LECTURE III.THE SCENERY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
THE SCENERY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
1.Physical Map of British Isles.
At the close of the last Lecture we found ourselves in one of the chief railway stations of London, from which the railways go out through the open country—twenty different lines in twenty different directions—to end on the coasts around the island of Great Britain. We might, of course,take a trainfrom one of these stations and travel rapidly through the country; but I prefer that you should go another way, by which you will see more. Here, in this map, we have the English Channel, up which our steamer brought us from India. We see the promontory of Kent round which we came; we note the Straits of Dover across which the Indian mails are carried; and we see the Thames, up which we passed into the midst of the great city—to the Tower Bridge and London Bridge.
I now propose taking you up the River Thames beyond London. We will travel up the river almost to its source here in the Cotswold Hills, and we will look from the brink of the hills westward over the country beyond. This will give us a very good idea of the rolling, fertile plain which occupies all the South of England. Then returning to the east again we will follow the coast round from the Fens to Kent, and to the promontory of Cornwall. The rest of Britain may best be seen in two strips. The first begins here in Cornwall and Devonshire, and extends northward through Wales and the Lake District into the east of Scotland. It is mountainous, and has many beautiful wooded landscapes. The second begins in the South and West of Ireland, and extends up the West of Scotland. This also is mountainous, but it is on the edge of the stormy ocean, and is mostlynaked and without trees, but has magnificent cliff scenery.
2.Thames Steamboat on Bank Holiday.
Now let us start on our trip through Britain. Here is a steamboat on the Thames above London. It is crowded with people, for the photograph was taken on a Bank Holiday. On four week-days, and four only, in the year the Banks are closed, and business ceases, while everyone makes holiday. Those who live in the metropolis naturally spend the day outside, among the green fields and on the river banks.
3.Richmond Bridge.
4.Richmond—View down the River.
Here is another scene on the Thames. It is near Richmond Bridge. There are holiday makers who prefer to spend their holiday quietly, fishing in the river. Next is a view from Richmond Bridge itself. See the crowd of little boats ready for those who would take their pleasure in that manner.
5.Magna Charta Island.
We gradually leave the neighbourhood of London and come to quieter reaches of the Thames, where the water is never disturbed by the tide, and rich green meadows edge the silent stream. This is a little island in the river where, seven hundred years ago, Magna Charta was signed—the famous document by which the then King of England granted to his people ways of justice which have been practised ever since. But the island is now merely a little green spot, surrounded by rippling water, upon which a house has been built for the refreshment of passing boat people.
6.Clieveden.
7.Nuneham Bridge.
We glide on to places where the woods cover steep slopes and overhang the water. Here, for example, we have such a wooded bank, crowned with the country house of a rich man. And here another wooded scene, with a timber bridge, and a cottage hidden away among the leaves.
8.Landscape from Cotswolds.
9.The same—Bredon Hill.
10.The same—Saintbury.
But we must not think only of holidays, or of the Thames as an idle river in a rich country. England is a fertile country, and cultivated almost from end to end. There are crops of grain—wheat, barley, and oats, which, as you know, in the northern countries take the place of rice—and there are also broad fields of green grass where the cattle and sheep feed. Here is a view taken from the edge of the Cotswold Hills, near the source of the Thames. It gives a good idea of an open countryside in England. The land, as you see, is cut into fields by hedgerows, which are long belts of green, growing bush planted for the purpose of preventing the cattle and sheep in one field from straying into the next, where they might damage the standing crops. If you looked down upon such a country from a balloon, you would see it divided into little oblongs and squares, all beautifully kept. Many of them would be green with grass, but others would change in colour with the season, showing ploughed soil in the winter, green growing corn in the spring, and golden harvest in the autumn. But at all times the bushy hedgerows would strike you most, for in other countries men use fences of dead wood or of iron wire, but the green hedges of England, often bright with flowers, are a sight never to be forgotten. The roads traverse the country between two lines of hedge almost all the way. Here is another scene in the same part of England, and yet another, with the fields and hedges spreading away to the horizon.
11.Landscape—Brook and Poplars.
