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[As8t:MBLY 
fourth mile in length, and from ten to twenty rods in width, makess 
out into the harbor from the south-west part of Eaton's neck, and 
adds much. to its safety; as also, a similar one from the S. E. part 
of Loyd's neck. 
" There is abundant evidence that this harbor, and the safety of 
the smaller ones in the vicinity, are the result of alluvial actioji. 
The materials, composing the sand-beaches and spits which I have 
mentioned, are precisely like those now thrown up by the action 
of the surf; they consist of pebbles, gravel and fine sileceous 
sand, interspersed with water-worn shells, belonging to genera 
and species now living on the coast; and they are destitute of bould- 
ers, which characterise all those low places formed by the degrada- 
tion of the superincumbent materials. 
"The beach, connecting Eaton's neck with the main island, is 
three and a half miles in length, and ten to thirty rods in width. 
Mr. Gardner, who " keeps the light" on Eaton's neck informed 
me, that some years since, a vessel, during a violent storm, hav- 
ing been driven upon this beach, and an excavation made to get her 
off, marsh mud was- found beneath the sand near tide water level, 
precisely like that in a small marsh on the opposite side of the 
beach, clearly indicating the manner of formation at that place. 
" On the northwest part of Eaton's neck, a sand-beach, one- 
half or three-fourths of a mile in length, has been thrown up in 
front of a marsh containing several acres. It has formed rapidly 
since the remembrance of Mr. Gardner, who says he has seen 
sloops loaded with wood, float in places now some feet above tide 
water level. 
" The long stretch of beach connecting Eaton's neck with the 
main island, is continued three-fourths of a mile eastward, and is, 
a part of the way, formed in front of cliffs which it protects from 
the farther encroachment of the sea, and the remaining distance, 
before a small pond skirted with marsh, which formerly communi- 
cated with the sea by means of a creek, now filled with alluvial 
sand. 
" A sand-beach one-fourth of a mile in length has been formed, 
between Long-Island Sound and Crab-meadows, through which a 
creek, entering obliquely from the N. W. passes in a serpentine 
direction through the marsh. By the action of violent winds the 
