Chapter XV: From the Founding of the German Empire to the Close of the European (2)

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.

Starting from the important city of Cologne and ascending the river. These pages and those immediately following give an almost photographic panorama of the entire Rhine valley as far as Mainz--the course of the river, its confluents, bridges, cities, villages, castles, fortresses, historic ruins and museums, and the general topography of the region through which river flows.

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL, the grandest Gothic church in the world. Begun in 1248, consecrated 1880. It has seven wonderful chapels.

University Bldgs.

KÖLN, OR COLOGNE, sixth city in size in the German Empire, was originally an ancient Teutonic town and later an important Roman garrison. Its greatest ornament is the Cathedral. The city is encircled by a boulevard of great beauty. The Hahnentor Museum contains a famous collection of armor and weapon.

Hahnentor in Cöln

BONN is 21 miles from Cologne, has a beautiful location, and is chiefly noted for its University, housed in the Electoral Palace built 1717-1730. It was a great Roman fortress and suffered many sieges. The Cathedral was founded by the mother of Constantine. In its cemetery are buried Niebuhr, the historian, Schlegel, Schumann, Arndt and Bunsen.

BEETHOVEN’s birthplace in Bonn was at 20 Bonngasse. There is a bronze statue of the great composer in Münsterplatz.

GODESBURG CASTLE. A fine mediæval castle on a hill overlooking the Rhine. Splendid view.

ROLANDSECK is half an hour’s sail above Königswinter on the right; and high on the hill above is the fragment of the castle said to have been built by Roland, paladin of Charlemagne, and rich in legends. See Bulwer’s “Pilgrims of the Rhine” for the story, which doubtless suggested Schiller’s ballad of “Ritter Toggenburg.”

Rolandseck

REMAGEN is renowned for its beautiful Gothic church on a hill just below the village. It was erected under the direction of Zwirner, the architect of the superb south portal of the Cologne cathedral and is adorned with large frescoes, which are masterpieces of Modern German art.

Königswinter is beautifully situated at the foot of the Siebengebirge, or Seven Mountains, and nearest the castles crag of Drachenfels (Dragon’s rock). The Siebengebirge form a picturesque volcanic group, 1,000 to 1,500 ft. high, about 5m. square, covered with forests and ruins. The prospect from Drachenfels and from the Petersberg are among the finest on the Rhine. A funicular railway reaches the top of the Drachenfels and the Petersberg. See story of “Nibelungenlied.”

A massive tower and ruined castle at Andernach memorialized in Longfellow’s “Hyperion.”

HAMMERSTEIN is a 10th century castle where Henry IV. took refuge. It was held during the Thirty Years’ war by Swedes, Spaniards and Germans.

ANDERNACH, with its ruined castle, ancient walls, and lofty watch tower is one of the most interesting towns on the Rhine. It was one of the 50 forts of Drusus; recaptured from the Alemanni by Julian in 339; a royal Franconian residence in the 6th century; an imperial town later; stormed by Cologne troops in 1496; and burned by the French in 1688. Nearby is the Benedictine Abbey of Laach, founded in 1093, with magnificent Romanesque church, on the vast crater-lake of the Laachser See.

KOBLENZ, the capital of Rhenish Prussia, is at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle, whence the Romans called it Confluentia. It is a powerful fortress, with heights crossed with enormous fortifications. The Palace contains interesting Electoral Hall and Festival Hall. The Rhine is crossed by a bridge of boats and by a very fine railway bridge. Across the Rhine is Ehrenbreitstein, (“Honor’s Broad Stone”), “The Gibraltar of the Rhine,” a vast fortress on a precipitous rock, 387 ft. above the river, and commanding a wonderful view. It has often been beleaguered but yielded only twice.

STOLZENFELS.

STOLZENFELS (“Proud rock”), a fine castle of the middle ages, on a projecting rock overlooking the Rhine, belongs to the Royal Family of Prussia. It was presented by the city of Koblenz to King William IV. Here they say treasures are buried which Archbishop Werner acquired by his knowledge of alchemy. Fine view of the Lahn Valley and Koblenz.

Ehrenbreitstein

BRAUBACH, an ancient little town, at the entrance of the valley that winds round the Marksberg, with a fine old Castle, the Marksburg, a fortress of the middle ages, one of the few ancient Rhine castles which escaped destruction.

ST. GOARSHAUSEN is under the castle called The Cat, built in 1393, and blown up by the French in 1804. Above is the Lurlei rock, a precipice 433 ft. high, rising over whirlpools in the deepest and narrowest part of the Rhine, and the fabled seat of a siren who lured sailors to a tragic death.

RHEINSTEIN

ST. GOARis overlooked by the grandest ruin on the river, the famous Rheinfels, dating from 1245; besieged often; now royal property.

