BELISAMA OF PTOLEMY. 385 
we mentioned, is only thirty feet above high wa- 
ter, and without any lock in its course. 
When we further consider, that all the flat 
country, called the Ince Marshes, lies at a level 
of half-tide, and would be widely overflown, if it 
were not for the cops along the water’s edge; and 
that at the distance of four and a half miles up the 
valley of the Gowy, the rise above the sea-level 
is not more than thirty-eight feet, while several 
other places above this and on each side do not 
exceed fifty feet,* a just idea may be formed of 
the altered geography that would be presented 
by a submergence to the extent alluded to. 
Allowing, therefore, the sea-level to be renewed 
to the height which has been mentioned, either 
from the subsidence of the land, or the reaction 
of the sea, we would find, if not the still water, 
at least the tide to reach far up the vallies of the 
Dee, the Gowy, Weaver, and Mersey; while a 
similar rise in the water-level on the coast to the 
northward, would again submerge great part of 
the lower Fylde country, the levels to the north 
and west of Ormskirk, and again connect Marton 
Mere with the tidal estuary, as it appears once 
* See the Ordnance Survey Maps. 
