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Rh only the more violent. It seemed to him that the mourning daughters of Nereus were tossing hither and thither on the shore bewailing the death of the best of the Athenians and the folly of the frenzied city. The waves broke on the rocky coast with a growl of lament. Their booming sounded like a funeral dirge.

He turned away, left the shore, and went on further without looking before him. He forgot time and space and his own ego, filled only with the afflicting thought of Socrates.

"Yesterday he still was, yesterday his mild words still could be heard. How is it possible that to-day he no longer is? O night, O giant mountain shrouded in mist, O heaving sea moved by your own life, O restless winds that carry the breath of an immeasurable world on your wings, O starry vault flecked with flying clouds—take me to you, disclose to me the mystery of this death, if it is revealed to you! And if ye know not, then grant my ignorant soul your own lofty indifference. Remove from me these torturing questions. I no longer have strength to carry them in my bosom without an answer, without even the hope of an answer. For who shall answer them, now that the lips of Socrates are sealed in eternal silence, and eternal darkness is laid upon his lids?"

Thus Ctesippus cried out to the sea and the mountains, and to the dark night, which followed its invariable course, ceaselessly, invisibly, over the slumbering world. Many hours passed before Ctesippus glanced up and saw whither his steps had unconsciously led him. A dark horror seized his soul as he looked about him.

It seemed as if the unknown gods of eternal night had heard his impious prayer. Ctesippus looked about, without being able to recognise the place where he was. The lights of the city had long been extinguished by the darkness. The roaring of the sea had died away in the distance; his anxious soul had even lost the recollection of having heard


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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/McKinley, William

McKINLEY, mạ-kĭn'lĭ, William, American statesman, 25th President of the United States: b. Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, 29 Jan. 1843; d. Buffalo, N. Y., 14 Sept. 1901. He was educated at Union Seminary, Poland, Mahoning County, Ohio, and Alleghany College, Meadville, Pa. (1860-61). Forced by illness to discontinue his college course, he taught in the public schools, was a clerk in the Poland post-office and on 11 June 1861 enlisted for the Civil War as a private in Company E of the 23d Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His first battle was that of Carnifex Ferry (10 Sept. 1861), and on 15 April 1862, while in camp at Fayetteville, western Virginia, he was promoted commissary sergeant. For conspicuous service at Antietam (17 Sept. 1862) he was made second

lieutenant of Company D. His subsequent appointments were, first lieutenant, Company E (7 Feb. 1863); captain Company G (25 July 1864); and brevet major (14 March 1865). When mustered out on 26 July 1865 he was acting assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. S. C. Carroll, commanding the veteran reserve corps stationed at Washington. Among other actions in which he participated were those of South Mountain (14 Sept. 1862), Lexington (10 June 1864), Kernstown (24 July 1864), Opequan Creek (Winchester, 19 Sept. 1864), Fisher's Hill (22 Sept. 1864) and Cedar Creek (19 Oct. 1864). During his subsequent political career he was generally known, especially in Ohio, as Major McKinley. At the close of the war he began the study of law at Youngstown, Ohio (1865-66), continued it at the Albany (N. Y.) Law School (1866-67), in March 1867 was admitted to the bar at Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, and at once entered practice at Canton. In 1870-71 he was prosecuting attorney of Stark County, and during the campaign between R. B. Hayes and William Allen for the governorship of the State, spoke effectively against the “greenback” craze. He was elected to Congress as Republican representative from the 17th Ohio district in 1877, and served continually in the 45th, 46th and 47th Congresses (1877-83). It was asserted by the Republicans that he was elected in 1882 to the 48th Congress by a majority of eight ballots; but, although he had received the certificate of election, his seat was successfully contested by J. H. Wallace, who was not, however, seated until June 1884. He represented the 20th district in the 49th Congress (1885-87), and the 18th in the 50th and 51st Congresses; but in 1890 was defeated in the 16th for the 52d Congress by 300 ballots by J. G. Warwick, Democrat, lieutenant-governor of the State a short time previously. His defeat was attributed to the gerrymandering of the district by a Democratic legislature. His service in Congress was notable. In 1877 he was appointed a member of the Judiciary (Committee, and in December 1880 of the Ways and Means Committee to succeed James A. Garfield; and in 1881 was chairman of the committee in charge of the Garfield memorial exercises in the House. In 1889-90 he was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He was a candidate for speaker of the 51st Congress, but was defeated by T. B. Reed on the third ballot in the Republican caucus. He was known among the foremost orators of the House; and his speeches on arbitration as a solution of labor troubles (2 April 1886) and in support of the civil service laws (24 April 1890) were most favorably received. But his principal efforts were made in connection with the tariff, which, from his first appearance in the House, was the chief object of his study. On 6 April 1882 he spoke in advocacy of protection; on 30 April 1884 in opposition to the Morrison tariff bill, making what was esteemed the ablest argument against that measure; and on 7 May 1890 in support of the general tariff hill, now known by his name, which, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he had introduced before the House on 16 April. The bill was passed by the House on 21 May, by the Senate on 11 September, and on 6 October became a law. His bill obtained for him an international reputation, and

eventually the Presidency. In 1884 he was delegate-at-large from Ohio to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, where he supported Blaine's candidacy, and where, as chairman of the committee on resolutions, he helped to determine the platform of his party, which he read before the convention. In the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1888, he was again a delegate and chairman of the committee on resolutions. He supported the candidacy of John Sherman, although, when it was finally learned that Blaine would decline the nomination, he was himself the choice of many delegates and was strongly urged to permit the use of his name. At the Minneapolis convention of 1892 he was once more a delegate and was elected permanent chairman of the assembly. He supported the renomination of President Harrison, and though refusing the use of his own name, received the ballots of 182 delegates. He then left the chair and moved to make Harrison's nomination unanimous, which was accordingly done. In the ensuing campaign he took a very active part, traveling, it was estimated, more than 16,000 miles and speaking to more than 2,000,000 voters. In 1892-96 he was governor of Ohio, having been elected in 1891 by 21,500 plurality, and in 1893 by the unusual plurality of 80,995. Labor riots occurred during his administration, necessitating the placing of 3,000 militia troops in active service, but the difficulties were successfully adjusted. McKinley also personally directed the relief work for the starving miners of the Hocking Valley district. He was nominated for the Presidency by the Republican National Convention which met at Saint Louis 16 June 1896, and was elected by a plurality of 601,854 over W. J. Bryan, receiving a popular vote of 7,104,779, and in the electoral college a vote of 271 to 176 for Bryan. Throughout the campaign he remained in Canton, where be made over 300 speeches to more than 750,000 visitors. Under his administration decided increase in business prosperity followed the passage of the Dingley tariff measure. The most important event of his term was the ../Spanish-American War/ (q.v.), which he had believed might be prevented and had done all in his power to avert. When hostilities broke out on the part of certain inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, the President appointed a commission to study the situation and report on the most suitable mode of government for the new territory. On 7 July 1898 he approved the joint resolution of Congress for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, and in 1898 he also selected a delegation to represent the United States in The Hague peace conference which convened in May 1899. The original Philippine commission having rendered a report (31 Jan. 1900), the President appointed a new commission, known from its head, Judge W. H. Taft, as the Taft commission, under whose direction civil government was instituted in the islands on 1 Sept. 1900. (See, History). In 1900 the President stood conspicuously for justice in the settlement of the difficulties in China which marked that summer. He was renominated for the Presidency by the Republican National Convention which met at Philadelphia on 25 June 1900, receiving the entire vote of the 930 delegates. He was elected by a popular vote of 7,206,677 to 6,374,397 for W. J. Bryan, receiving

till then, the largest popular majority ever given a candidate for the Presidency. He obtained 292 electoral votes and carried 28 States. On 5 Sept. 1901 he delivered at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, N. Y., an important address, summarizing at once the problems then before the nation and his policy for their solution. On 6 September, while holding a reception in the Music Hall of the Exposition, he was twice shot by Leon Czolgosz (q.v.), an anarchist. He died on 14 September; and 19 September was appointed by his successor, President Roosevelt, a day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States. Unprecedented honors were paid to McKinley's memory in foreign capitals, notably in London, where memorial services were held in Westminster Abbey and Saint Paul's Cathedral. A statue was erected in his honor at Columbus, Ohio, and unveiled in 1906. Consult Smith (editor), ‘Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley’ (1893); Porter, ‘The Life of Major McKinley’ (1896), and ‘Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley from 1897 to 1901’ (1900). See also, History.

WILLIAM McKINLEY

Twenty-fifth President of the United States

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/McKinley, Mount

McKINLEY, Mount, United States, a peak of the Rocky Mountains, the highest in North America, south of the central part of Alaska, about 155 miles north of Cook Inlet. The Indian name for this peak is Traleyka and the Russian name, Bolshaya. The fact that this is the highest land on the continent was not known till 1896 when Mr. Dickey explored the Sushitna River and the land near its source. He estimated the height of the peak at 20,000 feet, and named it McKinley, in honor of William McKinley (q.v.). In 1903 it was visited by members of the United States Geological Survey. The mountain is a great dome-shaped mass, over 20,000 feet above the sea. Consult Balch, E. S., ‘Mount McKinley and Mountain Climbers' Proofs’ (Philadelphia 1914); Browne, A., ‘The Conquest of Mount McKinley’ (New York 1914).


