554 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A F RIC7 



Drawn by A. H. Bumstead 



A MAP OF ASIA MINOR, THE DARDANELLES, AND THE ISLANDS OF THE ^GEAN SEA 



For a more detailed map of this region, see the National Geographic Society's New Map of 

 Europe, issued as a supplement with the National Geographic Magazine for February, 1921. 



atmosphere you would almost think that 

 the voice could carry over the gulf, as 

 the distance is diminished by the decep- 

 tive clearness of the atmosphere ; but in 

 order to reach the other side you may 

 have to make a journey of 20 to 60 miles, 

 often very difficult over mountain paths. 



Navigation is here forced upon men, 

 or Nature, as it were, tempts men and 

 urges them to cross the easy path of the 

 sea. The people of those TEgean lands 

 drank in the spirit of adventure, and so 

 gradually founded the great series of 

 colonies with which they ringed round 

 almost the entire circuit of the Mediter- 

 ranean (except where the Phoenicians 

 had established themselves too strongly, 

 from Tripoli through Carthage to the 

 Atlantic Ocean). 



That the seaway is the best way is 

 marked even in language, since the word 



pontos, the sea, is commonly explained as 

 a nasalized byform of patos, path. 



The conditions of life in those sea 

 lands are not too easy. Life is very en- 

 joyable in the clear air and bright sun, 

 but life means work, enterprise, and 

 sometimes danger. A hard-working, self- 

 confident spirit is developed among the 

 inhabitants. 



Food is scanty ; the land is naturally, in 

 great part, either barren and rocky or in 

 need of great care, foresight, and engi- 

 neering skill in order to tame it to man's 

 use. Everything encourages the spirit 

 of freedom, boldness and seamanship. 



IN LEGENDS THE GODS OE THIS LAND 

 DIED YOUNG 



On the other hand, the mass of the 

 Anatolian Peninsula consists of great, 

 gently undulating plains. At ■ the lofty 



