A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



remains reposing on the sand, the relics of a wood mainly composed of 

 hazel, and to a smaller extent of alder, elm and oak ; while hazel-nuts and 

 the remains of insects, especially of beetles, are abundantly preserved. 



A small portion of a submarine forest occurs at Millendreth Bay 

 near Looe. Another at Maen Forth to the south-west of Falmouth has 

 been described by the Rev. Canon Rogers, who observed the stump of an 

 oak in its position of growth with peaty material enclosing its roots and 

 containing the remains of the common yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus] still 

 flourishing in the adjoining swamp. 1 He also noticed the remains of a 

 submarine forest with stumps of oaks and willows in their original 

 situations a little above the level of low water at Porthleven near 

 Helston. Mr. Nicholas Whitley has described another at Porthmellin. In 

 the Hayle estuary, the Dunbar Sands at the mouth of the canal at Perran 

 Forth, Lower St. Columb Forth, Mawgan Forth, and numerous other 

 localities, traces of submarine forests also occur. In 1898 we observed 

 a tree stump detached from its original position on Pendower beach in 

 Gerrans Bay, indicating a submarine forest in that vicinity. 



The subsidence of the land which these forest beds imply is con- 

 firmed by the evidence of the deposits which line the mouths of our 

 estuaries. The search for stream-tin has been the means of dissecting 

 these accumulations below the level of the sea, both at Restronguet 

 Creek and at Pentuan, where remains of a forest growth in its natural 

 position are buried beneath an accumulation of deposits exceeding 

 50 feet in thickness, which overlies the stream tin. At Pentuan, Mr. 

 Colenso, in 1829, found roots of the oak in their natural position at the 

 base of this deposit with oyster shells still fastened to some of the stumps. 

 These were overlain by a stratum of dark silt, about a foot in thickness, 

 on the top of which was spread a layer of like extent formed of the 

 leaves of trees, hazel nuts, sticks and moss, the moss in a perfect state of 

 preservation, and affording evidence of having grown in the position 

 where it was found. This latter layer occurred at a depth of about 30 feet 

 below the level of low water, and supported a stratum 10 feet thick 

 sprinkled with wood, hazel nuts, together with the bones and horns of 

 deer, oxen, etc. ; and shells of the same species as those which now exist in 

 the neighbouring sea arranged in layers in such a position as to suggest 

 that the animals lived and died where their remains were found. In an 

 overlying bed of sand, 20 feet in thickness, were the remains of trees 

 lying in all directions, together with the relics of red deer, and the bones 

 of whales. This in its turn was overlain by another bed of sand and gravel 

 20 feet thick, which extended to the surface. On the upper portion of 

 the superficial layer, on the level with the low water at spring tides, were 

 found the remains of a row of wooden piles, apparently used in the con- 

 struction of a footbridge, which, if correct, would imply a subsidence of 

 the land since that portion of the human era when man had reached the 

 stage capable of such construction. 



1 In the submerged forest at Maen Forth Mr. Samuel Roberts discovered the horns of a deer at 

 present in the possession of Mr. Robert Fox of Falmouth. 



8 



