Note 088 — {52} CHAPTER III

In a section of forty feet perpendicular, of the alluvion of the Mississippi, near New Madrid, Mr. Shultz found seven hundred and ninety-eight layers, indicating an equal number of inundations, in the time of their deposition. Supposing these inundations to have happened yearly, we have an easy method of forming an estimate of the rapidity of the elevation of the bed of the Mississippi. These layers were found to vary in thickness, from one-fourth of an inch to three inches. See Shultz's Travels, vol. ii. p. 90.—James.