266 A LAND -SLIP. 



Silent and steadfast as the vaulted sky 

 The boundless plain of waters seems to lie : — 

 Comes that low sound from breezes rustling o'er 

 The grass-crowned headland that conceals the shore ? 

 No ; 'tis the earth-voice of the mighty sea, 

 "Whispering how meek and gentle he can be ! — 



Wordsworth. 



These views are very diverse from each other. I 

 know not which most to admire, the wild magnificence 

 of the iron-hound coast, the soft luxuriance of the 

 fields and woods, or the husy scenes of activity and 

 industry, the occupations and homes of human life. 



This hill affords an instructive example of the for- 

 mation of a shingie-heach. Ahout two years ago, one 

 winter's night, the inhahitants of the town were 

 affrighted hy a tremendous and unaccountahle noise, 

 and in the morning perceived that a large portion of 

 old Hillshorough had fallen. It had before presented 

 an uneven and broken slope, covered with bushes and 

 herbage nearly to the water; but now they saw all 

 this gone, and an abrupt precipice in its stead, as if a 

 giant had taken a rick-knife of suitable dimensions, 

 and had cut off a huge slice from the top to the bot- 

 tom. The fallen mass of debris formed a vast heap 

 piled against the side to nearly half the height. Up to 

 this time there had been no beach at the foot ; the 

 water had been deep to the cliff, and bristled with pro- 

 jecting masses and points of rock. 



The action of the waves and the weather soon took 

 down the piled heap of rubbish ; and in a very few 

 months the whole had assumed its present state. A 

 wide beach was formed by the debris settling itself 

 into the sea ; the projecting rocks are quite covered 



