VIII. SIX COUNTIES IN SOUTH WALES.1 CARDIGANSHIRE is mainly agricultural, but contains rich deposits of lead, zinc, and copper. Lead, silver, zinc, and copper ores are largely exported from Aberystwith (8), the chief port. CARDIGAN (4) is the county town. Aberystwith is the seat of the University College of Wales, founded in 1872. RADNORSHIRE is the smallest, least populous and interesting of the six southern counties. Its few towns are small and unimportant. RESTEIGN (1) is the county town. The famous Offa's Dyke passes through the beautiful town of Knighton. BRECKNOCKSHIRE, also an inland county, is wild and mountainous, with some fine scenery along the Wye and in the Brecon uplands. The only considerable town is BRECON (6), on the Usk, which is also the county town. Brecon is noted for its ho se fairs. CARMARTHENSHIRE, the largest of the Welsh counties, is low towards the sea, rising inland into lofty hills and barren uplands. The eastern division of the county includes part of the great South Wales coalfield, and coal, tin, and copper mines are numerous. Llanelly (24) is an important coal, iron, and copper port. CARMARTHEN (10), the county town, is on the Towy. Higher up the river are the little market towns of Llandeilo and Llandovery, "whose names," says Geikie, "are now known all over the world, because they have been given to certain fossiliferous rocks originally found there." PEMBROKESHIRE, the most westerly of the Welsh counties, has a small coalfield, and possesses in Milford Haven a magnificent natural harbour. PEMBROKE, Milford, Tenby, and Haverfordwest (the county town), are the chief towns. Pembroke (16) and Milford are situated on Milford Haven. There is a Government dockyard at Pembroke. St. David's and its cathedral are historically interesting: St. David being the patron saint of Wales. GLAMORGANSHIRE is the most populous and important county in Wales, with coal mines and iron-works on a scale of great magnitude. Merthyr Tydvil (69), Aberdare (43), Ystradyfodwg (88), Dowlais, and Neath are the great mining and metal centres, while CARDIFF (164) and Swansea (95), are the chief ports of this rich region. Cardiff, the county town, manufactures enormous quantities of tin-plate, and is the principal outlet of the rich coalfield of South Wales, and annually exports millions of tons of coal to all parts of the world. Cardiff is the seat of the South Wales University College. Barry, near Cardiff, has the largest single dock in the world. Large quantities of steel are produced at Merthyr Tydvil, but most of the iron ore smelted in this district is imported from Spain. Swansea is the heid-quarters of the copper-smelting industry, which is also carried on at and near the port of Neath. 1. The areas and population of the Six Counties of South Wales are as follows: (r.) Cardiganshire, 692 sq. m., pop. 60,237. (2) Radnorshire, 432 sq. m., pop. 23,263. (3.) Brecknockshire, 719 sq. m. pop. 9.906. SCOTLAND. SCOTLAND is the northern portion of the island of Great Britain. The name Scotland means the "land of the Scots." The Scots were a Celtic tribe, from the north of Ireland, who passed over and settled in Kintyre about the year 503, and gradually extended their conquests until, in 843, the king of the Scots ruled over nearly the whole of Scotland north of the Forth and the Clyde. The name "Scotland" came into general use about the year 950. The native Picts and their descendants, the modern Highlanders, call the country Albyn. To the Romans it was known as Caledonia. BOUNDARIES.-Scotland is bounded on all sides by the sea, except on the south-east, where it adjoins England. Scotland is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by England and part of the Irish Sea; and on the east by the North Sea. Scotland is divided from England by the Solway Firth, the Cheviot Hills, and the Tweed; from Ireland by the North Channel; and from Denmark and Norway by the North Sea. EXTENT. The area of Scotland (inclusive of its numerous islands) is over 30,000 square miles, or a little more than half that of England and Wales. The mainland alone embraces an area of about 27,000 square miles. The greatest length, from Dunnet Head to the Mull of Galloway, is 288 miles; the greatest breadth, from Buchan Ness to Ardnamurchan Point, is 175 miles; the least breadth, between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, is only 38 miles. COASTS.-The coasts of Scotland are more indented than those of England, especially on the west and north, and have a total length of not less than 2,500 miles, equivalent to 1 mile of coast to every 12 square miles of area. Owing to the numerous indentations of the coast-line, no part of the mainland is more than 40 miles from the sea. The broader indentations by which the sea penetrates the land are generally called Firths-the narrower inlets bear the name of Lochs. The term loch is uniformly given to lakes in Scotland, as it also is to the narrow inlets of the sea upon the western and northern coasts, such as Loch Fyne and others. There is, however, an important difference between the two. The inland locks, such as Loch Lomond, have fresh water, like the lakes of England and other countries. The lochs that lie along the coast, such as Loch Fyne, are arms of the sea, and consist, consequently, of salt water. The West Coast of Scotland presents a bewildering succession of deep inlets, bold and rocky headlands, and long peninsulas. South of Ardnamurchan Point, the coast, though very irregular, is generally low; north of that "headland of the great sea," the deep lochs and channels are fringed by lofty cliffs and numerous islands. The wild and desolate scenery of the northern coast culminates in huge sea-cliffs, which rise steeply from the sea like a mountainwall, attaining near Cape Wrath a height of over 600 feet. The East Coast, from Tarbet Ness to the Firth of Forth, is on the whole flat and generally sandy, but from St. Abb's Head to the Tweed it is extremely bold and rocky. 