O. M. Lieber on the changes of the Coast of 8. Carolina. 355 
and character of the land. Five or six prominent effects of 
change I think may thus be distinguished: 
I. An ancient depression along our coast. 
IL. A total change in the course of the portions of the rivers 
near the coast. 
If, A more recent superficial elevation of the coast and— 
IV. Consequent gradual seaward extension of the coast. 
V. A present depression of the coast an 
VI. A southward translocation of our littoral islands. 
Of the ancient depression of the coast we find an indubitable 
proof in the piles of oyster shells accompanied by charred wood 
and Indian pottery, found in ditching the rice fields sometimes 
at a depth of five or six feet, and near the level of low tide at a 
distance of thirty miles frequently from the mouth of the river, 
(as at Mr. Langdon Cheves’ plantation opposite Savannah). This 
fact also seems to indicate that the coast must, at the time that 
these oyster piles were formed, have been far nearer, for the dis- 
tance from the sea would be too great to render transportation 
likely. It also shows the gradual rise of the land by surface ac- 
cumulation, of which, of course, there are many other indica- 
tions in the fertile alluvium of the rice-lands. . 
The formation of some of these rice-lands is itself connected 
with a remarkable change in the general character of the sea- 
of the most remarkable cases in the State. Any map of 
