of Devonshire and Cornwall 149 



pretty far to the west, for Sennen, the most western village In Eng- 

 land, which is three miles distant from it in a straight line, and only 

 half a mile from the Land's-end, is, according to my observations, 

 but seventy-six feet lov/er than St. Burien,that is, three hundred and 

 ninety-one feet above the level of the sea. 



The cliffs which bound this western shore of England, are never- 

 theless of small elevation. They are rather more abrupt and more 

 lofty towards the north than towards the south. Mean Cliff and 

 Cape Cornwall are higher than the Land's-end and the Logan rock. 



The Logan rocks, or rocking stones, are a heap of blocks of 

 granite on the sea-coast, beyond the village of Traen or Trereen, a 

 little to the south of the road from St. Burien to Sennen, forming a 

 kind of cliff more inclined than abrupt towards the sea. Though 

 there may be to the south of these rocks, near the ancient castle of 

 Trereen, some remains of fortifications, I am satisfied that the logan 

 stones formed at one time only one complete mass of granite, which 

 by the action of the atmosphere and other external agents, has split 

 into irregular blocks : the greater part of these, though separated on 

 all sides from each other, have remained in their original position, 

 but now appear as if they had been placed one above another. It 

 appears to me, that it is in this way granite disintegrates in low 

 primitive countries, and this appearance has, I believe, been 

 often mistaken for strata, and has given rise to the idea that 

 true granite is stratified, an opinion which I cannot adopt, even 

 after having visited those places where Saussure thought he had dis- 

 covered the strongest proofs in favour of the fact.* Among these 

 logan rocks, there is one which rests upon another by only one 



* Observations sur les aiguilles ou pyramides de granit qui sont an sud-cst de la vallec 

 dc Cliamouni. Voyages dans les Alpes, tome ii. p. 62. Edit. 4to. 



