( 478 ) 
softer then. It may therefore be questioned if the upper soil was peaty 
then, and if the oldest inhabitants of this coast-settlement have settled 
on peat. This, however, is not probable, but the clay layer rested on 
peat at all events, for the fen layer is found in Walcherenat ± 2 m. 
below A. P. 
It is, therefore, of much importance to investigate at what depth this 
clay and this peat layer of tlie Domburg beach lie under the dunes, 
and how thick they are there. This knowledge is still wanting. Till 
then we shall have to suspend our decision as to the sinking, for 
not till then can we get a fixed point for the degree of compression 
of these layers. At present there is still too much discrepancy between 
the accounts of the situation of the foundation of the finds, the 
situation of the clay, and the situation of the peat at Domburg. 
So we cannot yet decide how much less than 2—3 m. the com¬ 
pression of the ground, and therefore the sinking can have been at 
Domburg, and if a sinking of any importance remains after that. 
It would be of importance to know in what century or centimes 
the shifting and narrowing of the dunes from the outside inland took 
place on the western coast of Walcheren to such an extent that some 
ranges of dunes have disappeared and the place (at earlier times behiu 
the dunes) where the temple of Nehellennia, the burial ground wit 
coffins and the dwelling-places stood, has be’come a beach cove 
with sand. But this time is not accurately known. Yet we shou 
have to know it, to be able to conclude when it first became possi e 
that this place was sometimes laid bare with continued east win » 
and with very low ebb, and revealed itself with its remains to t e 
people on the beach, as happened for the first time in the beginning 
of 1647, and has happened later on, even up to the present time )• 
This cannot have been much before 1646, for on N. Visscher s ma P° 
1670, some ranges of dunes are drawn, ivhich have now disappe 
from the map of Walcheren, so that only one narrow line is to 
seen. In 1647, however, the displacement and removing oft e un 
by the wind must have been in full progress, and even far ad van » 
else this place could not have become a beach. Before 1647 t ere ^ 
have been hardly any chance of these remains being * al „ 
because some dunes still rested on them; else the inhabitants o 
i) Observed in 1687,1705,1706,1707,1749,1817,1882,1885, 1860 ’ 185 ®7 0 1 ^ 
1879, according to Dr. Pleyte, and observed 1906 by Miss Marie de > 0 f c i a y, 
clearly distinguished the foundation of a house, consisting of square P 1 ®® 0 j , 
which lay regularly side by side with a pole in the middle, and with 
fence of paling. 
