12 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 
Scarcely any part of the world affords so 
great a variety in so small an area as our own 
island. Commencing in the south, we have 
first the blue sea itself, the pebbly beaches, 
the white chalk cliffs of Kent, the tinted 
.sands of Alum Bay, the Red Sandstone of 
Devonshire, Granite and Gneiss in Cornwall : 
inland we have the chalk Downs and clear 
streams, the well-wooded weald and the rich 
hop gardens; farther westwards the undu- 
lating gravelly hills, and still farther the 
granite tors: in the centre of England .we 
have to the east the Norfolk Broads and 
the Fens; then the fertile Midlands, the 
cornfields, rich meadows, and large oxen; and 
to the west the Welsh mountains; farther 
north the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lancashire 
hills, the Lakes of Westmoreland; lastly, the 
swelling hills, bleak moors, and picturesque 
castles of Northumberland and Cumberland. 
There are of course far larger rivers, but 
perhaps none lovelier than | 
The crystal Thamis wont to glide 
In silver channel, down along the lee, 
1 Spenser. 
