XXv 



in. 



So 



a 



Mo 





as it 

 '^'"^ii the 



1*^:01 



= the 



111; 



nrui the 



^ '^n the 

 • as was 



mi 



liioh 



was 



le earth- 

 '^'urse of 

 between 

 nd west. 



■ater, 



r \\ 



LTC vege- 



nn some 

 -, ;i(jiia] 



» lieigli^ 

 into 



■inn 



lonL' 



,f the 



Ap 



laces 



leafless 



J 



t' 



»• 



JlUr 



^1 to 



,T the 



)U1 



,.1 f'-'^ 



311=5 



of "'' 



n 



1840). 

 1 the 



ail 



l^eii 



Ch XXVIII.] THOSE OF NEW MADRID, MISSOURI, IN 1811-12. 100 



met tliose of other trees similarly inclined, so that their 

 branches becoming interlocked, they were prevented from 

 rio-hting- themselves again. The transit of the wave through 

 the woods was marked by the crashing noise of countless 

 bouo-hs, first heard on one side and then on the other. At 

 the same time powerful jets of water, mixed with sand, mud, 

 and fragments of coaly matter, were cast up, endangering the 

 lives of both horse and rider.' 



I was 



curious to ascertain whether any 



vestiges 



still 



I 



emained of these fountains of mud and water, and carefully 



New Madrid 



' sink holes ' as tliey are termed. They consist of cavities 

 from 10 to 30 yards in Avidth, and 20 feet or more in depth, 

 and are very conspicuous as they interrupt the level surface 

 of a flat alluvial plain. Eound their edges I saw abundance 



some 



om tnese aeep noies, also frag- 



versea naa seen spuuuiiiy llkjxh. uxx^o^. ,^^v.j^ ^^^^^^, ^^^^^ ^^^^ 

 ments of decayed wood and black bituminous shale, probably 



down 



Missis 



coal-fields farther north. I also 



found numerous rents in the soil left by the earthquake, some 

 of them still several feet wide, and a yard or two in depth, 

 although the action of rains, frost, and occasional inunda- 

 tions, and especially the leaves of trees blown into them in 

 nnnntless numbers every autumn, have done much to fill them 



I measured the direction of some of the fissures, Avhich 



up 



om 



10° to 45° W 



N 



parallel to each other; I found, however, a considerable 

 diversity in their direction. Many of them are traceable for 



mi 



for artificial trenches if resident settlers were not there to 

 assure us that within their recollection they were ' as deep 



as wells.' 



ments 



edges of some of these open fissures, together with white 

 sand, in the same manner as round the 'sink holes.' ^ 



Among other monuments of the changes wrought in 

 1811-12, I explored the bed of a lake called Eulalie, near 



* See Lyell's Second Visit to the United States, vol. ii. ch. xsxiii. 



