120СТ85

OXFORD

PREFACE.

THIS Book, like those which have preceded it, is meant to
be both a real Reading Book and a guide and help in teach-
ing Geography. It will be seen at once that it will not serve
the purpose of a text-book. Whatever can be taught by
short text-books, learnt by heart, like the names of counties
and county towns, heights of mountains, lengths of rivers,
&c., is here for the most part rather taken for granted than
distinctly taught. And much is everywhere left for the living

veet morsels, as the old poet says, to make the mental food
attractive.

I make no apology for the frequent recurrence to the
same places, or for what some may think the disjointed
order in which they are approached. There is a method in
all this irregularity; and it may not be bad for teachers or
scholars to recur, under a new point of view, to ground
'ready traversed.

As an old educationist, I leave this little book to the
andid judgment of teachers; satisfied if, with all its faults,
it does service in the great work.

GEOGRAPHY READING BOOKS.

PART III.

SECTION I.

I. INTRODUCTION.

1. You have heard a good deal about Islands, Bays, Capes, Estuaries, &c., and you have learnt the meaning of many other words used in geography. In this book I am going to try to make you see the use of all these hard words. They are not invented to puzzle you, or to burden your memory. They are really needed as helps to memory. Without them, it would be impossible to understand or remember what you are told about the earth you live on, its different parts, and the many forms and shapes of land and water in different places.

2. You live in an island. All of you, I dare say, will say that you know you do. But how do

you know it? You see it on the map.

Very good.

But how did the map-maker find it out? Look

at Great Britain on the map of Europe. You can see that, if it touched the coast of France on the south, it would be a peninsula stretching northwards; or, if it were turned a little more to the north-eastward, and touched the coast of Norway, it would be a peninsula stretching southward. If you wanted to make sure for yourselves that it is an island, not a peninsula, how should you set about it? Or how do you suppose that this was really done? There was but one way-to try if ships could sail round it. If they could-that is, if they could start from some point on the coast, and go on northwards, then turn to the west, then to the south, and at last to the east, and come back to the point they started from-then it was clear that it was an island.

3. And this is what was done long ago by the Roman general, Agricola. He knew beforehand that it was not joined to the continent on the south side; for he knew all about the narrow channel which lies between, and he had himself come across it. But he wanted to know whether there was water at the northern end. So he sent his ships along the east coast; and when they came back along the south coast, he knew for certain that they had found water all round, and that Britain was really an island, and not a peninsula.