NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 237 



rift, or chasm, had opened under their houses, and torn 

 them, as it were, in two ; and that one end oi the barn had 

 suffered in a similar manner : that a pond near the cottage 

 had undergone a strange reverse, becoming deep at the 

 shallow end, and so vice versd ; that many large oaks were 

 removed out of their perpendicular, some thrown down, and 

 some fallen into the heads of neighbouring trees ; and that 

 a gate was thrust forward, with its hedge, full six feet, so 

 as to require a new track to be made to it. From the foot 

 of the cliff the general course of the ground, which is 

 pasture, inclines in a moderate descent for half a mile, and 

 is interspersed with some hillocks, which were rifted, in 

 every direction, as well towards the great woody hanger, as 

 from it. In the first pasture the deep clefts began ; and 

 running across the lane, and under the buildings, made 

 such vast shelves that the road was impassable for some 

 time ; and so over to an araV)le field on the other side, 

 which was strangely torn and disordered. The second 

 pasture-field, being more soft and springy, was protruded 

 forward without many fissures in the turf, which was 

 raised in long ridges resembling graves, lying at right 

 ansles to the motion. At the bottom of this enclosure the 



o 



soil and turf rose many feet against the bodies of some 

 oaks that obstructed their farther course, and terminated 

 this awful commotion. 



The perpendicular height of the precipice in general is 

 twenty-three yards; the length of the lapse or slip as seen 

 from the fields below, one hundred and eighty-one; and a 

 partial fall, concealed in the coppice, extends seventy yards 

 more ; so that the total length of this fragment that fell 

 was two hundred and fifty-one yards. About fifty acres of 

 land suftered from this violent convulsion ; two houses 

 were entirely destroyed; one end of a new larn was left in 



