[PENHALLOW] DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN MARSH LANDS 4} 
was no doubt transferred to more sheltered localities where it may have 
contributed to the further growth of barrier beaches, or to the silting 
up of shallow basins. In at least one instance, which came under per- 
sonal observation, a barrier beach is founded upon what is believed 49 
be Pleistocene clay. Evidence of this nature leads to the belief that 
the barrier beaches as we now see them, are the products of action 
which has developed since glacial time, and that some of these beaches 
are of very recent origin. This point of view will permit a better 
understanding of the evidence afforded by the marsh itself. 
It has been found that the total thickness of the marsh structure 
from the surface to the top of the sphagnum zone, amounts to forty- 
nine inches. The sphagnum has developed during a period which cannot 
be estimated, and it is therefore evident that only the overlying strata 
can be taken as entering into this calculation. If then, such superficial 
structure be considered in relation to the general subsidence at the rate 
of two feet per century, it will be found that all the peat zones and the 
marsh turf as well, have been formed within the space of two hundred 
years. This period, however, would seem altogether too short, especially 
in view of the fact that the locality has been settled for more than two 
hundred and fifty years, and that local traditions fail to give any account 
of the marsh in other than its present condition, for at least the last hun- 
dred years. Indeed the tradition connected with the origin of the name 
“ Brave-Boat Harbor,” seems to indicate with a great deal of positive- 
ness, that there was a channel leading from Chauncey Creek to Brave- 
Boat Harbor substantially as at present, as far back as the period of the 
Revolution when a boat load of men is said to have made a passage 
through to the ocean. 
Mr. Lewis Goodwin, the foreman in charge of the excavations in 
the marsh, informed me that at a depth of four feet, and therefore in 
the region of the cassandra zone, they uncovered a narrow-bowled clay 
pipe of European manufacture, and of such type as he believed to have 
been used by the early settlers of the town. Unfortunately the pipe 
was regarded as of no value, and it was thrown away. It is, therefore, 
impossible to employ it as evidence, and we cannot go beyond a mere 
reference to the statement made. It should be noted, however, that the 
general reliability of Mr. Goodwin’s statements was proved on other 
occasions and in several ways, and this leads to the belief that had the 
pipe been preserved, and had it been made the subject of proper scientific 
examination, it might have afforded evidence of the greatest value as 
bearing upon the age of the marsh. It is quite possible that the pipe, 
lost by some fisherman or hunter on the marsh, may have been dropped 
within the last one hundred and fifty years, and that, sinking through a 
