INFLUENCES OF ENVIRONMENT 157 



tion of historyiMontesquieu ^-^ and Buckle,*^ attributed 

 tlio iRiimital)ility of religion, usages, manners and laws 

 in India and other Oriental countries to their warm 

 climate, vast ])lains and great mountains, tlie grandeur 

 of whose scenery excites the fancy and paralyzes the 





FrniRF, .")(). Conrulonco-inspirinfj Environment of Croorr. Ilic Uonniiful 

 \'aU' of Ti'Mipo. 



reason. j The modern scientific geographer "liiuls thai 

 geograi)hi(' conditions have condemned India to isolation. 

 OiTthe land side, a great sweep of high moTuitains has 

 restricted intercourse with the interior; on the sea side, 

 the deltaic swamps of the Indus and tlie (langes rivers 

 and an unbroken shoreline, 1 jacked by mountains on the 

 w(vst of the ix'iiinsula and l)y coastal marshes and lagoons 

 on the east, have combined to reduce its accessibility from 



■*^ f^jiint of the Laiift, hk. xiv. cli. iv. 



•!•« Ilifitoiy of Cirilizalion in F.iKjUmd, cli. ii. 



