ngly. And
I intend to keep this native ruby by me for as long as the lords of
Abbotsbury continue in their present mind. The time may come when I
shall be obliged to throw it away. That any millionaire should hesitate
for a moment to blast and blacken any part of the earth's surface,
howsoever green and refreshing to the heart it may be, when by so doing
he might add to his income, seems like a fable, or a tale of fairyland.
It is as if one had accidentally discovered the existence of a little
fantastic realm, a survival from a remote past, almost at one's doors;
a small independent province, untouched by progress, asking to be
conquered and its antediluvian constitution taken from it.

From the summit of that commanding hill, over which the red path winds,
a noble view presents itself of the Chesil Bank, or of about ten miles
of it, running straight as any Roman road, to end beneath the rugged
stupendous cliffs of Portland. The ocean itself, and not conquering
Rome, raised this artificial-looking wall or rampart to stay its own
proud waves. Formed of polished stones and pebbles, about two hundred
yards in width, flat-topped, with steeply sloping sides, at this
distance it has the appearance of a narrow yellow road or causeway
between the open sea on one hand and the waters of the Fleet, a narrow
lake ten miles long, on the other.

When the mackerel visit the coast, and come near enough to be taken in
a draw-net, every villager who owns a share (usually a tenth) in a
fishing-boat throws down his spade or whatever implement he happens to
have in his hand at the moment, and hurries away to the beach to take
his share in the fascinating task. At four o'clock one morning a youth,
who had been down to the sea to watch, came running into the village
uttering loud cries which were like excited yells--a sound to rouse the
deepest sleeper. The mackerel had come! For the rest of the day there
was a pretty kind of straggling procession of those who went and came
between the beach and the village--men in blue cotton shirts,
blue jerseys, blue jackets, and women in grey gowns and big white
sun-bonnets. During the latter part of the day the proceedings were
peculiarly interesting to me, a looker-on with no share in any one of
the boats, owing to the catches being composed chiefly of jelly-fish.
Some sympathy was felt for the toilers who strained their muscles again
and again only to be mocked in the end; still, a draught of jelly-fi