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ancient river, having its source in the southern States, and its es'- 

 tuary in the region of the ^aritan and the Hudson, and having its 

 course for the most part southeast of the chain of the Blue Ridge 

 and the Highlands. Several important facts connected with this 

 trough, such as its present configuration, the uniform dip and 

 direction of its slightly inclined beds, implying a steady current, 

 their singular constancy of character, so indicative of one general 

 source for the whole, and the obvious identity of their materials 

 with the soils now furnished by the ancient rocks from whence 

 we would derive these deposites, all go to confirm the above 

 supposition. 



When the details of the geological surveys of Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, and Virginia, now approaching to completion, shall 

 have been united with the delineations herein given of this inte- 

 resting group of rocks, the long and narrow tract which they 

 occupy, will be seen to possess in a striking degree the features 

 of a noble river, taking its rise in the primary region of the 

 southern States, and meeting the ocean, probably, at and beyond 

 the outlets of the Raritan and the Hudson. 



The traveller passing along the red sandstone belt from the 

 Hudson to the northern confines of North Carolina, will, if his 

 mind be directed to these considerations, become early impressed 

 with the accordant nature of the evidence which accumulates as 

 he advances. In commencing his journey, he will see the whole 

 formation, occurring in part still beneath in part above the present 

 level of the ocean. Passing the Raritan, where, for a certain 

 distance, the tide washes a portion of it, he will next find it on 

 the Delaware, elevated above the ocean level throughout its 

 entire width from Trenton to Durham. Advancing to the 

 Schuylkill between Norristown and Reading, he will observe its 

 height above the tide to have augmented ; and crossing thence in 

 succession the Susquehanna, the Potomac, and the James rivers, 

 he will perceive the tract still gradually and uniformly to ascend, 

 until it attains a level of several hundred feet above the sea, 

 marking an inclination nearly corresponding to that which belongs 

 to many of our large rivers now descending from the Appala- 

 chian chain into the ocean. 



The progressive diminution in the breadth of the formation 

 is strictly in accordance with these facts. At the Delaware, 



