338 Denudation of 



have been brought about. The idea that the Wealden 

 area once formed a vast oblong bay, of which the Chalk 

 hills were the coast cliffs, is exceedingly tempting ; for, 

 standing on the edge of the North Downs near Folke- 

 stone, and looking west towards Ashford, and south-west 

 across the Romney Marsh, it is impossible not to com- 

 pare the great flat to a sea overlooked by all the bays 

 and headlands, which the winding outlines of the Chalk 

 escarpment, both of the North and South Downs, are 

 sure to suggest. And in less degree the same impression 

 suggests itself, wherever one may chance to stand on the 

 edge of the Chalk Downs, all the way from Folkestone 

 to Alton and Petersfield, and from Petersfield to East- 

 bourne. For years, with others, I held this view ; but 

 for years, with me, it has passed into the limbo of 

 hypotheses no longer tenable. 



If the Wealden area were lowered into the sea just 

 enough to turn the Chalk escarpments into sea-cliffs (see 

 Map and fig. 72), we should have the following general 

 results. Let the line a b represent the present sea 

 level, and the lines s s s the level of the sea after 

 depression ; then, so far from the area presenting a wide 

 open sea, where heavy waves could play between the 

 opposite North and South Downs, we should have an 

 encircling cliffy coast of chalk c ; the base of which 

 cliff, if we follow the escarpment all round from the 

 neighbourhood of Folkestone to that of Eastbourne, un- 

 like all common coasts, would in some cases be washed 

 by the ordinary tides, while within a mile or two, the 

 depth of the sea close to the cliff of chalk must have 

 been from 200 to 300 feet. In other words the base 

 of the Chalk and Upper Grreensand all round the Weald 

 from Folkestone to Eastbourne could not have formed 

 a continuous shore line in recent times, for some 



