in fabulous history, a daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia and Telephassa. She was so beautiful that Jupiter became enamoured of her; and, in order to seduce her, he assumed the shape of a bull, and mingled with the herds of Agenor, whilst Europa, with her female attendants, were gathering flowers in the meadows. Europa caressed the beautiful animal, and at last had the courage to sit upon his back. The god took advantage of her situation, and with precipitate steps retired towards the shore, crossed the sea with Europa on his back, and arrived safe in the island of Crete. Here he assumed his original shape, and declared his love. The nymph consented, though she had once made vows of perpetual celibacy, and became mother of Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. After this amour with the king of the gods, Europa married Asterius, king of Crete. This monarch, seeing himself without children by Europa, adopted the fruit of her loves with Jupiter, and always esteemed Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus, as his own children. Some suppose that Europa lived about 1552 years before the Christian era.

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**EUROPE,** One of the great divisions of the globe. On a first view Europe appears to be less favoured by nature than the other quarters of the globe over which it has obtained so great an ascendancy. It is much smaller in extent; its rocky and mountainous surface does not admit of those noble rivers, like inland seas, which lay open the remotest regions of Asia and of America to the commerce of the world. Its vegetable productions are neither so various nor so exuberant; and it is poorly supplied with the precious metals, and with many of those commodities on which mankind set the greatest value. On the other hand, the climate of Europe, if it nourishes a less luxuriant vegetation, is of an equal and temperate kind, well adapted to preserve the human frame in that state of health and vigour which fits it for labour, and promotes the development of the intellectual and moral powers. The mountains that intersect its surface are barriers which enabled infant communities to protect themselves from violence, and to lay the foundation of arts, knowledge, and civilization. If it has few large navigable rivers, its inland seas and bays are, from their position and extent, the finest in the world, and have been the means of creating and nourishing that commercial spirit which has been one great source of its improvement. Though comparatively deficient in gold and silver, it is abundantly supplied with those useful metals and minerals which minister still more essentially to the wants of civilized life. Its apparent defects have become the source of real benefits, and the foundation of its grandeur. The disadvantages of its soil and climate have excited the industry of its inhabitants, given them clearer ideas of property, kindled a resolute spirit to defend their rights, and called into existence that skill and enterprise, and those innumerable arts and inventions, which have enabled the inhabitants of this apparently barren and rocky promontory to command the riches and luxuries of all the most favoured regions of the globe. It is only in Europe that knowledge and the arts seem to be indigenous. Though they have appeared at times among some of the nations of Asia, they have either stopt short after advancing a few steps, or they have speedily retrograded and perished, like something foreign to the genius of the people. In Europe, on the contrary, they have sprung up at distant periods, and in a variety of situations; they have risen spontaneously and rapidly, and declined slowly; and when they disappeared, it was evident they were but crushed for the time by external violence, to rise again when the pressure had subsided. It is only in Europe, and among colonies of Europeans, that the powers of the human mind, breaking through the slavish attachment to ancient usages and institutions, have developed that principle of progressive improvement, of which it is impossible to calculate the final results. The rudest tribe in Europe, in which this principle has taken root, has a certain source of superiority over the most improved nations of Asia and Africa, where society remains perfectly stationary. If these nations are ever destined to advance in civilization, they must borrow from Europe those arts which she has invented, and which belong to civilized life in every climate. But the tenacious adherence of rude nations to the customs and superstitions of their ancestors, will not allow us to hope that the benefits of civilization will be rapidly diffused in this way. It is more probable that colonies from the older states of Europe will multiply, as the population becomes more and more redundant; and that these colonies will carry the arts and knowledge, the language and manners of Europe with them, to the other quarters of the world. From prejudices on both sides, it is found that two races, in very different stages of civilization, do not readily amalgamate; and it is therefore probable, that the feebler inhabitants of these countries, like the American Indians, will be gradually displaced by the continual encroachments of the more energetic race of Europe. Such a change, however, must take place slowly, and there is nothing in it to alarm humanity. The vast number of tribes that people Asia and Africa seem born only to be the victims of savage superstition and ferocious tyranny. No treatment they are likely to experience from European colonies can render their condition worse; and were the whole swarm of these nations to die out in the course of nature without being renewed, no great deduction would be made from the sum of human enjoyment. Should the state of things we have been contemplating, and which seems to arise naturally out of the circumstances of Europe and the other quarters of the globe, be realized, it will be curious to reflect on the circle of changes which will then be completed. The ancient inhabitants of Europe, as well as the modern, were originally colonies sent off from the surplus population of Asia. Here they have thrown off their barbarism, invented and improved arts and sciences, and carried their social institutions to a high degree of perfection; and now, in the maturity of their strength, they are throwing back their surplus numbers upon Asia, to conquer and supplant the remains of those tribes from which they originally sprung.

