THE NEW FOREST. 73 



Wight, which defends it from the violence of the ocean, 

 but the views it presents are sometimes interesting. It is 

 wooded in many parts almost to the water's edge ; and the 

 island appearing like a distant range of mountains, gives 

 the channel the form of a grand lake. As we leave the sea 

 the ground rises and the woods take more possession of it, 

 especially along the banks of the two rivers just men- 

 tioned, which afford on each side for a considerable space 

 many beautiful scenes. There are heathy grounds in this 

 district also, but they occupy chiefly the middle parts be- 

 tween these two tracts of woodland. 



" In that division of New Forest which is confined by 

 Beaulieu river and the Bay of Southampton the midland 

 parts are heathy as in the last, but the banks and vicinity, 

 both of the river and the bay, are woody, and full of beau- 

 tiful scenery. This division is perhaps, on the whole, the 

 most interesting of the forest. For besides its woods, 

 there is greater variety of ground than in any other part. 

 Here also are more diversified water-views than are ex- 

 hibited anywhere else. The views along the banks of 

 Beaulieu river it has in common with the last division, 

 but those over the Bay of Southampton are wholly its own. 

 One disagreeable circumstance attends all the sea- views 

 which are opposite to the Isle of Wight, and that is, the 

 ooziness of the beach when the sea retires. A pebbly or 

 sandy shore has as good an effect often when the sea ebbs 

 as when it is full, sometimes perhaps a better, but an oozy 

 one has an unpleasant hue. However, this shore is one of 

 the best of the kind, for the ooze here is generally covered 

 with green sea-weed, which, as the tide retires, gives it 

 the appearance of level land deserted by the sea and turned 

 into meadow. But these lands are meadows only in sur- 

 face, for they have no pastoral accompaniments. 



" The northern division of New Forest contains all those 

 parts which lie north of Ringwood and Dibden. As this 

 district is at a distance from the sea, and not intersected 

 by any river which deserves more than the name of a 

 brook, it is adorned by no water- views, except near Dib- 



