12 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [oCT. 19, 



II. " Ups and Downs of the Long Island Coast." Ibid, X. 

 {1877), 43^-^46, in which many interesting instances of subsi- 

 dence are given. 



It would seem therefore that Mr. Lewis is to be credited with 

 the first notice of the transportation of clays en masse in the mo- 

 raine of this vicinity, which we have since come to recognize as 

 such an important feature in local glacial phenomena. 



The second article would also have been of assistance to me 

 had I been aware of its existence. I am glad of this opportu- 

 nity^ for recognition of the above, tardy though it is. 



Block Island. 



Block Island, distant about fourteen miles from Montauk Point 

 and nine from the Rhode Island shore, constitutes the town of New 

 Shoreham, R. I. It is shaped something like a ham, or " pear 

 shaped," as one writer describes it, being about six miles long 

 in a north and south direction, b3^ three and a-half miles broad 

 at the southern extremity and tapering irregularly northward, 

 so that its northern part averages only about a mile in width. 

 Great Salt Pond, separated from the ocean on the east and west 

 sides b}^ low, narrow beaches, almost divides it into two parts. 

 The northern one is comparatively low, with the exception of 

 Clay Head and vicinity, where an altitude of 125 ft. is reached. 

 The southern portion is hilly, with numerous ponds and swamp 

 holes, the greatest elevation being 211 ft., at Beacon Hill. The 

 entire area is about eleven square miles. According to early ac- 

 counts it was first discovered by Verrazano, tlie French navi- 

 gator, in 1524, who reported in regard to it to Francis I., King 

 of France, giving it the name of " Claudia," in honor of the 

 king's mother. In 1614 the Dutch explorer and trader, Adrian 

 Block (or Blok, as it is sometimes spelled), landed there and gave 

 it his name. " Adrian's Eyland" is also used to designate it 

 on the old Dutch maps. The Narragansett Indians, by a tribe 

 of whom it was inhabited when first discovered by the whites, 

 called it " Manisses." In 1672 it was incorporated by the Rhode 

 Island Assembly as "the Town of New Shoreham, otherwise 

 Block Island." These and many other interesting facts in re- 

 gard to its early history and former natural features may be 

 found incorporated in the work written by the Rev. S. T. Liv- 

 ermore.* 



Geologicall}- it has been almost ignored. The earlier investi- 

 gators dismissed it with scant descriptions, while the more re- 



*" A History of Block Island from Its Discovery in 1514, to the present Time, 1876. ' 

 Hartford, Conu., 1877. 



