The ancient villages of Shipden, {34d} Whimpwell, {34e} and Keswick {34f} have entirely disappeared, and nearly the whole of Eccles. {34g} A monument, however, still remains in the ruined tower of the old church, which is half buried in the dunes of sand. These have been fast encroached upon since 1839, laying bare the foundations of dwellings, the chancel end of the church, with a portion of a wall supposed to have surrounded the church-yard. The upper part of the buildings had evidently been removed previous to the foundations having been buried under the sand. Hills of blown sand, between Eccles and Winterton, {34h} extending to Yarmouth, have barred up and excluded the tide for many centuries from the mouths of several small estuaries; but there are records of nine breaches, from twenty to one hundred and twenty yards wide, having been made through these, by which immense damage was done to the low grounds in the interior. One of the most remarkable occurred in the year 1792, on which occasion a body of water passed through between Horsey {35a} and Waxham, {35b} extending beyond Hickling, a village situated three miles inland, which, uniting with the fresh water contained in a large lake, termed the Hickling broad, destroyed all the fish. The injury the land sustained in the immediate neighbourhood was very considerable; upon one farm a loss of upwards of three hundred pounds was experienced, and years passed by before the land recovered its former fertility. The effluvia arising from the subsidence or sinking of the water filled the air with malaria of the worst description. Intermittent and typhoid fevers of a most formidable character prevailed, so that many an individual was brought to a premature grave through this catastrophe. CHAPTER IV. REMARKS ON THE GERMAN OCEAN CONTINUED.—ITS RESTORATIVE POWERS ON OTHER COASTS DEMONSTRATED.—INCREASE OF THE SHOALS OF SAND OFF HASBOROUGH, CAISTER, &C.—THE SMALLER SHOALS OF SAND ALONG THE COAST—THEIR FORMATION AND EFFECTS CONSIDERED. HAVING now brought together ample proofs of the destructive operations of the waves, tides, and currents upon our eastern coast, let us observe examples of their restorative power, in many instances aided and assisted by the hand of man.