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All this load of sand and gravel comes, as we have seen, from the 

 valley sides, tlie banks of the brooks and from its bed. It is mov- 

 ing downward away from its original resting place ; and what has 

 been the result? For thousands upon thousands of years our brook 

 may have been carrying olf its yearly load of sediment, and though 



83. — A brook cutting binder its bank and causing a land-slide. 



each day's labor is small, yet the added toil of centuries must have 

 been great. The result of this labor we can see in the great trough 

 or valley through which the brook flows. Tennyson speaks of the 

 ceaseless toil of the brook in the following words : 



" I chatter, chatter, as I flow 

 To join the brimming river. 

 For men may come and men may go, 

 But I go on forever." 



We have seen how the rills and torrents bring into the brook 

 their loads of sand, cl^y and gravel ; let us walk along the bank 

 and see what the brook is doing to increase this load. Just here 

 there is a sudden turn in the channel and so sharp is the curve that 

 the rushing stream is not able to keep in mid-channel but throws 



520 



