J. G. WALLER ON SAND. 57 



become of it ? Does the Hint change to quartz ? Is it possible that 

 any molecular metamorphosis can take place, or, if not, what becomes 

 of the abraded dust of chalk shingle that it is always found in such 

 small quantities? Then whence proceeds this very abundant and 

 ubiquitous quartz sand ? The set of the current of the English 

 Channel is, I believe, from west to east ; that of the German Ocean 

 from north to south. 



We must think of all the conditions existing to account for the 

 prevalence of quartzose sand. On our southern coast there is a 

 large gap between the chalk cliffs of Dover and that of Beachy Head, 

 in which the Wealden deposits make their appearance, consisting 

 of sandstone grit, shaley laminated sand rock, and the like — all of 

 fluviatile origin — remains of the delta of a mighty river, equal, at 

 least, to that of the Ganges. This sand is of pure quartz, or 

 nearly so, and as the Wealden outcrop crosses the English Channel, 

 though not represented on the opposite shore, here is necessarily an 

 abundant supply of quartzose sand. Still we must note that the 

 coasts, all along this gap, have the usual beach of chalk flint 

 shingle. Indeed, it is represented in enormous quantities, often a 

 mile and more in diameter at the closed-up ancient estuaries 

 referred to. First, there is that of Pevensey, where the old Roman 

 castrum is in a more complete condition than is found elsewhere, 

 and which once defended its entry against our ancestors the Saxon 

 pirates. Let us be proud of our Saxon forefathers, of whom the 

 Roman historian pitifully says, " Pra3 ceteris hostibus Saxones 

 timentur."* Then let us go to Romney Marsh, where is the same 

 phenomenon on a grand scale, and another ancient estuary closed 

 up, the " Portus Lemanis,'' its fortress, which once defended it, a 

 shapeless, disrupted ruin. Here the rolled shingle covers many a 

 square mile. Where then is the detritus of all this mass, if it is not 

 found in the sands adjacent ? 



There is still to be brought into the account the upper and lower 

 greensand, the Shanklin sand which must furnish a part of the 

 ocean bed as it crops up by Folkestone at Copt Point. But we have 

 to consider whence these are derived. The more we seem to go into 

 the matter the more intricate or extended does the problem appear ; 

 and yet its solution ought] to be within a small circle, for what 

 we are seeking to know is, what becomes of the detritus of chalk 

 flint? 



* Ammianus Marcelliuus. 



