ISLE OF MAN. ALLUVIA. 527 



by the usual waste and change which result from atmo- 

 spheric actions and the gradual corrosion of rivers. At the 

 present moment there is proof that the actions of the 

 tides or currents are changing the form of the bottom. 

 Sensible alterations are now taking place in the submarine 

 banks which occupy the western channel between this 

 island and England; and as a new one appears to 

 be in the act of forming, according to the reports of 

 those who navigate these seas, similar actions may have 

 changed the general shape and outline of this alluvial 

 tract from what it originally was, and may hereafter effect 

 in it further alterations.* It was with a view to the 

 position of this alluvium, indicating a current to the north- 

 wards, that a doubt was expressed respecting the diluvian 

 origin of the deposits which occupy the interior valleys. 

 They should in this case have respected the general cur- 

 rent, and predominated in the same manner on those parts 

 of the hills, which, as far as that current was concerned, 

 may be called their lee sides. The observations are not easy 

 to make, perhaps they have been ill made, and it is there- 

 fore possible that the intricacy in the arrangements of the 

 hills and valleys, may have prevented this tendency from 



* While on the subject of those changes which the action of the sea 

 appears to have produced on the outline of this island, it is necessary to 

 mention the discovery of a submerged wood in Pool vash bay. This 

 was observed after a violent gale from the south, which, by removing the 

 sand, disclosed the remains of a forest lying in a horizontal position, the 

 trees having fallen towards the shore. Their nature could not be ascer- 

 tained, as the texture of the wood was nearly destroyed; but it was 

 said to resemble cedar in colour and softness. It might have been some 

 harder wood which had undergone this change by the progress of decom- 

 position. The phenomenon itself is not of uncommon occurrence, and, 

 if its existence here cannot be satisfactorily explained, we must recollect 

 that it has in other situations been attended by equal difficulties. I need 

 not remind geologists of the other cases which have been recorded, nor 

 of the speculations which have been resorted to for explaining some of 

 the most obscure examples. 



