371 



bay, or sea, it becomes diffused with the general mass. 

 As the volume or current of the river is urged forward, 

 the waters at the two sides leave the main body of the 

 current, and their force is slackened or checked by the 

 resistance of the surrounding medium, and the grosser 

 parts of the alluvion, which, till then, were held sus- 

 pended, are let fall ; while the finer, or alluininous 

 parts, are still suspended and conveyed further on. 

 By the frequent repetition, or long continuance of this 

 process, lateral banks are elevated and extended be- 

 yond their ancient limits, until they are raised nearly 

 to the highest point at which the tides, or water of the 

 river ever rise. 



On the subsidence of an annual inundation, or the 

 tides, these banks are left above the water, while the 

 grounds, at a few rods distant, where there is, per^ 

 haps, a lagoon or pond, is ten feet lower. On the suc- 

 ceeding annual or semi-annual inundation, the water in 

 the river rises to the height of twelve inches above 

 the new forming bank ; flows into the adjacent pond, 

 or lagoon, and fills it up. Now, admitting that the 

 waters in the river were charged with alluvion, what 

 kind of result ought we to expect, on the subsidence of 

 the water? The answer appears obvious, that if there 

 be ten feet of water in the pond, or lagoon, or on the 

 grounds adjacent to the river, and only one foot on the 

 newly formed bank, and the waters of the river alike 

 saturated with alluvion, we ought, for every deposits 

 of one inch on the bank, to find ten inches in the la- 

 goon, or adjacent grounds ; consequently, by a repeti- 



