

56 HOLDERNESS. 



The quadrupedal remains which have been found in this lacustrine 

 formation, belong principally to deer. Bones of oxen, likewise, occur 

 in it. Of deer, at least, three species have been discovered in the peat 

 and clay ; the great Irish elk, (C. giganteus,) the red deer, (C. elaphus,) 

 and the fallow deer, (C. dama.) A doubtful skull, (found at Owthorne,) 

 in the possession of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, has some re- 

 semblance to the cranium of the chamois goat. 



The extensive accumulations of peat and trees, along the shores of the 

 Humber and its tributary rivers, happened, probably, at the same period 

 of time as those which have contributed to fill up the ancient lakes of 

 Holderness. This is inferred, with the highest probability of truth, 

 from the position of the peat with respect to the diluvial clay and peb- 

 bles ; for, wherever these occur together, the former is invariably upper- 

 most. The opinion of the peat extending under the whole district of 

 Holderness, was probably founded on the very considerable depth at 

 which it is, in some places, buried under sediment deposited by the sea. 

 But this silt, accumulated by the action of the tide, which composes the 

 surface of the level land in Holderness, may be easily distinguished from 

 the more ancient aggregations of clay, sand, and pebbles, which indi- 

 cate the action of the deluge. No fresh-water shells, nor any such 

 alternations of argillaceous marls as those which lie in the site of former 

 lakes, accompany the peat deposit of the marshlands ; but it is covered 

 by a marine deposit of silt and clay, such as now drops from the muddy 

 waters of the Humber. The depth of this covering is, in some instances, 

 not less than thirty feet, and the peat lies below the low-water mark ; 

 under what circumstances it was collected together, it is not easy to con- 

 jecture. That at the time of its aggregation the sea flowed up the 

 channel of the Humber, appears probable, because the first deposits 

 which cover it are of the same kind as those now dropped by the tide ; 

 that its formation happened soon after the deluge, may be inferred from 

 the fact that it rests almost immediately upon the diluvial detritus; 

 that some remarkable general agency, probably a great land-flood, was 

 concerned in the production of the phenomena, is evident from the ex- 

 tent of the vegetable accumulation. 



