THE CHANNEL SLOPE. 



129 



upon whose denuded surface are exposed rocks of mere ancient date tlian the chalk 

 of the surrounding downs. When the Normans invaded England, the Forest, or 

 "Weald," of Andred, or Andredes, still covered the whole of this region, but the trees 

 have been cut down and converted into charcoal, and consumed in the smelting fur- 

 naces erected near iron pits which have long since been abandoned as unprofitable. 

 The clays, sands, and limestones of this district were in all probability deposited in 

 the delta of some river equal in volume to the Ganges or Mississippi. Its hardened 

 alluvium contains in prodigious quantities the débris of terrestrial plants, marsupials, 

 terrestrial reptiles and amphibiae, mixed with the remains of fishes, turtles, and fresh- 

 water shells. It was to the south of this ancient delta, in Tilgate Forest, near 



Fig. 71. — Beachy Head. 

 From an Admiralty Chart. 







«776 3>^ 



n xio a f- o a /î.t^ ^v^ 



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u. .JO , U ^ - -i7 -.^ •P^"^ :;.:1<.../;-?y-;;:»-->^^.S.4 --^ 



■Ji -/i 





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13 



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Lewes, that Dr. Mnntell discovered the first skeleton of the gigantic Iguanodon, an 

 herbivorous land reptile. 



The range of the Northern Downs which separates the Weald from the valley 

 of the Thames terminates in the east with the cliffs of Folkestone and Dover, but is 

 continued on the other side of the strait in the hills to the east of Calais. All 

 that part of England is being encroached upon by the sea, which is constantly 

 undermining the cliffs. In many parts the footpath which conducts along their 

 summit terminates abruptly in front of a newly formed precipice, and the traveller 

 desirous of passing beyond is compelled to strike out for himself a new path 

 through the herbage, farther away from its edge. It is more especially the cliffs 

 116 



