FLINT FLAKES OF DETON AND CORNWALL. 
177 
The upper portions of the beds are soft and friable, the lower 
is hard' and petrous, occasioned, I believe, by the action of the 
sea water decomposing a portion of the calcareous material, and 
cementing the whole into a solid mass ; and all the phenomena 
of the entire mass conduces to the conviction, that the so-called 
raised beach is, in reality, the undisturbed remnant of an exten- 
sive district of wind-borne sand, similar to that which now Exists 
on Braunton Burrows and in Croyde Bay, that formerly extended, 
most probably, to Baggy Point, reaching some way out towards 
the sea. Of this latter hypothesis we have evidence in the por- 
tions that remain hardened into stone, that still exist, capping 
the summits of the rocks on the beach to the extent of some 
two hundred yards seaward. Moreover, a study of the stratifi- 
cation of the hills of drifted sand, demonstrates a series of 
layers that assimilate to the various modes of stratification 
formed in the ancient bed, and which, I think, can be accounted 
for by no other means than the varying and ever-changing 
direction of the currents of the wind, that builds, destroys, and 
restores again, still ever adding to the heap. I would also draw 
attention to the circumstance that, in Croyde Bay, some of the 
lower layers of the present sand heaps are as hard as rock, and 
are probably, though part of the present sand beds, also co-ex- 
istent, in point of age, with that which has been misinterpreted 
as an ancient sea beach.” 
The circumstance that all the flints that are found in the sand 
deposit are entire nodules, while those that are found in the soil 
that overlies it are fractured flints, demonstrates, I think, that 
the latter may have been produced from the former, and that 
the sand bed has been deposited since the existing beach has 
been at its present level ; that the flints are more recent than 
the latest elevation of land upon the coast, that is, that the 
sand bed itself has been deposited since the date of the raised 
sea beaches around our coast ; and that the flint flakes found in 
the surface soil were deposited after the deposition of the sand 
bed, a circumstance that must place a considerable period 
between the dates of the epoch of the raised sea beaches and 
that of the time when the flint flakes were deposited. 
The next question that arises is, whether or not, since the 
flints have been found in the submerged forest at Northam 
Burrows, they may have been deposited prior to the latest 
depression of the land upon the coast. To determine this point, 
it will be necessary to analyse carefully the geological conditions 
of the deposits that exist in connection with the flint flakes 
there found. 
The Northam Burrows form a large, grassy plain, that exists 
at the level of spring tide, high water. The Burrows are sepa- 
rated from the beach by an extensive pebble ridge, that affords 
