e groups of islands, separated from each other by the Sea of ​​the Hebrides and the Little Minch. These groups of islands represent the higher unsubmerged portions of a dissected block broadly similar to the main highland mass. in the Hebrides very much resembles that of the West coast of the mainland. Many of the people are crofters, and farming combined with fishing is the main occupation. The island of Lewis-Harris, the largest and most northerly of the Outer Hebrides, is particularly notable for the traditional domestic Industry of spinning wool from local sheep and the weaving it into tweeds. This Industry is largely concentrated in Storno-way, which is also a minor fishing port. Out of over the total of 500 islands of the Hebrides more than half are inhabitable. Only several families live on some of them.from the mainland by the stormy seven-mile wide Pentland Firth there are the Orkney Islands, comprising about a hundred islands, though only a third are Inhabited, by about 19,500 people. Most of the people are engaged in dairy-and poultry farming. Bacon, cheese and eggs are exported to Central Scotland. about 70 miles north of the Orkneys are the Shetland Islands, which provide thin, infertile soils suitable only for rough pasture. The total population is about 18,000. The Shetland farmers are essentially crofters, but during the summer months they are actively engaged in herring-fishing. Apart from fish, the only exports from the islands are Shetland ponies and lace knitted from the wool of local sheep. Lerwick, the chief settlement, contains about 5,000 people, but the Shetlands are far from prosperous, and the population is still steadily decreasing. the middle of the Irish Sea there is the Isle of Man (571 square km). The island is administered by its own Manx Parliament and has a population of about 50.000 chiefly engaged in farming, fishing and tourist trade. The only settlement of any size is the holiday resort of Douglas (23,000). Another important island in the Irish Sea is Anglesey, situated off the north coast of Wales. Anglesey contains only 52,000 people, and more of the working population are now engaged in industry than in fishing and agriculture. This is due partly to an increase in the tourist trade and partly to the introduction of several new industries, for example, the construction and eventual operation of the nuclear power station at Wylfa.Isle of Wight is in the English Channel. It is diamond-shaped, 40 km from west to east, and about half as much from north to south. The Isle of Wight lies across the southern end of Southampton Water, and is separated from the mainland by the Solent. With its sunny beaches and pleasant varied countryside, the island forms one of the South Coast's most important tourist resorts. It is linked to London by ferry and rail services. The decline of light and other industries has presented serious problems of employment for the island, and at present the population is being reduced by migration to the mainland, where the situation is far from being better.the extreme south-western coast of Great Britain there is a tiny group of the Isles of Scilly.Channel Islands lie to the south-west on the French side of the English Channel. They are known to the French as the Isles Normandes, and their position can indeed be best seen from a map of north-west France than southern England.Channel Islands form an archipelago, detached by shallow waters from the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy. As part of the Duchy of Normandy, they have been attached to the English Crown since the Norman Conquest (1066). Population of the Channel Islands (over 133,000) is distributed over a total area of ​​only 194 sq.km. This results in a high density of population - 686 per sq km - throughout the islands, greatly increased in summer by holiday-makers. Here there is a strict legislation over immigration and the purchase of property.the rural areas many of the people speak a French-Norman dialect, but the official languages ​​are English and French, the former gradually becoming, the more important.chief industry on the islands Is tourism. Each one has its own coastal attractions, but their main asset, as far as holiday visitors are concerned, la their climate. They enjoy very mild winters compared with the rest of the British Isles. Moreover, the duration of sunshine is high-over five hours per day throughout the year, while rainfall is about the same as that of the Hampshire Basin (southern England) - 700-1000 mm annually. These factors, coupled with a long growing season, give favourable conditions for agriculture as well as holiday-making.chief Islands of the group are Jersey and Guernsey. Jersey (76,000) is the largest and most populous island, it occupies 60 per cent of the total area and has almost 60 per cent of the population. Its northern coast is lined with granite cliffs, and the land slopes down to low sandy bays on t...