Europe is bounded on the north and west by the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans; on the south by the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and Mount Caucasus; on the east by the Caspian Sea, the river Ural, and the Uralian Mountains. These are the limits proposed by Malte Brun, and adopted by Balbi and other recent geographers, as corresponding better with the natural divisions of the earth's surface than the old boundary, which on the east side passed from the Sea of Asoph to the Uralian Mountains, by the courses of the Don, the Wolga, and the Kama. The greatest length of the continent of Europe is from Cape St Vincent to the Sea of Kara, in the direction of northeast and southwest; and is 3490 English miles. Its greatest extent from north to south is from Cape Matapan to Cape North, 2420 miles. The superficies of Europe, including the Azores, Iceland, Nova Zembla, and all the other islands belonging to it, is 3,700,000 English, or 2,800,000 geographical square miles.

The climate of Europe is distinguished by two peculiarities. It enjoys a higher mean temperature than any of the other great divisions of the world in the corresponding latitudes; and it is not subject to such violent extremes of heat and cold. These advantages it owes chiefly to its numerous seas, inland bays, and lakes, which render its temperature similar to that of islands; and partly also, according to Humboldt, to its situation at the western extremity of the greatest range of dry land on the surface of the globe; the western sides of all continents being warmer than the eastern. Europe lies almost entirely within the temperate zone, not more than one fourteenth part of its surface being within the arctic circle. Only a very small part of it is uninhabitable from cold, and it nowhere suffers much from excessive heat. The mean temperature at its southern extremity, in the latitude of 36°, is about 66° of Fahrenheit; and at Cape North, in the latitude of 71°, where the mean temperature is 32°, the cold is not greater than in the latitudes of 55° or 56° on the east coasts of Asia and America. Hence Europe is habitable at a higher latitude by 12° or 14° than either of these continents. The following table, taken from Humboldt's Memoir on the Distribution of Heat (abridged in Dr Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, xi. 188), shows the difference in temperature between Europe and the eastern shores of Asia and America at the parallel of 40°; the difference is much greater at the parallel of 60°.

| Lat. | Mean Temperature | |------|------------------| | Rome | 41°35 | 60°4 | 45°9 | 75°2 | | Pekin | 39°54 | 55°2 | 26°8 | 82°6 | | New York | 40°40 | 53°8 | 29°8 | 79°2 |

There is a difference of the same kind between the temperature of the sea-coasts of Europe and the interior. In islands, and on the sea-coast, the mean temperature of the year is higher, and the heat is more equally distributed through the different seasons. As we advance from the coast eastward the mean annual temperature diminishes, but the heat of summer and the cold of winter increase. Thus London has the same mean annual temperature as Vienna, but it has the summer of Petersburg, and the winter is warmer than at Milan. The Mediterranean, the Baltic, and inland lakes, produce the same effect as the ocean, in an inferior degree. The two following tables are taken from Humboldt (Annals of Phil. xi. 188): the first shows the temperature of the year, and the various seasons in places having the same latitude; the second shows the different distribution of heat through the various seasons in places having the same mean annual temperature.

