200 05lober 1748. 



nothing but oyfter fliells and mufcle fhells 

 in immenfe quantities above each other; 

 however the place is many miles off the 

 fea. 



2. Whenever they dig wells, or build 

 houfes in town, they find the earth lying in 

 feveral ftrata above each other. At a depth 

 of fourteen feet or more, they find globular 

 ftones, which are as fmooth on the outfide 

 as thofe which lie on the fea-fhore, and are 

 made round and fmooth by the rolling of 

 the waves. And after having dug through 

 the fand, and reached a depth of eighteen 

 feet or more, they difcover in fome places 

 a flime like that which the fea throws up 

 on the more, and which commonly lies at 

 its bottom and in rivers ; this flime is quite 

 full of trees, leaves, branches, reed, char- 

 coal, &c. 



3. It has fometimes happened that new 

 houfes have funk on one fide in a fhort 

 time, and have obliged the people to pull 

 them down again. On digging deeper, for 

 a very hard ground to build upon, they 

 have found a quantity of the above flime, 

 wood, roots, &c. 



Are not thefe reafons fufficient to make 

 one fuppofe that thofe places in Philadelphia 

 which are at prefent fourteen feet and more 

 under ground, formerly were the bottom of 



the 



