336 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



hours. To a person acquainted with the physical 

 structure of the country, such a voyage is alike 

 agreeable and instructive, and the reader will find 

 a day well spent in taking a rapid survey of the 

 most important geological sections which the coast 

 scenery exhibits. The steamers leave Cowes or 

 Ryde, and take an easterly or westerly course, 

 according to the state of the tide. In the following 

 brief notice, the localities most worthy of remark, 

 in a geological point of view, are described in the 

 order they will appear, if the former route be 

 pursued. 



Proceeding from Ryde to the eastward, we coast 

 along the northern shore of the Island, which is 

 almost everywhere covered with vegetation to the 

 water's edge ; a low bank, or cliff, of the fresh- 

 water eocene marls and limestones, being the only 

 indication of its geological structure. St. Clare, 

 the charming seat of Col. Vernon Harcourt, stands 

 on an eminence of these deposits. Doubling the 

 eastern point of St. Helen's, Bembridge Foreland 

 appears, surmounted by the range of chalk hills 

 that terminates at Culver Cliff, We cross the 

 mouth of Brading Haven ; the little town of 

 Blading is seen nestling in a grove of elms at the 

 foot of the chalk downs, which form the western 

 boundary of the view. The upper horizontal 



