The Natural Fiftory of the — Book IT. 
Littora myrtetis letiffima : denig; apertos 
Bacchus amat colles; Aquilonem & frigora taxi. 
Virc. G. II, rog, 
Nor ev’ry Plant on ev’ry Soil will grow : 
The Swallow loves the watry Ground, and low ; 
The Marfhes, Alders: Nature feems t’ ordain 
The rocky Clift for the wild Ath’s Reign ; 
The baleful Yeugh to Northern Blafts affigns ; 
To Shores the Myrtles ; and to Mounts the Vines. 
From hence we may learn, that there are Soils particularly adapted to 
the different Kinds of Vegetables; and confequently conclude, that Fof- 
fils likewife, Minerals, &c. will not thrive in an improper Soil. 
This leads us to confider the Situation of thefe Plains: And when we 
find, that the Whole was an Inland Country, withoutTrade or N avigation, 
but what the River ‘Yordan afforded, we muft of courfe conclude, that 
the Subfiftence of the numerous Inhabitants muft depend upon the Ferti- 
lity of the Land, and not on foreign Supplies: Therefore, how confiftent 
with that Prudence, which every Age of the World poffeffed, would it have 
been to fettle in fo barren a Spot, not capable of producing the common 
Neceflaries of Life! Yet fo it muft have been, if the whole Plain was im- 
pregnated with this Bitumen: Or, if we fuppofe, that there were only 
Veins of it interfperfed through this {pacious Plain,’ how fierce and rapid 
foever the enkindled Flames of thefe Veins might be ; yet their deftrudtive 
Influence and Power would be confined almoft intirely within their own 
proper Chanels; fo that the reft of the Country would be in no Danger of 
fo quick and fo general a Calamity, as befel it in this fuppofed natural 
Way. 
We might purfue this Argument farther (if any additional Proofs were 
wanting); and obferve, that the prefent, and in all Probability, the former 
Veins of Bitumen were found, not in the Plain (which was very juftly com- 
pared with ¢he Garden of the Lord for Fruitfulnefs), but in the Hills on 
the Eaft and Weft Sides of it: And, as the River Yordan, at this time, 
fomewhat above the Lake, is almoft as wide as the Thames at Chelfea, 
and ran formerly from North to South thro’ the Plain; if we even fup- 
pofe, that whole Torrents of this liquid Fire burft out from the Sides of 
either of thefe Hills, their deftru@ive Courfe would be ftopped, when it 
reached fuch a Body of Water as that River contained : So that, unle& 
we extravagantly fuppofe, that the Mountains on the Eaft, and their op- 
polite on the Weft, which were Eighteen Miles afunder, took Fire very - 
critically at the fame time, the Country on one Side or other of the River 
muft, in all Probability, have been fafe, by the Interpofition of {0 great 
a Quantity of Water. 
Laftly, 
