2 THE SOUTHERN CLIFFS 



birds are flying in the air below us. Or we may 

 clamber down the face to some midway ledge, with cliff 

 and sea beneath, and cliff and sky above, and sit level 

 with the sea-fowl as they fly and float, and fancy 

 ourselves in the cloud-city of revolted birds, that starved 

 ungrateful gods by intercepting the sacrifices on their 

 way from earth to heaven. Or, greatly daring, we may 

 watch the temper of the tide, when the cliff 



" Sets his bones 



To bask i' the sun, and thrusts out knees and feet 

 For the ripple to run over in its mirth ; 

 Listening the while, where on the heap of stones 

 The white breast of the sea-lark twitters sweet." 



But neither from its summit nor its feet, nor even from 

 some jutting midway crag, can all the secret places of 

 the cliff be seen ; and if the stranger desires to become 

 familiar with the whole surface of the precipice, and 

 learn the ways of its inhabitants, he must be content to 

 gaze only on the forbidden land, and approach it, like 

 good Ulysses, in his boat, over the wine-dark sea. 

 Then, if he choose the hour aright, he may be in time 

 to watch the sea-fowl depart for their long day's fishing, 

 or their return to their sleeping-places in the inacces- 

 sible faces of the crag. But it is not every one who 

 cares to face the discomfort of rising before daybreak, 

 and of a long and chilly row along the shore, while the 

 morning wind blows in cold and clammy from the sea. 

 It is better to lie off the rocks on a summer evening 



" Between the sun and moon along the shore," 

 and watch the darkening cliffs, and the gulls and 



