The claim of Europe to be regarded as an independent
continent does not rest upon the great area of its Russian
territory, with the long boundary towards Asia, but rather
upon the group of its western peninsulas and islands,
enclosed and divided by gulfs. These many, variously
shaped members are, however, only welded into a geo-
graphical whole by the mass of Central Europe lying in
their midst. Its well-marked outline and independent
destiny are due to the important fact that two depressions
in the body of the mainland—the Baltic and the Pontic—
have had access to the ocean through the sinking of their
outlets. On the line where these two slightly salt basins
of the Baltic and Black Seas come nearest together, the
line between Pillau and Odessa, the continent narrows
suddenly from 1600 miles to 800. Here, also, the water-
shed falls exceptionally to less than 500 feet, and it was an
easy matter for the bold Varangians to transport their skiffs
from sea to sea. It is in this region that the eastern bound-
ary of Central Europe must be sought. Here begin sharp
changes of distance between its northern and southern
coasts. Narrowings of the mainland occur between
Stettin and Trieste, between Antwerp and Genoa, and
between the mouths of the. Seine and the Rhone. Much
closer, however (250 miles), is the approximation of the
Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea to the north of the
Pyrenees. There is a strong temptation to transfer thither

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