ft! 



have required one hundred years or more to perfect 

 their growth. The northern shores of the sound* 

 were, at that time, covered with huge trees to the 

 very margin of the beach, which could not have been, 

 if the alluvion increases in the ratio that is pretended 

 by some. 



At the mouth of the Hudson river, or rather at, and 

 near, the ship channel at Sandy Hook, sand banks and 

 bars abound ; but they are in part, I presume, formed 

 by sands raised by the winds, from Long Island and 

 the Jersey shore, and carried into the water ; and also* 

 by the current of the East river and those on the Jer- 

 sey side. 



The principal part of the alluvial matter brought in- 

 to the Hudson river, comes from the country above 

 the highlands, and is principally deposited where the 

 current is first checked by the tides, which is some 

 way above the highlands ; as near as I can recollect* 

 the principal bar in that river is above Kinderhook ; 

 and above that are numerous sand bars ; no river allu- 

 vion has, I believe, accumulated at its mouth. The 

 rocks at the battery doubtless appear the same at ebb 

 tide, above the water, (that part excepted which has 

 been covered by made ground,) that they did when. 

 Hudson visited it in 1609. 



The same remarks will, almost, apply to the Dela- 

 ware river, with the exception of the banks which 

 lie in the channel between New- Castle, and the capes ; 

 and even in this instance, the number, size, and extent 

 of the several banks, or spits, correspond with the 



