THE TWIX ISLANDS. 163 



one chance of escape appeared to offer, to distribute my 

 weight, and at once I stooped and struck out, as though 

 swimming. The theory was good, but not the applica- 

 tion in this instance, for wliat I gained by the greater 

 upholding power of additional vegetation under me was 

 lost by my violence, and I broke through the raft of 

 weeds upon which I depended. In the twinkling of an 

 eye, in the fraction of a second, I lived a lifetime. 



I have i^ositive knowledge of nothing beyond this 

 moment. I can only judge from the appearance of the 

 tangled grass and weeds that my convulsive efforts to 

 reach the meadow were finally successful. Once fairly 

 beyond danger, my strength failed me and I fainted. 



The clay that constitutes the "hard-pan" of these 

 meadows, crops out here and there along the bluff that 

 extends for miles parallel to the river. It is a tough 

 dark-blue deposit, occasionally streaked with red, yellow, 

 and pure white veins that are less tenacious. The blue 

 clay is interesting in that it contains much fossil-wood, 

 some amber, and an abundance of iron pyrites. 



Let ns consider these separately. The vrood is not 

 petrified, and still retains so much of its original condi- 

 tion that, when dry, it burns with a feeble flame and 

 emits a pleasing aromatic odor. Dr. Cook, our efficient 

 State geologist, describing another but similar clay-bed, 

 remarks : " Trunks and branches of trees are everywhere 

 to be found. ... In opening some of the clay-pits, cart- 

 loads of them might be saved. They have the structure 

 of the wood, and the form, except that they are consid- 

 erably flattened ; sticks lying horizontal and two inches 



