298 Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Natural Embankments formed 



matted covering of turf: meanwhile, another mound is form- 

 ing externally, and by the like process rises and gives protec- 

 tion to the first. Occasionally the sea forces its way through 

 one of these external and incomplete mounds, but it is singular 

 to observe how soon the breach is repaired. After a while, 

 the areas inclosed by these concentric embankments become 

 pasturage. The marine plants are succeeded by a better species 

 of herbage, the quality of which improves in each successive 

 area, as step by step we approach from the latest to the ear- 

 liest formed, at the base of the ancient cliff. Become suffi- 

 ciently firm to support buildings, they are now occupied by 

 numerous dwellings and offices, where it is recollected the sea 

 formerly flowed ; the change being effected not through the 

 depression of its level, but from the obvious operations I have 

 traced. 



About seven miles further south, another Ness is formed, at 

 Covehithe Point, and is about half the extent of the last de- 

 scribed, (fig. 3). Here are five principal concentric I'idges, 

 four of which are now occupied by the Arundo arenaria. This 

 Ness has also materially increased in our own times, and pre- 

 sents the same characters as the last. It is stretched across an 

 ancient inlet of the sea, resembling Lake Lothing, or the 

 Yarmouth Estuary, on a reduced scale, and forms a complete 

 barrier to the entrance of the sea into a low valley which is 

 partly occupied by a small fresh-water lake. 



The drawings which illustrate this and Lowestoft Ness, are 

 copied from my surveys of this coast in 1825-1826. 



The other sketch (fig. 4.) contains a remarkable illustration 

 of the power of the ocean to form alluvial barriers, and to block 

 up the outlet of a considerable stream. It would appear on 

 an examination of the site, as well as from a consideration of 

 the map of the district, that at some remote period the river 

 Aide entered the sea at Aldborough : that a repetition of 

 the process which diverted the mouth of the Yare four miles 

 to the south, effectually barred the ancient outlet of the Aide, 

 and transferred it to a point no less than ten miles to the 

 south-west ; where, being reinforced by the waters of a second 

 river, it enters the sea, in a line nearly parallel with the coast. 

 The external ridge of sand forming Orford Ness, on which 

 the lighthouses are erected, has a strong resemblance to those 

 we have before described, and stretches round so as to form a 

 complete bulwark to the low lands between Aldborough and 

 Hoilesley. 



It is to be observed that the progress of the sand in covering 

 the newly-formed ridges, and also of the plants which follow 

 that operation, particularly in the three first instances, is from 



the 



