CHAP, xiv.] PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF BRITAIN. 483 



land also have been destroyed on the coasts of Lanca- 

 shire and Cheshire, and on those of Essex, Norfolk, and 

 Suffolk. In other places great additions have been made 

 to the land by the accumulation of sand, shingle, and 

 mud. The island of Thanet is now joined to Britain by 

 fertile meadows ; and Komney Marsh, and the large 

 tracts of shingle at Dungeness and Eye, have been 

 formed for the most part since the Eoman Conquest. 

 Great accumulations of alluvium have been formed in 

 the lower parts of our larger rivers, and large areas 

 in Lincolnshire and in Essex have been reclaimed from 

 the waves by the hand of man. The creation of new 

 and the destruction of old land may be taken to neut- 

 ralise one another, so that Britain at the beginning of 

 the Historic period was probably about as large as it 

 is now. It is very unlikely that an island then occu- 

 pied the site of the Goodwin Sands, as is asserted by 

 tradition, for it is incredible that it could have escaped 

 the notice of Ptolemy, who has given such a minute 

 description of the coasts and islands. 



The rainfall at the beginning of the Historic period 

 in Britain must have been greater than it is now, be- 

 cause of the large extent of forest and morass, and the 

 fogs and mists 1 more often intercepted the light of the 

 sun. In other respects the climate was more temperate 

 than on the Continent, and with its extremes far less 

 marked. It was warm enough in the south for the 

 vine, but too cold for the olive. 



The surface of the country was densely covered with 

 trees. In the south the Anderidan forest extended over 

 the greater part of Kent and Sussex, and into Wiltshire 



1 The fogs are generally mentioned in the accounts of Roman Britain. 

 See Mon. Hist. Brit, vii., etc. 



