The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

252 THE BRITISH ISLES.
name, is protected by a spit of sand, and offers great adv-antages as a naval station.
Amongst other watering-places along tliis coast Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea
deserve to be mentioned.
The crescent-shaped range of the cretaceous York Wolds extends from the
Humber above Hull to Flamborough Head, and presents a bold escarpment
towards the vales of York and Pickering, at the foot of which lie the market
towns of Market Weighton and Pocklington. The towns along the inner rim,
which merges in the lowlands of Holderness, are far more important. Foremost
amongst them is Kingston-upon-HuU, usually known as Hull, from the small
tributary of the Humber at the mouth of which it has been built. Hull is the
great port of the whole region, and on the east coast of England it holds a place
analogous to that of Liverpool on the west coast. The great port of the Mersey
is fed by the manufacturing district of Lancashire ; that of the Humber is
the emporium of Yorkshire : the former trades in cotton and cottons, the latter
in wool and woollens. HuU, in certain respects, enjoys advantages superior
even to those of Liverpool, for the Humber and its many navigable tributaries
place it in facile communication with a considerable portion of Central England.
But though possessing the advantage as regards the river and coasting trades, it
is less favoured with respect to the world at large. Hull can look only to
Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltic to feed its commerce, whilst Liverpool faces
not only Ireland, but also the New "World, and trades largely with Africa.
This advantage of Liverpool, however, only revealed itself after America
hud been discovered and distinct colonies established, and for a considerable
period Hull was her superior. In the fourteenth century it was the third port
of England, ranking next to London and Bristol. It furnished Edward III.
with sixteen vessels, manned by 500 sailors, to be employed against France.
As long as England was a grain-exporting country—that is, until about 1770
large flotillas of barges laden with corn descended all the rivers which discharge
themselves into the Humber, and Hull was the natural emporium through which
the corn trade with Holland was carried on.* At the present time Hull ranks
fifth, and it imports corn, flour, and other agricultural produce, as well as cattle,
from Germany, Denmark, and the Baltic. Wool and tobacco likewise figure
largely amongst the imports, in return for which Hull exports the produce of
the numerous industrial inland towns as well as of its own machine shops,
chemical works, oil-crushing mills, and other factories. Lines of steamers place
Hull in regular communication with all the ports of the east coast of Great
Britain and of Northern Europe. Hull was one of the first towns to take advan-
tage of the maritime route to Siberia opened up by the persistent labours of
Nordenskjold. In 1877 a Hull steamer laden with coal and petroleum reached
Tobolsk. The docks, constructed since 1778, and the crescent-shaped roadstead
of the river, here 2 miles in width, are at all times crowded with shipping of
every description. There are sliip. building yards, principally for the construc-
• Ilalley, "Atlae Maritimus et Commercialia," 1728.
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