QN THE DELUGE. 



669 



swept over and destroyed Callao, is evident from the present 

 position of a pillar erected soon after that event to mark the 

 place to which the waves advanced inland.^^ This pillar now 

 stands so low, that waves, such as those which ruined Talca- 

 huano, would inevitably reach its base ; again destroying the 

 whole of Callao, still situated on a flat, very few feet above 

 the sea, near where old Callao stood. 



I have now mentioned the principal facts connected with 

 the Beagle'^s voyage, which I am desirous of noticing with 

 reference to the Deluge. Want of space prevents my adding 

 others : I have hardly room left to lay before my young readers 

 some general considerations, arising partly out of these facts, 

 which I hope may interest — perhaps be useful to them. 



When one thinks of the Deluge, questions arise, such as 

 " where did the water come from to make the flood ; and where 

 did it go to after the many months it is said to have covered 

 the earth To the first the simplest answer is " from the 

 place whence the earth and its oceans came :*''' — the whole being 

 greater than its part, it may be inferred that the source which 

 supplied the whole could easily supply an inferior part : — and, 

 to the second question, — " part turned into earth, by combi- 

 nation with metallic bases ; part absorbed by, and now held 

 in the earth ; and part evaporated.''-)- We know nothing of the 

 state of the earth, or atmosphere surrounding it, before the 

 Flood ; therefore it is idle and unphilosophical to reason on 

 it, without a fact to rely on. We do not know whether it 

 moved in the same orbit ; or turned on its axis in a precisely 

 similar manner ; — whether it had then huge masses of ice near 

 the poles ; — or whether the moon was nearer to it, or farther off*. 

 Believers in the Bible know, however, that the life of man was 

 very much longer than it now is, a singular fact, which seems 

 to indicate some difference in atmosphere, or food, or in some 

 other physical influence. It is not so probable that the consti- 

 tution of man was very different (because we see that human 

 peculiarities are transmitted from father to son), as it is to sup- 

 pose that there was a difference in the region where he existed. 



* In 1746. 



t Electricity may have acted a prominent part in these changes. 



