CHAP, viii.] SUBMERGED FORESTS. 253 



which covers it near the mouth of the river Alt, at High 

 Town. The depth to which the forest has been sub- 

 merged in this district cannot be less than thirty 

 feet. It is worthy of remark that the enormous trunks 

 of the trees prove that the Scotch firs, oaks, yews, 

 willows, and birches, of which the forest was in these 

 places mainly composed, must have grown at some 

 distance from the ancient coast-line, since the westerly 

 winds sweeping over Lancashire from the Atlantic at the 

 present time prevent the free growth of vegetation on 

 every unprotected spot on the coast. The prevalent 

 gales, however, are proved to have been very much 

 the same as now, by the position of the trees, which 

 lie prostrate with their heads pointing towards the 

 east. 



Evidence similar to this is to be found in the 

 forest growths on the coasts, extending underneath 

 the alluvium at the mouths of our rivers, as for 

 example that of the Thames, which shows that the 

 submergence has not been local, and tliat the depression 

 of land throughout Great Britain and Ireland, since the 

 trees flourished, could not be less than from thirty to forty 

 feet. The ten-fathom line, therefore, considered by Sir 

 Henry de la Beche to be roughly the boundary of the 

 land at that time, may be taken to represent the sea 

 margin with tolerable accuracy. In that case a consider- 

 able area would be added to the land surface of Britain, 

 and especially of Cardigan Bay, of which the "Welsh 

 peasant still tells the story of the land swallowed by the 

 sea ; and off the coast of Lancashire and Cheshire, where 

 the size of the submerged trees proves that they grew 

 some distance from the sea-board ; as well as off the 

 coasts of Essex and Lincolnshire. It would include the 



