SB Dr. Duncan on the Foot-Marks of Animah 



deposited subsequently to the period in which the tracks were 

 left on tlie surface of the sand. 



7//i, As far down as the quarry has yet been worked, which 

 is not less than forty-five feet perpendicularly from the top 

 of the rock, similar impressions have been found, and these 

 equally distinct and well defined with such as are nearer the- 

 surface. 



8///, The impressions are not confined to a single stratum, 

 but have been found on many successive strata. Since the 

 foot-marks were first discovered, about forty yards of sand- 

 stone have been removed in a direction perpendicular to the 

 line of strata, and throughout the whole of that extent, im- 

 pressions have, at frequently recurring intervals, been uncov- 

 ered, particularly in one part of the quarry, and still contin- 

 ue to be uncovered. 



Hence it must be inferred that the process, whatever it 

 may have been, by which the impressions were buried in the 

 sand, that of drifting by storms for instance, has not been oc- 

 casioned by any sudden or isolated convulsion of nature but 

 has been carried on through many successive years or rather 

 ages. Nor has it been the result of tides on the shore of 

 the sea, which can scarcely be supposed to have flowed to 

 the height of between forty and fifty feet ; and even if they 

 had done so, would certainly have swept away or filled up 

 any impressions which animals might have made at low wa- 

 ter, by moving over the surface of the sands they were de- 

 positing. 



In the midst of so much difficulty, it is not easy to form 

 even a plausible conjecture as to the manner in which the 

 sand composing the rock was originally accumulated. It 

 might, however, be perhaps worth while to inquire whether 

 or not this successive accumulation could be the effect of 

 the drifting occasioned by violent winds from the south-west. 

 Supposing a sand-hill to be thus formed, a period of rainy 

 weather following the stormy season would soften and diffuse 

 the particles of clay, which may easily be believed to have 

 mingled with the sand-drift, and would not only prevent the 

 sand from being again moved by the wind, but would form 

 it into a substance of some tenacity, resembling mortar, well 

 fitted for preserving any impression which it might receive. 

 If, during or immediately after the rainy season, animals 

 were to traverse a hill thus formed, their tracks would be 

 either altogether obliterated, or partially filled up, of which 