OBERWESEL is charmingly situated in the midst of the finest scenery of the Rhine. The Church of Notre Dame, south of the town, is a fine specimen of 14th century Gothic, with curious old pictures and monuments. The Chapel of St. Werner, erected in the 13th century, commemorates one of the old stories of child-murder by the Jews. Above the town are the ruins of Schönburg, built about the 12th century.

CAUB (left) is a little town with a big castle, Gutenfels, towering above it, and not far above, in the midst of the river is the Pfalz, built by Louis of Bavaria early in the 14th century.

THE MOUSE TOWER (Mäuserturm) is situated on a rock in the middle of the Rhine, near Bingen. It is notable from the legend of Bishop Hatto’s tragic fate.

THE NIEDERWALD, opposite Bingen, is the great National Monument commemorating the restoration of the German Empire in 1870-71. It stands 740 feet above the river, and consists of a colossal statue of Germania, 33 feet high, upon a sculptured pedestal 78 feet high.

Bingen

BINGEN is at the junction of the Rhine and the Nahe. The river scenery above Bingen is less interesting, though it is here the fertile and beautiful wine region begins. Rüdesheim, just across the river, has rich wines, far-viewing heights, wild legends, and a Roman fortress. On the heights is the Castle of Johannisberg, where Prince Metternich once lived. It is amid the best vineyards on the Rhine and commands a superb view. At Riebrich, opposite Mainz, is the beautiful palace of the Duke of Nassau.

Mainz. MAINZ, or Mayence, with its magnificent cathedral, has been both a German and a French town. Thorwaldsen’s statue of Gutenberg, the inventor of printing, stands near the Cathedral. The Electoral Palace is a rich museum of Roman relics and an important picture gallery. The city is a noted wine center and trade emporium.]

THE LOWER RHINE FROM COLOGNE TO THE SEA

At Bonn the river enters the plains, and almost immediately after passing the Netherlands frontier its delta begins. The principal arm, carrying two-thirds of the volume, flows under the name of the Waal, and later the Mermede, to Dordrecht, picking up the Maas (Meuse) from the left. At Dordrecht the river again divides for a bit, one branch, the old Maas, running out to sea; the other, the Noord, forming a loop by way of Rotterdam. The northern arm sends one branch, the Yssel, due north to the Zuider Zee; the other branch is the Lek, which runs into the Waal-Maas arm above Rotterdam.

A thin stream, called the “Winding Rhine,” leaves the Lek and splits at Utrecht into two channels, of which the Old Rhine, a mere ditch, manages with the help of a canal and locks to struggle into the North Sea at Katwyk, northwest of Leyden, while the Vecht flows due north from Utrecht to the Zuider Zee near Amsterdam. In the delta the streams have to be bordered by dykes.

THE RHINE IN EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

The Rhine was the Romans’ bulwark against the Teutonic invaders and was long a boundary between the province of Gaul and the German tribes. Under Charlemagne the Rhine valley became the focus of civilization. Except between 1697 and 1871 the Rhine was always a purely German river; at the peace of Ryswick, Alsace-Lorraine was appropriated by France, and the Rhine became part of the dividing line between France and Germany. In 1801 Napoleon incorporated the whole of the left bank with France; in 1815 the arrangement in force before 1801 was restored; and after 1871 the Rhine became once more wholly German. It has often been crossed by armies; twice by Julius Cæsar; again in the Thirty Years’ war, and in the wars of Louis XIV., the Revolution, and Napoleon. Its navigation was declared free in 1868.

The Rhine is connected by canals with the rivers Danube, Rhone and Marne. There is a railway along both its banks, but a steamboat is greatly preferable for viewing the incomparable course between Cologne (Köln) and Mainz (_Fr._, Mayence) as shown in panoramic form on preceding page. Its beauties are better displayed, also, at most points, in ascending the river than in descending it.

=THE DANUBE= (_Ger._, Donau), one of the most important rivers of
Europe, and next to the Volga the largest, originates in two small
streams rising in the Schwarzwald, or Black Forest, in Baden,
Germany, and uniting at Donaueschingen, two thousand two hundred and
sixty-four feet above sea level. The Germans occupy the entire upper
basin, and portions of the middle and lower; the Slavs parts of both
banks of the middle course; the Magyars the central portion of the
valley; and the Roumanians the lower regions.

GENERAL COURSE OF THE GERMAN DANUBE

The river flows first southeast and then northeast to Ulm, one thousand, five hundred and nineteen feet above sea level. At Regensburg it reaches its most northerly point, and from thence its course is generally southeast. Between Regensburg and Vienna the banks of the river are frequently remarkable for their romantic beauty. At Tuttlingen it contracts and the hills crowd close to the banks, while ruins of castles crown almost every possible summit. The scenery is wild and beautiful until the river passes Sigmaringen.

