13. SOUTHWESTERN PINE HILLS. 115 



rugged as in the central long-leaf pine hills previously de- 

 scribed. (The vegetation too is almost identical.) 



Flat areas are chiefly confined to uplands remote from 

 streams, where the original level surface of the sedimen- 

 tary deposits has been scarcely affected by erosion as 

 yet. One such area traverses the center of Baldwin 

 County from north to south, with a gentle slope south- 

 ward. It is rather narrow at Bay Minette, but widens 

 considerably southward, where the lower altitude gives 

 the streams less eroding power. Along some of the 

 rivers and on the west side of Mobile Bay there are level 

 areas probably of the nature of terraces, backed by low 

 hills. (The monotonous flat country which borders the 

 coast of South Carolina, Georgia and East Florida, ex- 

 tending over 50 miles inland in some places, has no coun- 

 terpart in Alabama, where undulating hills come right 

 down to tide-water, or break off in high bluffs, as on the 

 east side of Mobile Bay.) In both kinds of flat areas 

 there are many shallow ponds much like those in the 

 lime-sink region previously described. Salamander hills 

 are fairly common east of the Tombigbee River, but are 

 not known west of there, either because the animal that 

 makes them {Oeouii/s Tuza) has never been able to cross 

 that river, or because the soil is not sandy enough for it 

 there, or both. 



The streams traversing this region may be divided 

 into three classes: (1) the large rivers, such as the Ala- 

 bama and Tombigbee, which originate outside of the 

 coastal plain and are always muddy, and fluctuate con- 

 siderably with the seasons; (2) rivers like the Conecuh, 

 Pea and Choctawhatchee, which rise in the older parts of 

 the coastal plain and always carry some mud in suspen- 

 sion and some lime in solution, but fluctuate less than 

 those in the first class; (3) still smaller streams, most of 

 them no larger than creeks, which originate within the 

 pine hills region. The last-named are usually coffee-col- 

 ored from peaty matter in solution and suspension, al- 

 most free from lime, mud, and other mineral substances, 

 and not subject to much fluctuation. Every stream is 

 bordered by more or less swamp, but the three kinds of 

 swamp show important differences in vegetation. 



