From Snowdon, a line of mountains extends by the sea to Plinlimmon, a boundary of North Wales ; of these mountains, the most lofty and the most celebrated is Cader Idris. In height it is the second in Wales. It rises on the sea-shore about a mile above Torvyn. Its ascent is gradual, first in a northerly direction for about three miles, then for about 10 miles east-north-east. From its summit, a branch spreads out in a south-west direction, nearly three miles long, which is parallel to the main ridge. On all sides it is steep and craggy, but the southern side is almost perpendicular. It is about 3540 feet above the level of the sea, which is 80 yards higher than any of the mountains in Cumberland. On the east of North Wales, the hills do not attain nearly such great elevation, gradually declining to the hills of Shropshire, which have been already noticed. In South Wales, a chain proceeds to near Cardiff; its direction is nearly south, a small branch diverging to the west : this chain is of far inferior elevation. On the cast of South Wales, are the hills of Herefordshire.
The Devonian range of mountains passes through part of Somersetshire, through Devonshire and Corn wall, and terminates at the Land's End. The highest part of this range is formed by the mountains of Dart moor in Devonshire, the altitudes of the principal emi nences being from 1500 to 1800 feet. On approaching this tract from the south and south-east, the eye is be wildered by an extensive vale, exhibiting gigantic tors, large surfaces covered with vast masses of scattered granite, and immense rocks. Dartmoor, and the waste called the Forest of Dartmoor, occupy the greatest por tion of the western district, and include between 200,000 and 300,000 acres of uncultivated land ; of these Dart moor alone is supposed to comprize upwards of 80,000. In the highest parts to the north and west arc vast tracts of wet swampy ground, which supply the inha bitants with peat for fuel. From Dartmoor the chain extends to the extremity of Cornwall : the only other hills in this range arc the Mendip hills ; they are situa ted in Somersetshire, stretching from Whately near Frome, Sel•ood on the east, to Axbridge on the west, and from Redminster on the north, to Glastonbury on the south.
It has already been mentioned, that the breadth of the island may be supposed to be determined in the southern and eastern parts by two ranges of hills, considerably lower than that range, which determines its length; according to some, one of these chains ex tends from Dorsetshire to Kent, while the other is re presented as stretching from the isle of Portland to the Wolds. According to others, the three loftiest and most naked ridges of the south-eastern quarter of the island, commence on Salisbury plain, an amazing ex tent of high and chalky land, stretching 25 miles east to Winchester, and 23 miles west to Weymouth ; its breadth, in some places, being from 35 to 40 miles. The first of the ridges that takes its rise from this quar ter, after intersecting Hampshire and Sussex, terminates at Beachyhead; that part of it which lies in Sussex, forms the famous South Downs, which are nearly 50 miles long, and about five or six broad. The second
ridge extends to the eastern shore cf Kent, and forms the Surrey hills or clowns, little less celebrated for the goodness of their sheep-pasture than the South Downs. A little to the east of Farnham, in this county, they are merely a narrow ridge, called the Hogsback; but as they penetrate more deeply into it, their breadth be comes considerable ; their southern side, in general, is steep; their northern, gently sloping. The third range, which, by some, is supposed to take its rise on the Wiltshire Downs, crosses Oxfordshire, &c. into Norfolk. The hills of Gogmagog in Cambridgeshire, belong to this range. The Chiltern hills, another upland tract of considerable elevation, extend from Tring in Hertford shire to Henley in Oxfordshire.
The most extensive and celebrated morelands are those of Northumberland ; of the five counties, as Mr Marshall denominates them ; of Lancashire; the eastern and western morelands of Yorkshire; and the more lands of Staffordshire. The morelands of Northumber land may be divided into the western and the southern ; the latter, however, unite with, and therefore properly belong to the morelands of the five counties, according to Mr Marshall's arrangement. The 1Vestern more lands occupy more than one-third of the surface of the county. north Tyne rises in their north-western quarter, and runs nearly through the middle of them.
The morelands of the five counties, of Durham, Nor thumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the northern part of Yorkshire, form one united mass of mountain heights, which is separated, on the north, from the main body of the Northumberland morelands, by the valley of the Irthing, and on the south by the valley of the Greta, from the western morclands of Yorkshire. The morelands of Lancashire are separated into two divisions, by the valley of the Ribble. The northern division is insulated, being separated from the western morelands of Yorkshire by Craven, and the district which intervenes between Craven and Lans dale. This district forms their boundary on the north: on the west, they are bounded by the cultivated lands of Lancashire. The southern division of the morelands unites itself with the southern range of the mountains of the north of England, which has been already de scribed. The eastern morelands of Yorkshire are bounded, on the west, by the vale of York; on the east, by the sea coast district of the north riding of this coun ty ; on the north, by the vale of Stockton ; and on the south, by the limestone lands of east Yorkshire. Their extent, if the vallies which lie among them are taken in to the calculation, may be about 400 or 500 square miles. The elevation of this minor class of English mountains is much below that of the Cumberland mountains. Their surface is tame, their soil poor, and in natural economy they resemble the morelands of Northumber land and Durham, rather than those of the west riding of Yorkshire.