2 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF BRITAIN. 



coasts. In England and Wales, apart from Scotland, the 

 line of 2° W. will do so pretty exactly. 



From Cornwall to Orkney the length of Britain is nine 

 and a half degrees of latitude, or about 650 miles, extending 

 between the parallels of 50° and 59|°. Its breadth at the 

 southern extremity is between seven and eight degrees ; and 

 near the northern extremity, from Caithness to the Western 

 Isles, about four and a half. Connecting the adjacent 

 isles and extreme points along the coast, the general form 

 would be that of an irregular oblong, broader at the 

 southern extremity; but so much is this intersected by 

 bays, estuaries, and arms of the sea running far into the 

 land, that in some places the eastern and western seas are 

 scarcely one degree apart. By much the largest masses 

 of land occur in England ; yet there is perhaps no point 

 in it more than sixty miles distant from the tides of the 

 sea ; so that the whole island may be looked upon, almost 

 literally, as maritime or coast-land ; a peculiarity ma- 

 terially affecting its botanical productions. 



The distance of the south-eastern angle of England 

 from the nearest point of Europe is little more than 

 twenty miles. Hence they gradually recede from each 

 other in a westerly and northerly direction, so that from 

 Cornwall to Bretagne the distance is about one hundred 

 miles, and the coasts of Scotland and Norway are much 

 farther apart. Ireland fronts the western coast for a con- 

 siderable extent, which would otherwise be entirely open 

 to the Atlantic Ocean, as it is, notwithstanding, at the 

 northern and southern extremities. 



2. ELEVATION OF SURFACE. 



The configuration of surface coincides with the geogra- 

 phical position, presenting a series of undulations or hills 

 rising higher and higher as we advance from south-east 



