near tide water in large numbers in Mariners' Harbor. At Singer's factory in Elizabethport, the well that furnishes the factory is sunk through this clay stratum to the gravel, and furnishes a large volume of water. I feel confident that an ample supply can be found in this region for pumping.

"The geological formation is peculiar. From the Palisades on the Hudson River, the trap rock is seen running in a southwesterly direction, generally depressed as it passes under Bergen hill, thence passing under Bergen Point and the Kill van Kull, emerging at the water side of Jewett's residence, Port Richmond, passing thence to the quar

ries at Graniteville, and from there dipping under the Fresh Kill, is lost sight of until discovered on the Raritan river, between Perth Amboy and New Brunswick. West of this line lies the white and blue clays of various depths, forming impervious strata, covering the water bearing gravel.+

"East of the line of trap described is another step of the same rock, noticed at Bergen Point, at Gunther's residence; but only found on the Island, in digging wells just east of the Pond road.

"Between the Pond and Mill roads there is a depression of the rock, and wells forty feet in depth pass through a stratum of water-proof clay into a stratum of gravel, the reservoir of drainage of the surface above of limited area, the water rising and falling with the rains, and often chalybeate in taste from the deposits of hematite iron in the hills above.

"East of this line and at many points the serpentine rock comes to the surface, and on Todt Hill rises to an altitude of about three hun

4 Deposits of material brought from the north by the ice of the glacial epoch, are found distributed over the greater part of the Island from the Narrows to Tottenville, and is distinctly marked by a continuous line of hills. These hills mark the farthest southern extension of the ice-sheet, and the line along which the glacier deposited much of its burden of bowlders, pebbles, sand and clay, which it had torn from the rocks in its southward journey. In many places these hills have the peculiar form which they assume on Long Island and in the Eastern States. The moraine has been partially removed by the wash of the waves from Prince's Bay northward to near the Great Kills, leaving a bluff of variable height. The glacier moved

across the Island in a south southwesterly direction. This is proved by the markings on the trap-rock near Port Richmond, which have about that bearing. The surface of this rock is also smoothed like portions of the Palisades and Newark mountains. There are no such markings on the serpentine rocks, because they are too soft to retain them. The ice extended over their whole area, however, with the exception of a small area on Todt Hill, which is east of the moraine. North and west of the morainal hills the drift is not so abundant, and rarely forms hills of any considerable size. But bowlders are to be found over all this area, except when it is covered by newer formations and the soil is often very clayey.-Dr. N. L. Britton.

dred and seventy feet above tide-water. Below the serpentine rock should occur the carboniferous strata and old red sandstone, also the Silurian rock overlaying the gneiss and granite. I believe that the serpentine rock rests upon the gneiss rock, the usual intermediate rock being absent, and the reason for this belief is that the gneiss rock of New York City is observed dipping under the bay, rising to form Robin's Reef, and extending west to the beacon opposite New Brighton, possibly passing under Staten Island at the same rate of dip.

"As the result of observation of American and European engineers, the magnesian limestones are prolific water bearing rocks, and the primitive gneiss liable to fissures and stratification leading from great distances and bearing water of great purity. The granite from its freedom from fissures or strata, and irregular contour may form good basins, but rarely carries water far. Geology is by no means an exact science, as far as determining without experimental examination the probable strata or their water bearing conditions; but the above mentioned conditions are an assistance in an intelligent consideration of the subject now under investigation.

"I find by observation that there is a series of admirable springs, commencing at the famous Hessian springs, near Lafayette and Brighton avenues, below Silver Lake; also, the Bement boiling springs, then various lesser springs to the large springs at Four Corners, and so on to the Willow brook and down to Springville. I have estimated, and find the amount of water discharged is vastly in excess of any surface drainage on the higher grounds of the island adjacent, and am thus led to the belief that these springs arise from the rock below, and have their source on hills far distant."

The climate of the Island is noted for sudden and frequent changes of temperature. It is generally milder, however, than that of other localities in the same latitude farther away from the seashore. During the year the mercury varies between ninety degrees and zero, seldom passing either of these extremes. In winter, the prevailing winds are from the northwest, and in summer the south shore receives a breeze from the ocean almost daily, and southwest winds prevail throughout. The Island is surrounded by salt water, and is naturally subject to fogs, which seldom penetrate far into the interior. They are prevalent toward spring, and continue to occur at times until June or July, and occasionally at other seasons. Summer thunder showers suddenly arise in the north, and heavy gusts of wind waft them over the Island, sometimes accompanied by a fall of hailstones. Staten Island has always been celebrated for the salubrity of its climate, and has been classed by the State Board of Health, as "the healthiest county in the State." A writer on this subject, as far back as 1788, said: "The healthy and clear westerly breezes on the one side, and the thick southerly atmosphere, obstructed by a ridge of hills on the other side, make it so healthy that it must induce gentle

men of fortune to purchase who wish to lengthen out their days and enjoy all the temporal happiness this life can afford.”

