THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 7 



measure acre by acre, and, with few exceptions, the supe- 

 riority of our territory ; there are no lands among the 

 worst in France, for which we do not find still worse on 

 the other side of the Channel ; nor so rich in England, 

 which with us may not be equalled, or even surpassed. 



Wales is just a mass of mountains, covered with barren 

 moors. Including the adjacent islands, and that part of 

 England bordering upon it, it contains two millions of 

 hectares, only half of which are capable of cultivation. 

 In France, a similar country is to be found in the penin- 

 sula of Brittany, whose inhabitants are connected with 

 the Welsh by a common origin. But besides that Brittany 

 occupies relatively less space upon the map of France, 

 the English Armorica is more rugged and wild than 

 ours. The resemblance certainly is not very perfect, 

 excepting in some few localities. 



The two divisions of Scotland are pretty equal in 

 extent, and are both well known by the names which 

 poetry and romance have rendered familiar. The Low- 

 lands occupy the south and east, the Highlands the north 

 and west. Each of these moieties, with adjacent islands, 

 contain about four millions of hectares. 



The Highlands, without exception, form one of the most 

 unfertile and uninhabitable countries in Europe. Imagina- 

 tion pictures it only through the charming fancies of the 

 great Scotch novelist ; but if most of its scenery owes its 

 reputation to its sterile grandeur, these rugged beauties 

 are little capable of being brought under cultivation. It 

 is an immense granite rock cut up into sharp peaks and 

 deep precipices, and, to add still more to its ruggedness, 

 extending into the most northerly latitudes. The High- 

 lands face Norway, which in many respects they resemble. 

 The North Sea, which surrounds and penetrates them in 

 every direction, beats against them with its continual 



