so 



heaven were opened. To remove this vast orb of water 

 lie supposes a mighty wind to have risen, which dried 

 up some, and forced the rest into the abyss again, 

 through the clefts by which it came up. Only part of 

 it stayed in the channel of the ocean, now first made to 

 receive it, and in the lesser cavities, placed up and down 

 on the surface of the globe. 



The present distribution of the waters and the dry 

 land, though it may seem rude and undesigned to a care- 

 less view, yet is admirably well adjusted to the use and 

 conveniencies of our world. In the first place, they are 

 so distributed all the world over, that there is a just 

 equipoise of the whole globe. The Northern balances 

 the Southern Ocean ; the Atlantic, the Pacific sea. 

 The American dry land is a counterpoise to the 

 European, Asiatic, and African. In the next place, the 

 waters are so admirably well placed aliput the globe, as 

 to afford sufficient vapours for clouds and rain, to temper 

 the coM of the northern and southern air, to mitigate 

 the heats of I he torrid zone, and to supply fresh waters 

 to fountains and rivers. Nay, so abundant is this great 

 blessing, that we have more than a bare sufficiency, even 

 a surplusage of this useful creature: and yet so well 

 ordered, as not to drown the earth, not to stagnate, 

 putifry, or annoy its inhabitants; but to glide gently 

 through convenient channels back again to its grand 

 fountain, the sea : and many of the rivers through such 

 large tracts of land, and to such prodigious distances, 

 that it is a wonder the fountain should be high enough,, 

 or the sea low enough for so long a conveyance. Wit- 

 ness the Danube and Wolga in Europe, the Nile and 

 Niger in Africa, the Ganges and Euphrates in Asia, with 

 the Amazon's river, and Rio de la Plata, in America. 

 No accidental currents or alterations of the waters them- 

 selves, no art or power of man, nothing less than the. 

 power of the Almighty, could ever have made or found 

 so long and commodious declivities and channels, for 

 the passage of those waters. 



11. The largest rivers of Asia, are, the Hoanho, in 



