against the German Ocean on the Norfolk arid Suffolk Coast. 301 



themselves of it. An instance of undoubted authenticity may 

 be mentioned, in the formation of 1600 acres of valuable land, 

 within the last three years, by Colonel Cheyke, of Rawcliff, 

 near Thorne, in Yorkshire. It was accomplished by the pro- 

 cess of warping; that is, by inclosing a given space, upon which 

 the turbid waters of the River Ouse precipitated their silt. 

 The first portion of the land so inclosed consisted of 429 acres, 

 "on the surface of which was deposited, in one year, a fine al- 

 luvial soil of the average depth of three feet*." This new 

 land was let off' at not less than 35 shillings per acre ; and 

 the gold medal of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts 

 was awarded to the proprietor. Subsequently, above 1100 

 acres more, in two portions, have been formed ; and in a let- 

 ter from that gentleman, in 1825, it is stated that he obtains a 

 deposit oifrom three to four feet in one year^ upon that area. 



That an average accumulation, to the extent even of a hun- 

 dredth part, was required for the formation of the low marsh 

 lands in the eastern valleys, it is unnecessary to conceive ; but 

 it is evident that, during the long lapse of ages, such a system 

 was slowly performing by nature, under circumstances favour- 

 able to the operation. 



In proportion as the entrance for the tidal waters was gra- 

 dually restricted, and their escape was impeded, did the .Testuary 

 of the Yare remarkably resemble one of those large artificial 

 inclosures which are embanked for the purpose of wai'ping. 

 Had an engineer, in remote times, projected the conversion 

 of this once extensive waste of waters into a tract of valuable 

 land, as it now exists, his principal operations would assimi- 

 late to those which Nature by degrees performed without his 

 intervention. Were those natural barriers which have inter- 

 rupted the entry of the great body of water, removed ; were 

 our aistuaries again emptied of the ooze and alluvium which 

 have filled them, — the same circumstances, making reasonable 

 allowances for the interposition of man, would be renewed ; 

 the waters would again flow up to the walls of Norwich, as 

 high and as freely as they ever did ; the same system of ob- 

 struction and silting would re-commence; and finally would 

 re-conduct to the same phajnomena as are at the present mo- 

 ment exhibited f. 



There are strong reasons for considering that the other 

 acstuaries (whose openings are sketched in the plate,) were 

 also consolidated by the like influence. 



• Trans. Society for the Encour. of Arts, vol.xliii. 



f One fact, adverted to in agricultural rc|)orts, and not wholly to be 

 overlooked in an in(|uiry like the [)resent, is, that in the great Marshland 

 district of West Norfolk, those parts which are situated the most remote 

 from the sea, and were the earliest inclosed, arc on a loivvr level than those 

 which were reclaimed at a subsequent r)eriod. 



The 



