uv 



:'? 



iMl 





HUTTONIAN THEORY. 



405 



c 





I >L . \ ."?' '^1 



362. They who maintain the exiftence of the 

 debacle, will no doubt allege, that though thefe 



valleys 



Cc3 



I, 



German Ocean, and fouth-weft to the Atlantic, is be- 

 tween Loch Oich and Loch Lochj ; and, by the eftima- 

 tion of the eye, I fhould hardly think that it is elevated 

 more than ten or fifteen feet above the furface of either 

 lake. The country on both fides is rugged and moun- 

 tainous, and the flreams which defcend from thence 

 into the valley, either fall diredtly into the lakes, or 

 turn off almoft at right angles when they enter the val- 



r 



hy. Though the bottom of this valley, therefore, is 

 every where alluvial, with the exception, perhaps, of a 



I, 



few rocks which appear at the furface, it is certainly 

 not excavated by the rivers which now flow in it. The 

 direftion of the valley, it is to be obferved, is the fame 

 With that of the vertical flrata which compofe the moun- 



r 



tains on either fide. 



i 



Here, then, we have a valley, not cut out by the 



-WiibjCKepttlisr^^-j ■working of any ftreams which now appear; and we 



y 



^•wpirt 





i 



\4 



ii 



*"•*«** ^^u.. 



i to ii\ 



aMiiiii 



?' 



nrofea, being opeiii! 



J i: ic middle. It »' 



t- The bottWi 



lyF 



fi 



may therefore make trial of the hypothefis of a .5?^- 

 hac/e. This, however, will aff'ord us no ailillance ; be- 



1 • 



. ajtltw caufe, if we fappofe what is now hollow to have been 



•mDfo 



^mm 



ame 



orefli 



UjjpneD 



I ' ii 



1^ 





( 



■ ■ -i 



eithex' fide, no force of torrents can have fuddenly loofen- 

 ed and removed from its place a body of fuch vafl mag- 



;. A greater column of w^ater, than one having 



nitud 



n^^^^ 





■■.y' 



i\ 



for its bafe a tranfverfe fetSlion of the valley, could 

 not a6t againll it, and this would have to overcome 



(f 



