Forests of Holder ness. 285 



No trace of the penetration of roots into the clay beneath was 

 remarked along several miles of cutting: the trees were mostly 

 in fragments, lying in confusion, and collected into a few 

 spots, while the brandies and decayed leaves, &c, were more 

 generally spread. Phosphate of iron was frequently seen, 

 but 1 obtained no bones. 



5. These appearances were observed at intervals along a 

 great length of the drain ; and they show to a certainty that 

 the term ' subterranean forest ' is wholly inapplicable to these 

 vegetable accumulations, if it be meant by this term to de- 

 scribe forests submerged in the place of their growth. On the 

 contrary, the whole is clearly a water-drifted mass of frag- 

 mented and uprooted trees, bushes, branches, fruits, land 

 shells, &c. It was interesting to observe that the quantity of 

 trees and peaty matter, where no evidence of river channels 

 could be seen, increased toward the gravelly hills ; and I was 

 much impressed with the probability that the trees and bushes 

 had grown on these hills, and after falling by decay or violent 

 tempests, had found resting places in the neighbourhood, and 

 been gradually covered by sediment from the tide, then, per- 

 haps, for the first time admitted. Only one layer of peat and 

 trees was anywhere seen, and this observation is general for 

 the low lands connected with the Humber. 



6. Between the villages of Swine and Waghen, or Wawn, 

 the drain crosses a remarkable flat morass, of about 100 acres 

 in extent, and circumscribed by gravel knolls, called Wawn 

 Turf Car. Toward the north-western margin of this morass 

 a great number of stumps of trees rise 1 or 2 feet above the 

 coarse grassy surface, and suggest to every beholder the no- 

 tion of a humid forest, which had perished by violence of 

 wind rather than by decay or the hand of man. They are 

 nearly of equal and rather large size, stand in attitude of growth, 

 with expanded roots, at distances such as old and large trees 

 planted by Nature observe. As Jar as we could find, every one 

 of these stumps belonged to the same kind of tree, viz. the 

 Scotch fir, and the alteration of the interior wood is inconsi- 

 derable. If they were ever marked by fire or axe, the traces 

 are obliterated. They are not blackened, except under the 

 surfaces where the roots penetrate into a deposit of peat and 

 buried timber 6 or 8 feet in thickness. From the excavation 

 through this deposit vast numbers of trees were pulled out by 

 main strength, from amidst the carbonaceous mass, and laid in 

 heaps on the bank. These trees were found prostrated in all 

 directions, generally with the branches and extreme roots 

 broken off, but in other respects very little injured ; they were 

 mostly blackened within, but capable of use in forming con- 



