56 NATURAL HISTORY of N RJVAT, 



SECT. VIII. 



aiimouSnl This pofition being eftabliihed, it opens a way to an eafy ex- 

 L ir?r S ftone d s, planation of the origin, both of the rocks, mountains, and hills, 

 tt d preiifo>fter the £rfl plane had been formed by the deluge. The hills, 

 of which few here are of fuch dimensions as to be clafted among 

 the mountains, might very eafily be aggregated by the mere force 

 of the water, but the rocky mountains being of a denfer fubftance, 

 feem to have been elevated from beneath, in a convex form, by a 

 violent force of fubterraneous wind, water, and fire, heaving them 

 up, and fcattering them about in fo many protuberances*; and 

 if this happened, before the fubftance of the ftones became indu- 

 rated and fixed, then the external wind did likewife, according 

 to the conjecture before quoted, from M. Swedenburg's Obferva- 

 tions, leave fo many veftiges of its violence both in the extent 

 and figure of them. This accounts, unquestionably, for the innu- 

 merable fiflures, disruptions, and chafms, which appear like fo 

 many mountains fawn afunder, acrofs or lengthways f. And 

 hence many fuch apertures in the mountains are filled with a 

 flimy matter, of a fubfequent induration, and by the country- 

 people called Hejeitel. This projects in a range of about an ell, 

 or half an ell in breadth, betwixt the other lapideous ftrata, and 

 throughout the whole length or bulk of the mountain,which thus 

 from the variety of its colours makes a very pleafing appearance. 

 Of thefe Hejeitels, or feparate veins, fome confift of marble, or 

 alabafter, fome of agate, and fome of other white, red, blue, or 

 brown kind of ftones, which, efpecially towards the fea-coaft, 

 where the rocks are bare, form many curious variegations. Hence 

 likewife remain on the furface the many detached blocks and 



* Scio quofdam fufpicari intumuiffe aliquando terram ab erumpente fpiritu, fur- 

 rextffe montes ex planitie, erupiffe infulas ex mari, qualis apud Cedrenum in hi- 

 ftoria mifcella memoratur infula nata fub Leone iconomacho. — Ego etiam facile 

 admittam initio, cum liquida effet mafia globi terrse, luclante fpiritu fuperficierh 

 varie intumuiffe, unde illi mox indurefccnti primseva insequalitas - y neque etiam diffi- 

 teor, firmatis licet rebus, terrae motu aliquando vel ignivoma erudatione, monticu- 

 lum' factum. Leibnitz Protogaea, Sett. xxu. p. 36. feq. 



f Mr. BufFon, Part I. p. 64, according to his fyftem, afligns the following caufe 

 of the perpendicular fifiures and chafms in the mountains ; that the waters gradu- 

 ally, fubfiding, and the pafte of the rocks being dried, the fhafts thus contraded, 

 neceflarily feparate, and leave an aperture betwixt them, as the like daily happens 

 when mortar, ftarch, &c. harden. Whereas the horizontal rents in mountains, 

 which are much fewer, run according to the feveral ftrata of the fubftance?, which 

 are obferved to lie over each other, like the leaves of a book. 



fra g" 



