AntiqititieH 



and the fairest mountain elevation in the world, 

 were contained in the view across Windermere 

 to the Langdale Pikes ? 



These islands, whether they rival the 

 amenities of Madeira or not, have quite a 

 different history. Lying as they do much 

 nearer to the coast of Africa, and their loftiest 

 peak being of such a soaring height, they could 

 not escape the notice of the early voyagers who 

 passed from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 

 and skirted the Libyan coast in their southward 

 course. And they therefore seem to have 

 been fairly well known to the ancients. When, 

 at the close of the Crusades, the adventurers of 

 Western Europe turned their attention to the 

 Atlantic, these islands were inhabited by a 

 semi-civilized people, possibly of Egyptian 

 origin, as they practised the mummification of 

 their dead. They were organized on a basis of 

 caste, a convenient belief being maintained that 

 the Creator first made the nobles, and then, 

 finding the world would hold more, created the 

 common people to wait upon them. Such an 

 opinion is perhaps still held covertly to this day 

 in some other countries. These islanders made 

 a very gallant defence of their country against 



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