1862.] KENTISH BOTANY. 83 



thought, by tlie force of their own merit, " a gift which Heaven 

 gives, which buys a place next to the king." 



KENTISH BOTANY. 

 A Chapter on the Botany of Thanet. — No. II. 



One of the chief objects of our visit was to trace the uppei* 

 stream, the ' Wantsume,' or northern fork of the Stour as some 

 might call it, in order to observe the site of the ancient channel, 

 and to see whether or not any vestiges of an ancient sea-beach 

 were still discernible. 



At a very remote period the River Stour flowed into the sea 

 or strait, which then was between the island and the mainland, 

 and it neither joined the sea at Pegwell Bay, near Sandwich, nor 

 at Reculver, on the estuary of the Thames. Since these times, 

 this channel or strait has been so completely filled up by sudden 

 convulsions and by the gradual accumulation of alluvial deposits, 

 not unaided by artificial means, that where ships once sailed 

 there are now rich meadow-lands, grazed by thousands of cattle, 

 horses, and sheep. The flat marsh extending from Pegwell Bay 

 to Heme Bay still bears the traces of its ancient condition, to 

 which it would probably return in the course of a very few cen- 

 turies were it not well protected from inundations by strong 

 barriers, which resist the force of the tides and waves. 



We investigated first the southern branch of the Stour, viz. 

 that which is alleged to separate itself from the main stream at 

 Grove Ferry and to flow south into Pegwell Bay. Some days 

 subsequently we surveyed the northern branch, that which is 

 said to flow into the estuary of the Thames at Reculver. For- 

 merly, that is before the period of authentic history, this north- 

 eastern part of Kent was separated from the kingdom of Kent by 

 the sea, or the sea flowed round it both on the western side as 

 well as on the north, the east,, and the south sideSi Bede, in his 

 'Ecclesiastical History,' gives the following account of this 

 island and strait, as quoted by Lcland : — 



" There is on the east side of Kent the Isle of Tanet of a 



