J N V: I R G I N I A. 443 



others lower, according to the diredion. and Areii^gth of 

 the wind. Since the eftabUfliment of the liglit, the hills 

 liave rifen about 20 feet in height (meafuring from the plat- 

 form) and have proceeded into theDefart about 350 yards, 

 from a fpot pointed cut to me by the keeper. I Ikpped 

 the dhlance as well as I could, while at every flep I funk 

 up to my ancles into the fand. The height of the hill at 

 the Iwamp, is between 70 and So feet perpendicularly, it 

 is higher nearer the fea, the innei" edge being rounded off, and 

 I think at its higheft point, it cannot be Icfs than 100 feet 

 above high water mark. If the hills advance at an equal 

 ratio for ao or 30 years more, they will fwallow up the 

 whole fwainp, and render the coaJft a defert indeed, for 

 not a blade ofgrafs finds nutriment upon the fand. 



Should this event take place, and fome future philofo- 

 pher attend the digging of a well in the high fandy country^ 

 on the coajl of Virginia, his curiofity would be excited by 

 foffile wood, 100 feet below the furface. He would there 

 difcover a bed of vegetable and animal exuviae, and going 

 home, he might ereft upon very plaufible ground, a very 

 good-looking hypothefis of a deluge, fweeping the whole 

 upper country of its fand, and depofiting it along the line 

 of its conflict with the waves of the ocean. 



B. HENRY LATROBE. 



To Samuel Harrison Smith, Efq. 

 one of the Secretaries of the American 

 Philofophical Society. 



P. S. The annexed drawing is a fedlion of the Cape, in 

 adiredion N. E. and S. W. The fcale is of courfe une- 

 qual, but the effe£t is true. 



3 M 2 Supplement 



