FORMATION 



O F 



SOIL. 



the top two or three times broader than at the bottom. The leaves 

 and ftalks of th^ grafs are ilrong, and -often three or four feet long. 

 Under thefe tufts the uriine feals and pinguins tokt fhelter ; and, as 

 they come fo often dripping out of the fea, they make the lanes be- 



tween the tufts 



emely dirty and muddy 



that 



man 



walk, except on the tops of the tufts. In other places the iliags 

 (Fekcanus caruncida^iis ) take poiTeffion of thefe tufts, and make 

 their nefts on them 5 fo that by this grafs, and the excrements of 

 feals, pinguins, and fliags, the foil of the country gradually becomes 



I 



more and more elevated. 



In the Southern parts of New Zeeland we find the formation of 



# ■ 



mould and foil much more forward, becaufe its climate is milder, 



F 



the fummer longer, and vegetation more quick and firing : but, 

 upon the whole, we obferve the fame analogy in its origin. All 

 iforts of ferns and of fmall moffy plants, efpecially the mniarum, 

 occupy large fpots 5 which, by their continual fpreading and yearly 

 decay, increafe the mould, and thus form a foil for the reception of 

 ■.numerous {hrubs. Their foliage every year putrifies, and accumu- 



4- 



at lafl the 



lates the precious treafure of fertile mould, in w^ 

 largefl trees grow to animmenfe extent and bulk ; till, decaying by 

 t)ld age, a violent, inipetuous ftorm breaks them down; and they, 

 in their fall, crufh numberlefs bufhes and fhrubs, that pafs together 



into a flate of putrefadion, and afford fpace and nutriment for a 



G 



whole 



^^ 



FORMA- 

 TION OF 

 SOIL. 



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/ 



