20 



D. PrOGEON 01^ EECEISTT DISCOYEEIES 



CM 



•<s> 



tf 

 S 





I 



Sand. 



Tree stumps. 



SMngle. 



l^ 



Blown sand. 



Blown sand. 



objects to which attention has been 

 directed this evening must have 

 been lodged where they were 

 found while the land stood at ex- 

 isting levels. 



In attempting to answer this 

 question attention will be strictly 

 confined to the Paignton-Preston 

 inlet, a section of which is shown 

 in fig. 4. The clay-bed is here 

 only just below high-water mark 

 at that part of the marshy land 

 most remote from the sea. It 

 passes seaward with a very slight 

 inclination to at least 750 feet 

 from the shore, that being the 

 length of the Paignton Pier, whose 

 piles were all screwed into the 

 clay. It is covered, inland, first 

 with coarse sand, among which 

 are found manj" large cockle-shells 

 and occasional patches of shingle ; 

 while, over all, is a layer of blown 

 sand, the surface of which is some 

 two feet above high-water mark. 

 Its seaward margin, being un- 

 protected by a beach, is in course 

 of truncation and destruction by 

 the waves ; but behind the beach 

 such plants as the water-bistort 

 (Polygonum) are growing luxuri- 

 antly, while willows are exten- 

 sively cultivated in the swampy 

 soil. It is noteworthy that most of 

 the trees found prostrate in the 

 forest- clay are also willows. 



The basin in which the clay lies 

 has a lip which is distinctly visible 

 in the cliff near Preston Lane, and 

 whose position on the slopes of 

 the neighbouring hills is well 

 known to the village builders. 

 This stands about seven feet above 

 high-water mark, and its margin 

 (as already mentioned) gives no 

 evidence of having ever been fring- 

 ed by a marine beach, while the 

 extreme fineness of the clay itself 

 attests its deposition in still and 

 scarcely turbid waters. 



