XXI. 



Villers and Etretat The cliffs of Normandy The power of a drop of water 

 How shingle beaches are formed A " water-cat " "Way of getting 

 rid of an Octopus Every nook occupied The population of a rock 

 A new fauna The various zones of the tidal region. 



THE distance separating the sands of Villers from the 

 beach of Etretat is scarcely more than ten or a dozen 

 leagues. It would, however, be difficult to imagine a 

 greater contrast than exists between these two water- 

 ing-places. 



Villers, stretching out along an immense carpet of 

 fine sand, extends eastwards almost indefinitely, and 

 appears, with its villas arranged one after the other, 

 like forlorn sentinels by the roadside, to offer its 

 hand to Deauville, which begins a league farther on. 

 To the west, the suburban houses are placed one 

 higher than the other on the gentle declivity of a cliff 

 of brown clay, the upper part of which is broken and 

 interrupted. 



Etretat on the contrary, compressed between the 

 grasp of its two great cliffs, has its limits on each side 