Next we come to a landscape such as you find beside the brooks which wander sluggishly through the rich plain. Note the tall poplar trees set against the shining western sky, for it is evening, and the man and boy are going home after their work in the fields.
12.Scene in the Fens.
There are parts of England which were once marsh, but have long been drained and brought under tillage. In these the hedges are usually wanting, for the ditches serve to divide the fields. The chief district of this kind is known as the Fens. It is situated near the East coast. Here we have a Fen scene, with a horizon like that of the sea, so level is this old marsh land. Note the windmill for pumping the water out of the lower ditches into the higher. The wind sweeps freely over the great flat expanse.
13.Surrey Pine Wood.
14.Knole Park.
15.“The Monarch,” Cassiobury Park.
You must remember that, although it very rarely rains as heavily in England as in India, and there are no Monsoons, yet there is rarely a season of so much as a few weeks in which it does not rain a little. England is, therefore, a moist land on the whole. It must once have been clothed with forest and marsh almost from end to end; now, however, there are left only small patches of woodland, and no marshes at all. Here is a typical scene in a pine wood in a sandy district not far from London. Most of the woods are round the parks or pleasure grounds of rich men. These parks are among the most beautiful spots in England. You will remember that in the last lecture we saw how that the public parks of London were perhaps the most beautiful and characteristic things in the metropolis. If you were to look down from almost any high hill upon a cultivated English landscape with fields and hedges, you would probably notice two or three large green spaces—larger than a good many fields put together. These would arrest your attention because of their lack of hedges and because of the trees scattered about them. Round their borders you would see several plantations or patches of woodland. In the centre of each would be the mansion of a rich man. The people of the neighbourhood are generally allowed to go freely through these parks, and to use them as playgrounds except, of course, close to the house. Here we have a scene in KnolePark. One of the most remarkable points about the parks of England is the fact that since there is no undergrowth, and since the trees are felled and thinned out, each tree grows to perfection, spreading out to its proper shape in a way that we rarely see when trees are crowded together in a forest. Some of these park trees grow to a magnificent size, and to a great age. Here is one in Cassiobury Park, known as “The Monarch.”
16.A Garden.
Immediately round the park-house of the great man you will find a garden—a garden that is kept, every yard of it, with the greatest care. The grass is beautifully green, and is cut short, so that it becomes a natural carpet. The hedges are pruned, and grow so thick that they become living walls through which you cannot see. To these gardens are brought trees and plants from all parts of the world. There are even tropical plants, but these must of course be grown under cover of glass, which lets in the sun’s light and heat but keeps out the cold. You remember the giant glass house of London, which was spoken of in the last lecture as the Crystal Palace. In the garden before us we see a tree known as the Araucaria, which is brought from the cooler parts of South America, and will grow in the gardens of England without glass shelter. Palms, however, will not grow in England in the open air, though they are often exposed in the gardens as special treasures during the summer.
Let us now look at some of the more exceptional scenes in the British Isles, for the things which to you are least familiar—the great green carpet of grass, the long lines of green hedgerow, the white roads between twin hedges—all these things, which to you appear strange, occur for so many miles in the country of England, that they are common and hardly noticed by the people who live among them. There are scenes in the British Isles, however, which even English people go to look at, and in some parts these are so beautifulthat people of other countries travel far in order to see them. We will begin with the coast districts along the East and South of England, and then we will go to the two strips of mountainous country which I pointed out to you just now on the map.
17.The Downs—The Devil’s Dyke.
18.Dover Cliff.
This is a scene on the Downs—long lines of hill made of the same white chalk which is exposed in the cliffs of Dover. The chalk forms treeless, hedgeless, breezy uplands with winding and branching valleys. The hills between the valleys are rounded like great shoulders, and are all overgrown with a thin grass, short like velvet, upon which feed many small sheep. Here and there the white chalk shows through, as it were a scar on the hillside, and the roads are white lines running up and down hill. Here is a view on the edge of the Down country, overlooking lower wooded ground. The valley entering the hills to the right is very deeply cut and is known as the Devil’s Dyke. At Dover, and at several other places on the coast, the Downs come to a sudden end at the cliff brink, and you can see layer upon layer of white chalk cut short by the waves rolling in from the sea. To-day, in places like Dover, men have built walls which stop the waves from breaking away more of the land.
