74 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which, formed the southern limit, and in 1810 became impassable. 

 The barrier thus formed existed until 1830 or 1831, when it was 

 broken through and a second inlet was created. By a change in 

 the tidal currents, due to the formation of this new inlet, the isth- 

 mus which formerly connected Sandy Hook with the Highlands 

 of JSTavesink was again brought into existence and remained until 

 1835. An artificial channel was then cut through it, and this be- 

 ing gradually deepened and widened by the ebb and flow of the 

 tides, has ever since remained open. The second Shrewsbury 

 inlet closed in 1840 near Island Beach, having moved northward 

 nearly three miles during its existence of nine or ten years. In 

 1837 or 1838 the third and last inlet opened near the present Belle- 

 vue Hotel, and afforded a better channel for navigation than 

 the second inlet, which it followed in its northward course and 

 survived by about eight years. From 1818 until September, 1889, 

 no inlet has been opened ; but this fact is due rather to the efforts 

 of the railroad company to maintain its road-bed than to a dimi- 

 nution of the tendency of the waves and tidal currents to open a 

 passage. 



The facts and dates concerning the Shrewsbury Inlets have 

 been obtained chiefly by inquiry from old fishermen and sailors 

 who have spent their lives on or near the waters of the Navesink 

 and Shrewsbury Rivers. Coming from a number of independent 

 sources, they agree very closely, and those here given may be ac- 

 cepted as worthy of credence. The tendency of the inlets to work 

 northward, periodically closing and reopening farther south, has 

 been observed in all those between Point Pleasant and Sandy 

 Hook, especially in those of Manasquan and Shark Rivers. Be- 

 tween Point Pleasant and Cape May, however, all the inlets are 

 moving southward. 



From Monmouth to the head of Barnegat Bay there is no beach 

 similar to that of Sandy Hook. Instead of a sand-reef separated 

 from the main land by a navigable channel, there is only the slop- 

 ing strand adjoining, as at Long Branch, the foot of an upland 

 bluff, or as at Spring Lake, Seagirt, and Point Pleasant, with its 

 crest on a level with the surface of the upland. Between Bay 

 Head and Cape May, however, there are twelve beaches, mostly 

 well developed and preserved, and named respectively Squan, 

 Island, Long, Island or Little, Brigantine, Absecon, Peck's, Lud- 

 lani's, Seven Mile, Five Mile or Holly, Two Mile, and Poverty. 

 The majority of these, however, do not show the high degree 

 of development exhibited by Seven-Mile and Five-Mile Beaches. 

 Some appear to be only in the earlier stages of growth, while 

 others have passed their prime and are now yielding to the at- 

 tacks of wind and wave. 



These agents have been hitherto considered only with reference 



