separating that country from France, Switzerland, and Germany. The entire system, which forms the most important feature in the Physical Geography of Europe, consists of a number of separate masses and groups which send off divergent chains in all directions, and constitutes the regular separation of the maritime basins of Europe.

The main divisions of the Alps are differently given by different geographers. The divisions which date from the time of the Romans are given here because they are still the most convenient and the most clear.

PRODUCTIONS. The most important of these are classed under the heads Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral productions.

i. ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS.-These may be classified as follows:

1. Quadrupeds,' which are

a. Domesticated, as the horse, cow, sheep, pig, goat, cat, and dog.

Obs. The reindeer is domesticated in Sweden, Norway, and Russia; the buffalo in the lower valley of the Danube, in S. Russia and in Italy. The mule thrives most in the southern peninsulas of Europe.

b. Wild, as the stag, deer, fox, hare, rabbit, squirrel, weasel, rat, and mouse. Obs. The polar bear still roams the shores of the Arctic Ocean; the brown bear, the forest of the Pyrenees. The wild boar and the wolf have still haunts to which they can resort all over Europe. The bearer has been driven into solitary nooks of the great rivers; the chamois and the ibex into the wilds of the high Alps and Pyrenees. The monkey finds his only home on the rock of Gibraltar, the camel in S. Russia, while the rare lynx is almost confined to Spain and Central France.

a. Domesticated, as the common fowl, pigeon, duck, goose, and swan.

Obs. The turkey, peacock, guinea fowl, &c., are but naturalised foreigners.

b. Wild.-The hawk, owl, grouse, black game, pheasant, partridge, woodpigeon, plover, crow, starling, sparrow, nightingale, blackbird, thrush, linnet, goldfinch, and robin-red-breast.

Obs. The royal eagle is yet found in the secluded mountain regions of Europe. The vulture is not uncommon, and falcons are still trained for sporting purposes. The eider-duck and other wild-foul, in countless numbers, occupy the shores of Norway and the northern islands. The pheasant is a foreign importation.

3. Insects, as bees3 and wasps, locusts, beetles, and moths, spiders, and ants. Obs. The silk-worm is extensively cultivated in Italy, S. France, and Spain.

4. Reptiles, as the serpent, lizard, and frog.

Obs. The only venomous serpents are of the viper kind, and they are not numerous. A few species of tortoise are found on the islands of the Mediterranean, in Germany, and in Shetland.

5. Fish, as the shark, cod, herring, mackerel, pilchard, turbot, sole, and salmon. Obs. The tunny and the anchovy are plentiful in the Mediterranean; the sturgeon in the Danube, Volga, and other large rivers.

ii. VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.-Which may here be roughly divided into Food Plants and Other Useful Plants.

1. Food Plants embrace

a. Cereals, e.g. wheat, barley, oats, rye, and maize.

Obs. Wheat is grown in all European countries S. of the 58th parallel; barley, oats, and ry, chiefly in the central regions, and further N. than wheat; while maize is cultivated chiefly in Germany and S. Europe.

b. Vegetables (popularly so called), e.g. potatoes, cabbage, beans, peas, turnips, carrots, onions, beets, parsnips, cucumbers, &c.

c. Fruits, e.g. grapes, figs, oranges, melons, apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries.

Obs. Connected with food plants, but not strictly belonging to any of these divisions are hops, used for flavouring beer, tobacco, a narcotic plant, and sugarcane, grown in Spain, Italy, and Sicily.

1 From Quadrupeds we get not only our mutton, beef, game, venison, butter, cheese, and milk, but also wool, hides, tallow, skins, furs, hair, bristles, horn, and bone.

2 Birds yield us food, feathers, down, and quills. 3 Bees give us honey and wax. 4 Fish furnish oil, whalebone, isinglass, and caviare.

2. Other Useful Plants include

a. Forest trees, whence timber is derived, e.g. pine, fir, oak, elm, ash, beech, chestnut, and walnut.

b. Textile plants, e.g. flax, and hemp.

Obs. Dye plants, medicinal plants, &c., will be noticed under the coun ies of which they are important productions.

iii. MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.-The principal mineral productions of Europe are coal, iron, lead, copper, tin, and salt.

