34 
sphere. We had no such mountains in Norfolk, but if the area 
where the Broads now lie Avas one hundred and fifty feet above the 
sea level, it Avill follow that those parts higher still (our present 
water-shed) remained in the same relations as they do now. 
Hence our lakes or Broads were smaller and shalloAver, simply for 
lack of that mechanical force derived only by glacial descent from 
very elevated regions. As it is, the depth and extent of the 
Broads I consider to he directly proportioned to the operating 
effects of the ice from the higher levels. 
We know that during the connection of England with the con- 
tinent, the climate Avas rigorous, because it was noAv that arctic 
plants migrated, and took up their position Avherever it A\^as possi- 
ble. As the climate toned doAvn these Avere obliged to ascend the 
mountain and hilly ranges, Avhere alone they could find a cold 
suited to them, and similar to that which had maintained them in 
the plains previously. 'I’hat the climate became Avarmer before 
our island Avas separated from the continent, is evident by our 
prevailing flora, as Avell as fresh- water and land fauna, Avhich differ 
in no respect from the general European types. 
Zoologically, therefore, as Avell as geologically, Ave knoAv that 
England has been seAmred from the rest of Europe, since tlie 
glacial period, and Avithin comparatively recent times. The 
German Ocean is but of yesterday, in comparison Avith other seas. 
]\Ir. GodAvin Austen has .shoAvui that an elevation of no more than 
one hundred and twenty feet Avould once more lay bare its sea 
bed, and connect us with the continent from Flamborough Head 
by way of Heligoland to Holstein. The deepest part of the sea is 
that knoAvn as the “Deep Water Channel,” which runs more or 
less parallel to the coasts of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, and has 
a maximum depth of one hundred and eighty feet. In case of an 
elevation like that above-mentioned, this would become the bed of 
the Thames, and it is probalfie that it was the course of some such 
river before England became an island. In that case, the rivers 
lloAving doAvn the Norfolk valleys would be tributary to it, and 
the extinct river Avhose dried up bed may be seen in the Mundesley 
Cliffs, may have been a similar minor tributary during post-glacial 
times. The North Sea has an average depth of tAvo huiulred 
fathoms, or tAvelve hundred feet, so that this must have been a S(;a 
ages before the German Gcean Avas formed, and, in fact, that into 
