The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-10-01 00:00:00

gam" - Tbe win of ads nest-like little valley, with
the trees the lining of In nest, having these two castles
and the ruins of the little church for its tenants, is
Church Hope.
"smugglers' Cave is now within • 'tone's throw, the
phenomenon, formed during a storm, is a natural
fountain. The top of this cave, being some way
inland, and having its other entrance in the sea, it is
during • storm that the startled sea rushes, hissing,
and escaping through the bole, aw,..y from the awing.
lug wind inland, sending up torrents of water, like the
hundred-armed giant of fear (Biiami') to be lashed
and dashed by the hurricane into a shape with 100
arms. In this cave were it possible, one might Imagine
• mermaid disporting herself with singing to entice the
mariners to shipwreck, if they had escaped the
dangers of the Race. which, in very rough weather, is
caused by the meeting of two tides raging a terrible
warfare with each other.
Looking inland we perceive the lighthouses, and as
the poet says—
" &aunt they eel, asol on, ye stately ships,
And with your floating bridge the ocean span:
Be mine to guide this light from all eclipse.,
Be yours to bring Sian nearer unto man.'
Just before we come to the lighthouses we see • few
solitary natives toiling in the fields, or I should call
them lawns—long, narrow, curved stripe ~f ground
without division, except here and there a few isolated
stones, to mark the bmndary. Now arrived at the
Bill how greatly this end of Portland contrasts with
it. prison end ! Here, although stone walls abound,
yet " they do not • prison make," f..r the few remains of
stone huts have only three walls, the other portion.
having fallen down.
sea here has a more beautiful blue than at any
other part, even the band strikee up "A life on the
Ocean Veye," as if their instruments felt the magical
power, as the Liberty, of Weymouth. passes us.
Here every sound and voice is that of freedom, the
waves dancing and bounding with delight, and spark.
ling with diamonds in the sun, free as the air. A
shoal of jolly porpoises passes us, rolling and tumbling
Into the air six or eight feet.
From its closeness to the stone the ground hers is
left uncultivated. causing no toil • but a few Port-
land daisies rise in clusters here and there.
How different indeed is the north end of this
peninsula, where within its high prison walls lie the
wretched and suffering of humanity. Here at the Bill,
which has its °bank, a poet says:—

The startled waves leap over it; the storm
Smites it with all the wenn* of the rain,
And emptily against its solid form.
Press the meat Mouldieri of the burricana."

This obelisk is in the centre of the coast of Dorset,
and we have from here one of the finest marine pros-
pects possible, having the whole sweep of the
magnificent West Bay to as far as Torquay, where in
the far di.danos in cobalt colepur the sea vanishes into
sky. In front, stretching far away, is • little fleet,
receding from us, ,d homeward bound-Cornish loggers
from their fishing ground, probably in the north.
With their spiral sail, only visible like sea seraphs in
• pathway leading as it were into the summits of the
'now-capped mountains of the sky, placed there to
divide this earth from its own lovely regions. This
appearance, likes pathway, is formed by the tide.

From this delectable vision we are roused by the
tight of those splendid gannets, with their long wings.
With what precision do they mark their prey !
What wonderful powers of vision, to be able to
see a fish from this great height I With what
fleshing velocity they dart suddenly downwari into
the sea. They are sometimes caught by placing a
Piece of meat or fish on a hard piece of board, which
they see at a groat height, and come down so rapidly
that they strike their heads against the hard wood.
generally causing dislocation of their necks. We now
observe rows of heads of young birds peeping out from
their wild homes in the crevices of the cliffs, while
from off the top of a high isolated mass of rock,
undisturbed by tide or time, older birds contemplate
the waves and us. The birds here are the cormorant,
razorbill, guillemot, gull,, jackdaws, :Lc. The puffins
when young are said, on account of their fishy flavour,
to be, when pickled, very good and quite equal to
pickled fish. In stormy and hard weather the will
geese, when their food is *came and the ground frozen
over, melt the ice by sitting and clustering together.
which locally is called "making pills." The barnacle
goose anciently was supposed to hove been bred under
water in the shells of the ships' barnacles, and in some
countries on fast days this was the only bird allowed
to be eaten, having a fishy nature.
We have now the full-length view of the Chesil
Beach (17 miles). At the time of the swallows'
migration, on this beach and generally nearly opposite
Wyke and the Ferry, is often the rendezvous of these
interesting birds; they congregate here in immense
flocks, waiting patiently, basking in the sun, perhaps
for others, which, from the number I have seen col-
lected here, must have come from all parts. When
all are ready they depart to where insect life fails not
but abounds. On these occasions they are very tame,
scarcely caring to dart up till compelled to, but are not
willing to be trodden n. Marvellous indeed is that
wonderful instinct which prompts them in all their
ways.
Like our welcome to these birds in early springtime,
so may welcome be allotted these columns; and, like
them, I too will silently take my departure, hoping
that, like the swallows, this trip may not have
proved uninteresting.
September, 1878.

H. W. F.