Physical Features. 
243 
at first sight, to be a mixed mass of clays, marls, sands, and 
gravels. The apparent confusion arises from the variety of the 
strata, from the confined space in which they are deposited, and 
from the manner in which, on the numerous hills and knolls, 
they overlie one another, or are concealed by drift gravel. On 
closer examination, it is found that in the southern part the 
Headon and Osborne beds prevail, and extend westwaid from 
Beaulieu Heath to Hordle Cliff, where the sea flows over them, 
to appear again, as we shall see, on the opposite coast of the Isle 
of Wight. A little farther north, a belt of Upper Bagshot sands 
occurs, then a belt of Barton clay, then the Bracklesham, and the 
Upper Bagshot beds. The same phenomena may be put in 
another shape. Suppose a triangle, the base of which is longer 
than either of its sides, and runs along the seashore from South- 
ampton Water to Hordle Cliff, while the irregular sides meet a 
little north of Lyndhurst. This triangle is composed of the 
Headon and Osborne beds, and the two sides of it are surrounded 
east, north, and west by successive, but irregular borderings ol, 
first, Bagshot sands, then Barton clay, then Bracklesham beds. 
I estimate this southern Eocene district, including the New 
Forest block, at 576 square miles. 
The measurements of the three geological areas are therefore, 
northern Eocene, 180 square miles ; southern, 576 ; central 
chalk, 760 ; in all 1516 square miles. 
2. Physical Features. 
A pedestrian, who would trace the main watershed line of this 
county, would begin his walk at Inkpen Beacon, in the North 
Downs, and end it at Butser Hill, in the South Downs, connect- 
ing the two by the Alton Hills, which run between Odiham and 
Petersfield. 
Inkpen Beacon, the monarch of English chalk mountains, 
972"8 feet high, though not actually in the county, yet standing 
on its very confines at its north-western extremity, where Hants, 
Wilts, and Berks meet, may well be taken as the starting post. 
Thence the route is eastward and south-eastward, along the high 
downs to Highclere Beacon, 870'4 feet, Ladle Hill, VVhite Hill, 
Cottington's Hill, Rook's Down ; thence southward, with an in- 
clination sometimes of a few points to the east, over Basingstoke 
Down, Tunworth Down, Binstead Hill, Windmill Hill, Nore 
Hill, Butser Hill, 882'6 feet,* and so out of the county, at its 
south-eastern extremity, about ten miles from the coast. 
To trace the short line of watershed between the valleys of the 
* These heights are lower than those usually given, but my figures are derived 
from trigonometrical observations by the Ordnance Survey Department, and have 
kindly been supplied to me by Lieut.-Col. Cameron, R.E. 
