28.
Welsh Bicknor—Cattle in River.
29.
The Wye.
We will travel gradually northward through the inner strip of mountainous country. We come first to the peninsular land of Wales, where live the Welsh people, some of whom still speak the Welsh language, though most of them can now talk English. Here is a view from the island of Anglesea, across the Menai Strait to the barren heights of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. In the foreground are bridges over the narrow strait, the one for the railway, the other for the road. The name Snowdon is derived from the fact that the white snow which falls in the winter lies upon the summit longer than upon the lesser heights around. But remember that in Wales you are still in the middle strip of Britain, and deep down in the valleys between the mountains there are rich, woodland scenes. Here is a spot on the River Wye. It is a stream of pure water coming down from the mountains, with a wood covering the hillside and cattle cooling their feet in the water. Here is yet another scene on the same river, where a gorge traverses the rocks, but the steep slope is overgrown with trees because of the moisture.
Next we go northward from Wales into that part of the North of England which is called the Lake District. In the northern, and also in the more southern regions of the world—in parts of North America, in parts of South America, and in New Zealand—there are countries sown all over with the most beautiful lakes—lakes that are narrow and long and deep, with rivers flowing into one end and out again from the other end. These lakes are often in mountain valleys, and if the slopes on either hand be wooded, they present some of the most beautiful scenes in the world. Outside Britain such valley lakes occur in Norway, in the west of North America, in the west of South America, and in New Zealand. The Lake District of England is a little knot of mountains, with deep valleys radiating from the central peaks like the spokes of a wheel. Each of the valleys contains a lake.
30.
Ullswater.
31.
Lodore Falls.
32.
Bridge at Lodore.
Here is a view of Ullswater, one of these lakes. Do you see the combination of hill, and water, and green tree growth which together make the picture? Here is another scene in the same Lake Country, where the clear, fresh water from the hilltops comes leaping over the little rocks through a tunnel of green leaves, with here and there a gleam of the sunshine piercing through. And all the time there is laughter, as the poets say, to be heard in the tumbling water. Yet one more scene of the same kind from the same Lake Country.
33.
Loch Lomond.
Let us now go on to Scotland. In part it is a lake country like the North of England, but on a rather larger scale. Here is Loch Lomond, one of the most famous of the Scottish lakes. The word loch is Scottish for lake. The Scottish people used in many parts to talk a language of their own, but, like the Welsh, most of them now talk English, and form, with the English, a single people, loyal to one king.