2 The Marchioness of Hastings on the Tertiary Beds 



and make for themselves internal channels, thus creating a dis- 

 jointing of the earth and strata. These channels, during the 

 summer, or in frosty weather, become dry; but on heavy rain 

 or thaw occurring, they become again filled and widened, and 

 the portion thus severed from the surrounding earth, falls when 

 it is least expected, from external symptoms. 



In this month (August 1851) a portion which projected like 

 a buttress from the face of the cliff as much as 15 feet, and which 

 was about 50 feet in length, fell, displacing the lower or under- 

 cliff, and the shingle and sand for some 150 yards. The masses 

 which fall from above, act as wedges, and force up the under 

 part of the strata many feet higher than their original position. 



Mr. Prestwich, in his most admirable and valuable paper, 

 hardly notices the freshwater strata of Hordwell. People go to 

 Alum Bay, remain there for weeks, nay months, examining the 

 whole of the series of strata so beautifully developed there and 

 at Headon Hill. These have been repeatedly figured and de- 

 scribed, but I am not aware of any figured section of Hordwell 

 having yet appeared. 



Having so long resided in these parts, I have devoted a very 

 large portion of time and attention to the study of these strata 

 and their contents ' (of which I have a very large collection) ; 

 I have coloured a section of them on the spot, after carefully 

 uncovering in various parts and measuring, as well as their 

 varying depth will admit, every stratum. I have hazarded no 

 supposition; all the information contained in these pages is 

 derived from my own personal observation, and facts known to 

 myself; and they are written with the hope that they may be 

 useful to those who wish to learn the nature and position in our 

 tertiary series, of these strata, and who may not have had the 

 facilities which my long residence in their neighbourhood has 

 given me, for acquiring such knowledge. 



As my much-esteemed friend, the late Mr. Dixon, remarks in 

 his work on the Geology of the Coast of Sussex, local descrip- 

 tions are those of which we stand the most in need ; by compa- 

 ring these, when published, we may in time arrive at some more 

 accurate knowledge of the relative positions of our tertiary strata. 



The strata here are most varied, and very clearly defined when 

 uncovered. 



They have few or no faults, and their contents are so various 

 and different, that it would be very difficult, when once thoroughly 

 acquainted with one stratum, to mistake it for another. They 

 dip gently to the east, and their entire length, from the spot 

 where they rise to where they disappear at the top of the cliff, 

 is about a mile. Those composed of sand vary much in colour, 

 as shown in strata 13 and 17, which makes it difficult to give a 

 perfect idea of them in a coloured section on a small scale. 



