Book I. Iland of BARBADOS, | 24 
cepted by high Hills, they become more denfe, and confequently break into 
Rain or Mift. If they meet with little or no Refiftance, many of thefe thin 
fcattering Clouds pafs over an open champaign Country. It is, I believe} 
owing to this chiefly, that Picardy in France is lefs fupplied with Moifture, 
and confequently wants that grateful Verdure fo remarkable in Exgland. - 
That thefe Hills are ferviceable in ftopping the flying Clouds from High Lands 
paling over the Ifland, is what is daily confirmed by Experience ; fore meee 
that Part of the Ifland called The Thickets, in St. Philip's Parith, being Clouds. 
low Land, and having no Hills, nor high Clifts to the Eaftward, to make 
any Refiftance to thefe Clouds, is often fcorched with great Drought, © 
when the middle and more hilly Parts of the Ifland are replenifhed with 
Rain. 
It muft not from hence be concluded, that fuch Countries are intirely 
deftitute of Rain, becaufe they have no Hills or Clifts to the Eaftward. 
I mention thefe only as Helps, to prevent fome low Clouds and Vapours 
from pafling over them ; for, if the general Caufe of the Defcent of Rain 
was the Refiftance made by the Hills and Mountains, there would be 
little or no Rain at a great Diftance from Land, which we are fure 
there is. 
It will likewife perhaps be furprifing to thofe unacquainted with the 
Nature of the Soil of fome Parts of this Ifland, to hear, that in the moft 
hilly, which is called Scotland, confiderable Quantities of Land fhould 
tun away (as it is here termed), and become Part of a neighbouring Eftate. 
Sometimes large Pieces of Ground planted with Canes, and even The Soil in 
Land with Plantain and Banana Trees growing upon it, have flid down riny See 
to the Valleys from the Sides of the Hills. This happens in very rainy flides ee 
Seafons ; for, as the Soil upon thefe Hills is commonly not above Hight ae sie ies 
or Nine Inches deep, and of an oozy and foapy Nature underneath, it meetaneye 
eafily feparates from the next immediate Subftratum,- which is of a flip- 
pery Chalk, flat Stones, or loofe Gravel. 
When the Soil flides in large Pieces, its Motion is lefs violent, than 
when it is confined in narrow Chafms in the Meeting of two Hills, efpe- 
cially if the Situation be very fteep ; for there the Colle@ion of Water 
being confiderable and heavy, inftead of gliding {oftly between the two 
Strata, it breaks out in different Places at once, and then runs down the 
Precipice a mingled Torrent of Earth and Water. 
A remarkable Inftance of this kind happened fome Years ago in S¢. 
Andrew's Parith, where a large Garden, the Soil of a Potato-Garden, 
with its growing Produce, flid from the Side of a neighbouring Hill, and 
tichly covered the next Neighbour’s Land, fituated in the Vale below. 
Another Inftance, fimilar to this, happened at an Eftate, now in the 
Poffeflion of the Reverend Mr. Reynold Fofer, where the greateft Part of 
a poor Tenant's Land, with all its Produce growing upon it, firft cracked, 
and then flid over the Clifts into the Sea ; but during the long Continu- 
ance of the fame Rain, in a few Hours afterwards, the adjoining Land of 
G Mr. 
