cm the Coast of Tiree, ^c. 129 



dual fact of this kind should not lead us to the ascription of a 

 cause more powerful than is sufficient to account for its occur- 

 rence ; still the existence of marine depositions above the pi-e- 

 sent level of the sea, can be accounted no surer a proof, that 

 what is now dry land was once the bed of the ocean, than the 

 existence of such non-marine and vegetable remains under the 

 waters of the sea, is a proof that what is now the bed of the 

 ocean was once dry land. 



The number of observations made in demonstration of the 

 latter truth, have been necessarily fewer than those by which 

 the former is supported ; yet great as the difficulties obviously 

 are, in obtaining knowledge of situations which are compara- 

 tively inaccessible, the facts ascertained even on the coast of 

 Britain are by no means unimportant. 



Proceeding northward of Tiree and Coll, we find at Loch- 

 alsh, near the manse of the Reverend H. Maclean, a bed of 

 submarine moss extending into the sea considerably below low 

 water-mark * ; and still further north, to the Orkney Islands, 

 Mr Skaill has related f a fact very similar to that which occurs 

 at Tiree . " The sand in the Bay of Skaill being removed by a 

 storm, exposed a great moss, containing fir-trees, &c. in a very 

 decayed state ;" and what renders the connection of the two cir- 

 cumstances complete, " there were numerous small seeds inter- 

 mixed (with the decayed leaves) about the size of a turnip-seed, 

 of a reddish colour."" Turning to the south-east, Dr Fleming 

 has observed a submarine forest in the Frith of Tay near 

 Flisk |, which, along with decayed trees, contained the shells of 

 nuts whole, but having no kernel. J. Correa de Serra has de- 

 scribed II such another submarine moss, but of great extent, 

 and traceable in one unbroken bed to a considerable distance 

 into the interior of Lincolnshire. At Mounts Bay in Cornwall 

 mossy ground is found stretching into the sea 300 yards beyond 

 high water-mark §; and in the neighbouring islands of Scilly, 

 stone-fences and ruins, the remains of ancient architecture, are 



• Stated on the authority of the Reverend H. Maclean. 

 t Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. iii. p. 100. 

 X Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions, vol. ix. 

 II Ibid. 1T89, p. 146. § Ibid. 17ft7- 



APRIL — .TUNE 1829- 1 