THE AUSTRIAN DANUBE, FAMED IN HISTORY AND SONG

From Passau the Danube flows through Austria for a distance of two hundred and thirty-three miles. Closed in by mountains it flows past Linz in an unbroken stream; below, it expands and divides into many arms until it reaches the famous whirlpool near Grein, where its waters unite and flow on in one channel for forty miles through mountains and narrow passes. Between Linz and Vienna it is renowned not only for its picturesque beauty, but for the numerous historic buildings and ruins which crown its banks. The splendid Benedictine monastery of Melk, the ruins of Durrenstein, and the prison of Richard the Lion-hearted are among the most interesting.

Vienna, to defend the city against risk of inundation, the course of the Danube skirting it was, in 1868-81, diverted into an artificial channel. Similar works have been undertaken near Budapesth, in Hungary.

FROM VIENNA TO THE IRON GATE

After passing Vienna and Marchfeld, the river cuts through a defile formed by the lower spurs of the Alps and Carpathians and enters Hungary at the ruined castle of Theben, a little above Pressburg, the old Magyar capital. Here, again, it gives off a number of branches, forming a labyrinth of islands known as Schütten, but on emerging it flows uninterruptedly southward through wide plains interspersed with pools, marshes, and sandy wastes. The principal affluents here are the Save, the Drave, and the Theiss.

Sixty miles before entering Roumania the river passes through a succession of rapids or cataracts which it has made in cutting a passage for itself through the cross chain of hills which connect the Carpathian Mountains with the Alps. The last of these cataracts, at Old Orsova, is called the Iron Gate. Between 1878 and 1898, the Hungarian government carried through, at a cost of seven million five hundred thousand dollars, extensive engineering works at the gorges of the Iron Gates for deepening the channel and cutting a canal.

ITS JOURNEY THROUGH THE BALKAN COUNTRIES

The lower course of the Danube, in Roumania and Bulgaria, is through a flat and marshy tract, fertile but badly cultivated and thinly peopled. It forms the northern boundary of Bulgaria as far as Silistria; and from here it turns northward, skirting the Dobruja, and flows between marshy banks to Galatz, receiving on the way the Jalomitza and the Sereth. From Galatz it flows east, and, after being joined by the Pruth from the north, it continues southeast to the Black Sea.

The delta is a vast wilderness (one thousand square miles) cut up by channels and lagoons; the farthest mouths are sixty miles apart. Two-thirds of the Danube’s volume passes through the Kilia, which, like the southern or St. George branch, forms a double channel near the outlet; and so ships enter by the middle or Sulina mouth, deepened to twenty feet and straightened in 1858-1903. The steel cantilever bridge across the river at Tchernavoda is one of the great railway bridges of the world.

ITS CHIEF TOWNS AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE

The principal towns on the Danube are Ratisbon, Vienna, Pressburg, Budapest, Belgrade, and Galatz. The width of the river varies considerably, and at some points the opposite shore is hardly discernible. It is first navigable at Ulm, and, thanks to various improvements, is now navigable continuously from that point to its mouth. Engineering work to this end, undertaken at Vienna, Budapest, and the Iron Gates has already been referred to. The International Danube Navigation Commission, appointed in 1856, controls the lower portion of the river, and has done much to improve navigation at the delta. Sea-going vessels of six hundred tons can now go nearly as far as the Iron Gates, while vessels of twenty-five hundred tons can go above Galatz. By means of canals the Danube is connected with the Rhine and the Elbe.

ITS PART IN HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

This mighty river is exceedingly rich in historical and political associations. For a long period it formed the frontier of the Roman Empire, and along its course are still found many notable Roman remains. Traces of the great wall erected by the Emperor Trajan are to be seen on the south side of the Hungarian Danube. At Turn Severin, east of the Carpathians, a tower and several piers of Trajan’s Roman bridge, a splendid piece of ancient engineering, are still standing; while his more marvelous road in the rocky Kazan defile is marked by a Roman tablet still visible.

The struggles of races and peoples in the lands bordering the Danube have been among the fiercest and strongest in all history. Finns, Kelts, Germans, Slavs, Greeks, Italians and Turks have all vied with one another in the race of conquest and possession; and even today the Balkan countries are still in the seething cauldron of new struggles for domination or independence.

The Lake Region of Europe lies round the Baltic. _Ladoga_, in
Russia, is the largest fresh-water lake in Europe, as wide across as
the English Channel, between Portsmouth and Cherbourg. _Onega_, and
Peipus (Russia) are also of great size, as well as the lakes of
Finland and Sweden, and some of those of the Alps. Chief of these
are Wetter and Mœlar in Sweden; the myriad lakes of Finland; the
beautiful lakes of the folds of the Alps, Geneva, Neuchatel, and
Constance on the north side; and Maggiore, Como, and Garda in the
Italian valleys. They will be noticed further under the countries to
which they belong.

THE NATIONS OF EUROPE--THE GREAT POWERS

Of the nations of Europe it may be said that in point of rank Great
Britain, Germany, France, Austria, and Russia stand first as the
“five great powers.” These include within their limits more than
two-thirds of the entire population of Europe, and have for a long
time controlled all continental questions. Second come Italy, Spain,
and Sweden; in third rank are Turkey, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and
Portugal.

