MR. W. G. CLARKE ON BRECKLAND CHARACTERISTICS. 567 
or two deep. On the big open fields millions of tiny particles 
of sand are carried along, making a distinctly audible musical 
tinkle as they strike each other. By a process of selection 
the tiniest particles are carried furthest and down the short 
slope of a boundary bank form cascades of purest golden sand. 
Every depression in the soil is brought into strong relief, and 
where the sand is exposed to the force of the wind it is rippled 
like the wave-ripples on some peaceful seashore. 
On many of the heaths, plants ordinarily to be found in such 
situations occur more or less abundantly, but there are many 
varieties. Nowhere in the district does the fine-leaved heath 
{Erica cinerea ) or E. tetralix grow, but the heather or ling 
(Calluna vulgaris) is very abundant. It is not so common 
where the chalk is near the surface, as where the surface soil 
is deeper or there are deposits of gravel, calcareous matter 
being prejudicial to vigorous growth. In some places, such 
as on the north-west corner of Thetford Warren and parts of 
Santon Downham Heath and Park Heath. Croxton, the 
heather occasionally attains a height of iS inches. White 
heather has been found on Croxton and Santon Downham 
Heaths. Bracken (Pleris aquilina) is, however, the most 
widely distributed and abundant plant of the heath and 
woodland, sometimes in favourable seasons, such as 1907, 
attaining a height of 10 feet, and always of 7 or 8 feet, in 
many of the plantations, being generally higher among trees 
than on the open heath. It is certainly the dominant plant 
of the “ breck ” district, and on several heaths has usurped 
the position which heather occupied some 20 years ago. 
Bracken lacks its former economic importance. In the time 
of Queen Elizabeth the Jury of the Leet at Thetford decreed 
that “ All the brakes growing in Little Xorwick and between 
the said Little Xorwick and the Abbey shall year and yearly 
be reserved to be cut and gathered by the poor of the said 
borough with their sickles.” Any person who offended against 
this regulation had to forfeit his brakes and pay 3s. 4d. fine. 
About the same period the Jury of the Leet also decreed that 
" as the -poor of the town are ordinarily very much distressed 
for the want of fuel in the time of winter by reason of the 
p p 2 
