By: Alan Belth
GREAT BRITAIN: The island of Great Britain is founded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. On the east is the North Sea; on the south by the English Channel; a the west by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Channel, the Irish Sea, St. George's Channel, and the Bristol Channel. All of these seas are but portions of the Atlantie.
The Irish Sea, together with the North Channel and St. George's Channel, by which it is connected with the open ocean, divides Great Britain and Ireland. In its broadest part the Irish Sea is nearly 130 miles across. The narrowest portion of the North Channel is only 13 miles wide: St. George's Channel is 53 miles across.
SCOTLAND: is the northern portion of Great Britain. Wales comprehends a part of its western side. The remaining and larger portion is England. The highest mountain in Britain (and the highest point in the British Islands) is Ben Nevis, the summit of which is 4406 feet above the sea. Ben Nevis is within the county of Inverness, and forms part of a prolonged chain of heights which stretch across Scotland, in the direction of east and west, not far distant from the line of the 57th parallel. This chain of high ground is known as the Grampian Mountains. The Grampian Mountains, with the adjacent tracts of high ground which stretch far out on either hand from the principal line of elevation, cover the larger part of the region called the Highlands, that includes nearly all the north and west of Scotland. The east and the south of that country, though for the most part hilly, are distinguished as the Lowlands. Between the Highlands and the Lowlands there is a well-marked division, the valley known as Strathmore, or the great strath, which crosses the country in the direction of north-east and south-west, and will be described in a future page. Mountains and high tracts of moorland cover by far the larger part of Scotland, especially within the highland region.
ENGLAND: The boundary between England and Scotland is marked by the Solway Firth, the Cheviot Hills, and the lower course of the river Tweed. The Cheviot Hills are a part of the high grounds belonging to southern Scotland. Their highest summit is 2668 feet above the sea. From the Cheviot Hills, southward to the extreme limit of Britain, tracts of high ground occur at intervals not continuously, but with intervening breaks. The highest mountain in England is ScawFell, which reaches 3229 feet above the sea. Scaw Fell is in Cumberland, and forms nearly the central point of a detached group, which covers great part of that county, with portions of the adjoining counties of Westmoreland and Lancashire. The high grounds of England are of less proportionate extent than those of North Britain. Scotland is altogether a mountainous country. Few parts of England claim the label of mountainous, though considerable portions may be termed hilly; but the larger part is merely undulating in surface.
WALES: is principled as mountainous. The high grounds cover nearly nine-tenths of its surface. The Welsh mountains reach their highest elevation in the north-west, where the summit of Snowdon, in Caernarvonshire, is 3590 feet above the sea. The higher elevations lie in general near the western coast, whence the country declines gradually
towards the valleys of the Severn, Wye, and other rivers, on the east. The most extensive level grounds are in the south, along the shore of the Bristol Channel. The Isle of
Anglesey, which forms part of Wales, is chiefly level.
IRELAND: is fronted by the open ocean upon thrce sides — the north, west, and south ; by the Irish Sea, with the North Channel and St. George's Channel, upon the east. Its highest elevations occur in the mountains of Kerry, in the south-west corner of the island, where the summit of Carrantual reaches 3404 feet. The Mountains of Wicklow in the south-east, are nearly as elevated. The mountains of Ireland form detached groups, which front different portions of the surrounding seas, and fill up the numerous peninsular formations of its northern and western shores.
Every part of the British Islands possesses numerous running streams. No country on the globe, indeed, can lay claim to a better system of inland waters. Nearly all the principal rivers of Britain are navigable by vessels of considerable tonnage for some distance inland, and allow of boat-navigation through the chief part of their courses. The estuaries which they form at their outlets to the sea constitute harbors of first-rate importance. In such regards, the Thames, Mersey, Clyde, and Shannon, are not inferior to any rivers in the world. These, together with the Severn, Humber, and Forth, take the first rank in order of importance among the rivers of Britain. The Severn and Mersey among the rivers of England, the Clyde among Scotch rivers, and the Shannon among those of Ireland, discharge into the seas on the western side of the islands; but the greater number both of the British and Irish streams flow towards the eastern coasts, a necessary result of the accumulation of high ground on the western shores. The seas which surround the British Islands are deeper on the western side than off the eastern coasts. The German Ocean is shallow, compared either with the Irish Sea or the Channel. The mean depth of the German Ocean is not generally more than from 100 to 120 feet at a distance of about 40 miles from the shore: off the mouth of the Thames, it is about 120 feet; off the Wash, only 70 feet; off Flamborough Head, 120 feet; and off the coast of Northumberland, from 200 to 250 feet. At a greater distance from land, the mean depth of its bed is only about 145 feet in the parallel of Flamborough Head, and 100 feet in the latitude of the mouth of the Tyne, but it deepens considerably farther northward. In general, however, the central parts of the German Ocean are less deep than those nearer to land (excepting close in shore), owing to extensive banks, which occupy a large portion of its bed. The largest of these is the Dogger Bank, which stretches through its central part for more than 300 miles from north to south. Further to the south, the Goodwin Sands, off the coast of Kent, extending about 10 miles in length by 3 or 4 miles in breadth, form a dangerous impediment to navigation. The mean depth of water over the Goodwin Sands does not exceed from 6 to 10 feet. The deeper channel between thesesands and the coast of Kent forms a roadstead called the Downs. An extensive bank which lies off the south coast of Essex forms the Maplin Sands. Numerous other banks occur within the estuary of the Thames, and render the navigation near the mouth of that river exceedingly intricate and dangerous.
