226 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 



300 ; and who knows Victoria County, whose name was writ 

 large on the maps of the last century? 



Yet prophets never were deterred by the fate of their 

 predecessors ; therefore, let us prophesy, even on the unstable 

 foundation of Humber mud. From Paull Holme, there 

 stretches south-east, over half the breadth of the river, 

 Foulholme Sand, exactly as Cherry Cob Sands did centuries 

 ago. The creek which exists at half-tide between its 

 southern half and the mainland forms a backwater which is 

 gradually silting up, so that there will some day be a wide, 

 mud flat from Paull to Stone Creek. Further east, separated, 

 as were their predecessors, by the Keyingham drain, lie the 

 sands of Sunk Island ; and thus we have the foundations of 

 a replica of the reclamations of the last three centuries. 

 Probably, when "Cherry Cob Sands " and "Sunk Island" 

 convey as little meaning to our descendants as the " Isle of 

 Holderness " does to us, there may be reclaimed a "Foul- 

 holme Sand," extending from Paull to Hawkin's Point, and 

 a new Sunk Island in the Welwick bend. 



The Spurn flats lend themselves neither to reclamation 

 nor prophesy, Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, 

 the channel between the Den and the mainland has filled up, 

 together with the creeks, in which, according to the old 

 shore-shooters, a man could hide; but during the last twenty 

 years they have not appreciably altered. Shelford states, 

 "the Spurn clays rose as a whole 11^ inches between 1854 

 and 1867." One wonders whether the figures are correct; 

 certainly the rate of increase has not been maintained, and 

 there does not appear to be a sufficient quantity of silt in the 

 water which covers them at high tide to justify the supposition 

 that they will ultimately be reclaimed. A low, chalk bank 

 from Welwick to Spurn, with openings at intervals, might 

 assist, but, on the other hand, it would certainly cause erosion 

 in the neighbourhood of the openings, and a transference of 

 the eroded material into the channel. The rejection of the 

 Holderness Embankment and Reclamation Bill of 1866 must 

 be approved by all who are acquainted with the vagaries of 

 the Humber. 



The following notes, which have been made during the 

 last few years when gathering information on other subjects, 

 may be of use to future workers. As the phrases employed 

 have often given rise to misunderstanding, it may be explained 

 that "outside the bank" means on the riverward side of it, 

 while " inside the bank " refers to enclosed land which is not 

 subject to the action of sea water, except by accident. 



