Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/199

154 especially as there was some swell, which, though imperceptible out in the open sea, was heavy enough to bulge in the sides of a boat against these angular points and ribbed groins. We therefore rowed round the end of the wall into the little cove, and, making fast against the rock, stepped out as comfortably as if it had been a quay.

The rocky wall is about sixty yards in height, and nearly twice as long, from the angle of the promontory to its bold and almost perpendicular termination. Along the top, which appears nearly level, and is said to be a yard or two wide, it is possible to walk from the shore, and the view on each side from such a situation must present uncommon grandeur. Patches of samphire, thrift, and other cliff-loving plants, are seen adorning with verdure and gaiety the angles and dark fissures of the rock; and various species of sea fowl, among which are the guillemot, the auk, the puffin, the shag, and one or two kinds of gulls,—nestle on the shelves and ledges, and heighten by their cries the savage wildness of the scene.

Having satiated to some extent my appetite for the magnificent, I began to peer into the hollows and pools of the exposed rock beneath. From the over-shadowing darkness of the place I expected to make a good harvest; but though there were many likely cavities, and a good number of zoophytes and sea weeds, I found nothing with which I was not familiar before. I therefore set out to walk along the beach, beneath the chalk cliffs, to a somewhat similar projection of black rock, which blocks up the way about a mile off, at a place called Bat's Corner.