[ 27° ] 



SECOND ESSAY 



« N THE 



DELUGE. 



Having, I flatter myfelf, eftabliflied, in the preceding Effay, 

 the credit due to Mofes on mere philofophic grounds, and abftrad- 

 ing from all theological confiderations, I fhall not fcruple taking 

 him as a guide as far as his teftimony reaches, in tracing the circum- 

 ftances of the moft horrible cataftrophe to which the human and 

 all animal fpecies, and even the terraqueous globe itfelf, had at 

 any period fince its origin been expofed. His teftimony is indeed 

 . in fubftance confirmed by the traditions of many antient nations, 

 which may be feen in Grotius de Veritate Huet Queft. Alnet, lib. 

 ii. chap. xii. Eufeb. Prep. Evang. Lib. ix. &c. and therefore 

 needlefs to adduce ; it is more to our purpofe to prove it by geolo- 

 gical fads, of which there are fome that feem to me perfedly 

 conclufive. 



I ft, According to Don Ulloa, iTiells were found on a moun- 

 tain in Peru at the height of 14220 feet, 2 Buff. Epoque, 268. 

 Now I have already fhewn, in the former Effay, that no 

 mountains higher than 8500 feet were formed fince the creation 



of 



