244 BABBICOMBE TO HOPE'S NOSE. 



of water, with a sucking sound and a report like that 

 of a rifle ; while, without intermission, there goes on 

 that melancholy wailing, washing hiss, which is the 

 constant accompaniment of a breaking surf. 



And now we have reached the end of our pleasant 

 path. The luxuriant verdure ceases ; there is no more 

 shrubbery or coppice ; but one or two fields belonging 

 to Ilsam Farm are laid down in grass, and beyond 

 these there is a gentle declivity of down; with its 

 clumps of gorse ; and beyond that a low, broad pro- 

 montory of naked rock. 



This is Hope's Nose : the northern propyleon of 

 that indent of the coast called Torbay, as bluff Berry 

 Head is the southern one. Three rock islets lie 

 around this point, like sleeping lions guarding the 

 gate ; and on one of them there is that interesting 

 geological phenomenon a raised beach. 



What a picture of utter desolation is presented by 

 this promontory ! It reminds me of what travellers 

 tell concerning Sinai and Horeb, and the land of Edom, 

 magna componereparvis, a great area of weather- 

 stained limestone, split with fissures in various direc- 

 tions, and most strongly contrasting with the soft, 

 wild, luxuriant beauty, amidst which we have just 

 been rambling. To add to the ruin, man has been 

 here, too, quarrying ; and the great rugged excava- 

 tions, all coarse and angular, and the heaps of rub- 

 bishy debris at foot, make it a miserable place to look 

 at. Let us hasten on to the extreme point. 



Here is a flat platform of the same gray stone, com- 



