292 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
tossing round with all the fury of unreasoning haste, it finally swirls 
about an old tree trunk, and tumbling over itself in anxiety to 
escape and impatience of delay, clatters under, over, and between 
the boulders down to the river. 
But the streamlet enjoys as a monopoly the right to disturb 
the quiet of the little valley, and in this sheltered spot the 
strongest wind, blow it from what quarter it may, is only felt 
or heard in gentle sighs. 
And hence some certain trees have planted themselves, and 
flourish exceedingly — a few oaks, a sycamore, a mountain ash — 
adventurous colonists, separated from their nearest fellows by 
some four or five miles or more. Yet no tree among them dare 
call his top branches his own ; for no sooner may he push a 
few tentative shoots above the level of the enclosing gorge, 
than the wind straightway planes them off. 
After this rude check of higher and more ambitious aspirations 
comes contentment perforce, and lively gratitude to the sheltering 
valley, which, not unmixed with an enlightened self-interest, 
stimulates to increased exertion in safer regions. 
The sides of the valley are covered with fern and sedge, which 
here replace the heather and bracken, and even the rock is every- 
where hidden by a rich layer of dark green moss, which shines in 
places with a bright and almost iridescent radiance, making still 
darker the velvet depth of its shadows. 
Through the entrance to the valley, and in strong contrast to 
the immediate surroundings, one may catch a distant glimpse of 
brown and purple hillside. Altogether it is a spot such as the 
wildest imagination would never picture as existing among these 
bare and desert hills. 
In referring to it I have been led to digress from the order 
which I had intended to follow, because its peculiarities seemed 
so intimately associated with the geology of the district. 
SHAUGH BRIDGE AND DEWERSTONE VALLEY. 
I now purpose taking you back to Shaugh Bridge, and working 
my way up stream, noting the points of interest on either side of 
the valley in the order of their geographical position. I have 
chosen this method in preference to any classification because I 
think it more natural, and better calculated to convey an accurate 
impression of the whole subject. 
