OF SELBORNE. 7 



hazel, Ulmus folio latissimo scabro of Ray 1 , which, though 

 it had lost a considerable leading bough in the great 



little streams oaks grow kindly. The steep fronts of all the terraces 

 constitute Hangers, and these, on the malm rock, are chiefly covered 

 by oak. One of them is the Oak Hanger, still as well qualified as it was 

 a thousand years since to give name to the hamlet below it. 



In the little valleys of this formation, deeply cleft, and narrow, and 

 lengthened out, and well wooded, there is much to please the wanderer. 

 The hollow lanes, cut into the rock to the depth of eighteen or twenty 

 feet, and sometimes (though not generallyj) offering formS of picturesque 

 beauty, will also interest him. But the highest interest will be excited 

 by the views from the edges of the terraces, ranging from Harteley Park 

 to the south as far as Temple. Along these, wherever the view is not 

 intercepted by the growth of trees rising up above the level of the cliff 

 on the face of which they are rooted, the prospect is every where beau- 

 tiful. It is especially so at the points in which the terraces are occa- 

 sionally interrupted, as at the corner of Harteley Park towards Oak 

 Hanger ; and at the angle of the Temple terrace looking over the Priory. 

 The views from the terrace immediately adjoining to Temple are magni- 

 ficent. 



Below the rock of the upper green sand formation is the gault; gene- 

 rally presenting a uniform level, of the most fertile character. Within 

 Selborne it exists only as a perfect flat; but to the north, in the forest 

 of The Holt, it rises into hills. It is especially distinguished by the 

 extreme richness of the water-meadows, to which its crops are entirely 

 limited ; and by the noble groves and woods of fine oaks that are every 

 where scattered over it. The luxuriant wood of this formation and the 

 greenness of its enclosures, create a fore ground of the richest character 

 to all the prospects from the terraces above it. 



Last of the Selborne strata is the lower green sand; which rises, im- 

 mediately east of the gault, into ridges of various elevation, and having 

 usually a direction not very dissimilar from that of the Hanger. On the 

 verge of this are scattered various farms which have brought into culti- 

 vation, in ancient times, portions of the unpromising soil : and in these 

 situations there are meadows, and arable fields, and a few hop-grounds, 

 separated by hedge-rows in which timber trees are growing. But beyond 

 the settlements on the very edge of the sands cultivation quickly ceases ; 

 and the lean, hungry waste of Wolmer Forest succeeds, covered almost 

 entirely by heath. Excepting a few trees on its skirts towards Forest 

 Side, the Forest within Selborne is quite destitute of timber. Some 

 plantations of fir have been attempted in various parts of it, which relieve 

 in some degree, by their lengthened lines of green, the dreariness that 

 prevails. More effectual relief is afforded by the ponds which are spread 

 out in various parts of the waste, of which some are so large as to merit 

 the name of little lakes. Such is Wolmer Pond, described by Gilbert 

 White in a subsequent Letter ; and such too are the ponds known by the 



' [Ulmus montana, BAUH.] 



