C >9* J 
lifting of feveral Strata of Shells from the Bottom 
to within about nine Feet of the Surface, where the 
natural Soil of Gravel and Sand begins. The Mafs 
of Shells here collected is prodigious 5 the Sorts va- 
rious ; but that Kind which I have taken the Liberty 
to produce, and which, I apprehend, is the Buccinum 
vulgare, or Whilk, prevails the moft. The Shells 
before you were taken up from the Bottom of the 
Pit, where the Depth to which thefe Shells reach is not 
yet dug down to. Woodbridge is feated feven Miles 
N. E- from Ipfwich ; and is about the fame Diftance 
from Orford on the Sea coaft, which bears from it 
due Eaft. How, therefore, fuch a Mafs of Shells 
fhouldget there at fuch a Diftance from the Sea, when 
Hiftory has inform’d us of no remarkable Inundation 
in thofe Parts, or that fuch a Traft of Land was 
ever recovered from the Sea, appears to me difficult 
to determine, by any other than the Mofaic Hypo- 
thefis of an univerfal Deluge. ’Tis true, indeed, the 
River 'Deben , which rifes at 'Debenham fome Miles 
off, runs by Woodbrige y within half a Mile of thefe 
Pits, in its Courfe to the German Ocean, where ft 
empties itfelf : But fuch a Colle&ion of Shells can 
hardly be fuppofed to have been thrown up by it, 
and a Surface of Earth, to the Depth of nine Beet, 
fettled over it, without allowing a Space ofTime for 
fuch a Circumftance, almoft equal to the Interval be- 
tween us and the Deluge. But, however thefe Things- 
be, the Farmer, in whofe Ground thefe Shells are, has, 
as I am informed, laid the Foundation of an ample For- 
tune from them. The Man contented himfelf in the old 
bcatenTrack of the Farmers (a Behaviour which does in- 
finite Prejudice to the Improvement of Natural Know- 
