The View opposite to Chewton Glen. 149 



lish Channel, indenting the shore with its deep bay as far as 

 the land-locked harbour of Christchurch, shut in by Hengist- 

 bury Head and the white Swanage rocks ; and, on the other, 

 it sweeps away by the long beach of Hurst and its round gray 

 castle. Opposite, ghtter the coloured sands and chalk cliffs 

 of Alum Bay, and the white Needle Rocks running wedge- 

 shaped into the sea. Farther eastward, rise the treeless downs, 

 and the breach opens across the Island to Freshwater Gate, 

 and the two batteries, built into the cliff, one by one appear : 

 the long scene ended at last by the houses of Yarmouth — the 

 Solent still winding onward, like some great river. 



An uninterrupted path runs, for some three or four miles, 

 along the top of the cliff" — the scene constantly changing in its 

 beauty. Below hangs a broken under-cliff, shelving down to the 

 sea, strewed here and there with blocks of gravel, the grass and 

 furze growing on them just as they fell. On the shore stretch 

 long reaches of yellow sand, separated by narrow strips of 

 pebbles, and patches of dark green Barton clay, embossed with 

 shells, and studded with sharks' teeth. 



Passing the Coastguard Station and the Gangway, we reach 

 Becton Bunny — very different to Chewton, but equally lovely, 

 with its bare wide gorge, and its beds of furze and heath fringing 

 the edge of the cliff,* Very beautiful, too, are the summer sun- 

 sets seen from this point — the sun sinking far down the channel, 

 lighting up the coloured sands of Alum Bay purple and gold, 

 tinting the white chalk cliffs with rose and vermilion, the 



* At this point the Marine Beds end, and the Brackish-Water series crop 

 up ; and then, lastly, the true Fresh-Water shells commence — the Paludmae 

 and Limnaeae, with scales of fish, and plates of cheJonians, and bones of 

 palseotheres, and teeth of dichodons. Sec, further, chapter xx. 



149 



