382 CONSEQUENCES OF THE INLAND FLOOD UPON THE 



asks whence came the rounded rocks and stones which 

 occupy the north side, while there is not a pebble as large 

 as an egg, on the south ? A geologist may probably 

 answer the query, by deriving them from the barrier, 

 which the lake has not, in this instance, been able to force 

 through and through. The mountains of Fishkill, con- 

 tinued northeastward to Quaker Hill, seemed to have re- 

 sisted the pressure. But it also seems that a partial 

 breach was made by the Ten-Mile river, a branch of the 

 Housatonick, in v the town of Amenia, Dutchess County, 

 New-York, contiguous to Lichfield county, Con- 

 necticut. The water issuing this way reaches Long- 

 Island Sound at Stratford. Another partial breach was 

 made by the Croton river, which rises near the Connecti- 

 cut line, and empties into the Hudson at the Tappan 

 Sea. But the lake above might have overflowed the 

 dam, which it was unable to break, until the channels of 

 the Ten-Mile and the Croton were worn. The rugged as- 

 pect of the mountains in North Salem almost lead one to 

 suppose the flood of the lake pouring over Joe's Hills, 

 rushed down their southern side, and carried along the 

 loose and detached materials, as far as its force could con- 

 vey them. Sand and stones as usual were urged to the 

 greatest distance ; moderately weighty rocks not quite 

 so far ; and the heaviest ones loitered in the rear,, or con- 

 cealed themselves under the water of the sound, where 

 they annoy navigators. 



It may be conjectured, that among these slow but steady 

 operations, the strata of granite at Hellegate were broken 

 down and torn up from their foundations, and the Archi- 

 pelago of islands produced which so strongly impress the 

 mind of the traveller as he approaches that memorable 

 strait from the east. Some of these islands, such as Hur- 

 tleberry Island, Pea Island, the Brothers, and a number 



