2 PRINCIPAL FEATURES 



One well acquainted with Yorkshire finds it easy to picture to 

 his iiiiiul the main features of its physical geography by refer- 

 ence to the lines of the rivers, for most of these, in their earlier 

 courses, sweep through deep valleys, between ranges of elevated 

 or mountainous land, and gather into fewer channels in one great 

 central vale, which was in primaeval times a channel of the sea. 



We may with equal facility arrange our ideas of the physical 

 geography of Yorkshire by reference to the ranges of its hills, 

 which group themselves naturally into four assemblages, occupy- 

 ing the north-western and south-western, the north-eastern and 

 south-eastern parts of the County. The two groups of western 

 hills are separated from the two groups of eastern hills by the 

 great central Vale of York, from which ramifications sweep round 

 and run between the hilly districts of the east, constituting the 

 low tracts of Cleveland, Vale of Pickering, and Holderness ; and 

 a less marked depression which proceeds westward to the pas- 

 ture lands of Craven, and separates the north-western from the 

 south-western hills. Thus we have the following natural di- 

 stricts marked out by their relative elevation and geographical 

 position : 



Cleveland. 

 M 



N O KT H-W E 8 T E R N *" NORTH-EASTERN 

 HILLS. ^ HILLS. 



Ribblesdale*. Vale of Pickering. 



SOUTH-WESTERN <U SOUTH-EASTERN 



HILLS. U HILLS. 



> 



Holderness. 



The tracts thus distinguished have geological characters as 

 strongly marked as their inequalities of elevation : great differ- 

 ences of climate, scenery and natural productions correspond to 

 these varied physical conditions ; and there are important facts 

 in the history of Man in this part of the island which acquire a 



* The comparatively low region between the hilly grounds above Settle, 

 Skipton, Colne and Clitheroe, of which Gisburn may be regarded as the 

 centre, is here meant. 



