i6o 



THE NATURE BOOK 



be only half a 

 mile away from 

 a certain point 

 across the neck, 

 and yet be 

 twenty or 

 thirty miles 

 distant if you 

 go by water. 



If a county 

 map of Eng- 

 land be ex- 

 amined, it will 

 be found that 

 rivers have 

 been very 

 largely used to 

 define the 

 limits of coun- 

 ties and par- 

 is h e s . No 

 doubt they 

 were chosen in 

 times long past 

 as providing an 

 easy, natural, 

 and clear line 

 of demarca- 

 tion. Perhaps, 

 too, the idea 

 of permanence 

 was a factor 

 in the minds 



of those who determined that rivers should 

 serve as boundaries. If so, they were 

 sadly mistaken. The River Mersey, for 



"THE MIGHTY RIVER IS ONLY THE RESULT OF THE 



FUSION OF MANY SMALL CONTRIBUTORY STREAMS." 



The source of the Lowther. 



instance, runs 

 as a thin line 

 between Lan- 

 cashire on the 

 north and 

 Cheshire on the 

 south ; but 

 reference to an 

 ordnance map 

 will show that 

 portions of 

 Lancashire are 

 on the south 

 side of the 

 river and parts 

 of Cheshire are 

 on the north. 

 Similarly, 

 Cheshire and 

 Flintshire ex- 

 change plots 

 on each side 

 of the Dee, 

 Derbyshire 

 and Leicester- 

 shire along the 

 course of the 

 Trent, and 

 Shropshire and 

 Merionethshire 

 on alternate 

 banks of the 

 Vyrnwy. In 

 the sketch map on the opposite page a 

 portion of the River Dove is given which 

 serves to limit the counties of Staf^ord- 



"THE RHYTHMIC CURVES ARE NATURALLY MUCH LARGER." 

 rhe Dee at Chester. 



