism is rapidly German Protectorates.
gaining ground. The people are agriculturists and
good traders ; on the plateau they are warlike and constantly at feud with
each other. Togo is a German colony, with a governor, a staff of officers,
and a police corps of 150 natives, a court of law and a hospital. The
governor's residence is Sebbe, and there are two government stations in the
interior, namely, Kratji and Misahohe. Bisniarckbiirg is also a trading station.
Kamerun.— Position and Surface.— The German colony of
Kamerun (the Cameroons) has only about 190 miles of coast on the Bight of
Biafra, which is deeply indented by the outlets of a comparatively large
number of rivers (Fig. 466). All these have one peculiarity in common, the
lowest part of their course turning in a north-westerly direction. The reason
for this is found in the " Kalema," a deep sea swell which breaks with
great force upon the coast all the year round. The largest indentation is
Kamerun Bay, which is an excellent harbour. The coast forms a strip of
very low land, narrow in the south and widening to about 30 miles near
the bay. East of this the country rises gradually and forms a range of
mountains with meridianal direction, a valley separates them from a
second steeper rise, the ascent to the main plateau of the African
continent, which here presents the form of undulating grassy plains. The
plateau extends to about 8° N., where it abruptly descends to the
valley of the Benue river, to which its northern slope gives birth. The
Kamerun Peak rises from a volcanic rift which reaches nearly to Lake
Chad as indicated by the two mountain ranges, Chebchi and Mandara ; its
altitude is about 12,480 feet. At the foot of the peak rise two gaseous
springs, while further up hardly any water is retained by the porous lava,
of which the mountain is composed. 1 he greater part of the Kamerun
coast is taken up by mangroves, which fringe some of the estuaries
far inland ; further south, the Batanga coast is grassland. The
mountains are covered with dense forest, in which the oil-palm, rubber
plants, kola-nut, ebony and the wild coifee tree occur frequently. The
974 ^ih.e International Geography
Kamerun Peak is dotted with the same forest up to 8,300 feet, beyond
which vegetation diminishes gradually, and ends with short grass, which
covers the summit. The fauna is that which i.-> peculiar to tropical Africa^
but is remarkable for its anthropoid apes, the chimpanzee and gorilla.
A number of rivers, some of them, for instance the Nyong and Lokunja,
navigable for steam launches for a number of miles never exceeding
thirty, run into Kamerun Bay The Lokunja, though the smaller, is
navigable for some distance above the rapids, which intersect all the rivers
where they break through the range of mountains west of the steep
plateau border, whence all the Kamerun rivers descend in high cascades,
forming insuperable barriers to navigation. The only river likely to prove
navigable, even on the plateau, is the Sannaga, which joined by the
Mbam, forms the ,main water-course of Kamerun. The northern part
of the country sen :1s its water west to the Benue or cast through the
Shari to Lake Chad.
People and Government of Kamerun. — Among the inhabitants
two groups may be distinguished, the Bantu and the Sudanese.
The former live mainly to the south of 7° N., the latter as a
rule north of that parallel in the State of Adamawa. The Bantu are
great traders, the Sudanese agriculturists, who imported from the
north the horse and horned cattle. There is little industry beyond
carving in wood and the smelting of iron. For purposes of administration
Kamerun is divided into three districts, with leading ofiicials subordinate
to the Governor. There are two courts of law, and a number of colonial
troops are garrisoned in various stations throughout the country, of
which Mpini, Victoria, Biica, and Yaunde deserve special notice. Rio
del Rey, Bibundi, Little and Great Batanga, and Kribi are ports of call.
Kamerun (now known as Duala),i\\& chief harbour, is also the seat of the
Landeshauptmann, or Governor ; it has a custom house, post, and tele-
graph. In a good hospital colonial officials and missionaries receive
medical and other attention gratuitously.
STATISTICS {Estimates).
Area (square miles). Population.
Togo 23,160 .. ., 2,500,000
Kamerun 191,130 .. .. 3,500,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
E. Zintgraff, " Nord- Kamerun." Berlin, 1895.
S. Passarge. "Adamaua." Berlin, 1895.
VII.— CONGO FREE STATE
By Sidney Laxgford Hinde,
Formerly Captain in the Congo Free State Forces.
Position and Boundaries. — The Congo Free State {L'Etat Inde-
fendent du Congo), occupies the heart of Central Africa, and is crossed by
the equator. The great river, the mouth of which was formerly known a^
Congo Free State 975
the Zaire, received its name of Congo from the chief of a small tribe in the
neighbourhood of Boma, the Portuguese supposing him to be king of the
whole country. The Congo is not so called by the natives in any part of
its course, but is known to them by different names according to the
district through which it flows. Except for a narrow strip at the mouth
of the river, giving access to the Atlantic, the western boundary of the
State is the Congo itself, and its great northern tributary, the Ubangi,
separating the Free State from French Congo. The river Mbomu is the
northern boundary. Eastwards, on the Upper Nile, the State occupies a
district on lease from Great Britain ; and further south the boundary is
the Central African Rift Valley and the eastern shores of Lakes Albert,
Albert Edward and Tanganyika, separating the State from British and
German East Africa. The southern boundary, towards British Central
Africa and Portuguese West Africa, is irregular, not following definite
physical features, and in some parts undecided. The range in latitude
is from 5° N. to 13° S. ; and in longitude from 17° to 30° E.
Physical Features. — The vast country coincides roughly with the
basin of the Congo, excluding only the tributaries on the right bank from
Manyanga to the mouth of the Ubangi, the northern tributaries of the
Ubangi and Mbomu, the eastern tributaries of Luapula, before it enters
Lake Mweru, and the head waters and western tributaries of the Kassai.
The Congo river, which is about 2,500 miles long, is called at its source
the Chambezi, and drains consecutively the four great lakes Bangweolo,
Mweru, Tanganyika, and Leopold IL There is some reason to suppose
that the drainage from Tanganyika by the Lukugu into the Congo is of
recent date. The main river, at Matadi only a few hundred yards wide,
is very broad in its middle reaches and studded with myriads of islands.
in the section between Basoka and Bangala (Nouvelle Anvers), it varies in
width from fifteen to over thirty miles. Many of its tributaries form ex-
cellent waterways for hundreds of miles, and vary in width from one to ten
miles in the navigable portions. Of these the Kassai, Ubangi, and Lomami
are larger in every respect than any rivers in Europe. Generally speaking,
all the rivers of the Congo system have a different native name after
passing some large" physical feature, such as a cataract or lake, a fact
possibly due to these natural barriers separating native races or kingdoms.
Taken as a whole the Congo basin consists of flat, high-lying table-
lands. There are mountains only to the eastward where the river
approaches the Atlantic, and, cutting through them, falls by cataracts
to the level of the coast plains. In the interior of the Congo Free State
there are no mountain ranges. More than half of the State may be said
to consist of continuous forest, probably the largest tree-clad area in the
world, not excepting even the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago.
Throughout the forest, india-rubber trees grow in larger quantity than in
any other known region. As far as is yet known there are only two large
lakes, Leopold IL and Matumba actually within the Congo Free State ;
gj6 The International Geography
but the western shores of Albert Edward, Tanganyika and Mweru form
part of the eastern boundaries. Many points as to the geography of the
interior are still very indefinite. Rumour has placed a large lake between
the Lomami and Lake Leopold IL, but it has not yet been discovered or
localised. Much of the country is unapproachable by rivers in which
canoe navigation is possible, and has therefore not yet been visited by
Europeans.
In almost every part of the State iron is found in workable quantities.
Copper is less profusely distributed, but the copper mines in the west
between the Kassai and the Atlantic, and in Katanga to the south, are
extremely rich. The iron and copper are worked by the natives, but
up to the present time there has been no search for the noble metals,
though the rocks which fringe the Congo basin on every side may
eventually prove a fruitful field for the prospector.
Climate. — From the standpoint of European colonisation, the climate
of the Congo is bad : all forms of malarial disease are rife owing to the
moist heat. But with a better knowledge of tropical diseases, and of the
precautions necessary to guard against them, such as the choice of sites for
houses and stations, it may be possible -for Europeans to settle in the
country. Hitherto, the State officials and others have had to live in a
most primitive manner since, owing to the difficulties of transport, luxuries,
comforts, or even medicines, have been almost unobtainable. The high
death-rate of Europeans in the Free State should therefore not be taken as
an argument against the attempt to develop the country. The temperature
averages about 80° in the shade over the greater part of the country, and
during several months in the year violent storms or tornadoes of short
duration are very prevalent, which sometimes cause a fall of 30° or 40° in
temperature in half an hour.
Flora and Fauna. — The flora and fauna differ in many respects
from those of any other country within the same degrees of latitude. In
the forest are found ebony, teak, oil-palm and mahogany of good quality,
besides many other useful and ornamental woods. Wild coffee, india-
rubber, creepers and cotton abound throughout the whole forest region ;
as do also yams, plantains, papaw and pine-apples. The vegetables culti-
vated in the country are cassava, maize, rice, pea-nuts, sweet potatoes,
bananas, beans, sorghum (Kaffir corn), tobacco and coffee. Immense
herds of elephant are found in every part of the Congo Free State, and
leopards, buffalo and vi'ild cattle inhabit the plains. A great variety of
fish, as well as hippopotami and crocodiles swarm in all the rivers.
People. — There are" at present over 100 tribes recognised in the
Congo basin, but it is possible that as many more are to be found in the
yet unexplored regions. Nearly all speak Bantu dialects, and most of them
have been, or are cannibals. None of the tribes are so dark in colour as
the Sudanese. Each tribe or race is governed by a chief whose power is
absolute ; and large tribes are divided into sections under petty chiefs, who
Congo Free State
977
have complete control in their own districts, but are subservient to the
great chief who holds the power of life and death over them in common
with all his subjects. Some tribes have absolutely no form of religion,
while among the more superstitious races fetish worship, or propitiation of
evil powers, exists. As a consequence the " witch doctor " is a power
amongst them second only to the chief. The natives in several parts of the
country are clever workers in iron, copper and wood. In certain districts
such as the Kassai, they weave beautifully ornamented cloths from the
palm and other fibrous plants.
Means of Communication and Trade. — The great rivers on the
plateau have become the highways of trade, the numerous steamers
employed being supplied with wood for fuel from the forests on the banks.
The cataracts of the Congo have been the chief obstacle to the develop-
ment of the country, since transport on the road constructed around
them was both difficult
and costly. As ?. result
of many years labour in
the face of the greatest
difficulties, a railway, 250
miles in length, has been
built from the extremity
of the navigable portion
of the lower river, at
Matadi, to Leopoldville
on Stanley Pool, the base
from which the internal ^^^- **63-^^ Congo Railway.
trade is carried on. After Stanley had opened the way, the Arab trading
chiefs of the east coast — who dealt mainly in ivory and slaves —led many
expeditions into the Congo basin, using porterage for transport, the native
porters each carrying a load of about 60 lbs. The river trade by steamers
and canoes now carries practically the whole available export produce
of the State to the west coast. These exports are ivory, rubber, palm-oil,
orchilla-weed, several kinds of gum, pepper and coffee. Steamers on
the Lower Congo carry on direct trade with Antwerp and Liverpool.
History and Government. — All efforts to explore the Congo from
the sea or to discover whence its vast volume of water was derived were
without effect, and the existence of the great inland course of the river was
unknown until, in 1876, Sir. H. M. Stanley struck its upper waters in East
Africa and followed the river to the Atlantic Ocean. On the initiative of
Leopold II., King of the Belgians, a society called Comite d'FJudesdu Haul
Congo was formed in Brussels in November, 1878, with the object of ex-
ploring and exploiting the basin of the river Congo, the vast size and
importance of which had just been revealed. In 1879, Stanley, accom-
panied by fifteen Europeans, returned to the Congo, his first aim being
to make a practicable road through the cataract region to the upper river.
978 The International Geography
At Vivi, the highest point of the river navigable from the sea, he estab-
Hshed a station directly below the last of the cataracts, and made his road
along the right bank nearly due north to Isanghila, after which it took an
eastward course, following the river as closely as possible to Manyanga^
where he crossed and proceeded up the left bank to Stanley Pool. Here
he established the station now known as Leopoldville. At Stanley Pool a
steamer was soon launched, and the difficulty of communication with the
interior was thus greatly reduced, since from Stanley Pool to Stanley
Falls, 1,000 miles further up the main river, steamers of comparatively
large size can voyage in safety at all seasons of the year. Mr. Stanley
spent five years in the work of exploration, and soon after his return to
Europe the society became merged in the Association Internationale
Africaine. In 1885 the Berlin Congress guaranteed the Congo Free State
as a Sovereign Power, and the King of the Belgians — who had borne all
the expense from the commencement — was proclaimed sovereign. Five
years later the Belgian government advanced a small loan to the embryo
State, reserving the right of annexing it as a Belgian colony at a future
date. The Arab slave-traders, who raided the western part of the country,
had for many years rendered the position of the few Europeans at remote
stations exceedingly \dangerous ; and the military forces of the State
were obliged to carry on a campaign against them before the evil in-
fluence exercised on the more peaceful natives was destroyed.
The administration of the Congo Free State is carried on by a Governor,
two Vice-governors, three Inspectors, and sixteen
Sub-commissioners — one for each of the sixteen
districts into which the country is divided. These
are Banana, Boma, Matadi, the Cataracts and
Stanley Pool on the lower river ; and on the upper
river and its great tributaries, Kassai, Equator,
Bangala, Ubangi, Aruwimi, Welle, Stanley Falls,
Fig. 464.— r^e Flag of the Kwango, Lualaba, Arab Zone, Kasongo and
Congo Free State. Luluaberg. Boma, the seat of the administrative
government, is an active seaport ; and Leopoldville on Stanley Pool is
its commercial complement as a river port. Many of the native villages
in the interior straggle for miles along the river brinks ; but anything
like a correct estimate of their population is as yet impossible. The
total population of the State has been variously estimated; but since a
great part of its vast area has not yet been explored it is hardly possible to
say more than that the Congo Free State is well peopled.
STATISTICS.
(Rough Estimates.)
Area of the Congo Free State (square miles) 900,000
Population „ „ 30,000,000
European population (1897) i,474
Population of Boma 10,000
Cape Verde Islands 979
ANNUAL TRADE OF THE CONGO STATE (in dollars).
Exports (189S-96) 2,800,000
Imports „ 2,800,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
H. M. Stanley. "The Congo and the Founding of its Free State." 2 vols. London, 1885.
Sir H. H. Johnston. " The River Con^o." London, 1895.
A. Chapaux. " Le Congo, Historique, Diplomatique et Coloniale." Brussels, 1894.
A. J. Wauters. "Bibliographic du Congo" (1880-95). Brussels, 1896.
S. L Hinde. " The Fall of the Congo Arabs." London, 1897.
VIII.— PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA
By Captain Ernesto de Vasconcellos/
Portuguese Royal Naiy..
GAPE VERDE ISLANDS
Position and Surface. — The Cape Verde archipelago is situated in
the North Atlantic, 400 miles off the west coast of Africa between 12° and
15° N. It is composed of fourteen islands and islets, divided into twc
groups, which, owing to the prevailing north-east trade winds, are named
respectively. Windward {Barlavento) and Leeward {Sotaventd). The Wind-
ward group includes the islands of Santo Antao (St. Antony), Sao Vicente
(St. Vincent), Santa Luzia, Sao Nicolao, Boavista, and Sal ; the Leeward
islands are Sao Thiago (Santiago), Mayo, Fogo and Brava. The islands
present an arid aspect from the shore, but in the interior, along the banks
of the streams, there is a fairly rich vegetation, especially in rainy years.
The islands are volcanic and all contain craters and recent eruptive rocks.
The volcano on Fogo, 10,560 feet in height, which was last in eruption in
1857, the volcanic plateau of St. Antony whence a peak of 7,550 feet rises,
and the Antonia Peak of 4,870 feet on Santiago, are the most remarkable
features.
Climate and Resources. — The cHmate is better than might be
expected from the latitude. The archipelago is situated in the trade wind
zone ; the north-easterly wind blows from November to July, the Tempo
das Brizas (Time of Breezes) and naturally the healthiest season. From
August to October the Tempo das Aguas, or rainy season, prevails, and
this is the hottest and least healthy part of the year. During the breezy
season the temperature is about 73°, and in the rainy season about 79°,
Coffee is the most important product of the Cape Verde plantations ; the
physic-nut {Jatropha Curcas) is more productive here than in America,
and grows on all the islands ; cereals and sugar-cane are cultivated.
Salt, coral, and dried fish, are also of some importance. In the fauna
there are neither wild animals nor venomous reptiles. Most of the
vertebrates were introduced by the Portuguese colonists. The only
. * Translated from the Portuguese.
V
gSo The International Geography
industries worth mentioning are the making of straw articles in Brava,
and embroideries and lace in Fogo.
People and History. — The Cape Verde Islands were discovered by
Cadamosto in 1456, and first peopled in 1640 by the servants and retainers
of the Infante D. Fernando, who took there colonists from Alemtejo and
Algarve and obtained negro labourers from Guinea. These elements form
the foundation of the present mixed population containing more or less
European blood. The colony is under a Governor appointed by the
central government in Lisbon. There is a subordinate administration in
each island. The principal town is Praia on Santiago, the residence of
the Governor, and capital of the colonial province. Mindello, inside Porto
Grande on St. Vincent, which is considered the second town of the
archipelago, has an excellent harbour, and is a very important coaling
station. Both of these are placed in connection with the Atlantic sub-
marine cables.
STATISTICS.
1896.
Area of the Cape Verde Islands in square miles 1,480
Population „ „ „ 114,000
Density of Population per square mile 77
Population of Praia 4,000
„ Mindello 4,200
PORTUGUESE GUINEA
Position and Surface. — Portuguese Guinea is an enclave in the
French West African possessions some distance south of the Gambia River.
The littoral is formed by lowlands cut up by numerous water-courses and
inlets of the sea. Laterite is formed on the barriers near the coast, and the
whole possession consists of undulating country nowhere becoming
mountainous. The Geba and the Grande are the principal rivers falling
into a wide estuary from which a remarkable tidal bore ascends the Geba,
and in the mouth of which lie many islands, the most important being the
Bijuga or Bijagos group. These and most of the other Guinea rivers are
navigable. On their banks there are forests of valuable timber trees,
including mahogany.
Climate and Resources. — The climate is generally unhealthy for
Europeans, especially during the April and November rains, when the
mean temperature is about 90° F. ; the more favourable dry season lasts
from December to the beginning of March. Portuguese Guinea is an
agricultural and commercial colony. In the littoral zone, rice and maize
are grown as the principal food of the natives, who, with the exception
of a few warlike and nomadic tribes, are employed in agricultural pursuits.
The most important products are pea-nuts, india-rubber, wax, tobacco,
indigo and cotton. The kola tree {Sterculia accuminata) occurs on the
banks of the Geba. Coffee, palm-trees, and all leguminous plants flourish.
The fauna includes antelopes, the elephant, panther and many monkeys,
while termites abound and are destructive to buildings. Cattle, sheep,
Sao Thome and Principe
8i
goats and pigs are kept as domestic animals. The natives of Guinea
belong to ten different races, which are subdivided into many tribes.
The highest races are the Fula, Mandingo, and Biafada, who are con-
stantly engaged in war with each other. The history of the movements
of these people is given elsewhere. As a general rule the Fulas are the
most numerous and bravest of all the Guinea tribes. The Bijagos inhabit
the Bijagos Islands between the Orango and Geba channels ; and live
as a rule on the produce of the sea. The capital of Portuguese Guinea
is Bohima, on one of the islands, but Bissao, on the shore of the great
estuary, is the commercial centre. There are about 67,000 inhabitants in
the possession.
PORTUGUESE ISLANDS IN GULF OF GUINEA
Sao Thome and Principe. — The islands of Principe and Sao
Thome (Princes Island and St. Thomas), lie in a straight line with
Fernando Po and the Peak of Kamerun, almost bisecting the Bight of
Biafra. They constitute a province under a Portuguese Governor. Sao
Thome is nearly on the equator, 150 miles west by north of Cape Lopez.
It has an area of 320 square miles, with a
population of 22,000. The littoral zone,
covered by dense tropical vegetation, leads
up to remarkable mountain peaks of volcanic
origin, rising in Sao Thome Peak to 7,020
feet. The only commercial port is Anna de
Chaves, where the town of Sao Thome is
situated. The dry season lasts from June to
September, and is the best of the year ; the
rainy season occurs between September and
June. In the lowlands the temperature
ranges from ()6° to 8;° F. ; in the middle
zone from 57° to 68° F., while on the highest
cultivated land the C0I4 is felt to be un- Fig. 465
pleasant. The people inhabiting these
islands are a mixture of the ancient Portuguese colonists named Creoles,
speaking a language somewhat similar to the Cape Verde Creole, and
labourers under contract from various parts of the African continent. The
Angolares, inhabiting the south-east coast of the island near Angra de Sao
Joao, were originally the survivors from an Angola ship lost on the Seta
Vedras Bank.
The island of Principe, 90 miles north-east of Sao Thome, has an area
of only 44 square miles and a population of 2,700. It is covered by even
more luxuriant vegetation than Sao Thome, but does not possess the alpine
species of that island, as the greatest elevation, the Peak of Principe, only
reaches 2,720 feet. There are tv/o natural harbours, of importance on
account of their size, Santo Antonio, the commercial port and seat of the
The Islands of the Gulf
of Guinea.
982 The International Geography
custom house and local government, and the Bay of Agulhas on the west
coast, which has not yet been utilised. The climate is warmer than that of
Sao Thome and with a greater rainfall.
The products, which make this colony one of the best in West Africa,
are : cacao, coffee, cinchona, vanilla, india-rubber and balsam-trees. The
species yielding timber are varied and rich. Commerce is entirely carried
on by Portuguese ships with the mother country.
ANGOLA
Position and Extent. — The colonial province of Angola, exposed to
the South Atlantic, has a stretch of coast line of 1,020 miles from the Congo
to the river Cunene. It is bounded on the north by French Congo and
the Congo Free State, the latter also forming the boundary on the east ;
on the south by German South-West Africa, and on the south-eas^ by
British Central Africa. It is the largest of the Portuguese colonial
possessions.
Surface. — The coast lands arc low in the north crossed by hill-spurs,
and high in the south where the edge of the African plateau approaches the
sea. There are numerous natural harbours, some of which, such as Loanda,
Lobito, Mossamedes, Port Alexander, and Bahia dos Tigres (Great Fish
Bay) are particularly good. Angola is an elevated territory, the great
mountain ranges of the edge of the plateau following the curves of the
coast. On the north an extensive mountain range forms the watershed
between the numerous rivers flowing west to the Atlantic and those flow-
ing north to the Congo, including the great streams of the Kwango and
Kassai. The south of Angola is a great plateau descending abruptly
towards the sea, forming the " Chella " whence numerous torrents swell
the rivers flowing to the ocean. The plateau of southern Angola has an
altitude of between 6,500 and 5,000 feet ; the highest peaks are found in the
Bailundo regions south of the Kwanza, where the Lovili mountains reach
7,800 feet and the Elonga mountains 7,500. The geological features of
Angola, as far as known, include the sandstones of the Congo basin and a
part of the ancient schistose zone of West Africa. Cretaceous strata occur
between Great Fish Bay and the river Dande, with some exposures of
Tertiary (Miocene) rocks. Eruptive rocks occur in the Mezas mountains
in Mossamedes. The province is crossed by numerous rivers, many of
which are navigable on their lower and middle courses. They belong to
five great hydrographic basins : that of the Congo draining the interior
of the northern half ; the Kwanza entirely within the colony ; the Cunene,
which forms the southern boundary and drains most of the healthy
Benguela and Mossamedes plateau ; the Cubango in the south, which flows
to the inland Lake Ngami ; and finally the Zambezi, draining the entire
south-east of the colon}^ up to the Katima rapids.
Climate, Resources and Trade. — The cool ocean-current flowing
Angola 983
along the coast from the south, together with the regular sea breeze,
modify the heat natural to the latitude, especially in the south of the colony.
In the north and centre, on the coast lowlands and along the rivers, malaria
is endemic ; but on the highlands of the interior comparative comfort is
enjoyed, and on the Benguela and Mossamedes plateau the cHmate is
similar to that of the south of Europe. At Sao Salvador do Congo in the
north of the province, at an altitude of 1,800 feet, the mean temperature
observed during four years was 73° F. In Loanda the mean temperature
during eleven years was 74*5°, and in Caconda, on the plateau, about 67°.
The cool season (Cacimbo), lasting from June to September, is the
pleasantest part of the year ; the rains begin in October and reach their
maximum in April, severe thunderstorms being common during the last
three months of their duration. The prevailing sea winds from the west-
south-west are called " viragao," in distinction to the land winds which
are called " terraes." In the north, as far as the Kvvanza valley, the chief
characteristic of the vegetation is a mixture of savannas and groves of oil
palms {Elceis Giiineensis) ; the savanna region proper occupies the river
valleys and the plateaux ; and finally there is a coast strip of poor and
scanty vegetation and an arid zone near Mossamedes, in the south, where a
desert flora is found. In all these regions up to an altitude of 3,500 feet,
and on the river banks, the baobab is found ; and the sea is fringed with
the mangrove {Rhizophora Mangle). Angola exports the produce of its
numerous plantations, especially vegetable oils, india-rubber, v/ax, coco-
nuts and coffee. Its commerce is carried on with Portugal and other
Portuguese colonies.
People and History. — It is not as yet easy to give the necessary
data for the study of the people of Angola, but it seems that the first
people who inhabited the country were the Bushmen, successors of the
Pygmies now represented by the Ba-cancale , Ba-cuisso, Ba-coroca and
others mentioned by Capello, Ivens, and Serpa Pinto. They are met with,
living in isolated communities, in the south of the province. In the centre
and north are the Jagas, invading tribes from the north-east represented
by the Bangalas ; but the Angola Bantu may be divided into Fiotes in the
north, from Chiloango to the Dande ; the Bundas from the Dande to the
Kwanza, and the N'Bundos in the south up to the heights of Mossamedes.
Angola was discovered by the Portuguese explorers of the fifteenth
century ; the mouth of the Congo was reached by Diogo Cao in 1482 ;
and Diaz, in 1488, sailed along the
whole coast. By the beginning of
the sixteenth century the Portu-
guese had important settlements at
several pomts.
Government and Towns. —
The colonial province of Angola, F'g. 466.— The Loanda-Ambaca Railway.
under a Governor-General, is divided into the di-tricts of Concjo north
984 The International Geography
and south of the Congo river, Loanda, Benguela, and Mossamedes,
bordering the coast, and Lunda in the extreme north-east. The capital
is the city of Sao Paulo de Loanda, usually known as Loanda, a great
seaport, with a railway running inland through rich plantations for 200
miles to Ambaca. The principal towns besides the capital are Cabinda
in the Congo district, Ambnz, Benguela, and Mossamedes, all on the
coast.
The extent of the trade carried on between Portugal and the
Portuguese possessions along the west coast of Africa may be judged from
the statistics of 1895, which show $9,850,000 of colonial exports to the
mother country, and $8,700,000 of imports from it.
STATISTICS {approximate).
Area of Angola province in square miles 4S7,50O
Population „ „ 2,000.000
Density of population per square mile 4-4
Population of Loanda 14,000
i\
STANDARD BOOKS.
Monteiro. " Angola and the River Congo." 2 vols. London, 1875.
. Oliveira Martins. " Portugal em Africa." Oporto, 1891.
J. de Vasconcellos. "As Colonias Portuguezas." Lisbon, 1897.
CHAPTER LII.— SOUTH AFRICA
I— THE COLONY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
By Thomas Muir, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S.,
Superintendent-General of Education for Cape Colony,
and F. C. Kolbe, D.D.
Position. — The outline of the continent of Africa being familiarly
compared to a leg of mutton, Cape Colony may be said to occupy the
shank end of it : indeed, " the shank end " is a common nickname for the
south-western corner in which Cape Town stands. The northern boundary
of the colony was until recently the natural line of the Orange River, but
now the territory stretches northward into Bechuanaland, between the
German possessions on the west and the two Boer colonies on the east.
By means of this extension, and by means of the Bechuanaland Pro-
tectorate to the north of it, and Rhodesia still further north, the trade
route to the interior lies entirely within British territory. Basutoland and
Natal, lying eastward of the Orange River Colony, complete the north-
eastern boundary. Separated from the rest of the colony, and almost
surrounded by German territory, is a small tract of land around Walfish
Bay, the only natural harbour of any importance between Angola and the
Orange River.
Coasts. — The seaboard is strangely inhospitable : the harbours are
mostly unprotected, and the river-mouths are choked by sand-bars. The
one good natural harbour on the west — Saldanha Bay — has hitherto lacked
fresh water, though it is proposed to bring a supply from a distance, and
so develop the port. At the south-western corner the Cape Peninsula
is a striking feature, consisting of Table Mountain facing north, buttressed
by a range running southwards, and separated from the mainland by a
strip of sandy plain (Fig. 471). In front of Table Mountain, to the north,
lies Table Bay, a port which has been robbed of its terrors by a break-
water and capacious docks ; and eastwards from the peninsula stretches
False Bay, in a snug corner of which, named Simon's Bay, there is a
British naval station. The only other important harbours are (in order)
Mossel Bay, Algoa Bay and East London. Algoa Bay, in spite of being
an open roadstead, is yet so favourably situated for the main trade route,
has so thriving a province immediately behind it, and is so well equipped
for the receipt and discharge of goods, that its town, Port Elizabeth,
justly claims the title of " the Liverpool of South Africa."
Configuration. — The direction of the mountain range which forms the
main watershed of South Africa may be roughly indicated by a line drawn
985
986 The International Geography
parallel to the coast about 150 miles inland. Inland of this line the great
continental slope trends to the west, as is indicated by the many tributaries
which go to swell the Orange River ; and on the coast side of the range
countless rivers and torrents (when there is rain) struggle through the
minor mountain defiles on a short and rapid journey to the sea. During
the greater part of the year, when there are no heavy rains, many of these
rivers are without water, and only dry beds may be seen. The minor
mountain ranges are also regularly distributed, running east and west, one
of them half way and the other three-quarters of the way between the
watershed and the coast ; and these too, of course, give origin to their own
little streams. Thus the rise to the continental plateau is by well-marked
stages ; first the shore-slope, then the Little Karroo, then the Great Karroo,
and finally the High Veldt.
Generahsing widely, it may
be said that the west coast
region consists of barren
and rainless tracts of sand ;
that a wide band lying
along the eastern edge of
this tract, and having its
base from Cape Town to
Port Elizabeth, stretches
first through fertile moun-
tains and valleys, then
through wide plains of scrubby bush, and finally across immense grassy
prairies which merge insensibly into the forests of northern Bechuanaland
and Rhodesia ; and that on the east of this band the verdant undulations
of' Kaffraria stretch over and beyond the Kei for hundreds of miles, and
break up eventually into the tumult of the Basutoland hills and the
diversified surface of Natal.
Geology. — Geologically South Africa may be regarded as consisting of
a central basin of younger rocks surrounded by a belt of older formations,
which is incomplete on the eastern coasts. The older rocks comprise a
vast series of slates and schists with much intrusive granite in the south-
west and to the north, separated by a distinct unconformity from succeed-
ing sandstones, quartzites, and shales. The Table Mountain sandstone is
the most important formation of this series, as it forms all the chief moun-
tain ranges in the south-west of the colony, while the auriferous con-
glomerates of the Transvaal are usually assigned to it. The Central,
Basin is bounded by a curious series of conglomerates collectively known
as the Dwyka conglomerate, which contains striated boulders probably
of glacial origin. Within the conglomerate belt lies a vast thickness of
gently folded shales and sandstones, th-e lowest known as the Ecca beds,
to which succeed the Karroo and Stormberg beds. The Karroo beds
are interesting as yielding peculiar reptilian remains and having a
15 20 25 50^
Fig. 467. — The Mountain System of South Africa.
Cape Colony
987
considerable number of diamantiferous pipes, especially near the border
of Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony, while the Stormberg beds
are conspicuous as the South African coal-bearing formation.
The whole of the peripheral area is much contorted, flexured, and
faulted ; and, as a result of one of the faults on the south, an area built up
of the younger Ecca beds remains, which points to a former much greater
extension of the more recent central formations. The entire region has
suffered enormous denudation ; and, as many of the formations, especially
towards the interior, consist of beds lying almost horizontally, table-like
mountains are extremely common.
Climate. — The variation of climate in Cape Colony is dependent on
rain rather than on temperature, the latter having a comparatively mode-
rate range. Thus along the sea-coast the thermometer averages 60° F. in
the coldest month and 70° in the hottest. During the colder season the
isothermals run east and west, in the summer time north and south.
There seem to be three regions of rainfall : the Eastern, which gets its
rain in the hot season ; the South-western, with its rainfall in the winter ;
and the North-western, with practically none
at all. This arrangement may be explained
by the direction of the prevailing winds and
of the mountain ranges. The chief wind
in summer is the south-eastern, which is the
rear-guard of the trade w4nd strengthened
by the monsoon effect of the hot cen-
tral regions. In the south-west there is
little to check its career as it hurries with
its moisture to the tropics and reveals itself fig. 468. — Temperature ami Rainfall
as a rain wind only by clouds on the of Cape Toim and Durban.
mountain tops. In the east, however, it has to ascend over the watershed
and much moisture is precipitated in the process. In winter, on the other
hand, the winds are from the north-west, and those that come directly from
the sea drop their rain at the south-western barrier of mountains, while
those that reach the east get there unladen. The high and dry air of the
Karroo, and the regularity and moderate character of the seasonal changes,
have caused Cape Colony to be increasingly regarded as a desirable health
resort, though some complain that long residence has a slightly enervating
effect.
Resources and Industries. — The chief farm products are wool,
mohair, skins, grain (wheat, mealies, Kafir corn, &c.), wine, and brandy,
with a^ minor yield of ostrich feathers and tobacco. Fruits of all kinds
grow readily, but they have only lately begun to be systematically culti-
vated. At the census of 1891 there were in the country 2^ million cattle,
23 million sheep and goats, and 155,000 ostriches. In that year the yield of
wheat was 2| million bushels, and of mealies and other grain 4^ million
bushels, Tobacco was produced to the extent of 11,000,000 lbs., but
K' jiH fri. M»i »pii. M«r. JuH. Jut *uc- S(P. Ocr. HOY Dtc i"|
60
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
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^
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.-
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/
y
-
V
:^
-
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—
m
1^
■■■-:hr:.
wm
it
t:;-
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fcii.
1
Capetown —
—
- Durban
g88 The International Geography
it has not yet reached a high level of excellence. The total yield of
wine was 6 million gallons, and of brandy i^ miUion ; the latter is, as a
rule, very inferior, and but little of the former recommends itself to
connoisseurs. The facts that Cape grapes have a very large proportion of
sugar and that the pressing has to be done in the hottest time of the year,
militate against success in the production of high-class wines.
The mineral wealth of the country consists predominantly of diamonds.
The seventy square miles at Kimberley, owned by the De Beer's Company,
form the richest diamond mine in the world, with an output of some 3^
million carats per annum, representing a value of about $22,500,000. There
are also valuable and interesting copper mines in Namaqualand near the
mouth of the Orange River. A fair supply of serviceable coal is found at
the northward bend of the watershed. Of other metals and minerals there
are samples enough to raise many hopes.
Flora. — South Africa is peculiarly rich in plant life, about one-sixth of
the genera of the whole world being found in it, and 142 natural orders
are represented. European gardens have been enriched by many pelar-
goniums, heaths, proteas, irises, lilies, and orchids native to the Cape.
There seem to be five different floral regions in Cape Colony, between
which the watershed is the dominant dividing line. To the south of it
there are two, one in the south-west and south of the Colony, and one
stretching almost from Port Elizabeth, through the Transkei and Natal
into tropical Africa. On the other side of the watershed there are the
Karroo region and the Kalahari region, both centrally situated, and a Com-
posite region towards the north-east.
The South-western region is the special home of what is known every-
where as Flora Capensis, including all the flowering plants enumerated
above. The silver tree and, among orchids, the Disa grandiflora are
famous, and everlasting flowers form a notable export. The arum Hly
is the commonest wild flower. The aloe grows freely, and in the south
central forests many valuable timber trees are found, such as the
yellow-wood and Cape mahogany. Oaks, pines, and many other trees
have been introduced, and are easily cultivated, but the pine is almost
the only tree that holds its own without help against the native plants.
The region has a remarkable affinity to south-western Australia, and
many Australian trees, especially gums, have been successfully introduced.
The Tropical region is characterised by dense bush and forest, such as
the Addo bush in the Eastern Province. Here the whole country is greener
and more luxuriant, and many trees have splendid foliage and showy
flowers. Euphorbias are common, and the palm begins to appear.
The Karroo region, being one of great dryness and subject to extremes
of ^eat and cold, presents a general appearance of scattered shrubs on
bare or stony soil. A species of acacia is the only tree in the whole region,
and even that is not very abundant. Yet after a heavy rainfall the appear-
ance of the country improves with astonishing rapidity, and its occasional
Cape Colony 989
evanescent beauty has to be seen to be believed. The plants, having to
struggle for existence, protect themselves from drought by succulence and
by thorniness from seekers after food.
The Composite region slopes to the north-east into the Orange River
Colony. It consists of vast treeless plains of dry moorland and heath, with
grassy patches here and there. It gets its name from the extraordinary
predominance of compositct in its flora.
The Kalahari region, in Bechuanaland, is principally a grass country,
with isolated shrubs and trees.
Fauna. — The fauna of Cape Colony has been reduced by human
agency to a mere remnant of what it formerly was, and it was never much
differentiated from that of the rest of the continent. The physical aspect
of the country accounts for the predominance of the ungulates among
mammals : the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the zebra, the
giraffe, the buffalo, and more than thirty kinds of antelope, once occupied
the land, and were preyed upon by the lion, the leopard, and other hunting
animals. Most of the native animals have now been driven to the north or
killed out ; the quagga is quite extinct, and the " white " rhinoceros nearly
so. The birds are more remarkable for plumage than for song. Birds of
prey are well represented. The stately secretary bird is strictly protected
on account of its services against snakes. The ostrich has been domesti-
cated. Of snakes there are not many varieties, but they are fairly plentiful,
and the very worst vipers {e.g., the puff-adder) are among them. Scorpions
and spiders abound, and the insect world is of great and often unpleasant
interest. Thanks to the cold current along the Agulhas Bank, there is an
excellent supply of fish, which is being more and more utilised every year.
Cured fish and tinned lobster are now articles of export.
Native Races. — As far as can be ascertained, the first inhabitants
of South Africa were the stunted, yellowish-brown Bushmen, who lived
by hunting only, a pursuit in which they trusted to poisoned arrows and to
cunning rather than to strength. Their language abounded in clicks and
deep gutturals. They were monogamists, but their cohesive power as a
people was of the slightest. They were apparently proof against civilisa-
tion, and were it not that they have shown some signs of feeling for art in
their rude cave-paintings, one would be inclined to assign them to the lowest
grade of humanity. They have dwindled away before the progress of the
white man, and now practically no longer exist as a people. The second
arrivals, the Hottentots, brought hairy sheep and a kind of cattle with
them. The first Europeans found them living along the west coast and
the Orange River. The race is nearly all mixed now, but in their original
state they were a flat-nosed, yellow people of medium height, pastoral but
not agricultural ; with clicks in their language like the Bushman, but not
harsh gutturals ; using poisoned arrows too, but with assegais and knobkerries
as well. The present dominant native races of South Africa are of Bantu
stock, and generally known as Kafirs, They have gradually made their way
ggo Tne International Geography
southward within historical times. These people — the Zulus, Basutos,Fingos,
Pondos and Bechuanas — are taller, stronger, and better formed than the
earlier races, except on the west of the Kalahari desert, where the Damaras,
who are Bantu, are inferior to the Namaquas, who are Hottentots. They have
a high organisation of law, government, and discipline ; they add agricul-
ture to their main occupation of keeping cattle ; they use clubs, axes, and
shields as well .as assegais and kerries ; and their languages are not only
free from clicks (unless these have been introduced),
but are governed by intricate grammatical rules and
by principles of harmony of sound. The Bantu are
amenable to civilisation, and some individuals among
them have reached a high grade of education.
Settlement. — While the southward movement of
unsettled races was still going on by land, a com-
petitive movement of Europeans began by sea. It
Fig. 46g.— Average pop- ^ , , T i ^^
ttiation of a sqiiure was almost a chance whether the Portuguese, or
mile 0} Cape Colony, ^he Dutch, or the English should first settle at the
southern extremity of Africa. The Portuguese arrived first, rounding
the Cape under Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, in the search for the sea-
route to India. Not foreseeing that it would not always be necessary
to hug the shore on the voyage to the East, they thought they were
gaining the best chance of a monopoly by establishing themselves well
to the north on the east coast. Some pioneer Englishmen claimed the
Cape peninsula for the rule of James I., in the year 1620, but the Home
Government was not alive to the importance of such a base for trade, and
the Dutch seized the neglected opportunity. They arrived in 1652, and
under such wise rulers as Van Riebeek and Van der Stel the little nucleus
of a colony gradually pushed out its borders. In 1688 Huguenots, driven
out of France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, arrived in
sufficient numbers and with sufficient energy to bring about a permanent
change in the new country. This blend of French with
Dutch has, in the course of two centuries, resulted in
the formation of a perfectly distinct nationality which
loves to call itself Afrikander, and it has developed
out of the original Dutch language a colloquial dialect
known as Kaapsche HoUandsch. The typical Afrikander
— the South African Boer — is characterised by sturdy
and courageous independence, a somewhat sensitive fig. 4J0.— The Arms
pride, a warm-hearted hospitahtv, and great attach- of the Colony of the
^ ' r - ' ft (^^p^ qj^ Qqq(^ Hope.
ment to old religious and domestic customs. He
defends himself from the consequences of want of reserve by a quality
which is too genial to be called cunning, but which he himself calls
" slimness.'^
In 1806 the Cape of Good Hope passed into British hands. In 1820
the arrival of English settlers laid the foundations of prosperity in the
Cape Colony 99 1
eastern division of the colony. Subsequently, various collisions with the
indomitable Afrikander spirit, such as that which arose from the mis-
management of the Slave Emancipation Act, resulted in the great " trek "
of emigrant Boers, which laid the foundations of the lately suppressed
South African Republics. In 1872 Responsible Government was con-
ferred on the Colony, and under this freedom the various races may in
time settle into equilibrium, though the process has been impeded by the
feelings once more aroused during the late v.^ar.
Railway System. — Since Cape Colony has no navigable rivers, and
canals are out of the question, and even roads present serious difficulties, and
since the centres of population are far apart, the development of a good
system of railway communication is of the very first importance. This is
still more evident in view of the fact that the Cape is largely dependent on
its trade with the interior. From a purely topographical standpoint one
would expect that commerce would find its way to Rhodesia and the
Transvaal through ports on .the west or east coasts, approximately in the
same latitudes as these districts ; but the development of Africa has pro-
ceeded on such lines that hitherto the Cape has had the advantage of the
worn channels of trade. One contributory cause is the unhealthiness of
the tropical seaboard. The routes of the main railway lines have conse-
quently been determined by the necessity of keeping these channels open ;
so that from Cape Town, from Port Elizabeth, and from East London lines
run northwards, intercommunicating by branches near the coal district,
and then running in two parallel fines, one through the Orange River
Colony to the gold fields of the Transvaal, and one past the diamond fields
of Griqualand West through Bechuanaland to Rhodesia and the Zambezi,
with a promise of early extension to Lake Tanganyika. Other lines bring
Grahamstovvn, the city of the settlers in the east, and also Aliwal North,
into communication with the main lines ; and a longer loop diverges so
as to join Port Elizabeth to Graaff-Reinet, " the Gem of the Karroo." Near
Cape Town, a side branch runs to Malmesbury, the wheat district ; and in
the north-west a small line serves the copper mines of Namaqualand
(Fig. 437). Other lines, now being made, will connect the east with the
west.
Much of the trade of the colony, and of the shipping at Cape Town, is,
in normal times, concerned with the transport of material to the Transvaal
aiid the export of gold from the mines.
•'Divisions and Towns.— The political divisions of Cape Colony are
not of rxmch importance as such, but the broad distinction between East
and West is more than merely nominal. The stream of English immigra-
tion, finding the'West already occupied, was diverted chiefly to the East, thus
largely altering the balance of nationahties. From time to time, indeed,
there 'has been much agitation in the East for separation, but the feeling
of cornmon interest 'has up till now carried the day, and in spite of a
little naluratl jealousythe claim of Cape Town to remain the capital of the
Fig. 471.— r/ie Site of Cape Town.
992 The International Geography
whole country is everywhere admitted. In population, Cape Town main-
tains its historical lead, being equal in this respect to the next three towns
together, namely, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. Besides
being the seat of government, it
Tfagoigp? jiat - 1 ^ - i^^^ r ^:i1 has the advantage of unrivalled
residential charms in its suburbs ;
its situation at the foot of Table
Mountain, flanked by the Devil's
Peak on one side and the Lion
Mountain on the other, entit-
ling it to rank among the most
beautifully placed cities in the
world. Its population is very
diversified ; Dutch as well as
English is freely spoken among
the European inhabitants, and
besides types of all the black
races there are some ten thou-
sand " Malays," descendants of Asiatics originally imported as coolies.
Kimberley, founded as a mining camp in 1870, depends for its impor-
tance entirely on the diamond mines. Its site was originally of the most
unpromising kind, and Kimberley fever had for a time an unpleasant
notoriety. But now the town is well built, efficiently drained, and
abundantly supplied with water. Like Mafeking, further north, it sus-
tained a protracted siege during the war. Port Elizabeth had likewise to
overcome the nielgardhness of nature ; its low hills were formerly
covered with scanty bush or bare sand, but water has been brought
from a distant river, and now its parks and tree-lined streets are
pleasant to look upon. Grahamstown, once the chief town of what
was called the Frontier, has lost much of its importance. It is neither
a great centre of trade, nor has it mineral wealth in its vicinity. It is,
however, beautifully situated in an amphitheatre of hills, and its climate
is unrivalled.
The district of Kaffraria, between the Great Kei and Natal, may be
separately mentioned as being still in a transitional state of govern-
ment. Most of the land is in the hands of the natives, who are some-
what paternally ruled over by special magistrates. Pondoland, the
south-eastern portion of this region, was not annexed to the colony
until 1894.
Basutoland formed part of Cape Colony from 1871 until 1884. The
natives, who, like many mountain-dwellers, are high-spirited above the
average, revolted in 1879 ; and although the colonial government was able
to maintain its authority, the subsequent friction was so great that the
Imperial government found it best to turn the territory into a Crown
Colony. Basutoland is sometimes called the Switzerland of South
Africa.
Natal 993
STATISTICS OF CAPE COLONY.
1875. 189T. 1898.
Area of Cape Colony, square miles 191.416 221,311 276,947
Population :— Europeans. Blacks. Total.
Census of 1875 (whole Colonv as then constituted) 236,783 484,201 720,984
Census of t8qi i "^^'^^"y ^^ ^" ^^75 336,938 619,547 956,485
census ot i»9i -j ^jj^lg (^jQjjy 376,987 1,150.237 1.527,224
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling^.
1873-77. 1883-87. 1893^7.
Imports 5,400,000 5,100,000 14,400,000
Exports 5,400,000 7,000,000 16,000,000
Export of Diamonds* 1,550,000 3.160,000 4,140,000
Export of Gold2 25,000 33.ooo 7,925,000
Other Exports 3 3,825,000 3,807,000 .3,935.ooo
DESTINATION OF ONE YEAR'S IMPORTS.
Rhodesia and Orange Free
Merchandise entered For Cape S.A. B. Bechuana- State and
for consumption in Total. Colony. Republic. land. Basutoland,
1897 £16,095,000 ;^9,87o,boo ;g4,6oo,ooo £570,000 £1,055,000
STANDARD BOOKS
John Noble. " Illustrated Official Handbook of The Cape and South Africa." Cape
Town, 1893.
"The Guide to South Africa," published for the Castle Line. London.
J. Whiteside. " A New Geography of South Africa." Cape Town.
G. M. Theal. " History of South Africa, 1486-1872." 5 vols. London, 1888-9
R. Wallace. "The Farming Industries of Cape Colony." London, 1896.
E. and O. Reclus. " L'Afrique australe." Pans, 1901.
W. Bleloch. " The New South Africa." 1901.
II.— NATAL
By THE Right Hon. James Bryce, O. M. , F. R. S.
Position and Divisions. — The British colony of Natal lies on the
coast of the Indian Ocean, between Cape Colony and Basutoland on the
west and the Portuguese territories on the north-east, being bounded on
the north by the Orange River and Transvaal Colonies. Apart from an
area lately detached from the latter, it consists of three districts— Natal
proper, Zululand, and Tongaland, which it is more convenient to describe
separately, as their economic and social conditions differ .
Natal Proper. — Natal proper is, with the exception of the level
strip along the coast, only a few miles wide, a hilly country, nearly
all of which is over 2,000 feet above sea-level, while some of the
mountains attain 7,000 feet. On the frontier of Basutoland a few
points are still loftier, approaching 11,000 feet. The ground rises
pretty uniformly from the coast northward, and along the line of the
Orange River Colony it touches the central watershed of South Africa,
which is here the outer or south-eastward rim of the great central
plateau. Except on the Basuto frontier the mountains are usually rounded
X The staple export of the Colony. 2 In transit from the Transvaal.
3 Illustrating the stationary condition of all exports of the Colony except gold and diamonds.
994 The International Geography
in their outlines, and covered with grass. The valleys are often wide and
open, but there is very little level ground, and no extensive plains, such as
are met with on the great inland plateau, or along the shore of the ocean
further north. The climate is damp along the coast, but becomes con-
stantly drier as one goes inland ; for nearly the whole of the rainfall comes
from the south-east, and most of it is received by the hills towards the
ocean. The rainfall, which is 42 inches at Durban, on the sea (Fig. 468),
diminishes to 30 inches in the highlands of the north close to the Trans-
vaal border. The heat of the coast strip, moderated by the sguth-east
trade-wind which blows steadily for most of the year, is somewhat greater
than the latitude would explain, and seems to be largely due to the
influence of the warm Mozambique current. The climate is on the
whole a very healthy one, for its dryness prevents the heat from being
enervating to Europeans, and the winters are cool ; indeed in the northern
highlands they are sometimes severe, and heavy snow-falls are not
uncommon.
Resources of Natal. — The fauna of Natal differs little from that of
the eastern parts of Cape Colony. The flora resembles that of the eastern
region of Cape Colony rather than that of the more lofty and arid Trans-
vaal and Orange River Colonies. It is only on the coast strip that vegetation
is luxuriant, and such crops as sugar, rice, bananas, and pine-apples can
be grown. But the rainfall is sufficient to give herbage on the moun-
tains, so that the proportion of arid desert land is small. The valleys,
especially in the southern and western districts, are often well wooded,
while in the northern highlands few trees are seen, except stunted acacias
and willows. Probably no part of South Africa has so large a proportion
of its surface available either for tillage or for pasture. Nearly all of it is
now in pasture, and the chief occupation is the rearing of cattle and sheep.
This is owing partly to the thinness of the white population, partly to the
fact that in many of the inland valleys costly irrigation works are
desirable, if not absolutely necessary as a security against the droughts.
Tea is grown on the hills towards the coast, while cereals, especially
maize, and tobacco do well in the inner valleys.
Gold has been found, but the reefs are little worked, and silver, copper
and lead also exist. The mineral of most importance is coal, of which
there are extensive beds. It is largely worked round the villages of New-
castle and Dundee. In point of quality it is inferior to the best European
or American coal, but equal to any that has been found in Africa. Con-
siderable deposits of iron exist close by, and promise a successful develop-
ment of iron industries whenever it becomes cheaper to make iron goods
than to import them. There are at present no manufacturing industries
of any importance, and no places large enough to be called towns
except Durban, practically the only seaport, and Pietermaritzburg, the
capital.
People of Natal. — Of the white inhabitants fully two-thirds are of
Natal 995
British, and less than one-third of Dutch origin. Nearly all can speak
English, but Dutch is used to some extent, especially in the North. The
native Kafirs are mostly heathen, hve under their own headmen, and pre-
serve most of their native customs. They are now usually quiet and
peaceable. Few can speak any language but their own, the Zulu tongue
being that of the majority. Indians, who are largely
Mohammedans, have recently immigrated either from
Zanzibar and other ports on the East African coast or
from the western provinces of India. Many are gar-
deners, cultivating fruit farms on the south coast ;
others are indentured coolies, at work on the sugar
plantations for a term of years, and others have
become mechanics or small shopkeepers in the towns, pj^ A'j2 — Avera(iei>op-
A law has been passed for the exclusion of all immi- niation of a square
grants unable to write a letter in European characters. ""''^ of Natal
There is little or no intermarriage between the black and white races,
who, however, live quietly together.
History and Government. — Natal was discovered by Vasco da
Gama on his voyage to India in 1497, and received its name because it
was first seen on Christmas Day. The Portuguese, however, did not
claim it, and it remained untouched by Europeans till a few Englishmen
established themselves at the harbour then called Port Natal (now Durban)
about 1824. The British Government was at that time unwilling to acquire
new African territory which might involve them in fresh wars. The
ferocious Chaka, king of the Zulus, had shortly before ravaged the
country, slaughtered a large part of the native inhabitants, and left most
of it vacant. This fact, together with its reported advantages of soil and
climate, came to the knowledge of the Boer emigrants who had quitted
Cape Colony (in disgust at the proceedings of the British Government) in
1836, and led a large body of them to cross (in 1838) the passes from the
great interior plateau and occupy the valleys in the centre of Natal. They
defeated the Zulus and set up a republic — which they called Natalia, and
built the town of Pietermaritzburg. The British Government, however,
following the advice of the Governor of the Cape, conceived that no
independent State ought to be suffered to establish itself on the coast, and
accordingly dispatched to Port Natal a force, which, after a short war,
compelled the Boer emigrants to leave or submit. At first a dependency
of Cape Colony, Natal was created a separate colony in 1856. Meanwhile
immense numbers of Kafirs flocked in, especially from the north and
east, and though the number of whites increased steadily, the proportion
of Kafirs to whites has continued to be about ten to one. Zululand was
conquered in a war with the native king Cetewayo in 1879, and in 1887
(after a part of it had been occupied by freebooters from the Transvaal,
and detached from the rest of the country) was declared to be British
territory. In 1893 responsible government was granted to the colony, and
99^ The International Geography
in 1896 Zululand and Tongaland were incorporated with it. The northern
part of the colony was the scene of important miUtary operations during
the earHer part of the Boer War (1899-1902), the chief feature of which
was the defence and ultimate relief of Ladysmith. The government is, as
in the other self-governing British colonies, in the hands of a Governor
sent from home (whose functions resemble those of a constitutional king),
and of a legislature with a Cabinet responsible to it. There are two
Chambers — a Legislative Council of eleven, and an Assembly of thirty,
seven members ; the former appointed by the Governor
for ten years, the latter elected for four years by the
people on a franchise which is (for whites) almost
universal. All Kafirs and Indians are unenfranchised.
The customs tariff is lower as regards most articles
of import than that of the South African Customs Union,
which Natal has not entered. The chief exports are wool,
Fig. ^73.— The Badge sugar, hides and maize. The railway lines (600 miles
of Natal. .^ length) belong to the State, and run through from
Durban to the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies. Elementary education
is provided by the State for all white people, and by the mission schools for
a certain, though relatively small, part of the blacks. There is no university.
Zululand.— Zululand is divided by the Tugela River from the rest of
Natal, of which it now legally forms a part. The population is nearly all
Kafir. Except a plain along the coast, which is hot and generally unhealthy,
it is a high country, though hilly rather than mountainous, with no point
reaching 5,000 feet, and very little land above 3,000. The higher parts
are grass-covered, and furnish some of the best pasture-land in South
Africa. Gold has been found, and the reefs are believed to be very
promising, but neither they nor the other mineral deposits thought to
exist (including coal, iron and silver) have as yet been carefully examined.
