I ON A PIECE OF CHALK 25 



is now the river Somme, for instance, having cut 

 its bed a hundred feet deeper between that time 

 and this ; and, it is probable, that the climate was 

 more like that of Canada or Siberia, than that of 

 Western Europe. 



The existence of these people is forgotten even 

 in the traditions of the oldest historical nations. 

 The name and fame of them had utterly vanished 

 until a few years back ; and the amount of physical 

 change which has been effected since their day 

 renders it more than probable that, venerable as 

 are some of the historical nations, the workers of 

 the chipped flints of Hoxne or of Amiens are to 

 them, as they are to us, in point of antiquity. But, 

 if we assign to these hoar relics of long- vanished 

 generations of men the greatest age that can 

 possibly be claimed for them, they are not older 

 than the drift, or boulder clay, which, in com 

 parison with the chalk, is but a very juvenile 

 deposit. You need go no further than your own 

 sea-board for evidence of this fact. At one of the 

 most charming spots on the coast of Norfolk, 

 Cromer, you will see the boulder clay forming a 

 vast mass, which lies upon the chalk, and must 

 consequently have come into existence after it. 

 Huge boulders of chalk are, in fact, included in 

 the clay, and have evidently been brought to the 

 position they now occupy by the same agency as 

 that which has planted blocks of syenite from 

 Norway side by side with them. 