| Places | Mean Temperature | |--------|------------------| | I. Lat. 56. | | | Edinburgh | 47°8 | 38°6 | 46°1 | 58°2 | 48°4 | 39°4 | 38°3 | | Copenhagen | 45°6 | 30°8 | 41°2 | 52°6 | 48°4 | 65°0 | 27°2 | | Moscow | 40°2 | 10°8 | 44°0 | 67°1 | 38°3 | 70°6 | 6°0 | | II. Lat. 48. | | | St Malo | 54°4 | 44°2 | 52°2 | 66°0 | 55°8 | 67°0 | 41°8 | | Vienna | 50°6 | 32°8 | 51°2 | 69°2 | 50°6 | 70°6 | 26°6 |

The mountains of Europe are more numerous in proportion to its extent than those of the other great continents, but they are of less elevation than the mountains of America and Asia. The highest and the most extensive chains in Europe run generally in the direction of east and west, and are placed near its southern shores. The central mass of the Alps, with which all the other

* Copenhagen is about 620 miles east from Edinburgh; Moscow about 1000 miles farther. Europe. mountains in the south of Europe are connected, forms the summit of the continent, and determines the position of the surface and the course of most of the rivers. From this central point the surface of the land descends to the sea by a series of valleys, skirted by subordinate chains. The three countries to the southward of the Alps and their branches, Greece, Italy, and Spain, consist of mountainous peninsulas projecting into the Mediterranean. The countries to the west, north, and east of the Alps, which present more extensive plains and gentle declivities, are the seats of the three principal monarchies in the south of Europe. Austria, seated on the eastern declivity, rules over the countries watered by the Danube; France occupies the western declivity, and the countries watered by the principal streams that flow to the west; and Prussia the countries watered by the streams that flow to the north. If we descend from the Alps to the sea in a western direction, the first valley we meet with is the level part of Switzerland, between the Alps and Mount Jura, elevated from 1600 to 1800 feet above the sea: the second, between Jura and the Cevennes, some hundred feet lower; and the third, and lowest, extends from the Cevennes to the Atlantic. In a north and north-east direction, the first valley is Bavaria, the second Bohemia, both of which are completely inclosed by mountains; the third, consisting of Silesia, Brandenburg, and Poland, terminates in the Baltic. In an eastern direction the first valley is Austria, the second Hungary, both encircled with mountains; the third, Bulgaria, extends to the Black Sea. South from the Alps we have first the valley of Lombardy, and then the narrow coast of Genoa. The vast plain occupied by Russia and the eastern part of the Swedish peninsula may be considered as a prolongation of the valley of Prussia and Poland, extending to the Dofrines on the west, the Uralians on the east, and Mount Caucasus on the south. Thus, in a general point of view, the elevation and declivity of the large plains of southern Europe bear a certain relation to the position and distance of the central mass of the Alps.

