150 RAISED BEACH AT GOWER. [i860. 



on " Bosco's Den," relating to the connection of marine remains 

 under, and in association with, the wonderful mass of bone 

 cMbris you and Colonel Wood had discovered there. At the 

 distance of about half-a-mile west of Paviland Cave I found a 

 gully, by which I got down to the shore. 



I then found in hollows in the cliff, and at an elevation of 

 10 to 12 feet above the beach, a layer of sand and rolled lime- 

 stone pebbles having all the characters of a beach ; but in the 

 absence of shells, and looking at its small patchy character, no 

 conclusion could be drawn from it alone. The passage at the 

 foot of the cliffs being still impracticable, I had to confine myself 

 for the next mile or two to one or two descents, where I again 

 found traces of what appeared to be a raised beach. Still I was 

 not prepared for the very fine and remarkable exhibition I 

 witnessed, after passing Mewslade, at the bottom of the small 

 bay formed by Thurba Eock and Tears Point, about one mile 

 south of Rhos Sili. There, perched upon the escarped edges of 

 the grey weathered limestone, is an old beach, raised some 10 to 

 12 feet above high-tide mark. It is composed of pebbles and 

 fragments of limestones, thinly mixed with a coarse red sand, 

 and in places full of shells and fragments of shells. There are 

 very few species : the Patella vulgata is common ; the Littorina, 

 littorea abounds ; there are a few Purpura lapillus, and fragments 

 of Mytilus; also pebbles of limestone drilled by boring shells. 

 The whole, which is 3 to 4 feet thick, is agglutinated into a 

 semi -compact mass, and is overlain by a remarkable mass of 

 angular ddbris, from 20 to 30 feet thick in some places. The 

 beach goes back only a few feet, as the limestone hill rises 

 immediately behind. Coastways the raised beach continues 

 almost uninterruptedly, but diminishing in importance for half 

 a mile westward, ending before reaching Tears Point. Its level 

 is persistent throughout. . . . 



Taking this in connection with the well - known " raised 

 beach" at the Mumbles, I think it may have an important 

 bearing, in conjunction with your discoveries in those bone 

 caves in Gower, which are situated on the coast between these 

 two points. They are evidently on about the same level, and 

 you have found in them sand and sea-shells under all the bone 

 remains. Should it prove, therefore, that the caves are of this 