The natives live under their tribal chiefs, preserving their primitive usages,
and though brave and warlike, they have of late years been quiet.
Tongaland.— Tongaland is a strip of country mostly flat, and in
many places marshy and unhealthy (since the heat is great), which stretches
along the coast northward from Zululand to the frontier of the Portuguese
territories, between Swaziland and the Indian Ocean. It consists of
several petty principalities under native chiefs, who have at various times
within the last few years (the last of them in 1894) been brought under
British protection. The Tongas are a branch of the Bantu family, who
speak a language quite different from that of their neighbours the Zulus
and Swazis (the latter being near of kin to the Zulus). They are less
martial than the Zulus, but generally similar in their customs. They are
nearly all heathen, and no whites, except a very few missionaries, live
among them. So far as is known their country has no great economic
value, and it has no deep-water port. The people have been studied most
in the adjoining parts of Portuguese East Africa, where the Ba-Ronga are
a Tongan tribe.
Southern Rhodesia 997
STATISTICS OF NATAL.
1879. 1 891. 1
Area of Natal, square miles (estimate) 21,150 .. 32,500
Population 361,587 . . 724,283
White population 22,654 • • 47>888
Density of population per square mile 17 .. 23
Population of Durban 17,127(1884) 25,512
„ Pietermaritzburg 14,231 » 17,500
ANNUAL TRADE {in pounds sterling).
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 940,000 .. 1,900,000 .. 2,920,000
Exports 815,000 .. 900,000 .. 1,323,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
J. Bird. "Annals of Natal. 1495 to 1845." 2 vols. Pietermaritzburg, 1888.
K.Russell. " Natal, the Land and its Story." Pietermaritzburg. 5th edit. 1897.
H. Junod. " Les Ba Ronga." Neuchatel, 1898.
m— SOUTHERN RHODESIA AND BECHUANALAND
By F. C. Selous.
British South Africa. — ^The British possessions on the great table
land of South Africa, outside the two self-governing colonies of the Cape
of Good Hope and Natal, and the recently annexed Boer colonies, extend
northward to the boundaries of the Congo State and the southern shore of
Lake Tanganyika, with the Transvaal, Portuguese East Africa and British
Central Africa on the east, and German South- West Africa and Portuguese
West Africa on the west. The territory may be divided into Southern and
Northern Rhodesia, separated by the Zambezi, in the east and north, both
under the charge of the British South Africa Company ; and the Bechuana-
land Protectorate in the south-west. Northern Rhodesia has been referred
to under British Central Africa.
SOUTHERN RHODESIA
Position and Boundaries. — Southern Rhodesia lies immediately
to the north of the Transvaal Colony, from which it is separated by
the Limpopo or Crocodile River, which forms its southern boundary.
Northwards it extends to the Zambezi. Its eastern boundary with
Portuguese East Africa was defined by the Anglo-Portuguese Agree-
ment of June II, 1891, as the edge of the Manika plateau. To the west it
is bounded by a line running south and east from the junction of the
Chobi with the Zambezi, to the headwaters of the Shashi, and thence along
the course of that river to the Limpopo ; practically the old line of
demarcation between the territories of Khama and Lo Bengula. It lies
entirely within the tropics, extending in latitude from 22° S. to 16^ S. and
in longitude from 26° E. to 33° E.
K Includes Zululand.
998 The International Geography
Surface. — Through this territory there runs an elevated region which
extends from the source of the Shashi on the west, north-eastwards to the
source of the Hanyani or Manyami River, and thence trends south-eastwards
to the sources of the Odyi and Pungwe. Along this elevated backbone
runs the watershed between the Zambezi and Limpopo drainage areas, in
the western and central portions of the territory, and between the Zambezi
and Sabi further east. The whole country along the watershed exceeds
4,000 feet above sea-level, rising gradually from about 4,000 feet at the
source of the Shashi in the west towards the north-east, where it reaches
5,400 feet at the source of the Hanyani River. In the Inyanga plateau,
where the Ruen3'a, Odyi, and Pungwe rivers take their rise, it culminates
in an altitude of over 7,000 feet, and sinks abruptly to the east. The
surface of the elevated belt consists of open undulating grassy downs. To
the north and west they slope gradually towards the Zambezi and the
northern Kalahari desert, little or no broken country being met with near
the watershed, but the open grass-land gradually gives place to continuous
forest on the lower slopes. On all other sides the high plateaux are bounded
by a belt of broken country which varies in breadth from 20 to 50 miles.
In the south-west (Matabeleland) this belt may be described as hilly, and
there is a fall of some 700 or 800 feet in a distance of from 20 to 30 miles ;
but in the east (Mashunaland) the descent to the low plai'^ -v^;-in border
the east coast, and extend up the valley of the Zambezi, becomes abrupt
and of a mountainous appearance. From the Inyanga plateau to the lower
valley of the Pungwe there is a fall of over 5,000 feet in less than 100
miles.
Hydrography. — The highest portions of the plateau are granite, btit on
the slopes to the north, north-west, south, and south-west, ranges of hills
of different formation run through the granite, and amongst them numerous
gold-bearing quartz-reefs occur. On the value of these reefs the speedy
development of the country must largely depend. The whole of the high
plateau is well watered, the more easterly portions being intersected in
every direction by innumerable small streams, which are fed from springs
welling out from the head of almost every valley on the open downs.
Most of these never run dry even in the driest seasons, being probably
supplied from underground reservoirs in the granite, in which great
quantities of water are yearly stored during the rains. Anomalous as it
may seem, the highest portions of the plateaux of Southern Rhodesia are
thus the best watered, though they are not dominated by mountain ranges.
The innumerable small streams of the highest part of the downs gradually
collect into brooks, and these converge to the main rivers which drain the
country, and finally reach the Zambezi, the Limpopo or the Sabi. Follow-
ing the watershed across the open downs which lie between the sources of
the Hanyani and the Umniati rivers, where the altitude is between 5,000
and 6,000 feet, a little stream of running water will be met with at nearly
every mile. But crossing from the Hanyani to the Umniati, some 2,000
Southern Rhodesia
999
feet lower down the slope, all these are found to be collected into a few
sniall rivers, and stretches of country occur perhaps 20 miles wide
without a single stream. Down still farther in the Zambezi valley not a
single stream of water flows into the river between the mouth of the
Hanyani and that of the Umniati (there called the Sanyati), a distance of
perhaps 150 miles, the intervening country being entirely waterless during
the dry season.
The Zambezi, which divides Southern Rhodesia from British Central
Africa, is one of the largest rivers in Africa. It is navigable by steamers
of light draught from its mouth for 300 miles to the Kuroa Basa rapids above
Tete ; whilst a steamer placed on the river above those rapids might reach
the mouth of the Gwai, 600 miles farther, if it could make its way against
the strong current which rushes through the narrow defile of Kariba.
From the mouth of the Gwai onwards
a succession of rapids and two large
waterfalls make the Zambezi unnavi-
gable for any long distance without a
break. The fall known as Mosi-a-tunya
(smoke-sounding) by the natives, which
was discovered by Dr. Livingstone in
1 85 1, and named by him the Victoria
Falls, is second to none in the world in
magniiicence, for although I will not
say that it is finer than Niagara, it yet
surpasses that stupendous cataract in
some respects, and as a whole appeals
quite as powerfully to the imagination.
The magnitude of these falls will be
understood from the bald statement
that they are 2,000 yards in width and
450 feet in perpendicular height. The
vast volume of water falls, not into an
open gorge like Niagara, but into a narrow rift, whence the escape is by a
still narrower zigzag ravine through a mass of hard rock. The falls are
about 225 miles distant from Bulawayo, in a direct line, and the railway
which crosses the river just below the falls was opened in 1905. The falls of
Gonye on the Upper Zambezi, though not to be compared to the Victoria
Falls, are yet very beautiful. They are also in British territory, being
situated on that section of the Zambezi which flows through Northern
Rhodesia, the central division of British Central Africa.
Climate and Resources. — The climatic conditions of a territory
which includes the low-lying valleys of the Zambezi and the Limpopo, as
well as the high open plateaux of Matabeleland and Mashunaland, are
naturally very diverse. In the low parts of the country the heat is often
very oppressive ; malarial fever of a severe type is prevalent at certain
Fig. 474.
■The Victoria Falls on the
Zambezi.
looo The International Geography
times of the year, and such districts are not suited for European colonisa-
tion. But the cHmate of the high plateaux, above the fever limit, is very
fine and bracing, and the whole of Southern Rhodesia which lies above
4,000 feet seems destined soon to be settled by Europeans, whilst the area
may possibly be extended in the couse of time to a somewhat lower level,
as the cultivation and drainage of the land proceed. On the high plateaux
the heat even in the hottest weather is not excessive, the shade temperature
seldom exceeding 90° in the higher parts of eastern Mashunaland ; in
western Matabeleland, where the heat is greater, 100° F. in the shade is
very exceptional, and at an altitude of 5,000 feet these temperatures are
not very trying. On the plateau the nights are cool the whole year round ;
during the winter months of May, June, July and August, they even
become cold and frosty. At that season the days are always bright and
clear, pleasantly warm but not too hot. During the months of November,
December, January, February and March, heavy rains may be expected,
with thunderstorms during October and April, and occasionally a little
light rain during the winter months. The season of continuous rain
sometimes sets in early in November, at other times not until late in
December, and as a rule the heaviest rains take place after Christmas.
The rainfall is heavier in the east than in the west. The average is
probably about 40 inches in the former district and 25 in the latter ; but
observations are not yet sufficiently numerous to enable one to speak
definitely. In the rainy season which ended in April, 1891, a rainfall of
53 inches was recorded in Salisbury, Mashunaland, but the following year
the rainfall was under 25 inches.
Agricultural Prospects. — It is clear that the most valuable portions
of Rhodesia, those best fitted for agriculture and pasturage, are the districts
lying on the broad back of the plateau along which the watershed runs.
With few exceptions the lower one descends towards the valleys of the
Zambezi and the Limpopo, the drier and more desolate the country
becomes. For stock farming no portion of South Africa is better suited
than the high plateaux of Rhodesia, in evidence of which when the forces
of the British South Africa Company entered Matabeleland in 1893, there
were over 200,000 head of horned cattle in that territory alone. Further
eastward, too, cattle do equally well. A small flock of merino sheep was
introduced into the country a few years ago and has thriven well, and it is
quite possible that in the not distant future sheep farming may become as
profitable as in any other part of South Africa. All European vegetables
and many kinds of fruit do well ; in fact, if a supply of water is assured
either as rain or by irrigation during the dry season, almost everything
required by civilised man can be grown. Excellent crops of wheat and
oats may be raised all over Rhodesia during the dry season by irrigation,
but if sown during the rainy season they are liable to suffer from rust.
Big Game. — Elephants, once very plentiful throughout the greater
portion of Rhodesia, had become so much reduced in numbers by constant
Southern Rhodesia looi
hunting and the indiscriminate slaughter of females and calves as well as
males, by hordes of natives armed with good guns and rifles, and a few
Boer and British hunters, that the export of ivory from Matabeleland in
anything but very small quantities had practically ceased before the
country was taken possession of by the white men, in 1893. There are still,
however, a good many elephants wandering about over the vast unin-
habited tracts of country lying between the high plateaux of Matabeleland
and Mashunaland and the Zambezi. As the natives of the country have
now been disarmed, or if possessed of firearms, have no means of obtain-
ing ammunition, and as the elephants are now so scattered and so wild
that it would not pay a European to hunt them, and as, moreover, it is now
a penal offence to shoot one, it may be hoped that these fine animals
will again gradually increase in numbers in those districts of Rhodesia
which are unfitted for European settlement.
All other classes of game, especially giraffes and many species of
antelopes, which have been spared by the recent visitation of rinderpest,
are too, owing to the fact that the natives have been disarmed, and in
spite of the increase of the European population, undoubtedly on the
increase. Buffaloes, elands and koodoos have suffered so seriously from
rinderpest that it is possible that they may become extinct. Lions are
still numerous, and commit serious depredations upon the settlers' live
stock. They are therefore destroyed whenever it is possible to do so.
History. — But little is known of the ancient history of Southern
Rhodesia. Rock paintings of a character identical with those found in the
mountain caves of Cape Colony and the Orange Free State seem to show
that the country was once inhabited by Bushmen. This pygmy race must,
however, have been destroyed, or driven into the western deserts at a very
remote period. Remarkable ruins of stone-built fortifications and temples,
curiously carved and containing evidence that the builders worked in gold,
are scattered over the plateau. They point to the early possession of the
country by a civilised people, possibly the Sabaeans from Arabia, and
some believe that Southern Rhodesia contained the Ophir of Solomon.
The Bantu races spread over the whole land, and, though divided into
several sections, all the various clans spoke dialects of one language.
Early in the nineteenth century Rhodesia was invaded by two Zulu tribes,
the Abazwang indaba and the Abagaza, who, after devastating large areas of
country, fought with one another, and the Abazwang indaba being defeated
crossed the Zambezi and now live on the plateau to the west of Lake
Nyasa under the name of Angoni, while the Abagaza settled in the
highlands near the Sabi river. In 1837 another Zulu clan, under the chief
Umziligazi, left the Transvaal and settled in the west of Rhodesia, now
known as Matabeleland. For over fifty years they preyed upon the
surrounding peoples generically known as Mashunas, and depopulated
enormous areas of country. In 1890 the Rhodes pioneer expedition occupied
the east of the country, which had suffered greatly from the Matabele.
I002 The International Geography
Towns and Railways.— The township of Salisbury was established
in 1890, and subsequently townships were laid out at Victoria, Umtali diud
Meheiter. Salisbury is most easily reached from the east coast by railway
through the excellent seaport of Beira in Portuguese territory. As a result of
the war of 1893 Matabeleland was definitely added to the territory of the
British South Africa Company. Early in 1894 the European township of
Bidawayo was established, some three miles distant from the old native
kraal, near the top of the plateau close to the watershed. This town, which
has already become an important place, has been connected with Cape Town
(a distance of i ,600 miles) and with Salisbury. Lines have also been con-
structed from Bulawayo to the Victoria Falls via the Wankie coal-fields
and to the Gwanda gold-fields ; and from Gwelo (one of the most impor-
tant of the more recent townships) to the Selukwe district ; while another
will shortly be made from Salisbury to the Mazoe district in the north-east.
THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE
Position and Surface. — North of British Bechuanaland, which
is now under the government of Cape Colony, lies the Bechuanaland
Protectorate, containing the territories of several native chiefs, of whom
the most important are, Batheon, Sebele (the son of Sechele), Linschwe
and Khama. The southern portion of the Protectorate lies to the
north of Bechuanaland proper, and extends west of the Transvaal
for an indefinite distance into the Kalahari desert. In this part of the
territory the natives live in large villages, most of which are situated
on the headwaters of the Notwani and its tributaries flowing to the
Limpopo. Before the terrible plague of rinderpest passed through
the country in 1896 these people possessed large herds of cattle which,
though spread over the country during the rainy season, Were all collected
along the rivers, round wells, or wherever there was permanent water,
during the long dry season. The great waterless wastes of the Kalahari
desert which lie to the west of the settlements are used as hunting grounds
and are only permanently inhabited by a few scattered families of a people
of Bantu origin, known as Bakalahari {i.e., they of the desert), who live near
the few permanent wells, and collect skins and ostrich feathers for their
Bechuana masters.
The Bechuanaland Protectorate lies mainly on the western slope of the
high plateaux of South Africa, and almost the whole of it has an altitude
of about 3,500 feet. It is for the most part dry and arid, but good crops of
maize, native corn {Holcus sorghum) and pumpkins are grown during the
rainy seasons by the Bechuanas. Cattle, sheep and goats thrive well all
over the country wherever there is water, as the pasturage is everywhere
plentiful, and, except along the courses of the rivers, where fever is rife during
the rainy season, the country is healthy for Europeans.
Khama' S Country. — By far the largest portion of the Protectorate is
ruled over by the well-known and enlightened chief Khama, whose lands
Bechuanaiand 1003
extend from latitude 23° 30' S. in the south, where they march with Sebele's
country, to the junction of the Chobi with the Zambezi in latitude 17" 50' S.
On the east they are bounded by the Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia,
whilst to the west they extend in the southern portion for an indefinite
distance into the Kalahari desert, and further north are divided by an
undefined line from the country of Moremi, a chief whose principal settle-
ment is on the Okovango River to the north of the desolate Lake Ngami.
Both Khamaand Moremi claim jurisdiction over the country lying along the
southern bank of the Chobi to the east of Linyanti ; although this strip of
country has been assigned to Germany — by an Anglo-German convention
without reference to either chief. Almost the whole of Khama's country
is very sparsely peopled or entirely without permanent inhabitants ;
the vast majority of his tribe live together in the town of Palapye, the
largest native town in South Africa, and the remainder are occupied in
tending the great herds of cattle which graze along the banks of the
Limpopo and other rivers. Before the visitation of rinderpest Khama and
his people were very rich in cattle and also possessed large herds of
fat-tailed sheep, and goats of a fine, large breed.
North- Western District. — The great desert wastes lying between
the Botletlie River and Southern Rhodesia, and extending to the Chobi
in the north, are uninhabited save by a few families of half-starved
Masarwa Bushmen, wandering savages, who build no huts, do not till
the ground, nor keep any kind of domestic animals save jackal-like dogs,
but Hve on roots and honey, frogs and tortoises, with an occasional
feast when they succeed in killing a large animal in a pitfall or with a
poisoned arrow. The Bechuana tribes inhabiting the Protectorate are a
branch of the great Bantu family who people South Africa, to the east of
the Kalahari desert. South of the Zambezi the Bantu race may be divided
linguistically into three branches, viz., that formed by the tribes speaking
Zulu and cognate dialects, those which speak Chiswina or dialects of that
language, and those which speak Sechuana or Sasuto. All these languages
and dialects have been derived from one parent language probably at no
very distant period in the past, as they are still all nearly allied.
A strip of country along the Transvaal frontier is reserved to the
British South African Company, and along it the railway to Bulawayo which
now runs beyond the Zambezi is carried.
STATISTICS {esHmates).
Area square miles. Population.
Southern Rhodesia 141,000 . . 450,000
Bechuanaiand Protectorate 213,000 . . 200,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
F. C. Selous. "Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa." London, 1893.
"Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia." London, 1896.
J. Bryce. " Impressions of South Africa." Lindon. 1897.
D. Randall-Maclver. '* Medieval Rhodesia." London, 1906.
S. Passarge. " Die Kalahari." Berlin, 1904.
65
I004 The International Geography
IV.— THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY
By the Right Hon. James Bryce, O.M., F.R.S.
Position and Surface. — The Orange River Colony is part of the
great plateau of South Africa, and is not marked off by any natural
boundaries of the first rank from the territories which border it on the
north, west, and south. On the north and north-west it is divided from
the Transvaal by the Vaal River, a stream of small volume except after
rains, and from Cape Colony on the south by the Orange, but the physical
character of the country on both sides of these rivers is similar. The surface
is mostly level or gently undulating, with some ridges of hills and many
isolated and frequently flat-topped eminences {kopjes), often bold in outline,
but seldom rising more than 500 to 700 feet above the surrounding country.
The whole plateau, however, has an elevation of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet
above the sea. The scenery, though in some places pleasing, cannot be
called fine except along the river Caledon, where the views of the lofty
Maluti Mountains in Basutoland are often very striking. During and
immediately after the rains of early summer (November and December)
the wide plains, dressed in fresh verdure, have an expansive beauty of
their own under the brilliant air, but for the rest of the year they are arid
and monotonous, and the landscape is somewhat dreary. The only con-
siderable rivers are the Vaal on the north-east, the Caledon on the south-
east, and the Orange, which forms the south-west boundary and carries
the water of the other two to the Atlantic. They are not navigable.
Climate, Flora and Fauna. — The climate is the normal one of the
plateau, practically rainless during eight months of the year, with frequent
heavy showers during the summer months of November, December,
January and February, but a low annual rainfall. No part of South Africa
is more healthy and bracing. Although snow seldom falls and soon dis-
appears when it has fallen, the winter cold is severe in the higher and
more exposed spots. In no part of South Africa is the want of wood
more felt ; there are no forests, and few trees are found except thorny
acacias on the open plains and willows along the watercourses. The wild
animals, which were once very common, have how become comparatively
rare ; but large herds of the beautiful springbok are still met with.
Resources. — The mineral resources of the Colony, so far as they
have been explored, are much inferior to those of the Transvaal. Very
little gold has been found, but there is one important diamond mine at
Jagersfontein, in the western part of the Colony near the Vaal River. Coal
is found in the Kronstad and Heilbron districts in the north, but the coal
deposits have not yet proved to be large in extent nor of high quality.
Tillage is at present practically confined to the strip of fertile land
which lies along the right bank of the Caledon between Ficksburg
and Wepener. This is one of the best agricultural districts in South
Orange Free State 1005
Africa, producing heavy crops of cereals without irrigation, for the rain-
fall there is comparatively good, as the mountains of Basutoland are not
far distant. Other places might be cultivated if a larger neighbouring
market encouraged the construction of irrigation works, and if capital
were available for the purpose. The main reliance of the inhabitants is
in cattle-breeding, and farms are large, for the pasture, though thin in
the hilly districts, is good, and (save in exceptionally dry seasons) water
can be found almost everywhere. Since the great outbreak of cattle
plague in 1895 and the war of 1899-1902 the number of cattle has been
greatly reduced. There are no manufactures.
History. — When the country which is now the Orange River Colony
was first explored (1800-1830) by hunters, and afterwards by mission-
aries and wandering traders from Cape Colony, much of it was
uninhabited, and large parts were in the hands of nomad Bushmen.
There were considerable tribes of Kafirs of the great Bantu family, some
of which had fled thither to escape the attacks of the Zulus, while some
few Griquas, a mixed race of Dutch and Hottentot blood who lived chiefly
by hunting, had moved eastward from Cape Colony, and dwelt in the
extreme west near the Orange river. About 1830 the cattle farmers in
the outer part of the Colony began to drive their herds at certain seasons
across the Orange river for change of pasture, and in 1836 the "Great
Trek," an emigration en masse of some thousands of Dutch farmers from
the Colony, brought a considerable white population for the first time into
these regions. These emigrants desired to escape from the sovereignty of
the British Crown, and were for some years permitted to live in practical
independence. They did not, however, either eject the Kafir tribes or main-
tain any regular government among themselves ; and their frequent quarrels
with the natives, inducing trouble on the borders of the Colony, ultimately
induced the British Government, which had always continued to claim
their allegiance, to move forward. In 1846 a British fort was erected and
a garrison placed at Bloemfontein, and in 1848 the territory between the
Orange and Vaal rivers was annexed under the name of the Orange River
Sovereignty. The Dutch settlers, aided by those who had settled north-
east of the Vaal, rose in arms and were defeated by Governor Sir Harry
Smith, but troubles presently broke out with the Basuto Kafirs living to
the south of the Sovereignty, and in 1854 the British Government (which
had two years previously renounced its authority over the emigrant Boers
who lived beyond the Vaal) withdrew from the Sovereignty, considering
that it involved more expenditure and trouble than it was worth. The
Sovereignty was recognised as independent, under the name Orange Free
State, on undertaking never to permit slavery or the slave trade. In 1899
war broke out between the Free State (allied with the Transvaal) and the
United Kingdom, and, although Bloemfontein was occupied by the British
army early in 1900, was prolonged for two years more, the supremacy •£
the British Crown being finally recognised by the peace of May 31, 1902.
ioo6 The International Geography
Fig. ^is.—The Flag of tlu
former Orange Free State.
During the existence of the Orange Free State the government was
vested in a popular assembly called the Volksraad, and in a President
assisted by an Executive Council. This system worked smoothly, and
the history of the Free State from 1854 ^^ 1^99 was, on the whole, free
from trouble or excitement. The most important
events were the successive wars with the Basuto
Kafirs, in one of which the fertile territory along
the north bank of the Caledon river was con-
quered from that tribe, and the dispute with the
British Government over the district in which the
town of Kimberley now stands, where diamond-;
were discovered in 1869. Although sympathising
with their kinsfolk in the Transvaal Republic, the
people of the Orange Free State never assisted them against the British
power until the war of 1 899-1902. Before the war, about four-fifths of
the white population were of Dutch origin, and the Dutch language — or
rather a South African dialect of it — was generally spoken, except in
Bloanfontcin, the capital, and the only place large enough to deserve the
name of a town, where nearly everybody knew something of both Dutch
and English. In 1890 there were about 130,000 natives, some living in a
tribal state and cultivating the land or keeping cattle, but the majority
in the employment of the whites. Nearly all the
whites and a great part of the Kafirs belonged to
the Dutch Reformed Church, which received a
grant from the public treasury. One line of rail-
way, forming part of the trunk line which runs
from Cape Town to Johannesburg and Pretoria,
passes through the colony from end to end, and
several branches have been constructed, while others
are either under construction or contemplated, in-
cluding one to join the main line with the Natal
system via Harrismith. The colony was granted
responsible government in 1907 with a constitution similar to that of the
Transvaal.
Fig. 476. — Average pop-
ulation of a s \n\re
mile of the Orange
River Colony.
STATISTICS.
Area of Orange Free State, square miles (estimate) . .
Popvilation
White Population
Density of population per square mile
Population of Bloemfontein
48,326
133.518
61,022
3
2,567
ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling) 1891-95.
Imports
Exports
i8t)0.
4«,3^6
207,503
77,716
4
3,459
1,000.000
1,500.000
The Transvaal locy
v.— THE TRANSVAAL COLONY
By the Right Hon. James Bryce, O. M., F. R.S.
Position and Surface. — The Transvaal Colony, formerly the South
African Republic, and now (since 1894) including the dependent native
territory of Swaziland, is bounded on the east by Portuguese East Africa
and the British territories of Tongaland and Zululand, on the south by
Natal and the Orange River Colony, on the west by Cape Colony and the
British Bechuanaland Protectorate, on the north by territories of the British
South Africa Company. About one-sixth of its area hes within the tropics.
Physically it consists of two regions. The larger part belongs to the great
South African plateau, and has an average altitude of from 4,000 to 5,500
feet, some valleys sinking to 3,000, and a few eminence:j rising to 6,000
feet. Like the rest of that great plateau, this part is bare and arid, covered
with thin grass, and here and there with a still scantier growth of thorny
trees and shrubs. It goes by the name of the High or Grass Veldt. About
one-third of the area, forming the northern portions of the country and a
long but comparatively narrow strip along the eastern border are much
lower, from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above sea-level, and much hotter ; they are
in most places well wooded, and are called the Bush Veldt. The most
considerable range of mountains runs nearly north and south, forming the
eastern edge of the great plateau to which the High Veldt belongs.
This range is a part of the great chain which bears the name of Drakens-
berg or Quathlamba, and some of its summits reach 7,000 feet. The
smaller range of the Magaliesberg runs westward from Pretoria, dividing
the basin of the Vaal river from that of the Limpopo. The only large
rivers are the Vaal, which forms the southern boundary of the Transvaal,
the Olifants (Elephant's) river, and the Limpopo, which rises near Pre-
toria, flows first north-westward to the Bechuanaland frontier, then turns
north and east, and forms for a long distance the northern boundary.
None of these is navigable.
Climate. — The physical aspects, climate, fauna and flora of the
High Veldt region are those typical of the South African Plateau. The
rainfall is largest on the eastern mountain range, exceeding there 30 inches
in the year, while on the western plains it is perhaps only 15 inches.
As all the rain falls during the summer months, and nearly all of it in
December, January, and February, the surface is very dry and parched
during the rest of the year. The summer heat is intense, although tempered
by strong south-easterly breezes ; while the winter cold is severe only in a
few of the highest districts, such as the ridge of the Witwatersrand. There
is, however, little frost and practically no snow, because of the dryness of
the cold weather. The High Veldt is as a rule healthy, owing to its dry-
ness ; but malarial fevers occur in tlie lower grounds on the banks of streams.
On the other hand the Bush Veldt region, being comparatively low and
ioo8 The International Geography
in many places marshy, covered with long grass and often with thick wood,
is very feverish, particularly in the Limpopo valley and along the Portuguese
frontier. In these woody regions the largest number of wild animals
remain. The elephant and rhinoceros, together with the buffalo and many
of the large antelopes, may still be killed in the north-eastern districts ; the
lion, though growing rarer, is not yet extinct, and the leopard is still
abundant. All the larger and some even of the smaller rivers are full of
crocodiles, and the hippopotamus is found in the Limpopo.
Agricultural Resources. — Many parts of the lower grounds are well
suited for tillage, having a rich soil and a sufficient rainfall, but owing to the
sparseness of the population and the prevalence of fever, only a trifling
area is as yet under the plough. Cotton and sugar might be raised, as well
as maize, which is at present practically the only crop. Artificial irrigation
is necessary in most parts of the dry High Veldt, where the tillage as yet is
mostly of the market-gardening kind along the streams. Excellent tobacco
is raised, which might be made an important article of export. All tlie
surface, except those lower parts of the Bush Veldt which are infested by
the tsetse-fly, and some parts of the High Veldt where the soil is excep-
tionally poor and stony, is fit for live stock ; and the keeping of cattle or
sheep was, until the discovery of gold, practically the only occupation of
the people. The grass is injnost places so thin that the pastoral farms arc
very large, and it is the custom of the farmers to drive their herds in winter
to the lower grounds of the Bush Veldt, and in summer to the High Veldt,
where good fresh grass springs up after the rains of November and Decem-
ber. The cattle were enormously reduced in number by the plague which
'-appeared in 1896 ; but the country is capable of supporting a much larger
number than it has ever yet had.
Mineral Resources. — In minerals the Transvaal is, so far as we yet
know, far richer than any other part of South Africa. It has large deposits
of coal, though not of the best quality ; the output for 1897 was returned at
1,667,000 tons. Associated with the coal there are extensive beds containing
iron. Copper, silver and lead have also been found, but are little worked.
There are three districts in which diamond-mines are worked, though on a
comparatively small scale. The gold which has made the country famous
occurs in three forms, viz., alluvial deposits, quartz reefs, and beds of con-
glomerate rock. The alluvial deposits occur in the valle^^^s of the eastern
mountain range, and do not seem to be important. The quartz reefs also
occur chiefly in these mountains on the edge of the plateau. Some of them
have been worked for more than twenty years, and many exist which have
not yet been fully explored. They would receive more attention but for the
superior attraction of the conglomerate beds where the gold is found, not
in "pay-shoots" here and there along the line of a quartz reef, but uniformly
diffused through the sandy and clayey matter of the beds. The conglomerate
is called "banket," the Dutch name for almond toffee, on account of its
appearance, fragments of quartz being imbedded in the arenaceous
The Transvaal
1009
■The Rand.
matter. These auriferous beds occur along the edge of a geological
basin about 46 miles long and 15 broad in the southern part of the
republic. The northern rim of this basin is formed by the long rocky
ridge called tlie Witwatersrand, and the gold-field, first discovered in
1884, is hence known as The Rand.
Before the war it produced about
;^ 16,000,000 worth of gold annually,
and the Transvaal ranked as the first
gold-supplying country of the world.
The large mass of rock which is known
to contain gold, and the generally
uniform diffusion of the metal through
it, gives gold-mining on the Rand a
certainty found nowhere else, and
make it worth while to expend large ^^^" ^'^^•
sums on sinking shafts and establishing costly machinery. The draw-
backs are the difficulty of securing sufficient labour, as the hard work must
be done by Kafirs, who dislike underground toil, and are moreover uncer-
tain labourers (especially prone to drink), and the heavy cost of machinery
and of food.
People. — The Transvaal as a whole is very thinly peopled, and many
parts of it, especially in the north-east, have no fixed white inhabitants, the
cattle farmers being really nomadic in their habits. On the other hand,
the Witwatersrand mining district has in Johannesburg the largest town in
South Africa, and is studded with smaller towns. More than half of the
white population five on or near the Rand. Of the whites in 1899 pro-
bably one third, or 75,000, were descendants of the Dutch emigrants from
Cape Colony, most of them speaking only the South African dialect of
Dutch. These figures have, of course, changed since the late war, both '
absolutely and relatively. The remainder, numbering probably 150,000.
(though no exact figures are obtainable), had been drawn to the country by
the gold-mines, and include English or Dutch speaking
colonists from the Cape and Natal, natives of Great
Britain, of Australia, of North America, and of Ger- ,
many, with a few Frenchmen and Italians, as well as
Russians. A great maii}^ are Jews. The great
majority of the new-comers speak English, and they
form the trading and artisan part of the population,
as well as the skilled miners. The natives are either
(i) tribal Kafirs living under their own chiefs in
Swaziland and in the northern and eastern districts,
(2) domesticated servants of white masters, or (3) comparatively wild
Kafirs who have come to the mines to work for a few weeks or months
only, and then return with their wages to their remote homes.
History.— The history of the Transvaal Colony, although short,
Fig. 478. — Average pop-
ulation of a square
mile of the Transvaal.
loio The International Geography
has been chequered and troublous. In 1836 a large number of Boers
{i.e., farmers of Dutch extraction), left Cape Colony in disgust at the
wrongs which they held themselves to have suffered at the hands of the
British Government. Many of them settled to the north-east of the Vaal
river, and, defeating the natives who attacked them, formed several small
self-governing communities which ultimately coalesced into one republic.
The British Government continued to claim the Boers as its subjects till
1852, when, by the Sand River Convention, it recognised the South African
Republic as independent. During the twenty years that followed, the
communities were involved in serious trouble with the natives. The con-
dition of the Republic became so serious that the British Government
feared that its colonies might also be involved in native wars, the inquiries
it made led it to believe that annexation would not be unwelcome to the
people, as this would ensure their protection against the Kafirs and im-
prove their material interests. Accordingly the country was annexed in
April, 1877. The Boers were, however, more strongly attached to their
independence than the British had supposed, and some grave mistakes
made by the government increased the spirit of resistance. In the end of
1880 it broke out in insurrection, the few British troops were compelled
to surrender or were cooped up in the forts ; and the Boers who marched
to the Natal frontier inflicted three defeats on the small British army
which was preparing to recover the country. Convinced that the annexa-
tion had been a mistake, made in ignorance of the sentiments of the
people, and fearing that a general war of races might break out in South
Africa if the conflict were prolonged, the British Government recalled the
large force which it had sent out, and which could easily have crushed
all resistance, and in 1881 concluded a convention whereby the autonomy
of the Transvaal was recognised subject to the suzerainty of the British
Crown and to certain conditions, which were modified by the Conven-
tion of London in 1884. The Republic enlarged its boundaries by acquiring
(in 1888) one of the best regions of Zululand, and in 1894 it was allowed
to annex Swaziland, the territory of a small native tribe lying on its
eastern border. In 1885 the wealth of the banket (conglomerate) gold-
bearing beds of the Witwatersrand became generally known, and the
immigration of foreign miners suddenly and immensely swelled. By
1895 there were probably about 100,000 of these new-comers, and they
outnumbered the whole of the Boer population. Being excluded from
political rights, they set on foot an agitation to obtain a share of power,
and in December, 1895, a body of mounted police in the service of the
British South Africa Company entered the Republic in order to support
the agitation. The invading force was, however, defeated and obliged to
surrender.
In October, 1899, war broke out between the South African Republic
and the United Kingdom. Johannesburg and Pretoria were occupied by
tb^ British troops in June, 1900, but the Boers protracted the struggle
The Transvaal
lOII
until May 31, 1902, when a treaty of peace was signed, by which the
country came under the British Crown. The colony was granted re-
sponsible government in 1906, and is administered by an elected house
of representatives and an upper house nominated by the Governor.
The Boers belong to the Dutch Reformed Church, but all sects have
been tolerated, although Roman Catholics and Jews were until re-
cently subject to political disabilities. Education has hitherto been in
a backward state, especially among the pastoral and semi-nomadic popu-
lation ; and there are no manufactures, nor, in-
deed, any handicrafts except those connected
with mining.
The railways in the Transvaal belonged, before
the war, to a corporation called the Netherlands
Railway Company, but have now been taken
over by the Government, and are known as the
" Central South African Railways." They radiate
from Pretoria and Johannesburg to the coast at
Delagoa Bay on the east, to Cape Town through the Orange River
Colony in the south, and to Durban through Natal in the south-east. There
are also one or two branch lines, and a trunk line to the north has been
carried as far as Pietersburg. Pretoria is the seat of the legislature,
public offices, and law courts, but Johannesburg, the centre of the
Rand gold-field, is by far the largest and wealthiest town. English is
now spoken by the majority of the inhabitants, but Dutch is still the
language generally spoken by the rural population. The vast majority
of the native Kafirs are heathen and speak only their own languages ; a
few, however, understand Dutch.
Fig. 479. — The forme*
Transvaal Flag.
STATISTICS. (Estimates.)
1890.
Area of the Transvaal (including Swaziland), square miles .. 113,642
Population 479,128
White Population „ 119,128
Density of population per sq. mile 4
Population of Johannesburg 40,215
„ Pretoria (white) 5,000
ANNUAL TRADE (m pounds sterling).
1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 700,000 . . 5,726,000
Exports (including gold) 500,000 . . 5,000,000
1898.
"9.139
867.897
245.397
7
102,078
10.000
1896.
14,000,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
W. L. Distant. " A Naturalist in the Transvaal." London, 1892.
F. H. Hatch and J. A. Chalmers. "The Gold Mines of the Rand." London, 1895.
C. J. Alford. " Geological Features of the Transvaal." London, 1891.
G. M Theal. " History of South Africa." 5 vols. London, 1888.
J. Bryce. " Impressions of South Africa." London, 1897.
6B
IOI2 The International Geography
STANDARD BOOKS.
W. L. Distant. "A Naturalist in the Transvaal." London, 1892.
F. H. Hatch and J. A. Chalmers. " The Gold Mines of the Rand." London, 1895.
C. J. Alford. " Geological Features of the Transvaal." London, 1891,
G. M. Theal. " History of South Africa." 5 vols. London, 1888.
J. Bryce. " Impressions of South Africa." London, 1897.
VI.— GERMAN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA
By Graf von Pfeil.
Position and Surface. — The coast of German South-West Africa,
about 800 miles long, possesses no important harbours. Angra Pequena
and Walfish Bay are gradually being filled with sand by the north-running
coast current. Swakopmiinde is likely to become useful with artificial
^id. South- West Africa may be termed the western part of the Kalahari
plateau, which rises gradually and reaches its highest elevation in a
region indicated by a line drawn from Mount Omatoko to the Awas
Mountains, with an altitude of 8,500 and 6,900 feet respectively. The
west end of the plateau is precipitous, forming a mountain range with
meridianal direction, and approaches in Namaland nearer to the coast
than in the northern part of the country. West of Windhoek the
Mountains develop into ranges with more independent character. From
its central and most elevated part the plateau slopes to the north and
south as indicated by its river system. The Nosob, Awob and Fish rivers
rise in the central mountainous district, and run south and east. Herero-
land sends the Uomatako in a north-east direction to the Okovango.
The precipitous western border of the Kalahari and also the adjacent
district called the Kaoko, send their scanty waters through a number
of rivers to the Atlantic ; but only the Swakop and Kuiseb are important.
The Cunene, which for some distance forms the northern boundary
of the protectorate, does not belong to its river system ; the Orange
River, which forms the entire southern boundary, only belongs to it in
so far as it is the recipient of all the rivers with a southerly course. With
the exception of these two streams and the Okovango no South-West
African river is perennial. After heavy rains they fill suddenly, and run
for a short time ; but water can as a rule only be obtained by digging in
the sand which fills their beds. The so-called pans, Etosa and others, are
remarkable remnants of a lacustrine formation. Parallel with the coast
runs a sandy desert belt, about 35 miles broad in the south, and narrow-
ing to a point in the north. East of this belt a strip of mimosa bush
extends to the foot of the mountains, which together with the Kalahari
plateau form excellent grazing land. The porous calcareous sandstone
which nearly everywhere composes the tableland, and covers the under-
lying gneiss and granite, retains a large portion of the yearly rains,
and yields water readily when dug into. Numerous hot springs exist.
The climate is nowhere malarious except in the neighbourhood of the
South Atlantic Islands 1013
Okavango and Zambezi. In the mountainous districts ice occurs
frequently.
People and Government. — Bushmen and Bergdamaras are pre-
sumably the primitive inhabitants. Bantu tribes, Hereros and Ovampos,
immigrated from the north. The Hottentots came from south of the
Orange River. Th 3antu tribes differ in languages and customs,
and live under iniiuential chiefs. The Hottentots, with but one com=
mon tongue, are divided into many clans ruled by small but sometimes
warlike chiefs. The Bergdamaras live in insignificant communities
without chieftains. The Bastards, the progeny of Boers and Hottentots,
are nearly all Christians, and form communities with tribal habits and
rulers. The Bushmen roam in the Kalahari in yearly decreasing numbers.
Vegetation is scanty ; the littoral district produces simply mimosas, the
desert north of Swakop the welwitschia, on the banks of the rivers
occurs the arra tree, on the sandy dunes the nara. Rare specimens of
elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe and buffalo still exist ; antelopes are plentiful.
South- West Africa was declared a German possession in August, 1884,
after Liideritz of Bremen had previously bought the land by private
contract from native chiefs. For purposes of administration the pro-
tectorate is divided into three main districts, each the seat of a court of
law, of an administrative officer and garrison for a number of colonial
troops. Windhoek, the largest and most central settlement, is the residence
of the military governor. A railway has been made to it from the coast
at Swakopmund.
STANDARD BOOKS
F. J. von Billow. " Drei Jahre im Lande Hendiik Witboois." Berlin, 1896.
K. Dove. " Deutsch Siid-west Afrika." Gotha, 1896.
VII.— ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC
By Edward Heawood, M.A.
Ascension. — The island of Ascension, eight miles in length, rises in S'^S.
from the longitudinal ridge which divides the South Atlantic into an eastern
and western trough. It is entirely composed of extinct volcanic cones,
and except on Green Mountain (2,820 feet) in the south-east, the surface is
parched and barren, water being scarce, but the climate is very healthy.
Land crabs roam all over the island, and turtles frequent the shores in large
numbers in the breeding season. Ascension was discovered by the Portu-
guese in 1 50 1, but was long unoccupied. It was garrisoned by Great
Britain in 1815, and is entirely under naval rule, being, in fact, treated as a
man-of-war. The anchorage is on the north-west coast, where is the small
settlement of Georgetown. Landing is difficult on account of the rollers.
St. Helena. — The island of St. Helena, in 16° S., 800 miles south east
of Ascension, is an isolated volcanic cone rising from the depths of the
^ S
,^%^
'-^c^Pc
tiG. 480. — St. Helena.
1 014 The International Geography
eastern Atlantic. It is bounded by precipitous cliffs, and is composed of
rugged ridges and plateaux, the highest ground (2,700 feet) forming a semi-
circle concave to the south. When first visited,
the island was covered with a rich vegetation,
but the introduction of goats, coupled with the
destruction wrought by man, ruined the red-
wood and ebony forests, and the soil has
since been in great part washed away by
rain, leaving the slopes barren. Willows, pop-
lars, and other plants of the temperate zone,
have been introduced, and the native flora
remains only in the most inaccessible parts.
St. Helena was discovered in 1502, and, lying in the track of ships
carried homewards from the Cape by the trade winds, soon became an
important place of call. Occupied by the East India Company in 165 1, it
became a Crown Colony in 1834, t>ut its importance
has greatly declined since the introduction of steam
navigation and the opening of the Suez Canal. It
is famous as the place of exile of the first Napoleon
(1815-21). The settlement of James Town occupies
the mouth of a harrow valley on the north-west or
lee side of the island, debouching on James Bay.
The natural resources of the island are not great ; but Fig. 481.-7//^ Badge
the fisheries off the coast are capable of development. ^-^ ^^' ^^^^"^
Tristan da Cunha, with a few neighbouring islets, rises from the
southern end of the same ridge as Ascension, in 37° S. It is bleak and
inhospitable, being exposed to storm and rain for nine months in the year.
Its highest summit — a rounded cone rising from a plateau ending in a cHff
— is snow clad except in mid-summer. The one species of tree, Phylica
arborea, stunted but fairly plentiful, is almost confined to the group.
Tristan was occupied by Great Britain in 1816-17, and the present popu-
lation (which has lately fallen to about fifty) consists of the descendants of
a few of the garrison who remained, reinforced by settlers of various
nationalities. They look to the British Government for protection, and are
dependent on the occasional visits of men-of-war for communication with
the rest of the world
STATISTICS {approximate).
Ascension (area in square miles) 58
Population- of Ascension 200
St. Helena (area in square miles) 47
Population of St. Helena 4,000
Tristan da Cunha (area in square miles) 45
Population of Tristan da Cunha 50
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. B. Ellis. " West African Islands." London, 1885.
J. C. Melliss. "St. Helena, a Physical and Topographical Description of the Island."
London, 1875.
Mrs. D. Gill. "Six Months in Ascension." London. 1878.
CHAPTER LIII.— ISLANDS OF THE WESTERN
INDIAN OCEAN
I.— MADAGASCAR
By Rev. James Sibree,
Antanauarivo.
Position and Exploration. — Madagascar is situated in the Indian
Ocean, about 230 miles distant (at its nearest point) from the south-east
coast of Africa, and is nearly twice as large as the United Kingdom. It
extends from 12° to 25° S., and from 43° to 50^° E. ; its length, from
north to south, is 980 miles, the main axis of the island running north-north-
east and south-south-west. Its broadest portion is near the centre, where
it is 350 miles across ; from this part of the island its northern half forms
a long, irregular triangle, while south of it the average breadth is 250
miles. Although known to Arab merchants for more than a thousand
years past, and frequently visited by Europeans since the beginning of the
sixteenth century, Madagascar is still but imperfectly explored ; since the
year 1865, however, numerous journeys have been made in the interior,
and every year sees some fresh portion of the country mapped more or
less accurately. Conspicuous in this work have been missionaries, both
Protestant and Roman Catholic ; of the former the late Rev. Dr. Mullens,
whose large map (1879) embodied all that was known up to that date ; and
of the latter, Pere D. Roblet, S.J., whose fine map (1889) includes not only
his own and other surveys, but also the discoveries of the distinguished
French traveller and scientist, M. Alfred Grandidier, whose great work on
the island, which is to include over fifty quarto volumes, was commenced
in 1875 and is still (1903) in progress.
Configuration. — Madagascar has a very regular and compact form,
with but few indentations, considering its great length of shore-line. More
than half of the eastern coast runs in an almost perfectly straight line ; but
the north-west portion is broken up by a number of spacious inlets, some
of them land-locked and of considerable area. The island consists of two
great natural divisions, (i) an elevated interior region, raised from 3,000 to
5,000 feet above the sea ; and (2) a comparatively level country surrounding
the high land, and not much exceeding 600 feet in altitude, narrow on the
east, but wide on the west and south ; it is broken up towards the west by
three prominent ranges of hills running north and south.
1015
ioi6 The International Geography
The elevated region is composed chiefly of gneiss and other crystalline
rocks, with enormous quantities of red clay-like earth consisting of decom-
posed gneiss. It is a mountainous region, there being very little level ground,
except the river valleys, and some extensive and fertile plains, occupying the
beds of ancient lakes. The general face of the interior country consists of
bare rolling moors, from which the unstratified rocks protrude and form the
highest parts of the hills ; these have mostly a rounded dome or boss-like
outline, but in some districts present a very varied and picturesque appear-
ance, resembling titanic castles, cathedrals, pyramids, and spires. This
interior highland comprises about half the total area of the island, and is
not exactly central, the watershed running down the eastern side of the
island at no great distance from the coast. Ankaratra, probably an
ancient volcano, with summits nearly 9,000 feet above sea-level, is the
highest mountain of Madagascar.
The lower region is fertile and well-wooded, especially on the eastern
side of the island, which is bathed by the constant rains brought by the
south-east trade-winds. The western and north-western portions consist
principally of Secondary strata, of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods,
with some Eocene and Quaternary beds. From the south-east to the
north-west and north groups of extinct volcanic craters occur, as well as
streams and sheets of lava. These old cones and vents are very numerous
near Lake Itasy (19° S., 47° E.), in the Betafo district, about 50 miles
further south, and to the north on the island of Nosibe, and adjacent
coast. Hot. springs are found in many parts of the island, and slight
earthquake shocks are felt every year.
Hydrography.— Owing to the slope of the high land almost all
the chief rivers of Madagascar flow to the west coast, crossing three-
fourths of the breadth of the island. The Betsiboka, the Tsiribihina, the
Mangoky, and the Onilahyare the largest and most important, and some of
them can be ascended by vessels of light draught for a hundred miles or
so, until rocky bars stop navigation. The eastern rivers, the largest of
which is the Mangoro, cut their way through the ramparts of the high
land by magnificent gorges amidst dense forests, descending by a suc-
cession of rapids and cataracts. The largest lake is the Alaotra, in the
Antsihanaka province. A remarkable chain of lagoons extends for about
300 miles along the east coast, south of Tamatave, forming a natural water-
way, which "has been improved by the cutting of canals where necessary.
Climate. — The climate of the high interior districts is temperate and
healthy, with no intense heat ; but that of the coasts is much hotter, espe-
cially on the west ; and from the large area of marsh and lagoon, malarial
fever is prevalent and frequently fatal. The seasons are two, the hot and
rainy season, from November to April, and the cool and dry season during
the rest of the year. Rain, however, falls almost all the year round on the
eastern coast, but is much less frequent on the western side. No snow is
known, but hail showers and terrific thunderstorms are frequent in the hot
Madagascar 1017
season, and hurricanes occur every few years. The average yearly rainfall
at Antananarivo for i6 years was 53 inches ; at Tamatave, 90 to 100 inches,
at Mojanga, on the north-east coast, 50 inches ; while average mean
annual temperature at the same places was respectively 62°, 75°, and 79° F.
Flora and Fauna. — All round the island is a nearly unbroken
belt of dense forest, varying from 10 to 15 miles across, but most
largely developed in the north-east. The flora is therefore very rich and
varied, and contains large numbers of trees producing valuable timber,
as well as numerous species of palm, bamboo, tree-fern, pandanus, baobab,
tamarind, and euphorbia. The flora is divided by Rev. R. Baron into
three regions — eastern, central and western. Among the most cha-
racteristic forms of vegetation are the traveller' s-tree, the Rotia palm, the
Aladagascar spice-tree, the Casuarina, and the Tangena ; and also the
curious lace-leaf plant, as well as numerous species of orchids and ferns.
Many trees have large and showy flowers. Three-fourths of the species
and one-sixth of the genera of the plants are endemic, showing that the
island is of immense antiquity. About 4,000 indigenous species are known,
and there is one natural order, Chlasnaceas, with 24 species, confined to the
island.
The fauna contains several exceptional and ancient forms of life, com-
prising many species and even genera known nowhere else ; but, considering
its proximity to Africa, the country is markedly deficient in the larger
carnivora and in ungulate animals. Madagascar is specially the home of
the Len\uridag, there being 38 known species of this and allied families of
Quadrumana, and also the very curious aye-aye {Chciromys). It is the
chief habitat of the chameleons, about half of all the known species being
found here. Of land-birds, 38 genera and 125 species are peculiar to the
island, many of them being unlike any other living forms. The remains
of many species of extinct struthious birds (^pyornithidae) are found in
recent deposits, some of them being of gigantic size (over ten feet high),
and laying the largest known egg (12^ in. by 9^ in.). Fossil remains of
immense tortoises, saurians, and lemuroids have also been discovered.^
People. — The Malagasy people appear to be mainly derived from
the Malayo-Polynesian stock, and they have also numerous points of
connection with the Melanesian tribes, from which the darker element
of the Malagasy is probably derived. There is also an admixture of
African blood, especially in the western regions ; and there is an
Arab element both on the north-west and south-east coasts. The
Hova, the most advanced, civilised and intelligent Malagasy tribe,
inhabiting the central province of Imerina, and the dominant race for the last
century, are probably the latest immigrants and the most purely Malayan
in origin. Other important tribes are the Betsileo (southern central), Bara
(further south-west), Tanala (south-eastern forests), Betsimisaraka (east
I A decree of the Governor-General in 1898 reserves to Frenchmen alone the right of
collecting or searching for these fossils.
ioi8 The International Geography
coast), Sihanaka (north-east central), and Sakalava (nearly the whole west
coast). All the coast peoples, who are much subdivided, appear to be
closely connected with each other in language ; and, although there are
many dialectal differences, the language of the whole country is substan-
tially one, and is nearly allied to Malayan and Melanesian. The Malagasy
not having had their language reduced to writing until the early part of
the nineteenth century, have no ancient literature, but their numerous
proverbs, songs, fables and folk-tales, and their oratorical gifts, as well as
the copiousness of their language, prove their intellectual acuteness. In
their heathen state they are immoral, untruthful and cruel in war ; but
they are also courageous, affectionate and firm in friendship, kind to their
children and their aged and sick relatives, law-obeying and loyal, very
courteous and polite, and most hospitable. While retaining some
traditions of a Supreme Being, they practised, and in parts of the island
still practise, a kind of fetishism, together with divination, curious ordeals
and ancestor-worship.
History. — Madagascar was first mentioned under its present name by
Marco Polo (1300), but the Portuguese navigator Diogo Diaz was, in 1500,
the first European to see the island. Colonies were subsequently formed
on the coast by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English, and the French, but
none of these were maintained for long ; although the French held the
islands of Ste. Marie and Nosibe, until the war of 1883-85 resulted in their
obtaining the protectorate of the whole country, and the war of 1895
gained for them the sovereignty of Madagascar. The island is now a
French colony, ruled by a Governor-general, with subordinate officers at
all the principal towns and ports, and native officials acting under French
-authority.
Up to the middle of the seventeenth century Madagascar was divided
into a number of independent chieftaincies. About that time, however,
the Sakalava, a warlike tribe on the south-west coast, conquered the
whole western side of the island, and founded two powerful king-
doms. Early in the nineteenth century the Hova, under Andrianam-
poinimerina (died i8io)and his son Radama I., threw off the Sakalava yoke
and gradually made themselves masters of all the northern half of the
island, and of much of the interior and the eastern seaboard. Radama
aboHshed the export slave-trade and gave encouragement to English
missionaries, who commenced work at his capital in 1820. They reduced
the language to a written form, translated the Holy Scriptures, formed
numerous schools, founded Christian churches, and introduced many of
the arts of civilised life. The accession of Queen Ranavalona I. in 1828
stopped progress ; a severe persecution of the native Christians ensued,
until the accession of Radama II. in 1861 reopened Madagascar to
Europeans. Thenceforward continuous progress has been made in
commerce and civilisation. Under Queen Ranavalona II. (1868-83)
Christianity was outwardly accepted by the peoples of the central
Madagascar loig
provinces. In 1895 there were 1,600 Protestant Christian congregations,
with 280,000 adherents, but the Roman CathoUc influence, then much
smaller, has largely increased owing to the methods adopted by the
Jesuit missions. Several colleges and high schools, as well as hospitals,
dispensaries, leper asylums and orphanages, have been established ;
and the mission presses issue 250,000 copies annually of various pubU-
cations.
Trade and Communication. — The things made in Madagascar
are literally " manu "-factures, since all are made by hand. The Malagasy
are skilful in the weaving of cloths or Idmba for their own use, of silk,
cotton, hemp and rofia fibre, from which cloths called rabannas are made
and exported to Mauritius and Reunion. They also plait a great variety of
strong and beautiful mats of different vegetable fibres ; many thousand
mat bags are sent to the Mascarene Islands for packing sugar, and fine
straw hats are made, and are the usual head-covering of the Hova and
other tribes. The principal exports of Madagascar are cattle, hides, gum-
copal, india-rubber, bees-wax and rice, and, more recently, ebony and
other valuable woods ; coffee, tea, sugar and vanilla are also being
cultivated by Europeans. The chief imports are cotton goods, iron-
mongery, crockery, tinned provisions and rum. The principal trade is from
the eastern ports to Mauritius and Reunion, and also with Europe, India,
America and South Africa, but France takes a preponderating share. The
whole foreign trade was estimated in 1901 at about ;^ 1,650,000, of which
sum imports (mainly cottons) accounted for about ;^" 1,300,000. The soil
of the coast plains, especially of the east side, is fertile, and could supply
quantities of most tropical productions. Iron is abundant, especially as
magnetite, and also as haematite and ironstone ; and the Malagasy are
skilful in the working of this and all other metals. Other mineral pro-
ductions are copper, galena (lead), sulphur, and gold in considerable
quantities. Until the French occupation there were no roads in the
country, but these have now been constructed between the principal
towns, while a railway has been made from Tamatave to the capital, and
others are projected. Telegraph lines have also been opened. Away
from the main routes the chief means of conveyance is a kind of light
palanquin, carried by four bearers, and all merchandise and produce
is carried on men's shoulders. The rivers are largely used by native
canoes.