There are still many traces of savage occupants of the Island. These are quite common along the shores from Prince's Bay around Tottenville to Watchogue. In various places shell heaps are found indicating that the work of wampum manufacture and the preparation of clams and oysters for food had been carried on there. Tottenville, Watchogue and the farm lands east of New Springville have proved very fruitful in gathering relics of pre-historic days. Indian net-sinkers, hammer-stones, axes, arrow-heads, mortars, pestles, beads, anvils, etc., have been found in shell heaps and scattered abroad.

Evidences of fire-places have been noticed in several of the shell mounds, speciments of cracked and partly used stone having been found. In some of the stones the surface was entirely fused into a glass-like slag. One of the most striking curiosities of this pre-historic age, is a stone head, found near Clifton in 1884. Its simple story is as follows:

"It was unearthed by Mr. James Clark, in the latter part of February, while digging up the root of a blue huckleberry bush, which he intended to use in the manufacture of rustic basket-work. It lay about eighteen inches under the soil at a point two or three hundred feet east of the railroad track, and near the Fingerboard road, at the edge of a low, dense swamp. In digging with a pick, that instrument struck the stone and turned it up. The material is a brown sandstone, apparently more compact than the common New Jersey sandstone, and composed almost entirely of grains of quartz with an occasional small pebble.

"The head is seven inches high, four inches through the cheeks and six inches from the tip of the nose through to the back of the head, and its weight is about eight pounds. The nostrils are one and seveneighths inches across their base, and the eyes are one and a quarter inches long and five-eighths wide. They are raised in the centres and have a groove running around close to the lids. A round hole onefifth inch deep had been drilled in the lower part of the nose, in the space between the two nostrils, evidently for the purpose of fastening an ornament, and both nostrils were hollowed out to some depth. The cheeks, in their lower part, are sunken in a very curious manner, causing the cheek bones to stand up very high.

"The forehead is low and retreats at an angle of sixty degrees. A trace of what had been or was to be the ear was noticeable on the right side. The back and upper parts of the head are almost entirely rough and unworked, as though the image had never been finished or else was only a part of some larger figure. The surface is roughly or slightly weathered, the cheeks, forehead and chin having single grains of sand apparently raised above the surface as if by age and exposure.

"The features are too well cut for a common off-hand piece of work by a stone worker. The style is not Egyptian nor Eastern, so it does not appear that it could have been thrown out here by any sailor or other person who had ever brought it from across the ocean. It is said to bear some resemblance to the Mexican, and still more to the Aztec style of work. The spot where it was found is and has been within the memory of man an unfrequented wild, remote from any habitation, and the soil in which it lay is a compact sandy clay of light brown color, in which a stone like this might lie buried for centuries without much disintegration."

Nature has always dealt most liberally with this beautiful Island— whether in the remote days of Aquehonga-Man-ack-nong or of modern Staten Island. From its hills unnumbered tons of iron-ore have been exhumed; from its quarries the finest granite has been cut; from among its pits the most useful species of clay, sand and kaolin have been gathered; while over thirteen hundred specimens of flowering plants with ferns and their allies have here been gathered by local botanists. The State of New York having produced eighteen hundred specimens, this proves that Staten Island has contributed fully twothirds of that number. Indeed about fifty of the species were not known in the State until discovered and reported from Staten Island. Many notable forest trees also add a charm to the place, and the variety has been a source of pride to the busy naturalists who have spent unnumbered hours in seeking them out. Birds, too, all the species that inhabit this particular clime, abound on Staten Island.

CHAPTER II.

THE NATIVE INDIANS.

HE various theories advanced in relation to the origin of the Indian tribes existing at the time of the discovery of this country, will always continue to be of the deepest interest to Americans. These theories have been various, indeed, according to the whims or predilections of the authors. Some have seen in them an original species of the human race, unconnected with any of the nations or tribes of the Old World. Others have fancied their resemblance to this or the other people, ancient or modern, of the eastern continent-as Hebrews, Trojans, Tartars, and the like.

Voltaire, and other skeptical writers, have accounted for their origin, according to the first-named theory. They have considered the Indian placed in America by the hand of the Creator, or by nature-just as the buffalo, or the tortoise, or any other animal was placed here or just as trees and other products of vegetation, that are indigenous to the soil. Thus they make no account of the apparent scriptural doctrine of the unity of the human race the common descent from Adam.

The identity of the Indian with the Hebrew or the Israelite has been conjectured by many. Rev. Thomas Thorowgood, an author of the seventeenth century, held that opinion, and endeavored to prove that the Indians were the Jews, who had been lost in the world for the space of near two thousand years. Adair, who claims to have resided forty years among the southern Indians, wrote considerable relative to their origin, and endeavored to prove their identity with the Jews, by showing the similarity of their customs, usages, and language to those of the latter. The author of the Star in the West, Dr. Boudinot, has followed the same theory, and thinks assuredly that the Indians are the long-lost ten tribes of Israel.

Roger Williams at one time expressed the same opinion. He writes, in a letter to friends in Salem, that the Indians did not come into America from the north-east, as some had imagined, for the fol