256 Ten Days in Ohio. 



lower one. The soil was very black when first cultivated ; the re- 

 sult of vegetable decomposition through a long succession of ages. 

 These plains are based on water worn gravel and pebbles. The upper 

 plain is at least one hundred and fifty feet above the bed of the river, 

 which passes about a mile west of them. Their form is elliptical, 

 with the longest diameter from N. E. to S. W. being about seven 

 miles, by three and a half or four miles. They were destitute of 

 trees when first visited by the whites, excepting a few on the eastern 

 border. The fertility was such as to produce one hundred bushels 

 of corn, or fifty of wheat to the acre, for many years j but they are 

 now less productive. 



TO SOUTH BLooMFiED. — Proiries. 

 May 30. — Day warm and pleasant — cirri — mean temperature 

 about 65° made a short excursion to South Bloomfield, a small vill- 

 age nine miles north of C. on the road to Columbus. It is seated 

 m the midst of one of those rich plains or prairies, common in the 

 Scioto valley. The soil is loose and dark colored, on a gravel or 

 diluvial substratum, composed of limestone and primitive fragments 

 In digging for wells, a fine sand is found under the gravel, at ten or 

 fifteen feet ; and in this stratum of sand, excellent water at twenty 

 or twenty-five feet. 



Teeth of the Elephant and Mastodon. 

 The Ohio canal passes about a mile east of Bloomfield. In ex- 

 cavating the earth to lay the foundation of a culvert, in a small branch 

 near this place, several teeth and rib bones of the Mastodon were 

 found. The teeth were in a fine state of preservation, imbedded in 

 a black boggy earth, such as accompanies the peat formation, which 

 is said to be common in the low wet grounds of this vicinity— a part 

 of the teeth belonged to the ancient American Elephant ; one of 

 the latter is now in my cabinet. It is the last of the molares ; seven 

 inches broad, six long, and three inches thick, and weighs five pounds. 

 The plates of ivory which compose the main body of the tooth, and 

 are united, or cemented by calcareous matter, run from the root to 

 the crown, and terminate on the grinding surface in grooved lines or 

 furrows. Ridges of the same width, with depressions between, run 

 down the sides of the tooth to the alveolar portion, or roots, giving 

 it a grooved appearance. The enamel is perfect, and looks as if it 

 had been coated with black varnish. I have one other but smaller 

 tooth of the same race or species, found in the gravelly diluvium, 

 back of Circleville. It is quite perfect, but coated with lime. The 



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