106 STUDIES OF NATURE 



When we got back to the village the day- 

 light was gone; but on the harbour-bridge a 

 little pastoral was being enacted which made us 

 pause. The bridge is the nucleus of Corrie. 

 It was here, no doubt, that the hamlet had its 

 beginning. At this point the sea had beaten in 

 so close to the hill-foot that there was not room 

 for the road to pass. The head of the narrow 

 gulley has, therefore, been bridged over. No 

 stream flows under, and there is a parapet only 

 on the side next the sea. Here, with unhewn 

 stones, a rude harbour has been constructed in 

 which there is space enough for three or four 

 fishing smacks to lie, so that when you stand 

 on the bridge which, after all, is only half a 

 bridge you look down on one hand to the 

 water, while on the other you look up a dry 

 ravine. On one side of this, and close by, are 

 some limestone caves. These are not worked 

 now, and in the largest of them the blacksmith 

 of the village plies his trade. The limestone 



