33 



New-London, and on which the Macedonian, United 

 States and Hornet were obliged to unload to get over, 

 when the British lay hefore that place in 1814. 



But this is not all that constitutes the alluvion, which 

 is brought down hy rivers. It consists principally of 

 two kinds of substances ; the one silicious or sand, and 

 predominant ; the other alluminous, which is light and 

 is long held suspended in water, and, where there is a 

 cm rent, carried a great way before it is deposited ; 

 and this very substance I shall make use of, in part, 

 to prove my position. 



As soon as the current of the river, checked by a 

 counter current, the tide, has deposited its sand and 

 silicious matter, it there forms the principal bar in the 

 river ; immediately below which, the water deepens, 

 and the bottom alternates, and is almost entirely allu- 

 minous, or composed of a blue and intensely tough 

 clay, of which all New London harbour is composed, 

 and which renders it the surest and safest anchoring 

 ground on the Atlantic coast. Not only so, but the 

 principal part of Long Island Sound, on the north 

 shore, is nearly the same ; and which is, doubtless, a 

 consequence of the lightness of the alluminous matter, 

 which is held long suspended in water, and so widely 

 diffused before it is deposited. Hence it is, that no 

 visible alteration is, or can be produced, in those lati- 

 tudes, and under those circumstances, even for ages. 



The same particulars attend the Connecticut river, 

 fifteen miles to the westward of the Thames ; with 

 this difference, however, that the latter discharges its 



