396 NORFOLK BOTANY. {January, 



street to the quay. These Rows are very numerous, upwards of a 

 huudred and fifty, and so narrow that no vehicle of the ordinary 

 description can pass through them. They are all thoroughfares, 

 and lined with houses or courtyards, somewhat in the fashion of 

 Eastern cities, — parva componere magnis, comparing small things 

 with great. 



The spacious market-pla^e is on the most elevated part, and 

 the declivity is towards the sea and the land also. 



The newest erections are on the Denes, and appear to follow 

 the sea, Avhich is annually retreating and constantly adding to 

 the land all along the shore, from the harbour-mouth northwards. 



The grand esplanade, which is probably two miles in length, 

 i. e. from near the Nelson Column to nearly opposite the North 

 Battery, is far from being completed ; and probably ere it is filled 

 with buildings there may be room for another similar line be- 

 tween it and the sea. 



The harbour is well secured at the mouth of the river by two 

 strong jetties, M'hich are intended to prevent the drift from blowing 

 across its entrance. The channel is considerably contracted, and 

 the great expanse of water in the part called Breydon supplies 

 the means of scouring away what would form a bar and prevent 

 vessels of heavy burden from entering. 



The engineering peculiarities of this harbour are simple and 

 eminently successful. The broad or Breydon is a vast reservoir 

 of many hundred acres, and causes a strong current to set in to- 

 ward the sea with the reflux, and thus prevents any very serious 

 accumulation at the harbour's mouth. 



It is probable that in a course of ages Yarmouth may be 

 twenty miles from the sea, and the dangerous navigation called 

 Yarmouth Roads may be united to tenrt firma. There is near the 

 shore a deep channel, where ships ride safely at anchor ; and at 

 some distance beyond, there is a sand-bank, or a series of sand- 

 banks, indicated by buoys, where there is no anchorage, and 

 barely depth of water to admit of small craft sailing over at low 

 water. 



The celebrity of Yarmouth as a fishing-town will pass away 

 when this great bay is entirely filled up and become pastures for 

 herds and flocks, like the present Denes. Fish, worth catching, 

 are usually found on or about sand-banks ; — and though Yar- 

 mouth is not so eminent for its cod as the banks of Newfound- 



