I OUR BEACH 15 



what the future may have In store, with pleasure 

 and misgiving mingled. 



Every beach has an individuality of its own, 

 knov/n to those who watch continually. Ours — 

 the portion of it that lies in front of the town and 

 sea-wall — faces nearly south, and is about a third 

 of a mile long. To the eastward it stretches 

 across the river -mouth (usually choked with 

 shingle) for a couple of miles under the cliff, 

 as far as the reef of rocks called Broad Ebb. 

 West of the wall it extends, for a mile or so, to 

 the rocks under Steep Head. Because Broad Ebb 

 and the Steep Head rocks rise well above high- 

 water mark they form natural groynes, and the 

 beach Is therefore contained within what Is techni- 

 cally known as a compartment. Inside that com- 

 partment It shifts much or little with every tide, 

 according to wind and weather, but it evidently 

 does not go beyond, for very little shingle is at 

 any time to be found among the rock groynes. 

 East of Broad Ebb, moreover, the beaches contain 

 a greater proportion of black flints, and to the 

 westward of Steep Head more flat pebbles. Every 

 cove that breaks Into the cllfts forms a small com- 

 partment for a little beach that neither alters In 

 character nor shifts outside. In front of the town, 



