THE STORY OF THE ISLAND RIVERS 91 



flat called Morton marshes. These marshes stretch out 

 into the flat known as Sandown Level, which occupies the 

 shore of the bay between Sandown and the Granite Fort. 

 What is the meaning of this extension of the alluvium 

 away from the course of the river out to the sea at San- 

 down ? A glance at it as pictured on a geological map 

 will suggest the answer. We see clearly the alluvia of 

 two streams converging from right and left, and uniting 

 to pass to the sea through Brading Harbour. But the 

 stream to the right has been cut off by the sea encroaching 

 on Sandown Bay : only the last mile of alluvium is left 

 to tell of a river passed away. We must reconstruct the 

 past. We see the Bay covered by land sloping up to east 

 and south east, the lines of downs extending eastward 

 from Dunnose and the Culvers, and an old river flowing 

 northward, and cutting through the chalk at Brading 

 after being joined by a branch from the west. This old 

 river must have been the main stream. For it was a 

 transverse stream, flowing nearly at right angles to the 

 ridge of the anticline ; while the Yar comes in as a tribu- 

 tary in the direction of the strike. Of other tributary 

 streams, all from the right are gone by the destruction of 

 the old land. On the left streams would flow in from the 

 combes at Shanklin and Luccombe streams which have 

 now cut out Shanklin and Luccombe chines. 



Passing the gap in the downs the river meandered about, 

 and, with marine deposit, washed in by the tides, formed 

 the expanse of alluvium which occupies what was Brading 

 Harbour, a harbour which in old times presented at high 

 tide a beautiful spectacle of land-locked water extending 

 up to Brading. Inclosures and drainings have been made 

 from time to time, the upper part near Yarbridge being 

 taken in in the time of Edward I. Further innings were 

 made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; and Sir Hugh 

 Middleton, who brought the New River to London, 

 made an attempt to enclose the whole, but the sea broke 



