370 



farmers who cut the long sedges {Carex ampulla€ea,paniculata, tere- 

 tiuscula and axillaris), for an admirable covering for stacks. 



There is every reason for believing that a process similar to that 

 described above, has operated in the formation of every one of the 

 " brooks " in our vicinity ; especially the Wild Brook, in which huge 

 trunks of trees, the relics of remote ages, are continually being dug 

 up to this day. In their remains, indeed, we perceive further cause 

 for the creation of a bog, as the deposition of silt and disorganized 

 vegetation in the spaces between the prostrate trunks would have 

 afforded a ready nucleus for fresh deposits. It was here that the in- 

 teresting discovery was made of that huge boat, of ancient British 

 manufacture, which formed, till lately, the first object of attention 

 in entering the gateway of the British Museum. 



A section of the ground usually presents, first, vegetable mould ; 

 then, from four to five feet, and in many places more, of peat, contain- 

 ing considerable masses of decayed vegetable matter, consisting of 

 leaves and trunks of trees. A dark blue clay or silt is then reached, 

 containing fresh-water shells, the deposits of ancient floods. A finer 

 clay follows ; and then the main foundation of sandstone appears. 

 (Manteirs ' Geology of the S.E. of England'). 



In those parts of our county which are watered by the Arun, the 

 Cuckmere, Ouse and Rother, all of which annually overflow their 

 banks, and lay the surrounding country under water, a very slow and 

 gradual rise takes place in the soil, amounting to an average of no 

 more than one half or one quarter of an inch per annum. It is well 

 known how considerable a mass of sand, clay, &c., is carried down 

 the stream of every river. If, as is the case with the river Po, the 

 waters are always confined within their proper channel, without ever 

 flooding the land, the deposit takes place in the bed itself, and be- 

 comes an incessant source of trouble and weariness to the inhabitants 

 of its banks, who are periodically obliged in self defence to dyke up 

 the river, the stream's level being already more than fifteen feet above 

 the level of the land which it traverses. On the other hand, if an an- 

 nual inundation regulaily takes place, the consequence is a very slow 

 rise of the land, so slow as to be almost imperceptible in the life of a 

 man, though certainly considerable enough to force itself at last into 

 notice in certain instances. One case under my own observation is 

 that of a farm house in Hardham, erected many years ago, in a situa- 

 tion fairly out of the reach of the annual flood, but now, in conse- 

 quence of the insidious aggressions of yearly deposits of less than half 

 an inch, well drenched almost every winter, the kitchen and its depen- 



