Page:VCH Norfolk 1.djvu/59

 GEOLOGY and porous strata the position of the villages is seen to follow the definite outcrops of water-bearing formations. In Norfolk springs and water- bearing beds occur throughout the county, and excepting on the larger areas of stiff Boulder Clay, south of Loddon, Hempnall and Long Stratton, where apparently few old settlements took place, we can discern no particular system in the positions chosen as sites for villages. The variety of the soils in Norfolk, and the absence of any mineral products, has naturally caused agriculture to be the chief industry of the population, while the extensive sea-coast has further induced many to follow the trade of fishing. In conclusion it may be observed that while a charm is found in the effort to decipher the stony records of our highest hills and mountains, when as a rule we are brought into contact with the earlier pages of geological history, we may find no less interest and charm in studying the lowlands in which for the most part we read some of the later pages of geology and are brought more directly in contact with the early history of man, and with the origin of the existing fauna and flora of the country. 29