20 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



defects are not very palpable under any circumstances, still 

 it is sometimes useful to a community to have faultfinders, 

 and to have their doings overhauled by a would be wise critic. 

 13. Hyde county appears to be nearly a dead level. It 

 rises of course a few feet above the sound, but it is impercep- 

 tible to the eye. Buildings may be seen for great distances, 

 and were the whole surface laid out in proper order, it might 

 be made to appear like an immense park. The depressions 

 of the surface are due to fires which have consumed the 

 vegetable matters to the depth of from four to ten and per- 

 haps fifteen feet. In these depressions the surface water has 

 accumulated, and in a few instances large lakes are the re- 

 sult. Mattamuskeet lake is the largest of the surface drain- 

 age. Its former extent was not less than twenty miles. Its 

 circumference now exceeds sixty miles by the road, and as 

 the traveller proceeds on his route, there is nothing more sur- 

 prising than the succession of corn fields which are always in 

 view. 



The most common natural growth of the best swamp land 

 of Hyde county is cypress and black gum. 



In one respect this region differs from others farther from 

 the sea. There is no difficulty in the cultivation of the gras- 

 ses. It is evident the climate is more humid, and the sea 

 breezes moderate the heat sufficiently in summer to favor the 

 developement of this family of plants. There is no doubt, 

 also, that if the attention of the planters was turned to the 

 cultivation of grasses adapted to the climate, greater profits 

 might be realized than from the cultivation of maize. It is 

 less expensive, and as hay bears a high price, and is obtained 

 from a distance, in all the villages of this part of the State, 

 and as there is always -a communication with them by water, 

 there can be no doubt that the profits which would arise from 

 hay making, would considerably exceed those of corn. The 

 green surface of the lake shore, the yards of the houses, and 

 the appearance of the small pasturages sustain this view. 



14. The peculiarities of the soil of Hyde county, that 

 particularly of the lake region, are comprised in two particu- 

 lars: 1st, the large quantity of fine vegetable matter they 



