WALES, Great Britain, a former Celtic kingdom in the central western peninsula, now an administrative division of England, and a principality, which gives the title of Prince of Wales to the heir-apparent of the British crown. It has an area of 7,466 square miles, divided into 12 counties. For the names, areas and popula tions of the counties see the article ENGLAND ; and for statistical matter see GREAT Barrsnr.
Wales is composed of a peninsula, with the island of Anglesey at its northwest extremity, joined at the Menai Strait by two remarkable bridges; a number of smaller islands lie chiefly at a short distance from the southwest coast The peninsula, washed north and west by the Irish Sea, and south by Bristol Channel, and bounded west by the four English counties, Cheshire,. Shropshire, Hereford and Monmonth, is 135 nules long; where widest 95 miles, and where narrowest only .35 miles broad. It is very mountainous, particularly in the north di viston, where Snowdon, the culminating point of South Britain, rises to the height of 3,571 feet; is intersected by beautiful valleys, trav ersed by numerous streams, including among others the Severn, which has its source within it; and is rich in minerals, .particularly copper in the north, and coal and iron partially there also, but much more extensively in the south. The Silurian formation, so called after the Silures, the ancient inhabitants of the princi pality, covers more than two-thirds of the whole surface, extending continuously from the mouth of the Conway to the vicinity of Saint David's Head; but is succeeded in the south by the Old Red Sandstone, above which lies the mountain limestone and the large and valuable coal-field. Besides the Severn, the principal rivers are the Dee, which has part of its lower course in Cheshire; the Clwyd, in Denbigh and Flint; the Conway, forming the boundary between Den bigh and Camarvon; the Dovey and the united Rheidiol and Ystwith, which have their mouths near the centre of Cardigan Bay; the Teify, separating Cardigan on the north from Carmar then and Pembroke on the south; the Cleddy and Cleddeu, remarkable chiefly from contribut ing, by their junction, to form the splendid es tuary of Milford Haven; the Towy and Bury, which both fall into Carmarthen Bay; the Ebwy and Taf, which have a common estuary in Bris tol Channel; the Romney, which forms part of the boundary between Wales and England; and the Usk and Wye, which, though rising in the principality, have only the earlier part of their course within it. The lakes are numerous, but
the largest, Bala, is only four miles long and scarcely one mile broad. The climate is mod erate and equable, though somewhat keen in the loftier distncts. In all the counties humidity is in excess, the average fall of rain in the princi pality being 34 inches, while that in England is only 22. Both climate and surface render Wales more adapted for pasture than agriculture. The soil seldom possesses great natural fertility, ex cept in some of the vales, of which those of the Clwyd in the north, and of Glamorgan in the south, are celebrated for productiveness. The latter, rather a plain than a vale, is of some extent and grows excellent wheat. The system of agriculture might be improved. The minerals are valuable and the south contains some of the larg-est coal and iron works in the kingdom, as well as the copper works of Swansea. Of manufactures, the most important are woolen& The principal articles are flannel, for which the principality has long been famous, cloth chiefly of a coarser description and hosiery. The in habitants are almost purely Celtic, being the de scendants of the early Britons, who were able to maintain themselves here when the rest of the country was overrun by the Germanic in vaders. One of the most strildng native fea tures is the female dress, consisting generally of a plain or checked gown, a mantle, a hand kerchief of gay colors around the neck and shoulders and a black beaver hat, broad brimmed and tapering to the form of a truncated cone. All classes are distin guished by civility and hospitality. Many curious superstitions, handed down by im memorial custom, still retain their hold. The Welsh cherish their Brythunic or Cyrnric lan guage with great affection. They have trans planted it to Amenca, where it prevails in some districts and is represented by newspapers. In 1891 there were in Wales 5M,000 people who knew no English, or at least habitually spoke Welsh. Most of the upper class belong to the Established Church, but the majority are Non conformists, the most numerous bodies being the Congregationalists, the Calvinistic Metho dists and the Baptists. See CEtnc PEOPLES ; CYMRI ; CELTIC LANGUAGES ; and also BRITISH EDUCATION, BRITISH FISHERIES, AGRICULTURE SINCE THE 18TH CENTURY and THE MINING IN DUSTRY in the section GRZAT BarrAnr.