Part 111

The vast central area of the Russian lowland has almost everywhere the same character, _woods and marshes_ alternating with cultivated land, affording a superfluity of grain, which is sent down by the rivers to the seaports of the Baltic and the Black Sea; but along its northern border, next the icy Arctic Sea, lie the moss-covered swamps called the _Tundras_, the soil of which is never thawed for more than a yard’s depth; all its southern margin toward the Black Sea and the Caspian is a treeless _steppe_, over which at some seasons the grasses shoot up above a man’s height, concealing the pasturing herds.

REMARKABLE SURFACE OF FINLAND

Finland is one of the most remarkable regions of the great European plain; its granite floor, elevated above the sea-level probably in a recent geological period, is worn into thousands of angular lake-basins, which form a perfect network over its surface; to the sailor on the Baltic its margin presents a girdle of steep cliffs guarded by a fringe of rocky islets or skerries. The cliffy Aland Islands are detached fragments of this remarkable formation.

LOWLANDS OF WESTERN EUROPE

The eastern portions of the North German plain, as far as the Oder, have the same character, the same corn-yielding clay soil, as the adjoining lowlands in Russia; but farther west, round the capital city of Berlin, the plain becomes less fertile, in some parts sandy and bare. Beyond the Elbe, in Hanover, the _Lüneburg heath_ covers a large part of the plain; next it lie the moors, marshes, and fens of Oldenburg and the borders of Holland, where cattle and horses are the wealth of the land; and beyond these the highly cultivated lowlands on each side of the Rhine delta, separated by the heaths and moors of Brabant, which run out toward the lower Scheldt like a dividing wedge between Holland and Belgium.

Passing into France, and across the broad river basins of its lowlands which open to the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay, we come upon the great wine-yielding lands, such as _Champagne_ and the vineyards of the Gironde, with the corn country of Brie northeast of Paris, and of Touraine, on the Loire between these; and lastly, at the extremity of this branch of the European plain, to the _Landes_ along the coast between the mouth of the Gironde and the Pyrenees, composed of sandy heaths and marshes.

ISOLATED LOWLANDS OF EUROPE

Of these, two of large extent occur in the basin of the river Danube, separated by the gorge of the “Iron Gate,” formed where the Balkan and Carpathian ranges approach most closely. The upper plain, circled about on all sides by mountains, is that of _Hungary_, over which corn fields interchange with pastoral steppes well stocked with horses and cattle, sheep and swine, merging in some parts into marsh lands or into dusty sand flats. Where the plain begins to rise to the sunny hills, the Hungarian grape ripens to yield its famous wines. The lower plain of the Danube, which might be called a branch of the vast Russian lowland, is that of _Roumania_, with its far-stretching treeless heaths and pasture lands supporting great herds of cattle and horses, passing into wide reed swamps which characterize the delta of the Danube.

Corresponding to the Roumanian plain is that of _Lombardy_, perhaps the most productive region of Europe, in which the irrigated meadows may be six times mowed in the year, and where wheat, maize, and rice, and wine and dairy produce, are yielded in vast quantity.

MOUNTAINS AND HIGHLANDS

Europe presents two great mountain regions; a southern, extending along the northern border of the Mediterranean from Turkey to Spain, in continuation of the chief line of the heights of Asia; and a northern, appearing in Scandinavia and Britain, separated from the former by the western branch of the great lowland that we have been noticing.

THE ALPINE REGION

The _Alps_ rise as the central mass of the southern mountain region of Europe. The many groups comprised in this series of heights which curve round the plain of Lombardy arrange themselves into three generally recognized divisions:--The Western Alps, the groups lying between the Gulf of Genoa and the Little St. Bernard Pass; the Central Alps, extending from the St. Bernard to the pass named the Stilfser Joch; and the Eastern Alps beyond this. The central mass is the highest, rising with majestic forms from deep valleys up to sharp riven peaks, high above the line of permanent snow; its wings to east and west decrease in elevation towards the Gallic Sea and the plain of the Danube on either side. All the less jagged heights are mantled in snows, from which glacier streams descend. The largest of these ice streams are the Aletsch glacier from the group of the Finsteraarhorn, and those of the frequented valley of Chamounix, descending from Mont Blanc, the monarch of the Alps.

