40 An Excursion to the Crag District. 



Crag occurs) we came to Sudbourn Park gate, but not being 

 quite sure of the way through the park, we kept to the turn- 

 pike, and soon hailed the Orford lights. 



Every village in Suffolk, of any importance, has its 

 " King's Head" and " Crown" inns ; we went to the former, 

 and after a night at the " Eamsholt Dock Inn," were both 

 prepared most thoroughly to appreciate this comfortable little 

 place. 



Having ordered supper, we sallied forth to inquire for a 

 celebrated character at the " White Hart," known as " Jumbo" 

 (alias William Brown) . This oddity is a thin, wiry old man, 

 between sixty and seventy years of age, and the most handy 

 fellow in the parish. He is* the living oracle here on Crag- 

 pits and shells, and must be invoked and propitiated with beer 

 and shillings if you want to find the best of both. He is, 

 however, troubled with fits of " brooding melancholy" (the 

 effects of over-potations), when he will not respond to any 

 call, and must be dispensed with. Such was his mood at 

 this time. 



His knowledge of Crag-shells places him in a very exalted 

 position, and among the rustics he is considered quite a dis- 

 tinguished palaeontologist. Having obtained this information,, 

 we returned to our inn, and after supper cleaned and packed 

 our day's collection of Crag. 



We were up early next morniug, and examined the old 

 Norman arches of the chancel of the original parish church, 

 but found no ferns thereon. Then we visited the Castle, a 

 once famous Norman stronghold, and covering a large area of 

 ground, as may be traced by the green hillocks and remains of 

 ancient stonework here and there protruding through the 

 soil. The view from the summit over Orford Ness to seaward,. 

 and inland across Sudbourn park and woods, and down upon 

 the little town beneath, is very picturesque. We gathered a 

 plant of wall-rue, or rue-leaved spleenwort (Asplenium ruta- 

 muraria), from the wall of the Oratory (it is still living in 

 my friend's fernery as a memento of our visit). The upper 

 part of this fine old edifice is rapidly falling to decay from 

 neglect. 



Orford is an example of a maritime port and fishery- 

 from which the sea has been shut out by the formation 

 of an extensive bank of shingle ten miles long, which is 

 only divided from the mainland by the river Aide. This 

 river, which formerly entered the sea five miles north of 



* "He is, : "' we ought rather to say "he was" fov "Jumbo," like the crag 

 itself, is now a thing of the past. Stimulated by a sovereign given him by my 

 friend Professor Suess, of Vienna, "Jumbo" took an overdose of hrandy, and s 

 alas ! went to the spirit land. 



