Valley of the Medina. 
357 
the Scame as on the opposite mainland. In fact, the greater part 
of the New Forest is but a continuation of the fluvio-marine 
strata of the north of tlie island. The same estuary formations, 
the same natural divisions, the same soils, border either side of 
the Solent. 
Tlie portion east of the Medina is on the whole the worst, in- 
cluding a large share of gravel and much ground naturally fit for 
wood and coppice only. Some alluvial soil is found in the 
valleys, but these are short and narrow, and the hills, capped 
witli gravel, soon rise above them. A description of one of these 
tracts of alluvial valley is applicable to all of them. One of the 
most considerable lies on the western side of the Wootton river. 
Immediately on the slopes of the bank is found a deposit of 
rich brick-earth of a reddish-brown colour, mixed clay and sand, 
varying in depth from 6 feet to 25. It is partially distributed in 
the bottom, and soon intercepted in its progress up the side of 
the valley by the eocene clays which underlie the gravel which 
caps the hill above. 
The portion west of the Medina is more open. The m.ain 
valley (that from Newport to Newtown) is broader and longer. 
Some is under grass, but the most part arable. The soils are 
stiff, wet, cold, and often poor in the hollows, but become more 
tractable as the hill-tops are approached, and wherever there is 
a sufficient admixture of sand and gravel to adapt the soil to 
roots and barley. This land, though apt to run together, breaks 
again with comparative ease if skilfully exposed to atmospheric 
influences. Sometimes, howevei", the sand and gravel predomi- 
nate, as about Parkhurst. There is some wet land, tioublesome 
to manage, between West Cowes and Yarmouth. But proceeding 
jet further westward, about Thorley and VVellow, we meet with 
some good pasture and arable ; on ascending the rising-ground 
towards Shalcomb (not so very long since a rabbit-warren), we 
have before us a view Avhich this island seldom exhibits — some 
large and pleasant turnip-fields on the flat, with sheep folded on 
them. An eminent g:eolo<;ist, who has made this island his 
study, gives the explanatiorf. We are heie on the Bembridge 
limestone, much of which, in this spot, is a true travertine or 
calcareous tuff, with a peculiar brecciated appearance. Its 
porosity depends on the presence of irregular, confervoid, 
tubular cavities, so characteristic of the Bembridge limestone 
elsewhere, as at Sconce, and strikingly comparable with a like 
appearance exhibited by the travertine of the Paris basin.* 
Except on lands such as these, the farms are small. The 
* Professor Forbes on ' The Tertiary Fluvio-Marine Formations of the Isle of 
Wight.' 
