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// iiot Iiavc fcarcd of bcing Ireqiiently iimndated , even by tides 

 // only a few fect higlier tliau usual. If all tliis coast lias been 

 //upheavcd, during comparativcly modern times, liow is it, 

 //that the foundations of Penco still stand at the water's edge, 

 //very little abovc the level of high spring tide?" The scien- 

 tific men who accompanied the U. S. A. exploring expedition, 

 under command of commodore Wilkes, have likewise concluded 

 against the opinion, that any great extent of that country 

 has been at all elevated, during recent times (1). Even Mr. 

 Darwin himself, could not help remarking that, //the site of 

 //the ruins of the old town of Callao is at present so low 

 //and narrow, that no people in their senses, would willingly 

 // chose such a situation for building a town upon." But to be 

 sure by way of malcing amends for this awkward fact, //he 

 //found on the adjacent isle of San Lorenzo, at a height of 

 // eighty five feet above the sea , a bit of cotton thread, a plaited 

 //rush, and the head of a small stock of Indian corn, p-ovlng ^ 

 //he thinks, that the island has been elevated to the amount of 

 //eighty five feet siuce man inhabited this part of Peru, pro- 

 ving''' etc! Not having had the advantage of seeing Mr. Lyelt-'s 

 work, I remain ignorant of the many causes, aqueous and ig- 

 neous, tending at once to produce and to consume land in the 

 Pacific. Query, is the existence of so small a portion of land, 

 in the Great xVntarctic Ocean, owing also to these //many 

 // causes?' Perhaps so, too many cooks being employed in the 

 work etc. The still more weighty argument has already been 

 wcighed and found wanting. The supposition, that the vol- 

 canic eruptions rosé from the crust under the ocean, up to 

 within a short distance below the surface, before bursting open, 

 splitting , and partly falling down outside of the solidified sliells, 

 when no longer sufficiently supported and comprcsscd by the 



(1) Mr. Daraviï», altho' frequently employiiig the phrase » recent pcriod," 

 lias no where dcfined its dnraiion, nor begianing nor ending ets. We are 

 tlierefore rednced to guoss, that it may mcan, the wholc or part of the 

 time elapsed siiicc the creati'jn of Adam (ftccording to tlie commonly re- 

 c.ived clironology). 



