reaches it; while the Admiralty Pier at Dover effectually prevents any shingle passing from the westward.

The size of the pebbles composing the bank varies from inch to 1 inch in diameter, the average being about 1 inch.

The drift is in the same direction as the set of the flood tide, from south to north.

According to the British Association Report of 1885, the shingle accumulated during the hundred years 1741 to 1841, 100 yards near Walmer Castle; between 1841 and 1872, 28 yards. At Deal Castle, between 1741 and 1859, 28 yards; since then it has decreased 13 yards; and from 1872 to 1884 again increased 12 yards. At Sandown Castle, between 1741 and 1859, there was a decrease of 48 yards; between 1859 and 1882, a further decrease of 18 yards; and further north at the Second Battery, between 1859 and 1884, an increase of 46 yards.

The effect of sea-walls in aiding the denudation of shingle beaches during on-shore gales is well shown by the condition of this bank. Beyond the sea-wall in front of Deal, after a recent gale the shingle remained heaped up above high water for a width of from 20 to 30 yards, whereas along the adjoining beach to the south, in front of the sea-wall the shingle was washed out in places from 2 to 3 feet below high-water mark, and cleared out down to the sand.

The promenade and frontage at Deal has been protected by a sea-wall over 3 miles in length, the northern extension of this wall having been erected about twelve or fourteen years ago, at a cost of £7000. This wall is constructed principally of concrete, but at the northern end of bricks. The top is 10 feet above H.W.O.S.T. The face is vertical for the first 2 feet from the top, and then curved. The general direction of the coast-line faces

east.

There is a considerable accumulation of shingle all along the front, which is evenly distributed throughout the whole length, but is more abundant south of the pier than along the north parade, the drop from the wall to the beach under normal conditions being from 3 to 4 feet. The shingle-bank above high water next to the wall is about 5 yards wide; it then slopes at an angle of 1 in 4 to mean-tide level, and thence 1 in 6 to the sand, the total width of the shingle from the wall being 30 to 40 yards.

In heavy north-east to north-west gales the beach in front

of Deal suffers very much, the waves scouring it out and sometimes breaking over the sea-wall and on to the streets of the town. After the construction of the new sea-wall at the north end the waste of the beach rapidly increased, the high-water mark advancing shoreward 33 yards, and the low-water mark 53 yards.

In March, 1898, during a very severe north-east on-shore gale which continued for three days, the waves broke over the top of the sea-wall and across the road, and removed an enormous quantity of shingle, the beach being lowered along the North Promenade from 10 to 12 feet, and to a depth of 15 feet below the top of the wall, exposing the rock bed in places. Some heavy timber groynes which had at one time been erected for the protection of the beach were destroyed, and the woodwork carried away.

After the gale was over the shingle began to work back again, and gradually accumulated at the foot of the sea-wall.

For the purpose of preventing, if possible, this scouring away of the shingle, the corporation, under the advice of Mr. Edward Case, put down in front of the North Promenade, over a space reaching for half a mile southward of Sandown Castle, a number of low wooden groynes extending from below mean high water, or about 20 yards from the face of the wall to low water, a distance of 130 yards, the groynes being spaced from 66 to 100 yards apart. The total length of these groynes was 5600 feet.

The beach at St. Margaret's Bay has been dealt with in the description of the shore at Dover.

THE WEST COAST.

St. Bees Head to the Duddon Estuary. The cliff at St. Bees Head, which forms the southern horn of Solway Firth and rises to a height of 323 feet above the sea, has a base of breccia containing fragments of different rocks cemented together with ferruginous or siliceous cement. The fragments of stone consist principally of granite, gneiss, sandstone, etc. Above this are 11 feet of magnesian limestone, 30 feet of red and grey marls, and 50 feet of red sandstone.

There is no beach at the foot of the cliff, but on the southern side the coast-line sets back about the third of a mile, and the beach between high and low water is a quarter of a mile wide. The cliff, which is from 20 to 30 feet high, consists of drift sand and

gravel, full of boulders of various rocks, red sandstone predominating. At the foot of this cliff is a shingle-bank, which under normal conditions is 23 yards wide above high water; it then slopes at an angle of 1 in 3 for 3 yards, and 1 in 8 for 24 yards, where there is 66 a scar or bed of boulders from 6 to 18 inches in diameter, beyond which is hard sand. Three-fourths of the shingle consists of flat ovoid pebbles of siliceous slate (basanite), varying from 1 to 3 inches in diameter, the remainder being red sandstone, quartzite, felsite, hornstone, granite, jasper, etc. Below high-water mark the pebbles average about half an inch in diameter.

The flood tide along this coast as far as the north side of Morecambe Bay sets along the shore about south-east, and the drift of the shingle on the beach in the same direction. The prevailing winds and heaviest gales are from the south-west.

The cliffs from St. Bees past Netherstone and Braystones to the outfall of the Calder, a distance of 26 miles, consist of drift sand, gravel and boulders, resting on red sandstone, and rise from 30 to 187 feet above sea-level. The cliffs are being eroded by the sea. The beach above high water consists of shingle of the same kind as that at St. Bees, with blocks of sandstone. Below this, between high and low water it consists of sand, and is about a quarter of a mile wide.

