

214 



becomes useful to mankin 



hile contemplatin 



th 



This idea often occurred to 

 River on the spot. The Tamar, 



like all mountain streams, however it may amuse the eye with 



i 



Is frolic motion, by not being 



gable or passable 



bee 



omes 



a 



b 



seems to serve no other purp 



th 



an 



that 



o 



dividing the two Counties of Devonshire and Cornwall; 



but 



eve 



this apparently useless state it is busy in collecting th 



little streams which 



among the mountains 



>y 



on trac 



ing its progress we find that it soon becomes more an 

 useful to man, till at length it is acknowledged as th 



more 



of th 



great 



Harbour of Plymouth, to which England owes 



uch of its Glory and its Commerce 



n s 



g of the course of the Tamar 



make 



peakin 

 a distinction betwixt the Channel 



should wish to 

 the Bed of th 



e 



River, if I may be allowed so to use these two word 



Channel 



mean the whole flat surfac 



Byth 



e 



over which a river 



mean 



spreads its waters during the floods of winter, extending to th 

 foot of the hills which form the valley. By the Bed, 

 the narrow channel to which the water is confined during that 



hen all Nature presents her beauties to ad- 



h and even the most 



Belle Sais 



»? 



vantage ; when all Rivers sleep in their bed 



turbulent 



are restrained within their narrowed limits, 

 now consider the process of Nature in forming this Bed 



Let 



us 



never mo\ 



but in straight lines 



degree of curvature, 

 reflection or refraction 



Th 



Water always tak 



Light 

 some 



e 



ray 



but 



of light 



may 



e broken by 



can never be bent. Water 



. - — *_, w ajv win. water, on 



the contrary, may easily be bent, but cannot be broken Mont 





