RAISED BEACHES AND SUBMERGED FORESTS. 
177 
" The entire body of the beach rested on smoothened rock ; it 
sloped very gently seawards, that is to say, southwards, and had 
no inclination to dip east or west, as if the upheaving force had 
tilted it to one of those points. The mass consisted of thin beds 
or layers, from one to four or five inches thick, regularly super- 
posed or stratified, and varying most systematically from extremely 
fine sand to tolerable-sized pebbles, the several sorts never appearing 
to exchange position, but keeping uniformly to those beds to which 
they belonged in regard of size. Each layer formed a solid cake, 
increasing in compactness towards the centre of its depth. The 
layers also were greatly cemented together ; but not so firmly as 
were the components of each distinctive stratum. The top differed 
from the rest, in being several feet thick, and in being composed of 
sand of uniform size, and in great measure loose or incoherent." 
We are fortunately enabled to supplement this description from 
Dr. Moore's paper already cited, which deals with the Beach at 
practically the same date. The abstract of his paper states r 1 
"The raised beach . . . has lately, by the extension of the 
quarry near which it was situated, been almost entirely removed. 
... It was ascertained to occupy a depression in the face of the 
limestone cliff, 100 feet wide and forty deep; its base is thirty-five 
feet above the present sea at high- water spring tides ; it runs up- 
wards and backwards twenty feet, inclining inwards with the 
slope of the rock, and is covered by ten feet of gravel, thus 
making its entire elevation sixty-five feet above the present sea 
level. It is composed of fragments of rocks of the neighbouring 
shore, such as limestone, slate, red sandstone, and reddish porphyry, 
together with quantities of granitic sand, which is arranged in 
consolidated horizontal layers or false bedding, with intervals of 
loose sand ; a few shells (Patella and Buccinum) have been found 
in it ; and recently on its upper part, ten feet below the surface 
of the present soil, were discovered bones and teeth of the 
elephant, rhinoceros, bear, horse, and deer; 2 also caudal vertebrae 
of the whale, and the lower valve of a large oyster." 
For some forty years from the date of this paper the " Raised 
Beach on the Hoe " was almost a matter of pure history. On the 
1 Rep. Brit. Assoc. (1841) Trans. Sec. pp. 62-3. 
a These had nothing to do with the beach, but were simply on it. They 
were very fragile, and belonged to a deposit of the cave era. The bones of 
the whale, on the contrary, were water-worn. 
VOL. IX. N 
