A SEASIDE RAMBLE 209 



of course, the handle, which should be of wood. A 

 piece of ash does well, scarcely anything better. 

 One end of the head should be shaped like a small 

 hatchet, the edge in a plane with the handle ; the 

 other end a solid cylinder of steel, about two inches 

 long, having a round striking extremity ; its entire 

 weight about a pound and a half. The hatchet end 

 does splendidly for extricating fossils, such as am- 

 monites (so called from the horns of Jupiter Ammon), 

 from the chalk, while the round end is admirably 

 adapted for opening flints. In fact, to use the words 

 of a friend, ' one end does for the Ammonites and 

 the other for the Hittites.' 



Throughout the whole of the journey we shall 

 find an immense amount of material to interest us. 

 The stretch of nearly seven miles contains in situ 

 the main divisions of the chalk, gault, and lower 

 greensand. Sallying forth with our hammers, we 

 look like practical dentists, and the appearance now 

 and then of the teeth of an ancient shark, or still 

 more ancient saurian, helps to establish our claims to 

 the dental profession. 



Our pleasurable feelings may now be compared to 

 those possessed by a sportsman starting out with his 

 gun across his shoulder and knowing he had plenty 

 of game before him ; or of a huntsman who finds 

 himself astride a good horse at the commencement 

 of a good day's run with the hounds ; while our 

 day's enjoyment will be less open to question. 



There would be less indigestion and more appetite 



O 



