STAET BAY. 



CHAPTER XV. 



" The rocky ledge runs far into the sea, 

 And on its outer point some miles away, 

 The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry, 

 A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day. 



And the great ships sail outward and return, 

 Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells, 



And ever joyful, as they see it burn, 



They wave their silent welcomes and farewells." 



Longfellow. 



Polwhele says, in reference to Start Point, (but we have 

 never seen it mentioned elsewhere) "There are still the 

 remains of columns here, it is supposed, in memory of the 

 Phenician Astarte." 



Another authority says, " The name (Start) is supposed 

 to be the Anglo-Saxon, ' Steort,' a tail or promontory, but 

 it is more commonly explained as the ' starting point' of 

 ships outward bound. The point stretches boldly to sea, 

 sloped on each side like the roof of a house, and crowned 

 along its entire length by fanciful crags, strangely weathered 

 and shaggy with moss. Its different sides strikingly illus- 

 trate the influence of a stormy sea on the picturesqueness 

 of a coast. On the west, the dark cliff incessantly assaulted, 

 presents a ruinous appearance; on the east, although 

 moulded from the same material, it descends to the waves in 



