20 GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 



between the western and central divisions of the South Downs, fomi 

 a marshy alluvial plain, through which the Ouse winds its way to the 

 British Channel. This tract consists of silt, clay, and peat, and is nearly 

 ten miles long ; its breadth varying from half a mile to two miles and 

 a half. Towards the north-western confines of this plain, are two 

 remarkable oval mounds or hillocks of chalk marl, situated at a short 

 distance from each other, near the borough of Southover. They bear 

 the name of Rhies, a provincial term derived from the Saxon hryg, a 

 heap, or longitudinal projection*, and are about seventy feet high, and 

 from two to three furlongs in length. 



The sketches comprised in Tablet II. will, it is presumed, assist in 

 illustrating the relative position of the several chains of hills by which 

 this district is traversed, and remove any obscurity that may occur in the 

 preceding description. 



No 1. presents an outline of the southern aspect of the country in 

 the vicinity of Lewes, taken from a mill near the town ; it shews the 

 Firle and JSTewhaven hills, the extensive tract of marsh land that fills up 

 the interval between them, and the Bhies, which are situate in the midst 

 of the Levels. 



The view from the eastern brow of Mount Harry, No. 2, exhibits the 

 relative situation of Beachy Head, Firle and Newhaven hills, and several 

 other ranges of Downs, that either have been already noticed, or to which 

 we may have occasion to refer in the course of these investigations. 



No. 3. is a profile of Cliff Hills; it exposes a partial section of the 

 strata, and points out the situation of several of the principal chalk-pits 

 in the vicinity of Lewes. 



sheep down, three hundred feet above my house ; which though never above three feet deep in 

 the middle, and not more than thirty feet in diameter, and containing perhaps not more than two 

 or three hundred hogsheads of water, yet never is known to fail, though it affords drink for 3 

 or 400 sheep, and for at least 20 head of large cattle beside." White's Nat. Hist, of Selhoimie, p. 206. 

 What however appears to me more extraordinary is the fact, that soon after a new pond 

 has been made, and has received a partial supply of water from a few passing showers, it 

 becomes inhabited by various kinds of fresh-water plants and shell-fish, and even frogs and 

 lizards ; although it may be remote from any other pond, and at an elevation of four or five 

 hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country. 

 * History of Lemes, 8vo. 1795j page 416. 



