FRANCE 



2290 



FRANCE 



good harbors, Toulon, Cannes and Nice. It is 

 this shore region, where the Alps run down 

 almost to the sea and leave but a narrow 

 strip, bright with sun -and overgrown with 

 almost tropic vegetation, which bears the name 

 of the Riviera, and is one of the most popular 

 resort regions of Europe. 



The western part of the Mediterranean 

 coast, comprising the great sweeping Gulf of 

 the Lion, is inhospitable, either by reason of 

 rocks or of sandy dunes, and the southern part 

 of the Atlantic seaboard, on the west, affords 

 no harbors. Farther north is an island-fringed 

 shore with occasional harbors, while in the 

 northwest is the Breton "savage coast," as it 

 is called, which hurls back the sea from its 

 rocky cliffs. On the north the chief port is 

 Cherbourg, on the peninsula of Cotentin in 

 Normandy, with its breakwater-protected har- 

 bor, a great port of call for ocean steamships. 



Highlands and Lowlands. France has some 

 of the highest peaks of Europe and some, or 

 at least one, of the most famous in the world 

 (see below), but these are all on the border 

 lines and are thus not dominating features of 

 the landscape. Very simply stated, France 

 consists of a northern and western lowland 

 section; a south-central plateau; and, in the 

 south and southeast highland regions sloping 

 toward the Pyrenees and the Alps. Between 

 the great plateau and the Alps runs the deep 

 valley of the Rhone. The average height of 

 the country above sea level is about 1,000 

 feet. 



Considerably below this average is the north- 

 ern and western plain, which has a mean eleva- 

 tion of somewhat less than 650 feet. It is 

 broken by a lew hilly tracts in Brittany and 

 Normandy, nowhere over 1,400 feet in altitude, 

 and by occasional rounded hillocks called 

 bocagcs, or groves, because of the trees which 

 cover them. The south-central plateau is a 

 region of intermittent highlands and old vol- 

 canic mountains, known as the Cevennes 

 (which see). Its greatest elevation, Mont 

 Dore, is 6,188 feet, and it slopes gradually 

 toward the northwest, melting at last into the 

 plain of the north and west. If the ocean 

 were to rise 660 feet, the northern and western 

 limits of this plateau region would form the 

 Atlantic seacoast of France, with only occa- 

 sional islands at some distance from the shore. 



There are picturesque regions in the plateau 

 country, rich* plains and beautiful vineyard- 

 grown valleys in the lowland country, but the 

 really wonderful beauties of France are on its 



frontiers. On the southeast rise the Alps, 

 the chief highlands of the country, which at- 

 tain their greatest height on the border line. 

 Here, rising to an altitude of 15,781 feet, is 

 Mont Blanc, that snow-crowned peak which 

 many have lost their lives in trying to scale. 

 This, however, is but one summit in the tower- 

 ing ranges, and there are numerous others 

 which are but little lower, if less picturesque 

 and less famous. There are also several cele- 

 brated passes, Mont Cenis and Mont Genevre, 

 which lead from France into Italy, each being 

 more than 6,800 feet above sea level. 



On the south border are the Pyrenees, the 

 natural boundary between France and Spain, 

 which differ from the Alps in being a con- 

 tinuous range, the "gaps" or notches between 

 the peaks being but little lower than the 

 peaks themselves. Very high and very difficult 

 are the few passes which lead across this wild 

 mountain region, and no railway has yet at- 

 tempted to cross them, but access, to Spain is 



COMPARATIVE AREAS 



Texas is so much larger than France that if the 

 latter could be shaped differently and placed as an 

 island in a sea as large as Texas it would not be 

 visible from any point on the mainland. 



gained along the coastal strips at the ends. 

 The culminating peak of the Pyrenees in 

 France is Pic Long, 10,475 feet in height. 



Rivers. France has many rivers about two 

 hundred which are navigable, in part at least; 

 but its four great streams are the Rhone, the 

 Garonne, the Loire .and the Seine. The Rhone, 

 whose valley, as noted above, lies deep-carved 

 between the plateau and the Alps, drains with 

 its tributaries all the southeastern portion of 

 the country, carrying to the sea a greater vol- 

 ume of water than any other French river. 

 It rises in the Alps of Switzerland, and its two 



