94 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 



fresh matter presents itself for wonder, andthe most cu- 

 rious speculative enquiries. It is evident that there was a 

 time when th6 huge masses which are here lying about 

 singly, or piled together in heaps, were under the action 

 of a tremendous current of waters, whose direction ap- 

 pears to have been from* West to East. This current 

 seems to have employed itself in sweeping down the 

 summits of the granitic range, and in strewing its ruins 

 on the Eastern declivities^ Its effects are also visible 

 in the deep vallies which have been scooped out around 

 the sides of the Tors ; and the rounded state of the rocky 

 fragments generally, whether lying solitary, or in heaps, 

 sufl5ciently attests, that like the pebbles on the sea- shore, 

 their angles and sharp points have been much worn 

 down both by contact with each other, and the long 

 continued action of water in a state of agitation. Who- 

 ever has witnessed this striking scene must acknow- 

 ledge that no human agency could have effected so stu- 

 pendous a ruin. The works of man are soon effaced, and 

 buried under the soil from which they spring. Babylon 

 and Nineveh, the two largest cities of the ancient 

 world, have been wholly obliterated. Their exact site 

 is now scarcely known, and the ruins of more recent 

 cities are fast hastening away to the same all-entombing 