Obs. Europe also produces diamonds and other precious stones; gold, silver, platinum, mercury; alum, sulphur, petroleum, marble, and slate. But as these are of local rather than general distribution, they are mentioned under the countries which yield them.

PEOPLE, LANGUAGES, and RELIGION.-The estimated population of Europe is over 296 millions, nearly all of whom belong to the Caucasian variety of the human race.

Obs. 1. The European Caucasians belong to the Aryan, or Indo-Germanic branch, of which there are four principal divisions, viz.

a. The Teutonic which includes the Germans, Danes, Scandinavians, English, Scotch, and Dutch.

b. The Celtic which embraces the Irish, Welsh, Bretons, and Gaels.

c. The Romanic or Latin, including the Wallachs, Italians, Spanish, Portu guese, and French.

d. The Slavonic which includes Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Servians, Bohemians, and Hungarians.

Obs. 2. The non-Caucasian part of the European population belongs to the Turanian Family and includes the Turks, Tartars, Finns of S.E. Europe; the Lapps of Lapland; the Magyars of Hungary; and the Basques of the Pyrenees. The Languages spoken by the Caucasian variety in Europe are branches of the Aryan families. The Mongolians speak languages which belong to the northern division of the Turanian family.

With respect to Religion, the inhabitants of Europe, save the Mongolians in Turkey and some two millions of Jews, are Christians. POLITICAL DIVISIONS.-Europe is occupied by 18 distinct sovereign Powers. The States which they form together with their Capitals are as follows:

Obs. 1. While in area Russia is much larger than all the rest of Europe put together, her population is less than that of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The smallest state is Montenegro with an area about two-thirds that of Yorkshire, and a population not much larger than that of the town of Leeds!

Obs. 2. These States are also divided, according to their moral and political influence, into three classes, viz.-Class I., or the "five great powers," Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria. Class II., Italy, Belgium, Holland, Norway and Sweden, Turkey, and Spain. Class III., Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, and Greece.

Obs. 3. Montenegro, Roumania, and Servia, acquired their independence under the "Treaty of Berlin" (1878).

THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

FOR Convenience of description, the British empire may be considered to consist of four distinct parts, viz., 1. England; 2. Scotland; 3. Ireland; 4. Foreign and Colonial Possessions Obs. England and Scotland together constitute the island Great Britain.1

I. ENGLAND."

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

Latitude. Between 50° and 56° N.

Longitude. Between 1° 45' E. and 5° 44′ W. Area. 58,311 sq. m.

Obs. England, including the Principality of Wales,3 occupies the S. part of Great Britain. It is the richest, most thickly peopled, and most important portion of the Empire. Its greatest length, from Lizard Point, in the S. W., to Berwick, in the N.E., is 425 m.; its greatest breadth from Land's End, in the S. W., to the South Foreland, in the E., is 320 m.

POSITION AND BOUNDARIES.-England lies off the W. coast of Europe. It is bounded on the

N. by Scotland.

E. by the North Sea, and the Strait of Dover.

S. by the English Channel.

W. by St. George's Channel and the Irish Sea.

Obs. 1. England is only 21 m. from the nearest part of Europe.
Obs. 2. The North Sea is often called the German Ocean. It is a part of the
Atlantic Ocean and lies between Europe and Great Britain, extending from the
Shetland Isles on the N. to the Strait of Dover on the S.

Obs. 3. The Irish Sea is also a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies between
England and Ireland.

Obs. 4. St. George's Channel is another portion of the Atlantic Ocean: it lies between Wales and Ireland.

COASTS. The coasts of England are, for the most part, bold and

1 Great Britain is the largest island in Europe. | It is 600 m. long from N. to S.

The name England is another form of the word Engla-land="the land of the Angles." The Angles were a Teutonic tribe, who came from the Duchy of Bleswick and settled in England

between the years A.D. 530 and 547.

3 Wales is a corruption of Wealhas, the plura of Weath, a Welshman or foreigner. The AngloSaxons called their Celtic neighbours the Welsh, and their country Wales. Cf. Wallachia

rocky; and they are much penetrated by the sea. Their total length is 2,000 m., or about 1 m. of coast to every 29 sq. m. of area. Their chief features are the

1. Capes, Filey Point, Flamborough Head,1 Spurn Head, Gibraltar Point, Lowestoft Ness, the Naze, and the North and South Forelands, on the E. Dungeness, Beachy Head, Selsey Bill, Durlston Head, St. Alban's Head, Portland Bill, Start Point, and the Lizard," on the S.

