116 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE 



The diluvium on Blackheath and elsewhere consists 

 of sand and pebbles of black flint, which are used for 

 making the roads. The country is very beautiful, flat, 

 or gently undulated, and more profusely wooded than 

 I should have expected. About Chatham the ground 

 is more undulated, but the chalk strata are still nearly 

 horizontal, the valleys having apparently been pro- 

 duced by diluvial excavation. The houses in the 

 towns and villages are built of brick, but are neat, and 

 the people everywhere seemed in the most prosperous 

 condition, even the labourers being remarkably well 

 clothed and "looking like their meat," as people say 

 in Scotland. I was surprised at the great number of 

 very elegantly -formed and graceful young women. 

 The features of the inhabitants are more regular and 

 less weathered (as a geologist would say) than those 

 in any part of Scotland. The men are, on the whole, 

 stout and independent-looking. They are not lumpish 

 either, as in Lancashire and elsewhere, but rather active. 



I have not met with an instance of incivility since I 

 entered England ; but I have the same to say of Scotland 

 and Ireland although sometimes, particularly by clerks 

 in offices or shops, one is answered by a single word. 



From half-past ten, when I went to bed, to near 

 five, I was tormented by bugs, which bit in all 

 directions : right and left, over the face, neck, arms, 

 back, and legs, not even sparing the crown of the 

 head. As I had no oil, which is a specific, I was 

 obliged to use the tallow of the candle to rub the 

 bitten parts. 



