tones,
the people at the neighbouring farm are exceedingly kind in giving
directions. There are about fifteen monoliths making up the circle, and
they are all lying flat on the ground, so that in the summer they are
very much overgrown with rank grass and low bushes. This was probably
the burial-place of some prehistoric chief, but no mound remains.

CHAPTER V

SCARBOROUGH

Dazzling sunshine, a furious wind, flapping and screaming gulls, crowds
of fishing-boats, and innumerable people jostling one another on the
seafront, made up the chief features of my first view of Scarborough. By
degrees I discovered that behind the gulls and the brown sails were old
houses, their roofs dimly red through the transparent haze, and above
them appeared a great green cliff, with its uneven outline defined by
the curtain walls and towers of the castle which had made Scarborough a
place of importance in the Civil War and in earlier times.

The wide-curving bay was filled with huge breaking waves which looked
capable of destroying everything within their reach, but they seemed
harmless enough when I looked a little further out, where eight or ten
gray warships were riding at their anchors, apparently motionless.

From the outer arm of the harbour, where the seas were angrily
attempting to dislodge the top row of stones, I could make out the great
mass of gray buildings stretching right to the extremity of the bay.

I tried to pick out individual buildings from this city-like
watering-place, but, beyond discovering the position of the Spa and one
or two of the mightier hotels, I could see very little, and instead fell
to wondering how many landladies and how many foreign waiters the long
lines of gray roofs represented. This raised so many unpleasant
recollections of the various types I had encountered that I determined
to go no nearer to modern Scarborough than the pier-head upon which I
stood. A specially big wave, however, soon drove me from this position
to a drier if more crowded spot, and, reconsidering my objections, I
determined to see something of the innumerable gray streets which make
up the fashionable watering-place. The terraced gardens on the steep
cliffs along the sea-front were most elaborately well kept, but a more
striking feature of Scarborough is the magnificence of so many of the
shops. They suggest a city rather than a seaside town, and give you an
idea of the magnitude of the permanent population of the p