Land's End, Hartland Point, Worm's Head, St. Goven's Head, St. David's Head, Braich-y-pwll, Great Orme's Head, Point of Ayr, and St. Bee's Head, on the W.

2. Inlets, Tees Bay, Druridge Bay, Filey Bay, the Humber," Wash, and Estuary of the Thames, on the E.

Pevensey Bay, Portsmouth Harbour, Southampton Water, Poole Harbour, Weymouth Bay, Plymouth Sound, Falmouth Bay, and Mount's Bay, on the S. Barnstable Bay, the Bristol Channel, Swansea Bay, Carmarthen Bay, Milford Haven, St. Bride's Bay, Cardigan Bay, the Estuaries of the Dee, Mersey, and Ribble, Morecambe Bay, and Solway Firth, on the W.

3. Straits, Roads, and Channels, as the Yarmouth Roads, the Downs, and the Strait of Dover, off the E. coast. Spithead, and the Solent, off the S. coast. The Menai Strait, between N.W. Wales and Anglesey, off the W. coast.

Obs. 1. The Yarmouth Roads, lie between the coast of Norfolk and an outer line of sandbanks, and form the only secure place of anchorage between the Humber

and the Thames.

Obs. 2. The Downs, so called from the dunes, or sandheaps, lie between the coast of Kent and the Goodwin 10 Sands. They are 8 m. long and 6 m. wide, and, containing about 20 sq. m. of excellent anchorage, form one of the largest natural harbours of refuge in the world.

Obs. 3. The Strait of Dover separates S.E. England from N.W. France, and joins the North Sea to the English Channel. It extends from the South Foreland and Calais, in a S.W. direction, to Dungeness and Cape Gris Nez, a distance of 22 m. Its narrowest part, 21 m. across, is between Dover and Calais.

Obs. 4. Spithead is a notable roadstead between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and a well-known rendezvous of the British navy.

Obs. 5. The Solent lies between Hampshire and the N.W. shore of the Isle of Wight. It is about 18 m. long, and has an average breadth of about 3 m.

Obs. 6. The Menai Strait extends N. E. and S. W., from Beaumaris to Carnarvon. It is 14 m. long, and varies in breadth from about 200 yards to 2 m., and is crossed by a suspension and by a tubular bridge, which are within 4 m. of one another. The railway from Chester to Holyhead passes through the tubular bridge. ISLANDS.-The chief 11 islands adjacent to the English coasts are— Holy Island or Lindisfarn, Sheppey, and Thanet, off the E. coast. The Isle of Wight, and the Scilly Isles, off the S. coast. Anglesea, Walney Island, and the Isle of Man, off the W. coast.

Flamborough Head "Flame-borough Head"; and was perhaps so called from the flames or beacon-fires which the Danes were wont to kindle there. The word might, however, come also from fleam "a fugitive," and the place thus mean "a camp of refuge."

2 Ness is a Teutonic word=nose or headland. 3 Dungeness" Dingy ness-Grey ness or Cape." This headland consists of a long spit of shingle, formed by the disintegration of the cliffs above Beachy Head, and has for the last 200 years been advancing seaward at the rate of 20 feet a year.

Beachy Head, supposed to be a corruption of the French phrase Beau Chef, is the loftiest head1 und (564 ft.) in the S. of England.

5 Selsey="Seals' Island." The term bill is applied to the cape from its likeness to a "beak" or "bill." 6 Start"a tail."

7 Lizard "the high fort:" the Celtic word ard meaning "high," "great."

8 Great Orme's Head takes its name from the great orm, or worm, or sea-serpent of the Norse legends.

Humber is, perhaps, a corruption of the Cymric root aber a confluence of two rivers, or of a river and the sea.

10 The Goodwin Sands are a range of shoals, in the Strait of Dover, which run almost parallel with the coast. They extend about 9 m. between the N. and the S. Forelands, and are entirely covered at high water.

11 The smaller and less important islands are the Fern Islands and Coquet Island, of the Northumbrian shore, and Canvey, off the S. Essex shore; Lundy, at the entran e of the Fristol Channel; Bardsey, off the coast of Carnarvon; and Holy Island, off the W. coast of Anglesea.