Notices respecting New Books. 351 



performed the work, and left the traces of its extent in the pebbles 

 which it has deposited along its course." 



" In wells and pits sunk on the wolds, the chalk has been several 

 times perforated, and found to rest on Kimmeridge clay, near Sher- 

 burn, and on lias, containing characteristic fossils, (of which speci- 

 mens have been presented to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society by 

 the Rev. T. Rankin,) at Huggate. The latter fact is highly impor- 

 tant, as it shows to what an extent the unconformed arrangement 

 prevails under the central part of the wolds. 



" Holder ness. 



" Holderness, taken as a natural division, may be said to include 

 the whole country lying between the eastern slope of the Yorkshire 

 wolds, the German Ocean, and the channel of the H umber. Its 

 western limit passes by Bridlington, Burton-Agnes, Driffield, Beswick, 

 Beverley, and Cottingham, to Hessle j what may have been anciently 

 its extent towards the east and south-east, is not easily determined, 

 because on these sides it is exposed to a turbulent sea, which its loose 

 materials are ill calculated to resist. Its greatest length is somewhat 

 less than forty miles, and its extreme breadth about sixteen. It in- 

 cludes about three hundred and eighty square miles of surface, of 

 which, perhaps, seventy square miles are marsh-land, relinquished by 

 the sea, according to a regular process of nature, or reclaimed by the 

 enterprising industry of man. The remainder of the surface, though, 

 on a general view from the wold-hills above, it appears like one ex- 

 tended plain, is found, on closer inspection, to be remarkably undu- 

 lated ; and though no land in the whole district exceeds one hundred 

 and forty feet in height, yet as the valleys are often sunk to the level 

 of the sea, the hills assume a degree of importance which a stranger 

 would by no means expect." 



"There is, perhaps, hardly any district in the island, which displays 

 in so striking a light the powerful effects of the deluge as Holderness ; 

 for in this country its accumulations compose the whole mass of every 

 hill, and form the deep foundation of every marsh. In the cliffs of 

 the coast and in the gravel-pits of the interior, remains of antedilu- 

 vian animals are frequently met with, and the interest which these 

 discoveries cannot fail to excite, is increased by the abundance of the 

 alluvial deposits which have happened in the same country at various 

 subsequent periods, and contain the bones of animals of a more re- 

 cent date. The remains of creatures overwhelmed by the flood, and 

 of those which perished after it, lie here not far asunder; the circum- 

 stances attending their destruction may be deliberately examined, 

 and the contemplative mind is presented with a physical record of the 

 principal changes to which the surface of the earth has been exposed 

 from the deluge to the present day. 



" The lowest of all the accumulations which rest upon the chalk of 

 the wolds is an irregular layer of fragments of chalk and flint, which, 

 being derived from the stratum beneath, are very little water-worn. 

 This singular deposit seems due to a less violent action of running 

 water than the general mass of heterogeneous pebbles which covers 



it. 



