250 



,V=" 



^^ 



Wicklow, Wexford and 

 Waterford, and at Bal- 

 lycotten, Kinsale and 

 Castletown-bearhaven,in 

 the county of Cork. 

 These observations in- 

 dicate that the subsi- 

 dence in these islands 

 was general as regards 

 the southern portion of 

 their areas*. 



The substratum of 

 the section described is 

 the upper portion of the 

 London clay (1); which 

 is here very fossiliferous 

 and dips to the north, or 

 towards the chalk ridge 

 at Hilsea. This however 

 is merely an undulation 

 of the strata, as all the 

 lower beds are brought 

 up in succession before 

 we arrive at the chalk, and the red plastic clay from 

 Stamshaw, about a mile to the north, is used for 

 making the dams water-tight, a purpose for which, 

 from its weight and tenacity, it is admirably adapted. 



Resting on the London clay is the forest (2) with 

 the roots of trees in situ, at a depth of 1 6^ (in another 

 place 29) feet below high-water. It dips towards the 

 north and the inner part of the harbour. Similar re- 

 mains may also be seen at low-water on the sea-coast 

 outside the harbour, between South-Sea Castle and 

 Lump's Fort ; but I had not the means of ascertaining 

 in either case, to what depth below the level of the 

 sea the forest extends. 



Amongst the peaty matter which is 2 feet thick in 

 the same stratum with the trees, we find the Lacuna 

 Montaguei indicating the presence of very shallow salt 

 water and the growth of the Zostera marina on which 

 that mollusk feeds. Over this peat is (3) a blue clay 

 4 feet thick similar to the present estuary mud, and 

 containing the common shells now found in the 

 harbour. Above this clay there is a bed of shingle 

 (4), which seems to indicate that the sea at some 

 subsequent period had broken into the estuary. One 

 can well imagine how the low land along this coast 

 may have been subject to such accidents : indeed if 

 a violent gale or any other cause should carry away 

 the narrow neck of shingle connecting Black House 



* The Preventive Service men along the coast near Hastings 

 get their principal supply of fire-wood out of the submarine 

 forests in that neighbourhood at low spring tides. 



