380 



APPENDIX. 



diluvium of the rivers wliicli flow into this basin, toge- 

 ther with the molluscous exuvi^ of the North Sea, and 

 the abrasion of the Norwegian coast and Scottish islands, 

 borne downward by the hea^y North Sea swell. 



In the case of the delta of Holland having extended so 

 far northward, a subsidence of the land or rising of the 

 sea, so as to form a passage for the waters round Bri- 

 tain, must have occurred. The derangement, at several 

 places, of the fine wavy stratification of these carses, and 

 the confusedly heaped-up beds of broken sea-shells, shew 

 that some gi-eat rush of water had taken place, probably 

 when Belgium was dissevered from England. Since the 

 opening of the bottom of the gulf, the accumulation may 

 have been undergoing a gradual reduction, by more dif- 

 fused mud * being carried off from the German Sea into 

 the Atlantic and North Sea, than what the former is re- 

 ceiving — the same process taking place here as has been 

 occurring in the basin of the Tay. The large sand- 

 banks on the Dutch and English coast, — in some places, 

 such as the Goodwin Sands, certainly the heavier, less 

 diffusible part of the former allmdal country, and por- 

 tions of these alluvial districts being retained by arti- 

 ficial means,— -bear a striking resemblance to the sand- 



■ The sea ^^-ater from Flamborougli-head, southward to the Straits 

 of Dover, is generally discoloured with mud ; and during ever^^ breeze 

 takes up an addition from the bottom, which is an alluvium so unstable 

 and loose, that no sea vegetation can hold in it. From not producing 

 herbage, the general basis of animal life, few fishes or shells can find 

 support in it. 



