16 



marked by the indications I have pointed out, and that there 

 was a barrier of land reaching from Wales eastward in the 

 direction of the line to The Wash. Its exact boundaries, of 

 course, it was impossible to make out, but as to the existence of 

 that line there can be no possible reason to doubt. Following 

 the sea line northwards, precisely the same class of evidence I 

 have indicated to you with regard to Wales is to be found in the 

 deposits which encircle the mountains of Cumberland. W^ have 

 the hmestone very thin and insignificant, and along with the 

 limestones we have these conglomerates or petrified shingle beds, 

 and there can be no doubt whatever that the region of Cumber- 

 land and North Lancashire formed the islet, and contributed 

 those accumulations which encircle these mountain tracts now. 

 We have the most ample proof that the waters of the lower car- 

 boniferous sea rolled over the area of South Scotland, but there 

 were two islands with their encirchng lines of shingle beaches in 

 the southern parts of Scotland. Coal seems to have been looked 

 upon as petrified peat-mosses, or rather the representative of peat- 

 mosses of ancient times. Therefore the very existence of coal 

 seems to imply the existence of land in the carboniferous times. 

 After tracing the sea line in the Highlands and Ireland, and 

 remarking that the rugged characteristics in the north-western 

 part of the sister isle had made their stamp on the inhabitants 

 of the present time. Professor Dawkins said : — Thus you see we 

 have fair evidence from the most simple premises as to the dis- 

 tribution of land and water in the lower carboniferous tirnes in 

 this country. The greater part of these islands was occupied by 

 water, and the area of the British Isles was then represented by 

 a series of isolated islands, one in Cornwall, another occupying 

 the greater portion of Wales, another in Cumberland and West- 

 moreland, another in the Isle of Man, two (it may be three) in 

 the southern parts of Scotland, and one or two islands in the 

 area of Ireland. There is evidence of portions of tlie western 

 part of Ireland having formed part of that ancient continent 

 which extended to the north and west, and which we know fr-om 

 geological evidence to have been a continent for an enormous 

 period of geological time. The continent to the north and south 

 was a continent which extended to the Arctic circle, which formed 

 a mass of land along which in those times any one could have 

 travelled all the way fr-om the Highlands of Scotland through 

 Greenland, and on to Canada. That is a mere fr-agment of this 

 great continent — the great lost continent we may term it — of 

 Archaia. As to the length of time this continent existed look at 

 this map, and you will find the older rocks are to be found directed 

 towards the north west, while the newer rocks lie in series of 

 parallel bands broken and shattered, to a large extent lying to 

 the south and the east. That merely means that these deposits 



