GEOGRAPHY.

THE BRITISH COLONIES.

For the purposes of the Government Course for Pupil Teachers, the term Colonies must be held to imply the whole of the British possessions in every part of the world.

A Colony is properly a territory peopled by settlers or emigrants from some other country, to which it remains in partial or entire subjection. Thus Australia and Canada are properly British colonies, because they are inhabited principally by emigrants from the United Kingdom. Colonies were formerly called "Plantations."

A Dependency is simply a territory which is subject to a foreign government. As distinguished from a colony, it is peopled by a native race different from that which governs it. Thus Malta, Aden, India, are British Dependencies.

The British Empire is the largest in the world. Its estimated size and population are exhibited in the following table :—

The British Empire may be compared with :

The Russian Empire. Area, 8,400,000 sq. miles. Population,

86,500,000.

The Chinese Empire. Area, 5,500,000 sq. miles. Population,

400,000,000.

The British Empire contains one-seventh of the land, and about one-fifth of the entire population, of the globe.

The following is a list of the British Possessions, with capitals, etc. :

USES OF COLONIES. The following are the principal uses of the British Colonies (taking the word in its largest meaning of "Possessions ") to the mother country.

(1) They provide a home for the surplus population. It would in time become impossible for a small country like the British Islands to contain and support the whole of the British race, increasing as it does at an enormous rate from year to year. Millions of persons who have found it difficult to maintain themselves and their families at home, have obtained a comfortable and prosperous field for their labour in the colonies.

The persons most suitable as colonists are:-Farmers with small capital, agricultural labourers, gardeners, artisans (as carpenters, smiths, masons, bricklayers, etc.), laundresses,

* The dates affixed to the Australian Colonies are the dates of their organization respectively.

domestic servants. Professional men, as doctors, apothecaries, will find a limited field for their skill. No one should become a colonist who is not prepared to work hard. Frugality, industry, and perseverance are the chief qualifications necessary to success in the colonies.

(2) They afford new and profitable markets for British manufactures and other produce. Our colonists require manufactured goods from us, as they are at present unable to make these themselves. A very large portion of our manufactured goods is sold in the colonies.

(3) They increase the strength of the British empire. Through the increase of the British race in various parts of the world, there are continually more and more persons of the same descent as ourselves, bound together by common ties of blood, language, laws, and customs, morally, if not politically bound to render each other assistance in times of difficulty with foreign nations. Canada has more than once offered to send us troops when we have seerned likely to be involved in war. A great confederation of the British States, for purposes of common defence, has often been a favourite project of statesmen, and it may one day be carried into effect.

(4) They are useful as commercial stations. Scattered as our colonies are all over the world, our ships (and those of other nations also), are able to call at their ports to seek refuge from storms, effect needful repairs, take in water, coal, and other things required on a long voyage, and trade with the neighbouring population.

(5) They are useful as naval stations. Many of them have fortified ports, docks, and arsenals, where our ships of war can obtain protection, repairs, coal, water, provisions, etc. Many of our possessions occupy commanding positions, as Gibraltar, which controls the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

(6) They provide us with food and various articles which we require, but could not produce in our own country. The pupil who studies the geography of our colonies will learn what a vast number of products we import from our various possessions.

I. BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN

EUROPE.

HELIGOLAND.

SITUATION. Heligoland is a small island in the North Sea, situated about 36 miles from the mouth of the Elbe, and 400 miles from London. The name signifies " Holy Land."

EXTENT AND POPULATION. Its length is about a mile, its breadth about one-third of a mile, and its area rather more than half a square mile. It is about 2 miles in circumference. The population is about 2,200, chiefly of Danish descent.

PHYSICAL FEATURES. One portion of the island is rocky, and attains a height of about 170 feet. The other is low and sandy, and is being gradually washed away by the sea. The coast is surrounded by sand-banks.

OCCUPATIONS OF THE PEOPLE. The principal occupation is fishing. The chief fish are haddock, lobster, oyster. Some of the men are engaged as pilots. The agriculture is poor and scanty. Many visitors, especially from Germany, resort to the island in summer. This has caused the building of lodging

houses for their reception.

PRODUCTIONS. None of any importance.

HISTORY. It was taken from Denmark in 1807, the year after Napoleon issued his famous Berlin Decree, excluding English traders from Continental ports. It was used by the English during the remainder of the war with France as a naval station, and as a depôt for introducing English goods into the Continent.

MISCELLANEOUS. It contains a small town in the southSteamers connect the island with Hamburg and Cuxhaven in the summer, and are chiefly employed in conveying

east.