







OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 461 
abruptly out of a marsh, and to the westward, 7. e. up the 
tiver, descends at first by a rapid, then a gentle slope, which 
merges into a nearly level plain, backed by the thickly- 
_ wooded hills; beyond this is a marsh, which, still farther to 
_ the westward, is bordered by a creek.* The base of the 
bluff is washed by a swift current at every tide, so that it is 
_ constantly undermined, and is rapidly disappearing. Earth- 
works thrown up on top during the rebellion have already 
begun to fall. I was told by a man living near by that an 
oleander tree, which I saw lying at the water’s edge to the 
_ Westward of the bluff, a few years since was thirty feet from 
the shore in the middle of a garden. 
_ At present the bluff itself must greatly differ from what it 
_ Was when the French came, and it is highly probable that 
More of it has been destroyed than remains. The site of 
; Fort Caroline has not been identified, and has probably disap- 
_ peared. The bluff presents a front of clear sand, is overgrown 
= With trees except where military works were thrown up, 
= d beneath the vegetable mould, a few inches thick, is a 
a yer of oyster shells, with a very slight admixture of sand, 
“tending from two to three hundred feet along the more 
_“asterly portion, and varying in thickness from a few inches 
1 three feet. A second and much thinner layer is seen to 
the Westward, where the land rises only eight or ten feet 
bove the water. It is not improbable that the two deposits 
were originally connected, the intervening portion having 
l washed away. Fragments of pottery which have fallen 
the banks are scattered along the whole shore in front 
these deposits, and on examining fresh sections made by 
falling of the bluff, and also in making excavations m 
'sturbed portions, similar fragments were found in place, 
= So there can be no doubt that the shells and pottery 
oo simultaneously deposited. After careful search no 
__' 8 other implements were found during my visit, either 
ae 






from 



*Mr. p Coes oe 
it an’s description of St. Johns Bluff, in the work already cited, is admira: 
Portrayal of the general landscape as well as the individual details. 
