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Page 5
THE CLIMATE.--The purity of the air was always acknowledged by those who
ever visited the island owing to the dry and highly cultivated face of
the country: but it was left to an eminent Physician, Dr. James Clarke,
to give due celebrity to the unrivaled salubrity of the climate:--
"The Island, from the variety which it presents in point of elevation,
soil, and aspect, and from the configuration of its hills and shores,
possesses several peculiarities of climate and situation, which render
it a very favorable and commodious residence throughout the year, for a
large class of invalids. On this account, the Isle of Wight claims our
particular attention, as it comprehends within itself advantages which
are of great value to the delicate invalid, and to obtain which, in
almost any other part of England, he would require to make a
considerable journey." And he further remarks, that "the Undercliff bids
fair to exceed all other winter residences in this country, and the
island will have added to its title of the Garden of England, that of
the BRITISH MADEIRA."
The classical designation of the island is VECTA or VECTIS: but its
modern name is derived from Wect, With, or Wict, as it is found
variously written in Doomsday Book.
Some writers have supposed the island to have been once connected
with the mainland by an isthmus stretching from Gurnet, near Cowes,
to Leap, on the Hampshire roast; but nothing decisive has yet been
advanced in support of this strange hypothesis.
The surface of the island presents a constant succession of valley and
eminence--the two principal chains of hills being ... a range of chalk
downs of a smooth rounded shape, and from 500 to 700 feet high, that
stretch lengthways through the middle of the island, abutting the ocean
at Freshwater on the west, and Bembridge on the east:-and a still
loftier range, variously composed of chalk, firestone, &c., that skirts
the south-eastern coast from Shanklin Down to St. Catharine's (the
latter 830 feet in height,) and whose broken flank on the sea-side forms
the celebrated and romantic region of the UNDERCLIFF.
The principal streams in the Isle of Wight navigable for marine craft
are the Rivers Medina and Yar, and the Creeks of Newtown and
Wootton.--The Medina, whose source is in the south, and which joins the
sea at Cowes, divides the island into two hundreds of nearly equal
extent, respectively called the East and West Medene; the first
comprising 14, the latter 16 parishes.
The population of the island has doubled since 1802, and now exceeds
45,000. No manufacture of any consequence is carried on (with the
exception of the lace-factory near Newport,) Corn being the staple
article of trade,--for which there are about 42 mills, nearly all of
them worked by water.
Almost encompassed by formidable rocks and shelves, few parts of the
English coast are more dangerous to ships driving in a storm. The most
dreaded parts are the Needles and Shingles, at the western point;
Rocken-end Race at the south, and Bembridge Ledge at the eastern
extremity: few winters pass without the melancholy catastrophe of
shipwreck; though the danger is now of course diminished by the
establishment of Light-houses--especially of the new one near
Niton.--Owing to this cause, and to the precipitous nature of the coast
itself, the island presents few points favorable to an enemy's landing,
and even those were for the most part fortified by order of Henry VIII:
The forts of Sandown, Cowes, and Yarmouth still remain; and though they
might be of little use in the present state of military science, the
presence of "England's wooden walls" at the stations of Spithead and St.
Helen's, renders all local defences needless.
_Geology, Agriculture, and Zoology_.
The island presents many rare geological phenomena: and from its
smallness, easy access, and the various nature of its coasts, offers an
admirable field for scientific investigation.
One peculiarity deserves to be particularly noticed; namely, the
extraordinary state in which the FLINTS are found in the great range of
chalk hills,--for all those in regular beds, are broken into pieces in
every direction, from two or three inches long, to an almost impalpable
powder; and yet show no other indication of their fracture than very
fine lines, until the investing chalk be removed, when they fall at once
to pieces! But the separate flints or nodules in the body of the chalk
strata are not so: which led the late Sir H. Englefield to conjecture,
that the phenomenon was caused in the moment of the immense concussion
which subverted the whole mass of strata, and placed them in their
present nearly vertical position.
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