THB CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 93 



above, that it might almost seem a miracle for this 

 column which rises to the height of thirty-two feet, to 

 have retained its position, and to have stood the storms 

 of so many centuries in this lofty and exposed situa- 

 tion.* As if to mock the puny strength of man, 

 nature seems here to have displayed her most sportive 

 and gigantic energies, in mimicking his architectural 

 powers ; and this, by piling into all imaginable forms 

 the ruins of one of her own vast temples. Sometimes 

 we see the rocks assuming the form of a colossal co- 

 lumn, as in the instance just referred to. At other 

 times, as in the neighbouring hill of Sharp-Tor, they 

 are shaped into the likeness of a pyramid. Then 

 again, as in the two remaining eminences of the chain, 

 a striking resemblance is presented to a line of fortifi- 

 cations. In short, on which ever side the eye ranges, 



* Dr. Borlase supposed that the Cheese-wring might have 

 been a rude image of Saturn, which was brought to its present 

 form by the ancient idolaters who frequented these hills. But 

 from an attentive observation of this singular structure of 

 rocks, I am persuaded that it is altogether a natural curiosity 

 effected by some agency of the currents during the time of the 

 deluge, which carried away the surrounding masses, leaving 

 these blocks deposited just as they were in their native bed. It 

 seems doubtful if granite is ever found really stratified. It 

 would rather appear to occur in large masses of irregular forms, 

 derived originally from the prismatic 



