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CHAPTEK XX. 



THE MOUNTAINS OF DEVON, WALES, AND THE WEST OF 

 ENGLAND THE VALLEY OF THE SEVERN, AND THE 

 OOLITIC AND CHALK ESCARPMENTS THE HILLY CARBON- 

 IFEROUS GROUND OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND, AND 

 ITS BORDERING PLAINS AND VALLEYS THE PHYSICAL 

 RELATION OF THESE TO THE MOUNTAINS OF WALES 

 AND CUMBERLAND. 



IN the far west, in Devon and in Wales, also in the 

 north-west, in Cumberland, a'nd in the Pennine chain 

 which joins the Scottish hills, and stretches from North- 

 umberland to the Carboniferous Limestone hills of 

 Derbyshire north of Ashbourne, we have what forms the 

 mountainous and more hilly districts of England and 

 Wales. 



In Wales, especially in the north, the country is 

 essentially of a mountainous character ; and the middle 

 of England, such as parts of Staffordshire, Worcester- 

 shire, and Cheshire, may be described as flat and un- 

 dulating ground, sometimes rather hilly. But, as a 

 whole, these midland hills are insignificant, considered 

 on a large scale, for when viewed from any of the more 

 mountainous regions in the neighbourhood, the whole 

 country below appears almost like a vast plain. To 

 illustrate this. Let us imagine any one on the top of 

 the gneissic range of the Malvern Hills (g, fig. 57, p. 

 304), which have, on a small scale, something of a 



