In this map we see once more that the British Empire consists of a large number of separate lands scattered over the world. We have first of all the two British Islands set in the sea off the coast of Europe. They are separated by water from the military powers of Europe, and have no land frontier over which invasion may come. Then we have in North America the great Dominion of Canada, encompassed on the east and north and on most of the west by the ocean, with land frontiers only towards the United States. Next we have the Australasian Colonies, all of them islands, as in the case of the Mother Country. There are four considerable islands in the South Seas--Australia, Tasmania, and the North Island and the South Island of New Zealand. Crossing the Indian Ocean we come to South Africa, with water on three sides. Although South Africa appears to be neighboured by other States on the north, yet it is wholly different from India or Canada, or one of the great powers of Europe, because the adjacent territories are only thinly peopled, mainly by savages. South Africa is, therefore, isolated almost as effectively as is Australia. Then we come to India with ocean to the south-east and to the south-west, with the bleak tableland of Tibet to the north-east, and with accessible neighbours only to the north-west. Even Egypt and the Soudan, which appear to have great lengths of land frontier, are in effect detached by the desert, and hardly less secure than if they were surrounded by water. Lastly, we have on either side of the Atlantic West Africa and the West India colonies. These are the larger lands which form the British Empire, or are protected by it. In addition, there are many islands--some of them wealthy and important out of all proportion to their size, because they are trade centres or are covered with tropical plantations. [Sidenote: 2. The Cables of the Indian Ocean.] But the mere enumeration of the lands of the British Empire gives little idea of what that Empire really is. All these lands, severed by ocean and mountain and desert, would be separate countries were they not tied together by some 9,000 steamers and many thousand miles of submarine electric cable. Therefore, the steamers upon the ocean and the cables upon the bed of the ocean must be counted as important elements in the material fabric of the Empire. It is they, and they alone, which give it unity.