brooks that no longer had any
ultimate outlet, accounts for the Lake, so far as this side of the
country is concerned.

At the western extremity the waters also contract between the steep
cliffs called the Red Rocks, near to which once existed the city of
Bristol. Now the Welsh say, and the tradition of those who dwell in that
part of the country bears them out, that in the time of the old world
the River Severn flowed past the same spot, but not between these
cliffs. The great river Severn coming down from the north, with England
on one bank and Wales upon the other, entered the sea, widening out as
it did so. Just before it reached the sea, another lesser river, called
the Avon, the upper part of which is still there, joined it passing
through this cleft in the rocks.

But when the days of the old world ended in the twilight of the
ancients, as the salt ocean fell back and its level became lower, vast
sandbanks were disclosed, which presently extended across the most part
of the Severn river. Others, indeed, think that the salt ocean did not
sink, but that the land instead was lifted higher. Then they say that
the waves threw up an immense quantity of shingle and sand, and that
thus these banks were formed. All that we know with certainty, however,
is, that across the estuary of the Severn there rose a broad barrier of
beach, which grew wider with the years, and still increases westwards.
It is as if the ocean churned up its floor and cast it forth upon the
strand.

Now when the Severn was thus stayed yet more effectually than the
Thames, in the first place it also flowed backwards as it were, till its
overflow mingled with the reflux of the Thames. Thus the inland sea of
fresh water was formed; though Silvester hints (what is most improbable)
that the level of the land sank and formed a basin. After a time, when
the waters had risen high enough, since all water must have an outlet
somewhere, the Lake, passing over the green country behind the Red
Rocks, came pouring through the channel of the Avon.

Then, farther down, it rose over the banks which were lowest there, and
thus found its way over a dam into the sea. Now when the tide of the
ocean is at its ebb, the waters of the Lake rush over these banks with
so furious a current that no vessel can either go down or come up. If
they attempted to go down, they would be swamped by the meeting of the
waves; if they attempted to come up, the strongest gale that blows c