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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/McKinley Act

McKINLEY ACT, a name popularly given to a tariff bill reported to Congress, 21 May 1890, by the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, of which William McKinley was chairman. It became a law in October 1890 and was repealed in 1894. It increased the duties on wool, woolen manufactures, on tin-plate, barley and some other agricultural products and remitted the duty on raw sugar. The reciprocity feature was an important part of the bill, providing for the remission of duty on certain products from those countries which should remove duties on American imported products. See.


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HE position of Manaton is one of remarkable beauty, between Lustleigh Cleave and the ridge on which stands Bowerman's Nose, and which swells up to Hound Tor.

The church is dedicated to S. Winefred, the Welsh martyr maid, and has its fine screen carefully restored. It formerly possessed a singular feature, which the "restoring" architect destroyed, because singular. This was a small window in the east wall opening from the outside, under the altar. Perhaps there were relics of S. Winefred kept beneath the altar, and through this fenestrella confessionis the devotees could touch them. But, indeed, the destroyer has been at Manaton and effaced more than this window. On the tor that commands the village were formerly many prehistoric monuments. The farm Langstone by its name proclaims that on it was a menhir. In

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172 the churchyard was a fine granite cross. A former rector, the Rev. C. Carwithen, wantonly destroyed it in the night. The people had been wont at a funeral to carry the corpse the way of the sun thrice round the cross before interment. He preached against the custom ineffectually, so he secretly smashed the cross. There are two logan rocks within easy reach—the Whooping Stone on Easdon, and the Nutcracker in Lustleigh Cleave.

This cleave is very picturesque. "Cleave" properly is a local softening of the word "cliff," and applies to the rocks, but in common use it has come incorrectly to be applied to the valley below the crags. Through the stone-strewn trough of the vale the sparkling Bovey finds its way with some difficulty, diving under the boulders at Horsham Steps, and running unseen for some considerable distance, only proclaiming its presence by its murmurs and whispers.

That there was some fighting done across this valley is probable, because there are camps on both sides.

In honourable contrast with Mr. Carwithen stands Mr. Jones, the curate of North Bovey, who fished the old village cross out of the brook, where it had lain since the iconoclastic period of the Civil Wars, and re-erected it in 1829.

North Bovey church, pleasantly situated, possesses a screen much mutilated, but capable of restoration. Far superior to it in preservation is that of Lustleigh, which is of the same character as that of Bridford, perhaps post-Reformation, and contains a series of figures in the lower compartments representing clergy

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Rh in their caps and surplices and "liripipets," and not saints. There is some old glass in the church, in one window a representation of S. Margaret. There are monumental effigies in the church of the Prouze family. One of these is of Sir William Prouze, to whom the manor of Lustleigh belonged. By his will he directed that he should be buried with his ancestors at Lustleigh; but he died at a distance, and was interred at Holbeton. Some time after, the wishes of her father having come to the knowledge of Lady Alice, the wife of Sir Roger Mules, Baron of Cadbury, and finding that they had been disregarded, the dutiful daughter petitioned Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter in 1329, that the remains might be removed from Holbeton to Lustleigh, and the prayer was granted.

Forming the sill of the south door is a long granite stone with a Romano-British inscription, the reading of which has not been satisfactorily made out.

In the chancel may be noticed the stone brackets, perforated for the cords employed for the suspension of the Lenten veil.

A story associated with Lustleigh church has its parallels elsewhere. After it had been built the devil threatened to destroy it, stained glass and all, unless he were given a sacrifice. Now it happened that a bumpkin was present in the churchyard with a pack of cards in his pocket, and the Evil One immediately demanded him as his due; but the man, with great presence of mind, pounced on a cat that was stalking by and dashed out its brains against the wall of the porch. This satisfied the

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174 powers of darkness, and the consecration of the church followed. The story is a clumsy late cooking up of the old belief that before a building could be occupied a life must be sacrificed to the telluric deities. A horse, a dog, a sow—in this case a cat was offered up. Echoes of the same are found everywhere. Most Devonshire churchyards were formerly supposed to be haunted by some animal or other, which had been buried under the corner-stone. When S. Columba took possession of lona the question arose as to who was to die and be buried so as to secure the place for ever to the community. One of his monks, Oran by name, offered himself, and he was buried alive under the foundations of the new abbey.

The rectory house possesses its ancient hall open to the roof. In the hedge between the church and station is the "Bishop's Stone," a large block, bearing the arms of Bishop Stapeldon (1307-26), who was murdered in the riots occasioned by Edward II. favouring the Despensers. He was fallen on by the London mob in Cheapside, stripped, and beheaded by them.

Strewn about Lustleigh are numerous masses of granite, rounded, and like loaves of bread. This is due to the weathering of the granite, which is soft, but some, if not most, appear to have been carried to where they lie by water.

The stream Becka forms a fall into the valley of the Bovey, through woods, but except in very rainy

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Rh weather it is insignificant, and hardly merits to be considered a waterfall; it is properly only a water-trickle.

The eastern flank of the moor is infinitely richer in vegetation than the western. The whole of Dartmoor stands up as a wall against the prevalent north-west and south-west winds that distort the trees on the west side. Moreover, owing to the shelter thus furnished, and to the disintegration of the granite trending in this direction so as to form deep beds of gravel, the valleys and hillsides are clothed with rich vegetation. Pines flourish.

Hound Tor is a noble mass of rocks. It derives its name from the shape assumed by the blocks on the summit, that have been weathered into forms resembling the heads of dogs peering over the natural battlements, and listening to hear the merry call of the horn. Below it, on the Manaton side, nestles Hound Tor Farm, picturesquely enfolded in a sycamore grove.

The sycamore, by the way, is peculiarly the tree for Dartmoor and other exposed situations. The beech cowers and turns from the blast, and it divides so soon as its taproot touches rock; but the sycamore stands up, indifferent to wind and rain, to which it opposes the broad green leaves that it turns against the blast, and so shelters itself as with scale armour.

On Hound Tor is a circle of stones containing a kistvaen.

The road that leads to Widdecombe and Ashburton ascends to Hound Tor; but there is another

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176 road to Ashburton by Hey Tor that branches off to the left before Hound Tor Farm is reached, and scrambles up to Trendlebere Down, passing an almost destroyed stone row starting from a cairn beside the highway. The road runs at a great elevation (1,080 feet) for some miles. There is a pleasant and homely inn at Hey Tor Vale, where the traveller may rest and gather strength to visit Holwell Tor and Hey Tor Rocks. Holwell Tor was at one time surrounded by a stone rampart, but quarrymen have sadly injured it, and it is not now easy to decide whether the inclosure was merely a pound, like Grimspound, or a stone camp, like Whit Tor.

Hey Tor Rocks form two fine masses, and are unlike most of the moorland tors, in that the granite is very consistent, and is not broken into the usual layers of soft beds alternating with hard layers. The view of the valley below Hey Tor and Grea Tor on one side, and the ridge of Bone Hill on the other, is fine.

The road, commanding to the east a vast stretch of the rich lowlands of Devon, passes Saddle Tor and reaches Rippon Tor, where is a good logan stone. Here are several cairns much mutilated by the road-makers. On the further side of the road, by Pill Tor, are remains of an extensive prehistoric settlement. Many huts and inclosures remain. The place bears the name of Foale's Arrishes, from a man of that appellation who spent his energies in converting the prehistoric inclosures into fields for his own use, to the destruction of much that was

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Rh interesting, and to his own very dubitable advantage. The huts have, however, yielded fine specimens of ornamented pottery. The decoration is here and there made with a woman's finger-nail. Consider that! Some poor barbaric squaw five thousand years ago fashioned the damp clay with her hands and devised a rude pattern, which she incised with her

nails. She is long ago gone to dust, and her dust dispersed, but the impress of her nails remains.

This is much like what we are all doing, and doing unconsciously—leaving little finger-touches on our creations, giving shape to the minds and habits of our children and of those with whom we are brought into contact, shaping, adorning, or disfiguring our epoch, and the impressions we leave are indelible; they will in turn be transmitted to ages to come.

Some of the ornamentation, as in a specimen from

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Island Life

PART I
THE DISPERSAL OF ORGANISMS; ITS PHENOMENA, LAWS, AND CAUSES

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY

Remarkable Contrasts in the Distribution of Animals—Britain and Japan—Australia and New Zealand—Bali and Lombok—Florida and Bahama Islands—Brazil and Africa—Borneo, Madagascar, and Celebes—Problems in Distribution to be found in every Country—Can be Solved only by the Combination of many distinct lines of inquiry, Biological and Physical—Islands offer the best Subjects for the Study of Distribution—Outline of the Subjects to be discussed in the Present Volume.

CHAPTER II
THE ELEMENTARY FACTS OF DISTRIBUTION.

