GREAT BASIN
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GREAT BRITAIN
son said of Gray that he "was a man likely to love much where he loved at all." He was, however, greatly subject to fits of. the blues; yet no poet was ever happier in his friendships or better beloved. It has been said of him that "he had little to say and took his time to say it." He certainly did not write much, but on the strength of what little he cared to write he has taken high rank among his fellow-poets. He died on July 30, 1771. See his Life by Edmund W. Gosse, in the English Men of Letters Series; and the es^ay, by Matthew Arnold, in Ward's English Poets.
Great Basin, a triangular plateau, covering the western part of Utah, nearly the whole of Nevada and part of California and Oregon, and extending into Idaho, lying between the Wahsatch and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It stretches about 500 miles along the base of the triangle from east to west and 800 miles from north to south. It is traversed by mountain ranges and covered by many streams and lakes, mostly salt, that have no outlet, but either drain by evaporation or sink into the sands of the desert.
Great Bear Lake, in Mackenzie District, part of the Northwest Territories of Canada, is the most northerly of the large bodies of fresh water. It is 246 feet above the level of the sea, very irregular in shape, with an area of about 14,000 square miles. A river of the same name flows from it into the Mackenzie. It is crossed by the Arctic circle, and therefore is frozen half the year.
Immediately above it, in the Polar sky, is the constellation of the Great Bear—hence its name. About it is the largest tract * of unexplored land on the continent. This is the country of roving Eskimos. It is the source of the Coppermine and Great Fish Rivers. This lake is said to teem with herring.
Great Britain, the name commonly applied to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, lies west of continental Europe, and is bounded on the north by the Atlantic; on the east by the North Sea; by the English Channel on the south; and on the west by the Atlantic, the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel, thus forming the largest island area of Europe. It was called Great Britain to distinguish it from the smaller Brittany in France; but the name was used only in a poetical sense until James I styled himself King of Great Britain in 1604. The greatest length of the kingdom is 608 miles, and the greatest width about 325, while the total area is 121,391 square miles.
Geology. The geological formation of Great Britain has formed an interesting study to scientists for many years. Every period of the formation of matter and solids is found in different parts of the island,
varied formations and varieties of rocks and minerals being distributed from end to end and from shore to shore. In nothing has Great Britain more wealth than in its coal and iron; indeed, these have formed the mainstay of its power. The coal-system extends from the Bristol Channel to the base of the Cheviots, and from it over 264,000,000 tons of coal are taken annually. The iron is more an industry of the last hundred or more years; in fact, it has only developed since the use of coal in the place of charcoal for smelting. The iron ore is chiefly found in connection with the coal-beds; but much of it, in the form of red and brown hematite, is mined in the rock and limestone formations. The iron ore produced in the United Kingdom in 1910 amounted to a gross weighjb of 15,-226,015 tons, valued at about igH million dollars. In 1911 the aggregate value of the total imports of the U. K. and also of the exports (British, foreign and colonial) exceeded 5,989 million dollars. Besides these, copper, tin and zinc are largely mined. The surface formation is rugged and uneven. The northern part of the island is covered by scattered, irregular mountainous groups, that form no regular chain or system, but look much as if a bunch of round-shouldered, flat-topped humps had been placed here and there at random. None of these elevations exceeds 4,000 feet in height. Traveling southward, the nature of the country becomes more level, and this tendency prevails until the hills and mountain systems of Wales are reached.
Climate. The climate, as that of no other country in a like latitude, derives its peculiarity from, its situation and from the prevailing winds, which are from the southwest, except in the months of April and May. The thermometer for six months in the year ranges near 60° and seldom, if ever, drops below 36° during the remaining six months, thus affording, according to all authorities, one of the healthiest climates in the world.
Commerce and Manufactures. British shipping has always been a factor in the world's commerce. In 1910 there were 38,928 vessels sailing under the British flag, or 67 per cent, of the entire shipping of tile world. The volume of the steam tonnage in the year named was 10,442,719, and of sailing tonnage, 1,112,944 tons. With its natural mineral resources, the amount of its shipping and the number and productiveness of its farms, Britain is one of the richest countries of the globe. This is exclusive of its manufactures of cotton, woolen, silk and linen goods and leather, which amount to about one billion dollars a year. The total population of the United Kingdom i.e., England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel
