THE BASIN OF THE WASH. 



221 



bordering upon the Wash are consequently not at all comparable to those of the 

 Meuse or Rhine. Hence the inhabitants of the country of the Fens have not 

 recently been called upon to contest with the elements the possession of the soil 

 which bears their habitations. 



The geological history of the two countries is the same, for the sea has struggled 

 for the possession of both, Near Peterborough, at a distance of 25 miles from 

 the actual coast, oysters and molluscs have been found in large quantities, mingled 

 with fresh-water shells. In Whittlesea Mere, now drained, the bones of seals 

 have been discovered by the side of those of other animals, and at Waterbeach, 



Fig. 109.— The Wash. 



Scale 1 : 240.000. 



ForebiiOie 



Depth 5 to 10 

 Fathoms. 



Depth over 10 

 Fathoms. 



5 Miles. 



within 10 miles of Cambridge, the remains of a whale have been unearthed. 



There can be no doubt that the whole of this district of the Fens was formerly 



covered by the sea, and formed a huge marine estuary.* But at the glacial epoch 



the country had already emerged, for every where beneath the recent alluvial deposits 



we meet with gravels and boulder clay, and at that time a broad plain probably 



united England to the continent. t Even after the glacial epoch, when oscillation 



of the soil and erosive action of the sea had completely changed the face of the 



country, the district of the Fens yet retained a sufficient elevation to become the 



* Evans, " Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain." 



t Kamsay, " Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain." 



