PRESENT CHANGES IX THE EAKTH. 97 



large as the State of Vermont. That of the Ganges is 

 much larger, being 220 miles Jong, and having a base on 

 the sea of 200 miles. It is bounded on either side by an 

 arm of the Ganges, and near the sea it is intersected by 

 a net-work of rivers and creeks, and is a resort for croc- 

 odiles and tigers. The material constantly brought down 

 the river is encroaching upon the sea, and it now forms 

 a slope extending out about a hundred miles. This real- 

 ly ought to be taken into the account in estimating the 

 extent of the formation. 



180. Consolidation of Deposits. In some cases the 

 consolidation into rock of the deposits of sediment by 

 water is going on at the present time, especially where 

 there is mingled with the sand and mud some agglutina- 

 ting material like carbonate of lime. From this cause 

 there is rock continually forming in the sediment dis- 

 charged by the River Rhone. In the Museum at Mont- 

 pellier there is a cannon which was taken from the sea 

 near the Rhone's mouth incased in a crystalline calcare- 

 ous matter, and having scattered through it broken 

 shells. But the whole subject of the consolidation of 

 mud and sand into rock will be treated of hereafter, and 

 I will not dwell upon it farther here. 



181. "Water Encroaching upon Land. Thus far I have 

 spoken only of the encroachment of land upon water by 

 the deposit of material brought to lakes and the sea by 

 rivers. But there is sometimes the opposite effect the 

 wearing away of land by the action of water. Much of 

 the eastern coast of England is wearing away, and many 

 localities of towns have disappeared in the German 

 Ocean. Some of the coast of Long Island is encroached 

 upon rapidly by the sea ; and at Cape May, in Delaware, 

 land is destroyed at the average annual rate of nine feet. 

 Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, was worn away in three 

 years to the extent of a quarter of a mile. Some of the 

 Shetland Isles have been destroyed by the sea, and the 

 granite -rocks of some of them that are now wasting 



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