5 1 2 Europe : — a popular Physical Sketch. 



eastern part of the Alps, in the S. by the Dinarian Alps ; but 

 nearly one-third of this almost circular plain is bounded by 

 a kind of flat rampart of 2133 to 3200 feet in height, ex- 

 tending about 560 miles, from which rise several consider- 

 able heights. This rampart is usually called the Carpa- 

 thians, the loftiest group of which is Tatra, in the north- 

 western part, the greatest elevations of which are Eistha- 

 lerspitze 8533 feet, Lomnitzerspitze 8479, and Hundsdorffer- 

 spitze 8320 feet, also the south-eastern Carpathians attain a 

 considerable elevation. 



In all the central European mountains are found several 

 plains and extensive valleys. West of the Auvergnes and 

 Cevennes, the country slopes into a flat coast land, and con- 

 siderable heath districts (Les Landes). Between the Ce- 

 vennes and Cote d'Or on the one side, and the Alps and 

 Jura on the other, is situated the Rhone and Saone valley. 

 The country between the Mediterranean and the British 

 Channel has here an elevation of 1491 feet, and here is a 

 canal communication. From this point the Rhone and 

 Saone valley slope by degrees towards the Mediterranean. 

 The Rhine passes through a valley which from Schwarz- 

 wald and the Vosges declines from 853 feet to a still lower 

 level. Between Rauhe Alp, Schwarzwald, Odenwald, 

 Thiiringerwald, Fichtelgebirge, and Bohmerwald, the Fran- 

 conian plain is situated 965 feet above the level of the sea. 

 That of the Bohemian basin is 533 feet, that of the plain of 

 Mahrn, between the Sudetes and the Carpathian mountains, 

 640 feet. Between Bohmerwald and the Alps appears the 

 broad Danube valley, or the lower Austrian plain, 533 feet, 

 which is continued by the much more extensive circular 

 Hungarian plain, elevated from 213 to 320 feet above the 

 sea. 



The most important rivers whose sources either are in 

 the central European mountains, or turn their course be- 

 tween them and receive branch rivers, are the Garonne 



