1812, Antonio de Alcedo and George Alexander Thompson (translator), The geographical and historical dictionary of America and the West Indies, vol. 2, page 13, “Demerara†(J. Carpenter):The shores of the rivers and creeks are chiefly planted with coffee, to the distance of about 30 miles from the sea : thence 30 miles farther up, the soil becomes clayey and more fit for sugar-canes.
1851, Herman Melville, ,Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if, darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part.
2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 85:Limestone, of course, is calcium carbonate, and thus chemically utterly different in composition from the clayey rocks below and the hard, pebbly ones above.
