CHAP. XVI 



THE BRITISH ISLES 



335 



" We were so fortunate as to reach the beach at spring- 

 tide low-water, and to find, admirably exposed, by far the 

 finest example of a submerged forest which I have ever 

 seen. It occupied a rectangular area, extending from the 

 small river or stream at the western end of the inlet, about 

 one furlong eastward ; and from, the low-water line thirty 

 yards up the strand. The lower or seaward portion of the 

 forest area, occupying about two-thirds of its entire 

 breadth, consisted of a brownish drab-coloured clay, which 

 was crowded with vegetable dSbris, such as small twigs, 

 leaves, and nuts. There were also numerous prostrate 

 trunks and branches of trees, lying partly imbedded in the 

 clay, without anything like a prevalent direction. The 

 trunks varied from six inches to upwards of two feet in 

 diameter. Much of the wood was found to have a reddish 

 or bright pink hue, when fresh surfaces were exposed. 

 Some of it, as well as many of the twigs, had almost 

 become a sort of ligneous pulp, while other examples were 

 firm, and gave a sharp crackling sound on being broken. 

 Several large stumps projected above the clay in a vertical 

 direction, and sent roots and rootlets into the soil in all 

 directions and to considerable distances. It was obvious 

 that the movement by which the submergence was effected 

 had been so uniform as not to destroy the approximate 

 horizontality of the old forest ground. One fine example 

 was noted of a large prostrate trunk having its roots still 

 attached, some of them sticking up above the clay, while 

 others were buried in it. Hazelnuts were extremely 

 abundant — some entire, others broken, and some obviously 

 gnawed. ... It has been stated that the forest area 

 reached the spring-tide low- water line; hence as the 

 greatest tidal range on this coast amounts to eighteen feet, 

 we . are warranted in inferring that the subsidence 

 amounted to eighteen feet as a minimum, even if we 

 suppose that some of the trees grew in a soil the surface 

 of which was not above the level of high water. There is 

 satisfactory evidence that in Torbay it was not less than 

 forty feet, and that in Falmouth Harbour it amounted to 

 at least sixty-seven feet." ^ 



^ Geological Magazine, 1870, p. 155. 



