THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 



435 



political entity, as we have said ; and northern France would be 

 far more thoroughly Teutonized than it is to-day. In order to 

 make this clear, we must recall the topography of the district for 

 a moment. From the Alps in western Switzerland a spur of 

 mountainous country of very indifferent fertility, known as the 

 Ardennes plateau, extends far out to the northwest, its axis lying 

 along the Franco-German frontier, as our map of the geography 

 of France shows. This area is triangular in shape, with its apex 



touching Switzerland, the Rhine forming its eastern edge, and 

 its base lying east and west across Belgium a little north of 

 Brussels. This base is the geographical boundary between Flan- 

 ders and the rugged uplands. Near the southern point, this Ar- 

 dennes plateau rises into the Vosges Mountains. The major part 

 of it consists of an elevated table-land, of little use in agricul- 

 ture. Its uplands are heavily forested ; its valleys are deep and 

 very narrow. This plateau is divided from the main body of the 

 Alps by a low pass about twenty- five miles wide, known as the 

 Gap of Belfort. This has always formed the main pathway of 

 communication between the valleys of the Seine, the Rhone, and 



