O'Rkilly— Oil the Waste of the Coast of Ireland, ^c. 127 



se montrent encore parfaitemcnt conserves sous la couche a doini 

 carbonisee cles sphaignes ; leur bois devenu aussi noir, aussi dur, 

 que I'ebene, est assez bien conserve pour etrc debite et transforme en 

 parquet. 



As regards the Department de Vendee, the Dictionary says : — 

 " La dans ce que nous nommons maintenant la Bale de Bourgneuf 

 entre la cote de France et Noirmoutier, elle a depose, depose et 

 deposera, des alluvions jusqu'^ comblement, devant le continent 

 toujours accru, ^ I'abri de la roche, et du sable de I'ile, qui s'eleve 

 en briselame contre les vagues du grand large. II n'y apresentement 

 ici qu'une seule terre en mer, IS^oirmontier, mais quand ce rem- 

 blaiement commen9a, le rivage regardait trois iles, Noirmoutiers, 

 au l\r.W., Eetz, rocher de schiste au S.E., et entre les deux, 

 I'tle de Monts, Ce que I'Ocean laissa tomber ici, ce qui y torn e 

 encore, c'est la mine des caps bretons, la vase de la Loire, les menus 

 fragments des caps de 'N'oirmoutiers, et quelques boues des ruisseaux 

 du rivage. De plus le sol s'exhausse, du moins on le croit. Tout 

 endiguement a part, la Prance a gagne durant les deux dernieres 

 siecles quelques 700 hectares dans la Baie de Bourgneuf, ainsi appelee 

 de la ville de Bourgneuf en Retz (Loire Inf.) jadis riveraine, tandis 

 que 2 k.m, de plaine basse et de marais salants, la separent du flot k 

 cette heure ; de meme Beauvoir-sur-mer est ^ 4 km. de la mer." 



If it were merely wished to establish the general fact of the 

 wasting action of the sea on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland 

 many more examples of such wasting action could be cited from 

 Lyell's " Principles of Geology," particularly the excellent details as 

 regards the north-east of Scotland and the east and south-east of 

 England. The main object in making the citations already given, has 

 been to allow of a more just appreciation of the action of the Atlantic 

 waves on the coast of Ireland, and of the consequent waste which 

 must have been, and is incessantly going on day by day, although 

 unobserved and unrecorded for the most part. Tui'ning, therefore, 

 to the examination of the coasts of Ireland, that of the eastern side 

 will be considered first, commencing with the coast-line of Wexford. 



The JVatmial Gazetteer (1868) says of the coast: "The coast is 

 generally low and shingly from Kilmichael Point, in the north-east, to 

 Wexford Harbour, a distance of nearly 30 miles, and is skirted along 

 the entire line by a series of sand-banks marked at their northern 

 extremity by the Arklow ship -light." 



Dr. Joyce, in Philips' "Atlas of Ireland" (1833), says of the 



R.I. A. PROC, XXTV., SEC. B.] ^ 



