he largest in the world, and about ninety per cent.
of the vessels are steamships.

_London_ is the capital; it is also one of the first commercial and
financial centres of the world. The Thames has not a sufficient depth of
water for the largest liners, and these dock usually about twenty miles
below the city. The colonial commerce at London is very heavy,
especially the India traffic, and it is mainly for this trade that the
British acquired the control of the Suez Canal.

_Liverpool_ is one of the most important ports of Europe, and receives
most of the American traffic. The White Star and Cunard Lines have their
terminals at this port.

_Southampton_ is also a port which receives a large share of American
traffic. The American and several foreign steamship lines discharge at
that place. _Hull_ and _Shields_ have a considerable part of the
European traffic. _Glasgow_ is one of the foremost centres of steel
ship-building. _Cardiff_ and _Swansea_ are ports connected with the coal
and iron trade. _Queenstown_ is a calling point for transatlantic
liners.

_Manchester_ is both a cotton port and a great market for the cotton
textiles made in the nearby towns of the Lancashire coal-field. _Leeds_
and _Bradford_ and the towns about them are the chief centres of woollen
manufacture. _Wilton_ and _Kidderminster_ are famous for carpets.
_Birmingham_ is the centre of the steel manufactures. _Sheffield_ has a
world-wide reputation for cutlery. In and near the Staffordshire
district are the potteries that have made the names of _Worcester_,
_Coalport_, _Doulton_, _Copeland_, and _Jackfield_ famous. _Belfast_ is
noted for its linen textiles, and also for some of the largest
steamships afloat that have been built in its yards. _Dundee_ is the
chief centre of jute manufacture.

=The German Empire.=--The German Empire consists of the kingdoms of
Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wuertemburg, together with a number of
small states. The "free" cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Luebeck, whose
independence was purchased in feudal times, are also incorporated within
the empire. The present empire was formed in 1871, at the close of the
war between Germany and France. The merging of the states into the
empire was designed as a political step, but it proved a great
industrial revolution as well.

The plain of Europe which slopes to the north and the Baltic Sea, the
flood-plains of the rivers excepted, is feebly productive of grain. It
is a