president's address, 159 



Peacock's " Sinkings of Land," is not so easily disposed of. 

 The words are : " Lately on S.W. of Vale Castle, a portion of 

 peat bed was uncovered by the contractor of the new break- 

 water, and a quantity of Roman coins (large brass) were 

 picked up by the men." One can hardly suggest that these 

 were buried at this spot below the sea-level, but it might be 

 that a vessel conveying the coin was wrecked at this spot at a 

 time when the peat was not buried by sand. 



Sand has been continuously deposited from the very 

 earliest times. In the immediate neighbourhood of a sandy 

 coast, there would naturally be sand drifting in every gale, 

 and being deposited inland, sometimes to a considerable 

 distance, as on our West coast and at the Quenvais, in 

 Jersey, &c, but in the thick beds of layered sand lining our 

 West coast and forming the most recent of our superficial 

 deposits, Ave have proof that ages have passed since the 

 deposit of the peat which it overlies, and also that the sea has 

 never been far from that district ; in other words, that the 

 island has been as near as possible of its present dimensions. 



We have sand of different ages, for it occurs under the 

 clay at the Yrangue, between the clay and peat, between 

 layers of peat, over the peat, and some is being deposited at 

 the present moment. The examination of the older sands 

 undertaken by our ex-President, Mr. E. D. Marquand, gave 

 results which were purely negative, which, therefore, do not 

 assist us in our present enquiry. 



We now approach the period of historic records, and as 

 Julius Caesar was the first author who came near these shores, 

 we naturally enquire what does he say about these islands ? 

 In the third book of his Commentaries, we have an account of 

 the warfare he waged upon the inhabitants of the adjacent 

 parts of Gaul. He tells us that he himself undertook the 

 subjugation of the Veneli, as they were the most poAverful 

 tribe, and their country offered the greatest difficulty for 

 warlike operations, owing to its being so much intersected by 

 the sea. These people lived on the South shores of Brittany ; 

 Vannes takes its name from them.* 



His Lieutenant, Sabinus, was entrusted with the operations 

 against the more Northern tribes, and he in a single battle 

 crushed the Unelli, Curiosolitae, and the Lexoviif, and then 

 Caesar led his army into winter quarters among the Lexovii, 

 but it is not likely he remained in that district himself, for 

 every winter he ivas obliged to proceed to Pome. Thus, you 



* The expression (Ch. ix.), "Romanos neqne portus insulas que novisse," refers 

 to the islands near the Morbihan. 



t Ch. II. 



