BRAUNTON BURROWS. 283 



tufts of the wood horse-tail were springing in con- 

 siderable numbers. 



Between Santon and the sea is an extensive tract of 

 ground called Braunton Burrows, consisting of more 

 than a hundred acres of sand-hills. It seems to have 

 •been at one time a wooded district ; for a peasant, ex- 

 cavating the sand about a century ago, uncovered 

 the top of a tree, which proved to be thirty feet in 

 height. The origin of the change is doubtless to be 

 found in the exposed position of the district, and in 

 the character of the adjacent shore. The latter is a 

 smooth beach of fine white sand, several miles in 

 length, and of great breadth, especially vrhen the tide 

 recedes ; the westerly winds, blowing full upon the 

 shore, have in the course of ages drifted the fine sand 

 upon the land, to such an extent as to cover what 

 was once a forest, and reduce it to its present deso- 

 late condition. 



These Burrows, so called because they are perfo- 

 rated by the holes of myraids of rabbits, present 

 many interesting plants to the botanist, some of which 

 are of great rarity. The round-headed club-rush 

 fScityus JioloschaenusJ one of the most uncommon 

 of British plants, is found here. 



Before I examined the sands, however, I sought 

 the rocks towards Croyde Bay and Baggy Point; for 

 it was nearly low water and spring tide, and I wished 

 to see what this locality would afford of novelty in the 

 littoral animals, which were the chief object of interest 

 to me. The sands terminate at this extremity in a 

 belt of ridgy shale, occupying the space between the 

 sea and low cliffs of a yellow sandstone, disposed in 



