70 Dr Mitchell on the Chalk and Flint of Yorkshire, 



had triumphed over the sienite of Mount Sorrel, and the lime- 

 stones of Derbyshire, was broken to pieces on Flamborough 

 Head. 



Hard as is the chalk on this coast, the sea has been able to 

 excavate many caves at the foot of the cliff of Flamborough 

 Head. There is one which I landed to examine near what is 

 called the north shore, being a sort of haven for fishing boats. 

 I found it to have only a low and narrow entrance from the sea, 

 but it was about 300 feet in length, and fifty at its greatest 

 height, and in form that of a boat turned over with the keel 

 upwards. As the sea is able to make caves of far greater ex- 

 tent on coasts formed of granite and sandstone, it is not to be 

 wondered that it has forced its way into the chalk. 



As other materials are so abundant in Yorkshire, chalk is 

 not employed for the purpose of building in any place where I 

 was, but there can be no doubt that it would be sufficiently du- 

 rable. 



A large portion of the upper part of the Yorkshire chalk is 

 without flint. This is certainly not peculiar, for the same is 

 the case on Dunstable Downs, in some places in Norfolk, and 

 to a small extent at Northfleet, and in many other places. 

 Still in the south the absence of flint on the upper chalk is the 

 exception ; but it is not so in Yorkshire. For a long way be- 

 tween Bridlington and Flamborough Head, no flint is at all 

 to be seen, and in the lofty clifl's of Flamborough Head, and to 

 the north of it, there is no flint for a hundred feet and more 

 from the top, and it is only towards the lower part that it is to 

 be seen, where it appears in tabular strata. 



At the landing place called the north shore, the cliff" is very 

 low, only a little more than fifty feet ; and the section is as fol- 

 lows : 



3 feet covered with grass. 

 30 feet chalk without flint. 



20 feet chalk with seven strata of tabular flint. The top stratum of flint 

 is 6 inches thick, five strata are 2 inches each, and one stratum, 

 the lowest, is 4 inches thick. 



The chalk in the cliff*, and between the cliff's and the sea, is 

 remarkably hard. 



The chalk in the cliffs of Yorkshire is more distinctly strati- 



