58 



never have endured the inclemency of these 

 regions, I will presume to touch the subject 

 on a new ground, and allow it possible, that 

 in consequence of some immense revolution 

 in a more southern climate, the mammoth mi- 

 grated into this, notwithstanding its being so ini- 

 mical to his pursuits and affections. And where 

 could this great revolution have happened? 

 Perhaps on the very theatre of Mr. Jefferson's 

 happiest visions, — when he says, " While ru- 

 minating on these subjects, I have often been 

 hurried away by fancy, and led to imagine, 

 that what is now tlie Bay of Mexico was once 

 a campaign country, and that from the point, 

 or cape of Florida there was a continued range 

 of mountains through Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto 

 Rico, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Barbadoes, 

 and Trinidad, till it reached the coast of 

 America, and formed the shores which bound- 

 ed the ocean, and guarded the country behind ; 

 that by some convulsion, or shock of nature, 

 the sea had broken through these mounds, 

 and deluged that vast plain, till it reached the 

 foot of the Andes ; that being there heaped up 

 bv the trade winds, alwavs blowins: from one 

 quarter, it had found its way back, as it conti- 

 nues to do, through the gulph, between Flo- 



