156 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



contour line. The cardboard sheets are then built up one above 

 the other, and mounted on a board in their correct position. Such 

 a model differs from the actual country in the fact that it consists 

 of steps and terraces which would have to be filled in with wax 

 or clay in order to make the slopes approach the natural relief 

 of the ground. Even without the last process, however, the sheet 

 model is of value in bringing home the general relief, the direction 

 of drainage, and a host of other features. It is of further use in 

 enabling students to realise that it is possible to conceive of such 

 a country being actually built up as many countries are of 

 horizontal sheets of stratified rocks, placed one above the other 

 and " outcropping " in a way analogous to the cardboard sheets. 



After the i-inch map has been made use of it will be a good 

 thing to obtain the J-inch sheet, including the same area and its 

 surroundings. The extension of the features over a larger area of 

 country will thus be seen, the drainage towards bigger rivers, the 

 purpose of the main highways, and the situation and relations of 

 the larger towns. 



Finally, it will be possible to take small-scale maps of the whole 

 country, always, if possible, with the relief indicated in the most 

 lucid way possible. On these, after finding the general plan of 

 the features of hill, valley, and plain, the drainage and outline of 

 the country, attention should be given to the distribution of the 

 human factors of the map. The roads should claim first attention, 

 from the Roman roads up to the main coaching roads. The latter, 

 constructed along the simplest and easiest routes that could be 

 found from one important town to another, the former with an 

 excellent general grasp of the country, sufficient to seize upon the 

 easier routes; but when these had been roughly settled, never 

 deviating to right or left for minor or even considerable obstacles, 

 but going straight for the direction that had been decided upon 



(Fig. 47). 



The Roman roads were built by men who had discovered the 

 primary needs of the country in the way of transport. They were 

 constructed to bring help to all the strategic points as speedily as 

 possible, and to keep all parts of the country in ready touch with 

 one another, so that it might be held in subjection and its frontiers 

 intact with as small a garrison as possible. Many of the towns 



