65 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



for St. Patrick's Causeway) and the Merioneth coast ; 

 they are found once more along the entire line of the 

 Bristol Channel ; they fill up the hollows of Falmouth 

 Harbour, of Torbay, and of Dartmouth ; they recur here 

 at the embouchure of Venlake ; they extend along the 

 whole Sussex shore ; and even on the east side of Eng- 

 land they have been traced in the estuary of the Thames, 

 at Cromer in Norfolk, in the Wash, and near the mouth 

 of the Humber. 



In fact, the evidence goes to show that at no very 

 remote period the land of England stretched further out 

 to sea in every direction than it does at the present day. 

 That most lively and amusing of mediaeval writers, 

 Giraldus Cambrensis whose entertaining travels would, 

 I am sure, be much more read if his name did not sug- 

 gest incongruous notions of dry monastic chroniclers 

 has given us a full and really scientific account of one 

 such submerged wood which he came across in South 

 Wales ; and ever since his time notices of these sub- 

 marine remains have frequently been published. Yet 

 no general explanation of their occurrence had been 

 attempted till within the last few years. Even now, 

 only a small number of scientific men have thoroughly 

 realised the wide range of the facts to be explained in 

 the case of the English coast. 



The date of the submerged forests is, geologically 

 speaking, quite modern. The stumps are still woody in 

 texture, showing a bright pink hue when cut ; and they 

 would sometimes make very good timber if the softened 

 outer layer were once scraped off. Twigs, nuts, and 

 even leaves are often found almost unaltered in the 

 brown clay which surrounds the stumps. In the Bristol 



