ON BEACHY HEAD 



unbent, as if it were no matter to them whether 

 they flew or floated, in its peculiar jerking motion 

 somewhat reminds one of the lapwing the heron 

 has it, too, a little as if aquatic or water-side birds 

 had a common and distinct action of the wing. 



Sometimes a porpoise comes along, but just 

 beyond the reef; looking down on him from the 

 verge of the clifF, his course can be watched. His 

 dark body, wet and oily, appears on the surface 

 for two seconds ; and then, throwing up his tail 

 like the fluke of an anchor, down he goes. Now 

 look forward, along the waves, some fifty yards 

 or so, and he will come up, the sunshine gleam- 

 ing on the water as it runs off his back, to again 

 dive, and reappear after a similar interval. Even 

 when the eye can no longer distinguish the form, 

 the spot where he rises is visible, from the slight 

 change in the surface. 



The hill receding in hollows leaves a narrow 

 plain between the foot of the sward and the clifF; 

 it is ploughed, and the teams come to the foot- 

 path which follows the edge ; and thus those who 

 plough the sea and those who plough the land 

 look upon each other. The one sees the vessel 

 change her tack, the other notes the plough turn- 

 ing at the end of the furrow. Bramble bushes 

 project over the dangerous wall of chalk, and 

 grasses fill up the interstices, a hedge suspended 

 279 