Importance of Locality as an Essential Character of Species—Areas of Distribution—Extent and Limitations of Specific Areas—Specific Range of Birds—Generic Areas—Separate and Overlapping Areas—The Species of Tits as illustrating Areas of Distribution—The Distribution of the Species of Jays—Discontinuous Generic Areas—Peculiarities of Generic and Family Distribution—General Features of Overlapping and Discontinuous Areas—Restricted Areas of Families—The Distribution of Orders

CHAPTER III
CLASSIFICATION OF THE FACTS OF DISTRIBUTION.—ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS

The Geographical Divisions of the Globe do not Correspond to Zoological Divisions—The Range of British Mammals as Indicating a Zoological Region—Range of East Asian and North African Mammals—The Range of British Birds—Range of East Asian Birds—The Limits of the Palæarctic Region—Characteristic Features of the Palæarctic Region—Definition and Characteristic Groups of the Ethiopian Region—Of the Oriental Region—Of the Australian Region—Of the Nearctic Region—Of the Neotropical Region—Comparison of Zoological Regions with the Geographical Divisions of the Globe

CHAPTER IV
EVOLUTION AS THE KEY TO DISTRIBUTION

Importance of the Doctrine of Evolution—The Origin of New Species—Variation in Animals—The amount of Variation in North American Birds—How New Species Arise from a Variable Species—Definition and Origin of Genera—Cause of the Extinction of Species—The Rise and Decay of Species and Genera—Discontinuous Specific Areas, why Rare—Discontinuity of the Area of Parus Palustris—Discontinuity of Emberiza Schœniclus—The European and Japanese Jays—Supposed examples of Discontinuity among North American Birds—Distribution and Antiquity of Families—Discontinuity a Proof of Antiquity—Concluding remarks

CHAPTER V
THE POWERS OF DISPERSAL OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS

Statement of the General Question of Dispersal—The Ocean as a Barrier to the Dispersal of Mammals—The Dispersal of Birds—The Dispersal of Reptiles—The Dispersal of Insects—The Dispersal of Land Mollusca—Great Antiquity of Land-shells—Causes Favouring the Abundance of Land-shells—The Dispersal of Plants—Special Adaptability of Seeds for Dispersal—Birds as Agents in the Dispersal of Seeds—Ocean Currents as Agents in Plant Dispersal—Dispersal along Mountain Chains—Antiquity of Plants as Effecting their Distribution

CHAPTER VI
GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL CHANGES: THE PERMANENCE OF CONTINENTS

Changes of Land and Sea, their Nature and Extent—Shore-Deposits and Stratified Rocks—The Movements of Continents—Supposed Oceanic Formations; the Origin of Chalk—Fresh-water and Shore-deposits as Proving the Permanence of Continents—Oceanic Islands as Indications of the Permanence of Continents and Oceans—General Stability of Continents with Constant Change of Form—Effect of Continental Changes on the Distribution of Animals—Changed Distribution Proved by the Extinct Animals of Different Epochs—Summary of Evidence for the General Permanence of Continents and Oceans.

CHAPTER VII
CHANGES OF CLIMATE WHICH HAVE INFLUENCED THE DISPERSAL OF ORGANISMS: THE GLACIAL EPOCH

Proofs of the Recent Occurrence of a Glacial Epoch—Moraines—Travelled Blocks—Glacial Deposits of Scotland: the "Till"—Inferences from the Glacial Phenomena of Scotland—Glacial Phenomena of North America—Effects of the Glacial Epoch on Animal Life—Warm and Cold Periods—Palæontological Evidence of Alternate Cold and Warm Periods—Evidence of Interglacial Warm Periods on the Continent and in North America—Migrations and Extinctions of Organisms Caused by the Glacial Epoch

CHAPTER VIII
THE CAUSES OF GLACIAL EPOCHS

Various Suggested Causes—Astronomical Causes of Changes of Climate—Difference of Temperature Caused by Varying Distances of the Sun—Properties of Air and Water, Snow and Ice, in Relation to Climate—Effects of Snow on Climate—High Land and Great Moisture Essential to the Initiation of a Glacial Epoch—Perpetual Snow nowhere Exists on Lowlands—Conditions Determining the Presence or Absence of Perpetual Snow—Efficiency of Astronomical causes in Producing Glaciation—Action of Meteorological Causes in Intensifying Glaciation—Summary of Causes of Glaciation—Effect of Clouds and Fog in Cutting off the Sun's Heat—South Temperate America as Illustrating the Influence of Astronomical Causes on Climate—Geographical Changes how far a Cause of Glaciation—Land Acting as a Barrier to Ocean-currents—The Theory of Interglacial Periods and their Probable Character—Probable Effect of Winter in aphelion on the Climate of Britain—The Essential Principle of Climatal Change Restated—Probable Date of the Last Glacial Epoch—Changes of the Sea-level Dependent on Glaciation—The Planet Mars as Bearing on the Theory of Excentricity as a Cause of Glacial Epochs

CHAPTER IX
ANCIENT GLACIAL EPOCHS, AND MILD CLIMATES IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

Mr. Croll's Views on Ancient Glacial Epochs—Effects of Denudation in Destroying the Evidence of Remote Glacial Epochs—Rise of Sea-level Connected with Glacial Epochs a Cause of Further Denudation—What Evidence of Early Glacial Epochs may be Expected—Evidences of Ice-action During the Tertiary Period—The Weight of the Negative Evidence—Temperate Climates in the Arctic Regions—The Miocene Arctic Flora—Mild Arctic Climates of the Cretaceous Period—Stratigraphical Evidence of Long-continued Mild Arctic Conditions—The Causes of Mild Arctic Climates—Geographical Conditions Favouring Mild Northern Climates in Tertiary Times—The Indian Ocean as a Source of Heat in Tertiary Times—Condition of North America During the Tertiary Period—Effect of High Excentricity on Warm Polar Climates—Evidences as to Climate in the Secondary and Palæozoic Epochs—Warm Arctic Climates in Early Secondary and Palæozoic Times—Conclusions as to the Climates of Secondary and Tertiary Periods—General View of Geological Climates as Dependent on the Physical Features of the Earth's Surface—Estimate of the Comparative Effects of Geographical and Physical Causes in Producing Changes of Climate.

CHAPTER X
THE EARTH'S AGE, AND THE RATE OF DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS

Various Estimates of Geological Time—Denudation and Deposition of Strata as a Measure of Time—How to Estimate the Thickness of the Sedimentary Rocks—How to Estimate the Average Rate of Deposition of the Sedimentary Rocks—The Rate of Geological Change Probably Greater in very Remote Times—Value of the Preceding Estimate of Geological Time—Organic Modification Dependent on Change of Conditions—Geographical Mutations as a Motive Power in Bringing about Organic Changes—Climatal Revolutions as an Agent in Producing Organic Changes—Present Condition of the Earth One of Exceptional Stability as Regards Climate—Date of Last Glacial Epoch and its Bearing on the Measurement of Geological Time—Concluding Remarks

PART II
INSULAR FAUNAS AND FLORAS

CHAPTER XI
THE CLASSIFICATION OF ISLANDS

Importance of Islands in the Study of the Distribution of Organisms—Classification of Islands with Reference to Distribution—Continental Islands—Oceanic Islands

CHAPTER XII
OCEANIC ISLANDS:—THE AZORES AND BERMUDA

The Azores, or Western Islands

Position and Physical Features—Chief Zoological Features of the Azores—Birds—Origin of the Azorean Bird-fauna—Insects of the Azores—Land-shells of the Azores—The Flora of the Azores—The Dispersal of Seeds—Birds as seed-carriers—Facilities for Dispersal of Azorean Plants—Important Deduction from the Peculiarities of the Azorean Fauna and Flora

Bermuda

Position and Physical Features—The Red Clay of Bermuda—Zoology of Bermuda—Birds of Bermuda—Comparison of the Bird-faunas of Bermuda and the Azores—Insects of Bermuda—Land Mollusca—Flora of Bermuda—Concluding Remarks on the Azores and Bermuda

CHAPTER XIII
THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

Position and Physical Features—Absence of Indigenous Mammalia and Amphibia—Reptiles—Birds—Insects and Land-shells—The Keeling Islands as Illustrating the Manner in which Oceanic Islands are Peopled—Flora of the Galapagos—Origin of the Flora of the Galapagos—Concluding remarks

CHAPTER XIV
ST. HELENA

Position and Physical Features of St. Helena—Change Effected by European Occupation—The Insects of St. Helena—Coleoptera—Peculiarities and Origin of the Coleoptera of St. Helena—Land-shells of St. Helena—Absence of Fresh-water Organisms—Native Vegetation of St. Helena—The Relations of the St. Helena Compositæ—Concluding Remarks on St. Helena

CHAPTER XV
THE SANDWICH ISLANDS

Position and Physical Features—Zoology of the Sandwich Islands—Birds—Reptiles—Land-shells—Insects—Vegetation of the Sandwich Islands—Peculiar Features of the Hawaiian Flora—Antiquity of the Hawaiian Fauna and Flora—Concluding Observations on the Fauna and Flora of the Sandwich Islands—General Remarks on Oceanic Islands

CHAPTER XVI
CONTINENTAL ISLANDS OF RECENT ORIGIN: GREAT BRITAIN

Characteristic Features of Recent Continental Islands—Recent Physical Changes of the British Isles—Proofs of Former Elevation—Submerged Forests—Buried River Channels—Time of Last Union with the Continent—Why Britain is Poor in Species—Peculiar British Birds—-Fresh-water Fishes—Cause of Great Speciality in Fishes—Peculiar British Insects—Lepidoptera Confined to the British Isles—Peculiarities of the Isle of Man Lepidoptera—Coleoptera Confined to the British Isles—Trichoptera Peculiar to the British Isles—Land and Fresh-water Shells—Peculiarities of the British Flora—Peculiarities of the Irish Flora—Peculiar British Mosses and Hepaticæ—Concluding Remarks on the Peculiarities of the British Fauna and Flora

