On the eastern declivity of the gap, and near the line of the Wall, is a well, which, in the district, is generally called king Arthur’s Well. Brand, however, gives a different account of it:— At Walltown, I saw the well wherein Paulinus is said to have baptized king Ecfrid. It has evidently been enclosed, which indicates something remarkable in so open and wild a country. Some wrought stones lay near it. The water is very cool and fine. The western ascent is steep. Hutton tells us he was sometimes obliged to crawl on all fours. On the summit are evident traces of a mile-castle. [Illustration: Nine-nicks of Thirlwall] [Sidenote: NINE-NICKS OF THIRLWALL.] We now enter upon a most interesting part of the line. The mural ridge, divided by frequent breaks into as many isolated crags, is denominated the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall. The view from the edge of the cliff is extensive; stunted trees unite with the craggy character of the rock in giving variety to the foreground. The Wall adheres, with tolerable pertinacity, to the edge of the crags, and hence pursues a course that is by no means direct. The accompanying wood-cut, which exhibits the view looking eastwards, shews the zig-zag path which it adopts. Nearly all our historians agree in stating that the most perfect specimens of the Wall now remaining, are on Walltown crags. Certain it is that all who have examined the other parts of the Wall with care, will visit this with peculiar pleasure; but such are the varied features which each section of the Barrier presents, and the consequent interest which each excites, that it is difficult to determine which part, on the whole, is most worthy of attention. [Sidenote: WALLTOWN-CRAGS.] For a considerable distance along the crags, the Wall is in excellent preservation, presenting, on the north side, in several places, ten courses of facing-stones, and in one, twelve. In the highest part it is eight feet nine inches high, and nine feet thick. The military way may in many places be seen, avoiding very dexterously the more abrupt declivities of its rocky path. At length the cliffs, which extend in a nearly unbroken series from Sewingshields to Carvoran, sink into a plain, and the fertility and the beauty of a well-cultivated country re-appear. However pleasing the change, the traveller will not fail occasionally to look back upon the road he has trod, and view with secret satisfaction those bold and airy heights which so well symbolize the austere and undaunted spirit of that great people whose works he is contemplating; and when in after years, and it may be in some region far distant, the image of them rises in his imagination, he will be ready to exclaim— I feel the gales that from ye blow A momentary bliss bestow. [Sidenote: CARVORAN.]