156 Qttober 1748. 



drink the water, from which he happily reco- 

 vered. Somewhat more to the north and in 

 New York they call this plant Horfeiveed, becauie 

 the horfes eat it in fpring, before any other plant 

 comes up. 



051. i6th. I ASKED Mr. Franklin, and other 

 gentlemen who were well acquainted with this 

 country, whether they had met with any figns, 

 from whence they could have concluded, that any 

 place which was now a part of the continent, had 

 formerly been covered with water? and I got 

 the following account in anfwer. 



1. ON travelling from hence to the fouth, you 

 meet with a place where the high road is very 

 low in the ground between two mountains. On 

 both fides you fee nothing but oyfter fhells 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 ilones, 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 flimc 

 like that which the fea throws up on the fhore, 

 and which commonly lies at its bottom and in 

 rivers : this flime is quite full of trees, leaves, 

 branches, reed, charcoal, &c. 



3. IT has fometimes happened that new 

 houfes have funk on one fide in a fhort time, 



^ and 



