[ 297 ] 



as If it had been an ancient coaft, and continues on tlie fame 

 level on the eaft of the Wolga in the fandy defert of Narym 

 and in the more fouthern fteppes or deferts betwen the Wolga 

 and the Jaick or Ural. The fhells which abound in this exten- 

 five fiat exadlly referable thofe of the Cafpian and are different 

 from tho'e of the adjacent rivers ; thefe deferts are moreover 

 covered with fand, contain abundance of fait and fait lakes, and 

 produce only fuch vegetables as grow on fait marlhes ; whereas 

 the upland that borders this flat contains a genuine black fer- 

 tile foil, and no fhells refembling thofe of the Cafpian, but 

 only thofe of ancient date, fuch as thofe found in other coun- 

 tries, and of the forts called Pelagica that belong to the deep- 

 eft feas Hence he coUodls that the level of the Cafpian be- 

 fore it was reduced to its prefent limits was ninety fe^t higher 

 than at prefent ; thus it was enabled to communicate with the 

 Euxine by the fea of Afoph. In this flate it muft have re- 

 mained from the period of the deluge until about 1800 years 

 before our ^Era, the moft probable date of the feparation of 

 thefe feas, as Mr Fofler has fliewn in a learned memoir in 

 the Gottingen Magaz. 1780, p. 140. 



BuFFON pretends the rupture of the iflhmus that feparated 

 this fea from the Mediterranean preceded the deluge mentioned 

 by Mofes, merely it fhould feem to contradiil that moft au- 

 thentic hiftorian, for he afligns no reafbn independent of his 



Vol. VI. P p owa 



