On Bowlders and Rolled Stones, 29 



waves followed each other in quick succession, and I could 

 distinctly hear the motion of the larger and smaller rocks, 

 brought in and carried back, as I thought, more than one 

 hundred yards by every wave, and 1 could sensibly feel 

 the earth tremble under my feet from the quantity and 

 great weight of some of them. I considered that the 

 whole country must once, and for a great length of time 

 have been covered to a great depth with this now retired 

 ocean. If we know not what has become of the waters, 

 yet surely when we see their effects on every hill, in every 

 valley and on every plain, and can distinctly follow their re- 

 tiring footsteps, from the highest mountain to this very spot, 

 where the same cause is still in active operation, producing 

 the same result, we must yield to the conviction that the 

 cause of all these effects is one and the same. Every sub- 

 sequent observation has confirmed this conclusion. I al- 

 ways observe in the outlet of a deep valley between two 

 mountains, masses of larger and smaller rounded rocks de- 

 posited, the quantity of which bears a very just proportion 

 to the length and depth of the valley. Streams of water 

 where any have flowed out of these valleys after the sea re- 

 tired, have cut channels through this deposited gravel, but 

 seldom if ever could have had any effect in rounding it. On 

 both sides of the great valley of Connecticut river, as else- 

 where, there is an immense deposit of clay, loam and sand 

 to the depth of more than one hundred feet. The river has 

 carried away much of this deposit, and in such a manner as 

 to leave no doubt as to its depth, or what has become of it. 

 This valley, it would seem, was once empty, or occupied 

 only by water, for logs have been found in digging for wa- 

 ter from fourteen to forty-five feet below the surface of the 

 ground. This deposit must evidently have resulted from 

 the grinding and rounding of the rocks on the mountains 

 and hills, and in the vallies on the two sides of Connecticut 

 river, and this dtlritus being brought down as the water 

 retired, was here deposited. Since that period, the river 

 has been occupied in wearing away rocks, deepening its 

 channel between mountains and removing much of the de- 

 posited earth. Let us for proof, examine a single route to 

 the sea shore —for convenience, we will take the Grafton 

 Turnpike road, although u)any others would be equally 

 satisfactory. Granite in place is first found about three 