Towns. — The towns are few and of no great size, the largest being
the capital, Antananarivo (French, Tananarive) originally a tribal chief
village, then the Hova capital, and finally the chief town of Madagascar.
It is built on the summit and slopes of a long, rocky ridge rising about
700 feet above the surrounding valleys. It doubtless owes its position to
its situation on the edge of a magnificent and extensive rice-plain, watered
by the river Ikopa and its tributaries, which also supports several hundred
neighbouring villages. It contains many large and handsome buildings —
I020 The Intcrriationcil Geography
palaces, churches, pubhc offices, colleges and schools, and private
residences of brick and stone. The only other inland town of importance
is Fianarantsoa, the capital of the Betsileo province, also near a hne rice-
plain, and with many handsome buildings. The chief ports are Dicgo-
Suarez in the extreme north, Tamatave, Vatomandry, AlaJuinoro, Mananjara
and Fort Dauphin on the east coast, and Majunga in the north-west.
STATISTICS.
{These figures arc estimates only.')
Area of Madagascar (square miles) 230,000
Population of Madagascar 4,000,000
„ „ Antananarivo , . . . 60,000
„ „ Tamatave 12,000
« „ Fianarantsoa 10,000
STANDARD BOOKS.
A. Grandidier. " Histoire Physique, Naturelle et Politique de Madagascar." Many
volumes. Paris, 1876 (in progress).
E. F. Gautier. " Madagascar, Essai de Geographie Phvsique." Paris, 1902.
J. Sibree. " The Great African Island. ' London, 1880'.
■ " Madagascar before the Conquest." London, 1896.
11— SMALLER ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN
By the Editor.*
Islands of Indian Ocean.— The British colony of Mauritius is an
island in the western Indian Ocean, in 20° S., and about 500 miles east of
Madagascar. Several distant groups and scattered islands are attached to it
poHtically. The principal are the Seychelles, Rodriguez, the Amirantes
and the Oil Islands, the latter including the Chagos Group, of which Diego
Ga-cia is the most important. The islands of Mauritius and Reunion
crown a small rise of the ocean floor everywhere surrounded by depths
exceeding 2,000 fathoms, and Rodriguez and the Chagos archipelago are
similarly isolated. The other islands, however, and some extensive banks
are all based on the great sickle-shaped rise, the western arm of which
is occupied by Madagascar, as shown in the sketch-map (Fig. 482).
These islands are particularly interesting, from the biological point of view,
on account of the singular character and distribution of some of their
animals and plants.
Mauritius— Physical Features. — The coasts of Mauritius are
generally low, with several deep openings, and fringed by coral reefs.
There are, however, only two good harbours — Port Louis, in the north-
west, and Grand Port, in the south-east ; but the latter, being exposed
to the south-east trade wind, is now little us^d. The central part of
.the island consists of a plateau, rising into three principal groups of
mountains ; that in the south-west containing the highest summit in the
* Assisted by E. J. Hastings.
Islands of the Indian Ocean 102 1
island, Piton de la Riviere Noire, which reaches 2,700 feet. The Port
Louis group, in the north-west, culminates in the remarkably shaped peak
of Mount Peter Botte. The north is low, and in part jungle-covered.
There are numerous streams, tor-
rents during the rainy season, but
at other times of small volume. Vol-
canic rocks predominate, but coral
rock also occurs. The forests, which
formerly covered a great part of the
island, are now represented by a
narrow coast belt of trees, known as
the Pas Geometriques, and some other
Government reserves in different
parts. Ebony was formerly abun-
dant, the coco-nut flourishes, and
amongst special forms may be noted
a species of pandanus, the fibres of
which are used for the manufacture
of sugar sacks, and the Ravenala,
or travellers" tree, found on the
plateaux. The only indigenous mam-
mal is the fruit-eating bat ; the
loverZOOOfm.SoverlOOO fmQ underl000f(n.E3lan(
- - .lOOfmline
Fig. 482. — Islands of Western Indian Ocean.
numerous monkeys, deer and hares
have been introduced. The dodo
and a. large land tortoise which abounded on the ijsland when the first
European visitors arrived are now quite extinct. The climate is, on
the whole, healthy, but epidemics of malarial fever have occurred, and
it appears now to be endemic amongst the native population. The
average rainfall may be taken for the lower
parts at about 50 inches, but in the high
plateaux (at Curepipe) it exceeds 130 inches.
Hurricanes sometimes occur, and cause great
destruction.
History and Government of Mau-
ritius. — The island was discovered in 1505
by Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator, and
by him named Cerne, the supposed ancient
name of Madagascar ; in 1598 a Dutch captain
landed at Grand Port, and gave the island
its present name in honour of Prince Maurice.
In the middle of the seventeenth century the
Dutch attempted, unsuccessfully, to make a
many of the slaves whom they brought from
■'•? ? '■} '
'--f^ii^STl
^;
Fig. 483. — Mauritius.
settlement at Grand Port
Madagascar escaped to the woods, and later these Marons caused much
trouble to the colonists. In 17 15, the Dutch having abandoned the island,
I02 2 The International Geography
it was taken by the French East India Company. Mahe de Labourdonnais,
who arrived as governor in 1735, proceeded with energy and success to
develop the resources of the island, establishing Port Louis as the seat of
government, introducing the sugar industry, and encouraging the culti-
vation of cotton and indigo. The colony continued to flourish, and even
acquired a degree of local independence, but at the same time it was
active in its hostility to British interests and commerce in the east.' It was
accordingly captured by a British expedition in i8io, and its cession was
formally acknowledged by the Treaty of Paris, when Reunion, which
had also been taken, was restored to France. The
present government is that of a Crown Colony, the
entire administration being vested in the Governor ;
various modifications have, however, been effected at
different times, the most important being that of 1885,
when a representative element was introduced. The
population at the time of the British occupation con-
FiG. 484 — 77/e Badge sisted, besides the French settlers, chiefly of negroes,
oj . aim ins. niost of whom had been brought in as slaves. On the
abolition of slavery Indian coolies were imported to supply labour, and
this has resulted in a great predominance of Indians, who now form
two-thirds of the population.
Trade and Towns of Mauritius.— Agriculture is the only
important industry, and sugar-cane is the staple crop. Almost all the
necessaries of life have to be imported from India, Australia, Cape
Colony and the United Kingdom. The principal export is sugar, which
forms nine-tenths of the total. Two lines of railway run through the
island. There is regular communication with Marseilles and Ceylon.
Port Louis, the capital and chief town, is situated on the north-west
coast. It is enclosed on the land sides by mountains, which cut it off from
the prevaihng south-east winds, and thus, in part, account for its rather
unhealthy character. The houses are built on the slopes of the hills, and
there is a good water supply. The harbour is defended by fortifications,
and concentrates the foreign trade of the island. Curepip'', on the interior
plateau, at an elevation of over 1,800 feet, enjoys a cool and healthful
climate, and is now the principal sanatorium. There are important botanic
gardens and a well-equipped observatorv to the north-east of Port Louis.
Amongst the small dependencies of Mauritius which cannot be further
noticed are the St. Brandon Isles^ Aldabra, noted for its large land tor-
toises, and the Amirantes Islands, yielding coco-nut oil.
STATISTICS.
1881. 1891. 1901.
Area of Mauritius Island (in square miles) . . . . 705 . . 705 . . 705
Population of Mauritius 360,411 .. 370,934 .. 378,195
Density of population per square mile 511 .. 526 .. '536
Population of Port Louis (with suburbs) . . . . 70,000 . . 62,046 '. . • 52,740
Islands of the Indian Ocean 1023
ANNUAL TRADE OF MAURITIUS {in dollars).
1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95.
Imports 11,965,000 .. 13,440,000 .. 15,950,000
Exports 15,280,000 .. 18,870,000 .. 13,335.000
The Seychelles. — The Seychelles archipelago lies 930 miles
north of Mauritius, in about 4° S. The group consists of thirty-four
islands, many of which are merely uninhabited rocks. They are moun-
tainous, composed of volcanic rock, and rising to nearly 3,000 feet, well-
watered and fertile, with groves of coco-nut palms and fine timber trees,
and capable of producing all kinds of tropical plants. The characteristic
product of the group is the coco de mer, a kind of double coco-nut, which
grows only in two of the islands (Praslin and Curieuse), and is found
nowhere else in the world. Coco-nut oil is the staple product, and vanilla
is an important culture. The islands are surrounded by coral reefs. The
climate is excellent. Mahe, the principal island, has on the north-east
Port Victoria, the small capital, with a fine, sheltered harbour.
The islands, said to have been discovered by the Portuguese in 1505,
were explored, by direction of Labourdonnais, in 1743, and a few years
later were annexed by France. In 1794 they were taken by the British.
The majority of the inhabitants are of African descent; the few whites are
chiefly of French origin.
Rodriguez. — Rodriguez lies 350 miles east of Mauritius in 19° 40' S.
It is of volcanic origin, mountainous (rising to 1,760 feet), exceedingly
picturesque, and possessing in the south-west beautiful stalactite caverns.
It is well-watered, fertile and enjoys a good climate. Maize, fruits and
vegetables of various kinds are cultivated ; cattle and goats are reared,
and fishing is an important industry. The inhabitants are chiefly African.
The island was discovered early in the sixteenth century by a Portu-
guese, Diego Rodriguez. In the eighteenth century it was occupied by
the French, and in 180Q seized by the British as a base of operations
against Mauritius.
The Chagos Archipelago. — Oil Islands is the general name given
to various scattered groups, which have no physical connection, lying
between 6i° and 10° S., and between 77° and 48° E., including the Chagos,
Eagle or Trois Freres, and Cosmoledo Island. They are mainly used for
the production of coco-nut oil, and are for the most part exploited by
Mauritian proprietors. The inhabitants are few, chiefly African and
Malagasy, and are under the jurisdiction of a travelling stipendiary magis-
trate, representing the Mauritius government. Diego Garcia, one of the
Chagos group, in 7° S., is a coral atoll enclosing a fine harbour, of special
importance as a coaling station on the routes between the Red Sea and
Western Australia, and between Mauritius and Ceylon.
1024 The International Geography
III.— REUNION.
By M. Zimmermann.
Reunion. — The island of Reunion, formerly called Bourbon, situated
in 21° S. and 55^° E., near Mauritius, is one of the Mascarene group lying 420
miles to the east of Madagascar (Fig. 482). It is entirely volcanic, although
there are no longer active volcanoes in the north-western part where the
eroded cliffs of lava surround great corries, or cirques, formed by subsi-
dence, and rise in rugged peaks over 6,500 feet in height. The Piton des
Neiges attains an altitude of 10,070 feet. Volcanic activity still manifests
itself in the south-east, where the Piton de la Fournaise reaches the height
of 8,200 feet. Most of the inhabitants live near the coast, on which there
are many small towns, while in the interior, more than 2,500 feet above
the sea, the sanatoria of Salazie and Hdlboiirg are situated on the wind-
ward, or north-eastern, side of the island. The mean annual temperature
on the coast at St. Denis is 78° F., and the rainy season lasts from
December to April. The island was occupied by the French in 1664,
and, thanks to the richness of the coffee plantations, it was one of the most
successful of the colonies of the early period. In the nineteenth century
the place of coffee as a staple production was taken by sugar, and the
planters prospered greatly for a time, although now the competition of
beetroot sugar has almost ruined the island. The production fell from
82,000 tons of sugar in i860 to 34,000 in 1894 ; in the same period
the trade of the colony diminished to one-fifth of its former amount,
and the population is also falling off. In addition the suppression of
slaverv and the institution of universal suffrage have transferred political
power from the whites to people of colour : Chinese, Malays, Hindus and
Arabs. A railway runs from St. Benoit on the north-east coast to the
capital, St. Denis, in the north, and continues round the coast to St. Pierre
on the south-west ; it is remarkable for the number and length of its tunnels.
Remote Dependencies. — The lonely volcanic islets of St. Paul and
Amsterdam, situate about 37° S. in the Indian Ocean, midway between
Africa and Australia, and the desolate island of Kerguelen in 50° S. and
70° E,, are recognised as French possessions. The islands have hitherto
been little visited, except occasionally by sealing and whaling ships
Kerguelen has, however, been touched at by various scientific expeditions,
including those of the Challenger and Valdivia, of the astronomers whc?
observed the Transit of Venus there in 1874, and the German Antarctic
Expedition, which kept up a magnetic observatory during 1902.
STATISTICS (about 1895).
Area of Reunion, in square miles 965
Population 172,000
Density of population per square mile 178
Population of St. Denis 26,000
STANDARD BOOK.
M. Mounier. " Crags and Craters ; Rambles in the Island of Reunion." London, 1896.
BOOK VII.— THE POLAR REGIONS
CHAPTER LIV.— THE NORTH POLAR REGIONS
I.— THE ARCTIC RECORD
By Sir Martin Conway.
Arctic Exploration. — The earliest venture in Arctic exploration was
the voyage of Pythias beyond the British Islands about B.C. 300, when the
first rumours of the frozen sea and the Arctic night were heard. The
voyage of the Norseman Othere, who about a.d. 840 rounded the North
Cape and reached the White Sea, is of special interest, as being recorded
by King Alfred the Great in a note on his translation of Orosius' History
of the World ; this was the first record of geographical discovery in the
English language. A new period of exploration Was introduced by the
desire to find a northern passage to Asia under the stimulus of the voyages
of Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Magellan ; this led to the development
of an extremely valuable trade in cod, seals and whales, which introduced
the period of whaling voyages, and the associated cruises of men-of-war
sent north by various governments to assist vessels in distress or to explore
and protect the fishing grounds. A period of great scientific expeditions
next ensued, sent out by governments for the purpose of investigating
terrestrial magnetism and conditions of climate, which merged into the still
current period of small private, or semi-private expeditions animated by
scientific or adventurous motives, and each usually dependent on some
definite theory or plan.
The Search for a Northern Passage. — The voyage of Cabot in
1497 was the first which set out with the intention of finding a way to the
Indies by the North-west. It resulted in the discovery of the Newfound-
land fisheries and the continent of North America. In 1553 the expedition
of Willoughby and Chancellor, and in 1580 that of Pet, to find a passage
round the north of Asia failed to get beyond the entrance of the Kara Sea,
but opened up the profitable trade of the Muscovy Company with the White
Sea. Meanwhile Sir Martin Frobisher made a dashing cruise to the west-
ward, and, misled like all the voyagers in northern seas of his period by
the errors of the map of the Zeni, believed that he had discovered the
beginning of the passage in the deep bay which now bears his name. In
1578 Sir Francis Drake, finding it prudent after a privateering voyage
against the Spanish ports on the Pacific coast of South America to return
1025
1 026 The International Geography
to England by an unfrequented route, spent some time in a vain search for
the hypothetical Strait of Anian from the Pacific side.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century the merchants of London
and of Holland took up the question of a North-west or North-east Passage
very seriously. John Davis was sent out successively in 1585, 1586, and
1587, and as a result of his explorations he pointed to the entrance of
Hudson's Bay as one possible route, and passing northwards up Davis
Strait he reached 72° N. on the west coast of Greenland, where he reported
" no ice to the north, but a great sea, free, large, very salt and blue and
of an unsearchable depth." He named the headland at which he turned
"Sanderson his hope of a North-west Passage to India," and Sanderson's
Hope it remains to-day. Barents, a heroic Dutch pilot, made three great
voyages between 1595 and 1597, which cannot be better summarised
than in the title-page of the English translation of his story : —
"The True and Perfect Description of three voyages so strange and
woonderful that the like, hath never been heard of before. Done and
performed three yeares, one after the other, by the ships of Holland
and Zeland, on the north sides of Norway, Muscovia, and Tartaria, towards
the Kingdomes of Cathaia and China : shewing the discoverie of the
straights of Weigates, Nova Zembla, and the country lying under 80° ;
which is thought to be Greenland,' where never any man had bin before :
with the cruell Beares and other monsters of the Sea, and the unsupport-
able and extreame cold that is found to be in those places. And how that
in the last voyage the shippe was so enclosed by the Ice that it was left
there, whereby the men were forced to build a house in the cold and desart
country of Nova Zembla, wherein they continued ten monthes together,
and never saw nor heard of any man, in most greate cold and extreame
miserie ; and how after that, to save their lives, they were constrained to
sail over 350 Dutch miles which is above 1000 miles English, in little open
boates, along and over the maine Seas, in most great daunger, and with
extreme labour, unspeakable troubles and great hunger."
Barents, brave and cheerful to the end, died on the boat voyage, the
first of a long series of Arctic victims.
Hudson in 1607 sailed due north between Greenland and Spitsbergen
in the attempt to reach Japan across the pole. He reached the farthest
north so far attained, 80° 23'. In 1613, when following up Davis's western
route, he was cast adrift by a mutinous crew in the bay which perpetuates
his name. Baffin, the most successful of the many who sought for a
passage from Davis Strait in those years, traced the outline of that gulf
north to 770 35', pointing out and naming the entrances of Smith and Jones
Sounds, and as he believed it to be closed to the northward it came to be
called Baffin Bay. For 236 years no other navigator went so far in that
direction ; and attempts to find a North-west or North-east Passage were
» This was Spitsbergen.
The Arctic Record 1027
gradually given up. Russian travellers traced out the north coast of Asia
on land ; Dezhneff in 1648, and Vitus Bering in 1728 made pioneer sea-
excursions through Bering Strait. The employes of the Hudson Bay
Company subsequently performed the same service for the north coast of
America, Mackenzie tracing the Mackenzie River to the sea in 1798.
The Whaling Cruises. — During the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries and the first thirty or forty years of the nineteenth, large whaling
fleets visited the seas east of Greenland and Davis Strait every year, and
many of the ships sailed far to the north. Two of the British government
expeditions in the eighteenth century are specially memorable ; that under
Phipps in 1773 (accompanied by the great Nelson as a midshipman), which
reached 8b° 48' north of Spitsbergen, and that under Captain Cook on his
third voyage in 1776, when he tried in vain to force a way first eastward
and then westward from Bering Strait.
The greatest of the whalers was Scoresby, a master in his craft and one
of the most fortunate, an earnest student of nature and a keen explorer.
He traced out much of the almost inaccessible east coast of Greenland and
in 1806 he carried his ship to the farthest north of the period, 81° 30'. In
connection with whaling many government expeditions were sent out
to investigate the conditions of ice-navigation, to relieve distressed and
shipwrecked crews, or to search for new and profitable whaling
grounds.
In one of the few expeditions which set out with the avowed purpose
of trying to reach the pole Sir Edward Parry, in 1827, sailed north of
Spitsbergen, and by sledging over the ice-floes succeeded in reaching the
remarkable latitude of 82° 45'. He continued to struggle on until he found
the southward drift of the floes in the East Greenland current carried him
more miles to the south in one day than his men were able to drag the
sledges northward. During the previous century the Arctic seas had
become familiar to seafaring men to an extent that it is now difficult
to realise, and it was a common thing for many vessels to winter in
the ice.
The Achievement of the Northern Passages.— Scoresby's dis-
coveries revived the dormant interest in Arctic exploration, and in 1818 Sir
John Ross was sent out by the British government to search for a North-
west Passage by sea. Ross explored Baffin Bay, but failed to find its
northern opening, although he met and for the first time described the
most northerly tribe of Eskimo. Mistaking Lancaster Sound for a closed
bay, he returned without adding to the knowledge of the north-west. In
the following year Sir Edward Parry was sent out with the Hecla and
Griper, and succeeded in penetrating Lancaster Sound, threading the
channels of the Arctic archipelago to the entrance of Banks Strait, and
thus earned a reward of ;^5,ooo offered by the British government to the
first Arctic explorer who passed 110° W. Several subsequent vo3'ages led
to no advance on this journey. In 1829, on a private expedition under Sir
I02 8 The International Geography
John Ross, his nephew, Sir James Clark Ross, fixed the position of the
North Magnetic Pole on the peninsula of Boothia Felix in 70° 5' N. and
96° 44' W. For ten years small parties under conditions of extraordinary
hardship continued to trace out the Arctic coast of North America by land.
Sir John Franklin, Sir George Back, Sir John Richardson, and Mr. T.
Simpson won fame from their heroic and successful efforts in this field.
In 1845 a finely-equipped expedition sailed from England in the Erebus
and Terror, which had just returned from their successful Antarctic voyage,
and Sir John Franklin, although fifty-nine years of age, insisted on taking
command. His instructions were to use every effort to reach the Pacific
from Lancaster Sound. On July 26, 1845, the vessels were spoken by a
whaler in Davis Strait : they were never seen again. In 1848 anxiety
as to the explorers became acute, and vigorous efforts were made by
land and sea, through government and private expeditions, to discover their
fate. As a result no part of the Arctic regions has been so minutely
explored as that to the north of America. Ships were sent out both by
Lancaster Sound or Hudson Bay and by Bering Strait with orders to leave
nothing undone which might throw light on the fate of tlie Erebus and
Terror and their crews. McClure in the Investigator entering Bering Strait
in 1850, made his way eastward to Barrow Strait, where the ship grounded,
and after wintering two years the party left it and travelling over the ice
returned to England by a vessel from Baffin Bay. The North-west Passage
was not made again until 1905, by Amundsen. The numerous naval
expeditions sent out through the straits leading off Baffin Bay encountered
an almost unparalleled succession of misfortunes, but many magnificent
pieces of exploration resulted, amongst them the sledging journeys of
Sir Leopold McClintock, which have never been surpassed. In 1854
Dr. John Rae on a land journey learned from the Eskimo that a
great disaster had occurred, and that the Franklin expedition was totally
lost. In the following year the British Admiralty gave up the search,
which was, however, pursued with increased energy by private effort
directed by the determination of Lady Franklin. In 1857 Sir Leopold
McClintock sailed in the steam yacht Fox, was beset by ice in Melville
Bay and drifted 1,200 miles to the southward in the Arctic current before
getting free ; but the voyage was at once resumed and finally crowned
with success. In the spring of 1859 he discovered, in a cairn on King
William Land, the only document relating to the Franklin expedition ever
found. It stated that Franklin died in June, 1847, and that the ships
had been deserted in April, 1848, off the north coast of King William
Land, after having been beset in the ice for eighteen months, the crews
intending to retreat over the ice to the mainland of North America.
Not one survived, and the tragic story remains shrouded in mystery.
Yet these men had "forged the last link of the North-west Passage
with their lives," for the ships had reached waters navigable to the
Pacific.
The Arctic Record
1029
In curious contrast to the sufferings in the North-west, the record of
the single achievement of the North-east passage is one of unclouded
success. Baron A. E. Nordenskiold sailed from Tromso with a Swedish
expedition in the Vega in June, 1878, passed through the Kara Sea, rounded
Cape Chelyuskin, and was stopped by the winter ice when within 120
miles of Bering Strait, which was entered in July, 1879, ^^^'^ ^^ ^^^^ fi*"^^
and last voyage to Eastern Asia by way of the Arctic Sea was accom-
pHshed.
Expeditions of the **Alert" and "Discovery." — Between 1852 and
i860 Sir Edward Inglefield, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, and Dr. Isaac J. Hayes, in
the British and American Franklin Search expeditions, explored Smith Sound
to the northward, and Hayes believed that he had seen a great open Polar
sea. In 1870 another American expedition under Hall went still further, and
penetrated in the Polaris to 82° 11', where Robeson Channel widens into the
Arctic Sea. So promising did this route appear that in 1875 a great Polar
expedition was fitted out by the British government in the Alert and
Discovery, and placed under the command of Sir George Nares, who was
recalled from the scientific circumnavigation of the Challenger for this
purpose. Making his way through Smith Sound and the northern channels
with much difficulty, for the ice was un-
favourable, Nares wintered in 82° 25' N.,
on the edge of the Palasocrystic Sea, as he
termed the hummocky ice-blocks which
beset the margin of the Arctic Sea. His
sledging parties traced out the extreme
northern coast-lines for hundreds of miles,
and on one expedition Commander (now
Rear- Admiral) Albert Hastings Markham
succeeded in reaching 83° 20', a higher
north latitude than had ever before been ^'^- 4^5-^^^ S„nY/. Sound Region.
obtained ; but the sledge parties suffered terribly, scurvy, the bugbear
of Arctic travellers, having appeared. Scientific observations of great value
in geology, natural history, and especially in meteorology and on the tidal
conditions of the Arctic Sea, were made continuously.
International Circumpolar Observations. — Shortly after the
return of the expedition, and of Payer and Weyprecht from their dis-
covery of Franz Josef Land, a scheme was set on foot by the German
government for the systematic and simultaneous international study of
the physical conditions round the whole border of the unknown polar
areas. The plans were settled at two International Polar Conferences
held at Hamburg, under the presidency of Dr. George Neumayer, in
1879, ^i^d at Bern in 1880 ; they included complete meteorological and
physical observations at special stations situated as far north as possible for
a full year, with simultaneous observations at a number of permanent
observatories in all narts of the world. The stations which were ultimatel}
1030 The International Geography
established are enumerated with various particulars in the accompanying
table, and it is to be noted that French and German expeditions were sent
at the same time to Tierra del Fuego and South Georgia to obtain similar
records for the Antarctic area.
THE INTERNATIONAL CIRCUM-POLAR STATIONS.
jLat. N.
Long.
Place.
Duration
Leader.
Nationality.
78028'
160 E. ...
Spitsbergen July,
1882-Aug.,
1883
Ekholm ...
Swedish.
690 56'
230 E. ...
Bossekop ... June.
1882-Aug.,
1883
Steen
Norwegian.
67024'
260 36' E.
Sodankyla ... Aug.,
1882-Sept..
II 883
Lemstrom, &c.
Finnish.
720 25'
520 44' E.
Novaya Zemlya Aug.,
1882- July,
1883
Andreyell ...
Russian
7100'
640 (approx.
) Kara Sea ... Sept.,
, 1882-Sept.,
1883
Hovgaard ...
Danish.
73° 23'
1240 E. ...
Lena delta ... Aug.,
1882-July,
1884
Jurgens
Ray
Russian.
71016'
158040'W.
Pt. Barrow ... Sept.,
, i88i-Aug.,
1883
United States.
620 39'
115044'W.
Fort Rae ... Sept.
, 1882-Aug.,
, 1883
Dawson
British and Canadian.
81044'
640 45' W.
Grinnell Land Aug.,
, 1882-July,
1883
Greely
United States.
660 ^6'
670 192' W.
Kingawa Fjord Aug.,
, 1882-Aug.,
1883
Giese
German.
640 II'
510 40' W.
Godthaab ... Aug.,
1882-Aug.,
1883
Paulsen
Danish.
7000'
8028'W.
Jan Mayen ... July,
1882-Aug.,
1883
\Vohlgemuth
Austro-Hungarian.
The most remarkable of these expeditions was that led by Lieutenant
(now General) A. W. Greely, of the United States Army, In addition to carry-
ing out the programme of the international observations at the most northerly
station, he and his party explored Grinnell Land and other lands, and made
long sledge journeys towards the Pole, the highest latitude attained by
Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant Brainard being 83° 24', about four
miles beyond Markham's farthest. The expedition sent to bring Greely' s
party home failed through mismanagement, and his retreat was one of the
most disastrous and heroic in the annals of Arctic travel. Most of his men
died of disease or starvation, and the surviving six were only rescued when
at the last extremity.
The "Tegetthof" Expedition.— In 1872 an Austro-Hungarian ex-
pedition was sent out by the generosity of Count Wilczek under the com-
mand of Lieutenant Weyprecht for sea service and Lieutenant Payer for
land exploration, with the object of attempting to cross the Polar area from
the neighbourhood of Novaya Zemlya. Off that island in August, 1872, their
ship, the Tegetthof, was beset in the ice in 76° 22' N., and drifted with the
wind and currents on the whole northward and westward for a year.
Thus they were carried in August, 1873, to an unknown archipelago (Franz
Josef Land), where the helpless vessel remained fast for nearly another
year. Payer made extensive explorations with dog- sledges, and reached
Cape Fligely, 82° 5' N., as his farthest point. The expedition abandoned
the Tegetthof in May, 1874, and returned safely in boats to Novaya Zemlya.
Mr. Leigh Smith, in the Arctic yacht Eira, succeeded in reaching Franz
Jossf Land easily in 1880, and extended the explorations ; but on returning
in the following year the Eira was lost, ajid Mr. Smith and his party passed
the winter in an improvised hut as bravely as Barents three centuries
before, escaping during the next summer by a daring boat journey across
the open sea to Novaya Zemlya, Another British expedition, fitted out by
Mr. A. C. Harmsworth, under the leadership of Mr. F. G. Jackson, spent
The Arctic Record 103 1
three years in Franz Josef Land in 1894-97, accumulating scientific
observations.
The Drift of the "Jeannette" and of the "Fram." — Wrangell
Land, discovered by an American whaler to the north-west of Bering
Strait in 1867, was at first believed to stretch far towards the Pole. In
1879 Captain W. G. De Long, of the United States Navy, passed through
Bering Strait in the Jeannette, intending to winter on this land ; but
his vessel was caught in the ice and drifted north-westward, passing
north of Wrangell Land, which proved to be a small island. For nearly
two years the Jeannette drifted northward and westward, but was crushed
by the pack ice, and sunk in June, 1881, when in 77° 15' N. The crew
retreated over the ice with boats and sledges to the New Siberian Islands,
and thence to the Siberian coast, where the leader and most of his
company perished from hardship and starvation. In June, 1884, some
objects were found on an iceberg off Julianehaab, in the south-west of
Greenland, which appeared to belong to the lost Jeannette. Some
authorities believed that the relics did not come from that ship, but
others, including Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, maintained that the ice had really
drifted across the Polar area and out into the East Greenland current.
Confirmed by other pieces of evidence, Dr. Nansen concluded that there is
a regular drift across the Pole from the Asiatic to the Greenland side, and
he planned an expedition to take advantage of it. Scurvy, the curse of most
previous Arctic journeys, he proposed to avoid by the scientific com-
position of the food carried ; the risk of his ship being crushed in the ice
was to be evaded by the form of the vessel, which would cause it to be
lifted out of the water by the pressure of ice on its sides ; there was to be
no battling against drifting ice or hostile currents because he was to '* take
a ticket wdth the ice," running into the pack near the place where the
Jeannette sank. If these arguments and expedients, suggested by the
history of Arctic voyages and disasters, were correct and sufficient, he
expected to return in three years. In August, 1893, with twelve com-
panions, Nansen sailed in the Fram (" Forward "), coasted the north-west
of Asia, and entered the ice-pack in 78° 45' north of the New Siberian
Islands in autumn. In the summer of 1895, when the ship, resting
securely on the surface of the ice, had drifted to 84° N., Nansen and one
companion. Lieutenant Johansen, left her and travelled northward on ski
with dog-sledges until compelled to turn. The "Farthest Ncrth" attained
on the sea-ice was 86° 14', a point within 250 miles of the Pole. Thev
reached one of the islands of the Franz Josef Land group, in time to pass
the winter of 1895-96 in a shelter, half-cave half-hut, living on the flesh of
polar bears and walruses. In the early spring they met Mr. Jackson, and
returned in his steamer in August, 1896. By the most remarkable
coincidence in Arctic history, the Fram broke out of the ice north of
Spitsbergen on the* very day when Nansen arrived at Vardo ; she had
drifted exactly in the manner foreseen, and the fortunate thirteen returned
1032 The International Geography
to Christiania in perfect health on the uninjured Fram. Scientific results
of the highest importance had been obtained, arid an advance made of 3°
of poleward progress.
Other recent Expeditions. Nansen crossed the ice-covered plateau
of Greenland from east to west for the first time in 1888. Mr. R. E.
Peary, civil engineer in the United States Navy, landed in 189 1 on the
west coast of Greenland, north of Melville Bay, where he wintered, and
in 1892 made a splendid journey across the northern edge of the
inland ice to Independence Bay on the north-east coast, a distance of
600 miles, afterwards returning to his base. In 1895 he succeeded in
again reaching Independence Bay in very bad conditions of weather,
with the loss of all his stores, and only the timely discovery of musk
oxen saved him and his companion from starvation ; but the further
advance he had hoped to make was impossible. With extraordinary
perseverance he continued to spend year after year in the far north
endeavouring, though without much result, to train the native Eskimo for
long journeys over the frozen sea, and although he came home in 1902,
his plans were not abandoned. In 1896 and 1897 the writer explored the
interior of Spitsbergen, and crossed it for the first time ; and in 1898
Professor Nathorst circumnavigated that island group, and definitely
established the geography of the region between it and Franz Josef Land.
An attempt by the Swedish engineer Andree to cross the North Polar
area in a balloon must be classed with the mysterious tragedies of explora-
tion. On July II, 1897, he ascended in the north of Spitsbergen with two
companions, and drifted away to the north. Pigeon messages dated two
days later showed that the direction of progress had been north-easterly ;
no trustworthy news has since been received. The Duke of the Abruzzi
with a well-equipped expedition in the Stella Polare wintered to the north
of Franz Josef Land in 1899-1900, and one of his staff, Captain Cagni,
succeeded by a splendid sledge journey in reaching 86° 34' N. on the
frozen sea, the farthest north yet attained. An American expedition to
the same region in 1902 led to no advance in knowledge, but prepared
the way for future exploration. Captain Sverdrup spent the yeais 1898-
1902 exploring the Arctic Archipelago west of Smith Sound, and Commander
Peary attained the " farthest north " of 87° 6' in the Roosevelt in 1906.
There is no reason to fear a cessation of enterprise in this direction,
until the North Pole is reached, and that sentimental incentive withdrawn.
If this consummation is delayed for many years, the exploration of the
Arctic regions will probably be much more thorough, and eventually more
complete than if some fortunate adventurer quickly succeeds in reaching
the coveted latitude of 90°. The commercial motive to Polar exploration
has practically gone with the collapse of the whaling industry, and only
science and adventure continue to tempt men into the unknown remoteness
of " the white North."
The Arctic Regions 1033
STANDARD BOOKS.
A, W. Greelv. " Handbook of Arctic Discoveries." New York and London, 1896.
Sir C. R. Ma'rkham. " The Tbireshold of the Unknown Regions." and ed. London, 1876.
" Life of John Davis the Navigator " (includes historical references).
London, 1889.
A. Chavanne and others. " Die Literatur uber die Polar-Regionen der Erde" (over 6,000
titles). Vienna. 1878.
Sir John Barrow. " Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions."
London, 1S18.
" Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic Regions from
the vear 1818 to the present time." London, 1846.
A. H. Markham. "Life of Sir John Franklin' (includes a summary of the Franklin
Se.-irch). London, 1891.
Note.— A very full list of narratives of voyages will be found in Greely's " Handbook."
II.— THE ARCTIC REGIONS
By Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, G.C.V.O.,
Norwegian Minister in London.
Definition. — The Arctic circle, in 66° 32' N., forms the southern limit
of the circumpolar region, inside which the Sun does not set during some
part of the summer (giving the perpetual Polar day with the midnight
Sun), and where the Sun does not rise some part of the winter (giving the
Arctic or Polar night). This region is called the Arctic or North Polar
region. As the distance of the Arctic circle from the pole is 1,408 geo-
graphical miles,^ the diameter of this region is 2,816 miles; and its total
area is 8,201,883 square miles, more than one-fourth of which is still un-
known. Taking it as probable that this unknown region is principally
sea, it must strike one upon looking at a circumpolar map of the Arctic
region how by far the greater part of this area is covered by sea, whilst
the land principally forms a circular fringe along its outer margin, being
the northern terminations of the two great continental masses of the
world — the European-Asiatic and the American-Greenland. Thus the
Arctic circle, which is 8,640 miles long, passes about four-fifths of its
distance over land and only about 1,800 miles over water ; the principal
parts of this water are the Norwegian-Greenland Sea (the broad gap
between Norway and Greenland), Davis Strait, and Bering Strait which
are the three entrances from the open ocean into the Polar Sea.
The Arctic Sea. — The Polar or Arctic Sea must be considered as
a branch of the Atlantic Ocean ; it is a large gulf extending as a deep
depression northwards between Norway and Greenland. The width in
its narrowest part, between the Lofoten Islands (Norway) and Shannon
Island (east coast of Greenland), is about 700 miles ; but further north it
broadens out to cover the whole central part of the Arctic region. On
the other side of the Pole, just opposite Norway, it has a quite narrow
communication with the Pacific Ocean through Bering Strait, 49 miles
broad and only 27 fathoms deep. The Polar Sea is quite shallow along
» The geographical, nautical, or sea-mile used throughout this article is one-sixtieth of
an equatorial degree.
1034 The International Geography
its whole margin, a shallow submarine plateau extending some distance
northwards from the continents on both sides. These plateaux, or
drowned plains, evidently mark an old extension of these continents,
remnants of which still exist as the Arctic lands, Spitsbergen, Novaya
Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, and the American
Arctic Archipelago. Between Spitsbergen and Norway this plateau is
in the deepest part 260 fathoms under the sea-surface ; in the Barents
Sea, between Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya, the
depth is about 100 to 160 fathoms. The deepest depression on this
plateau, 400 fathoms, occurs just east of Vaigach Island in the Kara Sea.
Along the whole Siberian and American coasts its depth is less than 100
fathoms. Its northern limit is not known on the American side. On the
Siberian side, east of
the New Siberian Is-
lands, it still exists in
77° N. or 350 miles from
the main land, with no
greater depth than 80
fathoms, and generally
much less. North of
the New Siberian Is-
lands the plateau, with
depths of 50 fathoms
or less, extends a similar
distance north from the
mainland to nearly 79°
N., where the bottom
suddenly sinks to form
a deep sea, with depths
of 2,000 fathoms. The
northern and eastern
extension of this sea is
still unknown, but west-
ward we know it extends north of Franz Josef Land and Spitsbergen,
with depths of more than 1800 fathoms (probably much more), and
the plateau on which these lands are situated probably sinks abruptly
not very far to the north of the known land. In 84^° N. north-east of
Franz Josef Land (about 75° E.) the depth is 2,020 fathoms. From the
north-west corner of Spitsbergen a submarine ridge with depths of 400
and 430 fathoms extends for an unknown distance in a north-westerly
direction. It may separate the great depths of the Arctic Sea from those
in the Greenland and Norwegian Sea, the deepest part of which is the
Swedish Deep of 2,650 fathoms, west of Spitsbergen (78° N.). This de-
pression is separated from the great depths of the Atlantic Ocean by the
shallow Fa3roe-Icelandic (or Wyville Thomson) submarine ridge (250 to
Voyase ol _
fne Fram.
Nansen's tiedqc
journeij .
Fig. 4S6.—The Arctic Regions.
The Arctic Regions 1035
300 fathoms deep), passing from Scotland by the Faeroes and Iceland to
Greenland.
West of Greenland there is another gulf, extending from the Atlantic
Ocean for 1,170 miles northward into the Arctic region, in its southern part
called, Davis Strait, in its northern, Baffin Bay. Like the Arctic Sea, it has
a submarine ridge or barrier in the south, whilst it is very deep further
north. Davis Strait is in its narrowest part, between Holstenborg, in
Greenland, and Cumberland Peninsula (Baffin Land), 160 miles broad,
and only about 120 fathoms deep. Baffin Bay, somewhat broader and
very deep, is in communication with the Polar Sea by the narrow
channels of Smith, Jones, and Lancaster Sounds.
Circulation of the Arctic Sea.— The circulation is very much the
same in both these branches of the Atlantic Ocean. On the right hand or
eastern side a comparatively warm current runs in ; on the left hand or
western side a cold current runs out. This condition is to a great extent
caused by the rotation of the Earth. A part of the Gulf Stream runs
through the strait between the Faeroes and Scotland, northward along the
north-west coast of Norway and the west coast of Spitsbergen, into the
Polar basin. The depth of the channel between the Faeroes and Scotland
is between 400 and 500 fathoms, which determines the depth of the
current. The northern branch of the Gulf Stream keeps the same
depth even far north in the Polar Sea. On the west coast of Spits-
bergen it is found to be about 1 10 miles broad, and 400 to 500 fathoms
deep. The temperatures of the water are between 32° and 38° F.
The course of the Gulf Stream drift inside the Polar basin is not
well known ; probably it runs north-east and east, north of Spitsbergen
and north of Franz Josef Land. As the cold surface water is diluted by
additions of fresh water from the Siberian and American rivers running
northward into the Polar Sea, it is less saline and lighter than the warmer,
but more saline Gulf Stream water, which consequently sinks under the
cold surface layer. In the sea north of Spitsbergen, in about 84° N., the
warm Gulf Stream water is found filling the space between 100 fathoms
and 490 fathoms depth, with temperatures above 32° (from 32° to 34° F.).
The current consequently reaches to the same depth as further south.
North of Franz Josef Land, in 85^° N. and 60° E., the temperature of the
water between 100 fachoms and 450 or 500 fathoms is also above 32°. As
far east as north of the New Siberian Islands, in 81° N. and 130° E., we
find almost the same thing : between 120 fathoms and 380 fathoms depth
the temperature of the water is above 32° (32° to 33°). How the conditions
are in this respect in the rest of the Polar basin is unknown. It receives
another though comparatively insignificant contribution of warm water
through Bering Strait, where the temperatures are from 37° to 48° F. The
water running out of the Polar basin is mostly very cold. The water of
the East Greenland Polar current running southward along the east coast of
Greenland has temperatures between 31-8° and 29-3°, only quite near the
67
1036 The International Geography
Greenland coast there is a thin layer of warmer water in about 100 fathoms
depth, with temperatures from 32° to 32-8°.
If we consider the Barents Sea separately we find in it the same con-
ditions as in the Greenland Sea, a warm current forming a branch of the
Gulf Stream running in on the right hand {i.e., the southern side) east-
ward round the Nortli Cape in Norway, and a cold current running
out on the left hand {i.e., the northern side) along the south coast of
Franz Josef Land and the south-east coast of Spitsbergen. Whethei
much of the warm water actually enters the Polar basin through the
opening between Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land may be con-
sidered as doubtful.
In Davis Strait a current runs north on its east side along the west
coast of Greenland, consisting partly of warm Atlantic water, partly of
water from the East Greenland Polar current which rounds Cape Farewell
and. runs west and north-west along the western coast, carrying drift ice
with it for some distance, until the floes are broken up and melt, exposed
to the warmer Atlantic water ; and they seldom come further north than
Godthaab, in about 64° N. On the west side of Davis Strait a cold
Polar current flows out from Baffin Bay southward along the east coast
of Baffin Land, carrying much drift-ice as well as Greenland icebergs out
past Newfoundland. This polar current is not only formed by the water
running north on the east side of Davis Strait, but it receives also con-
tributions through Smith Sound, Jones Sound, and Lancaster Sound,
where the currents run into Baffin Bay.
Ice Conditions of the Arctic Sea.— The warm and cold currents
of the Arctic Sea naturally determine the formation and distribution of
the sea-ice or drift-ice. Where warm currents run in northwards there is
but little ice formed, and the ice is carried away northward ; thus we find
no ice on the north coast of Norway, comparatively little on the west
coast of Novaya Zemlya, and generally none in summer on the west coast
of Spitsbergen, and comparatively little even in winter. As may be ex-
pected, it is in this region that open sea is found furthest north ; in favour-
able seasons open water may occur at least as far as 82° N. north of
Spitsbergen. In Davis Strait and Baffin Bay the conditions are not so
favourable, but in good seasons the west coast of Greenland is nearly free
of ice as far north as Smith Sound. West and north-west of the New
Siberian Island there is much open water in summer, extending at least to
79° N. On the East Siberian and Alaskan side of the Polar basin there is
comparatively little open water. North of Bering Strait it seldom extends
much higher than 73° N.
Where the cold polar currents run out or southward we generally
find much ice, which is constantly being carried out of the Polar Sea, and
often far south. Thus the south coast of Franz Josef Land, the east and
south-east coasts of Spitsbergen are blockaded most part of the year by
drift-ice. The same is the case along the whole east coast of Greenland,
The Arctic Regions 1037
where the ice is carried south of Cape Farewell. Along the east coasts of
Baffin Land and Labrador masses of floe-ice are carried still further south.
The distribution of the ice varies during the year, not only because of
the difference in the melting on account of the variation of solar heat in
summer and winter, but also to a great extent on account of the seasonal
changes in the winds and currents. Observations are, however, lacking on
this subject. The interior Polar Sea or the Polar Basin is mostly covered
with floating ice, which does not form a continuous or unbroken ice-
sheet, as it is always being broken up into floes by the wunds and
tidal currents. This ice is in constant motion, mainly on account of
the winds. The winds often change their direction, and before the
direction of the drift of the ice can be changed, the result may be heavy
ice pressures, breaking and piling up the ice in ridges and hummocks.
Such pressures also arise from the changing tide-currents, especially at
spring-tide. This is principally the case near the outskirts of the Polar
Sea. The average direction of the winds during the year is from the
Siberian and Bering Strait side towards the Greenland side of the Polar
Basin. The drift ice is consequently yearly being carried across the Polar
Sea in this direction, and is either carried southwards along the east coast
of Greenland, or is choked up against the north coast of Greenland,
Grinnell Land, and the American Arctic Archipelago, perhaps at last to
find its way out through some of the channels.
Icebergs. — Icebergs are quite different in their origin and formation
from the sea-ice or floe-ice, and occur only in the outskirts of the Arctic
Region, especially in Greenland and Labrador waters. While the floe-ice is
formed on the surface of the sea, icebergs originate from the glaciers, and
are formed on land. Their height above the sea may be 200 feet or more,
about eight times the bulk of ice seen above water is submerged, thus the
weight of a single berg may be millions of tons. Most of them are formed
in the glacier-fjords on the east and west coast of Greenland. By the
Polar current they are carried southward along the east coast, round Cape
Farewell. On the west coast they drift northward until they are all
carried across Davis Strait or Baffin Bay into the Labrador current, which
floats them southward into the Atlantic Ocean, where they form a well-
known danger.
Climate. — The physical condition of the Arctic regions is mainly
affected by the climatic conditions, but our knowledge in this respect is
still so deficient that it is very difficult to make any useful generalisation.
The atmospheric pressure and the wind regulate the movements of the
currents and drift-ice. These conditions regulate the temperature and the
precipitation, which again regulate the formation of ice and the accumu-
lation of snow into glaciers and ice-caps. At the same time the tempera-
ture, the currents and the distribution of ice affect the winds.
Arctic "Winds. — The winds of the Arctic regions taken as a whole,
cannot be said to be very strong, neither can the Arctic region as a whole
1038 The International Geography
be said to be very windy. But on the outskirts in such places as Franz
Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen, and also Greenland, where there
is an immense expanse of ice-covered sea or land on one side, whilst the
open sea is not far off on the other, the climatic conditions are un-
settled, and strong gales may be very frequent, especially in winter.
These gales also bring sudden changes of temperature, and rises of more
than 35° F. in less than a day are not uncommon. Remarkably warm
winds sometimes occur on the coast of Greenland ; they are, however, mere
local phenomena akin to the fohn of the Alps. Fogs and precipitation are
frequent. In the interior of the Polar Basin the climate is quite different.
Over these extensive plains of ice-covered sea the climatic conditions are
very uniform and have great stability. Gales are comparatively rare, and
are never strong. The same clear weather, especially in the winter, witii
comparatively little wind may last almost continuously for weeks or even
months. The temperature varies very little, though a strong wind nearly
always brings a rise of temperature. Fogs are only formed in the late
summer, when there is much fresh water in ponds on the top of the ice,
and many open channels between the floes.
Arctic Temperature. — The temperature is mainly influenced by the
winds and currents, and by the distribution of ice and land. Extensive
land-masses will, on account of the radiation of heat, cause a very low
winter-temperature, and also a comparatively low annual temperature ; this
will be still more the case if the land is covered by a snow or ice sheet.
An extensive sea will, even when it is covered by floating ice, cause a com-
paratively high annual temperature and reduced extremes both of summer
and winter. On account of the peculiar distribution of land and water in
the Arctic regions we can therefore understand that the lowest temperature
is not to be sought near the geographical pole, but near the great land-
masses. The lowest temperature ever observed on the Earth is — 90° F.
( — 68° C.) in Verkhoyansk, in East Siberia, only some fifty miles north
of the Arctic circle, whilst the lowest temperature observed during three
winters in the Polar Basin as far north as between 85° and 86° N. was
only — 63° F. Instead of one pole of cold there are two, or rather three ;
one in north-eastern Siberia (north of Yakutsk), one in the north of America
(north of the Parry Islands), and a third in the interior of Greenland.
The highest annual temperatures inside the Arctic regions are to be
found along the north coast of Norway and the west coast of Spitsbergen,
where the Gulf Stream, with much open and warm water, exercises a
remarkable warming effect.
Arctic Flora. — The distribution of the vegetation in the Arctic region
is greatly influenced by the temperature of the summer, the winter tem-
perature is not of much importance. Thus the line of forest can be said nearly
to follow the July isotherm of 50° F. Forests of pine trees or larch go
farthest north in the north of Norway, and along the Siberian rivers, where
on the Khatanga they reach the farthest point, nearly 73° N. North of
The Arctic Regions 1039
the line of forest, dwarf birches, willows, and other low shrubs grow,
besides a quantity of Arctic flowers, grasses, mosses, and lichens. In
Greenland there are no forest, or real trees, but in the south the dwarf
birch, the juniper, the alder (olnus), and especially the willow may form
small low woods, which in sheltered places may even reach the height of
a man or more. In north Greenland only creeping dwarf willows are
found. In Arctic America there is a somewhat similar distribution of
bushes and shrubs. In Spitsbergen the only bushes found are rare
dwarf birch and some dwarf willows. In Franz Josef Land there are no
bushes or shrubs, the vegetation consists only of the most Arctic plants
and flowers, including Saxifraga oppositifolia, Draba alpina, Coclilearia fenes-
trata, and the Arctic poppy {Papaver midicatile).
Arctic Fauna. — The distribution of animals is perhaps less influenced
by the climate. In the Arctic Seas there is an abundance of lower animal
life on the bottom as well as at intermediate depths, even in very high
latitudes, though it decidedly decreases with the latitude or perhaps rather
with the distance from the open sea. Fishes are not very numerous far
north, some species of coitus, a small species of codfish (Gadtis polaris)
and a few others are probably the most Arctic of all. The Polar shark
[Seym 11 us borealis) also seems to go very far north into the ice-covered sea.
Birds do not occur in a large variety of species in the Arctic regions,
but there is often a great abundance of individuals, and the bird-rocks or
rookeries of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, and Greenland, with thousands
of guillemots, dovekies, little auks, kittiwakes, fulmars or mollymawks, and
various species of Arctic gulls, form a very characteristic feature of Arctic
scenery. In summer straggling birds may probably be found everywhere
inside the Polar Basin.
Mammal life is found on most of the Arctic lands as well as in the sea.
Of land mammals the polar bear and the polar fox are most widely dis-
tributed ; they are found straggling over land and sea almost everywhere
inside the Arctic circle. The reindeer has also a great circumpolar
distribution ; it occurs in all Arctic Europe, Siberia, Arctic America, Green-
land (on the west coast and on the north-east coast), Spitsbergen, and
Novaya Zemlya, but not in Franz Josef Land, though post-glacial reindeer
antlers have been found there. The reindeer does not go so far north as the
musk ox, which now, however, only occurs on the north-east coast and
the north coast of Greenland and in Arctic America, though in earlier
periods it had a quite circumpolar distribution. In the Arctic Seas there is
more mammal life than in any other part of the ocean, and here we even
find some of the largest animals which ever lived, the whales. The best
known whale by name is the Greenland whale or the right whale, which
is very valuable on account of its long whalebone. It was once abundant
and had a wide distribution', but is now nearly extinct ; it does not go far
into the ice-covered seas. There are several other, but less valuable, large
species of whales, besides a good many smaller ones. The most Arctic of all
1040 The International Geography
whales is the narwhal or sea-unicorn, which goes far into the ice-covered
sea, and occurs in the Polar Basin as far north as 85° N,, and probably
much further. The walrus is a circumpolar Arctic animal, but is now
nearly extinct in a good many places, where quantities were killed in
earlier times. Of seals there are several more or less Arctic species — the
bladdernose (hood seal), the saddle back (harp seal), the bearded seal
[Phoca barbata), 2in6. others. The most Arctic species is the ringed ^eal
{Phoca foetida or hispidd), which straggles far north into the Polar Basin at
least north of 85° N.
Arctic People. — The human race is distributed along the whole fringe
of European, Asiatic, and American land inside the Arctic circle. There
are a good many distinct tribes. In Arctic Norway the original Arctic
people are the Lapps. In Arctic Russia and Siberia there are various tribes
of Samoyeds, Zyryans, Tunguses, Yakuts, Chukches, and others. The
greater part of the Arctic Siberian coast is not, however, inhabited. In
Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land there have never been any permanent
habitations, but in Novaya Zemlya a few families of Samoyeds live. The
most polar of all people are without doubt the Eskimo.
GREENLAND
Greenland is the largest and also in many respects the most inte-
resting Arctic land. From 59° 45' N. it extends over more than twenty-three
degrees of latitude to north of 83° N., its northern termination being still
unknown. The greatest breadth is in 77° 30' N. — about 690 miles. Its
area has been estimated to be 512,000 square miles. The whole interior of
this land, or more than 320,000 square miles, is completely buried under an
enormous glacier ice-sheet, or inland ice, which only leaves exposed a more
or less narrow belt of barren, rocky ground along the shore, cut into by
deep and. narrow fjords, very much like those of Norway. The broadest
exposed strip is 100 miles wide on the west coast, in the district
of Holstenborg, 67® N., and 60 miles in the district of Godthaab, about
641° N, Elsewhere it is quite narrow, and the margin of the inland-ice
approaches the outer sea coast. The same is the case along most of the
east coast, except in the northern part, between 70° N. and 74° N., where
the margin of the true inland-ice appears to be situated in some place at
a distance of about 130 miles or more inland from the sea ; but the land
outside is partly covered by local glaciers. The northern part of Green-
land, north of 82° N., does not seem to be covered by the inland-ice or by
glaciers.
Configuration and Glaciers. — Greenland is unusually mountainous.
Wherever the coast is seen it is rocky and jagged, with high peaks and
mountains and deep valleys and fjords. Along the whole of the east coast
mountains between 5,000 and 8,000 feet are quite common, often not far
from the sea. The highest peak known is Petcrmann Peak, near Franz
Josef Fjord, which is estimated at 11,000 feet. On the west coast the
The Arctic Regions 1041
mountains are not so high, but even there peaks of 5,000 or 6,000 feet
are not uncommon. We know nothing of mountains in the interior, as
they are entirely covered by the inland ice, but if the ice-sheet were
removed it is highly probable that the surface of the land would resemble
that exposed near the coasts. The fjords were once filled with glaciers
coming from the inland ice and discharging into the sea to throw off
icebergs. Many of them are still partly filled with glaciers in this way,
and most of them have glaciers discharging into them, and thus pre-
venting us from tracing them in their whole length. Along the coast
there are numerous islands, the largest known being Disco Island, in about
70^ N. on the west coast. There is probably no other land of the same
size which has such an enormous coast-line compared with its area. The
largest fjords on the west coast are Umanak Fjord, North and South
Strom Fjord (both about 90 miles long), and Godthaab Fjord. On the
east coast, amongst others, Scoresby Fjord is about 160 miles long, and
Franz Josef Fjord probably of similar length. These are longer than
any in Norway, and are probably the largest typical fjords in the
world.
