It rises grandly and
proudly. If you are a stranger, you will think of it as "Wales"--a
strange country; if you are Welsh, you will think of it as "Cymru"--a
land of brothers.
The geologist will tell you how Wales was made; the geographer will
tell you what it is like now; the historian will tell you what its
people have done and what they are. All three will tell you that it
is a very interesting country.
The rocks of Wales are older and harder than the rocks of the plains;
and as you travel from the south to the north, the older and harder
they become. The highest mountains of Wales, and some of its hills,
have crests of the very oldest and hardest rock--granite, porphyry,
and basalt; and these rocks are given their form by fire. But the
greater part of the country is made of rocks formed by water--still
the oldest of their kind. In the north-west, centre, and west--about
two-thirds of the whole country,--the rocks are chiefly slate and
shale; in the south-east they are chiefly old red sandstone; in the
north-east, but chiefly in the south, they are limestone and coal.
Its rocks give Wales its famous scenery--its rugged peaks, its
romantic glens, its rushing rivers. They are also its chief wealth--
granite, slate, limestone, coal; and lodes of still more precious
metals--iron, lead, silver, and gold--run through them.
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