26 LANDSCAPE IN HISTORY 



vable lowlands and the great repositories of coal and 

 iron, have thrown across the islands a network of 

 thoroughfares, have scattered everywhere villages and 

 towns, have built many great cities, have developed 

 the industrial resources of the land and have mainly 

 contributed to the commercial supremacy of the 

 Empire. 



While the leading elements of the topography have 

 remained for many long ages essentially the same, 

 there have arisen since the beginnings of history, many 

 important minor changes in the landscape, mainly due 

 to human interference, whereby the progress of the 

 population has been more or less affected. Promi- 

 nent among these changes has been the clearing of 

 the dense woodlands that once covered so large a 

 proportion of the surface. Innumerable bogs and 

 fens have been drained and converted into arable 

 land ; lakes have been silted up by natural causes or 

 have been emptied by artificial drainage. War has 

 been waged against the wild animals which once 

 abounded all over the islands. The bear, wolf and 

 wild boar have been extirpated. Only a few of the 

 smaller beasts of prey have been allowed to survive 

 in diminished numbers. The various species of deer 

 would long ago have been exterminated had they 

 not been preserved as game. 



But man's influence on the landscape has not con- 

 sisted wholly in removing what he found to be 

 obnoxious. He has introduced many forms of vegeta- 

 tion among those indigenous to the country. He has 

 thus converted thousands of square miles of scrub, 

 moor and woodland into gardens, parks, meadows 



