THE EARTH. 



gled forests, beasts of various kinds, insects in 

 astonishing abundance, and serpents of sur- 

 prising magnitude, find a quiet retreat from 

 man, and are seldom disturbed except by each 

 other. 



In this manner the extremes of our globe 

 seem equally unfitted for the comforts and con- 

 veniences of life : and although the imagina- 

 tion may find an awful pleasure in contempla- 

 ting the frightful precipices of Greenland, or 

 the luxurious verdure of Africa, yet true hap- 

 piness can only be found in the more moder- 

 ate climates, where the gifts of nature may 

 be enjoyed, without incurring danger in ob- 

 taining them. 



It is in the temperate zone, therefore, that 



all the arts of improving nature, and refining 

 upon happiness, have been invented : and this 

 part of the earth is, more properly speaking, 

 the theatre of natural history. Although there 

 be millions of animals and vegetables in the 

 unexplored forests under the line, yet most of 

 these may for ever continue unknown, as cu- 

 riosity is there repressed by surrounding dan- 

 ger. But it is otherwise in these delightful 

 regions which we inhabit, and where this art 

 has had its beginning. Among us there is 

 scarce a shrub, a flower, or an insect, without 

 its particular history; scarce a plant that could 

 be useful, which has not been propagated; 

 nor a weed that could be noxious, which has 

 not been pointed out. 



CHAPTER III. 



A VIEW OF THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. 



WHEN we take a slight survey of the sur- 

 face of our globe, a thousand objects offer 

 themselves, which, though long known, yet 

 still demand our curiosity. The most obvious 

 beauty that every where strikes the eye is the 

 verdant covering of the earth, which is form- 

 ed by an happy mixture of herbs and trees of 

 various magnitudes and uses. It has been of- 

 ten remarked, that no colour refreshes the 

 sight so much as green : and it may be added, 

 as a further proof of the assertion, that the in- 

 habitants of those places where the fields are 

 continually white with snow, generally be- 

 come blind long before the usual course of 

 nature. 



This advantage, which arises from the ver- 

 dure of the fields, is not a little improved by 

 their agreeable inequalities. There are 

 scarcely two natural landscapes that offer 

 prospects entirely resembling each other; 

 their risings and depressions, their hills and 

 valleys, are never entirely the same, but al- 

 ways offer something new to entertain and 

 refresh the imagination. 



But to increase the beauties of the face of 



nature, the landscape is enlivened by springs 

 and lakes, and intersected by rivulets. These 

 lend a brightness to the prospect ; give mo- 

 tion and coolness to the air ; and, what is 

 much more important, furnish health and sub- 

 sistence to animated nature. 



Such are the most obvious and tranquil ob- 

 jects that every where offer : but there are 

 objects of a more awful and magnificent kind ; 

 the Mountain rising above the clouds, and 

 topt 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 communication be- 

 tween the most distant parts of the earth. 



If we leave those objects that seem to be 

 natural to our earth, and keep the same con- 

 stant tenor, we are presented with the great 

 irregularities of nature: the burning moun- 

 tain; the abrupt precipice; the unfathoma- 

 ble cavern ; the headlong cataract ; and the 

 rapid whirlpool. 



If we carry our curiosity a little further, 



