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us in previous rambles in these parts, I propose to allude to some of the more 

 prominent features of the neighbourhood as regards its contour, history, and 

 natural productions, and to give some account of the caves and camps of the 

 Doward Hills. Probably few spots of equal area, at any rate in England, present 

 such a variety of surface and vegetation, or afford a better field for the naturalist 

 than does the border land of the Wye from Kerne Bridge to the Wyaston Leys. 

 A glance at an ordnance map at once shows the broken character of the ground, 

 the remarkable windings of the river, as well as the hiUs which overhang its course 

 almost throughout. To the lover of natural beauty few scenes can be more charm 

 ing than are many of the coups d'oeil from crag, hollow, or mid-stream. The 

 Carboniferous rocks, standing out in grim grotesque shape, resembling pillars, 

 castles, chimneys, needles, &c., or again presenting a perpendicular walled face 

 overtopped with trees and shrubs, whose roots lie embedded in the crevices. These, 

 even on a \vinter's day, have almost as much beauty as in sununer. More rock is 

 visible and there is not only the oak vnth its brown withered leaves, retained long 

 after many trees have lost their foliage, to form a contrast to the g^ey limestone, 

 but also the evergreen yews and firs are numerous enough to add very much 

 to the appearance of the landscape. The yews, I may observe, seem specially to 

 favour the line of the conglomerate strata. The geology of the district has been 

 so often described that I will only remark that the conglomerate is nearly the 

 uppermost strata of the Old Red Sandstone, and that the junction with the 

 mountain limestone is here noticed, the transition being clearly marked on the hill 

 below the Iron Tower and in other places. But whilst speaking of the scenery we 

 must not forget that the picturesqueness is very principally due to the river Wye, 

 not here a muddy tidal stream, but one nevertheless of sufficient volume to rush 

 with considerable noise over the rapids, while of breadth enough to reflect in the 

 clear, still waters of its " pools " the remarkable and varying outlines of its richly 

 wooded and often steep banks ; its course here and there obstructed by small 

 islands, or by masses of rock, which, having broken loose and slipped down from 

 above, have in the intervening centuries become covered with lichens and moss ; 

 and then again much of the richness of effect for which the Wye Scenery is so 

 celebrated is due, especially in spring and autimm, to the different colours and 

 foliage of so large a number of almost every kind of tree, many of which appear 

 to be indigenous. The large extent and luxuriance of the woodland covering the 

 tops and sides of the hills, presents a curious contrast to some of the dales in 

 Yorkshire, such as AVharfdale, for instance. There the timber is pretty much 

 confined to the valleys, while the tops of the hills are bare moors. Here, on the 

 contrary, the valleys are clear, the rest covered. Two or three varieties of the oak 

 are met with in these woods. Professor Babington does not, however, admit that 

 there is more than one species of quercus or oak in Britain. The beeches, sycamores, 

 chestnuts, and birches, attain to great size. The large and small varieties of the 

 limes are seen growing close together. The yew, as I said before, is very abundant, 

 as well as the Scotch, spruce, and larch firs. The Genus Pyrus is represented not 

 only by the crab tree {P. malus) and the mountain ash (P. aucuparia), but by the 



