THE EARTH. 



107 



bitants must be obliged to abandon it en- 

 tirely. 



In the country that has been overwhelm- 

 ed, there are still to be seen the tops of some 

 steeples peeping through the sand, and many 

 chimneys that still remain above the sandy 

 ocean. The inhabitants, however, had suffi- 

 cient time to escape ; but being deprived of 

 their little all, they had no other resource 

 but begging for their subsistence. This ca- 

 lamity chiefly owes its advancement to a 

 north, or an east wind, raising the sand, which 

 is extremely fine, in such great quantities, 

 and with such velocity, that M. Deslandes, 

 who gave the account, says, that while he 

 was walking near the place, during a mode- 

 rate breeze of wind, he was obliged, from 

 time to time, to shake the sand from his 

 clothes and his hat, on which it was lodged 

 in great quantities, and made them too heavy 

 to be easily borne. Still further, when the 

 wind was violent, it drove the sand across a 

 little arm of the sea, into the town of Roscoff, 

 and covered the streets of that place two 

 feet deep ; so that they have been obliged 



to carry it off in carts. It may also be ob- 

 served, that there are several particles of 

 iron mixed with the sand, which are readily 

 affected by the loadstone. The part of the 

 coast that furnishes these sands, is a tract of 

 about four leagues in length ; and is upon a 

 level with the sea at high-water. The shore 

 lies in such a manner as to leave its sands 

 subject only to the north and east winds, 

 that bear them farther up the shore. It is 

 easy to conceive how the same sand that has 

 at one time been borne a short way inland, 

 may, by some succeeding and stronger blast, 

 be carried up much higher; and thus the 

 whole may continue advancing forward, de- 

 luging the plain, and totally destroying its 

 fertility. At the same time, the sea, from 

 whence this deluge of sand proceeds, may 

 furnish it in inexhaustible quantities. This 

 unhappy country, thus so overwhelmed in so 

 singular a manner, may well justify what the 

 ancients and the moderns have reported con- 

 cerning those tempests of sand in Africa, that 

 are said to destroy villages, and even armies 

 in their bosom." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



OF METEORS, AND SUCH APPEARANCES AS RESULT FROM A COMBINATION 



OF THE ELEMENTS. 



IN proportion as the substances of nature 

 are more compounded and combined, their 

 appearances become more inexplicable and 

 amazing. The properties of water have been 

 very nearly ascertained. Many of the quali- 

 ties of air, earth, and fire, have been disco- 

 vered and estimated ; but when these come 

 to be united by nature, they often produce 

 a result which no artificial combinations can 

 imitate: and we stand surprised, that although 

 we are possessed of all those substances 

 which nature makes use of, she shows her- 

 self a much more various operator than the 

 most .skilful chemist ever appeared to be. 

 Every cloud that moves, and every shower 

 that falls, serves to mortify the philosopher's 

 pride, and to show him hidden qualities in 



air and water, that he finds it difficult to ex- 

 plain. Dews, hail, snow, and thunder, are 

 not less difficult for being more common. In- 

 deed, when we reflect on the manner in 

 which nature performs any one of these ope- 

 rations, our wonder increases. To see water, 

 which is heavier than air, rising in air, and 

 then falling in a form so very different from 

 that in which it rose ; to see the same fluid 

 at one time descending in the form of hail, 

 at another in that of snow ; to see two clouds, 

 by dashing against each other, producing an 

 electrical fire, which no watery composition 

 that we know of can effect ; these, I say, 

 serve sufficiently to excite our wonder; and 

 still the more, in proportion as the objects 

 are ever pressing on our curiosity. Much. 

 2 A 



