PETRIFIED TREES. 279 



gravel to the top of the cliff, falls in a cascade to 

 the sea-shore. 



Petrified Trees. — The prostrate fossil trees 

 at Brook Point were first noticed by Mr. Webster 

 thirty years ago.* After describing the clays and 

 sandstones of the cliff, Mr. Webster states that he 

 " observed many masses of a coaly blackness, bear- 

 ing the exact form and resemblance of trunks of 

 trees that had been charred, lying on the beach, 

 and imbedded in the clay-cliffs, and also in the 

 rock. In some parts the ligneous fibre was still 

 evident ; in others the wood had been converted 

 into a substance much resembling jet, its black- 

 ness being intense, its cross fracture conchoidal, 

 and its lustre very great. Other parts of the trees 

 were entirely penetrated by pyrites, and groups 

 of crystals of this substance were frequently 

 attached to the outside. On lifting up some of 

 the sea-weed, that grew upon the shore between 

 high and low water-mark, I was astonished to find 

 almost all the rocks below them composed of pe- 

 trified trees which still retained their original 

 forms. The knotty bark and ligneous fibre were 

 very distinct ; and trunks and branches were fre- 

 quently imbedded in masses of clay now indurated 

 and in the state of argillaceous rock." 



* Sir H. Englefield's Isle of Wight, p. 153. 



