CHAPTER II. 

 WHAT MA Y BE SEEN UPON THE EARTH. 



" I care not, Fortune, what you me deny; 

 You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace ; 

 You cannot shut the windows of the sky 

 Through which Aurora shows her bright'ning face ; 

 You cannot bar my constant feet to trace 

 The woods and lawns by living streams at eve." 



F all the strata composing our planetary mass, the 

 most important, so far as man is concerned, is, 



at the same time, the most superficial ; for it is 

 here that all the phenomena of life transpire. Our 

 vegetable earth is the great laboratory in which are 

 prepared all the solid, liquid, and gaseous aliments 

 necessary for the nourishment of animal life. It is on 

 the surface of the globe that men play their various 

 parts. And why ? Can it be for no other purpose than 

 to modify, in some degree, its aspect, that they occupy 

 the terrestrial surface ? One would be tempted to think 

 so on consulting what these majestic bimanes pompously 

 designate their " Universal History." Regions for- 



