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 



PHY51CAL o GEOGRAPHY 



FRANCE: 



Primitive geological formation 

 with infertile soil 



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 



