"IE ALDPS,
EUROPE.
Area, 3.757.000 square miles, comprising about one-fourteenth part of the land surface of the globe; greatest extent from
north to south, 2.400 miles ; and fram north-east to south-weat, 3.400 miles ; population ahnut 328.000. 000
Europe is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean;
dn the west by the Atlantic Ocean ; on the south by the
Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Marmora, the Black Sea,
and Mount Caucasus; and on the east by the Caspian
Sea, the Ural River, and Ural Monntains. which sepa-
rate it from Asia, .
Althongh the smallest of the great divisions of the
earth in extent, it is second in population, and by far
che most important in power and influence, as well as
che most advanced in learning, arts, and manuıfacturos.
The surface of Kurope is divided hy mountain ranges
into a north-west and south-east slope, as all the great
vivers on the continent flow in these directions, The
north and east, with the exception of Norway and Sweden,
consists of a vast plain, with occasional small elevations,
and comprises about two-thirds of tlıe whole surface, ex-
tending from Holland to the Ural Mountains, and in-
aluding all Russian; in the sonth and west it is moun-
'ainous or hilly,
Unlike the mountain ranges of the New World, those
of Kurope 0ccur in smaller and more detached chnins.
The nrineinal are:
The Dovrefleld mountains, in
:he Seandinavian peninsula:; the
Oramplans, in Scotland ; the Pen-
nine Range in Wnegeland and
"ambrian Range, in Wales; the
Ups, in SwitzerInnd and the ad-
acent conntries ; the minor ranges
ff the Jura and the Cepennpds
nountains in France; Ihe Pyre-
2ees, heiweecn Prance aml Spain;
ınd the parallel ranges of the Cas-
le, Morena, and Sierra Nerada
nountaine, in Spain; the Apen-
aines, in Italy, wiLh the voleanocr,
Zesuvius near Naples, and Kıtna in
Meilv:! the Balkan. in 'Turkev : the
Uarpathian, in Austrin, with the
analler ranges of the Buck Forest,
Harz, Erz, and Sudetic Chains,
n Germany; the Cqaucasus, be-
ween the Hack and Ihe Caspian
Seas; and the Ural Mounkdins,
yobtwwnen Eirann und Aryin
The Principal Rivers of Europe are:
and Gwadiand; those flowing south
and east—the Zbro, Rhune, Po,
Danube, Dnieper, Don, and Volga,
and ihe Zhanıes in Englund-.
"Those fowing north-west or
verst-—the Perchora, Tmtna, Vis-
ule, Oder, Elbe, Rhine, Seine,
"0lre, Guyanne Dooyoo. DPaaus.
The Volga is the largest river of Europe, rising in the
/aldai hills, in the north-west of Russia, and flowing into
he Caspian Sea, after a course of about 2,200 miles.
Tho Lakes in Europe are generally small, but cele-
syatecl for their heantiful seenery. The prineinal are :
Wener und Wetter, in Sweden;
adoga, Onegu, and Saima, in
Iussia: (enern nnd Constanee, in
Weiteerland:‘ Maggiore and Como.
in Italy; Derwentwater and Win-
fermere, in England; LZomond and
AKatrine, in Scotland; and Neugk
and A7arney. in Ireiand
Europe is remarkable for the irregularity of its outline
jr coast, having numerous islands, peninsulas, seas, bays,
nd gulfs, ziving it about 18,000 miles of coast-line—a
very much greater length, in proportion to its size, than
8 possessed by any of the other great divisions of the
zlobe. Almost every country in Europe has some sea-
zoast, and nowhere, except in the east of Russia, is there
any Diace more than 400 miles distant fram the sen.
