2 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



engaging view, being an assemblage of hill, dale, wood-lands, 

 heath, and water. The prospect is bounded to the south-east 

 and east by the vast range of mountains called The Sussex Downs, 

 by Guild-down near GuUdford, and by the Downs round Dorking 

 and Ryegate in Surrey, to the north-east, which altogether, with 

 the country beyond Alton and Farnham, form a noble and extensive 

 outline. 



At the foot of this hill, one stage or step from the uplands, lies 

 the village, which consists of one single straggling street, three 

 quarters of a mile in length, in a sheltered vale, and running 

 parallel with The Hanger. 1 The houses are divided from the hill 

 by a vein of stiff clay (good wheat-land), yet stand on a rock of 

 white stone, little in appearance removed from chalk ; but seems 

 so far from being calcarious, that it endures extreme heat. Yet 

 that the freestone still preserves somewhat that is analogous to 

 chalk, is plain from the beeches which descend as low as those 

 rocks extend, and no farther, and thrive as well on them, where 

 the ground is steep, as on the chalks. 



The cart-way of the village divides, in a remarkable manner, 

 two very incongruous soils. To the south-west is a rank clay, 

 that requires the labour of years to render it mellow ; while the 

 gardens to the north-east, and small enclosures behind, consist 

 of a warm, forward, crumbling mould, called black malm, which 

 seems highly saturated with vegetable and animal manure ; and 

 these may perhaps have been the original site of the town ; while 

 the woods and coverts might extend down to the opposite bank. 



At each end of the village, which runs from south-east to north- 

 west, arises a small rivulet : that at the north-west end frequently 

 fails ; but the other is a fine perennial spring, little influenced by 

 drought or wet seasons, called Well-head. 2 This breaks out of 

 some high grounds joining to Nore Hill, a noble chalk promon- 



1 [The Hanger and Nore Hill are of chalk ; the " vein of stiff clay " consists of 

 chalk marl ; the " rock of white stone " belongs to the upper greensand ; the " rank 

 clay" is the chalk marl again, while the "black malm" is the chloritic marl, a 

 greenish sand, which forms the top bed of the upper greensand (see the Introduc- 

 tion).] 



2 This spring produced, September 14, 1781, after a severe hot summer, and a 

 preceding dry spring and winter, nine gallons of water in a minute, which is five 

 hundred and forty in an hour, and twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty, or two 

 hundred and sixteen hogsheads, in twenty-four hours, or one natural day. At this 

 time many of the wells failed, and all the ponds in the vales were dry. 



[One Mr. Mills, since White's time, enclosed the spring by a cast-iron plate 

 bearing a lion's mouth and two windmills. After the centenary celebration of 

 Gilbert White's death, a subscription was made to bring the water from the Well- 

 head stream to stand-pipes in the village.] 



