22 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



rule lowest, and slope gradually to the sea. The 

 aspect of the downs on this side is familiar to most 

 of us, owing to the large number of persons, probably- 

 amounting to millions annually, who visit one or other 

 of the sea-side towns and villages that extend in a 

 chain along this part of the south coast, from East- 

 bourne to the Selsey peninsula, near Chichester. The 

 hills are highest on the north side, where they rise 

 abruptly from the flat weald, like a gigantic buttressed 

 wall, or an earthwork reared of old by Titans. The 

 loftiest part of the range is in the South Downs 

 proper, where, in the neighbourhood of Lewes, east 

 and west of that town, one may walk many miles 

 along the crest of the hill, on a turf which makes 

 walking a joy, and keep at a height of from 700 to 

 860 feet above the sea level, the ocean six or seven 

 miles distant on one hand, the deep-green wooded flat 

 country of the weald on the other. 



West of the break caused by the river Adur, the 

 range, on its north side, rises again to a height of 

 about 800 feet, at Chanctonbury, and continues high 

 to the valley of the Arun. West of that river the 

 downs are less high, and being wooded differ in the 

 character of their scenery from that of the great naked 

 hills in the eastern part of the range. 



I myself prefer to approach the downs on the 

 north side, rather than walk five to seven or eight 

 miles from the coast before getting to the highest 

 point. The climb up the steep smooth escarpment 



