39 



of a mile per hour. North of Parker's Bed the flood, on the first quarter, during- a moderate south- 

 westerly breeze, was found to set to the northeast at a rate of 0.6 of a mile per hour. 



The oysterinen greatly overrate the strength of the currents in the Sounds, putting the maxi- 

 mum velocity at about four knots on the ebb and somewhat less on the flood; but I could find no 

 reason that would explain so great an increase over the velocities as established by ourselves, and 

 consequently doubt the value of the estimate. 



DEPOSITS. 



The fact that on nearly all the beds, and especially those in the vicinity of the creeks and 

 livers and iu the upper part of the Sound, there is a light covering of mud, more or less thick, 

 over the oysters, would lead to an inference that there must be a deposit of that character going on. 

 On most of the beds the substratum of the bottom was hard and the thickness of the surface-cover- 

 ing gradually decreased as the entrance to the Sound was approached. In the upper part of the 

 Sound shells were found with the mud for several feet, and of such a number and character, being 

 old and discolored, as to forbid the supposition that they had recently sunk in the mud or been 

 covered by it. 



The Pocomoke River, draining an extensive tract of the Peninsula, would bring down a large 

 amount of sediment, which the strong ebb current would carry directly over the beds in the upper 

 part of the Sound. The set of the ebb is east, and, as will be seen by the chart, the deeper water 

 lies nearest the southern shore of the upper Sound, and those beds lying to the southward of the 

 channel are the hardest and least broken. The shores are low and marshy, and probably add 

 somewhat to any sediment held by the main current before it enters the Sound. 



I infer that there is a deposit going on of maximum amount over the Old Eocks and those to 

 the northward of the channel, and decreasing as the entrance to the Sound is approached. The 

 amount in any given period of time would be difficult to ascertain, but the character will be shown 

 to some extent by an examination of the specimens of bottom. Whether the amount of matter 

 deposited is sufficient in quantity to seriously affect the beds is a matter of conjecture; I should 

 judge that it was not, and my opinion coincides with that of all the oystermen I was able to inter- 

 rogate. That it must have some effect cannot be doubted, and the evident deterioration of the 

 beds in Pocomoke Sound may be accounted for, to some extent, by the supposition that the effect 

 is injurious ; but so many other and more direct causes exist for the deterioration that it is difficult 

 to eliminate their influence. The fact that the beds have existed and have been worked since the 

 first settlement of the country would lead to an inference that the effect, if prejudicial, was very 

 slightly so. 



The scattered oysters lying on the sands and those beds in the vicinity of sand-shoals and in 

 shallow water, the Muddy Marsh and Beach Island Rocks particularly, are exposed to damage by 

 "sanding" in a manner similar to certain beds iu Tangier Sound, and which has already been 

 described. The large amount of grass, sponge, and sea- weed growing on the sand shoals, especially 

 the one to the east of Hern Island and south of the Guilford Channel, is frequently torn up by the 

 heavy gales and deposited ou the beds with the same injurious effect that it had in Tangier Sound. 

 Heavy southerly gales will sometimes cover the beds above the Buoy Spit and Shell Beds with 

 mud for a short time, but not sufficiently long, it is said, to affect the oysters seriously. 



EFFECT OF ICE AND GALES. 



The heavy gales that occur in winter and summer, though principally during the former 

 season, increase or diminish the depth of water on the beds sometimes as much as three feet. 

 Strong northerly and northwesterly gales have the effect of diminishing the depth of water, piling 

 up any floating ice upon the leeward shores, and cutting away parts of those shores. Heavy south- 

 easterly aud southerly gales will increase the depth of water on the beds, stir up the soft muddy 

 bottom of the channels and beds above Shell Bock; and, during the winter, in addition to piling 

 the ice on the leeward shores and planted beds near Ape's Hole Creek, will pile it up on the Old 

 Rocks, Buoy Rock, and Shell Rocks. Generally speaking, the beds in this, as in Tangier Sound, 

 are in too much water to permit their being uncovered by even the heaviest gales, or to allow the 



