does not penetrate the land so far. Both have their respective
admirers: this for its awful sublimity--that for its romantic beauty.

At the head of the Chine is a spacious Hotel, close to the road, and
distinguished by the name of the place.

The shelving sides of this gloomy chasm are proved to be little less
than 500 feet from the beach in perpendicular height; they are in a
constant state of decay--more or less considerable according to the
degree of rain and frost during winter: for the same description of
soil, namely, a mixture of clay and loose absorbent marle, interspersed
with veins of gravel, predominate here as we have seen elsewhere in its
neighbourhood. The only relief in fact to the dusky tint of the scene,
is two or three horizontal strata of yellowish free-stone, which give it
a step-like appearance. The most remarkable feature is a tremendous
gloomy hollow or cave, scooped out of the cliffs on the sea-shore by the
united action of the waves and the stream: the latter falls over a ledge
of the stubborn rock at the top, 70 feet high: and after heavy floods,
forms a noble cascade of one unbroken sheet: but like others of its
class, in summer fails in its amount, and often degenerates into a
noiseless dribble.

Nowhere can we get a complete view of Blackgang except off on the water,
which is not always practicable: certainly not in the very seasons when
the whole appears with the greatest interest,--when there is a strong
wind and tide setting in-shore, and the face of Nature is shrouded in
deepening gloom, with perhaps some hapless vessel in danger of being
wrecked,--it is then dressed in all the congenial horrors of savage
sublimity.--No one, a stranger to the sea-coast, would imagine how
awfully the surges lash the stony beach in tempestuous weather: the
high-curling waves break with a deafening roar, and mounting the lofty
cliffs in sheets of dazzling foam, are wafted in misty clouds half over
the island--even to Newport, where the windows facing the south are
occasionally dimmed with the saline vapors, almost to an incrustation.

The visitor will of course endeavour to descend to the shore; but this
is sometimes attended with considerable fatigue and difficulty, after
wet weather, to those who are delicate and infirm. For this reason, we
have taken our sketch from near the new bridge, to which the descent
from the hotel is generally easy: and from which the visitor may gain
such a view as will enab