ON THE DELUGE. 



663 



different probably from its condition before the flood, as may 

 be concluded from the inferior duration of human life. 



The Sd and 3d verses of chap. ii. recall to mind the wonder- 

 ful fact that the seventh day has been a marked division of 

 time from the earliest period of historical record.* 



It is now well known that all nations, and almost all tribes 

 of the human race, preserve traditions of a great flood in which 

 nearly all men were destroyed :•[* and it is also established as a 

 fact, that nearly all parts of the earth, hitherto examined, 

 bear witness to their having been at some time covered by the 

 ocean. Instead of ascribing these effects to the universal 

 deluge, many geologists say that the earth is in a continual, 

 though gradual state of change ; that in consequence of this 

 general mobility, places now far above the sea were once be- 

 neath it ; that districts, or countries, may have been inundated 

 in one quarter, and other regions elsewhere, but that an uni- 

 versal deluge never could have happened. This is implied 

 plainly enough, if not asserted, in several geological works. 



In the Beagle*'s examination of the southern parts of South 

 America, I had opportunities of observing immense tracts of 

 land composed, solely, of fossil shells, bones, and an earth 

 which looked like dried sandy mud :— extensive ranges of 

 country where no solid rock could be found, only rolled or 

 shingle stones, embedded to a great depth in earth, exactly like 

 that described above ; — and a wide district, at least fifty miles 

 across, covered with lava of which the surface was nearly 

 horizontal. (San Jose, San Julian, Santa Cruz.) 



I brought to England many specimens of these shells, 

 which, although taken from within a few feet of the surface of 

 the land, were found to have been pressed together, crushed, 

 and penetrated by mud, in a manner that never could have 

 been caused by the weight of earth then lying above them, 

 because, though solid, it could neither have mashed the shells, 

 nor worked into their inmost recesses. It seems evident to me 



* We find it ordained in Gen. ii. 3; alluded to by Noah, cliap. viii. 

 ver. 10, 12 ; and afterwards observed regularly, down to the present time, 

 t Sharon Turner, IJarcourt, &e. 



