SOUTH-WEST COAST OF PURBECK. 373 



mark the western boundary of the hay ; the low 

 cliffs are Purbeck and Wealden strata. The hill 

 in the middle of the landscape is the Swine's Back, 

 beyond which is Lulworth Cove ; the Isle of Port- 

 land appears in the remote distance. The deep 

 sinuosities made in the cliffs by the inroads of the 

 sea are very conspicuous from this elevated posi- 

 tion, and the physical characters of the district 

 produced by its geological structure are well 

 displayed. The height on which we are standing, 

 is the sudden termination of the vertical chalk 

 range which appears in the section at Handfast 

 Point ; and we can trace the chalk downs extend- 

 ing four miles further westward, in the line of sea- 

 cliffs beyond the coves. Thus in the Isle of Wight, 

 the chalk cliffs at Freshwater appear to the west 

 of the Wealden strata of Brook and Compton Bays 

 (p. 210) ; and should the sea continue to encroach 

 on that part of the coast of the " beautiful Island," 

 the chalk would at length be reached, and form 

 the inland barrier of a semicircular bay, bounded 

 on the sides by the lower cretaceous deposits, and 

 on the south by Wealden strata ; as in the Coves 

 of Purbeck. 



To the south, the chain of hills composed of 

 Purbeck and Portland beds appears ; and the 

 intermediate tract is a fertile valley, formed by the 