There are still some parts of the Greenland coast which have not been
explored, especially the north-east coast between Cape Bismarck and
Independence Bay (81° 37' N.), on the east coast, and between the latter
and Cape Washington, on the north-west coast. The east coast, be-
tween 66° and 69° N., also still waits to be explored.
Geology. — The geological structure of Greenland is naturally little
known, as we can only judge from the exposed rocks seen along the coast.
According to these it is probable that by far the greater part of the rocky
surface of the present Greenland consists of Archaean formations principally
gneiss and other crystaUine rocks. In the middle parts of the country, about
latitude 70° to 73° N., there is a flow of basalt over great parts of the west
coast at Disco Island, Nugsuak Peninsula, and Svartenhuk Peninsula, as
well as of the east at Scoresby Sound and further north. These basalts,
which probably are of Tertiary origin, cover considerable layers of the
Tertiary and partly also the Cretaceous formations, w^hich they have thus
prevented from being destroyed ; and on Disco and the Nugsuak Peninsula
there are some of the most famous localities for Tertiary plant-fossils
in the world. Jurassic strata are found in several places on the east
coast (about 70° N. and 75° N.). They are perhaps of the same for-
mation as in Franz Josef Land, Spitsbergen, Ando in Norway, and in
Russia.
Greenland does not seem to have much mineral wealth. Cryolite is
the only mineral mined, and is a speciality for Greenland. There is
only one mine, at Ivigtut, on the south-west coast (in 61° 10' N.). Native
iron is found in several places, the most remarkable find Is the iron of
Ovifak (or Uifak), on Disco Island — several large masses, the largest
of which is calculated at twenty tons. This iron is evidently of telluric
1042 The International Geography
origin, and has originally been included in the basalts. In 1897 a still
larger mass was brought back from Cape York, in North Greenland, which
is estimated to weigh ninety tons, and is believed to be of meteoric
origin.
The Inland Ice. — Instead of river systems we find in Greenland the
great inland ice, and instead of great rivers we find the moving glaciers,
the prolongations or outlets of the inland ice, slowly moving into the sea,
and thus chiefly effecting the drainage of the country. The greater part
of the precipitation in Greenland is not rain, but snow which, to a great
extent, does not melt, but is accumulated on the surface of the inland ice,
and by the pressure of its weight gradually becomes transformed into
glacier ice. This, being a plastic or viscous mass, is pressed out to the
sides by the pressure inside the ice mass, and it slowly flows outward, as a
lump of pitch or wax which is placed on a table. The pace with which it
moves is regulated by the pressure — the higher pressure or the greater
mass added on the top the quicker is the motion. Thus the inland ice
sends out glaciers through the valleys and into the fjords, the ice at the
end of some glaciers being from 1,000 to 2,000 feet thick. The rate
at which the glaciers advance into the sea differs much, and to a
great extent depends on the extension and thickness of that part of the
inland ice for which they form the " outlet" or "drainage." The highest
rate of glacial motion ever known is that of the Upernivik Glacier,
on the west coast, 73° N., which in summer advances 99 feet every
twenty-four hours. The Jacobshavn Glacier, and other known glaciers,
move about 50 to 60 feet daily in the summer time. In winter the
motion is somewhat slower. The actual amount of ice discharged into
the sea from Greenland may be estimated at 1,000,000,000 tons annually
at least.
The drainage of Greenland is not, however, effected by this outflow of
solid ice only. A great deal more is accomplished by running water. On
the surface of the inland ice there is much melting going on during
summer near its outer margins. The water thus produced finds its way
as small brooks down through the enormous ice-sheet to the bottom, and
runs as sub-glacial rivulets from under the glacier-covering into the sea.
Where the ice-sheet is very thick, the temperature of the ice is probably
near its melting point at the bottom, on account of the internal heat of the
Earth. Some melting is therefore probably also going on from this cause,
producing water which joins the sub-glacial rivers.
The inland ice covers the whole interior of Greenland, extending as a
regular shield from coast to coast. Its surface forms a smooth snow-plain,
arching high above the irregularities of the underlying ground, and sloping
quite slowly and gradually from the highest ridge in the interior towards
the coast on all sides. The highest ridge is in the southern part of the
country, somewhat nearer the east coast than the west, and has, between
64'' and 65° N., a height of 9,000 feet above the sea-level. How these
The Arctic Regions 1043
conditions are in the interior further north where the inland ice is broadest
is still unknown. What the thickness of the ice-sheet is we cannot know
so long as the heights of the mountains underneath are unknown, but as
the bottom of the valleys are not probably on the average more than 2,000
— or let us say 3,000 — feet above sea-level, the thickness of the ice must at
any rate in some places be above 6,000 feet. A sufficiently cold climate
is not the only condition necessary to produce an inland ice ; it also
depends on the quantity of precipitation. The precipitation in the most
northern part of Greenland does not seem to be sufficient for its forma-
tion, and therefore the land north of 82° N. is probably not covered
by continuous ice.
People of Greenland. — The hardy Eskimo race extends along the
whole Arctic coast of America and Labrador, along the coasts of the eastern
islands of the American Arctic Archipelago, and along the coast of Green-
land as far north as Smith Sound (about 78° or 79° N.). A small Eskimo
tribe is also found on the Asiatic side of Bering Strait. The Eskimo live
mainly by hunting and fishing on the sea, and are therefore bound to be a coast
people. In the summer they go hunting and fishing in their small boats or
kayaks, made of drift-wood covered with sealskin. In the winter they travel
over the frozen sea in their sledges with dogs, which are their only domestic
animals. They are a far and quick-travelling people, and traces are found
of them over vast tracts of country where they do not live at present. In
the summer they live in tents made of skins, in the winter they live in low
stone huts, or, where stone is not available, they build snow-huts of a peculiar
shape, resembling beehives. They are a gifted and hardy race, and with
admirable skill they have known how to make their ingenious weapons out
of pieces of driftwood, bones, skin, and stone, partly, also of native iron — the
only means which a barren nature originally gave them : now they have
of course got iron, as well as firearms from the Europeans, but these gifts
have not been wholly to their advantage.
In Greenland there is altogether a population of about 10,000 Eskimo,
and a few hundred Danes who administer the country. The Greenland
Eskimo are, however, no longer a pure race, but are greatly mixed
with European blood. The contact with European civilisation has there,
as elsewhere, been of very doubtful advantage to the natives, who show
a slow but certain decadence.
The Eskimo and half-breeds of southern Greenland are to some extent
grouped around the Danish settlements, all trade with which is a Govern-
ment monopoly of Denmark. Some of the principal administration and
trading centres are Julianehaab, the most southerly (60° 40' N,), Godlhaab,
and Upernivik, the most northerly, in 72° 48' N. The Eskimo of Smith
Sound, a small tribe, have no dealings with the Danish settlements. The
principal settlement on the east coast is Angmagsalik in 65° 30' N., where
there are a few hundred Eskimo, and lately a Danish mission has been
established.
G8
I044 The International Geography
ARCTIC ISLANDS
Franz Josef Land. — Franz Josef Land is a group of numerous
comparatively small islands situated in about 80° to 82° N., and extending
from longitude 42° E., eastward, probably beyond 62° E., but the eastern
extension is still unknown. Land was reported further north and named
Oscar Land and Petermann Land, but recent explorations seem to have
proved that they do not exist. Some of the islands of Franz Josef Land
are comparatively low and flat, but the highest are 2,000 to 3,000 feet
above the sea-level, consisting of basalt,^ partly resting on a thick forma-
tion of Jurassic clay. The islands are with few exceptions completely
ice-capped, the ice-covering sloping regularly into the sea on all sides,
allowing the basaltic rocks to project only here and there along the
coasts. These islands therefor^ have a more glacial aspect than any
other Arctic land ; they are, however, much too small to form the base
of any glaciers or ice-sheets of importance. Icebergs are formed in a
good many places, but they are few and small compared with those of
Greenland, and they do not travel far, for round Franz Josef Land the
water is too shallow to float icebergs of any size
Spitsbergeri. — Spitsbergen is a group of islands situated between
76® and 80^° N., and between 10° and 32° E. The principal islands are
West Spitsbergen, which is the largest, North East Land, Barents Land,
Edge Land (or Stans Foreland) ; on the west coast is Prince Charles Fore-
land, and to the east is Wiche Land (or King Karl's Land) ; to the south-
east is Hope Island. Besides these there are many small islands, the most
northern being the small Seven Islands (80° 48' N.). To the east of North
East Land land was seen in 1702, and called Gilles Land. It is perhaps
this island which Norwegian walrus-hunters believe they have seen several
times, and which they have called White Island or New Iceland. In the sea
between Spitsbergen and Norway there is a small island called Bear Island.
The margin of Spitsbergen is a typical glaciated coast, much like that of
Greenland and Norway. It is deeply cut and intersected by long and narrow
fjords and sounds. Though comparatively small as the island of West
Spitsbergen is, it has fjords of considerable length — Ice Fjord, on the west
coast', is 60 miles long ; Wiide Bay, on the north coast, is 50 miles long ;
Bell Sound, on the south-west coast, is 30 miles ; Hinlopen Strait, between
West Spitsbergen and North East Land, is a narrow channel, 100 miles
long, with the character of a typical fjord.
Spitsbergen is a mountainous country with peaks and valleys, but the
mountains do not rise to great heights, as a rule no more than 2,000 to 4,000
feet. The most important mountain-ranges with more alpine forms are
^ Though basalts and lavas of comparatively recent geological origin (Tertiary and
perhaps Jurassic) occur in many places in the Arctic regions, there is only one active
volcano known north of the Arctic circle, viz., the little island Jan Mayen, east of Green-
land in the Greenland Sea, with the Beeren Berg (7,000 feet).
The Arctic Regions 1045
situated near the west coast. Eastward the land is lower, and the mountain
are generally more rounded. The highest peaks known in Spitsbergen
are Horn Sunds Tinder, near South Cape (76° 55' N.), about 5,000 feet.
The snow and ice seem in Spitsbergen to have a tendency to accumulate
and cover the land more in the east part of the country than in the west —
a condition similar to that in the south part of Greenland.
The interior of West Spitsbergen is not covered by a genuine inland ice,
like that of Greenland, overflowing the whole area and drowning all the
valleys and mountains. In various parts of the island, however, extensive
local glaciers, or a glacier-covering, exist in the interior, which is not mighty
enough to drown the main features in the orographical configuration of the
underlying land. They resemble the great ice fields of Norway, and discharge
glaciers down through the valleys into the ends of the fjords, where the
ice breaks off, but the pieces are not large enough to be called icebergs.
The greater part of North East Land is covered by an ice-sheet, which
may be called a small inland-ice. The height of its smooth, regularly
curved surface, gradually sloping downwards towards the coasts, is more
than 2,000 feet above the sea in its highest part. On the east and south
coast this inland ice descends into the sea, whilst the west and north coast
is not covered by ice.
Spitsbergen consists mostly of primitive rocks. Some districts, especially
in the eastern part, are overflowed with basalt, probably of Jurassic or
Tertiary origin, and perhaps similar to the great basalt flow of Franz Josef
Land. In some parts of West Spitsbergen there are Tertiary formation
with interesting plant fossils.
The mineral wealth does not seem to be of much importance, though
in some places there are beds of tolerably good coal.
Novaya Zemlya. — Novaya Zemlya, which is divided into two large
islands by the narrow sound, Matochkin Shar, is a quite Arctic land, and its
whole character resembles that of Spitsbergen. The land is mountainous,
and the coast is intersected by fjords, which are not very long. In the
north there are extensive glaciers in the interior, probably similar to that of
West Spitsbergen, and glaciers discharge into the ends of the fjords.
Arctic Siberia. — Arctic Siberia is to a great extent low and barren
undulating plains, the tundra intervening between the northern forest
limit and the desolate Polar shores, and intersected by great rivers. The
most mountainous part of Arctic Siberia seems to be Taimyr Land, where
there appear to be several, though not very high, mountain ranges. The
north coast of Siberia, which is as a rule very low and flat, is not so much
intersected by fjords or bays as the coasts of most Arctic lands. An excep-
tion is perhaps to be found in the little-known but somewhat mountainous
coast between the mouth of the Yenisei and the Taimyr Bay, where there
probably are fjords, and where there are a good many islands lying
scattered in the shallow sea outside.
Arctic Siberia has no glacial covering, and here are not even any local
1046 The International Geography
glaciers known. If such exist, almost the only place where they can be is
the Chelyuskin Peninsula (the most northern point), and even there they
must be very small. The reason of this is that the climate is too dry to
allow of any yearly accumulation of snow. Along the northern coasts there
are only patches of snow in the depressions and small valleys, which do not
vanish in summer. One of the most interesting features of Arctic Siberia
is that the soil is frozen for great depths below the surface, with inter-
vening layers of real blue ice, called rock-ice or ground-ice. On the top
of this rock-ice there may be a layer of soil, a foot thick or more, on
which forests of larch and other trees grow. Frozen remains of the
mammoths and other animals, which have lived there probably later than
the Ice Age, are found, and in some cases the frozen corpses of mammoths
still retain their flesh, skin, and hair.
New Siberian Islands. — The New Siberian Islands, north of the
Siberian coast, are surrounded by a very shallow sea, and are compara-
tively low with rounded forms. They contain Silurian and Tertiary
formation, the latter with a highly interesting fossil flora (the "wood-
hills " of New Siberia). On some of them, especially the southern one,
Great Liakhoff Island, there are important finds of mammoth remains
and valuable mammoth tusks. To the north of these islands are San-
nikoff Land and Bennett Land ; the size of these is unknown, but they are
probably not very large.
Arctic America. — Arctic North America is in character much like
Arctic Siberia, but is somewhat more mountainous. North of the continent
the numerous islands of the Arctic Archipelago are comparatively low, and
have generally more or less rounded mountain forms. There is nowhere
sufficient precipitation to form an inland ice, though on some of them,
especially in the east, there are great local glaciers, e.g., Baffin Land,
North Devon, Ellesmere Land, and Grinnell Land. The last named, the
northern part of which is also called Grant Land, is, besides Greenland, the
most northern land visited by man. It rises to elevations of 2,000 and
3,000 feet. In this land (in Lady BVankHn Bay, 81° 45' N.) is found the
most northern deposit of coal, with a fossil Tertiary flora, including thirty
species of plants, pines, birch, poplar, elm, and hazel.
STANDARD BOOKS.
(The titles of descriptions of exploring expeditions are too numerous to be recorded—
See lists in Greely s Handbook, and works by Nansen, Peary, Conway,
Jackson, the Duke of the Abruzzi, Sverdrup and others, published since
i«95)
"Manual of the Natural History, Geolo.jjy, and Physics of Greenland and adjacent
regions." Published by the British Admiralty. London, 1875.
"Meddelelser om Gronland." 16 vols. ' Copenhagen, 1879-85.
A. E. Nordenskiold. " Studien und Forschungen im hohen Norden." Leipzig, 1885.
H. Mohn and F. Nansen. " Durchquerung von Gronland." Gotha, 1893.
Reports of the International Circumpolar Observations of 1882-83 in 31 quarto volumes
in various languages.
CHAPTER LV.— THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS
By Sir John Murray, K.C.B., F.R.S.,
Director oj the Reports of the " Challenger " Expedition.
The Antarctic— The term Antarctic is applied to that region of the
Earth's surface surrounding the South Pole. The Antarctic Ocean is,
strictly speaking, bounded to the north by the Antarctic circle, but the
term is usually applied to the great circumpolar ocean which is affected by
floating pack ice. The whole of the Southern Ocean may, indeed, be at
times affected with ice, Antarctic icebergs being frequently encountered
north of lat. 45° S. in the
southern parts of the
Pacific, Atlantic, and
Indian Oceans.
History of Explo-
ration. — After the tor-
rid or fiery zone of the
ancients was crossed to-
wards the end of the
fifteenth century, the
vague conception of a
vast continent towards
the South Pole was wide-
spread among geog-
raphers and explorers,
and New Guinea and
parts of the land about
Magellan Strait were be-
,. J i. 1. i- r Fig. 487. — The Antarctic Regions and Southern Ocean.
lieved to be portions of ^ ' *
it. With the progress of exploration the outlines of this southern con-
tinent became more and more circumscribed. Tasman, in 1642, showed
that Australia and Tasmania were surrounded by water to the south, but
New Zealand, which he visited, was believed to be part of the Austral
continent, even up to the time of Cook's first voyage, when New Zealand
was proved to be an island. In 1772 Kerguelen went to explore the land
reported to the south of the Cape of Good Hope, and sighted Kerguelen
Island, which he supposed to be a part of the great southern land.
At last, in 1 772, Cook was dispatched on his second voyage with the
express object of finally settling the question of the existence of the
reported southern continent, and he proved that if it existed it did not
1047
Known Land HH
Supposed Land
1048 The International Geography
extend beyond the Antarctic circle. Cook pushed as far south as lat. 71° 10
S. in long. 107° W., while two later explorers attained even higher southern
latitudes, viz., Weddell, who in 1823 penetrated as far as lat. 74° 15' S.
southwards of South Georgia, and Sir James Clark Ross, who in 1842
reached lat. 78° 10' S., discovering Victoria Land, and landing upon
Possession and Franklin Islands. Of other explorers we may mention :
Smith (1819). Belhngshausen (1820), Powell (1821), Morrell (1823), Biscoe
(1830), Kemp (1834), Balleny (1839), D'Urville (1839-40), Wilkes (1839-40),
and Moore (1845). More recently Dallman, in 1873-4, visited the neigh-
bourhood of Graham Land ; in 1874 the Challenger Expedition penetrated
beyond the Antarctic circle on the voyage from the Cape of Good Hope
to Australia. Between 1893 and 1895 whalers from Scotland and Norway
visited the Antarctic regions, landings being effected on Seymour Island
by Larsen, and on Victoria Land at Cape Adare by Kristensen. The
Belgica, under Gerlache, explored Hughes Bay in the Antarctic summer
of 1898-99, penetrated the ice-pack and reached 71° 36' S. in 87^° W.
The ship remained fast in drifting ice for a whole year, and her crew
were the first to winter south of the Antarctic circle. The German Deep-
Sea Expedition, under Chun, visited the Antarctic seas in 1898, reaching
64° 14' S. north of Enderby Land. A British expedition in the Southern
Cross was sent out in 1898 by Sir George Newnes, under Borchgrevink,
who wintered at Cape Adare in 1899, and in 1900 succeeded in reaching
78° 50' S., to the east of Mount Erebus. On January i, 1903, Captain
R. F. Scott, sledging southward from the Discovery, which had wintered in
Macmurdo Strait, carried the British flag to 82° 17' S, the highest south
latitude yet attained. His expedition sailed for the Antarctic regions in
1901, simultaneously with a German expedition on the Gauss under Dr. E.
von Drygalski, which entered the ice south of Kerguelen. A Swedish
expedition, under Dr. Otto Nordenskiold, spent the years 1902-3 south of
the Falkland Islands ; and the Scotia, under the command of Mr. W. S.
Bruce, explored Weddell Sea in 1903, and discovered a snowy coast named
Coats Land. Mr. Shackleton in the Ni7nrod resumed exploration in 1907.
Antarctic Land. — Looking upon the land sighted or explored at
various points (Victoria Land, Wilkes Land, Kemp Land, Enderby Land,
Grahaai Land, and Alexander I. Land), as forming part of one and the
same land-mass, it has been estimated that the Antarctic continent (Antarc-
tica) has an area greater than that of Australia, or nearly four million square
miles. The form and structure of the Antarctic icebergs show that they
have been formed on large land-surfaces, and the rock fragments and
debris, scattered over the floor of the Southern Ocean as these icebergs
melt while floating towards the north, belong to lithological t3'pes charac-
teristic of continental land, including gneiss, granite, mica-schist, quartz-
iferous diorite, grained quartzite, sandstone, limestone, and shale. D'Urville
descibes rocky islets off Adelie Land composed of granite and gneiss ;
Wilkes found on an iceberg near the same place boulders of red sandstone
The Antarctic Regions 1049
and basalt ; Chun dredged up a mass of red sandstone weighing 5 cwt.
north of Enderby Land. Borchgrevink and Bull brought home fragments
of mica-schist and other continental rocks from Cape Adare in 1895;
Donald brought back from Joinville Island pieces of red jasper or chert ;
while Larsen brought from Seymour Island pieces of fossil coniferous wood
and fossil Molluscan shells closely resembling species from the lower Ter-
tiary of Britain and Patagonia. All these geological finds indicate conti-
nental land. The ranges of mountains and peaks discovered by Ross in
Victoria Land appear to be formed of ancient crystalline rocks, with
volcanic cones towards the south, 7,000 to 15,000 feet in height, Mount
Erebus (160 miles to the west of which Ross believed the south magnetic
pole to be situated) being in active eruption at the time of his visit ; Larsen
visited one of several active volcanoes to the south of Cape Horn.
Antarctic Ice. — The icebergs of the Antarctic differ entirely from
those of the Arctic regions. When observed near their origin, they are
found to be huge, flat-topped, perpendicular-sided, floating ice-islands,
sometimes many miles in length, having a thickness of from 1,200 to 1,500
feet, of which about one-sixth or one-seventh projects above the level of
the sea, the great mass of the berg being below sea-level. They have
frequently a stratified or laminated structure, and have undoubtedly been
broken off and floated away from a great ice-barrier or ice-wall, like that
along which Ross sailed for 300 miles about lat. 78° S. This ice-barrier is
evidently the sea-face of an enormous glacier or ice-cap creeping slowly
over the low-lying lands of the Antarctic continent towards the sea. When
this ice-cap is pushed into depths of 200 or 300 fathoms portions are
broken off and form the table-shaped icebergs, which on being floated to
the north and becoming disintegrated may assume various shapes. Where
the coasts of the Antarctic continent are occupied by high mountain ranges,
as for instance, off the east coast of Victoria Land, the seaward face of the
pack-ice is only 10 to 20 feet high, and at Cape Adare a landing was
effected on a pebbly beach, occupied by a penguin rookery, where no
land-ice descended to the sea. There have been many speculations about
the thickness of the ice over the Antarctic continent towards the South
Pole, CroU believing that it might be as much as 12 to 24 miles. It is,
however, extremely improbable that ice of this thickness exists.
Atmospheric Pressure and Temperature.— Our knowledge of
the atmospheric conditions in the Antarctic is very meagre, being derived
from few observations mainly during the southern summer, but these
seem to indicate that there is a girdle of low atmospheric pressure,
south of the 45th parallel of south latitude, and outside of the ice-bound
region, with a mean pressure of less than 29 inches, accompanied by
strong westerly and north-westerly winds and large rainfall. The extreme
south polar area appears to be occupied by a vast permanent anticyclone,
much more extensive in winter than in summer, out of which south-easterly
winds blow from the pole towards the girdle of low pressure. Ross's
1050 The International Geography
barometric observations indicate a gradual rise in the pressure south of
lat. 75° S. As regards tlie temperature of the air, it is evidently, even in
summer, extremely low, the mean of all the observations taken by Ross to
the south of lat. 63° S. being 28.7° F,, and his maximum 43.5° F. The
winter minimum reported at Cape Adare or by the Belgica in 71° 30' S.
was —45° F., but the Discovery found —62° The atmosphere is apparently
dry over the ice-covered land, the moisture separating in the form of small
snow-crystals, while farther north the air is often near the point of satu-
ration, and more moisture is precipitated.
The Antarctic Ocean. — The temperature of the surface waters of
the Antarctic Ocean appears to be higher in summer than that of the air.
Thus Ross's observations south of lat. 63° S. give a mean daily temperature
of 29.8° F. (compared with 28.7° F. for the air), varying from 27.3° to
33.6° F. Below the surface of the sea the Challenger observations show
that in summer there is a wedge-shaped stratum of cold water sand-
wiched between warmer water at the surface and at the bottom. This
stratum was traced from 65° to 53° S., and had a temperature at the
southern thick end of the wedge of 28° F., and at the northern thin end of
32.5°, while that of the overlying water varied from 29° F. in the south to
38" F. in the north, and that of the underlying water from 32° to 35° F.
In fact the whole of the water in the greater depths of the Antarctic
Ocean has a temperature of 32° to 35° F., being pretty much the same as
the temperature of the deepest bottom water throughout the great ocean
basins, even in the tropics. The Valdivia found in 64° S. a mass of com-
paratively warm water of high salinity sandwiched between colder layers
of deep and superficial water. The annual range of temperature in the
waters within the pack-ice area never appears to exceed 10° F.
The available data for the depth of the Southern and Antarctic Oceans
indicate a gradual shoaling from deep water towards the Antarctic conti-
nent, although between the latitudes of the Cape of Good Hope and of
Kerguelen depths ranging from 2,500 to 3,100 fathoms were found by the
Valdivia between 55° and 64° S. To the south-east of South Georg-ia, Bruce
showed that Ross's sounding of 4,000 fathoms was erroneous ; but south of
Australia the Challenger found depths of 2,600 and 1,950 fathoms, and
nearer the Antarctic circle depths of 1,800, 1,300, and 1,260 fathoms;
Wilkes sounded in 500 and 800 fathoms off Adelie Land ; Ross had
soundings of 100 to 500 fathoms off Victoria Land ; and depths of 164
to 480 fathoms have been recorded east of Joinville Island. The Belgica
found depths under 200 fathoms in the pack west of Palmer Land.
Our knowledge of the Antarctic marine deposits is derived from the
Challenger soundings, the observations of Hooker with Ross's expedition,
and the soundings of the Valdivia. The deposit in the far south, surround-
ing the Antarctic continent, is Blue Mud, containing glauconite, composed
mostly of land-detritus, mixed with remains of pelagic and bottom-living
organisms. To the north of this Blue Mud, there is apparently a con-
The Antarctic Regions 105 1
tinuous circumpolar band of Diatom Ooze, made up principally of the
frustules of diatoms which lived in the surface waters, along with pelagic
shells and some land-debris dropped by floating icebergs. This Diatom
Ooze when dried is usually pure white or cream coloured, and looks not
unlike chalk. Northwards of the Diatom Ooze the deposit is Globigerina
Ooze, consisting mostly of the shells of pelagic F'oraminifera, passing in
very deep water into the characteristic deep-sea deposit Red Clay, asso-
ciated with manganese nodules, sharks' teeth, and ear-bones of whales.
Marine Fauna and Flora. — Marine life, in the surface, intermediate
and bottom waters of the south Polar sea, is very prolific. Pelagic Algae,
especially Diatoms, abound in the upper layers to the depth of 50 fathoms,
forming an abundant food supply for the pelagic animals, such as Copepods,
Amphipods, and Molluscs, &c., and for the animals living at the bottom.
Pelagic calcareous organisms, like the Pteropods and Foraminifera, which
are so numerous, both in species and individuals, in the surface waters of
the tropics, become less and less abundant towards the Polar seas.
Of the shallow-water bottom-living (benthonic) fauna of the Antarctic,
we have information only in the case of the more northerly islands,
like Kerguelen, Bouvet, and South Georgia, but the available observations
seem to indicate that in the shallow waters- around Antarctic lands, in
depths less than 25 fathoms, life is not so abundant as in depths
of 100 fathoms and more. The deep-sea fauna of the Antarctic
region has been shown by the Challenger to be exceptionally rich, a much
larger number of species having been obtained than in any other region
visited by that expedition, and the Valdivia's dredgings in 1898 confirm
this. In the cold waters of the Antarctic there is a very feeble develop-
ment of shells and other calcareous structures in marine organisms when
compared with what obtains in tropical waters. As with the pelagic
organisms, so in the case of the benthonic fauna, a great many species
and genera are recorded from the colder waters towards both the north
and south Polar seas which are unknown in the intervening tropical
area. The pelagic larvae of benthonic animals are almost unknown in
Polar waters, where most of the bottom-living species appear to have a
direct development; this has been directly observed in several species
of Echinoderms and Crustaceans in the cold waters of both hemispheres.
Antarctic Mammals and Birds. — There are many whales in the
great Southern and Antarctic oceans, some of which appear to be closely
allied to if not identical with those in the Arctic seas. The right whale
{Balcvna mysticetiis) is not found in the south, but a small whalebone
whale which has been described under the names B. anstralis and B. novce-
zealandice seems to be identical with Balcena biscayensis of the northern
hemisphere. The humpback and rorqual whales appear to be identical
with those in northern seas, and the same may be said of the grampuses,
pilot whales, ziphioid whales, and dolphins. Thirteen species of seals are
known from the Antarctic. Of these Macrorhinus leoninus is supposed by
1052 The International Geography
some naturalists to be identical with the Macrorhinus from the coasts of
California. The sea lion {Otaria jubata) is widespread in the Antarctic,
but is now much less abundant than formerly. The fur seals belong to
the same genera as the North Pacific species. The penguins are the most
characteristic birds of the Antarctic, and some species exist in prodigious
numbers — their rookeries being found on nearly all the islands and points
of land free from land ice. The discovery of a penguin rookery at Cape
Adare is most important for the future of Antarctic exploration, for it
shows that there is open water every year, and an abundant supply of food
and fuel. The peculiar sheath-bill [Chionis) is usually found in all penguin
rookeries. The albatrosses and other Procellaridas are most abundant and
breed in almost all the Antarctic Islands, together with terns, skuas, and
gulls. The southern skua {Stercorarius antarciicus) appears to be identical
with the Arctic species. On Kerguelen a small teal {QuerqiiediiJa eaioni) is
most abundant. Fishes have nowhere been observed in abundance in
the waters of the Antarctic, although fish remains are most frequent in the
stomachs of penguins and seals. The naturalists of the Belgica and of the
Southern Cross collected a few insects as well as mosses or lichens in the
most southerly lands. It is unlikely that any land mammals exist on the
Antarctic continent.
What Remains to be Done. — From a geographical point of view
much remains to be done in defining the topography of the land and the
sea-floor within the Antarctic circle. This is by far the largest abso-
lutely unknown area now remaining on the Earth. Our knowledge of
the physical and biological conditions of high southern latitudes is most
fragmentary, and it is satisfactory to know that the exploration of this great
unknown region is now being seriously undertaken by civilised and pro-
gressive nations. It cannot be doubted that a successful exploration of
the Antarctic would make a great advance in the philosophy of terrestrial
science.
STANDARD BOOKS AND PAPERS.
James Cook. " Voyage toward the South Pole and Round the World." London, 1777.
J. Weddell. " Voyage towards the South Pole, 1822-24." London, 1827.
J. Dumont D'Urville. " Voyage au pole sud et dans I'Oceanie, 1837-40. ' Paris, 1842-54
C. Wilkes. " United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-42." 5 vols. 1845.
J. C. Ross. " Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions,
1639-43.' 2 vols. London, 1847.
Sr John Murray. " On the Deep and Shallow-water Marine Fauna of the Kerguelen
Region of the Southern Ocean," 7 rans. Roy. Soc, Edin., vol. xxxiii., 1896.
H. R. Mill. " The Siege of the South Pole " (a History of Antarctic Exploration).
London, 1905.
G. von Neumaver. " Auf zum Siidpol." Berlin, 1901.
K. Fricker. "Antarktis." Berlin, iBqB. Translated as" The Antarctic." London, 1900.
A. Rainaud. " Le Continent austral." Paris, 1893.
C. E. Borch^evink. " First on the Antarctic Continent." London, 1900.
L. Bernacchi. "To the South Polar Regions." London, 1901.
A. de Gerlache. " Voyage de la Bel^icay Paris, 1902.
F. A. Cook. " Through the First Antarctic Night." New Vork and London, 1900.
R. F. Scott. '■ The Voyage of the Discovervy 2 vols. London, 1905.
E. von Drygalski. " Zum Kontinent des Eisigen Siidens." Berlin, 1904.
O. Nordenskjold (and others). "Antarctica." London, 1905.
R. C. Mossman (and others). " The Voyage of the Scotia." Edinburgh, 1906.
INDEX
AACHEN (Aix-la-ChapeUe),
282. 288
Aalborg, 210
Aar, river, 258
Aarau, 264
Aargau, 264
Aarhuus, 210
Ab-i-Panja river, 465
Ababdehi tribe, 926
Abaca, 803
Abagaza, people, looi
Abancay, 839
Abazwang indaba, people, lOOi -
Abbaya, lake, 931
Abbazia, 315
Abdesh-Shems, 453
Abeokuta, 968
Aberdeen, 157 ; fisheries, 149
Abo, 412
Aborigines of Brazil, 868 ; Central
America, 787 ; Dutch New
Guinea, 644 ; North America,
676 ; New South Wales, 596 :
Porto Rico, 800 ; Queensland,
590 : South America, 822 ; South
Australia, 616; Tasmania, 612;
Victoria, 604 ; W. Australia, 623
Abruzzi, 364 ; Appennines of, 356
Abruzzi, Duke of, in Arctic, 1032
Abyla, 378
Abysmal Area, 46, 91
Abyssinia, 934, 935
Acadia, 687
Acajutla, 788
Acampsis river, 440
Acapulco, 781
Acarai mountains, 879
Acatenango, Mount, 783
Acclimatisatipn, 98
Accra, 964
Accrington, 173
Achaia, 349
Achill Island, 187
Achin, see Atjeh
Aconcagua mountain, 816, 850
A(;ores Archipelago, 384
Acroa, people, 869
Adalia (Attalia). 444' ; Bay of, 439
Adam, Mount, 863
Adam's Bridge. 504 ; Peak, 504
Addis Halem 935
Adana, 443
Adamawa, 971
Adare, Cape, 1049
Adelaide, 619 ; Climate, 615 ;
Foundation of, 585 ; river, 615
Adelie Land, 1050
Adelsberg, 303
Aden 454 ; harbour, map, 455
Adenara islet, 572
Adige river, 303. 304, 306, 355
Adirondack mountains, 668, 671,
727, 734
Adjacent Isles of the Philippines,
559 ; of Portugal, 384
Adjustment of rivers to land, 59
Adowa, 935
Adrar, 953
Adrianople, 343 ; basin, 332
Adula, 259
Adur, river, 180
iSgadian islands, 353
w^gina, gulf, 348
.-Etolia, 348
Afghanistan, 464-468
Aflaj district, 456
Africa, Configuration, map, 890 ;
Continent of, 889-903 ; Popula-
tion of, 103 ; Vegetation map of,
895
Afridi people, 467
Afrikander people, 990
Agassiz, Lake, 695, 743, 750,
Agaua, 656
Agave, in Bahama, 803 ; in Central
America, 786
Aggraded = filled up, 672
Agni, people, 956
Agoe, 957
Agra, -489
Agram, 323
Agri, River, 357
Aguadilla, 800
Agulhas, Bay, 982 ; Bank, Cur-
rents on, 70 ; Fisheries on, 989
Ahmedabad, 492
Aidin (Tralles), 443
Ailao, 517
Aimore people, 869
Ainiak people, 467
Ain Safra, 906 ; Shehat, 916 ;
Smara, 908
Aintab, 451
Ainu people, 108, 549
Air, Action of ocean on, 71 ; Tem-
perature of, 72
Aire valley, 170
Airolo, 265
Altoff, D., Russian Empire, 386-421
Aix, 253
Aix-la-Chapelle, 288
Ajau people, 945
Ajudhia, 489
Ak-Hissax (Thyateira), 443
Akabah, gulf, 452, 629
Akaroa, 62^
Akassa, 968
Akhtuba river, 390
Aki, 553
Akkerman, 409
Akoa people, 959
Akorodu, 968
Aksu river, 397
Aksum, 935
Akureyri,2i3
Akwa people, 967
Akyab, 496
Alabama, 745 ; Coastal Plain,
Map, 746 ; river, 746
Alagoas, 875
Alagoez Mountain, 395
Alai Mountains, 396
Xlands islands, 197
Alaotra lake, 1016
Alashehr (Philadelphia), 443
Alaska. 667, 677, 770 ; Acquisition
of, 711
Ala-tagh mountains, 396
Alatau mountains. 398
Alausi basin, 831
Albania, 343
Albanians, 334
Albany. N.Y.. 729, 731, 736 ;
Western Australia, 625
1053
Alba Realis, 322
Albemarle Island, 658
Albert-Edward, Mount, 635 ;
Nyanza, 931
Albert Nyanza, 931 ; Discovery
of. 901
Alberta, 701, 702
Albury, New South Wales, 600
Alcacer do Sal, 381
Aldan, river, 400, 426
Alderney, 186
Alemtejo, 380
Alen^on, 251
Aleppo, 449, 451
Aleutian islands, 667, 770
Alexander, Archipelago, 770
Alexander the Great, 8 ; in Afghan-
istan, 467 ; in Asia Minor, 441 ;
in Egypt, 924 ; in India, 480
Alexandretta, 451
Alexandria, 927
Alexandrina Lake, 614
Alexandropol, 409
Alexandrovo, 418
Alexandrovsk, 407, 412
Alfa fibre, 909
Alfurs, 644
Algarve, 382
Algeria, 900, 906-913
Algiers, 91 1 ; department, 907 ;
Temperature and Rainfall, 908
Algoa Bay, 985
Algonkian (Algonquian) tribe, 106,
683
Alicante, 377
Alice Springs, Climate, 615 ; Tem-
perature and Rainfall, 581
Aliwal North, 991
Allahabad, 488
Allan valley, 157
Allegheny Mountains, 670, 671 ;
Structure of, 40 ; Plateau, 671,
721, 727, 731, 732 ; river, 734
Allemanni, 260
Allen, Lough, 189
Aller river, 271
Alligator river, 615
Alluvial fan, 57 ; plain, 56
Alluvium, 56 ; Geological position
of, 51
Almaden, 374
Almeria, 377
Along bay. 519
Alpaca, 821 ; in Peru, 837
Alpine Foreland, 284 ; of Ger-
many, 267 ; of Austria, 304
Alpine Provinces of Austria, 302
Alps, 125, 256, 353 : Divisions of,
126 ; Eastern, 299 : Geological
divisions of. 129 ; Glaciers of,
126 ; of Germany, 267 ; Italian,
354 ; Passes of, 126 ; Map of
Chief Passes, 127 ; Relative
extent of, 396 ; Section across,
257 ; Western, 237
Alsace, 241
Alsace-Lorraine, 287
Altai mountains, 398
Altenburg, 290
Altitude, definition, 15
Alto Peru, 840
Altona, 295
1654 The International Geography
Altos, 7S8
Altvater mountain, 292, 309
Altyn Tagh mountains, 539
Aluta river, 327
Alvar.ido in Central America, 787
Amacura river, 878
Amadeus, Lake, 615
Amager island, 210
Amaiti, 359, 361, 365
Anianus, Mohs, 448
Amapala, 788
Amatique bay, 783
Amazon basin, 865 ; river, 816,
■^ 73 ; valley, 868
Aniazonas, Peru, 839 ; Brazil, 873
Amazonian, Region of Peru, 835 ;
Slope of Ecuador. 831 ; States of
Brazil, 873
Ambaca, 984
Ambala, 490
Ambalema, 828
Ambato, 833
Amberno river, 642, 643
Amboyna island, 571
Ambnz, 984
Ambrym island, 647
America, Name of, 11 ; North
and South contrasts, 664 ; Struc-
ture of, 40
American or Red Race, Classifi-
cation of, 102, 106
Am '.ens, 249
Amida, 448
Amisus, 443
Ammeberg, 203
Aiunier, lake, 272
Amoy, 535
Ampanam, 572
Amraoti, 493
Amritsar, 490
Amsterdam, 222
Amsterdam islet, T024
Anui-daria river (Oxus), 396, 397
Amur river, 399, 400,539
Anaa sland, 657
Anahuac plain, 776
Anamalai hills, 494
Anatolia,439-445; railway map,443
Ancachs, 837
Ancohuma, Mount, 817
Ancona, 364
Ancyra, 443, 444
Andahuaylas, 839
Andai, 643
Andalusia, 374, 376
Andalusian mountains, 369, 370
Andaman islands, 499
Andean, Basins of Ecuador, map,
830; Countries, 824-848; Pro-
vinces of Argentina, 855; Region
of Peru, 834
Anderlecht, 228
Andermatt. 263
Andes, mountains, 816; of Argen-
t na. 850 : of Bolivia, 840 ; of
Chile, 843 ; of Colombia, 824 ;
of Ecuador, 829 ; of Peru, 834
Andorra 377; la Vieja, 378
Andree, explorer, 1032
Androscoggin river, 725
Anegada,'8o7
Aneto. 371
Angara, river, 400, 426
An"°rs, 251
Angkor-wat, ruins, 518
Angles, people, 144
Anelesea, 164
Anglo-Parisian Basin, 235
Angmagsalik, 1043
Angola, 982-984
Angolare people, 981
Angoni people, 949, looi
Angora (Ancyra), 443, 444
Angora goat, 441
Angouleme, 245
Angra, Pequena, 1012 ; de Sao
Joao, 981 ; do Heroismo, 384
Anguilla Island, 808
Anian, Strait of, 1026
Animals and Plants, distribution
of, 82 ; Pelagic, 90 ; See also
Fauna and Flora
Animals, Land, groups of, 90
Ankaratra, 1016
Ankobra river, 963
Ankole, 938
Ann, Cape, 722
Anna de Chaves, 981
Annam, 516
Annamite people, 517
Annan river, 160
Annapohs, Md., 731 ; Valley, 686
Annatom island, 647
Annobon, 953
Anping, 554
Ansariyeh mountains, 449 ; people,
450 '
Ansitan, 539
Ansoes, 644 '
Ansongo rapids, 956
Antananarivo (Tananarive), 1019
Antarctic, Land, 1048 ; Ocean.
1047, 1050 ; Ocean, Position
of, 61 ; Regions, 1047-1052;
map, 1047
Antarctica, 1048
Antecedent rivers, 732
Anthracite in Pennsylvania, 727 ;
in South Wales, 150
Anthropogeographical relations
99
Anthropogeography, definition, 5
Anti- Balkan Mountains, 331 ;
Lebanon Mountains, 449; Tau-
rus Mountains, 439
Anticline, definition, 53
Anticosti Lsland, 689
Antigua (Guatemala), 783, 789;
Island, 807
Antillean mountain system, 667
Antioch, 451
Antioquia, 827; mountain, 825
Antipodes Island, 627
Antis people, 822
Antisana, mountain, 830
Antivari. 337
Antofagasta, 846
Antonia Peak, 979
Antrim, Co., 189, 193
Antumey (Annatom) Island, 647
Antwerp (Anvers). 229
Anyanja people, 949
Anzin, 249
Aomoii, 551
Aorangi. mountain, 628
Aosta, 126
Apache tribe, 779
Apamea, 443
Aphelion, 72
Apia, 654
Apian "Cosmographia," 2 ; Maps
of, 31
Apollonia (Valona), 344
Appalachian, Belt, 715 ; Moun-
tains, 670, 681 ; Northern con-
tinuation of, 690
.Appennne Foreland, 357
Appennines, 125, 352, 355
Appenzell, canton, 263
Apple Tree (Yablonov'j'i) Moun-
tains, 398
Apsheron, 394
Apulia, 364 ; (Le Murgie), 358
Apulum, 323
Apure river, 885
Apurimac, 839 ; river, 835
Aquitaine, 236
Arab Geographers of Middle Ages,
10
Arab Zone province, 978
Arabah depression, 449
Arabia, 451-456 ; Petrsea, 453
Arabian region, 433
Arabs, 437, 453, 898, 910, 914, 917,
926, 937, 939, 956, 978
Arad, 322
Arafura Sea, 577
Araguaya river, 874
Aragon, 373, 377 ; river, 370
Arakan, 472, 496
Aral, Lake, 396, 425
Aralo-Caspian basin, 395
Aram-Naharaim, 447
Arapey river, 857
Ararat mountain, 395, 440
Ararat, Victoria, 609
Aras river, 457
Araucanian people, 822, 845
Arawak people, 800
Arawary river, 883
Araxes river, 395
Arcadia, 349
Archaean rocks. Geological posi-
tion of, 51
Archangel, 411
Archipelago Vilayet, 444
Arco, 306
Arctic, America, 1046 ; Archi-
pelago, 703, 1027, 1046 : Record,
1025-1033 ; Regions, 1033-1046 ;
Regions, map, 1034; Sea, 41, 62,
1033; Siberia, 1045
Arctogaic Realm, 88
Arden, Forest of, 174
Ardennes, 224, 237
Arecibo, 800
Ared district, 456
Arequipa, 838
Arfak mountains, 643
Argaeus, Mount, 439
Argau, 264
Argentina, 849
Argentine Republic, 849-856
Argos, 349
Aigovia, 264
Arguin, 953
Argun river, 400
Arguni ba}', 642
Argyll, 156
Ariiuaco people, 827
Arid, climates, 80; regions and
river work, 57
Aristotle, 8
Arizona, 765
Arkansas Highlands, 753
Arkhangelsk (Archangel), 411
Arklow, 189
Arlberg tunnel, 262, 306
Armenian nation, 436 ; plateau
395. 427
Armenians, 403, 442
Armidale, N.S.W., 600
Armorican region, 235
Arnawi, 466
Index
i<^55
Arnhem, 222
Arnhem Land. 576, 578
Arno river, 356
Aroa, 887
Aron, 968
Arrowsmith, 31
Arroyo, 800
Artagulf, 346
Artesian wells in Atlantic States.
721 ; in Queensland, 591 ; in
Sahara, 908 ; in S. Australia, 618
Aruba island, 806
Arun, river, 180
Arundel, 180
Aruwiini province, 978
Arya tribes, 478
Aryan languages, 132
Arzeu, 911
Asaba, 972
Asama-yama volcano, 546
Ascension island, 1013
Ashango people, 959
Ashanti, 964
Ashford, 180
Ashio, 548
Asia, Continent, 422-438 ; Moun-
tain systems, map, 427; Minor,
plateau 425; Minor, st'dAnatol a
Asiatic Turkey and Arabia, 439-456
Askhabad, 417
Askja, volcano, 213
Asosan, volcano, S46
Asphalt in Trinidad, 811
Aspromonte, 357
Ass. Wild, 540 ^
Assab, 935
Assam, 473, 495; Forests, 477
Assiniboia. 702; District, 701
Assinie, 957
Assiut. 927
Assuan, 922, 927
Assyria, 450
Assyrian Empire, 447
Astorga, 376
Astrakhan, 414
Astrolabe bay, 639
Asturias, 371, 376
Asuncion, S62
Atacama desert, 821
Atbara river, 920
Atel. 414
Athabasca, district. 702 ; Lake,
681 ; river, 681. 698, 703
Athapascan people, io6
Athens, 348
Atjeh. 565, 566
Atjinese people, 557
Atlantic, City, 71S ; Coastal Plain,
718 ; Coastal Plain (map), 720
Atlantic Ocean, currents of, 69 ;
configuration of bed. 60 ; origin
of, 36, 41 ; position of, 61 ; Salinity
of, 64 ; Shore Lme of United
.States, 717
Atlas mountains. 41. 370, 890, 904,
907
Atmosphere, 3, 4 ; and climate,
72-82 , Effects of heat on, 74 ;
Pressure of, 76
Atoll, 62 ; Map of typical, 657
Atolls in Pacific, 649
Atrato river, 824, 828
Atrek river, 457
Attalia. 444
Attica, 347
At tie, 957
Attopeu, 517
Aturcs rapids, 884
Auburn, Me., 725 ; N.Y., 736
Auckland, 634 ; Islands, 627
Augila, 916
Augsburg, 284
Augusta, Me., 723^
Aulad 'Aly Bedawin, 926
Aullagas,"lake, 840
Aurangabad, 498
Aures range, 907
Aussig, 308
Austin, Tex., 755
Austral plant division, 88
Australia, Continent of, 575-586 ;
Fauna of, 87 ; Felix, 605 ; Felix,
extinct Volcanoes of, 579
Australian, Alps, 594. 602 ; Cor-
dillera, 588 ; people, 104 ; region,
87
Austria. 302-315 ; statistics, 325
Austria-Hungary, 298-301 ; Origin
of, 136'; Provinces of, 301
Austrian, Alps, 302 ; Gap, 303
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, 298-
Auvergne, 239
Aux Cayes. 802
Avalon Peninsula, 705
Avars, 319
Avenches (Aventicum), 264
Aventicum. 264
Avignon. 253
Avila, 376
Avon river, 166, 174, 176, 179
Awas mountains, 1012
Awe, Loch, 156
Awob river, 1012
Ax, 377
Axarfjord, 213
Axim, 964
Axis (Espigao) mountain of Brazil,
866
Ayacucho, 839
Aylesbury, Vale of, 179
Aymara people, 822, 841
Ayolas, Juan de, in Paraguay, 862
Azimutb, definition, 15
Azoques, 833
Azores, see Azores, 384
Azov sea, 407
Aztecs, 779
Aztlan, 779
Azuay province, 833
Azure Coast, 253
BA- CANCALE People, 983;
Coroca people, 983 ; Cuisso
people, 983 ; Ronga, 996
Bab el-Mandeb strait, 425, 452
Baba, Cape, 422
Babylonia, 447
Back, Sir George, Arctic Voyage,
1028
Backbone (Epinhago) of Brazil,
866
Bactria, 467
Bad Lands of Dakota, 758
Badpgry. q68
Badajoz, 376
Badakhshan, 397, 465
Baden, Grand Duchy, 286 ; near
Vienna, 306
Baer, Von. 56
Bafulabe, 958
Baffin, Arctic Voyage, 1026 ; Bay,
1035 ; Land, 1046
Baggara tribe, 926
Baghdad, 448
Bagneres de-Luchon, 252
Bagrada river. 914
Bahama islands, 667, 803 ; climate,
792
Baharieh oasis, 928
Bahia, 870, 875 ; Blanca, 849 ; dos
Tigres (Great Fish Bay), 982,
Honda, 798
Bahr-el-Abiad, 920 ; Azrak, 920 ;
Gebel, 920 ; Ghazal, 920
Bahrein islands, 452
Baikal lake, 400, 401, 426
Bailundo regions, 982
Baillie, Alexander F., Paraguay
859 ; Uruguay, 856
Baines, J. A., India, 469
Baixas do Sorraia, 380
Bajan people, 567
Bakalahari people, 1002
Bakel, 956
Baker, Sir Samuel, explorer, 901
Baku, 416
Bala lake, 165
Balabac island, 559 ; strait, 566
Balata in Dutch Guiana, 882
Balaton-Fiired, 318
Balaton (Flatten) lake, 318
Bald Mountain, 688; (Lysa Gora),
392
Bale, canton, 264
Balearic islands, 370, 377
Bali island, 564
Balkh (Bactria), 467
Balkan mountains. 331, 338 ;
Peninsula. 330-335 ; Peninsula,
reorganisation of, 136
Balkhash, lake, 396
Ballarat. 608
Balleny in Antarctic, 1048
Balsam lake, 694
Baltic Sea. 407 ; Circulation of, 67
Baltimore, Md., site, 720; as a
seaport, 715
Baltistan. 499
Baluchistan, 499
Balumbo people, 950
Bambara people, 956
Bamberg, 285
Bamboo m Africa, 8vt6; in China.
526 ; in Colombia, 826; in India.
477
Bammako, 958 ; rapids, 956
Bamopamo river, 962
Banana, 978
Bananas in Jamaica, 804
Banda islands, 571
Banda-neira island, 571
Bandana river. 957
Bandar Abbas, 463 ; Maharani, 515
Bandjermassin, 568
Banff County, 156
Bang Pa Kong river, 508
Bangala people, 983 ; province. 978
Bangalore, 498
Bangaso, 959
Bangkok, 510
Bangor, Me., 723
Bangui, 959
Bangweolo, lake, 947
Bani-Bagoe river. 957
Banka island, 565, 566
Banks Peninsula, 628
Bann, river. 193
Bantam, 562, 563
Bantu in East Africa. 933 ; people.
898 ; speech, 104 ; in South
Africa, 989
Baobab trees in Africa, 896
Bara people, 1017
1056 The International Geography
Baraba, steppe. 398
Baracoa, 795, 798
Baranof island, 770
Barawa, 936
Barbados island, 810; tar, 810
Barbary States, 904
Barbud'a island, 807
Barcelona, 377 ; (Venezuela), 887 ;
Gulf of, 885
Barcelonnettes, 243
Bareli, 489
Barents Land 1044
Barents, W., voyage of, 1026
Bari, 365; Bari people, 933
Baringo lake, 931
Barma river, 879
Barisan mountains, 564
Barito river, 567, 568
Barka, 916. 917
Barkul, 540
Barmen, 288
Baroda, 497
Barotseland, see Barutseland
Barquisimeto, 887
Barrancas of Mexico, 776 ; Vene-
zuela, 884
Barranquilla, 828
Barren grounds, 89 ; Lands, 682,
703
Barrier Mountains, N.S.W., 594 ;
reef, 62 ; reef, map of, 587
Barrow-in-Furness, 163
Barrow river, 193
Barry Dock, 151, 165
Barth, explorer, 901
Bartica, 881
Barton, C. H., Australia, 575 '.
