THE QUARRY. 237 



limestone, projected like a Cyclopean mole into the 

 sea ! Great stains of red, the washings of the red 

 earth above, itself the debris of more ancient red 

 sandstone, are seen on the rugged face of the cliff, 

 and at the bluff end, where the "jumper" and the 

 blast of the quarryman have done their wOrk ; having 

 followed the veins and cracks of the stone, and per- 

 colated through and through. Whymper has just 

 immortalised this magnificent promontory in one of 

 his beautiful water-colour paintings, and yonder is the 

 grassy cleft where I stood by his side as he sketched 

 it last autumn. It is curious to mark how large a 

 portion of the vast mass has been gradually quarried 

 away ; for a long flat platform nearly level with the 

 water's edge, running out beyond the present sheer 

 end of the wall, and bearing two obelisks of stone 

 strangely preserved, shews the original termination. 

 The demand for limestone, some of which is a beau- 

 tifully-veined marble, for building purposes in the 

 vicinity, and for export, causes a constant diminution 

 of the mass ; and vast as it is, the period is not at all 

 beyond contemplation when its magnificence will be 

 a matter of tradition. 



The sea wildly dashes around the impregnable base 

 of the precipiece, and rushes with wild roar into the 

 dark caves, and makes mad efforts to scale the wall, 

 but always falls back in foaming rage, ever to essay 

 the assault again, and ever to be repelled by the pas- 

 sive resistance of the " everlasting hills/' The pretty 

 secluded cove, with its white pebbly beach, offers a 



