THE VOYAGE. 45 1 



could constantly see the shores_of England,, and were at 

 times in tacking close into them. 



All those parts consist of Chalk which are high, 

 steep, and almost perpendicular. Measured by the eye' 

 the height of these steep Chalk coasts, from the water 

 up to the turf, seemed to be 3 to 4 fathoms, in some 

 places [T. II. p. 103] more, in other places less. We 

 Could see with the naked eye that in these chalk cliffs 

 also there were such strata of bare flints as have been 

 described above, one of which, just halfway between 

 the water surface and the top soil, ran quite horizontal, 

 as though it had been arranged on the dead level, and 

 was visible nearly the whole way along this piece of coast.* 

 Lower down, a little above the surface of the water, 

 another appeared, but the view of it was broken and 

 indistinct. Upon these Chalk hills lay beautiful arable 

 fields, on which the crops which were almost all wheat 

 were just beginning to turn yellow, and were nearly 

 ready for cutting. We could not see any sheaves or cut 

 crops, whereas, at the beginning of the week before, we 

 saw rye sheaves in Essex from Gravesend. 



About six o'clock in the evening we arrived at Deal, 

 off which we cast anchor. Deal is a little spot or town, 

 flack eller Stad, lying on the shore at the entrance of 

 a little bay, vik, which the sea has made. The houses 

 are nearly all built of brick, and roofed partly with 

 pantiles, but mostly with plain tiles. 



There is only one church in the town, not large, and 

 almost without a tower, only a little box, kur, in its 

 place. The churchyard is tolerably large, and has 

 planted round it an avenue of elms, in which one can go 

 and walk. The inhabitants live tolerably comfortably, 

 and support themselves principally by trade. Nearly all 



* This has been called by Mr. Whitaker " The Three-inch Band." J. L.] 



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