GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF

EUROPE.

EUROPE, with the exception of Australia, is the least of the great continents into which the earth is naturally divided: but in the intelligence, enterprise and civilization of its people, and perhaps also in physical advantages, it is eminently superior to all other portions of the world. "Altrice victoris omnium gentium populi, longeque terrarum pulcherrima.”—(Plinii Hist. Nat., lib. iii. § 1.) Here man in his mental, moral and physical capacities is most developed. Enlightened and strengthened by successive ages of struggle, mind and matter have here attained their utmost tension. In no other part of the world has such progress been made in all that is useful, ornamental and great. The arts, sciences and literature are indigenous. Italy and Greece, the ancient seats of learning and song, whose grandeur astonishes the mind; Britain, the mother of nations, on whose wide dominions the sun never ceases to shine; Germany, whose sons overturned even Rome herself, and whose eventful history so captivates the soul; and France, beautiful France, are of Europe but component parts. All is classic ground. Alexander, Charlemagne, Napoleon, were denizens of this favored land. Here Homer sang; here Milton lived. Shakspeare, Schiller, and a thousand other potent names, are linked in eternity to its destiny. To the world, indeed, Europe is as an elder brother, to which all nations look for encouragement and support. Its history sheds a halo of light over civilization, and its ancient liberties ever live in the hearts of true freemen. All modern institutions have their prototype in the laws and equities of Europe, and governments find their chief support in the wisdom of her sages. Intelligence and industry framed her prosperity, and the same agents maintain her preeminence.

Europe, geographically speaking, is situated between the longitudes of 9 west, and 66° east, and between the latitudes of 34° and 710 north. It is bounded north by the Arctic Ocean; east by the River Kara Baïgarama, the main chain of the Urals, the River Ural, the coast of the Caspian Sea, the Strait of Ienikale, the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, and the Archipelago; south by the principal chain of the Caucasus, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Atlantic Ocean; and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Sea. The greatest length of Europe, from Cape St. Vincent in Portugal, to a point in the chain of the Urals, in the neighborhood of Iekaterinbourg, (in the Government of Perm, in Russia,) is 3,372 English miles. The greatest breadth, from Cape Nord-kin, in Finmark, to Cape Matapan, in Morea, is 2,400 miles. The area is 3,684,841 square miles.

The narrowest part of the European continent, washed by opposite seas, Vol. II.

is situated between the Gulf of Kanda!askaia, a branch of the White Sea, on the east, and the Gulf of Bothnia, near Kemi, on the west. There is also a remarkable contraction between the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Lyons. The width of the former of these contractions is 200 miles, and of the latter 230 miles.

The continent of Europe is distinguished from all others by the great irregularities of its shape and surface, and by the great number of its inland seas, gulfs, harbors, peninsulas, promontories and headlands. This circumstance tends not only to influence very materially the climate and natural products of this continent, but to promote navigation and commerce, on which, in a great measure, its prosperity depends.

The great indentations of the coast of Europe, especially those of the north-west and south sides, being its most important features, THE SEAS, on which these depend, will be first described. These are not, however, so extensive as is generally supposed. That portion of the Atlantic situate between Norway, to the south of Cape Stadt, Germany, France, Great Britain, and the Shetland Isles, is called the North Sea or German Ocean. It exhibits many remarkable topographical features. The encroachments of this sea on the coasts of Germany and the Low Countries have produced two gulfs, called the Dollart and Zuyder-Zee. An arm of the North Sea, between Jutland and Norway, is called the Skager-Rack, and by some geographers, the Sea of Denmark. One portion of it penetrates a deep inlet on the coast of Norway, and forms the Gulf of Christiana; aud another arm between the south of Sweden and the northern portions of Jutland, takes the name of Kattegat. Two arms of no great size fill the inlets of Bauke and Bergen, on the south-western coast of Norway.

The Atlantic, as it stretches along the coast of Norway to the north of Cape Stadt, is called the Scandinavian Sea; to the west of the Strait of Dover, it is called the English Channel, between England and France; between Scotland and England, on one side, and Ireland on the other, it is named the Irish Sea, the southern outlet of which is St. George's or the Irish Channel, and the northern, the North Channel; it is called the Caledonia Sea to the north-west of Scotland; the Gulf of Gascony along the north-west coast of France; and the Bay of Biscay along a portion of the northern coast of Spain.

Two branches of the Atlantic, penetrating far inland, form the Mediterranean and the Baltic seas: the one situated in the north and the other in the south of Europe.

The Baltic, on the north, is a great inland sea, between Denmark, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Prussia, and the Baltic provinces of Russia and Sweden. Its most remarkable branches are the Gulf of Bothnia, between Russian Finland and Sweden; the Gulf of Finland, south of Finland, and between that and the governments of St. Petersburg and Revel; the Gulf of Livonia or Riga, further south; and the Gulf of Dantzic, in Eastern Prussia. The passage or Channel of the Sound, and those of the Great and Little Belts, are the three openings by which the Baltic communicates with the Kattegat, which has already been noticed as a branch of the North Sea.

The Mediterranean Sea lies between Europe, Africa and Asia, to all which it is common. It communicates with the Atlantic by a narrow gut called the Strait of Gibraltar. This sea, in different localities, has received various specific names. On the European side, and between that continent