The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-02-25
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.
The Isle ofWight-EngIand's CreatNa-
val ArsenaI-Sea Bathing at Shank
Iin-Ventnor and Bonchurch.
Especial correspondence Of the pRrss.l

Especial correspondence OF the PRESS.
[This letter as well as several to follow chrono-
logically precedes the last two letters published.
They were delayed in transmission.-Ed.l
THE ISLE OF WIGHT.
A railroad ride of three hours through
pleasant farming country, where the finest
of Southdown sheep were browsing in the
greenest meadows and along the banks of
streams Astounding in salmon, if we could
judge by the number of anglers, brought us
to Portsmouth just as the sun was setting.
The children told us that the geography said
Portsmouth had one of the finest harbors
in the world, and the great naval arsenal of
England" The train landed us at the wharf,
where the multitude of ships anchored at
the piers and the moving craft upon the wa
ter, seemed like city floating upon the tide.
Sailing out into the channel we passed Ad-
miral Nelson's old flagship, the Victory"
from whose scuppers, it is said, the blood
ran in streams at the battle of Trafalgar. A
short sail in sight of the imposing round
iron forts, which must look like grim mon
sters to an approaching enemy, but really
are, in these days of improved war engines,
most inotfensive implements of defence,
swept us across to Ryde, which extends into
the sea, pier half mile long, to receive
its visitors. Ryde is pleasantly situated, bat
is only used by the tourists as convenient
starting point for other parts of the island.
The Shanklin train awaited us, where we
arrived late in the evening. Depending up
on guide books and what chance informa-
ton we could gather by the way, we found
ourselves lodged in the center of the town, at
Dash's Inn. All our needs were supplied here,
but we could not be contented without the
sight of our old friend, the Atlantic; and ear
ly the next morning we started on stroll
to find more congenial quarters. Shanklin
and the other towns on the South-easterly
side of the island are admirably adapted for
the hotel business, as they have two distinc
tive seasons" one for the excursionists and
summer butterflies, and the other for the
winter invalids. We readily comprehend
how the bluffs behind the town may keep off
the north-easterly Winds and that the pecu-
liar contour of the English and European
coast may keep out the currents from the
north seas but we fail to see what hinders
the direful fogs from sweeping down upon
the island as they do upon England Howev-
er, we have concluded by three months So
journ in London, that fog is their native air,
and the citizens know nothing better Along
the whole shore, rising directly behind the
hotels on the beach is perpendicular cliff,
a hundred and fifty feet high, upon whose
top is a fine esplanade, where one may see
any day in the height of the season royalty
and blue bloods taking their constitutionals
From the edge of this plateau roads are laid
out with great care, and they abound in ivy
clad villas and lodges surrounded by gardens
shut in from public gaze by hawthorne and
fuschia hedges. At the southerly end of the
esplanade is a peculiar ravine called the
chine, which at its head is about one hun
bred feet wide, but it slopes to a width of a
narrow stream on the shore. One side Of
this chine is ragged and inaccessible, while
the other is a verdant hillside resonant with
the song of the nightingale. A gurgling
brook, making its way through this chasm to
the sea, supplies drinking fountain in the
| village. The citizens have erected a monu-
mental pile of stones, surmounted by the
American eagle, under whose spreading
wings is tablet, inscribed with a verse,
! which cur poet Longfellow wrote for them
| xUbiln on visit IN ShanEIiO