st 



of harmony, which sufficiently proves it to be the work 

 of one wise and gracious Author. 



How delightful an object is a large and majestic ri- 

 ver ! How graceful an appearance docs it make in the 

 work* of nature ! Consider its progress. At first it is 

 but a vein of water, streaming from some hill, and even 

 the scattered pebbles interrupt its course, tiil it unites 

 with other kindred streams, and then rushes on the plain 

 below. By its fall it hallows the ground, easting it 

 up on each side: then it pursues iis course, eating a pas- 

 sage through every thing that opposes it. When it has 

 received the supplies of many rivulets, it is dignified 

 with a name. Thus enlarged, it makes the tour of hills 

 and mountains, and at once adorns and enriches the plains. 



At the deluge likewise the main islands of the globe 

 were formed. But it is certain others have been formed 

 in later ages : partly by the casting up of vast heaps of 

 clay, mud, and sand, (as that of Isongining in the Chi- 

 nese province of Nanquiu) partly by the violence of the 

 sea, tearing off large provinces from the continent. So 

 the ancients imagined Sicily to have been formed, and 

 even Great Britain and Ireland* It is certain also, that 

 others have emerged out of the sea, as Santoriui, formerly, 

 aiad three other islands, near it, lately. The last of these 

 rose in 1/07, from the bottom of the sea, just after a vio- 

 lent earthquake. Indeed earthquakes, storms, and inun- 

 dations, have given rise to many islands ; particularly in 

 the East-Indies, where they are very frequent, and 

 which abounds in islands above any part of the world. 



12 The entire bason of the sea, is of such immense 

 extent, and covered in many places with such an unfa- 

 thomable depth of water, that it cannot be traced in 

 every part : but from some we may form a probable 

 judgment of the rest. The materials which compose 

 the bottom of the sea, must in. a degree influence the 

 taste of its waters. Its saltness it undoubtedly derives 

 from mountains of salt which are found there ; as bitter- 

 c 6 



