147 
on the east Coast of England. 
fir, and oak. Other woods evidently exist in these islets, of 
some of which we found the leaves in the soil ; but our pre- 
sent knowledge of the comparative anatomy of timbers, is not 
so far advanced as to afford us the means of pronouncing with 
confidence respecting their species. In general, the trunks, 
branches, and roots of the decayed trees, were considerably 
flattened ; which is a phaenomenon observed in the Surtarbrand 
or fossil wood of Iceland, and which Scheuchzer remarked 
also in the fossil wood found in the neighbourhood of the lake 
of Thun, in Switzerland. 
The soil to which the trees are affixed, and in which they 
grew, is a soft greasy clay ; but, for many inches above its sur- 
face, the soil is entirely composed of rotten leaves, scarcely 
distinguishable to the eye, many of which may be separated, 
by putting the soil in water, and dexterously and patiently 
using a spatula, or a blunt knife. By this method, I obtained 
some perfect leaves of Ilex Aquifolium, which are now in the 
Herbarium of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks ; and some 
other leaves which, though less perfect, seem to belong to some 
species of willow. In this stratum of rotten leaves, we could 
also distinguish several roots of Arundo Phragmites. 
These islets, according to the most accurate information, 
extend at least twelve miles in length, and about a mile in 
breadth, opposite to Sutton shore. The water without them, 
towards the sea, generally deepens suddenly, so as to form a 
steep bank. The channels between the several islets, when 
the islets are dry, in the lowest ebbs of the year, are from four 
to twelve feet deep ; their bottoms are clay or sand, and their 
direction is generally from east to west. 
A well dug at Sutton, by Joshua Searby, shows that a moor 
U 2 
