540 G. Poulett Scrope — On Pretended Raised Beaches. 



fact in all cases. Probably also many such terraces were inten- 

 tionally formed by the farmers, with the pick-axe, with the object 

 of preventing the descent of soil to the bottom of the hill, and of 

 widening the arable surface ; as is constantly done by the con- 

 tinental cultivators of similar slopes. Again, Mr. Mackintosh 

 says, " Many farmers have assured me that there is now, and has 

 long been, a general desire to plough down the ' lynchets,' and that 

 formerly their number was much greater than at present" (p. 89). 

 No doubt, in the course of time, as two separate strips, " or lands," 

 become united in one estate, or held by the same tenant, it would be 

 for his interest to "plough down" the bank between them, which, 

 being composed chiefly of the finest mould, washed down in preced- 

 ing years from the slope above, would enrich the impoverished 

 land at its base. And, indeed, this occasional " ploughing down" 

 of the banks accounts satisfactorily for their partial disappearance on 

 some points, as well as their " gradation into the more general slope 

 of the ground," which naturally seems to have " bewildered" Mr. 

 Mackintosh, on the assumption of their marine origin. But, sup- 

 posing the banks to be " marine terraces," and, therefore, often com- 

 posed of shingle and shells, this "general desire to plough them 

 down," would be unaccountable. In truth not a single example of 

 a terrace so composed has been produced by Mr. Mackintosh, and I 

 venture to assert none such will ever be found in the situations indi- 

 cated in his theory. 



We all know what a sea-beach is. The Chesil bank is an admir- 

 able example. There is another stretching eastwards, along many 

 miles, from the base of Beachy-head to Hastings. They are composed, 

 like all sea-beaches, I believe (differing in some respects from flat 

 sandy shores), of rolled pebbles or boulders, with or without an ad- 

 mixture of sand, broken shells, and other sea-wrack. Has Mr. 

 Mackintosh examined any of his "raised sea-beaches" and found 

 them, or even any one of them, to be so composed ? Not one ! Has 

 he produced a single sea-shell found in any of them ? Not one ! 

 Throughout his whole description of these numberless banks and 

 terraces, I cannot find that he has even attempted to examine the 

 composition of any — with the single exception of one of a " Series 

 of Terraces near Llangollen," " the finest series of undoubted Old 

 Coast-lines or raised Sea-beaclies I have yet met with, on the face of 

 a hill to the south of Llantysilio railway station — the highest ter- 

 race reaching an elevation of at least 1500 feet." One of these, close 

 to the railway station, Mr. Mackintosh did examine (I presume while 

 the train was stopping, as he says " J had not time to make a parti- 

 cular examination") — but " it seems covered with fine clay, mixed 

 with small stones, some of which are much rounded, and, ivhere 

 the soil has been thrown up by moles, it appears mixed with the re- 

 fuse of decayed shells " — land shells, no doubt. And this is the sole 

 fact or observation relative to the composition of these " innumer- 

 able raised sea-beaches," which Mr. Mackintosh affords his readers, 

 if we except the statement that " Mr. Codrington, F.G.S., and others, 

 have ascertained that a number of the terraces have a deposit of ap- 



