220 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



Noah himself, immediately after the deluge, 

 erected an altar and offered burnt offerings 

 as testimonies of praise and gratitude. Thus, 

 as every sanctified high place \vas supposed to 

 represent Mount Ararat, so the sacred groves 

 were symbols of Paradise ; gloomy caves be- 

 came the representatives of the floating ark of 

 Noah ; and even islands acquired a sacred 

 character, because the top of Mount Ararat had 

 once been surrounded by the sea." 



2Sth. Caroline and I have had a delightful 

 walk to-day with my uncle, to a wild rocky valley, 

 where the hill on one side appears as if a part 

 had been violently torn away, and shews several 

 layers, or strata, of different substances in the cliff. 

 He pointed it out as a good example of strati- 

 fication ; and made us observe that the strata, 

 though parallel to each other, were not parallel 

 to the horizon, but more or less inclined to it. 

 The angle of inclination between these strata 

 and the horizon is called their dip. 



t( Now," said my uncle, " if the strata dip in 

 one direction, they must rise in the opposite direc- 

 tion ; and if they continue to rise, that is, if their 

 course is not interrupted or bent down, they must 

 gradually approach the surface, and in some 

 place or other they must shew themselves there. 

 Look at that well marked stratum of reddish 

 stone in the opposite cliff; though it is partially 



