At last we enter one of the docks which receive ships from the river at high tide. The dock gates are closed behind us, so that when the tide falls in the river our steamer will remain afloat beside the wharf. We see here the great vessel being pushed slowly into her berth by steam tugs which were waiting for her. And here we have a scene on deck when the gangways have been opened to the shore, and friends have come on board to welcome our British fellow-passengers, many of them returning home after years of absence. Now we set foot on land, and run by train past miles of houses until we come into the centre of the vast city, and reach our hotel. Meantime the captain of the ship and the crew have gone to their homes, and the great ship lies at rest in the dock--silent after her long voyage. We will unpack our trunks and sleep for a night before we go into the streets of London to see the metropolis of the Empire. LECTURE II. LONDON, THE IMPERIAL CITY. [Sidenote: 1. Areas of India and the British Isles compared.] Before we set out through the largest and most populous city of the world, let us consider what it is that we are going to look at. Let us try to understand the size of the United Kingdom and of London by comparing them with India and its chief cities. First we have a map showing the area of the British Isles compared with the area of India. We see that the British Isles are small as compared with India; but they have a far more dense population. There are more than twice as many people to the square mile in the United Kingdom than there are in India. This is due to the fact that the people of India live for the most part in villages, whereas in the United Kingdom the majority of the people live in the cities. In India only about ten per cent. of the whole population live in towns with more than five thousand inhabitants. [Sidenote: 2. Populations of London, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Rangoon, and Karachi compared.] Now let us compare the populations of our chief Indian cities with that of London. We have here circles which represent by their areas the population of London on the one hand, and on the other hand of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Rangoon, and Karachi. We see at a glance that London has a population greater than the combined population of all these great cities. We notice the words “Greater London” round the black circle. London may be measured in three ways, for it consists of three zones, one within the other. In the centre there is the oldest part, the City of London, which is now the chief place of business. Round the city there has grown up, in the course of centuries, a great ring of population known as Inner London. Outside this again, there has sprung up of recent years a still wider zone of suburbs, which is called Outer London. These three, the City, Inner London and Outer London, together make Greater London.