MOUNDS NEAR THE ESTUARY OF THE THAMES. 213
and origin of these last-mentioned mounds that so much discussion
has arisen. The following description may serve to make their form
intelligible.
Going along the line from Faversham in the direction of Whitstable,
the first of the mounds alluded to stands on the north side of the
railway, close to the eastern flank of one of the bosses of London
Clay above mentioned. The smaller mound is rudely circular in
plan, is about twenty feet in diameter, and rises in the form of a flat-
tened dome to a height of five or six feet above the general level of
the marsh around. There is no trench near, unless some of the
ditches be regarded as such. The nature of the soil composing the
mound is shewn in several places by small sections on the slopes.
These shew fine-textured, loamy clay, dark grey when dry ; in this, as
in every other respect, exactly like the the mud of the marsh adjoin-
ing. There were no signs whatever of any burnt clay, nor of any
pottery, nor of any other indications of human occupation.
A short distance nearer Sea Salter are two or three others situated
on the same side of the railway. One of these is kidney-shaped in
plan, is about sixty feet in its largest diameter, and rises to a height of
about seven feet above the level of the marsh. None of these differ
in other respects from the mound first described.
A few hundred yards from these last, and chiefly on the south-
eastern side of the railway, occurs the most remarkable group of all.
The other mounds were isolated, and seemed to have no connection
with each other. But the group now under notice consists of a close-
set assemblage of mounds, each with its base touching or running
into the base of the mound adjoining, so as to form a nearly con-
tinuous chain of mounds. In plan they are disposed in the shape of
a V) with its open side directed towards the eastern end of Sheppey.
They rise, like the others, abruptly from the dead level of the marsh,
and are all nearly of the same elevation, so that they look at a little
distance like one long, low, fiat-topped hill. On a closer inspection
their remarkable hummocky form immediately recalls that of eskers.
There is the same irregularly-linear arrangement of strange-looking,
steep-sided mounds, the same queer and unaccountable dimpling of
the surface, and the same likeness to human handiwork that forms
so characteristic a feature of the eskers. I paced along one limb of
the V-shaped group, and found that it extended rather more than a
hundred and sixty yards. The average height is about fifteen feet
above the marsh. The other limb, that to the east of the one