HISTORY OF VERMONT. 31 



^on, but they have not been properly explored. 

 There are others in different parts of the state : 

 All of them are the genuine productions of na- 

 ture ; never altered by art, and never inhabited 

 by any of the human race. 



One of the most curious and important oper- 

 ations which nature carries on in the mountains, 

 is the formation of springs and rivers. All our 

 streams of water in Vermont, have their rise a- 

 mong the green mountains : From a number 

 of these uniting, are formed ail those brooks 

 and rivers, which run in different directions 

 through the various parts of the country : And 

 in general, the origin of rivers is to be found in 

 the mountains, or high lands. In what manner 

 do the mountams serve to produce these effects ? 

 And whence is it, that the highest mountains 

 attract, collect, become the reservoirs, the re- 

 ceptacles, or the source, of the largest and most 

 constant collections of water ? One part of this 

 effect, seems to be derived from the constant 

 ascent of the waters, from the bowels to the 

 surface of the earth. That v/ater is contained 

 in large quantities in the bowels of the earth, is 

 evident from the springs which are found in al- 

 most all declivities ; and from those which ev- 

 ery where supply wells, at the depth of twenty 

 or thirty feet from the surface of the earth. 

 That these waters are constantly ascending to- 

 wards the surface of the earth, and going off in- 

 to the atmosphere, is evident from the evapora- 

 tion which is constantly taking place, and from 

 the manner in which heat, or as it is generally 

 expressed, a drought affects both the surface of 

 the earth, and the springs, by raising and dissi- 



