194 BURIAL OF THE REMAINS Chap. IV. 



earth brought up by insects, and some accu- 

 mulation of dust, much fine earth will have 

 been washed over the ruins from the upper 

 parts of the field, since it has been under 

 cultivation ; and from over the ruins to the 

 lower parts of the slope ; the present thick- 

 ness of the mould being the resultant of these 

 several agencies. 



I may here append a modern instance of 

 the sinking of a pavement, communicated to 

 me in 1871 by Mr. Ramsay, Director of the 

 Geological Survey of England. A passage 

 without a roof, 7 feet in length by 3 feet 2 

 inches in width, led from his house into the 

 garden, and was paved with slabs of Portland 

 stone. Several of these slabs were 16 inches 

 square, others larger, and some a little smaller. 

 This pavement had subsided about 3 inches 

 along the middle of the passage, and two 

 inches on each side, as could be seen by the 

 lines of cement by which the slabs had been 

 originally joined to the walls. The pave- 

 ment had thus become slightly concave along 

 the middle ; but there was no subsidence at 

 the end close to the house. Mr. Ramsay 



