



Holmes'* $ Notes on the Geology of Charleston. 199 



opportunity to view the exposed bed, and collect fossils from the 

 mass constituting its margin. But my surprise may be imagined 

 on arriving at the spot, to find a number of workmen surrounding 

 a large hole, or sink, in the bottom of the canal, and to learn that 

 that was the " break" by which the waters had escaped. This 

 was produced in the same manner, and was in fact nothing more 

 than a lime-sink, such as I have already described. 



Still more singular were the circumstances related to me re- 

 specting the Woodboo Springs. Many years ago, a similar 

 " break" or sink having occurred in the canal, it was repaired by 

 driving piles into it, and filling the interstices with fascines made 

 of rice-straw, (then grown extensively in the inland swamps of 

 this neighborhood,) covering these with rammed clay, and plank- 

 ing over the whole. The work, however, having been carelessly 

 performed, did not last long; the piles, fascines, and other mate- 

 rial used in the repair, suddenly disappeared, and were followed 

 by the waters of that entire section of the canal. Two months 

 afterwards, to the surprise of those who witnessed it, the fascines 

 of rice-straw came up with the bubbling waters of Woodboo 

 Springs, at a distance of two miles below. 



Since writing the foregoing, I have received a letter from Dr. 

 Edmund Ravenel, written, as he therein tells me, upon seeing 

 my report to the city council of Charleston, of a water-bearing 

 stratum penetrated in boring the Artesian well. Coming from one 

 who has lived many years in the neighborhood of the places al- 

 luded to, and a naturalist well known for his contributions to the 

 natural history of our state, and for his attainments in that de- 

 partment of science, I have taken the liberty of appending to my 

 preceding account the whole of his letter, omitting only the por- 

 tion of it which refers to Woodboo Springs, as his description of 

 those springs does not materially differ from that which I have 

 already given : 



" At the next plantation below Woodboo another spring exists, 

 but much smaller, pouring out its beautiful clear water at all 

 times; it has attracted attention from the fact of its communica- 

 ting, by subterraneous passages, with several openings near each 

 other. It is upon the course of this spring that Mr. Robert Ma- 

 zyck discovered the £ green sand ? rich in Eocene fossils, ;uid con- 

 sidered so valuable as a manure ; indeed the most valuable which 

 our marl-beds have yet furnished. 



"The plantation above Woodboo, Wantoot, furnishes another 

 extensive spring from the Eocene, The quantity of water thrown 

 °ut is much less than at Woodboo, although the stream k con- 

 siderable. There are several openings at various distances in the 

 basin, through which the water issues; and these occasionally 



j 



Eocene 



appear. These openings are all in 



