220 EXCURSION TO WALTON AND FRINTON. 



forced apart by water making its way in by capillary attraction. 

 Under such conditions, the whole becomes practically a viscous 

 fluid, and cliffs or railway-cuttings are subject to perpetual slip- 

 ping in greater or less degree. Every hillside of similar material 

 is perennially on the down-grade from the same cause, and even 

 gentle slopes have a like movement in minor measure. Expan- 

 sion by moisture will be vertical only in absolutely level ground, 

 where no cause exists for divergence to any side. If ever so 

 slight a deviation from the vertical is possible, the expansion 

 will be fractionally towards that side. Subsequent contraction 

 will be truly vertical, unless a lower position is possible by a 

 further lateral movement. On a cliff the action is more percepti- 

 ble, because more rapid, and the prompt removal by the sea of 

 whatever reaches the beach has induced the popular belief that 

 the sea is the primary agent of destruction. Neptune has been 

 blamed for what is mainly the action of Jupiter Pluvius. That 

 Neptune assists in the spoliation cannot be denied, but he is 

 accessory after the fact, the receiver of the proceeds. 



In the later section of the day's operations, the modus operandi 

 of these confederate powers was clearly demonstrated. The 

 cliff-top between Walton and Frinton is practically a plateau, 

 from which a covering sheet of gravel, probably of Post-Glacial 

 date as at Clacton, has been but lately denuded, small patches 

 of pebbles and sand being of frequent occurrence. The margin 

 is indented mto much the same form as that to which a child 

 reduces a slice of bread-and-butter, a series of irregular, more or 

 less circular scallops, with projecting points. At these salient 

 angles, often very acute, the fall is nearly vertical ; in the inter- 

 vening recesses, a steep slope of a few yards generally reaches a 

 ledge still covered with the original turf of the summit, and often 

 fairly horizontal, but breaking into columns by intersecting 

 cracks, as it passes by infinitesimal slips down the treacherous 

 slope. Lower down a chaos of angular lumps of all sizes leads 

 to the beach, interspersed with flows of viscid mud where surface 

 waters seek exit through the obstructing masses. In every case 

 the determining cause of the recess is seen lo be one of the 

 patches of residuary gravel already mentioned, its presence 

 implying a slight hollow on the surface of the clay, and a collect- 

 ing ground for the rainfall of the immediate vicinity. Near the 

 edge, in every recess, new cracks show the initiation of a further 

 loss. Where a continuous esplanade has been constructed, it 



