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 CHAPTER II

THE LESSON OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

I

USSIA is the classic land for geographers. Nowhere else have geographical conditions left a more indelible imprint. Nowhere else have men felt more deeply the all-pervading influences of physical surroundings, of climate and of race. There are some countries, like England, where man has conquered Nature, where Nature has become the benevolent and ministering servant of man. There are other countries, like Russia, where it is Nature that always threatens to enslave man. In few other countries have men been compelled to submit to that physical