ENGLISH CHALK DOWNS. 203 



Ocean in the grand chalk cliffs of Flaniborongh 

 Head, ui)()n tiie Yorkshire coast. No wonder, 

 tlien, that to Continental nations these white walls 

 of the Isle of Albion should always have been 

 regarded as the characteristic feature of the Eng- 

 lish shore. 



Inland the chalk downs cover a very large por- 

 tion of England, whose i)eculiar type of undulat- 

 ing scenery is probably unmatched in any other 

 part of the civilized world. The greatest mass of 

 chalk in one continuous belt in the whole of Brit- 

 ain is that which has its centre in the irregular 

 boss of Salisbur}' Plain, stretching out huge 

 feelers in every direction, towards Dorset and 

 Devon on the one hand, and towards the Chiitern 

 Hills, the North Downs, and the South Downs on 

 the other. It is this mass, of course, lying close 

 to our greatest centre of population and our best- 

 known watering-places, that is most familiar to 

 the majority of Englishmen. The curious way in 

 which its surface is sculptured into long rolling 

 hog's-backs and saucer-shaped combes is so en- 

 tirely characteristic of the whole formation, and 

 so closel}'' dependent upon the original nature and 

 disposition of the chalk, that, to account for its 

 peculiar hollows and bottoms, we must consider a 

 little the circumstances in which the existing 

 state of things in Southern England has been 

 produced. 



