CAMBRIDGESHIRE is divided into two parts by the river Ouse. Its most northerly division, which is principally composed of the Isle of Ely, is bounded by rivers, and their communicating branches. The limits thus formed are so intermixed, as with difficul ty to be traced. The southern half has an indented and undistinguished boundary-line on the adjacent counties. The form of Cambridgeshire bears some resemblance to that of the human ear, the county of Huntingdon cutting deeply into its western side by a circular projection. The number of acres assign ed to it in the Excyclopadia is taken from Dr Hal ley, but Dr Beeke reduces them to 530,000; and they are still farther reduced in the agricultural re port, and in the returns in 1803 of the poor-rates, to 448,300, and 439,040 respectively. When the ori ginal agricultural report was made in 1794 by Mr Vancouver, he that, of the 443,000 acres, there were 132,000 open field, and 150,000 waste and unimproved fen ; but since that time, both these descriptions of land have been very considerably re duced by enclosure and cultivation.
The surface of this county presents considerable variety. The northern part, including the Isle of Ely, is chiefly fen land, and perfectly level, inter sected with numerous canals and ditches, and abound. ing with windmills, for the purpose d carrying the water from the lands. This district is naturally a bog, formed by the stagnation of the water from the overflowing rivers. It comprises nearly half of that extensive tract, called the Bedford Level, the whole extent of which is 400,000 acres, and not 300,000, as stated in the Encyclopedia. This great level has been, from an early period, divided into three parts, the north level, the middle level, and the south level. The largest portion of the middle level, and a con siderable part of the south level, are in Cambridge shire, comprehending the Isle of Ely, and a few pa rishes to the south-east of the Isle. The principal of the drains, by means of which this immense fen ny district has been, in a great measure, rendered either rich meadow or arable land, are the Bedford old and new rivers, which run navigable in a straight line upwards of 20 miles across the county, from the Great to the Little Ouse. There are sonic rising
vounds in this part of the county, on the most con siderable of which the city of Ely stands. Those parts of Cambridgeshire, which lie adjacent to Suf folk, Essex, and Hertfordshire, have their surface varied by gently rising hills and downs. The Gog =frog hills, which begin about four miles to the south-east of Cambridge, and which are one of the terminations of the range of chalk hills that com mence in the south-west of England, are the highest in the count; but their height is very inconsidera ble. The district which extends from these hills to Newmarket, is bleak and thinly inhabited. This dis trict is connected with that vast tract of land, which, extending southwards into Essex, and northwards through Suffolk into Norfolk, forms one of the largest plains in the kingdom.
The substrata of this county are chalk, clench, gravel, gaols, sand, silt, and peat-earth. The chalk extends through the hilly part of the county from Royston to Newmarket. The clench, an impure limestone, chiefly abounds in the parishes of Bur well and Iselham. On the east and west sides of the upland division of the county, gault, a stiff blue clay, chiefly prevails. The sand enters Cambridgeshire from Bedfordshire, in the parish of Gamlingay. In the northern extremity of the county, near Wis beach, silt, a fine sea-sand, is found. The peat-earth extends through the whole of the fen-land.
The principal rivers are the Ouse, and Grants or Cam. The Ouse enters the county between Fen Drayton and Erith ; thence it runs eastward through the fens, till, at some distance above Denny Abbey, it takes a northerly course, and, • Streatham, Ely, and Littleport, flows into orfolk. From this river are many cuts, called loads. The Cam enters the county to the west of Gilden Mordeo ; thence flowing to the east, it receives several rivulets. Near Grantchester, its stream is enlarged. by the united waters of several rivulets from . Essex. After their junction, it takes a northerly direction, and, having. passed Cambridge and several villages, it falls into the Ouse in the parish of Streatham.