ATHERFIELD CLIFF8. 221 



Station ; it is a mere foot-track worn in the rock 

 by the sailors and fishermen.* At a moderate 

 distance westward of the spot where the path 

 reaches the shore, is the headland called Ather- 

 field Point, on which stands the Station-house ; 

 and at its foot, a ledge of rocks extends into 

 the sea. Near this place after recent slips of 

 the cliff, and the removal of the fallen debris by 

 the waves, the uppermost of the Wealden deposits, 

 and the lowermost of the Greensand may be seen 

 in juxta-position; in other words, the line of de- 

 marcation between the accumulated sediments of 

 a mighty river — some primeval Nile or Ganges, 

 teeming with the spoils of the land and the ex- 

 uviae of extinct terrestrial and fluviatile animals 

 and plants — and the bed of a vast ocean, loaded 

 with the debris of marine organisms, of genera and 

 species unknown in the present seas. 



Atherfield Cliffs. — These cliffs are about 150 

 feet high, and, with the exception of a few feet of 

 Wealden clay forming the base of the headland 

 above mentioned, entirely consist of the green- 

 sand strata, which extend eastward as far as the 



* This path is too precipitous and inconvenient to be attempted without 

 risk by ladies or invalids. I have always visited the spot by this route, and 

 am not aware of there being a more easy descent to the beach, except at a 

 long distance from the most interesting part of the cliffs. 



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