150 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



" The scenery of this bay is very superior in 

 magnificence to that of any other part of the 

 Island. The chalk forms an unbroken face every 

 where nearly perpendicular, and in some parts 

 formidably projecting, and the tenderest stains 

 of ochreous yellow and greenish moist vegetation, 

 vary without breaking its sublime uniformity. 

 This vast wall extends nearly a quarter of a mile, 

 and is more than 400 feet in height ; it terminates 

 by a thin projection, of a bold broken outline, 

 and the wedge-shaped Needle Rocks, rising out 

 of the blue waters, continue the cliff, in idea, 

 beyond its present boundary, and give an awful 

 impression of the stormy ages which have gra- 

 dually devoured its enormous mass. The pearly 

 hue of the chalk under certain conditions of the 

 atmosphere and light is beyond description by 

 words, and probably out of the power oven of the 

 pencil to portray. 



" The magical repose of this side of the bay 

 is wonderfully contrasted by the torn forms and 

 vivid colouring of the clay cliffs on the opposite 

 side. These do not, as at Whitecliff, present 

 rounded headlands clothed with turf and shrubs, 

 but offer a series of points of a scalloped form, 

 and which are often sharp and pinnacled. Deep 

 rugged chasms divide the si rata in main plans. 



