li 



BASIN OF MISE& 



BASIXGSTOKE. 



began to bo considered as the true basis of its geographical descrip- 

 tion. Much may be said in favour of this innovation. The character 

 of a country, iu climate, aoil, and productioiu, frequently change 

 from the baain of one river to that of another ; and when in the basin 

 of one river such changes are observed to occur, the formation of the 

 basin commonly presents some point or place where the change begins 

 to be sensible, and may consequently be indicated with some degree 

 of certainty. 



The first thing to be considered is the extent and form of a river- 

 basin. It is commonly widest in the middle part of its course, where 

 it receives the most and the largest tributaries. At both extremities, 

 towards the source and towards the mouth, the basin grows narrower. 

 This is the case with the Rhine, the Seine, Loire, Trent, and many 

 other rivers. But this rule is subject to exceptions. The basin of 

 the Nile is very wide in the upper part of its course ; but in the 

 middle of its course it is so narrow that in moat places it only extends 

 to about fifteen miles, and frequently still less. The Danube, on the 

 other hand, whose basin grows larger the farther it advances in its 

 course, preserves nearly the same width at its mouth which it attains 

 higher up in its course. 



The boundaries of river-basins deserve peculiar attention. The 

 upper parts of the course of large rivers generally lie in very moun- 

 tainous countries, and here a communication between the different 

 river-basins can only be effected by roads, as is the case with the 

 rivers which descend from the southern and northern declivities of 

 the Alps. Sometimes the whole boundary or by far the greatest part 

 of a river-basin is formed in this way, and consequently presents 

 great obstacles to inland communication. Of this description are the 

 river-basins in Spain and Portugal. But the middle and the lower 

 parts of their course often lie through a plain or country of undulating 

 surface, and in such a region a water communication may be effected 

 by "*n*l The most extensive system of water communication on 

 the globe is in China, in the plain which extends between the lower 

 courses of the Hoang-Ho and Yong-tae-Kiang. When two rivers run 

 through the same plain, nature has sometimes effected a water com- 

 munication between such river-systems by sending a detached branch 

 from one to the other. Such a communication is said to exist between 

 the Menam or river of Siam, and the Maek-haun or river of Camboja ; 

 and in Europe, in Northern Sweden, between the Calix-Elf and the 

 Skaleftee>-Elf. In these instances however the rivers run through the 

 plain in the same direction ; but the Cassiquiare in South America is 

 a natural canal which unites two rivers, the Orinoco and the Rio 

 Negro, which indeed run in the same plain but not in the same 

 direction. The boundaries of the basins of some rivers are entirely, 

 or nearly so, formed by extensive plains, no mountain range inter- 

 vening between them ; the countries in which this takes place, as is 

 the case with many river-basins in Russia, offer peculiar facilities for 

 establishing an extensive communication by canals. 



The internal structure of the basin also requires examination. Most 

 rivers traverse a country which rises slowly towards their sources, and 

 the ascent is only rapid in the upper part of their course ; but some 

 rivers, after issuing from the mountains which give them origin, 

 traverse in their course to the sea plains of different elevation. Thus 

 the Danube traverses three extensive plains, those of Bavaria, of 

 Hungary, and of Bulgaria. The first in its highest part rises above 

 1000 feet, the second above 300 feet, and the third probably only 100 

 feet or less, above the sea-level These plains are divided from one 

 another by extensive mountain ranges, which intersect the basin of 

 the river, terminating on its banks, narrowing its course, and rendering 

 the navigation difficult and dangerous. Plains of such different ele- 

 vation above the level of the sea must of course differ materially in 

 productions, soil, and climate. [DAXUBK.] 



Whenever a river with it* tributaries traverses an extensive basin, 

 the surface of this basin in general presents a great variety of geo- 

 logical formations. As the upper branches in such a case take weir 

 origin at a great distance from the sea they commonly lie in primitive 

 rocks, but the river gradually descends to rocks of more recent 

 formation, until on iU approach to the shores of the sea it comes to 

 an alluvial soil, which is partly its own produce and partly that of 

 the sea into which it empties iUelf. Such is the case with the Khinc. 

 The basin of many little rivers, if a few small tracts of alluvial soil 

 are exospted, presents only one formation, as is the case with many of 

 those which traverse the Highlands of Scotland. It sometimes hap- 

 pens that the bed of a river constitutes the boundary between two 

 different formations, as the Conway in Wales, which divides the pri- 

 mitive rock* of the Snowdon range from the Hiraethog Hills, which 

 are of secondary formation. The bed of a river is for the most part 

 the best index to the constituent parts of the basin which it traverses, 

 by laying open to observation the different strata of which the adja- 

 cent mounUiiw, hills, and plains are composed. 

 HAHIN OK MINES. [NOVA SCOTIA.] 



tnrCMTOKK, Hampshire, a market-town and borough, and the 

 Mi of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish and hundred of Badngstoke. 

 The town is nituated in 61* 16' N. lat, 1* 4' W. long.; 18 miles 

 , fmm Winchester, 40 miles 8.S.W. from London by road, and 

 48 miles by the South- Western railway : the population of the borough, 

 which is co-extensive with the parish, was 4263 in 1861. The borough 

 is gurtmed by four aldermen, ono of whom is mayor, and twelve 



councillor*. The living is a vicarage, to which the vicarages of Basing 

 and Up-Nateley are united, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Win- 

 chester. Batingstoke Poor-Law Union contains thirty-seven parish** 

 and townships, with an area of 73,852 acres, and a population in 1851 

 of 17,466. 



