UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 27 



" Even the mighty action of the sea has a si- 

 milar tendency to impose a limit to its own ra- 

 vages ; for it wastes its fury in vain on the barrier 

 of loose stones which it had beaten from the cliff 

 that they now protect. 



"On some coasts, however, the agency of the 

 sea does produce an injurious change. Where 

 the shore is low, and consists of a flat, sandy bot- 

 tom, the sand is thrown up by the surf; at every 

 reflux of the tide, it becomes partially dried ; the 

 winds blow it higher up, and thus ranges of sand- 

 hills are formed parallel to the beach. They en- 

 croach on the land so rapidly, that districts, which 

 a few years ago were inhabited, are now become 

 desert plains of sand. This takes place on a 

 large scale, in many parts of the world ; even in 

 Norfolk it has been found that the only means of 

 arresting the progress of the sand is to plant thick 

 hedges of furze. On the east coast of Scotland, 

 much property was laid waste by this destructive 

 enemy, whose advance was occasioned about a 

 hundred years ago, by the imprudent removal of 

 the trees and the 6en-grass which grew on the 

 sand-hills. The effects were so alarming, that 

 an act of parliament was made in the reign of 

 George II. to prohibit the destruction of that 

 useful plant, the sea bent-grass, which Providence 

 has kindly formed to grow in pure sand, and to 

 keep it firm. The Dutch may be said to owe 

 their existence to it, as its spreading matted root 



D 2 



