18(58.] ^)41 [Kirkwooil. 



N. C, Dec. 7, 1868 ; as all evidences of the general movement 

 of the Atlantic seaboard are valuable : 



lu the bottom of nil ovir frcsli water rivers ami creeks there 

 are large tracts of the bottom covered Avith cypress stumps and 

 knees precisely as they grew and undecayed, precisely as they 

 are now above the tide in our swamps. These stumps and knees 

 are now from 6 to 8 feet below the tide level ; the land must 

 have sunk since they grew. Again, all along tlie waters of 

 Pamlico sound, where the farms, even in the memory of middle- 

 aged men, were extremely rich, the tide has submerged them, 

 and they will not now produce in some instances even grass, and 

 the people say the tides rule higher than in old times. Again, 

 the shores are washing awa}' everywhere, and making nowhere. 

 So that at least on the shore line of Pamlico sound, there are at 

 least 500 or 1000 acres taken possession of by the sound ever}'- 

 year. Again, in cutting a canal to drain Mallamusket lake into 

 Alligator river, a powerful dredge was used, and some three feet 

 below the tide level, the^^ took up a layer of pine stumps, and 

 immediately below these another layer was taken up, and below 

 these still another layer, showing conclusively to my mind that 

 tlie land for many ages has been, as now, about level with the 

 tide ; and the accumulation of vegetable matter compensates for 

 the sinking. Pine will never rot if alwaj's under fresh water. 

 We have here also 8 lakes, some 20 miles long, and from that 

 down to 3 or 4, the lands around which for miles are a dead level, 

 and none of them with a regular natural outlet. 



On the Shoiver of November, Meteors as observed at Blooming- 

 ton, Indiana, November 13-14, 18G8. 



By Daniel Kirkwood, L.L. D. 



The Shower of November Meteors has been this year unex- 

 pectedly brilliant. Unfortunately, I was unable to w^atch the 

 display; but during three hours on the morning of the 13th, 

 Prof. T. A. Wylie, D. D., observed 165. A considerable propor- 

 tion of these were unconformable. The number, however, radi- 



