Clifton College Scientific Society. 19 



as it does here. The laburnums were one mass of golden blos- 

 soms, the lilacs and honeysuckle filled the air with fragrance, and 

 the gardens were gay with the brightest and largest of tulips. 



Through the village runs a rapid brook, sufficiently powerful 

 to turn several mills, and it is indeed curious to see how its waters 

 burst forth abruptly at the base of one of the cliffs, as if from 

 some great subterranean lake. The stream has been dammed up 

 near its source by the millowners, and the lakes thus formed, 

 though neither deep nor clear, yet by their reflections and the 

 contrast which they afford to the stern grey rocks, add consider- 

 ably to the beauty of the place. This river is named the Cheddar 

 Water, and it is a tributary of the Axe. At one of the paper- 

 mills which we visited (that of Mr Lang), we were initiated into 

 the mysteries of the manufacture of ' hand-made ' paper, and the 

 sheets now exhibited, however coarse and mi even they may be, 

 are at least our own productions. 



To the south and south-west of Cheddar extends a broad open 

 plain, called in part the ' Axe Level.' This flat ground is mono- 

 tonous in the extreme, and it is but thinly populated. A large 

 portion of it was a mere sheep-walk till the year 1801, when an 

 enclosure was made which has been most beneficial to the district. 

 Oats, barley, and even wheat are now grown on many parts of it ; 

 and farms have been formed as well, where especial attention is 

 given to the manufacture of Cheddar's well-known produce — the 

 famous ' Cheddar cheese.' Above the village, on the north, rises 

 abruptly, often almost precipitately, the range of the Mendips. 

 Beginning at Uphill (close to Weston-sui)er-Mare), running 

 in a gentle southerly curve to "Wells, these hills finally take an 

 eastern direction, and may be said to end at Frome. They extend 

 about twenty-five miles in length, and usually form several parallel 

 ridges four or five miles wide. The Mendips are not of lofty eleva- 

 tion, the highest point (Black Down) being but 1080 feet above 

 the sea level. In physical features the range has not much that 

 is remarkable, save in the extraordinary defiles that here and 

 there intersect it, as at Cheddar and Wookey. Smaller breaks 

 are in many parts of it abundant, and, being generally rugged and 

 richly wooded, they form dells and passes of the most romantic 

 beauty. Rickford and Burrington ' Combes ' are valleys of great 

 interest, though not so much resorted to as Cheddar, whilst the 

 verdure-clad rocks of Brockley Combe will be fresh in the memory 

 of many here this evening who saw it last year, unfortunately 

 under circumstances the most adverse.* 



The general aspect of the Mendip Hills is that of a bare series 



* The allusion refers to the Society's picnic in July 1870. The day was exceed- 

 ingly wet and disagreeable. 



