IRON SAND FORMATION. 27 



the picturesque beauty of the scene is exhibited to peculiar advantage. 

 On the opposite shore, the base of a rock that juts into the water is in 

 Hke manner excavated into an arch, beneath which a little shallop was 

 moored at the time of my visit. In one of the vertical cliffs, some fine 

 young birch trees had taken root between the thin layers that separate 

 the strata, and in almost every fissure of the rocks numerous plants* had 

 insulated themselves, and by the beauty and variety of their foliage, re- 

 lieved the monotonous and sombre appearance of the smooth grey sand- 

 stone. On the less elevated masses, lichens, mosses, and heaths, were 

 growing in great profusion and luxuriance. The strata are nearly hori- 

 zontal, and partake of the characters of those already described. 



A fine lake, overhung with sandstone rocks, and crested with a noble 

 wood, near the seat of the Earl of Shefiield, in the parish of Fletching, 

 might also be mentioned as affording another example of the picturesque 

 scenery, to which the irregular surface of the sandstone gives rise in cer- 

 tain situations. Here, as in other parts of its course, the soil is in ge- 

 neral sterile ; but some spots near Fletching are remarkable for flourishing 

 oaks : these contain six parts of sand, one part of clay, and a considerable 

 proportion of finely divided vegetable matter. One hundred parts of this 

 soil, analyzed by Sir Humphry Davey, gave the following results : 

 Silica - - - - 54 parts. 



Alumina - - - - 28 



Carbonate of lime _ _ _ 3 



Oxide of iron - - - 5 



Decomposing vegetable matter - 4 



Moisture and loss _ _ _ 6 



100 1 

 Near Long-ford, in the parish of Barcombe, a section is exposed by the 

 road leading from Barcombe Cross to Newick Park. At this spot the 

 sand bassets out from beneath the Weald Clay, and forms an elevated bank 



* Among others I noticed osmunda regalis, antirrhinum cymbalaria, polypodium vulgaris, 

 T^fAy^.Jilix mas, lichen rangiferinus, erica vulgaris, &c. 

 f Davey's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, 4to. 



E 2 



