Off Beachey-head, in the other direction, is found a variety which I have not met with elsewhere. The specimen shown to me was vermicular; the creature, which had perhaps been a “sabella,” lying in distinct coils, not unlike macaroni, in the blue agate. This pebble was a very large and perfect one; and the man who had picked it up, and paid perhaps half-a-guinea for the dressing of it, was desirous to realize a five-pound note. I wish much that it had found its way to the British Museum. There is no stone there resembling it.
At Deal and Ramsgate, “fortification-agates” may be readily met with, and sometimes a bit of carnelian: but this last, bright and homogeneous, is rare. The Hastings beach is mainly worn out. Aldborough, in Suffolk, was wont to be famous for its coloured agates; and Fifeshire, and part of Forfarshire, for eyed jaspers: but many years have gone by since I visited either of these counties, and I would not venture to speak with confidence concerning their actual beaches now.
Very good pebbles are picked up at Cromer; and, occasionally, carnelians, both red and white. Felixstowe, a little lower down the coast than Aldborough, abounds in yellow agates, some of them beautifully translucent, and rivalling the carnelian in smoothness of texture. At Scarborough, remarkable specimens both of the agates and jaspers are obtained by those who know where to look for them. Filey has the same charms for enticing strangers to wander onwards along its pretty coast. Indeed, all the Yorkshire beaches deserve and will repay a visit, both in fossils and transparencies.
Carnelians are peculiar stones as to their habits, if I may use such an expression in speaking of inanimate substances. It were absurd to doubt that plenty of them still haunt our English coast; but where they manage to hide themselves has often perplexed me. The method of searching for them is as follows. Instead of keeping the sun behind you, he should now be full in front, like a candle in your eyes. But you must not look at the sun: you must look along the surface of the beach; and whenever a bit of carnelian peeps out from the shingle, you will at once descry it, owing to the position of the great light.
I tried this once at Blackgang Chine for three-quarters of an hour, and in the course of that time I filled both my waistcoat-pockets with red bits. It is true, none of these were larger than pudding-raisins, and some of them scarcely more brilliant; still, the search was very diverting. If the shingle had not been unusually damp, I might have lain down every now and then and looked along its surface; in which case I should, doubtless, have succeeded better.
The mention of Blackgang leads me to speak of the Isle of Wight, as the choicest storehouse for this kind of fossils in Britain.
If it be true, as some geologists aver, that the pearly “Vectis” was at one time joined on to our Hampshire coast, from which it afterwards broke off like a loose morsel from the side of a cake, that would go far to explain the abundance and beauty of its organisms. For, upon such a separation from the mainland, the industrious sea would have great opportunities of denuding the face of the cliffs and sucking the orifices of the chines. Also, this circumambient sea is peculiar in its character hereabouts; and the crystallizing waves impart an unusual lustre to rolling agates and jaspers.
The beaches of the Wight are circumscribed in extent, which is a great relief after the interminable ranges on the Sussex coast. The difference is as great as that between a quiet forenoon spent in the museum in Jermyn Street, and the laborious distractions experienced if we pass a similar interval of time amidst the endless rooms and innumerable cases on the first floor of the British Museum.
The village of Sandown, from the flag-staff on as far as Red Cliff and Culver, exhibits a tempting and instructive shore. In winter, it is better to commence at the dyke, and end with Red Cliff; but in summer, you may walk the whole range with advantage. Here, a couple of hours may be taken to as many miles; and if you do not shut your eyes, you must fill your pockets. But look with resolution for good ones.
From Sandown to Shanklin, in the opposite direction, it is scarcely inferior. It was once even better; but, lying so near at hand, it has been unceasingly hunted over; and to look for a fine pebble there now, is almost like hoping to find a hare sitting in your kitchen-garden. Many tons’ weight of beautiful fossils have been gathered within the compass of a morning’s walk here, in the last few years.