DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST. 
37 
Hence the cliff rises, and before we arrive at Atwick it has attained 
the height of forty feet. Here a little gully divides the whole cliff, and 
crosses a fresh- water deposit of one hundred yards in length, (K). This 
consists of bluish and yellowish clay above, and whiter clay with 
shells beneath, resting on pebbly clay. Opposite Atwick is another such 
deposit fifty yards in length. At this place an elephant’s tusk was 
found of extraordinary dimensions ; it is preserved in the collection of 
Dr. Alderson, at Hull. The beacon on Skirlington hill, the highest 
point of the coast between Hornsea and Skipsea, is almost sixty feet 
above high-water. Hence it descends gradually northward, and, at a 
height of forty feet, we observe a fresh-water deposit ten yards in length. 
Further on, the pebbly clay sinks below the level of high-water, and 
forms a wide hollow, in which is an extensive and interesting lacustrine 
deposit, (L). Its length is about a quarter of a mile ; its extreme eleva- 
tion above high-water, at the south extremity, is twelve feet, but in the 
middle only four or five feet. The series of depositions from fresh-water 
is as follows : 
Peat. Its utmost thickness is seven feet : where this happens, the lower four feet six 
inches are solid, and break like clay. The upper part is then fibrous. Yellowish clay, 
full of paludina tentaculata, cyclas cornea, c. lacustris, and a few specimens of limnea stag- 
nalis. This is seen only on the southern side of the hollow. Blue clay, full of cyclades. 
Here is some phosphate of iron. This rests upon gravel, under which is blue clay. 
In this deposit, an old man, who was employed in collecting gravel, 
accidentally discovered the head and horns of the great extinct elk, 
whose remains abound in the bogs of Ireland, and the Isle of Man. 
Subsequently, the lower jaw was discovered by the researches of Arthur 
Strickland, Esq. The horns are a little larger than the fine specimen in 
the Dublin museum, described by Mr. Hart, and measure eleven feet four 
inches by the circuit of the horns, and six feet eight inches between their 
tips, and there is a peculiarity in the brow antler, which I have never 
seen in any other specimen. It is expanded at the end, and furnished 
with three shoyt digitations. The obliteration of the sutures of the 
cranium indicates the maturity of the individual, though from the per- 
fection of the teeth, it does not appear to have been aged. This is the 
second and largest specimen of the gigantic elk which has been found 
