Fisher — Denudations of Norfolk, 557 



eastern than in the western parts of England, and that the bottoms of valleys would 

 have been still occupied by ice here, after they had become clear of it in the west. 

 Hence the commencement of the process of filling up would have been delayed, 

 and whereas it is completed elsewhere, it would be still in progress here. 



The windings of the valleys also appear to be on a larger scale than can be due 

 to such rivers as the size of their gathering grounds could produce. This is 

 especially noticeable in the valley of the Bure. Thus Belaugh church stands on an 

 isthmus of high ground, and the valley takes a sweep round it three miles long, 

 returning almost to the same point again. The actual river winds in small curves 

 at the bottom of the great valley. Now Mr. Fergusson in a paper on the Ganges^ 

 tells us, that the magnitude of the curves, in which a river oscillates, increases with 

 the width of the river, and though it is not easy to discover the exact relation, yet 

 it is evident, if his views be correct, that such curves, as those of the Belaugh 

 valley, could not have been made by the stream of the river Bure, even under con- 

 ditions of much greater precipitation. But the erosion caused by the sweeping 

 course of a wide and slowly moving stream of ice, seems to me capable of having 

 formed them. 



The valley of the Waveney and Little Ouse, which forms the southern boundary 

 of the county, has some peculiar features of interest. I have already referred to 

 facts which render it probable that there has been from very early post-cretaceous 

 times, a submarine valley of erosion in this direction. ^ But it is evident from an 

 inspection of the country, that the present valley was formed at the same time as 

 others around it, although its position may have been determined by previous 

 events. 



The peculiarity of this valley is that it intersects the watershed at right angles, 

 and slopes east and west to the German Ocean and the Wash. The watershed in 

 the valley is formed by a very low ridge of sandy ground, not more than four or 

 five feet high, and 235 yards across. East and west of this commence wide fens, 

 which occupy the upper end of the eastern and western portions drained by the 

 Waveney and Little Ouse respectively. The Ordnance map is deceptive in making 

 it appear that these rivers rise together, and then separating, flow east and west. 

 It is not so. The sandy tract just mentioned intervenes. But what is material to 

 my purpose is that the valleys of these two rivers do not really commence at this 

 watershed. The Waveney really rises in Norfolk to the north of this, and the 

 Little Ouse in Suffolk to the south. The valleys then inosculate, and thus the 

 appearance of one continuous valley reaching from sea to sea is produced. 



If the excavation of this valley had been produced by river action, it is incon- 

 ceivable how it could havQ been excavated over the watershed. For an eighth of 

 a mile the bottom of the valley is almost flat, and there is no natural watercourse 

 through it. If the two streams had done the work, they should have been sepa- 

 rated by an elevated ridge, not by a flat area. If, on the other hand, two glacier 

 streams had descended from the lateral valleys, they would have widened out 

 where they made their bends to the east and west, and, mingling at their edges, 

 might, I think, have ground down the surface to a nearly uniform level at the 

 watershed. The shape into which the valleys are cut on the confines of the water- 

 shed, and the manner in which they narrow, subsequently favour, I believe, this 

 view. 



Another feature of the surface peculiar to this district is the occurrence of small 

 sheets of water, usually called meres, on the higher parts of the county in the 

 neighbourhood of the watershed. They are usually the sources of small streams. I 

 examined one of these which has been lately drained. It is called Rockland Mere. 

 It is a true basin about eight feet deep. It is now occupied by peat, and at the 

 present season there is scarcely any moisture draining from it. It is excavated in 

 Boulder-clay, and the country bordering on it sinks gradually to it, showing no 

 feature whatever. I cannot conceive rain or rivers having excavated these meres, 

 nor are they of marine oiigin, for there is no symptom of a sea bottom. The sur- 

 face at Rockland, as shown in the drain, has the ordinary character of the Boulder- 

 clay, with a covering of trail, and in one spot, about 200 yards below the outlet, 

 this trail consists of clayey gravel, with large flints from the Boulder-clay, cutting 



^ Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xix,, p. 323. 

 1 P. 545. 



