TOPOGRAPHY. The coast waters are shallow and penetrate far into the land, deep gulfs on opposite coasts dividing the mainland into North ern and Central Greece, and the peninsula of Peloponnesus, or the Morea. The Peloponnesus is connected with Central Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth, which at its narrowest part is only four miles wide, and which is pierced by a ship canal. No other country in the world has so large a proportion of coast to area as Greece. It has a mile of coast for every 10 miles of surface. The country is nearly cut in two by the gulfs of Corinth and iEgina. In spite of this fact, Greece is not rich in good harbors (except in a few cen tral and highly favored parts of the country), owing to a wall of mountains which rises from the shore on long stretches of the coasts. Though the east coast has many fine ports, the harborless shores include the entire east sides of Thessaly, and of the long island of Eubcea, and the east side of the Peloponnesus, south of the Gulf of Argolis to the most southern rock mass of Cape Melia. Volo, on the gulf of that name, is the only port of Thessaly. The best harbor facilities are found in the beautiful Gulf of ,Egina. where the fine natural harbor of the Pincus is the port of Athens, six miles inland. Still farther south the shores of the Gulf of Argolis, penetrating deeply into the Peloponnesus, are rich in harbors. The gulfs of 2Egina and Argolis have always been the centre of Greek sea life; and the Gulf of dEgina contributed in no small measure to the influences that made Athens the centre of Greek culture. The south coast of the Peloponnesus is deeply indented by the Laconian Gulf (Gulf of hfaratho nisi. or Kolo-Kythial and the hiessenian Gulf (Gulf of Koroni). The west, coast of Hie Peke ponnesus is flat, low, and but little indented, while the north coast, washed by the waters of the Gulf of Corinth and its entrance, the Gulf of Patras, is high and steep, with a good harbor at Patras near fertile and highly cultivated plains. The west coast north of the Gulf of Patras is swampy in the south, high and mountainous in the north, but of small importance in the sea trade.
In its surface forms Greece preserves the char acteristic aspects of the broader mass of the Balkan Peninsula (q.v.) to the north of it. It is preeminently a mountain land, the ranges of the Balkan Peninsula extending into and through the country. The wild chain of the Pindus, a dominating feature, forms the water parting, and sharply divides the larger western from the smaller eastern part of Greece as far south as the Gulf of Corinth. West of the Pindus the ranges of the Dinaric mountain system, which parallels the shores of the Adriatic farther north, pass through Greece to the southern end of the Pelo ponnesus. These chains are crowded so closely together that the valleys are very narrow, and there is little development of high mountain plains. The mountain chains of Northeastern
Greece, on the other hand, are broadly distin guished from those of the west by the fact that their main direction is east and west. On the whole, the mountains are of only medium ele vation, though Parnassus, the best-known sum mit of the eastern ranges, rises in the very heart of Greece to a height of 8065 feet; and Mount Taygetos, the culminating point of the Dinaric system in the Peloponnesus, is 7890 feet high.
The chains, frequently connected with one another by spurs, make a network of mountains throughout the country. The result is that Greece has no great middle point upon which its highways and activities converge. It is di vided into a large number of small districts which are reached with difficulty over the moun tain roads. The great bond of union is the sea, whose deep bays and gulfs serve the trade of the interior. Greece is rich in contrasts of color and in picturesque beauty; and the charm of its landscapes is especially emphasized along the coastal indentations where the glowing col ors of the bare mountain walls contrast with the deep blue of the sea between them. While there are many small plains among the highlands, the only great plains are those of Thessaly in North ern Greece. They are surrounded by mountains and nowhere reach the sea; comparatively level and woodless, but covered with alluvium, they are very fertile, the granary of the kingdom, the region where landscapes are most smiling and vegetation is most luxuriant. The Thessalian plains are separated by highlands extending north west and southeast about midway between Laris sa and Trikala. There are many small fertile plains in Ihrotia, Messenia, Argolis, and along parts of the coast.
All the Greek islands are mountainous. They were once a part of the mainland, and the largest island in the 2Egean Sea, Eubcea, is still so re garded, as it is separated from Central Greece only by the narrow Strait of Euripus, which at Chaleis is little more than 100 feet wide. Eubcea is the prolongation of the coastal mountains of Thessaly. The Greek islands in the lEgean Sea are of smell fertility, though some islands of the Cyclades, particularly Naxos and Santorini; produce excellent fruits and wine. A chain of volcanic islands bounds the Cyclades on the south; and the little group of Santorini, mid way between Europe and Asia, is one of the four centres of volcanic action in Europe. The eruptions of 1866 resulted in the appearance of some new small islands. The Ionian Islands near the west coast far surpass the Cyclades in size and fruitfulness. Encircling their central mountains are hilly lands and plains of extraor dinary fertility. Corfu (the ancient Corcyra) is the largest of the group, the other important isl ands being Santa Maura (Leukas), Cephalonia, Ithaca, Zante, and Cerigo (Cythera).