Queensland. 587
Barutse people, 949
Barutseland, 949, 950
Barwan river, 594
Basel, canton, 264
Bashan, 449
Bashgul valley. 466
Basilicata, The, 364
Basin, 49 ; Ranges, Rocky Moun-
tams, 765
Basque Province, 371, 374. 37^
Basques, 133, 240. 372
Basra, 448
Bass Strait, 576, 610
Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, 809
Bassenthwaite lake, 163
Basseterre, St. Kitts, 808
Bastard people, 1013
Basuto people, 990
Basutoland, 992
Batabano, 797
Batang-hari river, 564, 566
Batalha-Reis, J.. Brazil, 865
Batanga coast, 973
Bntavia, 562
Bath. 177
Bathurst. Gambia. 962 ; N.S.W.,
59S, 600 ; Island, 614
Batjian island, 570
Baton Rouge, La., 750
Battak people, 557, 565, 566
Battambong river, 509
Bnt Jcalao, 504
Batum, 416
Baule, 957
Bautzen, 276
Bavaria, 284
Bavarian Palatinate, 286
Bavarians, 276, 300
Bawean Islands, 563
Bay, 50 ; Islands, 784 ; of Fundy,
Tides of, 65 ; of Islands, New
foundland, 705 ; Verte. 686
Baymen of British Honduras, 790
Beachy Head, 180
Bear Island, 1044
Beam. Province, 252
Bear-Paw Mountains, 756
Beauce, 235, 251
Beaucaire, 253
Beaumont, Elie de, 37, 42
Bechuana people, 990
Bechuanaland, 1002-1003 ; Pro-
tectorate, 1002-1003
Bedawin tribes, 926
Bedford, 178
Bedouin, 926
Bek-Pak-Dala, desert, 396
Beechworth, Victoria, 609
Beeren Berg, 1044
Beetroot in France, 243 ; in Ger-
many, 281
Behaim's Globe, 35
Bei-Kem river, 400
Beira, 946
Beireuse mountains, 380
Beirut, 451
Beja, 380 ; people, 898
Belad-al-Jerid, 913
Belaya river, 418
Beled-es-Sudan, 897
Belem, 873
Belep Islands, 644
Belfast, 193
Belgse in Britain, 143
Belgica, ship. 1048
Belgica prima, 231
Belgique, 223
Belgium, 223-230 ; Origm of, 136
Belgrade, 336
Belik river, 447
Belize, 790 ; river, 789
Bell Sound, 1044
Bellary, 495
Belle Isle Strait, 704
Bellenden Ker Mountains, 589
Bellingshausen, explorer, 1048
Bellinzona, 265
Bello Horizonte, 875
Belts of Denmark, 208
Belyi Klyuch, 390
Ben Lomond, Tasmania, 611 -,
Macdhui, 156 ; Nevis, 141, 156
Benadir coast, 936
Benares, 488
Benches = river terraces, 55
Bend of the Niger, 954
Bende, 968
Bendery, 409
Bendigo, 608
Bengal, 486
Bengali language, 479
Bengawan valley, 562
Benghazi, 916, 917
Benguela, 984 ; current, 70
Beni, 842 : river, 841
Beni Saf. 908
Benin, 968 ; Bight of, 972 ; people,
967
BenUoolen, 562, 565
Bennett land, 1046
Benue river, 970
Beothuk people, 706
Bequia island, 810
Berar, 493
Berber, 927 ; race, 907
Berbera, 936
Berbers, 898 ; in Algeria. 910 ; in
Portugal, 382 ; in Tripoli, 917
Berbice, 881 ; river, 879
Berezina, river, 390
Bergdamara people, 1013
Bergen, 207
Berici Monti, 355
Bering sea, 423 '; strait. 85. 423, 1033
Bering Vitus Arctic Voyage, XQC7
Berlenga Islands, 379
Berlin, 295 ; Temperature and
rainfall of, 273 ; Treaty of, 136
Bermejo river, 841, 850
Bermuda, 708-709
Bermudez, 887
Bern, canton, 264
Bernard. Augustin, New Cale-
donia. 644
Bernese Oberland. 258
Bernina mountains, 259
Berry, province, 251
Bertrand Alejandro, Chile, 843
Berwick, 160, 169 ; county, 160
Besan(jon, 252
Beskids, 313 ; passes, 311
Bessarabia, 416
Betafo district, 1016
Bethencourt, Explorer, 952
Betsiboka river, 1016
Betsileo people, 1017
Betsimisaraka people, 1017
Bhagalpur, 488
Bhamo, 496
Bhoten, see Bhutan
Bhutan, 503
Biafada people. 981
Biafra. Bight of, 973
Biainas people, 441
Bibundi. 974
Bicameral=with two Houses of
Parliament, 632
Bida, 972
Bidassoa river, 233
Biddeford, Me.. 725
Bielefeld. 289
Bienne. (Biel), 264
Biferno Fortore, river, 357
Big Game in Rhodesia, looo
Big Horn Basin, 762
Bihar, 474 ; plain, 487
Bijagos island, 980
Bijuga island, 896
Bilbao, 376
Bileton island, 566
Bima, 572
Biminis, The, 803
Bingen, 288
Bingerville, 957
Bingeul Dagh mountam, 440
Binghampton. N.Y., 736
Bini people. 967
Biobio river, 848
Biogeography. 83-95 ; Definition, 4
Biological transition areas, 87
Bionomic Relations, 85
Biosphere, 4
Bird of Paradise in Dutch New
Guinea. 643 ; in the Moluccas,
570 ; in New Guinea, 637, 640
Birkenhead, 172
Birmingham, 175 ; and the Black
Country. Map of, 175 ; Ala., 728
Bisaya, 559
Bischoff, Mount, 611
Biscoe, explorer, 1048
Bisharin people, 898, 926
Bishop, Mrs., Korea, 542
Biskra, 912
Bismarck Archipelago, 640
Bismarck, N. Dak., 757
Index
1057
Bismarck range, 636, 639
Bismarckburg, 973
Bissao, 981
Bitlis, 444
Bitolia, 343
Bitter Lakes, 928
Biwa, lake, 547, 552
B zerta, 915
Black Country, 175: Earth Region,
405 ; Earth Region of Russia,
3,ijo, 402 ; Forest, 269 ; Hills,
673 : Hills, U.S., 757 ; Moun-
tains, 164, 603, 670 : Mountains
(Austria), 311 : Mountains, X.C,
716 : Sea, 407 ; Sea, Circulation
of 67 ; Sea, Origin of, 41 ;
Stream of Japan, 70
Blackburn, 173
Blackioot tribe, 683
Blackpool, 174
Blackvvater river, 18S, 194
Blaeu, cartographer, 11
Blanc, Mont, 126, 237
Blanche Bay, 641
Blanco, Cape, 953
Blantyre, B.C.A., 950
Bleiberg, 305
Blida, 912
Bligh, Governor, 597
Blizzard, 756
Blocmfontein, 1006
Blomidun, Cape, 686
Blue Grass Country, 733 ; Gum
Tree, 603 ; Mountains, India,
472 ; Mountains, Jamaica, 803 ;
Mountains, N.S.W., 594, 596 ;
Mountains, Wash., 764 ; Nile,
920; Ridge, 721
Bluefields, 788
Blurt, The, 628
Boavista Island, 979
Bober valley, 292
Bocca Serriola, 356
Bodegas de Babahoyo, 833
Bodcnbach-Zetschen, 308
Bodensee, lake, 257
Bodmin moor, 167
Bodo, 207 ; Rain and temp, curves
for, 200
Boeotia, 348
Boeps, 990 ; in Transvaal, 1010
Boeroboedur. 563
Bog. 89
Boghaz Keui, 44X
Bognor, 181
Bogong mountain, 602
Bogota, 828
Bogs of Ireland, 142
Bohemia (Bohmen), 306
Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland, 291
Bohmen, 306
Poian lands, 299, 305
B >is-le-Duc, 222
Bojadcjr, Cape, 953
Bokhara, 408, 417
Bolama, 981
Bolan pass, 467, 499
Bolivar, province, 827, 833 ; the
Liberator, 827
Bolivia, 840-843
Bolivian Plateau, 817
Bologna, 363
Boloven, 517
Bolton, 173
Boma, 978
P >mbay, 40T, 492 : Longitude of,
3'
Honist, Vmcyards al, ^/ j
Bonaca island, 784
Bonavista bay, 705
Bonaire island, 806
Bone, 912
Bonifacio, strait, 358
Bonin islands, 545
Bonn, 2S8
Bonneville Lake in Utah, map, 766
Bonney, T. G., 37
Bonny, 968
Boothia Felix peninsula, 1028
Bora wind, 314, 319
Borchgrevink in Antarctic, 1048
Bordeaux, 252
Borderland, Hungarian, 323
Borders, dehnition, 112
Boreal plant division, 88
Borgu, 971 ; people, 970
Borneo, 566
Bornholm, 211
Bornu people, 971
Borrowdale, 163
Bosna Serail, 324
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 324
Bosporus, 330, 341
Boston, 179
Boston, Mass., 722 ; as a seaport,
715 ; Harbour islands, 724
Botany Bay, 584, 597
Bothnia, Gulf of, 197
Botletlie river, 1003
Botocudo people, 869
Botosani, 329
Bougainville Island, 647, 648
Bougie. 912
Boulder clay. Origin of, 57
Boulogne, 249, 250
Boundaries, 112; Maps, 113; be-
tween British Guiana and Vene-
zuela, map, 878 ; of Colombia,
824 ; in South America, 823 ; of
States, 712
Boundary at the Great American
Lakes, 737; of Maryland, 718;
between United States and
Canada, 113; of Virginia, 718
Bounty Bay, 659 ; Island, 627
Bourbon island, 1024
Bourges, 251
Bourke, 600
Bournemouth, 181
Bowen, 591, 592
Boyaca, 827
Boyne, River, 192
Bozen, 306
Brabant, 221 *
Bradford, 170 ; on-Aven, 177
Bradano Baseuto, river, 357
Brahmaputra river, 471, 486, 495,
541
Brahui people, 499
Braila, 329
Bramard, Sergeant, Arctic Explo-
ration, 1030
Brakna people, 956
Branco, Cape, 813
Brandenburg, 292, 293
Brandon, 696
Branholme, 6n
Bras d'Or, 686
Brass, 968
Braunschweig, 293
Brava island, 979
Brave West Wmds, 70, 78
Bray Head, 187
Brazil, 865-877 ; Configuration.
Sh5 ; Geology, 867 ; Highlands.
«i5
Brazilian Island, 865, 874
Brazza, Savorgnan de, 958
Brazzaville, 959
Brda, 337 ; mountains, 307
Breakers, 67
Breccias, 52
Brecon Beacons, 164
Breda, 222
Breidafjordur, 212
Bremen, 294
Brenner Pass, 127, 302
Breslau, 293
Brest, 251
Brest-Litovsk, 409
Breton, Cape, 686
Brick-tea, 529
Bridgetown, Barbados, 8ll
Brieg, 265
Brier island, 686
Bright, 609
Brighton, 181
Brindisi, 365
Brionian islands, 314
Brisbane, 590, 591, 592
Bristol, 166
British Borneo, 559-560; Central
Africa, 946-951 ; Columbia, 697-
700 ; East Africa, 937-940 ; East
African Protectorate, 938 ; Em-
pire, def., 138; Empire, Extent
of, 146 ; Empire, Statistics of,
196; Guiana, 878-881; Honduras,
787, 789; Isles. Chmate of, 140;
Isles, Configuration of, 139;
Isles, Discovery of, 8; Isles,
Fauna of, 143 ; Isles, Flora of,
142; Isles, Population of, 148;
New Guinea, 635-638; North
America, 679; North Borneo,
559 ; Occupation of Egypt, 925 ;
Pacific Islands, 651; Peoples,
History of, 143 ; South Africa,
997 ; Sudan, 969 ; West African
Coast Colonies, 960-969
Brittany, 251
Brno (Briinn), 309
Broads of Norfolk, 182
Brocken, 290
Brockton, U.S., 726
Brodj', 313
Broken Hill, 601
Brooklyn, 730
Brooks, W. K., on pelagic fauna, 94
Broome, 626
Brothers island, 936
Brown Willy, 167
Bruce, James, explorer, goo
Bruce Peninsula, 694
Bruce, W. S., explorer, 1048
Brue, Andre, 954
Bruges, 225
Brugg, 264
Brunei, 560
Bruni island, 613
Briinn (Brno), 309
Brunswick, duchy, 293
Brusa (Prusa), 443, 444
Brussels, 228
Bruxelles, 228
Briix, 307
Bryce, James, Natal, 993 ; Orange
River Colony, 1003 ; TransvaS,
1007
Br>-thonic tribe, 162
Buache, Philip, contour lines, 31
Bubanjidda Mountains, 970
I)Ubi people, 953
Budapest, 321
1058 The International Geography
Buddhism, 528
Buddhists in Tibet, 541
Budweis, 308
Buea, 974
Bueleng, 564
Buen Ayre (Bonaire) island, 806
Buena Ventura gulf, 824
Buenaventura, 828 ; rainfall, 819
Buenos Aires, 849, 853 ; tempera-
ture and rainfall, 819
Buffalo, N.Y.. site, 738
Buffaloes in United States, 758
Buflavente Mountain, 445
Bug river, 271, 391, 415
Bugi people, 569
Buitenzorg, 563
Bujis Island, 384
Bukarest, 329
Bukovina, 300, 311; derivation,
312
Bulangan river, 567
Bulavvayo, 1002
Bulgaria, 338-339
Bulgarian Foreland, 331
Buiganans. 334
Bulhar, 936
Bulom people, 963
Bunda people, 983
Bundaberg, 591, 592
Bundelkhand, 497
Bunter, Geological position of, 51
Burdekin river, 591
Bure, 955
Burgas, 339
Burgos, 376
Burgundians, 260
Burgundy Gate. 125 ; province,
252
Burhanpur, 493
Burin peninsula, 705
Burlington, I., 744
Burma, 472, 495 ; geology, 473
Burma-Sunda mountains, 428
Burnet's Theory of the Earth, 37
Burnley, 173
Burntisland, 158
Burrard Inlet. O97, 700
Burslem, 175
Burton, Sir R. F.. 901
Burton-on-Trent, Brewing at, 176
Buru. Cape, Malay peninsula, 422 ;
New Guinea, 642 ; island, 570
Burv, 173
Bush Veldt, 1007
Bushire, 463
Bushmen, 898 ; in German S.W.
Africa, 1013
Bussa, 972 ; rapids, 956
Bussaco Mountains, 379
Butte City, 761
Butung Island, 569
Butter in Denmark, 209
Buttermere, 163
Buxton, 169
Byzantine Empire, 134
LjZ,aatium, 342
CAAGUAZU, Cordilleras of, 860
Cabanas, 798
Cabinda, 984
C.ibo de la Nao, 370
Cabot, lohn, 10, 706; Voyage of,
1025 ; Strait, 704
C I -"ral, Pedro Alvares, discoverer,
>S7o
Cibralia bay, 870
Ca'- 10 in Dutch Guiana, 882 ; in
Ecuador. 833; in Grenada, 810;
in Trinidad 812 ; in Venezuela,
887
Caconda climate, 983
Cactus, 766
Cactuses. 89
Cadabona, Pass of, 125, 356
Cadamosto, discoverer, 980
Cader Idris, 164
Cadiz, 376
Caen. 251
Caesarea. 444
Cagliari, 365
Cagni, Captain, 1032
Caia, river, 381
Caiapo people, 869
Caicos islands, 805
Caillie, explorer, 900
Cairns. 591, 592
Cairo, 111.. 750 ; Egypt, 927
Caithness, 155
Calabria, 39, 357, 364
Calais, 249
Calcutta, 487 ; Temperature and
rainfall of. 474
Caldas da Rainha, 382
Caldera. 656 ; of Crater Lake, 768
Caledon river, 1004
Caledonian Canal, 156
Calem, 502
Cali, Farrallones of, 824
Calicut, 494, 495 ; Temperature
and rainfall of. 474
California, 765 ; Acquisition of
711 ; Gulf of. 668, 774; Valley
of, 668, 768
Calisaya Cinchona, 842
Callao, 838 ; gold mines, 884
Calle-Calle river, 848
Callejon da Huaylas, 835, 837
Calpe, 378
Calycadnus river, 440
Cambodia, 517; river, 508
Cambodians. 518
Cambrian Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Cambridge, 179; Gulf, 620; Mass..
731
Camden, 600
Cameron, Capt. V, L., explorer,
901
Cameroons (Kamerun), 973
Camel in Africa, 897 ; in N.S.W.,
595 ; in W. Australia, 621 ; Wild,
540
Campania, 364
Campaspe river, 602
Campbell island, 627
Campbellton, 155
Campbelltown, N.S.W., 600
Campeche, 774. 781
Camperdown, 609
Campos in Argentina, 851 ; region
of Brazil. 820
Campsie Fells, 157
Canada, Dominion of, 679; boun-
dary with United States, 113,
723 ; Geological map, 680
Catiar, 833 ; (Naranjal) Basin, 831 ;
Province, 833
Canara, 502
Canary Islands, 377, 952
Candia, 350
Canea, 350
Cannes, 253
Canso, Gut of. 686
Cantabrian Mountains. 371
Canterbury, 180 ; Plains, N.Z., 629
Canton, 535 ; climate, 526
Canuku Mountains, 879
Cao, Diogo, discoverer. 983
Cape Breton Island, 685 ; Coast,
964; Colony, 985-993; Colony,
Railway system of, 991 ; of
Good Hope, Discovery of. 10 ;
Haitien, 802 ; River Goldticld.
592 ; Town. 992 ; Town, Longi-
tude of. 31 ; Towp, temperature
and rainfall, 987 ; York Penm-
sula, 576, 587 ; York Peninsula
Geology, 578 ; Verde Islands,
979-980
Capiberibe river, 875
Caprera Island. 358
Captaincies in Brazil, 870
Capture of rivers, 55, 59
Caracas. 887
Caramulo Mountains, 379
Caravan routes of Tripoli, 917
Caravaya. 839
Caraya people, 869
Carboniferous Formation, Geo-
logical position of. 51
Carchi, province. 833
Cardenas bay, 797
Cardiff. 151, 165
Cardigan Bay, 164
Carenero, 887
Cariaco Gulf, 887
Caribbean depression. Origin of,
41 ; R:.i'.-e. 887 ; Sea, 813 ;
Sea, currents of, 69
Caribbees, 792, 805
Cariboo district, 699
Carib people (Carahibs), 800, 822,
869 ; at St. Vincent, 792, 810 ;
in British Honduras, 790
Carinthia Duchy, 304
Carlisle, 160, 169 ; Bay, Barbados.
811
Carljohansvaern, 206
Carlsborg, 205
Carskrona, 204
Carlsruhe, 286
Carmel, Mount, 448
Carnarvon. 164
Carnegie, Hon. David W., Western
Australia, 620
Carnic Alps. 316
Carniola (Krain), Duchy, 304, 305
Caroline Archipelago, 655
Carolina bight, 720
Carpathia, 388, 391
Carpathian foreland, 311 ; Lands,
311 ; Mountains, 299, 308. 327,
331
Carpentaria Gulf, 577. 578, 587
Carpentarian plain, 589
Carpets in Persia, 461 ; in Turkey,
341. 442
Carrantuohill, 194
Carriacou island. 810
Carrickfergus. 189
Carron Loch, 155
Carse Clays, loi ; -lands, 153 ;
of Gowrie, 157
Cartagena, Spain, 377 ; Colombia,
828
Cartago, 784, 789 ; (Costa Rica), 783
Cartailhac, M., 102
Carthage, 915
Cartier, Jacques, 691
Cartography, Development of. 12
Caaiipano, 888
Casa-Blanca, 905
Cascade Mountains, 672, 764, 767
Cascaes, 383
Index
1059
Cashel. 194
Caspian Sea, 396
Cassini de Thury, 29
Cass'quiare river, 816, 866, 884
Castile. 373. 376
Castletown, 186
Castries, 809
Castro-vireyna, 839
Cat Island. 803
Catalan language, 240
Catalonia, 374, 377
Catalonian dialect, 373
Catainarca, 855
Catania, 365
Cataract Hills. 613
Cataracts in Africa, 891 ; of the
Nile, 921
Catingas region, 820
Catorce, 780
Catskill Mountains, 671, 732, 734
Cattaro. 31S : bay, 337
Cattle in Argentina, 853 ; in
Bechuanaland, 1002 ; on the
Great Plains, U.S., 755 ; in
India, 477 : on the Prairies, 739 ;
in Rhodesia, 1000 ; in Trans
vaal, 1008 ; in Uruguay, 857;
in Venezuela, 885; rearing in
Africa, 899
Cauca, province, 827 ; river, 824,
828
Caucasic or White Race, 102 ;
Classification of, 107
Caucasus, 416 ; Configuration,
394 ; Mountains, 388
CausseSj Plateaux of, 239
Cauterets, 252
Caves, Fauna of, 93 ; Formation
of, 54
Cavalli river, 960
Cavite, 559
Cawnpore, 488
Caxamarca, 838
Cayambe Mountain, 830
Cayenne, 883
Cayman Islands, 805
Cays of Cuba, 793; in West
Indies, 791
Cavo Romano, 797
Cearil. 874
Cedars of Lebanon, 450
Celebes, 555, 568
Ci-lestial Equator, definition, 15
Celtica, 240
Cenis, Mont, tunnel, 247
Central Alps, 126 ; America, 782-
790 : America, Climate, 785 ;
Rivers, 784 ; Belt of India, 472;
Cordillera of the Andes, 835 ;
Guatemala Mountains, 783 ;
Lowlands of Ireland, 189; Plain
of England, 171, 174 ; Plateau
of France, 233, 237 ; Provinces
of India, 493 . Ranges of Aus-
tralia, 579 ; Russia, configura-
tion, 389
Cephalonia Island. 349
Ceram (Serang) Island, 570, 571
Cerro Cotzic. 783 ; de Apisco, 775 ;
de Pasco ; 836, 838 ; Duida, 884 ;
Munchique, 824 ; Quemado.
7S3
Cervin, Mont, 258
Ctinje (Cettigne), 337
Cette, 253
Cettigne, 337
Ceuta, 377
C€vennes, 233
' Ceylon. 503-507
Chachapoyaa, 839
Chaco, 820, 8t)0 ; territory, 856
Chad, Lake, 892. 958. 970
Chagos Archipelago, 1023
Chaix, Prof. Emile, Switzerland,
256
Chaki-Chaki, 940
Cha'cidice penmsula, 330
Chaldea, 436
Chaleur Bav, 688
Chalk Country of England, 178 :
Escarpment, 177; Geological
position of, 51
Chalons-sur-Marne, 249
Challenger, Cruise of, 12 ; in
Antarctic, 1050
Chama river, 886
Chambal valley, 497
Chambez: river, 947, 975
Chamorro people, 655
Champenco. 788
Champion bay, 625
Champlain. lake, 728
Chancay, 838
Chancellor, Arctic Voyage, 1025
Chanchamayu, 839
Chanchan river, 831
Chandernagore, 503
Changkiakou, 532
Changsha, 533
Chauia people, 910
Channel Islands, i86
Ch'ao-sien, 542
Chapala ike.7''6
Charcas, 841
Charente, river, 252
Charing-nor lake, 541
Charles Louis mountains, 643
Charlemagne (Charles the Great),
135. 300
Charleroi, 225
Charleston, S.C., site, 720
Charlestown, Nevis, 808
Charleville, 591
Charlotte Amalie, 806 ; Town,
Dominica, 807
Charlottenburg, 296
Charlottetown, 687
Chamwood Forest, 174, 176
Chartered Companv, 119
Charters Towers GoldfieH, 592
Charts. 23, 34
Chat Moss, 172
Chatham Islands, 627
Chattisgarh, 493
Chats Rapids, 693
Chatyr Dagh, 394
Chaudiere Falls, Ottawa, 695 ;
river, 691
Chaux-de-fonds, 264
Chebchi Mountains. 973
Chechs (Czechs), 308
Chekiang. 535
CheUia (Shellia) mountain, 907
Cheltenham, 177
Chelyuskin, Cape, 422 ; peninsula,
1046
Chemnitz, 291
Chemulpo, 543
Chengte, 532
Chengtu. 534
Cherbourg, 251
Cherchel, 911
Cherchen oasis, 540
Chernagora, 337
Chernoziom (blaci? ?arth of
Russia), 405
Cherry Creek, 760
Cher well, river, 177
Chesapeake bay, 731 ; river, 718
Cheshire, 171, 174 ; plain^ 165. 174
Chester, 166, 174
Cheviot hills. 168
Chibcha people, 822, 827
Chicago, 740 : site, 738
Chichen-Itza. 779
Chichester, 180
Chidley, cape, 679
Chiem, lake, 272
Chifu. 533
Chignecto bay, 686
Chile, 843-848
Chin (China), 531
Chillagoe, 592
Chilian, 848
Chiltern hills. 178
Chilwa lake, 947
Chimbo, 833 ; river, 831
Chimborazo mountain, 830 ; prr>-
vince. 833
Chimbote, 837
China-clay. 167 ; grass, 529
China Proper, 521-536
Chinamen in British Columbia.
700 ; in Dutch East Indies, 561 ?
in French Cochin-China, 518 ;
in New Zealand, 633 : in Siam,
510 ; in Straits Settlements, 512 ;
in Trinidad, 812 ; in U.S., 769
Chinandega, 789
Chincha islands, 836
Chinde, 946 ; mouth, 945
Chinese Central Asia, 539; Empire,
521-542 ; Empire, Provinces of
538 ; language, 527 ; people, 527
Chinook wind, 80
Chios island, 444
Chippewa river, 743
Chiquimula, 789
Chiquito people, 841
Chiriqui mountains, 824 ; vol-
cano, 784
Chiromo, 950
Chisholm, G. G., Europe, 123:
Chinese Empire, 521
Chiswina language, 1003
Chita, 419
Chitral, 499
Chit t a gong, 487
Chittim, 445
Chivril, 443
Chixoy river, 785
Chobi river, 1003
Choiseul island, 648 ; sound, 864
Chong, people, 510
Chontales, 784
Chorillos, 838
Chorography = description of
places, 2
Chorokh river, 395
Choruk Su (Acampsis) river, 440
Choshi. 547
Chnstchurch, N.Z., 634 ; Tem-
perature and rainfall of. 630
Christiania, 206 : Longitude of, 31
Christiansand. 206
Christiansted. 806
Christiansund, 207
Christmas Island (Indian Ocean),
514; (Pacific), 658
Chronometer, 11, 18
Chrysopolis, 443
Chu river, 397
Chubut river, 850 : territory, 85$
Chudskoye, or Peipus, 128
io6o The International Geography
Chun, Prof., in Antarctic, 1048
Chungking, 534
Chunnenugga ridge, 746
Chuqui-apu, 842
Chuquisaca, 842
Chur (Coire), 127, 263
Churchill river, 701
Chusovaya river, 414
Chutia Nagpur, 473, 487
Ciales, 799
Cibao mountains. 801
Cienfuegos, 796, 797, 798
Cilento mountains, 357
Cilician plain, 439
Cimbrian peninsula, 208
Cimone, Monte, 356
Cinchona in Ceylon, 505 ; in Peru,
837 ; in Ecuador, 832
Cincinnati, 737, 744
Cintra, 383
Circumdenudation, Mountains, 55
Cirque=corry, 50
Citara, Farrallones of, 824
Citlaltepetl, 775
City, definition, 162
Ciudad Bolivar. 884, 885
Clapperton, Explorer, 900
Clare Co., 194
Clarence peak, 953 ; river, 600
Clay, Weathering of, 54
Clays, 52
Clermont-Ferrand, 251
Cleveland, O., site, 738 ; Hills,
177 ; iron ore, 150
Clew Bay. 189
Cliff, definition, 49
Climate, definition, 72 ; diagrams,
explanation of, 82 ; of Africa,
893 ; of Antarctic Regions, 1049 :
of Arctic Regions, 1037 ; of Asia,
401, 429 ; of Australia, 579 : of
Central America, 785: of Europe,
129 ; of North America, 673 ; of
South America, 818; of West
Indies, 792
Climatic areas, 77
Clontarf, 190
Clouds, 75
Cloves in Zanzibar, 939
Clyde, 151 ; river, 159, 160 ; Firth
of. 157
Coahiula desert, 765
Coal in Austria, 305, 307, 309 ; in
Belgium, 224, 225 ; in Brazil,
867 ; in Canada, 087, 699, 702 ;
in China, 525 ; at Dover, 181 ;
in France, 149, 244 ; in Ger-
many, 149, 282 ; in India. 473 :
in N.S.W., 596 ; in New Zealand.
633 ; in Orange Free State,
1004 ; in Pennsylvania, 733 ;
in Transvaal, 1008 ; in United
Kingdom, 149 ; in United States,
149 ; in Victoria. 604 ; in Wales,
164 ; Measures, Geological posi
tion of. 51 ; Importance of, 52 ;
river, 611
Coalbrookdale, 164
Coast-line and development of a
country, 110
Coast range. B.C., 697, 698
Coatbridge, 159
Coati, island, 840
Coatzacoalcos, 781
Coban, 789 ; rainfall, 785
Cobequid Mountains, 686
Coblentz, 288
Cobre, 797
Coburg, 290 ; peninsula, 614 ;
-Gotha duchy, 290
Coca in Peru, 837
Cochabamba, 842
Cochin, 498
Cochin-China, 517
Cochineal insect in Central
America, 788
Cochrane, Lord, in Chile, 846
Cockburn Harbour, 805
Cockscomb mountains, 789
Coco de mer, 1023
Coconada, 495
Cocos (Keeling) islands, 514
Cod, Cape, 726
Cod-fishing in Newfoundland, 706
Coffee in Arabia, 453 ; in Brazil,
872 ; in British Central Africa,
950 ; in Central America, 788 ;
in Ceylon, 505 ; in Colombia,
828 ; in Cuba, 796 ; in Dutch
East Indies, 561 ; in Dutch
Guiana, 882 ; in Jamaica, 804 ;
in India, 494, 498 ; in Mexico,
780 ; in New Caledonia. 646 : in
Porto Rico, 799 : in Reunion,
1024 ; in Venezuela, 888
Cofre de Perote (Nauhcampate-
petl), 775
Cognac, 252
Coileque, 502
Coimbra, 381 ; Temperature and
rainfall at, 372
Coire (Chur : Curia Rhaetorum),
127. 263
Cojedes river, 885
Coi = pass. 50
Colac, 609
Colchester, 182
Cold Wall current, 69
Cole, Grenville, A. J., Ireland 187
Coleraine, 193
Colla people, 841
Collie, 626
Collo, 912 ; deU'.Altare, 125
Colne. estuary. 182
Coloane Island, 538
Cologne (Kijln), 295
Colombia, 824-829
Colombo, 506
Colon territory, 888 —
Colonia, 859 ; do Sacramento, 871
Colonies, Forms of, 119
Colonisation, 118
Colorado. 737, 760. 762 ; Canvons
of, 55, 672 ; Plateaux, 763 ; river,
763. 7*^5 ; river (Argentina). 850
Columbia. S.C., site, 720 ; District
of, map, 731 ; Plateaux, 764 ;
river, 698, 764. 765
Columbus. 10; at Haiti, 801 ; at
Trinidad 812
Comanche tribe, 779
Comayagua, 789
Combaconam, 495
Comino islet. 306
Cominetto islet, 366
Commercial Geography, 120 ;
definition, 5
Commodities, 120
Como, lake, 127, 354
Compass charts, 26
Comstock Lode, 767
Concepcion, 848
Conception bay, 705
Conchagua, volcano 784
Conchaguita, volcano, 784
Conchos, Rio, 776
Congrehoy peak, 784
Conglomerates, 52
Congo basin, 892 ; basin, explora-
tion, 901 ; discovery,977 ; district.
Angola, 983 ; Free State, 974-978 ;
railway map, 977
Congress of Vienna, 136
Conical projections, 22
Conn, Lough, 193
Connaught, 193
Connecticut, 723, 725 ; valley,
723
Conococha lake, 835
Consequent rivers, definition, 58
Constance, 286 ; Lake, 257
Constantine, 912 ; department, 907
Constantsa, 329
Constantinople, 342 ; foundation
of, 134
Constitucion, 848
Contas river, 875
Continent, 48; and Ocean, Per-
manence of, 38
Continental area, 46 ; climate, 81 ;
climate in Africa, 894; Core of
Asia, map, 423 ; form, sj'm-
metry in, 37 ; islands, 48 ;
islands, definition, 62 ; plateau,
47 ; shelf, 47, 62 ; slope, 47
Contour lines, 32
Convection-currents in air, 75 ; in
sea-water, 63
Conway, Sir W. Martin, The
Arctic Record, 1025
Cook, Captain James. 11, 584,
605, 612 ; in Antarctic, 1048;
Arctic voyage, 1027; in Hawaii,
661 ; in New Zealand, 632
Cook islands, 656; Mount, 628;
strait, 627
Cook's bay, 659
Cooktown, 591, 592
Coolgardie, 625 ; goldfields. 623
Co-ordinates, 18
Coorong, lagoon, 614
Coosa river, 728
Copacabana peninsula. 840
Copenhagen, 210
Copiapo, 847
Coppename river. 882
-Copper in Peru, 836 ; in S.
Australia, 618 ; Mountains, 703 ;
smelting at Swansea, 165
Coppermine river, 703
Copra in Samoa, 653
Copts in Egypt, 926
Coquimbo, 848
Coral Islands, classes of, 62 ;
Darwin's Theory of, 41, 44 ;
Distribution of, 66 ; Theories of,
62
Coral reefs in Cuba. 793 ; reefs in
Florida. 748 ; reefs in Porto
Rico, 799
Corbeil, 245
Cordillera of Australia, 593 ; of
Bogota, 825 ; del Choco, 824 ;
of Ecuador, 824 ; of Merida,
885 ; of Perija, 825
Cordoba, 376, 780 ; Argentina,
854
Corentyne river, 878, 879, 882
Corfu island, 349
Corinth, 349 ; Ship Canal (mapX
3-14
Corinto, 788
Corio Bay, 602
Corisco Br.y, 953
Index
io6
Cork, 194
Cork in Algeria, 91 1 ; in'Portugal,
^82 ; in Tunisia, 914
Corn, see Maize, 739
Cornwall-Devon peninsula, i66
Cornwall, ]amaica 804
Core, 886 ; mountains, 886
Corozal river, 799
Corrib, Lough, 193
Corrientes, 854
Corry, definition, 50
Cortez in Central America, 787
Corunna, 376
Corvo Island, 384
Coseguina volcano, 784
Cosmography, 2
Cosmoledo Island, 1023
Costa Rica, 789; physical geo-
graphy, 784 ; seaports, 788
Cote d Or, strait, 236
Coteau of the Missouri, 755
Cotentin peninsula, 251
Cctopaxi volcano. 830
Cotswold Hills. 177
Cottbus, 276
Cotton in India, 484 ; in Egypt,
922 ; in United States, 715 ;
-spinning in Lancashire, 173
Coventry, 176^
Cracow (Krakow), 313
Cradle, Mount, bii
Crag and Tail formation, 52
Craiova, 329
Crates of Mallos, 35
Crater lake, Oregon, 768
Crater-lakes, 54
Crati, river, 357
Crazy mountains, 756
Cree tribe, 683
Cremona, 363
Creoles in Central America, 787 ;
in Porto Rico, 800
Cretaceous Formation,Geological
position of, 51
Crete, 350-35I
Creux, Cape, 371
Crimea, 388, 393
Cripple Creek, 761
Croagh Patrick, 188
Croatia-Slavonia, 321, 323
Cromarty firth, 155
Cronstadt, 409, 411
Crooked Island, 803
Cross river, 965
Crossfell, 168
Crow's Nest Pass, 699
Croydon, 591
Crummock lake, 163
Crustal-movements, 53
Crust-block mountains, 53
Crust Blocks, 40, 41
Cryptozoic Fauna, 93 •
Crystal mountains, 959
Csallokoz Island, 317
Csepel Island, 317
Cuba, 793-798 ; railway map, 797
Cubango river, 982
Cuchillas, 794
Cuckmere viver, 180
Cucos, 382
Cucuta, 886
Cue. 625
Cuenca, 833 ; basin, 830
Cuestas. definition, 752
Cuilcagh moors, 189
Cuitzeo lake, 776
Culebra island, 800
Cullann mountain, 594
Culminating Area, 47
Cumana, 887
Cumbel, 825
Cumberland mountain, U.S., 732
plateau, U.S., 732 ; tableland
671 ; valley, Pa., 728
Cumnock, 159
Cundinamarca, 827
Cunene river, 982, 1012
CunnamuUa, 591
Curepipe, 1022
Curia Rha;torum (Coire), 127
Curieuse island, 1023
Cupang, 573
Cuprija, 336
Cuyul, Rio. 799
Currants in Greece, 347
Currents of Atlantic Ocean, 69
Cush, 934
Cuttack, 488
Cuvaba, 874 ; rainfall and tempera-
ture, 868
Cuyuni river, 879
Cuzco. 839
Cyclades, 345. 349
Cycle of Erosion, 58
Cyclone tracks, 79
Cyclops mountains, 643
Cydamus, 918
Cymry, 162
Cynon Valley, 165
Cypress hills, 702
Cyprus, 445-446
Cythera island, 349
Czemowitz, 313
Czestochowa, 413
Czornahora (Black Mountain), 311
DAHOME, 957
Daiman river, 857
Dakar, 957
Dakhel oasis, 919, 928
Dallman, Capt., in Antarctic, 1048
Dallul Mauri river, 969
Dalni, 407, 419, 539
Damara people, 990
Damietta mouth, 921
Danakil tribe, 935
Danes, 209 ; in Greenland, 1043
Dar-el-Beida, 905
Dar-es-Salaam, 944 ; harbour, 940
Daro, Mount, 962
Darwin harbour, 864
Date palm in Egypt, 923 ; in
Tunisia, 914
Davis, John, Arctic voyages, 1026
Davis Strait, 1035, 1036"
D'Urville in Antarctic, 1048
De Grey river, 621
De Long, Captain W. G., Arctic
exploration, 1,031
Dead Sea, 449
Debreczen, 322
Dede Agach, 343
Dee, river, 156, 165
Deerfield, 724
Defile, 50
Degree, Length of, 19, 25
Degree-net, 5
Dekkan, 429, 471, 491, 497, 498
Dekkan, geology, 473
Delagoa Bay, niap, 946
Delaware, 718 ; river, 718
Delft, 223
Delhi, 490
Deli, 566
Delineation of ground on maps,
31
Delta, Formation of, 56
Deltaic islands, 63
Delys, 912
Demarcation Point, 679
Demavend mountain, 458
Dembea lake, 931
Demerara, 881 ; river, 879
Dempo, Mount, 566
Dendre river, 225
Denham, Explorer, 900
Deniliquin, 601
Denizli, 443
Denmark, 208-211 ; railway and
steamer routes, 209
Denver, 760
Deposits, Classes of oceanic, 64
Depressed Area, 47 ; lands, defini-
tion, 48
Derbent, 416
Derby, 170
Derbyshire Coalfield, 150
Derna, 916
Derwent, river, 171 ; Tasmania,
611
Derwentwater, 163
Desaguadero, river, 840
Desertas island, 384
Deserts of Asia, 432 ; of Egypt,
919
Desirade island, 809
Desna, river, 390
Despoblados, 375
Dessau, 293
Desterro, 876
Detmold, 289
Detroit, Mich., site, 738
Dettifoss waterfall, 213
Deutsche Bund, 277
Development of countries, 115
Deventer, 222
Deveny, 316
Devil's peak, 992
Devon, 166
Devonian Formation, Geological
position of, 51 ; Strata, name
of, 166
Devonport, 167
Dezhneff Arctic voyage, 1027;
Cape (East Cape), 399, 422
Dhahr el Kosdib Mountain, 449
Dhalac Islands, 935
Dhofar, 455
Dhuspas, 444
Diagonal Furrow, 332, 342
Diahot river. 645
Diano, Vallo di, 357
Diamond head, 662
Diamonds in Brazil, 867 ; in Cape
Colony, 988 ; in Orange Free
State, "1004
Diaphragm or first parallel, 26
Diarbekr, 448
Diatom Ooze, 65
Diaz. Bartholomew, discoverer,
900
Dicaearch, 26
Dickson, H. N., Atmosphere and
Climate, 72
Diego Garcia, 1024 ; Suarez, 1020
Dieppe, 251
Dijon, 252
Dikhtau mountain, 394
Diluvium = Boulder- clay, Geologi-
cal position of, 51 ; Origin of, 57
Dilli, 573
Dimbovitsa river, 329
Dinaric lands, 313 ; region, 333
Dindings, 514
lo52 The International Geography
rineir (Apamea), 440, 443
Dingwall, 155
Dip slope, 59 ; definition, 55
Dirk Haitog island, 620
Disi-o island, 1041
Discoiery, ship, 1048
Dismal swamp, 721
Dispersal, Means of, 84
Distances, measurements on
maps, 27
Distribution, Factors in, 86
Diu, 502
Diula people, 956-
Divide = water-shed, definition,
50
Djokdjokarta, 563
Djidjelly, 912
Dnieper river, 390, 414
Dniester, river, 312, 392
Doab, 720
Dobruja, 327, 328, 329
Doce river, 875
Doe, Mount, 945
Dogs, The, 807, 808
Doko people, 934
Doldrums, 78
Dolomites, 306
Dombes plateau, 253
Dominion of Canada, 679-704
Dominion Land Survey in
Canada, 684
Dominica island, 807
Don, river, 391 ; river, Ontario,
695 ; river, Yorkshire, 170
Donegal, 193
Donets river, 389, 391
Dongala, 569
Dongola, 927
Donnai river, 517
Dora baltea, 126 ; Riparia, 126, 355
Dorah Pass, 466
Dordrecht, 223
Dorei, 643, 644
Dorking, 180
Dorsal (Stanovoi) mountains, 398
Dorset downs, 178
Dorylseum, 443
Douglas, 186
Douro river, 368, 380
Dover, 121, 152
Downing. Dr. A. M. W., Mathe-
matical Geography, 14
Drainage-area, definition, 50
Drakcnsberg mountains, 891, 1007
Drammen, 206
Drave river, 303
Dravidian people. 480
Drenthe, 218, 221
Dresden, 291
Drilt-ice, 1036
Drin river, 333
Drina river, 335
Drogheda, 192
Drohubycz, 312
Drowned vallej^ 50
Drude's plant regions, 88
Drumlins in New England, 724
Dru.-^e people, 451
Drvgalski, Dr. E., explorer, 1048
Du'ilef, J., Belgium, 223
Duaish people, 956
Duala, 975
Dublin City, 190, 192
DuDuque, I., 744
Ducob, 646
Duio.irspitze, 126
Dugga, 915
Dvke of York Islands, 640
Dulcigno, 337
Dumfries, 160
Duna river, 317, 391, 411
Dunaburg, 409
Dunamiinde, 409
Dundas, Mount, 611
Dundee, 158 ; Natal, 994
Dunedin, 634
Dunes, 57 ; in Denmark, 208 ; in
Germany, 269 ; in Holland, 216 ;
in Nebraska, 758 ; in Peru. 834 :
in the Sahara, 928 ; in the Tarim
basin, 540 ; in Western Aus
tralia, 662
Dungannon, 189
Dungeness, 181
Dunkirk, 249
Dunwich, 592
Dupian-Triel and contoured
maps. 32
Duran, 833
Durani people, 467
Durazzo, 344
Durban, 994; temperature and
rainfall, 987
Durham city, 170 ; coalfield, 150,
169
Diisseldorf, 295
Dutch Antilles, 806; Colonies-
Statistics, 223 : East Indies,
560 ; Guiana, 882 ; language,
220 ; New Guinea, 642-644 ;
West Indies, 806 ; in Brazil, 871 ;
in Guiana, 878, 880 ; in Mauri-
tius, 102 1 ; in Soutfh Africa, 990
Dux, 307
Dvinsk, 409
Dyak people, 557, 567
Dyke of igneous rock, 54
Dyle river, 225
Dyrrhachion (Durazzo), 344
Dzungaria, 539
EAGLE Island, 1023
Eaglehawk, 608
Earn, Loch, 156
Earth-folds, Theory of, 38
Earth, The, Form of, 14, 18 ; Plan
of, 36-45 ; Surface, extent of, 61 ;
Tetrahedral Theory of, 42
Earthquakes, 54 ; in Central
America, 783 ; in Japan, 545 ;
in Scotland, 156
East Africa, 930-946
East Anglian Heights, 178
East Cape, 422; (Dezhneff Cape),
399 ; East Cape, N Z., 628
East India Company, 481, 512
East Prussia province, 293
East river, 730
Eastbourne, 181
Easter island, 659
Eastern Empire, 342 ; Equatorial
Africa, 930-940 ; Ghats, 472 ;
Rumelia, 332, 338; Turkestan,
539
Ebbw valley, 165
Ebro river,"369, 370
Echuca, 609
Ecuador, 658, 829-833
Ecuadorian Andes, 817
Eden river, 163, 168
Eder river, 288
Exlessa, 448
Edge Land (Stans Foreland , 1044
Edinburgh, 158
Edmonton, 702
Edom, 449
Edward river, 601
Efik people, 967
Eger, 307
Egga, 972
Egmont, mountain, 628
Egypt, 918-929 ; Organisation o*
119
Eidsvold, 205
Eifel, 268, 287
Eighty-mile beach, 621
Eindhoven, 222
Einsiedeln, 263
Eisenach, 290
Eisenerz, 305
Eisling, 231
El-Arish, Wadi, 448
El-Araish, 905
El-Biar, 912
El Djem, 915
El-Erg basin, 906
El Gaah, 929
FA Potrerillo Mountain, 794
Elba island, 353
Elbe river, 270, 291, 307
Elberfeld, 288
Elbeuf, 245
Elbruz mountain, 394, 395
Elbiirz range, 458
Elche, 371
Eldorado, 820
Electricity and Geographical
conditions, 147
Elephant in Africa, 896 ; in Congo
Free State, 976 ; in India, 477 ;
in Niger delta, 966 ; in South
Africa, 1000
Eleuthera island, 803
Eleutherus river, 448
Elevation and Subsidence, 40
Elgin, county, 156
Elgon mountain, 931
Kl's. 349 ^ ,
EUesmere Land, 1046
Ellice (Lagoon) Islands, 654
EUichpur, 493
Elmetaita lake, 931
Elmina, 964
Elmira, N.Y., 736
Elonga mountains, 982
Elsinore, 210
Elster river, 291
Elswick Works, 170
Elvas, 381
Ely, 180
Embakh, river, 393
Emden, 294
Emilia, 363
Emmenthal, 264
Ems river, 270
Enclosed Seas, Circulation of, 66 ;
definition, 61
Endeavour river, 592 ; strait, 587
Enere, lake, 392
Engadine, 263
England and^ Wales. 161-187
England, Population of, 148
English people, 162
Engler's plant distribution. 88
Enkeldoorn, 1002
Enns river, 303
Ensenada Honda, 800
Entebbe, 939
Entre Rios, 854 , ^ ,. .^
Environment, 2,4 ; Adaptation tO^
98 ; and Man, 115
Enzeli, 458
Eocene Formation, 51
Epe, 968
Ind
ex
1063
Ephesus, 443
Epiriis, 343
Epping Forest, 182
Equator, detinition, 15 ; province,
978
Equatorial Belt, Climate of, 78
Equidistant projection, 21
Erathosthenes, 26
Erdcly (Transylvania), 322
Eicbus, Mount, 1049
Erlurt, 290
Erh-hai lake, 535
Ericht, Loch, 156
Erie canal, 736 ; lake, old outlet,
740 ; lowland, 737
Eritrea, 935
Eritrean rift-valley, 931, 937, 941
Erjes river, 38 1
Ermenistan, 440
Erne, Lough, 193
Erodi, Dr. Bela, Hungary, 315
Erosion, Cycle of, 58 ; Features
due to, 54
Errigal, i88
Erythrcea, 935
Erzeriim, 443, 444
Erzgebirge, 291, 306
Escaut, river, 22,^
Escarpment, 55, 59 ; definition, 49
Esdraelon plain, 449
Esk river, Tasmania, 611
Eskimo, 106, 1043 ; in Canada
684
Eskishehr (Dorylaeum), 443
Esmeraldas river, 830, 831 ;
province, 833
Esparto grass in Algeria, 909 ; in
Spain, 372 ; in Tunisia, 911
Espichel, Cape. 380
Espigao Mountains, 866
Espinha^o mountains. 866
Espiriio Santo, 875
Espiritu Santo, 647
Esquimau, B.C., 700
Esquipulas, 788
Essen, 288
Essequebo, 881 ; river, 879
Essex, name, 144
Es Shayib mountain, 929
Essonnes, 245
Estoril, 383
Estrella mountain, 380
Estremadura, 374, 376, 380
Estuary, detinition, 50
Esztergom, 322
Et-Taif, 453
Et-Tih, desert, 449
Eten, 837
Etive, Loch, 156
Etna bay, 642 ; Mount, 358
Eton, 182
Etheridge, 592
Ethiopia, 934
Ethiopian region, 87 ; Faunal
Region, 896
Ethiopia or Xegro Race, 1012 ;
Classification of, 103
Etosa Pan, 1012
Etruscan Appennines, 356
Etruscans, 133, 360
Etsch river, ^03
Etterbeek. 228
Euboea Island, 348
Eucalyptus in Australia, 580 ; in
Victoria, 603
Euganei, Colli, 355
Euphrates, river. 440, 447
Euphorbia in Africa, 896
Eurasia, 44, 123 ; Resemblance
with N. America, 665 ; Structure
of, 40
Euripus strait, 348
Europe, 123-421 ; Continent of,
123-137; Glaciated Area, map
of, 129 ; Highland rei^ion, map
of, 124 ; Railway map of, 137 ;
Raintall map of". 130
European Countries, Origin of.
135
Eusicarian language, 240
Evans, Sir J., 100
Evaporation, 75
Everglades, 747
Evolution, 3, 12, 95 ; centres, 84
Ewa, 662
Ewarton, 804
Ewe people, 956
Exe, river. 166
Exmoor, 166
Exploits river, 705
Eyarbakki, 213
Eyre, Explorer, 617 ; lake, 615 ;
peninsula, 579, 614
FAIDHERBE, Colonel, 954
Faizabad," 489
Fajardo, 800
Fakarava Island, 657
Falasha tribe, 934
Falcon, State of, 886
Falkland Islands, S63-864
Fall line in Canada, 690
Fall River, Mass., 725
Falmouth, 167
False Bay, 985
Falster, island, 210
Falun, 203, 204
Famagusta, 446
Fan people, 959
Fanning Island, 658
Farafah, oasis, 928
Faredgha, 916
Faro, 380, 383
Faroes, 211
Farra. 466
Farrallones of Call and Citara, 824
Ears, 457, 463
Fas (Fez), 905
Faults, definition, 53
Fauna, Antarctic Arctic, 1039 ;
Fresh water, 92 ; of Africa,
896 ; of Asia, 434 ; of Australia,
582 ; of the British Islands, 143 :
of Canada, 683 ; of Europe, 131 ;
of Madagascar. 1017 ; of Shore,
91 ; of South America, 821
Faxafloi, 212
Fayal Island, 384
Fayum, 924
Fear, Cape, 720
Ftvathertop Mountain, 602
FcUahin people, 925
Felup people, 961
Fcn-ho river, 523
Fenland of England, 179
Fcrahan, 461
Ferencz Jozsef Peak, 316
Ferghana province, 395
Ferguson, John, Ceylon, 503
Feriana, 915
Fernando de Xoronha island, 875
Fernando Po, 953
Ferrara, 363
F'errel's Law, 56. 68
Ferro, island, 31, 952 ; Meridian
of, map, 952
Ferrol, 376
Ferto (Neusiedler) lake, 316, 318
Fetishism in W. Africa, 967
F'ez (Fas), 905
Fczzan, 918
Fianarantsoa, 1020
Ficksburg, 1004
Fife, 158
Figig. oasfs, go6
Figuera de Foz, 381
Fiji Islands, 651-653 ; map, 652
Filfila rock, 366
Fingal river, 611
Fmgo people, 990
Finisterre Mountains, New
Guinea, 639
Finke, River, 615
Finland. 408, 412
Finlay river, 681
Finno-Tartar language, 132
Finns, 201, 403
Finsteraarhorn, 258
Fiote people, 983
Firenze, 364
Firth, definition. 50
Fischer, Dr. Theobald, Italy, 352 ;
Spain, 368
Fish river, 1012
Fiume, 323
Fjord, definition, 50
Fjords of South America, 814 ; of
British Columbia, 697; of Green-
land, 1040 ; of Spitsbergen,
1044
Flags, Scheme of colour for.
122
Flax in Egypt, 922
Flemish language, 225
Flinders Range, 578, 579, 615
Floe-ice, 1037
Flood plain, definition, 56
Floods of the Nile, 922 ; of the
Ohio region, 744 ; of tlie Yellow
River, 521
Flora, Arctic, 1038 ; of Africa,
895 ; of Asia, 432 ; of Aus-
tralia, 580 ; Capensis, 988; of
the British Islands, 142 ; of
Canada, 682 ; of Europe, 131 ;
of Madagascar, 1017 ;of Me.xico,
777 ; of South America, 820
Florence (Firenze), 364
Florianopolis (Desterro), 876
Flores island, 384, 572
Florida, 747 ; Acquisition of, 711 ;
Strait, 69
Floridsdorf, 310
Flower, Sir W., 96
Fly river, 635, 636
Flysch, 51
Fogo, island, 979
Fohn wind, 80, 259, 304 ; in Green-
land, 1038
Fokien, 535
Fold Mountains, 44, 53 ; Map of,
40
Folding of rocks, 40 •
Folkestone, 152
Fonseca gulf, 7,^3, 784
Fontana, lake, 8so
Forbes, Dr. H. O., Malay Archi-
pelago, 555
Forcados, 968 ; river, 969
Fore Alps, 126
Forest Carpathians, 311 ; of Dean.
164 ; of Wyre, 164
Forests, 89 ; and Rainfall, 131 ;
Destruction of, 115; of Africa
1064 The International Geography
8q5 ; of Asia 432 : of British
Columbia, 699 : of Brazil, 868 ;
of Canada. 682 ; of Germany,
274: of India, 476; of New
Brunswick, 688; of Paraguay,
861 ; of Russia, 403
Forcz, plain, 234
Formigas islet, 384
Formosa, 552, 553 ; (Argentina)
territory, 856
Fort Augustus, 156 ; Benton,
Mont., 757 : Dauphin, 1020 :
Dearborn, 740 ; Dubus, 644 ;
George, 156; Marlborough, 565 ;
William, 156 ; William, Tem-
perature and rainfall, 141
Fortaleza, 874
Forth Bridge, 157, 159 ; Ports, 151 ;
River, 158
Fortresses and Frontiers, map,
114
Fortunatae Insulse, 952
Fortune bay, 705
Fossils. 51
Foulness, 182
Foveaux strait, 628, 629
Foyers, Falls of, 156
Fovie, river, 193
" Fram," Drift of the, 1031
Framlingham, 609
France, 233-255 ; Central position
of, 150 ; Coal production. 149 ;
General geography, 239-255 ;
Origin of, 135 ; Physical geo-
graphy, 233-239 ; Physical
structure of, map, 234 ; Rivers
and canals of, 245 : Total trade
of. 151
Francia. Dr., in Paraguay, 861
Frankenwald, 268
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 286
Prankish Empire, 277
Franks, 276 ; in Holland, 220
Franklin, Sir John, Arctic voyage,
1028 ; Lady, and Arctic explora-
tion, 1028 ; District, 702 ; Terri-
tory, 703
Franzensbad, 308
Franz-Joseph, Fjord, 1041 ; Land,
1044 ; Land, discovery, 1030
Fraser island (Hervey Bay), 579
Fraser river, 681, 698
Fray Bentos, 858
Fremantle, 625
Frome, 177
Frontier, def., 114 ; Changes of, 6 :
see also Boundaries
Fruit in Western Australia, 621
Fredericia, 210
Fredericton, 689
Frederikshald, 206
Fr.derikstad, 206
Frederiksten, Fortress of, 206
Freetown, 963 ; Climate, 962
French, Colonies, 119 ; Congo,
958 : Guiana, 883 ; Guinea, 957 ;
India, 503 ; Indo-China, 515-
520; Pacific Islands, 651 : Pos-
sessions, Statistics of, 255 ;
Shore, Newfoundland, 708 ;
Somaliland, 935 ; Sudan, 958 ;
West Africa, 053-959 : West
Indies, 808 ; in Cape Colony,
990 ; in Quebec, 691
Friaulians, 360
Fribourg, canton, 264
Friedrich Wilhelmshafen, 641
Friendly Islands, 653
Friesland, 220, 222
Frigid Zone. 78
Fringing Sea, 61 ; reef, 62
Frisches Haff, 270, 294
Frisian islands, 270, 293
Frisians in Germany, 276 ; in
Holland, 220
Frobisher, Sir Martin, 1025
Fu, Meaning of, 532
Fuchou. 535
Fuego, volcano, 783
Fuegian people, 822
Fuerteventura island, 952
Fujikawa river, 546
Fuji-san, mountain, 546
Fukien, 535
Fukuoka, 553
Fula Empire, 971 ; people, 956,
970, 981
Fulda, 289; river, 288
Funafuti, 654
Funchal, 384
Funcho mountain, 384
Fundy, Bay of, 686, 688
Fiinen island, 210
Funing, 535 '
Funiu-Shan mountains, 523
Furneaux, Captain, .605 ; Islands,
610, 612
Futa Jallon, 957 ; plateau, 955
Fyen Island, 210
Fyne, Loch, 156
GABES, 915 : Gulf of, 889
Gabet and Hue in Lhasa,
541
Gabr people, 463
Gabun, 958
Gadara, 450
Gaelic language, 145
Gafsa, 915
Gairdner, lake, 615
Galapagos islands, 658 ; climate,
70
Galashiels, 160
Galata, 342
Galatz, 329
Galdhopiggen, 198
Galicia, 300, 311, 375
Galilee, 449
Galla people, 898, 933
Gallala ^Iountains, 929
Galle, 506
Gallegos people, 373 ; river, 850
Gallery Forests of Africa. 896
Gallipbli, 342
Galloway, 160
Galtee mountains, 1189
Galveston, 754
Gal way. 193
Gama, Vasco da, 900
Gambia, 961-962; origin, 960;
river. 892
Cambier Islands, 658 ; Mount, 615
Gando, 971, 972
Ganges river, 471, 488
Garda, Lago di, 354
Gargano, Monte, 358
Garibalo Mountain, 395
Garigliano, river, 356
Gaspe peninsula, 690
Gastein, 306
Gateshead, 170
Gauhati, 495
Gauls, 240
Gault, geological position of, 51
Gauss, ship. i048
Gawler, 619 ; range, 615
Gay a, 487
Gazaland, 945
Gazelle Peninsula, 640
Geba river, 980
Gediz Chai (Hermus) river, 440
Geelong, 609
Geelvink bay, 642
Geest, 219, 270
GeHe, 204
Gelderland, 222
Gelhvara, 202, 204
Gemma Frisius, 2
General Range (Serra Geral) of
Brazil, 866
Geneva canton, 264 ; lake, 258
Genevra pass, 126
Genoa (Geneva), 361, 362, 363
Genoffa, Mount, 643
Geodesy = Science of measure-
ment of the Earth, 3
Geographical Cycle, 57; mile,
definition, 27 ; Discovery, his-
tory of, 7-12; Names, Ortho-
graphy of, 33; Societies. 12
Geography, Political and Applied,
109-121; Definition. 2; Depart-
ments of, 3, 6; Practical value
of, 7 ; Principles and Progress,
Geoid, 46
Geological Formations, Table of,
51 ; Maps, 34 ; Record, 84
Geology, relation to Geography, 50
Geomo'rphological theories, 37
Geomorphology = the Science of
the forms of the Earth's sur-
face, 2
George, lake, 594
Georgetown. Ascension, 1013 ;
Demerara. 881
Georgia strait, 697
Georgian bay, 693, 742
Georgians, 403
Gera, 291
Geraldton, 625
Gerez, 380
Gerlache in Antarctic, 1048
Gerlachfalva (Ferencz Jozsef
Peak), 316
German colonies in Brazil, 870,
876 : Chile, 848 ; Confederation,
277 ; Empire, 266-297 ; East
Africa, 940-944 : Foreign Pos-
sessions Statistics, 297 ; New
Guinea, 639-641 ; Pacific Islands,
651 ; Races, 108, 275 ; South-
West Africa, 1012-1013, West
Africa, 972 974.
