31 
origin ot our Broads and !Meres, I shall deem myself amply re- 
warded for any trouble of mine. 
It falls within the legitimate province of Geology to account for 
the aspects of physical geogmj)!!}' l>y a reference to bygone opera- 
tioii-s. lliere is not a single element in this important science 
nhich is not due to those principles which form the verv vitality 
ot geology. W hether in the upheaving forces which have made 
one ])art of the earth wildly mountainous, or in the denuding 
agencies which have cut another area down to the general flatne.ss 
of the Fen districts, wo must recognize in both the eflects of 
agencies which have been in operation for ages. We, in Xorfolk, 
aie fortunate in being able more or less completel}' to connect the 
later tertiary deposits with each other, and hence it is, that one of 
the most interesting chapters in later geology is to be reail of in 
tbe Eastern Counties. The physical aspects of the Broad dis- 
trict to ttdvC that first — are, I suppo.se, tolerably well known to 
all present. I hey are aware what a paradise it is to the naturalist, 
what treasures of birds, ])lants, and insects, its peculiar geographi- 
cal character supports. Betw’een this part of Norfolk, and the 
opposite coasts ot Holland, there is such a striking likeness that, 
for artistic purposes, the former may be regarded as a portion of 
Holland which has been broken oil, and floated across the German 
Ocean hither ! The sluggish rivers wind for miles out of their 
straight course, owing to their small fall, and, in the valley of the 
Buie especially, we have a string of water expanses, termed 
Broads, which bound the course of the river on this side or on 
that. The small fall of the river — only two or three feet— at once 
tells us that the rivei-s themselves have not scooped out the basins 
in which the Broads lie, indeed, as ive shall see further on, there 
is a greater tendency on their part to fill up such basins than 
otherwise. 
Ihe Bioad district is a county genevts, with the exception of 
Its cousinly likeness to the Dutch Fens. It is to the consideration 
of the geological causes which have been operative in jjroducing 
such a result, that I now beg to draw' your attention. 
i\s I before remarked, it is necessary at once to refer to a period 
long antecedent to the present, in time, although geologically its 
immediate predecessor. You ar.' awaire that this period is that 
commonly known as the “ Glacial Epoch,” when Britain was dis- 
