other high mountain-ranges of Europe are the Dovrefeld, 6,000-8,000 feet high (which belong to a mountain system quite separate from the central band); and the Apennines, which are distinctly an offshoot of the Alps. The Ural mountains are not of great elevation.

55. PLATEAUs. Europe is on a much smaller scale than the other Continents (except Australia), and does not contain any very large plateau : that is, no plain high elevated above the sea. The two principal masses of high land in Europe are, (1) the country immediately north of the High Alps, i.e. Switzerland and the southern part of Germany; and (2) the central part of Spain. Neither of these masses of high land, however, is a plain; they are traversed by numerous mountain ridges: but the lowest parts of the valleys between are often 1,500 feet or more above the sealevel.

56. RIVERS. (1) The Volga is the largest river in Europe; its length 2,400 miles. Since all Russia is a plain, we know that the watershed which separates its river basin from those of the Don, the Dnieper, and the Dwina, must be quite low. The Volga winds on a vast plain, and nearly its whole course is navigable.

(2) The Don and several other large Russian rivers are of the same character.

(3) The Danube (total length 1,750 miles), often reckoned the most important river in Europe, drains the great basin which lies between the two bifurcations of the Alps. The Balkan, part of the Alps, and the Carpathians lie on its watershed. Near the boundary of Turkey and Austria the Danube passes through the gorge known as the Iron Gate.

(4) The Rhine, the most renowned of European rivers; length 800 miles. Its upper course is Alpine, i.e. it descends rapidly in a mountainous country; until it emerges in a more level district below Basle. Near Coblentz it passes through a long gorge, and then flows with a slow current to the sea through many arms forming a Delta. It is the national river of the Germans.

57. LAKES. The European lakes fall into two classes, viz. (1) the Arctic lakes, lying in a flat country, and especially found in arctic or sub-arctic regions: such are Ladoga and Onega in Russia, Wener and Wetter in Sweden, with many smaller lakes of the same character near.

(2) The Alpine lakes, lying among mountains such are Geneva, Lucerne, Constance, in Switzerland; Como, Maggiore, Garda, in Italy; and many lakes of the same character among the mountains of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

58. COMMUNICATIONS. England, Belgium, Germany, the north and east of France, and Switzerland, are covered with a close network of railways. Turkey and Greece are the worst supplied with railways; and Russia is but poorly supplied.

The most important systems of canals are, (1) the internal canals of Russia, which connect the Black Sea, the Baltic, and the White Sea by several routes; (2) the canals of the south-west of France, which connect the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean; (3) the canals of Holland, which are so numerous as to a great extent to take the place of roads.

59. RACES OF MEN. Nearly the whole population of Europe belongs to the Caucasian race; and very nearly all the Caucasians in Europe belong to one branch of the Caucasian, viz., that known as the Japhetic, Aryan, Iranian, or Indo-Germanic branch. Among the Aryans of Europe there are four prominent divisions, viz. :

(1) The Keltic; to which division belong the Irish, the Gaels, the Welsh, the Bretons.

(2) The Romanic and Greek; to which division belong the Italians, the Spanish, the Wallachians, the Greeks.

(3) The Teutonic; to which division belong the English, the Scotch, the Dutch, the Germans, the Danes, and the Scandinavians.

(4) The Sclavonic; to which division belong the Bohemians, Poles, the old Russians, the Hungarians.

Other Caucasians in Europe are the Jews, who belong to the Shemitic branch of the Causasians; and the Gipsies,

who perhaps belong to an elder Indian division of the IndoGermans.

Among the Non-Caucasian races in Europe are:

(a) The Magyars of Hungary, the Finns, the Turks, and the Tartars in South Russia, who belong to the Mongolian

race.

(b) The Lapps of Lapland and the Basques in the Pyrenees, who belong to some ancient races who inhabited Europe before the Aryans came.

