CREATION OF ANIMALS. 25 



which they are supplied has its station under the 

 earth. 



Writers on this subject seem to speak as if 

 the source of all rivers was in mountainous or 

 hilly countries, but though the mightiest rivers 

 of the globe originate in such situations, there 

 is a very large number of considerable streams 

 whose source is not particularly elevated, espe- 

 cially in the flat parts of England ; and there 

 are few rivers that do not receive some supply 

 from lesser ones, having their rise in low 

 grounds, in their course. The practice, in all 

 countries, of digging wells indicates a downward 

 source of water. 



In the Mosaic account of the deluge it is 

 stated, that the waters prevailed above the tops 

 of all the mountains fifteen cubits now the 

 highest mountain in the globe, Dhawalagiri, a 

 peak of the Himinaleh range in northern India, 

 is five miles above the level of the sea, this will 

 make a sphere of waters, inclosing the whole 

 globe as its nucleus, of five miles in depth above 

 the level of the sea, but in calculating the immense 

 additional body of water thus burying the whole 

 globe, deductions must be made for the moun- 

 tains and the lands elevated above that level, 

 which would considerably decrease the total 

 amount. But, even then, how vast would be the 

 increase. If two fifths of this body were de- 

 ducted, a deluge of rain for forty days and forty 