The principal mass of the Alps extends in a semicircle from Nice, on the shores of the Mediterranean, to Trieste, on the Adriatic, a distance of 550 miles. Southward of Mont Blanc, the Alps consist of a single chain, with many lateral branches, which lie chiefly on the west side; but immediately to the eastward of Mont Blanc, the principal chain divides into two, which inclose the sources of the Rhone. These meet, again, at St Gothard, and, on the east side of it, part into three chains, one of which loses itself in Bavaria, another in Austria near Vienna, and the third terminates near Trieste. A lateral chain, of no great elevation, passes eastward, and connects the Alps with the mountains of European Turkey. Smaller branches connect the Alps with the Bohemian and Carpathian Mountains on the north, with the Vosges and Cévennes on the west, and, through the latter, with the Pyrenees. The Appennines are but a prolongation of the Alps on the south. Mont Blanc, the loftiest of the Alps, and the highest mountain in Europe, has an elevation of 15,680 English feet; and Mount Rosa, the Jungfrau, the Schreckhorn, and several other summits, approach to this height. The elevation of the chain diminishes towards both extremities. In general, the escarpments, or steepest sides, are turned towards Italy, and the lateral and subordinate branches are most numerous, and extend farthest, on the opposite side. The central chain of the Alps consists chiefly of granite, gneiss, schiste, and other primitive rocks. Among the lateral ridges, to the westward of St Gothard, calcareous rocks, with clay-slate and mica-slate, abound on the side of France; on the side of Italy the ridges are narrower, magnesian rocks abound, and the clay-slate is wanting. On both sides are found great deposits of gravel, and large detached blocks or boulders, often at a vast distance from their original situations. Eastward from St Gothard, the central chain is accompanied on each side by a calcareous chain of great elevation. Though the summits of the Alps are steep and rocky, and the higher valleys are filled with glaciers, there is much good soil below. The vine grows to the height of 1600 feet above the sea, the oak to the height of 3390, corn to 4200 feet, and the larch to 6720 feet. At 6400 feet above the sea, we have the climate of Lapland in latitude 68°, so that a degree of latitude in the northern half of the temperate zone in Europe corresponds to an elevation of about 290 feet. The inferior limit of perpetual snow, according to Humboldt, is at the height of 8760 feet, in the latitude of 46°. (Humboldt De Distributione Geographica Plantarum, Paris, 1817, p. 122-165.)

The chain of the Pyrenees, which is next to the Alps in elevation, runs in the direction of east and west. Its length is about 240 miles; but, if we include the Cantabrian Mountains, which continue in the same line without interruption, the whole length will be about 500 miles. The central chain of the proper Pyrenees is of granite, but the most elevated summits are of secondary limestone, and lie on the south side of the granite. Mont Perdu, esteemed the loftiest of the whole range, consists of feld limestone, and rises to the height of 11,270 feet. The south side of the Pyrenees is rugged and precipitous; but on the north there is a gradual descent to the plains of France by a series of parallel ridges diminishing in height. The Cantabrian Mountains are lower than the Pyrenees, and present their steepest sides to the north. There are four other chains of mountains in Spain, all running in a direction approaching to east and west, and all connected with one another and with the Pyrenees. The most elevated of these is the Sierra Nevada, the southmost, one of whose summits rises to the height of 11,660 feet. (Loborde, i. 173.) The inferior limit of perpetual snow on the Pyrenees is at the height of 8960 feet. The red pine rises to the height of 7480 feet, which is about 700 feet higher than any species of trees on the Alps.

The Appennines form an uninterrupted chain 750 miles in length, extending from the south-west termination of the Alps near Nice to the Straits of Messina. The north-west division, which skirts the basin of Lombardy, consists chiefly of greywacke; from Tuscany to near the southern extremity, the prevailing rock is secondary limestone. Granite and other primitive rocks are found at the two extremities in Liguria and Calabria, but are wholly wanting in the intermediate space. The most considerable elevations are about the middle of the chain, where Il Granasso rises to the height of 9570 feet.

The Carpathian and Sudetic Mountains, with the Erzgebirge and Boehmerwald, may be considered as forming one continued chain, the length of which, from the point where it strikes the Danube in Hungary, to the point where it strikes the same river in Bavaria, is about 1200 miles, exclusive of the transverse branches which separate Moravia from Bohemia and Hungary. The declivities of this long range of mountains are steepest on the south side. The elevations are lowest on the west, and generally increase as we advance eastward, till we come to the sources of the Thiers in the north of Hungary, after which they again decline. The Fichtelberg, at the westmost point of the chain, is 4030 feet high; Schneekoppe, the highest of the Sudetic Mountains, is 5280 feet, and Lomnitz in Hungary, the loftiest of the whole range, is 8460 feet. None of these mountains rise to the region of perpetual snow, the inferior limit of which, according to Wahlenberg, is about sixty feet above The summit of Lomnitz. The most elevated parts of these mountains consist of primitive rocks; corn and fruit trees are said to grow at a greater height upon the Carpathians than upon the Alps, though the latter are two degrees farther south.

