14 A HISTORY OF 



scarcely to be extirpated ; for the tops being so bound together by the 

 climbing plants that grow round them, though a hundred should be cut 

 at the bouom, yet not one would fall, as they mutually support each 

 other. Jn these dark and entangled forests, beasts of various kinds, in- 

 sects in astonishing abundance, and serpents of surprising magnitude, 

 find a quiet retreat from man, and are seldom disturbed except by each 

 other. 



In this manner the extremes of our globe seem equally unfitted for 

 the comforts and conveniences of life : and although the imagination 

 may find an awful pleasure in contemplating the frightful precipices 

 of Greenland, or the luxurious verdure of Africa, yet true happiness 

 can only be found in the more moderate climates, where the gifts of na- 

 ture may be enjoyed, without incurring danger in obtaining them. 



It is in the temperate zone, therefore, that all the arts of improving 

 nature, and refining upon happiness, have been invented : and this 

 part of the earth is, more properly speaking, the theatre of natural 

 history. Although there be millions of animals and vegetables in the 

 unexplored forests under the line, yet most of these may for ever con- 

 tinue unknown, as curiosity is there repressed by surrounding danger. 

 But it is otherwise in these delightful regions which we inhabit, and 

 where this art has had its beginning. Among us there is scarce a shrub, 

 a flower, or an insect, without its particular history ; scarce a plant that 

 could be useful, which has not been propagated ; nor a weed that 

 could be noxious, which has not been pointed out. 



CHAPTER III. 



A VIEW OP THE SURFACE OP THE EARTH. 



WHEN we take a slight survey of the surface of our globe, a thou- 

 sand objects offer themselves, which, though long known, yet still de- 

 mand our curiosity. The most obvious beauty that every where 

 strikes the eye, is the verdant covering of the earth, which is forn>ed 

 by a happy mixture of herbs and trees of various magnitudes and uses. 

 It has been often remarked, that no colour refreshes the sight so much 

 as green : and it may be added, as a further proof of the assertion, 

 that the inhabitants of those places where the fields are continually 

 white with snow, generally become blind long before the usual course 

 of nature. 



This advantage, which arises from the verdure of the fields, is not a 

 little improved by their agreeable inequalities. There are scarcely 

 two natural landscapes that offer prospects entirely resembling each 

 other ; their risings and depressions, their hills and valleys, are never 

 entirely the same, but always offer something new to entertain and re- 

 fresh the imagination. 



But to increase the beauties of the face of nature, the landscape is 

 enlivened by springs and lakes, and intersected by rivulets. These 

 'end a brightness to the prospect ; give motion and coolness to the air ; 

 and, what is much more important, furnish health and subsistence tc 

 animated nature. 



