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Donald McLeish THE BERNESE OBERLAND: SWITZERLAND-MOUNTAINS ARE NATURE'S TOWERING SIGN-POSTS DIRECTING THROUGH THE AGES THE MIGRATIONS

OF RESTLESS RACES

"The various routes of migration into Europe, the later wanderings of the immigrants, and their constant relocations may be directly traced to geographic causes, of which the mountain system, the rivers, and plains had a determinative part. The backbone and dominant factor of the continent is the Alps" (see page 448 and also map on page 306).

one between the mountains of the Caucasus and the Black Sea.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME EUROPE

On the map Europe is only an extension or prolongation of Asia; but to this prolongation its unique physical features and its resultant history have given a distinct preeminence.

Between Europe and Asia there is no natural boundary; neither does any official line of demarcation exist. The Russians sometimes imagine such a line. in the "crest of the Urals." But in the wide region over which the broad, low Urals spread, no crest ever has been or can be traced. Moreover, the Urals them selves traverse only a part of the space which subtends Europe from Asia. Because of the arbitrary or undetermined. nature of that eastern boundary, eminent authorities vary in their estimate of the total area of Europe by several hundred thousand square miles.

The name Europe has been in use for more than twenty-five hundred years. Its origin and meaning are unknown. Perhaps it is derived, as the ancients believed, from the fair maiden Europa, beloved of Jupiter. Perhaps it comes from the word irib or creb, found on Assyrian monuments and supposed to mean darkness, or the setting sun, in distinction from asu, found on the same monuments and supposed to mean the rising sun, or Asia. Let us agree, however, with Herodotus who naïvely confesses that "no mortal can ever hope to find out the true meaning of this word inherited from the forefathers."

WHY EUROPE'S RACES ARE PROGRESSIVE

Europe does not equal one-fourteenth of the land surface and is less than onefiftieth of the entire surface of the globe; yet upon it dwell 450,000,000 human beings, more than a fourth of all mankind. Nor are all Europeans found in Europe. They and their children have occupied and populated the whole Western Hemisphere, of which they were the discoverers. They have partitioned and subdued to themselves nearly the whole of Africa. With the exception of China

and Japan, they control all Asia and all the islands of all the seas. During the last twenty-five centuries, from them as from a focus have radiated the art and science and thought of the world.

How has this stupendous result been brought about? What potent causes have produced such practical monopoly of universal leadership?

That the early ancestors of the present European peoples were more highly endowed than their kindred or contemporaries or possessed greater capacity for development, there is no reason to believe.

In the physical advantages Europe possesses are revealed the causes which have given to Europeans and the descendants of Europeans their unquestioned superiority.

Almost the whole of Europe is situated in the northern half of the North Temperate Zone. Its extreme northern point, the North Cape, is nineteen degrees from the Pole. Tarifa, its extreme southern point, is thirty-six degrees from the Equator.

Nowhere, except in the farthest boreal limits, does excessive cold stunt body and mind. Nowhere does excessive and continued heat sap energy and enervate the will. No spontaneous prodigality of Nature removes the necessity of exertion and induces sloth.

Here, where the air invigorates, man must labor if he would survive. The rewards of labor are reasonably sure, but something more is necessary than to satisfy one day's needs. The periodic succession, "the rhythmic swing," of the seasons, where winter invariably follows summer, compels him to take thought and make some provision of food, shelter, and clothing for the days to come. Even slight labor and little forethought, neither of which can be escaped, force him toward emergence from the primitive and purely animal state toward higher exist

ence.

Much thus far said would apply to the parallel region of North America occupied by the Dominion of Canada and the United States. It applies to no other portion of the globe. The greater part

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Photograph by A. W. Cutler

A SCENE ON A TRIBUTARY OF THE DANUBE: A NATURAL ROADWAY FOR PASTORAL PEOPLES FROM ASIA INTO EUROPE "The rivers of Europe have limited and determined the wanderings of peoples, the march of armies, and the boundaries of States" (see page 448).

This Hungarian swineherd guards a curious flock--pigs upon whose backs grows a kind of wool instead of bristles

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of Africa and South America is included in the Torrid Zone. The vast broken plateau of continental Asia is girdled west, south, and east by hills or mountains which shut out the influence of the

sea.

The climate of western Europe is determined by the Gulf Stream, the mightiest, most rapid and most beneficent of Ocean currents. Its heated mass, deflected eastward by the Banks of Newfoundland, reaches the shores of Europe, creating on its way the exhaustless fisheries of the North Sea. Its warmth breaks the force of the winter and keeps the harbors ice-free in the Norwegian fiords. It gives to Liverpool a milder climate than that of Washington, a thousand miles farther south, and in the British Islands, due east of Labrador, causes grass to grow throughout the year.*

As no formidable barrier to breezes from the sea is interposed, the prevailing winds of Europe, loaded with ocean moisture, spread hundreds of miles inland, relieving the excesses of the seasons and fertilizing the soil.

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THE CELTIC TYPE-A PEOPLE OF STOCKY BUILD, MEDIUM HEIGHT. ROUND HEADS, AND BROAD FACES

In "La Fontaine Miraculeuse" (The Miraculous Fountain) the artist Guinier has registered the salient physical characteristics of the Celtic
group. Which in ancient times lived nearest the Alps and on the great Western plateaus of Europe and which now is represented in Brittany and

45, and Map of Pouf

published *

DO111 11

Supplement to this nobri

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