no marks of any grave, or of any of the works of man; but the earth and pebbles appear to lie in the very position in which they were deposited by the water. On the north side of a small stream, called Hargus creek, which at this place empties itself into the Scioto, in digging through a hill composed of such pebbles as I have described in Pickaway plains, at least nine feet below the surface, several human skeletons were discovered, perfect in every limb. These skeletons were promiscuously scattered about, and parts of skeletons were sometimes found at different depths below the surface. This hill is at least fifty feet above the highest freshets in the Scioto, and is a very ancient alluvion, where every stratum of sand, clay, and pebbles has been deposited by the waters of some stream. Other skulls have been taken out of the same hill, by persons who, in order to make a road through it, were engaged in taking it away. These bones are very similar to those found in our mounds, and probably belonged to the same race of men; a people short and thick, not exceeding generally five feet in height, and very possibly they were not more than four feet six inches. The skeletons, when first exposed to the atmosphere, are quite perfect, but afterwards moulder and fall into pieces. Whether they were overwhelmed by the deluge of Noah, or by some other, I know not; but one thing appears certain, namely: that water has deposited them here, together with the hill in which, for so many ages, they have reposed. Indeed, this whole country appears to have been once, and for a considerable period, covered with water, which has made it one vast cemetery of the beings of former ages. Fragments of antique pottery, and even entire pots of coarse earthen ware, have been found likewise in the excavations of the Illinois salt-works, at the depth of eighty feet and more from the surface. One of these was ascertained to hold from eight to ten gallons, and some were alleged to be of much greater capacity. This fossil pottery is stated not to differ materially from that which frequently occurs in the mounds supposed to have been formed by the aboriginal Indians.'

The largest and most interesting fossils of this country are the remains of the mastodon, an enormous creature of an extinct race, nearly allied to the elephant, and long considered identical with it, but now allotted to a distinct genus under the name of mastodon. For a minute and detailed account of these remains, we must refer our readers to the valuable work of Godman. The size of the living animal may be conjectured when it is stated, that the head at the posterior part is thirty-two inches across, the lower jaw two feet ten inches long, and the tusks ten feet seven inches long, and seven inches and three fourths in diameter at the base. It is wonderful to reflect that but for the accidental preservation of a few bones, we should never have known the existence of an animal so huge in its dimensions, and necessarily of such vast strength and power.

We know not where, better than in the present connection, to introduce a circumstance hitherto unexplained, if not altogether inexplicable. There have been found, it appears beyond all question, in naked limestone of the elder secondary formation, close on the western margin of the Mississippi at St. Louis, the prints of human feet. The prints are those of a man standing erect, with his heels drawn in, and his toes turned outward, which is the most natural position. They are not the impressions of feet accustomed to a tight shoe, the toes being very much spread, and the foot Blattened in the manner that happens to those who have been habituated to

go a great length of time without shoes. The prints are strikingly natural, exhibiting every muscular impression and swell of the heel and toes, with great precision and faithfulness to nature. The length of each foot, as indicated by the prints, is ten inches and a half, and the width across the spread of the toes, four inches, which diminishes to two inches and a half at the swell of the heels, indicating, as it is thought, a stature of the common size.

Every appearance seems to warrant the conclusion that these impressions were made at a time when the rock was soft enough to receive them by pressure, and that the marks of feet are natural and genuine. Such was the opinion of Governor Cass and myself,' says Mr. Schoolcraft, formed upon the spot, and there is nothing that I have subsequently seen to alter this view on the contrary, there are some corroborating facts calculated to strengthen and confirm it.' At Herculaneum, in the same neighborhood, similar marks have been found, as well as on some of the spurs of the Cumberland mountains, always in similar limestone. In the latter case it is stated that the impressions are elongated, as of persons slipping in ascending a slimy steep. Opinions are much divided as to the origin and import of these impressions. Should similar observations multiply, important inferences may perhaps be drawn from them; at present it seems impossible to speak respecting them decisively or satisfactorily.

