106 History of Nature. [BOOK II. 



from above to the lower Parts, and that all Men confess that 

 this is their Nature, and no Man doubteth that the Water of 

 the Sea hath always come on any Shore so far as the Sloping 

 would have suffered : doubtless it appeareth, that the lower 

 a Thing is, the nearer it is to the Centre ; and that all the 

 Lines which from thence are sent out to the next Waters, are 

 shorter than those which from the first Waters reach to the 

 utmost Extremity of the Sea. Hereupon the whole Water, 

 from every Part thereof, bendeth to the Centre, and there- 

 fore falleth not away, because it inclineth naturally to the 

 inner Parts. And this we must believe, that Nature, the 

 Work-mistress, framed it so : to the End that the Earth, 

 which being dry could not by itself, without some Moisture, 

 keep any Consistence ; and the Fluid, likewise, which could 

 not abide, unless the Earth upheld it, might mutually em- 

 brace one another ; the one opening all the Creeks, and the 

 other running wholly into the other, by the Means of secret 

 Veins within, without, and above, like Bands to clasp it ; 

 yea, and so break out at the Tops of the Hills : whither 

 being partly carried by a Spirit, and partly expressed by the 

 Weight of the Earth, it mounteth, as it were, in Pipes : and 

 so far is it from Danger of falling away, that it leapeth up 

 to the highest and loftiest Things. By which Reason it is 

 evident, why the Seas do not increase, although so many 

 Rivers daily run into them. 



CHAPTER LXVI. 

 How the Water is united to the Earth. 



THE Earth, therefore, in its whole Globe, is in the midst 

 thereof hemmed in with the Sea, that flows round about it. 

 And this needeth not to be sought out by Argument, for it is 

 known already by Experience. 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

 Navigation upon the Sea and great Rivers. 



FROM Gades and the Pillars of Hercules, the whole of the 

 West Sea is at this Day sailed over in the whole Compass of 