CHAPTER XVII
BORNEO AND JAVA

Position and Physical Features of Borneo—Zoological Features of Borneo: Mammalia—Birds—The Affinities of the Borneo Fauna—Java, its Position and Physical Features—General Character of the Fauna of Java—Differences Between the Fauna of Java and that of the other Malay Islands—Special Relations of the Javan Fauna to that of the Asiatic Continent—Past Geographical Changes of Java and Borneo—The Philippine Islands—Concluding Remarks on the Malay Islands

CHAPTER XVIII
JAPAN AND FORMOSA

Japan, its Position and Physical Features—Zoological Features of Japan—Mammalia—Birds—Birds Common to Great Britain and Japan—Birds Peculiar to Japan—Japan Birds Recurring in Distant Areas—Formosa—Physical Features of Formosa—Animal Life of Formosa—Mammalia—Land Birds Peculiar to Formosa—Formosan Birds Recurring in India or Malaya—Comparison of Faunas of Hainan, Formosa, and Japan—General Remarks on Recent Continental Islands

CHAPTER XIX
ANCIENT CONTINENTAL ISLANDS: THE MADAGASCAR GROUP

Remarks on Ancient Continental Islands—Physical Features of Madagascar—Biological Features of Madagascar—Mammalia—Reptiles—Relation of Madagascar to Africa—Early History of Africa and Madagascar—Anomalies of Distribution and how to Explain Them—The Birds of Madagascar as Indicating a Supposed Lemurian Continent—Submerged Islands Between Madagascar and India—Concluding Remarks on "Lemuria"—The Mascarene Islands—The Comoro Islands—The Seychelles Archipelago—Birds of the Seychelles—Reptiles and Amphibia—Fresh-water Fishes—Land Shells—Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez—Birds—Extinct Birds and their Probable Origin—Reptiles—Flora of Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands—Curious Relations of Mascarene Plants—Endemic Genera of Mauritius and Seychelles—Fragmentary Character of the Mascarene Flora—Flora of Madagascar Allied to that of South Africa—Preponderance of Ferns in the Mascarene Flora—Concluding Remarks on the Madagascar Group

CHAPTER XX
ANOMALOUS ISLANDS: CELEBES

Anomalous Relations of Celebes—Physical Features of the Island—Zoological Character of the Islands Around Celebes—The Malayan and Australian Banks—Zoology of Celebes: Mammalia—Probable Derivation of the Mammals of Celebes—Birds of Celebes—Bird-types Peculiar to Celebes—Celebes not Strictly a Continental Island—Peculiarities of the Insects of Celebes—Himalayan Types of Birds and Butterflies in Celebes—Peculiarities of Shape and Colour of Celebesian Butterflies—Concluding Remarks—Appendix on the Birds of Celebes

CHAPTER XXI
ANOMALOUS ISLANDS: NEW ZEALAND

Position and Physical Features of New Zealand—Zoological Character of New Zealand—Mammalia—Wingless Birds Living and Extinct—Recent Existence of the Moa—Past Changes of New Zealand deduced from its Wingless Birds—Birds and Reptiles of New Zealand—Conclusions from the Peculiarities of the New Zealand Fauna

CHAPTER XXII
THE FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND: ITS AFFINITIES AND PROBABLE ORIGIN

Relations of the New Zealand Flora to that of Australia—General Features of the Australian Flora—The Floras of South-eastern and South-western Australia—Geological Explanation of the Differences of these Two Floras—The Origin of the Australian Element in the New Zealand Flora—Tropical Character of the New Zealand Flora Explained—Species Common to New Zealand and Australia mostly Temperate Forms—Why Easily Dispersed Plants have often Restricted Ranges—Summary and Conclusion on the New Zealand Flora

CHAPTER XXIII
ON THE ARCTIC ELEMENT IN SOUTH TEMPERATE FLORAS

European Species and Genera of Plants in the Southern Hemisphere—Aggressive Power of the Scandinavian Flora—Means by which Plants have Migrated from North to South—Newly Moved Soil as Affording Temporary Stations to Migrating Plants—Elevation and Depression of the Snow-line as Aiding the Migration of Plants—Changes of Climate Favourable to Migration—The Migration from North to South has been Long going on—Geological Changes as Aiding Migration—Proofs of Migration by way of the Andes—Proofs of Migration by way of the Himalayas and Southern Asia—Proofs of Migration by way of the African Highlands—Supposed Connection of South Africa and Australia—The Endemic Genera of Plants in New Zealand—The Absence of Southern Types from the Northern Hemisphere—Concluding Remarks on the New Zealand and South Temperate Floras

CHAPTER XXIV
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The Present Volume is the Development and Application of a Theory—Statement of the Biological and Physical Causes of Dispersal—Investigation of the Facts of Dispersal—Of the Means of Dispersal—Of Geographical Changes Affecting Dispersal—Of Climatal Changes Affecting Dispersal—The Glacial Epoch and its Causes—Alleged Ancient Glacial Epochs—Warm Polar Climates and their Causes—Conclusions as to Geological Climates—How Far Different from those of Mr. Croll—Supposed Limitations of Geological Time—Time Amply Sufficient both for Geological and Biological Development—Insular Faunas and Floras—The North Atlantic Islands—The Galapagos—St. Helena and the Sandwich Islands—Great Britain as a Recent Continental Island—Borneo and Java—Japan and Formosa—Madagascar as an Ancient Continental Island—Celebes and New Zealand as Anomalous Islands—The Flora of New Zealand and its Origin—The European Element in the South Temperate Floras—Concluding Remarks

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178 Smallacombe Rocks, is made with a twisted cord. The pottery is all hand-made, shaped without the wheel, and very imperfectly burnt. It is not red, because there was little iron in the clay.

One large hut at Foale's Arrishes had a seat carried round part at least of the interior, made of branches that were held from spreading by sharp stones planted upright in the floor. The kitchen was on the left side of the entrance in a subsidiary structure.

It has, of late, become a thing not unusual for young fellows, if suffering from delicacy of the lungs, to rent or buy a farm on Dartmoor. No research after parasitic microbes thenceforth concerns them. The fresh air, the constant exercise, the joyous existence on the wild moor are fatal to tubercular bacteria. Rude health, buoyant spirits, unflagging energy result from such treatment.

It is, it must be admitted, surpassing hard to induce servants from the "in-country" to take situations on Dartmoor. The air there is as unsuited to them as to other microbes. But the settler lights his own fires, cooks his own meals, makes his own bed; and, as one of them assured me, his experience proved to him that a man can keep a hunter at the same cost as he can a servant-maid: therefore, why be worried with the latter?

At Post Bridge they have had a succession of curates who have lived this life in cabins or hovels, and have learned to love it. It has one drawback, and one only—it makes the hands rough and grimy. But what are gloves for, but to cover dirty hands when we go to town to make display?

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Rh As to food. Rabbits are to be had at any moment; geese, ducks live and luxuriate on the moor; an occasional blackcock or moorhen and a brace of snipe give zest; and trout are to be obtained for the labour or pleasure of angling for them. The price of horses is mounting; any number may be grown on the moor. Sheep, cattle—you turn them

out, and they thrive on the sweet grass, and know not the maladies that afflict flocks and herds in the world twelve hundred feet below.

Let it hot be supposed that in winter Dartmoor is a desolation and a horror. It is by no means an unpleasant place for a sojourn then. When below are mud and mist, aloft on the moor the ground is hard with frost and the air crisp and clear. Down below we are oppressed with the fall of the leaf,

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180 affecting us, if inclined to asthma and bronchitis; and in the short, dull days of December and January our spirits wax dark amidst naked trees and when our ankles are deep in mud. There are no trees on Dartmoor to expose their naked limbs, and tell us that, vegetation is dead. The shoulders of down are draped in brown sealskin mantles—the ling and heather, as lovely in its sleep as in its waking state; the mosses, touched by frost, turn to rainbow hues. For colour effects give me Dartmoor in winter.

And then the peat fires! What fires can surpass them? They do not flame, but they glow, and diffuse an aroma that fills the lungs with balm. The turf-cutting is one of the annual labours on the moor. Every farm has its peat-bog, and in the proper season a sufficiency of fuel is cut, then carried and stacked for winter use. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that cooking done over a peat fire surpasses cooking at the best club in London. But it may be that on the moor one relishes a meal in a manner impossible elsewhere.

Widdecombe-in-the-Moor is a village in a valley walled off from the world by high ridges on the east and on the west. The entire bed of the valley has been washed and rewashed by streamers for tin. Bag Park is a gentleman's seat laid out on this collection of refuse, and the pines and firs luxuriate in the granite rubble and grow, as if it were to them a pleasure to thrust up their leaders and expand their boughs.

I shall never forget a drive through Widdecombe one October day, when the sun was shining bright,

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Rh and the air was soft. The sycamores had shed their leaves; but the expedition was one through coral land. The rowan or mountain-ash, which was everywhere, was burdened with clusters of scarlet berries, and the hedges were wreathed with rose-hips and dense with ruddy haws.

The church of Widdecombe has a very fine tower, built, it is said, by the tinners. The roof has many of the original bosses, carved and painted with heads, flowers, and leaves. One has the figure on it of S. Catherine with her wheel. One boss has on it three rabbits, each with a single ear, which unite in the centre, forming a triangle. One exactly similar is in Tavistock church.

Part of the lower portion of the roodscreen remains with figures of saints on it.

