282 Fifth Conference 



hand start on the journey. The first portion is by 

 rail. An observation car of one large compartment 

 is secured, if possible. With very little direction the 

 following main facts in descriptive geography are 

 observed and connected with their causes: — 



1. The low alluvial deposit extending from London 



Bridge to New Cross is at once recognized. 

 Here and there amidst the acres of dwelling- 

 houses a patch or two of the old fertile 

 garden ground of Hatcham may be seen. 



2. At New Cross the elevation of the land changes. 



Instead of running over arches level with 

 the house tops, the railway enters a wide 

 cutting, and here abundant evidence is 

 afforded of the slipping tendency of the 

 London Clay. Trenches at intervals are 

 recognized, built into the Clay to prevent 

 it filling up the railway cutting. Beyond 

 Forest Hill the flat Clay fields are readily 

 identified. 



3. Immediately after leaving Croydon the railway 



passes along a cutting through the gravel and 

 sand hills of the Lower London Tertiaries. 

 Beyond this cutting the student looks back 

 upon the Shirley and Addington Hills — a 

 beautiful feature in the landscape entirely 

 due to the change from the London Clay 

 to the Gravel of the Lower London Ter- 

 tiaries. The train is now passing over the 

 Chalk, and at Purley Station, where a change 

 of train affords an opportunity to observe 

 the surface aspects, the characteristics of 



