198 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Leuctra and Cape Matapan. 



are frequently imposing parts of coast scenery, presenting 

 a bold and lofty front to the ocean, the whole aspect of 

 which the eye can embrace, this is not the case with 

 peninsular projections. Europe terminates on the south- 

 eastern side with the ancient Promontory of Tsenarum, 

 the modern Cape Matapan, of which a distant view is here 

 given. This is the extreme point of the Greek peninsula 

 to the south, where the range of Taygetus whose sum- 

 mits are often wrapped in snow when the orange tree is 

 in full bloom on the banks of the Eurotas meets the sea. 

 The two great continents present points of resemblance, 

 and of strong dissimilarity. Both are nearly separated 



into two principal parts, a narrow isthmus of sand joining Africa and Asia, and an isthmus 

 of rocks connecting North and South America. In both continents also most of the great 

 peninsulas pursue the same direction, trending to the south ; as South America, California, 

 Florida, Alaska, and Greenland in the new world ; and in the old, Scandinavia, Spain, 

 Italy, Greece, Africa, Arabia, Hindustan, Malacca, and Kamschatka ; a singular, and 

 at present completely inexplicable, circumstance. The western continent has one ex- 

 ception to this direction, that of the Peninsula of Yucatan in central America, and the 

 eastern continent has another, that of the Peninsula of Jutland in Europe, both of 

 which project northerly, and are composed of lowlands of alluvial soil. In the general 

 direction of the superficies, in extent and configuration, the two continents greatly differ. 

 The land in the new world stretches from north to south, while that of the old world 

 proceeds from north-east to south-west, or, leaving Africa out of sight, its direction is 

 nearly parallel to the equator. A line drawn from the west coast of Africa about Cape 

 Verd to the north-east coast of Asia at Behring's Straits, describes the largest extent 

 of land that can be compassed in the same direction on the eastern continent, being equal 

 to about 11,000 miles; while a similar line drawn over the western continent from the 