19.Sea breaking at Lyme Regis.
20.Cliff at Sidmouth.
21.Beach at Exmouth.
The people of England are very fond of the sea-coast and many of them live there for a time each year for reasons of pleasure and health. There is exhilaration in such scenes as this, where the waves break against the stone piers which have been built out into the sea. Or again, what could be more pleasant than to wander along such a coast as this, and to note the evidence of the sea’s might in the broken and caverned rocks? But children love sandy shores, where they may dig with small spades and build castles of sand, which for a few moments resist the waves of the incoming tide. The tides are large along the British coasts, andin many parts broad shores of sand are alternately covered by the water and uncovered.
22.Clovelly.
23.Lynton—Road through Wood.
24.Lynmouth Waterfall.
25.Dartmoor.
26.Land’s End—Longships Lighthouse.
Now we come to the first of the two strips of mountainous country which I have described to you on the map as occupying the West and North of Britain. There is much rain in these districts, brought by the west wind from the neighbouring ocean. Here is a little village by the sea in the West Country. It is called Clovelly. You see the houses of the fishermen running up the hillside, and you see how the whole hill is covered with trees, because of the moisture of the air. Let us drive into these woods by the roads which have been constructed through them. This is a view at Lynton in the same West Country as Clovelly. Here is yet another scene in the district showing a waterfall in the wood. If we drive further inland, up some valley, we emerge presently on to the high ground above, where the violent winds and the torrents, fed by the rains, prevent the growth of much wood, and give us naked landscapes such as this upon Dartmoor. You notice here a characteristic of the hilly parts of England; the green hedgerows are wanting, and the fields are divided by stone walls—rough stone walls, without cement. But even here there grows a low bush, called gorse, which bears many small yellow flowers, and at times this bush covers entire hillsides with a cloak of brilliant gold. Now we come to the rocky coast of Cornwall, known expressively as the Land’s End. It is very different from the tamer edge of the chalk country. See how the hard dark rocks have been shattered by the mighty Atlantic waves, and see how the dangers which they present to navigation are guarded against by the Longships Lighthouse. Notice the ship going round thepoint beyond the lighthouse. It is steering northward to go up the channel of sea which divides the island of Great Britain from that of Ireland.
27.Snowdon.
28.Welsh Bicknor—Cattle in River.
29.The Wye.
We will travel gradually northward through the inner strip of mountainous country. We come first to the peninsular land of Wales, where live the Welsh people, some of whom still speak the Welsh language, though most of them can now talk English. Here is a view from the island of Anglesea, across the Menai Strait to the barren heights of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. In the foreground are bridges over the narrow strait, the one for the railway, the other for the road. The name Snowdon is derived from the fact that the white snow which falls in the winter lies upon the summit longer than upon the lesser heights around. But remember that in Wales you are still in the middle strip of Britain, and deep down in the valleys between the mountains there are rich, woodland scenes. Here is a spot on the River Wye. It is a stream of pure water coming down from the mountains, with a wood covering the hillside and cattle cooling their feet in the water. Here is yet another scene on the same river, where a gorge traverses the rocks, but the steep slope is overgrown with trees because of the moisture.
Next we go northward from Wales into that part of the North of England which is called the Lake District. In the northern, and also in the more southern regions of the world—in parts of North America, in parts of South America, and in New Zealand—there are countries sown all over with the most beautiful lakes—lakes that are narrow and long and deep, with rivers flowing into one end and out again from the other end. These lakes are often in mountain valleys, and if the slopes on either hand be wooded, they present some of the most beautiful scenes in the world. Outside Britain such valley lakes occur in Norway, in the west of North America, in the west of South America, and inNew Zealand. The Lake District of England is a little knot of mountains, with deep valleys radiating from the central peaks like the spokes of a wheel. Each of the valleys contains a lake.
