284 TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 



marked out for ever. Huge strata of chalk three or 

 four hundred feet in height, almost as massive and 

 imposing as granite, defy the efforts of man. Air 

 and water are their only masters. The air, weathering 

 them, disintegrates the rock, and scatters afar the 

 dust it has rubbed from the great mass ; the water, 

 filtering into the almost imperceptible fissures of the 

 rock, dissolves it, and the nearly invisible moisture 

 works more effectually than either powder or dyna- 

 mite. 



As the result, enormous blocks are detached and fall 

 like monstrous projectiles on the crushed shingle. 

 There the sea takes possession of them and completes 

 the work. The chalk is dissolved away, and the 

 insoluble silex, pounded, broken, crumbled, and worn 

 in every way, forms the shingle that the sea rolls 

 with a monotonous thunder as far as the mouth of 

 the Seine. 



Two shores so different as Villers and Etretat could 

 not be inhabited by the same creatures. At Villers 

 delicate animals are able to repose on the sand, as if 

 on a soft cushion. To Etretat belong the solid and 

 hardy species that have nothing to fear from the shock 

 of the waves, and who find a sheltering-place in the 

 hard rocks. 



" A water-cat ! " * 



* "Chatrouille," a local slang name for which the Translator has been 

 obliged to invent an equi% - alcnt. 



