82 Geology, ^-c. of the Connecticut. 



4. Sand. This commonly lies the highest of the alluvi- 

 on, except in some low meadows that are yearly receiving 

 a deposite of a loamy sediment. The region in which 

 sand occurs most abundantly, has just been mentioned. It 

 is sometimes seen in alternating beds with gravel, clay and 

 loam. 



b. Loam and mud. This is the most recent of our allu- 

 vion, and depositions of it are frequently made. The Con- 

 necticut indeed, seems, with some exceptions, to have 

 nearly reached its maximum of depositions, rarely flowing 

 over more than a small part of the alluvion along its banks. 

 But its tributaries, such as the Farmington, Westfield, Deer- 

 field, and Chickapec, still continue annually, and often 

 semi-annually, to flood the adjacent meadows, and to leave 

 there an additional soil, from half an inch to six inches 

 deep, and though the agriculturalist has sometimes to la- 

 ment the destruction of his crops by these inundations, yet 

 without them his fields would soon become comparatively 

 unproductive. 



The depth of the alluvion along the Connecticut has 

 never been accurately measured; but I should judge it 

 sometimes to be as great as one hundred and fifty feet: 

 but in general it is much less. It is not unfrequent to find 

 ten or fifteen feet below the surface of the most recent of 

 this alluvion, logs, stumps of trees, leaves, butternuts, wal- 

 nuts, &c in a partially decaying state, and sometimes we 

 meet with skeletons of the aborigines of the country. But 

 no aurock, mastodon, or megatherium, has yet been dis- 

 covered to give an interest to this alluvial formation. 



I have found a difficulty in some instances in drawing the 

 line between genuine post-deluvian depositions and geest. 

 In some cases there appears to be a mixture. In other 

 cases the rocks are entirely hid by the soil, and yet the 

 predominant characteristic of the soil is derived from the 

 rock underneath it, althougli there is a mixture of alluvion. 

 The old red sandstone for instance, and the red slate of the 

 coal formation, are very liable to decomposition, and thus 

 a reddish soil is produced, so manifestly composed of the 

 Tuins of the rock, that one is able often to determine from 

 the appearance of the soil at the distance of two or three 

 miles the particular rock that lies beneath it. 1 have not, 



