CHAPTER VI 

 THE SAND AND PEBBLES OF THE SEASHORE 



rHE " beach " on our English coast is an accumu- 

 lation of pebbles or of sand, or of both, often 

 accompanied by dead shells and other fragments thrown 

 up by the sea. Very generally it slopes rapidly from 

 above high-water mark to about half-tide limit, and then 

 merges into a more horizontal expanse of fine, compact 

 sand. This last is not " a beach " thrown up by waves, 

 but a sediment or deposit. It forms a flat, often ripple- 

 marked plain (much has been written as to how those 

 ripple-marks are produced), which is exposed at low 

 water, the sea retreating for a quarter or even half a 

 mile or more over it, on some level shores. Sometimes, 

 though rarely, the sea rises and falls against a hard, 

 rocky cliff without forming any beach or exposing any 

 " shore " even at low tide. This occurs on parts of 

 the Cornish coast, where the Atlantic beats against 

 adamantine cliffs, which even at low tide rise sheer from 

 the water. Again, it sometimes happens that the shore 

 is simply formed of a terrace of sloping hard rock, 

 without any " beach." But on the coast of England 

 generally there is a good beach of sand or pebbles, or 

 both, overlying the native rock or clay, and sometimes it 

 is growing every year, so as to extend the land surface 

 seawards and add new acres to the possessions of the 



landlord. 



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