206 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



Ascending Afton Down, the summit of which 

 is crowned Avith a group of tumuli, the views 

 along the southern coast are lovely in the extreme. 

 When almost half way up the acclivity, the land- 

 scape to the west displays a magnificent coup 

 d'ce'd of the romantic scenery of Freshwater and 

 Scratchell's Bays, and The Needles ; and that to 

 the east affords a view of Compton Bay, Brook 

 Bay, and the coast, till it is lost in the remote 

 distance. 



Cause of the configuration of chalk downs. 

 — From what has been stated as to the compo- 

 sition of the white chalk, and the formation of the 

 strata, the cause of the external configuration of 

 the verdant downs we are now traversing appears 

 sufficiently obvious. If we examine the spots 

 where the turf has been removed by the flint- 

 diggers, we perceive immediately beneath the 



others lying at anchor. On the north the sea appears like a noble river (the 

 Solent), varying from three to seven miles in breadth, between the banks of 

 the opposite coast and those of the island. Immediately underneath me is a 

 fine woody district, diversified by many pleasing objects. Distant towns 

 Portsmouth and Gosport) are visible on the opposite coast; and numbers of 

 ships occupy the sheltered station which this northern channel affords them. 

 Westward, the hills follow each other, forming several intermediate and 

 partial valleys, in undulations like the waves of the sea, and bending to the 

 south, complete the boundary of the larger valley I have described, to the 

 southward of the hill on which 1 sit. One hill alone (St. Catherine's), the 

 highest in elevation, and about ten miles to the south-westward, is enveloped 

 in a cloud, which just permits a dim and hazy sight of a signal-post, a light 

 ind an ancient chantry, on its summit." — Annals of the Poor, lnj tin- 

 tut* Rev. Legh Richmond. 



