THE LAND. 283 



ocean, in the peninsulas of Arabia, Hindostan, and Malacca, 

 but also in the Mediterranean, where Eratosthenes and 

 Polybius had compared in this respect the Iberian, 

 Italic, and Hellenic Peninsulas. ( 341 ) Europe itself, having 

 an extent of surface equalling only one-fifth part of that of 

 Asia, may be considered as the western peninsula of the 

 compact mass of the Asiatic continent, to which it bears, in 

 point of climate, a relation somewhat similar to that of 

 the peninsula of Brittany to the rest of Prance. ( 342 ) The 

 favourable influence of the articulated and varied form of a 

 continent on the civilization and intellectual cultivation of 

 its inhabitants was recognised by Strabo, ( 343 ) who extolled 

 as a special advantage the richly varied form of our little 

 Europe. Africa ( 344 ) and South America, which also offer 

 many other features of analogy in their configuration, are the 

 two continents which have the simplest and least indented 

 outlines, while the eastern side of Asia, as if it were rent by 

 the force of the currents of the ocean, ( 345 ) (fractas ex 

 sequore terras), presents a richly varied coast line ; peninsulas 

 and islands alternate along its shores, from the equator to 

 60 N. latitude. 



Our Atlantic Ocean presents the characteristics of a valley. 

 It is as if the flow of the waters had been directed first 

 towards the north-east, then towards the north-west, and 

 then again towards the north-east. The parallelism of 

 the coasts north of 10 of South latitude, the projecting and 

 re-entering angles, the convexity of Brazil opposite to the 

 Gulf of Guinea, and the convexity of Africa to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, all favour tin's view, which at first may seem too 

 hazardous. ( 346 ) In the Atlantic Valley, as is indeed usually 

 the case in the form of large masses of land, coasts deeply 



