THE FERNY MOORLANDS. 73 



But you can hear it thundering along in its almost 

 subterranean channel. A small tract of marsh 

 land intervenes between the Horseman's Steps 

 and Lustleigh Cleave ; and here you may find, 

 along by the course of the North Bovey River, 

 numbers of the Mountain Buckler Fern, the Hard 

 Fern, the Lady Fern, the Male Fern, the Broad 

 Buckler Fern, and others. In this district is to 

 be found the somewhat rare Tunbridge Filmy 

 Fern, Wilson's Filmy Fern, and the delicate and 

 beautiful Marsh Buckler Fern. From this point 

 a precipitous ascent leads on to Lustleigh Cleave. 

 We can give no better description of this Cleave 

 than by comparing it to a huge fern rockery. By 

 some singular agency, the hill-sides have been 

 strewn with blocks of granite, of all shapes and 

 sizes. It is really difficult to understand how this 

 curious phenomenon could have been produced. 

 Volcanic action of some kind naturally appears 

 to the mind as the agency which must have been 

 employed in the original formation of Lust- 

 leigh Cleave. But the present effect is singularly 

 beautiful. Here, as elsewhere, the ferns have 



