*[681, 682] HILLS AND STREAMS OP "BLUFF FORMATION. 315 



courses, wherever there lias been a "caving off" so as to remove 

 the masses of detritus which usually form the lower part of the 

 slope ("talus") of the hills. Blue, gray and greenish clays or 

 clayey sands are most commonly found (Tl 231), and associated with 

 ihese, not unfrequently, limited beds of calcareous clay marl ; the 

 localities of which, as far as known at present, have been mentioned 

 in the Geological Report (T295 2 ). Analyses of these marls are 

 also given there (1297 ; 300 ; 302). The*" Devils Back-bone", in 

 Franklin county, between the Homochitto and Wells' Creek ; and. 

 Loftus' Heights (and ridges connecting with it) at Fort Adams, 

 Wilkinson county (1T23G), are other examples of rock forming, not 

 only the base, but the main portion of the hills. 



Towards the interior, back from the Mississippi, the strata of the Orange Sand 

 are frequently found underlying the silt, in place of the Grand Gulf strata. 

 Wherever this is the case the Bluff formation tends to thin out ; the lower loam 

 on top gradually changes its color as well as its general character, and by slow 

 degrees and transitions of which I shall presently speak, passes into the light, 

 pale yellow loam of the Pine Hills. 



681. In approaching this region from the east, on the Holmesville and Mcad- 

 Tille road, a perceptible change in the character of the country occurs as soon 

 as we cross the dividing ridge between the waters of the Mississippi and those 

 of Lake Pontchartrain and Pearl River. The lands at the heads of Bogue- 

 Chitto and Amite rivers, though much superior in fertility to those of the pine 

 hill region further east, still bear, to a great extent, the general character of the 

 latter, both as to vegetation and soil ; the regular, rounded form of the slopes 

 and hollows, also, are essentially the same. So soon, however, as we pass into 

 the region tributary to the Homochitto, we find steep and narrow ravines ; the 

 hillside soil becomes very sandy, dark colored, and much more fertile than 

 equally sandy soils on the other side of the ridge are usually found to be ; Oak, 

 Beech, and some Magnolia, occupy these hillsides, with but little Pine. On the 

 ridges, which are quite narrow and high, Pine still prevails ; but the long-leaved 

 species is more and more replaced by the short-leaved. As an additional sign of 

 improvement in the soil, the long-moss appears on the trees, not only in the 

 bottoms, but on the very hilltops. Yet, in consequence of the brokenness of 

 the surface, these Homochitto Hills can be cultivated to a limited extent only. 



682. The character of the water courses is not less changed than that of the 

 land. In the interior of the State, and even in the sandiest tracts of the Pine 

 Hills, the streams excavate narrow channels, the whole breadth of which they 

 occupy at a medium stage of water. But the several forks of the Homochitto, 

 as well as most of the larger streams between them and the Big Black, appear 

 to have sought to imitate the example of their great Father, in excavating for 

 themselves wide, shallow, sandy beds, in which, at ordinary stages of water, 

 they meander to and fro, from bank to bank, in secondary channels only a few 

 yards wide at times, excavated in the loose, shifting sands. In times of freshet, 

 when they fill and overflow their main channel, these streams are very wide, 

 rising and falling very rapidly ; and as their current is usually quite rapid (as 

 compared with that of the streams E. of the dividing ride) they often carry with 

 them vast masses of sand and driftwood, and as a consequence, continually 

 change their channels. 



This description holds good more especially for the upper 

 portions of the course of these streams, before they enter fully 

 upon the territory of the Bluff formation or hills of calcareous 

 silt. This region usually extends from ten to fifteen miles inland 

 from the Mississippi, forming the " Cane Hills " proper ; and such 



