62 Professor G. Forclihanimer on the Downs of Denmark. 



remind us much more of porphyritic chains, than of a moveable 

 formation composed of sand and reared by the wind. To- 

 wards the sea these ridges are frequently cut off perpendicu- 

 larly, and towards the land they are inclined at an angle of 

 30°; they never form continuous chains of equal height, but 

 greater elevations always rise near one another, which are se- 

 parated by valleys which are more or less deep. If we pro- 

 ceed to the interior of the system of downs, we recognise a 

 double series of valleys, viz. longitudinal valleys, which run 

 parallel to the coast, and separate the masses of the downs 

 into several paralleKranges, and transverse valleys, which cut 

 the ranges into separate hills. The view of such a region 

 of downs is indescribably bleak ; we are surrounded every- 

 where by sand, which is set in motion by the 'slightest wind, 

 and a living creature is rarely to be seen in this wilderness. 

 On the high part of the downs an oyster-catcher (Hcemato- 

 pus ostralegus) may be occasionally seen devouring its prey ; 

 a hare, and in some places a rabbit, are the only larger animals 

 visible ; while the slow regular stroke of the waves on the 

 shore is the only sound that meets the ear. One may wan- 

 der for very many miles along the downs without the slightest 

 alteration of scene, and without meeting with any other plants 

 but the upright sea lyme-grass ( Elymus arenarius ) ^ and some 

 species^ of Scirpus and Juncus in the very moist valleys. If we 

 ascend the downs, the scene changes, and the sea spreads it- 

 self before us with its lines of waves, which approach the 

 shore like white breakers. But the sea also presents but 

 little that is enlivening, for ships are but rarely seen, as they 

 avoid a coast which, throughout its whole extent, has hardly a 

 single port which can afford protection or shelter. 



The scene is entirely changed when the sea is agitated by 

 a storm. It is then hardly possible to remain upriglit on the 

 downs, unless where they lie close to the coast, or are cut 

 off perpendicularly towards the sea. Then the wind is little 

 or not at all felt, a circumstance which is quite general on 

 our coasts, and is experienced not only in the case of our 

 abrupt declivities having a height of 200 feet, but even 

 in that of the precipices of the Faroe Islands, which are 2000 

 feet high. The cattle always betalve themselves to the edge of 



