455 • 



is carried into the fea ; the coarfeft of this, which had been kept in 

 fufpenfion by the rapidity of the ftream, is depofitcd as foon as the 

 velocity is abated, in the greater expanfe, and forms a bar at fomc 

 diftance without the mouth of the river; the remainder, confiding of 

 the more fubtle parts, continues for fomc little time to difcolour the 

 fea contiguous to the mouth of the river, and is afted upon by the 

 tides. 



Here I mufl: venture to differ a little from Mr. Kirwan, as to the 

 courfe of tides, for which I hope to be excufed, as my experience upon 

 that fubjeft has probably been much greater than his ; our conclufions, 

 however, will be the fame, though our premifes are fomewhat different. 

 Mr. Kir-wan thinks the flood tide fets right in fliore, and the ebb 

 right out ; that the flood is more impetuous than the ebb, and throws 

 all floating things back on the fliore; now the courfe of all tides with 

 which I am acquainted, and, I believe, of tides in general, is in the 

 direftion (the trend as it is called) of the coaft, the flood one way, 

 the ebb the contrary. 



Dr. Hutton's theory receives no fupport from this difFerence of opi- 

 nion relative to the courfe of the tides. I live, in fummer, on a 

 coaft between the mouths of two rivers, the Bann and the Bufch, each 

 fubjeft to floods, the muddy water of which greatly difcolours the ad- 

 jacent fea : I have often amufed myfelf, after heavy rains, watch- 

 ing from the high lands and precipices the courfe of thefe troubled 

 waters, and have always obferved them bandied backwards and for- 

 wards along the fliore, as the tide fets, and never reaching a mile 

 from the coafl: ; if, therefore, Dr. Hutton and his advocates perfifl in 

 carrying on their operations of world-making, in the unfathomable re- 

 gions of the ocean, they mufl: look for other materials to work upon, 

 than the detritus of our continents, not one particle of which will ever 

 reach thefe regions. 



. A fmall quantity will not fuffice, for, by Dr. Hutton's own account, 

 he has two worlds always under bands in different ftages of advance- 

 ment. 