Another grouping on the basis of race stocks is frequently made
beginning with the highest in culture, the _Germanic_; passing
thence to the _Romanic_; concluding with the _Slavonic_, and the
lands under the rule of the _Turks_, lowest in the scale, which are
most closely connected with the Mongols of Asia. The Germanic, or
Teutonic nations, include Great Britain; the German Empire;
Austria-Hungary; Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark); Holland, or
the Netherlands; Switzerland, and Belgium. The Romanic nations
include France; Italy; Spain; Portugal; Greece, and Roumania. The
Slavonic nations, Russia in Europe; Servia, and Montenegro. The
Turkish or Mongol nations, Turkey in Europe; Bulgaria.

For various reasons the first grouping is adopted in the pages
following.

GREAT BRITAIN

The British Empire, Great Britain and England are often erroneously used in the popular mind for one and the same nation. In strict accuracy the British Empire consists of (1) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; (2) India, and the British Colonies, Protectorates, and Dependencies. Great Britain proper includes only England, Scotland and Wales. What is really meant is the geographical group of the British Isles, including England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the adjacent islands. For here is the source of power and authority that holds together and controls this greatest of modern empires.

=Geographical Features.=--The British Isles belong distinctly to the mainland of Europe. If we imagine the sea level between England and Holland to fall sixty feet--the height of an ordinary house--the broad _Dogger Bank_, midway between England and Denmark, would begin to show its sands, and if a fall of two hundred feet took place one might walk dry shod across to the continent, to Belgium, Holland, or Denmark. From its shallows and banks, its stormy cross seas and frequent fogs, the navigation of the _North Sea_ is dangerous; yet the traffic over it is enormous, for it is surrounded by countries, the inhabitants of which have been famous on the seas from the earliest times.

The great highways of commerce from it are _Dover Strait_, leading to the English Channel, in the south, and the stormy _Pentland Firth_, which separates Scotland from the Orkney Islands, in the north. The _English Channel_, though deeper than the North Sea, is also shallow; the enclosed _Irish Sea_, between England and Ireland, with _St. George’s Channel_ and the _North Channel_ leading out from it to the ocean, has been scoured deeper in its central lines; but there is a width of about fifty miles of shallow sea, or “soundings,” all round the islands, in the west, where they face the broad Atlantic.

=Chief Islands and Divisions.=--The main island of Great Britain, roughly triangular in shape, measures about six hundred miles in a straight line from its southwest corner, where the granite walls of _Land’s End_ and the dark serpentine cliffs of the _Lizard_ run out into the Atlantic, to the northern apex, the high red sandstone rocks of _Dunnet Head_, or its companion _Duncansby Head_, where John o’Groat’s House stood, on the beach of the Pentland Firth.

The base of the island, forming the north coast of the English Channel, measures only about half this distance, or three hundred and twenty miles; and the eastern side, from the chalk cliffs of the _South Foreland_, on the Strait of Dover, to the Pentland Firth, is about five hundred and forty miles long. No part of the interior of Great Britain is more distant than three or four days’ walk from the sea on one side or other. In the narrower parts of the north of Scotland, indeed, where the Moray Firth runs into the land, it is an easy day’s journey from the head of this inlet of the North Sea to that of one or other of the opposite sea lochs running in from the Atlantic.

The second island, _Ireland_, more rounded in general outline, measures three hundred miles from _Malin Head_, its northernmost point, to _Mizen Head_, its most southerly extremity, and two hundred miles from _Carnsore Point_, its southeastern corner nearest England, to _Erris Head_, its northwestern promontory on the Atlantic.

=Smaller Islands.=--The most extensive of the many island groups and islets are those which lie off the broken west coast of Scotland, the wild and rugged Outer and Inner Hebrides, of which _Lewis_, separated by the channel called the Minch, and _Skye_, _Mull_, _Islay_ and _Arran_, in the inner group, are the largest. The _Orkney_ group, separated from the north of Scotland by the turbulent Pentland Firth, consist of no fewer than fifty-nine rocky islets; and the _Shetlands_, forty miles farther north, comprise upwards of a hundred separate points. The high _Isle of Man_, in the middle of the Irish Sea; _Anglesey_, close to the Welsh coast; and now united to it by the famous railway tubes across the Menai Strait; and the _Isle of Wight_, “the garden of England,” in the English Channel, separated from the mainland by the busy Solent, are the others of importance. The Channel Islands, of which _Jersey_ and _Guernsey_ are the largest, belong politically to Britain, but are physically parts of France.

=Surface: Mountains and Lowlands.=--In the island of Great Britain the highest portions lie generally to north and west, the lowlands to south and east.

The heather-covered Highlands, which fill the north of Scotland, are divided by the great natural passage of _Glen More_, which runs in a straight line across the island from northeast to southwest into two chief groups, the northern and central.

