A LOOK-OUT. 3 



and what would happen if (ah ! that "if!" let us cast 

 it to the winds) : another long stride across a gulf, a 

 bound upward, and here we are. 



Yes, here we stand, on the bluff, looking out to sea- 

 ward in the very eye of the wind. We might have 

 supposed it a tolerably smooth slope of stone when we 

 looked at the point from the sea, or from the various 

 parts of the shore whence we can see this promontory. 

 But very different is it on a close acquaintance. It is a 

 wilderness of craggy points and huge castellated masses 

 of compact limestone marble, piled one on another in 

 the wildest and most magnificent confusion. We have 

 secured a comfortable berth, where, wedged in between 

 two of these masses, we can without danger lean on 

 one breast-high, and gaze over it down upon the very 

 theatre of the elemental war. Is not this a sight worth 

 the toil and trouble and peril of the ascent ? The rock 

 below is fringed with great insular peaks and blocks, 

 bristling up amidst the sea, of various sizes and of the 

 most fantastic and singular forms, which the sea at 

 high-water would mostly cover; though now the far- 

 receding tide exposes their horrid points, and the brown 

 leprous coating of barnacles with which their lower 

 sides are covered is broadly seen between the swelling 

 seas. 



Heavily rolls in the long deep swell of the ocean from 