FAMOUS ALPINE PASSES

The passes of the Alps have always had importance as the gates of traffic from North Italy to the rest of Europe; some of them, such as the two St. Bernard Passes, are under the protection of friendly monks; but railroads have now been constructed to pass the great barrier by the tunnels of Mont Cenis in the west, of St. Gothard in the center, and the Simplon farther east (opened 1906), by a line over the Brenner Pass from Innsbruck to Bozen, and by an eastern road over the Semmering from Vienna to Graz.

Southward the Alps fall steeply to the low plain of Lombardy, but a mass of lesser highlands and plateaus extends northward from them over central Europe to the border of the plain of Northern Germany.

OUTLYING SPURS OF THE ALPS

The first division is the long limestone range of the _Jura_, with its magnificent pine forests. Beyond, bordering the Rhine valley, rises the _Schwarzwald_, or Black Forest, then the _Odenwald_ and the _Rhön_ mountains, leading into the _Vogelsberg_ and _Taunus_, and to the outlying _Harz_, the farthest north of the central European heights. Turning eastward, we reach the _Thüringerwald_, the _Fichtel Gebirge_, and the metalliferous or _Erz Gebirge_; then across the Elbe, in Saxon Switzerland, come the _Riesen Gebirge_ (the Giant Range), and the _Sudetic Mountains_, extending to the Oder. Turning south again towards the Alps, the _Mährische Höhen_ (the Mavorian heights) are reached, and joining with these to close in the high valley of the Upper Elbe, the high _Böhmerwald_, the forest mountain of Bohemia. Almost all the area of South Germany, including Würtemberg, Bavaria, and Bohemia, enclosed by these heights, which extend northward from the Alpine mass, is high plateau land.

HIGHLANDS OF FRANCE

Westward of these central European heights, beyond the Rhone, rises the range of the _Cevennes_ in France, extending from near the Pyrenees northward through the _Forez_ and _Côte d’Or_ to the plateau of _Langres_, to the _Vosges_ and _Hardt_, the undulating plateau of _Ardennes_ covered with beech and oak wood, and the volcanic group of the _Eifel_, skirting the Rhine valley. More centrally in France, contrasting with the adjoining long range of the Cevennes, the volcanic cones and domes of _Auvergne_ rise from bare lava-covered plateaus.

PYRENEES AND SPANISH PENINSULA

Shut off from the rest of Europe by the _Pyrenees_ whose high and close barrier admits easy passage only round its flanks, is the Spanish Peninsula, which, excepting in its river valleys, and along some parts of the seaboard, is a continuous highland. A number of mountain ranges, supporting broad plateaus between, traverse it from east to west. Along its northern edge the _Cantabrian_ mountains prolong the high line of the Pyrenees; centrally rise the _Sierras of Guadarrama_ and _Estrella_; farther south the _Sierra Morena_, and along the Mediterranean border the _Sierra Nevada_ of Granada. Throughout the summer the table-lands of _Castile_, bare and treeless, are burned up by the hot sun, but through the chilly winter they are swept by violent winds. The herdsman who wears a broad-brimmed hat for protection against the excessive heat during the day, a few hours later puts on his thick warm cloak; in the same way, after the almost rainless summer, follows a cold winter with ice and snow.

MOUNTAINS OF ITALY AND THE BALKANS

The _Apennines_ prolong the Maritime Alps, and run like a backbone through the peninsula of Italy. Cleared of its natural wood, and scorched by the southern sun, this range is generally dreary and barren in aspect, like a long wall, with few peaks or salient points to recall the magnificent forms of the Alps. The volcano of _Vesuvius_, the only active one in all the continental part of Europe, rises over the coast plain of Campania.

The lines of the eastern wing of the Alps are prolonged north-eastward across the Danube by the grand curve of the wooded _Carpathians_ and _Transylvania Alps_, circling round the plain of Hungary. Southeastward they branch into the many ranges which support between them the confused mass of highlands of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro, of Servia and Albania. Farther on these heights take more definite shape in the range of the _Balkan_ which runs east to the Black Sea, in the mass of the _Rhodope_ mountains extending south-eastward to the Ægean Sea, and in the _Pindus_ range, which gives shape to Greece, and runs out into the Mediterranean in the peninsulas of the Morea.

