M9-NRLF B M 071 ^^o RY STUDIES JGRaPHY. H. J. MTICKINDBR. ••?••*•• » ••••,•••*»•*' v*Ki^V^ •v.v. .'.•.•::•>; c« •"••♦* •^v.•^../^^^^^:!;^; • •,*<••• ^r^rn :•■:.•.•■• 't.*".**.-. ••'**'.*• ■•*•..'. >.''.-.v:i«: .»....•/..•.••;•::■'."• •'•{i' •.''.<: ;»•'::::: A::«:tj f:"''^^ »!•••.• • '.I * ; iv^&>^-li^;;f-i£i £»*^ GEORGE PHILIP & SONX^ -^- JtT^t -^ L.I13RARY OF THK University of California. Class ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN GEOGRAPHY BY H. J. MACKINDER, M.A. 1. OUR OWN ISLANDS. Part I, 1/3 Part II, 1/3 In One Volume, 2/6 2. LANDS BEYOND THE^ CHANNEL. 3. DISTANT LANDS. 4. THE BRITISH EMPIRE. ' In preparation. These books will present a coherent system of teaching, each part depending on the previous parts. The first of them, " Our Own Islands," is intended for use in a class midway up an elementary or a preparatory school. The remainder will be issued successively, in ample time for the higher classes as the children move gradually up the school. From ^>.r.o,raph Copunght,] [ Underwood ^- Undrrwood. London and S.u- Y.r^ YiQ. 1. — The Forth Hkiduk. OUR OWN ISLANDS An Elementary Study- In Geography BY H. J. MACKINDER, MA. DIRECIOR OF THE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, AND LATELY READER IN GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Author of ''^Britain and the British Seas" WITH FOURTEEN COLOURED MAPS, EIGHTEEN COLOURED PLATES, AND I3O TEXTUAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND SKETCH MAPS SECOND EDITWX, REl^ISED LONDON GEORGE PHILIP ^ SON, Limited, 32, Fleet Street Liverpool: PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, Ltd., 45-51, South Castle Street {All Rights Reser-ved) ]^0 OP THE UNIVERSITY -v- v^- O*^ V ■- ^ / GENEKAL NOTE TO SECOND EDITION Effect has been given in this edition to several suggestions wliich have reached me, but teachers w ill like to know that no change has been made in the paging. H. J. M. June, 1907. ,» #"'-" PREFACE In this little book an attempt is made to teach some geography to children, with a human mean- ing in each chapter, and no unnecessary names. I do not pretend to begin at the beginning, for the first steps must be trodden with the help of the living teacher alone. Along what path those steps should be guided I have discussed in lectures on the study of geography which I hope shortly to publish. Nor have I tried to make each sentence evident, and to remove all difficulties, for I have assumed that the teacher will supply illustrations accord- ing to the locaUty of his school, and as the know- ledge and aptitude of his pupils may require. My object has been to stimulate and lead oral instruction, not to supplant it. Above all it is necessary that every paragraph should be realized upon the map, for the essence of good geography is that it should be accurately imaginative. If the successive steps be taken in logical order, and with some patience, children may acquire, comparatively early, a surprising command of the meaning even of a contoured map, and a delight in reading it. But the first V 181408 vi PREFACE stages must be carefully traversed, and therefore in the earlier of these chapters a central part of Britain is slowly described, but afterwards, when the map habit of thought has been won in some degree, a large area of the country is covered more rapidly. The North of England has been chosen for the purpose of commencement, not only because it is central in the United Kingdom, but also for its large and simple, yet emphatic topography. The neighbourhood of London is less suitable for the purpose, though London teachers will of course use local topography in the stage of " Home " Geography which should precede the aid of a text book. Exercises upon the map are proposed in almost every chapter, and these must on no account be omitted, but rather multiplied as time and local circumstance may permit and suggest, for the activity and the imagination of a child are inter- locked. Moreover, flexible accuracy of method is thus cultivated, not the rigid accuracy — less desirable — of quotation. No picture has been inserted for a merely decorative end, and the pupil should be led to question each view, as well as diagram, to ascer- tain the contribution intended to the meaning of the letterpress. For the convenience of binding a necessarily cheap book, a few of the larger views and coloured maps have had to be placed away PREFACE vii from their context, but reference is made to them by number in the pertinent chapters. Designedly, I