484 ON THE BED OF THE GERMAN OCEAN 



shore of the Isle of Sheppey, and from the en- 

 trance of the River Swale to Margate and Rams- 

 gate, at various places, very large portions of the 

 chalky cliffs are continually giving way to the 

 sea. At Sheppey Island, Thanet and Sandwich^ 

 there are proofs of the land gaining somewhat up- 

 on the sea : of this, the Goodwin and other sand- 

 banks may also be considered as examples ; but 

 these cases, arising from the shape of the coast, 

 and the set of particular currents of the tide, are 

 rather so many evidences of the silting up of the 

 ahem or bed of the ocean, and shall be afterwards 

 alluded to as proofs of the consequent tendency of 

 the sea to overflow its banks. But to continue, it 

 may further be noticed, that the Streets of Deal 

 are often laid under water, and houses there have 

 occasionally been w^ashed down by the sea ; and, 

 indeed, the wasting effects are very striking all 

 along this coast, and the opposite shores of France, 

 the Netherlands, and Holland. 

 British At Romney Marshes, in the British Chan- 



channei. ^^|^ labourers are constantly employed attending 

 and repairing the fences and sea-dikes of these 

 low shores. On the precipitous shores from Deal 

 to Dover, Folkstone and Hithe, large portions of 

 the chalk cliffs are frequently undermined and 

 carried away ; particularly at the South Foreland 

 and Cliffs of Dover, where I happened to witness 

 the effects of the recent fall, some years ago, of 

 aa immense quantity of these extraordinary chalk 