The following extraordinary facts, respecting what may be termed living fossils, appear to be well authenticated. During the construction of the Erie canal, while the workmen were cutting through a ridge of gravel, they found several hundred of live molluscous animals. I have before me,' says Professor Eaton, 'several of the shells from which the workmen took the animals, fried and ate them. I have received satisfactory assurances that the animals were taken alive from the depth of forty-two feet.' In addition to this discovery in diluvial deposits, mention is made of a similar one in a much older formation. In laying the foundation of a house at Whitesborough, the workmen had occasion to split a large stone from the millstone grit. It was perfectly close-grained and compact. On opening it, they discovered a black, or dark brown spherical mass, about three inches in diameter, in a cavity which it filled. On examining it particularly, they found it to be a toad, much larger than the common species and of a darker color. It was perfectly torpid. It was laid upon a stone, and soon began to give signs of life. In a few hours, it would hop moderately on being disturbed. They saw it in the yard, moving about slowly for several days; but it was not watched by them any longer, and no one observed its farther movements. They laid one half of the stone in the wall, so that the cavity may still be seen.

'The millstone grit,' says Professor Eaton, who gives this account, in which this toad was found, is the oldest of the secondary rocks. It must have been formed many years before the deluge. Was this toad more than four thousand years old? or was it from an egg introduced, through a minute and undiscovered cleavage, into this cavity or geode, made precisely to fit the size and form of a toad? I was particular in my inquiry, and learned that the whole stone was perfectly compact, without any open cleavage which would admit an egg. Besides, it is well known that the millstone grit is neither porous nor geodiferous. If this rock stratum was deposited upon the toad, it must have been in aqueous, not in igneous solu

tion, and the toad must have been full grown at the time. Toads are often found in compact, hard, gravelly diluvial deposits, in situations which demonstrate that they must have lived from the time of the deluge. I think I am warranted in saying this without citing authorities, as it is a common occurrence. Then why may they not have lived a few centuries longer, if we admit them a life of at least three thousand years?'

GENERAL REMARKS ON GEOLOGY.

Geological researches are made with much greater facility in America than in Eu rope, especially in the region of the secondary strata. The immense extent over which they can be traced, the undisturbed condition in which they are found, and their gene. rally horizontal position, afford great facility for efforts of system and generalization. The absence of the newest floetz-trap rocks, and of the effects of the violent convulsions, so frequent in the vicinity of this disputed formation, unquestionably assist geological research. A second and more efficient cause is found in the extent of the changes that have been wrought in the different classes of rocks on the European continent since their original formation, by the effect of water, and the continual action of rivers wearing deep beds, and exposing the subordinate strata. Rivers also in North America have not generally cut so deep into the different strata, either in the mountains, or during their course in the level country, as materially to derange the stratifications. Broken masses of one formation covering the tops of mountains, whose foundations are composed of rocks of a different class, seldom occur. A third cause of the facility of geological observation in this continent is found in the fact that the whole continent east of the Mississippi follows the arrangement of one great chain of mountains. Europe, on the contrary, is intersected by five or six distinct ranges, which follow different laws of stratification, and frequently interrupt each other.

The effect of opening this new field of observation has been striking and important. It has been to confound every previous effort at the determination and arrangement of general strata. European geologists themselves have acknowledged that the general strata must be determined in America. The absence of the chalk forcibly illustrates this; the chalk being not only a very prominent feature in the geological structure of Europe, but the grand point of division between the secondary and tertiary formations. The English oolite is not found in this country. It has been affirmed by Professor Eaton that the old red sandstone is not a general stratum, and even the existence of primitive clay-slate is questioned; while Mr. Maclure informs us that though the primitive formation contains all the variety of rocks contained in the mountains of Europe, yet neither their relative situation in the order of succession, nor their relative heights in the range of mountains, correspond with European observations. The order of succession from the clay-slate to the granite, as well as the gradually diminishing height of the strata, from the granite through the gneiss, mica slate, and hornblende rock, down to the clay-slate, is so often inverted and mixed, as to render the arrangement of any regular series impracticable.

It is of course out of the question in these remarks to present a detailed account of the general science of geology. For valuable and well-digested treatises on this subject, we refer to Cuvier's Theory of the Earth, and Lyell's Principles of Geology. The volumes of Silliman's Journal, and Professor Cleaveland's works, abound in important matter on the geology of our continent.