The chain of the Dofrines, or great Scandinavian Alps, is about 1000 miles in length, and has a general elevation of from 6000 to 6500 feet. The altitude of Skagelos Fjord, the highest mountain of the chain, is 8400 feet. These mountains consist almost entirely of primitive rocks, and present their steepest sides to the west. On Sulitelma, the highest mountain of this chain in Lapland, in latitude 67°10', the inferior limit of perpetual snow is at the height of 3500 feet.

The Uralian Mountains, which form the boundary of Europe on the north-east, are but imperfectly known. Some of their summits are covered with perpetual snow, but their height is believed not to exceed that of the Scandinavian Alps. They consist chiefly of primitive rocks. The whole length of the chain, which runs nearly north and south, is about 1400 miles.

Of the mountains of European Turkey we know as little as of the Uralian chain. From a central point, nearly equidistant from the Danube, the Adriatic, and the Aegean Sea, three chains proceed in different directions; one, the ancient Hemus, runs eastward to the Black Sea; a second, north-westward, till it joins the Carnic Alps; and a third, southward, through the peninsula of Greece. These principal chains send out many branches, but neither their height nor their geological structure is known with any degree of accuracy.

The Cevennes in the south of France extend about 300 miles in length from north to south, and their two most elevated summits, Mont d'Or and Cantal, rise to the height of 6400 and 6170 feet. Mount Jura, between France and Switzerland, has nearly the same elevation. The Vosges, a small chain in the north-east of France, rise nowhere more than 4600 feet above the sea.

The mountains of Britain extend, with some interruptions, over a space of 630 miles, along the west side of the island. They are not placed in chains, but rather in irregular groups, and consist chiefly of primitive and transition rocks. Snowdon in Caernarvonshire, the highest mountain in Wales, has an elevation of 3570 feet. Ben Nevis in Inverness-shire, which rises 4386 feet above the sea, is the highest land in the island.

There are thirteen volcanoes in Europe, all situated in the vicinity of the sea, and of which the following are the most remarkable: Mount Etna, in Sicily, is 10,940 feet in height. Its eruptions happen very irregularly; sometimes fifty or a hundred years have intervened between one eruption and another; at other times less than one year. Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, which lies about two hundred miles north from Etna, is 8820 feet high. Its eruptions are less frequent than those of Etna. Stromboli, which occupies an island in the Mediterranean, about eighty miles north from Etna, is the only volcano in Europe that throws out smoke or flames constantly. Heckla, near the south coast of Iceland, is 4980 feet high. Its eruptions are not frequent. The last was in 1783.

Europe is well watered with rivers, but they are but brooks compared with the mighty streams of Asia and America, and, from the unevenness of the surface, afford in general no great extent of inland navigation. The Danube, the largest river that is entirely in Europe, is about 1500 miles in length, and waters a superficies of 370,000 square miles. But the Amazons, though only twice the length of the Danube, waters a surface seven times as large, and equal to four fifths of the continent of Europe; and, as the quantity of rain that falls in tropical countries is much greater than in northern latitudes, it is probable, notwithstanding the increased evaporation there, that the Amazons conveys more water than all the rivers of Europe put together. If we divide the length of the Danube into a hundred parts, the length of the principal rivers of Europe, expressed in these parts, will be as follows:

| River | Length in Parts | |-------------|----------------| | Danube | 100 | | Wolga | 130 | | Dnieper | 72 | | Don | 69 | | Rhine | 49 | | Elbe | 42 | | Vistula | 41 | | Loire | 37 | | Tagus | 32 | | Oder | 31 | | Rhone | 30 | | Seine | 23 | | Po | 21 | | Tiber | 10 | | Thames | 9 |

