It has been suggested that the reason why the names of some counties end or may end in "shire," while in other cases this syllable is never used, is that the former were "shorn off" from some larger district, while the latter represent entire ancient kingdoms or tribal divisions. According to this theory, Yorkshire is a "shire" because it originally formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria; and Kent is not a "shire" because it practically represents the ancient kingdom of the Cantii. The form "Kent-shire" is, however, found in a record of the time of Athelstan. In the case of our own county both forms are in use, and we say either "Devon" or "Devonshire," although the two names are not exactly interchangeable. Thus, while we generally talk of "Red Devon" cattle, we always speak of "Devonshire" cream. "Devon," which is the older form, may be derived either from _Dumnonii_, the name given by Ptolemy, an Alexandrian geographer of the second century, to the inhabitants of the south-west of Britain, perhaps from a Celtic word _Dumnos_, "people"--or it may come from the old Welsh word _Dyvnaint_ or _Dyfneint_, "the land of the deeps," that is to say, of deep valleys or deep seas. To the Saxon settlers the people they found in possession of the district were _Defn-saetan_ or "dwellers in Devon"; and in time these settlers called themselves _Defenas_, or "men of Devon." In the Exeter Domesday Book--the Norman survey of the five south-western counties, completed probably before 1086--the name of the county is given as _Devenesira_. It would appear, then, that the Britons called their province "Devon," and that the Saxons called it "Devonshire." It is characteristic of the peaceable nature of the Saxon occupation that the two names, like the two nations, seem to have quietly settled down side by side. [Illustration: Devonshire in the Exeter Domesday Book] It is believed that it was Alfred the Great who marked out the border-line between Devon and Somerset; and it was undoubtedly Athelstan who, after his victory over the West Welsh, made the Tamar the boundary between Devon and Cornwall. 2. General Characteristics. Devonshire is a county in the extreme south-west of England, occupying the greater part of the peninsula between the English and Bristol Channels, and having a coast-line both on the south and on the north. Situated thus, on two seas, and possessing, especially on its southern sea-board, a remarkable number of bays and estuaries, it has always been noted as a maritime county. And although many of its harbours have, in the lapse of ages, become silted up with sand or shingle, and are now of comparatively slight importance, it has one great sea-port, which, while only thirtieth in rank among British commercial ports, is the greatest naval station in the Empire.