nearly a
straight line, between which we catch a distant view of Christchurch and
other objects on the opposite coast. The name (inappropriate to their
present form,) was derived from a spiry rock, 120 feet high and very
slender, which fell in the year 1764, having been nearly worn through by
the incessant action of the tides: its base however is still visible at
low water.

The _Pomone_, a fifty-gun frigate, was wrecked on the most western
of these rocks, on June 11th, 1811, when returning home after an
absence of three years; but owing to the fineness of the weather,
the crew and passengers, including some Persian princes, reached
the shore in safety; and most of her guns and stores were removed
before she went to pieces. "The vessel," says Mr. Webster,
"afforded me a scale by which to judge of the size of the Needles,
and I was surprized to find that the hull of the frigate did not
reach one-fourth of their height." The entrance to the Solent
Channel "through the Needles" was always considered hazardous for
ships of great burthen, not only on account of those rocks, but
also of the immense banks of pebbles or "Shingles" that lie to the
westward: recent surveys have however ascertained that the channel
has sufficient width and depth for the safe passage of the largest
ships of war.

ALUM BAY.

The brilliant and novel display of rock scenery which this spot affords,
and its being easily accessible either by water or land (for a road
leads to it from the north side of the down), cause it to be universally
visited by strangers who extend their tour to this quarter of the
island. It is bounded on the south by the Needles and the snowy
precipices of which they once formed part: but its greatest celebrity is
owing to the wonderful diversity and brightness in the cliffs on the
opposite side, which are composed of sand, clay, and ochreous earths,
disposed in alternate _vertical_ strata: and as the torrents of winter
carry away vast masses of the soil, forming numerous deep ravines--an
endless variety of the most beautiful peaks and romantic forms are thus
produced. The colored strata vary in thickness from a sheet of paper to
several yards; are now purely white, black, red, or yellow; then brown,
blueish, or dull green,--alternating in a surprizing manner with each
other, or blending into every hue: and many of the tints so vivid, yet
so delicate,