COAST FROM RYDE TO ALUM BAY. 145 



to the sea-shore, near the point of separation be- 

 tween the horizontal and vertical eocene deposits. 

 PL VIII. is a view from the right hand side of 

 the hill, about half way down, showing the vertical 

 face of the chalk cliff which bounds the bay on 

 the south, and extending westward, terminates 

 in the Needles. The Isle of Portland is dimly 

 visible in the remote distance. 



The Coast from Ryde to Alum Bay. — The 

 steam-packets from Ryde to Yarmouth and Ly- 

 mington, pass sufficiently near the northern shore 

 of the Island, to afford a general view of the out- 

 crop of the strata in the cliffs and bays formed by 

 the inroads of the sea, and at the mouths of the 

 rivers and estuaries. The coast from Ryde to 

 Cowes presents no features of particular geolo- 

 gical interest. Here and there, slips or subsidences 

 in the low cliffs have exposed beds of calcareous 

 marl and freshwater limestone, covered by allu- 

 vial clay and loam, along the sea-boundary of 

 Her Majesty's demesnes of Osborne, and of the 

 grounds of Norris Castle.* Along the shore at 



- Mr. Webster mentions that the arenaceous limestone of which the castle 

 is built was quarried near the spot In these quarries, for ten or twelve feet 

 below the surface, the strata consist of sand and imbedded waterworn blocks 

 of limestone. Sir H. Englefleld states that <;: the low cliff on the shore, the 

 same species of shells as in the limestone, occur as pcrfjct as if fresh from the 

 river or lake. 



