BOOK II.] History of Nature. 1 19 



by Reason of the Sun's Vicinity, are scorched with the Heat 

 thereof, like to them that be burnt, having their Beards and 

 Hair curled. Also, that in the opposite Climate of the 

 World to it, in the frozen Regions, the People have white 

 Skins, Hair growing long, and straight, and yellow; but they 

 be fierce by Reason of the rigorous Cold : howbeit, the one, 

 as well as the other, in this Change, are dull : and the very 

 Legs argue the Temperature. For in the Ethiopians the 

 Juice is drawn upward again by the Nature of Heat : but 

 among the northern Nations the same is driven to the infe- 

 rior Parts, because Moisture is apt to fall downward. Here 

 are bred hurtful wild Beasts : but there are found Crea- 

 tures of a Variety of Shapes ; and especially Fowls and Birds 

 of many Forms : they are tall of Stature, as well in one Part 

 as the other : in the hot Regions, by occasion of the natural 

 Tendency of Fire ; in the other, through the Nourishment by 

 Moisture. But in the Midst of the Earth there is an whole- 

 some Mixture from both Sides ; the whole Tract is fruitful 

 for all Things, and the Habit of Men's Bodies of a balanced 

 Constitution. In the Colour, also, there existeth a great 

 Temperature. The Manners of the People are gentle, their 

 Senses clear, their Capacity fertile and capable of all Things 

 within the Compass of Nature. They also bear sovereign 

 Rule, and sway Empires, which those uttermost Nations 

 never had : yet true it is, that even they who are out 

 of the Temperate Zones may not consent to be subject nor 

 accommodate themselves unto these : for such is their 

 savage Nature that it urgeth them to living solitary by 

 themselves. 



CHAPTER LXXIX. 



Of Earthquakes*. 



THE Babylonians were of Opinion, that Earthquakes and 

 Chasms, and all other Occurrences of this Nature, are occa- 



1 The definition of an earthquake is, the transit of a wave of elastic 

 compression in any direction, from vertically upwards, to horizontally in 

 any azimuth, through the surface and crust of the earth, from any centre 

 of impulse (whether producing flexure or fracture), or from more than 



