PICTURESQUE ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND.

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channel quite to the foot of the hills in which it takes itsrise.

Lnccombe chine is next in succession, and scarcely more thana mile distant from Shanklin. The chasm which it has formeddoes not run so far inland as that of Shanklin, nor is it quite sonarrow; but the depth at its mouth is much more considerable,the trees which grow in and about it are of larger size, and bettergrouped ; and as the soil here approaches to the rocky stratum,many very large stones interrupt the current of the stream, whichis larger than that of Shanklin. Were a little pains bestowed oncleansing the bed of the stream from the aquatic weeds whichtotally choak it up and prevent all access, this chine would affordscenery superior in many respects to .its more celebrated neigh-bour.

The next chine is that at Blackgang, directly under the westernflank of St. Catheri lie’s hill. This is a chasm of a charactertotally different from those already described. It does not windso far into the shore, neither are its sides quite so steep, but it ismuch more considerable in depth, as one of its flanks is fourhundred feet high from the sea level. The chasm does not, how-ler, descend quite to the sea, as at seventy-four feet above theWater, a thin stratum of very solid iron-stone forms a bed to thelittle rill which runs through it. No vegetation clothes any part°f this rude hollow, whose flanks are in a state of continualdecay. They are mostly composed of very dark blue clay, throughwhich at intervals run horizontal stra ta of bright yellow sandstone,uhout twelve or fifteen feet thick, which naturally divide intosquare blocks, and have exactly the appearance of vast coursesof masonry built at different heights to sustain the mouldering