itic boss of Bodmin Moor (where Brown Willy rises to 1345
ft.) on the west. There are several smaller granite bosses, of which
the mass of Land's End is the most important. Most of the Lizard
peninsula, the only part of England stretching south of 50 deg. N., is
a mass of serpentine. The great variety of the rocks which meet the
sea along the south of Cornwall and Devon has led to the formation of
a singularly picturesque coast--the headlands being carved from the
hardest igneous rocks, the bays cut back in the softer Devonian
strata. The fjord-like inlets of Falmouth, Plymouth and Dartmouth are
splendid natural harbours, which would have developed great commercial
ports but for their remoteness from the centres of commerce and
manufactures. China clay from the decomposing granites; tin and copper
ore, once abounding at the contacts between the granite and the rocks
it pierced, were the former staples of wealth, and the mining largely
accounts for the exceptional density of population in Cornwall.
Fishing has always been important, the numerous good harbours giving
security to fishing-boats; and the fact that this coast is the mildest
and almost the sunniest, though by no means the driest, part of Great
Britain has led to the establishment of many health resorts, of
which Torquay is the chief. The old Cornish language of the Celtic
stock became extinct only in the 18th century, and the Cornish
character remains as a heritage of the time when the land had leisure
to mould the life and the habits of the man. Projecting farthest of
all England into the Atlantic, it is not surprising that the West
country has supplied a large proportion of the great naval commanders
in British history, and of the crews of the navy.

[Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section I.]

The midland plain.

Between the separate uplands there extends a plain of Permian and
Triassic rocks, which may conveniently be considered as an
intermediate zone between the two main divisions. To the eye it forms
an almost continuous plain with the belt of Lias clays, which is the
outer border of the Eastern Division; for although a low escarpment
marks the line of junction, and seems to influence the direction of
the main rivers, there is only one plain so far as regards free
movement over its surface and the construction of canals, roads and
railways. The plain usually forms a dis