CAMERON : SUBSIDENCES OYER PERMIAN BOUNDARY. 347 
" In the reign of Henry II, the earth rose on high at Oxeii- 
u dale, in Jhe district of Darlington, (Oxendale is now Oxney flat) 
" in the likeness of a lofty tower, and so remained from nine in 
u the morning until evening, when it sank down with a terrible 
" noise, to the terror of all that heard it, and being swallowed up, 
" it left behind it a deep pit." 
With all due deference to our twelfth century annalist, it is 
not likely that a more interesting phenomenon really occurred 
than that witnessed by Mr Dunwell, at Ripon, in 1856, and des- 
cribed by Mr. Tute. Mr. Dunwell with his pupils were at the 
river watching some men fishing, when they heard a noise like 
thunder, and on looking round, saw at a little distance a mass of 
earth and stones rising into the air and falling back again. On 
going to the place they found a hole had formed in which was 
water ; the sides of the pit fell rapidly in, and the water disap- 
peared. 
It may not be out of place to describe here the formation of 
a pit that commenced in the gravelly alluvium of the Clyde. This 
subsidence caused the inundation of a coal mine, by which four 
lives were lost, and is known as the " Home Farm Colliery 
Accident." 
A few months after the accident I visited the place with the 
Rev. James Campbell, minister of Quarter, Hamilton, N.B., who 
showed me an irregularly shaped hole in gravel, 696 yards round 
the margin, and about 6 yards from the Clyde. Mr. Campbell 
afterwards sent me the details I shall now give. 
" Inundation occurred, Tuesday, 23rd January, 1877. 
" First two bodies found Sunday, 27th October, 1878, third on the 
" day following, and fourth, on Friday, November 8th, 1878. 
M The Home Farm Coal Pit has been worked for thirteen 
f years and always considered a very safe pit. The pit is three- 
" quarters-of-a-mile from the subsidence. The first indications 
jf underground of anything wrong, took place eight days before 
