AT LOUISBOIIRG, CAPE KRETOX. MclNTO.SH. 269 



mind, leaves but a very narnnv 'margin of possibility for the 

 truth of the hj'pothesis of subsidence. 



Let us now return to the Beach Battery, and here we can 

 anticipate the questions : Wh}' does that battery appear par- 

 tially submerged today i Why should tlie Frencli engineers 

 build batteries out in the sea when there was sufficient dry 

 land upon which to build them i 



To the first question we can easily reply, that the fact that a 

 row of ordinary piles was driven along its northern face has in it 

 more than a mere suggestion that the structure was originally 

 placed out in the water. There is the additional fact that the 

 timbers which constitute the cribwork structure do not lie 

 horizontall}'. but wherever they are exposed they are found to 

 have a seaward slope corresponding closel}- to the slope of the 

 sea floor upon which they rest. If placed on dry land these 

 timbers would in all probability be placed horizontally. 



But as synthetic reasoning demands an hypothesis capable 

 of embracing all the observed facts, I would in answer to the 

 second question invite your attention to the supposition that the 

 Beach Battery was built to combat another f oe <2» besides the 

 British. 



Reference to a present day plan of the harbour will show a 

 conspicuous concavity in that portion of the beach lying south- 

 easterly from the po.sition of the battery and a prominence at 

 the point where its remains are to be found which must strike 

 the eye of the most casual observer. 



These facts taken in concert with those already enumerated 

 in this connection seem to justify the following retrospect: — • 

 The beach was gradually wearing away, and its drift caused by 

 the eroding action of the ground-swell arising from easterly 

 gales was constantly travelling along the shore towards the 

 west. This must be stopped and the wisdom of the engineer 

 who planned this structure has its monument in the fact 



(2) In fact an ordinary "spur" for preventing denudation and not a fortification at 

 all, in original intention at any rate.— Major O. ('. Williamson, R. A. 



