12 SURFACE GEOLOGY. 



Sugar-loaf and Deerfield Mountain, through Deerfield, Greenfield, and Bernardston. 

 Here it joins the fourth basin of the Connecticut in the west part of Northfield ; 

 so that the second and fourth were one basin when the higher terraces were de- 

 posited. On its west side, this second basin must have been not less than one 

 hundred and ten miles long. 



3. The third basin extends from Mettawampe to the mouth of Miller's river, 

 in the northeast part of Northfield. It is narrow, and not more than eight or 

 ten miles long. 



4. The next basin reaches from the mouth of Miller's river to Brattleborough. 

 Some of its higher terraces extend across the barrier into No. 3, and also, as 

 already stated, into No. 2, in Bernardston. Though seventeen miles long, it is 

 narrow. 



5. From Brattleborough to Westminster, seventeen miles, the bed of the river 

 may be considered as a deep gorge through the mountains, similar to that south of 

 Middletown. Through Westminster to Bellows Falls, embracing Walpole also, is 

 a short, but very distinct basin, five miles long, with numerous terraces. Terraces 

 also exist in most parts of the gorge, but they are narrow. 



6. The next basin extends from Bellows Falls to North Charlestown, fourteen 

 miles, where the mountains close in upon the river, as at Bellows Falls. Yet some 

 of the highest terraces, at both extremities, pass over into the adjoining basins. 



7. I regard the next basin as extending from Charlestown to Ascutney Mountain 

 in the south part of Windsor, ten miles, although some of the terraces extend 

 northerly into the next basin. Yet I cannot doubt, but that this mountain once 

 formed a gorge. 



8. The basins become less distinct as we ascend the valley, and I have not 

 studied them as carefully in its upper part. I should say that we might regard an 

 eighth basin as reaching as far as Fairlee, although the hills several times crowd 

 closely upon the river south of that place. 



9. From Fairlee, through Haverhill to Bath, the valley is wider, and the ter- 

 races numerous and distinct. This basin may extend beyond Bath, which is the 

 northern limit of my examinations. This spot is two hundred and ten miles from 

 the ocean in a direct line along the rivers. 



On the map of the valley (Plate III,) accompanying this paper, I have marked the 

 above basins more distinctly probably than facts will justify. But in the absence 

 of all accurate delineations of our topography on the published maps of New Eng- 

 land, I thought it would not be improper to represent elevations that do actually 

 exist, in order to make myself better understood, even though they be more promi- 

 nent than in nature. 



I would here take occasion to remark, that the most serious obstacle to my pro- 

 gress in these investigations has been the want of accurate maps of the districts 

 explored. Frequently have I spent the day (and the same experience is fresh in 

 my mind as to older rocks) and have got a clear conception of the terraces, beaches, 

 and hills in a considerable district. But on opening my map to delineate the same, 

 I have often found, to my discomfiture, that no such region exists on the map as 

 existed in my mind, and which I found in nature ; and hence the greatest inac- 



