164 BEAUTIFUL AMPHITHEATRE. 



down among the sheep that are grazing and bleating 

 there. 



And here we are at the summit, nearly three hun- 

 dred feet above the level of the sea. A flag-staff has 

 been rigged on this point, and around the knot of rock 

 on which it stands there are seats facing various 

 directions. Seaward the view embraces the coasts 

 already mentioned, but the horizon is of course more 

 distant, and the range of sight more ample. The 

 numbers of craft of all sorts, continually coming and 

 going, add much to the interest of this scene. If we 

 turn and look inland, a prospect equally beautiful, 

 but of very different character demands admiration. 

 From the west round by the south to the east a 

 verdant amphitheatre extends, bounded by hills of 

 various form and elevation, and diversified with woods 

 and cultivated fields. The peaks called the Torrs, 

 the rounded elevated down of Langley Cleve, and a 

 curious, somewhat isolated conical peak known as 

 Carn Top, that always reminds me of Mount Tabor, 

 are the leading eminences to the west and south-west. 

 Then gentle slopes sweep away along the south line, 

 with the town, spread out as in a map, occupying the 

 bottom. To the eastward the noble mountain-mass 

 of Hillsborough, presenting a bluff headland to the 

 sea, nearly five hundred feet in height, and Rillage 

 Point, running out in a long sharp spit behind it, 

 terminate the view ; but between us and the former 

 is the harbour of Ilfracombe, with its shipping and 

 fishing craft, and perhaps a steamer lying at the pier; 

 and Lantern Hill, another almost isolated peak of 

 inferior elevation, crowned by its ancient lighthouse. 



