Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India

Оглавление

Halford John Mackinder. Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India

Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India

Table of Contents

PREFACE

PREFACE TO THE INDIAN EDITION

LECTURE I

LECTURE II

LECTURE III

LECTURE IV

LECTURE V

LECTURE VI

LECTURE VII

Отрывок из книги

Halford John Mackinder

Reissued for use in the United Kingdom

.....

Now let us go on our journey. We are traversing the ocean in a mail steamer; we leave Colombo or Bombay or Karachi and steam westward into the Gulf of Aden. Here we have one of the most remarkable contrasts of climate to be found in the world. In Ceylon or at Bombay rain and heat combine to produce a luxuriant tropical vegetation capable of supporting much human and animal life. There are other countries—and we are going to traverse some of them—which although hot enough, have little rain. Let us realise this contrast; for in taking a voyage from Colombo or Bombay to Aden we go from a well watered country to one which lacks water. Here is a scene in Ceylon, showing the rank vegetation which results from tropical heat and monsoon rains. Here, on the other hand, is the British fortress of Aden. It rains on an average in Aden only once in several years, but when it does rain it rains very hard, and these great tanks were constructed to gather the water from the naked rocky slopes around, and to store it for use in the next few years. You see that two or three shrubs are grown as curiosities beside the tank. But as Aden grew into a populous settlement the tanks were not sufficient for the wants of the people. The British distil fresh water from the sea.

Bumboats at Aden.

.....