For several hundred years Wales has been joined to England for purposes of administration. If, however, you look at a map of the part of Great Britain which is south of Scotland, you will find that it is always called England and Wales. The people of Wales regard themselves as a separate nation. Wales is an extremely beautiful mountain country. In many places the only living things to be seen are flocks of sheep with the shepherds who look after them. There are many fruitful valleys with grey stone houses, farms, and funny old-world villages with unpronounceable names. In South Wales, however, the valleys are no longer green, but black and dirty with the smoke of thousands of factories and coal mines. On the coast of South Wales are the great harbours of Swansea and Cardiff, from which the best coal in the world is exported.