An Elementary Geography of the British Isles

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ... coast into wide muddy flats, hardly raised above the level of the sea, and cut by inlets into peninsulas and islands. It is an agricultural county, and used to raise much wheat, but the importation of cheap corn has caused many of the farms to be thrown into pasture. The county town is Chelmsford; Colchester, a markettown and a river port on the Colne, has oyster fisheries; Harwich is one of the ports from which steamers sail for the Continent; Shoeburyness, at the mouth of the Thames, is the chief artillery station in Britain. Hampshire area 1621, pop. 593,470, along its northern margin has the range of chalk heights which runs eastward into the North Downs; in the centre is the continuation of the wide Plain of Salisbury, from which another range of heights runs away to the south-east to form the South Downs. On the southern side of these hills the ground becomes flat and gently undulating, much indented with inlets of the sea, and includes the New Forest. The chief industry of the county is agriculture. The county town, Winchester, the seat of a bishopric, has a cathedral and a noted public school. Southampton is an important steamboat port with a large foreign trade. Portsmouth is a great naval station for the British fleet, and is defended by numerous forts. On the coast are the little sea-port of Christchurch, and the growing watering-place Bournemouth. Hampshire includes the Isle of Wight (p. 79). Surrey area 758, pop. 1,436,899--the suth rice or southern kingdom of the Saxons--has as its distinguishing feature the range of the chalk hills forming the North Downs, which run in an east and west direction through the centre of the county. To the north of this ridge the ground falls to the Thames, and to the south lies the great plain of...