The British Isles

Abstract

The world geography series planned by Vidal de la Blache, and already in preparation before the war, is now making its appearance under the editorship of Professor Lucien Gallois. The first volume, "Les Iles Britanniques," is by Professor Demangeon and is a pure delight. Paper, typography, photographs, line drawings are a joy to the eye: it is hardly necessary to say in the preface that the editor has given "every care to the illustration of the volume"-it speaks for itself. To pick out one or two examples only is not easy; one might mention the graphic series of little maps showing the seasonal distribution of the herring fisheries (p. 49); such regional maps as that of the Lake District (p. 147) or of the Northumberland and Durham coal field (p. 155). The fine conception of line is well exemplified in the map showing the distribution of dolmens in western Europe (p. 70). The text has the exquisite clarity of the line drawings. M. Demangeon's dealing with fundamentals secures simplicity and breadth. "This frequency of contact, this repeated opposition of highlands and lowlands may be considered as the distinguishing feature of the country: the origin of local contrasts, it multiplies the small natural settings, the regional individualities" (p. 20). This with the accompanying map is the keynote of the section on relief. "The relations between the Irish and the English are in fact a page in the colonial history of England" (p. 83) is the thread running through the discussion of these relations. Added to this, careful choice of words and selection of detail create an intimate and penetrating picture. Take, for instance, the author's sketch of Edinburgh," . . . the irregular ground of the site, the gardens and trees, the majesty of the monuments, the distant and picturesque perspectives give the city a charm unique in Great Britain." And "among the great British cities Edinburgh is as unique in its functions as its appearance . . In this Great Britain which knows not a centralization such as that of France the national temperaments have not been fused in an amalgam . . .Edinburgh is essentially a Scottish capital: . . it is not a maritime town nor an industrial metropolis: . . . but a town of spiritual values, of science, of law, whose most specialized occupations are printing and publishing with the trades and materials dependent on them. " Or take this picture of the industrial towns of the West Riding of Yorkshire: " they resemble one another superficially as children of the same family. They cover a great area, for the workers live in one-family houses: and these houses, all lined up in interminable rows, are built on identical plan in identical mold: under the clouds of smoke from factories and mills they exude an air of melancholy monotony." And by way of contrast in the rural Vale of York, the old town a capital since Roman days, "whose brilliant medieval past survives in its cathedral and walls: the narrow winding streets, the overhanging timbered houses, the massive tower of the old castle, the ruins, and charming corners breathe of another age and diffuse calm and peace." Or the Forest of Dean," . . .a little forested plateau whose rocky walls are washed by the Wye above its junction with the Severn . . the fine oak wood that has escaped the secular deforestation, the clumps of old beeches and fine hollies