DEVON AND SOMERSET. 239 



Severn Sea. Along the cliffs from Ashley 

 Combe to Countisbury Foreland there are 

 paths and ways which overhang a rock bound 

 beach by a giddy drop of some three hundred 

 feet. Several times each season beaten deer 

 betake themselves to these cliffs, and by paths 

 where few can follow them make their way to 

 salt water, or sometimes reach the boulders of 

 the beach and running along reclimb the 

 ramparts, and return to the moor a mile or 

 two further up or down the coast. These 

 cliff paths are uncanny places into which to 

 venture with any but the quietest and handiest 

 of mounts, for one may sometimes find oneself 

 upon a sheep track which winds from slope to 

 slope until it ends in some sheer drop or 

 cascade of rolling shillett where a horse has 

 no room or foothold to turn round, and the 

 close cropped turf moreover is exceedingly 

 slippery when burnt brow^n by an August sun, 

 and a horse whose shoes are worn smooth has 

 little chance to maintain his foothold if he 

 makes the least mistake. 



A fall here means an avalanche of loose 

 stones and debris, a bumping roll to the edge 

 of the sheer cliff below and then a sickening 

 fall upon the jagged rocks or into the boiling 

 surf. 



The woods of these rain swept precipices 

 are curious to look at. Here cling in the 



