MACKIE — RAMBLE TS THE ^ORTH OF FRANCE. 



129 



the inclination differs on either side, as we see to be the case with 

 the ripples of sand which the strong current of a spring-tide makes 

 on the seashore. We there see fragments of shells, or other compa- 

 ratively large objects carried rapidly down the longer descending 

 planes, and slowly up the sides of the steeper banks, and deposited 

 beneath the crests of the waves. As the drifted shells render thus 

 apparent to the eye the arrangement and disposition to which the 

 grains of sand composing the bed of the shore are subjected, so by 

 the disposition of the flints in the clays and sandbeds it seems to me 

 we might interpret the directions and actions of the powerful flow 

 that spread the drift over such extensive tracks of country. At least, 

 whether we admit flood-action or not in the spread of the superficial 

 deposits, a series of correct observations of such indications of the 

 direction and arrangements of their contained pebbles and consti- 

 tuent materials would do much towards determining the direction 

 of the current or force by which those materials were brought and 

 deposited. The indications of drift-movement are generally, as far 

 as I observed them, towards the north, but in some cases on the 

 slopes of hills the course has evidently been southerly. The pre- 

 sence and form of the tongue of sand at St. Addresse seem to con- 

 firm the supposition that the flint-gravel overlying the " shell-sand" 

 had a southerly tendency, which would be the case if it were con- 

 tinuous with the drift of St. Addresse and the high ground of Cap 

 La Heve. further observations are, however, necessary to confirm 

 this opinion. 



The deposit of sand containing shells must have been originally 

 very considerable, as the waste by the sea on this coast being very 

 great, even on the harder rock of the cliffs, its action on such soft 

 materials must have been highly destructive. 



Since writing the above, I find in M. Passy's excellent description 

 of the department of the Seine Inferieure, an account of this recent 

 shell-sand, which that author considers to be a portion of the ancient 

 embouchure of the Seine. 



Passing from Havre westwards, I made collections of fossils at 

 Honfleur, Dives, and all along the coast up to Caen, the quarries of 

 which pour their rubble down the green wooded slopes of a lovely 

 gorge into the river below, — the white city with its lofty houses and 

 over-topping churches and cathedral, and the low Oolitic cliffs fringing 

 the blue waters of the Channel in the distance, form an enchanting 

 scene worthy of a longer pilgrimage than it takes to see. 



VOL. VII. s 



