. The
southern slope of the Monte Rosa Alps, from the glacier cap at 4500
meters to the banks of the Po River, yields within certain limits a
zonal epitome of European life from Lapland to the Mediterranean. The
long incline from the summit of Mount Everest (8840 meters) in the
eastern Himalayas, through Darjeeling down to sea level at Calcutta,
comprises in a few miles the climatic and cultural range of Asia from
Arctic to Tropic.

[Sidenote: Politico-economic value of varied relief.]

For the state, a territory of varied relief is highly beneficial,
because it combines manifold forms of economic activity, a wide range of
crops, areas of specialized production mutually interdependent. It
induces a certain balance of urban and lief, rural life, which
contributes greatly to the health of the state.[1253] The steep slopes of
Dai Nippon, fertile only under spade tillage, will forever insure Japan
the persistence of a numerous peasantry. For geological and geographical
reasons, as from national motives, therefore, Japan will probably never
sacrifice its farmer to its industrial class, as England has done. On
the other hand, contrasted reliefs on a great territorial scale tend to
invade political solidarity. Tidewater and mountain Virginia were poor
running-mates for a century before the Civil War, and then the mountain
region broke out of harness. Geographical contrasts made the unification
of Germany difficult, and yet they have added to the economic and
national strength of the Empire. The history of Switzerland shows the
high Alpine cantons always maintaining a political tug of war with the
cantons of the marginal plain, and always suffering a defeat which was
their salvation.

[Sidenote: Relief and climate.]

The chief effect of a varied relief is a varied climate. This changes
with altitude in much the same way as with latitude. Heat and absolute
humidity diminish, generally speaking, as height increases, while
rainfall becomes greater up to a certain level. The effect of ascending
and descending currents of air is to diminish the range of temperature
on mountain slopes and produce rather an oceanic type of climate. The
larger and more uniform a climatic district, the more conspicuously do
even slight elevations form climatic islands, like the Harz Mountains in
the North German lowlands. A land of monotonous relief has a uniform
climate, while a region rich in vertical articulations is rich also in
local varieties