receding, from the accumulation
of sand and shingle drifted and deposited by the less impetuous tides of
the Solent Channel.--About Brixton, for instance, between Blackgang
Chine and the Freshwater Cliffs, the loss of land has been estimated
(from the successive removals of paths and hedges,) to exceed 200 feet
in breadth in less than a century; while in the neighbourhood of Ryde it
is known that the bed of a valley formerly accessible to the sea is now
rather above its highest level; and even in 1760, when Fielding visited
the island, the coast there is described by him as a wide disgusting
waste of mud, which is now covered with an increasing layer of sand,
sufficiently firm to bear wheel-carriages; and no doubt but in process
of time there will be a great accession to the beach, from the constant
though slow operation of the same causes--denuding on the one side, and
reciprocally accumulating on the other.

Good Stone of various qualities is found in most parts of the island:
and with that procured from the quarries of Binstead, the body of
Winchester Cathedral was built. All the houses along the Undercliff are
constructed with a beautiful kind of freestone procured on the spot.

Extensive pits are worked in the downs for the chalk, which is used
for manure, burning into lime, &c. A stratum of coals was formerly
believed to run through the central downs, and Sir Rt. Worsley
actually sunk a shaft for it near Bembridge; his labors however
were but poorly rewarded. Veins of coarse iron ore have also
appeared in some parts of the island.

The finest white sand in the kingdom is obtained from the sea-cliffs at
Freshwater, and is carried in great quantities to the glass and
porcelain manufactories. Excellent brick-earth abounds in almost every
part of the island: common native alum, copperas, specimens of
petrifactions, and many curious varieties of sea-weeds, are picked up on
the shores; in the cliffs and quarries are found numerous beautiful
fossil remains,--especially oysters and other bivalve shells, of a vast
size.

The central range of chalk hills divides the island into two nearly
distinct regions, the soil and strata being essentially different,--a
stiff clay predominating on the north side, which is extensively covered
with wood, while the south side is principally of a light sandy soil or
mellow loam, and being exceedingly fertile, the whole tract is almost
exclusively employed i