in reply to Mr. R. C. Taylor. 197 



they ought also to have shut in those which covered the val- 

 leys at the time when the barrier was raised. Supposing the 

 level of the German Ocean to have remained invariably the 

 same, the reflux at Yarmouth haven during the ebb, can- 

 not have been greater than the influx during the flow, of the 

 tide ; no more facility can have been afforded for egress than 

 for ingress; where the rise and fall have been uniformly 

 equal, the volume of water passing and repassing through the 

 same aperture and in the same space of time, must also have 

 been equal. These are self-evident propositions ; and from 

 them it is most manifest diat the ajstuary of the Garienis might 

 have been changed into a lake, but could never have been 

 converted into dry ground by such a process as Mr. Taylor 

 has described. Lake Lothing and Oulton Broad have not 

 been emptied of their waters, in consequence of Kirkley Road 

 having been blocked up ; neither have their basins been filled 

 by alluvial deposits or decayed vegetables. The great depth 

 of those basins has of course prevented their being drained ; 

 but all the evidence given on this subject proves that the wa- 

 ters which they hold maintain their surface at the average 

 elevation of the adjacent sea. This must equally have been 

 the case in the Valley of the Yare. Yet if there be one fact 

 more certain than another in this question, it is that the quan- 

 tity of water existing within the compass of this district has 

 been gready diminished, and is still constantly decreasing. 

 The salt tides, which formerly penetrated to points so far in- 

 land, have all been withdrawn ; the floods which deposited the 

 soil of the pi-esent marshes and meadows have all disappeared ; 

 the showers which have descended from the clouds of heaven 

 have all been carried away ; the streams, supplied by the land- 

 springs of an area of 1420 square miles, have been drained 

 off: not only have all these passed away, but the extent of our 

 Broads has been contracted, and the surface of our river vi- 

 sibly depressed. It is impossible to survey the banks of the 

 latter, without observing that foundations of old buildings, 

 which were clearly laid below the usual level of the water, are 

 now above its ordinary range ; and in the upper part of its 

 course through the city of Norwich, its bed has in some jilaces 

 become so shallow as often to impede the navigation. This 

 fact is still further confirmed by the alteration which, as I have 

 already pointed out, was found to be required at the public 

 staithes; and Mr. Taylor has himself admitted, that there are 

 " conclusive reasons " for assigning to the waters of these val- 

 leys, witliin the period of whicli we possess historical records, 

 a level of as much as " four or five feet above the mean height 

 of the existing rivers." It is clear that this change has not 



been 



