Many circumstances concur to render it probable. or rather certaiii, that all the low country of Carolina has once been under the dominion of the ocean. In the deepest descent into the ground, neither stones nor locks arc ever discovered. 'Inc strata genet. Ily consist of rocks or beds of shells, with which petrifi. d fish are sometimes found intermixed at a consiot ble depth from the surface. Extensive beds of oyster shells have been discovered at a great distance from the present limits of toe sea snore. Toe most remarkable of these extends from Nelson's ferry on the Santee river, sixty miles from the ocean, in a south west direction, passing through the intermediate country, till it crosses the Savannah river in Burke county, and continuing on to the Oconee river in Georgia. These shells are un commonly large, and quite different in kind from the oysters now found on the shore of Carolina. They lie about seven feet below the surface : the incumbent stra tum consists of common earth: below the oysters, the soil, for the next four feet, is a whitish coloured mass, intermixed with shells; a blue hard substance resem bling stone succeeds for the next three or four feet; and under this is sand, the depth of which is unknown.
In the cuts which have been made across peninsulas, for the purpose of facilitating inland navigation, prodi gious quantities of cypress timber are sometimes dis covered, affording unequivocal evidence that the country had formerly been covered by immense forests of that species of wood. A circumstance still more calculated to excite the wonder and curiosity of the naturalist, is the discovery, in these excavations, of the bones of mon strous animals, unlike to any which are now known to exist. These bones were found in digging the Santee canal, about eight or nine feet under the ground, and lying so near together, as to render it probable that they originally belonged to the same animal. The enormous dimensions of this animal may be conjectured from the size of its ribs, one of which, when dug up, was nearly six feet long, and from one of its jaw teeth, which was 8-1 inches long, 34 inches wide, and its root 114 inches long. The depth of the tooth, from its surface to the bottom, was 61 inches. The other parts of the skeleton were in a relative proportion.* The coast of Carolina is intersected by inlets, creeks, and marshes, from the meanderings and junctions of which many islands are formed. Of those islands some are increased on their western extremities by accretions, and diminished on their eastern border by the dashing of the ocean. On those which are contiguous to the main, monuments of Indian antiquity are occasionally discovered. There are other islands entirely of marine origin, which appear to be accumulations of recrements thrown up by the action of the Atlantic waters. 'I'he
mainland, contiguous to these islands, has a surface of lignt black earth upon a stratum of sand. For 80 or 100 mils it is quite free of stones ; and has a gradual ascent, wl.ich, at least for a considerable distance from Charles ton, has been ascertained, with mathematical precision, to be three Let in a mile.
The soil of South Carolina is naturally, as well as politically, divided into six classes: 1. Tide swamp. 2. Inland swamp. 3. High river Swamp, or low grounds, distinguished by the name of second low grounds. 4. Salt marsh. 5. Oak and hickory high land. 6. Pine barren. The two first classes are peculiarly adapted to the culture of rice and hemp ; the third is most favoura ble to tne growth of hemp, corn and indigo. 'File salt marsh has hitherto been much neglected, though there is every reason to believe that it would amply repay the trouble of cultivation. The oak and hickory land is re markably fertile, and is well adapted to the culture of corn, as well as of indigo and cotton. The pine barren, though the least productive, is so much more salubrious tkm toe other soils, that a proportion of pine barren is an appendage italtspensahly necessary to every swamp plantation. It is remarkable, that this species of soil, though comparatively barren, bears pine trees of an_ largest growth, which maintain their verdure through winter, and, as Dr Ramsay justly observes, administer more to the necessities and comforts of mankind, than any other species of tree whatever. 'I'he cause of this seems to be, that the pine land is only superficially sandy ; for, on digging into it a few feet, the soil is found to change, in many places at least, from sand to clay. The tide swamps are so level, that a few inches of water can frequently cover them sufficiently for agricultural purposes. In the legal valuation of the land fur taxa tion, these lands hold the first rank. As the swamps above the influence of the tide are subject to river floods, which the Americans call freshets, they are somewhat precarious, but in other respects are of immense value. The sand hills in the middle country are so extremely barren, as to produce scarcely a pile of grass. On the low grounds between them, however, a rich mould is frequently deposited ; and the margins of the rivers which flow among them are always abundantly fertile. The hills of Santee, situated likewise in the middle country, are elevated two hundred feet above the adja cent lands. Their soil, which is a mixture of sand, clay, and gravel, is admirably adapted to the culture of high land grain and cotton ; and affords to the inhabitants the pleasures of health, and the various comforts of life, in a greater combination than is common in the southern states.