34 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



less deep and less broad, it must, therefore, force 

 itself to a higher level. Other causes, however, 

 may lead to the permanent rise of the sea in 

 certain places ; for instance, it is possible that 

 the current which unceasingly rushes into the 

 Mediterranean, may in the course of centuries 

 have gradually widened the entrance; and con- 

 sequently a greater quantity of water now pours 

 in. This, combined with the deposits from 

 the Rhone, the Po, the Nile, and other rivers, 

 may, perhaps, account for the well known fact 

 of the eastern end of that sea being now higher 

 than it was formerly ; many foundations of houses 

 and other vestiges of buildings being visible there 

 several feet under water. 



But none of these causes will account for 

 the extensive submarine forests which have been 

 discovered on several parts of the English coast, 

 for example, in Lancashire, and in the Bristol 

 Channel, near Bridgewater. In excavating the 

 West India docks, in the Isle of Dogs, near 

 London, a complete stratum of decayed hazel 

 trees was found : the wood and bark were quite 

 soft and decayed, but the nuts were in tolerable 

 preservation. Your aunt, I believe, has some 

 specimens of them, which she will readily shew 

 you. The remains of the submarine forests of 

 Lincolnshire were examined not very long ago, 

 by a gentleman who has published a paper on 

 the subject in the Philosophical Transactions, 



