416 Europe: — a popular Physical Sketch. 



whole uniform, yet it is not so altogether. In the north- 

 western part appears a ridge (Montagnes d'Arree) of about 

 523 feet mean height (highest point 1013 feet) which is fol- 

 lowed by a tract of hilly country (north of France and Bel- 

 gium) and towards the southern part some low ridges appear, 

 as Cote d'or, Plateau de Langres, the Ardennes, the mean 

 altitude of which is from 853 to 1066 feet, and no where 

 beyond 1813 feet. Farther to the eastward is quite a flat 

 district, partly below the level of the sea, and therefore 

 protected by dikes, consisting of Holland, East Friesland, 

 north of Hanover, and the west coast of Holstein and 

 Slesvig ; after this again a somewhat hilly country appears — 

 Denmark and the southern coasts of the Baltic. The high- 

 est points are Himmelbjerg (Jutland) 544 feet ; Aborrebjerg, 

 (Moen) 476 feet; Veirhoi (Sjelland) 395 feet; Stubbenkam- 

 mer (Riigen) 576 feet. To the south of the hills, forming 

 a dike as it were to the Baltic, is spread the great North 

 German sand district (Hanover, Brandenburg) whose high- 

 est points are Golmberg, 592 feet ; Duberow Berg, 472 feet ; 

 upon which follows another ridge between the Vistula and 

 Niemen along the Baltic, whose mean height is 373 feet, and 

 where Hasenberg rises, 633 feet above the level of the sea ; 

 to the south of this ridge, plain varies with hilly country. 



The plain is watered by several extensive rivers, as 

 Loire, Seine, Rhine, Weser, Elbe, which pour their waters 

 into the Atlantic and the North Sea ; Oder and Weichsel 

 (Vistula) whose mouths are in the Baltic. The sources of 

 the Rhine are the Alps ; those of the rest are the central 

 European mountains. Lakes occur in Holland, Holstein, 

 Sjelland, Meklenburg, and on the Prussian ridge. 



Although naked rock appears in single spots, as primitive 

 rock in Montagnes d' Arree ; lime in the north of France and 

 Belgium ; gypsum at Segeberg and Luneburg ; chalk at 

 Moen, Riigen, and other places, yet such instances are ex- 

 ceptions, for generally speaking the plain in question is co- 



