94 A RECENT LANDSLIP ON JORDAN CLIFF. 



Having described the strip itself, which subsided on May ist 

 last, I would point out further that it is only one of a series of 

 very similar slips of which I know of no historical or traditional 

 record, but some of which, from appearances, must have taken 

 place in very recent times. The horizontal distance from the 

 cliff to the sea in this part amounts at the east end of the " May 

 slip," which is, as will be remembered, at the extreme top of the 

 hill, to about 150 yards, roughly speaking, and in this distance 

 something like seven or eight slips can be traced more or less 

 distinctly, each forming a terrace with a steep slope behind it. 

 About the middle of the May slip the ground is very much broken 

 up with recent cracks, showing that the whole must have moved 

 lately, probably last May, but in most parts it is much less 

 rugged, and, if no more slips take place for a long period, it will 

 no doubt become an irregular succession of smooth terraces 

 varying in breadth, as at present, from about 5 to 20 yards. 



This suggests an idea, in passing, that some of the terraces we 

 see on the sides of hills, for which many causes have been 

 assigned, such as worms, sheep, cultivation, the denudation of 

 strata of varying hardness, the ancient action of rivers, &c., 

 may be due to a succession of small landslips such as have 

 occurred here. 



The diagram of section of cliff does not lay claim to extreme 

 accuracy, as it was made from rough measurements, without 

 instruments, but it is sufficient to give a very fair idea of the 

 section of the cliff at a point about 250 yards to the east of the 

 gate which is on the May landslip, or about half a mile to the 

 east of the River Jordan. The part filled in with horizontal lines 

 represents the unmoved portion of the cliff below the landslips, 

 which have slid down over it. The part filled in with vertical 

 lines represents the portion which has-moved in different succes- 

 sive landslips, and has not yet fallen over the cliff into the sea. 

 At the lower end of this comes a steep cliff with the seashore at 

 the bottom. The faces of both this and the cliff at the top are 

 bare of grass, or nearly so, the remainder being quite covered. 

 There are a few cracks of a foot or so broad towards the top, but 