The northern group consists of irregularly-distributed and often almost isolated masses, separated, it may be, by deep sea-fiords, and presenting every variety of contour, from that of the round mass of _Ben Wyvis_ to the steep, wall-like sides of _Suilvein_ or the sharp peak of _Ben Stack_. The Central Highlands or the _Grampians_, extending from the peninsula of Cantyre northeastward to the precipitous coast of Buchan on the North Sea, are far more massive and continuous.

_Ben Nevis_, a huge round mass ascending abruptly from the shores of Loch Eil at the mouth of the Great Glen, is the highest mountain of the British Isles.

The Southern Highlands of Scotland are more broken, and separated by river valleys. _Mount Merrick_, in the southwest, is their highest point; the _Lowther Hills_ form their central group; the _Pentlands_, _Moorfoot_, and _Lammermoor_ hills their more detached portions, on the northeast.

With the Cheviot Hills, the boundary range between Scotland and England, begins the long _Pennine chain_, which reaches due south into the heart of England. _Cheviot Hill_, in the north, _Crossfell_, and _Whernside_, and the _Peak of Derby_, in the south, mark the summits and direction of the chain. To the west of the Pennine chain rises the compact circular knob of slate mountains of Cumberland, of which _Scawfell_ is the summit of England proper. And corresponding to this mass, near the opposite coast, are the eastern moorlands and _wolds_ of Yorkshire.

Separated from the Pennine heights by the plain of Cheshire (west of England) rise the highlands of Wales, collectively called the _Cambrian Mountains_.

Across the Bristol Channel we come to the heights of the southwestern peninsula of England, with its three groups of _Exmoor_, _Dartmoor_, with its rugged granite tors, and the _Cornish Heights_. These are the more important mountain groups of Great Britain.

Over all the south and east of England the elevations are comparatively insignificant; broad, undulating, grassy uplands, called the _South Downs_ and the _Chiltern Hills_, rarely attaining more than eight hundred feet of elevation, follow the chalk formation across Southern England as far as Beachy Head on the Channel and the Foreland Cliffs on the Strait of Dover. The limestone _Cotswold Hills_ between these and the Welsh Highlands rise somewhat higher.

Almost all the lowlands of Great Britain lie to the east and south. Here we find the plain of the “_New Forest_” in Hampshire and the treeless _Salisbury Plain_, the broad open _Valley of the Thames_, the “_Eastern Plain_” of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, extending with rounded shores towards the North Sea; the low “_Fen District_” behind the shallow estuary of “_The Wash_,” from which many tracts have been reclaimed; the long “_Plain of York_” beyond; the valleys of the Tees and Tweed, the latter including the cultivated “_Merse_,” the march or border land of Berwickshire; the Scottish “_Lowlands_” between the Central and Southern Highlands; the “_Carse_” or alluvial plain of Gowrie, north of the Tay; “_Strathmore_,” the broad valley which extends between the Grampians and their southern outliers; the _plain of Cromarty_ and the level moors of eastern Caithness farthest north of all. The only extensive lowlands on the western side of the island are the “_Vale of Severn_,” the “_Plain of Cheshire_,” between the Pennine chain and the Welsh Highlands, the lowlands round the estuary of the Solway, those of Ayrshire, and the _Valley of the Clyde_.

Crossing over to Ireland, though we find the lines of elevation running generally in the same direction as those of Great Britain, or from northeast to southwest, as shown in the peninsulas of the southwest coast, the mountains appear rather in detached clusters than in definite ranges, with shapes rather rounded than abrupt, forming a fringe round the coasts. The plateau of Antrim, which forms the precipice of _Fair Head_, the nearest point to the Scottish coast, contains the remarkable basaltic scenery of the Giants’ Causeway.

=Giants’ Causeway.=--This extensive and extraordinary assemblage of basaltic columns is in the county of Antrim, between Bengore Head and Port Rush. The name is sometimes given to the whole range of basalt cliffs along the coast, some of which reach the height of four or five hundred feet; but it is more properly restricted to a small portion of it where a platform of closely-ranged basalt columns from fifteen to thirty-six feet in height runs down into the sea in three divisions, known as the Little, the Middle, and the Grand Causeway. The last is from twenty to thirty feet wide, and stretches some nine hundred feet into the sea.

The Giants’ Causeway derives its name from the legend that it was built by giants as a road which was to stretch across the sea to Scotland. There are similar formations on the west coast of Scotland, on the island of Staffa.

In the southwest are the _Mountains of Kerry_, containing _Cam Tual_, the summit of all Ireland. The only important groups that lie centrally in the island are the mountains of western Tipperary.

Within the circle of these heights, and branching out between them at many points to the sea-coast, lies the _Great Plain of Ireland_, averaging perhaps two hundred feet in elevation above the sea. The highest point between Dublin and Galway, east to west across its center, is only three hundred and twenty feet above the sea-level. Many parts of it, such as that which surrounds Lough Neagh in the north, are scarcely fifty feet in elevation.

