Western Asia and Europe. 361 



is the possibility of actions and re-actions upon each other, more 

 intimate, more permanent; it is the possibiUty of a common life. 



These nations are too isolated by nature, — too opposite in race 

 and character, to be able to blend in one common civilization. The 

 Hindoos are separated from China by the snowy terraces of the 

 Himalaya and of the Yun-Nan ; from Western Asia by the high 

 table-lands of Caboul. These forms of relief are too huge — the con- 

 trasts resulting from them are too violent ; they are unconquerable 

 by man. Meantime, each of these rich districts may suffice, of it- 

 self alone, for a beautiful career of improvement ; their excellences, 

 as well as their defects, run into excess ; nothing tempers or corrects 

 them ; their character is more individual. Such is the strength of 

 these civilizations, that clouds of conquerors are successively absorbed, 

 without modifying them, almost without leaving a trace behind. 



But individuality is here carried to egoism. Of this very isolation 

 which causes their inferiority, and which kills all progress, they make 

 a conservative principle. The Hindoo cannot leave his country ex- 

 cept by sea : the Vedas forbid it under pain of pollution. Japan and 

 China obstinately close their borders against all the nations of Europe, 

 and it is only at the cannon''s mouth that the English have opened 

 the gates so long shut, and forced them to the life of interchange 

 which will i-estore them to progress and vitality. Thus, while every 

 thing around them is advancing, India and China have remained sta- 

 tionary. For it is not given to one people alone, any more than to 

 one individual alone, to run through the whole compass of the scale of 

 human progress by themselves, and without the aid of their brethren. 



Eastern Asia is, then, the continent of extreme contrasts and of 

 isolated regions, — of races essentially Mongolian, — of stationary civi- 

 lizations, — of the semi-historical nations. It is not there that the 

 work of the development of humanity can be achieved. 



The second half of the Old World, in the temperate region. Western 

 Asia and Europe, forms another whole, in which we are able to point 

 out several common characteristics. Besides the division into a North 

 and a South, on the two sides of the continental axis, the most salient 

 feature is the long table-land of Iran, which stretches uninterruptedly 

 from India to the extremity of Asia Minor, and even prolongs itself, 

 without losing its nature, across the peninsulas of the Mediterranean, 

 as far as Spain. 



From one end of these regions to the other nature wears a charac- 

 ter of unil'ormity. Everywhere the same cretaceous and Jurassic 

 limestone-deposits form the greater part of the ground ; everywhere 

 volcanoes rise from the earth, and shake it with their convulsions. 

 The climate, also, is alike ; for in Asia a more southern latitude is 

 counterbalanced by a greater elevation of the plateaux. The ilora 

 is analogous ; the cultivated plants, the fruits, the domestic animals, 

 are the same, with the exception of the camel of the desert, useless 

 to Europe. Finally, the white Caucasian race, the most noble, the 



