26 PHYSICAL, GEOGRAPHY 



of interesting observation, as well as an ample field of discove- 

 ries to the naturalist.* 



If now we refer to the physical geography of the country 

 on both sides of this great estuary, commencing with its 

 eastern border and proceeding downwards, there is observed a 

 region at no place elevated more than eighty feet above mid- 

 tide, consisting of small sandy hills, at the head of water- 

 courses, or extended levels of stiff clay in the necks and on 

 the bay shore. The appearance wliich the Eastern Shore exhi- 

 bits to a traveller who descends the peninsula from north to 

 south by the main road, is therefore far from conveying a just 

 idea of the actual condition of this interesting portion of the 

 state. As the road necessarily passes near the heads of rivers 

 and creeks it crosses over the most sandy and least improved 

 portions of the country. It is in the necks formed by the nume- 

 rous creeks that intersect the country that the true characters of 

 the soil may be observed ; its susceptibility to improvement is 

 as great as in any other portion of the state, and its resources, 

 one of which will be more particularly mentioned hereafter, 

 are numerous. By referring to the map of Maryland and 

 noticing the course of the rivers, it will be seen that there is a 

 general inclination of the country down these necks from 



* The largest of the aquatic residents of the Chesapeake bay, at least in the 

 portion of it within the limits of Maryland, are the porpoise (Delphinus phocasna) 

 and the sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum, of Lesueur) although occasionally some 

 of the smaller cetacea venture nearly all the way up in puruit of their prey, dur- 

 ing the spawning season of the herring and shad; several individuals of the beluga 

 whale {Delphinus leucas) having been caught in the spring of the last year; and 

 on one occasion a seal (Phoca marimis) strayed up almost to the head of the bay. 

 But the largest eatable fish brought to the Baltimore market, and decidedly one 

 of the best known, is the rock-fish, (Labrax lineatus, of Cuv. & Val.) ; it attains 

 the size of four feet, but is generally preferred when measuring only two feet in 

 length, or a little less. The drum-fish ( Pogonius chromis, of Cuv. &. Valenciennes) 

 is next in size, and is also a much esteemed fish, though not so much as the 

 sheep-head, (Sargus ovis,) which holds precedence over it and the bay mackerel, 

 as well as the sea-trout. Among the pan fishes none can be better than the white 

 perch, ( Bodianus pallidum, of Smith,) or the sun perch, (Labre aurite? of Lace- 

 pede.) Another much esteemed pan fish has received the trivial name of crocus 

 ptirch. The more common kinds are the yellow perch, (Percaflavescens, of Cuv. 

 et Val.) the pike, (Esoxreticulatus, of Lesueur,) the catfish, (Silurus catus,) the 

 shad, (Clupea alosa,) herring, (C. harengus,) alewives, ( C. fasciata? Les.) and 

 the eel. The lamprey is also occasionally offered, but from some unaccountable 

 prejudice, is by most persons rejected. The Ichthyology of tlie Chesapeake bay 

 is so far, however, but little known. 



