Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
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Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
Now we come to the first of the two strips of mountainous country
which I have described to you on the map as occupying the West and
North of Britain. There is much rain in these districts, brought
by the west wind from the neighbouring ocean. Here is a little
village by the sea in the West Country. It is called Clovelly.
You see the houses of the fishermen running up the hillside, and
you see how the whole hill is covered with trees, because of the
moisture of the air. Let us drive into these woods by the roads
which have been constructed through them. This is a view at Lynton
in the same West Country as Clovelly. Here is yet another scene in
the district showing a waterfall in the wood. If we drive further
inland, up some valley, we emerge presently on to the high ground
above, where the violent winds and the torrents, fed by the rains,
prevent the growth of much wood, and give us naked landscapes such
as this upon Dartmoor. You notice here a characteristic of the hilly
parts of England; the green hedgerows are wanting, and the fields
are divided by stone walls--rough stone walls, without cement. But
even here there grows a low bush, called gorse, which bears many
small yellow flowers, and at times this bush covers entire hillsides
with a cloak of brilliant gold. Now we come to the rocky coast of
Cornwall, known expressively as the Land’s End. It is very different
from the tamer edge of the chalk country. See how the hard dark rocks
have been shattered by the mighty Atlantic waves, and see how the
dangers which they present to navigation are guarded against by the
Longships Lighthouse. Notice the ship going round the point beyond
the lighthouse. It is steering northward to go up the channel of sea
which divides the island of Great Britain from that of Ireland.
[Sidenote: 27. Snowdon.]
[Sidenote: 28. Welsh Bicknor--Cattle in River.]
[Sidenote: 29. The Wye.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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