reach the sea at King s Lynn. The Cam or Granta, formed by the junction of some small Essex streams, flows N.N.E. from Cambridge, changing its name to Ouse three miles from Ely, but instead of flowing into the sea at Wisbeach is carried on to Denver, and thence to the sea at Lynn. The Lark for seven miles separates Cambridgeshire from Suffolk, and the Linnet, a feeder of the Lark, also serves as a boundary stream for another stretch of seven
miles.All the northern part of Cambridgeshire, the fen country, is covered with alluvial deposits resting on a bed of clay of great but unknown thickness. These are called the Kimmeridge and Oxford clays, the Oxford clay lying below the Kimmeridge. There is no break of continuity between them ; they are only distinguished by the embodied fossils above the clay. There is a deposit of peat of variable thickness, but generally very deep. South and east the Fens are bordered by a narrow belt of Kimmeridge clay, beyond which is a strip of lower and then of upper green- sand ; and beyond this, in the southern division of the country, we have the chalk. In the fen country there are great masses of gravel, sand, and drift-clay. " We can trace the rise of the fen lands through the deposits of land- Hoods, and the growth of fuel-bogs " (Professor Sedgwick). Besides these regular formations and deposits Cambridge shire contains much diluvial deposit, not to be accounted for by land-floods or tides and currents, but belonging to the glacial period. The uplands or so-called " highlands " of Cambridgeshire are level, but broken by low chalk hills in the neighbourhood of Essex and Suffolk. The chalk is in two divisions, upper with flints, lower without flints. At the foot of the hills the lower bed of chalk has been extensively quarried, and much elaborate sculpture in Ely Cathedral has been formed of it. The thin upper greensand below the lower chalk rests on gault. This formation everywhere constitutes the northern border of the chalk, and in the western portion of the country forms rich, well-wooded soil. The gault is the blue brick earth of Cambridge, and has a thickness of 150 feet. Professor Sedgwick has given a careful account of the fossils found in these formations, and there is an ample collection of examples in the Woodwardian Museum. In deep diggings in the fen lands, and in excavations for buildings in Cambridge gravel, remains are discovered of the wolf, bear, horse, and bos primigenius. Diluvial beds of loam mixed with fragments of chalk extend into the parts of Cambridgeshire adjacent to Essex and Suffolk. Along the irregular line separating Cambridgeshire from these counties the iron-sand which underlies the gault rises to the surface. It forms excellent garden ground, and is rich in fragments of mineralized wood (Conybeare and Phillip s Geology of fine/land and Wales). Cambridgeshire is one of the chief corn-producing counties. A part of the county near the south-west border was formerly called the Dairies ; and large dairy farms are still found producing cheese very similar to the best Stilton. The census of 1871 returned 25 per cent, of the male population as agricultural labourers, farm- servants, and shepherds. Although the county is entirely agricultural, mainly arable, with some wheat and pasture crops, many busy trades are also carried on, brewing and malting, brick-making, lime-burning. There is a great deal of boat-building, and there are many seamen employed on the navigable cuts. The climate of the county is generally healthy, but it would be premature to say that ague is altogether banished from the fen country.
Some reference has already been made to the British and Roman antiquities. There are some remains of Roman camps ; a few only of Norman castles. In the southern part of the county are four great dykes. They once formed the boundary between East Anglia and Mercia ; each extended from fen land to wooded country, crossing the open intervening space. The chief of these fosses was the Devil s Ditch ; another was the Fleam or Balsham Dyke ; the others were the ditches of Breat and Bran. All these were most probably of British origin. The county of Cambridge is rich in churches, especially in Ely and Cambridge and their neighbourhoods. We have abundant examples of Pre-Norman, Norman, Early English, Decorated, Perpen dicular. At Ely there are some valuable monastic remains. The famous Abbey of Thorncy is only represented by various foundations, and a fragment of the abbey church, which has been worked into the present parish church. Of domestic architecture there are very slight remains in one or two manor houses, and some remains of the Episcopal palace at Downham. The modern architectural efforts may well compete with those of any former age.
Though Cambridge is the county town, Ely is the one city of Cambridgeshire. It derived its name from the abund ance of the eels which were found there. It was situated on the largest of the islands that rose above the level of the Fens, which in winter were surrounded by water, and were only accessible by certain passes or gates. (See Ely.) The other Cambridgeshire towns are soon enumerated. Wisbeach (beach of the Ouse) is a large and prosperous town, next in size and population to Cambridge. The navigable River Nene intersects the town and makes it a port. The main export is grain ; the main import is Baltic timber. The Wisbeach canal gives water communication in many directions. Newmarket has a somewhat peculiar reputation, and is called the metropolis of the turf. The race course is four miles in length, of elastic turf ; some hundred horses may be seen exercising on the Downs. There are seven race meetings in the year. This and the neighbouring town of Royston, on the borders of Hertford shire, have been often frequented by royalty; many houses are inhabited by patrons of the turf. Our literature abounds with references to Newmarket, which, truth to say, are as a rule of an unflattering description. Winipole Park, Lord Hardwicke s place, is the principal seat in the county, and the fine park has some of the best timber in the country. W impole is celebrated for its pictures, and there is a goocl library. The principal other proprietors are the dukes of Bedford and Rutland and Mr Childers, Doddington was till recently the richest living in England, but the revenues are now spread over seven rectories. The village of Babra- han is celebrated as the first place in England where water irrigation was introduced, and also for the breed of South down sheep which bears the name. Whittlesea Mere is the most remarkable of the modern reclamation ; there abund ant crops are raised where boating and fishing were carried on within living memory. Whittlesea West is still covered with water many months in the year, when there is abund ance of waterfowl. The ancient town of March should be noticed, also Chatteris, Thorney, Johan, formerly famous for their abbeys. The town of Thorney was greatly im proved and beautified by a former duke of Bedford. In 1875 the county was under the ownership of G497 pro prietors of one acre and upwards, and of 6677 proprietors of less than one acre. For parliamentary purposes the two divisions of the shire and isle form one district, returning three members to parliament. The population of the county in 1861, as compared with 1851, exhibited a de crease of 5 per cent., but in 1871 an improvement was manifested to the extent of 6 per cent. The rate of progress is slow, and it is hardly likely to be acceler ated, By the census of 1871 the population consisted of 186,906 persons, of whom 92,115 were males, and 94,791 females.
