"This (the famous Panormus) consists of a stone-built quay, overlooking what used to be the harbour, having behind it a series of vaults and passages, which must have been used as stores. Now, however, instead of gazing on the sea, studded with ships from all nations, and a crowded harbour, as St. Paul did when he landed at Ephesus, we had before us a rich green field of wheat just coming into ear, dotted here and there with some ugly-looking fig-trees. As for the sea, it was nowhere to be seen, being distant some four or five miles. The alluvial deposits of fifteen centuries have thus not only raised the general level of the valley, and covered it with débris to the thickness of about 12 feet, but also very considerably enlarged its area, and converted it now into an unhealthy and marshy wilderness."[47] _Increase of Lake Silt._--But is there nothing in the local phenomena of these lake-dwellings to indicate, even approximately, the period of their existence, or the changes that have taken place since, by submergence, they have disappeared from the gaze of mankind? Dame Nature retains many agents in her service who faithfully keep tally of many passing events, though not always by days or years. The woody rings of a tree, water-worn channels, strata in rocks, and accumulated mud, are some of the piles of records which she freely places at our disposal--though often only to baffle our limited and feeble efforts to decipher them. Can we therefore elicit any reliable data from an examination of the accumulated silt from which the remains of the lake-dwellings are now and again disentombed? Let us see. A few yards from the Buston crannog, where the canoe was found, the upper stratum of the lake sediment, for about the thickness of 2 feet, consisted of a brown clayey substance, but, underneath this, the stuff had assumed a more peaty character, being softer, darker in colour, and not so heavy. The line of demarcation between these layers was so well marked, that Mrs. Anstruther, in taking a sketch of the canoe while still lying in its original bed, shows this feature on the exposed wall of the trench (Fig. 191). The lowest portion of the canoe was exactly 6 feet below the surface, so that, since its final abandonment, 4 feet of this dark substance gradually accumulated around it. Then however, some sudden change appears to have taken place in its composition, and under the altered circumstances another two feet were added. It is strange that this phenomenon is identical with what has been observed and recorded at Lochlee. In making a large trench, so as to expose the deeper structures of the gangway, the following particulars were noted (see page 100):-- (1.) The uppermost portion was a bed of fine clay rather more than 2 feet thick. (2.) Below this was a soft dark substance, formed of decomposed vegetable matters.