=Rivers.=--England and Ireland are very bountifully watered; Scotland rather less so, as the higher mountains of Great Britain rise in the west of the island, so the water-parting line following the greatest general height lies nearer the west than the east. The longer and gentler slope of the island is to the North Sea; the shorter and steeper to the Atlantic side. Hence most of the larger rivers belong to the North Sea drainage.

THE THAMES (_Temz_), the most important river of Great Britain, flows southeast by east across the southern portion of the country. It rises in the Cotswold Hills and follows a course of some one hundred and ninety miles to Gravesend, the head of the estuary, where it has a width of half a mile, gradually increasing then to ten miles at the Nore lightship about thirty miles farther. By the addition of its tributaries the Colne, Leach, and Churn, it becomes navigable for barge traffic at Lechlade, where the canal to the Severn leaves. Above Oxford the stream is frequently called the Isis. At Oxford the navigability improves, and river steamers ply between Oxford and points below it as far as London. Until the Tower Bridge, in London, was built, London Bridge was the lowest in the course, and ocean-going vessels still reach the latter.

Gravesend, twenty miles lower, grew up at the spot where vessels waited the turn of the tide; a little farther the Medway, by virtue of its estuary the most important tributary, enters; just inside this is Chatham, an important naval depot. Opposite Gravesend and on the north bank is Tilbury, the terminus of modern liners. The waters from the Tilbury docks to the Nore lightship are of great strategic importance, hence there is here a station for destroyers, torpedo-boats, and gun-boats. Sheerness and Shoreham as land defenses add to this.

From London Bridge downward the Thames is lined with docks and wharves, the former being now under the Port of London authority. At Woolwich, on the south bank, eight miles below London Bridge, is the arsenal, and a little farther up the river Greenwich Observatory.

Historically, the Thames is unsurpassed by any river of the world. A slight rise surrounded by marsh on the left bank formed the first point suitable for bridging a strategic site for London, the tide giving facilities to it as a port, while yet placed well up the river for defensive purposes. Still farther up, a dominating site in the lower valley was found at Windsor for the mediæval kings. In Anglo-Saxon times the kingdoms were divided by the river, and the break in the Chiltern Hills at Goring was a check in the line of aggression.

Above London the scenery is rich and beautiful, though not romantic, the numerous islands lending a peculiar charm. The Thames is the best beloved of English rivers for those who boat for pleasure. During the summer the Thames is a favorite holiday resort, house-boats being frequently the temporary homes of pleasure-seekers; and regattas are held at Henley, Kingston, and other places. For boat-racing, it divides the honors with the Tyne. The Thames watermen are renowned in song and story. Since Spencer’s days “the silver-streaming Thames” has been sung by England’s poets; Herrick calls it “Silver-footed Thamesis;” Denham’s apostrophe is famous; and Pope has word-painted much of the scenery of its banks.

OTHER BRITISH RIVERS.--The next longest river to northward is the _Great Ouse_, navigable from the west for ninety miles to Bedford; then we come to the group of rivers which water the long plain of York, and unite in the estuary of the Humber, including the _Trent_ from the south, navigable one hundred and five miles to Burton; the _Yorkshire Ouse_, navigable forty-five miles to the city of York, with its main tributary the _Derwent_. Farther north are the _Tees_ and _Wear_, and the busy _Tyne_. Passing into Scotland, we reach the _Tweed_, valuable for its fisheries, but unnavigable; the _Forth_, winding in links through the fertile lowland, navigable to Stirling; the _Tay_, navigable to Perth; the rapid _Dee_ and _Spey_ from the Grampians, and the _Ness_ from the lakes of Glenmore.

On the western or Atlantic side of Britain, the largest river, the second in drainage area in the island, is the _Severn_, drawing its upper tributaries from the Welsh mountains, and its chief lower affluent, the navigable _Avon_, from England, curving round to the British Channel; it is navigable to Welshpool, one hundred and twenty miles from its mouth. The _Mersey_, though a short river, forms one of the most important estuaries of the island, the “Liverpool Channel.” Scarcely less valuable in this respect is the lower _Clyde_, the most important commercial river of Scotland, navigable to Glasgow, and forming in its upper valley the largest falls in the island.

Almost all the river estuaries of Britain are great highways of commerce; the Solway Firth, between England and Scotland on the west coast, is the most important exception, its swift and strong tides, rushing in over the sands so fast that a galloping horseman can scarcely escape from them, being exceedingly dangerous to shipping. Besides these estuaries many natural harbors lie round the coast. Such are the sheltered Solent and Portsmouth harbor behind the Isle of Wight, Plymouth Sound farther west, and Milford Haven on the south coast of Wales, unsurpassed perhaps in the world as a deep and spacious harbor thoroughly sheltered from all winds.

