LAKES. 



311 



which those of Savoy and Switzerland are deficient ; and perhaps, apart from this, a 

 ! physical cause may be found for the preference, in the case of passing visitors, independent 

 of all national partiality. Owing to the greater transparency of the atmosphere in 

 Switzerland, the giant mountains east of the Lake of Geneva do not appear at first more 

 elevated than the comparative dwarfs at the head of Ulswater, to an eye unaccustomed to 

 so clear a medium. Hence, the first impressions of the Alps are commonly the feeblest, 

 a due appreciation of their magnitude being the fruit of acquaintance ; whereas, a denser 

 atmosphere gives to our scenery fictitious features, which acquaintanceship corrects. In 

 Scotland the lakes are more numerous and important, the superficial dimensions of each 

 of the following twenty-four exceeding the area of Winandermere. 



Sq. Miles. Sq. Miles. 



Loch Lomond - - 45 Loch Ericht - - 10 



Awe - 30 Earn - - 9 



Ness- ..- - 30 Naver - 9 



Shin - - 25 Stennis - - 8 



Maree - -24 Rannoch - - 8 



Tay - 20 Leven - - 7 



Arkeig - - 18 Fuir - 6 



Shiel - 16 Lydoch - - 6 



Lochy - -15 Ken - 6 



Laggan - - 12 Loyal - - 6 



Morier - - 12 Glas - 5 



Fannich - ' - 10 Katterin - - 5 



In Ireland they are still more considerable, Lough Neagh, in the centre of Ulster, 

 being the largest lake in the United Kingdom, more than three times the size of Loch 

 Lomond, having a superficial extent of nearly 100,000 acres. The total superficial area 

 of the Irish Lakes is supposed to amount to 455,399 imperial acres. 



The annexed table gives the extent of the principal European lakes. 



Sq. Miles. 



Ladoga, Russia - 6330 



Onega, ditto- - 3280 



Wener, Sweden - 2136 



Saimas, Finland - 1602 



Peipouss, Russia - 839 



Wetter, Sweden - 839 



Mselar, ditto - 763 



Enara, Lapland - 656 



Kuopio, Finland - 610 



Geneva, Switzerland - - 336 



Constance, ditto - - 290 



The largest lake in the world, the Caspian, is geographically situated both in Europe 

 and Asia, but is commonly classed with the physical features of the latter country, and 

 styled a sea from its size and saltness. Measured according to its curvilinear shape, in 

 the middle of its breadth, it exceeds 900 miles in length, with an average width of 200, 

 and has an area of nearly 160,000 square miles. The next in extent, that of Aral, has, 

 with the Caspian, received the denomination of an inland sea, and is nearly a fourth part 

 of its size. The Lake Baikal, in Siberia, has a computed area of 20,000 square miles, 

 and, both in central and western Asia, there are large expanses of nearly equal extent. 

 In Africa, lagoons occur along the coasts ; small briny pools, also, are common in the 

 deserts ; but the interior is a great mass of solid land, seldom broken by either rivers or 

 lakes. The chief of the latter, and the best known, is that of Dembia, nearly centrical 

 in Abyssinia, measuring, in Bruce's map, 65 miles in its greatest length. The Tchad is 

 larger still, but we are only very imperfectly acquainted with it. It lies in the Negro 



Ilmen, Russia - 



Lexa, ditto 



Ulea, Finland - 



Garda, Italy 



Maggiore, ditto 



Nesi, Finland - 



Balaton, Hungary 



Neufchatel, Switzerland 



Lake of the Four Cantons, ditto 



Zurich, ditto 



Bielo, Osero, Russia 



Sq. Miles. 

 275 

 229 

 229 

 183 

 152 

 152 

 152 

 114 



99 



76 



53 



