( 150 ) 



It is well known, that not only in Holland, Guelderland, and Utrecht, 

 but alfo on all the fea-coaft, as far as Holftein, much Peat is found ; 

 and if it be true, as is generally believed, that not only England and 

 Scotland were formerly united to Ireland, but that the Orcades, Shet- 

 land, and Faro, and tlie other fmall iflands near them, were formerly 

 united (which iflands being rocks, or rocky on their fliores, are able to 

 refift the force of the fea), and that in thefe iflands this Feat-like 

 fubihmce is alfo found, we can without much dilliculty folve the 

 queflion, if we fuppofe that thefe larger and fmaller iflands, by 

 violent ftonns and high tides of the ocean, may have been feparated 

 from each other, and tliat the earth or foil which was then carried 

 away, was covered with various trees, grafs, and herbs ; aU thefe fub- 

 ftances floating on the fea, might, b)^ the tides and North-Weft winds, 

 be driven to the places where they now lie; and the trees which we 

 find lying with their roots pointing to the North-Weft, muft of 

 necefllty be depofited in that pcfition : for, as the roots of trees are 

 heavier than the upper parts of the ftem, thofe roots muft fink dcepeft 

 in the water, and, being dragged along the bottom of the fea, the ftems 

 would be driven foremoft, and caufe the trees, when waflied on the 

 land, to lye with their roots towards the North- Weft. The heavier 

 fubftances, as fand and clay, which had conftituted the foil fo carried 

 away by the fea, would, by their weight, fink to the bottom, and, taking 

 the fame courfe with the Peat, would be thrown upon it, and produce 

 a fandy fliore, as we now perceive it. 



It is further to be confidered, that our rivers, the Rhine and the 

 Maes, do every year bring down with them great quantities of foil, 

 and particularly in the fpring time, becaufe at that feafon, by the fun 

 and rains, the fnow is melted on the tops of the high mountains, and, 

 running over the lands, waflies away with it great quantities of fand, 

 clay, and earth, and thefe, by reafon of the fwift current of thofe 

 w-aters, find no reft until the rivers, becoming wider at their mouths, 