=British Lakes.=--The lakes of South Britain are comparatively few and small. _Bala Lake_, only four miles long, is the largest in the Welsh Highlands; in England the only considerable group is that which clusters round the knot of mountains in Cumberland, known through the rare interest that has been added to this district by the group of illustrious poets who made it their home about the beginning of the nineteenth century.

=English Lake District.=--Within this area are grouped as many as sixteen lakes or _meres_, besides innumerable mountain _tarns_ and streams. The district extends about thirty miles from north to south by about twenty-five from east to west, and contains within its compass the utmost variety and wealth of natural scenery, soft and graceful beauty ever alternating closely with grandeur and sublimity.

Windermere, the largest of the lakes (ten and one-half miles by one mile), lies in the southeast corner of the district and is connected with Rydal Water, Grasmere, Elther Water, and Esthwaite. To the west rises the Scawfell range, terminating in the Old Man of Coniston, which rises above Coniston Water, and to the east of the Scawfell range lies Wastwater (three miles long), the deepest of all the lakes. In the northeast is Ullswater, with the sequestered Hawes Water to the southeast. To the west of Helvellyn is Thirlmere, which is the reservoir for the water supply of Manchester, dammed in 1890-1894. The river Derwent, rising in the Scawfell range, flows north through Borrowdale and forms Bassenthwaite and Derwentwater, the most beautiful of the lakes. Westward from Borrowdale opens a valley in which lie Buttermere and Crummock Water, and between these and the Derwent valley is Ennerdale Water. There are several waterfalls, the chief, perhaps, being Lodore, near Derwentwater. Near Derwentwater lies Keswick, the chief town of the district, while Ambleside and Bowness (Windermere) and Hawkshead (Esthwaite) are other places of importance.

Of the lake school of poets, Wordsworth was the acknowledged head and founder, and his home for sixty years was in the Lake District. Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and De Quincey were the chief of the group, and Shelley, Scott, Carlyle, Mrs. Hemans, Matthew Arnold, Edward Fitzgerald, Tennyson, Gray, and Charles Lamb, although not directly associated with the school, were connected with the district.

=Scotch Lakes.=--Scotland abounds in lakes in all three Highland districts, and their number increases towards the north. _Loch Lomond_, twenty-four miles long, in the largest in Britain, _Loch Awe_, _Loch Tay_, _Loch Rannoch_, and _Loch Ericht_, may be mentioned as the largest of those in the Grampian valleys. _Loch Ness_, twenty-four miles long and eight hundred feet deep, with _Loch Oich_ and _Loch Lochy_, fills the deep trench of the Great Glen between the Grampians and the Northern Highlands; _Loch Shin_, twenty miles long and only one mile broad, and _Loch Maree_, are the largest of the Northern Highland region. On the western watershed of the Northern Highlands, however, lakes are so thickly sown that hundreds may be counted from a mountain top, and the Outer Hebrides are covered with a perfect network of them.

=Irish Rivers and Lakes.=--In Ireland, in contrast to Britain, the watersheds are more evenly divided toward all points of the compass; the greatest drainage, however, is westward to the Atlantic. On this side we find the largest river, the _Shannon_, one hundred and sixty miles long, draining an area second only to that of the Thames in extent, and affording a navigable highway over the central plain almost up to its source. The _Erne_ is another large river of the western drainage of Ireland. Flowing northward we find the _Foyle_, and the _Bann_ passing through Lough Neagh, and navigable for fifty-five miles. On the eastern watershed the _Liffey_, from the Wicklow Mountains, is the most important stream; the _Barrow_, navigable to Athy, seventy miles from its fine estuary of Waterford Harbor, receiving near its mouth the almost equally important _Nore_ and _Suir_, is the chief river of the southern drainage; the _Blackwater_, affording twenty-two miles of navigation, and the _Lee_, flowing to Cork (Queenstown) Harbor, are the other notable rivers of this slope.

The lakes of Ireland, in contrast to those of Britain, belong rather to the plain than to the mountain regions. _Lough Neagh_, in the basin of the Bann in the north, is the largest of all in the British Islands, one hundred and fifty-four square miles in area, twenty miles in length. The lakes of the _Erne_, upper and lower, stand next in size; _Loughs Corrib_ and _Mask_ in Connaught, joined by a subterranean channel, are the largest in the west. The Shannon has three large expansions, _Loughs Allen_, _Ree_, and _Derg_. Most famous for their scenery, however, are the much smaller highland _Lakes of Killarney_, embosomed in the southwestern mountains of Kerry, and considered the finest in Great Britain.

=Climate.=--Their maritime situation has a favorable effect on the climate of the British Isles, making it milder and more equable than that of continental countries in the same latitude.

=Peoples of the British Isles.=--During the four centuries in which the Romans held the lowlands of South Britain, many of the native British tribes became Romanized, but the Celtic peoples of the mountain regions of Wales, the Scottish Highlands, and of the west of Ireland, have retained their language and more or less pure blood to the present day. After the fall of the Roman power the invading Anglo-Saxons and Jutes conquered the island, and to their strong Germanic element followed that of the brilliant Normans, or Northmen who had settled in Normandy, and who had there adopted the religion, language, and manners of the French.