have broken the treatment of England and have interpolated the chapters on Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, for the essential contrasts of our land are only appreciated when it is considered whole. Britain is described in this book according to progressive methods. It may therefore be advisable to turn back at certain stages in order to apply each new method to the districts already dealt with, especially if one of these happens to be the Home District. For instance, the oro- graphical method employed in the description of Wales may obviously be applied either to a part of Ireland or of Scotland or of the North of England. Similarly the historical method em- ployed in the description of London may be applied to Dublin or Edinburgh. The necessary ordnance maps are to be had for school purposes at a reduced rate through the Geographical Association. Certain matters commonly included in the political geography of our country are reserved for comparison with other lands in the next book of the set of four. Together these books are in- tended to provide a sequence of teaching through the latter half of the elementary or preparatory stage of education. H. J. MACKINDER. London, October, 1906. CONTENTS CHAP. I Our Island Home .... IT The Narrow Seas .... III Thk Three Kingdoms and the Principality IV Direction V Distance ...... VI The Size of Britain VII The Tides VIII The Backbone of England IX The Rivers of the North of England X The Counties of the North of England XI The Industries of the North of England XII The Cumbrian Lakes XIII The Border ..... XIV The Sol^thern Uplands of Scotland XV The Grampian Highlands XVI The Highlanders .... XVII The Northern Highlands XVIII The Northern and Western Isles . XIX The Ancient Volcanoes of Britain XX Staffa and the Giants' Causeway . XXI The Lochs of Argyll XXII The Busy Heart of Scotland . page 1 6 14 20 24 28 33 42 47 53 59 67 75 83 89 97 101 lOG 115 120 127 137 VIII CONTENTS IX CHAP. XXIII 1/XXIV XXV ^XXVI t^XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX XL XLI XLII The Scottish Counties Ireland and Scotland The Longest of British Rivers The Emerald Isle A Journey through Ireland . The Welsh Mountains The Principality The Severn and West of England The Midlands of England The East of England The South of England The Thainies .... London ..... Tite Metropolis Place-Names and Counties The Cathedrals and the Castles The Beacjns .... The Railways .... Area Population .... page 142 147 155 160 166 176 188 196 207 214 219 227 234 249 255 267 274 280 289 294 LIST OF COLOURED PLATES ANDMAPS TO FACE PLATE NO. PAGE I North Sea Fishing Fleet leaving Stornoway . 20 II Pliysical Map of Northern England III A Moor, with Ingleboro' in the distance IV Political Map of England IVa Lincoln Cathedral .... V Swaledale ..... VI Physical Map of Southern Scotland VII Physical Map of Northern Scotland VIII Windermere .... IX View from Stirling Castle X Physical Map of British Islos Xa Balmoral Castle .... XI View of Edhiburgh XI I J\)litical Map of Scotland XlII Physical Ahip of Ireland XIV Olengesh in Donegal . . . , XV (lUm H(»ad in Donegal . . , 21 62 double plate 63 68 69 84 85 ICO double plete 101 1.32 13.3 162 16.3 17S LIST OF COLOURED PLATES AND MAPS xi PLATE NO. XVI Political Map of Ireland XVII Physical Map of Wales . XVIII Menai Strait ..... XIX Stratford-on-Avon .... XX Physical IMap of South-Western England XXI Physical Map of South-Eastern England XXII Windsor Castle .... XXIII Westminster, from the River XXIV Physical Map of the Thames Basin XXV Physical Map of Central England . XXVI Durham Cathedral and Castle XXVII Westward View from the Cotswold Hills XXVIII Physical Map of Eastern England XXIX London and North-Western Express jDicking up Water ..... XXX Glendalough . TO FACE PAGE 179 194 195 210 211 226 227 242 243 258 259 274 275 290 291 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT FIG. 1. The Forth Bridge 2. Globe, this side . 3. Globe, opposite side 4. Battle of Trafalgar 5. The Spanish Armada . 6. The Narrow Seas 7. "The Silver Sea" 8. A Liner in a Storm 9. Eddystone Lighthouse , 10. The Three Kingdoms and the Principality . 11. The Mountains of Ireland seen from Snowdon 12. The Mariner's Compass .... 13. British Isles, to show directions 14. The Houses of Parliament, to illustrate scale 15. The Houses of Parliament, to illustrate scale 16. British Isles, to illustrate scale 17. British Isles, to illustrate scale 18. British Isles, to illustrate scale 19. Land's End 20. Dover Harbour . 