14 



HISTORY or 



appearance, rolling onward in waves like those of a troubled sea, 

 and overwhelming all they meet with inevitable destruction. 

 On the other hand those tracts which are fertile, teem with 

 vegetation even to a noxious degree. The grass rises to such a 

 height as often to require burning ; the forests are impassable 

 from underwoods, and so matted above, that even the sun, fierce 

 Bs it is, can seldom penetrate.' These are so thick as scarcely 

 to be extirpated ; for the tops being so bound together by the 

 climbing plants that grow round them, though a hundred should 

 be cut at the bottom, yet not one would fall, as they mutually 

 support each other. In these dark and tangled forests, beasts 

 of various kinds, insects in astonishing abundance, and serpents 

 of surprising magnitude, find a quiet retreat from man, and are 

 seldom disturbed except by each other. 



In this manner the extremes of our globe seem equally unfitted 

 for the comforts and conveniences of life ; and although the ima- 

 gination may find an awful pleasure in contemplating the fright- 

 ful precipices of Greenland, or the luxurious verdure of Africa, 

 yet true happiness can only be found in the more moderate cli- 

 mates, where the gifts of natiure maybe enjoyed, without incur- 

 ring danger in obtaining them. 



It is in the temperate zone, therefore, that all the arts of im- 

 proving nature, and refining upon happiness, have been invented : 

 and this part of the earth is, more properly speaking, the theatre 

 of natural history. Although there be millions of animals and 

 vegetables in the unexeplored forests under the line, yet most 

 of these may for ever continue unknown, as curiosity is there 

 repressed by surrounding danger. But it is otherwise in these 

 delightful regions which we inhabit, and where this art has had 

 its beginning. Among us there is scarce a shrub, a flower, or 

 an insect, without its particular history j scarce a plant tliat 

 could be useful, which has not been propagated j nor a weed 

 that could be noxious, which has not been pointed out. 



CHAP. III. 



A VIKW OF THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. 



When we take a slight survey of the surface of our globe, a 

 thousand objects offer themselves, which, though long known, 



1 Linnaei Amaenit. vol. vi. p. 67. 



