EXCURSION II.
TO THE LAND's END.—LOGAN ROCK, &c.
"The Sun beams tremble, and the purple light
Illumes the dark Bolerium;—seat of storms,
High are his granite rocks; his frowning brow
Hangs o'er the smiling ocean. In his caves,
Where sleep the haggard spirits of the storm,
Wild dreary are the schistose rocks around,
Encircled by the waves, where to the breeze
The haggard cormorant shrieks; and far beyond
Are seen the cloud-like islands, grey in mists."
Sir H. Davy.
In an excursion to the Land's End the traveller will meet with several intermediate objects well worthy his attention, more worthy, perhaps, than the celebrated promontory itself, as being monuments of the highest antiquity in the kingdom. They consist of Druidical circles, Cairns, or circular heaps of stones, Cromlechs, Crosses, Military Entrenchments, and the obscure remains of Castles. Many of these venerable objects, however, to the eternal disgrace of the inhabitants be it spoken, have of late been much mutilated, and indeed some have been entirely demolished. That the noblest monuments of Greece should have been converted into lime by the barbarous Turks, or that the temple of Diana should have furnished a cement for the voluptuous apartments of the Haram, are instances of degeneracy which we might have been prepared to witness in such a people; but that the venerable remains of British antiquity, the silent but faithful monuments of men and days long past, which are so interesting from their connection with the primitive history of our island, should in this enlightened age have been sawed into gate posts, or converted into pig-troughs, is really past all endurance.—But to proceed.—In riding from Penzance to the Land's End, which is about ten miles distant, the first objects to be noticed are two beautiful villas, well wooded, and adjoining each other,—Castle-Horneck, the seat of the Borlase family, and Rose Hill, the property of the Rev. Uriah Tonkin. The sea and land views from these houses are of the most enchanting description. In viewing the latter place, the stranger will scarcely believe that the spot which now exhibits so rich a pastural scene, was a few years since a deformed and barren rock! but what cannot gold effect, or where is the wild which its magic cannot convert into fairy land? The cost of the gunpowder alone for blowing up the rocks to facilitate their removal amounted to several hundred pounds.
About a mile farther west, the road passes another villa, Trereiffe, the ancient seat of the family of Nicholls, who have been proprietors of the great tythes of the parish of Madron from the period of the reformation. It is now the residence of the Rev. Charles Valentine Le Grice, into whose possession it has passed by marriage. The scenery about this place is of a very exquisite cast, and, from the richness of the land, and luxuriance of its productions, it may be fairly denominated the garden of the Mount's Bay. After passing through a shady avenue, from which we catch a delicious peep of the sea bounded by a grotesque group of rocks, we take leave of the picturesque, and plunge into a country of a very different aspect and description,—rough, wild, and unsheltered; never was contrast more complete or striking, not a tree is seen to break the extended uniformity of the hills, nor is there a single object, with the exception of a few scattered monuments of antiquity, to recommend it to notice. The agriculturist may, perhaps, view the district with somewhat different sensations, for the downs are certainly improveable, and those portions which have been brought into tillage have amply rewarded the labour of the adventurer: indeed in several districts cultivation has even spread to the very brim of the ocean.
The natural product of the high lands is only a thin turf interspersed with heath, fern and furze,[35] and many huge blocks of granite are disseminated in all directions; this circumstance has materially impeded the progress of cultivation, for in order to remove these boulders it is necessary to blast them with gunpowder; the fragments, however, become useful in their turn, and are employed in making enclosures, which bear the provincial name of hedges. This stone, commonly called Growan, is, moreover, wrought into columnar masses, eight or ten feet long, which are used as supporters to sheds and outhouses, or gates posts, and bridges over rivulets. It is also the material of which common rollers, mill-stones, salting and pig troughs are made; in short, few stones are converted to more various purposes of rural œconomy, and it accordingly forms an article of some commercial value. The mode of splitting it into the required forms is somewhat curious; it is effected by applying several wedges to holes cut, or pooled as it is termed, in the surface of the stone at the distance of three or four inches from each other, according to its size and hardness; the harder the mass, the easier it may be split into the required form; the softer, the less regularly it separates. The blocks of granite employed in the construction of the Waterloo Bridge over the Thames were procured from the downs in the vicinity of Penhryn.[36]
The Granite of the Land's End district is remarkable for its coarse grain, and the large proportion of its felspar, which, according to the observations of Dr. Paris, may be estimated as high as from 70 to 90 per cent. It moreover possesses an earthy texture, which greatly accelerates its decomposition. This circumstance will in some measure account for the unusual fertility of the growan soil in the parishes of Saint Burian, Sennen, and Saint Levan. It will moreover explain the theory of a practice, which would otherwise appear absurd, that of actually applying the disintegrated growan to certain lands as a manure!
On a closer examination of this Granite, the prismatic crystals of felspar will often be found to exhibit that structure which Haüy calls hemitrope; more often, they are termed macles, and are compounded of two crystals intersecting each other at particular angles.