384 Miscellanies, 



recently dug, in wliicli were hundreds of bivalve shells with their 

 mouths open, and in some the remains of the animals dried ; these 

 were the Lutricola compressa, and I preserved a few. T walked 

 along the beach a part of the way, and then turned inland a slight 

 distance, and reached the pretty little village of Seaford, laying in 

 a sort of hollow behind an elevated beach of loose shingle. This 

 part of the country is so quiet and retired, that a party of ladies 

 were bathing in the sea, past Newhaven, in a state of nudity, and 

 a general scramble ensued with a rush towards their clothes until 

 I passed. I made up my mind to stop at Seaford for the night, and 

 took the opportunity of examining the vertical face of a fine chalk 

 cliff to the eastward, the strata of which dipped to the west, thus 

 permitting me to clamber up in various directions, and to pick out 

 with my hammer and chisel a few choice fossils. To the eastward 

 of Seaford the chalk rises to a considerable height, and forms a 

 majestic line of cliffs which extend to the Cuckmere Eiver, and 

 finally terminate in the magnificent promontory of Beachy Plead, 

 nearly 600 feet above the level of the sea. After a good night's 

 rest, and a dinner which was served up capitally at this place, I 

 arose refreshed and not fatigued from my walk of yesterday. It 

 had poured torrents of rain during the night, with a tremendous 

 storm, and the weather was a little cool, the day promising to be 

 most lovely. It was about half-past 8 o'clock when I commenced 

 ascending the cliffs, and reached the top without once halting, my 

 walk was then continued along the summit of the cliffs, through 

 hollow and elevation, until I came to the Cuckmere River, but 

 before reaching this stream I counted very distinctly, in the dis- 

 tance, the summits of seven hills, known as the seven sisters, which 

 presented an even serrated appearance. I crossed the Cuckmere 

 Eiver, very shallow and narrow, and paid the coast guard man 

 who rowed me over in advice about his sore eyes. I staid nearly 

 half an hour examining the base of the chalk cliff to the east of 

 the gap at Cuckmere, and then came the most interesting part of 

 my journey. The first hill, which was pretty high, was quietly 

 mounted, the first of the seven sisters, all of which were very tall 

 and high. I ssat dt)wn on the summit of the second sister and 

 surveyed the prospect seawards, and after traversing the remainder 

 of the sisters, reached a place called Birling-Gap, to the south of 

 East-Dean. I was undecided whether to go along by the coast 

 round Beachy Head, or along the summit of the cliffs, my mind 

 was made up to adopt the former, and by good luck the son of an 



