GEOGRAPHY. 5 



reaching Newfoundland it is deflected eastwards, and passing south by the 

 Azores, joins the equatorial current again, having made a circuit of 3800 

 miles, and embracing a vast space nearly stagnant in the centre, and known 

 as the Sargasso Sea. An important branch current leaves the Gulf-stream 

 near Newfoundland, and sets towards Britain and NorAvay. A current 

 indicated on pL 1 as " Kennel's Strcimung," passes from the north-western 

 corner of Spain, eastwards along the coast to Bayonne, then north along 

 the coast of France, and across to the Irish coast at Cape Clear, then 

 turning to the south-west ; it thus describes an entire circle. A constant cur- 

 rent passes from the Baltic through the Sound and the Cattegat into the 

 North Sea ; there is also a strong current from the Dardanelles into the Medi- 

 terranean. A double current passes by Gibraltar, an upper from the Atlantic 

 into the Mediterranean, extending to the coast of Syria, and then turning back, 

 and a second current towards the west, at a certain depth below the surface. 



The largest Moimtains of Europe are the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the 

 Carpathians, to which may be added the Apennines, the Scandinavian Moun- 

 tains, and others. 



I. The Pyrenees. These separate France from Spain, and are about 270 

 statute miles long, by a maximum breadth of sixty miles. The highest point 

 is the Malahite, or Maladetta, 11,170 feet ; the middle comb is about 7990 

 feet in mean altitude. The central Pyrenees contain the loftiest peaks, the 

 eastern and western (the latter especiall}^) being of less elevation. Other 

 important mountains of the Spanish peninsula are the Sierra Nevada, the 

 water-shed between the waters of the Atlantic and of the Mediterranean ; the 

 Sierra Morena on the southern edge ; the Gruadarama ; the Sierra de Toledo ; 

 the Sierra de Estrella in Portusral, (fe-c. 



II. The Alps in Switzerland, South France, and Germany, and northern 

 Italy (the principal mountain chain in Europe), are divided up into numerous 

 ranges, and may be considered under the following heads : the French-Italian 

 Alps (with the Maritime, Cottian, and Grey Alps), the Bernese, Valois, and 

 Central Swiss Alps (with the Pennine, Lepontine, and Rhetian Alps), and the 

 Austrian Alps in its more extended sense including the Norian, Carnian, 

 Julian, and Dinarian Alps. The highest peaks are Mont Blanc, 15,739 feet ; 

 Monte Rosa, 15,210 ; Mont Cervin, 14,836 ; Finsteraarhorn, 14,026 ; Jung- 

 frau, 13,672; Mont Iseran, 13,272; Ortier Spitz, 12,851; Mont Terglou,: 

 9386. 



III. The Carpathians in Hungary, Galicia, and Siebenbiirgen, divide into 

 three principal members : the Highland of Siebenbiirgen, the Carpathian 

 Wald, and the Hungarian Carpathians. The highest peaks are Ruska 

 Boyana, 9,912 ; Budosch, 9,593 ; Mount Tatra, 8,524. 



IV. The Apennines in Middle and Lower Italy. Mount Etna in Sicily 

 may be considered as the highest point (10,874 feet) ; on the mainland in the 

 peninsula of Italy, the highest point is the Gran Sasso d'ltalia, or Monte 

 Corno, in the Abruzzi (9529 feet). 



V. The Hcemus or Balkan in Turkey, with its southern spurs, Pangaeus, 

 Rhodope, the Strandsje, and the Tekiri. 



VI. The curve of mountains from the Ceve?ines to the Carpathians in 



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