EUR

miles in length, and measures about eight miles acrossat its narrowest part. The superficial extent of theMediterranean, without reckoning its two arms, theAdriatic Sea and Archipelago, is nearly 800,000square miles.

The Black Sea enters from the Mediterranean bythe strait of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, andthe Bosphorus. The shores of this sea are low ; andits waters are not so pure as those of the Mediter-ranean. The Black Sea, including the Sea of Azof,covers a surface of about 233,000 square miles.

Europe has numerous extensive lakes, most ofwhich are situated in 'Switzerland, Upper Italy,Germany, Russia, and Sweden ; but very few of thesecan be compared, in point of extent, to those foundin other parts of the world. The largest Europeanlake is Sodoya, in Russia, which has a superficialextent of 0,340 square miles ; the Onega, in thesame country, is about half that size, and greatlyexceeds the largest of the remaining lakes. Therivers of Europe, though extremely numerous, aremuch inferior in size to those of the other continents.The chief of these are the Dwina and the Don inRussia; the Danube, the Rhine, and the Elbe, inGermany ; the Thames, Severn, and Trent, inEngland ; the Rhone, the Seine, and the Garonne inFrance ; the Ebro, the Tagus, and the Douro, inSpain and Portugal; and the Po and the Tiber in Italy.

The most elevated districts in Europe are Switzer-land and Savoy. In the comparatively level countriesof Europe, extending from Iceland to the CaspianSea, the mountains rise in insulated groups ; whileon the southern and central parts of this continent,or from Etna in Sicily, to the Blocksberg of theHarz, and from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Bos-phorus, all the mountains belong to one great con-nected system. The Alps are the highest and mostextensive range of mountains in Europe. The Ap-penines stretching in a vast crescent through thewhole length of the Italian Peninsula, and evidentlyconnected with the mountains of Sicily, may be re-garded as a southern branch of the Alpine series.At a point nearly equi-distant from the Danube, tlfcAdriatic, and the Egean Sea, three chains of moun-tains collectively called Argentaro, meet together,

! and form as it were a nucleus for all the mountains in•European Turkey.

Having enumerated the local and physical charac-teristics of the continent of Europe, we may nowproceed to describe the peculiarities of its climate.Being mostly" situated within the northern temperatezone ; about a twelfth part only of its superficies ex-tends within the arctic polar circle. Although theastronomical climates are greatly modified in thispart of the world by physical causes, we may, intaking a general view of the climate of Europe, con-sider it as divided into four different districts, the boun-daries of which are defined by parallels of latitude.The arctic district begins at the sixty-fifth parallel.On the northern skirts of this region, nature cannotnourish a tree, nor the industry of man produce afield of corn ; all vegetation dies away, except that ofthe rein-deer moss, destined for the support of theonly animal which can bear the rigour of this drearyand desolate clime. Yet is to be observed, thatcertain species of grain, particularly barley and oats,are cultivated in Norway at the seventieth degree,whilst, on the opposite coast of America, such culti-vation ceases at the fifty-second. The fir, or pinus

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abics, is found in the whole of Europe within thesixty-seventh parallel; and the wild pine reaches tothe sixty-eighth.

The cold district falls between the sixty-fifth andfifty-fifth parallels. This region is much milder thanthe preceding one; butt he eastern part of it, whichis exposed to the winds which sweep over the highand cold plains of Asia, is much colder than thewestern part.

The temperate district comprehends the regionlying within the fifty-fifth and forty-fifth parallels.Here the climate is mild, and alike genial to animaland vegetable life. This is the native country ofcorn and wine in Europe. A great part of central Eu-rope, on the north and west of the Alps, descends by acontinued inclination towards the Baltic, the North Sea,and the Atlantic ; and it is found that the countries onthe low'est level of the northern boundary of thisinclined plane, possess a temperature little inferior tothe more southern and more elevated districts.

The warm district is found below the forty-fifthparallel. In the Peninsula and islands of the south ofEurope, the most beautiful vegetation under themost delicious climate occurs. Here an almost per-petual spring Teigns ; the sugar-cane attains tropicalluxuriance in Sicily and Granada ; the orange per-fumes the air; the acanthus blooms on the ruins ofdeparted greatness; the cypress overshadows thepublic cemeteries ; and the vine and olive constitutethe wealth of the husbandman.

The religious creeds of the inhabitants of Europevary considerably, though the Christian religion ismost prevalent. It is true, that among the Lap-landers and Samoiedes there are also some heathens,but their number is small.

Agriculture has made great advances in Europe,and is daily improving. In this respect, those coun-tries are particularly distinguished where the Teutoniclanguages are spoken, as, also, are France and a partof Italy. In no part of the world are manufacturescarried to such perfection as in several of the Euro-pean countries, especially in Great Britain, France,the Netherlands and Germany. The inhabitantswork up not only native European, but also foreignproducts, and supply all the wants and luxuries oflife. Commerce is not less active, and is promotedby well-constructed roads and canals, by well-organisedposts, banks, insurance companies, commercial com-panies, and fairs. The commerce of Europe extendsto all quarters of the world, and every sea is filledwith European ships. In this respect, Great Britainis most distinguished.

Europe is the seat of art and science; to her belongsthe honour of discovering the most important truths,of giving birth to the most useful inventions, the finestproductions of genius, the improvement of all thesciences. In intellectual progress, the Teutonicraces, and those who speak the languages derivedfrom the Latin, have surpassed the Sclavonic nations.The Turks have remained strangers, in many respects,to the literary and scientific improvement which hasmarked the other European nations. Eighty-fiveuniversities provide for the higher branches of educa-tion ; numerous gymnasia and academies for the pre-paratory studies, and a great number of lower schools,particularly in Germany, are employed in educatingthe common people. In many places there are aca-demies of science, and societies of all kinds, for thecultivation of the arts and sciences.