2 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
appearance of the surface of the earth, and its 
geological structure. The popular division of this 
tract, into the Downs, Weald, and Forest- 
Ridge, may therefore be considered as sufficiently 
correct and comprehensive for our present purpose, 
since it is descriptive of the external characters of 
the district, and is agreeable to the natural arrange- 
ment of the strata. 
The Downs* are a chain of hills covered with a 
fine verdant turf, possessing in a striking degree 
that smoothness and regularity of outline, for 
which the mountain masses of the chalk formation 
are so remarkable. Commencing with the bold 
promontory of Beachy Head, they traverse the 
county in a direction nearly east and west, and 
pass into Hampshire, near Compton. Their 
length is between fifty and sixty miles, their great- 
est breadth seven miles, and their mean altitude 
about five hundred feet above the level of the sea. 
Tlieir northern escarpment is in general steep and 
abrupt, but on the south they descend by a gentle 
declivity, and unite almost imperceptibly with the 
low lands of the coast. 
From Beachy Head to Brighton they present 
an immediate barrier to tlie sea, forming a bold 
and precipitous line of coast , but, proceeding- 
westerly, they extend inland in an oblique direc- 
tion, and occupy the centre of Western Sussex. 
• “ TliouQ;h I have now travelled the Sussex Downs upwards of 
thirty years, yet I still investigate that chain of majestic mountains 
with fresh admiration, year by year. This range, wliich runs from 
Chichester east, as far as Easthourn, is about sixty miles in length, 
and is called the South Downs, properly sj)caking, only I'ound Lewes.” 
— Natural History of Scitwrnc, 1802, p. 270. 
