Vol. XXVIII, No. 5 



WASHINGTON 



November, 1915 



THE 



ATDOMAL 

 GEOGIRAPM3C 



THE BEAUTIES OF FRANCE 



By Arthur Stanley Riggs 



Author of "France From Ska to Sea," "Vistas in Sicily," etc. 



TO MANY of us, France is the 

 loveliest land in all Europe. So 

 marvelously rich and beautiful is 

 she that we all forget how far north she 

 lies — between the forty-second and fifty- 

 first parallels. It takes thinking to realize 

 that Paris (latitude 48 ° 50' 14") is ap- 

 proximately opposite Quebec, and that 

 Bordeaux, away to the south, where the 

 government was established for a time 

 during the earlier days of the war, is 

 vis-a-vis with Halifax. 



To interpret France geographically, 

 yet in practical terms, turn to the map. 

 (See map of Europe, 28 x 30 inches, in 

 4 colors, printed in the July, 191 5, num- 

 ber of the National Geographic Maga- 

 zine.) 



Begin at the extreme southwestern 

 edge of the country and draw a line from 

 Bayonne northeastward to Troyes, near 

 Paris. Then continue this line north 

 and west a trifle, through Rheims and 

 Valenciennes, and you have bisected 

 France roughly into its dissimilar parts. 

 The western section of low plateaux and 

 flat and rolling plains contrasts sharply 

 with the high plateaux and mountains of 

 the east and south. 



GEOGRAPHICAL STRENGTH OE FRANCE 



In other words, Nature, during the 

 long ages of anticipation and formation, 

 prepared France against the day of her 



enemies by rearing mighty barriers along 

 a large part of her landward boundaries, 

 while at the same time she gave her free 

 access to the sea. Nor was this all. The 

 contour of the land was such that it pro- 

 vided huge natural arteries of communi- 

 cation between the Atlantic and the Med- 

 iterranean. 



Partition France a little more closely, 

 this time by rivers, and see how it falls 

 into natural sections, with the four great- 

 river systems of the Rhone, Garonne, 

 Loire, and Seine, and their innumerable 

 canals and tributaries. The canals might 

 be called the missing links of the river 

 systems, for by their connecting means 

 the Atlantic and the Mediterranean are 

 directly linked in a vast aquatic and 

 maritime chain. 



This means that France possesses val- 

 uable facilities for transportation entirely 

 distinct and separate from her marvelous 

 network of railways and magnificent 

 "flowing roads." In fact, it would be 

 hard to imagine a country more fully 

 protected on the one hand, more open on 

 the other, and throughout blessed with 

 more ample and satisfactory avenues of 

 communication. As an example of the 

 value of the waterways, consider them in 

 time of war as transporters of supplies, 

 when the railways are overworked with 

 their handling of troops ; or in time of 

 peace as outlets for agricultural and 



