4-0 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



pers ifTue from the layflalls which furround them, 

 and from the cimeteries about our churches ; and 

 which penetrate into the very fanduary. 



I do not beheve there would have been a fingle 

 unwholefome fpot on the Earth, if men had not 

 put their hands to it. The malignity of the air of 

 St. Domingo has been quoted, that of Martinico, 

 of Porto-Bello,and of feveral diftriâis of America, 

 as a natural effeâ: of Climate. But thefe places 

 have been inhabited by Savages, who, from time 

 immemorial, have bufied themfelves in diverting 

 the courfe of rivers, and choking up rivulets. 

 Thefe labours conftitute even an effcntial part of 

 their defence. They imitate the beavers in the 

 fortification of their villages, by inundating the 

 adjacent country. Provident Nature, however, 

 has placed thofe animals only in cold Latitudes, 

 where, in imitation of herfelf, they form lakes 

 which foften the air; and flie has introduced run- 

 ning waters into hot Latitudes, becaufe lakes 

 would there fpeedily change, by evaporation, into 

 putrid marflies. The lakes which fhe has fcooped 

 out in fuch Latitudes, are all fituated' among 

 mountains, at the fources of rivers, and in a cool 

 Atmofphere. I am the more induced to impute 

 to the Savages the corruption of the air, fo mur- 

 derous in fome of the Antilles, that all the iflands 

 which have been found uninhabited were exceed- 

 ingly 



