THE AGE OF THE WYE. 
185 
below, on which it rests, but very irregular in shape. It rests 
upon a slab of similar stone, which must have formed one block 
with the stone itself when it fell away from the cliff. This 
bottom slab slopes at an angle of about 1 in 4 towards the 
precipitous hill side, so that when looked at from above, one 
cannot help feeling surprised that it has not before now toppled 
over and fallen, crashing down the hill. It has, however, been 
left so firmly planted as to have resisted the united strength of 
a gang of “ Foresters,” who, it is said, vainly endeavoured, with 
pinch bars, to roll it over down the hill. Yet the base it rests upon 
is only about 3 feet long and 8 inches wide, the 3 feet length 
being, of course, up and down hill, and the 8 inches breadth 
being slightly rounded off so as to allow the stone to be rocked. 
The photograph shows the south and east faces of the stone, but 
the small, rocking base is hidden by the sloping stone on which 
it rests. • 
The extreme difficulty of undercutting the stone would arise 
when the last few inches of breadth had to be taken off, before 
the true point of equilibrium could be known, and when the 
slightest error in cutting in the least too far on either side 
would have immediately let the stone fall over and all would 
have been lost at once. The remarkable operation was, however, 
successfully performed, and the stone is so admirably poised 
that I have frequently rocked it myself sufficiently to cause 
great alarm to persons who had climbed upon it, and I have 
seen it rocked by a boy of 13. If this stone had not been 
entirely proof against the weather the narrow knife edge on 
which it rests would have long since crumbled away. 
I may add that the prospect from this stone is very grand. 
The height of the hill is, I believe, about 900 feet. 
The slopes of the higher hills in which this “ great bed ” is 
found are much steeper than the slopes of the ground in the 
lower country near the river at Ross, but yet the hills of the old 
