506 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. ' 



fissures were continued, eight or ten of the latter being in sight at one 

 time. In a small hill, two miles south of Merriweather'B Ferry, the fissures 

 were so numerous that the hill was literally i-ent to pieces. Some of them 

 were four feet wide and four or five feet deep, though thirty-five years had 

 elapsed since their formation. Twelve miles south of Obion River, where 

 I crossed Forked Deer River, and five miles farther, at the south fork of the 

 river, the fissures continued in abundance, and the sand-blows were also 

 numerous. But here, as elsewhere, they were all above high-water mark; 

 those at a lower level, if any, having been obliterated by the overflowings 

 of the rivers. 



These fissures sometimes pursue a straight line, and run parallel with 

 each other. Others of them describe an irregular segment of a circle. 

 Others, again, after running in a straightline for some distance, divide into 

 branches, and form acute .or obtuse angles, in the form of the letter -<, 

 while others, after taking this form, have their branches again united, as 

 if two of these letters were joined at the top, thus -<>-, leaving the 

 inclosed portion separated from the surrounding grounds, like an island in 

 a river. Occasionally, these fissures are directly beneath the centre of 

 some lai"ge tree, and it is found riven in two, by the firm adhesion of its 

 roots in the clay, to an extent corresponding with the width of the fissure, 

 sometimes the split extending up the trunk as much as fifteen feet. 



In relation to the origin of the sand-blows, Solon Robinson informed me 

 that, on his visit to the region of New Madrid, he found that sand, in small 

 quantities, continues, in places, to be forced up by gases from below. I 

 had adopted at first, the theory of the gaseous origin of these hillocks of 

 sand; but upon more extended research into the geology of that country, 

 I found a more natural solution of the facts above described, in their 

 aqueous origin. 



Fog AND Rain in the Mountains of North Carolina. 



The dwellers in the lowlands, who see no mountains towering up in the 

 embraces of the clouds, have but a faint idea of the manner in which their 

 rains are brewed The first indication they have of approaching storms, 

 usually, is in seeing the dark clouds arise from the distant horizon, or in 

 hearing the rumbling sound of tlie thiinder from the point Avhere the earth 

 and sky are blended. It is far diflerent, however, in mountain regions. 

 There the eye often sees the sky overcast at the zenith, while the horizon 

 remains quite clear, or the ear is at once stunned by the loudest peals of 

 thunder immediately overhead. 



A sojourn of a few months in the mountains of the south-west AUegha- 

 nies, afforded me an opportunity of witnessing some of the interesting 

 scenes, constantly occurring, in which fog and rain play their part. Take 

 a few examples: 



One morning about seven o'clock, while awaiting breakfast, I seated my- 

 self in front of the log cabin of Edward Delozier, with whom I had tarried 

 over night. The house is located in Tuskegee Cove, Cherokee county. 

 North Carolina, and is surrounded on three sides by mountains, one of 

 which ascends in a peak fourteen hundred and fifty feet, and another eigh- 

 teen hundred and fifty feet above the Tuskegee creek, which runs in sight 



