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and we there see the peculiarities of this formation beautifully 
developed. About two miles north of Blackpool, at a pro- 
jecting point of land, the main body of drift (Mr. Phillips's 
"proper diluvium") appears at the base of the cliff, with its 
well-marked characters, a hard red clay, with boulders and peb- 
bles of granite and sienite of various kinds, and a vast diversity 
of other hard rocks, all interspersed without the slightest 
regard to size, varying from blocks weighing a ton, to pebbles 
the size of a marble. Above is a series of innumerable 
strata or layers of sand and gravel, differing greatly in colour 
and in size of grain ; some of the divisions being pure fine 
sand, very valuable for building mortar, others entirely com- 
posed of pebbles : many of the beds have evidently been 
exposed to the effects of denudation, as was observed at 
Thirsk. Proceeding southward, the clay deposit is lost by 
the inclination, and re-appears after a short interval, again to 
sink beneath the level of the shore; and here I was surprised 
to find a deposit of clay and pebbles above the sand and 
gravel, the only apparent difference between it and the lower 
formation being a slighter degree of induration; and the 
action of the rain has had the effect of softening it to such a 
degree, that in many places masses have slipped over the 
face of the subjacent strata, in such a manner as to render it 
difficult to obtain correct observations. 
Near Fleetwood I observed some beds of shells in the 
sand, several feet above high water mark, and I am informed 
that they occur in great abundance in the Blackpool cliffs. 
Before attempting any explanation of the causes which 
have influenced these deposits, I will proceed to the third 
division of my subject, — the hillocks and terraces of disturbed 
materials, which occur in many of our northern valleys ; and 
although they have till a recent period escaped attention, I 
believe they will furnish a clue by which we may unravel the 
