356 HarRpPER: COASTAL PLAIN OF THE CAROLINAS 
there are probably other tangents of equal or even greater length 
in the same general region.* 
One or two slight exceptions to the general monotony of the 
topography toward the coast may be worth noting. In the imme- 
diate vicinity of Yemassee, S. C., the country seems just a little 
more broken than it is for some distance farther inland; and the 
city of Wilmington is remarkably hilly for a southern seaport, per- 
haps more so than any other place so near the coast between New 
York and Florida. The topography between Wilmington and 
Wrightsville Beach, a distance of ten or eleven miles, seems as 
undulating as in many places in the Altamaha Grit region of 
Georgia,+ and looking inland from the beach the land is seen to 
have a decided elevation, quite different from the extreme flatness 
which characterizes the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. 
The exact cause of these local variations in topography is probably 
unknown, but it seems from the soil survey map of New Hanover 
County (published in February of this year) that Wilmington is on 
the sand-hills of the Cape Fear River, one of the largest rivers in 
the state, so this may partly account for its topography. 
The flatness of the greater part of this coastal plain is evidently 
correlated with a state of affairs well known to geologists, namely, 
that the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata in Virginia and the Caro- 
linas are much more nearly horizontal than they are farther west 
and south, so that Cretaceous rocks are exposed near Wilmington, 
and Miocene near the fall-line in all three states. This approach 
to horizontality seems to culminate in the latitude of Cape Hatteras, 
according to several geologists who have investigated it. 
Ponds are seen at frequent intervals in the pine-barrens of 
South Carolina, less frequently in North Carolina, and rarely if at 
all in Virginia. As in Georgia, most of them seem too shallow to 
contain water throughout the year. In North Carolina, but 
scarcely in the other two states, are several large lakes, most of 
them not very far from the coast. The only one which I passed 
within sight of is Lake Waccamaw, in Columbus County, but 
Kerr } mentions fifteen others. At present they do not seem to 
* See Glenn, Jour, School Geog. 2: : gt. 1898; ‘also Bull. <3, us S. “Bureau of 
Forestry, f/. g-17; and Torreya6: 41. 190 
ft See Bull. Torrey Club 32: 145. 1905; hits N.Y. Acad. Sci. r7: 23. 1906, 
{ Rep. Geol. Surv. N. C. for 1875, page 13. 
