THE BREEZE ON BEACHY HEAD 211 



round, and are beached ; how helptessly little they seem 

 beneath the cliff by the sea ! 



On returning homewards towards Eastbourne stay 

 awhile by the tumulus on the slope. There are others 

 hidden among the furze; butterflies flutter over them, 

 and the bees hum round by day ; by night the night- 

 hawk passes, coming up from the fields and even skirting 

 the sheds and houses below. The rains beat on them, 

 and the storm drives the dead leaves over their low 

 green domes ; the waves boom on the shore far down. 



How many times has the morning star shone yonder 

 in the East? All the mystery of the sun and of the 

 stars centres around these lowly mounds. 



But the glory of these glorious Downs is the breeze. 

 The air in the valleys immediately beneath them is pure 

 and pleasant ; but the least climb, even a hundred feet, 

 puts you on a plane with the atmosphere itself, uninter- 

 rupted by so much as the tree-tops. It is air without 

 admixture. If it comes from the south, the waves refine 

 it; if inland, the wheat and flowers and grass distil it. 

 The great headland and the whole rib of the promontory 

 is wind-swept and washed with air; the billows of the 

 atmosphere roll over it. 



The sun searches out every crevice amongst the grass, 

 nor is there the smallest fragment of surface which is not 

 sweetened by air and light. Underneath, the chalk itself 

 is pure, and the turf thus washed by wind and rain, sun- 

 dried and dew-scented, is a couch prepared with thyme 

 to rest on. Discover some excuse to be up there always, 

 to search for stray mushrooms they will be stray, for 

 the crop is gathered extremely early in the morning or 

 to make a list of flowers and grasses; to do anything, 

 and, if not, go always without any pretext. Lands of 

 gold have been found, and lands of spices and precious 

 merchandise ; but this is the land of health. 



