CHAP, vi.] THE LATE PLEISTOCENE GEOGRAPHY. 151 



From these lines of reasoning it may be concluded 

 that Britain stood at least 60Q feet above its present ' 

 level, and that the rivers of our eastern coast, the 

 Thames, Medway, Humber, Tyne, and others, joined the 

 Ehine, the Weser, and the Elbe, to form a river flowing 

 through the valley of the German Ocean, as repre- 

 sented in the map. In like manner, the rivers of the 

 south of England, and of the north of France, formed a 

 great river flowing past the Channel Islands due west 

 into the Atlantic, and the Severn united with the rivers 

 of the south of Ireland ; while those to the east of Ireland 

 joined the Dee, Mersey, Eibble, and Lune, as well as 

 those of western Scotland, ultimately reaching the 

 Atlantic to the west of the Hebrides. The watershed 

 between the valleys of the British Channel and "the 

 North Sea is represented by a ridge passing due south 

 from Folkestone to Dieppe, and that between the drain- 

 age area of the Severn and its tributaries on the one 

 hand, and of the Irish Channel on the other, by a ridge 

 from Holy head westward to Dublin. 



This tract of low undulating land which surrounded 

 Britain and Ireland on every side consisted not merely 

 of rich hill, valley, and plain, but also of marsh land 

 studded with lakes, like the meres of Norfolk, now 

 indicated by the deeper soundings. These lakes were 

 very numerous to the south of the Isle of Wight, and 

 off the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk. 1 



1 Admiralty Charts, Stieler's Hand Atlas, Ramsay's Orographical Map 

 of England and Wales. 



