22 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
of which is through a mill sluice between them, Mr. Jacob Latting, who is an old and re¬ 
spectable inhabitant, and has been a resident in the vicinity more than half a century, informed 
me that these have been worn away many rods within his recollection, Mr. Latting pointed 
out to me the position of the beach between Peacock’s and Fox island, during the revolution. 
The beach then dammed up the outlet of a marsh, through which a small stream flowed; and a 
trunk was put in the beach in 1778, to allow the water to drain through, in order to prevent 
flooding the meadows. I saw the trunk in its original position. The beach has since been ex¬ 
tended about two hundred yards in breadth in front of where it was at that time. He observed 
that these beaches are subject to considerable variations by storms, the materials being tumbled 
along either eastward or westward, according to the direction of the wind. 
Sands’ point, on which a light-house has been long built, was washing away so rapidly 
some years since, that it became necessary to protect it by building a strong sea wall along 
the shore. A reef of rocks (the remains of ancient lands) extends out some distance from 
the shore. The wall has afforded a protection against the encroachment of the sea, and about 
an acre of land has been added to that belonging to the United States, in consequence of the 
alluvial action of the surf depositing the sand and shingle in the eddy on the south side of 
the point. Mr. Mason, the keeper of the light-house, communicated these facts, and many 
others of much interest. The broad and extensive sand-beach south of Sands’ point, a mile 
or more in length, was, since his remembrance, a salt marsh covered with grass. Mr. Mason 
is nearly eighty years of age. The materials swept from Sands’ point and deposited on the 
edge of the marsh, have been drifted and washed over its surface. 
At and near Kidd’s rock, three-quarters of a mile eastward of Sands’ point, the wasting of 
the cliffs from the effects of the waves is very evident. The cliffs present mural escarpments 
towards the sound, but the hills slope down gradually on the other side towards the salt marsh. 
This elevated land was formerly an island, but alluvial causes have formed a salt marsh where 
the water was sheltered from the sea. The wasting of the cliff’s has caused the formation of 
long beaches, one connecting Kidd’s point with Sands’ point, and the other connecting with 
the high grounds southeast of the marsh on the west side of Hempstead harbor. A small 
inlet through the north end of this beach allows the tide to communicate with the marsh. 
Boulders and blocks are seen imbedded in the strata forming the mural escarpments, and the 
shore below is also strewed with them. They also extend some distance from the coast, indi¬ 
cating that a considerable breadth of land has been washed away. The boulders protect the 
shore for a time, but the smaller ones and the shingle are gradually ground up by the action 
of the surf, and washed away; and during storms and high tides, fresh inroads are made. 
The beach between Kidd’s point and Sands’ point covers a part of the marsh, the ooze and 
marine peat of which may be seen at the foot of the beach at ebb tide. This indicates that 
high land or else a beach was once farther seawcird, to afford protection for the formation of 
that part of the marsh.* Only a few acres of high land remain at Kidd’s point, and if it should 
Vide plate 1, figures 1 and 2. 
