time, may form these basons which we attribute to art; and if this is the case, they must continue increasing in size and depth. Have such basons ever been seen but on granite rocks? if not, probably water dissolves the feltspar and disunites the quartz and mica; and the winds driving round the water with particles of quartz at the bottom of the bason, must consequently fret away the rock and enlarge the bason. A rock of white marble lies on the sea-beach near Looe, completely covered with hollows like what are termed Druidical basons; these hollows in this rock I have no doubt have been formed by the sea; it lies near an insulated high rock under Sanders Lane, and is every tide covered with the sea, and is very frequently covered with sand. A person fancying the basons on this rock of marble to be an artificial work, might also fancy that it once was placed on top of the elevated rock near it; the contrast of the white marble on top of the elevated rock, which is of a very dark colour, would give a singular appearance. When this high rock is shown to strangers, they are generally told, with a serious face, that when it hears a cock crowing at Hay (which is a farm just above it) it turns round three times!
“SHARPY TORRY.
“After leaving the area before-mentioned, we mounted our horses, and went towards another very considerable rocky eminence, about half a mile north-east; the road to which over the Down is full of rocks and stones, so as to prevent a horse from going other than step and step at times. On our way we passed a small circle of stones, the remains I rather think of an ancient Barrow, whose earth had been washed away by the rains. We shortly after passed another pretty large circle of stones, just about the diameter to appearance of the lesser circle of the Hurlers; at length we arrived at the pile of rocks, called by our guide Sharpy-torry (Sharp-torr, from
its conical shape). We alighted from our horses and ascended. On the north or north-west side of it there appears a hollow, more like a large chimney than any other thing I can compare it to; the outside of which seems to have given way, and the steep hill below is strewed with an immense quantity of rocks and large stones, as if carried down or poured out from this hollow. Whether this was caused by the operation of fire or water bursting from this hollow or crater, if I may use the expression, I will not take upon me to say; but that one or other of these agents burst from this mount appears to be extremely probable, for the rocks and stones seem exactly as if they had been tumbled or thrown out of this crater by a current of some kind. We could not, however, discover lava; therefore it is probable water might have burst out, unless the lava has been decomposed. The views from this place are truly sublime. The spot is nearly the centre of the broadest part of the county; from it we saw both seas, north and south, and consequently the intervening land; and I believe it is the only eminence (except perhaps Brownwilly) in the eastern part of Cornwall, from whence both seas may be seen. We also saw in the North Sea a very high land, which we concluded must be Lundy Island; but the horizon to the north being rather hazy, I will not take upon me to say positively that it was that island, though it is probable to have been so. The prospect was equally extensive east and west, and as I took a pocket spying-glass with me, we viewed therewith the vast extent we commanded. We discovered Launceston Castle with the naked eye; through the glass it became very visible. We were much struck with the beautiful and highly-cultivated lands to the east of us, terminated in part by the high land of Dartmoor. To the westward, nothing was to be seen but a vast continuance of moor land, without a hedge, without a tree, for a stretch of many miles. The cultivated land commenced
just below our feet to the eastward, and the uncultivated from where we stood westward; the contrast on turning from west to east, or vice versâ, was astonishing. Our station seemed to be amidst the wreck of mountains of granite, rocks piled on rocks were strewed around in awful grandeur. The extreme point of our western view, dimmed by distance, showed us that elevated rock called Roach Rock, and we also saw Dosmerry Pool about four or five miles off; our south view commanded Plymouth Sound, and a long extent of coast and sea; the northward in one part was terminated by the sea. The views brought to my mind the beautiful lines in Ovid:
“Tum freta diffundi, rapidisque tumescere ventis
Jussit, et ambitæ circumdare littora terræ.
Addidit et fontes, immensaque stagna lacusque.
Jussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,
Fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes.”