21. Blackpool, Tide-in 22. Blackpool, Tide-out 23. Barnacles 24. A Dock, witli Locks . 25. The Tidal Rivers <.f Britain 20. The Cheviots, snow on hill top 27. Caldron Snout 28. The Ou.40 at Clifton . PAGE Frontispiece 2 3 4 7 9 11 12 13 15 17 21 23 24 25 28 28 29 30 31 34 35 30 38 41 46 48 49 XII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT Xlll FIG. PAGE 29. Section, across North of Enojland . . . .52 30. York Minster ..... 53 31. Ashwood Dale 56 32. Cowburn Tunnel . 57 33. Coal Mining . . 59 34. Coal Seam near Glasgow 60 35. A Cotton Field in America 62 36. Cotton Mill ... 63 37. Coalfields of the North of E nglan( I 65 38. The Lake District 68 39. Limestone Cave at Cheddar. 73 40. Bamburgh Castle 75 41. The Border 76 42. The Walls of Berwick. 78 43. The Roman Wall • 81 44. Melrose Abbey 83 45. Stirling Castle 89 46. Perthshire . 92 47. Red Deer . 94 48. A Golden Eagle . 95 49. A Highlander 98 50. Viking Ships 100 51. Orkney and Shetland Island 108 52. Shetland Ponies . 109 53. The Western Isles 112 54. lona Cathedral 113 55. Fujiyama . . 116 56. Moimt Pele . 117 57. Loch Coruisk . 120 58. The Coolin Mountains . . 121 59. Columnar Basalt . 124 00. The Giants' Causeway. . 125 61. Fingal's Cave . 126 62. Argyll . 127 63. Loch Ailort . 128 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT FIG. 05. (>(). <)7. 08. ()9. 70. 71. 1-2. 73. 74. 75. 70. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 84a. So. 80. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. U'2. 93. 94. 95. 90. 97. Gostedal Glacier . Svartisen Glacier . Ice-scratched Rock An Iceberg The Central Lowlands of Scothtnd A Launch on the Clyde Inverary ... Ii-eland and Scotland Plain and Mehnore INIountain The Shannon Falls of the Shannon The Bog of Allen Flax Rippling Sackville Street, Dublin Bandon .... The Lakes of Killarney Lower Lake, Killarney . Contour Lines of a ^Man Holyhead Mountain .... The Welsh Mountains, separate contours The Welsh ^Mountains, combined contours The Welsh Rivers The South Wales Coalfield . Lake Vyrnwy Carnarvon Castle. Garden in the Scilly Isles Flowers in the Scilly Isles . Plymouth Pier Plymouth Breakwater . Bristol .... The Malvern Hills I'he Midland Coalfields The Jilack Country A \'i<'\\ in the I^'imis l-ish Landed at Lowestoft . PAGE 130 131 133 134 130 140 144 148 151 150 157 104 107 171 17-2 173 174 177 180-1 182 184 185 190 191 193 198 199 200 201 204 205 208 212 210 217 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT ^v FIG. r.AGE 98. Stonehenge . . . . . . . . .219 99. Beachy Head ..... . 220 100. Hop Garden ..... . 221 101. The Needles . . . . . . 225 102. The Source of the Thames . . 229 103. High Street, Oxford .... . 230 104 King's College, Cambridge . 231 105. London before Houses were built . 235 106. County of London .... 230 107. Central London .... 237 108. The Tower of London .... 240 109. The Victoria Embankment .... 245 110. The Bank of England ..... 246 HI. The British Isles, showing position of Londo n 250 112. London Bridge ...... 252 113. Old London Bridge .... 253 114. Early Britain ..... . 256 115. Salisbviry Cathedral .... 267 116. Rochester Castle. .... 268 117. Tintern Abbey ...... 270 118. Cathedrals, Abbeys, and Castles of Britain 271 119. The Beacons ..... 276 120. British Squadi'on at Sea .... 278 121. A Roman Road . ..... 280 122. Locks on the Caledonian Canal 281 123. A Coach . . . . . . 282 124. Railway Map of British I.sles 287 125. Canada ....... 289 126. Area . ....... 290 127. South Africa . . 292 128. India ........ 293 129. Australia ....... 294 130. New Zealand ...... 29S i ! V r r? s ( T ^' OUR OWN ISLANDS. CHAPTER I. OUR ISLAND HOME It is the land that freemen till. — Tennyson. Tins free land, of which the poet Tennyson has written with pride, is our home. It consists of two large islands off the west coast of Europe. They were called the British Isles by a Greek writer more than two thousand years ago, and that has been their name ever since. The Romans, in the Latin tongue, called the larger of them Britannia, and the smaller Hibernia. To-day, in Enghsh, we speak of them as Great Britain and Ireland. But we often call the whole British Isles merely Britain, because one word is more con- venient than two or three. On the globe you will see the British Isles as two little specks beside the vast land which is known as the Old World. This land consists of three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It spreads for six thou- sand miles eastward of Britain to the end