3 



Banker, it will be found that at those dates the cliff was open to 

 the full force of the ocean and that Sandy Hook was attached 

 as a projecting spit of sand to the highland shore. Since that time, 

 according to Lewis M. Haupt,* the drift from the bluffs to the 

 southward (as at Monmouth) has gradually overlapped the foot 

 of the Highlands and closed the mouth of the Shrewsbury and 

 Navesink rivers, f thus serving as an effectual cover and protec- 

 tion for the highlands, which are no longer attacked b}^ the ocean 

 waves, while Plum Island (Fig. i) represents a remnant of the 

 ancient Sandy Hook. The undisturbed, forest-covered portion 

 of the Navesink peninsula (the highland proper) is three and a 

 quarter miles long and one and a half miles wide, the highest ele- 

 vations (triangulation points) beginning at the west end being 239 

 feet, 245 feet, 260 feet, 269 feet, 235 feet, and 248 feet; while the 

 elevations at the eastern end (see map, Fig. i) toward the Atlantic 

 are 240 feet and 259 feet; the hill on which the Navesink light- 

 houses are situated being 237 feet high. On the north and east 

 sides, the bluffs are rather precipitous, as indicated by the close- 

 ness of the contour intervals, while on the south and more pro- 

 tected sides, the slope is a more gradual one. The differences in 

 these slopes is probably accounted for by the action of the ocean 

 and tidal currents in wearing away the material, so as to under- 

 mine the bluff and produce steep contours. From a distance, the 

 crest of the Atlantic Highlands (Fig. 2) seems to be a fairly uni- 

 form one and a closer inspection shows that there are no streams 

 of any importance which cut its slopes. The largest brook runs 

 south into Clay Pit Creek flowing in a northwest direction which 

 marks a valley which separates the highlands proper from the 

 hills to the westward. 



Vegetation 

 The forest, found on the summit and slopes of these highlands, 

 belongs to what I have denominated the deciduous forest forma- 



* Haupt, Lewis A/. Changes along the New Jersey Coast. Annual Report of the 

 State Geologist, 1905 : 44-45. 



-\ Harshber^er, John IV. The Vegetation of the Salt Marshes, Salt and Freshwater 

 Ponds of northern Coastal N. J. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1909 : 373-400, with 

 6 text figures. 



