70 
tutes the islets. The disposition of the strata was found to be nearly 
as follows : 
Clay 16 feet 
Moor, similar to that of the islets . . 3 to 4 feet 
Soft moor, like the scouring of a ditch bot- 
tom, mixed with shells and silt 20 feet 
Marly clay 1 foot 
Chalky rock from 1 to 2 feet 
Clay 31 yards 
Gravel and water ; the water having a chalybeate taste. 
In order to ascertain the course of this subterraneous stratum of 
decayed vegetables. Sir Joseph Banks directed a boring to be made, 
in the fields belonging to the Royal Society in the parish of Mable- 
thorpe. Moor, of a similar nature to that of Searby’s well, and the 
islets, was found, very nearly on the same level, about four feet thick, 
and under a soft clay. 
The whole appearance of the rotten vegetables which were found, 
perfectly resemble, according to the remark of Sir Joseph Banks, 
the moor which in Blankeney Fen, and in other parts of the East 
Fen, in Lincolnshire, is thrown up in the making of banks ; barks, 
like those of the birch tree, being there also abundantly found. The 
moor extends over all the Lincolnshire fens, and has been traced as 
far as Peterborough, more than sixty miles to the south of Sutton. 
On the south side, the moory islets, according to the fishermen, 
extend as far as Grimsby, situated on the south side of the Humber ; 
and it is a remarkable circumstance, that in the large tracts of low 
land, which lie on the south banks of that river, a little above 
its mouth, there is a subterraneous stratum of decayed trees and 
shrubs, exactly like those observed at Sutton; particularly that of 
Axholme Isle, and that of Hatfield Chace, which have been already 
described. 
