APPENDIX. NOTES. 379 



forth torrents of incalculable force and volume. The 

 vestiges of such clefts in the earth's crust are still to be 

 traced in many places. Malte Brun, in his Geography, 

 observes, with respect to valleys " Those which are found 

 between high mountains are commonly narrow and long, 

 as if they had originally been only fissures 1 dividing their 

 respective chains, or for the passage of extensive torrents. 

 The angles of their direction sometimes exhibit a singular 

 symmetry; we see in the Pyrenees, says M. Raymond, 

 some valleys whose salient and reentrant angles so per- 

 fectly correspond, that if the force that separated them 

 were to act in a contrary direction, and bring their sides 

 together again, they would unite so exactly, that even the 

 fissure would not be perceived." 2 



2. The windows of heaven were opened is stated by 

 Moses to be the second cause by which the deluge was 

 effected. The word, 3 which in our translation of the 

 Bible, is here and in other places rendered windows, does 

 not mean an opening for the transmission of light, for 

 which another term is usually employed. 4 In the Septua- 

 gint and other ancient versions it is supposed to signify 

 water falling from the heavens in large masses, and cataract 

 or a corresponding term is used. 



The radical idea is that of lying in wait, as a wild beast 

 in its den. In other parts of Scripture it is used for 

 dovecots, or the holes in rocks that doves frequent; 5 for 

 the sockets of the eyes; 6 for the heavens when shedding 

 copiously blessings or plenty ; 7 and for the action of some- 

 thing from above producing earthquakes. 8 



1 nypl is Hebrew for a valley, and yplJ is the verb used to 

 express the disruption of the fountains of the great abyss. 



2 System of Geography, I. i. 168. E. Tr. 



3 mnR 4 p^n 5 fsai. lx. 8. 6 Eccles. xii. 3. 

 7 2 Kings, vii. 2. Malachi, iii. 10. 8 Isai. xxiv. 18. 



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