The story of the great thunderstorm in which Widdecombe church was struck, on Sunday, October 21st, 1638, when the congregation were present at divine service, has often been told, notably by Mr. Blackmore in his novel Christowel.

Prince, in his Worthies of Devon, thus narrates the circumstances:—

"In the afternoon, in service time, there happened a very great darkness, which still increased to that degree, that they could not see to read; soon after, a terrible and fearful thunder was heard, like the noise of so many great guns, accompanied with dreadful lightning, to the great amazement of the people; the darkness still increasing, that they could not see each other, when there presently came such an extraordinary flame of lightning, as filled the church with fire, smoak, and a loathsome smell, like

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182 ; a ball of fire came in likewise at the window, and passed through the church, which so affrighted the congregation, that most of them fell down in their seats; some upon their knees, others on their faces, and some one upon another, crying out of burning and scalding, and all giving themselves up for dead. There were in all four persons killed, and sixty-two hurt, divers of them having their linen burnt, tho' their outward garments were not so much as singed. . . . The church itself was much torn and defaced with the thunder and lightning, a beam whereof, breaking in the midst, fell down between the minister and clerk, and hurt neither. The steeple was much wrent; and it was observed where the church was most torn, there the least hurt was done among the people. There was none hurted with the timber or stone; but one man, who, it was judged, was killed by the fall of a stone."

The monument of this man, Roger Hill, is in the church, as also an account in verse of the storm, composed by the village schoolmaster.

For many years the incumbent of Widdecombe was a man who was reputed to be the son of George IV. when Prince Regent. His sister, married to a captain, who deserted her, occupied a cottage, now in ruins, under Crockern Tor. She also was believed to be of blood-royal with a bar sinister. Both the parson and his sister had been brought up about Court. He, when given the living of Widdecombe—to get him out of sight and mind—brought with him a large consignment of excellent port, and that drew to his parsonage such rare men as would brave the moors and storms for the sake of a carouse.

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Rh His sister, in the desolate cottage under Crockern Tor, languished and died, leaving her only child, Caroline, to the charge of her uncle. She was sent for her education to a famous school in Queen's Square, London, where she associated with girls belonging to families of the first rank.

A certain air of distinction, as well as the story that circulated relative to her mother's origin, made her an object of interest, and her imperious manner commanded respect.

The vicarage was by no means a good place in which a young girl should grow to maturity. The house was not frequented by men of the best character, and the wildest stories are told of the goings-on there in the forties and fifties.

Caroline was, however, a girl of exceptionally strong character; she was early called on to hold her own with the associates of her uncle and frequenters of the vicarage, and she was quite able to enforce upon them a proper behaviour towards herself.

Unhappily, she had been reared without any religious principles; her law was consequently her own caprice, fortunately held in check by a strong sense of personal dignity.

The position she was in was as forlorn and unpromising as any in which a young girl could find herself.

She was full of generous impulses, but they were wholly untrained; she possessed furious passions, which were held in check solely by her pride. She would do at one time a generous act and next a dirty

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Island Life/Prefaces

TO

SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER,

K.C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S., ETC., ETC.

WHO, MORE THAN ANY OTHER WRITER,

HAS ADVANCED OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL

DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS, AND ESPECIALLY

OF INSULAR FLORAS,

I Dedicate this Volume;

ON A KINDRED SUBJECT,

AS A TOKEN OF ADMIRATION AND REGARD.

CORRECTIONS IN PRESENT ISSUE.
The first issue of this Edition being exhausted, the opportunity is taken of making a few corrections, the most important of which are here stated:—

Page 163. Statement modified as to supposed glaciation of South Africa.

Pages 174 and 338. Many geologists now hold that there was no great submergence during the glacial epoch. The passages referring to it have therefore been re-written.

Page 182. Colonel Fielden's explanation of the occurrence of large trees on shores and in recent drift in high latitudes, is now added.

"   272. A species of Carex peculiar to Bermuda is now given.

"   356. Geomalacus maculosus, as a peculiar British species, is now omitted.

Verbal alterations have also been made at pages 41, 105, 356, and 360.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
This edition has been carefully revised throughout, and owing to the great increase to our knowledge of the Natural History of some of the islands during the last twelve years considerable additions or alterations have been required. The more important of these changes are the following:—

Chapter VII. The account of the migrations of animals and plants during and since the Glacial Epoch, has been modified to accord with newer information.

Chapters VIII and IX. The discussion of the causes of Glacial Epochs and Mild Arctic Climates has been somewhat modified in view of the late Dr. Croll's remarks, and the argument rendered clearer.

Chapter XIII. Several additions to the Fauna of the Galapagos have been noted.

Chapter XV. Considerable additions have been made to this chapter embodying the recent discoveries of birds and insects new to the Sandwich Islands, while a much fuller account has been given of its highly peculiar and very interesting flora.

Chapter XVI. Important additions and corrections have been made in the lists of peculiar British animals and plants embodying the most recent information.

Chapter XVII. Very large additions have been made to the mammalia and birds of Borneo, and full lists of the peculiar species are given.

Chapter XVIII. A more accurate account is given of the birds of Japan.

Chapter XIX. The recent additions to the mammals and birds of Madagascar are embodied in this chapter, and a fuller sketch is given of the rich and peculiar flora of the island.

Chapter XXI. and XXII. Some important additions have been made to these chapters owing to more accurate information as to the depth of the sea around New Zealand, and to the discovery of abundant remains of fossil plants of the tertiary and cretaceous periods both in New Zealand and Australia.

In the body of the work I have in each case acknowledged the valuable information given me by naturalists of eminence in their various departments, and I return my best thanks to all who have so kindly assisted me. I am however indebted in a special manner to one gentleman—Mr. Theo. D. A. Cockerell, now Curator of the Museum of the Jamaica Institute—who supplied me with a large amount of information by searching the most recent works in the scientific libraries, by personal inquiries among naturalists, and also by giving me the benefit of his own copious notes and observations. Without his assistance it would have been difficult for me to have made the present edition so full and complete as I hope it now is. In a work of such wide range, and dealing with so large a body of facts some errors will doubtless be detected, though, I trust few of importance.

 * , December, 1891.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
The present volume is the result of four years' additional thought and research on the lines laid down in my Geographical Distribution of Animals, and may be considered as a popular supplement to and completion of that work.

It is, however, at the same time a complete work in itself: and, from the mode of treatment adopted, it will, I hope, be well calculated to bring before the intelligent reader the wide scope and varied interest of this branch of natural history. Although some of the earlier chapters deal with the same questions as my former volumes, they are here treated from a different point of view; and as the discussion of them is more elementary and at the same time tolerably full, it is hoped that they will prove both instructive and interesting. The plan of my larger work required that genera only should be taken account of; in the present volume I often discuss the distribution of species, and this will help to render the work more intelligible to the unscientific reader.

The full statement of the scope and object of the present essay given in the "Introductory" chapter, together with the "Summary" of the whole work and the general view of the more important arguments given in the "Conclusion," render it unnecessary for me to offer any further remarks on these points. I may, however, state generally that, so far as I am able to judge, a real advance has here been made in the mode of treating problems in Geographical Distribution, owing to the firm establishment of a number of preliminary doctrines or "principles," which in many cases lead to a far simpler and yet more complete solution of such problems than have been hitherto possible. The most important of these doctrines are those which establish and define—(1) The former wide extension of all groups now discontinuous, as being a necessary result of "evolution"; (2) The permanence of the great features of the distribution of land and water on the earth's surface; and, (3) The nature and frequency of climatal changes throughout geological time.

I have now only to thank the many friends and correspondents who have given me information or advice. Besides those whose assistance is acknowledged in the body of the work, I am especially indebted to four gentlemen who have been kind enough to read over the proofs of chapters dealing with questions on which they have special knowledge, giving me the benefit of valuable emendations and suggestions. Mr. Edward R. Alston has looked over those parts of the earlier chapters which relate to the mammals of Europe and the North Temperate zone; Mr. S. B. J. Skertchley, of the Geological Survey, has read the chapters which discuss the glacial epoch and other geological questions; Professor A. Newton has looked over the passages referring to the birds of the Madagascar group; while Sir Joseph D. Hooker has given me the invaluable benefit of his remarks on my two chapters dealing with the New Zealand flora.

 * , August, 1880.

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184 trick, "just," as the people said, "as though she were a pixy."

A gentleman named Darke, visiting her uncle on some business, married Caroline, and soon after her uncle died suddenly, having made a will in her favour.

The vicarage was well furnished and contained articles of great value, in pictures, plate, etc., supposed to have been presented to him, but most likely obtained with money lent at Court to those temporarily embarrassed.

The manor had been sold, and was purchased by Mrs. Darke's trustees at her request, and from that time she insisted on being entitled "Lady" Darke; and into this she moved with her dogs, horses, and husband.

This latter had soon discovered what an imperious character she possessed. His will might clash with hers, but hers would never give way. Her character was the toughest and most energetic, and by degrees he fell into a condition of submission and insignificance which it was painful to witness, and which "Lady" Darke herself resented, without being aware that it was due to her own overbearing behaviour.

She kept nine or ten horses in her stables—some had never been broken in; some she rode on, others were driven in pairs. But towards the end of her life the horses were not taken out, and ate their heads off many times over.

