222 COUNTRY ESSAYS. 



over the fields behind, while the vast weight of water fell back 

 with a din like thunder, and was struck by the next incoming 

 surge, when both leapt up and roared and broke once more into 

 maddened sheets of spray. That is a sight never to be for- 

 gotten. But now we float placidly along in deep water only a 

 few hundred yards from the Head, and note the ruins of the 

 old fire-beacon (for the place has for centuries earned its name 

 of Flameborough), and then the lighthouse with its neat white 

 cottages below. It is 80 feet high, and stands 250 feet above 

 the sea. Its revolving lights had cheered us last evening off 

 Hornsea, and are nightly blessed by many a ship, for immedi- 

 ately off it lies the Smithwick sand which at low tide is only 

 just covered with water. We see the buoy tossing on our left, 

 and large ships, which do not take the inner channel as we are 

 doing, are careful to give it a wide berth, standing well out 

 when they have rounded the Head. 



And now we drift past the end of the Dane's Dyke, and here 

 are two fantastic columns of chalk, called the King and Queen, 

 standing out from the cliffs and showing how, together with 

 the large caves which are also visible below, the sea gradually 

 saps this natural fortress, as it is doing, only at a quicker rate, 

 all along the Yorkshire coast. And here is Thornwick, a natural 

 opening or wick, in the chalk-walls which forms a capital 

 shelter for the fishing boats of the village of Flamborough. 

 Itself lies some way at the back of the cliffs. We have lost 

 sight now of the great cliffs to the north, near Whitby, and of 

 Scarborough Castle, standing out so boldly against the sky, 

 the Headland intervening, while a few shots and clouds of 

 frightened birds, rock-pigeons, daws, gulls, and the like tell 

 that our friend is finding the game he desires. Presently he 

 comes off, with nothing much, however, to show ; a kittiwake 

 in immature plumage with a brown head, instead of the pure 

 white it would have attained when a year had passed, a puffin, 

 and some razor-bills form his bag. He reports that no rare 



