340 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 



and guides : of physical and even economic geography there is very little 

 trace. 



Natural calamities , such as floods and earthquakes , called forth a vernacular 

 literature from 1570 onwards, and in such v^rorks attention was necessarily 

 drawn to physical conditions and phenomena, while the literature of curative 

 springs and wells, beginning at much the same period, is of importance in 

 the history of geographical thought as forming, with rare exceptions, the 

 earliest literature of individual towns and villages and the earliest hydro- 

 graphical literature, apart from translations from the classics. Some score 

 in all of works of this class appeared before 1650 — a date taken roughly 

 as the term of a ' pre-scientific ' period of geography. 



The content, authorship and geographical aspects of each are briefly 

 examined. 



Afternoon. 

 Excursion in and about York. 



Friday, September 2. 



Mr. F. Elgee. — Human geography of the moorlands of north-eastern York- 

 shire. 



This region consists of a high barren moorland plateau trenched by 

 cultivated dales with isolated farms about half-way down the slopes. 

 Villages are few and chiefly modern. The climate is decidedly wetter and 

 colder than that of adjoining areas. Ironstone is the chief mineral, and has 

 been utilised in the Middle Ages and modern times. Poor coal seams in 

 the moorland sandstones were formerly worked. 



The earliest inhabitants were Mesolithic food-gatherers whose flint 

 implements occur on the sandy central and North Cleveland watersheds. 

 There is little sign of further occupation until the Mid-Bronze Age, when 

 the region was settled in suitable areas. Sites are well preserved in Esk- 

 dale, Ryedale, etc. Their distribution foreshadows that of the present 

 farms. The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age cultures are absent. Romano- 

 British settlements are unknown. Celtic fields and place-names indicate 

 a scanty British population, possibly post-Roman, for the region was 

 shunned by the Angles. The Domesday survey only shows settlement 

 in Eskdale. The occupation of other dales by Scandinavian stock probably 

 took place after 1086. The character and history of the moorlands indicate 

 that their inhabitants were often refugees. 



Mr. G. H. J. Daysh and Mr. E. Allen. — Features of the industrial 

 geography of the north-east coast. 



The North-East has an occupational specialisation in close relationship to 

 the natural facilities afforded . The population is gathered in proximity to the 

 coast, with particular concentration at points where natural opportunity for 

 development has been available. Such points have required artificial im- 

 provement to render them useful for industry, and have in turn exercised 

 control upon the location of the industrial sites and the extent of the built-up 

 areas. The major type of industrial specialisation, and the degree to which 

 it has been developed at any one of these particular groupings, have been 

 clearly determined by their individual relationship to the natural resources 



