p.irt of tlic coiitmiMital slu-lf. However, allliouf*!! it is an cmer- 

 sent or raised bit of land, its major features today are caused by 

 subsidence or "drowning." Its almost niunberless creeks and inlets 

 are old river systems engulfed by the encroadiing sea. either 

 as the ocean rises or as the land sinks, or both As to just what 

 has been going on along this coast recently, there is much debate, 

 though it can be shown by annual measurements of tide levels 

 that this part of the coast is definitely sinking In fact, the whole 

 eastern seaboard of North America, from Nova Scotia to southern 

 Florida, currently has a tendency to sink 



On the modern coastal plain of this province there is as much 

 deposit derived from the land as there is marine material. While 

 the ocean currents are ever bringing sand, pebbles, broken shells, 

 and a certain amount of silt and dissolved mineral matter slowly 

 along the coast from both the north and the south, the rivers are 

 spewing forth volumes of mud and organic matter. The latter 

 tumbles over the fall line all the time, especially in flash floods, 

 but it falls into almost still water and, even if it does move sea- 

 ward, it soon encounters the tides. Still water does not carry 

 solid matter: it drops it. The faster a river flows, the bigger the 

 items it can niove; the slower it moves, the faster it drops its 

 load; and it does so progressively and qualitatively, the bigger 

 bits first, the finest silt last. 



The amount of material washed off the land into or at the 

 sea is almost beyond comprehension. In the delta of the Missis- 

 sippi, where the flow of fresh water is more powerful than the 

 paltry tides of the Gulf, this material is tipped right iulo the sea. 

 building the land at a rate of some two to four hundred yards 

 seaward per year. Along the northeast coastal seaboard the rivers 

 are not powerful enough, there is a much greater tide — some six 

 to ten feet — and there are strong currents immediately offshore 

 hauling even greater loads of debris. These factors combine to 

 stop almost completely the flow of even the big rivers so that 

 they jettison their loads. Their water, however, still has to go 

 somewhere, and since it can neither flow back upstream nor 

 "pond," it finally moves out into the sea. The riverine material 

 along this coast is brought to the sea but dropped before it gets 

 there. This fills up the estuaries. 



Thus, all along this coast, we get a neat succession of belts, 

 starting inland at the fall line with modest gorges: then entering 

 muddy, meandering, flooded river mouths; next turning to flood 

 plains on which silt is laid down; and finally coming to the 

 innermost of the beach deposits. These last are of two kinds: old 

 beaches with pebbles and heavier material that have been left 

 inland by the piling up of more stufT to seaward by the currents, 

 and wind-blown sand that has jumped over this and got stuck on 

 the outermost flood plains. 



Since flood plains are particularly fertile, all manner of vege- 

 tation tends to spring up thereon, starting with aquatic plants in 

 still creeks, followed by sedges and grasses, then by bushes that 

 can grow in saturated soil, and finally by a woody growth of 

 limited stature. All this vegetation seizes blown sand and holds 

 it. though the plants are ultimately smothered by it. This is the 

 result to be seen in many places but not on this coast because 

 the prevailing winds here do not blow off the sea. This is a 

 factor in favor of the rivers, the fresh water, and the sodden- 

 soil plants, and it tends to make the beach deposits back up or 

 ridge up. which in turn produces a series of shallow lagoons 

 strung along the coast just inland of the sand dunes. The great 



The Beach Plum is a typical dune plant that, like the man- 

 grove of the tropics, can take root in such sterile places as 

 salt-saturated sands. 



Dismal Swamp just north of I'amlico Sound with lis Innumer- 

 able waterways is a good example 



Between the larger rivers, however, something cUc has hap- 

 pened. Here the sand has piled up or been raised up from the 

 old, but not so very old, sea bottom Some of It Is still very 

 saline, the rest wind-blown and sterile. It forms low, rolling 

 ridges and depressed domes or supcrdunes. Only a limited flora 

 will grow on it stunted pines, some hollies, dwarf sumac, 

 sassafras bushes, a little white poplar and cottonwood. some 

 dwarfed blacic cherry, and, near the coast, beach plum and 

 catalpa. Grasses do not do well, are coarse, and tend to be 

 clumpy; an almost tundra-like growth of bayberries, groundsel 

 bushes, briars, and fox grape takes over in drier areas; while 

 blueberries, cranberries, and the like mass in the swamps. The 

 only trees that can really lake hold are stunted pines, notably 

 Pinus rigida, and these grow in comparative isolation, be- 

 come twisted and gnarled, and lend a rather dreary and some- 

 what faraway aspect to the land. But then this province is. after 

 all, an extension of the Park Belt, and so closed-canopy forest 

 would not be in order even if the soils and climate favored it. 

 As a whole, these coastal pine barrens are not a markedly 

 favored land, but they have great charms uniquely their own 



It is perhaps small wonder that the Anglo-Saxons and the 

 Hollanders elected these shores to land on first. There was mudi 

 here that they understood and a lot they recognized. The Celts 

 and Scots, coming from more rugged and rocky coasts, chose the 

 Appalachian and Laurentian seaboards, where the breakers crash 

 themselves to green surf amid the cliffs or pound into sandy 

 coves. The refugees on the Mayflower, hailing from exile in the 

 Netherlands or the bland south coast of England, almost selected 

 Cape Cod. the northern tip of this sea country, as the birthplace 

 of the modem nation but by mere whim moved on to Plymouth 

 Rock on the coast of Appalachia just beyond the northern end of 

 this province. Sir Walter Raleigh's colony and the other colonies 

 attempted on the southern plains failed; the Spaniards, on the 

 other hand, also failed on the coastal lowlands and on the Park- 

 lands but fared well among the arid mesas and wind-blown, 

 dusty, near-deserts of the extreme Southwest, which were so like 

 their equally grim homeland. It was the Hollanders and the 

 fenland English who understood the endless sandspits. mud flats, 

 flood plains, marshes, and barrens of this coast which so much 

 resembled their homelands. Ecology applies to man as well as to 

 other animals and plants, and phytogeographical tradition is 

 far stronger than any mere cultural or ethnic whim. People 

 always prefer to stay within the vegetational belt of their 

 ancestors. 



OUR LIVING FOSSIL 



There is a curious animal indigenous to this coast but otherwise 

 found only on the extreme east coast of Asia. This is the so- 

 called Horseshoe Crab. It is a most ancient animal, not a crab 

 at all (although, like the crabs, it is a member of that vast group 

 called the Arthropoda. the "jointed-legged ones") but a member 

 of the scorpion group. This group includes the insects; the spider 

 types or arachnids; the crustaceans, such as lobsters, crabs, and 

 shrimps; the millipedes and centipedes; and other hard-shelled 

 but jointed creatures. In the eons of geological time the arthro- 

 pods have evolved in almost countless ways, until today they 

 greatly outnumber all other forms of animal life put together 

 But in this vast proliferation, the Horseshoe Crab has remained 

 almost unchanged since the earliest times 



At the end of Mav and in the early part of June, these strange 



117 



