66 DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST. 



Hence the cliff rises, and before we arrive at Atwick it has attained 

 the height of forty feet. Here, a little gully divides the whole cliff and 

 crosses a fresh-water deposit of one hundred yards in length, (K). This 

 consists of bluish and yellowish clay above, and whiter clay with 

 shells beneath, resting on pebbly clay. Opposite Atwick is another such 

 deposit fifty yards in length. At this place, an elephant's tusk was 

 found of extraordinary dimensions, and is preserved in the collection of 

 Dr. Alderson, at Hull. The beacon on Skirlington hill, the highest 

 point of the coast between Hornsea and Skipsea, is almost sixty feet 

 above high water. Hence it descends gradually northward, and at a 

 height of forty feet, we observe a fresh -water deposit ten yards in length. 

 Further on, the pebbly clay sinks below the level of high water, and 

 forms a wide hollow, in which is an extensive and interesting lacustrine 

 deposit, (L). Its length is about a quarter of a mile ; its extreme eleva- 

 tion above high water at the south extremity, is twelve feet, but in the 

 middle only four or five feet. The series of depositions from fresh water 

 is as follows : 



Peat. Its utmost thickness is seven feet : where this happens, the lower four feet 

 six inches are solid, and break like clay. The upper part is then fibrous. Yellowish 

 clay, full of paludina tentaculata, cyclas cornea, and a few specimens of lymnaea stagna- 

 lis. This is seen only on the southern side of the hollow. Blue clay, full of cyclades. 

 Here is some phosphate of iron. This rests upon gravel, under which is blue clay. 



In this deposit, an old man, who was employed in collecting gravel, 

 accidentally discovered the head and horns of the great extinct elk, 

 whose remains abound in the bogs of Ireland, and the Isle of Man. 

 Subsequently, the lower jaw was discovered by the researches of Arthur 

 Strickland, Esq. The horns are a little larger than the fine specimen in 

 the Dublin museum, described by Mr. Hart, and measure eleven feet four 

 inches by the circuit of the horns, and six feet eight inches between their 

 tips, and there is a peculiarity in the brow antler, which I have never 

 seen in any other specimen. It is expanded at the end, and furnished 

 with three short digitations. The obliteration of the sutures of the 

 cranium indicates the maturity of the individual, though from the per- 

 fection of the teeth, it does not appear to have been aged. This is the 

 second and largest specimen of the gigantic elk which has been found 



