ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. 
19 
in Yorkshire it is employed in the construction of 
houses. Several accumulations of this kind have 
been discovered on the coast of Sussex, occupying 
low alluvial tracts, that are still subject to periodical 
inundations. 
At Felj)ham, near Bognor, on the 25th of Octo- 
ber, 1799, a submarine forest was laid bare by a 
north-east hurricane. It was situated about five 
feet beneath the surface, but neither its thickness 
nor extent coidd be ascertained ; notwithstanding 
there can be no doubt that it pervades the 
Feljiham Levels, probably as far as the village of 
Barnham. Large portions of tlie trunks of trees, 
and heaps of reeds, oak-leaves, &c. matted to- 
gether, were observed, permeated throughout with 
a bituminous stain. This storm also exposed on 
the strand, at low water, upwards of forty large 
oak trees, lying with their heads towards the 
south-east. The body of the largest measured 
four feet in diameter ; the wood was extremely 
black, and emitted a strong sulphureous smell 
during combustion. Trees of this kind have often 
been observed by the inhabitants of Bognor after 
a north-east storm ; and, doubtless, may again be 
witnessed under similar circumstances by any 
curious enquirer.* 
In Pevensey Levels the trunks of large trees 
have often been observed, imbedded in a mass of 
decayed vegetables. The substratum is an inferior 
peat, with an intermixture of sand, reposing upon 
a thick bed of blue alluvial clay, containing marine 
* Coniiminicated by tlic late Rev. .1. Douglas, F.A.S. of Preston. 
c 2 
