402 THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD. 



I give two sections showing the Vazon peat and the 

 Jersey Tunnel section (from Mr. Sinel's " Prehistoric Times 

 and Men," p. 40) for comparison. 



It will be seen that the section divides into four different 

 parts : — 



1. — Is a clay deposit which I suppose to be the upper 

 glacial clay, but I have only seen the surface. This also 

 occurs in the Jersey section, but the section is carried lower 

 and shows two separate layers. 



2. — Over the above (in Jersey an intervening layer of 

 marine sand is shown which is not present here as far as at 

 present known) is a forest bed consisting of forest soil with 

 large trees with their roots still in situ, but with the trunks in 

 a prone condition. This is also found in Jersey. Here we 

 measure the depth as from 3 to 6 feet. The Jersey tree 

 peat is not measured. No doubt these are the exact equiva- 

 lents. The top of the deposit consists of Moss peat and Marsh 

 peats alternating, the total depth being about 12 feet as 

 against Jersey's 5 to 14 feet. 



3.— -Here we have a deposit of sea sand which, although 

 differing in constitution owing to difference of material acted on 

 by the sea, is undoubtedly the same in both islands. In this 

 island the deposit is all sand, that is at Vazon, and is 3 feet 

 deep ; on the Marais the sands are of the same character, but 

 in Jersey there is more stone and a larger proportion of shells. 

 This is the last deposit above the present beaeh level. This 

 is also found at La Motte or Green Island, in Jersey, as I 

 shall show presently. 



4. — Now comes an upper peat bed, visible in both sections, 

 and in Guernsey consisting of marsh plants only. This dif- 

 ferentiates in the two sections, for in Jersey the higher land 

 was near enough to give dry land debris, whereas here the 

 marsh remained either a marsh or a pond for a long time. 

 The ponds existing along this coast were drained in quite 

 recent times. 



The peat beds give us some idea of the facts of the Neo- 

 lithic times from a geological point of view. 



The first thing to attract our attention is the arrest of the 

 growth of forest trees quite early in the period, for we find 

 that the trees are all rooted in the lower layer of sandy clay, 

 and when these had grown to full size there was no further 

 succession, or none which we can distinguish. The forest 

 trees were then followed by undergrowth and plants of a 

 moist atmosphere, and ultimately by a still moist layer of 



