232 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



worn-down mountain, or it may be mere glacier 

 push, or again, it may be a hard core of rock 

 that has defied the wear of water. The va- 

 riety of hills is even greater than that of moun- 

 tains. Often they are banded together in 

 groups or chains and dignified with the name 

 of "mountains;" sometimes they are in clus- 

 ters and lie nestled together along a river's 

 course ; and sometimes they rise singly from a 

 flat basin or plain. They almost always show 

 the effects of erosion, and, indeed, the marks 

 of the streams about their bases and sides can 

 be easily traced. The tops and sides, washed 

 by rains, have enough soil for vegetation, and 

 trees or coverings like the heather grow readily 

 upon them. Every country has its different 

 kinds of hills, and in Great Britain almost 

 every shire will show a new species. The bare 

 cliff-hills along the English Channel near the 

 Isle of Wight, so clear and pure and beautiful 

 in their sky lines, are different from the rugged 

 hills of Scotland, with great bowlders sunk 

 in the purple heather of the peat-beds ; and 

 every traveller must have noticed the change 

 from the flat hills of Suffolk to the abrupt 

 ranges of Derbyshire. 



The damp climate and the heavy rainfalLs of 



