THE ATLANTIC OCEAN GENERAL CHARACTER OF COASTS The general character of the coasts of the Atlantic will probably be better understood if the coasts of each country bordering upon it be briefly described. Following the same arrangement as that in the table on page 121, we have first the coast of Norway, elevated and deeply indented by numerous inlets of generally deep water called "fiords," and also skirted by innumerable islets and rocks. The coast of Sweden, on the contrary, is low, and not so rugged. The Baltic shores of Russia are more broken, and present the large inlets of Finland and Riga. The South Baltic coast, belonging to Germany, is on the whole flat, and more or less indented.
A peculiar feature in this part of the coast is the occurrence of shallow lagoons or h a ffs , almost entirely enclosed by tongues of low land. The principal of these are the Curische Haff, into which the Niemen flows ; the Frische Haff, receiving the Pregel ; and the Gulf of Dantzic, receiving the Vistula. The Oder flows into the Stettiner Haff The only other opening is the Bay of Lubec. The coast of Denmark is low, and considerably indented ; the islands Zealand and Funen being scarcely less broken than the peninsula of Jutland, the northern part of which is now traversed by the Lym Fiord. The coasts of Holland and Belgium are of the same level character, and are indeed in several places actually below sea-level, being protected from inundation by artificial dykes or natural sand-dunes. During violent storms, however, the sea has repeatedly burst through both natural and artificial embankments, and inundated large tracts. The Dollart Zee and Zuyder Zee were thus formed in 1277 and 1282. 2 The western coasts of Great Britain are, generally speaking, more rugged and broken than the eastern. From Caithness to the Firth of Tay the coast is on the whole bold, and in some parts rocky ; thence to Berwick is an alternation of rocky cliffs and low sandy beaches. Further south, to Flamborough Head, the shore cliffs are lower, and the outline is more regular. Thence to the chalk cliffs of Kent is a suc cession of chalk or clayey cliffs and low beaches. The south coast of England is on the whole flat, with a few stretches of chalk cliffs as far as Exmouth ; thence to Land's End it is bolder, and more rocky. The west coast of England may be
broadly divided into four sections :—Generally bold and rocky from Land's End to Hartland Point ; level around the Bristol Channel ; the Welsh coast moderately high and broken as far as Great Orme's Head ; again level to the Solway Firth, with the exception of a part of the coast of Cumberland. The whole of the west coast of Scotland is broken, and skirted with several large island-groups, and numerous islets and rocks. It is generally rugged and broken, and many of the " lochs " and " sounds " are extremely picturesque. The west ern and southern shores of Ireland are on the whole deeply indented, and in parts high ; but the eastern coast is generally level and unbroken, and destitute of good harbours.
The Bay of St. Malo is the only considerable inlet in the north coast of France, the west coast of which is more broken, and skirted by a few small islands. Generally high in Normandy and Brittany, south of the mouth of the Loire it assumes a level aspect, and is especially regular, low, and sandy from the mouth of the Gironde to Bayonne. 1 The Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal are remarkably bold and unbroken, and thus contrast strongly with those of the Scandinavian Peninsula. With the exception of the estuary of the Tagus, the Bay of Vigo, and Setubal Bay, scarcely any inlet in the north and west coast penetrates more than 10 miles inland ; while several of the fiords of Norway extend for more than 100 miles inland.
In striking contrast to the broken and irregular con tour of Western Europe are the regular and unbroken coasts of Western Africa, From Tangier to Cape Nun the coast is bold and rocky. Further south the shores of Senegambia and Guinea are low, but generally fertile. The Bights of Benin and Biafra, and the Delta of the Niger, are marked by tropical swamps and jungles, the pestilential exhalations from which prove speedily fatal to Europeans. South of the equator the swamps and marshes give place to well-grassed plains and noble forests, with occasional cultivated tracts; but from Cape Negro to some distance south of the Orange River the shore is low, sandy, and barren. Thence to Cape Agulhas the coast is rugged and bold, the shore cliffs attaining in Table Moun tain an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet above the sea.