50 PAPERS, ETC. 
Cliffs; but atthat awful period is it not probable 
that the Steep Holme was divided from Brean 
Down? The strata of rocks are in both the same, 
and there is also a small vein of lead running 
through each ofthem. Supposing such to be the 
case, what would be likely to have been the result 
of the destruction of such an immense natural break- 
water? I should imagine the waters from the 
Severn and the Bristol Channel, would rush violently 
through the chasm, and carry with them the ruins 
of the shattered hills, which would be more than suf- 
ficient to form the foundation for theslab and sand 
to rest on, which now form the boundary of the sea. 
When we pass alongthe road from W oolavingtonto 
Mark, known as the causeway, we see by the ditches 
that all the rich land, as far as the commencement 
of the turbaries, was formed by the slime from the 
sea. The sand-tots are continually augmented by 
strong westerly winds, and are occasionally repaired 
by the land owners. 
We now come to the turbary, the edge of 
which, in the parish of Woolavington, bounded 
to the west the fresh water lake, which ex- 
tended from thence to the isle of Avalon. It was 
of vast extent, including the lowlands of many 
parishes. It is supposed the Pheenicians visited 
Britain about the year 333, before Christ, and as 
they partially settled here with the ancient Britons, 
or first inhabitants, we can reasonably conclude that 
at that period the Avalonian lake (as I term it by 
