History informs us, that the island of Lothingland has experienced a variety of vicissitudes from the irruptions of the sea; and that the coast which is washed by the German Ocean, was, in former ages, very different in its appearance from which it is at present. A large arm of the sea, at the time when the Romans were in Britain, extended itself, on the north side of the island, several miles westward of the ground whereon Yarmouth is now situated; and the mouth of the Yare, or, rather, arm of the sea, at that time, was very large, and discharged itself into the ocean by two channels, (being separated by the sand-bank on which Yarmouth was afterwards built) the one near Caister, and the other near Gorleston. It is highly probable that before the Christian era, this extraordinary effect of the secret operations of the ocean, had not commenced; and that previous to that period, the Yare discharged itself into the sea by one channel only. The reason why this sand-bank was not formed before that time, is one of those secrets of Providence which, to us, continues unexplored. The north-east winds appear to have been the apparent cause of forming the sand-bank at the mouth of that river; and is an inconvenience to which it is subject, even at this present time. The original name of the bank was, the Cerdick Sand; from Cerdick, a warlike Saxon, who, about the year 495, landed here; and who, after having routed the opposing Britons, and greatly harassed the Iceni with a very grievous war, sailed to the western parts of Britain, where he founded the kingdom of the West Saxons. The mouth of the former of these channels being entirely choaked up by the north-east winds, the whole stream fell, afterwards, into the latter; and this last-mentioned channel having its entrance so frequently blocked up by the sand-banks formed by these winds, that its course was greatly altered, and extended a considerable distance to the south of Gorleston, before it was able to discharge itself into the sea. These obstructions still continuing, the mouth of the haven kept proceeding still further to the south, till, at last, it reached even to the south of Corton, before it was able to force its passage into the ocean. The mouth of the haven, from these obstructions, being carried thus far to the south, and having such numerous sands and shallows formed therein, especially between the 10th and 20th of Edward III, that its navigation became extremely dangerous, and but few ships of burthen could enter there with safety; and, consequently, was so detrimental to Yarmouth, that it greatly affected the trade, which for many years had subsisted there, as well as the commerce of the adjacent country.