§ 12. WEALDEN OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 379 



The Wealden beds form the entire cliff for several miles 

 along this part of the coast ; but they may be seen dipping 

 under the lowermost sands of the cretaceous formation, near 

 Compton-chine on the west of Brook Bay, and Atherfield 

 Point on the east. Most of the peculiar fossils of the 

 Wealden have been obtained from these shores ; quantities 

 of bones of enormous reptiles, freshwater shells, and crus- 

 taceans in immense quantities ; river mussels of large size ; 

 and ferns and cycadeous plants. But the most remarkable 

 phenomenon at Brook Point, is the occurrence at the foot 

 of the cliff, of a prostrate forest of petrified pine-trees. 



12. Fossil trees of the Wealdex, at Brook Point. 

 — The cliff at Brook Point is between thirty and forty feet 

 high, and is capped by a thick bed of alluvial gravel and 

 loam. It is composed of layers of clay and shale finely 

 laminated, with thin seams and masses of lignite. The 

 lower part of the cliff consists of beds of hard sandstone 

 grit, resting upon mottled clays and sands, which are the 

 lowermost wealden strata in the island. The fossil trees 

 are imbedded in the sandstone, and protrude from the 

 waterworn edges of the rock. This indurated grit forms a 

 sort of buttress at the foot of the cliff, having resisted the 

 tidal action which has carried away the upper and less 

 coherent deposits : the numerous reefs that appear off the 

 shore at low w^ater, and render this coast so dangerous to 

 mariners, have originated from this cause. 



The trees are lying confusedly one upon another. There 

 are no erect trunks, nor any other indications that the 

 forest was submerged while growing in its native soil, like 

 that of the Isle of Portland ; on the contrary, the appear- 

 ance both of the trunks in the sand -rock, and of those 

 exposed to view by the removal of the materials in which 

 they were originally imbedded, is that presented by the 

 rafts that float down the great rivers of America ; as for 

 example the Ohio and Mississippi. Such rafts entangle in 



