20 SUMATRA. 
or of the northern dlftrid:s adjacent to it, could a tolerably 
level fpace of four hundred yards fqiiare be marked out : about 
Soongtylamo in particular, there is not a plain to be met with oi 
the fourth part of that extent. I have often, from an elevated fituation, 
where a wider range was fujedted to the eye, furveyed with admiration 
the uncommon face which nature affumeSj and made enquiries and at* 
tended to conje6:ures on the caufes of thefe inequalities. Some chufe 
to attribute them to the fucceffive concuflions of earthquakes, through a 
courlc of centuries. But they do not feem to be the cffedt of fuch a 
caufe. There are no ab-rupt filFures; the hollows and fweliings are 
for the moil part fmooth and regularly floping, fo as to exhibit not \in- 
frequcntly the appearance of an ampKitheatrej and they are cloathed 
with verdure from the fummit to the edge of the fwamp. From this 
M*ir,i- Mi^*y*w^ liS others fuppoie^ 
occafioned by the fall of heavy rains that deluge the country for one 
half of the year. Themofi: fummary way of accounting for this extraordi- 
nary unevenncfs of furface were to conclude, that in the original con-* 
ftrudtion of our globe^ Sumatra was thus formed by the fame hand which 
fpread out the fandy plains of Arabia, and raifed up the Alps and Andes 
beyond the region of the clouds. But this is a mode of folution, which, 
if generally adopted, would become an infuperable bar to all progrefsin 
natural knowledge, by damping curiofity and reftraining refearch. 
Nature, we know from fiifficient experience, is not only turned from 
her original courfe by the induftry of man* but alio fometimes checks 
and croflfes her own carreer. What has barp'^np'i i« fume inftances it 
is not unfair to fuppofe may happen in others ; nor is it prefumption to 
trace the intermediate caufes of events^ which are themfelves derived 
Caufes of \M% from onc firft, univerfal and eternal principle. To me it would feem, 
in«iuaUty. fprijigs of water with which thefc parts of the iiland abound in 
an uncoimnon degree, operate diredly, though obfcurely, to the pro- 
ducing this irregularity in the furface of the earth. They derive their 
number, and an extraordinary portion of aiSivity, from the loftinefs of 
the ranges of mountains that occupy the interior country, and intercept 
and colled the floating vapors. Precipitated into rain at fuch a height, 
the 
