might not be uninteresting to members of the Association for the Promotion of Science, or inappropriate for the present occasion.

The Valley of the Boquette, known in Essex county, as Pleasant Valley, lies on the west side of Lake Champlain, runs parallel to the lake, and at the distance from it of about eight miles; its southern extremity is a little north of west from Crownpoint. In other words, the whole valley lies directly west of the town of Westport, and is from seven to eight miles in length. At the southern termination it is a mere gorge in the mountains, into which the river Boquette falls from a rocky cliff on the west. From this point it gradually opens, for the distance, perhaps, of three miles, till it becomes, where the development alluded to occurs, and which is about four and a half miles from its northern extremity, about half a mile in width; which width it preserves nearly the same for that distance, except that it widens out into a sort of basin at its base. At this north end, where the village above named is situated, the valley is about six hundred feet above the level of the lake, and, at the place just named, four and a half miles above, it is probably two hundred feet higher. On the east of the valley is a mountain range, some seven or eight hundred feet high, and, on the west, one of perhaps twice that height.

Through this valley, from south to north, runs the river Boquette; and the whole valley has been regarded as having been probably once filled with water, forming a pond, connected with Lake Champlain by a gorge in the mountains on the north-east.

At the distance before stated, from four to four and a half miles from the lower extremity of the valley is an elevated plain, extending quite across the valley from east to west, and embracing an area of some fifty or sixty acres. It falls off, on both sides, by an almost perpendicular bank; that on the south being, perhaps, seventy-five or eighty feet in height, and that on the north somewhat higher; the river, which passes around, under the mountains, on the east, and on which Bishop's mills are situated, making quite a fall at this place. Immediately above, and south of this plain, the valley becomes narrowed to about half its breadth on the north. The banks, on both the south and north, show very evidently that they were formed by the river: that this river, at some former period, came in from the south, along the western boundary of the narrow interval, above the plain, veered around under this southern bank, easterly and southeasterly, quite across the valley, by a sort of horse-shoc bend, to the place where the river now runs, and then, a short distance below the fall, took again a western turn, and, by a similar bend, passed quite

across the valley, under the northern bank, to its western boundary, and thence, along the foot of the western mountain range, for some distance below.

The south-eastern extremity of this plain, beneath and around which the Boquette passes, is terminated by a hard and smooth granite ledge, while the bank, from that point, on the south across the valley, to the west, and across the whole extent, on the north, exhibits evidence that the whole plain is but one uniform deposite of drift, consisting of sand and gravel, with occasional small boulders. Just on the top of this ledge, where it begins to slope towards the south, the cavity alluded to occurs. It forms, on the top, nearly a perfect circle, and is not far from four feet across and five in depth. To the distance of about half that depth, it preserves its kettle-like shape, and, if filled from the bottom to that point, and left a little dishing, or, when worn out to that depth, it might well be said to represent the internal surface of a potash kettle; but, below this depth, it takes a slight winding turn, of the screw or snail-shell form.

To one conversant with similar phenomena, now in progress, on a less extended scale, along the bed of Roaring Brook, a small stream emptying into the Boquette, about half a mile below, and along the beds of other such streams, in all mountainous regions, the conviction can scarcely be resisted, that this immense cavity, as large as it is, and as hard as is the granite or feldsparthic rock in which it is formed, must have been wrought out by the sand and gravel, with, perhaps, some larger pebbles, set, and, for a great length of time, kept in a whirling motion by a very rapid current of water passing over the rock; and that this rock was once the bed, or bordering on the bed of the river.

What gives peculiar interest to this extraordinary development is its great antiquity, an idea with which the mind, on reviewing all the facts connected with it, is unavoidably impressed.

1st. The agency by which this excavation was made must have been, for a very long period of time, at least several hundreds, probably some thousands, of years in active operation. A very long period of uninterrupted action would have been necessary for accomplishing such a work. But other existing phenomena show that it must have been done, not by a continuous, active agency, but by an agency active only at high water intervals; and to be convinced that such was, in this case, most probably the fact, we have only to reflect that a current above that of low water mark only, would supply the materials requisite for producing such an effect..

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2d. Some little time must have been occupied in excavating the valley to the depth of eighty feet, perhaps; that is, to its present level, where the river now runs.

3d. Some centuries must have elapsed since the valley, thus excavated, has remained undisturbed; as will appear from an examination of very large trees, found on the intervals, when the valley was first settled.

4th. Lastly, we find that a period of time, of greater or less duration, must have passed away after the valley became thus lowered, and prior to the commencement of the recent timber growth, from the fact that, beneath the roots of the stumps and trees, now standing, are embedded, several feet under ground, entire large trees, which must have been buried while the soil was forming, from which the more recent forest sprung.

In view of these facts, the mind is impressed with an idea of the still greater antiquity of the drift formation, which must have been, as a little reflection will show, quite anterior to the commencement of these developments.

