[Illustration: MORTE POINT.]
A few miles westward the coast-line suddenly bends to the southward, the
angle being marked by a wild, rocky headland known as Morte Point, which
the Devonshire proverb describes as "the place on earth which Heaven
made last and the devil will take first." It is a chaos of rock-ridges,
the sea washing against it on three sides, and is a noted place for
wrecks. Far out at sea can be seen a half-submerged black rock which the
Normans christened the Morte Stone, or "Death Rock." To the southward
sweeps a fringe of yellow sand around Morte Bay, and behind the headland
is the little village of Morthoe, where Tracy is buried. Beyond the
boundary of the bay, at Baggy Point, is another and broader bay, whose
shores make a grand sweep to the westward again. This is Barnstaple Bay,
into which flows a wide estuary forming the outlet of two rivers: the
northernmost is the Taw, and at the head of its estuary is Barnstaple.
The other is the Torridge, and upon it, at about nine miles distance
from Barnstaple, is the small but prettier town of Bideford. This is
described by Kingsley as a little white town, sloping upward from its
broad tidal river, paved with yellow sands, and having a many-arched old
bridge towards the uplands to the westward. The wooded hills close in
above the town, but in front, where the rivers join, they sink into a
hazy level of marsh and low undulations of sand. The town has stood
almost as it is now since Grenvil, the cousin of William the Conqueror,
founded it. It formerly enjoyed great commercial prosperity under the
patronage of the Grenvilles, reaching its height in the seventeenth
century. The old quay remains. The ancient bridge, which is a remarkable
one, was built five hundred years ago, and is constructed on twenty-four
piers, firmly founded, yet shaking under the footstep. The superstitious
say it is of miraculous origin, for when they began to build it some
distance farther up the river, each night invisible hands removed the
stones to their present position. It is also a wealthy bridge and of
noble rank, having its heraldic coat-of-arms (a ship and a bridge proper
on a plain field) and owning broad estates, with the income of which
"the said miraculous bridge has from time to time founded chantries,
built schools, waged suits-at-law, and, finally, given yearly dinners,
and kept for that purpose the best-stocked cellar of wines in all
Devon."
[Illustration: BIDEFORD.]