OF THE SEA AT WESTWARD Ho ! ATT 
The long rolling waves have at high spring tides a tendency to 
scoop deep furrows in the pebble beach, of course at right angles to 
the shore-line ; the layer of sand then becomes exposed at various 
points. The waves rapidly eat into this sandy layer; the clay 
is undermined and falls down in large masses, sometimes several 
tons in weight. This clay is then ground up by the ordinary 
tides, and thousands of tons have utterly disappeared in this 
way without forming visible deposits anywhere near. Curiously 
enough, this clay, when in suspension, seems to be carried just 
in the opposite direction to that taken by the pebbles, as on a 
rough day the discoloured water at ebb tide seems to drift west- 
wards. The sand itself is rather large-grained, of a reddish-yellow 
colour, apparently containing no shells or other fossils, but with 
occasional concretions of black iron oxide, which are sometimes as 
big as a man’s body. 
Further east the bed of sand is mixed with clay and pebbles, and 
gradually merges into a thick and very uneven layer of water-worn 
pebbles, which sometimes extend within a foot of the surface of the field 
above. Still further east (where the Union Club House, built in 1875, 
used to stand) the sandy clay and rounded pebbles are mixed with many 
angular stones and penetrated with numerous roots of bracken and 
reeds, which seem to have grown in a thin layer of blue clay. This 
blue clay thickens rapidly towards the north and east, so apparently 
this is about the limit of the old estuary. The large pebbles lie 
generally with their longitudinal axis nearly due north and south; a 
great number of them are split lengthwise, and one halfis then almost 
invariably pushed an inch or two beyond the other. I have never 
observed this in any other district, and am quite at a loss to account 
for it. Though the general appearance of this bed strongly suggests 
glacial action, I have not been able to find any scratched stones 
in it. 
Just below the top soil, or below the blue clay in places, and 
resting on the sandy clay, are a quantity of nodules of oxide of iron, 
each about as big as a hazel nut; they extend apparently over a 
considerable area, sometimes forming lumps of several pounds’ weight. 
The thickness of all the layers varies very much at different 
points, but a typical section would show— 
Ge ite 
UDI GUI chGadnde apes elec Hen OP Anne Cea ase nae eae oan iG 
PME HIBS assoc sicrnreis'nclas seman vsliewscs nae voi My 
BeOS Clan ec. caeleerecnlcaSitsicebe eles cincioes ards 4 0 
Ditto with occasional pebbles and stones ...... 3 0 
Reddish yellow sand ...........1.00000.+0 maaetece 2 O and extending deeper. 
Further east, where the blue clay begins, there would be— 
ft. im. 
ovata Base hee Babel gee pee cer aR apne LF 6 
Bsns iy Clay; Aces os cceseaatieaeasiene cena: ea) 
Kron nodules o2..5.sccesrs 500th Daal 0 2 
Belilowiela Clavie. tet tsce-cn.skesen- S205 1 0 
Very red sandy clay with pebbles, \ 2 0 { and extending apparently 
angular stones, and roots. Zs much deeper. 
Q.J.G.S. No. 159. 2x 