1 The western coast of Scotland is thus much more irregular than the eastern coast, and a glance at a map of England will show the same contrast between the broken form of the western coast, and the rounded, flowing curves of the eastern coast. The reason is that, on the west, the huge billows of the Atlantic dash upon the coast with irresistible force: all the softer parts have been thus removed, leaving the harder rocks to defy the baffled waves, although they also are slowly, but surely, wasting away. The force of the Atlantic breakers on the western coasts of the British Isles is enormous. Immense blocks have been displaced, sea-walls and breakwaters broken down, and even lighthouses swept away. The spray is frequently driven right over the lantern of the Eddystone Lighthouse, on the south, while the lantern at Dunnet Head on the north, although two hundred and seventy feet above the level of the sea, has been cracked by pebbles hurled from the beach by the waves; and, during very violent storms, the Atlantic waves dash up the sides of the cliff at Hoy Head, in Orkney, to a height of nearly six hundred feet! On the eastern coast, however, the waves are not, on the whole, nearly so large or so powerful. The North Sea is so shallow that, were the water drained away, we should hardly notice any downward slope at all; and, in fact, if its bed were raised only a hundred and fifty feet, we should be able to walk dryshod from Britain to Belgium or Holland. Indeed, geologists tell us that Great Britain was once joined to the Continent, and that there was then no German Ocean. They suppose that the land sank very slowly, and that the Atlantic burst in from the south-west and the north, and thus formed a great sea. Further, the eastern coasts of both England and Scotland are largely composed of much softer materials than the broken and rugged western coasts; and, besides, on the eastern side of the island, the land generally slopes gently seawards, while on the western side, it rises abruptly from the water. It is, of course, evident that large waves dashing against a steep coast will not break it up so regularly as smaller waves beating upon a gently sloping shore. CAPES.-The principal capes on the coasts of Scotland are the following: On the North Coast, Dunnet Head and Cape Wrath; on the East Coast, Duncansby Head, Tarbet Ness, Kinnaird's Head, Buchan Ness, Buddon Ness, Fife Ness, and St. A b's Head; on the West Coast, Ardnamurchan Point, the Mull of Kintyre. Corsewall Point; on the South Coast, the Mull of Galloway and Burrow He id. The most northerly point is Dunnet Head; the most southerly, the Mull of Galloway; the most easterly, Buchan Ness; the most westerly, Ardnamurchan Point. INLETS.-The most important inlets are the following: On the north coast, Dunnet Bay, Kyle' of Tongue, Loch Eriboll; on the south coast, Glenluce Bay, Wigtown Bay, and the Solway Firth; on the east coast, the Firth of Forth, the Firth of Tay, the Moray Firth, Cromarty Firth, and Dornoch Firth; and on the west coast, Loch Broom, Loch Carron, Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, the Firth of Cly le, Loch Long, and Loch Ryan. 1. Kyle, Gaelic, a ferry. Of these inlets the most important, commercially, are the Firth of Clyde, through which flows the great tide of commerce to and from Glasgow, the commercial metropolis of Scotland; the Firth of Forth, connected with the Firth of Clyde by a canal, and having on its southern shores the great seaport of Leith, the port of Edinburgh; and the Firth of Tay, on which stands the busy manufacturing and commercial city of Dundee. CHANNELS AND SOUNDS.-The principal are the following: The Pentland Firth, between the Orkneys and the mainland; the Sound of Sleat, between Skye and the mainland; the Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the mainland; the Sound of Jura, between Jura and the mainland; the Minch, between Lewis and the mainland; the Little Minch, between the Outer Hebrides and Skye; the Sound of Islay, between Jura and Islay; the North Channel, between Scotland and Ireland; Kilbrennan Sound, between the peninsula of Kintyre and Arran; the Sound of Bute, between the islands of Arran and Bute; and the Kyles of Bute, between Bute and the mainland. ISLANDS.