Uhier.] 46 fJan. 6, 
sandy slopes of the lower grounds near the head of the peninsula bounded 
on the south by the Elk river. The same rock may also be traced in 
smaller boulders over the surface of the Cretaceous, the Eocene and Mio- 
cene to the vicinity of the Choptank river. . 
In Talbot county, from three to seven miles inland from Easton, it 
forms a zone of smaller pieces, as if a barrier of drift-loaded ice had 
stranded in a line across the country there, and melting had dropped these 
angular pieces in their present position. 
The side of the neck of land adjoining the Elk river has been greatly 
scooped out by superficial agencies, and apparently a large proportion of 
the sandstone which originally formed thé stratum here has been broken 
up and transported to a distance. 
Some of the larger fragments observed on the surface in Talbot county 
have broad grooves cut diagonally across their surface, as if they had 
been pushed along under heavy weights which pressed them against sharp 
edged stones as they were moved over the surface. One piece in particu- 
lar, four feet in length, nearly three feet in width and almost two feet 
thick, deserves to be mentioned here, on account of the singular appear- 
ance which it presents. It is a nearly flat slab of the very densest and 
hardest of the quartzite, very difficult to fracture, and resisting to the edge 
of well-tempered steel. But, notwithstanding its refractory nature, its 
upper surface composed of dense quartz is mostly polished, and has a 
series of three acute-ellipsoid excavations, each nearly three inches in 
length, more than a half inch in depth, and perhaps two-thirds of an inch 
in width across the middle. The sides of these holes slope towards the 
middle line and they are connected in a straight series by narrow 
grooves. 
In addition to those, there are two diagonal channels, each about a 
twelfth of an inch in width cut along through a space of about six 
inches. 
The piece of stone weighs upwards of six hundred pounds and is not 
like any that the Indians were accustomed to use in the preparation of 
their food. It was found lying in a field, at a long distance from any 
habitation, and does not possess any of the features which might accord 
with the architectural proclivities of any people thus far recognized. 
In summing up we find the Albirupean to be a formation composed, as 
far as our present knowledge extends, of a lower bed of whitish clayey 
sand of variable thickness (often of five to twelve feet), followed next 
above by the white sandstone ranging fron) five to thirty feet in thickness ; 
or where this is replaced by the pure white sand, being as much as ninety 
feet in thickness. This in turn is overlaid by thirty feet of black, drab, 
