. The story of the ancient nations : a text-book for high schools. nthe valleys of Sparta. The air is bright and clear, withmonths of almost cloudless weather. The landscape is n^ broken by ranges of high and tree-less mountainssurrounding val-ley lands, throughwhich small riversrun down to thesea. There are nogreat stretches ofprairie, as in theMiddle West ofour own country,nor are there pla-teaus whichgradually ascend to the mountains. The low valleys lie be-tween masses of immense bowlders, and the way from onevalley to another leads over these, through passes which arenot easy for horses o
. The story of the ancient nations : a text-book for high schools. nthe valleys of Sparta. The air is bright and clear, withmonths of almost cloudless weather. The landscape is n^ broken by ranges of high and tree-less mountainssurrounding val-ley lands, throughwhich small riversrun down to thesea. There are nogreat stretches ofprairie, as in theMiddle West ofour own country,nor are there pla-teaus whichgradually ascend to the mountains. The low valleys lie be-tween masses of immense bowlders, and the way from onevalley to another leads over these, through passes which arenot easy for horses or men to travel. This physical fact hasa tendency to cut off the valley districts from communica-tion with one another. 96. Its Effect on the Development of the Hellenes.—It isin large measure due to this physical feature of the countrythat the Greeks were never able to unite to form a singlegreat Hellenic nation. Trade between the districts sepa-rated by the mountains was difficult. Those which had anoutlet upon the sea could trade more easily by boat than by. M IN HELLAS AND THE HELLENES 81 pack-trains over the mountain-passes. This fact tended tomake the Greeks well acquainted with the sea at a veryearly period in their history. Some of the valleys are quite fertile, but these form asmall portion of the area of the entire peninsula. Therefore,as the population grew, the Greeks were forced to importtheir grain and other food supplies in large quantities, byship, from other countries. Large and small bays and inletscut into the coast of Greece, and give the country a greaterextent of shore-line, compared to its size, than any land weknow. 97. The Hellenes on the Sea.—The waters around Greeceare comparatively calm. To the east and south manyislands led the sailors step by step toward Asia, and withoutlosing sight of land they passed from one of these islands toanother, gradually colonizing them. The coast-line, brokeninto gulfs and bays; the d
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