MADDAKET 



517 



The writer has not finished his study of this problem sufficiently to 

 come to a final conclusion. From the evidence thus far obtained it 

 seems that the first hypothesis above mentioned is the most probable one. 



Smith Point 



Since the first white man came to Nantucket records show many 

 changes in the form of the western tombolo, which attempts to form a 

 connection between Nantucket island and Marthas Vineyard. At times 

 the tombolo has been completed as far as Tuckernuck; at times it has 

 been entirely south of Tuckernuck, as shown in the Mitchell map of 

 1838 (see figure 3). This map is here reproduced in outline, as it is 

 the best map made before the first U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 



CON6CT 



Figure 3.— Map of Nantucket, by Wm. Mitchell, 1838. 



map. It will not be fully discussed in this paper, as reference to it will 

 be made in a later paper when some of the old maps of the region are 

 considered. 



At present the tombolo is neither continuous to Tuckernuck. nor is it 

 entirely south of Tuckernuck, as shown in the Mitchell map. There is 

 now a channel across the tombolo east of Tuckernuck. It occurs just 

 west of the point where the oldland of Nantucket proper ends, accord- 

 ing to the interpretation of the writer. This opinion is based on the 

 forms of the valleys which cross the island at this point, extending 

 northeast and southwest. These valleys between the Maddaket Life 

 Saving station and the end of Smith point were drowned at the begin- 

 ning of the present cycle, and have now been cut back on the southwest 