If a visitor of distinction was expected, she sent for him her carriage and pair with silver-mounted harness. For ordinary use she employed her

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Rh harness; but Bill, her husband, was despatched to market in the little trap in which she fetched coals. Latterly Mr. Darke was sent to make purchases at Ashburton, with a long list of "chores," i.e. of articles he was to bring back with him, written out during the week on a slip of paper from a pocket-book. Here is one: "Kidney-beans and cucumbers; tea, and green paint with driers; brushes and putty; sweets; and a frock-body for myself; a milkpan, fourteen inches; side-combs, 3s. 6d.; ostler's boy and fish; lavender; pain-killer; wine, salad oil, harness paste, and rice; also ribs of beef, grate for blue bedroom, india-rubber; rabbits, grind scissors, cheese, inn and ostler."

She ruled her husband, and indeed everyone with whom she came in contact. He, cut off from social intercourse with his fellows, out of the current of intellectual life, with no other work to do than to fulfil her behests, sank in his own estimation, and fell into degradation without making an effort to rise out of it.

An instance of her despotic character may be given. One day she wanted to have her hay made; she was anxious lest a change of weather should come on. She issued an imperious order to the curate of the parish to come and help save the hay. He sent an apology. This rendered her furious. She went in quest of him, met him in the village, and falling on him soundly boxed his ears in public.

She was an implacable hater; and living on the wilds, half educated, she was superstitious, and believed in witchcraft, and in her own power to

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186 such individuals as offended her. She was caught on one occasion with a doll into which she was sticking pins and needles, in the hope and with the intent thereby of producing aches and cramps in a neighbour. On another occasion she laid a train of gunpowder on her hearth, about a figure of dough, and ignited it, for the purpose of conveying an attack of fever to the person against whom she was animated with resentment.

It need hardly be said that believing in her own powers others believed in them as well, and dreaded offending her.

She was kind-hearted, and impulsive in her generosity. She divided the parish into two halves—one she gave over to the doctor and kept the other to herself. "He kills with his physic," she said, "I keep alive and recover with my soups and port wine."

She was vastly angry with the vicar, her uncle's successor, about some trifle, and she went after him with her whip and threatened to chastise him with it. He actually summoned her, and swore that he lived in bodily fear of the lady.

She liked to have visitors drop in on her, but not to be warned of their coming; for she took a pride in showing what she could provide for table on the spur of the moment; and forth would come a ham, half a goose, a boiled leg of mutton, a big cheese and celery, produced as by magic, and would be served by herself in an old gown, red turnover handkerchief on her shoulders, and a coalscuttle bonnet on her head.

Mrs. Darke at one time played on the piano after

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Rh the meal to get her guests to dance, but the cats tore the instrument open and made their nests and kittened among the strings, and the damp air rusted the wires. Then she bought a barrel-organ, and forced her husband to turn the handle in the corner and grind out the music for the dancers. However, on one occasion, having tasted too often a bottle within reach, though out of sight, he fell forward in the middle of a dance and brought the instrument down with him. The instrument was so broken that it could no longer be used. Mr. Darke died at last in one of the fits to which he was liable, having retired to rest by mistake under in place of on the bed.

By this time the lady had become very deaf.

On hearing the news of the decease some friends went to see her.

"Very grieved, madam, at your sad loss!"

"Ah! Bill is dead. He might have done worse; he might have lived. You will stop and dine, of course."

They had to tarry to see to matters of business. "Now, look here," said "Lady" Darke, "I'll have no more 'truck' with Bill. He has been trouble to me long enough. I shall send him to his friends in Plymouth. Let them bury him."

"Madam," said the nurse, "we want to lay him out. Will you give me a sheet?"

"A sheet! One of my good linen sheets! Not I. Take a pig-cloth"; that is to say, one in which bacon was salted. And actually her husband was laid in his coffin in one of these "pig-cloths."

In Mrs. Cudlip's novel, She Cometh Not, He Saith,

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

 * Remarkable Contrasts in distribution of Animals—Britain and Japan—Australia and New Zealand—Bali and Lombok—Florida and Bahama Islands—Brazil and Africa—Borneo, Madagascar, and Celebes—Problems in distribution to be found in every country—Can be solved only by the combination of many distinct lines of inquiry, biological and physical—Islands offer the best subjects for the study of distribution—Outline of the subjects to be discussed in the present volume.

When an Englishman travels by the nearest sea-route from Great Britain to Northern Japan he passes by countries very unlike his own, both in aspect and natural productions. The sunny isles of the Mediterranean, the sands and date-palms of Egypt, the arid rocks of Aden, the cocoa groves of Ceylon, the tiger-haunted jungles of Malacca and Singapore, the fertile plains and volcanic peaks of Luzon, the forest-clad mountains of Formosa, and the bare hills of China, pass successively in review; till after a circuitous voyage of thirteen thousand miles he finds himself at Hakodadi in Japan. He is now separated from his starting-point by the whole width of Europe and Northern Asia, by an almost endless succession of plains and mountains, arid deserts or icy plateaux, yet when he visits the interior of the country he sees so many familiar natural objects that he can hardly help fancying he is close to his home. He finds the woods and fields tenanted by tits, hedge-sparrows, wrens, wagtails, larks, redbreasts, thrushes, buntings, and house-sparrows, some absolutely identical with our own feathered friends, others so closely resembling them that it requires a practised ornithologist to tell the difference. If he is fond of insects he notices many butterflies and a host of beetles which, though on close examination they are found to be distinct from ours, are yet of the same general aspect, and seem just what might be expected in any part of Europe. There are also of course many birds and insects which are quite new and peculiar, but these are by no means so numerous or conspicuous as to remove the general impression of a wonderful resemblance between the productions of such remote islands as Britain and Yesso.

Now let an inhabitant of Australia sail to New Zealand, a distance of less than thirteen hundred miles, and he will find himself in a country whose productions are totally unlike those of his own. Kangaroos and wombats there are none, the birds are almost all entirely new, insects are very scarce and quite unlike the handsome or strange Australian forms, while even the vegetation is all changed, and no gum-tree, or wattle, or grass-tree meets the traveller's eye.

But there are some more striking cases even than this, of the diversity of the productions of countries not far apart. In the Malay Archipelago there are two islands, named Bali and Lombok, each about as large as Corsica, and separated by a strait only fifteen miles wide at its narrowest part. Yet these islands differ far more from each other in their birds and quadrupeds than do England and Japan. The birds of the one are extremely unlike those of the other, the difference being such as to strike even the most ordinary observer. Bali has red and green woodpeckers, barbets, weaver-birds, and black-and-white magpie-robins, none of which are found in Lombok, where, however, we find screaming cockatoos and friar-birds, and the strange mound-building megapodes, which are all equally unknown in Bali. Many of the kingfishers, crow-shrikes, and other birds, though of the same general form, are of very distinct species; and though a considerable number of birds are the same in both islands the difference is none the less remarkable—as proving that mere distance is one of the least important of the causes which have determined the likeness or unlikeness in the animals of different countries.

In the western hemisphere we find equally striking examples. The Eastern United States possess very peculiar and interesting plants and animals, the vegetation becoming more luxuriant as we go south but not altering in essential character, so that when we reach Alabama or Florida we still find ourselves in the midst of pines, oaks, sumachs, magnolias, vines, and other characteristic forms of the temperate flora; while the birds, insects, and land-shells are of the same general character with those found further north. But if we now cross over the narrow strait, about fifty miles wide, which separates Florida from the Bahama Islands, we find ourselves in a totally different country, surrounded by a vegetation which is essentially tropical and generally identical with that of Cuba. The change is most striking, because there is little difference of climate, of soil, or apparently of position, to account for it; and when we find that the birds, the insects, and especially the land-shells of the Bahamas are almost all West Indian, while the North American types of plants and animals have almost all completely disappeared, we shall be convinced that such differences and resemblances cannot be due to existing conditions, but must depend upon laws and causes to which mere proximity of position offers no clue.

Hardly less uncertain and irregular are the effects of climate. Hot countries usually differ widely from cold ones in all their organic forms; but the difference is by no means constant, nor does it bear any proportion to difference of temperature. Between frigid Canada and sub-tropical Florida there are less marked differences in the animal productions than between Florida and Cuba or Yucatan, so much more alike in climate and so much nearer together. So the differences between the birds and quadrupeds of temperate Tasmania and tropical North Australia are slight and unimportant as compared with the enormous differences we find when we pass from the latter country to equally tropical Java. If we compare corresponding portions of different continents, we find no indication that the almost perfect similarity of climate and general conditions has any tendency to produce similarity in the animal world. The equatorial parts of Brazil and of the West Coast of Africa are almost identical in climate and in luxuriance of vegetation, but their animal life is totally diverse. In the former we have tapirs, sloths, and prehensile-tailed monkeys; in the latter elephants, antelopes, and man-like apes; while among birds, the toucans, chatterers, and humming-birds of Brazil are replaced by the plantain-eaters, bee-eaters, and sun-birds of Africa. Parts of South-temperate America, South Africa, and South Australia, correspond closely in climate; yet the birds and quadrupeds of these three districts are as completely unlike each other as those of any parts of the world that can be named.

If we visit the great islands of the globe, we find that they present similar anomalies in their animal productions, for while some exactly resemble the nearest continents others are widely different. Thus the quadrupeds, birds and insects of Borneo correspond very closely to those of the Asiatic continent, while those of Madagascar are extremely unlike African forms, although the distance from the continent is less in the latter case than in the former. And if we compare the three great islands Sumatra, Borneo, and Celebes—lying as it were side by side in the same ocean—we find that the two former, although furthest apart, have almost identical productions, while the two latter, though closer together, are more unlike than Britain and Japan situated in different oceans and separated by the largest of the great continents.