of Asia, and for six thousand miles nearly southward of Britain to the end of Africa. We who live in the British Isles often refer to the mainland simply as " The Continent." It is nearly three hundred times as large as our 2 OUR OWN IJSLAXDS islands. Yet these islands are the home of one of the strongest nations, and colonists have gone out from them who to-day form sister nations in America, Australia, and South Africa. Let us try to find out how so small a country can be the home of so great a people. Remember that it is not only size that tells, and that some of 5 ! \ \ Fio. 2. — A Voyage Round the World. (See also Fig. 3.) the cleverest and best men are often small men. In the same way these islands, though small as compared with the Continent, are in many things verv fortunate. They have a climate which in most years is not too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter, so that men are able to work hard all the year round. OUR ISLAND HOME 3 Buried in their rocks are great stores of coal and iron, so that Britain has grown rich by manu- factures. But the most fortunate thing of all is the fact that they are islands, and that the sea around them divides them from the Continent. For many centuries no army has been able to cross the sea and to conquer Britain, though a -cyNew P A C 1 ^-Zealand C E A N •-^ \o . Pole *-"^4^r w. A tH ;^ ' SOUTH AMEH'CA ,\^ Fig. 3. — See Fig. 2 opposite. You should follow this voyage also on a globe. hundred years ago the French Emperor Napoleon assembled a great army at Boulogne, a place in France from which you can see Britain across the water. But Admiral Nelson defeated the French Fleet at Trafalgar, and no one has since attempted to invade us. Therefore we have had the great blessings of peace and freedom at home. 4 OUR OWN ISLANDS Look again at the globe, and you will see that the British Isles are divided from the Continent on the east and on the south by water which is not very broad. This water is often spoken of as the Narrow Seas. On the other hand, to north and to west there spreads out the vast Atlantic Ocean. A ship can Fig. 4. — The Battle of Trafalgar. Isave Britain, and steaming over the water of the Atlantic, can go southward for several thousand miles. Turning round the Cape of Good Hope, at the end of Africa, it can steam on eastward for several thousand miles more to the great island of Australia. Then, keeping always eastward for yet more thousands of miles, it can pass round OUR ISLAND HOME 5 Cape Horn at the end of South America, and so come again into the Atlantic Ocean. Steaming northward through this ocean it returns once more to Britain, having made a voyage round the world. Therefore the ocean whose waves beat upon the shores of Britain is the great high road upon which the ships come and go, carrying our trade to all the shores of the world. It is clear, then, that our island home is for- tunate in at least four different ways. It has a climate in which we can be strong and active ; it has great wealth of iron and coal ; it is protected by the sea, so that we have peace and freedom at home ; and it is surrounded by the ocean, upon which we can go out into all the world to do com- merce and to found colonies. CHAPTER II. THE NARROW SEAS As a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands. — Ki7ig Richard 11^ Shakespeare. In these lines our greatest poet, Shakespeare, tells us that he thought Britain happier than other lands. The reason he gives is that we are defended by the sea. Shakespeare thought thus, because in his time, three hundred years ago, the King of Spain, who was then a very great king, got ready an army in Belgium to attack England. Belgium at that time belonged to Spain, and the King sent his fleet, which was called the Great Armada, to bring his army over from Belgium to England. But the English fleet beat the Armada before it got to Belgium, and so prevented the invasion. We saw in the last chapter that two hundred years afterwards the French Emperor Napoleon also tried to invade England, but the English again defeated the enemy at sea, and the French army could not cross over. We must learn something about the water which thus helps us so powerfully to defend our home. Let us look at this map (Fig 6, p. 9)of the British THE NARROW SEAS 7 Isles and the Narrow Seas. We note that at one point Britain comes very near to the Continent. At its south-eastern corner Great Britain is only twenty miles from the opposite shore. The narrowing of the sea at this