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nerally hid, is the proximity of the great bank, and 

 mu ft be fought for on the bank itfelf. Now this 

 is my conjecture on this head, which I fubmit to 

 the judgment of the learned. I begin with obferv- 

 ing, that we have another figh by which we difco- 

 ver our near approach to the great bank ; and it is 

 this, that on all its extremities commonly called its 

 Ecorres, there is always a ftiort tumbling fea 

 with violent winds. May we not look upon this 

 as the caufe of the mifts which prevail here, and 

 fay, that the agitation of the water on a bottom, 

 which is a mixture of fand and mud* renders the 

 air thick and heavy, and that the fun can only at- 

 tract thofe grofs vapours which he is never able fuf- 

 ficiently to rarify ? You will alk me, whence this 

 agitation of the lea on the moil elevated parts of 

 the great bank proceeds, whilft every where elfe and 

 even on the bank itfelf there is a profound calm ? 

 If I am not deceived it is this. We daily find in 

 thefe places currents, which fet fometimes one way 

 and fometimes another, the fea being imprefled 

 with an irregular motion by thofe currents, and beat- 

 ing with impetuofity againft the fides of the bank, 

 which are almoft every where very fteep, is repelled 

 from it with the fame violence, and is the true caufe 

 of the agitation remarked oh it. 



If the fame thing happens not in. approaching ail 

 fteep coafts, it is owing to their not being of equal 

 extent with this that there are no currents near 

 them, that they are lefs ftrong, or that they do not 

 run counter to each other, that they do not meet 

 with fo fteep a coaft, and are not repelled from it 

 with equal violence. It is befides certain, as I have 

 already obferved, after thofe who follow the fea- 

 faring life, that the agitation of the fea, and the 

 mud which it ftirs up ? contribute much to thicked 



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