much than too little.
Even Ruskin, when he attempted to describe Land's End seas in his long
convoluted sentences, failed to do anything but give a series of
phrases and figures that the mind follows with weariness. Such things
must be sketched vividly and briefly, or language only betrays its own
limitations.
The rocks to which we immediately apply the name Land's End are only
about 60 feet above sea-level; there are many higher, even in the near
neighbourhood, and there are some more striking. Various fanciful, and
for the most part foolish, names have been applied to them, which need
not here be repeated. Both here and at the finer rock of Pordenack, a
little southward, the rock-formations somewhat resemble those of the
Giants' Causeway in appearance. But the noblest cliff of all on this
western promontory is that of Tolpedn-Penwith, to reach which we have
to pass Nanjisal Cove. Its name, the "holed headland of Penwith,"
refers to a deep cleft or fissure, which can be explored from the sea
when tide and weather permit. Part of this fine bluff is known as the
Chair Ladder, and has traditions of a witch, Madge Figgy, who used to
take flight with her comrades from this magnificent point, and here
would shriek her incantations above the roar of wind and waters. The
spot was certainly well chosen. There are some hidden crags, and some
that are not hidden, lying off Land's End, such as the Armed Knight,
the Irish Lady, and Enys Dodman, which is pierced by a grand natural
arch. Rather more than a mile out is a cluster of islets, on one of
which, Carn Bras, stands the Longships lighthouse, built in 1883 to
replace one that had been privately erected; it has an occulting light
of over seven hundred candle-power, visible at 16 miles. The lantern
has sometimes been shattered by the force of the seas, and the tower
rocks so violently that on one occasion one of the keepers went mad
with terror and shot himself. When a boat had been signalled and
managed to approach, the supposed corpse was slung down to it, and a
fisherman accidentally touching the wound, the man revived. The Wolf
light is about seven miles out, erected with immense labour and cost
on a most perilous reef of rocks. Both lighthouses are often quite
isolated by stress of weather.
[Illustration: SENNEN COVE.
_Photo by Gibson & Sons._]
Immediately north of Land's End is the truly charming little Sennen
Cove, with its church-town nearly a mile inland. Former
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