296 Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Natural Emba7iJcments formed 



of every engineer who has reported on this important subject, 

 that nothing but a continuation of the same unremitting vi- 

 gihmce hei'etofore exercised, will prevent the closing of that 

 opening for all useful purposes. That this evil is not hypo- 

 thetical is certain ; because it has occurred no less than eight 

 times in the period above stated. A constant effort is going 

 on, on the part of Nature, to stretch the barrier, she has pre- 

 viously constructed, entirely across the ajstuary, so as either 

 completely to shut out the low grounds from the sea, and to 

 unite, by one continuous sand-bank, Caister with Gorleston, 

 or to divert the current of the river along the base of the Gor- 

 leston cliffs. It is counteracted alone by artificial means ; by 

 the application of the back waters, and the employment of a 

 forest of timber. An inspection of Plate II. fig. 1. will ren- 

 der further details of this locality inexpedient. 



When referring to the agency of vegetation, in contribu- 

 ting to raise those natural mounds around our shores, it was 

 not intended to convey the impression that such elevations 

 were heightened by the accumulation of solid vegetable matter. 

 By the agency employed in these cases, it is scarcely neces- 

 sary to observe, is meant, that singular disposition of certain 

 plants, the Arundo arenaria or Marram * in particular, to col- 

 lect around ihem, to hold in a net-work composed of their 

 fibres, stems and branches, the loose and shifting sands ; — to 

 bind in one comparatively compact mass, a substance which is 

 apparently little adapted to the important office it is designed 

 to fulfill. 



The ceconomy of Nature, in forming these sand-ridges, is 

 by no means an uninteresting object of contemplation. 



Perhaps by chance a small portion of the Arundo fixes it- 

 self upon a shingle bed, with scarcely sand sufficient to cover 

 the first root. Rapidly it sends around its creeping stolones, 

 and these serve to arrest some portion of the sands that are 

 constantly moved by the winds. Occasionally the quantity is 

 sufficient, for a time, to overwhelm the young plant : soon it 

 rises with increased vigour to the surface ; now appearing not 

 as one, but as many plants. Again the sand accumulates : 

 layer after layer succeeds ; the Arundo spreads its shoots still 

 further and higher, and always sends forth its creepers in 

 search of the newly collected sand. By its agency a small 

 hillock is formed, which in time, and by an extension of the 

 same vegetative and accumulative process, becomes a ridge 

 many feet in elevation; or a sand cliff" on which the most 

 boisterous wave is rarely capable of encroaching. I had an 



* From the Gaelic Muran, the Sea Reed, or perhaps from the Dutch 

 Marren ' to bind ' ? 



oppor- 



