3,b0n mxt) its ^lab^ls 
By the Rev. B. ORIEL, B.A., B.Sc., F.G.S. 
HE Avon is now for the greater part of its course a 
A sluggish river winding through some of the most 
beautiful scenery in the south-west of England. It was 
not always so. At the close of the Tertiary period a great 
and uninterrupted plain stretched across from the Dundry 
Downs to the Durdham Downs and eastward to the hills 
which surround Bath. The districts indicated are outliers 
only — remnants of that vast plain which have withstood 
the denuding effects of both water and the atmosphere. 
In thinking of the times when the Avon began to flow we 
must imagine this plain emerging after its long submer- 
gence with slight irregularities only, and with very little 
on its surface to indicate the future course of the river. 
Escarpments, valleys, gorges as yet were not. But when 
once the course of a river has been determined, there are 
few more persistent objects in nature. The hardest bands 
of rock may oppose, but these will be worn down rather 
than the river be deflected from its course. Of this our 
Avon gorge is an admirable examnle. 
The Avon is usualyl regarded as rising in the north- 
