Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 1.djvu/294

 prominent hills are situated nearly close together at the northern extremity; of these, that which is farthest south is called the Worcestershire Beacon, and is the highest of the two; the name of the other is the North-hill.

§ 4. On the eastern side, the hills rise at a considerable angle, from a level plain that stretches to the banks of the river Severn, a distance of between three and four miles. On the western side, the ascent is more gradual, and the country for several miles to the westward is formed of a succession of small hillocks which are covered to their tops with coppice wood: the longitudinal bearing of these, is in general parallel to that of the range. There is a very extensive and beautiful view from the top of the Malvern-hills, and the different appearances of the two sides present a very remarkable contrast : on the one hand, the widely extended plain of Worcestershire stretching for many miles to the eastward, the continued level of which is only here and there interrupted by small wooded eminences rising in detached spots; on the other hand, a constant succession of rising ground, which is terminated by the distant Welsh mountains.

§ 5. The eastern side does not present the same continued slope that extends on the western, from the summit to the base, but is very much broken by narrow vallies or water courses that run at right angles to the direction of the range. Besides these, there are some vallies of more considerable extent: two of them are at the northern extremity, the one separating the Worcestershire keen: from the North-hill, the other dividing this last from what is