28 MAY 1932, Page 14

Some of the islands (like Pevensey) are "fathoms deep in

history." Colonsay is an Ithaca and one wonders whether its relics have been worthily investigated ; but perhaps the greater wonders are prehistoric ; and in one regard legible enough. It would not be outrageous to claim the raised beaches as one of the wonders of the world. One knows in scores of places of shingle beaches just above the tide. In these islands there are beaches still wholly unqualified by vegetation beyond the top of high cliffs, perhaps as much as 200 feet above the level of the sea. Very slowly, by laborious inches, the sphagnum moss and heather and bracken and grass nibble at their edges, but they remain immune and clean as if the sea had flowed over them yesterday.

• • • *