bat's cornek. 147 



imperceptible out in tlie open sea, was lieavy enougli 

 to bulge in the sides of a boat against tliese angular 

 points and ribbed groins. We therefore rowed round 

 the end of the wall into the little cove, and, making 

 fast against the rock, stepped out as comfortably as 

 if it had been a quay. 



The rocky wall is about sixty yards in height, and 

 nearly twice as long, from the angle of the promon- 

 tory to its bold and almost perpendicular termination. 

 Along the top, which appears nearly level, and is 

 said to be a yard or two wide, it is possible to walk 

 from the shore, and the view on each side from such a 

 situation must present uncommon grandem*. Patches 

 of samphire, thrift, and other cliff-loving plants, are 

 seen adorning, with verdure and gaiety, the angles 

 and dark fissures of the rock ; and various species of 

 sea-fowl, — among which are the guillemot, the auk, 

 the puffin, the shag, and one or two kinds of gulls, — 

 nestle on the shelves and ledges, and heighten by 

 their cries the savage wildness of the scene. 



Having satiated to some extent my appetite for the 

 magnificent, I began to peer into the hollows and 

 pools of the exposed rock beneath. From the over- 

 shadowing darkness of the place I expected to make 

 a good harvest ; but though there were many likely 

 cavities, and a good number of zoophytes and sea- 

 weeds, I found nothing with which I was not familiar 

 before. I therefore set out to walk along the beach, 

 beneath the chalk cliffs, to a somewhat similar pro- 

 jection of black rock, which blocks up the way about 

 a mile off, at a place called Bat's Corner. 



The walk was fatiguing ; the glare from the per- 



L 2 



