518 ISLE OF MAN. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



which they present, materially enhancing that effect, for 

 reasons which need not be suggested to those con- 

 versant in the principles of art. Here also a circum- 

 stance occurs, of some interest to the geological as to 

 the general traveller. 



Large portions of the land have been separated by 

 vertical fissures extending from the surface almost to 

 the level of the shore beneath, so deep and so dark 

 that the eye does not penetrate to the bottom. The 

 principal masses have thus slid into new positions, while 

 many smaller fragments appear still suspended in the 

 very act of falling ; even the larger, seeming to be often 

 so nicely poised that the hand would almost be thought 

 sufficient to push them from their present situations 

 into the sea that rolls below. The spectator who does 

 not walk with fear over these chasms, must at least 

 walk with caution ; and will not perhaps at first easily 

 divest himself of the sense of insecurity with which 

 he traverses ground that appears in the act of escaping 

 beneath his footsteps. In a physical view, the pheno- 

 menon is however much too common to require any 

 explanation ; while it is obviously a slide of no very 

 distant origin, geologically considered. As an historical 

 occurrence, it is of considerable antiquity ; and although 

 the distance in point of time cannot be ascertained, its 

 lowest limit is recorded by the existence of a Druidical 

 structure on one of the moved fragments ; a chronological 

 index, at least very remote, if not exactly to be assigned. 

 The narrow and rocky channel which separates the Calf 

 from the main island, with the boisterous tide that runs 

 through it, and the high rocky shores that extend from- 

 this point to Brada head, will present much interesting 

 scenery to those who may examine them from below; 

 although from above, the points of sight are seldom 

 picturesque. Hence to Peel, the same character, but 

 with less grandeur, is preserved ; after which, lower 

 and less striking rocks, of different aspects, continue 



