104 THE TRADE IN COPEOLITES. 



Cambridge and Suffolk that coprolite is obtained. The following particulars 

 relate chiefly to Suffolk coprolites. 



It is supposed that part of south-east Suffolk was once a large arm or 

 estuary of the sea, wherein dwelt the monsters of the deep, and that their 

 organic remains have been buried up by some great convulsion of nature, 

 most probably at the time of the deluge. At the distance of ten miles from 

 the present boundary of the sea, we find parts of land animals and vegetable 

 remains ; but what more likely than that the beasts of the forest should 

 have preferred the margin of the water ? — their bones, with trees, fruit, and 

 seeds, all having been washed into the sea. That it was once the sea is 

 sufficiently proved by the shells, and the great quantity of cement- stone 

 we find, of exactly the same description dredged for on the coast. A 

 still more convincing proof is the immense quantity of barnacles ; in some 

 knots each barnacle is as large as a walnut. Coprolite is a species of fos- 

 silized guano, most probably of the saurian, whale, shark, and other large 

 animals. It looks like very dark oblong pebbles, rounded and polished by 

 the water ; they are very brittle, and the interior is dullish brown, slightly 

 tinged with yellow, but they emit no smell. Some of them contain small 

 teeth and bones, which show that they belong to some carnivorous animal — 

 bones and vegetable remains being comparatively rare. Coprolites were first 

 discovered in this part of the country about the year 1816. A celebrated 

 artificial manure manufacturer was walking with a gentleman on Bawdsey 

 beach, and picked some coprolites up that had been washed out of the crag 

 cliffs. Finding it contained manuring properties, he requested this gentle- 

 man to employ children to pick it up. This continued about two years, 

 when one day the children had picked some out of the cliffs so far under 

 that the crag slipped in and killed a little girl. At the inquest the jury 

 wanted to know what coprolite was ; the consequence was, farmers dis- 

 covered that their crag pits were full of it, and some began to dig for it, 

 selling it to the same gentleman at about £1 per ton. 



The manufacturer had obtained a patent, but, it being infringed, he brought 

 an action and lost it ; and then every one was allowed to manufacture it into 

 manure. The result was, it gradually rose in price to £3 10s. It is very 

 heavy, three pecks weighing about one cwt. This was an inducement for 

 all to raise it. Fine crops of wheat were dug up, buildings were undermined, 

 cottagers turned over their gardens, clergymen the churchyards, and sur- 

 veyors the roads ; some farmers employed over fifty men at it, and, though 

 numbers were imported, labourers' wages were raised fifty per cent, by it ; 

 and those who had no coprolite felt it severely, and some parts of the coun- 

 try had the appearance of the Australian gold fields. Many made their 

 fortunes, and others for years made the rents of their farms by it. The 

 landlords claim a share, generally half the net profits, but the lord of the 

 manor has no claim. It is generally found within two miles of the banks 

 of either the Orwell or Deben rivers, and Hes in beds from ten to five 

 hundred yards in width, and from two to forty feet in depth. After digging 

 through the top soil, we come to a light sand, and then to some white crag, 