A much smaller proportion of the waters of the European continent flows into the Mediterranean than the extent of its coasts would lead us to expect. The high mountains that range along the south of Europe, parallel to its shores, from Gibraltar to Constantinople, turn the course of the large streams in an opposite direction. Though the length of the line of coast between the points last mentioned, without computing minute sinuosities, is 4000 miles, or one fourth of the circumference of Europe, not more than one tenth of the waters of this quarter of the globe fall into the Mediterranean. The Black Sea, on the other hand, which presents only 850 miles of coast on the side of Europe, receives one fourth of its waters. It will be seen from the subjoined table that one tenth part of the waters of Europe flows into the Caspian by the Wolga; that the Black Sea and the Baltic alone receive one half, whilst only about one sixth falls into the Atlantic. If the whole of the river waters of Europe be divided into a hundred parts, their distribution will be nearly as follows:

| Length of the bounding line of Europe, and whole quantity of water | Water conveyed by Rivers in parts | |---------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | Mediterranean, from Gibraltar to Constantinople | 4000 | | Black Sea and Sea of Asoph | 950 | | The Baltic to the Naze of Norway | 3340 | | The Atlantic, from Gibraltar to Cape North | 3640 | | The Arctic Ocean, from Cape North to the Sea of Kara | 2200 | | The Caspian Sea (in Asia) | 10 |

We are not acquainted with the height of the sources of many of the European rivers above the sea. Those of the Danube, according to Malte Brun, are from 2100 to 2200 English feet, which gives a fall of one foot and a half per mile, but near the sea the inclination is less; for at Buda, 900 miles from the mouth of the river, its height, according to Wahlenberg, is 229 feet, which gives a fall of three inches per mile for the lower part of its course. It begins to be navigable at Ulm. In general the rivers of Russia, Poland, and the north of Germany, flow over a more level surface, and are more navigable, than those of the south of Europe. Professor Robison states, on the authority of the Abbé Chappe, that the sources of the Wolga are but 480 feet above the ocean (Encyc. Brit. article River); but as the Caspian Sea, in which this river terminates, is found to be 324 feet below the Black Sea, this increases the space through which the waters of the Wolga descend to 804 feet, in a course of 2000 miles. The average fall may therefore be about two inches and a half per mile.

The islands of Europe, including Nova Zembla and Iceland, occupy a space equal to 280,000 square miles, or one eleventh part of the surface of the continent; and of this space the area of the British isles amounts to rather less than one half. The Black Sea is the only large sea connected with Europe in which there are no islands worthy of notice.

The Mediterranean, the noblest inland sea in the world, forms the southern boundary of Europe, separating it from Africa, and partly also from Asia. It may be considered as the bottom of a vast basin formed by the Pyrenees, Alps, Mount Hemus, Taurus, Libanus, and Atlas. These mountains are everywhere near its shores, which are consequently narrow and much inclined. Hence there are no such extensive plains as Hungary or Poland near the coast of this sea, and hence also no very large rivers fall into it except the Nile; and altogether it receives a smaller quantity of water from rivers than the Black Sea or the Baltic, though six times larger than either. Its length is about 2350 miles, its breadth is extremely various, and its surface (exclusive of the Black Sea) is nearly equal to 1,000,000 of square English miles, or something less than a third part of the continent of Europe. It is generally of great depth, and its numerous islands, which have uniformly a rocky surface, appear to be the summits of marine mountains.

The Baltic, the greatest inland sea that is entirely in Europe, is about 1200 miles long, of very unequal breadth, and presents a surface of 175,000 square miles, exclusive of islands. It occupies the bottom of another large basin, 850 miles in breadth, and 1400 in length, extending from the Norwegian mountains on the north and west, to the Carpathians on the south, and to the high lands in which the Dnieper, Don, and Wolga rise, on the east. This basin, equal to one third of the surface of Europe, has a very different character from that of the Mediterranean. The mountains are not very elevated, and are so placed as to leave a large tract of land very little inclined between them and the Baltic, over which, especially on the south side, many considerable rivers flow with a gentle current. Hence the country round the Baltic is much more level than round the Mediterranean; lakes are numerous in the low grounds, from the want of declivity; the sea itself is comparatively shallow, and, receiving a much greater quantity of river water, it is much inferior in saltness. The commerce of the Baltic is annually interrupted by the ice, which endures four months in the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland. The whole of this inland sea has sometimes been frozen over for a short time, but this is of rare occurrence.

