m , N A | ,T ,U R . i V i l H I S T O R Y
Bay, midway betwixt
zance, on Jhe i©th o f January i 7 *th&v -remains o f the wood
which, acebrding to tradition, covered anciently a large yrad ° f
ground on the edge' of Mount’s Pay, appeared. The fenpsj had
been drawn off from the fhore by a Violent fea,’ and had left federal
jkacfesy twenty yards long and ten wide, wafhed bare, ftrewëd
with finite like ' a broken eaufeway, and-wrought into hollows
fomewhat feeldw the rfeft of the lands : this gave me an . opportunity
Of b o om in g the following parts of the ancient tre.es In the firft
pool, , part of the trunk -appeared, and the whole courfe . of t ie
roots, eighteen feet long and twelve wide, was difplayed in a horizontal
pofition; upon Ipachng roùndi -we found the fand to beta thin
layer only* of ten inches deep, and then the natural earth appeared,
in which the roots remained fb firmly fixed, that, with a pick and
crow of iron, we could not get off ope piece, but were content to
few off what we could come; ét. The trunk at thé 'fféfèurë was
ragged, and by the level range of the roots which lay round it, was
part of the body of the tree juft above its divifion into roots. Of
what kind it was, there did not enough remain above the roots
pofitively to determine: the roots were pierced pfentifelly by thé
teredo, or auger-worm. Thirty feet to the weft, we found the remains
of another tree ; the ramifications extended ten feet by fix $
there was no ftock in the middle ; it, was therefore part of the
under or bottom roots of the tree, pierced alfe by the teredo, and
of the feme texture as the firft.: 'Fifty *feèt td fhe north of the firft
tree, we found part of a large oak : it was the body of a tree three
feet in diameter ; its top reclined to the eaft. In this much more
folid wood, the teredo had made no lodgements; we traced the
body of this tree, as it lay Ihelving, the length of feven feet, but
to what farther depth the body reached we coukf ilbt difeern, be-
eaufe of the immediate influx of water, as loon as wW had made
a pit for difeovery. The earth reached within fix inches öf the
forfoee of the fends ; but lo firmly rooted was the tree, that no
fledge could move it : not lb fixed was the ftock of a willow-tree,
with the bark on, one foot and a half diameter, within two paces
of the oak, where, upon endeavouring to cleave' off a part of the
willow, the earth fliook lo much under the people at work, that
they were in feme doubt whether they had beft to proceed : the
timber of the willow was changed into a ruddy colour by lying fo
long in felt water. Hard by, we found part of a hazel-branch
with its fat glofly bark on. The earth in all the tried places appears
to be a black, cold, marlh earth, covered only with a thin
layer of fend, but very little intermixed. In it we found fragments
of the leaves of the Juncus aquaticus maxwnus ; and had any flowers
appeared,
0 F ' 'O O id t2 g
sappe^idy tK^/would^hdve pointed out the fealbn pf the year when
all thefe vegeta5lil%'Wete interred,vbu£ I could fifid none.
place whfe-e.Lfound'iiaefe treesjwas dhree''hundred yards
below full-fea-mark-} fhewat^pis twelve^fegtydeep upbh them when
the tide | g iw -T h e fe feveral phenomena wifir enable',us»-to1 thaw
from them fom^^nterefting obdavatiohs. • f
' Firft, Thkt th^body ©f thefeitte^ riauft'itave flood,' at haft tiWelff
feet higher thari’&t prefent; confequently there has been ‘d febfffe^cef
-fen thefe ftiordg|j|aj|id the groufldi/hats 'funk motel than, twelve
' Secondly, Thefe foffil-trees fufliciently confirm the , traditie^,qj
thefe parts;: ‘ that, where the fends drel‘n©mfti;etdaija^ three miles in
lengthy and a ftfrlon^n(*when me dipring-tide has retired to'its^ful}
extent)', in breadth, from the town, of TenzantjeJod^fi Michael’ *
Mount, ’ therenvOs formerly a wood% 1
- Thirdly, From the different levels.of(thefe; vegetable-! remains, the
body oJthe oak being maiw- fed£ deeper than ips? tmdermoll roots
of,t(ie fecond tree,., JtSs^pkun that ..this ^bfidcpccToidd.nqt Mven
been djualSn all its parts; the'land funk in feme places more,; ini
feme left (as fe ufuaJly the cafe in all febfidences, oce^afipnfed
by!"e&ifhqisskfesi3 ©r by the fea’s exhaufting thzijiratft, ja»;Mr. Ray
imagines, or by whatever other eaufe *),; the: fubfidence being; y *
proportion to flie depth o f the cavities underneath,! a^ ;w^iMs a^CordA
irig to the'folidity and texture;of the fheM above.-
j fc Fourthly, 'Thft; fubfidendeypf the e feh ’had different;terfeeiWies
in its feveral parts-j the firft tree feems to have prgfetyed its perpendicular
fituation, and to have leant only a little forward, towards
the fcutfi, but the oak defcerids obliquely into r-ty .fend; with.Jts;
top reclining to the eaft; tire motion therefore, which opeafioned
thofebfidence, was undulating: J®| : ]W
Fifehlpj- The ground which fenk, appears to have„beienj atifwarthy,
marfhy plain of land, not much unKke the:Joyer lanc|sLof GjaJyaj
and Ludgvan, parifhes adjoining, covered thick wi thr^tr^esj’v of the
oak, hazel, andwi&sw,: at leaft; if there was not a greater variety.
- -■ Sixthly, This fubfidence having happened fe many. agQ9r„( probably
near a thoufand yfeass}-■ felcer*; 'Without; being followed by any
fvicceeding convulfions or depreffions off the earth jyp^tt|iat time,!
(as far a§ we can learh)' intimates to us* that where these grc &ek
febfidences at the time of catthquakes, there ■ ft . lefs: " danger of
return, than where, there are none; .the caverns below, from which
the momentum proceeded, being nlledj and choaked .feyi ffbo felling
in of t?hfe earth, and confeq*asiitly feeCkSve eaithq|ia^P®;Ore hot
to be dreaded;- but where there are no .febfidences, or very fmall
r Leland Itin. vol. IQ. page 7. Carcw,.page 3 .’" a See obfervations on the.S.cillji.Ifles, page ibid.
Obfervations oliHKe|SSiUy. Ifles, page 92, &c.- ut fupra.
■ * See page 158 and 159 before.
and