64 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. I. 



some change in the relative level of the land and water 

 along the Sussex coast will again convert the Levels into 

 an arm of the sea, and the town of Lewes be once more a 

 port. On the other hand, the physical agents of terrestrial 

 change may lie dormant, and man, with the mighty powers 

 of nature over which science has given him control, may 

 include this alluvial plain in the grand line of communi- 

 cation that shall link together the metropolitan cities of 

 France and of England, and ere another century have passed 

 away, these now verdant pastures may be covered with 

 towns and cities, sw r arming with busy communities of the 

 human race. 



25. Eemains of man in modern deposits. — But the 

 sediments in the river valleys often contain not only bones 

 of deer, horse, boar, and other terrestrial animals, but also 

 human skeletons, which are sometimes found inclosed in 

 coffins of exceedingly rude workmanship ; together with 

 canoes,* and other relics of the early inhabitants of our 



* Ancient British Canoe. In 1835 a canoe was discovered at the 

 depth of several feet in a bed of silt, that filled up an ancient branch 

 of the river Arun, at North Stoke, near Arundel. It was presented, 

 by my noble friend the late Earl of Egremont, to the British Museum. 

 This canoe is nearly thirty- five feet in length, four and a half wide in 

 the centre, three feet three inches broad at one extremity, and two feet 

 ten inches at the other ; and is about two feet deep. It is formed of a 

 single trunk of oak, which has been hollowed out and brought to its 

 present shape with great labour : it is evidently the workmanship of a 

 very remote period, and in all probability was constructed by some of 

 the earliest inhabitants of our island, before the use of iron or even 

 brass was known : the original tree must have been fifteen or sixteen 

 feet in circumference. Three projections, left in the interior of the 

 boat, appear to have been designed for seats ; it is manifest therefore 

 that the persons who constructed this vessel were unacquainted with 

 the art of forming boards. This canoe is so similar to some of those 

 which were fabricated by the aborigines of North America, when first 

 visited by Europeans, that we can have no hesitation in concluding 

 that it was constructed in a similar manner ; namely, by charring 



