STUDY XI, 165 



hand over the furface of the Globe ? I could de- 

 monstrate that they are placed in aggregations, 

 and in fituations adapted to the neceffities of the 

 countries of which they are, in fome fenfe, the re- 

 fervoirs ; fome in a labyrinth, as thofe of the liland 

 of Bourbon, when they are on the fummit of a 

 hemifphere, from whence they are deftined to di- 

 flribute the waters of Heaven in every direction ; 

 others in form of a comb, when they are placed on 

 the extended creft of a chain of mountains, as the 

 pointed peaks of the chain of Taurus and of the 

 Cordeliers ; others grouped into pairs, into threes, 

 according to the configuration of the territory 

 which they are to water. They are of many forms, 

 and of different conftructions : fome of them are 

 incruftations of earth, as thofe of the Plain of the 

 Cafres, and of fome of the Antilles Iflands, and 

 which are befides fo fteep, as to be enrirely inac- 

 ceflible. Thofe incruftations of earth demonftrate, 

 that they have, at once, foflil and hydraulic at- 

 tractions. 



There are others which prefent long needles of 

 folid and naked rock ; others are of a conical 

 form ; others are flattened as a table, fuch as that 

 of Table-mountain, at the Cape of Good-Hope, 

 where you may frequently fee the clouds accumu- 

 late, and fpread like a table-cloth. Some are not 

 apparent, but entirely involved in the fide of 



m 3 mountains, 



