U HISTORY OF 



Such are the most obvious and tranquil objects 

 that every- where offer : but there are others of a 

 more awful and magnificent kind ; the Mountain 

 rising above the clouds, and topped with snow ; 

 the River pouring down its sides, increasing as it 

 runs, and losing itself at last in the ocean ; the 

 Ocean spreading its immense sheet of waters over 

 one-half of the globe, swelling and subsiding at 

 well-known intervals, and forming a communica- 

 tion between the most distant parts of the earth. 



If we leave those objects that seem to be 

 natural to our earth, and keep the same constant 

 tenour, we are presented with the great irregu- 

 larities of nature : The burning mountain ; the 

 abrupt precipice ; the unfathomable cavern j the 

 headlong cataract ; and the rapid whirlpool. 



If we carry our curiosity a little further, and 

 descend to the objects immediately below the sur- 

 face of the globe, we shall there find wonders still 

 as amazing. We first perceive the earth for the 

 most part lying in regular beds or layers, every bed 

 growing thicker in proportion as it lies deeper, 

 and its contents more compact and heavy. We 

 shall find, almost wherever we make our subter- 

 ranean inquiry, an amazing number of shells that 

 once belonged to aquatic animals. Here and 

 there, at a distance from the sea, beds of oyster- 

 shells, several yards thick, and many miles over ; 

 sometimes testaceous substances of various kinds 

 on the tops of mountains, and often in the heart of 

 the hardest marble. These, which are dug up by 

 the peasants in every country, are regarded with 

 little curiosity -, for, being so very common, they 