Thus the population of these islands is a mixed Celtic, Germanic, and Romanic one, all its elements being more thoroughly amalgamated in the populous lowlands of Britain, the Celtic remaining purer in the highland regions, which are more difficult of access. In Ireland the Teutonic element prevails along the eastern margin; thence towards the western mountains the transition is gradual to the pure Celtic.

=Religion.=--In religion, rather more than half the population of England claims membership in the Church of England; the most prominent other bodies being the Wesleyan Methodists, the Independents, and Baptists. About a twentieth part of the population is Roman Catholic.

=Cities.=--The three largest cities in Wales are Cardiff, Rhondda, and Merthyr Tydfil. The capital of England and of the British Empire is London. The cities next in size (in order of population) are Liverpool, Manchester and Salford, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Bradford, Nottingham, and Hull.

The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh. Glasgow is the industrial metropolis, followed by Dundee, and Aberdeen. After these come, in order of population, Paisley, Leith, Greenock, Coatbridge, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Perth, Hamilton, Motherwell, and Falkirk.

The capital of Ireland is Dublin; the other chief towns are Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and Londonderry.

There are numerous other cities, towns, villages and districts notable for industrial, educational, historical, literary, or other associations.

=LONDON=, the capital of the British Empire and the second largest city in the world, is situated in the southeast of England on both sides of the River Thames, which winds through it from west to east. The river is crossed by numerous bridges and is deep enough to allow large vessels to come up to London Bridge, the lowest of these (except the movable Tower Bridge), where it is two hundred and sixty-six yards wide. London may be said to stretch from east to west about fourteen miles, from north to south about ten.

The area embraced by the Metropolitan and City police districts, including all parishes within fifteen miles of Charing Cross, is spoken of as Greater London. The population of London roughly equals that of Scotland, Holland, Portugal or Sweden. Under the Act of 1899 London includes the municipal boroughs of Battersea, Bermondsey, Bethnal Green, Camberwell, Chelsea, Deptford, Finsbury, Fulham, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Holborn, Islington, Kensington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Paddington, Poplar, St. Marylebone, St. Pancras, Shoreditch, Stoke Newington, Wandsworth, Westminster and Woolwich.

GENERAL FEATURES.--The greater portion of London lies on the north side of the Thames, in the counties of Middlesex and Essex, mainly the former, on a site gradually rising from the river, and marked by several inequalities of no great height, except in the northern suburbs, where the elevation of four hundred and thirty feet is reached; on the opposite bank, in the county of Surrey and partly in Kent, the more densely built parts cover an extensive and nearly uniform flat, in some places below the level of the highest tides, while the outskirts are mostly elevated.

The nucleus of London was formed by what is still distinctively the City of London, situated in the heart of the metropolis on the north bank of the Thames. The City is a separate municipality, having a civic corporation of its own, at its head being the Lord-mayor of London. The City occupies only six hundred and seventy-one acres, and has a resident population of only twenty-seven thousand.

Westminster, another portion of old London, associated with the sovereigns, the parliaments, and the supreme courts of justice of England for over eight hundred years, borders with the City on the west; while across the river from the city lies the ancient quarter of Southwark, or “The Borough.” Besides these, London consists of a great number of well-defined quarters or districts, as well as many minor districts, the names of which are familiar to the outside world, such as Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Pimlico, Bloomsbury, Bermondsey, Belgravia, etc. Another loose division of London is into the West End or fashionable quarter, the residence of the wealthy, and the East End, the great seat of trade and manufactures.

The financial and business houses of the city are principally located to the east of St. Paul’s; the galleries, theaters, and places of amusement between St. Paul’s and St. James’s Park; the parks and residences of the nobility upon the western margin of the city. The railway stations are, with few exceptions, in the suburbs.

London, on the whole, may be called a well-built city, brick being the material generally employed, though many public and other edifices are built of stone. In some streets the brick fronts are made to imitate stone by being coated with cement. The streets are generally well kept and well paved and lighted, but, except in some of the more recent quarters, the general appearance of London is not attractive, much of the effect of the fine buildings being lost by overcrowding and the want of fitting sites.

What generally most strikes a stranger in London is its immense size, which can only be grasped by actually traveling about, or by obtaining a view from some elevation, as Primrose Hill in the northwest, or the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral near the center, the most conspicuous building in the metropolis. Other striking and also attractive features of London are the parks, especially Hyde Park and Regent’s Park, so valuable as breathing spaces; and the handsome and massive stone embankments along the Thames, forming wide roadways and promenades bordered by trees for long distances.

As the capital of the British Empire, London is from time to time the residence of the sovereign and court. It contains the buildings for the accommodation of parliament and all the great government departments. It is the chief intellectual center of Britain, and is equally great as a center of commerce, banking and finance generally.