442 Glovelly. 



Near Hartland the dodder grass is plentiful on the furze, 

 giving it a crimson tint, seen a long way off; and at Milford is 

 a fine waterfall, making a descent of about 90 feet, and when 

 seen from the beach, with a grand black rock mass behind, it 

 is siDgularly picturesque. Rock plants of four or five kinds 

 are in abundance, and probably many more might be found. 

 At Clovelly the most noticeable is the pennywort, with its 

 well known thick, round, dimpled leaves, and tall racemes* of 

 wax-like flowers, not often seen in such perfection. London 

 pride grows in wild profusion in the Hobby walks. Damp 

 rocks in the roads are sure to be covered with the common 

 liverwort, and the lycopodium shaped liverwort may be dis- 

 covered nestled amongst feather mosses in wet clefts. 



No description of Clovelly could be pardoned if it omitted 

 the peculiar and interesting inhabitants of the comical stone 

 stairs. Nobody seems to be rich in the little place ; the best 

 off are connected with the shipping that visits the bay, and 

 next come the owners of the fishing vessels, who have un- 

 fortunately not had a lucky season for many years. The 

 principal cottages let lodgings, and a few families fill the 

 picturesque crack in the rocks when its season begins. Little 

 favoured by fortune so far as her brilliant gifts are concerned, 

 the Clovelly people are yet a distinguished race. No one can 

 'live a day on the stone staircase without perceiving that he is 

 in a village of ladies and gentlemen. The girls have graceful 

 figures, walk elegantly, and carry their pitchers to and from 

 the fountains with unconscious but artistic skill. They all 

 dress well ; tawdry finery, and its natural ally, dirtiness, are 

 both unknown, and many a London lady might advantageously 

 exchange dress, form, and gait for those of a Clovelly damsel 

 carrying a basket through the street. The men are manly- 

 looking fellows, with frank, brown faces; in old specimens 

 handsomely carved by sea and breeze. A bright, pleasant- 

 mannered schoolmistress is the instructress of the girls, who 

 seem to do credit to her care, and a big basket of beautiful 

 children could be collected in five minutes on the rocky stairs. 



Why Clovelly people are thus distinguished from the chaw- 

 bacons and clodpoles to be found no great way off, could no 

 doubt be traced to several causes. In the first place, they are 

 evidently of a good race, and in the second place, their wits 

 have been sharpened for successive generations by the risks 

 and dangers of their amphibious life. Lastly, though few are 

 well off, the majority seem well fed, and in former years the 

 coast fishery was a profitable trade, as it may become again, 

 whenever the fishes think proper to take excursion tickets for 



* A form of inflorescence when the flowers are furnished with pedicels ar- 

 ranged at intervals upon a common axis. — Henslow's Diet. Botanical Terms. 



