THE EARTH. 185 



tracts of country that were cultivated and peopled, at one time ; 

 or by leaving its bed to be appropriated to the purposes of vege- 

 tation, and to supply a new theatre for human industry, at ano- 

 ther. 



In this struggle between the earth and the sea for dominion, 

 the greatest number of our shores seem to defy the whole rage 

 of the waves, both by their height, and the rocky materials of 

 which tbey are composed. The coasts of Italy, for instance, 

 are bordered with rocks of marble of different kinds, the quar- 

 ries of which may easily be distinguished at a distance from sea, 

 and appear like perpendicular columns of the most beautiful 

 kinds of marble, ranged along the shore. In general, the coasts 

 of France, from Brest to Bourdeaux, are composed of rocks ; 

 as are also those of Spain and England, which defend the land, 

 and only are interrupted, here and there, to give an egress to 

 rivers, and to grant the conveniences of bays and harbours to our 

 shipping. It may in general be remarked, that wherever the 

 sea is most violent and furious, there the boldest shores, and of 

 the most compact materials, are found to oppose it. There are 

 many shores several hundred feet perpendicular, against which 

 the sea, when swollen with tides or storms, rises and beats with 

 inconceivable fury. In the Orkneys,^ where the shores are thus 

 formed, it sometimes, when agitated by a storm, rises two hun- 

 dred feet perpendicular, and dashes up its spray, together with 

 sand and other substances that compose its bottom, upon land, 

 like showers of rain. 



From hence, therefore, we may conceive how the violence ct 

 the sea, and the boldness of the shore, may be said to have made 

 each other. '.Vhere the sea meets no obstacles, it spreads its 

 waters with a gentle intumescence, till all its power is destroy- 

 ed, by wanting depth to aid the motion. But when its progress 

 is checked in the midst, by the prominence of rocks, or the 

 abrupt elevation of the land, it dashes with all the force of its 

 depth against the obstacle, and forms, by its repeated violence, 

 that abruptness of the shore which confines its impetuosity. 

 Where the sea is extremely deep, or very much vexed by tem- 

 pests, it is no small obstacle that can confine its rage ; and for 

 this reason we see the boldest shores projected against the 



1 Buffon, v<a. U. p. 199. 2 Ibid. p. 19U 



q3 



