Page:The parochial history of Cornwall.djvu/227

Rh cavern may be about twelve feet deep and not quite so broad; the roof consists of one flat stone of many tons weight, supported by the natural rock on one side, and by pillars of small stones on the other. How Gumb formed this last support is not easily conceived. We entered with hesitation lest the covering should be our grave-stone. On the right-hand side of the door is 'D. Gumb,' with a date engraved 1735 (or 3). On the upper part of the covering stone, channels are cut to carry off the rain, or probably to cause it to fall into a bucket for his use; there is also engraved on it some geometrical device formed by Gumb, as our guide told us, who also said that Gumb was accounted a pretty sensible man. I have no hesitation in saying he must have been a pretty eccentric character to have fixed on this place for his habitation; but here he dwelt for several years with his wife and children, several of whom were born and died here. His calling was that of a stone-cutter, and he fixed himself on a spot where materials could be met with to employ a thousand men for a thousand years.

"After quitting this house, we ascended a few paces to the pile of rocks called Cheese-wring, the resemblance of which is well expressed by the print in Borlase's Nat. Hist. We were all struck with astonishment at this wonderful work of nature; we surveyed it over and over again, went round it several times, and viewed it from every part. It is about thirty-two feet high. The uppermost stone I have no doubt has Druidical basons formed in it. One of them shows itself by the edge of the stone having fallen away. After spending some time in viewing this tremendously awful pile of rocks, we ascended to the summit of the mount on the side of which it stands. This summit is surrounded by an artificial rampart of loose stones, not piled up; possibly they might have formed a wall, or have been carried there for building one; for if they were placed as they