Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: together, somewhat larger than the state of Pennsylvania, and almost exactly the same as the state of Michigan. It is 365 miles in length from north to south, and 280 miles in its greatest breadth from east to west. 2. The Coasts and Rivers of England That part of the coast .of England which lies nearest to the continent is made conspicuous by the long line of white chalk cliffs that face the sea. They rise two or three hundred feet above the narrow strip of stony strand at the edge of the water, and extend for many miles along the southeastern and southern coast. These white cliffs are visible in clear weather from the opposite shore where the Channel is narrowest, and from far out at sea where the waters are wider. They have served as a landmark to friend and foe in all ages, and the old poetic name of Albion1 is said to be due to the white front which Britain turns toward the continent. Although much of the coast is cliff-bound, there are at least equal stretches of low-lying shore, especially on the eastern coast. Both the cliffs and the low shores are cut by many bays and harbors. Most of these are the mouths of rivers which have been converted into estuaries by the gradual sinking of the coast which has been in progress for long ages.2 This subsidence has allowed the sea to flow part way up the courses of the rivers, filling with its waters the lower reaches of their valleys.8 Harbors are therefore as numerous as the rivers ; there is in fact no considerable stretch on the whole coast of England without its harbor. Especially isthis true of the southern and eastern coasts, although even on the more rugged western seaboard the deep and broad mouths of the Severn and the Mersey make possible such fine harbors as those of Bristol and Liverpool. 1 From Latin albus, w...