These examples will illustrate the kind of questions it is the object of the present work to deal with. Every continent, every country, and every island on the globe, offers similar problems of greater or less complexity and interest, and the time has now arrived when their solution can be attempted with some prospect of success. Many years study of this class of subjects has convinced me that there is no short and easy method of dealing with them; because they are, in their very nature, the visible outcome and residual product of the whole past history of the earth. If we take the organic productions of a small island, or of any very limited tract of country, such as a moderate-sized country parish, we have, in their relations and affinities—in the fact that they are there and others are not there, a problem which involves all the migrations of these species and their ancestral forms—all the vicissitudes of climate and all the changes of sea and land which have affected those migrations—the whole series of actions and reactions which have determined the preservation of some forms and the extinction of others,—in fact the whole history of the earth, inorganic and organic, throughout a large portion of geological time.

We shall perhaps better exhibit the scope and complexity of the subject, and show that any intelligent study of it was almost impossible till quite recently, if we concisely enumerate the great mass of facts and the number of scientific theories or principles which are necessary for its elucidation.

We require then in the first place an adequate knowledge of the fauna and flora of the whole world, and even a detailed knowledge of many parts of it, including the islands of more special interest and their adjacent continents. This kind of knowledge is of very slow growth, and is still very imperfect; and in many cases it can never now be obtained owing to the reckless destruction of forests and with them of countless species of plants and animals. In the next place we require a true and natural classification of animals and plants, so that we may know their real affinities; and it is only now that this is being generally arrived at. We further have to make use of the theory of "descent with modification" as the only possible key to the interpretation of the facts of distribution, and this theory has only been generally accepted within the last twenty years. It is evident that, so long as the belief in "special creations" of each species prevailed, no explanation of the complex facts of distribution could be arrived at or even conceived; for if each species was created where it is now found no further inquiry can take us beyond that fact, and there is an end of the whole matter. Another important factor in our interpretation of the phenomena of distribution, is a knowledge of the extinct forms that have inhabited each country during the tertiary and secondary periods of geology. New facts of this kind are daily coming to light, but except as regards Europe, North America, and parts of India, they are extremely scanty; and even in the best-known countries the record itself is often very defective and fragmentary. Yet we have already obtained remarkable evidence of the migrations of many animals and plants in past ages, throwing an often unexpected light on the actual distribution of many groups. By this means alone can we obtain positive evidence of the past migrations of organisms; and when, as too frequently is the case, this is altogether wanting, we have to trust to collateral evidence and more or less probable hypothetical explanations. Hardly less valuable is the evidence of stratigraphical geology; for this often shows us what parts of a country have been submerged at certain epochs, and thus enables us to prove that certain areas have been long isolated and the fauna and flora allowed time for special development. Here, too, our knowledge is exceedingly imperfect, though the blanks upon the geological map of the world are yearly diminishing in extent. Lastly, as a most valuable supplement to geology, we require to know approximately, the depth and contour of the ocean-bed, since this affords an important clue to the former existence of now-submerged lands, uniting islands to continents, or affording intermediate stations which have aided the migrations of many organisms. This kind of information has only been partially obtained during the last few years; and it will be seen in the latter part of this volume, that some of the most recent deep-sea soundings have afforded a basis for an explanation of one of the most difficult and interesting questions in geographical biology—the origin of the fauna and flora of New Zealand.

Such are the various classes of evidence that bear directly on the question of the distribution of organisms; but there are others of even a more fundamental character, and the importance of which is only now beginning to be recognised by students of nature. These are, firstly, the wonderful alterations of climate which have occurred in the temperate and polar zones, as proved by the evidences of glaciation in the one and of luxuriant vegetation in the other; and, secondly, the theory of the permanence of existing continents and oceans. If glacial epochs in temperate lands and mild climates near the poles have, as now believed by men of eminence, occurred several times over in the past history of the earth, the effects of such great and repeated changes, both on the migration, modification, and extinction, of species, must have been of overwhelming importance—of more importance perhaps than even the geological changes of sea and land. It is therefore necessary to consider the evidence for these climatal changes; and then, by a critical examination of their possible causes, to ascertain whether they were isolated phenomena, were due to recurrent cosmical actions, or were the result of a great system of terrestrial development. The latter is the conclusion we arrive at; and this conclusion brings with it the conviction, that in the theory which accounts for both glacial epochs and warm polar climates, we have the key to explain and harmonize many of the most anomalous biological and geological phenomena, and one which is especially valuable for the light it throws on the dispersal and existing distribution of organisms. The other important theory, or rather corollary from the preceding theory—that of the permanence of oceans and the general stability of continents throughout all geological time, is as yet very imperfectly understood, and seems, in fact, to many persons in the nature of a paradox. The evidence for it, however, appears to me to be conclusive; and it is certainly the most fundamental question in regard to the subject we have to deal with: since, if we once admit that continents and oceans may have changed places over and over again (as many writers maintain), we lose all power of reasoning on the migrations of ancestral forms of life, and are at the mercy of every wild theorist who chooses to imagine the former existence of a now-submerged continent to explain the existing distribution of a group of frogs or a genus of beetles.

As already shown by the illustrative examples adduced in this chapter, some of the most remarkable and interesting facts in the distribution and affinities of organic forms are presented by islands in relation to each other and to the surrounding continents. The study of the productions of the Galapagos—so peculiar, and yet so decidedly related to the American continent—appears to have had a powerful influence in determining the direction of Mr. Darwin's researches into the origin of species; and every naturalist who studies them has always been struck by the unexpected relations or singular anomalies which are so often found to characterize the fauna and flora of islands. Yet their full importance in connection with the history of the earth and its inhabitants has hardly yet been recognised; and it is in order to direct the attention of naturalists to this most promising field of research, that I restrict myself in this volume to an elucidation of some of the problems they present to us. By far the larger part of the islands of the globe are but portions of continents undergoing some of the various changes to which they are ever subject; and the correlative proposition, that every portion of our continents has again and again passed through insular conditions, has not been sufficiently considered, but is, I believe, the statement of a great and most suggestive truth, and one which lies at the foundation of all accurate conception of the physical and organic changes which have resulted in the present state of the earth.

The indications now given of the scope and purpose of the present volume renders it evident that, before we can proceed to the discussion of the remarkable phenomena presented by insular faunas and floras, and the complex causes which have produced them, we must go through a series of preliminary studies, adapted to give us a command of the more important facts and principles on which the solution of such problems depends. The succeeding eight chapters will therefore be devoted to the explanation of the mode of distribution, variation, modification, and dispersal, of species and groups, illustrated by facts and examples; of the true nature of geological change as affecting continents and islands; of changes of climate, their nature, causes, and effects; of the duration of geological time and the rate of organic development.

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188 is a description of a meeting with the lady that is very true to life, as is also the account of the downstairs arrangement of the manor house.

In later years "Lady" Darke became infirm. She neglected everything, and no one dared do anything in the house without her orders. Until she came downstairs in the morning there could be no breakfast, as she kept the keys. The house was infested with cats and dogs, and her servants did not dare to get rid of any of them, or to drive them out of the rooms. The large room over the kitchen she alone entered. The door was padlocked, and the key of the padlock she kept attached to her garter. Thence the key had to be taken after her death to obtain admission. It was found to contain a confused mass of sundry articles to the depth of three feet above the floor, the accumulation of many years. Bureaus were there with guineas and banknotes in the drawers, and quantities of old silver plate, bearing the arms and crests of men of title who had been about the Court of the Prince Regent; and the whole was veiled in cobwebs that hung from the ceiling so long and so dense as to hide the further extremity of the chamber.

"Lady" Darke retained her imperious disposition to the end; it was in vain that it was suggested to her that she should have an attendant to be always with her. She often sat up the whole night by her fire, and her servants dared not retire to bed till their mistress had given the signal that they were to depart.

Of relations she had none; at least none who

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104 it. No single sound—no mournful cry of nocturnal bird, nor whirr of wings, nor rustling of trees, nor murmur of a merry stream—broke the deep silence. Only the blind will-o'-the-wisps flickered here and there over rocks, and sheet-lightning, unaccompanied by any sound, flared up and died down against crag-peaks. This brief illumination merely emphasised the darkness; and the dead light disclosed the outlines of dead deserts crossed by gorges like crawling serpents, and rising into rocky heights in a wild chaos.

All the joyous gods that haunt green groves, purling brooks, and mountain valleys seemed to have fled forever from these deserts. Pan alone, the great and mysterious Pan, was hiding somewhere nearby in the chaos of nature, and with mocking glance seemed to be pursuing the tiny ant that a short time before had blasphemously asked to know the secret of the world and of death. Dark, senseless horror overwhelmed the soul of Ctesippus. It is thus that the sea in stormy floodtide overwhelms a rock on the shore.

Was it a dream, was it reality, or was it the revelation of the unknown divinity? Ctesippus felt that in an instant he would step across the threshold of life, and that his soul would melt into an ocean of unending, inconceivable horror like a drop of rain in the waves of the grey sea on a dark and stormy night. But at this moment he suddenly heard voices that seemed familiar to him, and in the glare of the sheet-lightning his eyes recognised human figures.

