TOPOGRAPHICAL REMARKS. 



Cambridgeshire may be described as flat and naked; 

 nevertheless it is not so absolutely flat as is generally 

 supposed. A range of conspicuous chalk-hills extends 

 across the southern part of the county; and the south- 

 eastern district, consisting also of chalk, is undulating and 

 well furnished with wood. To the north of the chalk coun- 

 try a broad belt of level clayey land occurs, having much 

 flint gravel distributed over its surface. Formerly each 

 watercourse traversing this clayey district was bordered, 

 more or less widely, by a morass, and some of its depressed 

 parts formed tracts of fen. 



Speaking generally, a line drawn from Biggleswade to 

 Newmarket will have the chalk on its southern and the 

 clay (Gault and Boulder clay) on its northern side. Another 

 line connecting Huntingdon with Newmarket would sepa- 

 rate the clay-district from the great fen-country, which 

 occupies the whole of the northern half of the county, and 

 is usually known as the Isle of Ely. 



Chalk Country. — Until recently (within 60 years) most 

 of the chalk district was open and covered with a beautiful 

 coating of turf, profusely decorated with Anemone Pulsatilla, 

 Astragalus Hypoglottis, and other interesting plants. It is 

 now converted into arable land, and its peculiar plants 



