SUNSHINE AT THE LAND'S END. 8 1 



forms a whimsical resemblance to Dr. Johnson's head. Cormor- 

 ants and gulls sit on the jutting rocks below ; seals are to be 

 seen in the troubled waters around. The prospect on the right 

 is bounded by Cape Cornwall with a deserted mine, whose 

 tower looks like a pillar of white light against the green turf. 

 Higher up are the works of the St. Just Consolidated Mine, and 

 on the hill inland the neat, whitewashed houses erected by the 

 Trinity Board for the lighthouse keepers ; all these features 

 presenting a glowing feast of colour to the eye. Whitesand 

 Bay is under them, with the Irish Lady, a conspicuous rocky 

 mass, standing out amongst the waves. The slate reappears at 

 Cape Cornwall with its characteristic conical top ; a mile off are 

 the two Brisons, as fatal rocks as any on this dangerous coast. 

 Wide-spreading sheets of surf surround them on the calmest of 

 days. A mile in front of the Land's End itself, on a low reef, 

 is erected the celebrated Longships Lighthouse, whose ruddy 

 light is generally the first welcome to England the homeward 

 bound ship receives. The sea, which is dark and treacherous- 

 looking round the coast, is blue here, and leaps up to-day in 

 playful jets of foam. When there is anything of a gale blow- 

 ing, although its height from the sea is about 127 feet, the 

 waves break over the lantern of the lighthouse, " in a green, 

 mountainous giddiness of wrath," to quote Mr. Ruskin once 

 more. 



Far out at sea an attentive observer may notice a speck of 

 surf in the blue expanse. Through a glass eddies of swirling 

 water may be descried, spuirting up every now and then into 

 silvery spray. This is the Wolf Rock, nine miles from the 

 mainland, an awful object to mariners in its grim isolation. A 

 lighthouse is now being built on it from Penzance. The blocks 

 are squared and fitted into each other on shore, and during the 

 fine weather in summer transported to the rock. Although the 

 work has been in hand for several seasons, the men are always 

 obliged to work in safety-belts. Indeed, only six courses of 



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