149 



NATURAL HISTORY OF SUNNINGHILL. 



BY 0. S. ROUN'D, ESQ. 

 C Continued from page 127.) 



Chapter III. 



Having thus given a general description of the disposition and 

 character of the inhabited portion of this district, it is next necessary 

 to consider the various kinds of soil of which it is composed. The predom- 

 inant feature of the superficies is not, it must be admitted, very productive, 

 being in general a light sand, in some parts a mere drift sand, com- 

 posed precisely of the same particles as that found on the sea-shore, or 

 in the digging of wells when water is found; and this, more abundantly 

 still, proves the submersion of the whole surrounding country at some 

 distant period. Where this soil has been trenched, or deeply dug, and 

 the rain has again washed it, crystals, in some instances as big as small 

 peas, are brought to the surface; these are white and clear, extremely 

 hard, and when polished and cut, set well, and pass off as ornaments 

 much better than paste, being, in fact, so hard, that the true diamond 

 dust is used by lapidaries to cut them. These are provincially called 

 "Bagshot diamonds," from their being found on the heath which extends 

 to and around the small town of Bagshot, in Surrey, three miles distant 

 to the south-west. I have in my possession a ring made of these stones, 

 which have been taken, by good judges, for rose diamonds. 



A very few years back the whole of this country, as far at the eye 

 could reach, was one sterile region of heath and furze, mingled occa- 

 sionally with a patch or strip of sedge or rushes, whether the soil either 

 inclined to clay or marsh: one dreary region of moorland unintersected 

 by a single road, save the sheepwalks of a few flocks that roamed at will 

 over its expanse; or sprinkled by a single tree, save here and there a 

 thorn or whin bush, those indigenous tenants of the waste, that stand for 

 centuries in their gnarled and stinted hardihood, unaffected by the tempests 

 of heaven or the weight of years, which bow down and mingle with the 

 dust so many much mightier works of nature. Surely the whin, or wild- 

 thorn is the hardiest and longest-lived thing upon the face of the earth; 

 there are many which I could now point out, that have not grown or 

 changed from shoots even into bushes for twenty years! They were anciently 

 looked upon with a mysterious awe, and thought to be the peculiar r esort 

 of evil spirits. 



"With blanching lip, nnd cheek with terror pule, 

 The startled peasant trembles at the tale. 

 Now at chill midnight, by the moon's pale glance, 

 Unearthly forms prolong the viewless dance; 

 And in each wandering breeze that murmurs by, 

 His busy fancy hears the hollow sigh." — T. S. Salmon. 

 VOL. VIII. X 



