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conclusions with respect to this singular district at which it will be necessary to 

 arrive with me. First, that the whole of this extensive region has been (at what 

 remote period I am unable to say) an extensive and tangled forest ; secondly, that 

 it has been completely covered by fresh water ; thirdly, that it has been entirely 

 inundated by the sea. The facts from which these conclusions are derived, and 

 the manner in which I account for them, are as follow : first, that it has formerly 

 been an extensive forest is evident, for everywhere you meet with roots of trees, 

 and trunks, and branches ; and you cannot dig below the surface to any depth 

 without striking against them. I have no doubt that the village of Wroot derived 

 its name from the roots of trees which surround it on every side ; and it is also 

 possible that our modern word root may formerly have been thus spelt.* It is 

 probable the village was originally partly built with these roots, and even at the 

 present day extensive fences are made of this material, both in the open fields and 

 in the village. In the less cultivated fields (for the country has been partially en- 

 closed sdme years) many trunks of trees project above the surface, while in some 

 of the best tilled enclosures there are none at all apparent, in consequence of their 

 having fallen under the axe of the husbandman. There is no entire tree re- 

 maining above the ground ; the action of the wind and weather, and perhaps 

 the necessities of the inhabitants, having long since destroyed every part, except the 

 base, and such portions as are under ground. The air being excluded, many roots 

 and parts of trunks are left uninjured, and indeed unaltered, save that they have 

 become exceedingly dark, indeed almost black in colour, and are harder than any 

 modern trees. They make excellent palings, and are sold as such at rather a high 

 price, requiring no paint, either for appearance or preservation. The whole face 

 of this county is intersected by dykes of different dimensions, crossing each other 

 at right angles, at the interval of almost every field. Even with these drains, the 

 whole surface has, in past years, been completely covered with water, occasionally 

 for three and sometimes six weeks, to the entire destruction of the crops ; but a 

 steam engine has been erected for the purpose of emptying the dykes and remedy- 

 ing this evil. From the observations I made on inspecting the clearing out of one 

 of these dykes, I am led to my second conclusion, namely, that the region has been, 

 in past times, covered by fresh water, but whether this was prior to the inundation 

 by the sea is more than I can, at present, determine. The men employed in clear- 

 ing out this drain dug down to a depth of about eight feet below the surface, and 

 two and a half feet below the low water level of the sea. At the greatest depth 

 they find the roots or parts of the trunks of trees in an upright position, and 

 exactly as they grew. There are some also, as previously mentioned, growing, or 

 rather standing, nearer to the present surface, so that the ground must have been 

 formerly undulating and uneven, to what heighth or depth we can only ascertain as 



* Root is derived from the Swedish word rot and the Danish rood. — Ed. 



VOL. I. M 



