8 
many of the marshes and the woods of Deira remained at the 
time of the Domesday survey, for its waters were “ so abun- 
dant as to afford a fishery of 70,000 eels, and wood pastures 
eleven miles long and thi'ee miles broad.” 
Most of the towns within the area here spoken of are, like 
the land, wet and damp. W oodmansea, near Beverley, and 
Rotsea, near Watton, bespeak the existence of meres in those 
places. Indeed, Watton — Saxon Wetadun — signifies a wet 
town, describing its situation as surrounded with waters and 
marshes. Skipsea, Withernsea, and Kllnsea indicate that a 
mere has existed in each of these places, as there is yet at 
Hornsea. The termination sea (or sey, as it is occasionally 
spelt) is not the modern word denoting the ocean, but is 
nearly synonymous with mere. 
From the above remarks, it will be evident that the phy- 
sical geography of the district, diversified as it appears to 
to have been by forests, lakes, and morasses, was eminently 
favourable to the habits of such mammals as those whose 
remains are now found buried in its bogs. The beaver had 
its natural haunts in the lake solitudes of Holderness ; while 
the elk, gigantic deer, and reindeer would have the shelter 
of the primaeval forests which then abounded in East York- 
shire ; and from these sources an abundance of food for each 
tribe was always available. 
The neighbourhood and coast of Holderness possesses much 
local interest, from the various relics of a geological or 
archaeological nature which occur there, such as stone axes, 
stone hammer-heads, and rude canoes formed from the hollow 
stems of trees by the primaeval inhabitants of the district ; as 
also the remains of several extinct animals, which have 
enriched the museums of the late Mr. Strickland and myself, 
the latter of which contains bones of the elephant, bear, elk, 
and deer. 
Amongst the most interesting remains of animals which 
