THE CHANNEL SLOPE. 



123 



where conflicting tides render navigation dangerous, and attached to the main- 

 land by a narrow strip of beach. Rooted to the base of the cliff crowned by 

 Burton Castle, this beach extends along the coast, growing wider by degrees as 

 we follow it to the south-eastward, and forming a gentle curve, the con- 

 cave side of which is turned towards the sea. It is known as Chesil or 



Fig. 68.— Portland. 

 Scale 1 : 225,000. 





2°30- 



2*20- 



WoPGr. 



Foresnore. 



Depth under 

 5 Fathoms. 



3 Miles. 



"Pebble" Bank, and hides all the irregularities of the inner coast-line. The 

 old inlets and creeks in its rear have gradually been converted into swamps, or 

 silted up by the alluvium washed into them by the rivers, and only for a distance 

 of 8 miles along the coast of Dorsetshire is it separated from the mainland by 

 a narrow channel which debouches into Portland Ptoads, and is known as the 

 Fleet. But it is not only this striking regularity of contour which distm- 