On a rocky slope sat a man in deep despair. He had thrown a cloak over his head and was bowed to the ground. Another figure approached him softly, cautiously climbing upward and carefully feeling every step. The first man uncovered his face and exclaimed:

"Is that you I just now saw, my good Socrates? Is that you passing by me in this cheerless place? I have already spent many hours here without knowing when day


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Rh came near her, and when she was dead much difficulty was found in discovering any persons who had claim to her inheritance.

She died quite suddenly, and left no will.

Her trustees had to advertise before they could find relations, and then those who presented themselves were the children of her father by a third wife. Her dogs and cats were first killed, then several old horses that were dragging themselves about the field in extreme old age.

Her plate and pictures were sold.

To the best of my knowledge no portrait of her remains.

She was a fine woman, and must at one time have been handsome. It was fancied by many that her features bore a resemblance to the pictures of George IV. in his young days. The mystery relative to her mother and uncle was never solved, and it is possible enough that the supposed paternity was due to idle gossip.

There were vast collections of letters among the remains, but these were all destroyed, and nothing was allowed to transpire as to their contents.

The story from beginning to end is one of infinite sadness. It is of one with a remarkably strong but undisciplined character, one full of good impulses, who had never been taught religious duty, and given no religious belief, who was therefore condemned to waste a profitless life in a remote village, without purpose, without self-discipline, without hope, without God.

There are some interesting old farmhouses about

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190 Widdecombe; one is at Chittleford, another on Corndon. The primitive type of farm on the moor was an inclosed courtyard, entered through a gate. Opposite the gate is the dwelling-house, with a projecting porch, with an arched granite door and a mullioned window over it. On one side of the entrance is the dwelling-room, on the other the saddle and sundry chamber. The well, which is a stream of water from the moor conducted by a small leat to the house, is under cover; and the cattle-sheds open into the yard, so as to be reached with ease from the house without exposure to the storms.

These farm dwellings are rapidly disappearing, and are making way for more pretentious and extremely hideous buildings. Such as remain are remarkably picturesque, and should be photographed before they are destroyed.

Widdecombe must not be quitted without a reference to the famous ballad of the old grey mare taken there to the fair; a ballad that is immensely popular in Devon, and one to the air of which the Devon Regiment went against the Boers.

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Rh

Now it does not appear from the song why the mare was so dead beat. But a clever American artist, who has illustrated the song, has brought her knowledge of human nature to bear on the story. She has shown in her pictures how that the borrower

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 442 thee three Claes into nine Chambers, whereof the firt is of unites, viz. intelleƈtual, celetial and elemental : The econd is of Twos. The third of Threes, and o of the rest: Thee Chambers are framed by the intereƈtion of four paralell lines, intereƈting themelves into right angles, as is expreed in this following figure.

Out of which being dieƈted into parts, proceed nine particular figures, viz.

Which are the nine Chambers, Charaƈterizing their letters by the above written Notariacon: which if it be of one poynt Rh


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192 of the horse met with a pretty gipsy girl at the fair, and persuaded her to ride away with him en croupe. This explains at once why the horse was so overcome that it "fell sick and died."

One can understand also how that this ballad being a man's song, a veil is delicately thrown over this incident.

I do not quote the entire ballad.

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text: Portal talk:Banksia sphaerocarpa

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 444 gathering together of letters; as if the name of the Angel Michael be given, the Characters thereof ſhall be framed thus. In Hebrew.   In Greek.      In Latin.

And this faſhion amongſt the Arabians is moſt received; ma. which is readily, and elegantly ioyncd tort c. as :Km ick. Now you mull know that Angeli. all fpirits, fceing they are of a pure intelleel, and altoge- thcrincorporealharc not marked with an marks or Char:- Rers, and pingiblaffigiyes, or-any other immune Ggns; but we nor knowing'tixgifé(IT:nce,or qinli; ,dofrom their names, or works, otétbgrivifcnecording too ,fancies devote and tonfecrate t6 them figures, and marks, w‘hich we cannot any way coriiptl :bein ‘to ns; bxit by which we rife upto them; asnot to be kizfown by fucb Cbara&crs , and figures, and Erft oi all we £16 fer our fenfcslbothiinward and putward, upon thcni tlmkn by a terrain admiration /éflgiur rezfonwc are indueeriro “Rcligious veneration of them; and then are wraptvritb dqridbolc xninde into an qrgriqll adomtiongnd then wi th a wondéx‘full`belic£ an undonbtcd hopqquickening love we calling u`pqnYlxel!rin{piriq'ind tfurh, by true namesand Chanflers do &>hi2LfrQm.them'tbzt vcttue, or power which we delire. Rh


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T Holne the old church house, now an inn, affords very comfortable quarters, and from it many interesting excursions may be made.

Holne church has preserved its old screen and pulpit, the former rich with paintings of saints. Both were probably erected by Oldam, Bishop of Exeter, 1504-19. In the churchyard is the following doggerel inscription:—

From the vicarage garden a noble view of the windings of the Dart through Holne Chase is to be obtained—permission asked and given.

To see Holne Chase, it should be ascended as far

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194 as New Bridge, and thence descended through the Buckland Drives. Permission is given on fixed days.

In Holne Wood, where the river makes a loop, is an early camp, with indications of hut circles in it, but thrown out of shape by the trees growing in the area. Near the entrance charcoal-burners have formed their hole in which to burn the timber. A finer and better preserved camp is Hembury.

In the Chase, on the Buckland side under Awsewell Rock, are the remains of furnaces and great heaps of slag. The point is where there is a junction of the granite and the sedimentary rocks. Above the wooded flank of the hill, the rocks are pierced and honeycombed by miners following veins of ore, probably copper. The workings are very primitive, and deserve inspection. The little village of Buckland should not be neglected. It is marvellously picturesque, but the houses do not appear to be healthy, being buried in foliage. The church has not been restored. It possesses an old screen with curious paintings, some impossible to interpret; and it is in the old bepewed, neglected condition familiar now only to those whose years number something about sixty or seventy. Buckland-in-the-Moor is the full name of this parish, but it is no longer in the moor. Colonel Bastard, ancestor of the present owner, planted all the heathery land and hillsides with trees, and received therefor the thanks of Parliament as one who by so doing had deserved well of his country.

If Holne Chase be beautiful, so is the Dart above New Bridge. A more interesting drive can hardly

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Rh be taken than one branching off from the main road before reaching Pound's Gate and following a grassy track called "Dr. Blackall's Drive," that sweeps round the heights above the Dart and rejoins the road between Mel Tor and Sharpie Tor.

But to see the Dart valley in perfection the river should be followed up on foot from New Bridge to that of Dartmeet, and thence up to Post Bridge.

The descent to Dartmeet by the road is one of over five hundred feet. Halfway is the Coffin-stone, on which five crosses are cut, and which is split in half—the story goes, by lightning. On this it is customary to rest a dead man on his way from the moor beyond Dartmeet to his final resting-place at Widdecombe. When the coffin is laid on this stone, custom exacts the production of the whisky bottle, and a libation all round to the manes of the deceased.

One day a man of very evil life, a terror to his neighbours, was being carried to his burial, and his corpse was laid on the stone whilst the bearers regaled themselves. All at once, out of a passing cloud shot a flash, and tore the coffin and the dead man to pieces, consuming them to cinders, and splitting the stone. Do you doubt the tale? See the stone cleft by the flash.

Among the many hundreds who annually visit Dartmeet, I do not suppose that more than one sees the real beauties to which this spot opens the way. Actually, Dartmeet Bridge is situated at the least interesting and least picturesque point on the river.

To know the Dart and see its glories, a visitor

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196 must desert the bridge and ascend the river. I will indicate to him two walks, each of remarkable beauty and each an easy one.

The first is this: Ascend the Dart on the left. This can be done by passing through a gate above Dartmeet Cottage, and descending to the river, where remain a few of the venerable oaks that once abounded at Brimpts, but were wantonly cut down at the beginning of this century. Ascend by a fisherman's path through the plantation to where the wood ends, and the hills falling back reveal a pleasant meadow, with, rising out of it by the river, a holt or pile of rocks overgrown with oaks. The view from this is beautiful. Proceeding half a mile a ruined cottage is reached, where the stately Yar Tor may be seen to advantage. This ruin is called Dolly's Cot.

Dolly, who has given her name to this ruin, was a somewhat remarkable woman. She lived with her brother, orphans, by Princetown when Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt settled at Tor Royal. She was a remarkably handsome girl, and she seems to have caught the eye of this gentleman, who located her and her brother in the lodge, and then, as the brother kept a sharp look-out on his sister, he got rid of him by obtaining for him an appointment in the House of Lords, where he looked after the lighting, and had as his perquisite the ends of the wax tapers. As fresh candles were provided every day, and the sessions were at times short, the perquisites were worth a good deal.

However, if the brother were away Dolly had

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Rh Tor Royal was built by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, and there he entertained the Prince Regent when that worthy visited Dartmoor. Tradition tells of high revelry and debauches taking place on that occasion. Sir Thomas planted trees that are doing fairly well.

In the valley of the West Dart, under Longaford and Littaford Tors, is Wistman's Wood, now sadly reduced in size. It has been assumed to be the last remains of the forest that once covered Dartmoor. But no forest ever did that; at all events no forest of trees. The ashes of the fires used by the primitive inhabitants show that peat was their principal

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uk:Шаблон:Користувач проти анонімних редагувань

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text: Picture Posters

title: Picture Posters