-The coasts of Scotland are fringed by a far greater number of islands than England. They form four distinct groups, and have a total area of about 3,700 square miles.1 The Orkneys lie immediately to the north of the mainland of Great Britain, and are divided from it by the Pentland Firth. There are altogether 67 islands, of which the principal are Pomona (or Mainland), Hoy, North and South Ronaldsha, and Westra. Kirkwall on the eastern, and Stromness on the western, coast of Pomona, are the largest towns. The Shetlands lie north-east of the Orkneys, and consist of about 100 islands, of which 24 are inhabited. The largest islands are Mainland, Yell, and Unst. The chief town is Lerwick, on the east coast of Mainland Island. The Hebrides include a great number of islands lying off the west side of Scotland, and surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Some of them, as the islands of Skye, Mull, and Jura, are near the mainland, and only divided from it by narrow channels. Others, as Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barra, are farther off to seaward. The channel between Lewis and the mainland is called the Minch. Lewis, Skye, Mull, Jura, and Islay are the largest of the Hebrides. The small islets of Iona and Staffa, lying off the west side of Mull, are famous-Iona for its remains of ancient churches, and Staffa for the famous basaltic cavern known as Fingal's Cave. The Islands in the Firth of Clyde include two large islands, Arran and Bute, and the islets of Great and Little Cumbrae. SURFACE.-Scotland is naturally divided into the Highlands and the Lowlands. The Highlands embrace the northern and western portions of the country; the Lowlands, its southern and eastern districts. The Lowlands of Scotland, however, are by no means level. They embrace numerous hilly tracts, but the hills are less elevated, and of more rounded form, Skerries, in the firth of that name. 1. A few detached islets off the coasts of Scot | rises over 1,000 feet above the sea; the Pentland land deserve notice. The Bass Rock, and Inch kih are in the Firth of Forth; the Be Rock is about fourteen miles east of the mouth of the Firth of Tay; the Ausa Craig, in the Firth of Clyde, 2. About midway between the Shetlands and the Orkneys is Fair Island, on which the adiniral of the Spanish Armada was wrecked in 1588. 1 with broader valleys between, than is the case in the Northern Highlands. These uplands are often distinguished as the Southern Highlands. The division between the Highlands and the Lowlands is marked by a broad plain called Strathmore (that is, the "great strath" or valley), which stretches across the country in the direction of north-east and south-west, from near Stonehaven on the North Sea, to Dumbarton on the Clyde. A narrower valley, called Glenmore, the "great glen," extends through the Highland region, and forms a complete natural division across the country. It is through this valley that the Caledonian Canal has been formed, by joining the waters of the lakes which occupy a large portion of its bed. MOUNTAINS.-The mountains of Scotland are naturally divided into three groups or systems-the Northern Highlands, the Grampians or Central Highlands, and the Southern Highlands. In Scotland, as in England, the higher groups lie chiefly on the western side of the country. But mountains cover a much larger proportional extent of Scotland than is the case with the English hills, and they reach a greater height. England is chiefly a level country, and mountains are exceptional to its general character; Scotland is principally mountainous, and its plains are of limited Geikie says:-"If Scotland were submerged 500 feet, a much less extent of it would be under water than in the case of England. A broad strait would then cover the country between the Firth of Clyde and the North Sea, a narrower sound would run from Loch Linnhe to the Moray Firth, and the lowlands along the east side of the country would disappear. But the southern and northern tracts of the kingdom would still rise hundreds of feet above the sea.' extent. THE NORTHERN HIGHLANDS include the mountain-ranges and groups north of Glenmore. The highest points are Ben1 Wyvis, near Cromarty Firth, 3,400 feet above the sea; Ben Attow, 4,000 feet. THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, as the Grampians may be termed, are the highest mountains in Scotland, and stretch across the country in the direction of east and west. Ben Nevis, which is the loftiest summit in the Grampians, reaches 4,406 feet above the sea, and is the highest mountain, not only in Scotland, but in the British Islands. The other principal heights are Ben Macdhui, 4.300 feet; Cairntoul, 4,200 feet; Ben Avon, 4,000 feet; Ben More, 3,900 feet; Ben Lomond, 3,200 feet. To the south of the Grampians are the minor hillranges-the Sidlaw Hills, the Ochil Hills, and the Campsie Fells-which form the southern boundary of Strathmore. THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS include the Cheviot Hills, the Moffat Hills, and the Lowthers, and also the Pentland, Moorfoot, and Lammermuir Hills. The highest points are:-Broadlaw, 2,700 feet, and Hart Fell, 2,260 feet, at the head of Tweeddale, in the Lowther Hills; Merrick Mount, 2 764 feet, the highest point in the South of Scotland; Carnethy, in the Pentlands, 1,800 feet; and Says Law, in the Lammermuir Hills, 1,750 feet. Cheviot Peak, 2,676 feet, the highest point in the Cheviots, lies within the English border. PLAINS.-Owing to the broken nature of the country, there are no plains of any great extent. The principal are the Plain of Caithness, in the extreme north; the Plain of Cromarty, along both sides of the Cromarty Firth, and on the north side as 1. The following etymologies of the names of Highland peaks may be useful:-Ben, mountain; more (Welsh, mawr), great; Ben More, great mountain; Ben Dearg, red mountain; Een Wyvis, mountain of terror; Ben Attow, rush mountain; Ben Macdhui, black swine mountain (Welsh, moch, swine, and du, black); Ben Nevis, moun tain of death; Cairngorm, blue mountain. |