60. LANGUAGES. The division of languages is nearly the same as of races; that is to say, the Indo-Germanic peoples speak Indo-Germanic languages, and the Teutonic peoples speak Teutonic languages, which form one division of the Indo-Germanic. There are numerous exceptions: thus the Irish, a Keltic people, have nearly ceased to speak Erse, their Keltic tongue; but speak instead English, a Teutonic tongue. 61. RELIGION. The people of Europe are Christian in religion, except the few Turks, Tartars, Jews, and Gipsies.

The Christian religion in Europe admits three principal divisions, viz. :-(1) the Roman Catholic, of which the head is the Pope of Rome; (2) the Greek Church, of which the head is the Emperor of Russia; and (3) the Protestant Churches which differ greatly in government, and have no one head.

To the Catholic Church belong the Romanic races and the chief part of the Kelts. To the Greek Church belong the Sclavonic race and the Greeks. To the Protestant Churches belong most of the Teutons.

The Turks and Tartars are Mahometans; the Gipsies, Pagans.

62. ANIMALS. Europe is poorer in large animals than Asia or Africa; first, because it is much smaller; secondly, because it is entirely without the tropics; and thirdly, because it is so fully inhabited by mankind. Europe is thus distinguished by the absence of elephants and rhinoceroses, of lions and tigers, of camels and giraffes, rather than by the presence of large animals peculiar to itself. But in our river-gravels and caves we dig up the teeth and bones of

elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers in profusion, and we know that the lion lived wild in Europe within historic times.

The present chief European animals in their different tribes are:

(1) Of Pachyderms; the wild boar.

(2) Of Ruminants; the stag, roe, elk, reindeer; the chamois, saiga, and ibex; the bison or aurochs is nearly extinct.

(3) Of Rodents; the hare, rabbit, porcupine, and beaver (now become rare); the hamster and many kinds of rats, mice, voles and lemmings; dormice, squirrels, and marmots.

(4) Of Pinnipedia; several seals and the walrus.

(5) Of Carnivora; wolves and foxes; several smaller wild-cats and lynxes; the otter, weasels and martens; the badger, the glutton, and several bears.

(6) Of Insectivora; the mole, the hedgehog, and many shrews.

(7) Of Chiroptera; many bats.

(8) Of Quadrumana; the Barbary ape, who has colonised the rock of Gibraltar, and is the only wild monkey in Europe.

63. PLANTS. The variety of wild Trees in Europe is small compared with what may be seen in an equal tropical area. Moreover, in Europe the forests are often made up of a very few trees we see many large woods in England containing nothing but oak and hazel. On the other hand, in America (even in the cool-temperate zone) we find mixed forests; so that we there obtain a much greater variety of trees. Nearly all our most valuable native forest-trees in Europe may be classed in a very few groups or Orders. Thus we have:

(1) The pines and yews; including the fir, larch, cedar, cypress.

(2) The oaks and hazels; including the beech, Spanish chestnut, hornbeam, birch, alder.

(3) The poplars and willows, including the abele, aspen, sallow.

(4) The elm and plane.

(5) The ash and olive.

(6) The maple, sycamore, and horse-chestnut.

The plants principally grown for food in Europe are botanically Grasses, viz. :

(1) Wheat, everywhere south of the parallel of 58° N.L. (2) Barley, oats, and rye, throughout the centre of Europe, and extend farther north than wheat.

(3) Rice and sugar-cane, only in a few places in the three southern peninsulas and in the south of France.

(4) Maize, in the south of Europe and in some places in Germany.

(5) Millet, in Russia.

(6) Sorghum, in Italy.

Other plants which contribute materially towards the support of considerable populations are potatoes (grown nearly as extensively as wheat); peas, beans, and other pulse; and the Spanish chestnut in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean. 64. DIVISIONS. Europe is divided politically as under :

Notice that Corsica belongs to France, Candia to Turkey, Iceland to Denmark: politically but not geographically.