338 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



naica. They would become one vast sea, bounded by 

 the mountains of Algeria, Morocco, and Abyssinia. 



The climate of this part of the world would in conse- 

 quence be much changed. Immense sheets of water 

 would cover the saline steppes of Kussia ; they would 

 extend into Turkestan, as far as the Siberian mountains 

 and the table-land of Gobi ; to the south they would 

 invade the larger part of the African desert. The 

 remains of Europe would have a very humid climate, 

 for whilst at present the western winds alone bring 

 us wet, all the winds would then be of oceanic origin. 



We can hardly go further into the discussion of the 

 modifications which would result from such an altered 

 state of things ; our only business is to point to the 

 important part which the conquest of the sea plays in 

 the general economy of nature. 



2. Ancient limits of the Black Sea— Drying-up of the Russian 

 Steppes. 



Such changes do not entirely belong to fiction. 

 The works of Tournefort, Cliandler, and Tott, those 

 of Count Potocki, of Prince Gallitzin, and of Pallas, 

 unite with thgse of the ancients to prove that the 

 northern coasts of the Black Sea have changed very 

 much ; and that between this sea, the Caspian, and 

 Lake Aral, traces are to be everywhere found of the 



