On the Secondary and Tertiary Formations. 337 



lowest tertiary is wanting in this part of the country.) The 

 limestone of Jones county is not far off, and such sinks as these 

 are frequent over limestone beds ; in Georgia they are called 

 "limestone sinks." 



With my valise and saddle-bags well stored with specimens, 

 and a keg full strapped behind the saddle, I proceeded to South 

 Washington, on the way to Wilmington. In this neighborhood 

 I discovered again the secondary formation on the N. E. banks 

 of Cape Fear river. The rock is a blue sandstone, contain- 

 ing the characteristic Exogyra costata, Belemnites, Plagiostoma 

 palagicum, Anomia ephippium, &c. The existence of this rock 

 between the tertiary deposits on the east and the west, seems to 

 indicate an anticlinal axis here, which extending north, accounts 

 for the elevation of the secondary throughout Jones county, and 

 the broad extent of country on each side occupied by the ter- 

 tiary marls. The axis must be low, and the dips very gentle, 

 causing at most a slight undulation of the strata. 



To the east of South Washington are large tracts, called bays 

 and swamps, one of which, called on the map Angola Bay, was 

 described to me by one who had crossed it. After traversing its 

 margin, which was a broad swamp covered with thick trees and 

 bushes, my informant and his companion came out upon an open 

 heath, spreading as far as they could see, and destitute of all vege- 

 tation, save a thick covering of moss and a iew scattered bushes. 

 Through this moss they travelled on with great difficulty, plung- 

 ing in at every step nearly knee deep. Procuring a pole from 

 the trees on the border, he sunk it down eight feet into the mud 

 without finding bottom. The moss and mud of these swamps 

 would thus seem to be those always due to peat swamps. At 

 night they reached an island in the swamp with a few trees 

 upon it. Here they remained till morning, and then continued 

 their course across, and reached the other side about noon, greatly 

 fatigued. He thinks they are called " bays" from the quantity 

 of bay trees that grow around them. Holly Shelter swamp is 

 similar to this. These swamps remind one of those in the 

 southern parts of Georgia, the islands of which were once inhab- 

 ited, according to an old Creek tradition, by a superior race of 

 beings, whose beautiful women, called " daughters of the sun," 

 occasionally condescended to help out the poor bewildered trav- 

 eller, lost in their intricacies, but who, with their houses on the 



Vol. xLi, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1841. 43 



