ROOM III. JOURNEY FROM LONDON TO BRIGHTON. 215 



interest the reader, who now can only catch a glimpse of the 

 physical structure of this interesting district as he is whirled 

 along by the railroad at the rate of thirty miles an hour, to 

 learn the appearances presented to the outside passenger on 

 the stage coaches that plied from Brighton to London at the 

 period to which the introduction of this part of our little 

 volume refers. 



I had once the gratification of acting as cicerone to my 

 friend, M. AGASSIZ, who has added to his high European repu- 

 tation by his scientific labours in the new fields of research 

 which his genius and perseverance have explored on the other 

 side of the Atlantic ; and leaving Brighton on the outside of 

 " The Age" on a bright May morning, I described the geo- 

 logy of the district to the Swiss philosopher, who, though 

 just returned from the sublime and majestic scenery of the 

 Alps, was delighted with the lovely landscapes, and the inte- 

 resting physical phenomena, of the Downs and Wealds of my 

 native county, over which we travelled on our route to the 

 metropolis. . ""' 



The direct turnpike roads from London to Brighton pass 

 over the entire series of tertiary and secondary strata of the 

 South-East of England. Proceeding from the Thames, the 

 traveller successively traverses the ancient silt that forms the 

 present banks of the river, then a level tract of drift and 

 diluvium, consisting of loam and gravel, in which remains of 

 Elephants and other large terrestrial mammalians are occa- 

 sionally found ; and if he proceeds by the Reigate road, he 

 goes through the beautiful suburban districts of Clapham, 

 Tooting, &c. and passes over beds of gravel and clay, the 

 ancient shores of the London basin. 1 



At Sutton he ascends the chalk hills of Surrey, and travels 

 along an undulated tract, formed of the elevated masses 

 of the chalk-ocean. Arriving at the precipitous southern 

 escarpment of the North Downs, a magnificent landscape, 

 displaying the physical geography of the Weald, and its varied 

 and picturesque scenery, suddenly bursts on his view. At his 

 feet lies the deep valley of Gait, in which Reigate is situated, 

 and immediately beyond the town appears the elevated ridge 



1 See Memoir on the Geology of Surrey," by the Author, in Brayley's 

 History of the County, published by Mr. Ede, of Dorking. 



