TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



country along the river towards the mountains and for 

 this place itself. But to all appearance the carrying- 

 out of these fine but costly plans will not be so soon 

 accomplished. Between the little and great falls many 

 fish are taken, or at least might be ; for here the fish 

 coming up from the ocean find a non plus ultra, and 

 crowd together in great masses. Between this place 

 and the opposite Virginia shore the breadth of the Po- 

 towmack is half a mile. A grey species of stone, very 

 micaceous, strikes through the region from north-east 

 to south-west ; the same is found likewise about 

 Bladensburgh and Alexandria ; it is the continuation 

 of a similar but blacker stone seen about Baltimore, 

 and belongs to the first granite line extending along 

 the eastern coast of North America. On both sides the 

 high banks, and for some distance from the river, sand 

 and rounded pebbles are the commonest soil, which 

 therefore is not the most fertile. Iron-ore occurs 

 everywhere at the surface, in many forms. To its de- 

 velopment here a sort of rough breccia (' budding 

 stone ') has contributed the most, cementing together 

 coarse sand and pebbles. This is the case almost every- 

 where in the sandy hill-country of the coast, where 

 more or less iron-bearing earth is found distributed 

 under and in the upper strata. From many circum- 

 stances, may it be almost believed that the plant-king- 

 dom has had a share in this phenomenon? The depth 

 of the bed of the Potowmack as well as of the other 

 rivers in America, and the unmistakable traces of their 

 former higher-lying, shallower, but wider channels, 

 give continually weighty evidence for the great age of 

 the continent of America. 



We crossed the river, going to Alexandria, whither 



