THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 103 



over the lands, without imparting to it their watry 

 treasures. Thus they act as alembics, to distil, to cool, 

 and to amass those fluids of the atmosphere which are 

 to be dispersed in springs and rivers. They may be 

 considered as the reservoirs of nature, especially in those 

 countries where the summits of the mountains are 

 covered by considerable quantities of snow during all 

 or a greater part of the year. Had there been no 

 mountains, it is probable that we should have been ex- 

 posed to the miseries of a soil alternately parched, or 

 swamped. The clouds would descend in rain upon vast 

 tracks at once, or pass over them, without descending 

 at all, as they do over the great and level desart of 

 Africa. Further, it must not be overlooked, that 

 mountains are generally the repositories of the mineral 

 kingdom ; of this the Cornish Tors are a striking ex- 

 ample. The whole range of hills which we are now 

 contemplating is traversed by numerous veins of tin, 

 copper, and other of the more valuable metals. Mi- 

 ning operations are here carried on, generally upon the 

 declivities of the hills, and at the places where there is 

 a junction between the slaty and granitic strata. Thus 

 it is that these rocky ridges of the earth's suiface, ful61 

 many important ends itt its economy. Stern, nigged 



