Page:Cornwall (Mitton).djvu/120

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KING ARTHUR'S LAND 75 with the gorgeous figures of Tennyson's Idylls, much better known to most people than La Mort d 'Arthur. The constant splash of the waves and the steady cropping of the sheep are broken now and again by a Woof ! exactly like the growl of an angry beast. This is caused by a blow-hole in the cliff from which, when the wind is strong and on- shore, the spout of water is sent out forty feet or more. Right beneath us is a cavern cut through the solid rock from side to side, and into this the sea scours at its height, the breakers from each end meeting with a shock in the middle. The rocks, which are so black and frigid outside, are rounded within, and coloured a strange sea-green, with almost a wan look, while the floor is composed of myriads of flat stones, round and oval, all sizes, from a sixpence to a soup-plate, making a natural pavement easy to the tread. The beach at the mouth of the cave is the same, armoured by myriads and myriads of flat smooth rounded stones lying so closely together as to give the appearance of a dragon's scales ; it would not be hard to con- jure up imaginary dragons here for the cave is by tradition " Merlin's Cave," and magicians and dragons are always regarded as contemporaneous.