Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/173

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BOWLDERS BOWLES 167 BOWLDERS, or Boulders, loose rounded blocks of stone, named by the French Hoes erratiques, found scattered over the surface in high north- ern and southern latitudes, extending to with- in 35 or thereabouts of the equator. In the northern hemisphere they are always of the varieties of rock which are found in solid ledges in a northerly direction ; and in the southern hemisphere the ledges are again met with to- ward the pole. These loose rocks appear in each case to have been transported toward the equator, either by glaciers or by ice- bergs, and to have been subjected to rolling ac- tion, which has rounded off their corners and ground their surfaces. (See DILUVIUM.) The size of these transported blocks is often enor- mous. At Fall River, Mass., on the S. side of the bay at the mouth of Taunton river, a bowlder of conglomerate rock was uncovered in the gravel resting on granite ledges which was estimated to weigh 5,400 tons. The ledges of this conglomerate are met with only on the other side of the bay. Along the coast of New England the bowlders constitute by their great numbers and size a marked feature in the land- scape. They are sometimes found perched upon bare ledges of rock, and so nicely balanced that, though of great weight, they may bo rocked by the hand. These are called rocking stones. "Plymouth Rock" is a bowlder of sienitic granite, ledges of which are found in the towns near Boston. The highest mountains are often covered with these bowlders of the drift for- mation. Upon the bare granite summit of Mt. Katahdin the highest mountain in Maine at an elevation of 3,000 feet or more above the surrounding valleys, pieces of limestone con- taining fossil shells are found, though no ledges resembling them are known except many miles to the northwest, and at a much lower level. The northern and central parts of Europe are equally interesting for the distribution of bowlders. The pedestal of the statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg was hewn out of a granite bowlder, weighing about 1,500 tons, that lay on a marshy plain near the city. Upon the limestone ledges of the Jura mountains are found bowlders of granite which must have come from the higher Alps, where ledges of similar character are found. Some of these bowlders are of very large dimensions, one in particular, known as the pierre d Martin, ac- cording to Mr. Greenough, measuring no less than 10,296 cubic feet, and weighing conse- quently about 820 tons. BOWLES, Caroline. See SOUTHKT. BOWLES, Samuel, an American journalist, born in Springfield, Mass., Feb. 9, 1826. His father was proprietor of the " Weekly Repub- lican " newspaper at Springfield, and the son became at an early age an apprentice in the office. In 18-4 ho induced his father to estab- lish a daily newspaper, of which he became, though only 18 years of age, virtual editor. He has held this post ever since, and under his charge the " Springfield Republican " has risen to prominence. Mr. Bowles has made several journeys in the region lying between the Mississippi and the Pacific, the first in 1865 with a large company, among whom was Mr. Schuyler Colfax. The observations made on this journey, originally written in the form of letters to his journal, appeared in a collec- tive form under the title " Across the Conti- nent" (1865). In 1869 he published two works, " Our New West " and " The Switzer- land of America," the latter describing the natural parks and the mountains of Colorado. BOWLES, William Augustus, an American ad- venturer, born in Frederick co., Md., in 1763, died in Havana, Dec. 23, 1805. His father was an English schoolmaster who had estab- lished himself in Maryland. When 13 years of age young Bowles ran away from home and joined the British army at Philadelphia. He obtained a commission, and was for some time stationed at Pensacola ; but for a breach of reg- ulations he was dismissed the service. Soon afterward he became connected with the Creek Indians, and married a woman of the tribe, in which he became an acknowledged leader. He encouraged their excesses and prompted them to many attacks on the Spaniards, in which he was sustained by the approval and even re- wards of the British government. He com- manded the Creeks when they assisted the British at Pensacola in May, 1781, and for his conduct on that occasion was restored to his place in the army. After the war he led a roving life at one time an actor and again a portrait painter until he was appointed by Gov. Dunmore leading agent for his old In- dian allies, when he established himself at Chattahoochie. McGillivray, who had led the Creeks during the revolution, drove him from his agency, and he went to England fora time; but on his return he was again made com- mander-in-chief of the tribe, and used his in- fluence with such effect against the Spaniards that they offered $6,000 for his capture. After disturbing the peace of Georgia for several years, he was taken in 1792 by the Spaniards, and sent to Madrid and afterward to Manila. He escaped, and for a time returned to his old allies ; but he was finally recaptured in 1804, carried to Havana, and confined in the Morro castle till his death. BOWLES, William Lisle, an English poet and clergyman, born at King's Sutton, Sept. 24, 1762, died in Salisbury, April 7, 1850. After attending Westminster school he entered Trin- ity college, Oxford, where he graduated in 1787. Disappointed in the expectation of a living, and much depressed by the death of a lady to whom he was engaged to bo married, he made, soon after leaving the uni- versity, an extended journey in Great Britain, during which he composed the " Fourteen Sonnets" forming his first published work, which were much admired. They were fol- lowed by several less important writings, and in 1804 by his "Spirit of Discovery," a poem