6 



Gold Mines of Georgia. 



direction of a d c, may admit of abrasion towards b and not in any oth- 

 er, and consequently the river encroaches on J, with the same result 

 as before, leaving e e high and dry, to receive a growth of vegetation. 

 I am of opinion however, that these deposits and many on the branch- 

 es, are of a date anterior to those previously noticed, on which the 

 stratum of sand occurs. I rely chiefly on the evidence of the fol- 

 lowing facts already stated, that the sand contains scales of mica, and 

 varies in depth from three to twenty feet ; that it contains also, 

 vegetable remains in a layer of black or bluish mud or clay, of a yel- 

 lowish color, resting on the gravel and running into the sand above. 

 The remains are in a state of decomposition, but sufficiently pre- 

 served to indicate the same botanical characters, exhibited on the 

 vegetation of the present banks. 



Fig. 7, exhibits a section of a pit, excavated on the bank of the 

 Chestalee, fifty five feet from the river ; a is a stratum of sand, b the 

 mud or clay containing vegetables, and c the gravel resting on the 

 original strata d. Now nothing can be more evident, than that this 

 formation is of a more recent date than those in which no such re- 

 mains occur. In fact it would seem that on this evidence, we must 

 place the date of the latter, anterior to all vegetation. The clay and 

 sand are now supporting a luxuriant growth of forest timber, of the 

 same age as that on the mountains, and in excavating it is found that 

 their roots penetrate only to the gravel and then spread ; very rarely, 

 however, passing through it, except in situations where the gravel 

 runs out to the day. If vegetation existed anterior to these deposits, 



