Page 177 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

176 THIRD BOOK OF
interrupted, ost and snow being seldom seen ex­ cept upon the mountains. The vegetable produc­ tions of the southern zone di er little from those of northern A ica and the a acent islands. Vines, olives, gs, oranges, maize, and rice, are abundant; and the castor-oil and cotton plants, as well as the sugar-cane, are, in some instances, cultivated. In. the middle zone, all kinds of grain are produced in ' great abundance, and in many of its countries, the science of agriculture has attained a high degree of excellence. In the northern zone, agriculture has made little progress. Barley, oats, beans, and po­ tatoes, are, however, cultivated ; but timber, pitch, · tar, rosin, and alum, are the productions r which this zone is most remarkable. Of these, great quan-. tities are exported. There are numerous mines of iron and copper, the most valuable of which are the fron mines of Dannemora, and the copper mines of Dalecarlia, in Sweden..
6. Of the 240 millions of inhabitants which Eu- i rope contains, about two-thirds are employed in agri­ culture, om 15 to 20 millions in manu ctures, and probably two millions in arms. The maintenance of . those employed in arms requires, it is said, two- fths of the entire revenue. The rm of government, called limited monarchy, is that which prevails in several of the most important states, and in nearly all, the subject enjoys a degree of civil liberty, greater than that which exists in most of the other parts of the world. The Christian religion, under 1 some one of its denominations, prevails in every part of Europe, not excepting Turkey, where, though the religion of the state is Mahometanism, nearly two­ thirds of the inhabitants are Christians, principally of the Catholic and Greek Churches. The number