ance, and form a very interesting part of the scene.

The Cliffs of Freshwater are remarkable for the number of sea birds that nestle in their craggy heights. The birds which inhabit these cliffs are the puffin, the razor-bill, the guillemot, and the cormorant. They assemble here about the month of May, and take their flight with a new generation about the beginning of August. The eggs of these birds being deemed a luxury, and their feathers valuable, the adventurous spirit of man has not been dismayed in his attempts to take them, by the appalling danger which necessarily attaches to such labour. The method

used, is to drive an iron stake into the ground on the summit of the cliff, fasten a rope to it, at the end of which a seat is suspended, and on this slight apparatus. the hardy adventurer descends to his perilous business.

The walk from the Freshwater Gate to the Light House presents a most magnificent piece of scenery. The fine semicircular hollow, called St. Christopher's Cliffs, near the base of which stand the Needle Rocks, offers a very interesting combination of objects. The boldness and abruptness of this extremity of the Island, its lofty cliffs, towering with awful grandeur above the Needle Rocks, and the boundless ocean, make the traveller feel, as he stands upon the edge of their craggy summit, an overpowering impression of awe and sublimity.

The Needle Rocks, to be seen to advantage, should be viewed from the water; when beheld from the lofty heights of St. Christopher's, they fail to produce a sufficient idea of their magnitude. These rocks are shaped like a broad wedge set upon its base; the tops are ragged. The current of water which runs between them is strong; the channel being narrow. The boats which ply about them and pass through, add very much to the picturesque beauty of the scene. From

the Light House an extensive view of the Island presents itself: downs, cliffs, valleys, fields, woods, ocean, all combining to form the grand and beautiful prospect.

One of the most imposing and attractive objects is the Cliff at Alum Bay. This matchless cliff stands a little to the north-west of the Light House. The beautiful bay derives its name from the alum which is found among its varied natural curiosities.

Some of the cliffs adorning this magical bay produce great quantities of white sand, which is here shipped for our large manufacturing towns, and used in the composition of the fine sort of glass and porcelain. Language fails in describing the varied tints which soften and adorn its appearance. Were there no other objects in this part of the Island to attract attention, the toil of the journey would be amply repaid by a view of the cliffs in Alum Bay. The varied strata of which they are formed, composed of the different colours of red, blue, yellow, grey, and black, when gilded by the rays of a declining sun, and reflected on the waters below, present a scene, interesting alike to the visitor, who has an imagination to please, or a scientific taste to gratify. The cliffs should be seen from the shore or the water. The walk to the shore through the Warren is pleasant, and the first view of the cliffs from the shore is overpowering: the sudden burst of grandeur is beautiful beyond the force of imagination to conceive. The scene is perfectly unique: the Needles jutting out and forming a boundary-the lofty white cliffs skirting the southern curve of the bay-the placid water beneath-and the bold edging of the different parts of the cliff, relieved by the variety of colours, form altogether such an object of beauty and sublimity, that the visitor who omits this, will lose one of the finest scenes in the Island.

In retracing our steps to Freshwater Gate, on the left we obtain a view of the western coast of Hampshire, with the long beach, on the point of which stands Hurst Castle, and in the dim and distant vision the town of Lymington; while in the Island a beautiful piece of country presents itself, having in the valley Farringford Hill. The house is built in the gothic style, and commands a fine view.

The parish of Freshwatert is one of the richest in the Island. The church contains a raised tomb in one of its aisles (the burial place of the lord of the manor of Afton), and has on a cross-plate the effigy of a man in armour. Many years ago this tomb was opened, when it disclosed the skeleton of a man, having the head lying between the legs; which circumstance induced the conjecture, that the tomb contained the remains of some chief who had been beheaded.

Colwell, a small village, lies adjacent, skirted with a fine green opening to the sea: this place was filled with barracks in the war, and a good sized house was fitted up as an inn.

In order to vary the ride, and take in another part of the Island, the return might be made by way of Yarmouth. This ancient town borders the sea, and affords some very fine views of the Channel, Lymington, and the western coast. It has a market house and two inns; the largest of which was built by Governor Holmes, in 1671, and occupied by Charles II. when on a visit to the Island. This town was once a borough, having a corporation, composed of a mayor and twelve burgesses, in whom was formerly

* Worsley, p. 273.

This village was the birth-place of the celebrated Dr. Hooke, F.R.S. He was born 1635.