How is it Look, now, to the continent of Europe. bounded? It has water on the north side, and also on the west and south. That to the north is called the Arctic Ocean; that to the west the Atlantic Ocean; and on the south are the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Name them again, as I point to them. What is to the east of Europe? Not water, but land; as far as the line I now trace, it is all called Europe; to the east of that line is Asia. Three seas run far into the mainland of Europe. One on the north side, called the White sea; one on the west side, the Baltic sea; and one on the south, the Adriatic. Europe is divided into many countries. What is a country? Travellers often pass from one country into another: perhaps they have only to step over a little stream, or go over a hill, and they find themselves in a new country; the land may look the same, but the people are different and belong to a different nation. Each nation has its own language and government, and calls the piece of land they live in their own country. Direct your attention now to the north part of the continent. This country, which I now point to, is Lapland. The people who live in it are very small; the country is very cold, and often covered with snow. The east part of it has water on both sides, so it is a peninsula; the west part is joined to another country which stretches to the south, between the Baltic Sea and the ocean; it is also a peninsula; a high ridge of mountains runs along it. The land on the west side of these mountains is Norway; that to the east, Sweden; but they are united under one government. Norway is full of mountains; the coast is much broken, and in many places the sea runs far into the land. There are many small islands along the coast. Sweden is not so mountainous as Norway, and it has more rivers and lakes. Look now to the east part of the map. Trace a line northwards from the Black Sea, between Europe and Asia, to the Arctic Ocean; then along the northern shores to Sweden; then southwards along by the Baltic Sea; and again across the continent to the Black Sea. All this great extent of country is under one government: it is called the Russian empire in Europe; very little of it reaches the sea-coast, for Russia is an inland country; but it has many great rivers. Most part of Russia is a great extended plain; the northern part is very cold, but the southern part is warm. What bounds Russia to the south-west? First, there is Prussia, which has one point projecting to the north-east, by the Baltic Sea; another point stretches to the south-west; and a third to the south-east; and one part of it is separated from the rest, and is called Rhine Prussia. The next country which joins Russia is Austria; it is large, and reaches to Italy and to the Adriatic Sea on the south; and next to it, eastward, is Turkey. The great river Danube flows through Austria, and then through Turkey until it enters the Black Sea. The country to the south of Turkey, to which I now point, is Greece, the south part of which is a peninsula, and it has also many islands belonging to it. Now look to where I am pointing; this long peninsula which tends to the south-east is called Italy. A chain of mountains stretches along nearly its whole length; it is a beautiful and fruitful country. Near the south point of it is an island called Sicily. Italy, Sicily, Turkey and Greece are all very warm countries; the sun rises higher in the sky, and gives a greater heat in those southern lands, than in our own. Two other large islands lie to the west of Italy; the larger one is called Sardinia, and the smaller Corsica. The larger island, with this part on the main-land to which I am now pointing, form the kingdom of Sardinia; to the north of that is Switzerland, which is full of high mountains, so high as to have their tops always covered with snow. To the north of Switzerland is Germany, and to the west of Germany, France. France is a large country, much larger than Great Britain or Ireland. It is divided from England M by an arm of the sea called the English Channel, and by the Straits of Dover. On the west side of it is the Bay of Biscay; and on the south, Spain and the Mediterranean Sea. France and Spain are divided by a high chain of mountains. Portugal is on the west side of Spain; the two countries form a peninsula; they are at the south-west corner of Europe. Look now to the north of France; next to it is Belgium, and next to that Holland. Holland is a very low, flat country; the sea would cover many parts of it, if the people did not take care to make high banks, called dykes, to keep the water out. Next to Holland is Hanover; and to the north of that, a peninsula, which, with some islands, is called Denmark. Let us now trace the outline of each country once more, and, as we do this, repeat with me a few words concerning them. England has a varied surface of gentle hills and green sloping valleys; it is fertile and well wooded. Scotland is fertile in the south, but cold and mountainous in the north and west. Ireland is generally level and fertile; the climate is temperate and healthful, but moist. France is generally level, but in some parts hilly or mountainous; the climate is warm but beautiful, and the land mostly fruitful. Spain and Portugal are warm, mostly mountainous, and in some parts very fertile. Holland and Belgium are low and flat, but well cultivated. Germany in the middle part is fruitful, and the climate good; but the north part is cold and mountainous. Austria has two great and fertile plains, and also many chains of mountains. Prussia is a flat country: the soil is poor. Hanover is a flat country; in some parts marshy, in others wooded. its Switzerland is a high and very mountainous country: scenery is very beautiful. Italy is a warm and fruitful country; the air is bright and clear; the scenery fine. Turkey is mountainous, but has many warm and fruitful valleys, and a fine climate. Greece has a varied surface of mountain and plain; the climate is warm and lovely, and the soil fruitful. Russia consists of great plains; it has immense forests: the north part is cold and barren, but some parts to the south are warm and fruitful. Sweden is in great part covered with forests; the climate is warm in summer, and very cold in winter. Norway is very mountainous, and has many forests; the north part, or Nordland, is very cold; the south more mild and fertile. Denmark is a flat country, with no large rivers: the climate is moist and temperate: the soil fertile. MOUNTAINS. Europe is not all a plain; only two-thirds of it are level; the rest is hilly or mountainous. Look on the map for that part of Europe which extends from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains; and from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea: all this great space may be called a flat country. Where, then, are the mountains of Europe? They are on the west and south borders of the continent. Let us begin to trace them from Lapland. A chain goes southwards along the whole length of Norway at the north they are close to the seashore, then they go more inland, and at the south part they form a high, wide plain. These mountains are not very lofty, but some of them are more than eight thousand feet high. The tops of some are always covered with snow, for Norway is a cold country; yet in summer the valleys between them are very beautiful. Norway you would see many fir trees as well as beauti ful waterfalls, high rocks, and pretty lakes. Norway let us look to Iceland. It has many cold, barren mountains; but what is most wonderful is, that In From some of these are burning mountains! About seventy years ago, one of them burned with such fury as nearly to destroy all the inhabitants of Iceland. There is still fire burning underneath the snowy ground, and in some places hot water bursts out of the ground, and spouts up in the air to a great height! There are mountains in the north of Scotland, in the north and west of England, and in Ireland. They are not very lofty, but some are four thousand feet high: the snow does not always stay on them. Look now to the mountains in the south of Europe. Between France and Spain are the Pyrenees; they are about seven thousand feet high in the middle part, but some of their peaks are as high as eleven thousand feet, and are always covered with snow. In Spain there are many mountains; in the south are some which are very high, called Sierra Nevada (or snowy chain); one peak is nearly twelve thousand feet, or more than two miles high. Look again to France. In the south and east of it are mountains, some of which are six thousand feet in height. East of the river Rhone rise the highest mountains of Europe, called the Alps; some of which in Switzerland are nearly three miles high. They are always covered with snow, and many of the hollows on their sides are filled with ice; forming great fields which are called glaciers. Some glaciers are twenty miles long and two or three miles broad; they look like frozen seas and are very beautiful. The snow which lies on the tops of the Alps often slips and rolls down the steep mountain sides, covering up houses, and trees, and people in its fall; this is called an avalanche. As the snow and ice on the Alps melt, the water pours in streams over the rocks into the valleys, forming cascades or waterfalls. One of these is nine hundred and thirty feet high. In the valleys near the Alps are some large and beautiful lakes; the largest is the Lake of Geneva, which is forty miles long and nine miles wide Let us trace the direc |