16 



OUTLINES OF GEOLOGY. 



V. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE TWO GREAT CONTINENTS. 



34. The eastern continent may be considered as com- 

 posed of a large mass of land, from the western side of 

 which three principal peninsulas, of very different dimen- 

 sions, project. The greater compact surface includes the 

 whole of Asia, and Russia in Europe. The three peninsulas 

 are, the Scandinavian ; Europe, with the exception of Scan- 

 dinavia and Russia ; Africa. The second of these includes 

 a number of lesser peninsulas, which it is not our purpose to 

 describe. 



35. The interior of Africa is so little known, and Europe is 

 so much cut up by gulfs and seas, that any attempt to reduce 

 its mountains and plains to one general system, must fail* 

 But in Asia no such difficulty exists. We find the northern 

 part of Asia to be composed of one vast extended plain, and 

 that this plain is produced into Europe. Thus a traveller 

 may leave the foot of the Pyrenees, and proceed to Paris ; 

 thence through Belgium, Northern Germany, Poland, and 

 Russia, in Europe, to Kasan ; thence again through Siberia, 

 until he reaches the frozen ocean, without meeting, in his 

 journey, any eminence of more than 600 feet in height, with 

 the single exception of the Oural mountains. These divide 

 this vast plain into two unequal parts, but are themselves of 

 but moderate elevation. 



This plain is bounded to the south by a system of moun- 

 tains, which, in Asia, is distinctly marked as made up of 

 four great chains. These are as follows : — 



(1.) The chain of the Altai begins at the north-eastern 

 extremity of Asia, and can be traced in a direction a little 

 south of west to the eastern side of Lake Aral. Its most lofty 

 point appears to be the mountain known as the Golden or 

 Little Altai, whose height has been given at 7224 feet. The 

 same rhumb line produced, passes over_ the Atlas, but it 



