every other trace of the transaction, had disappeared .
The platform being composed of chalk, like the cliff itself, was altogether invisible, either from the summit or base of the promontory, and the smugglers having also taken the precaution to paint their packages white, they could not be distinguished from the chalk at any considerable distance. The risk of discovery, therefore, was trifling, and on the following night, the smugglers could, without interruption, hoist their goods from the platform to the summit of the cliff, merely taking care to accomplish this at low water, when the Preventive sentinels were stationed along the beach below. " In this manner several valuable cargoes were imported ; nor would the plan, perhaps, ever have been detected, but by a direct information which the writer derived from one of the smugglers, who had quarrelled with his companions. Fifty-six tubs of brandy were found upon the platform when it was thus detected and demolished."
" Many of the Coast-blockade men lost their lives by walking over the cliffs during dark or foggy nights ; and upon one occasion two of their bodies were discovered dreadfully mangled within a few yards of each other, having been precipitated from a height of at least three hundred feet. The circumstance of their being killed nearly at the same spot, and at about the same moment, gave rise to an opinion that they had -
