Country Islands at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

The most important distinction now is b tween the bulk of the population that lives in i within easy traveling distance of the big towi and the minority that lives in the Highland gle or border valleys or on the islands. Less than 01 twentieth of the area of Scotland holds ovi two fifths of the population. There has bee since the end of the 18th century, a steady dri from country islands to town and the towns are mainl concentrated in the Central Lowlands. Attempt to reverse this process have been unsuccessfv Any observant traveler will notice derelict cottagi and ruined farmsteads as he moves about tl Highlands, the Western Islands, or the Bordi country islands.

The Islands. The islands fall into groups. The western, Ionian islands, enjoying more rainfall, are more productive and more wooded than those east of the mainland; thus Corfu (Kerkira), which has the densest rural population in Greece, is able to export olives, fruit and wine. These islands control the coasting trade, Corfu having special importance as the key to the Adriatic.

The more open strait to the south, Drake Strait, which lies between Cape Horn and the Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica (with the South Shetland Islands near its tip), is often made dangerous by floating ice and almost perpetual storms. England considered it worthwhile to gain control of the nearby South Shetland Islands, Falkland Islands, South Orkney Islands, and the South Sandwich Islands in order to ensure her free use of this waterway.