DRIFT DIVISION. 
167 
this tract (Shawango neck) were quartz (transparent, milky and smoky), feldspar (white, red 
and yellow), mica (black, white and silvery), hornblende (green, black, fibrous, lamellar), 
chlorite, talc, titaniferous iron ore in granite like that of Foster (R. L), garnet crystals in 
granite and mica slate, staurotide in mica slate, and oxide of manganese in pebbles of a few 
pounds weight. Magnetic iron sand and garnet sand were found on the beaches. The iron 
and garnet sands are very beautiful. 
Boulders were frequently seen in the hills west of Three-mile harbor, in Easthampton, of 
from forty to sixty tons weight, and smaller ones were numerous. In digging wells in East¬ 
hampton, thin layers of clay are sometimes found in the sand and gravel beds ; sand and light 
or heavy loam are passed through, and boulders sometimes found imbedded; and when they 
reach a bed of pebbles and gravel, water is obtained, generally within fifteen feet of the sur¬ 
face. 
Between Springs and Fireplace, in the northern neck of Easthampton, the surface is 
strewed in some places with boulders and blocks of granite, gneiss and quartz rock. 
In Southampton, boulders occur in abundance on the hills south and southwest of Sag- 
Harbor, and on Hog neck. In the range of hills between Sag-Harbor and Canoe place,* the 
boulders were numerous, composed of granite, gneiss, mica slate, talcose slate, quartz, green¬ 
stone trap and hornblende rocks. These hills are called the backbone of the island ; and near 
Canoe place on the east, they are called the Shinnecock hills. They are composed of sand 
and gravel; and on the hills are seen boulders and blocks of granite, gneiss and greenstone, 
from one hundred pounds to one hundred tons weight each, but the very large ones are rare. 
These rocks are dug and blasted to make cellar walls and underpinning for buildings, at 
Southampton. The relative abundance of these rocks is in the order mentioned. The green¬ 
stone trap became more and more abundant in boulders and pebbles from Southampton to 
Canoe place. Most of the pebbles of the gravel beds are of white quartz, intermixed more or 
less with those of granite, gneiss, mica slate, red sandstone and red oxide of iron. This 
latter mineral is found in all the gravel banks of the quaternary formation, from Montauk point 
to Brooklyn. In some places it is so abundant that it might be an object to collect that on the 
surface as an iron ore, but not to make it an object, of exploration by excavations. It is com¬ 
posed of red oxide of iron in brilliant grains, like iron sand firmly aggregated, but of a red 
away of the land in which they were contained. The drift deposit on this part of Shawango neck is low, and not more 
generally than fifteen to forty feet above the sea. 
On the west side of Fort pond and Fort Pond bay, great numbers of boulders and blocks were seen scattered over the 
hills. They were generally similar to those of Shawango neck. Great numbers of them, particularly the largest ones, 
had excavations made on the east side of them. I learned afterwards that these excavations had been made, like those at 
Kidd’s Rock point, and other places on Long island and along the Hudson river, by credulous persons hunting for the 
money reported to have been buried by the noted Pirate Capt. Kidd, who is said to have killed the sailors he had employed 
to bury the money, as soon as the work was done. Singular ceremonies were performed by these persons, to keep the 
devil away during their search!!! 
• Canoe place is a very narrow isthmus of elevated land between Shinnecock bay and Great Peconic bay, across which the 
Indians formerly dragged their canoes between the waters of the Ocean and of Long Island sound. 