point is called the Strait of Dover. Every day many people come and go across the Strait by quick steamers, which Fig. 5. — The Spanish Armada. m fine weather often make the voyage in less than an hour. When the weather is clear you can see the white cliffs of France as you stand on the Castle at Dover, and at the same time the white cliffs of England can be seen shining in the sunlight from the coast of France. The town in France where 8 OUR OWN IISLANDS the passengers from Dover land on the Continent is called Calais, and French people speak of the Strait as the Pas de Calais — that is to say, the Strait of Calais, not of Dover. The sea which divides the British Isles from the Continent widens from the Strait on the one hand into the English Channel, and on the other into the great square of water which is called the North Sea. The EngHsh Channel separates England from France. The French call it the Manche, from their word meaning sleeve, because the Channel has roughly the form of a sleeve upon an arm held out eastward, with the wrist at the Strait of Dover. In poetry the English Channel is often described as the Silver Streak, for the water of the sea glistens in the sunlight with a sheen Hke that of silver. Shakespeare, for example, has written of our island as " This precious stone set in the silver sea." (See Fig. 7, p. 11.) From the Strait of Dover another arm of the sea bends northward between England on the one side and Belgium and Holland on the other. This arm, which receives from the west the wide mouth of the River Thames, has no special name, but is treated as part of the North Sea. The water of the North Sea washes all the east coast of Great Britain, and spreading round the THE NARROW SEAS 9 Statute Miles i. ^ III Fig. G. —The Biutish Isles and the Narrow Seas. north of Holland, extends along the shores of Germany, Denmark, and Norway. In the midst of it is the Dogger Bank, where the sea is very shallow, and there is great abundance of fish. Hundreds of fishermen from England, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Holland fish here and send their catch to be eaten in all the lands around (see Plate I, p. 20). There are frequent !»t 10 OUR OWN ISLANDS storms and fogs in the North Sea, so that the Hfe of the fishermen is a rough and dangerous one. Many other Hnes of steamers, in addition to that between Dover and Calais, cross the Narrow Seas between Britain and the Continent. But there is a busy traffic on these seas, not only because of the fishermen, and because of the steamers to the Continent, but also on account of the great ships which leave the ports of the North Sea and the Channel, and go out on to the Atlantic Ocean for voyages of many days. Sixteen hundred miles away, to the west of Ireland, is another British land on the Continent of America. It is the vast land of Canada. A fast steamer would cross the ocean between us and Canada in six, seven, or eight days, accord- ing to its speed. Think of a colonist who, when young, left some English village and went to settle in Canada. Think of him coming home years afterwards to visit his friends once more. How impatient he would be as hour after hour he saw nothing but sky above him and water all around, and at night when lying in his berth heard the waves chasing one another past the sides of the ship (Fig. 8. p. 12). And think of his joy when the ship entered the English Channel and he saw the lights fiasliing over the water from his native shores. There are lighthouses placed on each side of the THE NARROW SEAS 11 English Channel all the way to Dover, so that at night the Channel is like a great water street. Scores of steamers are always moving through it day and night, some, as we have seen, crossing it rapidly from coast to coast, but others going up and down its length, just beginning or ending their long voyages over the ocean. Copyright ] [Payne Jennings. Fig. 7. — " The Silver Sea." The English Channel from the Cliffs at Torquay. Perhaps the most famous of our lighthouses is that built on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, off the port of Plymouth, near the mouth of the I M 12 THE NARROW SEAS 13 English Channel. The great waves coming in from the ocean have been known to throw their spray completely over the top of it. The stump of an older lighthouse stands on the same rocks. It was injured by the sea and had to be taken down. A third and still older Eddy stone Light- house was swept away in a storm. Copyright,] [O. