172 
CKOMER FOREST-BED. 
For about 100 yards further an important section is only un¬ 
covered after exceptionally severe north-westerly gales. Imme¬ 
diately under the base of the Boulder Clay, which lies several feet 
below high-water mark, greenish sandy clay, in places laminated 
in the upper part, alternates with beds of lignite full of fir¬ 
cones and seeds. At one spot several trunks of fir were observed 
to lie close together and in the same direction, four of them 
being upwards of nine feet in length with neither end visible; a 
few yards away there were two more trunks crossing one another. 
Unfortunately on account of the water it was impossible to 
ascertain whether these trunks were overthrown in place or 
formed a pine raft;—-they rested on a carbonaceous sandy and 
stony clay, probably a continuation of the soil already mentioned. 
The trunks were of moderate size, originally not exceeding a foot 
in diameter, but now compressed to about two or three inches ; the 
bark did not appear to be exceptionally thick. Cones of Scotch 
and spruce fir were abundant, one of the latter having been 
gnawed by a squirrel. Other seeds wei*e common, including 
yew, sloe, and probably the yellow water-lily. 
Just south of the highest part of the cliff at Happisburgh the 
base of the Till again rises a few feet above the beach, so that 
due north of the church another patch of the Fresli water Bed is 
seen, consisting of lignite with many fir-cones and seeds, resting 
on hard weathered green stony loam penetrated by roots. At 
this place there was imbedded the stump of a small tree with 
the roots penetrating the soil,—the only instance of a tree in its 
natural position that has been observed. The soil corresponds 
exactly in character with recent soils of the same neighbourhood, 
except that is harder. The stones in it are all weathered ; the 
bedding is obliterated, and so are all calcareous fossils, with the 
exception of a single much-decayed fragment of mammalian 
bone. Blue concretions of phosphate of iron occur here and at 
Ostend. The greatest thickness of the Freshwater Bed in this 
patch does not exceed three feet, and it soon either thins out or 
entirely changes. 
From this point to Happisburgh Gangway we have the usual 
continual changes and false-bedding of the middle division of the 
F orest-bed. 
It was probably from the two freshwater deposits just de¬ 
scribed, that the Rev. S. W. King obtained most of the plants 
determined by Professor Heer f but as the Post-glacial Alluvium 
south-east of Happisburgh has till lately been confounded with the 
Forest-bed, it has been thought safer (in the absence of informa¬ 
tion as to the exact localities where the specimens were found) 
to omit from the lists one or two species for which we have no 
corroborative evidence. 
For 200 yards >south-east of the Gangway, the Forest-bed is 
traceable at the base of the cliff, and consists of laminated clay, sand, 
and clay-pebbles, with drifted wood and tree-stumps. About 
* See LyelTs Antiquity of Man, 4th ed., p. 2.56. 
