100 ON THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY FORMATIONS 



for the elevation of the secondary throughout Jones county, and 

 the broad extent of country on each side occupied by the tertiary 

 marls. The axis must be low, and the dips very gentle, causing 

 at most a slight undulation of the strata. 



To the east of South Washington are large tracts, called bays 

 and swamps, one of which, called on the map Angola Bay, was 

 described to me by one who had crossed it. After traversing its 

 margin, which was a broad swamp covered with thick trees and 

 bushes, my informant and his companion came out upon an open 

 heath, spreading as far as they could see, and destitute of all vege- 

 tation, save a thick covering of moss and a few scattered bushes. 

 Through this moss they travelled on with great difficulty, plung- 

 ing in at every step nearly knee deep. Procuring a pole from 

 the trees on the border, he sunk it down eight feet into the mud 

 without finding bottom. The moss and mud of these swamps 

 would thus seem to be those always due to peat swamps. At 

 night they reached an island in the swamp with a few trees upon 

 it. Here they remained till morning, and then continued their 

 course across, and reached the other side about noon, greatly 

 fatigued. He thinks they are caUed " bays " from the quantity 

 of bay trees that grow around them. Holly Shelter swamp is 

 similar to this. These swamps remind one of those in the 

 southern parts of Georgia, the islands of which were once inhab- 

 ited, according to an old Creek ti-adition, by a superior race of 

 beings, whose beautiful women, called " daughters of the sun," 

 occasionally condescended to help out the poor bewildered trav- 

 eller, lost in their intricacies, but who, with their houses on the 

 islands, were never to be found by man, though eagerly sought 

 after. 



At Wilmington is another interesting locality, where not only 

 the tertiary marl con-esponding to that at the natural well is found, 

 but the secondary sandstones and conglomerates below it are well 

 exposed on the Ijanks of Cape Fear river. The lower tertiary is 

 wanting, and this marl bed, which is from two to three feet thick, 

 is seen resting upon the sandstones, containing shells belonging 

 altogether to the upper secondary formation. Above the marl, 

 and resting on it, the upper stratum observed is of sand and loam. 



