SURTURBRAND. 
143 
forest as too absurd to merit the slightest 
eoiisideration^ there are only three ways in 
which we can suppose the surtiirhrand to 
have originated. First, Large forests may 
have, existed in this quarter of the is¬ 
land at a remote period, and may have 
been overturned and entombed during 
some of the volcanic revolutions of subse¬ 
quent date. Secondly, It may be the re¬ 
mains of drift-timber, conveyed hither from 
the Missouri and other rivers in North 
America, or from the northern coasts of 
Siberia. Or, lastly. It may have grown in 
a former world, and been reduced to its 
present state in one of the great catastro¬ 
phes which have so materially changed the 
surface of the earth.” 
After shewing that the first and second 
hypothesis are insufficient, our author 
proceeds. 
However, as the surtiirhrand is found 
in such immense quantities, and where it 
makes its appearance on one side of a 
mountain, it uniformly occurs, nearly about 
the same level, on the opposite side; as 
these mountains are of the more regular 