MASS OF THE CAUCASUS

Distinct from all the rest of the southern highlands of Europe stands the huge mass of the _Caucasus_, the natural frontier of Europe on the southeast, rising like a wall from the flat isthmus between the Black Sea and the Caspian. Its close parallel chains are united by high plateaus cut into by deep narrow transverse gorges of extreme depth. Though attaining far greater heights than the Alps and reaching several thousand feet above the limit of perennial snows, the glaciers and snow-fields of the Caucasus are small and insignificant in comparison with those of the Alps. This is owing to the dryness of the region in which they stand, and the small snowfall over them.

SCANDINAVIAN MOUNTAIN GROUPS

In the north European mountain region the mass of heights which form the Scandinavian peninsula are by far the most important. These present no definite range, but are rather a collection of broad plateaus topped with moor or snow-field, cut into by long steep-walled “fiords” on the Atlantic side, and resembling the Alps in the pine woods of their slopes, in their lakes and extensive glaciers, though they are nowhere of very great altitude.

The main _field_, which is applied to most of the Scandinavian mountain groups, suggests their plateau form; the _Hardanger Field_, _Ymes Field_, and _Dovre Field_, with the _Jostedals Brae_ (or ice-brae--glacier), are the most prominent of the southern heights of Norway; in the north the broken heights which run along the Atlantic and Arctic borders of the peninsula have the general name of the _Kiölen_. The heather-covered hills of Scotland--the Grampians and west coast mountains--as well as those of Cumberland and Wales farther south in Great Britain, belong to the same system as that of the Scandinavian heights.

SURFACE OF EUROPEAN ISLANDS

We have formerly noticed that almost all the European islands are high. In the Mediterranean we find the island of Crete reaching to upwards of eight thousand feet in _Mount Ida_; Sicily, with its volcano of _Etna_ nine thousand six hundred and fifty-two feet; Sardinia with _Mount Gennargentu_ (six thousand two hundred and ninety feet); Corsica, with _Monte Rotondo_ (nine thousand and sixty-five feet); Iceland, on the border of the Arctic seas, recalling Norway in its grand fiords, rises high in its mass of volcanic jökulls (_Orœfa_, six thousand four hundred and eight feet; _Hecla_, five thousand one hundred and ten feet), covered in between with accumulated snows and glaciers; _Spitzbergen’s_ black peaks, which give its name, also rise high from its white glacier fields.

CHAIN OF THE URAL

Separate and distinct in character and direction from the mountains of the rest of Europe, is the long chain of the _Ural_, rich in gold, platinum, iron, and copper. It takes its name probably from the Tartar word meaning “belt,” which well expresses the length and continuity of this remarkable line of heights, stretching along the eastern border of the great European plain for more than twelve hundred miles. In height, however, the Ural is insignificant. Another separated height, that of the forest-covered Valdai hills in Western Russia, would scarcely be worthy of mention among the European highlands if it did not form the water-parting of the greatest of European rivers, the Volga.

For the height of the chief mountain peaks and ranges, consult the tables on page 74 and following.

RIVERS OF EUROPE

European rivers flow in part to the Atlantic and its Mediterranean branches, partly to the Arctic Sea, and partly to the Caspian, which last belongs to the “continental” system of drainage, or the area from which no rivers escape to the open ocean.

The _Volga_, the largest European river, is the principal feeder of the Caspian, and the great highway of commerce of Central and South Russia.

The _Don_, _Dnieper_, _Dniester_, and _Danube_ all flow into the Black Sea. The last-named is the second of European rivers, and forms, with its navigable tributaries, the route for traffic between Central Europe and the East.

The _Po_, the _Rhone_ (the most rapid European river, though of little value for navigation), and the _Ebro_ flow into the Mediterranean.