30.Ullswater.
31.Lodore Falls.
32.Bridge at Lodore.
Here is a view of Ullswater, one of these lakes. Do you see the combination of hill, and water, and green tree growth which together make the picture? Here is another scene in the same Lake Country, where the clear, fresh water from the hilltops comes leaping over the little rocks through a tunnel of green leaves, with here and there a gleam of the sunshine piercing through. And all the time there is laughter, as the poets say, to be heard in the tumbling water. Yet one more scene of the same kind from the same Lake Country.
33.Loch Lomond.
Let us now go on to Scotland. In part it is a lake country like the North of England, but on a rather larger scale. Here is Loch Lomond, one of the most famous of the Scottish lakes. The word loch is Scottish for lake. The Scottish people used in many parts to talk a language of their own, but, like the Welsh, most of them now talk English, and form, with the English, a single people, loyal to one king.
34.Ben Venue.
Here are a few more views in the same country. This is Ben Venue—the word Ben in Scottish means “mount.” We note in this slide the same combination of beautiful mountain forms, water, green foliage, little islands with green trees upon them, and houses hidden away in the nooks. It is a wild and yet a soft and inhabited country. It is loved by the Scottish people, whose great writers have written tales and poems about it. You know that it is the poetry and the songs and the legends of a race which make a nation proud. Scotchmenworking in many a distant land, remember the time of their childhood when they lived among these scenes, and far away they still read the books which tell of them.
35.Killiecrankie.
36.Loch Katrine.
Here is the Pass of Killiecrankie, famous in history for a battle of a hundred and sixty years ago—one of the last battles fought within the British Isles. And here, lastly, is Loch Katrine, with a steamer conveying tourists to enjoy the scenery. Loch Katrine is close to the manufacturing district of Scotland, where is Glasgow, a city of a million inhabitants. Now great cities have great wants, and one of the wants—most costly to supply but essential to health—is pure water. The water of Loch Katrine, deep and clear, gathered from the mountains, is carried underground through a tunnel pierced by man to supply the great city of Glasgow. Wherever you go in the British Islands you will find within a few miles of one another the silent beauties of Nature, and teeming, noisy homes of millions of people, for the land is but a small one, and is crowded with inhabitants.
37.Giants’ Causeway.
38.Basalt—near view.
Let us now pass to the second strip of mountainous country—to the bleak coast-land along the Atlantic edge of Ireland and Scotland; and here let us first visit a district containing some of the chief natural wonders of Britain. You know that in certain parts of the world there are mountains called volcanoes, which have heat within them, and throw up great clouds of steam, to be seen glowing in the brilliant light for a great distance round. At times streams of hot liquid rock flow from them, which may cover a whole countryside, destroying vegetation, houses, and people. In Asia there are such volcanoes, in Japan, in thePhilippines, in Sumatra, and in Java, but fortunately there are none in India. In the British Islands also there are to-day no volcanoes, but before history began this region had volcanoes on a magnificent scale. In the West Country beside the ocean—in the north of Ireland and in the West of Scotland—thereonce welled up from underneath immense quantities of flowing hot stone, which hardened into thick beds of rock. While the stone was cooling it usually cracked, as you may see the silt beside river banks crack in hot sunshine along many lines crossing one another. In the same manner, this liquid rock cracked as it cooled, and because it was of very even consistence the cracks were regular in their distribution. The result was that the rock was split into columns standing side by side. Here, in the North of Ireland, is such columnar rock. The place is known as the Giants’ Causeway, for the people in the North of Ireland who lived centuries ago, and were ignorant, wondered at this beautiful regular rock structure. The tops of the columns are like a pavement, and the Irish said that the pavement must have been made by giants. Therefore it was called the Giants’ Causeway. But each slab, as we see in the next slide, is the top of a column and is separated from its neighbouring columns by the cracks which formed in the cooling rock as it solidified. So we realise how much more wonderful is Nature than man in his ignorance is apt to think. But we realise also how the poetry of a race begins, and we understand the love with which Irishmen and Scotchmen, scattered over the world, look back on the country of their childhood, which is not only beautiful, but wrapped in the legends told them by their nurses.
