48 HOLDERNESS. 



on these sides it is exposed to a turbulent sea, which its loose materials 

 are ill calculated to resist. Its greatest length is somewhat less than 

 forty miles, and its extreme breadth about sixteen. It includes about 

 three hundred and eighty square miles of surface, of which, perhaps, 

 seventy square miles are marshland, relinquished by the sea, according 

 to a regular process of nature, or reclaimed by the enterprising industry 

 of man. The remainder of the surface, though, on a general view from 

 the wold-hills above, it appears like one extended plain, is found, on closer 

 inspection, to be remarkably undulated ; and though no land in the 

 whole district exceeds one hundred and forty feet in height, yet, as the 

 vallies are often sunk to the level of the sea, the hills assume a degree of 

 importance which a stranger would by no means expect. 



The long straight line of its coast, which is so remarkable a feature 

 in the topography of Holderness, furnishes the most advantageous op- 

 portunity of examining its geological structure ; for these cliffs, daily 

 wasted by the sea, exhibit distinct sections of nearly all the materials 

 that exist in the country. The drains which intersect the marshland, 

 and the wells which have been found necessary in a country having few 

 natural springs, complete the facilities for its investigation. 



There is, perhaps, hardly any district in the island, which displays in 

 so striking a light the powerful effects of the deluge as Holderness ; for 

 in this country its accumulations compose the whole mass of every hill, 

 and form the deep foundation of every marsh. In the cliffs of the coast 

 and in the gravel-pits of the interior, remains of antediluvian animals are 

 frequently met with, and the interest which these discoveries cannot fail 

 to excite, is increased by the abundance of the alluvial deposits which 

 have happened in the same country at various subsequent periods, and 

 contain the bones of animals of a more recent date. The remains of 

 creatures overwhelmed by the flood, and of those which perished after it, 

 lie here not far asunder ; the circumstances attending their destruction 

 may be deliberately examined, and the contemplative mind is presented 

 with a physical record of the principal changes to which the surface of 

 the earth has been exposed from the deluge to the present day. 



