48 



SCANDINAVIA. 



the centre of a vast empire had it enjoyed more geographical cohesion and more 

 ample proportions. But the narrow peninsula of Jylland, covered with forests 

 and unproductive tracts, the scattered isles of the Baltic, and the Norwegian sea- 

 board, destitute of any arable lands and broken up by fiords into countless distinct 

 fragments, did not possess a sufficient nucleus to keep together the foreign 

 conquests, which consequently remained without cohesion or any common bond 

 of union, like the region itself whence the conquering hosts had issued. 



Denmark had formerly at least the advantage of commanding all the Baltic 

 channels and the approach to that inland sea ; but this strategical privilege no 

 longer exists. One side only of the Sound belongs to her, the southern entrance 

 to the Little Belt being occupied by Prussia, while the Great Belt might easily be 



Fig. 19. — Hii.LS WEST OF AsviG Bay. 

 Scale 1 : 123,000. 



forced by a hostile fleet. But whatever be their destiny, the Danes are an 

 energetic people, with their own laws, language, traditions, aspirations, and 

 national sentiments. 



The Peninsula of Jylland (Jutland). 



Like the Danish islands in the Baltic, the peninsula of Jylland belongs geo- 

 logically to Germany and Scandinavia. The southern portion, strewn with 

 innumerable fragments of erratic boulders, forms a continuation of the North 

 German lowlands. But in the broadest part occur older formations, miocène and 

 cretaceous strata, the latter continued between Aarhus and Panders-fiord to the 

 south-east corner of Sjalland (Zealand), and thence beyond the Sound to the 

 extreme headlands of Scania. 



North of the German frontier the backbone of the peninsula continues to 

 follow the east coast, and the rivers of Jylland, flowing east and west to the 