39.Staffa.
40.Fingal’s Cave.
This is the island of Staffa, where we see the same rough pavement of column tops, and a wall of column sides. In places, where the waves of the ocean beat fiercely upon the exposed parts, some of the columns have been removed, so that the rock above has been undermined and caves have been formed, which resemble, with their vaults above and their chiselled walls on either hand, some great temple made by man.
41.Killarney.
42.Killarney, Old Weir Bridge.
Now let us away to the far South-West of Ireland. There, hidden in the midst of high mountains, are the Lakes of Killarney. This is one of the most beautiful spots in all Britain, for the lakes are sheltered, and though close to the ocean are wooded along their shores. Here is a view at Killarney, across the lakes to the mountains which neighbour them. Hanging round the heights are the mists and clouds of the Atlantic. All this district is bathed in moisture, and green the year round, but hardly ever free from cloud. It is the combination of mountain, lake, wood, cloud, and sunshine which gives an ever changing, always flickering, beauty to this part of the ocean edge. Here is another scene at Killarney. The boat and the men are waiting to take visitors down the stream.
43.In Connemara.
44.Connemara—Lough Scene.
Northward of Killarney, upon the edge of Ireland, is Connemara, a region of wild, naked rock scenery, so wet and poor that over large districts bog moss clings to the surface instead of grass. We see here the torrents of rain water descending from the mist-bathed mountains. This is another scene in the same country of Connemara with a rare clump of trees, making still more evident the general nakedness of the landscape. The beauty of it depends on the shapes of the hills, and on the alternation of land and water.
45.Highland Scene—A Stag.
46.Highland Scene—A Golden Eagle.
And now we come to the grandest, most lonely scenery in the Western Highlands of Scotland. Here on the heathery and grassy moors, which spread for miles and miles over the mountain heights, are still to be found some of the wild animals of Britain, which elsewhere have been driven from the land by civilisation. This is a stag of the large species known as the Red Deer. You see here the colouring of the moors and the atmospheric effects which you must putfor yourselves into the black and white photographs that follow. But first we have another colour photograph, a golden eagle beside her nest on the crags.
47.Sligachan, Skye.
48.Glen Sligachan, Skye.
49.Loch Coruisk, Skye.
Now we have two or three views in the Island of Skye. They are in black and white, but your minds must clothe them in the rich tints we saw just now. Note the treeless character of the scene. And see here a mountain rising nakedly to the sky, without even the covering of grass or heather. And again, in this same Island of Skye is Loch Coruisk, one of the wildest and remotest spots in the United Kingdom. From the head of the loch there is a walk of several miles over a mountain pass before you reach the first habitation of man. So curious is the contrast between the ocean edge of the British Islands and the thickly populated plain of England. London is the largest city in the world, but the Highlands of Scotland are among the least populated regions of all Europe. Here, therefore, is the playground of many of the British people, who go in the summer time to walk over these mountains, to steam through these lochs, to catch the fish, and to shoot the deer and the birds. So they gain the health which enables them to work in London at the business of the Empire during the dark winter.
50.Clett Rock, Thurso.
51.Duncansby Head.
Finally we come out to the ocean itself, and here we see the great history of Nature. Layer upon layer, hundreds of layers thick, we have the beds of rock which were once laid down at the bottom of the sea. They are now dry and hard, and have been cut into by the waves, so that this stack of rock, which was once a piece of Scotland, is now detached as a little island. Here is yet another scene where the rocks are of a different kind, and the shape of the islets therefore different.
52.Atlantic Rollers.
53.Sunset on the Atlantic.
These are the rollers of the rough northern sea, which work upon the hard stone. But occasionally even the Atlantic Ocean calms. As we look out to the west on this lovely summer evening, let us remember a fact never to be forgotten. The islands of Britain, which centre in London, with all their natural beauty and their 43 millions of people, are what they are, the focus of a great Empire, partly because they are set as islands in the ocean, and partly because they were peopled long ago by proud and masterful sea races of men.