In Cornwall it is quite possible to take a stride from the richest vegetation into the abomination of desolation. It has been said in mockery that Cornwall does not grow wood enough to make coffins for the people. The old timber was cut down to supply the furnaces for smelting tin, and it is true that there is not in Cornwall as magnificent timber as may be seen in other counties, but the valleys are everywhere well wooded, and the Cornish elm, that grows almost like a trimmed poplar, stands up lank above the lower trees and coppice.
3. Size, Shape, Boundaries.
Cornwall bears a certain resemblance to Italy, each is like a leg or boot, but Italy stands a-tiptoe to the south, whereas Cornwall is thrust out to the west. But, whereas Italy is kicking Sicily as a football, Cornwall has but the shattered group of the Scilly Isles at its toe.
It touches but one other county, Devonshire, on the east; on all other sides it is washed by the sea, the Atlantic on the north and the English Channel on the south. The heel is the curious projection of the Lizard, and the toe is Land's End. On the east the river Tamar forms mainly the boundary between itself and Devon, except just north of Launceston, where a small portion of Devonshire juts into Cornwall, bounded on the south by the river Attery, and comprising the parishes of North Petherwin and Werrington. This is due to the land in these parishes having belonged to the Abbey of Tavistock, and the monks desiring to have all their lands comprised in one county. The area of Cornwall is 886,384 acres, or 1385 square miles.
The Tamar, near Calstock
It is the most westerly county in England, and also the most southerly. Its greatest length from the N.E. corner beyond Morwenstow to the Land's End is 80 miles; and its greatest breadth between Marsland Mouth and Rame Head is 46 miles. But it shrinks towards the toe, and between St Ives' Bay and Mounts Bay it is not five miles across.
The Scilly Isles, situated twenty-five miles S.W. from the Land's End, are a part of Cornwall, and have an area of 4041 acres. Formerly, a part of the township of Bridgerule, with 1010 acres on the Devon side of the Tamar, belonged to Cornwall, but has now been dissevered and annexed to Devonshire.