Germany, 266-297 ; Coal Produc-
tion, 149 ; Map of natural
divisions of, 267 ; Origin of,
135 ; Total trade of. 151
Geuk Su (Calycadnus) river, 440
Geysir, 213
Ges people, 822
Ghats, 471
Ghadames (Cydamus), 918
Gharian. 916
Ghattar mountain, 929
Ghazni, 467
Ghent, 229
Ghilzai people, 467
Ghizeh, pyramids of, 924
Ghogra river, 471, 489
Giant s Causeway, 193 ; Moun-
tains (Austria), 306
Giaour Dagh (Mons Amanus),
448, 450
Index
1065
Gibara, 798
Gibaros, 800
G braltar, 378-379
Gibson Desert, 622
Giedcser, 210
J jon, 376- ■
G-lbert (Kingsmill) Islands, 654
Jilead, 449
G lolo Island, 570
Ginger in Jamaica, 804
Ginseng in Korea, 544
G ppsland district, 602
>.jira river, 638
G.rgenti, 365
Gain, 539
Gir.slik, 466
G.ronde estuary (map), 252
Glacial Action, 57 : in British
Islands, 139 ; in Canada, 68g,
(k)3, 695 ; in Germany, 269 ; in
Xew England, 724
Glaciation of Europe, map, 129
of North America, map, 669
Glaciers of the Alps, 126 ; of
Greenland, 1042
Gladstone, 591, 592
Glamorgan, 164
Glarus, Alps of, 258 ; canton, 263
Glasgow, 151, 159 ; Growth of,
lib
Glatz, 292
Gleichenberg, 306
Glen More, 156
Glenelg, S.A., 619 ; river, 603
Glenfarg, 157
Glittertind, 198
Globes, 35 ; Measurement of dis-
tance on, 27 ; Use of, 19
Globigerina ooze, 65
Globular projection, 21
Glommen river, 199, 205
Gloucester, 166, 177 ; Mass., 722
Gneiss, 51
Gnomonic projection, 34
Goa, 502
Gobi desert, 539 ; region, 433
Godavari, river, 472 ; valley, 473
Godowns=: warehouses, 563
Godthaab, 1040, 1043
Goesc.ienen, 263
Gogola, 502
Goitaca people, 869
Golconda, 431
Gold Coast, 963-964
Gold in Asia, 431 ; in Brazil, 867,
872 ; in British Columbia, 699 ;
in British Guiana, 880 ; in
French Guiana. 883 ; in Gold
Coast, 964 ; in India, 473 ; in
Xew Guinea, 638 ; in Mexico,
780 ; in Rhodesia, 998 ; in Trans-
vaal, 1008 ; in Venezuela, 884 ;
in Victoria, 603, 605 ; in West
Australia, 623, 625; in Yukon,
703
Gold Mountains, B.C., 698
Golden Belt of Brittany, 243 ;
Horn, 342
Goldsmid, Sir Frederic J., Persia,
457
Golfo Dulce, 783, 785
Gomera island, 952
Gonave island, 802
Gondar, 935
Gondwana rocks, 473
Gondwanaland, 41, 429
Gonye falls, 999
Goodenough island, 635
Goree, 954, 956
Gorge, 50
Goro (Karo) Sea, 652
Gota canal, 203
Gotaelf, river, 200
Gotaland, 204
Goteborg 204
Gotha, 290
Gothenburg, 204
Gothland island, 198, 199, 205
Gottingen. 289
Goulburn, 600 ; river, 602, 603
Gourock mountains, N.S.W., 594
Goyaz, 866, 874
Gozo Island, 365
Graaff-Reinet, 991
Graben = rift-valleys, 53
Graciosa Island, 384
Grafton, N.S.W., 600
Grahamstown, 991, 992
Grampian Mountains, Victoria,
603
Grampians, 156
Gran, 322
Gran Canaria Island, 952 ; Chaco,
820, 860 ; Sasso d' Italia, 356
Granada, 377 ; Nicaragua, 789
Grand Bank, Newfoundland, 69
706, 708 ; IBassam, 957 ; Canai
of China, 530 ; Canyon, district,
54 ; Cayman, 805 ; Coulee, 765 ;
(McLean) Falls, 701 ; Falls,
New Brunswick, 688 ; Lahu,
957 ; Prairie, 755 ; Rapids,
:Slich., 737 ; Soufriere, 807 ;
Turk Island, 805
Grande river, 980 ; Terre Guade-
loupe, 809
Grandidier, Alfred, 1015
Grane, 452
Grangemouth, 151
Granite, weathering of, 54
Grant, explorer, 901 ; Land, 1046
Grass Veldt, 1007
Grassy vegetations, 89
Graubiinden, Alps of, 259
Graz, 305
Great, Appalachian Valley, 728 ;
Austral Plain of Australia, 577 ;
Australian Bight, 576, 578, 614 ;
Bahama Island, 803 ; Barrier
Reef, map, 587 ; Basin Area of
South America, 815 ; Bassa,
960 ; Batanga, 974 ; Bear Lake,
681 ; Belt, 208 ; Bras d'Or, 686 ;
circle courses, 23: circles, defini-
tion, 20 ; Divide of Australia, 577,
578 ; Divide in Queensland, 588 ;
Dividing Range, 602 ; Dividing
Range of Australia, 593 ; Falls,
Mont., 757 ; Fish Bay, 982 ;
Glen, 156 ; Lakes of North
America, 692, 736 ; Liakhoff
Island, 1046 ; Plains of Kansas,
759 ; Karroo, 986 ; Kei river,
992 ; Plains of North America,
673 ; Plains of U.S., 755-760 ;
Popo, 957 ; Powers of Europe,
136 ; Russians, 404 ; St. Bernard
Pass, 126 ; Salt Lake, 766 ; Salt
Lake, Animals of, 83 ; Scarcies
river, 962 ; Slave Lake, 681, 703 ;
Syrtes, 889 ; Wall of China, 521,
531
Greater, New York, 730; Sunda
Islands, 561-568
Greco-Italic language, 132
Greece, 344-349
Greeks, 442 ; Civilisation of, 133 ;
in Anatolia, 442 ; in Balkan
peninsula, 334
Greely, General A. W., 1030
Green, J. R., 115 ; Lowthian, 37, 42
Green Mountain, Ascension, 1013 ;
Mountains, 722, 724 ; River
Basin, 763
Greenland, 666, 1040-1043 ; People
of, 1042 ; Sea, Currents in, 1036
Greenock, 159
Greenwich, 184 ; Temperature and
rainfall, 141
Gregory, Dr. J. W., Plan of the
Earth, 36 ; Eastern Equatorial
Africa, 930
Greiz, 290
Grenada island, 810
Grenadine Cenfederation, 827 ;
Islands, 810
Grenoble, 245
Gretna Green, 161
Grey Mountains, N.S.W., 594
Greytown, 788, 789
Grijalva river, 776
Grimsby, 151, 179 ; fisheries, 149
Grindelwald, 258
Grinnell Land, 1030, 1046
Griqua people. 1005
Griqualand west, 991
Grisebach's plant areas, 88
Grisons, canton, 263 ; Alps of, 259
Groningen, 218, 221, 222
Gross Glockner, mountain, 302
Ground-nuts in Gambia, 961 ; in
West Africa, 957
Griinwald, forest, 231
Gruyere, 264
Guadalajara, 780
Guadalcanar island, 648
Guadalquivir river, 369, 370
Guadeloupe island, 809
Guadiana river, 368, 381
Guajira peninsula, 886
Guajiro people, 827
Guallabamba river, 830
Guam island, 656
Guamanga, 839
Guanajuato, 780
Guafiape island, 836
Guanches people, 952
Guanchos of Uruguay, 858
Guanica, 800
Guano, in Peru, 836
Guantanamo, 798
Guap Island, 655
Guaranda, 833
Guarani people, 107, 862, 869
Guardafui Cape, 936
Guatemala, 789 ; people, 787 ;
phvsical geography, 783 ; sea-
ports, 788
Guatemala citj', rainfall, 785
Guayacuru people, 869
Guavaquil, 833 ; Gulf, 831 ; Rain-
fall, 819
Guayas province, 833 ; river, 831
Guaykuru people, 822
Gudbrandsdal, 199
Guebre, see Gabrs, 463
Guernsev, 186
Guiana, ' Colonies of, 878-883 ;
Highland, 815
Guildford, 180 ; Gap, maps of, 32
Guinea, Gulf of, 889, 981 ; Islands
of, map, 981
Gujarat, 491
Gujarati language, 479
lo66 The International Geography
Gulf Stream, 69, 708 ; Stream
drift, 141 ; Stream drift in
Arctic Sea, 1035
Gulhak. 462
Gunong, Agong mountain, 564;
Api, island, 571 ; Tahan, moun-
tain, 515
Gurabo, 799
Gurara, oasis, 906
Gurkhas, 503
Gwadar, 499
Gwai river, 999
Gwalior, 496, 497
Gwelo, 1002
Gyger, Map by, 31
Gynipie, 591, 592
Gyulafehervar (Karlsburg), 323
HAAR. 287
Haarlem, 222
Haase river, 271
Hadendoa tribe, 926
Hadramut (Hazarmaveth), 453,
455
Hague, The, 223
Haida people, 684
Haidrabad (Dekkan), 497 ; Sindh,
491
Haiphong, 520
Haiti and Santo Domingo, 801-
802
Hakodate, 553
Hal-la-san, 542
Halifax, 170 ; Nova Scotia, 687
Halle-a-S., 290
Halmaheira (Gilolo) island, 570
Halmstad, 204
Halys, river, 440
Hamada el Homra, 916, 918
Hamar, 207
Hamburg, 294 ; as a free port,
118; temperature and rainfall
of, 273
Hami, 539
Hamilton, 159 : Bermuda, 739 ;
Ontario, 695 ; river, 701
Hamitic people, 107, 898 ; in
Africa, 897
Hammam Ali, 447
Hammerfest, 207
Hampshire, 186; Tertiary basin,
181
Han river, 523, 530, 532 ; (Korea),
543
Hand hills, 702
Hang-kiang, 536
Hanga river, 659
Hangchou, 535 ; Bay, 533
Hankow. 530. 531, 534
Hanley, 175
Hanoi, 520
Hanover, 294 ; province, 289
Hansag, 316
Hanseatic League, 112, 205, 207
Hanyang, 534
Hanyani river, 998
Haparanda, 204
Haram, 454
Harbour Grace. 707
Harbour Island, 803
HarHeur, 25c
Hari-rud river, 465
Harlmgen, 222
Harmsworth, Mr. A. C, and
Arctic Exploration, 1030
Harra (lava beds), 453
Harran, 448
Harrar, 935 ,
Harrat el-'Aue, 453
Harrat Khaibar, 453, 456 •
Harris, explorer, 906
Harrisburg, Pa., 727, 731
Harrogate, 169
Hartford. Conn., 723
Hartlepool, 170
Hartz, 268. 290
Haruj es Sod, 916
Haruk Mountain, 456
Haruku island, 571
Harvard mountain, 760
Harwich, 152, 182
Haslemere, 181
Hassa. 453, 456
Hastings. 181
Hatchings (hachures), 31
Hatteras. Cape. 720
Hand desert, 936
Hausa people. 971 ; States, 971
Havana. 798 ; Climate, 794 ; har
bour, map, 793 ; province, 795
Havel river, 271
Havre, 250
Hawaii, 660-662
Hawaiian Chain of Islands, 651
Hawash river, J31
Hawke Bay, 629
Hawkesbury river, 597
Hay, 600
Hayes, Dr. Isaac J., Arctic Voyage,
1029
Hazara people, 467
Hazarmaveth, 455
Heart's Content, 705
Heaths, 89
Heawood, Edward, Continent of
Africa. 889; Islands of the South
Atlantic. 1013 ; Liberia, 959 ;
Spanish West Africa, 952
Hebrides, 154
Hebron, 449, 451
Hecatoeus, 26 ; Map by, 8
Hedin, Dr. Sven. 540
Heidelberg, 286
Heilbron, 1004
Heilprin, Prof. A., Mexico, 774
Hejaz, 453, 454
Hekla, volcano, 213
H elder. The, 2x9, 222
Helderbergs Escarpment, 736
Helena, Ark., 750, 754
Helgoland, 293
Hellbourg, 1024
Hellenic people, 346
Hellespont, 330
Helmand river. 457, 458, 466
Helsingborg, 204
Helsingfors, 412 ; Longitude of, 31
Helsingor, 210
Helvellyn, 163
Helvetians, 260
Hemihedral form of Earth, 42
Hengchou, 530
Henry the Navigator, 10, 900
Henry mountains, 763
Herat, 465, 466
Herbert, Mount, 639
Herberton, 592
Herbertshohe, 641
Herbertson. Dr. A. J., Asia, 422 ;
Continent of South America,
813
Herculaneum, 365
Hercynian strike, definition, 268
Herelord, 164, 166
Hereroland, 1012
Herero people, 1013
Hermon. Mount, 449
Hermoupolis, 349
Hermus river. 440
Hernosand, 204
Herodotus and the three Conti*
nents, 8
Hersfeld, 289
Heruj el Abiad, 916
Hervey bay, 579
Herzegovina, 324
Hesse, 286, 288
Hesse-Nassau province, 286, 288
Hessians, 276
Hetch-hetchy valley. 767
Hida-Echu Mountains, 546
Hierro (Ferro) island, 952
High plain, definition, 49 ; Tatra
(Magas Tatra), 311, 316 ; Veldt,
986. 1007
Highland Rim, U.S., 733
Highlands, definition, 48; of
Scotland, 154
High wood mountains, 756
Hikurangi mountain, 628
Hildesheim, 289
Hill, Robert T„ Cuba, 793 ; Porto
Rico. 798
Hills, definition, 49
Himalaya, Geology of, 472; moun-
tains, 41, 470
Himalayan States, 503
Hiniyaritic language, 934
Hinde, S. L., Congo Free State,
974
Hindi language, 479
Hindki people, 467
Hindu Kush mountains, 465, 489
Hindu people, 478
Hindus in Java, 562
Hindustan, 469
Hinlopen strait, 1044
Hinterland, 119
Hipparchus, 26
Hippo Regius, 912
Hiroshima, 553
Hispaniola, 801
Hit, 447
Hittites, 441, 450
Hjelmar Lake, 200
Hobart, 605, 613
Hobson Bay, 602, 606
Hodeida, 454
Hogolu islands, 655
Hog's Back, 180
Hokitika. Temperature and rain-
fall of, 630
Hokkaido, 552
Holarctic region. 87
Holderness. coast. 179
Holland, see Netherlands, 216
Hollow, definition, 49
Holstein, Duchy. 209
Holstenborg, 1040
Holy Roman Empire, 135
Holyhead, 164
Honan. 533
Honda, 828
Hondo river, 789
Honduras, 789 ; Gulf, 782; Moun-
tarns. 784: Phvsical geography,
784 ; Seaports,' 788
HonHeur, 250
Hongay, 519
Hongkong (Hang-kiang), 536
Honolulu, 662
Hood, Mount, 767
Hope island, 1044
Horizon, definition, 15
Index
io6
Horn, Cape, 813
Horn Scientific Expedition, 617
Horn Sands Tinder, 1045
Horse latitudes, 78
Horse, Wild, 540
Horsens, 210
Horsham, Victoria, 606, 609
Horta, 384
Horten, 206
Hortohagy puszta, 322
Horton Plains, 504
Hoskold, H. D., Argentine Re-
public, 849
Hot Lakes District, X.Z., 628 ;
winds of Kansas, 760
Hottentots, 898, 989 ; in German
S.W. Africa, 1013
Hour-Angle, definition, 15; -Cir-
cles, definition, 15
Hova people, 1017
Hualalai, 662
Huallaga river, 835, 838
Huancavelica, 839
Huanchaco, 837
Huanuco, 838
Huaqui, lake, 840
Huaraz, 837
Hubli, 492
Hue and Gabet in Lhasa, 541
Huddersfield, 170
Hudson, Arctic voyage, 1026
Hudson Bay, 666, 679, 692, 693, 700,
701 ; river, 728, 729 ; Valley, 728
Hudson Bay Company, 696
Huelva, 374
Hucrtas in Spain, 374
Hughenden, 591
Hugli river, 487
Hutla mountain, 825
Huleh lake, 449
Hull, 151. 171 ; Canada, 692
H umber, 151 ; river, Newfound-
land, 705 ; river, Ont., 695
Humboldt, A. von, 12 ; Bay, 642 ;
Current, 70, 659 ; Current and
climate in Chile, 845 ; Mont,
645
Humboldt's Plant-groups, 88
Hume, W. F., Egypt, 918
Humidit}', 75 ; Relative, 76
Humirida mountains, 879
Hunan, 525, 533
Hungarian Borderland, 323; gate,
309 ; Plains (Kis-Alfold), 316 ;
Sea, 318
Hungarians, 319
Hungai-y, 315-323 ; Statistics, 325
Hunger Steppe, 396
Hunsriick, 287
Hunte river, 293
Hunter Island, 610 ; river, 600
Hunza, 499
Huo Island, 657
Huon Gulf, 639 ; river, 611
Hupe, 534
Huron, Lake, 692
Huronian rocks, 693
Hwai river, 533
Hwang-ho river 521, 532, 533,
541 : Floods in, 57
Hwangho. 424
Hyderabad, see Haidrabad
Hydra, island, 349
Hydrography and Development
of a Country, 1 1 1 ; of Africa, 891 ;
of Europe, 128 ; of Rhodesia,
998 ; see also Rivers
Hydrosphere — Collective waters
69
of the Earth, 3, 4, 36 ; Divisions
of, 61 ; Extent of, 60; Tempera-
ture zones of, 66
Hylacomilus (Waldseemiiller), 35
Hypsographic Curve, 46, 47
IBADAN, 968
Ibarra, 833 ; Basin, 830
Iberian meseta, 368 ; peninsula,
368, 385
Iberians, 360, 372
Ibi, 972
Ibicui river, 877
Ibiza Island, 370
Ibo people, 967, 970 ; country,
965
Icaria island, 444
Ice Age, 128 ; in Great Britain,
139 ; see also Glacial Action
Icebergs, 63 ; and ^ uif Stream,
69; of the Anla.>...c, 1049; of
Arctic Region, 1037
Ice Fjord, 1044 ; of the Arctic Sea,
1036
Ice-sheet of America, 666 ; of
Antarctica, 1048 ; of Europe,
128,666 ; of Greenland, 1040
Iceland, 212-215
Ichang, 526, 530
Iconium, 443, 444
Ida, Mount, 350
Idaho, 764
Idda, 972
Idria, 305
Idzo people, 970
Igara people, 970
Igbiri people, 970
Ighli, 906
Iglau, 309
Igneous rocks, 52, 54 ; Weather-
ing of, 57
I^assu river, 876
Ijo people, 967
Ikopa river, 1019
Hi river, 540
Iliyats, 460
Illampu, mountain, 817
lUimani mountain, 817, 840
Illinois, 739
Illyrians, 334, 360
Ilmen, lake, 393
Iloilo, 559
Ilopango, lake, 784
Ilorin, 971, 972
Imatra cataract, 392
Imbabura, province, 833
Imerina, 1017
Inagua island, 803
Inca Indians, 836
Incas, Empire of the, 829 ; of
Cuzco, 822
Independence bay, 1032
India, Climate of, 474-476 ; Em-
pire of, 469-502 ; People of,
478 ; Railway map, 485
India-rubber in Bolivia, 842 ; in
Brazil, 872 ; in Congo Free
State, 975 ; in French Guinea,
957 ; in Gold Coast, 964 ; in
Nigeria, 970 ; in Sierra Leone,
963
Indian desert, 471 ; Ocean, circu-
lation of, 68 ; Ocean, currents
in, 70 ; Ocean, origin of, 41 ;
Ocean, position of, 61 ; or
Oriental Regions, 87 ; Territory,
759
Indiana, 739
Indians in America, 711 ; .n
Canada, 683; in Mauritius, 1022;
of North America, 676
Indie people, 108
Indigirka, river, 426
Indigo in Central America, 788 ;
in India, 4S4
Indo-African Continent,97; -Aryan
people, 480 ; -China, 508-520 ;
-European Telegraph, 462; -Gan-
getic plain, origin of, 41
Indonesian people, loS
Indrigiri river, 564
Indus delta, 491 ; river, 470, 476.
489
Inglefield, Sir Edward, Arctic
voyage, 1029
Ingu'l river, 415
Ingur river, 395
Inhambane, 945
Inland-ice of Greenland, 1040-
1042
Inland Sea, definition, 61
Inn river, 303 ; valley, 127, 263
Innsbruck, 305
Innerste river, 289
Innuits in Canada, 684
Insolation, 74
Interlaken, 264
Interment basin, 49 ; basins in
Rocky Mountains, 762
Internal Drainage, Basins of. 63 ;
Old World Region of, 426
Inverness, 155, 156
Invierno in Central America, 785 ;
in Colombia, 826
Inyanga plateau, 998
Iodine in Chile, 846
Ionian Islands, 349
Iowa, 751
Ipoh, 514
Ipswich, 182 ; Queensland, 593
Ipurina people, 869
Iquique, 847
Iquitos, 839
IraMion, 350
Iran, Countries of, 457-468
Iranian desert region, 433
Iranic people. 108
Irawadi river, 472, 486, 496
Irazu, volcano, 784
Iregenat people, 956
Ireland, 187-194 ; Bogs of, 142 ;
Mountain Axes of, 18S ; Rain-
fall of, 142
Iris, River, 440
Irish language, 145
Irkutsk, 418
Iron Gates, 331 ; Map of, 317
Iron Mountain, Mo., 753
Iron ore in Algeria, 908 ; in Cuba,
797; in France, 244; in Ger-
many, 282 : in Spain, 376 ; in
United Kingdom, 149 ; in
United States, 734
Iroquoian people, 106
Iroquois people, 684
Irrigation, iii ; on the Great
Plams, U.S., 757
Irtysh, river, 399, 400
Isabel island, 648
Ischia, island, 353
Isei mountains, 292
Ishikari-gawa river, 547
Ishmaelite people, 453
Iskanderun (Alexandretta), 451
Isker, river, 331 ; valley, 339
Islam in Africa, 899
io68 The International Geography
Islands, 48 ; Classes of, 62 ; Con-
tinental, 48, 62 ; of the South
Atlantic, 1013-1014 ; of the Wes-
tern Indian Ocean, 1020-1024
Isle of Man, 186 ; of Pines, Cuba,
795 ; of Wight, 181
Ismid (Xicomedia), 443
Isobars. 77
Isonzo river, 314
Ispahan, 463
Issyk-kul, lake, 396
Istria peninsula, 313
Itala, 936
Italian peninsula, 352
Italians, 360 ; in Brazil, 869
Italy, 352-365 ; Origin of, 135
Itapicuru river, 875
Itasca, lake, 743
Itasy, lake, 1016
Itatiaia (Mantiqueira) mountain,
865
Itenez river, 841
Ithaca, island, 349
Itil, 414
Ivang^od, 409
Ivigtut, 1041
Iviza island, 370
Ivory Coast, 957
Ivory Nuts in Colombia, 826
Ixelles, 228
Ixtaccihuatl, 775
Izalco, volcano, 7S4
JABALPUR, 493
Jackson, Mr. K. G., and Arctic
Exploration, 1030
Jacobshavn Glacier, 1042
Jacobites, 447
Jade in Kashgaria, 540
jade Gate, China, 523
Jaffna, 506
Jaga people, 983
Jagersfontein, 1004
Jaguaribe river, 874
Jarpur, 496, 497
Jalapa, rainfall, 777
Jalisco, 774
Jaluit Trading Company, 655
Jamaica, 803 ; climate, 792
JambTli, Canal de, 831
Jaml 65, 566
Jamt 'ay, 1014 ; Range, 615 ;
Rive. 'J'S., 756 ; Town, 1014
Jammu, 499
Jamna river, 471, 488
Jan Mayen, 1044
Janina, 344
japan, 545-554
Japen Island, 642, 644
larrah trees, 621
jassy, 329
(at people, 467
[auja, 838
Java, 501 ; People of, 562 ; Sea,
563
Jaxartes, River, 397
" Jeannette," Drift of the, 1031
Jebel Akhdar, 455. 916 ; Dokhan,
923 : es Soda. 916 ; es Zeit, 919 ;
Esh, 919 ; Gharib, 929 ; Nefusa,
916 ; Silsileh, 919 ; Sinjar, 447 ;
Zeit, 923
Jebu people, 967
Jedda, 454
Jefara, 916
Jefferson City, Miss., 752
Jehnl, 532
Jelalabad, 466
Jelebu, 514
Jenolan Caves, 600
Jequitinhouha river, 875
Jerba, 915
Jcrid, 915
Jersey, 186. 187
Jerusalem. 451
Jervis, Cape, 614 ; island, 658
Jesuits in Brazil, 871 ; in Para-
guay, 862
Jevero people, 832
Jews in Algeria. 910; in Balkan
Peninsula, 335 ; in Europe, 133 ;
in Galicia, 312; in India, 479:
in Russia, 403 ; in Tripoli, 917
Jibuti, c,35
Jigj^er. Spread of, 86
Jihun gorge. 439
Jihim (Amu-daria) river, 397 ;
(Pyramus) river, 397, 440
Jishni island. 452
Jodhpiir, 497
Jofra. yiO
Johannesburg. loii
Johansen, Lieutenant, 1031
Johnston, Sir Harry — British Cen-
tral Africa. 946 ; British West
Africa, 960 : Tunisia, 913
Johor, 515 : Bharu, 515
Joktanite People, 453
JokQlsa river, 213
Jones Sound, 1035
Jonkoping, 204
J oust Van Dyke Island, 807
Jordan river, 449
Jorullo mountain, 775
Jostedalsbne, n^
Jotunheim, 19S
Jowf oasis. 450
Juan de Fuca, Strait, 697
Juan Fernandez Islands, 658
Juanacatlan, Fall of, 776
Jub river, 892, 931
Jubaland, 938
Jubones basin, 831
Jucuapa (Salvador), 783
Juda'a, 449
Jujuy. CS50
Juko people, 970
Julfa, 463
Julian Alps. 316
ulianehaab, 1043
Julius C:esar, 143
Jumna, see Jamna
Junglrau, 258 ; railway, 263
Jungles in Asia, 433
Junin, 838
Junki de Baracoa, 794
Jupiter, Ammon oasis, 928
Jul*, mountains. 237, 256, 259, 285
Jurassic Belt of England, 176 ;
Formation, position of, 51
Jute in India, 484
Jutland. 208, 210
Jyland, 208
KABIN, 508
Kabompo river, 947
Kabul, 467
Kabyles people, 910
Kabylia, 907
Kadesh, 450
Kadiac island, 770
Kaduna river, 970
Kaffraria. <.)q2
Kafir, people of Kafiristan, 467 ;
of Natal, 995 ; in South Africa,
989
Kafiristan, 468
Kalue river, 947
Kaga, 553
Kagera river. 942
Kagoshima, 551
Kai.lengebirge, 310
Kaifeng, 533
Kaikoiiia range. 628
Ka'ikouras, 629
Kam. 461
Kaingaroa plains, 630
Kaiping, 531
Kairwan, 915
Kaisariyeh (C^esarea), 444
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, 283, 294
Kaiser Wilhelms Land, 639
Kaiserin Augusta river, 639
Kajeli, 571
Kalahari, 1012 ; Desert, 1002,
Region. 9S9
Kalgan, 532
Kalgurli, 626 ; Goldfields, 623
Kalmuk people, 403
Kalungwisi river, 947
Kalymna island, 444
Ka.ma, river, 390, 414
Kamchatka, 399, 429 ; Climate.
70
Kamerun (Cameroons), 973, 974 ;
Bay, 973 ; Peak, 973
Kamiab, 463
Kamilaroi language, 584
Kamisa tribe, 459
Kampala, 939
Kampar river, 564
Kamyshin, 389
Kan, Dr. C. M., Dutch New
Guinea, 642 ; The Netherlands,
216
Kan-Kiang river, 530, 533
Kanakas, 647
Kanara, 491
Kanarese language, 479, 492
Kanawha river, 732
Kanazawa, 551, 553
Kandahar, 467
Kandy, 506
Kane, Dr. Elisha Kent, Arctic
Voyage, 1029
Kang-won. 543
Kangaroo Island. 614
Kangaroos in Australia, 582 ; in
the Moluccas. 570
Kangeang Island, 563
Kano, 971, 972
Kansas, 751 ; City, 759 ; plains o(
759
Kansu, 532
Kaoko, 1012
Kapuas river, 567, 568
Kapunda, 619
Kara-daria, river, 397
Kara Sea, 423
Kara Su river, 449
Karachi, 491
Karakoram mountains, 465
Karashahr, 540
Karen people, 510
Kariba defile, 999
Karikal, 503
Karimon Java island, 563
Karlsbad, 307, 308
Karlsburg (Apulum), 323
Karnten, 304
Karo Sea, 652
Karpas, 445
Karpathos island, 44S
Karri trees, 621
Index
io6g
Karroo, 986 ; beds, 893 ; rej^ion,
988
Kars, 409
Karst, 305, 337 ; Map of, 314 ;
phenomena, 54. 303, 356 ;
phenomena in Cuba, 794 ; pla-
teau, 303
Kai uia river. 642
Karun river, 458
Kas, people. 510
Kashs^ar, 540
Kashgaria, 539
Kashkai tribe. 459
Kashmir, 489, 498
Kasuii. 45b
Kasongo province, 978
Kasos island,445
Kassa, 322
Kassai province, 978 ; river, 975,
982
Kassel, 289
Katar coast, 452
Kaihiawar, 497 ; peninsula, 478
Katif, 456
Katima rapids, 982
Katla, volcano, 213
Katrine, Loch, 160
Kattegat, 197
Kauai Island, 662
Kaulun, 537 ; peninsula, 536
Kauri pine, 631
Kavari river, 472, 495
Kavirondo, 938
Kawhia, 629
Kayan people, 567
Kayes, 958 ; rapids, 956
Kazan, 414 ; river, 684
Kazbek mountain, 395
Ke Island, 570, 571
Keane, A. H., Distribution of
Mankind,
Kebnekaise, mountain, 198
Kcbra Basa Rapids, 999
Kedah State, 509
Keeling or Cocos Islands, 514
Keewatin. 701
Keilberg, 291
Kel Antassar people, 956
Kel es Suk people, 956
Kelantan State, 509
Kelat, see Khalat
Keltic clans. 144 ; language, 132,
240
Keltie, Dr. J. Scott, Political and
Applied Geography, 109
Kelto-Iberlans, 107
Kelts, 360
Kelung, 554
Kema, 569
Kemp in Antarctic, 1048
Kennebec river, 723
Ken net, river, 179
Kent. 148
Kentucky caverns, 732
Kenya mountam, 891, 931
K( ppel bay, 588
Kerbela, 448
Kerch strait, 394
Kerguelen island 1024
Keria oasis, 540
Kerio river, 931
Ke.niadec islands, 60, 627
Kerman, 461, 463
Kerry Co., 194
Keswick. 163
Keuper, Geological position of,
Key West. 748
Keys (Cays) in West Indies, 791 ;
of Cuba, 793
Khabur, river, 447
Khaibar Pass, 467, 490
Khalat, 499
Khamar-Daban, 398
Khama's Country, 1002
Khan Tengri mountain, 387
Khania (Canea), 350
Khansin wind, 920
Kharbin, 419
Khargeh oasis, 919, 928
Kharkov, 415
Khartum, 927
Khas tribe, 518
Khasia hills, 495
Khazr river, 447
Kherson, 415
Khingan mountains, 399, 539 ;
river, 400
Khita(Hittites), 450
Khiva, 408, 418
Khmer people, 517, 518
Khomair, 907
Khone rapids, 516
Khorasan, 461, 463
Khotan, 540 ; oasis, 540
Khulm, ^67
Kiakhta, 539
Kialing-kiang, river, 534
Kiangsi, 533
Kiangsu, 533
Kiau river, 538
Kiauchou, 538 ; Bay, 533
Kieff, 400, 414
Kiel, 210, 294
Kikuyu people, 933 ; scarp, 931
Kilauea, 662
Kilia mouth of Danube, 328
Kilimanjaro mountain, 891, 941
Killarney lakes, 194
Kilmarnock 159, 161
Kiniberley, 992 ; W.A., 621
Kina, 927
Kinabalu mountain, 567
King George Sound, 020, 625
King Island, 610 ; Karl's Land
1044 ; Sound, 620
Kingani river. 941
King's County, 193 ; Lynn, 179
Kingsmill Islands, 654
Kingston, Jamaica, 804 ; Ont.
695
Kingstown, Dublin, 192 ; St.
Vincent, 810
Kingtechen, 533
Kinsha-kiang river, 534
Kinta, 514
Kinzig valley, 287
Kipirsi, plateau, 955
Kircher, Athanasius. 34
Kirchhotf, Dr. Alfred, German
Empire, 266
Kirghiz people, 403
Kirin (Ginn), 539
Kirishima-yama, volcano, 54
Kiriwina Isiand, 635
Kirk, Sir John. 901
Kirkcaldy, 151, 158
Kirkwall' 155
Kirunga volcano, 891
Kis-AUold, 316
Kishinev, 416
Kishon valley, 449
Kisogawa river, 547
Kitaigoiod. 413
Kitakamigawa river, 547
Kiti, 055
Kitium, 446
Kittatinny valley, 728
Krukiang, 533
Kiyev (Kiett), 406, 414
Kizil Irmak (Halys) river, 440
Kjobenhavn. 210
Kiagenfurt, 305
Klamath rivcr, 768
Klang river, 514
Klarelf, river, 199
Klausenburg, 322
Kleber. 908
Kling people, 512
Klondike, Gold in, 771 ; river, 703
Klosterneuburg, 310
Klyuchev. Mount, 399
Knivskjelodden, 197
Kobdo, 5^9
Kobe, 553
Kokan. 417
Koki, 938
Kola, in Portuguese Guinea, 980 ;
river, 412 ; nuts in Gold Coast
964 ; nuts in Niger Delta, 968 ;
nuts in Nigeria, 970 ; nuls in
Sierra Leone, 963
Kolarian people, 480
Kolbe, Dr. F. C, Cape Colony, 985
Kolding, 211
Koln, 295
Kolomea, 313
Kolozsvar (Klausenburg), 321, 322
Kolyma, river, 426
Komoe river, 957
Komono mountain, 954
Konakry, 957
Kong range, 954
Kongsberg, 205
Konia (Iconium), 443, 444
Konigsau, river, 266
Konigsberg. 293. 294
Konigsee, lake, 272
Konkan, 491
Konstanz (Constance), 286
Kooringa, 619
Kootenay district, 699 ; people,
684
Kopais, lake, 348
Kopaonik mountains, 336
Kopjes, 1004
Korat plateau, 509
Korea. 542-544
Koreans, 543
Korintji lake, 564; mountain,
5%
Korsor, 210
Korsovo, 343
Kos island, 444
Kosciusko, Mount 594
Koshtantau, mountain, 394
Kota-raja, 566
Kotonu, 957
Kotsuke, 547
Koweit (Grane), 452
Kowloon, see Kaulun
Kra, 509
Krain, 304
Krakatao, 563
Krakow, 313
Krapf. explorer,
Krasnoyarsk, 418
Krat hills, 510
Kratji, 973
Krefeld, 295
Kremenets, 392
Kremlin, 413
Krems, 303
Kribi, 974
loyo The International Geography
Krishna, river, 472
Kriti, 350
Kronstad, Orange Free State,
1004
Kramen, 960 ; in Sierra Leone,
Kuban r.ver, 395
Kuciiar, 540
Kuching, 5O0
Kuiseb river, 1012
Kukii-nor Lake, 541
Kulja, 540
Kulpa, river, 330
Kuma, river, 395
Kumamoto, 553
Kumasi, 964
Kuneiie river, 892
Kupei-kow Gate, 532
Kuia river, 395, 41b
Kuram valley, 466
Kurdistan, 440, 461
Kurds, 403, 442
Kurile (Chishima) islands, 429, 554
Kunsches Haft, 272
Kurna, 447
Kuroshiwo current, 70, 547
Kurt Dagh mountain, 449
Kus, river, 904
Kushk, 417 ; railway, 465
Kustenji, 329
Kuyunjik (Nineveh), 448
Kwakioor people, 684
Kvvala Kangsa, 514 ; Klang, 514 ;
Lampur. 514 ; Pilaii, 515
Kwango prov., 978 ; river, 982
Kwangchow, 535
Kwangsi, 535
Kwang-tri, 517
Kwangtung, 535, 536
Kwanza river, 892
Kwei river, 524
Kweichow, 534
Kweiyang, 534
Kwen-lun mountains, 428, 522,
539
Kwita, 964
Kwo-ibo, 968
Kwo people, 967
Eymmene Elf, 392
Kyoto, 551, 552
Kyrene, 916, 917
Kyrenia mountains, Cyprus, 445
Kyulu mountains, 931
Kyushu, 546, 553
LA BREA, 811 ; Calle, 912 ;
Ceiba, 886 ; Condamine,
31 , Guaira, 887 ; Guaira to
Caracas, railway map, 887 ;
Guayra Falls, 860 ; Maddalena,
3S8 : Mancha, 372 : Pallice,
252 ; Paz, 842 ; Plata, 854, 849 ;
Plata, Bolivia, 842 ; Plata river,
815, 850 : Rioja, 855 ; Rochelle,
252 ; Sagittaria, 656 ; Saona
island, 802 ; Serena, 848 ;
Superga, 355 ; Union, 788 ;
Vaux, 264
Laaland Island, 21c
Labrador, Climate, (174 ; Cuircnt,
(x), 1037 : Peninsula, 700
Labuan island, 559
Lacerda, J. de. explorer, goo
Laccoliths, 54 ; in Colorado, 761
Lachlan river, 594
Laconia (Sparta), 349
Ladakh, 499
Ladinos, 7S7
Ladins in East Africa, 945
Lado, temperature and rainfall,
894
Ladoga, lake, 128, 392
Ladrone islands, 44, 655
Lady Franklin bay, 1046
Laeken, 228
Latia, 971
Laghouat, temperature and rain-
fall, 908
Lagoa das Sete Cidades, 384
Lagoon islands, 654
Lagoons on South American
coast, 814
Lagos, 968 ; origin, 960
Lahontan, lake, map, 766
Lahore, 490
Lai bach, 305
Laikipia scarp, 931
Laing, explorer, 900
Lajta river, 316
Lakadiv islands, 500
Lakeba islands, 652
Lake District of England, 163 ;
Rainlali ot, 142
Lake of the Woods, 113, 694 ;
Region of Russia, 388, H)2 ;
Superior, navigation, 684
Lakes, and land development,
55 ; formation, 49 ; use of, m ;
of the Alps, 128 ; of Argentina,
850 ; of Germany, 272 ; of
Mexico, 776 ; of New England,
724 ; of NorUi America, 669,
692 ; of Tasmania, 611 ; of
West Australia, 622
Lambayeque, 837
Laiunias, Mount, 648
Lammcrmoor hills, 157
Lc'mpcdusa islauv'., 353
Lampong islands, 505
Lanark, 159
Lancashire, 16S ; coal-field, 150,
171
Lancaster sound, 1035
Langerote island, 952
Lanchow, 532
Land, Climatic influence of, 79 ;
forms, 4G-59 ; Forms, classifi-
cation of, 48 : Plants, Groups
of, 88: and People, 116; and
Sea Br-eezes, 79 ; and Sea, pro-
portions of, 61 ; and Water,
48 ; and Water, Effects of
Heat on, 73 : and Water, Ter-
tiary distribution of, 97
Land's End peninsula, 167
Lander, explorer, 900
Landes, 236
Landshut, 292
Lang Son, 520
Langres, 237
Langdale, 163
Langeland, 210
Languages of Europe, 132 ; of
India, 479 ; of Switzerland,
map, 260
Langue d'Oc, 240 ; d'Oil, 240
Lac country, 517, 519 ; Kaj^ 519
Laon, 249 : Globe, 35
Lapparent, Prof. A. de, Physical
Geography of France, 233-239
Lapps, 201, 403
Lapworth, C. Fold Theory, 38,
45
Lara State, 887
Laraich (El-Araish), 905
Larantuka, 572
Larapinta land. 615
Larat island, 573
Larnaka, 446
Larne, 193
Larsen, Capt., in Antarctic, 1048
Larut, 514
Las Casas in Central America, 787 ;
in Cuba, 796 ; Las Palmas, 952
Latacunga, 833
Latacunga basin, 830
Lateral valley, detinition, 50
Lalerile, Origin of, 57 ; in Asia,
432 ; in South America, 820
Latitude, detinition, 15 ; Deter-
mination of, 16 ; Origin of term.
9 ; and Longitude as boun-
daries, 114
Lauderdale, Africa, temperature
and rainfall, 894
Lauenburg (Duke of York) is-
lands, 640
Launceston, Tasmania, C13
Laurentian, Highlands, 668, 734 ;
Plateau. 680 ; Plateau in Mani-
toba, 6tj5 ; Plateau in Ontario,
693 ; Plateau in Quebec, 689 ;
Uplands, 671
Laurentide mountains 690
Lauricocha lake, 835
Laurion, 347
Lausanne, 26\
Lausilzer mountains, 292
Lava-plains. 54
Lawrence, Mass., 725
Lazi, people, 442
Lazistan, 440
Le Locle, 264 ; Mans, 251 ;
Murgie, 358
Lea marsiies,, 183 ; river, 182
Leadville, 761
Lebanon, Mount, 449
Lebda, 917
Lee, river, 194
Leeds, 170
Leeuwarden, 222
Leevv.ii-d Islands (British), 807 5
name. 813
Leghorn (Livorno), 364
Leh.'iiann. map shading, 32
LeiChu, 520
Lei river, 525
Leicester, 176
Leicestershire, 174
Leiden, 223
Leine, river, 289
Leinster, 192
Leipzig, 291
Leiria, 379, 382
Leith, 151, 159
Leitha (Lajla) river, 316
Lek river, 218
Leki, 968
Leman, lake, 258
Lembcri: (Lwow) 313
Lemnos island, 444
Lempa, Rio, 784
Lena basin, 426 ; river, 399^
400
Lens, 249
Leon, 376 ; Province, Ecuador,
833 ; (Nicaragua), 783, 789
Leonardo da Vinci, Maps of, 31
Leontes river, 449
Leopold II. lake, 975
Leopold range, 622
Leopuldville, 978
Lepini Mountains, 357
Ind
ex
1071
Leptis (Lebda), 917
Lerma, Rio (Santiago), 776
Ltrnia, valley S55
Lt-ros island, 444
Lerwick, 155
Les Ebouknients. 690
Lesbos island, 444
Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 925
Lesser Antilles, 805 ; Siuida
islands, 57i-573
Lett people, 275 ; language, 132
Lctto-, Lithuanians, 403 ; -Slavs,
loS
Leuk, alluvial fan at, 57
Leukas island, 349
Leukcrbad (Loueche), 265
Leusitz, 291
Levant, 34G
Levees ot the Mississippi, 750
Leven, Loch, 157
Levkosia, 446
Levuka, 653
Lewes, 180
Lewis, island, 155
Lewiston, Me., 725
Lezirias, 380
Lhasa, 541
Liaxd river, 698
Lias, Geological position of, 51
Liau river, 538
Liautung, 538
Liberia, 959-960
Libertad, 789, 837
Libombo Range, 945
Lii-iyan Desert, 928
Lichens, 89
Liddesdale, 161
Lidkoping, 205
i^iebana, vallty, 371
Liechtenstein. 304
Lief Ericsen, 686
Liege, 225, 229
Littey river 192
Lifu island, 645
Ligonla river, 944
Liguria, 363
Ligurian Appennines, 356
Ligurian people, 107, 360
Lii^m fjord, 210
Likungu, river, 944
Lille, 249
Lima, 837
Liniagne, 252
Limagne, Plain ofc 234
Limay river, 850
Limb'urg, 218
Limerick, 190, 194
Limestone Alps, 302
Limestones, 52 ; Weathering of, 54
Lininoplanklon, definition, 92
Limoges, 245, 252
Limpopo river, 892, 945, 1007
Lincoln, 178
Lincolnshire Wolds, 17:^
Linga, 463
Linggi, river, 514
Linn:eus, 96
Linlh river, 257
Linz. 305
Lion mountain, 992
Lions in Rhodesia, 1001
Lipari islands, 353
Lippe, principality, 289
Lisbon, 383 ; Longtitude of, 31
Lissa, 315
Litany (Leontes) river, 449
Lithospliere^solid crust of earth,
5. 4.3^ . Areas of, 46
Lithuanian language, 132 ; people.
Little Batanga, 974 ; Belt, 208
Don, river, 391 ; Karroo, 986
Popo, 957 ; Rock, Ark., 754
Rocky Mountains, 756; Russians,
404 ; St. Bernard, 126; Scarcies
river, 962 : Syrtes, 889
Littoral Area 01 the Sea, 91 :
Fauna, 94
Liverpool, i5f, 172 ; Mountains,
X.S.W.. 594
Livingston, Guatemala, 788
Livingstone, David. 12, 900
Livingstone mountains, 947
Livorno, 364
1 izard Head, 167
Llama in South America, 821
Llani) Kstacado, 673, 754, 759
Llanos, 821 ; in Colombia, 82
Lloro, 8 28
Loanda. 984 ; Ambaca railway j
map, c)83 ; climate, 983 ; dis-
trict, 9S4
Loando, temperature and rain-
fall, 893
Loa: go, 959
L >b (,1-op) Xor lake, 540
Lobos island. S36
Lobsters in Xewfoundland, 706
Locarno, 205
Lochy, Loch, 156
Lockwood, Lieutenant, Arctic
exploration, 1030
LL)ad.)n district, 002 ; liver, 607
Lodz. 413
Loess. Origin of, 57; in China.
522 ; of Mississippi, 738
Lofoten islands, 19S, 199
Lofty Mount. 614, 619
Logan, Mount, 672, 081
Logwood in British Honduras.
790 ; in Central America, 787 ;
in Cuba, 795
Lohombo river, 947
Loire, river, 2.35, 245, 251
Lois river, 573
I^oja, 8:!0, R32. R33
Loko, 972
Lokoja, 972
Lokunja river, 974
Loma Tina mountain, 801
Lomanii river, 975
Lomas, definition, 834
Lombardy, 363 ; plain, 354
Lomblen islet, 572
Lombok-Ombay Islands, 572
Lombok Strait. 572
Loninicz, 316
Lomond, Loch, 157
London, 182 ; Growth of, 115 ;
Maps of, 28. 29 : Plan of, 184 ;
Port ot, 150; Tertiary Basin,
182 ; Out., (195
Londonderry, 191, 193
L(-»ng-cheou, 520
Long Island. 726 ; Range, 705
Longitude, detinition 16 ; Deter-
mination. 17; ori,;::in <^f term. 9
Longitudinal valley, dehnition, 50
i-ongonot moui t.iiu, 931
Lon.ar island, 571
Look-out Cape. 720
Lop Xor lake, 540
Lord Howe island, (.:■!
