LPENHALLOW] DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN MARSH LANDS 27 
west side, the one chiefly examined, is about six hundred feet long and 
fifty feet wide, with a depth of four feet. ‘This trench, looking north 
from Oak Island, is shown in figure 4, as it appears at low tide with 
a small residue of water which is draining off toward the far end where 
it leads into one of the main channels. The extent to which mollusca, 
especially snails, have already occupied these excavations, gives some 
conception of their relations to the ultimate deposition of organic matter 
through their agency. 
When the marsh turf was removed, there were brought to view a 
great number of trees, so that a nearer view of the trench as in figure 5, 
shows the excavation to have uncovered a buried forest. Some of the 
trees had been blown down or had fallen as the result of decay, and 
figure 6 shows one such which measured about eighteen inches in 
diameter at the butt. Upon cutting into this log with an axe, the wood 
was found to be in a state of very perfect preservation, and it would be 
as applicable to economic purposes as the similarly buried cedar and 
pine of New Jersey, the former of which in particular has for many 
years “been mined, or raised and split into shingles; and this singular 
branch of industry furnishes profitable occupation to a considerable 
number of men” (1, 357). 
Long saturation with salt water had changed the macroscopic 
appearance of the wood, and it was, in consequence, taken to be spruce. 
But a large piece of wood was taken from near the butt of the 
log and later submitted to microscopic examination, when it proved to 
be the familiar white pine (Pinus strobus). 
Numerous loose fragments of wood lay in the bottom of the ditch, 
but the great majority of the trees were represented by stumps in situ 
as shown in figure 7. From the near root of the stump in the fore- 
ground, an entire cross section was taken, and like the log this proved 
to be white pine. A further comparison showed that all the trees 
exposed were of the same species, and from this circumstance it was 
concluded that at some former period the marsh had been occupied by 
a forest of this valuable species, and that the trees had attained an age 
estimated at about one hundred years. 
All of the stumps were much rounded and water worn at the top, 
and they also exhibited the effects of somewhat extended decay. These 
facts seemed to indicate that during the period which was occupied by 
the growth of the marsh turf, the upper portions of the still standing 
trees were beyond the direct action of salt water.” They were therefore 
brought under the influence of ordinary decay which caused them to 
break off at varying heights. Those trees which were blown over soon 
after being killed, were afterwards buried by growth of the marsh turf 
and are now found as logs; but the standing stumps continued to shorten 
