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clear that the Britons and the Romans* used this great 
forest, traces of both having been discovered intermingled 
with its remains ; and to them may be attributed the marks 
of cutting and burning still apparent. But great though 
the power of Rome was, and abundant her supply of 
British slave labour, I cannot think it possible that such an 
enormous tract of woodland, as Hatfield Chase, was destroyed 
by the hand of man, particularly as a clearance of a few 
miles on either side of their military way and around their 
various stations by the Romans, would have answered every 
purpose of security. No, I feel sure that a mightier power 
than that of Rome effected this revolution, namely, an 
operation of nature ! The felled trees would never have so 
impeded the flow of the inland waters as to convert an 
immense district of previously dry land into a permanent 
swamp, as has been suggested. We will, therefore, 
endeavour to find another solution of this difficulty presently, 
in connection with a still more remarkable fact which 
remains to be brought forward, namely, the existence of 
a submarine forest off the present Lincolnshire coast. 
At intervals along the shore of that county, from Sutton 
to Clee-Thorpe, many banks or islands are from time to 
time exposed to view. These are usually covered with silt, 
but when occasionally stripped of that marine deposit, they are 
found to possess a substratum of moory vegetable soil, filled 
with the roots and prostrate trees of very large size, 
accompanied by their berries, nuts, and leaves. We will 
particularly instance some at Huttoft, in Calceworth Hundred, 
and marked in Mitchell's chart of this coast under the term 
of " Clay-huts," whence Huttoft perhaps derives its name. 
These were visited in 1796 by Sir Joseph Banks, and 
Corria de Serra, a scientific member of the Society of 
* Close to one of the roots of the submerged trees in Hatfield, eight or nine 
Roman coins were found, also much Roman pottery at other spots. 
