The last village towards the Land's End is named Mayon or Mean. In this place is the large stone spoken of by Dr. Borlase under the name of "Table mean," and concerning which there is a vague tradition that three kings once dined together on it, in their journey to the Land's End.
On the turf between this village and the Land's End, the Botanist will find Bartsia Viscosa, and Illocebrum Verticillatum, the latter of which is peculiar to this county.
Having arrived at the celebrated Promontory, we descend a rapid slope, which brings us to a bold group of rocks, composing the western extremity of our island. Some years ago a military officer who visited this spot, was rash enough to descend on horseback; the horse soon became unruly, plunged, reared, and, fearful to relate, fell backwards over the precipice, and rolling from rock to rock was dashed to atoms before it reached the sea. The rider was for some time unable to disengage himself, but at length by a desperate effort he threw himself off, and was happily caught by some fragments of rock, at the very brink of the precipice, where he remained suspended in a state of insensibility until assistance could be afforded him! The awful spot is marked by the figure of a horse-shoe, traced on the turf with a deep incision, which is cleared out from time to time, in order to preserve it as a monument of rashness which could be alone equalled by the good fortune with which it was attended.
Why any promontory in an island should be exclusively denominated the Land's End, it is difficult to understand; yet so powerful is the charm of a name, that many persons have visited it on no other account; the intelligent tourist, however, will receive a much more substantial gratification from his visit; the great geological interest of the spot will afford him an ample source of entertainment and instruction, while the magnificence of its convulsed scenery, the ceaseless roar, and deep intonation of the ocean, and the wild shrieks of the Cormorant, all combine to awaken the blended sensations of awe and admiration.
The cliff which bounds this extremity is rather abrupt than elevated, not being more than sixty feet above the level of the sea. It is composed entirely of Granite, the forms of which present a very extraordinary appearance, assuming in some places the resemblance of shafts that had been regularly cut with the chisel; in others, regular equidistant fissures divide the rock into horizontal masses, and give it the character of basaltic columns; in other places, again, the impetuous waves of the ocean have opened, for their retreat, gigantic arches, through which the angry billows roll and bellow with tremendous fury.
Several of these rocks from their grotesque forms have acquired whimsical appellations, as that of the Armed Knight, the Irish Lady, &c. An inclining rock on the side of a craggy headland, south of the Land's End, has obtained the name of Dr. Johnson's Head, and visitors after having heard the appellation seldom fail to acknowledge that it bears some resemblance to the physiognomy of that extraordinary man.
On the north, this rocky scene is terminated by a promontory 229 feet above the level of the sea, called "Cape Cornwall," between which and the Land's End, the coast retires, and forms Whitsand Bay, a name which it derives from, the peculiar whiteness of its sand, and amongst which the naturalist will find several rare microscopic shells. There are, besides, some historical recollections which invest this spot with interest. It was in this bay that Stephen landed on his first arrival in England; as did king John, on his return from Ireland; and Perkin Warbeck, in the prosecution of those claims to the crown to which some late writers have been disposed to consider that he was entitled, as the real son of Edward the Fourth. In the rocks near the southern termination of Whitsand Bay may be seen the junction of the granite and slate; large veins of the former may be also observed to traverse the latter in all directions.
In viewing the whole of the scenery of this stern coast "it is impossible" says De Luc, "not to be struck with the idea, that the bed of the sea is the effect of a vast subsidence, in which the strata were broken off on the edge of what, by the retreat of the sea towards the sunken part, became a continent; the many small islands, or rocks of granite, appear to be the memorials of the land's abridgement, being evidently parts of the sunken strata remaining more elevated than the rest." There is a small Archipelago of this kind called the Long-ships, at the distance of two miles west of the Land's end; on the largest of these rocks is a light-house, which was erected in consequence of the very dangerous character of the coast, by a Mr. Smith, in the year 1797, who obtained a grant from the Trinity House, and was rewarded for a limited number of years by a certain rate on all ships that passed it. This period having expired, it is at present under the jurisdiction of the Trinity House.[39] The tower is constructed of granite, the stones of which are trenailed on the same plan as that adopted by Smeaton in the construction of the Eddystone light-house. The circumference of the tower at its base is 68 feet; the height from the rock to the vane of the lantern, 52 feet; and from the sea to the base of the light-house it is 60 feet; but notwithstanding this elevation its lantern has been often dashed to pieces by the spray of the ocean during the winter's tempest! The management of this establishment is entrusted to two men, who during the winter are often, for two or three months, confined to this sea-girt prison without the possibility of communicating with the land; they accordingly lay in a store of provisions, as if they were about to embark for a long voyage.