360 THE PULSE OF ASIA
hand, and changeable facts, on the other. The permanent facts — which are permanent historically but by no means geologically — are exemplified by the relief of the lands, the distribution of water, and above all, the great difference in temperature between the cold polar regions and the warm torrid zone. The changeable facts include not only accidental occurrences, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, the swing of rivers into new courses, hurricanes, and the like, but also changes of climate of longer or shorter duration, which are vastly more important than the others.
Few people doubt the importance of the permanent facts of geography in determining the course of history; although, as it seems to me, their influence upon human character needs greater emphasis than is usually given to it. The main movements of population have been east and west in Eurasia because mountains and deserts interpose barriers in the other direction. England's commercial supremacy is due in part to her insular position on the border of the comparatively narrow sea between Europe and America, and in part to the presence of coal and iron in close proximity. France and Austria have often battled in the valley of the Po because narrow gaps at either end of the Alps gave both countries ready access; and the outcome of more than one battle has depended on the ability of one of the contestants to entrench its army behind a river flowing southward from the Alps to the Po. Napoleon said that the cold of Russia and the heat of Syria were the most unconquerable enemies that he ever met.
The illustrations just given relate to the physical side of the geographic control of history. A far deeper and more
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