Between Braystones and Sellafield the outfall of the river Eden has been diverted by the drift of the shingle southward, and after running parallel with the coast at the back of a bank of shingle and blown sand for 1 miles, finally joins the Calder, the two rivers finding their way to sea through a mass of shingle nearly a quarter of a mile wide. In places the cliff has been faced with sandstone slag pitching, for the protection of the railway which runs along the coast.

South of the outfall of the two rivers, hills of blown sand, or "meals," extend along the coast to Seascale, where they are a quarter of a mile wide, and from 10 to 15 feet high. The railway line has had to be protected from the drifting of this sand. The sand of which these hills are composed is derived from quartz and felspar rocks, and is of a dark colour, the grains varying in size from 50 to 200 to a lineal inch.

In front of Seascale, the beach, which is a quarter of a mile wide, consists of sand with patches of shingle, the pebbles varying in size from inch up to 5 and 6 inches, the majority being

derived from the red sandstone rocks, with pink and grey granite, green slate, etc. On the beach is a large "scar" (A.S. rock), or collection of boulders of red sandstone, granite, and other rocks, some of which are more than 3 feet in diameter, and contain upwards of a cubic yard. Material is taken from the beach for

road-mending.

South of Seascale, for the third of a mile the cliffs consist of drift sand and gravel, with layers of large boulders, and rise to a height of from 40 to 50 feet. At the foot is a bank of boulders and shingle 10 yards wide above high water, and below this for 50 yards sand with patches of small shingle lying at an angle of 1 in 20. Below this the sand is very flat, and not firm.

From Whitrigg Scars a long range of sand-hills extends nearly to Bootle, a distance of 7 miles. These hills vary in width from a few yards to half a mile at the estuary of the Esk, and in places attain a height of 50 to 70 feet. At the back of these "meals " is a flat tract of alluvial soil. The drift of the beach material has diverted the outfall of the river Irk 2 miles to the south, where it now joins the river Esk, these two rivers and the Mite running through a large sandy estuary and escaping to the sea by a gap in the sand-hills at Eskmeals. On the beach, which is half a mile wide, are several "scars."

Two miles south of Eskmeals and Selker Point the sand-hills are succeeded by a low cliff of boulder clay, in which is a depression, which at one time was a bay where a small river discharged, but which is now filled with alluvium.

From the south of Selker Bay a shingle-bank extends to Annaside for 1 miles, at the back of which a small beck runs between it and the clay cliffs.

From Annaside southward the cliffs, which are from 30 to 40 feet high, consist of drift sand, gravel, and boulder clay, and are being much wasted by the sea. On the beach large boulders are scattered about, and the "scars," which extend out for threequarters of a mile, dry in places at low water.

The drift cliffs are succeeded again by sand-hills as the estuary of the river Duddon is approached. This estuary is 3 miles wide, and the sands extend out 1 miles beyond the coast line. About 2 miles up the estuary on the north side is a considerable amount of shingle, which has drifted round the point in a north-easterly direction. There are ranges of sand-hills on the south side of the estuary at Sandscale.

Walney Island. South of the Duddon Estuary the coast-line for 7 miles consists of a narrow strip of land, which is three-quarters of a mile wide at the broadest part, and a quarter of a mile at the southern end, the height varying from 20 to 78 feet above the sea. On the east side of the island a salt-water creek or arm of the sea extends from the south-eastern side of the Duddon Estuary to Morecambe Bay. The land consists of glacial drift clay, in which are embedded boulders of varying sizes and many different kinds of rock.

For 3 miles at the northern end the sea-face consists of blown sands from 20 to 40 feet high, and varying in width from the third of a mile at the north end of the island to a few chains at their termination. The sand and shingle of which the southern end of the island is composed has been drifted 11⁄2 miles by the action of the tide setting into Morecambe Bay in an easterly direction, and on which are blown sand-hills 20 feet high.

The flood tide sets along the island in a south-easterly direction, and turns round the southern end to the east, and then sets up along the east side north-westerly. The shingle and beach material is drifted in the same direction as the set of the flood tide. At the north end of the island, south of Earnse Point, the cliff has been much eroded, and it and the beach set back a considerable distance. This leads to an eddy or counter-current being formed, the flood-tide curving in a northerly direction, and a shingle spit has in consequence been formed which runs in a north-easterly direction, or opposite to the main drift along the coast. The direction of the drift is thus changed four times within a short distance.

The cliffs consist of glacial drift, boulders of all sizes being interpressed, some being upwards of 6 feet across the widest side and containing 180 cubic feet. Considerable erosion is taking place, particularly at the southern end, where in one place the coast-line has receded nearly halfway across the island, the large boulders set loose from the cliffs being scattered over the beach. According to the British Association Report of 1895, the loss since the Ordnance Surveys of 1852 and 1892 has been 59 to 86 feet south of Earnse Point, 720 feet near Trough Head, and 158 to 260 feet at the south end.

Shingle derived from the stones in the cliffs is banked up at the foot of the cliffs. A section taken across the beach near South End Farm gave 16 yards of shingleto 1 inch in diameter