CHESIL BEACH. 5 



of cases, Dr. Vaughan Cornish tells us, show only fine material 

 with stones in very few places. Hence at present the supply 

 from this quarter is certainly limited, though I think that more is 

 derived from this source than is generally admitted. 



On the other hand, at the east, or Portland end, there is a 

 considerable supply of fresh materials in the shape of limestone 

 fragments and black flints, which are sometimes called cherts. 

 These limestone fragments, being comparatively fresh, are often 

 still in large pieces, and the curious westward curl of the wave in 

 the bight at Chesilton serves to carry some of these stones 

 towards the north-west, thus reversing for a short distance the 

 mean direction of the beach movement, as far as individual 

 distribution goes. Everyone knows that, whilst there is a fairly 

 gradual increase in the size of the pebbles on the Chesil Beach 

 all the way from Bridport Harbour to a point about two miles 

 from the eastern end, there is a sudden increase in the size of the 

 pebbles as we approach Chesilton. No doubt there are several 

 causes which conduce to this result. I may venture to indicate 

 one or two. The most obvious is the local supply of fresh 

 material from Portland, but, as much of this consists of large 

 limestone pebbles, their life is sure to be short in that terrible 

 struggle for existence, which only those who have witnessed a 

 full gale in this strange corner of the ocean's shore can realise. 

 Such pebbles as happen to have a good core of black flint may 

 survive for a time, but in that case our limestone pebble becomes 

 a flint pebble, and even then he has to do battle with chalk- 

 flints and, above all, with quartzites, which congregate here in 

 somewhat unusual numbers and often of considerable size. 

 Mr. Clement Reid has remarked that a great part of the large 

 pebbles at the eastern end are tough Budleigh Salterton 

 quartzites, whose life is longer than that of a flint pebble, since 

 the latter is liable to lose substance from conchoidal fracture. 



These large quartzites, which have already been brought here 

 owing to the preponderance of the wind-wave from the west, are 

 reduced more slowly than the other stones. Hence their size 

 and comparative abundance in this part of the beach. 



