UPPER CHALK. 79 
my observation are pebl)les of quartz, and some 
fragments of green schist. 
The line of coast from Brighton to Beacliy 
Head exposes an interesting vertical section of 
the upper chalk, exhibiting almost every variety 
of character hitherto observed in the beds of that 
deposit. 
At Brighton, the cliffs, as before remarked, are 
composed of an accumulation of diluvial substances, 
resting upon the solid chalk, whicli there constitutes 
the sea shore, and continues to llottingdean. From 
thence to Newluwen the cliffs are nearly perpendi- 
cular, and on the western side of the harbour rise 
into an irregidar elevation, called Castle Hill, the 
upper part of which is composed of the numerous 
beds of the plastic clay formation previously de- 
scribed : the lowermost consisting of the flinty chalk. 
On the opposite side of the river, a low mound of 
chalk, capped with a bed of plastic clay and ferru- 
ginous breccia, appears at Chimting Castle. Pro- 
ceeding eastward towards the Signal-house, near 
Seaford, the chalk rises to a considerable height, 
and forms a majestic line of cliffs from thence to 
the embouchure of Cuckmere river ; from this 
place they extend eastward, and terminate in the 
magnificent promontory of Beachy Head, which 
is nearly six hundred feet above the level of the 
sea* (vide Tlgnette of the titlepage'). Along this 
* The following circumstance is too singular to be omitted. One of 
those prodigious falls of the chalk cliffs, which make a residence near 
them frequently so dangerous, occurred at Beachy Head a few years 
since. The clergyman of East Dean was walking on the brink of the 
precipice, when he perceived the ground to be sinking from under him, 
and although he had the presence of mind instantly to rush from the 
