334 On the Secondary and Tertiary Formations. 
and sometimes by layers of gravel. From its. position only on 
high hills, and want of fossils, I consider it to. belong to the dilu 
vim spread over the country after its elevation above the sea, 
most of which has been subsequently washed and worn ed 
by long continued degradation. 
Near the Roanoke, some miles above Williamston, I ineceal 
the marl by the road-side, and although it was hard frozen and 
nearly covered sathynnbier, I recognized in it many individuals of 
our common recent shell, the Venus mercenaria. This is a very 
poor part of North Carolina ; the land is quite flat and sandy, and 
during the winter season one frequently rides for miles through 
water several inches deep, by which the roads are flooded. 
The principal growth is the pitch pine, from which a great deal 
of tar and turpentine are made. The woods along the roads 
present a singular appearance, every tree being half stripped of 
its bark to the height of seven or eight feet, and the~ 
surface bleached by the white turpentine oozing out. A little 
eavity is hollowed out at the base of the trunk, into which 
most of the turpentine runs, and the remainder is scraped 0 
and put into barrels. The tree dies and becomes fat pine. This 
is burned in pits, as wood is for charcoal, and the tar runs out 
upon the carefully prepared clean floor. North Carolina tar is 
inferior to that made in ‘Norway, owing probably to. — 
being taken inthe preparation. It is sent principally to the 
north, where it sell a dollar and a half per barrel, but 
the makers receive only. ninety cents, out * whidr panda 
twenty-five for the barrel, — 
Jn the very western pan rreng ienatit, I rat ntet vied 
limestone of the secondary formation. It is on the plantation 
of Mr. Humphreys, at the heads of New river and ‘T'rent rivet 
The rock lies in a heavy ledge on the borders of a swamp; its 
surface is much worn and ragged. It is of a straw color, and 
apparently of good. quality for making lime ;—on submitting @ 
piece to chemical examination, I find it as good as the limestone 
ig apn ag degree i 
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