Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 2.djvu/74

 intermixture of hills and vallies. The whole line of coast, with two small exceptions, is uniformly and remarkably precipitous, exhibiting, in many places, some of the finest cliff-scenery in the Island. This character of the coast is particularly favourable to the pursuits of the geologist, laying open to him, in every direction, by the most splendid natural sections, the structure and relations of the rocks of which the country is composed. Nor is the physiognomy of the rocks in the interior less remarkable. On every hill the granite is seen protruding in the most fantastic forms from the scanty and imperfect covering of soil. These rocks, under the names of Tors and Carns, have been alternately the objects of the antiquary and geologist, and must ever continue to attract the notice of the traveller.

With the exception of the beautiful shores of the Mounts-Bay, in the immediate vicinity of Penzance, and of some rich corn land in the parishes of Buryan, Sennen, and St. Levan, near the Landsend, the general aspect of this district is rugged and cheerless, destitute alike of the composed beauty of a level country, or of the grandeur of a mountainous one. Perhaps one-third part of the district consists of uncultivated moor land, of a particularly wild and sterile character, while the remainder, even where most cultivated, possesses little of the appearance of a rich and fertile country. Many circumstances combine to produce this effect, but more especially the almost total absence of trees and hedge-rows throughout the district. To this must be added the general prevalence of stone fences in place of the hedge-rows of other parts of England, the huge