174 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



Thofe emanations of dufl are in many places fo 

 copious, that I could produce a variety of in- 

 flances of veflels covered with them, as they were 

 eroding gulfs, though more than fix leagues diflant 

 from land. They are fo troublefome in the loftier 

 provinces of Afia, that all travellers who have vi- 

 lited Pekin affure us, it is impomble to walk the 

 ftreets of that city, for a confiderable part of the 

 year, without having the face veiled. Thus there 

 are rains of dull which repair the fummits of the 

 mountains, as there are rains of water which feed 

 their fources. Both the one and the other iffue 

 from the Sea, and return to it by the courfe of the 

 rivers, which are perpetually conveying thither, 

 their confiant tribute of waters and fands. The 

 maritime winds unite their efforts toward the au- 

 tumnal equinox, tranfport from the circumference 

 of the Continents, to mountains the mofl remote 

 from them, the feeds and the manure which had 

 flowed from thence, and fow meadows, groves, 

 and forefls, on the fides of precipices, and the mofl 

 inaccemble peaks. Thus the leaves, the flems, 

 the feeds, the birds, the feafons, the feas, and the 

 winds, concur, in a mofl wonderful manner, to 

 keep up the vegetation of the mountains. 



I have been mentioning the relations of plants 

 to mountains ; I am mortified that it is not in 



my 



