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part of their charms. We can justly compare 

 only what belongs to dimensions and external 

 forms. We may institute a parallel between 

 the colossal summit of Mount Blanc, and the 

 mountains of Himalaya; the cascades of the 

 Pyrenees and those of the Cordilleras : but these 

 comparisons, useful with respect to science, fail 

 to make known what characterises Nature in 

 the temperate and torrid zones. On the banks 

 of a lake, in a vast forest, at the foot of summits 

 covered with eternal snows, it is not the simple 

 magnitude of the objects, that penetrates us 

 with secret admiration. What speaks to the 

 soul, what causes such profound and various 

 emotions, escapes our measurements, as it does 

 the forms of language. Those who feel power- 

 fully the charms of Nature fear to weaken their 

 enjoyments by comparing scenes of a different 

 character. 



But it is not alone the picturesque beauties of 

 the lake of Valencia, that have given celebrity 

 to it's banks. This basin displays several other 

 phenomena, the solution of which is interesting 

 alike to physical science and to the well-being 

 of the inhabitants. What are the causes of the 

 diminution of the waters of the lake? Is this 

 diminution more rapid now than in former ages ? 

 Can we presume, that an equilibrium between 

 the waters flowing in and the loss will be shortly 



