GEOGRAPHICAL READER,

No. IV.

LESSON 1.-THE BRITISH ISLES.

1. The British Isles form an archipelago or group of islands off the north-western coast of the mainland of Europe, washed on the west and north by the Atlantic Ocean, by the North Sea or German Ocean on the east, and having the English Channel on the south. They consist of the two large islands of Great Britain and Ireland, the latter lying west of the former, and of a great number of islands of various sizes which skirt their shores, or lie at no great distance.

2. Great Britain is the largest island in Europe and the seventh in size among the islands of the globe. It is very irregular in shape, and is much broader in the south than in the north. The length is about 600 miles, the breadth varies greatly. Thus in the north at the narrowest part, that is between the estuaries of the Forth and Clyde, the distance is only about 30 miles, while in the south, where the breadth is greatest, there is a distance of 280 miles from the Naze on the east to St. David's Head on the west.

3. The nearest point of Britain to the Continent is in the south-east, at the Strait of Dover, where the distance across is only 21 miles. In the south-west on the other hand the separation is much greater, Cornwall and France being 100 miles apart.

4. In Great Britain are comprised the three countries

of England, Wales, and Scotland, the southern and much the larger portion being occupied by England and Wales, while Scotland occupies the north. Wales lies on the west of England and is only about a seventh of its size; Scotland is about half the size of England and Wales together.

5. Ireland is of more compact form than Great Britain, and not much more than one third the size of it, being a little larger than Scotland. The Irish Sea, between the two islands, is 130 miles across at the widest part; in the north, however, at the North Channel, Ireland approaches to within 13 or 14 miles of Scotland, while in the south it is about 50 miles from Wales.

6. The smaller islands belonging to the archipelago of the British Isles lie chiefly on the west of the larger islands. Belonging to England are the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, and the Isle of Man; Scotland has the Hebrides (Heb'-ri-dees), or Western Isles, Bute and Arran, and the Orkneys and Shetlands; the Irish islands though numerous are of less importance.

7. Both in surface and outline Scotland is very different from England. While England has extensive plains or wide and level tracts, Scotland is a land of rugged mountains or high hills and of deep glens or valleys, and it has only a limited area of land suited for cultivation. Its coast has many inlets, chiefly on the west side. Ireland, on the other hand, has like England much low-lying fertile land, while the mountains are far inferior in extent and height to those of Scotland.

s. The seas around the British Isles are rather shallow. If the water of the North Sea were to sink 200 feet we should be able to walk across to the opposite shores of Holland and Denmark. The depth of the English Channel and of the Irish Sea is greater than that of the North Sea.