HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



155 



is ignorant either that fuch kind of petrified marine 

 bodies are found alfo in the Alps. Why then ought 

 we to conclude, from fome marine bodies having been 

 found in fome places of America, that that country fuf- 

 fered an inundation, and not ftill more confidently con- 

 clude, that Europe has fuffered an inundation from fuch 

 bodies having been found in (till greater abundance in 

 many places of it ? If the tranfportation of thofe&odies to 

 inland places of Europe is to be afcribed to the waters of 

 the univerfai deluge, why ought they not to be afcribed 

 to the fame caufe in America (t) ? On the contrary, if the 

 waters of the univerfai deluge were not thofe which 

 carried the above mentioned marine bodies into the in- 

 land places of Europe, but thofe of a pofterior inun- 

 dation : if Europe is in general, according to what 

 BufFon fays a new country : if it is not long fince 

 it was covered with woods and marflies, why do we not 

 fee in Europe, and why were there not feen two thou- 

 fand years ago, thofe ftupendous efFe&s of the inunda- 

 tion which thofe authors fee in America ? Why have 

 the animals of Europe degenerated like thofe of Ame- 

 rica ? 



(t) One of the higheft mountains of America is the Dezcabezado, fituated 

 among the alps of Chili, upwards of five hundred miles from the fea. Its per- 

 pendicular height above the level of the fea is, according to Molina, a learned 

 and diligent hiflorian of that kingdom, more than three miles. On the top of 

 this very lofty mountain is found a great quantity of petrified marine bodies, 

 which certainly could not have been carried to that ftupendous height by the 

 waters of any partial inundation, different from the deluge which happened in 

 the time of Noah. Neither can it be faid that that fummit might formerly 

 have been the bed of the fea, and gradually have been raifedby fubterraneous fires, 

 bearing along with it thofe marine bodies ; becaufe although this cafe is not 

 improbable in fome places, which we fee but a little elevated above the level 

 the fea, and we even think it may frequently have happened, notwithstanding, 

 in a height fo extraordinary as this, it appears entirely incredible : fo that thofe 

 marine bodies, found on that fummit, ought to be conildered as unqueftionabl* 

 proofs and indubitable traces of the univerfai deluge* 



(*) Tom. Theorie de la Terre. 



