i66 
THE FERN WORLD 
aud beautiful almost beyond description is this cliff-side path. 
Now it winds midway on the sloping hill-side, whilst above 
and below us the Bracken are densely clustered on our left, 
sweeping gracefully down to the sea, and on the right side, 
carrying the eye away in dreamy wonder and delight over 
their waving tips to the hill-top. For a long distance we 
thus wade through a sea of Bracken, which gently rustle at 
the touch of the soft breeze coming to us from over the wide 
expanse of the ocean away below us, whilst the music of the 
waters reaches us like a soft and plaintive murmur, filtered 
as the sound is through the dwarf forest of waving green 
which covers the gracefully-sloping cliff- side. 
Yet, wild and grand as is the combination of ocean and sky 
with the wide-reaching and unbroken sea of Brake on the 
steep cliff-side, there is no monotony in the coast-line, which 
is ever changing as we follow the coastguard path. Now for 
a moment the soft character of the cliff is altered as we near 
an inlet and sight some jagged rocks, which, though rugged, 
nevertheless are imbued with a softness which relieves their 
wild aspect, for clinging to their sides there is sure to be 
some fringe of green. Then we light on a combe and descend 
to its bottom ; and jagged cliff, weirdly graceful Brake, 
roaring sea, and rocky mass over which the waves foam and 
fret, are lost sight of, whilst the eye delightedly surveys 
the peaceful aspect of sloping meadows and waving trees, 
canopied by the calm blue sky, softly decked with the silver 
of its fleecy clouds. 
We had wandered thus to within two miles of Ivingswear, 
when we followed a path across country which led us on to 
the head of a lane that presents a most singular yet most 
beautiful appearance. For fully half a mile it appears almost 
to descend into the earth, the path down it being cut 
somewhat in the fashion of stairs out of the rocky hill-side, 
whilst overhead arching branches fling their arms, forming a- 
