114 A HISTORY OF 



in ancient citadel of the Romans, which was formerly built upon this 

 coast, are now actually under water. To these accidents several more 

 might be added ; our own historians, and those of other countries, 

 abound with them ; almost every flat shore of any extent, being able 

 to show something that it has lost, or something that it has gained 

 from the sea. 



There are some shores on which the sea has made temporary 

 depredations ; where it has overflowed, and after remaining perhaps 

 some ages, it has again retired of its own accord, or been driven back 

 by the industry of man.* There are many lands in Norway, Scot- 

 land, and the Maldivia Islands, that are at one time covered with wa- 

 ter, and at another free. The country round the isle of Ely, in the 

 time of Bede, about a thousand years ago, was one of the most de- 

 lightful spots in the whole kingdom ; it was not only richly cultivated, 

 and produced all the necessaries of life, but grapes also, that afforded 

 excellent wine. The accounts of that time are copious in the descrip- 

 tion of its verdure and fertility ; its rich pastures covered with flow- 

 ers and herbage ; its beautiful shades, and wholesome air. But the 

 sea, breaking in upon the land, overwhelmed the whole country, took 

 possession of the soil, and totally destroyed one of the most fertile 

 valleys in the world. Its air, from being dry and healthful, from that 

 time became most unwholesome, and clogged with vapours ; and the 

 small part of the country that, by being higher than the rest, escaped 

 the deluge, was soon rendered uninhabitable, from its noxious vapours. 

 Thus this country continued under water for some centuries ; till at 

 last the sea, by the same caprice which had prompted its invasions, 

 began to abandon the earth in like manner. It has continued for some 

 ages to relinquish its former conquests ; and although the inhabitants 

 can neither boast the longevity, nor the luxuries of their former pre- 

 occupants, yet they find ample means of subsistence ; and if they hap- 

 pen to survive the first years of their residence there, they are often 

 known to arrive at a good old age. 



But although history be silent as to many other inundations of the 

 like kind, where the sea has overflowed the country, and afterwards 

 retired, yet we have numberless testimonies of another nature, that 

 prove it beyond the possibility of doubt : I mean those numerous trees 

 that are found buried at considerable depths in places where either rivers 

 or the sea has accidentally overflown.t At the mouth of the river Ness, 

 near Bruges, in Flanders, at the depth of fifty feet, are found great 

 quantities of trees lying as close to each other as they do in a wood : the 

 trunks, the branches, and the leaves, are in such perfect preservation, 

 that the particular kind of each tree may instantly be known. About 

 five hundred years ago, this very ground was known to have been 

 covered with the sea ; nor is there any history or tradition of its hav- 

 ing been dry ground, which we can have no douot must have been 

 the case. Thus we see a country flourishing in verdure, producing 

 large forests, and trees of various kinds, overwhelmed by the sea. 

 Wo see this element depositing its sediment to a height of fifty feet ; 

 and its waters must, therefore, nave risen much higher. Wt see th 



* Bnfibn, vol. ii. p. 425. f Ibid, vol. li. p. 403 



