THE EARTH. 



',7 



been the determination of the judges, is not 

 so well known, but the circumstances of the 

 slips have been minutely and: exactly de- 

 scribed. 



In the lands of Slatberg, a in the kingdom of 

 Iceland, there stood a declivity, gradually 

 ascending for near half a mile. In the year 

 ,1713, and on the 10th of March, the inhabi- 

 tants perceived a crack on its side, somewhat 

 like a furrow made with a plough, which they 

 imputed to the effects of lightning, as there 

 had been thunder the night before. How- 

 e\er, on the evening of the same day, they 

 were surprised to hear an hideous confused 

 noise issuing all round from the side of the 

 hill; and their curiosity being raised, they 

 resorted to the place. There, to their amaze- 

 ment, they found the earth, for near five acres, 

 all in gentle motion, and sliding down the hill 

 upon the subjacent plain. This motion con- 

 tinued the remaining part of the day, and the 

 whole night Aor did the noise cease, during 

 the whole time ; proceeding, probably, from 

 the attrition of the ground beneath. The day 

 following, however, this stras-ge journey down 

 the hill ceased entirely; and above an acre 

 of the meadow below was found covered 

 whut before composed a part of the de- 

 clivity. 



i lowevcr, these slips, when a whole moun- 

 tain's side seems to descend, happen but very 

 rar.-ly. There are some of another kind, 

 ever, much more co;n;:ion; and, as they 

 are always sudden, much more dangerous. 

 These are snow-slips, well known, and great- 

 ly dreaded by travellers. It often happens, 

 that when snow has long been accumulated 

 on the tops and on the sides of mountains, it 

 is borne down the precipice, either by means 

 of tempests, or its own m-'-Hing. At first, when 

 loosened, the volume in motion is but small ; 

 but gathers as it continues to roll ; and, by 

 the time it has reached the habitabfc parts of 

 the mountain, is generally grown of enormous 

 bulk. Wherever it rolls, it levels all things 



Phil. TYaus. vol. iv. p. U30. 



in its way; or buries them in unavoidable 

 destruction. Instead of rolling, it someti;ne> 

 is found to slide along from the top; yet e\e i 

 thus it is generally as fatal as before. Never- 

 theless, we have had an instance, a few years 

 ago, of a small family in Germany, that lived 

 for above a fortnight beneath one of these 

 snow-slips. Although they were buried, du- 

 ring that whole time, in utter darkness, and 

 under a bed of some hundred feet deep, yet 

 they were luckily taken out alive; the weight 

 of the snow being supported by a beam that 

 kept up the roof; and nourishment being sup- 

 plied them by the milk of an ass, if I remem- 

 ber right, that was buried under the same 

 ruin. 



But it is not the parts alone that are^ thus 

 found to subside, whole mountains have been 

 known totally to disappear. Pliny tells us, b 

 that in his own time the lofty mountain of 

 Cybotus, together with the city of Eurites, 

 were swallowed by aa earthquake. The same 

 fate, he says, attended Phlegium, one of the 

 highest mountains in Ethiopia; which, after 

 one night's concussion, was never seen more. 

 In more modern times, a very noted moun- 

 tain in the Molucca islands, known by the 

 name of the Peak, and remarkable for being 

 seen at a very great distance from sea, was 

 swallowed by an earthquake; and nothing 

 but a lake was left in the place where it stood. 

 Thus, while storms arid tempests are levelled 

 against mountains above, earthquakes and 

 waters are undermining them below. All our 

 histories talk of their destruction ; and very 

 few new ones (if we except mount Cenere. and 

 one or two such heaps of cinders,) arc produ- 

 ced. If mountains, therefore, were of such great 

 utility, as some philosophers make them, to 

 mankind, it would be. a very melancholy con- 

 sideration that such benefits were diminishing 

 every day. But the truth is, the valleys are 

 fertilized by that earth which is washed from 

 their sides; and (he plains become richer, in 

 proportion as the mountains decay. 



b Plin. lib. ii. cap. P. : J. 



