ALLUVIUM AND PEAT. 



231 



The section of this Alluvium at Shippard's Chine has long 

 been noted for the occurrence in it of timber and the shells of 

 nuts. These were first noticed by Mr. Webster, who described 

 them as follows : — 



" It was near to this place, that I had been informed, fossil 

 fruits had been found in great abundance, and which were regu- 

 larly called in the island, Noah's nuts. . . . Near the top of 

 this cliff lie numerous trunks of trees, which, however, were not 

 lodged in the undisturbed strata, but buried eight or ten feet deep 

 under sand and gravel. Many of them were a foot or two in 

 diameter, and ten or twelve feet in length. Their substance was 

 very soft, but their forms and the ligneous fibre were quite dis- 

 tinct : round them were considerable quantities of small nuts, 

 that appeared similar to those of the hazel. None of the wood 

 nor fruits were at all mineralised. . . » No hazel whatever 

 now grows upon the island. . . . Pieces are sometimes found 

 so fresh as to bear being worked into furniture."* 



Fig. 82. 

 Sketch of Gravels with Hazel Nuts in Shippard's Chine. 



'm^'i^^y-;,^^:^'^ 



''UW- 



a. Ferruginous loam 

 6. Black clay 



c. Pale ferruginous clay 



d. Black carbonaceous clav 



inches, f. Angular flint gravel, hardening into 



- 6 conglomerate. 



- 6 g. Coarse sand, with fragments of fine 



- 6 sandstone, nuts, twigs, branches, &c. 



- G h. Eed mottled clay of the Wealden. 



The sketch forming Fig. 82 was made in the southern side 

 of Shippard's Chine in June 1856. The upper two feet consisted 

 of black peaty clay and ferruginous pale clay, overlying ferru- 

 ginous loam, which rested on angular flint gravel, sometimes 

 hardening into conglomerate, beneath which was a coarse sand 

 enclosing fragments of fine sandstone. This sand, based upon 



* Sir H. Englefield's Isle of Wight, p. 152. 



