OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 199 
marsh, intersected by creeks, which once divided the island in two or three places, but which are 
now silted up by the sand driven in by the waves. 
The hills, towards the middle of the island, rest upon a mud flat. As they are driven bakwards 
by the winds, or washed away in front by the waves, the flat becomes exposed. For more than a 
mile in length there are numerous stumps in this flat, which, on examination, prove to be tap-roots 
of Pines, which had penetrated through the sand upon which they once stood, and which has been 
washed away, leaving the stumps, as if they had grown on the mud flat, which is now below high- 
tide. Many of these stumps have oysters attached to them. 
On Folly Island an interesting example of the etfects of the direct influence of the salt water 
occurs—the simple result of encroachment. Immediately back of the sand-hills, as has beer. 
already stated, there is a pretty dense thicket of Myrtles and Cedars, which, at high-tide, are 
washed by the brackish water that overflows the marsh upon which they grow. 'They were pro- 
tected by the beach and sand-hills alone, from the ocean. This barrier was washed away, and the 
trees and shrubs killed, for a distance of 120 yards, as completely as if a real subsidence had taken 
place, and the whole had been submerged. 
Where trees will grow at or near the level of tide, the conversion of fresh or brackish, into salt, 
water, by simple encroachment, will kill them, as effectually as if it happened by subsidence. 
Bird Key is a long, narrow island, which, Capt. Rivers informed me, within his recollection, was 
barely seeu at high-water. It is now eight or ten feet above tide, and covered with Uniola, Iva, 
Yucea, and Palmetto. It is, however, wasting away, on the eastern side, and will doubtless soon 
be reduced to its original level. 
Nothing is more common than such changes as these, along the entire coast. 
Of the numerous other examples of submerged trees that I have seen, I shall mention but one 
more, which occurs on Cole’s? Island.* Here there are many stumps, of both Pine and Oak, below 
high-water, and a Live-oak tree stands about sixty yards fiom the high land, in the middle of an 
oyster bed. 
* There is a fort here, built during the last war, of concrete, which is in a fine state of preservation. It stands upon a mound, 
apparently of Indian origin, for it is filled with the exuvia of such shell-fish as they used for food. On James Island there is a 
very remarkable accumulation of shells of this sort. It stands upon Dr. Lagare’s plantation, and as itis a flat area, surrounded 
