cover the holy sepulchre and win the sounding title
of "King of Jerusalem."

Now the channel widens out and the coasts of the two continents diverge
from each other. We see the horizon of the Black Sea opening before us,
and the vessel begins to pitch. Lighthouses stand on either side of the
entrance, which is commanded by batteries high above it. We roll out
into the sea, and half an hour later we can hardly see the break in the
coast-line which marks the end of the Bosporus.

We make straight for Sebastopol, near the southernmost point of the
Crimea. This is the station of the Russian Black Sea fleet, but the
Russians have little pride in it, for the Turks control the passage to
the Mediterranean, and without the consent of the other great Powers the
Russian warships cannot pass through. The Black Sea is, of course, open
to the mercantile vessels of all nations.

You know, of course, that Europe has four landlocked seas, the Baltic,
the Mediterranean, the Black and Caspian Seas. The Baltic is enclosed
all round by European coasts; the Black and Caspian Seas belong to both
Europe and Asia; while the Mediterranean lies between the three
continents of the Old World--Europe, Asia, and Africa. Now the Baltic,
Black, and Caspian Seas are of about the same size, each having an area
about three times that of England and Wales. The Baltic is connected
with the Atlantic by several sounds between the Danish islands and
Scania. The Black Sea has only one outlet, the Bosporus. The Caspian Sea
has no outlet at all, and is really a lake.

The Baltic is very shallow, its maximum depth, south-east of the
Landsort lighthouse, being 250 fathoms. Next comes the Caspian Sea with
a depth of 600 fathoms. The singular feature of this, the largest lake
in the world, is that its surface lies 85 feet below that of the Black
Sea. This last is the deepest of the three, for in it a sounding of 1230
fathoms has been taken.

All three seas are salt, the Baltic least and the Caspian most. Four
great rivers enter the Black Sea, the Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, and
Don. It therefore receives large volumes of fresh water. But along the
bottom of the Bosporus an undercurrent of salt water passes into the
Black Sea, which is compensated for by a surface stream of less salt and
therefore lighter water flowing to the Mediterranean.

The Black Sea is not blacker than any other sea, nor is the White Sea
white, the Yellow Sea yellow, or the Red Sea red. An