Lorc-to, 839
Lonent, 251
{ orraine, 241, 287
Los, Angelos, 768 ; Rios province
833
Losuguta, lake, 931
Loueche, 265
Louisiania, 754 ; Acquisition, 711
i,oai3\iiic, Ky., 744
LoLUvni^'o Marqucs, 945
Loavicrs, 245
Lovat river, 391, 393
Lovili mountains, 982
Low, Archipelago, 057 ; Countries,
The. 216-232 ; plain, definition,
49
Lowell, Mass., 725
Lower, Austria, 304 ; California,
774 ; Greensand, Geological
position of, 51 ; Tunguska
river, 400, 426
Lowlands, definiaon, 48 ; of Scot-
land, 157
Loxa, see Loja
Loyalty Islands. 645
Lozere, Jlont, 234
Luoliba prov.nce, 978 ; river,
940
Luang Prabang, 516, 51Q
Luangwa river, 948
Luapula river, 947
LiibcCK, 294
Lubiana, 305
Lublin, 413
Lucerne, canton, 264 ; lake, 258
Luchu islands, 553
i.ukuga river, 947
i^ucknow, 489
Lugano, 265
Lugnaquillia, 193
Lulca, 204
Luleaberg province, 978
Lund, 204
Lunda district, 984
Lune valley, 169
Luncburg heath, 293
Lungo-e-Bungo river, 947
Lurio river, 944
Lusitanian language, 382
Lussinpiccolo, 315
Lutheran Church, 214 ; in Den-
mark, 209
Luxemburg, 230-232
iaizon Island, 558
Lwow (Lemberg), 313
Lyell, C, Theories, 38
Lj-ell, Mount, 611
Lynn, Mass., 726
Lyons, 253
L\ on esse, 167
Lys river, 225
Lvsa Gora mountain, 392
Lvttelton, 628
MAAS, River, 216, 224
iMaastrLiit, 219
Maazeh tribe, 92*)
Macabi Island, 836
Macao, 53S
Macassar strait, 566
.McCartliy Island, 961
Macchie, 131
McClintock, Sir Leopold, 1028
iMncCluvr Gulf, 642
Mc^lur •, Arctic voyage, 1028
Macdonnell range. 615
McDouall Stuai t, explorer, 617
Macedonia, 338, 343
Macedonians, 334
Macgillicuddy's Reeks, 194
1072 The International Geography
Macgregor, Sir William, British
New Guinea, 635
Mackay, 591, 592
Mackenzie, Alexander, explorer,
699
Mackenzie district, 702 ; Plain,
629 ; river, 681 ; river navigation,
685
McLean Falls, 701
Macquarie river, Tasmania, 611
Mactan island, 559
Madagascar, 889, 1015-1020
Madeira Archipelago, 384 ; river,
873
Madjopait, rums, 563
Madras, 494 ; longitude of, 31
Madrid, 376 ; longitude of, 31 ;
Temperature and rainfall at, 372
Madura, 495 ; people, 562
M meander river, 440
Mafra, 383
Mafrag river, 908
Magaliesberg mountains, 1007
Magallanes territory, 848
Magas Tatra, 316
Magdalen islands, 689
Magdalena, 827, 838 ; river, 824,
828
Magdeburg, 294
Magellan, 10, 558 ; Strait, 814 ;
map, 843
Maggiore, Lago, 127, 354
Maghera, 923
Magnesia, Anatolia, 443
Magnesian Limestone, Geological
position of, 51
Magra river, 356
Magunda Mkali, 942
Magyarorsziig, 315
Magyars, 320
Mahanadi, river, 471
Mahanoro, 1020
Mahavillaganga river, 504
Mahe, 503 ; island, 1023
Mahmel mountain, 907
Mahogany in British Honduras,
790 ; in Cuba, 795 ; in Ivory
Coast, 957
Mahon, 377
Mahra, 455
Mahren, 308
Mahrisch Ostrau, 309
Ma:danpek, 336
^LTidstone, 180
Maimachin, S39
Maai, River, '285; valley, 286
Maine, 723, 725
Mainz (Mayence), 286
INLiipo river, 847
^laipure people, 869
Maiquetia, 887
Maitland, K.S.W., 600
Ma ze in United States, 739
JSIajerda river, 913, 914
Majorca island, 370
Majunga, 1020
Makachmga, Mount, 398
Makalla, 455
Makar river, 914
Makassar, 569
Makri harbour, 439
Makta river, 908
Makwa people, 945
Mala Island, 648
Malabar, Coast, 494 ; foiests, 477
Malabrigo Island. 836
Malacca, 512, 513 ; strait, 564
Malaga. 372. 377
Malagarazi river, 942
Malagasy people, 1017
Malaita (Mala) island, 648
Malar lake, 200, 203
Malaria in Italj', map, 359
Malaspina glacier, 770
Malay Archipelago, 555 ; penin-
sula, 509 ; people, 557 ; States,
Malayans, 105 «
Malayo-Polynesian people, 105
Maiden island, 658
Malditos, Montes, 371
Maldiv islands, 500
Malmche (Matialcueyatl), 775
Malinke people, 956
Mallee country, 607 ; scrub, 595,
603
Mallorca island, 370
Malmesbury, Cape Colony, 991
Malmo, 204
Miilstrom current, 199
Malta. 3^15-3(57
Malta group of islands, 353
Malte-Brun, geographer, 12
Maluti mountains, 1004
iMalvern hills, 164
Mahva plateau, 497
Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, 93,
732 ; remains in Siberia, 1646
Mamore river, 841
Man and Environment, 4, 115 ;
primitive, 99 ; struggle for exist-
ence, 97
Manabi province, 833
Managua, 789 ; lake, 784, 785
Manaos, 873
Mai anjara, 1020
Manapouri lake, 629
Manar, Gulf of, 504
Manaro mountains, 594
Manasarovvar lakes, 541
Manchester, 172 ; district, map o*",
173 ; Ship Canal, 172 ; N.H., 725
Manchuria, 538
Mandal pass, 466
Mandalay, 496
Mandara mountains, 973
Mandenga people, 961, 962
Maudes, people, 956
Mandingo mountains, 955 ;
people, 956, 981
Manga Reva, 658
Mangalore, 494
Mangoky river. 1016
Mangoro river, 1016
Mangroves in East Africa, 942 ;
on Kamerun Coast, 973 ; in
Yx>catan, 778
Manihiki islands, 658
Manika plateau, 945, 997
Manila, 559
Maniototo plain, 629
^lanisa (^lagnesia), 443
Manitoba, 6^5-696 ; escarpment,
696, 701 ; lake, 696
Manitoulin island, 694
Mankind, Distribution of, 96-108 ;
Divisions of, 102 ; table of chief
divisions, 103
Manna river, 960
Mannheim, 286
Manning, Mr., in Lhasa, 541
Manomet hills, 726
Manslnam, 644 /
Mantiqueira mountain, 865, 876
Mantse people, 527
Mantua, 363
Manyami river, 998
Manych, as boundarv, 125 rivei
395
Manzanillo, 781, 798
Maori people, 632
Map pro ections, 20-23
Maps and Map reading, z6- 35
general, 30 ; geological 3.
measuremtnt of distances en o
areas, 28; scale of, 27; Io^h,-
graphical, 29; of the Woi.u
value of, 13
Mapocho river, 847
Mar Chiquita, lake, G50
Mar da Palha (Straw Sea), 381
Maracaibo, 880 ; lagoon, 813
lake, 886
Maraiion river, 816, 835
INIaranhao, 874
Marathas, 481
Marathi language, 479, 491
Marav. people, 945
Marble, 52
March river, 291. 308
Marches, def., 112 ; Italy, 364
Marco Polo, travels, 9 ; in
Sumatra, 565
Marcy, Mount, 734
Mare island, 645
Mareb, 454
Maree, Loch, 155
Marenga Mkah desert, 942
Margaret island, 322 ; river, 639
Margarita island, 888
Margate 181
Margalong river, 602
Marianne islands, 655
Marie Galante is.and, 808
Marienbad, 308
Marinus, geographer, 26
Maritime Cordillera of the Andes,
S35
Maritsa river, 332
Mark, definition, 112
Markets, 121
Markham, Admiral Albert Hast-
ings, 1029 ; Sir Clements R.,
Bolivia, 840, Ecuador, 829, Peru,
834
Marlborough, 179
Marlborough Downs, 178
Marmarice, harbour, 439
Marmora (Propontis) Sea. 330
Marocco, 904-906 ; City, 905
Maronite, people, 451
Maros, 322
Marowyne river, 882, S83
Marquesas islands, (158
Marsden, Samuel, in Xew Zea-
land, 632
Marseilles, 253
Marshall islands, 654
Martapura, 568
Martha's Vineyard island, 726
Martigny, 265
Martinique island, 809
Mar war, 496
Mary river, 592
Maryborough, 591, 592
Maryland State, 731 ; boundary
718
Masai people, 898, 933
Masandam, Cape, 452
Masarvva Bushmen, 1003
Masaya, 789
Mascara, 912
Mashad, 463
Mashuna people, looi
Index
1073
Mashunnland, 998
Masina, 954
Mask, Lough, 193
Mason, \V. B., Japan, 545
Massachusetts, 722
Massape soil, S67, 875
.Massowa. 935
Masulipatam. 495, 503
Matabelcland, 998
Matadi, 978
Matajialpa, 784
Matan^as, 798; province, 795
Matarani, 572
Matavai bay, 657
Matchedash bay. 693
Matese niouatains, 356
Mathematical Geography, 14-25 ;
detinition, 3
Matlalcueyatl, 77
Matlock, 169
Mato Teepee, 758
Matochkin Shar, 1045
Mattas Virgeus, 868
Matterhorn, 258
Matto Grosso, 820, 873 ; Moun
tains, 866
Matupi island 641
Maturin, 888
Mau, scarp, 931
Maui island, 662
Maule river, 844
Maulmain, 496
Mauna, Haleakla, 662 ; Kea, 660,
662 : Loa, 660, 662
Mauritius, 1020 ; map, 1021 ;
structure of, 41
Maya-Quiche language, 779
Ma'yaguana Island, 803
Mayaguez, 800
Mavence, 286
Mayo Co., 193 ; Island, 979 ; Kebbi
river, 970
Mayon, Mount, 559
Maypures rapids, 884
Mazagan, 905
Mazama, Mount, 768
Mazamet, 245
Mazaruni, 879
Mazatlan, 781
Mbomu river, 975
Mecca, 453, 454
Mecklenburg-, Schwerin, 293 ;
Strelitz, 293
Medain Salih, 453
Medanos, definition, 834
Mcdma, 453. 454
Mediterranean, civilisation, 7 ;
flora, 131 ; Origin of, 41 ; plant-
region, 433 : region, rainfall
of, 130 ; Temperature and
depth of, 66
Medway, river, 180
Meerut, 489
Megalokastrom (Candia), 350
Meiningen, 290
Mejico, 774
Mekenes, 905
Me Klawng, River, 508 ; Kong
river, 508. 509, 516, 517, 541 ;
Nam Chao Praya river, 508
Mekran, 457
Melanchroi. people, 107
Melanesia, 635-648
Melanesian Chain of Islands, 651 ;
Islands, 646 ; people, 557
Melanesians, 104
Melbourne, 605, 6og
Melilla, 377
Melrose, 161
Melsetter, 1002
Melville island, 614 619
Memel i-iver, 270
Memphis, 924 ; Tenu., 750
M.-nado, 569
Menai Strait, 164
Mendafia islands, 658
Mendere Chai (Mieander) river,
440
Mendoza, 855 ; river, 850
Mengo. 938
Menorca island, 370, 377
Menlawi islands, 557, 566
Menzies. 625
Meos tribe, 518
Merakish,905
Meran, 306
Mercator, 11
Mercator's projection, 22
Meridian, definition, 15
Meridians, Initial, 31
Merim, lake, 857
Merka. 936
Merkusoord, 644
Merrick, Mount, 160
Merrimack river, 723, 725
ilersey estuary, 172
Mers na, 443, 444
Merthyr-Tydfil, 165
Merv, 397, 417
Mesa Toar, 794
Mesas in United States, 673 ; in
Venezuela, 885
Mcseta of Spain, 368
Meshiya. 916
Meskineh, 448
Mesopotamia, 436, 447-448
Mesorea, plain, 445
Mesozoic Formations, Geological
position of, 51
Messenia, 349
Messina, Strait of, 358
Mestizos, 787
Meuse (Maas) river, 224, 229
Mexcala river, 770
Mexican Cordilleras, 775; Indians,
779 ; (Nahuatl Aztec) language,
779
Mexico, 774-781 ; City, 776, 781 ;
City ranifall, 777 : valley, map,
776 ; Longitude of, 31
Mezas mountains, 982
Mezen, 393
Miautse or Mantse people, 527
Michigan, Lake, old outlet, 740
Micro'nes'a, Origin of, 41
iNIicronesian Islands, 653-656 ;
Chain of Islands, 651
Middle Tunguska river 426
Middlesbrough, 177
Middlesex, name, 144 ; Jamaica,
804
Mies, 307
Migrations of Mankind, 97
Mikados of Japan, 550
Milan, 362, 363
Mildura, 607
Tililford Haven, 164
INI liana, 912
MillUr.H R.— England andWales,
161; Geography. Principles, and
Progressr i ; Land Forms, 46 ;
TheOceans. 60 ; Scotland, 152:
United Kingdom. 18
Millstone grit, 165 ; G:ological
position of, 51
Milwaukee, site. 738
Min river, 524, 535
Minahassa, 569
Minas Geracs, 866, 875
Mindanao, 559
MmdcUo, 98a
Miiiho river, 368, 380
Minneapolis, 743
Minnesota, 750, 751 ; river, 743,
750
Mmorca island, 370
Minsk, 403
:NIiojL'ne Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Miquelon, 70S
Mira river, 830
Miranyas people, 869
Mirim lake. 877
Mirzapur, 4S9
Misahohe, 973
Mischabelhorner, 258
Misery, Mount, 808
Misiones, territory, 854, 856
Mississippi delta, 749 ; floods in,
57 ; flood plain, 749 ; river, 743,
748 ; river as boundary, 712
Missolonghi, 348
Missouri. 751 ; Coteau, 701 ; high-
lands, 7J2 ; river, 756
Mist, 76
Misti, volcano, 83S
Milla, 779
Mitrevitza, 341
Mitshi people, 970
Mitta Mitta river, 602
Mitylene Island, 444
Mixtcco-Zapoteca language, 779
Mlanje, Mount, 944, 948
Moab, 449
Mobile, Ala., 74O
Mov'ambique, 944, 945, .;4'J
Jklockler-Ferryman, Major A. F.,
Nigeria, 969
Modling, 310
Moen Island, 210
Moeiis, Lake, 924
Moero Lake, see Mweru
Mogadishu, 936
Mogador, 905
Mog.^al Empire, 480
Mohammed Ali, 925
Mohammedanism in Asia, 437 ; in
Egvpt, 926 ; in Europe. 134 ; in
Niger delta, 967; in Nigeria,
970 ; in Persia, 460 ; in West
At 1 ica, 956
Mohawk, as ancient outlet of
Lake Michigan, 742 , vaUey, 736
Mohilev, 390
Moi tribe, 518
Mok-po river, 543
Molasse, 51
Moldau river, 307
Moldavia, province, 327
Mole, river, 180
Molenbeek, 228
Molise, 364
Molocaih river, 904
Mologa, river, 389
Molokai island, 662
^Moluccas islands. 570
Mombasa harbour map, 937
Mona island, 800
Mona passage, 801
:Monadnocks, 59, 716
Monastir, 341
Monch, mountain, 258
jNIoncorvo, 3S2
Moncton, 689
I074 The International Geography
Mondega, cape, 382
Mondego, river, 381
Mong-tse, 520
MonghjT, 488
Mongolia, 539
Mongolic or Yellow Race, 102, 105
Mongols, 105
Monmouth, 163, 164
Mono lake, 71 -7
Monoclinal fold, 53
Monongahela river, 734
Monrovia, 960
Mons, 225
Mons Jovis pass, 126
Monsoon region, 79 ; of Asia, 431
Monsoons, 78 ; and ocean cur-
rents, 68 ; of India, 474
Montagne Noire, 234
Mont Cenis pass, 126
Montana, 756
Monte Rosa, 258
Montego bay, 804
Montenegro, 337
Monterey, 777
Montevideo, 858, 859
Montferrato hills, 355
Monti Cristi mountains, 801
Montmorency Fall, 690
Montpellier, 253
Montreal, 691 ; temperature and
rainfall, 682
Montreux, 264
Montserrat, 807, 808
Moonta, 619
Moors in Algeria, 910 ; in Senegal,
956 ; in Spain, 373
Moore, Mr. J. S., on Lake Tan-
ganyika, 93
Mooroopna, 609
Moquegua, 838
Moradabad, 489
Morant Cays, 805
Morar, Loch, 155
Morava valley, 332, 336
Moravia, 308
Morav an Gate, 291
Morawhanna, 881
Morecambe bay, 163
Moreton bay, 590
Morlaix, 251
Mormons, 766
Mormugao, 502
Morne a Garou, 810
Morne Diablotin, 807
Morocco, see Marocco, 904
Morro Punti, 795
Morvan, 234
Moscow, 413; Rainfall and tem-
perature, 401
Mosel, River, 287
Moseley, Prof. H. S., 94
Mosi-a-tunya Fall, 999
Moskeneso, 199
Moskva river, 413
Mosquito Indians, 787
MossanT des, 984
Mosses, 89
Mossi plateau, 955
Mostaganem, 911
Mostar, 324
Mosul, 448
Motala, 204 ; river, 199
Motatan river, 886
Motril. 372
Moulmein, see Maulmein
Mount Desert, 723 ; Gambler, 619;
Morgan, 593 ; Morgan gold-
mine, 592 ; Royal, 6qo
Mount's Bay 167
Mountain Chains, 53 ; chains.
origin of, 37 . Climates. 81 ,
Papuans (Alfurs), 644 ; defini-
tion. 40, and Chmate, no:
Ramfall on. So
Mcurne mountains, 188, 193
Moravian Gap 308
Mo.xo people. 841
Mozambique, see Mo(;ambique.
944 ; Channel, currents, 70
Mpini, 974
Msta, River, 391, 393
Muang-Tai (Siam), 508
Muar, 515
Mudania. 443
Mud line, definition, 95
Miihlhausen, 287
Muir, Glacier, 770
Muir, Dr. Thomas, Cape Colony,
985
Mukden, 538
Mulattoes in Central America, 787
Mulde district. 291 ; river, 291
Muldraughs hill, 733
Mull, 155
Mullens, Rev. Dr., 1015
Miiller Range, 622
Multan, ;?90 ; Temperature and
rainfall of, 474
Muluia river, 904
Miinchen, 284
Miinden, 288
Munich (Miinchen), 284
Munich, Longitude of. 31
Muniong mountains, 594
Munster, 193
Miinster, 294
Munster's " Cosmographia," 11
Mur, river, 303, 305
Murchison district, W.A., 625
Murcia, 373, 377 ; province, 371
Murendat river, 931
Murghab river, 397
Murman coast, 412
Murray, Sir John — Antarctic Re-
gions, 1047 ; Divisions of Earth's
crust, 46 ; on the mud-line, 95 ;
The Oceans, 60-71 ; Theory of
coral islands, 63
Murray district, 602 ; river, 577,
578, 594. 603, 609
Murrumbidgee, 601 ; river, 594,
600
Murshidabad, 488
Murua Island, 635
Murzuk, 918
Muscat, 452, 456
Muschelkalk, Geological position
of, 51
Muscovy Company, 1025
Mush, 444
Musk O.x in Arctic, 1039 ; in
Canada, 683
Muskhogean people, 106
Muss Alia mountain, 332
Mustapha Superieur, 912
Mustique islat 1, 810
Muzo, 828
Mweru, lake, 947
Myres, J. L.— Tripoli, 916
Mysore, 473, 498
Mytho, 519
N
Nala
ADA Island, 635
Nadir, definition, 15
Xagar, 499
X.Hgar-Avely. 503
Nagasaki. 553
Naghamadi. 927
Nagoya, 547, 552
Nagpur, 493
Naguabo, 800
Nahr el-Kebir (Eleutherus) river
448
Nahrez-Zerka. river, 450
Nahua tribe, 779
Nahuatl Aztec language, 779
Nahuel-Huapi, lake, 850
Naiguata mountain, 887
Nairn. 156
Naivasha, lake, 931
Nak-tong river, 543
Nam, Ing river!" 509 ; Kok river,
509 ; Lot; river, 509 ; Mun river,
509 : Nan river, 508
Namaland, 1012
Namaqua people, 990
Namuli mountains, 944
Nan-shan mountains, 524, 533
Nanchang, 533
Nancowrie, 500
Nancy, 250
Nandi, 938
Nangamessi, 572
Nanking, 533
Nankow pass, 532
Nansen, Dr. Fridtjof, 12, 103 1 ;
The Arctic Regions, 1033
Nanshan, mountains, 523
Nantes, 251
Nantucket, 726
Naples (Napoli), 364 ; Tempera-
ture and rainfall of, 359
Napo river, 831
Napoli, 364
Naranjal basin, 831
Narbada river, 471 ; valley, 473, 493
Narellan,6oo
Narenta. 324 ; river, 313, 333
Nares, Sir George, Arctic Voyage,
1029
Narev river, 391
Naricual, 887
Narova, river, 393
Narragansett bay, 723
Nashville basin, 733
Nassarawa, 972
Nassau, 803
Natal, 993-997 ; Brazil, 874
Natalia, 995
Natchez. La, 750
Nathorst, Professor, 1032
Nations, definition, 109, 117
Nauhcampatepetl, 775
Naurouse, Passage of, 125
Nauta, 816
Navigation, 23
Navigator Islands, 653
Na.xos, 347, 349
Naze, The, 182
N'Bundo people, 983
Neagh, Lough, 188. 193
Neapolitan Appennines, 356
Nearctic region. 87
Nebraska, 7^5 r, 759
Neckar basin, 285
Nederlandsch Oost Indie, 560
Nefuds, 452
Negapatam, 494, 495
Negri Sembilan, 514
Negritoes, 104
Negro, or Ethiopia Race, lOZ;
river, 873
Index
1075
Negroes in Africa. 897 ; in Central
America, 787 ; in Nigeria, 970 ;
in Porto Rico, Soo ; in South
America, 822 ; in United States,
map, 747
Neisse river, 292
Nejd, 452, 456
Nejef, 448
Nejran, 453
Nekton, definition, 90
Nemours, Algeria, 911
Neogceic Realm, 88
Neolithic Ages, 100
Neotropical region, 87
Nepaul, see Nipal
Nepean river, 600
Nerchinsk, 419
Neritic rej^ion, definition of the.
95
Nerone, Monte, 356
Ness, Loch, 156
Nestorians, 442
Netherlands, The, 216-223 : Con
figuration, map, 217 ; History
of, 136
Netherlands India (Nederlandsch
Oost Indie), 557, 560
Netze river, 271
Neuchatel, canton, 264
Neuhausen, 263
Neuilly. 250
Neu-Pommern (New Britain), 640
Neuquen river, 850 ; territory,
856
Neusiedler lake. 316, 318
Neva river, 393, 410
Nevada, 765
Nevado de Colima, 775 ; de
Toluca, 775
Nevis island, 807, 808
New Almaden, 768; Amsterdam,
881 ; Bedford, 725 ; Benin, 968 ;
Britain, 640 ; Brunswick, 6S8
689 ; Calabar, 968 ; Caledonia,
644-646 ; Castile, 376 ; Chaman,
466, 467 ; England, 721 ; Eng-
land mountains, N.S.W., 594 ;
Forest, 181 ; Georgia Island,
648 ; Grenada, 827 ; Guinea or
Papua, 635 ; Hampshire, 723 ;
Haven. Conn., 723 ; Hebrides,
646 ; Holland, 584 ; Ireland,
640 ; Kanawha river, 728 ;
Mexico, 762 ; Orleans, 715, 749 ;
Orleans, site map, 750 ; Orleans,
temperature and rainfall, 675 ;
Providence, 803 ; Ross, 193 ;
Siberian Islands, 1046 ; South
' Wales, 593-60 1 ; South Wales,
1 rabbit-proof fences map, 595 ;
1 Spain, 78c ; Westminster, B.C.,
I 70c ; Westminster, temperature
and rainfall, 682 ; World, 36 ;
York, 727, 729 ; York City, 715,
730 ; York, temperature and
rainfall, 675 ; Zealand, 627-634 ;
Zealand, ra.lway map of, 633
Newara Eliya. 504
\ Newburgh,'N.Y., 736
I Newcastle -on- Tyne, 151, 169;
\ Natal, 994 • N.S.W., 596, 600
*Newchwang, 538
'^ewer Appalachian Belt, 717. 727
pJewfoundland, 704-707 ; Grand
Banks of, 69, 722
Newhaven, 180
Newnes,Sir George, and Antar. tic
Exploration, 1048
70
Newport, Mon., 165 ; R.I., 723
Ngami Lake, 1003
Xyanhwei. 533
Nganking. 533
Ngansichou, 539
Ngauruhoe mountain, 628
Ni;uru mountains, 941
Niagara, 735 : Escarpment, 694 ;
Gorge, 742 ; and the Gieat
Lakes, 741 ; river, 681
Niaouli tree, 645
Niari-Quillu river, 958
Nicaragua, 789 ; Lake, 784, 785 ;
physical geography, 784; sea-
ports, 788 ; ship canal, 785
Nice, 241, 253
Nickel, in Canada, 694 ; in New
Caledonia, 646
Xicoinedia, 443
Nicosia (Levkosia), 446
Nicoya Gulf, 783
Nictheroy, 876
Nielsen, Prof. Yngvar — The Scan-
dinavian Peninsula, 197-202
Niger basin, 892 ; Coast Protec-
torate, 965-968; delta, climate,
966 ; delta, map, 9^5 ; river,
900, 954. 955. 958, 969
Nigeria, 9(9 ^72
Nihon (Nippon). 545
Niigata, 547, 551, 553 ; Tempera-
ture and rainfall of, 547
Nijmegen, 222
Nikki, 958
Nikko, 548
Nikobar islands, 500
Nikolayev, 409, 415
Nile, basin, 892 ; delta, map, 921 ;
river, 920, 930
Nilotic peoples, 933
Xilgiri hills, 472, 494
Ximes, 253
Ximrud Dagh mountain, 440
Nineveh, 448
Ningpo, 535
Nipal, 503
Xipe, 798
Nipigon, lake, 694
Nippon, 545
Nish, 336
Nisyros island, 444
Nithsdale, 160
Nitrate of soda in Chile, 844, 846
Niuchwang (Xewchwang), 538
Xizarites. 453
Xizhnii-Novgorod, 406, 414
Nonni river, 539
Xordenfjeldske, district, 206
Nordenskiold, Baron A. E., 1029 ;
Sea, 423 : Dr. O., explorer, 1048
Nore river, 193
Norfolk, U.S., 729 ; Va., site, 720 ;
Island, 001
Norge, 205
Noric Alps, 316
Normait Conquest, 144
Normandy, 250
Normanton, 591
Xorrkoping, 204
Xorrland, 204
North America, climate, 673 ;
America, configuration map,
670 ; America, Continent of,
664-678 ; America, map of
glaciation, 669 ; Carolina shores.
720 ; Dakota, 750 ; Devon,
Arctic America, 1046 ; Downs,
180 ; -East Land, 1044 ; -East
Passage, 1 1 . 1026, 1029 ; Ger-
man Low Plain, 292 ; Island,
N.Z., 627, 629 ; Magnetic Pole,
1028 ; Mountains, 686 ; Polar
Regions, 1025-1046 ; Sea, Circu-
lation of, 67 ; Shields, 151, 170 ;
-West Passage, 11,1026,1028;
-West Provinces of India, 488 ;
-Western Territories of Canada,
702
Northern, Dvina river, 399 ;
Rhodesia, -946 ; Territory, South
Australia, 614, 619 ; Zambezia,
946
Northers of Texas, 755
Northam, W.A., 626
Northamp'.on, 178
Northumberland, coal-field, 150,
169 ; county, 168 ; Strait, 686,
.687
Northumbria, 153
North wich, 174
Norway, 205-207
Norwegian, language, 214 ; Sea, 61
Norwich, 182
Xosibe island, 1016
Xosob river, 1012
Xotogoeic Realm, 88
Notre-Dame, Bay, 705 ; Moun-
tains, 690
Nottingham, 170 ; coal-field, 150 ;
county, 171, 174
Notwani river, 1002
Nou island, 646
Noumea, 645, 646
Nouvelle Caledonie, 644
Nova Goa, 502
Nova Scotia, 685-687
Novaya Zemlya, 423, 1045
Novgorod, 392
Novl- Bazar, 343
Novo-Georgievsk, 409
Nu-Aruak people, 822, 869
Xuevitas, 798
X'uevo Leon, 777
Nuka-Hiva island, 658
Nupe, people, 971
Nuremberg. 286
Niirnberg (Xuremberg), 286
Nusa-laut island, 571
Nutmeg in the Moluccas, 571
Nutrias, 885
Nuyts Land, 617
Nyasa, Lake, 942, 947 ; discovery,
9CI
Nyasaland, 946
Nvborg, 210
Nyika, 937
Nyong river, 974
OAHU Island, 662
Oases, of Libyan Desert, 928;
of the Sahara, map, 905
Oats in United Kingdom, 148
Ob river, 397, 398
Ob-Irtysh region, 426
Obidos, 873
Obsequent rivers, definition, 59
Ocean, Basins, General form of,
60 ; B.asins, Permanence of, 65 ;
boundary. 113; current, 68;
depth, greatest, 60 ; drift, 68 ;
functions of, 71 ; as a highway,
71 ; river, 8 ; surface tempera-
ture, 65
Oceania. 649
Oceanic, climate, 81 ; civilisaiion.
1076 The International Geography
8 : deposits, 64 ; islands, defini-
tion, 62 ; plateau, 47
Oceans, 60-71 ; Circuhition of, 68 ;
origin of, 41 ; in political geo-
graphy, 120 ; salinity of, 63
Ochil Hills. 157
Ocus. 7S8
OciLza river, 381
Odense. 210
Odeondo, 968
Oder river, 270, 29I, 294, 308
Odessa, 415
Odyi river, 998
Oea (Tripoli), 917
Oesterreich (Austria), 300
Oetanata river, 643
Oetzthal. 306
Ofanto, River, 357
Ototen ijord, 204
Ogasawara-jima, 545
OgOvve river, 892, 958
Ogiit:i, 968
O'Higgins, General, in Chile,
846
Ohio, region, 735 ; region, glacial
action in, 738 ; river, 732, 737,
744 ; river -jls boundary, 712
Oich, Loch, 156
Oil, Islands, 1023 ; palm in \iger
delta, 966 ; seeds in India, 484
Ojibways tribe, 683
Oka river, 390, 414
Okavango river, 1003, 1012
Okcr river, 203
Okhotsk, Sea of, 398, 424
Okhvat lake, 391
Okinawa island, 553
Okinawa-ken, 553
Oklahoma, 759
Oland, Island, 199
Olekma, river, 400
Oleleh, 566
Old, Calabar, 967 ; Castile, 376 ;
Red Sandstone formation. Geo-
logical position of, 51 ; Servia,
343
Old World, 36 ; World, Structure
of, 40
Oldenburg, 293
Older Appalachian belt, 717, 722
Oldham, 173
Olifant's river, 1007
Oligocene Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Olinda, 875
Olive trees in France, 244 ; in
Italy, 360 ; in Palestine, 450 ; in
Spain, 374 ; in Tunisia, 914
01 fiisa,. river, 213
Olmiitz, 309
Olonets, 392
O ten, 264
Olympus, 345 ; Mount, 439 ;
mountain, Cyprus, 445
Omaha, 759
Oman, 455 ; district, 453
Omatoko, Mount, 1012
Ombay islet, 572
Omdurman, 925
Omi, 547
Omo river, 931
Omotepe volcano, 784
Omsk, 418
Onega, Lake, 128, 393
Onttapu plains, 630
On Inhv river, 1016
Onin, 642
Ontake mountain, 546
Ontario, 692-695 ; during the Ice
Age, 742 ; peninsula, 693
Oolite, Geological position of, 51
Oolitic Escarpment, 161, 177
Oozes, Oceanic, 38
Opium in China, 526 ; in India,
484
Opobo, 968
Oporto, 381, 384
OraefajokuU, 213
Oran, yii ; department, 907
Orange, 253 ; N.S.W., 600 ; basin,
892 ; Free State, 1005 ; River,
986, 1004, 1012 ; River Colony,
1004-6 ; River Sovereignty, 1005
Oranges in Jamaica, 804
Oranienbaum, 411
Orbe, rA-er, 258
Orchids, epiphytic, 93
Ordnance Survey, 29
Ordovician Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Oregon, 764, 765 ; acquisition of,
711
Orellana, 871
Orenburg, 4x6
Oresund, 197
Orfoidness, 182
Oriental, or Indian region, 87 ;
province of Ecuador, 833
Oring nor, lake, 541
Orinoco, delta, 813 ; river, 816, 884
Orissa, 486, 487
Orizaba, mountain, 775
Orkney, 155
Orleans, 251
Orleansville, 912
Ormuz, strait, 425
Oro province, 833
Orontes river, 448, 449
Ortelius, cartographer, 11
Orthographic projection, 221
Orthography of Geographical
names, 33
Ortler mountain, 302
Oruro, 842
Osage river, 753
Osaka, 552
Oscar, Frederiksborg, 204; Land,
1044
Oshima island, 553
Osnabriick, 289
Osterdal, 199
Qstergotland, 204
Ostersund, 204
Ostrich, in Africa, 897 ; feathers
in Cape Colony, 987
Ostro-Goths, 260
Otaheite, 656
Othere, Voyage of, 1025
Otomi language, 779
Ottawa, 695
Ottilia (Ramu) river, 639
Ottoman, Empire, 340 ; Turks,
436
Otway, Cape, 602
Ouachita ^Mountains, 753, 759 ;
ridges, 673
Oudh, 488
Ourique, 380
Ouro Preto, 875
Ouse, river, 171, 180 ; as boun-
dary, 162
Ovalu Island, 653
Ovampo people; 1013
Ovens river, 602
Overysel, 222
Oviedo, 374, 376
Ovifak (Uifak), 1041
Ovis Poll, 403
Owari, 552
O-Wassa mountain, 953
Owen Stanley range, 635
Owhyhee (Hawaii), 66i
Oxford, 177
Oxus river, 397, 465
Oyapok river, 883
Ozark Plateau, 752, 753
I^ACARAIMA Mountains, 879
Pacaya, volcano, 783
Pachitea, 839
Pacitic, Islands, 649 ; Ocean, Cuj-.
rents of, 70 ; Ocean, Origin of,
41 ; Ocean, Position of, 61 ;
Slope of Sibei 'a, 398 ; Slope of
United States, 707-77^ ; Tides
of. 65 ; Volcanic Area, 425
Padang, 566; highlands, 56?;
Padre Island, Tex., 754
Padua, 363
Pago-pago, island, 654
Pahang, 515
Paho.n people, 959
Piiijiinne, lake, 392
Paik-u-san, 543
Paisley, 159
Pahearctic region, 87
Pakeocrystic Sea, 1029
Paleolithic Ages, 100
Pakeozoic Formations, Geological
position of, 51
Palapye, 1003
Palatinate, Bavarian, 286
Palatines, 276
Palawan, island, 559
Palembang, 566 ; river, 564
Palenque, 779
Palermo, 365
Palmoil, in Gold Coast, 964 ; in
Ivory Coast, 957 ; in Niger
Delta, 968; in Nigeria, 970; in
Sierra Leone, 963
Palma, 377 : Island, 952
Palmas, Cape, 959
Palmer gold-field, 591, 592
Palmerstcm, 619
Palms in Egypt, 922
Palmyra island, 658
Palti (Yamdok-tS()) lake, 541
Pamirs, 49, 396, 427, 464, 470^
540
Pamlico sound, 718
Pampa, 820 ; region. South Ame-
rica, 815
Pampas, 89, 852; territory, 856
Pamplona, 376
Pan Guajaibon, 794
Panama, 828 ; isthmus, 824 ; pro-
vince, S27
Panaro river, 356
Panay island, 558, 559
Pangani river, 941
Pangkar islands, 514
Pante, Mont, 645
Panikotta, 502
Pan jab, 471, 489 ; climate, 476
Panjabi language, 479
Panjim, 502
Panos (people). 869
Pantar islet, 572
Papeete, 657
Papua (Xew Guinea), 635; Gulf
of. 63()
Papuan people, 637
Papuans, 104, 644
Ind
ex
1077
Para, 873 ; temperature and rain-
fall. 8iq
Paraguassu river, 875
Paraijuay, 859-862 ; river, 850, 860
Parahiba, do Norte, 874 ; river,
874
Parallax, definition, 14
Paranianbo, 882
Paramillo. 824
Paramos in Andes, 826
Parana, 854: State, 876; river,
850, S60. S74, 876
Paranagua, S76
i'aranapanema river, 876
Parajju.ina peninsula, 886
Pardo river, 875
Pare, mountain, 941
Paria, lake, 840
Parima, Point 834
Paris, 246. 250; longitude of, 31 :
Tertiary Basin, 235, 236
Parit Ja\va 515
Park. Munfjo, Explorer, 900
Parks in Rocky Mountains, 763
Parnahyba river, 874
Parnassus, 345
Parnkalla language, 584
Paros, island, 349"
Parramatla 600
Parry, Sir Edward, Arctic Voyage
1027
Parsi, people, 479
Pasir. 56S
Pass, definition, 50
Passes of the Mississippi, 749
Pastaza river, 830
Pasterze glacier, 304
Pasto, mountain, 824
Patagonia, 850 : Pampa Area. 815
Patagonian, people, 822; platform,
45
Patani. State, 509
Patmos, island, 444
Patna. 487
Patos, lake, 877
Patras, 349
Patzcuaro, lake, 776
Pau. 252
Pauillac, 252
Paumotu fsland Chain, 651, 657
Paute, river, 830
Pavia, 363
Pavlovsk, 411
Payer, Lieutenant, 1030 ; Arctic
Voyage, 1029
Pays de Caux, 250
Pavsandii, 857, 859
Payta, 837
Peace river. 68 1 . 698
Peak, iistrict of Derbvshire, 168 :
of Tenerile (Picode Teyde). 952
Pearl river, 535
Peary, Mr. R. E., Arctic explorer,
1032
Pcchili. 531
Pechora river, 399
Pecos river. 759
Pedro Cays. 80j
Pedrotalagalla, 504
Peel. 186;" river, 600
Pegnitz river, 286
Pegu, 496
Pei-ho (Southern) river, 531, 535
Peipus, 128; Lake, 393
Pekan, 515
Pekuig, 531 ; climate, 526
Pelagic, definition, 90 ; deposits,
64 ; fauna, origin of, 95
Pelasgians, 107
Pelee, Mont, 809
Peleponnesus, 348
Pelew islands, 655
Peloritanian mountains, 358
Pelvoux, Mont, 237
Pemba Island, 959
Pembroke, 164
Penang, 513
Penck, Prof. A , 48 ; Austria, 302 ;
Austria-Hungary, 298 Bosnia
and Herzegovina, 324
Pendactylon mountain. 445
Peneplain, definition, 58, 59
Peniche peninsula, 379
Peninsula. Cape, 985
Pennine Alps, 258 ; Chain, 16;
168
Pennsylvania, 718, 727, 733
Penobscot river, 723
Pentapolis. 917
Pentland Firth. 155 ; Hills, 157
Pcnrhyn island, 658
Penzance, 167
Pepper in Sumatra, 566
Pera, 342
Peradeniya, 506
Perak, 514
Perdu, Mont, 371
Perihelion, 72
Peripli = Compass Charts, 26
Perim island, 452, 455
Perm, 414
Permian Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Pernambuco. S74
Persia, 457-463 ; Telegraph map
462
Persian Gulf, Origin of, 41
Perth, 157; countv, 156, 157
W.A.. 62=; : W.A., Temperature
and Rainfall, 580
Peru, 834-840 ; raihvavs, map.
837
Peiugia, 364
Pescadores islands. 553
Peschel, Otto, geographer, 12
Peshawar, 467, 490
Pest, 321 ^
Pet, Arctic Vovage, ro2^
Peten, lake. 785 :"p!ain, 7S3, 786
Peter Botte mountain, 1021
Peter's Island, 807
Peterborough, 178
Peterhead, 156
Peterhof, 411
Pctermann, Land, 1044 ; Peak,
1040
Petherick, Edward A. — ^Xew South
Wales, 593; South Australia,
614 ; Victor. a, 602
Petit Codiac river, 689
Petriu, 508
Petrokow, 405
Petroleum in Caucasus, 416 ; in
Pennsylvania, 733
Petropolis, 875
Peulh people, 956
Peunong tribe, 518
Pevensev. 181
Pezo da Regua, 381
Pfeil, Graf von — German East
Africa, 940 ; German New
Guinea, 639 ; German South-
west Atrca, 1012 : German
West Africa, 972 ; Kiauchou,
538 : Marshall Islands, 654
Phanar. 342
Philadelphia, Pa., 715, 720, 730,
Anatolia. 443
Philippeville, 912
Philippine islands, 558-559
Philippopolis, 339
Phihppson, Dr. A.— Danubian and
Balkan States, 327-351
Phillip, Governor, 597
Phipps. Arctic voyage, 1027
Phlegrsean fields. 357
Phcenician colonies. 118, 917
Phosphate in Algeria, 90S : in
Florida. 747 ; in Rcdonda, 807
Phu-lang thuong, 520
Physical Geography, definition,
3
Physiography, definition, 2
Phyto-Geographical regions, 88
Piacenza, 363
Piauhi, 874
Pichincha, mountain, 830 ; pro-
vince, 833
Pico de Pefialara, 369 ; de Teyde.
952 : de Vara Mountain. 3S4 ;
del Turguino, 794 ; Island, 384 ;
Mountain, 3S4 ; Ruivo, 384
Picos de Euiopa (Torre de Cer-
redo), 371
Pictou Harbour, 686
Picts, people, 144, 153
Piedmont. 355, 363
Pietermaritzburg, 994
Pilatus. mountain, 258
Pilcomayo river, 841. 850
Pile-dwellings, Lacustrine, loi
Pillars of Hercules, 378
Pillau. 294
Pilot Knob. Mo., 753
Pilsen, 308
Pinar del Rio, 797 ; province, 795
Pindus, district, 348 : range, 345
Pine-apples, in Cuba, 797
Pine, Creek, 619; forests of Gulf
States, 745; ridge?, 786
Pinega river, 399
Pines, Isle of, Cuba, 794 ; Xew
Caledonia, 644
Pinzon, Vicente Janez, Dis-
coverer, 870
Piraeus, 348
Piranhas river, 874
Pisa, 361, 364
Pisco, 838
Pitcairn inland, 659
Pitch lake, Trinidad, 811
Piton, de la Fournaise, 1024 ; de
la Riviere Xoire, iC2i ; des
Neiges, 1024
Pitons, mountains, 809
Pitt river. 767
Pittsburg. Pa., 734
Piura. 837
Piz Kesch. 259
Pizano in Peru, 836
Placentia Bay, 705
Plains, Kinds of, 49
Plankton, definition, 90
Plans, 28
Plants and Animals, Distribution
of, 83
Plateau, definition, 49
Plate river, 857
Platte river. 758, 759
Flatten lake, 318
Playa, 800
Playas, definition, 766
Playfair, Sir R. Lambert— Aden,
454 ; Algeria, 906 ; Cyprus, 445 ;
1078 The International Geography
Gibraltar, 378-379 : Malta, 366,
367 ; IMarocco, 904 ; Perim, 455
Plaza Almanzor mountain, 369
Pletier on Shore fauna. 91
Plcisse river, 291
Pleistocene Formation, Geolo-
gical position of, 51
Plenty, Bay of, 627
Plevna. 339
Pliocene Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Ploesci, 329
Plutonic rocks, 52
Plymouth, 167 ; Mass., 722, 726 ;
Montserrat, 808
Po, Kiver, 355, 363 ; Valley of.
125
Podgoritza, 337
Podolian plateau, 311, 312
Poik river, 303
Poitiers. 252
Poitou, Strait of, 235
Pokomo people, 933
Pola, 315
Poland, 276, 300, 313, 412 ; History
of. 136
Polar Eddy, Atmospheric, 81
Polar Regions, The. 1025-1052 ;
Kcgions, Climates of, 81
Polarity. 3
Polders, definition. 217 ; at Am-
sterdam, 222
Poles of Earth, definition, 15
Poles, people, 312 ; in Germany,
276
Political Geography, 109-121 ;
deiinition, 5
Polino, Monte, 357
Polynesia, Origin of, 41 ; Southern,
656
Pomaks, 343
Pomarao, 381
Pomaria, 912
Pomerania. 294
Pomeroon river, 879
Pomona island, 155
Pompeii, 365
Pomponius Mela, Map of, 8
Ponapi Island, 655
Ponce, 800 ; de Leon, 798
Pondicherry, 5:3
Pondo people, 990
Pondoland, 992
Pongo de Manseriche,835; people,
959
Ponta Delgada, 384
Pontevedra, 376
Pontianak, 568
Pontic Coast range, 439
Ponupo, 797
Ponza, island, 353
Poona, J92
Poopo lake, 840
Popocatepetl, mountain, 775
Popuation, maps, 34 ; of Asia,
435 • of tlae World, io3
Porta Westfalica, 289
Portas do Rodam, 381
Port, Adelaide, 619; Albert, 602 ;
Antonio, 804 ; Arthur, 409, 419,
539 ; -au-Prince, 802 ; Augusta,
S.A., 614, 6ig ; aux Basques. 707 ;
Blair, 500; Chalmers, 628; Curtis,
588 ; 592 ; Darwin, 619; Darwin,
( F"al kland). 864 ;Darwin, tempera-
ture and rainfall. 5.S0 ; Dickson,
515 ; Elizabeth, 985, 991, 992 ,
Essington, 619 ; Fairy, 6oy .
Jackson, 599 ; Lincoln, S.A., 614.
619 ; Louis. Mauritius, 1022 ;
Melbourne, 60S ; Moresby, 636.
63S ; Natal. 995 ; Xicholson,
627 ; of Spain, 812 ; Phillip, 585,
602 ; Phillip, map. 608 : Pirie,
619 ; Royal. 804 ; Said, 927 ;
Simpson, 697 ; Victoria. Sey-
chelles, 1023 ; Weld, 514
Portage la Prairie, C9O
Portages, 690
Portland, 177 ; Bay, 605 ; District,
603 : Me., 723 ; Ore., 769 ; Vic-
toria, 609
Porto, Alegre, 877; Grande, 980;
Rico, 798-801 ; Santo Island. 384
Portrush, 193
Portsmouth, 181 ; Dominica, 807 ;
N.H., 723
Portugal, 379-385 ; Origin of, 135
Portuguesa river, 885
Portuguese, Colonies, Statistics,
385 ; East Africa. 944-94O ;
Guinea, 980-981 ; India, 502-
503 ; Timor. 573 ; West Africa,
979-984 ; in Africa, 900 ; in
East Africa, 937
Posen, 292, 293
Position, Determination of. 18
Post-Tertiary = Quaternary, 51
Potatoes in Germany, -80
Poti, 416
Potomac river, 718, 729
Potosi mines, 820, 842
Potleiies, The, 175
Poty river. 874
Poughkeepsie, K.Y.. 736
Powell in Antarctic. 1048
Poyang Lake. 524. 530. 533
Pozsony (Pressburg;, 322 ; basin,
316
Pozzuoli, 364
Pra river. 963
Praga, Poland, 412
Prague (Prag, Praha), 308
Praia, 980
Prairie, as a misnomer, 757 ;
Steppe, tis
Prairies, 89, 673 ; and population,
737 ; and trees. 739
Praslin island, 10.23
Prayag, 488
Prealpi, 126
Precipitation, 76
Pregel river, 294
Prehistoric Age, 101
Presidios, 377
Pressburg, 322
Preston, 173
Pretoria, 1011
Pr.bilof Islands, 770
Prince, Charles Foreland, 1044 •
Edward Island, 087 ; ot Wales'
Island, 513 ; Rupert s Town,
807
Princes island, 981
Princess Royal Harbour, 620, 625
Princeton, mountain, 760
Principe (PiinceTJ) island, 981
Pripet river, 313, 390
Prisrend, 343
Progreso. 781
ProTectioa tor maps, 20-23
Propontis, 330
Provence, 239
Providence, R I., 723, 726
Province, of South Australia, 614 ;
Wellesley, 513
Provincetown, Mass., 726
Provincial Districts in New Zea
land, 634
Prusa. 444
Prussia, 278. 293
Prussians, 275
Pruth rver, 313, 327, 329
Przemysl, 313
Przhevalski, Col., explorer. 540
Przibram, 307
Pskov, Lake, 393
Ptolemais, 916
Ptolt-my, 26. 5S4 ; Editions of, il ,
Maps of. 9
Puerh tea, 535
Puerto, Barnos,788 ; Cabello. 887 ;
Colombia. 828 ; Cortez, 788 .
Limon. 7,-^8 ; Montt,848 ; Plata,
802 ; Prado, 839 ; Princcssa,
559 ; Principe Province, 795 :
Real de Cabo Rojo, 800 ; Villa-
mizar, 886
Puget sound. 768
Pulkova, Longitude of, 31
Pulkovo, 411
Pulo Pertja, 565
Pulque, 778
Puma in Chile, 845
Puna, definition, 834 ; island, 831 ;
region, 821
Pungwe river, 945, 998, 1002
Punjab, see Panjab
Puno, 836, 839
Punla, Arenas, Chile, 848 ; Arenas
(Costa Rica), 788 ; Gallinas.813 ;
Pariiia, 813
Purace, mountain 825
Purari river, 636
Pygmies in East Africa, 934
Pyramids of Ghizeh, 924
Pyramus river, 440
Pyrenean-Cantabrian mountains,
369 ; Region of France, 235
Pyrenees, 235, 237, 371 : Relative
extent of, 396 ; ranges, Brazil,
874 ; Victoria, 602
Pytheas. 143 ; explorations, 8 ;
Voyage of, 1025
QUANG-TRI (Kwang-tri) 517
Quarnero, Gulf, 323
Quartzite, 52
yuaternary Formations, Geolo-
gical position of, 51
Quathlamba mountains, 1007
Quebec, city, 692 ; province, 689-
692
Quechuan people, IC7
Queen, Charlotte oound, 697 ; Vic-
toria desert, 622
Queen s channel, 614
Queenborough, 152
QueenscliH, 609
Queensland, 587
Queenstown, 194
Queguay river, 857
Quelimane branch, 945
Quelpart, 543
Queretaro 780
Quetta. 466, 499
Quetzal, 78O
Quezaltenango, 785. 789
Quezaltepeque, volcano, 784
Quiche, 787
Quichua, in Bolivia, 841 ; language
in Ecuador, 832 • Lm^uage in
Peru, 836 ; people, 822
Index
1079
Quincy, 111., 744
Quindiu pass, 826
Quirinal, The, 364
Quito, 833 ; basin. 830 ; tempera-
ture and rainfall, 819
RABAT. 905
Kabba, 972
Rabbit-proof fences of New South
Wales, map, 595
Rabcza river, 316
Races of mankind, 102 ; in Africa,
map, 897 ; of the world, 108
RadaK, atolls, 654
Rae, Dr. John, Arctic Exploration,
1028
Rafai. 959
Raffles Bay, 619
Raffles, Sir Stamford and Singa-
pore, 512
Ragatz, 263
Ragged Island, 803
Railways in Africa, map, 902 :
in Argentina, map 853 ; of
Australia, map, 585 ; of Belgium,
map, 227 ; of Britain, map, 185 ;
or Ch na, 531 ; of Cuba, map,
797 ; of Europe, 137 ; of France,
246, 247 ; of India, map, 485 ; of
New Zealand, map, 633 ; of
North America, map, 677 ; of
Peru, map, 837 : on the Prairies,
738 : of Victoria, O09
Rainfall, 76 ; Influ.-nce of Moun
tains on, 785 ; of Africa, 894
map of Australia, 580 ; 01
Europe, map, 130 ; of India
maps, 475 ; of Sjuth Amer.ca,
818
Rainier, Mount, 767
Raipur, 493
Raised-beaches, 39 ; Scotland, 153
Rajputana, 496
Rakan river, 564
Raleigh, N.C., site, 720
Ralik, atolls, 654
Ralum, 641
Rameswaram islands, 504
Ramsay, 186
Ramsgate, 181
Ramu river, 639
Ranau, 566 ; lake, 564
Rand, Transvaal, map, 1009
Rangoon, 496
Rannoch, Loch, 156
Rapa Nui island, 659
Raratonga islands, 656
Ras el-Hadd, 452
Ras Kasar, 935
Ratisbon, 2S5
Raveneau. Prof. L. — General Geo-
graphy of France, 239-255
Ravenna, 363
Ravenstein, E. G. — Maps and Map
Reading, 26
Raveuswood gold-field, 592
Ravi river. 490
Rawalpindi. 490
Ravvlinson mountains, New Gu>
nea. 639
Razorback. Mount. 614
Reaction Currents, 67
Reading, 179
Rebmaun. Explorer, 900
Recent Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Re ife, S75
RclIus. Elisee, 12
Red, Basin of China, 522, 532, 534 ;
Clay, 65 ; River of the North,
696, 750 , River Rafts, 754 ;
River Settlement, 6g6 ; River
of Tongking, 510 ; Sea, circula-
tion of, 64, 66 ; Sea Hills, 929
Redjang river, 567
Kedon, 251
Rednitz river, 285
Redonda island, 807
Re-entrant = incurve of the coast,
63S
Reeves, H on. VV. P. — New Zea-
land, 627
Regel, Dr. Fritz, Colombia, 824
Regensburg (Ratisbon), 285
Regina, 702
Reichenberg, 308
Reims, 245, 249
Reindeer in Arctic, 1039
Reka river, 303
Relict mountai ns, 55
Relief maps. 34
Religion in Germany, 278
Religions of Asia, 437 ; of SwitZv
land, map, 261
Reloncavi, G ulf, 848
Remscheid, 288
Renfrew,. 1 59
Renmark, 618
Rennell island. 648
Rennes, 251
Reno, river, 356
Republica, May or de Centroame-
rica, 787 ; Orie ntal del Uruguay,
856
Reservoir on the Nile, 922
Rethymnon, 350
Reunion, 1024
Reuss, 290 ; river, 258
Rewah, 497
Revkjavik, 215
Rhat, 918
Rhstic Formation, geological
position of. 51
Rheingau, 287
Rhine, Highlands, 268, 287 : Pro-
vince, 294 ; river, 216, 257, 270,
285 ; valley of. 125
Rhodanian depression, 236
Rhode Island, 723
Rhodes, island, 444
Rhodesia, 997
Rhodope, 338 : mountains, 332, 340
Rhon mountain, 288
Rhondda valley, 165
Rhone, river, 245, 258 ; valley, 57,
1-5
Ria, definition, 50
Riam-Kina river, 568
Ribble, river, 173 ; valley. 168
Rice, in India, 484 ; in Indo-China,
518 ; in Siam, 510
Richardson, Dr., Explorer, 901 ;
Sir John, Arctic voyage, 1028
Richmond, Va., site. 720
Rideau Canal, 695
Riesengebirge (Giant's Mount-
ains), 267, 292
Rift-valleys, 53 ; of East Africa,
ma \ 930
Riga, 409, 411
Righi, mountain, 258
Rikuchu, 547
Rikuzen, 547, 553
Rilodagh mountain, 332, 338
Runac river, 838
Rimini, 364
Rinjani mountain, 572
Rio, Chico. 887 : Cliixoy, 7.S3 ; del
Rev, 974 ; Grande, 754, 762, 774,
776, 841 ; Grande do Xorte, State.
874 ; Grande do Sul, S77 ; Negro,
816, 850, 857, 884 ; Negro terri-
tory, 856; Patia, 824; Tinto.
374 ; Tocuyo, 886 ; de Janeiro,
871. 875, 876 ; de Janeiro,
longitude of, 31 ; de Janeiro,
rainfall and temperature, 868 ;
de Oro, 953 ; de la Pasion, 785 ;
de la Plata Countries, S4y-8r32 ;
de las Balsas (Mescala), 776
Riobamba, 830, 833
Rion river, 395
Riow islands, 565, 566
Risdon, 612
Ritter, Karl, 12
Riva, 306
Rivas (Nicaragua), 783
River, Capture, 55, 59 ; Terraces,
55, 56 ; Work — Constructive, 56 ;
Work — Destructive, 55
Rivers, and Boundaries, 112;' and
Canals of France, 245 ; Cla.ssifi-
cation of, 58 ; of Norlh German
Plain (map), 271 ; use of, ui
Riverina district, 594
Rivieres du Sud, 957
Road Town. S07
Roads, in Algeria. 911 ; in China,
531 ; Roman, 133 . '
Roanne, 245
Roaring forties in New Zealand,
630
Roatan island, 784
Robertson, Sir G. S.— Afghanistan,
464
Roblet, Pere D., 1015
Roca, Cape da, 379
Rochdale, 173
Rochefort, 252
Rochester. N.Y., 736
Rockhampton, 592
Rockport, Mass., 722
Rocks, Order of the, 51 ; Sedi-
mentary, 51; and Weathe.ing,5[
Rocky Mountains, 671, 697, 760-
767
Rode Bay, 808
Rodriguez, 1023
Rodway, J.— Colonies of Guiana.
878 ; Haiti and Santo Domingo,
801 ; West Indian Colonies,
803 : West Indies, 791
Roebuck Bay, 625
Rofia fibre, 1019
Rogachev, 390
Rokel river, 962
Rollers, 67
Roman Roads. 133
Romans in Britain, I44 ; in Ea
rope, 133 ; in Spain, 372
Romanshorn 263
Rome. 364; Influence of, 133;
longitude of, 31
Romerbad. 306
Romney Marsh, 181
Ronne, 211
Roon, 644
Roper river, 615
Roraima, mountain, 879, 884
Ri'iros, 205
Rosa, Monte, 126, 258
Roseau, 807 ..
Roses in Bulgaria, 339 ; in Euro-
pean Turkey, 341
io8o The International Geography
Rosetta mouth, 921
Ross and Cromarty, 155
Ross, Sir James Clark, 60 ; Arctic-
voyage, 1028 ; Sir James Clark,
in Antarctic, 1048
Ross, Sir John, Arctic voyage, 1027
Rossland, B.C., 116, 700
Rostov, 416
Rotation, 14; of Earth, Effects of,
56, 68, 72, 76, 78
Rotoava, 657
Rotterdam, 223
Rotti, 572
Rotuma island, 652
Roubaix, 249
Rouen, 245, 250
Rovuma river, 941
Roxburgh, county, 160
Roy, General, 29
Roya! Geographical Society, Rules
for Orthography, 33
Royal Niger Company, 969
Royat, 252
Rubies in Burma, 474
Ruapeliu mountain, 628
Riidersdorf, 269
Rudolf, Lake, 931
Rudolstadt, 290
Ruelle, 245
Ruenya river, 998
Rufiji river, 892
Rufiji-Ruaha river, 941
Rufisque, 956
Riigen, 275, 269
Ruhr, Coal-field, 288 ; valley. 282
Ruiz mountam, 825
Rukwa (Rikwa) Lake, 942, 947
Rum Cay, 803
Rum in Jamaica, 804
Rumania, 327-330
Rumanians, 320
Rumbi mountains, 965
Rupel, river, 225
Rushchuk, 339
Russia, Lake region of, 388 ;
Density of population, map,
404 ; Railway map, 419
Russian, Empire, 386-421; CHmate
of, 401 ; Map of Resources, 406;
Plain, 388
Russell island, 648
Ruthenians, 312, 313
Rutherglen, Victoria, 609
Ruwenzori mountain, 891, 931
Rye, seaport, 181
SAALE river, 290
Saba island, 806
Sabaeans, 447, 453 ; in South
Africa, looi
Sabaki river, 931
Sabanilla, 828
Sabi river, 998
Sable Island, 686
Sabrata (Zuara), 917
Saco, Me., 725 ; river, 725
Sacramento, 768 ; river, 767
Sacsahuaman, hill, 839
Sado river, 380. 381
Safed Koh, mountains, 466
Safi, 905
Safid-rud river, 458
Safra, 453
Sage brush, 764, 766
Sagua, 798 ; la Grande, 797
Sahara, 953 ; climate, 894 ; in
Algeria, 907 ; in Tunisia, 913
Saharan Oases, 905
Sahel in Tunisia, 913
Sahyadri (Ghats), 471
Saigon, 520
Saihut, 455
Saikyo, 552
Saima. Lake, 392
St., Andrews, 158 ; Anthony, 743 ;
Antony, Cape Verdes, 979;
Benoit, 1024; Christopher's Is-
land, 807, 808 ; Clair, Lake,
Tasmania, 611 ; Canzian, caves,
303; Catherine, Mount, 810;
Croix island, 805; Denis, 250;
Denis, Reunion, 1024 ; Elias
Alps, 671 ; Elias, Mount, 672,
681, 770 ; Etienne, 245, 253 ;
Eustatius island, 806 ; Fran9ois
Mountains, 753 ; Gall, Canton,
263 ; George, mouth of Danube,
328; Georges, Grenada, 810;
Gilles, 228; Gothard mountains,
258; Gothard Pass, 127; Go-
thard railway (map), 262 ;
Helena Island, 1013; Helena
(map), 1014 ; Helena, Moreton
Bay, 592 ; Helens, 173 ; Helens,
Mount, 767 ; John, N.B., 689 ;
John island, 805 ; John river,
688, 689 ; John's, Antigua, 807 ;
John's, Newfoundland, 707 ;
Josse - ten - Noode, 228 ; Kitt's
Island, 807, 808 ; Lawrence,
Gulf of, 679; Lawrence Plain,
in Ontario, 693; Lawrence
Plain, in Quebec, 690; Law-
rence river, 681, 689, 728 ;
Lawrence river navigation, 684 :
Lawrence river systv-m, 665 ;
Lazarus Islands, 558 ; Leon-
ards, 181 ; Louis-Dakar rail-
way map, 956 ; Louis, French
Guiana, 883; Louis, Miss., 749;
Louis, Senegal, 957; Louis, Miss.,
site, map, 751; Lucia, 809;
Malo, 251 ; Martin's island, 806;
Mary's Bay, 705 ; Moritz, 263 ;
Nazaire, 251 ; Ouen, 250 ; Paul
islet, 1024 ; Paul, Liberia, 959;
Paul, Minn., 743 ; Petersburg,
410 ; Pierre, 708, 809 ; Pierre-
les-Calais, 249 ; Pierre and
Miquelon, 707-708 ; Pierre,
Reunion, 1024 ; Quentin, 249 ;
Thomas, Island, 805; Thomas
Island, West Africa, 981 ; Vin-
cent, Cape, 380 ; Vincent, Cape
Verdes, 979 ; Vincent Gulf, 614;
Vincent, W.I., Sro
Ste. Croix, 264
Saisi river, 947
Sajama mountain, 840
Sakai, people, 510, 512
Sakalava people, 1018
Sakaria (Sangarius) river, 440
Sakhalin, island, 399
Sakkar, 491
Sal island, 979
Sal (timber) in India, 476
Sala, 203
Salaga, 964
Salama, rainfall, 785
Salamanca, 376
Salaier island, 569
Salaverry, 837
Salawati, 644
Salazie, 1024
Saldanha bay, 985
Sale, Victoria, 609
Salem,' 495 : Mass., 722, 725
Salerno, 359, 365
Sal ford, 172
Salgir, river, 394
Salisbury, 179 ; Plain, 179 ;
Rhodesia, 1002
Salish people, 684
Salinity, and Circulation, 67 ; of
Oceans, 63
Sallee (S'la), 905
Salmon in British Columbia, 699
Salonica, 343
Salt, in Bahama, 803 ; in Cuba,
797 ; in Eritrea, 935 ; in Ger-
many, 282; in India, 474
Salt Cay, 805 ; Island, 807 ; Lake
City, 767 ; Lakes, origin of, 63 ;
lakes, position, 49 ; Lakes of
Tunisia, 914 ; range, Panjab,
472
Salta, 855
Sal to, 857, 858, 859
Saltwater river, 608
Salvador, 789 ; physical geog-
raphy, 783 ; seaports, 788
Salzach river, 303, 305
Salzburg, 305 ; duchy, 304 ; val-
ley, 306
Salzkammergut, 306
Samang, people, 510, 512
Samar, 559
Samara, 390, 418
Samarai, 636, 638
Samarang, 563
Samaria, 449
Samarcand, 409, 417; province,
395
Samoa, 653
Samos island, 444
Samoyeds. 403
Samsun (Amisus), 443
San river, 391
San, Bias, 781 ; Bias mountains,
824 ; Cristobal. 886 ; Christoval
island, 648 ; Diego, Cal., 768 ;
Domingo, 381, 802 ; Fernando,
812 ; Fernando de Apure, 885 ;
Francisco, Cal., 675, 715. 768,
769 ; Francisco mountain, 763 ;
German, 800 ; Jose (Guate-
mala), 788 ; Jose (Uruguay),
859 ; Jose river, 857 ; Jose
de Costa Rica, 789 ; Jiian,
Argentina, 855 ; Juan, Porto
Rico, 800 ; Juan, Rio, 824 ; Juan
river, 784, 785, 850 ; Juan del
Norte (Grevtown), 788 ; Juan
del Sur, 788 ; Luis, 855 ; Luis
de Apra, 656 ; Luis Valley, 762 ;
Miguel, 789 ; Miguel de Piura,
837 ; Miguel volcano, 784 ;
Pablo lake, 830 ; Salvador, 783,
• 789 ; Sebastian, 376 ; Vicente,
789
Sanaa, 454
Sand, dunes, 57 ; in Central Asia,
431, 540 ; in Africa, 895 ; hills
in Nebraska, 758
Sandakan, 560
Sanderson's Hope, 1026
Sandhurst, 608
Sandstones, 52
Sandwich Isfands (Hawaii), 660
Sangai mountain, 830
Sangarius river, 440
Sanghir islands, 569
Sangke river, 509
Sannaga river, 974
Index
1081
Sannikoff land, 1046
Sanpu river, 471
banta, Ana, 7S9 ; Ana, volcano,
784 ; Catharina, 876 ; Clara,
province, 795 ; Cruz, 647 ; Cruz.
