VALLEYS OF THE COKDILLERAS. 89 



sea. Amidst the din of rushing waters, the 

 noise from the stones, as they rattled one over 

 another, was most distinctly audible even from 

 a distance. This rattling noise, night and day, 

 may be heard along the whole course of the 

 torrent. The sound spoke eloquently to the 

 geologist; the thousands and thousands of 

 stones, which, striking against each other, made 

 the one dull uniform sound, were all hurrying in 

 one direction. It was like thinking on time, 

 where the minute that now glides past is irre- 

 coverable. So was it with these stones ; the 

 ocean is their eternity, and each note of that 

 wild music told of one more step towards their 

 destiny. 



"It is not possible for the mind to compre- 

 hend, except by a slow process, any effect 

 which is produced by a cause repeated so often 

 that the multiplier itself conveys an idea not 

 more definite than the savage implies when he 

 points to the hairs of his head. As often as I 

 have seen beds of mud, sand, and shingle, ac- 

 cumulated to the thickness of many thousand 

 feet, I have felt inclined to exclaim, that causes, 

 such as the present rivers and the present 

 beaches, could never have ground down and 

 produced such masses. But, on the other hand, 

 when listening to the rattling noise of these 

 torrents, and calling to mind that whole races 



