99 



lions, and these are mostly in the lower bank. This I 

 attribute to the following cause. 



It is an established principle, and one that will al- 

 most universally hold good, that when an auxiliary 

 stream falls, either obliquely or at right angles, into a 

 stream of equal or greater magnitude, the auxiliary 

 branch will urge on its alluvion and deposite it, some- 

 times to a considerable distance into the principal 

 stream ; until overcome by the power of the latter, it is 

 then swept away by the general current. This may 

 be every day observed in rivers, creeks, brooks, and 

 their auxiliary streams. Hence the conclusion, that 

 the general current, while it was rising in height and 

 increasing in rapidity, must naturally urge on, or force 

 the currents of rivers further westerly and south- 

 erly, and meeting with a partial check by the current 

 of the latter, which must be supposed to rise in height 

 and increase in rapidity, in a corresponding ratio, 

 continued to deposite their alluvion upon their eastern 

 and northern shores only, until the highest hills were 

 inundated and the currents of rivers were merged in 

 that of the general current ; after which the increas- 

 ing quantity of its alluvion, meeting with no check, 

 was swept across the continent and into the ocean. 



When I speak of rivers having been urged from 

 their original and primitive courses or beds, by a con- 

 tinued lateral force, I do not mean to infer that they 

 were originally restricted to the same narrow limits 

 that they in general now are ; very far from it : It 

 must appear obvious to any person that is accustomed 