Tenerife, 952 ; Cruz de la Sierra,
842 ; Cruz de Mar Pequena,
953 ; Cruz Island, S06 ; Cruz
river, 850 ; Cruz territory, 856 ;
Fe, 854 ; Isabel, 953 ; Isabel
mountain, 825, 95^ ; -Lucia hill.
847 ; Lucia river, 857 ; Luzia
Island, 979; Maria, island, 384 ;
Mart 11 a mountains, Brazil, 874 ;
nver, 83 s ; Rosa, 859
Santander, 376, 827, 828
Santani Lake, 643
Santarcm, 873
Santiago (Argentina), 855 ; pro-
vince, 795 I river, 776 ; Cape
Vcrdes, 979 ; de Chile, 847 ;
de Chile, longitude of, 31 ; de
Cuba, 796,798 ; de Cuba, climate,
795 ; del Estcro, 855 ; de Com-
postela, 376
Santo Antao (St, Antony), 979 ;
Antonio, 981 ; Domingo, re-
public, 802
Santorin (map), 349
Santos, 876
Sanyati river, 999
Sauerland, 287
Saugor, 493
Sao, Francisco river, 866, 875 ;
Luiz, 874 ; Marcos Bay, 874 ;
Nicolao island, 979 ; Paulo, 870,
876 ; Paulo de Loanda, 984 ;
Roque, Cape, 874 ; Salvador da
Bahia. 875 ; Salvador do Congo,
983 ; Thiago (Santiago) Island,
979 ; Thonie (St. Thomas) island,
981 ; Vicente, 870 ; Vicente, Cape
(Cape St. Vicente), 380 ; Vicente
(St. Vincent), 979
Saone river, 236 ; and Rhone,
valley of, 1 25
Saparua island, 571
Sapper, Dr.Carl — Central America.
782
Sapote forests of Yucatan, 778
Saracens and the Cfusades, 134 :
in Africa, 900
Sarajevo, 324
Saramacca river, 882
Saratov, 414
Sarawak, 560
Sardinia, 358, 364
Sarjektjokko, mountain, 198
Sarrakole people, 956
Sarstoon river, 789
Sarus river, 440
Saskatchewan, 702 ; district, 701 ;
-Nelson river, 681 ; river, 701 ;
river navigation, 685
Sassak people, 572
Sassandra river, 957
Sassari, 365
Sassnitz, 303
Sasuto language, 1003
Satlaj river, 471
Satpura range, 471
Sault St. Marie, 692, 735
Saxon Switzerland, 291, 307
Saxons, 144 ; in Germany, 276 ; in
Holland. 220
Saxony, kingdom, 291 ; province,
290, 294
Savannas, 89; in Angola, 983; in
Africa, 896 ; in Asia, 433 ; in
Brazil, 820, 868, 874 ; in Central
America, 786 ; in Colombia, 825 ;
of Venezuela, 884
Savannah, Ga., site, 720
Save river, 303, 945
Savoy, 241
Savu islet, 572
Sawatch mountains, 760
Sayan mountains, 398, 400
Sbeitia (Suftetula), 915
Scafell Pike, 163
Scandinavia, 197-21 1 ; Geology of,
128 ; highland region of, 124
Scandinavian peninsula, 197-202
Scandinavians, 108
Scania, 203, 204
Scarboro' Heights, Ont., 695
Scarborough, 177 ; Tobago, 812
Scarp, definition 49
Scenery, dependent on nature of
rocks, 52
Schaerbeek, 228
Schaffhausen, Canton, 263
Schaumburg-Lippe, principality,
289
Schelde river, 224, 229
Schenectady, N.Y., 736
Schiedam, 223
Schist, 51
Schlesien, Germany, 292 ; Austria,
308
Schleswig, 294 ; duchy, 209
Schneekoppe, 267, 306
Schollengebirge = crust - block
mountains, 53
SchoUenland, definition, 268
Schuylkill, 730
Schvvarzburg-Rudolstadt, 290 ;
-Sondershausen, 290
Schweinfurth, Explorer, 901
Schweiz (Switzerland), 256
Schwerin, 293
Schwj'^z, Alps of, 258 ; canton,
263
Scilly islands, 167
Scirocco wind, 314
Sclater, Dr. P. L., Zoological
regions, 87
Scoresby, expl., 1027 ; Fjord, 1041
Scotia, ship, 1048
Scotland, 152-161 ; Earliest people
of, loi ; raised beaches in, 39, 153
Scots, 153 ; of Ireland, 190
Scott, Capt. R. F., explorer, 1048
Scottish Coal-fields, 150 ; High-
lands, rainfall of, 142
Scratchley, Mount, 635
Scree, definition, 57
Scugog, Lake, 694
Scutari, 342, 343 ; Lake, 337
Scythians, 479
Sea, Island cotton, 720 ; -level, 46 ;
-level, changes in, 39 ; -level, un-
certainty of, 39 ; -lochs, defini-
tion, 50 ; Mountains (Serras do
Mar) of Brazil. 866 ; -w-ater, 63
Seaports of United Kingdom, 150
Seasons, 72 ; cause of, 23
Seattle, 769
Sebang-hien, 517
Sebastea, 444
Sebbe, 973
Sebekar bay, 642
Sebele's Country, 1003
Sechuana language, 1003
Sechwan, 525, 534
Sedan, 245
Sedeir district, 456
Sedimentary rocks, 51
Sediments, 51
Seeland, 210
Segovia, 376, 784
Segre river, 370
Seihun, river, 397
Seine river, 235, 246, 25c
Seistan swamps, 466
Sekar, 644
Selangor, 514
Selaru island, 573
Sele, river, 356
Selenga riyer, 400
Seliger, lake, 390
Selizharovka river, 390
Seljiik Turks, 441
Selkirk, county, 160 ; Mountains;
B.C., 671, 698
Selous, F. C. — Southern Rhodesia
and Bechuanaland, 997
Selvagens, island, 384
Selvas, 820 ; in Brazil, 868 ; in
Colombia, 825 ; Venezuela, 885
Semeni river, 333
Semien mountain, 934
Semites, 107 ; in Africa, 897
Semmering Pass, 305
Sendai, 553 ; Bay of, 547.
Senegal, 956 ; river, 892, 955
Senegamhia, 958
Senga people, 945
Senne, river, 228
Senussi Arabs, 916, 928
Sentis mountains, 258
Seoul, 544
Septimer pass, 127
Seraing, 229
Serang island, 570
Serchio river, 356
Seremban, 514
Serere, people, 956
Seres. 343
Sereth. river, 327
Sergipe, 875
Seri tribe, 779
Seringapatam, 498
Serra, Central of Brazil, 866;
Geral, 866 ; Morumbala, 945 ;
d'Urbion, 380 ; da Arrabida,
380 ; da Estrella, 381 ; da
Gorongoza, 945 ; da Gral-
heira, 379; de Cintra, 379; de
Grandola 380; do Mar, 866,
875. 876
Serrano. 570
Serras do Bouro, 379
Sert, Gulf of, 916
Servia, 335-337
Servians, 334
Serwatty islands, 573
Setif, 912
Sete Quedas falls, 860
Seto. 553
Setubal, 381, 384
Sevastopol, 409, 416 ; rainfall and
temperature of, 401
Seven Islands, 1044
Sever river, 381
Severn tunnel, 166 ; valley, 165
Sevenoaks, 130
Seville, 376
Sevres, 245, 250
Sextant, 11, 16
Sevbus river, 908
Seychelles, 10.23 ; structure of, 4I
Seymour Narrows, 697
io82 The International Geography
Sfax, 915
s' Gravenhage, 223
Shackerley .Mountains, 807
Shalii lake (Urumiya), 463
Shahjehanpur, 489
Sliale, 52
Shanio, desert, 539
Shan States, 518
Shanghai, 531, 533
Shanhaiiiwan, 531
Shannon, river, 189
Shansi, 525, 532
Shantung, 532, 538
Shari river, 892, 974
Shark Bay, 57.S
Shashi river, 998
Shasi, 534
Shasta, Mount, 768
Shatt-el-Arab, river, 447
Sheep in Algeria, qio ; in Argen-
tina, 853 ; in Australia, 586 :
in the Falklands, 863 ; in Trans-
vaal, J008
Sheet-riood, definition, 766
Slietfield, 170
Shelif river, 908
Shelon, river, 393
Shenandoah valley, 728, 747
Shcngking, 538
Shensi, 532
Sherbro river, 962
Sherbrooke, Canada, 692
Sherwood Forest, 171
Shetland, 155
Shibam, 455
Shickshocks mountains, 690
Shiel, Loch, 155
Shihite Mohammedans, 460
Shikarpur, 491
Shikoku, 546
Shilka river, 400
Shillong, 495
Shinana-gawa, river, 547
Shinshu, 547
Shiraz, 463
Shire river, 945, 947
Shires, definition of, 162
Sioan people, 933
Sholapur, 492
Shoshonean people, 106
Shotts of Algeria, 908
Shreveport, 754
Shrewsbury, 164
Sluiri, 553
Si-Kiang river, 524, 530, 535
Siam, 508-5 1 1
Siang river, 525, 530
Siangtan. 533
Siao-ho river, 534
Sib-Song- Panna, 519
Siberia, 388, 1045 ; configuration,
387
Siberian railway (map), 418
Sibree, Rev. James — Madagascar,
1015
Sicilv, 353, 358, 364
S:di Bel Abbes, 912
Sidlaw Hills, 157
Si -Ion, 450
Siira, Gulf of. 889
Siebengebirge (Rhine), 287
Sifiia, 364
S.cira, Leone, 962-963 : Leone,
origin, 960 ; LuquiUo, 798 ;
Luquillo river, 799 ; Madre,
672, 775 ; ^Laestra, 794, 797 ;
Maraguaca, 884 ; Morena, 369 ; I
Nevada, 672 ; Nevada (Spain), |
370 ; Nevada of California,
767; Nevada de Cocui, 825;
Nevada de Merida, 886 ; Nevada
de Santa Marta, 825 ; Parima,
884 ; de Amambay, 860 ; de
Bejar, 373 : de Gredos, 369 :
de Guadarrama, 36c) ; de
Mbaracayii, 860; ce Perija, 886 ;
de Toledo, 369; de Las Minas,
783 ; de los Organos, Cuba,
794. 796 : del Mico, 7S3
Sievers, Dr. \V.— Venezuela, 884
Sigilmassa, 906
Sihanaka people, 1018
Sihun (Sarus) river, 440
Sikasso plateau, 955
Sikhota-Ahn range, 399
Sikhs, 481
Sila, 357
Sileraki, 644
Silesia (Schlesien), 292, 293, 308
Silistria, 339
Silk, in China, 527, 529; in Japan,
551
Silla de Caracas, mountain, 887
Silurian Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Silver, in Bolivia, 842 ; in British
Columbia, 699 ; in Mexico, 780 ;
in New South Wales, 601; in
Peru, 836
Silverlon, 601
Simbirsk, 390
Simbor, 502
S nicoe. Lake, 694
Simon's Bay. 985
Simplon, 265; Pass, 127; Tunnel,
262
Simjison, T., Arctic Explorer, 1028
Simiim, 456
Sinai peninsula, 919, 923, 929
Sindh, 471, 490 ; -Pishin railway,
499
Smgapore. 513
Singareni, 497
Singan, 532
Sinic formations, 525
Sinkiang, 539
Sinnamarie river. 883
Sinni, river, 357
Sino-Japanese plant region, 433
Si nope, 439
Sintsiang, 539
Sion, 265
Si )uan people, 106
Sioux people, 6S4
Sipan Dagh, mountain, 440
Sirikol mountains, 465
Sisal hemp in Bahama, 803
Sitka, 770
Sittang river, 473
Siva (Siwah), 916, 928
Sivas, 443 ; (Sebastea), 444
Skagen, 208 ;
Skagerrak, 197
Skaw, 208 !
Skeena river, 698
Skiddaw, 163
Skjaergaard, 199
Skroe, 644
Skutari (Chrysopolis), 443
Skye, 155
Slate, =;2
Slave, States of U.S., map, 747 :
trade in Africa, 899
Slaverv, in Brazil, 871 ; in United
States, 746
Slavonic languages, 132
Slavs, in Balkan Peninsula, 334 ;
in Germany, 276 ; of Russia,
403. 404
Slcsvig, duchy, 209
Slieve Bingian, 193 ; Bloom, 189 ;
Donard, 193 ; Felin, 189 ; Liag,
187
Sligo, 193
Slopes, definition, 50
Smith, Mr. Leigh, Arctic Explora-
tion, 1030 ; Andrew, Explorer,
900
Smith Sound, 1029, 1635 ; Sound
Region Map, 1029
Smolensk, 390
Smyge Huk 197
Smyrna, 443
Smyth, H. Warington— Siam, 508
Snaefell, 180
Snake river, 764 : Canyon, 672
Snow, eflect of, on Climate, 76 ;
-line on Alps, 126, 259 ; -line in
Caucasus, 395
Snowdon, 1G4
Snowy river, 594, 602
Soar, river, 176
Sobat, river, 920
Sobo people, 967
Sobrarbe, valley, 371
Society Islands, 656
Soerabaya. 563
Sofia, 339; basin, 331
Soils and heat, 75 ; of Ohio region,
738
Sokhondo 398
Sokoto, 969, 971, 972 ; river, 970
Sokotra, 93O
Solar Energy on the Earth, 4 ;
Heat, Distribution of, 72
Solent, 181
Soleure (Solothurn) canton, 264
Solingen, 288
Solo river, 563
Sologne, district, 251
Solomon Islands, 647
Solor islet, 572
Solothurn canton, 364
Solway Firth, 160, 163
Soma.' 443
vSomali people. 898
Somaliland, 936
Somers' Islands, 709
Stindenfjeldske district, 206
Sondershausen, 290
Sonmiani, 499
Sonnhlick mountain, 303
Sonneberg, 290
Sonrhai people, 956
Soo (Sault Ste. Marie) Canal, 735 ;
map, 692
Sorata Mount, 817, 840
Sorong, 644
Sorraia, river, 380
Soufriere, Hill, 808 ; St. Lucia,
809 ; St. Vmcent, 810
Sound, The, 197, 208, 210
Soundings, 48
South Airica, 985-1014 ; Company,
950 ; Geology, 986 ; Mountain
System or, map. 986
South African Republic, 1010
South America, Climate, 818 ;
Continent of, 813-823 ; Con-
figuration (map). 814 : F'auna,
821 ; Flora, 8 jo . unexplored
areas, 12
South, Australia, 614-620 ; Carohna
Islands, 720 ; Dakota, 751, 757 ;
Index
1083
Downs, 180 ; Esk river, Tas-
mania, 613; Holland, 222;
Georgia, 864; Island. X.Z., 627,
629 ; "Perth, 625 ; Sea Islands,
649; Shields, 170; Shields, port
Of, 151 ; Wales Coal-field, 150,
164, 165
Southern, Alps, 627, 628 ; Coastal
Plain of U.S., 745 ; Conti-
nent, hypothetical, 11 ; Cross,
626 ; Cross, ship, 1048 ; Hemi-
sphere, 42 ; Ocean, 1047 ; Ocean,
currents of, 70 : Ocean, posi-
tion of, 6l ; Ocean, tides of,
65 ; Rhodesia, 997-1002 ; Rho-
desia and Bechuanaland, 997-
1003 ; Rivers (Rivieres du Sud),
957; Uplands of Scotland,i53,i6o
Southampton, 181 ; Port of, 151
Southland, 629
Southport. 174
Spain« 368-378; origin of, 135;
and South America, 822
Spalato, 315
Spandau, 294
Spanish in Cuba, 796 ; Town, 804 ;
Sahara, 953 ; West Africa, 952-
953
Sparta, 349
Speke, Capt., Explorer, 901
Spencer Gulf, 579, 614
Sperrin mountains, 193
Spetsae island, 349
Spey, river, 156
Spezia, 363
Sphakiotes, 350
Sphere of influence, 119
Spice Islands, 570
Spinifex, 622
Spithead, 181
Spitsbergen, 1044; first crossing
of, 1032
Spokane, 764
Sponge fishing in Anatolia, 444
Sponges in Bahamas, 803
Spree river, 271, 295
Spurges, 89
Spurn Head, 179
Srinagar, 499
Staaten Land, 632
Staffordshire, 174 ; Coal-field, 150
Stambul, 342
Stanislau, 312
Stanley, Sir H. M., 12, 901 ; on
Congo, 977
Stanley ( Falklands), 864 ; Falls,
978 ; Falls province, 978 : Moun-
tains, 594 ; Pool, 959, 978
Stanovoi mountains, 398 ; Khrebet,
399
Stans Foreland, 1044
Starnberg lake, 272
States, definition, 109
Statistics, use of, 120
Stavanger, 207
Stawell. 609
Stefanie, Lake, 931
Steiermark (Styria), 304
Stereographic projection, 21
Steppe", varieties of, 388 ; Vegeta-
tion, 89
Steppes, of As=a, 432 ; Govern-
ment of, 395 ; of Russia, 402 ;
of Turkestan, 30
Stettin, 294
Stett ner Hatf, 270
Stevenson, R. L., on South Sea
Islands, 649
70
Stewart Island, 628, 629
Stikine river, 698
Stirling, 158 ; Range, 622
Stockholm, site of, 203
Stone rivers of the 1-alklands, 863
Stonehenge, 179
Stonehouse, 167
Stoney Tunguska river, 426
Store Skagestijlstind, 198
Stornoway, 155
Stour, river, i8o
Straits Settlements and Malay
States, 511-515
Stranja hills, 332
Stranraer, 160
Strassburg, 287
Stratford-on-Avon, 174
Strathmore, 157
Straw Sea, 381
Stream-line, definition, 50
Strigonium, 322
Strike, 59 ; definition, 55
Strome Ferry, 155
Stromfjord, 1041
Strom o, 211
Strophanthus in British Central
Africa, 948
Stroud, 177
Striib, 210
Strzelecki, Count, 602
Sturt, explorer, 617 ; explorations
bv, 596 ; Creek. 576
Stuttgart, 285
Styria (Steiermark), 304. 305
Suaheli people, 933, 942
Subsequent rivers, definition, 59
Subsidence and elevation, 40
Suchow, 533
Suck, river, 189
Sucre, 842
Suda Bay, 350
Sudan, 897 : (French), 958 ;
(Egyptian) provinces, map, 928
Sudbury, 694
Sudetes, 268, 291, 306, 308
Sueira, 905
Suess, Prof. E., 38
Suess, Lake, 931
Suez, 927 ; Canal, 925, 928 ; Canal
map, 92 T
Suf, 908
Suffetula, 915
Sugar, in Barfsados, 811 ; in British
Guiana, 880 ; in Cuba, 796 ; in
Fiji, 652 ; in Germany, 281 ; in
Hawaii, 661 ; in Jamaica, 804;
in Mauritius, 1022 ; in Porto
Rico, 799-800 ; in Reunion,
1024 ; -cane Industry, 117
Sugar Loaf Mountain, Ecuador,
825
Suir river, 194
Suisse (Switzerland), 256
Sukhona, river, 391, 399
Sulaiman range, 499
Sulden, 306
Sulina mouth of Danube, 328
Sulitelma, 205
Sulphur in Chile, 844 ; in Sicilv,
354
Sulu islands, 559; people, 567;
Sea, 566
Sumao. 535
Sumatra, 564
Sumba, 572
Sumbawa island, 572
Sumida-gawa, river, 552
Sunda, Islands, 561-573 ; Strait, 563
Sundanese people, 557
Sunderland, 170
Sundswall, 204
Sungari river, 539
Sungei Ujong, 514
Sunk Plain, definition, 49
Sunni Mohammedans, 460
Superior, Lake, 692, 734, 737
Surat, 492
Surghab river, 397
Suriname river, 882
Surma valley, 495
Surinam, 882
Surrey, 181 ; Jamaica, 804
Surveys, extent of, 12 ; trigono-
metrical, 29, 30
Susquehanna river, 731
Sussex, name, 144
Susu people, 956
Sutherlandshire, 148, 155
Suva. 653
Sveaborg, 409, 412
Svealand, 203
Sverdrup, Captain, 1032
Sverige (Sweden), 202
Svir river, 393 _^
Swabians, 276 ~"
Swakop river, 1012
Swakopmund, 1012
Swallow-holes, 54
Swan river, 621, 625 ; Settlement,
624
Swansea, 165
Swaziland, loio
Sweden, 202-205
Swedish Deep, 1034
Swiss Plateau, 256
Switzerland, 256-265 ; map of
languages, 260 ; map of reli-
gions, 261
Sydney, X.S.W.. 599 ; climate,
594 ; longitude of, 31 ; Tempera-
ture and Rainfall, 580
Sylhet, 495
Symmetry of land round North
" Pole, 44
Syme island, 444
Syncline, definition, 53
Svr-daria, province, 395 ; river,
396
Syra, 349
Syracuse, 365 ; N.Y., 736
Syria, 448-451
Syrian desert, 449
Syrtes, 889
Syrtis major, 916
Syzran, 390
Szamos river, 322
Szeged, 322
Szekesfehervar (Alba Realis), 322
Szent Endre, island, 317
Szigetkoz, island, 317
TABANG, S67
Table Bay, 985 ; Mountain,
985
Tableland, definition, 49
Tablet-tea, S29
Tabriz (Tauris), 462
Tabu in Pacific Islands, 661
Tacana, Mount, 783 ; Volcano,
783
Tachin river, 508
Tacoma, 769
Taconic Mountains, 722
Tacora Mountain, 841
Taft valley, 165
Tafilet, 905
1084 The International Geography
Tagus river, 368, 369, 379, 380, 381
Tahiti, 656, 657
Tai-dong river, 543
Tai-o-hae, 658
Taimyr laud, 1045 ; peninsula,
423
Taipa island, 538
Taiping rebels, 533
Taita mountains, 931
Taiwan island, 553
Taiyuen, 532
Tajik, people, 467
Tajumulco, Mount, 783
Tajura, Bay, 935
Takao, 554
Taklamakan, 431
Taku, 531
Talage people, 655
Talca, 848
Talcahuano, 848
Tali, 535
Talienwan (Dalni) 419, 539
Talus = Scree, 57
Taman, 394
Tamar, river, 162, 167 ; river,
Tasmania, 611
Tamarida, 937
Tamatave, 1020
Tamboro mountain, 572
Tamega river, 381
Tamil, language, 479 ; people, 505
Tampico, 781
Tamsui, 554
Tamworth, N.S.W., 600
Tana river, 892, 931
Tanala people, 1017
Tanaland, 938
Tananarive, 1019
Tanaro valley. 355
Tancitaro, 775
Tandjong Priok, 563
Tanganyika, Lake, 931, 942, 947 ;
fauna of, 93 ; discovery, 901
Tangarong, 568
Tangier, 905
Tanjore, 495
Tanna island, 647
Tantah, 927
Taoism, 528
Tapa-shan range, 524
Tapajoz, 873
Tapti river, 491 ; valley, 471, 492
Tapuae-nuku mountain, 628
Tarapaca, 846, 847
Tarasp, 263
Tarbagatai mountains, 396, 398
Tarento, 365
Tar h una plateau, 916
Tariffs, 121
Tarija, 842
Tarim region, 433 ; river, 540
Tarma, 839
Tarnopol, 313
Tar now, 313
Tarragona, 377
Tarsus, 443
Tartars, see Tatars
Tashkent, 409, 417
Tasman in New Zealand, 632 ;
Range, 628
Tasmania, 576, 610-613 : climate,
580 ; geology, 579 ; rivers, 578
Tasmanian devil, 612
Tatars, 130, 435 ; in Russia, 403
Taieyama mountain, 546
Tatra, 311
Tatta, 491
Taunus, 268, 287
Taupo Lake, 629, 630
Tauris, 462
Taurus, Mount. 439 ; range, 41
Tay Bridge, 158 ; Loch, 156 ; river,
156. 157
Taygetos, Mount, 345
Te Anau lake, 629
Tea, in China, 529 ; in Ceylon, 505 ;
in India, 484 ; in Japan, 551 ; in
Natal, 994
Teak, in India, 476 ; in Siam, 508,
510
Tebessa, 908
Tees, as boundary, 162
Tegernsee, lake, 272
Tegetthof Expedition, 1030
Tegucigalpa, 789
Tehama, 452
Tehran (Teheran), 462
Tehuacan, 778
Teima, oasis, 456
Tcixeira, Pedro, Explorer, 871
Telegraph cables, 60
Tell in Algeria, 907 ; in Tunisia,
913
Telok-betong, 566
Telokli Berau, 642
Telugu language, 479
Teluk Anson, 514
Temperate Zone, definition, 78
Temperature, 74 ; of deep water,
66; of Ocean, 65; and Rain-
fall, 141 ; Zones of hydrosphere,
66
Tenasserim, 472, 496
Tenedos island, 444
Tenerife island, 952
Tenez, 911
Tengri-nor, lake, 541
Tennessee, caverns, 732; river, 728
Tenochtitlan, 781
Tenrvu-gawa, river, 546
Tenterficld, 600
Teplitz, 307, 308
Tequixquiac, 777
Terceira island, 384
Terek river, 395 ; -davan pass, 540
Terekti pass, 540
Tergeste, 315
Ternate island, 570
Terra Australis, 584 ; roxa (Mas-
sape ) soil, 867
Terre Napoleon, 617
Terrigenous deposits, 64
Territories, of Canada, 700-704
Territory, leasing of, 120
Tertiary Formation, Geological
position of, 51
Teslin lake, 703
Teton mountains, 760
Tetrahedral Theory of the Earth,
42
Tetuan, 905
Teutoburger Wald, 289
Teutonic language, 132 ; tribes,
144
Texas, 754; Acquisition of, 711 ;
Coastal Plain, 754
Texcoco lake, 776
Thai Binh, 516 ; people, 518
Thales, 26
Thalweg = dale -way, 50; as
boundary, 114
Thanaes, "as boundary, 162 ;
Estuary, 182, 183 ; river, 1^7,
182 ; river, Ont., 695
Than Hoa, 519
Thanet, Isle of, 181
Thasos, island, 343
Thebes, 348
Theiss. river, 317
Therezina, 874
Thessaly, 345-348
Thiele (Zihl) river, 258
Thingvallavatn, lake' 213
Thirlniere, 163
Thisted, 210
Thompson, David, Explorer, 6c)9
Thomson, Joseph, Explorer, 902
Thomson, Prof. J. Arthur, on
Distribution of Living Crea-
tures, ^T,
Thoroddsen, Dr. Thorvald— Ice-
land, 212-215
Thorsa, river, 213
Thorshavn, 211
Thos, people, 518
Thousand Islands of Java, 563 ;
Ontario, 693
Thrace, province, 332
Thracians, 334
Thraco-Macedonian Region, 332
Thun, 264
Thurgau canton, 263
Thurgovia (Thurgau), 263
Thuringia, 290
Thuringian Basin, 268
Thuringians, 276
Thursday Island, 592
Thurso, 155
Thvateira, 443
Tisin Shan mountains, 396, 398
Tiahuanaco, 100
Tiaret, 912
Tiber river, 356
Tiberias, 450
Tibet, 540
Tibetan region, 433
Tibeto-Burman people, 480 ;
-Chinese People, 105 ; -Indo-
Chinese People, 105
Tiburon peninsula, 801
Ticino, Alps of, 258, 259 ; canton,
265 ; river, 363
Tidal Current, 65 : Wave, 65
Tides, action of, 56 ; cause of, 24 ;
nature of, 65
Tidikelt oasis, 906
Tidore islet, 570
Tientsin, 531, 532
Tierra Caliente in Andes. 825 ;
in Central America, 786 ; in
Mexico, 777
Tierra del Fuego, 814, 851 ; map
of (unnamed), 843
Tierra Fria in Andes, 826 ; in
Central America, 786 ; in
Mexico, 777
Tierra Templada in Andes, 825 ;
in Central America, 786 ; in
Mexico, 777 '
Tiete river, 876
TiHis, 416
Tiger, in India, 477 ! range of, 84
Tigris river, 440, 447
Tih desert, 449
Tihany, peninsula, 318
Tikhvin canal, 406
Tilburg, 222
Tilbury, 184
Timber in Argentina, 851 ; in
Canada, 691, 604 ; in India,
476 ; in Sweden, 202 ; in
Western Australia, 621
Timbo, 957
Timbuktu, 958
Index
1085
Time, 17 ; reckoning in North
Ameiica, 678
Timne people, 962
Timor, 572 ; -laut islands, 573
Timsah, Lake, 928
Tin, in Banka, 566 ; in Malay
Peninsula, 511; in Siam, 510;
in Tasmania, 611
Tinne tribe, 684
Tipperary Co., 194
Tiquina. strait, 840
Tiracol, 502
Tirol, 304
Tisza (Theiss) river, 317
Titicaca, island, 840 ; Lake, 817,
835, 840
Tji-Uwong, 563
Tjilatjap, 563
Tlemcen, 912
Toba lake, 564. 566
Tobacco in Cuba, 796 ; in Egypt,
922 ; in Sumatra, 566 ; in Trans-
vaal, 1008 ; trade of Bristol,
166
Tobago island, 812
Tobol river, 398, 426
Tocantins river, 873, 874
Todi mountains, 258
Togo, 972
Tokaido, 552
Tokushima, 553
Tokyo, 551, 552 ; temperature and
rainfall of, 547
Toledo, 376 ; O., 743 ; O. site, 738
Tolima, 827 ; mountain, 825
Tolmezzo, 359
Toltecs, 779
Tomsk, 418
Tonegawa river, 547
Tonga, 653
Tongaland, 996
Tonga-tabu island, 653
Tongariro mountain, 628
Tongas in East Africa, 945
Tongking, 516
Tonle Sap lake, 517
Tonsberg, 206
Toowoomba, 593
Topography = description of
places, 2
Torbes river, 886
I'ordesillas, Treaty of, 822
Tornadoes of the Mississippi
Basin, 751
Toronto, 695
Torquay, 167
Torre de Cerredo, 371
Torrens, Lake, 615 : river, 619
Torrid Zone, definition, 78
Tortola island, 807
Tortuga, 801 ; island, 802
Totonicapan, 786
Toucouleur people, 956
Toul, 250,
Toulon. 253
Toulouse, '2
Tourane Cruran), 520 ; bay, 517
Tourcoing, 249
Tours, 251
Towarah tribe, 926
Towik (Nejd), 456
Towns, origin of, 115 ; of India,
486 ; in Russia, 409
Township plan in Canada, map,
684
Townsville, 591, 592
Trade-wind Belts, climate of, 78
Tralles, 443
Trangsund, 412
Tranh-Ninh, 519
Trans, -Alai mountains, 396 ; -Cas-
pian district, 396, 416 ; -Caspian
Railway (map), 417 ; -Mississ-
ippi States, 750; -Saharan rail-
way project, 958
Transbaikalia. 398, 419
Transcaspia, 388
Transcontinental Telegraph in
S. Australia, 618
Transdnieperia, 388
Transmontano nrjuntains, 3S0
Transitional Area, 46
Transport, Means of, 121
Transtagano, 380
Transylvania (Erdely), 318, 322
Transylvanian Alps, '327
Transvaal Colony, 1007-1011
Transverse Valley =detile,' 50
Trapezus, 443
Trarza, people, 956
Travancore, 498
Trave river, 294
Traz-os-Montes, 380
Treaty-ports in China, 529
Trebbia, river, 356
Trebizond (Trapezus), 443
Tree- Kangaroo, 589
Trelleborg, 203
Trembling Mountain, 690
Trent, river, 170, 171
Trento, 306
Trenton, X.J., site, 720
Tres Sorores (Mont Perdu) mount-
ains, 371
Treves, 288
Triassic Formation, geological
position of, 51
Tribal or Racial boundaries, 114
Trichinopoli, 495; temperature
and rainfall of, 474
Trient (Trento), 306
Trier (Treves), 288
Triest, 315 ; climate of, 298
Trikkala, 348
Trincomali, 506
Tring Kanu, State, 509
Trinidad, Cuba, 796, 798 ; Island,
811
Trinity bay, 705
Tripofi, 916, 917, 918
Tristan da Cunha, 1014
Triumfo, 788
Trois Freres island, 1023
Trollhatta Canal. 203
Trombetas river, 867, 873
Tromso, 207
Trondhjem, 207
Troodos mountain, 445
Tropical plant division, 88
Troppau, 309
Troy, N.Y., 729, 736
Troyes, 249
Truk Islands, 655
Truxillo, 837
Tsana, Lake, 931, 934
Tsanpo, river, 541
Tsetse fly in British Central
Africa, 949 ; in East Africa,
932 ; in German East Africa,
942
Tsiami tribe, 518
Tsientang-kiang, 535
Tsimshiian people, O84
Tsinan, 532
Tsinling-shan, mountains, 522 ;
range, 524
Tsiribihina river, 1016
Tsitsihar, 539
Tua river, 381
Tual, rainfall, 785
Tuamotu islands, 657
Tuareg Berbers, 956 ; people, 898
Tuat oasis, 906
Tubuai islands, 6-6
Tucacas, 887
Tucuman, 855
Tugela river, 996
Tukang Bessi island, 569
Tula, 414, 779
Tulcan, 833
Tumbez river, 831
Tumen river, 543
Tunbridge Wells, 181
Tundra, 89, 402, 432, 1045
Tung-Kiang river, 535
Tungaragua province, 833 ; vol«
cano, 830
Tungting lake, 524, 530, 533
Tunis, 915
Tunisia, 913-916
Tupi people, 822, 869
Turan, 425 (Annam) 517
Turanian steppes, 433
Turfan, 540
Turin, 362, 363 ; temperature and
rainfall of, 359
Turkestan, 540 ; Russian, 395
Turkey in Europe, 340-344
Turki people, 105
Turkish Old Servia, 335
Turks, 334, 442 ; in Europe, 134 ;
invasion of Europe, 10
Turks Islands, 805
Turquell river, 931
Turrialba, volcano, 784
Tiirst, K., maps of, 31
Turumiquire mountain, 887
Tuscany, 364
Tussac grass, 863
Tuticorin, 494
Tutuila island, 654
Tweed, river, 160, 169
Twelve Bens, 188
Twilight of high latitude, 75
Tyne, 169 ; as boundary, 162 ;
ports, 151, 169, 170
Tyre, 450
Tyrrhenia, 353, 358
Tyrrhenian Sea, 353
Tyrrell, J. B. — Dominion of
Canada, 679-704 ; Newfound-
land, 704-707
UBANGI province, 978 ; river,
Q59. 975
Tlcayali river, 816, 835
TJdepur, 497
Ufa, 418
TJf anda, 938
Ugi island, 648
TOak, 104 I
Uinta mountains, 761, 763
TJkamba, 938
Ukami, 941
TJlanga river, 942
Uliasutai, 539
Ullswater, 163
Ulm, 127, 284
Ulster, 193
Ulu-kem river, 400
Ulvungur river. 400
TJm Delpha (Es Shayib) moun-
tain, 929
Umanak fjord, 1041
io86 The International Geography
l^mbria, 364
Uinhrian Appennines, 356
UincS, 204
Uinni Kcis (Gadara), 450
Umniati river, 998
Unitali, 1002
Unare river, 885
Unj;ava, 700
Union island, 810
United Empire Loyalists, 694
United Kingdom, 138-196; coal
of, 149: government of, 145;
total trade of, 151 ; seaports
of. 150 ; statistics of, 194, 195
United Provinces, 226
United States of America, 710-
773 ; boundary, 113 ; coal pro-
duction, 149 ; Pacific Islands,
651; :md the Philippines, 558;
phj-sical divisions of (map).
719 ; total trade of, 151
Unstrutt, river, 290
Unterwald, Alps of, 258
Unterwalden. canton, 263
Unvamwczi plateau, 941
rnyoro, 93.S
Uomatako, 10 12
Upernivik, 1043 ; glacier, 1042
Upland plain, definition, 49
Uplands, dehnition, 48
Upolu island, (^^^
Upper, Austria. 304 ; Greensand,
geological position of, 51 ;
Kliine Plain, 272 ; Tunguska or
Angara river, 400, 426
Upsala, 204
Uraba (Uarien), Gulf, 828
Ural mountains, 398, 414, 426
Ural-Altaic people, 105
Urfa (Edessa), 448
Urga. 539
Urgel, 377
Uri, canton, 263
Urmi, 463
Uruguav, 856-859, 871 ; river, 850,
857, 876
Urumchi, 540
Urumiya (Urmi), 463
Urumtsi (Urumchi), 540
Urungu river. 400
Usambara Mountains, 941
Usbek, people, 467
Usedom. island, 270
Usk, river, 165
Uskub, 341, 343
Usoga 938
Ussuri river, 400, 539
Ust Urt. 425
I'sumacinta river, 776, 785
Utah, 76 s
Utica, X.Y.. 736
Utila. island, 784
Utrecht. 219, 222
Uvea island, 645
Uxmal, 780
VAAL river. 1004, 1007
Vadso, 207
Va;ro. 199
Vaga river, 399
Vaitaca people, 869
Valaam island, 393
Valais. canton. 265
Valdai hills, 389 ; plateau, 128
Valdeon, valley, 371
Vaidi\-ia, 848
Valdivia. Pedro de. 845
Valdiv a. voyage of s s., 1050
Vale of York, 170, 171
Valenva do Minho, 383
Valencia, 377, 887 ; Lake, 887
Valentia, island, 194 ; temperature
and rainfall, 141
Valera, 886
Valetta, 367
Valira river, 377
Valladolid, 374, 376
Valley, definition, 50
Valona, 344
Valparaiso, 847 ; site, map, 847 ;
temperature and rainfall. 8ig
Van (Dhuspas), 444 ; district, 440
Van Kees mountains, 642; Diemen
Gulf, 614 ; Diemen's Land, 612
Vancouver, B.C., 1 16, 700 ; is-
land, 697, 699
Vanikoro island, 647
Vanua Levu island, 652
Varanger fjord, 207
Vardar river, 332
Vardo, 207
Varna, 339
Varthema, 565
Vasco da Gama, 10
Vasconcellos, Capt. Ernesto de-
Portugal, 379 ; Macao, 538 ;
Portuguese East Africa, 944 ;
Portuguese India, 502 ; Portu-
guese Timor, 573; "Portuguese
West Africa, 979
Vassili Ostrov, island, 410
Vatican, The, 364
Vatnajokull, 212
Vatomandry, 1020
Vatwa race, 945
Vaud, canton, 264
Vedda people, 505
Vega. 377
Vega Real, 801
Vegetation map of Africa, 895
Veile, 210
Veldt, 986, 1007
Vclikaya. river, 391, 393
Vener, Lake, 200
Venersborg, 205
Venetia, 363
Venezia (Venice). 363
Venezuela, 8S4-888
Venezuelan Coast Ranges, 885 ;
Guiana, 884 ; Range, 818
Venice, 361, 363
Ventuari river, 884
Venus, Point, 657
Vera Cruz, 781
Veragua mountains, 824
Verano, Central America, 785 ;
Colombia, 826
Verde, Cape, 954
Verdun. 250
Vereczke Pass, 316
Verkhoyansk. 429 ; climate of.
200 ; rain and temp, curves for,
401 ; -Stanovoi heights, 426
Vermandois, 249
Vermont, 724
Versailles, 250
Vertical, Circles, definition, 15 ;
Rehef, Climatic Influence of,
79
Vestenfjeldske district, 206
Vesteraalen islands, 199
Vestfjord, 199
Vesuvius, Mount, 365
Vetter. Lake, 200
Vevey, 264
Viborg, 412
Vichy. 252
Vicksburg, Miss., 750
Victoria, 602610; B.C., 700;
(Hongkong), 537 ; Kamerun.
974 ; Rhodesia, 1002 ; Falls,
999 ; Lake, Pamirs. 465 ; Land.
Antarctic, 1049: Mjiint, New
Guinea, 635 ; Mountains, 603 ;
Nyanza, 930, 931 : Xyanza. dis-
covery, 901 ; Peak, Hongkong,
537 ; river, S.A., 614
Vicuiias in Peru, 83f
Vidago, 382
Vidin, 339
Vienna (Wien), 309, 311 ; Climate
of, 298 ; Congress of, 136
Vienne, 253
Vieques island, 800
Vigo. 376
Vilcamayu, vale, 839
Vilcanoto, knot of, 835
Villa, Boa, 874; Clara, 797 ; Con-
cepcion, 862 ; del Pilar, 862 :
Nova de Gaia, 381 ; Real de
Santo Antonio, 381 ; Rica, 862,
875 ; Velha de Rodam, 381
Villages in India, 483
Vilna, 406, 409, 411
Vilyui. river, 400
Vincennes, 250
Vincent Pinion river, 883
Vinchiaturo Pass, 356
Vindhya, hills, 471. '473
Vindobona (Vienna), 311
Vindouissa, 264
Vine, in France, 243 ; map, 244
Vinh, 519
Virgin, Gorda, 807 : Islands, 805,
807
Virginia, boundary, 718 ; City,
767 ; mountains in, 727
Visby, 205
Vistula (Weichsel) river, 270, 294,
29*). 391. 412
Vitebsk, 391, 409
Vitegra, river, 393
Viti Levu island, 652
Vitim plateau, 400
Vitoria, 376
Vitosh mountains, 331, 339
Vivi, 978
Vizella, 3S2
Vladivostok, 409, 419
Vogelsberg, 2S8
Voiron. 245
Volcanic, Action in East Africa,
931; Islands, definition, 62;
necks as Town sites, 53 ; rocks,
52
Volcanoes, of Java, map. 561 ; of
Mexico, 775 ; Extinct, of Vic
toria, map, 603
Volga, river, 390, 414
Volgo, Lake, 390
Volkhov, river. 393
Volo, 348
Volta, river, 892, 963
Volturno, Monte, 358
Volturno, river, 356
Voralpen, 126
Vorarlberg, 304
Vorosvagas, 318
Vosges mountains, 237
Vuelta Abajo, 796, 797 . Arriba, 797
Vuoxen, river, 392
Vychegda river, 399
Vyrnwy river and lake, 165
Vyshnii-Voiochek Canal, 406
Index
1087
WAAL, river, 218
Wad, Draa, 904; Gheris
river, 906 : Ghir river, 906 ;
Messaoud, 906 ; Z;z river, 906
W'adelai, 921
Wadi, Arabah, 919, 929 ; Feiran,
923 ; Haifa, 927 ; Hams, 454 ;
Kina, ()29 ; Refah, 918
Waiiadiigu. 958
WagaiKUi, people, 933
\Vai5ya-Wajf<:*a, Coo
\Vai;"ner, Prof. H., hypsographic
curve, 46, 47
Walisatcli mountains, 760, 761
W'aikato, river, 630
Waikolo, lake, 571
Waini river, 879
Wairarapa, 630
Waitemata, 627
Wakamba people, 933
W akatipu Lake, 629
Waketield. Edward Gibbon and
New Zealand, 632
Wakhi-jui, 465
Walachia, 327, 329
Waldeck, Principality, 289
Waldenburger hills, 292
Waldseemiiller, 11, 35
Wales, 163-165 ; derivation of,
162 ; rainfall of, 142
Walfish Bav, 985, 1012
Wallace, Dr. A. Russell, 12, 87 ;
Island Life, 86
Wallace's Line, 422 ; map, 555
Wallaroo, 619
Walloon, people, 225
Wami rivtr, 941
Wanganiu river, 630
Wanyika people, 933
Wardhouse (Vardo), 207
Warnemiinde, 210
Warrnambool, 579, 6og
Warsaw (Warszawa), 406, 409,
412
Warwick, Queensland, 593
'Varwickshire, 17.}.
'A'ash, The, 179
Washburn. JNIount, 763
Washington. D.C., 731; D.C.,
longitude of. 31 ; D.C., site,
720 ; Mount, 717 ; State, 764
Wast water, 163
Wataita people, 933
Watana, 508
Water-parting, definition, 50
Water-partings of Brazil, 866
Water Power in New England,
725 ; of Ohio region, 740
Waterburv, U.S., 726
Waterfall." 56
Water ford, 194
Wateringues, 249
Waterloo, field of, 227
Watershed, definition, 50
Watersheds, chanj^es in, 55
Waterways in China, 530 ; of
France, 245
Watling Island, So;,; Street, 183
Watten, shallow flats, 270
Waves in Ocean, 67
Wazh-i. people, 467
Weald, The, 180
Wealden, Geological position of,
51
Wear river, 170
Weaver river, 174
Webi Shebevli river, 931, 936
Wed-el-Kebir, 908
Weddell, Capt. J., Antarctic ex-
plorer, 1048
Wei river, 523, 532
Weichsel (Vistula) river, 270
Weihaiwei, 533
Weimar, Grand duchy, 29c
Weisshorn, mountain, 258
Welle province, 978
Welleslev Islands. 587
Wellington, Mount, 613 ; N.Z.,
634
Welsh language, 145, 163
Wemberre r.ft, 941
Wenchou, 535
Wend people, 275
Wenham ice, 725
Wenlock Edge. 164
Wentworth, N.S.W., 600
Wepener, 1004
Werra valle\-, 2(/3
Weser river, 270 ; Uplands,
2.S9
Wessex, name, 144
West, Africa, 952-959; end of a
town, 141; flam,' 184; Indian
Colonies, 803-812 : Indies, 667,
791-812 , Indies, discovery of,
10 ; Indies, map, 791 ; Indies,
Sugar-cane Industry of, 117:
Prussia Province, 293; Riding
Coal-field, 170 ; Virginia, 733
Western, Alps, 126; Cordillera of
Andes, 816 ; Australia, 620-626;
Dvina river, 391; Ghats, cli-
mate, 475 ; Port, 602, 605
Westerwald, 287
Westminster, 183
Westphalia, 288, 289, 294
Wetta island, 573
Wetterhorn, mountain, 258
Wexford, 193
Wexio, 204
Wev, river, 180
Wcvprecht, Lieutenant, Arctic
voyage, 1029, 1030
Whales in Antarctic, 1051; in
Arctic, 1039
Wharfe valley, 168
Wharton Range, 635
Wheat in Egypt, 922 ; in France,
243 ; in India, 4S4 : in Manitoba,
696 ; in United Kingdom, 148 ;
in United States, 715 ; in Wash-
ington State, 764
Whitbv, 177
Whitnev, Mount, 767
Whitsunday Passage, 588
White, Fish in Canada, 696 ; Is-
land, 628 ; Mountains, N.H.,
670, 716, 717 ; Nile, 920 ; races,
in Tropical Countries, no ;
Russia, 411 ; Russians, 404 ;
Sea, 407
Whittle, Cape, 689
Whyda, 957
Wiche (King Karl's) Land, 1044
Wick, 155
Wide Bay district, 592
Wieliczka, 312
Wien (Vienna). 311
Wiener Wald, 310
Wiener's Diagram of Solar Heat,
72
Wiesbaden, 288
Wiide Ba^^ 1044
Wilcannia, 600
Wilhelm, Mount, 639
Wilhtlmshaven, 294
Wilkes, Lieut., in Antarctic, 1048
Willemstadt, 806
Wilhanistown, 608
Willoughby, Arctic voyage, 1025
Wilmington, N.C., site 720
Wilson,' Sir Charles W.— Arabia,
451 ; Asiatic Turkey and Arabia,
4^9; Mesopotamia, 447; Svriii,
44S
Wilson Promontory, 602, 604
Wimmera D strict, 603, 609
Winchclsea, iSi
Winchester, i7g
Wind, 75. 76 : and Water, 67, 68
Windermere, 163
Windhoek, ion
Windmill Hills, 613
Windsor, 182
Winds, Normal system of, 71
Windward, Passage, 801; Islands,
cSo9
Wine in Algeria, 909 ; in Cape
Colony, 987 ; in France, 243 ;
in Italy, 362 ; in Peru, 830
Winnipeg, 696 ; Lake, 696 ; river,
696 ; Temperature and rainfall,
075
Winnipegosis, Lake, 696
Winterthur, 263
Winton, 591
Wisconsin - Michigan Uplands,
734
Wishaw, 159
Witham river, 178
Witkowitz, 309
Witwatersrand, 1009
Wodonga, 609
WoUin, island, 270
Wolof people, 956, 961
Wolverhampton, 170
Woods and Forests, 89
Wool m Cape Colony, 987; in
N.S.XV., 50 ; in Victoria, 603
Woolwich, 184
Worcester, 166 ; county, 174;
Mass., 726
Wosliin district. 456
Wrangell Land, 1031
Wuchang. 534
Wuchou, 530, 535
Wuhu, 533
Wupper river, 288
Wurno, 972
Wiirttemberg. Kingdom, 285
Wurzburg. 285
Wusung, 531 ; river, 533
Wyoming, 757, 760, 762
Wytliiet, 5S4
Wyville Thomson ridge, 1034
XANTHOCHROI. 107
Xerophytes, 89
YABLONOVYI Khrebet, 398
Yachou, 534
Yaila Tagh, 394
Yak in Tibet, 541
Yakoba, 972
Yakutsk, climate of, 402
Yale mountain, 760
Yalu river, 543
Yambo, 454
Yamdena island, 573
Yamdok-tso lake, 541
Yana river, 426
Yannon, 503
Yangtse river (Yangtse-kiang),
522, 526, 530, 5:.s 5;4. 541
io88 The International Geography
Yao people, 949
Yap island, 655
Yaracui, 887
Yari-qa-take mountain, 546
Yarkand, 540 ; oasis, 540
Yarmouth, 182
Yarra Yarra river, 603, 608
Yarrawonga, 609
Yatong, 541
Yatung, 541
Yaunde, 974
Yautepec, 778
Yea, 838
Yedo, 552
Yefren, 916
Yekaterinoslav, 415
Yeketerinburg, 414
Yellow Sea, 424 ; Kiver (Hwang
ho), 424
Yellowstone canyon, 763 ; lake,
763 ; Park, 763 ; river, 756
Yemama, district, 456
Yemen, 453. 454
Yenisei, river, 398, 399. 40°. 42S»
426
Yeniseisk, 418
Yeou river, 970
Yerba-mate in Argentina, 851 ;
in Brazil, 876; in Paraguay,
861
Yes Tor, 166
Yeshil Irmak (Irfs) river, 439,
440
Yezd, 463
Yezides, 447
Yezo island, 546, 547
Yo Semite Valley, 767
Yobe river, 970
Yochou, 534
Yodogawa, river, 552
Yokohama, 553
Yola, 972
York. Cape, 587 ; Peninsula, 616 ;
town of. 171 : W.A., 626
Yorkshire, 168; Coal-field, The,
150; Moors, 177; Plain, 171;
Wolds, 178
Yoruba (Ilorin), 967, 968, 971 ;
people, 971 ; -Jekri people,
967
Yser, river, 225
Yu-men or Jade Gate, 523
Yucatan, 774, 778
Yuccas, 766
Yug river, 399
Yukon, delta, 667; District, 702,
703 ; river. 681, 698, 770
Yule, Mount, 635
Yunque, 798
Yuruari territory, 884
Yungus, definition, 842
Yunnan, 524, 525, 534
Yzabal (Golfo Dulce) Lake, 785
ZAB river, 440
Zacatecas, 780
Zagazig, 922
Zaghwan, 915 ; Mount, 914
Zagreb (Agram), 321, 323
Zagros chain, 458
Zaila, 936
Zaire (Congo) river, 975
Zaisan Lake, 400
Zambezi, basin, 892 ; name, 947 ;
river, 944, 946, 982, 998, 999
Zambezia, 945
Zamboango, 559
Zambos in Central America, 787
Zamora river, 830
Zante island, 349
Zanzibar, island, 939 : map, 939 ;
temperature and rainfall. 893
Zaparo people, 832
Zapata Cienaga, 794
Zara. 315
Zarafshan (Zerafshan), 540 ; river.
397
Zaragoza. 377
Zaria, 972
Zari-.ma, 833 ; basin, 831
Zealand, Denmark, 210 ; Nether-
lands, 222
Zebu, 558, 559
Zeehan, Mount, 611
Zella, 916
Zemio, 959
Zenith, definition, 15 ; Distance,
definition, 15
Zermatt, 258, 265
Zeta river, 337
Zezere river, 381
Zihl river, 258
Zillerthal, 306
Zimmermann, M.— French India,
503 ; French Indo-China, 515 ;
French West Africa, 953 ;
French West Indies, 808 ; Re-
union, 1024 ; St. Pierre and
Miquclon, 707
Zirknitz, lake, 303
Zlatoust, 418
ZoUverein, 23, 118
Zomba, 950
Zones of Climate, 78; of human
culture, 98; of Uncertain Rain-
fall in India, 476
Zoo-Geographical Regions, 87
Zorn, Valley, 287
Zuara, 917
Zuchiate River, 774
Zug, canton, 264
Zugspitze, 267
Zulfikar, 465
Zulia, 886
Zulu language, 1003 ; people, 990
Zululand, 996
Zulus in Rhodesia, looi ; in Natal,
995
Zumpango, Lake, 777
Zungeru, 972
Zurich, canton. 263 ; lake, 258
Zwickau, 291
Zwolle. 222
Zyrian people, 403
(13)
"\