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flowing with inconceivable rapidity to the south, that 

 thousands of Sharks, of Porpoises and smaller fishes, af- 

 frighted at the dreadful onset, should endeavour to flee 

 from its threatening influence, and seek safety in the 

 less troubled waters of the deep bay of Mexico ; or 

 along under the ancient borders which skirted this ex- 

 tensive gulf on the north ? Need we wonder, while, 

 at this portentous epoch, avenging heaven was threat- 

 ening universal ruin ; " when every living creature 

 that creepeth upon the face of the earth" was soon to be 

 destroyed : and man, the outcast, awaiting his hope- 

 less doom, that the great Leviathan of the deep, hur- 

 ried by a resistless current from his wonted haunts in 

 the cold regions of the north, should seek peace and 

 safety in this less troubled sea ? To me it appears by 

 no means improbable ; and if we admit the supposition, 

 it is easy to explain the cause of their being detained, 

 and buried in such numbers where they are ; for as 

 soon as the ocean had risen to such a height as to flow 

 across the continent, the flood or current, being thick- 

 ened with mud and earth which it had raised in its 

 course, was carried into the bay or gulph of Mexico, 

 by which they were involved in thick darkness, (to 

 them,) and as the alluvion was deposited, they were li- 

 terally deluged with mud, and buried alive where their 

 remains are now found. 



This affords a satisfactory reason why the skeletons 

 of fishes, that are found in this district, are almost en- 

 tire, that is to say, the bones, though disjointed by 

 time, are nearly all found together. 



