EUROPE. The most characteristic and celebrated lakes are those which adorn the Alps of Switzerland and Scandinavia, and the less lofty mountain chains of the British Isles. But the largest lakes are found in the low lands and slight swells which surround the Baltic Sea, in western Russia and Sweden. Lakes Ladoga and Onega in Russia, and Wener and Wetter in Sweden, are the largest in Europe.
NORTH AMERICA is peculiarly rich in great lakes. No continent presents a more remarkable series than that which stretches from northwest to southeast, through the central plains, along the line of contact of the oldest geological formations of the continent. This series includes Great Bear and Great Slave lakes, Athabasca and Winnipeg, and the five great lakes of the St. Lawrence, with many of less area.
Innumerable small lakes are scattered throughout the middle portions of the central plain, and the northern and less regular part of the Appalachian mountain region; but south of the parallel of Lake Erie there is an almost entire absence of lakes, whether large or small.
[Illustration: =Relative Size of Lakes of the Western Hemisphere=]
+-----------------+---------------+--------+----------------------+ | =NAME= | =Location= |=Area in| =Mean Elevation | | | | Square | in Feet= | | | | Miles= | | +-----------------+---------------+--------+----------------------+ |Black Sea |Asia and Europe| 170,000|Sea-level | |Caspian Sea |Asia | 170,000| 90 below sea-level| |Sea of Aral |Asia | 26,160 | 157 above sea-level| |Balkash |Asia | 7,135| 779 above sea-level| |Maracaibo |South America | 6,315| 0 above sea-level| |Eyre |Australia | 3,600| 70 above sea-level| |Titicaca |South America | 3,200|12,506 above sea-level| |(slightly saline)| | | | |Issik-kul |Asia | 2,250| 5,300 above sea-level| |Great Salt Lake |North America | 2,177| 4,218 above sea-level| |Koko-nor |Asia | 2,040| 9,970 above sea-level| |Urumiah |Asia | 1,795| 4,100 above sea-level| |Van |Asia | 1,400| 5,200 above sea-level| |Dead Sea |Asia | 444| 1,290 below sea-level| |Ngami (nearly |Africa | 297| 2,919 above sea-level| |dried up) | | | | +-----------------+---------------+--------+----------------------+
[Illustration: =Relative Size of Lakes of the Eastern Hemisphere=]