THE SEVERN ESTUARY.—The lands on either side of the lower Severn, south of the Old Red Sandstone area of Wales, and west of the Jurassic escarpment, may be considered apart. Their geo logical structure is varied, but they contain two coalfields—the Forest of Dean, and the Bristol and Somerset. Their position, also, with regard to the south-east of England, on the one hand, and the New World on the other, has given to their trade and industry certain distinctive features. The Forest of Dean coal field, with an estimated net contents of 258,000,000 tons, and an annual output of less than 1,000,000 tons, produces good house and gas coal. A small iron-smelting industry, which formerly obtained the necessary fuel from the forests in the locality, is still carried on upon this coalfield. The Bristol and Somerset coalfield is more important, and it is estimated that it contains 4,000,000,000 tons. The output, which averages 2,500,000 tons annually, consists of house, gas, and good steam coal. Bristol,
the chief town of the region and the nearest western port to London, has always been interested in the American trade, and was, formerly, one of the principal ports engaged in it ; but it is handicapped, both by the unsuitability of the Avon for navigation by large ships, and by the great rise and fall of the river. With a view to over coming these obstacles, docks have been constructed at Avonmouth. The chief imports include cereals and colonial produce generally of a tropical or sub-tropical nature. A great drawback to the growth of the port has hitherto been the want of a return cargo, but recently attempts, not wholly unsuccessful, have been made to tap the Birmingham area. Bristol itself is engaged in the manufacture of tobacco and cocoa. The surrounding country is fertile, and much fruit is grown.