{"product_id":"2940013835993","title":"A SHORT HISTORY OF WALES","description":"CHAPTER I--WALES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWales is a row of hills, rising between the Irish Sea on the west and\u003cbr\u003ethe English plains on the east.  If you come from the west along the\u003cbr\u003esea, or if you cross the Severn or the Dee from the east, you will\u003cbr\u003esee that Wales is a country all by itself.  It rises grandly and\u003cbr\u003eproudly.  If you are a stranger, you will think of it as \"Wales\"--a\u003cbr\u003estrange country; if you are Welsh, you will think of it as \"Cymru\"--a\u003cbr\u003eland of brothers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe geologist will tell you how Wales was made; the geographer will\u003cbr\u003etell you what it is like now; the historian will tell you what its\u003cbr\u003epeople have done and what they are.  All three will tell you that it\u003cbr\u003eis a very interesting country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe rocks of Wales are older and harder than the rocks of the plains;\u003cbr\u003eand as you travel from the south to the north, the older and harder\u003cbr\u003ethey become.  The highest mountains of Wales, and some of its hills,\u003cbr\u003ehave crests of the very oldest and hardest rock--granite, porphyry,\u003cbr\u003eand basalt; and these rocks are given their form by fire.  But the\u003cbr\u003egreater part of the country is made of rocks formed by water--still\u003cbr\u003ethe oldest of their kind.  In the north-west, centre, and west--about\u003cbr\u003etwo-thirds of the whole country,--the rocks are chiefly slate and\u003cbr\u003eshale; in the south-east they are chiefly old red sandstone; in the\u003cbr\u003enorth-east, but chiefly in the south, they are limestone and coal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIts rocks give Wales its famous scenery--its rugged peaks, its\u003cbr\u003eromantic glens, its rushing rivers.  They are also its chief wealth--\u003cbr\u003egranite, slate, limestone, coal; and lodes of still more precious\u003cbr\u003emetals--iron, lead, silver, and gold--run through them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe highest mountain in Wales is Snowdon, which is 3,570 feet above\u003cbr\u003ethe level of the sea.  For every 300 feet we go up, the temperature\u003cbr\u003ebecomes one degree cooler.  At about 1,000 feet it becomes too cold\u003cbr\u003efor wheat; at about 1,500 it becomes too cold for corn; at about\u003cbr\u003e2,000 it is too cold for cattle; mountain ponies graze still higher;\u003cbr\u003ethe bleak upper slopes are left to the small and valuable Welsh\u003cbr\u003esheep.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are three belts of soil around the hills--arable, pasture, and\u003cbr\u003esheep-run--one above the other.  The arable land forms about a third\u003cbr\u003eof the country; it lies along the sea border, on the slopes above the\u003cbr\u003eDee and the Severn, and in the deep valleys of the rivers which\u003cbr\u003epierce far inland,--the Severn, Wye, Usk, Towy, Teivy, Dovey, Conway,\u003cbr\u003eand Clwyd.  The pasture land, the land of small mountain farms, forms\u003cbr\u003ethe middle third; it is a land of tiny valleys and small plains, ever\u003cbr\u003efostered by the warm, moist west wind.  Above it, the remaining third\u003cbr\u003eis stormy sheep-run, wide green slopes and wild moors, steep glens\u003cbr\u003eand rocky heights.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom north-west to south-east the line of high hills runs.  In the\u003cbr\u003enorth-west corner, Snowdon towers among a number of heights over\u003cbr\u003e3,000 feet.  At its feet, to the north-west, the isle of Anglesey\u003cbr\u003elies.  The peninsula of Lleyn, with a central ridge of rock, and\u003cbr\u003eslopes of pasture lands, runs to the south-west.  To the east, beyond\u003cbr\u003ethe Conway, lie the Hiraethog mountains, with lower heights and wider\u003cbr\u003ereaches; further east again, over the Clwyd, are the still lower\u003cbr\u003ehills of Flint.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182591164656,"sku":"2940013835993","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013835993_p0.jpg?v=1763595334","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013835993","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}