320 Eocene Outliers. 



by the carbonic acid in rain-water, and thus pockets 

 of Eocene strata have been preserved. The proof of 

 this original extension westward is shown in the follow- 

 ing diagram. 



FIG. 61. 



1. Chalk. 2. Part of the main mass of the Eocene beds. 2'. Out- 

 lying patch of the Eocene beds near the edge of the escarpment. 



It is impossible that these outliers could have been 

 originally deposited on this the edge of the Chalk, and 

 not also on other strata that lie west of the present 

 escarpment, and therefore it may be assumed that they 

 originally extended further westward, and with the 

 Chalk, have been denuded backwards till they occupy 

 their present area. But the Eocene beds being formed 

 of soft strata chiefly clays and sands though they 

 make undulating ground, form no bold scenery. They 

 rest in patches on the tableland, or in a large and some- 

 what depressed area in a manner shown at 12, fig. 57. l 

 Such is the general manner in which the southern part 

 of England has attained its present form. 



Nearly the whole of the west of England, that is to 

 say, of Devon and Cornwall, and of Wales, consists of 

 Palaeozoic strata, viz. : Devonian and Old Eed Sandstone, 

 Cambrian, and Silurian with all its igneous interstrati- 



1 Were I going into extreme details on this part of the subject, 

 there are many distinctive features in the scenery of the Eocene 

 formations dependent on synclinal curves in the strata, and other 

 accidents, and the same remark may be extended to the scenery of 

 many formations more important in a scenic point of view. The 

 plan of this book purposely excludes such details, my object being 

 merely to explain the connection of the greater geological features 

 of the country with its physical geography. 



