28 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 



necessary to diminish the draft of the vessels that navigate 

 these rivers. A like operation is going on at the mouth of 

 the Poconioke. 



That part of Maryland which lies on the Atlantic ocean also 

 presents some interesting features in its physical geography. It 

 embraces the eastern side of the lowest Eastern Shore county, 

 (Worcester,) the main land of which is separated and protected 

 from the surf, by a sandy beach, at present, extending unbroken 

 the whole length of the Maryland sea-coast. The intervening 

 sheet of water is known as the Sinepuxent sound: it is a shal- 

 low sea, interspersed with broken marshes, the free navigation 

 of which is further interrupted by reefs of oyster rocks. Here 

 also the process of filling up is gradually going on, the more 

 rapidly since the inlets of the ocean into it have become ob- 

 structed, a circumstance which by altering the condition of its 

 waters has brought about the destmction of vast quantities of 

 oysters and clams that formerly constituted an important 

 lesource to the inhabitants of its shores. Until lately the 

 sandy beach just referred to consisted of a series of islands, 

 some of which were tolerably well wooded, as those on the 

 Virginia coast now are, they were then inhabited by a race 

 of horses called Beach ponies, supposed by some to be a 

 distinct race, but are most probably degenerated individuals 

 of the ordinary domestic races that, having crossed the sound 

 and taken shelter on these islands, stinted in their food and 

 exposed to the inclem.ency of the weather, have lost the cha- 

 racters of their breed. They are remarkable for their small 

 size, which is that of the Shetland horse, not generally well 

 formed, are mostly hog-backed, and have a short body with a 

 thick neck and thin legs ; some have been seen however, well 

 proportioned, witli a graceful appearance and spirited gait. They 

 are all remarkably hardy. Only a few of these Beach ponies 

 remain on the Virginia islands, having been not many years 

 back almost totally destroyed by an inroad of the ocean, to 

 which these tracts of land are naturally exposed. 



It has already been stated that the Eastern Shore consists 

 principally of sandy hills and extensive plains of stiff clay. 

 The soil which overlies these deposites of sand and clay 

 necessarily partakes of the nature of the substratum ; being 

 occasionally a sandy or a clayey loam, the former when pro- 



