238 



earthquake has dislocated. Vast isolated stones rise up at high 

 angles of inclination along the face of the escarpment, while the de- 

 clivities are covered with broken cromlechs and logans, or monstrous 

 slabs that might readily be believed to be portions of such Druidical 

 erections. Among these masses the Rubia peregrina winds its stem 

 and spreads its prickly leaves abundantly vs^herever a crevice presents 

 itself; the blue Acinos vulgaris and the purple thyme [Thymus Ser- 

 pyllum) are also conspicuous, and under the rocks the pale blue- 

 veined flowers of the Iris fcetidissima rise amidst tufts of polished 

 leaves, scattered about in considerable numbers. 



The destructive influences of time and atmospheric action upon the 

 fock here is shown in a yawning cavity on the right of the descent, 

 which seems an opening to unexplored caverns, but too dangerous to 

 penetrate, for a stone at the entrance totters to its fall, while ash and 

 other trees, pushing in, widen the diflferences between rocks once 

 joined together, till the parting is irreparable, and winding chasms 

 tempt the ingress of the Cotyledon and the fern. But looking down- 

 ward from this broken scene of ruinous discord, the greenish-blue sea 

 appears in calm repose, faintly murmuring upon a beach of white 

 pebbles below, while the rocks that enclose the eastern side rise up 

 in shattered pinnacles of romantic shape. 



At the bottom of the cove monstrous masses of rock, almost regular 

 in shape, appear like the bases of the pillars of a ruined temple, which 

 it might be supposed had been anciently dedicated to Solitude ; Na- 

 ture has overthrown it, for she would have no erections but of her 

 own formation ; and now the green privet and the greener ivy, care- 

 lessly thrown about the sea-washed masses, gives them a contrasting 

 hue that weds beauty to abandonment. Even the samphire, dashed 

 down from its usual lofty position, succumbs to circumstance, and 

 fearful of another crash of ruin, luxuriates on the shore, yet just suf- 

 ficiently out of the reach of the tidal surge. Far up on the face of the 

 interior crags the Pyrus Aria shakes its silver leaf, and clumps of the 

 Viburnum Lautana are widely dispersed around, now showing their 

 green berries. The glaucous Sedum, bending its unopen heads of 

 yellow flowers, is abundant everywhere on the broken rocky surface, 

 and here and there appear the fully-expanded argent corollas of Se- 

 dum Anglicum. The golden tufts of the commoner S. acre also 

 diversify the floral prospect, while numerous plants of the rose- 

 coloured Orchis [O. pyramidalis) give quite a feature' to the scene, 

 and a few of the bee-Orchis {Ophrys apifera) luxuriate in the 

 bright sunshine in full perfection. Nor was insect life altogether 



