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of the cause and manner of their production, I take the island and pike of 
Tenariff to be, so Hecla of Iceland, so Bearenberg of John May end or Trinity 
Idland, so del Fnego of the Xcelands of Cape Verd, so Ternate of the Moluccad ; 
and the island of Madcarenad i of the islands about Madagadcar among the 
Antillad or Caribed, all which do seem to me to be remaining testimonies 
how, and in what manner, and by what means those other islands which 
have now worn out the marks of their first origination, were at first pro¬ 
duced. And though the fires be extinct in many of the other islands, yet 
it is observable, that the prodigious high mountains or sugar-loaf pikes or 
hills do yet remain as marks of what they had been heretofore; so the pike 
of Fayal among the Tercerad, and the whole island of St. Helena, and several 
others of those about Madagadcar and of the Eadt Indied , and of those of the 
Antilied , and that of St. Martha mentioned by Dampier, do seem to me to 
be plain evidences of the former and original causes of them all. 
“ Nor do I in the least doubt but that an inquisitive person who should 
purposely survey all other islands that wanted these marks or tokens of such 
eruptions, might find enough of other indications * to manifest by what means 
* “ Near Reading, in Berkshire, for many succeeding generations, a continued body of oyster-shells 
has been found through the whole circumference of five or six acres of ground. The foundation of 
these shells is an hard rocky chalk; and above this chalk, the oyster-shells lie in a bed of green sand, 
upon a level, as nigh as possibly can be judged, and are about two feet in thickness.” (Phil. Trans, 
vol. ii. p. 427 .) 
These shells are in their natural state, but “ they were found also petrified, and almost in 
equal abundance, in all the Alpine rocks, in the Pyrenees, on the hills of France, England, and Flan¬ 
ders. Even in all quarries from whence marble is dug, if the rocks be split perpendicularly down¬ 
wards, petrified shells, and other marine substances, will be plainly discerned.” (Buffon, vol. 1. 
p. 407 .) 
About a quarter of a mile from the river Medway, in the county of Kent, after the taking off the 
coping of a piece of ground there, the workmen came to a blue marble, which continued for three feet 
and an half deep, or more, and then beneath appeared an hard floor, or pavement, composed of petri¬ 
fied shells crowded together. This layer was about an inch deep, and several yards over; and it could 
be walked upon as upon a beach. These stones, of which it was composed, (the describer supposes 
them always to have been stones) were either wreathed as snails, or bivalvular like cockles. The 
wreathed kinds were about the size of an hazle-nut, and were filled with a stony substance of the 
colour of marie; and they themselves, also, till they were washed, wmre of the same colour; but when 
cleaned they appeared of the colour of bezoar, and of the same polish. After boiling in water they 
became whitish, and left a chalkiness upon the fingers. (Phil. Trans, p. 426 .) 
In several parts of Asia and Africa, travellers have observed these shells in great abundance. 
In the mountains of Castravan which lie above the city Burat, they quarry out a white stone, 
every part of which contains petrified fishes in great numbers, and of surprising diversity. I hey also 
seem to continue in such preservation, that their fins, scales, and all the minutest distinctions of their 
make, can be perfectly discerned. (Buffon, vol. i. p. 408 .) 
