300 THE LAND'S END 



see what the furze looks like in this Land's End 

 district where it most abounds and the earth is clothed 

 with it. In some places where the moorland has been 

 reclaimed and parcelled out into grass fields the furze 

 flourishes on the stone hedges : the effect is here 

 singular as well as magnificent, when, standing on a 

 high stone wall, you survey the surrounding country 

 with innumerable furze-clothed hedges dividing the 

 green fields around you in every direction, and appear- 

 ing like stupendous ropes of shining golden bloom. 

 Hedge beyond hedge they stretch away for miles to 

 grey distant hills and the pale blue sky beyond. On 

 some hedges the plant grows evenly, as if it had been 

 cultivated and trimmed, forming a smooth rope of 

 bloom and black prickles. In other and indeed most 

 instances, the rounded big luxuriant bushes occur at 

 intervals, like huge bosses, on the rope. 



Walking by one of these hedges in a very strong 

 sunlight about mid-May when the bloom is in its 

 greatest perfection, the sight is actually dazzling and 

 hurts by the intense luminous colour. It is an unusual 

 experience, but after a mile or so one almost 

 unconsciously averts or veils the eye in passing one 

 of these splendid bushes on which the blossoms are 

 too closely crowded. 



Perhaps the best aspect of the plant is that of the 

 rough unreclaimed places where the high land slopes 

 down to the cliff and the furze grows luxuriantly 

 along the edges and slopes of the deep clefts or little 

 ravine-like valleys, the beds of crystal noisy little 

 water-courses, peopled with troutlets no bigger than 



