EARTH 



the soil and caught up by the roots of the 

 plants, until perhaps men have actually to come 

 and dig a way out for it, or put up banks and 

 dykes, as they do in Holland, to keep the sea 

 from finding a way in. Such flat low-lying 

 districts are called in England 'fens,' and are 

 to be found on both sides of the country ; in 

 Lincolnshire and in Cambridgeshire, and also 

 in Somerset. To those who live near them and 

 study them, these fenlands are very beautiful. 

 The unbounded expanse of sky and country 

 gives a wonderful sense of space and freedom ; 

 the moisture of the air above the damp earth 

 seems to glorify the light, and the shadows of 

 the clouds, if we can find a piece of raised 

 ground to watch from, will be often seen chasing 

 each other across the plain. 



The mountains, the hills, and the high-lands 

 divide the country up into groups of connecting 

 river- valleys or watersheds, and in each of these 

 watersheds the rain that falls will gradually find 

 its way first into the little streams, then into 

 the larger ones, and at last into the big river 

 at the bottom of the valley, which will carry it 

 into the sea. It is not always easy near the 

 top of a hill to know which way a stream will 

 flow in the end, which river it will fall into, 

 and whether that river will carry the water out 

 into the North Sea, the English Channel or 

 the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes close at hand 

 on high boggy ground we may find one stream- 



(13) 



