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PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



[Oct., 1857. 



streams, and in Palestine along the Jordan from the Sea of Gen- 

 nesaret to the sources of the river, and further north, along the 

 rivers of Ccele Syria. Tamarix gallica grew in great luxuriance, 

 flowering abundantly, within the enclosures surrounding some of 

 the dwellings along the back beach, apparently planted along the 

 fences adjoining the road, by the residents, to screen their dwellings 

 from the view of passers on the road. In its native country, Spain, 

 the South of France, and other regions about the Mediterranean, 

 a similar use is made of it, as a hedge plant near the sea-shore, 

 but we have seen no tree with us at all rivalling in height those 

 of Europe, which attain fifteen, twenty, or even thirty feet in 

 height. It requires a sandy soil, abundantly supplied with 

 moisture, to bring it to perfection. 



Among the sand hills towards the northern end of the island, 

 and near the front beach, is a mound of shells, chiefly the common 

 oyster, most probably accumulated by the aborigines around 

 their huts. 



There are two wells on the island, denominated " public wells," 

 much used by those who have no cistern. The only one visited 

 was but three or four feet deep, excavated in a depression among 

 the sand-hills north of the middle of the island. The water proved 

 to be excellent, having not the slightest resemblance in taste to its 

 briny neighbor, whose waves were rolling within a hundred yards. 

 A pint brought with me to the city, and examined in my laboratory, 

 yielded only a little more than two grains of saline matter to the 

 pint, or one part in three thousand five hundred of the water, a 

 degree of purity exceeding that of many of our city wells. It 

 was, in fact, a nearly pure rain water, filtered through the sand. 



The island called Botany Bay Island, on Johnson & Walker's 

 map of the State, is called, on Mills' district map, Clark's Island, 

 and on Wilson's map of the State, Tucker's Island. The most 

 southern of the three appears to be uniformly called Eding's 

 Island, and the intermediate one, on which is Edingsvilie, is 

 called by the inhabitants Eding's Bay, ''The Island" being 

 Edisto Island. In familiar conversation, such phrases as "going 

 to the bay," "the inhabitants of the bay," are of frequent occur- 

 rence, and from long habit such a phrase as this, "the sea 

 destroyed half the bay in 1854," would not produce the least 

 surprise. 



Prof. McCrady communicated certain facts with regard to 

 the development of a Beroe of Charleston Harbor. 