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CHAPTER XIX.-NATURAL CURIOSITIES.

It is our intention to collect under this general head a few miscellaneous descriptions, that could not have been properly placed under any other division. The space that we can devote to this subject is small, and it is impossible to enter into much detail. Among the most admired and interesting natural curiosities of our country, are the Pictured Rocks, of lake Superior, which have been described by an intelligent traveller to whose observation we have been already largely indebted.

'The Pictured Rocks,' says Mr. Schoolcraft, 'are a series of lofty bluffs, which continue for twelve miles along the shore, and present some of the

most sublime and commanding views in nature. We had been told, by our Canadian guide, of the variety in the color and form of these rocks, but were wholly unprepared to encounter the surprising groups of overhanging precipices, towering walls, caverns, waterfalls, and prostrate ruins, which are here mingled in the most wonderful disorder, and burst upon the view in ever-varying and pleasing succession. In order to convey any just idea of their magnificence, it is necessary to premise, that this part of the shore consists of a sandstone rock of a light gray color internally, and deposited stratum super-stratum to the height of three hundred feet, rising in a perpendicular wall from the water and extending from four to five leagues in length.

This rock is made up of coarse grains of sand, united by a calcareous cement, and occasionally imbedding pebbles of quartz and other waterworn fragments of rocks, but adhering with a feeble force, and, where ex posed to the weather, easily crushed between the fingers. Externally, it presents a great variety of color, as black, red, yellow, brown, and white,

particularly along the most permanent parts of the shore; but where masses have newly fallen, its color is a light gray. This stupendous wall of rock, exposed to the fury of the waves, which are driven up by every north wind across the whole width of lake Superior, has been partially prostrated at several points, and worn out into numerous bays and irregular indentations. All these front upon the lake, in a line of aspiring promontories, which, at a distance, present the terrible array of dilapidated battlements and desolate towers.

'Among many striking features, two attracted particular admiration,— the Cascade La Portaille, and the Doric Arch. The cascade is situated about four miles beyond the commencement of the range of bluffs, and in the centre of the most commanding part of it. It consists of a handsome stream, which is precipitated about seventy feet from the bluff into the lake at one leap. Its form is that of a rainbow, rising from the lake, to the top of the precipice. We passed near the point of its fall upon the surface of the lake, and could have gone, unwetted, between it and the rocks, as it is thrown a considerable distance into the lake.

'The Doric Rock is an isolated mass of sandstone, consisting of four natural pillars, supporting a stratum or entablature of the same material, and presenting the appearance of a work of art. On the top of this er tablature rests a stratum of alluvial soil, covered with a handsome growth of pine and spruce trees, some of which appear to be fifty or sixty feet in height. To add to the factitious appearance of the scene, that part of the entablature included between the pillars is excavated in the form of a common arch, giving it very much the appearance of a vaulted passage inte the court yard of some massy pile of antiquated buildings. A little to the west of this rock, the Miner's river enters the lake by a winding channel, overshadowed with trees, and intersected by a succession of small rapids. Mineralized Tree.-About half a mile from the village of Chitteningo, in New York, a fossil or mineralized tree was some years ago discovered. It lies at the base of the Conasewago mountains, within a few yards of a branch of the Erie canal, which runs up to the village. The tree appears to have been blown down or broken off; there are eight or ten feet of stump remaining, with some part of the large end near the root; the stump is about three feet in diameter, the bark, the fibrous texture of the wood and two or three knots are very obvious; there is a substance very much resembling veins disseminated through what seems to have once been the sap vessels of the tree. The lower part of the root is imbedded in the soil, where it probably once grew. Vast quantities of mineralized wood, both in small and large masses, are scattered in all directions around this stump; fragments which from their loose and porous texture, seem to have been petrified, after the wood began to decay. Indeed so numerous are these fragments, that almost every stone in this vicinity appears to have been once a living plant.*

The Devil's Diving Hole.-About four miles below the falls of Niagara. on the American side, is a very curious place called the Devil's Diving Hole, which is nearly one hundred feet deep; the edge of it is so very near the road that they have taken the precaution to cut down some trees, so as to form a kind of barricado, in order to prevent cattle or strangers from

*Silliman's Journal.