The Black Sea, which belongs only partly to Europe, is 690 miles long and 360 miles broad, and, including the Sea of Azoph, presents a surface of 170,000 square miles, being almost of the same magnitude as the Baltic. It derives four fifths of its water from Europe, and is curiously distinguished from the other seas of this quarter of the globe, by its being almost totally destitute of islands.

The White Sea is 450 miles in length, of a very irregular figure, and occupies a space equal to 35,000 square miles. It receives some considerable rivers, but is frozen during six months of the year.

The lakes of Europe are numerous, and are of two kinds; those which lie in cavities at the foot of high mountains, and which are generally deep, such as the lakes in the Alps, on the east side of the Norwegian mountains, and among the mountains of England and Scotland; and those which are formed in level countries from the want of a sufficient declivity to carry off the water, such as the lakes in Finland, Poland, and Brandenburg. Four fifths of the lakes of Europe are in the country round the Baltic.

The soil of Europe has neither the extremes of luxuriance nor sterility which belong to the soil of the other great continents. If it does not yield the rich fruits of tropical climates, it is not deformed by the burning sands of Africa, or the pestilent swamps of America. It does not pour forth its riches spontaneously, but, soliciting the care and the labour of man, it requites his industry with what is necessary to supply his wants; and, by exercising and sharpening his powers of mind, has given birth to those arts which place the productions of the most favoured climates at his disposal. Many of the plants which have been domesticated in Europe are natives of distant countries. The vine, the olive, and the mulberry, are said to have been brought from Syria by the Greeks; the Arabs introduced cotton; maize was received from the Indian tribes of America; the walnut and peach come from Persia; the apricot from Armenia; and the sugar-cane from China. There are not very many plants belonging to the tropical regions that absolutely refuse to grow in Europe, but an enlightened economy finds other productions more profitable. Besides sugar and cotton, the banana, the orange, citron, fig, pomegranate, and date, grow in the south of Europe. But the more delicate fruits are confined to southern latitudes, and disappear one by one as we advance northward. And it is worthy of remark, that the zones in which they grow generally follow the lines of equal summer heat, and run obliquely across the continent in the direction of south-west and north-east. If a line be drawn on the map from Brest to Königsberg, skirting the southern shores of the English Channel and the Baltic, the zones that limit the growth of different plants will run nearly parallel with this line. (Young's Travels in France, i. 306.) This holds generally in the south and middle of Europe; but in the extreme northern parts, and especially with regard to plants that require a moderate heat continued for a considerable time, the lines that limit the growth of certain vegetables seem to follow a different course, and decline towards the south as we advance eastward, in consequence of the increasing severity and length of the winter. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the zones, traced as proper for different plants, only mark the limits within which their cultivation is found advantageous. Most of them will grow beyond these limits; but they either require some peculiar advantages of soil or situation, or they are less profitable than other kinds of produce.

