124 
GEOLOGY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
of the sand, cannot be estimated at less then from three, to four, 
hundred feet above the level of the sea. From Carthage in Moore 
Count)’, there is sand uninterruptedly to the coast, and although 
there has been no accurate measurement of its altitude, data for an 
approximate estimate are furnished, by what is known of the fall 
of our rivers in the lower parts of their courses, the estimates by 
Fulton of the fall in the Cape Fear, between Fayetteville and 
Haywood, at the mouth of Deep River, the amount of fall in Deep 
River for 20 miles above Haywood, and the elevation of Car¬ 
thage above the bed of that stream. Carthage cannot be less than 
400, and is probaly 500 feet, above the level of the ocean. It 
can hardly be necessary to remark, that no amount of clay or sand, 
and much less a quantity sufficient to form the soil of whole coun¬ 
ties, can have been carried by the waves to these heights. 
2. By the constitution and structure of the strata in question. 
They are composed of layers of clay and sand, superimposed one 
upon another, in a position approaching the horizontal. The clay is 
foliated, often in leaves of extreme thinness, and fineness, and 
sometimes with a thin layer of sand interposed, indicating that 
they were deposited from turbid water, that was tranquil, if not 
at the surface, at least at the depths where the deposition took 
place. Their appearance is such as could not have been produ¬ 
ced by that tumultuous action of the waves, by which it is sup¬ 
posed that banks of clay and sand may have been thrown up. 
3. By the condition of the shells, and other organic remains. 
They are in a state of perfect preservation, so far at least as their 
forms are concerned. The original cohesion of the particles com¬ 
posing them, has been partially lost, so that they are easily broken, 
but they exhibit the markings peculiar to each, the furrows, and 
processes, by which the different species are distinguished,as per¬ 
fectly, as when the animal was still living. Shells that are tossed 
by the waves upon the beach are soon worn smooth, and if not 
ground down to a fine powder, lose most of their distinctive cha¬ 
racters. They also become mixed, irregularly, and in every variety 
of position, with one another, and with the clay and sand, in 
which they are imbedded. But the shells of the low country 
evidently occupy the original places in which the animals lived 
and died. The different kinds, if not confined to a particular 
bed or part of a bed, are more numerous at particular points, and 
with such mixture only of the species, as obtains amongst the 
living races of the present ocean. 
The low country was therefore once the bed of the sea, how 
has it become dry land? The appearances can be accounted for 
only upon the supposition, that it has like other parts of the ex¬ 
isting continents, been raised above the level of the ocean, by a 
force exerted, and probably more than once exerted, from be¬ 
neath. 
It is evident on examination, that the sand, and clay, once co¬ 
vered the country more extensively than they do now : that the 
