force on some parts than on others ; hence the sand is 

 raised in clouds, carried, and deposited in a part 

 not far distant; but which, from a similar cause, 

 will, in a few weeks perhaps, be taken up and brought 

 back again ; thus shifting from place to place. 



There are numerous places in the world, where simi- 

 lar circumstances occur; in many of which during the 

 prevalence of high winds, the inhabitants are threaten- 

 ed with destruction. Such is the case at Norfolk, in 

 latitude 55 N. where " the small cottages are some- 

 times totally buried under sand during high winds.' 7 * 



In the sixth volume of the transactions of the Irish 

 Academy, an account is given of the encroachment of 

 sand over some parts of Ireland. Trees, houses, and 

 even villages have been covered or surrounded during 

 the last century. The roofs still rising above the 

 waste attest the period and progress of desolation. 



Mr. Bakewell, in his introduction to Geology, ob- 

 serves, * The loose sands of Lybia are spreading 

 over the plains that border the .Nile, and burying the 

 monuments of art and the remembrances of former 

 cultivation. From a similar cause the country imme- 

 diately round Palmyra, that once supplied a crowded 

 population with food, now scarcely aiTords a few with- 

 ered plants to the camel of the wandering Arab."f 



Linnaeus says, " The Dutch are obliged to sow the 

 sea mat-weed, or marrau, (which will only grow on 



* StilHngfleet'8 Tracts, page 75. 

 t See fiakeweil, page 254. 



