646 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CHANGES OF THE EARTH. 



borings of over one hundred feet beloAvthe surlace 

 of the highest plains or promontories? Not only 

 great varieties of shells are found, but the teeth 

 and bones of the largest inhabitants of the deep. 



Then, the history of the creation will not ac- 

 count, to a rational mind, ibr all the appearances to 

 which I allude. But JVloses tells us of the^oorf, 

 which God said he brought "upon the earth to 

 destroy all yZes/t wherein is the breath of lile, from 

 under Heaven: and every thing that is in the 

 earth shall die." In this account I see no mention 

 made of the fishes and other oceanic inhabitants. 

 But rejecting the idea, that God created them in 

 the waters of good kind, and threw aside, under 

 the earth, vast masses of their bones and shells 

 or rather the fragments of his workmanship with 

 which he was not "well pleased" — throwing aside 

 every speculation relative to the creation, let us 

 take the history of the flood, and it will help our 

 minds to some conclusion. 



Atlter Noah had entered the x\rk, accompanied 

 by his chosen stock for repeopling and reanimating 

 the earth with all that had before moved or breath- 

 ed upon it or in it, "it came to ptiss, after seven 

 days that the waters of the flood were upon the 

 earth." In the 600th year of Noah's life, the 

 2nd month, the 17th day — the sa^ne day were all 

 "the fountains of thegrsatdeep broken up, and the 

 windows of heaven were opened"— -"and the 

 waters prevailed, and were increased greatly 

 upon the earth" — "and the waters prevailed ex- 

 ceedingly upon the earth; and all the hills that 

 were under the whole heaven were covered." 

 "Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail 

 and the mountains were covered" — "and the 

 waters prevailed upon the earth one hundred and 

 fifty days.^'' "God made a loind to pass over the 

 earth, and the waters assuaged." "The foun- 

 tains also of the deep and the windows of heaven 

 were stopped, and the rain from heaven was 

 restrained." "And the waters returned from off 

 the earth continually, and after the end of the 150 

 days the waters were abated." May we under- 

 stand this abatement to mean, that the waters 

 ceased to lash, and foam, and roll in mountain 

 Avaves? The word fl6a<e£Z can here hav^e no other 

 intelligible meaning: lor, the Ark only "rested on 

 the seventh month on the 17th dayof^ the month, 

 upon the mountains of Ararat." That is precise- 

 ly five montlis atler "the fountains of the great 

 deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven 

 were opened." But after the Ark had sat down 

 on Ararat, "the wafers decreased continually, un- 

 til the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the 

 first day of the month, were the tops of the moun- 

 tains seen." Reference to the account will tell 

 the reader hoio long it was before Noah and his 

 charge disembarked from the Ark. And, reason- 

 ing from what little we know, may we not suppose 

 that the agitated waters of" such a devouring 

 flood, must have changed the appearance and 

 form of all that had been heretofore dry land, ex- 

 cept perhaps, the huge primitive mountains? 

 Ararat, resisted the billows. It would seem that 

 the bed of the ocean, the principal residence of 

 the shelled tribe, was scooped and heaved up, and 

 carried by the waves to great distances; even to 

 the tops of the Andes, where marine appearances 

 are to be found, as well as upon the highest moun- 

 tains of other countries. We hear of no remains 

 upon thess extreme heights, of the larger inhabi- 



tants of the deep; and, from the account of the 

 deluge, we may well comprehend how lighter 

 matters may have been bufl'etted tosuch an eleva- 

 tion, and left there by the retiring waters. 



We may call the whole country below the 

 granite ledge of" rocks, secondary in its Ibrraation. 

 Whether it was dry or was covered by water be- 

 fbre the flood, is immaterial to this view of" the 

 subject. In cither case, our eyes tell us, that the 

 surface has been greatly raised; not by convulsive 

 heavings, nor by volcanic eruptions, but l)y inter- 

 mitting agitations of the ocean. May we not 

 suppose that during the long continuance of the 

 flood, the ordinary causes fbr the tides still were 

 unsuspended; that the winds remained the same, 

 and that there were necessarily, a tremendous 

 roaring, rocking and upturning of the billows of 

 an ocean, which the great " JeaZows" in all his 

 vengeance had raised flfteen cubits above the 

 highest dry land! What then must have been the 

 changes of the position of"every thing which these 

 waters could move or rend asunder! The shelled 

 tribe must have been tossed about and deposited 

 in the places we find them, under the influence of 

 the winds, the tides, and the currents, created in 

 part, probably, by thep<eculiar original formation of 

 the inundated land. We find these shells in the 

 valleys and on the precipitous hill-sides. But on 

 the hill-sides they are like the other strata, above 

 and below them, uniform in their dip, and undu- 

 lating with the eminence over which they appear 

 to have been spread. Here we see a stratum of 

 red, here of blue, and there of yellow or vvhite 

 clay; sometimes without sand, but generally 

 mixed with it. In the same deep boring or cut, 

 we frequently find occasional layers of every va- 

 riety of earth; of pure sand, both red and white. 

 And it often happens, that at difierent depths, 

 strata of flint stones and pebbles, rounded and po- 

 lished by attrition, are fbund with the interstices 

 filled either with pure sand or a mixture of sand 

 and clay, either red or uhite. High mounds and 

 promontories are often met with, composed chiefly 

 of" these gravel deposites. 



From all these appearances, the mind is irre- 

 sistibly led to the conclusion, that the ocean once 

 covered, (and for some time) in a state of great 

 agitation, the whole of Virginia, and I may say, 

 of the United States, for some miles at least, above 

 the present head of" tide-water. And can an in- 

 quiring mind fail to ask, were not these various 

 strata deposited as we see them, at different \)e- 

 riods? Could there have been more than one 

 general deluge? If there has been no other than 

 that described by Moses, is it not probable, that 

 the tides, winds and tornadoes that must have hap- 

 pened during the prevalence of the water on the 

 earth, may have varied in violence, po as to leave 

 distinct and characteristic deposites? That this 

 was the case, is indicated by the fact that strata of 

 gravel are fbund, (within ten feet) with one of 

 sand above, and one below them. We know the 

 eflects of high tides, jreshels, tempests and storms 

 in our day — how they transi)ort lands, and houses, 

 and trees and rocks; but bow awfully different Av~as 

 the deluge of" an enraged God! 



But it is in vain fbr finite minds to attempt to 

 unravel the mysteries in the skein of created 

 things. We can only reason from analog}'. We 

 see the causes which create new, and fill up the 

 old beds of our streams — which gradually carry 



