Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1861-12-19

ocean and Of course much above i,s depths. In
an excavation for street on Council Chamber HILL In
Richmond, the Mocens tertiary exposed In numsr.
GUS and imperfect impressions of Shells though nothing
of the shell, then, selves remained Here eeva.
ton of more than one hundred and fly feet above the
present ocean surface.
Mr. Runiu believes that 10 one of those commissions
to which many parts Of our globe have been often sub
jected, the ocean bed was upheavsd from It's former
level and all this country, below the falls of the rivers
from Georgia 10 New York, inclusive, was brought up
to the light of day. Elevations Of this sort have often
occurred In historic times We have ourselves seen
temple Of antiquity, which still standing, the site Of
which has been depressed raised and again depressed
since its erection It is the shore. and the
ton Of the salt the columns apart from human
testimony, shows the changes 1t has undergone Not
many years since, large part Of the coast OF Chill
as elevated several feet These changes both Of ee
walton and depression familiar in geology and need
no exempifcation.
But We are not now resting on soil which was once
the bed Of the In the process Of time, there
came great food sweeping from the Northwest to the
Southeast This food according to our author, swept
away land denuded the surface Of the upper country
"and spread the removed earth, In drift, deeply
"the lower country, aud carried of the fuer lighter
"and richer parts be partly accumulated under eddy.
"ing or tranquil water generally wasted in the
ocean," We od the evidence Of this food universally
ddsed through the lower country in the covering Of
the antecsden soil with varied strata Of pebbles, gravel
sand and sometimes of clay. Blu. "the denuding action
twas in operation here also at first, before the
"sbated violence Of the f,od permitted the deposition
of sediment This may be seen in many beds Of ee-
waited and firm mari, Ia numerous and deep depres-
sions either funnel shaped cylindrical with neatly
perpendicular sides, which evidently cut out by
the whiring currents Of rapid water. These holows
ain the mari are filed up by fac and loose reddish
earth Of subsequent deposition Such whirl OF wa
ter could have existed at the bottom OF the sea,
"or, II existing and strong enough thus to eIcavate
" compact mari, 1t would have been permanent, and
"must have prevented shell fish living there, or the
"locse light dead shells and their fragments remain
ing there" The shells Of other marls and In numer-
Gus localities have been abraded to coarse powder and
removed and deposited sl'ewhere according TO their
specific gravity along with the sand and other materials
of the bed The striking illustration Of thi, denu.
dation Of mari may be along the Pamunkey river,
where for twenty or thirty miles have traced the
i
to and cropping out showing higher in the present
bed the observer proceeds up the river or other
wise, as going eastward down the river, each such
slayer successfully dips and disappears. After much of
the upper and the exposed edges of the mari had been
80 washed away to make and nearly horizon.
tai surface, then the food, 10 after time, and with
"abated velocity, brought from above and deposted
thereon first its coarser sediment, OF rolled pebbles
aud then gravel and sand and finally the lighter and
richer earth which now makes the surface coil of the
bottom land"
He proceeds trace the effects Of the aood in mould
ing the features and forming the soils Of all the tide.
water country. He supposes Q large portion Of the
richest elements Of the soil of the upper country to have
been waited into the ocean From the law Of gravity
the coarser and more worthless would have been first
deposited; the fine and valuable which al
ways the lighter last 1t is upon this principle that the
river bottoms and the country the ocean, should
be the best They receive the deposits which had been
longest impeded whs1 the velocity of the water had
sbaed That their present surface. 1t 10 this way
Also that he for the absence OF the cacareous
clement for the most part In the coils Of this lower
country, believing it to have been lost in the ocean,
He adducs some facts to show that this food by the
immense amount Of debris which Il transported to the
ocean, gave US an additional Of territory be-
sides that which vulcans uphsavs had conferred on u'
lie found in of the counties bordering the
| mari bod fapis taat heln. a. - - SAC ooean IL
would seem that this mari must have been covered BY
the drift from above.
But We cannot follow the author at length In his In.
terestng exposition Of the many efscs Of the a,od its
general denrdition Of the upper country aud It's de.
posts the lower the mode n which tho soils of the
tdewaer section were rendered poor and the Piedmont
region stripped, II by the currents of the flood
OF all ts rich garniture and fine Soils restored TO fer.
tily by the graduh dsintegraton Of Its own rocks
Nor We refer to the numerous facts and
useful to the culdvator Of the EARTH which are inter-
spersed amid the geological ep.culaons. The author
could not speculate without introducing much that is Of
practical value His mental constitution forbds 1t. So
much for the first presented at the table to which
VIC have been invited.
The second course Is novel aud varied. We have
served up series Of dishes 10 lower North Carolna-a
territory well known to most of us as K,mscha,ks,
yet deserving to be much better known We have the
great ocean sand reef; the immense sounds the fish.
cries. almost without number, and so fertile of piscne
products that do not wonder the Yankees were
attracted to Hiteras It's sporting ,narchs, who EN-.
ploy, during winter, twenty or thirty men, each, to
shoot wild fowl, and buy powder and shot by the ton
the bouudless swamps which throw great Dismal en-
trely in the shade and then the great deserts called
savaunahs. Picture to yourself reef of sand, from half
mile to two miles In width, reaching the whole length
OF the State, and shutting out the from all the
main land, at intervals. Behind this barrier Of
the sea- lie the sounds which lakes Of great extent
yet calm aud unrpffisd as Como Ainora, empowered
amid the Alps ard defended by their mountain fastuess
against all rude Winds which might farrow their beau
ful pbysioynomiss Then bayond these placid sheets of
water lies the coast bounded by impenerable morasses
aud barren savannahs Conceive Of bogs Of peat In TIE
Northern part fifty by sixty miles in extent nerspersei
i -..i e e