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdcint Fig. 9. — Eddystone Lighthouse. CHAPTER III. THE THREE KINGDOMS AND THE PRINCIPALITY Let us now turn to the map of the British Isles, and let us see why we often speak of the British Isles as the United Kingdom. The two islands of Great Britain and Ireland are very different in shape and size. Look at Great Britain on the map. It is a long island stretching northward. It consists of two parts, England in the south and Scotland in the north. These were once separate kingdoms, each with its own king, the one ruling in London, the capital of England, the other at Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. In the old times there were many fierce w^ars between England and Scotland. Even to-day they are still to some extent different countries, with different ways and customs. We are very proud of the brave deeds which were done by our forefathers in the days when they were enemies. But th(^ Scotch and English peoples are now ha])pily united in loyalty to the same king. On the west side of England there are two yxMiinsulas. The larger of these is called Wales. Tliis also was once a separate coinitry, although it has boon uihIcmI to England niiich longer than 14 (? ■t Snae/? I of f«^i //Man :^;-:;W€i^;A#-0^;^ Irish Sea -. ^ 7, ^ ^euids End Fig. 10. — The Three Kingdoms and the Principality. 15 10 OVn OWN ISLANDS has Scotland. The eldest son of the King of England is known as the Prince of Wales, and Wales is therefore often spoken of as the Prin- cipality. A great many people in Wales still talk Welsh, which was the language of the ancient Britons. The Welsh, like the Scotch, are proud of their ancestors who fought against England. But England and Wales are now joined into a single friendly country. To the south of Wales is the other western peninsula, longer than Wales, but narrower. From its position it is often called the West of England. It terminates in a promontory known as the Land's End. In France, on the opposite side of the English Channel, is another pro- montory, which is called Brittany. These two headlands, the one in England, the other in France, grasp the mouth of the English Channel Hke two great piers at the mouth of a vast harbour. Brittany is called by that name because its people are descended from the ancient Britons, some of whom fled there. Many of them still talk not French, but Breton, a language so like Welsh that the fishermen of Wales and Brittany, when they meet at sea, can understand one another. To west of Great Britain lies Ireland. It is less than half as large as Great Britain, but has a more rounded outline. The Strait which separates the fi' THE THREE KINGDOMS 17 north of Ireland from Scotland is called the North Channel. It is only thirteen miles across, and is therefore much narrower even than the Strait of Dover. It is also often called St. Patrick's Channel, from St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The strait which separates the south of Ireland from Wales is broader, although on a fine day it is i xMuiAftk^ KJ]8i i >ll i . i iy' ' i *l> i ^-A .r7^\».. / U NtdCllllKN Kn«jLAND, I'llYSlOAL. DIRECTION 21 We have now a paper marked with a star of creases, showing sixteen directions. A sailor would put a new point halfway between each of these, and so he would get his thirty-two points of the compass. The first time we get a chance we Fig. 12. — The iviAKiJsrER's Compass. will look well at a compass and see its magnetic needle always pointing North. Let us turn to the map of the British Isles on p. 23, and let us see how we can use the paper, which we have so carefully got ready, to find out the directions of the coasts. This we shall do best by using tissue paper for our star of directions. 22 OUR OWN ISLANDS Then we shall be able to see the map underneath it. Look at the Strait of Dover. Do you see the English Channel widening from it in a WSW. direction, and the North Sea widening at first gradually in a NNE. direction, until it suddenly spreads to its full breadth ? Notice the long trend of the east coast of Great Britain in a NNW. direction, but see how the middle hne of the British Isles, running in a true N. and S. direction, comes through the middle of Scotland, the Irish Sea, Wales, the Bristol Channel, the peninsula of the West of England, the mouth of the English Channel, and the French peninsula of Brittany. All of Ireland lies to the west of this central line, and all of England lies to the east of it, except the West of England peninsula. Let