Mr. K. C. Taylor on the Geology of East Norfolk. 351 



are founded. May I not here be allowed to register those 

 premises and those conclusions which, alter a careful orvcto- 

 logical examination, appear opposed to those of Mr. Robberds? 



The shells which are deposited at the height of 40 feet, on the 

 sides of certain valleys, belong to an antediluvian formation ; 

 therefore they cannot be admitted as evidence of supposed 

 changes, or of events that liave occurred subsequently to the 

 deluge. 



There is no direct or reasonably inferred proof remaining 

 of the postdiluvian operations of the sea at such an eleva- 

 tion upon our coasts ; therefore the assumption that the Ger- 

 man Ocean was 40 feet higher than at present, and has gra- 

 dually fallen, is unsupported. 



That at an early period of what may be termed, in geolo- 

 gical phrase, the existing state of our globe, the sea entered 

 the mouths of these aestuaries, and rolled its tides far up into 

 the interior, I can no more doubt than the respectable autho- 

 rity, who has collected so many indisputable proofs. The dif- 

 ference, and that no trivial one, between us, lies in the amount. 

 I differ as regards the quantity and elevation of the tidal wa- 

 ters, after their admission into these valleys; being satisfied 

 that such elevation was inconsiderable, and that in no sensi- 

 ble respect were the waters of the surrounding ocean, since 

 the existence of man upon this island, higher than at the pre- 

 sent moment. 



To render this more intelligible, it is necessary to trace the 

 causes of the change in the level of the inland waters, and of 

 the bed of the valleys themselves, to their probable origin; 

 commencing from the period at which it is proved that such 

 flats openly communicated with the sea. 



The set of the great tidal current of the German Ocean is 

 from the North-west, along the eastern shores of this island. 

 It consequently happens, that wherever any portion of the 

 land projects bevond the general line of coast, and consists of 

 any material which yields to the action of those tides, such 

 exposed points have, from the earliest recorded periods, been 

 gradually reduced and rounded off", and the debris has been 

 uniformly deposited to the southward ; either forming shoals 

 in the sea, or elevating low tracts of land upon its borders. 

 Thus the detritus of the chalk strata at Flamborough Head 

 and the diluvial cliffs of Holderness have contributed, in the 

 slow progress of years, to increase the alluvial districts near 

 the Humber. In their progress southward, the tides next meet 

 with an extensive obstruction in the projecting county of Nor- 

 folk. About twenty miles of its coast has been subjected, from 

 time immemorial, to the abrasive action of ocean currents. 



The 



