138 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



Continent, while in the Old the desolating strife of nations 

 disturbs the enjoyment of the repose of nature. Perhaps a 

 time is coming when, in this singular contrast between 

 physical and moral forces, the two sides of the Atlantic 

 will change parts. Volcanoes are quiescent for centuries 

 before they burst forth anew; and the idea that in the 

 so-called older countries, a certain peace must prevail in 

 nature, is founded on a mere play of the imagination. 

 There exists no reason for assuming one entire side of 

 our planet to be older or newer than the other. Islands 

 are indeed raised from the bed of the ocean by volcanic 

 action, and gradually heightened by coral animals, as the 

 Azores and many low flat islands of the Pacific ; and these 

 may indeed be said to be newer than many Plutonic 

 formations of the European central chain. A small district 

 of the earth, surrounded, like Bohemia and Kashmeer, (and 

 like many of the vallies in the Moon), by annular mountains, 

 may, by partial inundations, be long covered with water ; and 

 after the flowing off of this lake or inland sea, the ground 

 on which vegetation begins gradually to establish itself 

 might be said, figuratively, to be of recent origin. Islands 

 have become connected with each other by the elevation 

 of fresh masses of land ; and parts of the previously dry 

 land have been submerged by the subsidence of the 

 oscillating ground; but submersions so general as to 

 embrace a hemisphere, can, from hydrostatic laws, only be 

 imagined as extending at the same time over all parts of the 

 earth. The sea cannot permanently overflow the boundless 

 plains of the Orinoco and the Amazons, without also over- 



