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 WALES

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WALES

nationalists reply that a council sitting round a table in London could no more unmake Wales than they could transform England into Scotland, or Derby- shire into a part of Ireland.

Any declaration by a government as to what terri- tory shall or shall not be considered as AA'ales is obviously a political arrangement and cannot affect the concrete facts of the case. Although no Act of Parliament applying to Wales afTects Monmouthshire unless that county is expressly mentioned, Mon- mouthshire is as Welsh as Merionethshire. It has, indeed, historical associations which might entitle it to be considered the premier county of Wales. On the grounds of history, ethnology, and language, it is necessary to include hkewise certain western par- ishes in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Gloucester- shire as forming part of the real Wales, that is to say, of Wales as we are about to define the term. It would seem, in fact, that the only true and compre- hensive definition of Wales is as follows: — Wales is that territory north of the Bristol Channel which, since the subjection of South Britain by the English, has continuously been peopled by the descendants of its original pre-Germanic inhabitants. This includes the thirteen whole counties, with certain parishes in the shires of Salop, Hereford, and Gloucester; and in some jilaces the boundary passes east of Offa's Dyke, the Umit made by the victorious King of the Mercians in 779.

Counties. — The following are the names of the counties of Wales, with their Welsh equivalents:

North Wales ( Y Gogledd): Flintshire (Flint); Den- bigshire (Dinbych); Carnarvonshire (Caernarfon); Anglesea (Mon) ; Merionethshire (Meirionydd) ; Mont- gomeryshire (Trefaldwj'n).

South Wahs (Y Deheudir): Cardiganshire (Aber- teifi); Radnorshire (Maesv-fed); Pembrokeshire (Pen- fro) ; Carmarthenshire (Caerf jTddin) ; Brecknockshire (Brjxheiniog); Glamorgan (Morganwg); Monmouth- shire (Mynwy). The County of Glamorgan is not rightly styled a shire; "Glamorganshire", though the term is often used, is a misnomer. This rule has been authoritatively settled within the la-st few years and is observed in State documents. In Shropshire the hundreds of Oswestry and Clun, and in Herefordshire those of Ewyas Lacy, Webtree and Wormelow, are the portions of adjoining English counties which must be included in a logical and complete survey of Wales. Even in Gloucestershire, the westernmost parishes north of the Severn and east of the Wye — notably Newland, Saint Briavel's, and Llancaut — are at least as much Welsh as Enghsh by their history. It will thus be seen that the eastern boundary of the true Wales is widely different from that traced by the hand of custom and convention.

Physical Features. — That the Celts and pre- Aryans of South Britain were able to preserve them- selves as a federation of non-Germanic peoples in the western parts of the island w-as doubtless due to the physical character of the country, which the Romans named "Britannia Secunda", and the English called Wales. "Hen Gymni fynyddig, paradwys y bardd" (Mountainous old Wales, paradise of the bard); this is true only in a rough and rather poetical sense. Such mountains as Snowden (Wel.sh Eryri) in North Wales, Plinhmmon (Putnllyman) in Central Wales, and Sugarloaf (Pen-y-fnn) in South Wales can justly claim the title of mountain; hut, for the most part, the altitudes in Wales are rather to be regarded as big hills than as little mountains, and are oftener round or hummock-shaped than peaked or precipitous. There are, moreover, many wide areas of plain and fen, e.«ipe- cially along the Severn estuan,' and the southern coast. On the whole, the surface of the country is beautifully diversified, hills, valleys, rivers, and sea combining to produce scenery of world-wide renown. In North Wales the views arc generally grander than in the

south, where the coast-line is tamer and the country more pastoral than wild and awe-inspiring. In both halves of the principality there is abundance of woods and heath, while pasture predominates over aral)le land, especially since the decline of agriculture which marked the close of the nineteenth century.

Agriculture. — Farming is carried on in every county, though greatly restricted b}' the mines and factories of the coal and iron districts. Grain has never been largely produced in Wales, save in such purely agricultural locaUties as Welsh Herefordshire and the Vale of Glamorgan. On the other hand, milk, but- ter, eggs, poultry, and butcher's meat have always been a staple product. The close grass of the hills produces the famous small "Welsh mutton" whose flavour is so pecuUarly sweet. The ancient Welsh breed of cattle was small and black. It is now ex- tinct or nearly so; but from it are descended the large black cattle of Carmarthenshire, which are them- selves giving place to the fine brown-and-white " Here- fordshires". The immemorial use of oxen for plough- ing died out at the middle of the last century.

Mines. — The mines and ironworks of \A'ales, though some are to be found in the north, are principally in Glamorgan and West Monmouthshire. The Romans worked seams of coal which lay near the surface, on the sides of some hiUs in South Wales, and this primi- tive mode of obtaining the mineral from levels or adits was continued down to modern times by the farmers, for obtaining domestic supplies of fuel. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, however, with the use of steam and machinery for pumping and winding, the practice of deep sinking, and other improved methods gradually jiroduced the highly complex tJ^^e of coal- mine of to-day. Mining and the attendant industries, while augmenting the material prosperity of Wales, have ruined much of her loveUest scenery. It is com- monly remarked that (ow-ing to some natural laws as yet undiscovered) it is always the most beautiful val- leys which are found to contain iioal in commercially requisite conditions and quantity. Limpid stream, bird-haunted grove, and flowery glade then give place to a labyrinth of mechanism, a black desert of coal- dust and mine refuse, and leagues of mean and depres- sing streets.

Population. — The populations of the counties of Wales varj' according to the industriaUsm of each. The inhabitants in the coal districts outnumber those of all the rest of the principality. Glamorgan is by far the most populous county. Some rural districts have been so drained of their inhabitants in the last thirty years, that they can best be described as wilder- nesses dotted with ruinous dwellings. The original population has been to some extent replaced by im- migrants from England, but only to a small degi-ee in the country parts. Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and the south of Ireland are the districts which have most largely recruited the population of South Wales, chiefly by settlement in the big towns. Mid-Wales receives its foreign influx princijially from the Mid- lands of England. North Wales is indebted to Man- chester, Liverpool, and Chester for its fresh blood, but there is also some immigration from Ireland to the more jtopulous centres.

The Welsh, though mainly a Celtic nation, are a composite folk made up of Celts and of many pre- Aryan i)eoples — a melange of all the aborigines of the Isle of Britain. Remains of paleoUthic man have been found in the limestone caves of the Wye VaUey, along with bones of the cave-bear, hyena, etc. How far this early human race has influenced the Welsh- man of the present age, it is impossible to say; but there is no doubt that the racial tj-pe known as the "small dark Welsh", prevalent in certain districts (and, curiously, indigenous in the coal valleys of the south), is that of the latest pre-Aryan folk with whom the first Celtic immigrants came in contact. That