A HAEBOUE OF EEFUGE. 257 



there is no doubt that a low- water pier and place of 

 shelter in some central place will be the means of saving 

 life. 



"Yesterday the secretary had a good deal to do on 

 shore, and the wind not suiting for an exploration of the 

 creeks by boating, I made up my mind to trust myself to 

 a land gig, under the guidance of a fishing officer, and 

 drive ten or twelve miles along the southern coast, so as to 

 complete the exploration of the previous day. In this way 

 I carefully examined Occumster, Clyth, and Whallingoe. 

 The latter is the most extraordinary little harbour of refuge 

 I ever saw. It is nothing more than a horrible chasm 

 bit ween two dreadful precipices, ending in-shore in another 

 precipice. But on one side a sort of zig-zag pathway has 

 been cut out of the rock, and leads down to a natural ledge 

 supporting a kind of rough causeway, which they call a 

 pier. Who they are I can scarcely say, for, on looking 

 down into the dark abyss, all I saw was the heaving water 

 and a few sea-gulls gliding over it far below me. They 

 were silvery bright in the sunshine, but seemed to suffer 

 a ghostly eclipse when they circled within the shadow of 

 the jaws of death. Leaving the fishino- officer in his ffi°\ 

 and perched quite as near the edge of the precipice as 

 suited either him or his horse, I made my own way down- 

 wards by the zig-zag staircase. The whole thing is very 

 curious and striking, both as a work of art and a piece of 



