( 298 ) 



iight of a venerable wood, old as the foil it 

 flood on; and beautiful, beyond what the 

 pencil can defcribe, annihilated for the mere 

 temporary ufe of the fpace it occupied*." 



In part the devaftation of timber has been 

 owing, in fome countries, to other caufes. 

 Among thefe, it is well known, what pro- 

 digious quantities of drift-timber are, every 

 year, wrecked on the fea-coaft of Greenland, 

 Iceland, Siberia, Kamfkatka, and other north- 

 ern regions, brought down, as is fuppofed, by 

 the great rivers of Tartary, and America ; and 

 thrown by the fetting of the currents on thofe 

 mores. In a voyage related by Purchas, we 

 are told, that the Obi, and the Jenifca fre- 

 quently, when the frofts break, and the fnows 

 difiblve, overflow their banks, and carry down 

 with them vafl mountains of ice, which rolling 

 along, through the forefts of the country, 

 crufh down all the trees they meet ; and 

 will fometimes drive whole woods before them 

 in their paffage to the fea-f. A tracl: of country, 



See Marfden's hift. of Sumatra. 

 Second part, b. iii. ch. 7. 



ravaged 



