D. F. Lincoln — Glacial Erosion of New York. 107 



The general topography of the district — its hills, valleys, 

 and slopes — furnish important aids to determining the amount 

 of drift. On the whole, these features are formed of rock, 

 veiled under a very few feet of drift. Although the country 

 along the lower (northern) reaches of the lakes is in general 

 level, yet it is not without marked features. The hill of coral 

 limestone just described is one of several, similarly elongated 

 parallel to the lake-axes, and formed of shale. They are de- 

 scribed in this Journal for October, 1892. Other hills and 

 ridges may be added to their number. Farther south, towards 

 the neighborhood of the moraine of the second Glacial period, 

 as defined by Professor Ohamberlin, the country rises very 

 considerably, forming for the most part a series of broad backs, 

 plateau-like, intersected at short intervals by straight, trough- 

 like valleys, running nearly N.-S. Most of these valleys con- 

 tain lakes. The moraine is very weak on the high lands, over 

 which it lies in loops bending northward. It crosses the val- 

 leys a short distance south of the present lakes, and has evi- 

 dently determined their position. In the valleys, the accumu- 

 lations are vast, with extensive overwash deposits southwards 

 towards the Susquehanna, and northwards towards the lakes (?) 

 Over a great part of the rolling uplands it is safe to say that 

 the rock lies within from one to ten feet of the surface. They 

 are in places characterized by rock-flats covered with thin soil ; 

 in other parts they undulate in broad clumsy lines, forming 

 certain high hills and a few transverse or E.-W. valleys with 

 rock sides. A good example of the latter is found at Dundee, 

 which lies about ten miles north of a locality named by Oham- 

 berlin as belonging to the moraine. The existence of such a 

 valley at such a point is not suggestive of a heavily drift- 

 blocked country. Several other valleys, in similar situations 

 north of the moraine, remain as the last survivals of a topogra- 

 phy which is clearly not post-glacial y they appear in harmony 

 with the valley system of the Allegheny plateau of western 

 Pennsylvania. 



These remarks, however, must be understood as limited to 

 the high lands lying southward ; whose topography in fact 

 much resembles that south of the moraine. The lower lands, 

 including the northerly reaches and the troughs of the lakes, 

 produce the impression of a typically glaciated country, with 

 few prominent features. The forms are smooth and flattened, 

 even when demonstrably due to rock-structure. Any long 

 stretch of horizon tends to resemble a line drawn with a ruler. 

 Looking east or west, the sky-line is nearly level ; looking 

 north or south we have broad planes inclining to the lakeside. 



On the lower levels — say up to 900 feet above tide — a good 

 deal of the land between the lakes is provided with drumlins 

 of moderate size, and of a different aspect from the bolder 



