CHAP, i.] WEST INDIES. 25 



flow of tides and rivers, depositing materials which 

 have been accumulating ever since the creation, and 

 the various fluctuations of the deep operating there- 

 on, he ascribes, therefore, most of those inequalities 

 in the present appearance of the globe which in some 

 parts embellish, and in others (to our limited view at 

 least) deface it. 



Pursuing this train of thought, we may be led per- 

 haps to consider many of the most terrifying appear- 

 ances of nature, as necessary and propitious in the 

 formation and support of the system of the world; and 

 even in volcanoes and earthquakes (of which most of 

 these islands bear evident memorials) we may trace 

 the stupendous agency of divine Providence, employ- 

 ed, as mankind increase in numbers, in raising up from 

 the bottom of the deep new portions of land for their 

 habitations and comfort. 



These considerations are founded in piety, and seem 

 consonant to reason; and although in contemplating 

 the tremendous phenomena which the mountains of 

 South America, beyond all other parts of the globe, 

 present to our notice, and reflecting on the devasta- 



* " Of all parts of the earth America is the place where the dreadful 

 irregularities of nature are the most conspicuous. Vesuvius, and Etna 

 itself, are but mere fireworks in comparison to the burning mountains of 

 the Andes, which, as they are the highest mountains in the world, so 

 also are they the most formidable for their eruptions."" Goldsmith** 

 History of the Earth, &c. \ol.i. p. 99. 



It is related, that a volcanic explosion from Cotopaxi, a mountain in 

 the province of Quito, has been heard at the distance of 150 miles, 



Vol. I. D 