It will be proper to state, on closing these remarks, that the writer of this article, though familiar, in his earlier days, with the spot here attempted to be described, has visited it but once for many years, and then with no view to a scientific description of it ;' so that the facts here stated are taken wholly from memory, as derived from the impressions they have left on his own mind, and the statements he has received from Mr. Bishop, the very intelligent owner of the farm and mills above named. Yet they are, he has reason to believe, generally and substantially correct." ORSON KELLOGG.

New York, August, 1848.

The Secretary also read the following report by Mr. Kellogg, made in obedience to a former request of the Association of Geologists and Naturalists :

INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.

Report of the Committee appointed at a Meeting of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, held in the City of New York, September, 1846, to make examination of Phenomena in Essex County, New York, supposed to have some connexion with Indian Antiquities.

To any one conversant with the history of the American Revolu tion, every suggestion having reference to Indian antiquities in the

neighborhood of Ticonderoga and Crownpoint, and along the whole extent of Lake Champlain, introduces associations of peculiar interest; while to another, acquainted also with the truly classic character of the geology of Essex county, such associations become doubly interesting, where such antiquities and such geology are supposed to have any real connexion. But, when contemplating a field where the imagination of man has wrought so many magic changes; where colophonite and garnet have been converted into silver ore, and the granite rock, slightly coated with arsenic, into pure silver; where large beds of the scales of mica, from disintegrated granite, have been transformed into gold dust, and mined at great expense, and the sulphurets into massive gold; and where copper has been wrought from copperas ore, and numerous coal mines are still found in strata, side by side with granite rocks; the inquiry very naturally occurs, whether the imagination of man may not also have had its agency in creating such antiquities.

Under such impression, the writer of this article, in the month of August, 1846, with two intelligent men of Keeseville, and at their request, went to the spot where occur the phenomena in question, but was, from incredulity derived from considerations above suggested, so unfortunate as not to appreciate the views of all the amateurs of Indian antiquities in that vicinity. A few weeks afterwards, a brief oral description of the appearances about the place was made to the Association of Geologists, &c., then convened in New York, and a committee was appointed to make further investigation, and prepare, in writing, an appropriate report.

In discharge of the duties thus assigned, the member of said committee, by whom this hasty article is prepared, about the first of November of the same year, communicated with his associate at Burlington, Vt., and appointed the month of August of the year succeeding, for the object above named. A few days previous to the time fixed on for the meeting, he wrote again, and received in reply, that his associate would be happy to make the excursion for the purpose contemplated, and had intended to do so up to that date, but should not then be able, owing to some unexpected engagements. Not caring to visit the spot again for his own gratification, he deferred the examination, and appointed, for the same purpose, August, of the present season. Again a few days previous to the time appointed, a letter was despatched, but no reply has been returned, and we are bound to believe the letter failed to its due réceipt.

In view of these circumstances, it has been deemed expedient to

draw up from memory, and present as a substitute for an authentic report, together with a suggestion or two, a brief statement of the facts originally elicited.

On the western shore of Lake Champlain, the face of the country is sometimes undulating, but generally hilly or mountainous, and frequently rocky. It is on the summit of one of these irregular eminences, a little more than a mile west of Port Douglas and opposite to Burlington, in Vermont, that these supposed Indian antiquities are to be found. The top of this hill is probably from two to three hundred feet, as nearly as recollection of the surrounding scenery subserves the estimate, above the low grounds on the lake side, and perhaps half that height above the interval on the west. Across this summit, in a southwesterly and northeasterly direction, runs a dyke, as is also believed from recollection of its appearance, of Greenstone trap, and about three feet in breadth.

For the distance of some twenty feet, as nearly as is now recollected, the trap has been broken up, and removed to the depth of several inches, perhaps from six to ten; and over this stands the stump of a large tree, which appears evidently to have grown there since the dyke was thus disturbed. Very near this dyke, where thus broken, on the southerly side, are two cavities in the hard sienite rock, the surface of which is there bare, which appear to have been wrought by art, and used as mortars; the greater being about equal in size to a three-pail kettle, and the less about one-third as large. They are both quite regular in their form, and, the rock being a little sloping, the smaller is situated partially beneath the larger, and connected with it by a groove of a very few inches in length, which appears also to have been wrought in the same manner. On the opposite

side, a little to the right, and a little farther from the dyke, where the earth has been removed to the depth of some ten or twelve inches for its discovery, is found another cavity of similar appearance.

In reference to these cavities, two inquiries have been agitated; first, as to their origin; and, secondly, referring that origin to the labour of human hands, as to the purpose for which they were wrought.

It has been suggested to the fruitful imaginations even of some very intelligent men of Essex county, that they must have been carved out at least some two or three hundred years since, as is evident from the subsequent growth of timber as above stated; that this must have been the work of the American Indian, from the fact that no other human being is supposed to have made footsteps there at a period so