Mr Stevenson on the Coast ofChtsltv'e, 387 



about two feet from the ground after the usual practice in fell- 

 ing timber, and the roots are seen ramifying from their respec- 

 live stdmps, in all directions, and dipping towards tlie clay sub- 

 soil. They seem to have varied in size from 18 inches to per- 

 haps 30 inches in diameter, and, when cut with a knife, appear 

 to be oak. Several of the boles or trunks have also been left 

 upon the ground, and being partly immersed in the sand and 

 clay, are now in such a decomposed state, that, when dug 

 into with a common spade, great numbers of the shelUfish called 

 Pholas Candida, measuring about three-fourths of an inch in 

 length, and two inches in breadth, were found apparently in 

 a healthy state. These proofs of the former state of this ebb 

 or shore, now upwards of 20 feet under full tide, having been 

 once^^dry land to a considerable extent beyond the region of 

 these large forest trees, were rendered still more evident by the 

 occurrence of large masses of greenstone, which, at a former pe- 

 riod, had been imbedded in the firm ground here, and especially 

 on the shore within the river Dee. It may farther deserve no- 

 tice, that the inhabitants of this district have a traditional rhyme, 

 expressive of the former wooded state of this coast, where not a 

 tree is now to be seen, viz. " From Halbre Isle to Birkenhead 

 a squirrel may hop from tree to tree ;'' , that is from the Dee to 

 the Mersey, now presenting a submarine forest. 



As these evidences of great changes upon tlie state and for- 

 mer appearances of the land were highly interesting to the par- 

 ty, and intimately connected with the professional inquiries of 

 myself and colleague, it seemed desirable to get them, if possible, 

 corroborated by oral testimony. Sir John Tobin accordingly, 

 very obligingly, took measures for examining the oldest people 

 in the neighbourhood, as to their recollection of the former state 

 of these shores. In particular, Thomas Barclay, aged 93 " all 

 but two months," by profession a mason and measurer of coun* 

 try work ; Henry Youd, labourer, aged 86 ; and John Crook- 

 san, labourer, aged 80, were examined. Barclay stated, that 

 he had been employed at the erection of the Leasowe land- 

 ward Lighthouse in the year 1764 ; that there were then two 

 lighthouses near the shore, for a leading direction to shipping 

 tlirough the proper channel to Liverpool ; and that the Seaward 

 Light became uninhabitable, from its bemg surrounded by the 

 sea. A new light was then built upon Bidstone Hill ; and the 



