212 Mr. Bowman on the Natural Terraces 



outlines, and unaided by any instrument, my eye failed to re- 

 cognize the points of intersection. The ridges themselves 

 follow the slope of the hill to the west, and have an apparent 

 dip of about six or eight degrees ; but as the true dip of the 

 beds composing them averages from 50 to 60 N.N.W., it is 

 evident that their superficial outline has been determined by 

 the slope of the hill, which intersects the beds diagonally and 

 exposes their basset edges. In some parts they are very 

 rugged and uneven, and project considerably above the ge- 

 neral face of the hill ; while the intervening spaces, which are 

 so many sunken furrows, have a smooth covering of diluvium 

 and sward, and an uniform and gradual slope corresponding 

 with that of the ridges. As it is not easy by description alone 

 to convey a correct idea of their combined form and character, 

 I have constructed the following diagram of the appearance 

 they should exhibit in perspective, according to the theory ; 

 but it shows them much more regular and uniform than they 

 exist in nature, and marks the protuberances which Mr. 

 Kemp says " range horizontally across them, and correspond 

 in their respective levels with the terraces on the neighbour- 

 ing hills/' The shaded diagonal rows are the sloping ridges 

 which rise out of the hollows, their curved tops showing the 

 protuberances, and the dotted horizontal lines mark the 

 supposed levels of the terraces ; which, however, it must be 

 remarked, do not appear here, but at corresponding heights 

 in other places, and are only introduced to show the horizon- 

 tal strike of the protuberances and intermediate indentations. 

 This arrangement, as I have already observed, I failed to re- 



cognize ; and I must confess that both the protuberances and 

 depressions appeared to me far too irregular and obscure to 



