46 THE ORDNANCE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CHAP, n 



and make use of them in his daily work. If he has a 

 love of nature, and this, to be a good geologist, he must 

 possess, he is afforded ample scope for its gratification. 

 Flowers, insects, birds, and living things of every 

 kind meet his eye at each turn of the way. If he has 

 any antiquarian instincts, his rambles enable him to 

 visit every antiquity for miles around him. If, lastly, 

 he is of a social temperament, and cares to mix with 

 his fellowmen, there is often pleasant society in the 

 neighbourhood, where a stranger of good address is 

 generally welcomed. Sometimes he must content 

 himself with the kindly gossip of the little farm or way- 

 side-inn ; at other times he finds himself discussing 

 rural politics with the village doctor, or undergoing a 

 process of examination in the tendencies of modern 

 science at the parsonage, or joining in a pleasant 

 dinner-party at the squire's. 



That such a life has its trials, however, may readily 

 be believed. The mere physical endurance which it 

 often requires is enough to tax the strength of a 

 strong man. Not unfrequently, indeed, it involves 

 personal danger as well as discomfort. Few members 

 of the staff but can give instances of narrow escapes 

 from fatal accident. Now it is a mass of cliff or crag 

 which, without warning, falls with a crash close to 

 where the surveyor is standing, or a single loosened 

 block from the rocks above shoots past his head with 

 a whizz like a cannon-ball. At another time it is a 

 treacherous bog which, firm apparently on the surface, 

 suddenly gives way under his feet, and out of the mire 

 of which he with difficulty drags himself. Streams 

 which in the morning could be jumped across may 

 by nightfall, after heavy rain, be so swollen as to be 

 unfordable without peril. Snow - storms sometimes 



