A REMARKABLE MARL LAKE 499 



northeastern or inlet end, is a cedar swamp which is underlaid 

 by marl. The outlet is through the most southerly of the 

 daughter-lakes, and the entire shore of the lake is formed by 

 beautifully white marl, the exposures varying irrwidth from a 

 few feet to three or four rods in width, so that as one overlooks 

 the lake from one of the surrounding hills it seems to lay in a 

 basin of white marble. 



There are three small islands in the lake, two relatively near 

 together at the northern end, and one quite near the shore at 

 the south end. These islands are also of marl, covered partly 

 with a thin layer of vegetable matter and a scanty growth of 

 grass, bushes, and cedar. There is a visible connection, under 

 water, between at least one of the islands and the nearest shore, 

 and it is probable that all of them are thus connected by sub- 

 merged banks. The marl on the islands is from twenty-five to 

 thirty feet deep, with sand below. 



Explorations in the swampy border of the lake show that 

 the shore was formerly more irregular than now, and that the 

 marl extends back from the water in some places for at least one 

 fourth of a mile, gradually becoming more and more shallow 

 until the solid gravel or cla} 7 is reached. The marl is frequently 

 thirty feet deep along the shore, and at no place was it found to 

 be less than fifteen feet deep at the present shore line, the shal- 

 lowest places being along the shore where the high bank comes 

 down near the water. The deepest vegetable deposit, or peat, 

 found in one hundred and fifty borings in all parts of the deposit 

 was three feet. The main deposits of marl are about the south- 

 east end and along the western side of the lake, with a body of 

 considerable size underlying a swampy area at the north end. Of 

 the six daughter-lakes four are very small, an acre or two in 

 extent, and entirely surrounded by deep marl, the connection 

 between three of them and the mother-lake being shallow and 

 narrow, a few inches deep, and a few feet wide, and only exist- 

 ing at high water, while two of the other three are of much 

 larger size, with marl points extending out from either side of 

 the strait, which is still relatively wide and deep. 



