540 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 8, 
presumption would be strong that the river flowed in the same 
direction as the present stream, were there no evidence in the 
materials of the gravel to show that the river ran through the Lower 
Greensand and Wealden beds. In considering what extent of land 
existed to the southward of the present coast-line when these 
gravels were formed, a comparison with the very similar valley at 
the eastern end of the island gives indications worth notice. At 
Freshwater a stream rises close to the beach, at a level below that 
of high water, and flows northward to the Solent, by Yarmouth. 
At the other end of the island the Brading river has two branches, 
one rising at the back of a beach protected by groynes, in Sandown 
Bay, and flowing for its entire course below the level of high water ; 
and the other draining a considerable area towards Arreton and Niton. 
Mr. Godwin-Austen has observed* with regard to the Sandham 
level, which constitutes that part of the valley of the Brading river 
which is below high-water level, that excavations for deep drains show 
no signs of estuary deposits, or evidence of the sea having formerly 
occupied it; and the same observation applies to the Freshwater 
valley. Not only is there no evidence that the sea has ever occupied 
these valleys, now not much above half-tide level and artificially 
protected from the sea, but the succession of gravels down to the 
sea-level seems to prove that both valleys have been gradually 
deepened by fluviatile action only. 
Both valleys traverse the chalk under similar circumstances; the 
thickness is the same, and the strata are nearly vertical. Fig. 13 (Pl. 
XXXVIT) shows the transverse sections of the two valleys through 
the chalk drawn to the same scale, and if the sectional areas may be 
considered as roughly proportional to the extent of the river-basins, 
the ancient Yar was at least as important a'stream as the Brading 
river. The latter at present drains 24 square miles, to the south of 
the chalk range, or + of the area of the island; and gravels on the 
cliffs about Sandown'show that the branch of the river which now 
rises near the beach is the representative of a much larger stream, 
which, when flowing 100 feet higher, drained land then occupying 
the position of Sandown Bay. It is therefore not an improbable 
supposition that the gravel with Elephant remains on the cliffs at 
Brook and Grange was included in the same river-basin as the Fresh- 
water gravel, and that the streams now entering the sea between 
Blackgang Chine and Compton Bay were tributaries of a river 
flowing northwards through the chalk range to the Solent. The 
difference of level in the gravel is no more than is due to the natural 
fall of the watercourses, and the waste of the cliffs now going on 
shows that a considerable area of land has but recently been 
destroyed. 
The chines by which the streams at the back of the Isle of Wight 
enter the sea are probably due to the alteration in the drainage 
consequent on the destruction of this land. The streams ending in 
chines present no unusual features until they come within a short 
* Quart, Journ, Geol, Soc. vol. xiii. p. 66, 
