128 ETON NATURE-STUDY 



might have been chosen to illustrate some of the effects of moving 

 water. Wherever the nature student may live he will find oppor- 

 tunities for gaining knowledge as to the past history of his district. 

 If he live in a chalk country, for instance, it is perhaps the 

 absence of water that will strike him, rather than its powers in 

 affecting the land. Let him ask himself, what becomes of the rain 

 water ? why there are so many valleys if there are no streams to cut 

 them ? why do these valleys, when traced to their sources, usually 

 begin as large circular areas ? why the soil is so scanty ? and he 

 will at once be confronted with a host of interesting problems. 



THE MAKING OF LOCAL RELIEF MAPS 



A useful way of recording observations upon local scenery is to 

 make a relief map. There are several ways in which this may be 

 done. A model may first of all be made in clay, and a mould pre- 

 pared and a cast taken. Plasticine may be used, or the highest 

 points may be indicated by pins or pieces of wire driven into a 

 board, and the map built up by sticking on bits of paper. A very 

 satisfactory way seems to be to make a kind of " papier-mache " * for 

 the purpose. Newspaper is torn up into little pieces, and put into 

 a copper half filled with water. After this it is boiled as continuously 

 as possible for three days. The paper may then be worked up 

 into a paste that can easily be manipulated. The map is built upon 

 a board, along the edges of which a few tacks are placed to prevent 

 the material from falling off. The drying process takes several days, 

 and may be carried out in front of a fire or in the sun. After this, 

 the surface should be painted, and different colours adopted for roads, 

 fields, woods and so on. It need hardly be said that most heights 

 and depths must be exaggerated to appear on the map at all. 



* This was devised by Mr Edgar W. Brown, of St James's School, Weybridge. 