Basingstoke is placed in a pleasant and fertile part of the county, 

 and being at the junction of five roads, one of which is the great 

 western road from London, and on the line of the South-Western 

 railway, it has an appearance of much activity and commands con- 

 siderable trade. Although the adjacent country is surrounded with 

 woods it is rich in pasture, and many fine houses are dispersed over 

 it A brook which runs by the town, called the Town Brook, rises 

 about a mile and a half west of Basingstoke, and is the main branch of 

 the Loddon, an affluent of the Thames. Basingstoke is mentioned in 

 Domesday Book under the name of ' Basingtoches,' and is described 

 as having always been a royal manor which had never paid tax or 

 been distributed into hides, and which had, at the time of the survey, 

 a market worth thirty shillings. The Saxon addition of ' stoke,' or 

 hamlet, would imply that previous to the Conquest it was of inferior 

 importance to Basing, now called Old Baaing, in it* neighbourhood, 

 and which is historically remarkable for the long and spirited stand 

 which was made in the castellated mansion called Baaing House, by 

 the Marquis of Winchester, its owner, against the Parliamentary 

 forces, until Cromwell took it by storm and burnt it to the ground 

 in 1645. 



The town is well paved and lighted with gas, and has a police force 

 under the control of the watch committee of the corporation. Petty 

 sessions are held every Tuesday at the town-hall before the mayor 

 and town magistrates. The county magistrates hold petty sessions 

 in Basingstoke every alternate Wednesday ; there is a court-leet held 

 under the lords of the manor, whose jurisdiction extends over nineteen 

 tithing* ; and a county court ia held monthly. By means of the South- 

 western railway, and a branch called the Berks and Herts railway, 

 which connects it with the Great Western line at Reading, Basingstoke 

 has railway communication with the west and north as well as with 

 London and the south of England. The Basingstoke Canal from this 

 town to the river Wey in Surrey, which communicates with the 

 Thames, affords ample facilities for the conveyance of corn and heavy 

 goods by water. 



The parish church, dedicated to St Michael, ia a spacious and 

 handsome building, consisting of a nave, chancel, and side aisles, with 

 a low square tower at the west end which contains eight bells. The 

 south aide of the church ia of atone, but the north aide ia constructed 

 with alternate squares of flint and stone. It was built in the reign of 

 Henry VIII. under the direction of Fox, bishop of Winchester. The 

 chanael and Lady chapel are however of an earlier date. The interior 

 of the church, which is very handsome, has been repaired and repewed 

 at a considerable expense. The excellent panelled oak roof has been 

 restored, and the shields on the stone corbels which support it have 

 been emblazoned with coats of arms. New galleries have been 

 erected round three sides of the church ; and it now affords sittings 

 for 1800 persons, of which 780 are free and unappropriated. The 

 living is in the gift of the president and scholars of Magdalene College, 

 Oxford, who grant a beneficial lease of the great tithes, of which they 

 are the impropriators, renewable every seven years to the vicar at a 

 nominal fine. 



An hospital for the maintenance of aged and impotent priests was 

 founded at Basingstoke by Henry III. at the instance of Walt.-r !.- 

 Merton, bishop of Rochester and Lord Chancellor in that reign, an.l 

 it became eventually appropriated to the reception of superannuated 

 fellows and scholars from the prelate's other foundation Slrft.m ('.Al- 

 lege at Oxford. It stood on the north aide of the brook, a little )>.!. >w 

 the town-bridge, and some remains of it might be traced not very 

 long ago. On an eminence at the northern extremity of Basingstoke, 

 and close by the railway station, are the remains of the Holy Ghost 

 chapel, erected in the reign of Henry VI II. by Sir William (afterwards 

 Lord) Sandys for the use of the fraternity of the Holy Ghost. The 

 fraternity was dissolved in the reign of Edward VI. and its possession* 

 vested in the crown ; it was restored by Mary I. and the possessions 

 granted anew " for the maintenance of a priest for the celebration of 

 divine service, and for tin- infraction of the young men and boys of 

 the town < iBssingstoke." The fraternity became extinct about the 

 commencement of the 17th century, and the estate was seized by 

 Parliament ; the building became dilapidated and the school was shut 

 up during the civil wars ; Bishop Money however procured the resto- 

 ration of the estate about 1670 for ecclesiastical and educational 

 purposes, to which it is still applied. The gift of the mastership of 

 the Ororamar school is vested in the Lord Chancellor. The income 

 from endowment is 2002. a year; the number of scholars in 1862 was 

 14. In addition to the Grammar school .-there are a Blue-Coat ;- 

 founded by Richard Aid worth ; a school for the maintenance, clothing, 

 and education of twelve boys, which is supported by the Skinners' 

 Company of London ; a National school built and endowed by tin- 

 late Dr. Sheppard, vicar of Basingstoke, and bis widow ; and some 

 other schools chiefly supported by contributions. There are also 

 several almshouacs and charitable institutions. The Independents, 

 Wesleyan Methodists, Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, and 

 Quaker*, have places of worship. 