The sugar cane, one of the most desirable tropical plants, grows in Sicily and the south of Spain, in the latitude of 37° and 38°. The culture of it, which was once extensive in the latter country, has not yet been entirely abandoned, even since sugar was procured from the West Indies. Cotton is cultivated in the south of Spain on a small scale, to a greater extent in Sicily, the south-east angle of Italy, and in Greece and its isles, as high as the latitude of 41°; we find it again at Astracan, in the latitude of 46°. The

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1 Laborde's View of Spain, ii. 122-125; Storch, Tableau de la Russie, ii. 250; Humboldt, De Distrib. Geog. Plant. orange and lemon come to perfection in the west of Europe, only in the countries to the south of the Pyrenees and Apennines, within the latitude of 43° in Spain, and 44° in Italy. The olive does not succeed on the west coast of France in the latitude of 43°, but grows as far north as 44° or 45° on the east of France, and in Italy. Attempts to raise it at Astracan, in latitude 46°, have not succeeded, on account of the rigour of the winter. The fig and the pomegranate, which accompany the olive in the west of Europe, are found in the Taurida in the east, at the latitude of 46°, where the olive will not grow, a proof that these trees bear the winter cold better. (Young's Trav. i. 311; Storch, ii. 309.) The climate proper for maize is found to terminate on the west coast of France at 45°; on the Rhine at 49°; on the Elbe at 50° or 51°. Rice has nearly the same geographical range, but requires a peculiar soil and situation. The culture of the vine extends as far north as the latitude of 47° on the Atlantic coast; on the Rhine to 50°; and on the Oder to 52°. In Russia it grows as far north nearly as 52°, but is not cultivated beyond 50°. (Young, i. 306; Storch, ii. 310, 323.) The mulberry generally accompanies the vine. The limits of the culture of the common cerealia are not so well defined, as the necessities of man oblige him to raise corn under the most unfavourable circumstances. In a general point of view, however, the parallel of 57° or 58° may be regarded as the northern limit of the cultivation of wheat in Europe. It is raised as far north as 60° or 61° in Finland, but only in some favoured spots. In Russia, generally, it is chiefly confined to the provinces under the latitude of 57°. (Thomson's Trav. in Sweden, 409; Storch, ii. 229, 240.) The hardier cerealia, rye, oats, and barley, are cultivated in some sheltered situations on the coast of Norway, as high as the latitude of 65° 55'. But on the east side of the Norwegian mountains these grains scarcely ripen in the latitude of 67° or 68°; and farther east, in Russia, it has been found impossible to carry cultivation of any kind beyond the latitude of 60° or 62°. Barley, which accommodates itself better than any other grain to these high latitudes, by shortening the period of its growth, is sown and reaped within the space of seven or eight weeks. But the introduction of potatoes promises to be of vast advantage in these cold regions, as this plant thrives and yields a produce of thirty or fifty fold in places where grain often will not ripen. Peaches and apricots succeed with much care as far north only as the latitude of 50° in Russia; melons as far as 52°. The plum and the cherry grow wild as far north as 55°, but are carried farther by cultivation. (Storch, ii. 302, 304, 308.) Fruit trees and the oak terminate in Sweden, at Gefle, in the latitude of 61°; but the pine and the birch advance within the arctic circle; and the former grows to the height of sixty feet in the latitude of 70°. The black-berry and the whortle-berry grow in Lapland, and the gooseberry even in Greenland. Tobacco is extensively cultivated over the greater part of the continent of Europe, from Sicily to Sweden. Flax and hemp have as extensive a range as corn, but they are raised in the greatest perfection between the latitudes of 45° and 60°.

We have stated that the superficial extent of Europe is about 3,700,000 square miles. If we draw an incurvated line from a point in the Uralian Mountains, about the latitude of 60° or 61°, to the west coast of Norway, in the latitude of 69°, passing through the Lake Onega, and a little to the northward of the Gulf of Bothnia, this line will mark the extreme limits of cultivation, and will cut off a space equal to 550,000 square miles, or nearly one seventh of Europe. The space cut off, however, is not entirely useless, as a part of it produces pasturage and wood. The cultivation of rye, oats, and barley, is confined to the region south of this line, and includes more than five sixths of Europe; but in the northern parts of this zone only a very small proportion of the land will bear corn. The region adapted to the cultivation of wheat comprehends about four sevenths of Europe, and includes all the densely peopled parts. The region of the vine extends over three sevenths of Europe.