us ask our teacher to put a pencil dot on the map to mark the place of our schoolroom, and then let us find out from the map, with the lielp of our creased paper, the direction from our sclioohoom to London. Tnen we shall know how to point to London with our arms when we stand in the middle of the room. The rising and the setting of the sun will tell us wliich are the north, east, soutJi, and west sides of the room. If you live in l^ondon, there is, of course, no use DIRECTION 23 w NORTH B:i^vr;tita n v Fig. 13. — The British Isles. To show the directions of the coast. in trying to point to it. In that case find out the direction of Liverpool, and point to it. Scale of FkI no an MO fta ' I inch jiimi] I- I l-:li I' Ir li I'l-;! Ihlrl |i -IHI r IHIHiyiBlBIHIHIHIl-IIHIH|i= K-llPIBrBIBIRIt-iqiRIEIelEI B i:!El-l - HIDIi IriUHHIblHIhlhlhlHI E ilUIBIHIBlHIbiaiHIUiaUl -. IHIBIBIHiai&lblfalblElfclBI 3 IlIEILI E !|3IE|i MwiR.wi»ii«iwiri'»i"i«'»."ri«iHiPii>»tn:pHipippifiir«ir.'!r^ Orkney 1? MalinHd , ^^ -f ^] VGlaegpw ^ ,r>. ReLAN'J ^ Liverpool to . Land's End Fig. 18. — British Isles. Now take a paper with a straight edge to it, and mark on it a hundred miles according to the scale of the map. Measure with its help the distance in a straight line from Dover to Cape Wrath, and then 30 OUR OWN ISLANDS Copy rigid,'] [F. Frith & vo., Ltd. Fio. 19. — The Land's End. from Cape Wrath to Land's End, and then from Land's End back to Dover. Set down in miles these three distances, and add them up. If you have measured them rightly, their total will be about seventeen hundred miles. Next measure the length of Ireland from north to south, that is to say, from Malin Head to Cape Clear. The latter cape is on a little island de- tached from the mainland of Ireland. If you have measured rightly, you will find that the length of Ireland is less than half of the length of Great Britain from Cape Wrath to Land's End. When we \vish to talk of the whole length of the THE SIZE OF BRITAIN 31 island of Great Britain, it is very common to say " from Land's End to John O'Groat's," because in the far north of Scotland, but to eastward of Cape Wrath, there was once a house which belonged to a Dutchman called John of Groat. This was the last house in Scotland in the direction of the Orkney Islands. Let us practise a little more in the use of the scale of miles. For example, let us measure the distance from the most eastern to the most wes- tern point of the United Kingdom, and then from Reproduced from pen and ink drawing by permission of the Register of Dover Harbour. Fig. 20. — Dover Harbour. Note the castle on the cliff above the town. the most northern point to the most southern. The most northern point is on the Shetland 32 OUR OWN ISLANDS Isles, and the most southern point is called the Lizard. We ought now, with the help of a map, and its scale of miles, and a creased sheet of paper, to be able to answer any question put to us as to direc- tions and distances. Of course the places about which we ask these questions must be shown on the map which we consult. That is why we require more than one map. CHAPTER VII. THE TIDES Time and Tide stay for no man. — English Proverb. We all know that a wind, even a little wind, raises ripples on the surface of the water. This you may see on any pond or stream, and if you live by the seaside, you know that the sea is very seldom quite calm. Sometimes when it is swept by a strong wind, the sea runs in great waves, and at such times ships are wrecked and men drowned. But in addition to the waves caused by the wind, there are other movements in the sea which are very important for British commerce. If you go to the seaside where there is a broad sandy shore, on which the children dig, you know that the waves of the sea do not always break in the same place. Little by little they creep up the shore as the hours go by, until they reach high water mark, and then little by little again they return to low water mark. There is high water about every twelve hours. This forward and backward move- ment of the sea is called the tide. In the autumn, when the seaweeds break away from their roots in the great forests of the sea-bed, there is a line of weed left by each tide all along 34 OUR OWN ISLANDS high water mark, and men come with carts and take the weed away for manure on the fields. When the tide is out and the sand is left dry, men go with nets to fish for shrimps in the pools of water which remain here and there upon the shore. Copyright,] [P- T'rith