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In the Islands of the Hebrides the same phenomena may be 

 studied. At Pabbay, for example, moss with large trees is exposed 

 at ebb of the spring tides, and on the coasts of Harris, where- 

 ever a high bank has been undermined and cut back by the sea, 

 a rich loam or black moss is discovered, and this is by no means 

 peculiar to Harris, but characterises all the low lying sandy 

 shores of the Long Island, as in North Uist and Vallay, at both 

 of which places submarine peat and trees occur. Again, on the 

 north-west coast of Tii'ee, and here and there in Coll, the same 

 appearances recur. 



Nor are similar phenomena wanting .ilong the western shores 

 of the mainland, for trees and peat have been found under low- 

 water mark at Loch Alsh ; while at Oban the bottom of the 

 harbour, which is not less than twenty fathoms deep, is said to 

 be covered with peat in some places. 



Now these facts enable us to conclude that the sea has within 

 geologically recent times made considerable encroachments upon 

 the land. It is quite clear that our shores and the opposite 

 coasts of the continent have at some period in the past extended 

 much farther seaward. We infer this not only from the facts 

 connected with the submerged mosses, bvit also from the large 

 size of the buried trees of the maritime districts. In most of 

 the Islands it is impossiule for trees now to attain to respectable 

 dimensions, unless they are carefully protected and looked after. 

 When the buried forests of the Hebrides and Orkney and Shet- 

 land Islands were growing, no doubt the land stood at a relatively 

 higher level and the sea at a greater distance. 



But more than all this, peat has been dredged far out in the 

 German Ocean and the English Channel ; and fresh water and 

 littoral shells have been dredged in deep water at distances of 

 fourteen and forty miles from the nearest land. Add to these 

 cases, the frequent occurrence of mammalian remains, bones and 

 tusks of the Mammoth, which have been obtained often at a 

 considerable distance from the English coast, both in the North 

 Sea and the English Channel, and we shall hardly escape from 

 agreeing with Mr. Godwin-Austen, who infers that at no 

 distant date, geologically speaking, the bed of the North Sea 

 was a great undulating plain traversed from south to north by 

 a mighty river, which carried the tribute of the Thames, the 

 Rhine and other streams, and poured in one magnificent flood 

 into the Northern Ocean. 



The character of the buried timber indicates pretty clearly the 

 kind of climate experienced at that time in Britain. It is 

 impossible to look at the thick bark and the tough resinous 

 wood of the bog-pines, without feeling sure that the winters then 

 were much colder than they are now. A rigorous climate is 



