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VIII. „Bcforc I explaiu tliis view more in detail, I must enter on 

 »a few cousiderations, wliich rendcr sucli cliangcs of level uot at all 

 simprobable. Indeed the simple fact of a large portion of the continent 

 »of South America still rising under our eyes , and nbounding with prnof»" 

 »of similar elovations on a grandcr scale, daring the recent jicriod, takcs 

 »away any cxcessive improbability of a movcment similar in kind, Imt 

 » in an oppositc dircction. Mr. Lijell, who first suggested the idca of 

 »a general subsidence, with referencc to coral rcefs, lias remarkcd, that 

 »the existence of so small a portion of land in the Paiific, where so 

 »many causes, both aqueous and igneous, tend to its production, render 

 »such sinking of the foundation probable. There is however another argu- 

 »ment, of much greater weight, whicli may be inferred from the incon- 

 »siderable depth at which corals grow, We see largo extents of oi'can, 

 » of more than a thousand miles in one direction, and several hundrcds 

 »in another, scattered over with islands , none of which rise to a greater 

 »height than that, to which the wave can throw fragments, or the wind heap 

 »up sand. Now if we leave subsidence out of the question, the founda- 

 »tion on which these reefs are built, must in every case come to the snr- 

 »face, within that small limit, we may say twenty fathoms, at which co- 

 »rals can live. This conclusion is so extremely impropable, that it may 

 » at once be rejected, for in what country can there be found a broad 

 »and grand range of mountains of the same height, within ahundrcd and 

 » twenty feet? But, on the idea of subsidence the case is at once clear, 

 »as each point, one aftcr another, was submerged, the coral grew upwaids, 

 »and founded the many islets now standing at one level. 



Tliat a large portion of South America is rising under 

 our eyes, or even witliin some centuries of time past, is 

 not generally acknowledged to be a fact. Captain Pitzroy, 

 vnih reference to the eastern coast, observes on the Bellaco 

 rock (which lies near the shore), that its elevation is much 

 the same when first discovered, two hundred and fifty years 

 ago, and consequently that, //there can have been extreme- 

 //ly littlc, if any cliange in the relative position of sea 

 //and land, during the lapsc of that time" and with regard 

 to tlie west coast, his remarks are as follows. //In a ride along 

 //the beach of Conccpcion Bay, with Mr. House (the liritish 

 // consul) we examined the solid wall of Penco Castle, and found 

 //on ono side, the date lOSG, and on another 1087. This 

 //caslhj and the adjoining foundations of houses, are so near 

 //tliu level of the sca, tliat T ain surpriyed the inliabitants should 