The chief rivers (all of immense importance) draining into the Atlantic, are: the _Tagus_ (with its port of Lisbon), the _Douro_ (Oporto), the _Gironde_ (Bordeaux), the _Loire_ (Nantes), and the _Mersey_ (Liverpool); while of less importance are the _Guadalquivir_, _Guadiana_, _Tagus_, and _Douro_ in Spain; the _Garonne_, _Loire_, and _Seine_ in France. Into the North Sea flow the _Thames_ (London), the _Meuse_ (Rotterdam), the _Rhine_ and the _Elbe_, giving uninterrupted water-way to Switzerland and into the heart of Bohemia; and into the Baltic, the rivers _Oder_, _Vistula_, _Niemen_, and _Dwina_, more or less important for purposes of transport.

On account of the great historic, political and scenic importance that attaches to the Rhine and the Danube, in addition to the fact that their courses are not confined strictly to any one country, these rivers call for more detailed descriptions. The other European rivers of importance are described in connection with the country to which they either wholly or in great part belong.

=THE RHINE= (_Ger._ Rhein), is probably the most famous river in the world, and, except the period between 1697 and 1871, always a purely German possession. It is usually divided into the upper, middle, and lower parts, the first lying within and along part of the boundary line of Switzerland, the second between Basel and Cologne, and the third between Cologne and the sea.

THE UPPER RHINE AND ITS SOURCE

A large number of rivulets, issuing from Swiss glaciers, unite to form the upper Rhine; but two are recognized as the principal sources--the Nearer and the Farther Rhine. The former emerges on the northeast slope of the St. Gotthard pass (seven thousand six hundred and ninety feet above sea-level), the other side of which is the cradle of the Rhone; the Farther Rhine has its origin on the flank of the Rheinwaldhorn, seven thousand two hundred and seventy feet high, not far from the Pass of Bernardino. The two mountain torrents meet at Reichenau, six miles southwest of Coire (Chur), in the Grisons canton, Switzerland, after they have descended the Nearer Rhine five thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven feet in twenty-eight miles, the Farther Rhine five thousand three hundred and forty-seven feet in twenty-seven miles.

LAKE CONSTANCE AND THE FALLS OF SCHAFFHAUSEN

After plowing its way north for forty-five miles between Switzerland and Austrian Vorarlberg, the river enters the Lake of Constance, soon after leaving which, its water a deep transparent green, it plunges down the falls of Schaffhausen, nearly seventy feet, in three leaps, and flows westward to Basel, separating Baden from Switzerland. In this stretch the river (four hundred and ninety feet wide), receives from the left the waters of the Aar. At Basel (seven hundred and forty-two feet), now two hundred and twenty-five yards wide, it wheels round to the north, and traversing an open shallow valley that separates Alsace and the Bavarian Palatinate from Baden, reaches Mainz, split into many side arms and studded with green islands. Navigation begins at Basel.

THE MIDDLE RHINE FROM BASEL TO COLOGNE

Of the numerous affluents here the largest are the navigable Neckar and the Main from the right, and the navigable Ill from the left. A little below Mainz, the Rhine (six hundred and eighty-five yards wide) is turned west by the Taunus range; but at Bingen it forces a passage through, and pursues a northwesterly direction across Rhenish Prussia, past Coblenz, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Ruhrort, and Wesel as far as the Dutch frontier; here it is one thousand and eighty-five yards wide and thirty-six feet above sea-level.

THE FAMOUS STRETCH FROM BINGEN TO BONN

The first half of this portion of the river from Bingen to Bonn is the Rhine of song and legend, the Rhine of romance, the Rhine of German patriotism. Its banks are clothed with vineyards that yield wine esteemed the world over; the rugged and fantastic crags that hem in its channel are crowned by ruined castles; the treasure of the Nibelungs rests at the bottom of the river (higher up, at Worms); the Bingerloch and the Mouse Tower of Bishop Hatto, the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, the rock of the siren Lorelei, the commanding statue of Germania (the trophy of German victory in 1870), and innumerable other features lend interest to this, the middle course of “Father Rhine.” Between Bingen and Bonn the steep rocky walls that fence in the river approach so close that road and railway have to find their way through tunnels. The Nahe enters the Rhine at Bingen, the Moselle at Coblenz; from the right side the Lahn enters above Coblenz. Gigantic rafts are floated down from the Black Forest to Dordrecht in Holland. Below Bonn the Rhine is joined by the Sieg, Wupper, Ruhr, and Lippe from the right.